Space.com : Our Universe: Dark and Messy

By Dave Mosher Staff Writer posted: 07 January 2008 06:55 am ET

Our universe is a mess — a colossal "cosmic web" of galaxies strung into filaments and tendrils that are millions or billions of light-years long.

Although this web's basic structure is resolved, astronomers say understanding it in more detail requires new observatories, better computing and a lot of luck.

"When you look into a large telescope, the reality of the cosmic web hits you in the face because you can see how galaxies are organized," said Rodrigo Ibata, an astronomer at the Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg in France. "We have clear evidence for the cosmic web's existence, but there is still so much we don't know about it."

Ibata explained that the cosmic web filaments are held together by dark matter, unseen stuff that makes up 85 percent of all mass in the universe.

"It's intrinsically tough to study something you can't see, so dark matter makes understanding the cosmic web an exceedingly difficult challenge," Ibata told SPACE.com.

Ibata and other astronomers detail some of the cosmic web's mysteries last week in the journal Science.

Intergalactic highway

The cosmic web is thought to funnel galaxies, gas and dark matter around the universe, something like a chaotic intergalactic highway. Ibata said he's looking to our own celestial neighborhood for effects of this network.

"We think cosmic web tendrils feed directly into galaxies, dump matter onto them and build them up," Ibata said.

Ibata hopes new star data gathered by the European Space Agency's GAIA spacecraft, set to launch in 2011, will help gather evidence of such activity near the Milky Way.

"It's going to make things very interesting over the coming years," he said of GAIA, which will finely measure the distances and movements of more than a billion local stars. Such data could reveal where — and what — cosmic web tendrils might be spilling into our neck of the celestial woods.

"The environment within these tendrils could be one of the most important factors in galaxy formation," Ibata said.

To use mountains of data that GAIA and other observatories are expected to deliver in the future, however, Ibata said computer technology will have to catch up. "If we were to get such data now, we wouldn't be able to efficiently process it," he said.

Simulating the universe

Claude-Andre Faucher-Giguere, a graduate student in astrophysics at Harvard University, agrees.

"We need powerful computers to deal with raw astronomy data," Faucher-Giguere said. "But another aspect is that once it's processed, we need to be able to learn something from it."

Faucher-Giguere said computer simulations help with the task by giving astronomers grounds for comparison. If a simulation fits a set of observations, it helps astronomers pick the best theoretical track to explain what they see.

Our current big-picture view of the universe is based mostly on optical light, Faucher-Giguere said, but new observatories will look deep into the cosmos in wavelengths such as infrared and radio.

"We'll need new, better simulations to make sense of data we haven't yet learned how to analyze," he said. "We need to be prepared or else we won't know what we're looking at."

Faucher-Giguere expects astronomers to increasingly team up with computer-savvy theoreticians to extract the latest knowledge about our universe in an efficient way.

"Astronomy is driven by new observations," he said, "but to make use of these new windows onto the universe, we really have to keep up with the theoretical work."

• VIDEO: Dark Matter Ring Discovered
• The Top 10 Strangest Things in Space
• Greatest Mysteries: Where is the Rest of the Universe?

ESA : N° 1-2008: Overview of ESA communication activities in 2008 relevant to the media

Press conferences, exhibitions, launches, political rendezvous and much more ... the list of the main communication activities that ESA will be involved in this year is a long one, but not an exhaustive one. You should pencil these dates into your diaries.


January

14
ESA’s Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, meets the press at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France to give a status report on ongoing activities and an overview of upcoming events.

17
Opening of the new Santa Maria Tracking Station to follow Ariane 5 launches, Azores Islands, Portugal.

18
Contract signing for ESA’s Mercury mission, BepiColombo, at EADS Astrium, Friedrichshafen, Germany.

2nd half
STS-120/Esperia Post-Flight Tour by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli. Tour of various sites in Italy.

tbd
Space shuttle mission STS-122/Columbus. With ESA astronauts Leopold Eyharts and Hans Schlegel on board.

February


5 - 6
Future Launcher Preparatory Programme workshop at ESA/ESTEC research and technology centre, Noordwijk, Netherlands.

7
Inauguration of the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA/ESAC) near Madrid, Spain.

12
Kick-off of the “International Year of Planet Earth” at ESA Headquarters and UNESCO Headquarters, Paris.

2nd half
Launch of ESA’s first Automated Transfer Vehicle “Jules Verne” to the ISS onboard an Ariane 5, from CSG Kourou, French Guiana. Several local events will be organised at ESA sites across Europe.

tbd
A few days after launch, the “Jules Verne” docks with the International Space Station. Events at ATV Control Centre in Toulouse and at ESA HQ Paris and other ESA sites across Europe.

tbd
Zefiro 23 engine firing test for the future Vega launcher at “Salto di Quirra” test range, Sardinia, Italy.

tbd
GOCE Earth observation mission: media day at ESA/ESTEC research and technology centre, Noordwijk.

tbd
Workshop on satellite communication applications at ESA/ESTEC research and technology centre.

March


tbd
Opening of new ESA/ESTEC laboratory building at Noordwijk.

tbd
“Open Day” at ESA/ESRIN Earth observation centre in Frascati (Rome), Italy as part of Italian Science Week.

April


tbd
Launch of GIOVE-B satellite for the Galileo system onboard a Russian Soyuz, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Events in several ESA centres in Europe.

tbd
Start of ESA’s astronaut selection campaign.

tbd
Launch of Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission onboard an Indian PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India (by Indian Space Agency ISRO).

tbd
40th anniversary of ESA's ground station at Redu, Belgium.

May


14-16 (tbc)
GMES conference: “Briging the gap”, Portrose, Slovenia

15
Launch of ESA’s GOCE satellite (Earth gravity field) onboard a Rockot launcher, from Plesetsk, Russia.

tbd
40th anniversary of the Guiana Space Centre, Europe’s Spaceport (CSG), in Kourou, French Guiana.

tbd
Conference on the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme, Prague, Czech Republic.

27 May - 1 June
ILA2008 international aerospace fair in Berlin, Germany. Joint ESA / DLR / BDLI pavilion in "International space village".

end
Post-flight tour for ESA astronauts Hans Schlegel (Germany) and Léopold Eyharts (France) in the context of ILA2008, Berlin.

July


31
Launch of ESA’s Herschel-Planck spacecraft onboard an Ariane 5, from CSG, Kourou. Launch coverage at several ESA establishments across Europe.

August


tbd
“ Night of Exploration” in Copenhagen, Denmark. ESA space show/public event, with space experts and scientists.

September


5
Steins Observation by ESA’s comet-chaser Rosetta. Event at ESA’s Operations Centre, ESOC / Darmstadt, Germany.

16-18
GMES conference “The operational phase”, Lille, France

29 Sept. - 3 Oct.
IAC - International Astronautical Congress - in Glasgow, UK.

30 (tbc)
5th ESA/EC joint Space Council in Brussels, Belgium.

tbd
"Ciencia Viva" space exhibition in Lisbon, Portugal.

October


tbd
Launch of ESA’s SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) mission onboard a Rockot, from Plesetsk, Russia.

tbc
Launch of ESA’s Proba-2 microsatellite, together with SMOS, onboard a Rockot, from Plesetsk.

November


25 - 26
ESA Council meeting at ministerial level in The Hague, Netherlands.

December


tbd
Announcement of initial findings of Herschel-Planck mission.

tbd
Maiden flight of ESA’s new small launcher Vega, from CSG, Kourou.

tbd
Inauguration of "Looking for Life" exhibition at NEMO science centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands.


Dates of certain events, especially launches, depend on various factors, such as readiness of the spacecraft and/or launcher. In the calendar of activities, they remain tabled as 'to be determined' (tbd) or 'to be confirmed' (tbc). Definite dates are confirmed by Arianespace (for Ariane launches), Starsem (for Soyuz launches), Eurockot (for Rockot launches) and NASA (for Space Shuttle launches).

Bad Astronomy : Asteroid to miss Earth January 29

This is interesting: an asteroid named 2007 TU24 will pass roughly 560,000 kilometers (330,000 miles) from the Earth on January 29, 2008. That’s close enough to be interesting, but far enough not to worry about it. Funny coincidence: that’s almost the same time 2007 WD5 will pass very close to Mars. The odds of a Mars impact are still not zero, but there is no chance at all of TU24 hitting us.

I don’t usually track such news, but I actually found out about this at Digg.com, where some folks were digging up a misleading video about the asteroid. The video wasn’t hugely popular, but it’s had a few thousand viewings which isn’t bad. But I have some beefs with it, and I think they point to some misconceptions people have about asteroids.

First, though, the video is a bait-and-switch to talk about how Ron Paul isn’t getting press. OK, feh. My thoughts on Paul are pretty clear, and I’ve seen little to change my mind.

But the science too is misleading. The first thing the video author shows is the well-known asteroid Ida, claiming it’s TU24, which is incorrect.

Then he shows how close it will pass, with a grossly misleading graphic of the Earth and Moon sitting right next to each other, making it look like this asteroid will just barely miss us. Make no mistake: this is a pretty close pass for an asteroid, but it has no chance at all of hitting us, so it’s no big deal. Looking at the list of recent and upcoming close approaches by asteroids, you can see this one is on the nearest for a while, but there are many other near misses… stress the word "miss".

In the description, he also says

It will be 1.37 Lunar Distances from earth on January 29, 2008. Let’s hope they’re right. Gauging trajectory on something coming right at you isn’t easy.

Nope, it’s not heading right for us. It’s heading to a point in space where the Earth will be on January 29. Actually, it’s headed to a point in space more than half a million kilometers from where the Earth will be at that time. Either way, that spot in space is currently more than 60 million kilometers (40 million miles) away from us right now; a fair ways off. So actually, getting the orbit is just a matter of getting good observations, like it usually is.

Asteroids are a real threat, and need to be taken seriously. This video — and they way I see the media treat the threat in general — in my opinion, make matters somewhat worse. Perhaps I’m hammering this particular video a little hard, but to me it represents a whole class of misleading coverage of asteroids. And c’mon, if you want to make a point, just make it. (Mis)Using astronomy this way isn’t helping any.

Universe Today : New Solar Cycle Begins With New Year…

Written by Tammy Plotner

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a new solar cycle is about to begin. The original forecast for Solar Cycle 24 was slated for March 2008, but the action is already under way as the first magnetically reversed sunspot of the new 11-year cycle has already appeared in the Sun's northern hemisphere! Will it be strong or will it be weak? Time will tell… But if you live in a high latitude northern area? Be on alert tonight!

Last April an international panel of solar experts forecast that Solar Cycle 24 would start in March 2008, plus or minus six months. Upcoming solar storms definitely lay ahead, but neither the NOAA Space Environment Center in coordination with an international panel of solar experts predict a record-breaker. The most recent activity forecast was predicted for March with the peak occurring in late 2011 or mid-2012—up to a year later than expected. While original forecasts put the beginning activity a last Fall, the delay has simply left the experts guessing.

During a solar cycle, the frequency of sunspots rises and falls and spotting new activity may mean that the action is just heating up. These areas of intense magnetic activity on the Sun, can affect Earth by disrupting electrical grids, airline and military communications, GPS signals and even cell phones. During periods of intense sunspot activity, known as solar storms, highly charged radiation from the Sun may head toward Earth…

"Our growing dependence on highly sophisticated, space-based technologies means we are far more vulnerable to space weather today than in the past," said NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.

What does that mean for the Blue Planet's inhabitants? There's nothing to fear… except perhaps that it might be cloudy! Increased activity is a wonderful time to begin studying sunspots for yourself and to keep a eye out for aurora activity. Solar cycle intensity is measured in maximum number of sunspots—dark blotches on the sun that mark areas of heightened magnetic activity. The more sunspots there are, the more likely it is that major solar storms will occur.

"By giving a long-term outlook, we're advancing a new field—space climate—that's still in its infancy," said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, director of the NOAA National Weather Service. "Issuing a cycle prediction of the onset this far in advance lies on the very edge of what we know about the Sun."

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is celebrating 200 years of science and service to the nation and the world. The NOAA Space Environment Center also is the world warning agency of the International Space Environment Service, a consortium of 11 member nations that generate a first alert of solar activity and its affects on Earth and you, too, can check out the information here! Stay tuned as "Universe Today" brings you guidelines on how you can solar observe and when you can possibly expect aurora in your area! As it stands, a high-speed solar wind stream is already buffeting Earth's magnetic field and this could spark a geomagnetic storm. For high latitude observers, this means you may see the aurora tonight!!

Universe Today : Former Astronaut Herrington Resigns from Rocketplane

Written by Nancy Atkinson

Former NASA astronaut John Herrington has resigned from the commercial space company Rocketplane Global, Inc. Herrington left NASA in 2005 to join Rocketplane as vice president and director of flight operations. He was slated to pilot the company’s passenger-carrying suborbital XP spaceplane. His resignation was effective on December 21, 2007.

Herrington said he plans to continue working in the commercial space industry, because he believes “commercial space is the next great adventure in aerospace." Herrington will also continue as a motivational speaker to both industry and educational institutions, and as an advisor to the University of Colorado’s National Institute for Space, Science and Security Centers. In addition, he’ll also work with the Chickasaw Nation, of which he is a member.

"I was fortunate during my tenure at Rocketplane to work with an incredibly talented group of professionals,” said Herrington. “My decision to leave was a difficult one.”

Rocketplane has had its troubles recently, with several top officials leaving the company, including former company president Randy Brinkley.

But in an interview in October, Herrington was optimistic about Rocketplane’s future. “If we can be successful, then hopefully we can make spaceflight more routine, then more people can experience what a unique environment it is,” he said. “And if we can be successful doing both then we provide a market to the consumer that’s looking for high adventure.”

Rocketplane’s company structure consists of the parent corporation Rocketplane Limited, under which are two separate entities: Rocketplane Kistler which is developing a reusable two-stage orbital unmanned spacecraft called the K-1 while Rocketplane Global is building the XP.

In August 2006 Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) won a contract with NASA for the COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program, to bring cargo and eventually crew to the ISS. But in October of 2007, NASA terminated its agreement with RpK, citing the company’s failure to meet financial and design review milestones per the agreement. Rocketplane had threatened to sue NASA over the termination of the contract, but several sources now indicate that the commercial space company will not file a lawsuit against NASA.

Herrington said that while working at both NASA and Rocketplane was a dream come true, he spent a lot of time away from home, which took a toll on his family. “There’s an aura associated with being an astronaut, but the reality is that it’s a lot of hard work,” he said. “When the thrill wears off, you stick your head in the books and you spend a lot of time learning what you need to know and then performing in a hostile environment. But it was a dream I had as a kid, and when you fulfill a dream like that it’s a phenomenal feeling.”

Original News Source: Chickasaw Nation Press Release

Universe Today : Shuttle Launch Date Still Uncertain

Written by Nancy Atkinson

NASA officials are hoping that the repairs to space shuttle Atlantis’ fuel sensor system will be completed in time for a January 24 launch date for the STS-122 mission to the International Space Station. But in a January 3rd press briefing, John Shannon, deputy manager of the shuttle program told reporters that a February 2nd or 7th launch date is more probable given the testing and the work required.

"There's no way we're going to be earlier than Jan. 24," Shannon said. "I would say it is a stretch to think we would make the 24th, that would require the weather to cooperate out at the Kennedy Space Center, it would require no hitches in any of the testing.”

A suspect connector in the engine cutoff (ECO) fuel sensor system was removed from the shuttle’s external tank and is being tested at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. If the tests there don’t replicate the false readings that occurred during two launch attempts in early December, another on-pad fueling test might be required to collect additional data. If so, the launch could be delayed to Feb. 2 at the earliest.

A fueling test performed on December 18 isolated the problem to the 1 ½ -by 3 inch connector called a pass-through connector, located both inside and outside the tank. The wires for all four ECO sensors pass through the same connector. From the data of that test, engineers believe the problem lies in gaps between pins and sockets on the external side of the pass-through connector when the system is chilled to cryogenic temperatures, as when the tank is filled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

"It's a difficult problem," Shannon said. "I'm not making excuses here, but at liquid hydrogen temperatures is the only time it shows up so you have to set up a test that uses liquid hydrogen. We're very interested. This is the first time we've removed the hardware from a vehicle and had the opportunity to test it without disturbing it before hand. So it will be interesting to find out."

Engineers are now working on installing new connectors to the tank.

"All of those changes, it's fairly simple, it's a fairly elegant change and we feel very confident that if the problem is where we think it is, between the external connector and the feed through, that this will solve that," Shannon said. "Now, if you look at the schedule, we're going to have new external connectors and feed-through assemblies at KSC this weekend and we're going to proceed with installing that on external tank Number 125, which is the one Atlantis is currently mated to. We expect that work to be done by next Thursday.”

"But I asked the team to go ahead and protect that date (Jan. 24) as the earliest date that we could possibly go," Shannon continued. "I think it is much more likely that we'll be ready to go somewhere in the February 2 to February 7 timeframe, given we don't have any additional findings as we go through our testing."

Another timing issue to deal with is the scheduled Feb. 7 launch of a Russian Progress supply ship to the ISS. Joint U.S.-Russian space station flight rules don’t allow a Progress docking during a shuttle visit. If the Russians won’t change their launch date, Atlantis would have to take off by Jan. 27 or the flight would slip to sometime around Feb. 9 in order to get the Progress docked before the shuttle arrives.

Also, NASA originally planned to launch the shuttle Endeavour on the next mission to the ISS on Feb. 14. But the Atlantis delay will force a subsequent delay for Endeavour. Shannon said that NASA typically needs five weeks between launches to get ready for the next flight.

Original News Source: NASA News Audio

Universe Today : Organic Molecules Found Outside our Solar System

Written by Nicholos Wethington

Organic molecules are thought by scientists to be instrumental in kickstarting life as we know it on Earth. Within our Solar System they can be found in comets, and they cause the redness of the clouds of Saturn's moon Titan. New observations of a planet-forming disk around a star 220 light-years from Earth reveal for the first time that these molecules exist elsewhere in the Universe.

Astronomers at the Carnegie Institute have detected the presence of organic molecules in the dusty disk surrounding HR 4796A, an eight-million year-old star in the constellation Centaurus. Using Hubble's Near-Infrared Multi-Object Spectrometer they analyzed the light coming from the disk and found that its red color is due to large organic carbon molecules called tholins. The analysis ruled out other causes of the red light, such as iron oxide.

“Until recently it’s been hard to know what makes up the dust in a disk from scattered light, so to find tholins this way represents a great leap in our understanding,” said John Debes of the Carnegie Institute's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, one of the authors of the study.

Just as in our early Solar System, the disk of dust is in the process of forming planets. The collision of small bodies like asteroids and comets creates the dust in the disk, and the organic molecules present on these objects could then be scattered on any planets orbiting the star. This discovery makes it clear that it is possible for organic molecules to exist in the early stages of planet formation, paving the way for the possible development of life later on.

Organic molecules are thought to be essential to the development biological organisms because they are made up of carbon, the building block of life on Earth. The discovery of these molecules elsewhere in the Universe does not mean that life exists there yet – or even that it will in the future – but it does increase the tantalizing prospect of life forming outside our Solar System.

The study was published in the current Astrophysical Journal Letters by John Debes and Alycia Weinberger of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism with Glenn Schneider of the University of Arizona.

Source: Carnegie Institute Press Release

Universe Today : Podcast: The Large Hadron Collider and the Search for the Higgs-Boson

Written by Astronomy Cast

When it was first developed, the standard model predicted a collection of particles, and thanks to more and more powerful colliders, physicsists have been able to find them all except one: the Higgs-Boson. It's an important one because it should explain how objects have mass. The European Large Hadron Collider should have the power and sensitivity to find the Higgs-Boson.

Click here to download the episode

The Large Hadron Collider and the Search for the Higgs-Boson - Show notes and transcript

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

Universe Today : Meteor Shower Throws Over 100 Meteors per Hour

Written by Nancy Houser

With over 100 meteors per hour, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is one of the latest mergers between Google and NASA, a major asset to space research due to their successful combination of ideas and plans. This peak shower began around 0200 UTC on Friday morning, January 4th, with the jet owned by the founders of Mountain View-based Google flying amongst big science players, such as the SETI research team.

To see this spectacular sight and to partake in a scientific mission, Google carried a team of NASA scientists and their high-technology instruments on board the Google owned Gulfstream V jet, which left the Mineta San Jose International Airport on Thursday late afternoon about 4:30 p.m. Plans were made for a ten-hour flight over the Arctic, returning to home base when the meteor shower mission was accomplished with the resulting data.

The GOOG Google.com Stock Message Board is full of the things that Google has been doing to improve the world—a real biggie was to develop a cheaper solar, wind power for Earth—excellent idea from a company whose corporate motto is to “do not be evil.” That plan involved the creation of a research group to develop energy sources that was a cheaper renewable alternative which focuses on solar, wind and any other forms of power through the Renewable Energy “Cheaper Than Coal” project. And of course, lowering Google's power bill was top of the list before anyone else as a huge incentive.

Last September, as most are aware of, NASA and Google had launched a $2.6 million dollar agreement to let the Google co-founders house their aircraft at Moffett Field while NASA was to be allowed to use it for their science work, such as that of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower. Other prospective plans for Google are to hand out $30 million dollars to any company that successfully comes up with a plan to bring people to the moon. Another plan is to fund a space race through Google's Lunar X Prize competition.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Universe Today : Book Review: Our Changing Planet

Written by Mark Mortimer

A butterfly's flapping wings may alter the weather a thousand kilometres away. This marvel of chaos also symbolizes Earth's many interconnections. Such connections appear again and again in the book Our Changing Planet – The View From Space edited by M. King, C. Parkinson, K. Partington and R. Williams. Its collection of essays and vibrant depictions allow a reader to grasp meaning from random variability and arrive at a comprehension about the system that supports our lives on Earth.

The space age brought two great assets to weather forecasting; the satellite and computers. These tools allowed us to detect trends and relationships. For example, cold air over the Pacific Ocean during the spring time may lead to overly dry conditions along the west coast of the Americas. And, at a smaller scale, we see cities causing heat islands that effect their immediate climates. Through this experience, we can take current conditions and extrapolate them into the future. The goal is thus to ameliorate conditions, like tsunamis, that may be disadvantageous to human existence. However, this is a new field, so making predictions beyond a year, or perhaps a decade, still come with a great deal of uncertainty.

Nevertheless, we can make connections, and this book gives the reader an appreciation of what's been done with our knowledge and where we might be going. The four editors; King, Parkinson, Partington and Williams have included within their book over 60 independent essays so as to provide a perspective of the dynamics of Earth. Most of these are weather related, though selections on plate tectonics, glaciers and vegetation show how weather affects and is affected by so much. For example, aerosols from ship's exhaust cause a plume that satellites can detect well after the ship's moved on. As well, Ebola outbreaks have a direct association with the end of rainy seasons. Also included within the book are little tidbits of information. An average hurricane will condense 20,000 million tons of water a day. And, over 1% of global total emission of man-made sulphur dioxide come from a few smelters at Noril'sk in north central Siberia. As these demonstrate, there's little that can hide from today's satellite technology, and this book readily shows this to great avail.

Yet, this book particularly shines through its illustrations. The book is physically of an overly large format. With this, the editors provide broad, expansive colour images, usually from satellites. For instance, a dramatic two page spread shows the mighty Lambert Glacier flowing out to the ocean. However, the book's true bread and butter are the many GIS themed maps. Whether showing net primary productivity on a global scale or tsunami wave heights in the Indian Ocean, the reader is given simple yet informative visual pictures of the data. By providing a series of these maps, all annotated with dates, the reader can then easily grasp how our planet's features change over time and how they effect all of Earth's residents.

With the illustrations and their associated essays, the reader will see that the Earth changes. But, this isn't news to anyone. And, this is a weakness of the book. The editors have omitted the inclusion of a common theme to drive the reader through the book. General interest and appreciation of great illustrations will start the reader into the book, but it may not be enough to keep them going. There's an implicit understanding throughout the text that any change will affect humans. But, as people cover the globe, this comes as no surprise. Thus, the editors have missed an opportunity to build upon the knowledge. Especially, they've shied away from trying to combine trends seen from the individual case studies. It is apparent that the editors have gotten essays from very knowledgeable writers, but the writers appear to have worked mostly in isolation. Hence, aside from a general theme of a changing Earth, the essays have little that relate to each.

Nevertheless, this book makes for a great reference. In particular, it epitomizes the value of geographical information systems (GIS). With only rudimentary geographical knowledge, any reader can appreciate ebbs and flows across our globe. And, by the very nature of satellites, the reader will quickly forget about national boundaries and appreciate the inter-connected nature of our existence. However, this book keeps science within easy reach, more for the student or general reader than a researcher. Thus, though a wonderful reference either for data or for themes, this book is a starting point and a typical reader will be looking elsewhere to build upon the presentations.

With the Earth spinning by at well over 1600 kilometres an hour, many things get tossed and turned about. Add to this the effects of the occasional volcano and some very active residents, and, changes will abound. Such becomes readily apparent in the book Our Changing Planet – The View From Space edited by M. King, C. Parkinson, K. Partington and R. Williams. Through glowing illustrations and bright essays within it, our Earth becomes much more complete and more precious.

Read more reviews or purchase a copy online from Amazon.com

Science magazine : A Baby Planet's First Steps?

Baby fat.
This artist's impression shows a very young and still-forming massive planet just discovered orbiting its parent star.

Credit: Johny Setiawan

By Phil Berardelli
ScienceNOW Daily News
2 January 2008

Astronomers think they have found the first "baby" exoplanet--a world so young it could provide insight into the earliest stages of planet formation.

Over the past decade and a half, astronomers have identified 270 planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system (ScienceNOW, 10 January 2007). Using ever-more-powerful telescopes, they have also detected hundreds of nascent stars surrounded by clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have presumed that these protoplanetary disks, as they're called, coalesce into rocks, asteroids, and eventually planets, but so far direct evidence has been lacking.

Now a team from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, claims to have landed the proof. After scanning disks surrounding about 200 stars, the researchers detected a periodic wobble in the motion of TW Hydrae, located about 180 light-years away in the constellation Hydra. The wobble means that something with significant gravity is tugging at the still-forming star on a regular basis. Further analysis suggested a planet with about 10 times the mass of Jupiter tightly orbiting its parent star about every 4 days.

More striking, the team reports in the 3 January issue of Nature, the data suggest that the planet's age is less than 10 million years--only about a tenth as old as any other extrasolar planet found so far. "Before this discovery, it was not clear what the real time scale of planet formation was," says astronomer and lead author Johny Setiawan. But the detection of this young planet around TW Hydrae suggests a much faster process than scientists had thought, and it "shows us that what we call protoplanetary disks are indeed protoplanetary," he says.

Perhaps, but the object may not be a planet at all, says planetary scientist Jack Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. He's not convinced by the data regarding the size of the object, and if it ends up being just a little larger than the German team estimates--say, 13 times the size of Jupiter--it could instead be a starlike body known as a brown dwarf.

Whether or not the object is a planet, the finding "demonstrates that it is now possible to observe planets orbiting very young stars," says planetary scientist Joseph Harrington of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. And that, he adds, will help researchers to "test current hypotheses about planet formation."

Related sites

More about known exoplanets

More about protoplanetary disks

Universe Today : SETI@home Needs You!

Written by Nancy Atkinson

If your New Year’s resolutions include trying something new, expanding your horizons, or doing something to benefit humanity, this is for you: SETI@home needs more volunteers to help crunch data in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). And the easy part is that your desktop computer does all the work.

SETI uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow band-width radio signals from space. Since these signals don’t occur naturally, a detection of such a signal would indicate technology from an extraterrestrial source.

The SETI project at the University of California-Berkley gets data from world's largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, which has recently been updated with seven new and more sensitive receivers. The improved frequency coverage for the telescope is now generating 500 times more data for the SETI project than before, and more volunteers are needed to handle the increase in data.

According to project scientist Eric Korpela, the new data amounts to 300 gigabytes per day, or 100 terabytes (100,000 gigabytes) per year, about the amount of data stored in the U.S. Library of Congress. "That's why we need all the volunteers," he said. "Everyone has a chance to be part of the largest public participation science project in history."

The SETI@home premise is simple but brilliant: Instead of using a monstrously huge and expensive supercomputer to analyze all the data, it uses lots of small computers, all working simultaneously on different parts of the analysis. Participants download a special screensaver for their home computers, and when the computer is idle, the screensaver kicks in to grab data from UC Berkley, analyze the data and send back a report. SETI@home was launched in May of 1999.

The SETI@home software has now been upgraded to deal with all the new data generated by the updated Arecibo telescope. The telescope can now record radio signals from seven regions of the sky simultaneously instead of just one. It also has greater sensitivity and 40 times more frequency coverage.

So, if the phrase “to search out new life and new civilizations” inspires you, here’s your chance to be part of the largest community of dedicated users of any internet computing project. Currently SETI@home has 170,000 individuals donating time on 320,000 computers.

"Earthlings are just getting started looking at the frequencies in the sky; we're looking only at the cosmically brightest sources, hoping we are scanning the right radio channels," said project chief scientist Dan Werthimer. "The good news is, we're entering an era when we will be able to scan billions of channels. Arecibo is now optimized for this kind of search, so if there are signals out there, we or our volunteers will find them."

Check out SETI@home here.
Original News Source: UC Berkley Press Release

Universe Today : Carnival of Space #35

Written by Fraser Cain

We took a bit of a break over the holidays, but we're back with the Carnival of Space #35. This week it's over at the Music of the Spheres. And there's a second bonus edition with a few entries that I somehow let slip through the cracks.

Should we reach out to extraterrestrials, or just keep our mouths shut? Is Asteroid 2007 WD5 going to hit Mars later this month? These topics and more are covered in a collection of space and astronomy stories, so check them out.

And if you're interested in looking back, here's an archive to all the past carnivals of space. If you've got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to carnivalofspace@gmail.com, and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community - and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let me know if you can be a host, and I'll schedule you into the calendar.

Universe Today : The Moon Meets Antares On January 5

Written by Tammy Plotner

Although no one likes to get up early, it will be worth it on the morning of January 5. For dedicated SkyWatchers, you'll enjoy the pleasing view of Venus and the last phases of the waning Moon… But look closely, because you'll see brilliant red Antares is also joining the show! Whenever a bright star like Antares is so close to the lunar limb, chances are an occultation event is about to happen for some area of the Earth. Would you like to learn more? A photographic and scientific opportunity awaits you!

Less than half a degree away from the lighted edge of the crescent Moon, Antares will make a picturesque scene for many of us that only nature can create. For a few lucky viewers in the south-western portion of South America, this could be an occultation event! If you've ever wondered about occultations, then it's time to learn more about what an occultation is, when it happens, how to view it, record and report.

Several times a year the natural progress of the Moon against the progress of the starry background means a chance to see the lunar disk occult (or cover up) a bright star or planet. If the object is bright enough, you can watch this happen with only your eyes, but even binoculars or a small telescope will greatly improve the view. What a pleasure it is to see a star simply disappear behind the Moon's limb! But it's not just the Moon that occults stars - so do asteroids. Occultations happen anytime one celestial body passes in front of another - a type of eclipse. For those of you who enjoy doing a little bit of science, there's a whole lot more to do… and contributions you can make!

Thanks to great folks at the International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA), you can learn how to predict, time, record and submit your observations by downloading the free ebook: "Chasing the Shadow: The IOTA Occultation Observer's Manual - The Complete Guide to Observing Lunar, Grazing and Asteroid Occultations" available here! It's the only book of its kind that shows observers how to get started in occultations and what equipment to use. Whether you are a novice observer, or an advanced observer with a video system, you can assist in the search for asteroidal moons, help discover new double stars and help determine the size of the Sun during solar eclipses.

Let the beauty of the morning on January 5 inspire you! During the month of January you'll be treated to great things like an occultation of the Pleiades stars on January 18 in northern North America and Northern Asia. On January 19 in southern Africa you'll see Beta Tauri disappear. If you live in Alaska, January 20 means an occultation of Mars. For southern observers in Australia and New Zealand, be sure to check out the Moon and Regulus on January 24. To get times and locations, all you have to do is check with IOTA. If watching a asteroid pass in front of a star takes your fancy, then stop by here where you can get multitudes of information for events in your area!

In the meantime, get your cameras and fingers ready. We'd like to share in your success! See if you can capture the view on the morning of January 5 and post it here. Even if you're not able to photograph the event, we'd love to hear your reports and impressions. Watch the "Universe Today" in future months as we bring you more!

Space.com : Old Comets for a New Year

By Joe Rao SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist posted: 04 January 2008 06:24 am ET

As we kick off the year 2008, Comet Tuttle is putting on a nice show for backyard skywatchers. It had not been seen since 1994, but you'll have an excellent opportunity to pick it up with binoculars or small telescopes during the next two weeks.

Tuttle can even be glimpsed by sharp-eyed observers under pristine skies without any optical aids, for it is one of the brightest of the short-period comets, those that orbit the sun often enough to be seen again and again from Earth and identified as such.

And speaking of short-period comets, Comet Holmes continues to delight observers more than two months after its stupendous explosion to naked-eye visibility.

Discovery

As we all know, Halley's was the first comet-to be recognized as periodic, but it had been seen on many previous returns before Edmund Halley announced that fact in the year 1705. Similarly, although Encke's comet was discovered in 1786, it was observed on three more returns before Johann Franz Encke determined that it had an orbital period of 3.3-years.

The object that we today call Comet Tuttle had a similar history.

On Jan. 9, 1790, the renowned Parisian comet hunter Pierre Méchain discovered a fairly bright telescopic comet in the western evening sky. His friend and rival Charles Messier described it on the following night as resembling an unresolved star cluster or nebula without a nucleus. It was followed for just over three weeks; just not enough time for a sufficient number of observations to determine an accurate orbit.

Astronomers assumed that the object was traveling in a parabolic orbit and would never be seen again, and entered the literature simply as "Comet 1790 II." It wasn't to be seen again for nearly 70-years.

Tuttle's turn

Horace P. Tuttle, an assistant at Harvard College Observatory, discovered three comets by telescope during the year 1858. Tuttle found the first of them on Jan. 4 in the constellation Andromeda. Still approaching the perihelion point of its orbit (its least distance from the sun), the comet was favorably placed relative to the Earth, and this made possible a long series of positional measurements.

Comet Tuttle was brightest during February at about magnitude 7, meaning it was just below the threshold of naked eye visibility, though a relatively easy object to see with binoculars or a small telescope.

Tuttle himself was among the first to suggest that his object was identical with Comet 1790 II. A 13.7-year period was proposed by several astronomers, and it soon became clear that Comet Tuttle of 1858 had been missed at four intervening apparitions. At three of those returns (1803, 1817, and 1844) it was too close to the sun in the sky to be seen, while conversely, in 1830 it should have been an easy object in the morning sky but was somehow missed.

Comet Tuttle became the eighth comet to be recognized as a periodic object hence it is now designated as 8P/Tuttle.

The perihelion distance of 8P/Tuttle places it just outside of the Earth's orbit at 95.5 million miles (153.6 million kilometers). Also, around Dec. 22 of each year the Earth passes through the dusty trail left behind by the comet from its previous visits. This encounter gives rise to an annual display of meteors known as the Ursids, which appear to diverge from near the bright star Kochab in the bowl of the Little Dipper.

Because 8P/Tuttle was observed at each return following its 1858 rediscovery except in 1953, this time around will go down in the record books as its 12th observed apparition. And as it turns out, this apparition will be among its very best.

Where and when to look

On New Year's Day, 8P/Tuttle passed closest to Earth; a distance of 23.5 million miles (37.8 million kilometers). Although it is now slowly moving away from the Earth, it will continue to slowly approach the sun, passing closest to it on Jan. 27. Comets are most visible when they near the sun, which lights up material that boils off the comet.

So, during these next two weeks, the comet will hold nearly steady in brightness at around magnitude 6. For those blessed with clear, dark skies far from significant light pollution, the comet might be even glimpsed with the unaided eye. But good binoculars or a small telescope will easily bring 8P/Tuttle into view if you know where to train them; it should appear as a small fuzzy star possibly sporting a faint, narrow tail.

The comet will be situated against the rather dim stars that compose the so-called "watery region" of the sky, passing through eastern Pisces (the fishes) into Cetus (the whale) during the night of Jan. 6-7. On that night, it will lie not far to the west from one of the brightest stars in Pisces: fourth magnitude, Al Rischa, located at the point where the two fish are tied. In fact, the name comes from the Arabic word for "cord."

For the next couple of weeks both Pisces and Cetus can be conveniently found well up in the southern sky between 6 to 8 p.m. local standard time.

Comet 8P/Tuttle will appear to skid south in its orbit against the background stars of these two constellations. After moving through Cetus, 8P/Tuttle will pass into the dim, shapeless constellation of Fornax (the furnace) on Jan. 16. It will continue to plunge south thereafter, gradually becoming unfavorably placed for viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, although those living south of the equator will be able to follow the now fading comet right on into February.

A reminder about Comet Holmes!

While the spotlight is now on Comet Tuttle, we should not forget about our old friend, Comet Holmes which continues to be dimly visible to the unaided eye as a diffuse, circular cloud, roughly twice the apparent diameter of the moon against the stars of the constellation Perseus.

This comet was no brighter than magnitude 17 in mid-October — that's about 25,000 times fainter than the faintest star that can normally be seen without any optical aid. But late on Oct. 23, the comet's brightness suddenly rocketed all the way up to magnitude 2.5, brightening nearly one million times in less than 24 hours!

In attempting to explain why Comet Holmes exploded, comet expert, John Bortle suggested that this comet's nucleus consists of low-density material that, over time developed into a large region with a very tenuous structure, like a honeycomb. At some point, the highly fragile bonds connecting the honeycomb of material reached a failing point and a sudden crushing collapse occurred, expelling a gigantic volume of dust into space, making this dim comet suddenly appear impressively bright.

Back in 1892, Comet Holmes suffered two major outbursts separated by about 75 days. This leads to the question as to whether this comet will undergo a similar "cosmic aftershock" in the wake of its recent late October explosion.

Bortle thinks it's a possibility, based on the theory that there may be a large amount of residual instability which might lead to a second major collapse of material on the comet nucleus. If what happens now parallels what happened in 1892, another possible explosive outburst may be imminent, so it might be wise to keep a close watch on Comet Holmes in the coming days ahead.

• Online Sky Maps and More
• Sky Calendar & Moon Phases
• Astrophotography 101

Space.com : 4 Years on Mars: Rovers Continue to Amaze

By Dave Mosher Staff Writer posted: 03 January 2008 06:28 am ET

Two robots the size of golf carts were given 90 days to squeeze as much science as possible from the barren, dust-swept terrain of Mars. After that, scientists expected nothing more from them than death.

Nearly four years after their warranties expired, however, the Mars Explorations Rovers (MERs) "Spirit" and "Opportunity" continue to play productively in the red dirt.

Spirit celebrates its fourth anniversary of Martian work on Jan. 4, the day it landed in 2004, followed by Opportunity on Jan. 25. Those four Earth years since landing convert to 2.25 Martian years, or 1,422 Martian days called "sols."

"We never thought we'd still be driving these robots all over Mars," said Mark Lemmon, a planetary scientist at Texas A&M University and member of the rover science team. "We joked about driving Opportunity into Victoria Crater, but now we're there, and we're looking at doing even more science. Each day they still work is an amazing one."

Happy anniversary

Since the rovers bounced onto Mars' surface, they have collectively driven more than 11.8 miles (19.1 kilometers) and snapped more than 210,000 images. That's roughly 55 standard DVD movies worth of uncompressed data.

Scientists have used this information through the years to crank out more than 100 studies about the planet's geologic past "with many more in progress," Lemmon said.

"It's been a great year for the rovers and we're getting deeper into Martian history than we've ... done before," Lemmon said. "These robots have entirely changed the way we view Mars."

Those views include support for the existence of water on Mars, at least in the past, in the form of silica and meteorites.

In addition to that evidence, the year 2007 inflicted a global dust storm on the rovers. Although indirect sunlight powered the rovers through the dusty conditions, more than 96 percent of direct sunlight to their solar panels was filtered out.

"It was scary there for a while," Lemmon said of the low-light conditions that nearly drove the rovers to a permanent standstill.

Despite the nerve-wracking task of keeping both rovers power-positive — and their electronic circuits from snapping in the Martian cold — Lemmon explained that new science is still trickling out as a result of the weather event.

"The Mars orbiters looked down on the dust storm when it happened, but they didn't measure changes on the ground like the rovers did," he said. "The rovers are really helping us to better understand these storms."

Winter parking spot

Now that the dusty, five- to six-month Martian summer is waning and winter is creeping up, earthly operators have pinned down an over-winter parking spot for Spirit.

The rover suffered software glitches early in the mission, and now drives backward as its front right wheel is indefinitely stuck. Making matters worse is the literal fallout from the recent dust storm.

"Right now, we're working with the dustiest rover we've ever had," Lemmon said, who does not expect whirling dust devils to clean off the rover's coated solar panels any time soon. "As a result, we pretty much consider Spirit parked."

Lemmon said Opportunity, however, is in good shape to continue exploring and the team has no definitive date for parking the adventurous machine.

"Opportunity has much cleaner [solar panels] than Spirit," Lemmon said, "so there's no discussion of racing it to a north-facing slope for the winter."

Scientists used the north-facing-slope trick in the past, which helps maximize direct sunlight to the rover's solar panels during the dim Martian winter.

While Opportunity continues to maneuver around Victoria Crater, Spirit is presently resting on a slope of Home Plate — a layered outcrop of rock in the shape of a baseball home plate. "It'll stay in one place for a long time, but we'll still be able to do some science," Lemmon said.

That science includes watching the sky for water-crystal clouds and taking atmospheric measurements, but the rover may also witness a potential asteroid impact later this month.

"I'm not optimistic for the rovers seeing anything ... [but] we have some hope of seeing the impact cloud as it disperses around the planet," Lemmon said. "I like the thought of a birthday present from Mars. It'll certainly contribute more excitement to the mission."

• Video: Mars Rover Team Ponders Mission's End
• Video: Mars Rover Dynasty
• Vote: The Best of the Mars Rovers

Astronomy Magazine : White dwarf pulses like a pulsar

Current knowledge of white dwarfs is being challenged by new discoveries.

Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

The white dwarf in the AE Aquarii system is the first star of its type known to give off pulsar-like pulsations that are powered by its rotation and particle acceleration. Casey Reed [View Larger Image] January 3, 2008 New observations from Suzaku, a joint Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA X-ray observatory, have challenged scientists' conventional understanding of white dwarfs. Observers had believed white dwarfs were inert stellar corpses that slowly cool and fade away, but the new data tell a completely different story. At least one white dwarf, known as AE Aquarii, emits pulses of high-energy (hard) X-rays as it whirls around on its axis. "We're seeing behavior like the pulsar in the Crab Nebula, but we're seeing it in a white dwarf," says Koji Mukai of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Crab Nebula is the shattered remnant of a massive star that ended its life in a supernova explosion. "This is the first time such pulsar-like behavior has ever been observed in a white dwarf." White dwarfs and pulsars represent distinct classes of compact objects that are born in the wake of stellar death. A white dwarf forms when a star similar in mass to the Sun runs out of nuclear fuel. As the outer layers puff off into space, the core gravitationally contracts into a sphere about the size of Earth, but with roughly the mass of the Sun. The white dwarf starts off scorching hot from the star's residual heat. But with nothing to sustain nuclear reactions, it slowly cools over billions of years, eventually fading to near invisibility as a black dwarf. A pulsar is a type of neutron star, a collapsed core of an extremely massive star that exploded in a supernova. Whereas white dwarfs have incredibly high densities by earthly standards, neutron stars are even denser, cramming roughly 1.3 solar masses into a city-sized sphere. Pulsars give off radio and X-ray pulsations in lighthouse-like beams.

An artist depicts the Suzaku X-ray observatory in Earth's orbit. JAXA [View Larger Image] The discovery team, led by Yukikatsu Terada of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) in Wako, Japan, was not expecting to find a white dwarf mimicking a pulsar. Instead, the astronomers were hoping to find out if white dwarfs could accelerate charged subatomic particles to near-light speed, meaning they could be responsible for many of the cosmic rays that zip through our galaxy and occasionally strike Earth. Some white dwarfs, including AE Aquarii, spin very rapidly and have magnetic fields millions of times stronger than Earth's. These characteristics give them the energy to generate cosmic rays. To find out if this is happening, Terada and his colleagues targeted AE Aquarii with Suzaku in October 2005 and October 2006. The white dwarf resides in a binary system with a normal companion star. Gas from the star spirals toward the white dwarf and heats up, giving off a glow of low-energy (soft) X-rays. But Suzaku also detected sharp pulses of hard X-rays. After analyzing the data, the team realized that the hard X-ray pulses match the white dwarf's spin period of once every 33 seconds. The hard X-ray pulsations are very similar to those of the pulsar in the center of the Crab Nebula. In both objects, the pulses appear to be radiated like a lighthouse beam, and a rotating magnetic field is thought to be controlling the beam. Astronomers think that the extremely powerful magnetic fields are trapping charged particles and then flinging them outward at near-light speed. When the particles interact with the magnetic field, they radiate X-rays. "AE Aquarii seems to be a white dwarf equivalent of a pulsar," says Terada. "Since pulsars are known to be sources of cosmic rays, this means that white dwarfs should be quiet but numerous particle accelerators, contributing many of the low-energy cosmic rays in our galaxy." Launched in 2005, Suzaku is the fifth in a series of Japanese satellites devoted to studying celestial X-ray sources. Managed by JAXA, this mission is a collaborative effort between Japanese universities and institutions and Goddard.

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Space.com : Hot on the Trail of Cosmic Rays

By Jeremy Hsu Staff Writer posted: 02 January 2008 06:31 am ET

The mysterious origins of cosmic rays that slam into the Earth's atmosphere could soon be revealed, thanks to a better ground-based sensor that costs less than balloons or satellites.

Cosmic rays are thought to come from either the center of the galaxy or a nearby supernova, and knowing which is true will help astrophysicists paint a more accurate picture of the cosmos.

"Cosmic rays are not a spectator phenomenon in the galaxy — they have a role in galactic dynamics," said Scott Wakely, a University of Chicago physicist. "To understand the galaxy in a full sense, you need to understand cosmic rays."

That understanding depends on ground and space-based instruments. Satellites and balloons first detect a blue flash — known as Cerenkov radiation — when cosmic rays smash into the upper atmosphere and release energy.

The cosmic ray particles then break into a shower of smaller pieces and produce a second blue flash. Ground sensors usually only detect the second flash.

Tens of thousands of particles may bombard an area the size of a small parking lot on Earth daily, while rarer high-energy particles strike less than once a year in the same area. Satellites and balloons do a better job of detection by rising above the atmosphere, but they can only cover a small area.

"A $400 million satellite is only a couple particles per year, and you want hundreds of thousands," Wakely told SPACE.com. "You always want to look for new ways to do this."

Wakely set out with colleague Simon Swordy, a physicist at the University of Chicago, to create a ground-based instrument that could detect both the first and second blue flashes. The instrument will have roughly 10 times the resolution and power of current ground-based detectors.

Scientists can use information from both blue flashes to identify a particle as a certain element and maybe even its origin. For instance, some elements will more likely come from the fiery outburst of a supernova.

"We can say that was iron or that was uranium," noted Wakely. "Those are the kinds of data you need to make progress in this business."

No one thought ground-based instruments could detect the first blue flash, until Wakely and Swordy proposed the idea with other colleagues in 2001. A team of researchers in Namibia confirmed the concept using a telescope array called HESS. Wakely later made his own observations using a telescope array called VERITAS.

"That was direct evidence that it [the technique] works," said Wakely. "The goal of this [new] instrument is to combine large area detection with the high precision of space-based sensors."

An improved instrument could also help solve at least one mystery about the energy range of cosmic ray particles. Higher energy particles — such as those from the nuclei of heavy elements like iron — are rarer than common, lower-energy particles such as protons. But physicists have puzzled over a sudden drop-off in frequency of high-energy particles at a certain point in the energy spectrum, labeling the strange kink "the Knee" because of its shape.

Some researchers suggest that supernovas which they claim produced all the cosmic rays suddenly run out of energy at "the Knee," and a new source of cosmic rays takes over on the other side. Others think that a new model of physics takes over that is beyond current scientific understanding, but no one knows for sure, without more measurements of high-energy particles from "the Knee" region.

If all goes well, Wakely and Swordy plan to submit a proposal in three years to build the instrument they are designing. The National Science Foundation has already given a five-year, $625,000 grant to start drawing up the concept.

• VIDEO: Supernova: Creator/Destroyer
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• Astronomers Describe Cosmic Pinball Machine

Space Weather

METEOR SHOWER: Earth is about to pass through a debris stream from near-Earth asteroid 2003 EH1, producing the annual Quadrantid meteor shower. Forecasters expect a brief but intense peak of 50+ meteors per hour over Earth's northern hemisphere sometime between 0200 UTC and 0700 UTC on Friday morning, Jan. 4th. (Subtract 5 hours to convert UTC to EST.) The timing favors observers in the eastern USA, Europe and western parts of Asia: sky map.

Winter storms frequently hide this shower from observers on the ground. To avoid such problems, a team of astronomers led by Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute will fly a plane above the clouds where they can train their cameras on the Quadrantids. Their data may reveal whether asteroid 2003 EH1 is a fragment of a long-dead comet: more.

ORION--WARP 5! "While at the San Antonio Astronomical Association's New Year Eve Star Party, I was taking a widefield image of Orion and thought that I would vary the focal length of the lens," says Bryan Tobias of Fredericksburg, Texas. "This is what I ended up with!"

Photo details: Nikon D300, 14-24mm lens, f/2.8, ISO 1600 20 seconds

"I call this shot Number 1, Orion--Warp 5!" he says. "I used a Nikon D300 with a Nikon lens at all focal lengths from 14mm to 24mm."

This is a good time of year to see Orion--even at impulse speed. The constellation rises in the east at sunset beneath the campfire-red light of Mars: sky map. Watching Orion ascend, you may experience the little-known "constellation illusion." The idea is the same as the Moon illusion; constellations viewed near the horizon look abnormally large. Go outside tonight and look. Can you believe your eyes?

NEW YEARS COMET: Tonight, after sunset, take your binoculars outside and scan the sky right above your head. You may find a little emerald fuzzball--Comet 8P/Tuttle. The comet is making its closest approach to Earth (24 million miles) this week. Shining like a ~6th magnitude star, it is barely visible to the unaided eye, but a fine target for binoculars and backyard telescopes. Sky maps: Jan 2, 3.

On Dec. 30th, in the mountains of northern Italy, Giampaolo Salvato photographed the comet gliding by spiral galaxy M33:

more galaxy-comet encounter photos

"This is a 2 x 5 minute exposure at ISO 1600," says Salvato, who took the picture using his backyard telescope and a Canon 5D digital camera.

The colors in this photo are truly heavenly: The galaxy is blue because of a great number of young and massive blue-white stars outlining the spiral arms. The comet, on the other hand, is green because of cyanogen (CN, a poisonous gas) and diatomic carbon (C₂) present in the comet's atmosphere; both substances glow emerald-green when exposed to UV sunlight in the near vacuum of space.