The Martian atmosphere saturated with water vapor!

ESA - Mars Express Mission patch.

Oct. 4, 2011

A new analysis of data sent by the SPICAM spectrometer aboard the Mars Express spacecraft of ESA, has revealed for the first time that the planet's atmosphere is supersaturated with water vapor. This surprising discovery with important implications for understanding the Martian water cycle as well as the evolution of its atmosphere is presented in an article in Science on September 29, 2011.

Although several satellites have visited Mars since the 70's, very few direct measurements of the vertical structure of the atmosphere of the planet were made.

Mars Express in orbit around Mars - Credit: ESA

Overall, most of the instruments that have operated in orbit to date have primarily looked at the surface. Only by studying the horizontal distribution of water in the atmosphere, they left the question of the vertical profile of water vapor in the atmosphere almost unexplored. Given this lack of direct measurements, the representation of the vertical distribution of water vapor, a key element in the hydrological cycle of Mars, is generally based on the theoretical predictions of climate models.

Finally a vertical profile of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere!

This data gap is now filled by the SPICAM spectrometer (Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars) Mars Express. Used in occultation mode when it scans the sunlight through the atmosphere of the planet just before sunrise or sunset, the instrument records the measurements of various constituents of the atmosphere.

Vertical profiles of concentration can then be established, including water vapor. Or SPICAM data obtained in the infrared range in the spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere indicate that the vertical distribution of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere is not compatible with models that Climate plan. These results provide the first evidence of the existence of water vapor in a state of supersaturation on Mars.

The atmosphere of Mars contains about 10,000 times less water vapor than that of Earth. If it condenses on the surface, the water in the Martian atmosphere would form a layer of 10 microns (1/100th of a mm) thick over the entire planet. However, water vapor is a gas trace marked by very strong momentum, proving to be one of Mars' atmospheric constituents the most variable (locally, its concentration can vary by a factor greater than 1000 during the year).

Diagram of water cycle in the Martian atmosphere - Credit: ESA / Medialab AOES

In standard terrestrial conditions, water vapor tends to condense around small airborne dust or aerosol particles or salts, when the temperature drops below the "dew point". The atmosphere is so-called "saturated", because it can hold more moisture at this temperature and the pressure. Any amount of water vapor in excess of the "dew point" condenses into droplets or ice crystals that come later rush.

However, when condensation nuclei (which are assumed to be mineral dust suspended in the atmosphere) are too rare, the condensation is very slow and does not allow water vapor to condense excess. This creates a supersaturation of water remaining in gaseous phase imbalance.

Frequent supersaturation

So far, it was assumed a priori that such a supersaturation could not exist in the Martian atmosphere, also very cold (- 100 ° C): any molecule of water beyond the saturation level was supposed to immediately transform the form of ice.

For Mars, the conditions of pressure and temperature allow only two states for water: solid and / or gas.

Nevertheless, the data revealed that the SPICAM supersaturation of water vapor is a common occurrence on Mars. Supersaturation levels are high have been found up to 10 times higher than those found on Earth.

 Mars Express in orbit around Mars - Credit: ESA

In fact, there is much more water vapor in the upper part of the Martian atmosphere than anyone had imagined.

Climate models have apparently he greatly underestimated the concentration of water vapor at altitudes above 15 km, a level at which water vapor encounters a theoretical point of condensation, with 10 to 100 times more water than was originally planned.

"The vertical distribution of water vapor is a key factor in the hydrological cycle on Mars, and an old paradigm, which assumes that water is mainly controlled by the physics of saturation should now be completely revised" Luca Maltagliati notes, post-doctoral fellow at CNES LATMOS. "Our discovery has major implications for understanding the global climate and for the transport of water at large. Indeed, the capacity of the water vapor to exist in a state of high supersaturation allows him to power atmospheric layers dominated by north-south movements. With this, the Southern Hemisphere is supplied with water much more efficiently than predicted by current models. This mechanism has probably endured and will endure even over thousands of years. "

"The data show that SPICAM much larger amount of water vapor can be transported in the atmosphere high enough to be destroyed by photodissociation," said Franck Montmessin, SPICAM scientific leader and co-author of the article.

Image of the south pole of Mars made with data from Mars Express in January 2011. Credits: ESA

Solar radiation breaks the water molecules and produce oxygen atoms of hydrogen and light enough to then escape to interplanetary space. This has fundamental implications on the issue of water on Mars, known significant fraction continually escapes to space (through the hydrogen and oxygen) for billions of years, explaining part the low concentration of present water.

After these initial revelations, the further data analysis SPICAM could still deliver amazing results.

Article references:

Evidence of Water Vapor in Excess of Saturation in the Atmosphere of Mars, L. Maltagliati, F. Montmessin, A. Fedorova, O Korablev, F. Forget, and J.-L Bertaux, Science, September 2011

Images (Mentioned), Text, Credits: CNES / ESA / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

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Saturn's Geyser Moon Enceladus Shows off for Cassini

NASA - ESA Cassini "insider's" Mission logo.

10.03.11

NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully completed its Oct. 1 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus and its jets of water vapor and ice. At its closest approach, the spacecraft flew approximately 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the moon's surface. The close approach was designed to give some of Cassini's instruments, including the ion and neutral mass spectrometer, the chance to "taste" the jets themselves.

Image above: Cassini sees jets of water vapor and ice from Enceladus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

At a higher vantage point during the encounter, Cassini's high-resolution camera captured pictures of the jets emanating from the moon's south polar region. The latest raw images of Enceladus are online at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/ .

Image above: During Cassini's Oct. 1, 2011 flyby, Saturn's moon Enceladus was in full view. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

The images of the surface include previously seen leading-hemisphere terrain. However, during this encounter, multi-spectral imaging of these terrains extended farther into the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum than had previously been achieved at this resolution. By looking at the surface at ultraviolet wavelengths, scientists can better detect the difference between surface materials and shadows than they can at visible wavelengths, where icy materials are highly reflective and shadows are washed out. With both ultraviolet and visible images of the same terrain available to them, scientists will better understand how the surface coverage of icy particles coming from the vents and plumes changes with terrain type and age.

Cassini's next pass of this fascinating moon will be Oct. 19, when the spacecraft flies by at an altitude of approximately 765 miles (1231 kilometers).

Image above: NASA's Cassini imaged Enceladus' surface during its Oct. 1, 2011 flyby. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
The Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer science team is based at the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Images (mentioned), Text, Credit: JPL / Gay Hill.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

The spacecraft "Glonass-M" was launched into orbit

ROSCOSMOS - GLONASS patch.

03/10/2011

Soyuz-2.1b with the upper stage "Fregat" and navigating the spacecraft, " Glonass-M " launch

October 3 at 00 hours 15 minutes Moscow time from Launch Complex 43 site Plesetsk military calculations of the Russian Space Forces, with the participation of specialists of space-rocket industry made a successful launch of space rocket "Soyuz-2.1b" with the upper stage "Fregat" and navigating the spacecraft, " Glonass-M ".

Soyuz-2.1b with the upper stage "Fregat" and navigating the spacecraft, " Glonass-M "

In accordance with cyclogram launch the spacecraft into its target orbit at 3:00 Moscow time 47 minutes the spacecraft "Glonass-M" cleanly separated from the booster and placed on the control.

Russia successfully put into orbit the satellite Glonass M (Comments in Russian)

Deputy Head of Federal Space Agency Anatoly Shilov said that after the withdrawal of Russian satellites into orbit, the GLONASS system will be fully staffed. In 1996, in the GLONASS constellation has 24 satellites to be an active service life of three years.

 GLONASS-M in orbit (Artist's view)

Then the system deteriorated. Restore it to full strength managed to present the launch. The grouping of the 24 units allows you to receive GLONASS without limitation throughout the world, he added Shilov.

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / Roscosmos TV / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

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ESO - ALMA Opens Its Eyes

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo.

3 October 2011

The most powerful millimetre/submillimetre-wavelength telescope in the world opens for business and reveals its first image

Antennae Galaxies composite of ALMA and Hubble observations

Humanity's most complex ground-based astronomy observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), has officially opened for astronomers. The first released image, from a telescope still under construction, reveals a view of the Universe that cannot be seen at all by visible-light and infrared telescopes. Thousands of scientists from around the world have competed to be among the first few researchers to explore some of the darkest, coldest, furthest, and most hidden secrets of the cosmos with this new astronomical tool.

At present, around a third of ALMA’s eventual 66 radio antennas, with separations up to only 125 metres rather than the maximum 16 kilometres, make up the growing array on the Chajnantor plateau in northern Chile, at an elevation of 5000 metres. And yet, even under construction, ALMA has become the best telescope of its kind — as reflected by the extraordinary number of astronomers who requested time to observe with ALMA.

Antennae Galaxies composite of ALMA and Hubble observations 

“Even in this very early phase ALMA already outperforms all other submillimetre arrays. Reaching this milestone is a tribute to the impressive efforts of the many scientists and engineers in the ALMA partner regions around the world who made it possible,” said Tim de Zeeuw, Director General of ESO, the European partner in ALMA.

ALMA observes the Universe in light with millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths, roughly one thousand times longer than visible-light wavelengths. Using these longer wavelengths allows astronomers to study extremely cold objects in space — such as the dense clouds of cosmic dust and gas from which stars and planets form — as well as very distant objects in the early Universe.

ALMA is radically different from visible-light and infrared telescopes. It is an array of linked antennas acting as a single giant telescope, and it detects much longer wavelengths than those of visible light. Its images therefore look quite unlike more familiar pictures of the cosmos.

ALMA view of the Antennae Galaxies

The ALMA team has been busy testing the observatory’s systems over the past few months, in preparation for the first round of scientific observations, known as Early Science. One outcome of their tests is the first image published from ALMA, albeit from what is still very much a growing telescope. Most of the observations used to create this image of the Antennae Galaxies were made using only twelve antennas working together — far fewer than will be used for the first science observations — and with the antennas much closer together as well. Both of these factors make the new image just a taster of what is to come. As the observatory grows, the sharpness, efficiency, and quality of its observations will increase dramatically as more antennas become available and the array grows in size [1].

The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of colliding galaxies with dramatically distorted shapes. While visible light shows us the stars in the galaxies, ALMA’s view reveals something that cannot be seen in visible light: the clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form [2]. This is the best submillimetre-wavelength image ever made of the Antennae Galaxies.

Antennae Galaxies, side-by-side comparison of ALMA and VLT observations

Massive concentrations of gas are found not only in the hearts of the two galaxies but also in the chaotic region where they are colliding. Here, the total amount of gas is billions of times the mass of our Sun — a rich reservoir of material for future generations of stars. Observations like these open a new window on the submillimetre Universe and will be vital in helping us understand how galaxy collisions can trigger the birth of new stars. This is just one example of how ALMA reveals parts of the Universe that cannot be seen with visible-light and infrared telescopes.

ALMA could accept only about a hundred or so projects for this first nine-month phase of Early Science. Nevertheless, over the last few months, keen astronomers from around the world have submitted over 900 proposals for observations. This ninefold level of oversubscription is a record for a telescope. The successful projects were chosen based on their scientific merit, their regional diversity, and also their relevance to ALMA’s major science goals.

The Antennae Galaxies in the constellation of Corvus

"We are living in a historic moment for science and particularly for astronomy, and perhaps also for the evolution of humanity, because we start to use the greatest observatory under construction at the moment," said Thijs de Graauw, Director of ALMA.

One of the projects chosen for ALMA Early Science observations was that of David Wilner from the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Wilner said, “My team hunts for the building blocks of solar systems, and ALMA is uniquely equipped to spot them.”

His team’s target is AU Microscopii, a star 33 light-years away that is only 1% of the age of our Sun. “We will use ALMA to image the ‘birth ring’ of planetesimals that we believe orbits this young star. Only with ALMA, however, can we hope to discover clumps in these dusty asteroid belts, which can be the markers of unseen planets.” Wilner and his team will share their data with a European team who also requested ALMA observations of this nearby, dust-ringed star.

Wide-field view of the region around the Antennae Galaxies

Any hunt for habitable planets around other stars often begins with a hunt for water in those distant solar systems. Debris discs, the swarms of dust, gas, and rocks around stars, are suspected also to contain craggy ice chunks filled with frozen water, gas, and possibly even organic molecules — the astrochemistry of life.

Simon Casassus, from the University of Chile, and his team will use ALMA to observe the gas and dust disc around HD142527, a young star that is 400 light-years away. “The dusty disc around this star has a very large gap, which may have been carved by the formation of giant planets,” said Casassus. “Outside the gap, this disc contains enough gas to make about a dozen Jupiter-sized planets. Inside the gap, a young gaseous giant planet could still be forming, if there is gaseous material available.” Their ALMA observations will measure the mass and physical conditions of gas interior to the gap. “Thus, ALMA gives us a chance to observe planet formation, or its most recent wake,” said Casassus.

Further away, 26 000 light-years from us in the centre of our galaxy, sits Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of our Sun. Gas and dust between it and us hide it from our optical telescopes. However, ALMA is tuned to see through the galactic murk and give us tantalising views of Sagittarius A*.

Nineteen ALMA antennas on the Chajnantor plateau

Heino Falcke, an astronomer at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, said “ALMA will let us watch flares of light coming from around this supermassive black hole, and make images of the gas clouds caught by its immense pull. This will let us study this monster’s messy feeding habits. We think that some of the gas may be escaping its grip, at close to the speed of light.”

Like the black outlines in a child’s colouring book, cosmic dust and cold gas trace out structures inside galaxies, even if we can’t see those galaxies clearly. At the outer fringes of our visible Universe lie the mysterious starburst galaxies, bright islands in an otherwise calm, dark cosmos. ALMA will hunt for cold gas and dust tracers here, as far back as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, at a time astronomers call “cosmic dawn”.

Masami Ouchi of the University of Tokyo in Japan will use ALMA to observe Himiko, a very distant galaxy churning out at least 100 Suns’ worth of stars every year and surrounded by a giant, bright nebula. “Other telescopes cannot show us why Himiko is so bright and how it has developed such a huge, hot nebula when the ancient Universe all around it is so calm and dark,” said Ouchi. “ALMA can show us the cold gas deep in Himiko’s star-forming nebula, tracing the movements and activities inside, and we will finally see how galaxies started forming at the cosmic dawn.”

Zooming on ALMA’s view of the Antennae Galaxies

During its Early Science observations, ALMA will continue its construction phase in the Chilean Andes, high on the remote Chajnantor Plain in the harsh Atacama Desert. Each new, climate-armoured antenna will join the array and be linked via fibre optic cabling. The views from each distant antenna are assembled into one large view by one of the world’s fastest special-purpose supercomputers, the ALMA correlator, which can perform 17 quadrillion [3] operations per second.

By 2013, ALMA will be an up to 16-km wide array of 66 ultra-precision millimetre/submillimetre wave radio antennas working together as one telescope and built by ALMA’s multinational partners in Europe, North America and East Asia.

Panning across the ALMA and Hubble views of the Antennae Galaxies

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

Notes:

[1] The quality of images from an interferometric telescope like ALMA depends on both the separations and the number of the antennas. Larger separations mean that sharper images can be created and if more antennas are working together more detailed images can be produced. More information about ALMA and interferometry can be found at: http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/alma/interferometry.html.

[2] The observations were made at specific wavelengths of millimetre and submillimetre light, tuned to detect carbon monoxide molecules in the otherwise invisible hydrogen clouds, where new stars are forming.

[3] 1.7x1016 operations per second.

More information:

ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Links:

Video: ESOcast 36: ALMA Opens Its Eyes: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1137a/

Video: The ALMA Compilation 2011: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1137c/

ESO ALMA pages: http://www.eso.org/alma

Pictures of ALMA: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/alma/

JAO’s ALMA web pages: http://www.almaobservatory.org/

NRAO’s ALMA web pages and Early Science press release: http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/about/facilities/alma / http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2011/almaearlysci/

NAOJ’s ALMA web pages: http://alma.mtk.nao.ac.jp/e/

List of the 112 highest priority projects selected for ALMA Early Science, including titles, investigators, and short descriptions (PDF): http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1137/eso1137.pdf

Images, Text, Credits: ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO). Visible light image: the NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope / ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO). Visible light image: ESO / Alberto Milani / IAU and Sky & Telescope / ESA / Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgements: Davide De Martin (ESA / Hubble) / W. Garnier (ALMA) / Videos: ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO) / A. Fujii / Digitized Sky Survey 2 / Visible light image: the NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope / ESO. Music: John Dyson (from the album Moonwind).

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

NASA Space Telescope Finds Fewer Asteroids Near Earth

NASA - WISE Mission patch.

Sept. 30, 2011

New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought. The findings also indicate NASA has found more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids, meeting a goal agreed to with Congress in 1998.

Astronomers now estimate there are roughly 19,500 -- not 35,000 -- mid-size near-Earth asteroids. Scientists say this improved understanding of the population may indicate the hazard to Earth could be somewhat less than previously thought. However, the majority of these mid-size asteroids remain to be discovered. More research also is needed to determine if fewer mid-size objects (between 330 and 3,300-feet wide) also mean fewer potentially hazardous asteroids, those that come closest to Earth.

NEOWISE observations indicate that there are at least 40 percent fewer near-Earth asteroids in total that are larger than 330 feet, or 100 meters. Our solar system's four inner planets are shown in green, and our sun is in the center. Each red dot represents one asteroid. Object sizes are not to scale. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

The results come from the most accurate census to date of near-Earth asteroids, the space rocks that orbit within 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) of the sun into Earth's orbital vicinity. WISE observed infrared light from those in the middle to large-size category. The survey project, called NEOWISE, is the asteroid-hunting portion of the WISE mission. Study results appear in the Astrophysical Journal.

"NEOWISE allowed us to take a look at a more representative slice of the near-Earth asteroid numbers and make better estimates about the whole population," said Amy Mainzer, lead author of the new study and principal investigator for the NEOWISE project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "It's like a population census, where you poll a small group of people to draw conclusions about the entire country."

This chart shows how data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has led to revisions in the estimated population of near-Earth asteroids. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

WISE scanned the entire celestial sky twice in infrared light between January 2010 and February 2011, continuously snapping pictures of everything from distant galaxies to near-Earth asteroids and comets. NEOWISE observed more than 100 thousand asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, in addition to at least 585 near Earth.

WISE captured a more accurate sample of the asteroid population than previous visible-light surveys because its infrared detectors could see both dark and light objects. It is difficult for visible-light telescopes to see the dim amounts of visible-light reflected by dark asteroids. Infrared-sensing telescopes detect an object's heat, which is dependent on size and not reflective properties.

This chart illustrates how infrared is used to more accurately determine an asteroid's size. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Though the WISE data reveal only a small decline in the estimated numbers for the largest near-Earth asteroids, which are 3,300 feet (1 kilometer) and larger, they show 93 percent of the estimated population have been found. This fulfills the initial "Spaceguard" goal agreed to with Congress. These large asteroids are about the size of a small mountain and would have global consequences if they were to strike Earth. The new data revise their total numbers from about 1,000 down to 981, of which 911 already have been found. None of them represents a threat to Earth in the next few centuries. It is believed that all near-Earth asteroids approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) across, as big as the one thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs, have been found.

"The risk of a really large asteroid impacting the Earth before we could find and warn of it has been substantially reduced," said Tim Spahr, the director of the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

This chart illustrates why infrared-sensing telescopes are more suited to finding small, dark asteroids than telescopes that detect visible light. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

The situation is different for the mid-size asteroids, which could destroy a metropolitan area if they were to impact in the wrong place. The NEOWISE results find a larger decline in the estimated population for these bodies than what was observed for the largest asteroids. So far, the Spaceguard effort has found and is tracking more than 5,200 near-Earth asteroids 330 feet or larger, leaving more than an estimated 15,000 still to discover. In addition, scientists estimate there are more than a million unknown smaller near-Earth asteroids that could cause damage if they were to impact Earth.

"NEOWISE was just the latest asset NASA has used to find Earth's nearest neighbors," said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near Earth Object (NEO) Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The results complement ground-based observer efforts over the past 12 years. These observers continue to track these objects and find even more."

WISE Finds Fewer Asteroids near Earth

WISE is managed and operated by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at the University of California, Los Angeles. The WISE science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing occur at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology.

For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wise 

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA / JPL / Dwayne Brown / Whitney Clavin.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

On the Baikonur cosmodrome launch rocket "Proton-M"

ILS - QuetzSat-1 Launch Mission poster.


29/09/2011

On September 29 22 hours 32 minutes Moscow time from the launch complex area 200 Baikonur launch rocket "Proton-M" with the upper stage "Briz-M" spacecraft, and telecommunications "KvettsSat-1» (QuetzSat-1).

Launch of Proton-M with QuetzSat-1 Satellite

Start rocket "Proton-M" with the upper stage "Briz-M" was held as usual. The estimated time of separation of the spacecraft from the booster - 7 hours 45 minutes Moscow time, September 30, 2011.

Spacecraft "KvettsSat-1» (QuetzSat-1) - satellite communication in Ku-band, which is designed to provide communication services and broadcasting.

QuetzSat-1

The contract for the use of carrier rocket "Proton-M" to run "KvettsSat-1» (QuetzSat-1) has concluded the company International Launch Services Inc. Controlling stake in ILS owned Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Research and Production Space Center Khrunichev" which is a developer and manufacturer of "Proton-M" and the upper stage "Briz-M".

For more information about International Launch Servises (ILS), visit: http://www.ilslaunch.com/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / ILS / Space Systems / Loral / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

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Galaxy Caught Blowing Bubbles

ESA - Hubble Space Telescope logo.

29 September 2011

 Hubble image of irregular galaxy Holmberg II

Hubble’s famous images of galaxies typically show elegant spirals or soft-edged ellipses. But these neat forms are only representative of large galaxies. Smaller galaxies like the dwarf irregular galaxy Holmberg II come in many shapes and types that are harder to classify. This galaxy’s indistinct shape is punctuated by huge glowing bubbles of gas, captured in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Wide-field image of irregular galaxy Holmberg II (ground-based image)

The intricate glowing shells of gas in Holmberg II were created by the energetic lifecycles of many generations of stars. High-mass stars form in dense regions of gas, and later in life expel strong stellar winds that blow away the surrounding material. At the very end of their lives, they explode in as a supernova. Shock waves rip through these less dense regions blowing out and heating the gas, forming the delicate shells we see today.

Zooming in on galaxy Holmberg II

Holmberg II is a patchwork of dense star-forming regions and extensive barren areas with less material, which can stretch across thousands of light-years. As a dwarf galaxy, it has neither the spiral arms typical of galaxies like the Milky Way nor the dense nucleus of an elliptical galaxy. This makes Holmberg II, gravitationally speaking, a gentle haven where fragile structures such as these bubbles can hold their shape.

Panning across galaxy Holmberg II

While the galaxy is unremarkable in size, Holmberg II does have some intriguing features. As well as its unusual appearance — which earned it a place in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, a treasure trove of weird and wonderful objects — the galaxy hosts an ultraluminous X-ray source in the middle of three gas bubbles in the top right of the image. There are competing theories as to what causes this powerful radiation — one intriguing possibility is an intermediate-mass black hole which is pulling in material from its surroundings.

This colourful image is a composite of visible and near-infrared exposures taken using the Wide Field Channel of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Notes:

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Images, Text, Credits: NASA / ESA / Digitized Sky Survey 2 (Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin) / Videos: NASA / ESA / Digitized Sky Survey 2. Music: John Dyson (from the album Moonwind).

Greetings, Orbiter.ch