Astronomy In January - Your Guide - What #39;s Up for January 2015
Courtesy of NASA JPL Jupiter #39;s moons are putting on an amazing show this month. The orbital path of the moons is tilting edge-on to Earth and the sun. This lineup makes it possible to watch...
By: Stargazer Nation
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Astronomy In January - Your Guide - What's Up for January 2015 - Video
Raleigh Astronomy Club January 2015 Meeting
Regular Indoor Meeting of the Raleigh Astronomy Club Featuring Dr. Steven Christensen Speaking on Black Holes: Are They Really Black?
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After nine years in flight, next week NASAs New Horizons spacecraft will finally begin science observations of Pluto and its burgeoning system of five known icy moons. On July 14, the spacecrafts flyby to this dwarf planet system will culminate in a 10,000 km closest approach that should really knock your socks off, mission team member Will Grundy told Forbes. Grundy says the flyby may even confirm the existence of wind-swept surface dunes of ice and soot leftover from a time when Pluto may have had much more of an atmosphere than today.
New Horizons represents humanitys closest virtual approach to the icy body which lies so far out that it takes some 248 years just to make one orbit around our Sun.
But why spend $700 million and nearly a decade en route to explore what some would argue is just a collection of frozen rocks?
Artists impression of Plutos surface with its moon Charon and a distant sun in its sky. Credit: ESO/L. Calada Pluto
Technically, Pluto which spans slightly less than 1500 mi in diameter, or not even two-thirds the diameter of our own Moon is a member of the Kuiper Belt, a giant reservoir of planetary debris left over from the solar systems formation some 4.56 billion years ago.
Although when the mission was first proposed there was concern that Plutos atmosphere would have already frozen out and collapsed before the spacecraft arrived, Grundy now says that new thermal models conclude that Plutos atmosphere never collapses.
Grundy would like to know if Pluto would have been significantly different a few hundred million years ago? Does it episodically have a bigger atmosphere because material escapes from the interior? And has it lost most of the atmosphere; or is it in a phase where its atmosphere is larger than usual or smaller than usual?
Although Plutos surface is probably not completely ice, its main composition is known to be nitrogen ice, carbon monoxide ice, and methane ice.
When you look at Pluto with the Hubble Space Telescope, you see a really blotchy surface with really dark areas and very bright areas, said Grundy. The conjecture is that those bright areas are ices and the dark areas are some older dirtier type of substrate.
Grundy says Plutos surface may even have some sort of hydrocarbon gunk, chemically not that different from crude oil or tar. But unlike oil at room temperature, these frozen molecules, he says, would behave more like rock particles than the gunk one might find on the floor of your local garage.
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Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik piled on to the ancient-India-knew-it-all controversy which sprang up during the course of the Indian Science Congress by announcing that astrology was a science.
During the event's closing ceremony, he said that astrology was an advanced science and even though he did not believe in it, he had no doubt that it was, indeed, a science.
The 102nd edition of the Indian Science Congress, inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi last Saturday, came to an end on Wednesday.
Ram Naik was the chief guest of the valedictorian function, while union minister for railways Suresh Prabhu and state minister for education, sports and culture Vinod Tawde were the guests of honour.
General president of the the congress Dr S B Nimse, Mumbai University vice-chancellor Dr Rajan Velukar, and president-elect for next year's science congress A K Saxena were present at the event.
Speaking to media persons after the valedictory function, Naik reiterated that astrology was a science. In the same breath he said, "I don't believe in astrology and I did not go for matching horoscopes while marrying, but I don't have any doubt: astrology is a science. If not, why do all the leading newspapers publish weekly columns of fortune-telling? I don't have any doubt in my mind about it since this is the science which attracts the curiosity of the masses, and it needs to be studied."
During the event, Naik backed arguments that ancient India had made strides in the advancement of astronomy, mathematics, medical sciences and engineering.
Railway Minister Prabhu expressed the need for exploring science and technology for solving people's problems and national issues of food, water and energy security. Tawde announced that recommendations of the science congress would be implemented by the state government.
CP was concerned about security at ISC State education minister Vinod Tawde, who was the chief advisor for the science congress, revealed that Mumbai Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria had expressed security concerns while organizing the event which was to involve six Nobel laureates and the country's prime minister. Tawde lauded the efforts made by the police department so that the event could occur without any worrying incident.
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Another ISC gem: Astronomy a science, says Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik
Jodie #39;s World: Jumping practice and Astronomy
4.1.15. I apologise for the terrible camera orientation wobbles through this. I am still a learner when it comes to videoing well. I couldn #39;t get any footage of actual jumping practice as I...
By: Jodie Burnley
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Searchers have found the main tail section of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on the floor of the Java Sea, Indonesian officials now confirm. The find is crucial to solving the mystery of what actually happened to the doomed flight because the tail holds the Airbus A320-200s two black box cockpit voice and flight data recorders.
Its still not known if the black boxes were dislodged before or during impact, however. Thus, a large part of the
After reportedly heading into rough weather, the Indonesia AirAsia flight, with 162 onboard, disappeared from radar over the Java Sea on December 28th while en route from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapores Changi airport. Dozens of bodies have been recovered, but thus far there have been no survivors.
The U.S. Navys 7th Fleet reports that crews aboard the USS Sampson and the USS Fort Worth remain on station ready to support the Indonesian-led search effort. The Navy says that divers onboard the Fort Worth from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 continue to operate Tow Fish side-scan sonar systems to map the ocean floor and search for debris.
Although the Navy says that search areas have been centered in boxes approximately 1 nautical mile wide by 1-2 nautical miles long, U.S. Navy divers using Tow Fish systems have yet to find anything related to the crash.
An AirAsia A320 at Changi Airport in Singapore. Credit: Wikipedia
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Last September, after years of watching, a team of scientists led by Amherst College astronomy professor Daryl Haggard observed and recorded the largest-ever flare in X-rays from a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The astronomical event, which was detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, puts the scientific community one step closer to understanding the nature and behavior of supermassive black holes.
Haggard and her colleagues discussed the flare today at a press conference during this year's meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.
Supermassive black holes are the largest of black holes, and all large galaxies have one. The one at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is called Sagittarius A* (or, Sgr A*, as it is called), and scientists estimate that it contains about four and a half million times the mass of our Sun.
Scientists working with Chandra have observed Sgr A* repeatedly since the telescope was launched into space in 1999. Haggard and fellow astronomers were originally using Chandra to see if Sgr A* would consume parts of a cloud of gas, known as G2.
"Unfortunately, the G2 gas cloud didn't produce the fireworks we were hoping for when it got close to Sgr A*," she said. "However, nature often surprises us and we saw something else that was really exciting."
Haggard and her team detected an X-ray outburst last September that was 400 times brighter than the usual X-ray output from Sgr A*. This "megaflare" was nearly three times brighter than the previous record holder that was seen in early 2012. A second enormous X-ray flare, 200 times brighter than Sgr A* in its quiet state, was observed with Chandra on October 20, 2014.
Haggard and her team have two main ideas about what could be causing Sgr A* to erupt in this extreme way. One hypothesis is that the gravity of the supermassive black hole has torn apart a couple of asteroids that wandered too close. The debris from such a "tidal disruption" would become very hot and produce X-rays before disappearing forever across the black hole's point of no return (called the "event horizon").
"If an asteroid was torn apart, it would go around the black hole for a couple of hours - like water circling an open drain - before falling in," said colleague and co-principal investigator Fred Baganoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. "That's just how long we saw the brightest X-ray flare last, so that is an intriguing clue for us to consider."
If that theory holds up, it means astronomers have found evidence for the largest asteroid ever to be torn apart by the Milky Way's black hole.
Another, different idea is that the magnetic field lines within the material flowing towards Sgr A* are packed incredibly tightly. If this were the case, these field lines would occasionally interconnect and reconfigure themselves. When this happens, their magnetic energy is converted into the energy of motion, heat and the acceleration of particles - which could produce a bright X-ray flare. Such magnetic flares are seen on the Sun, and the Sgr A* flares have a similar pattern of brightness levels to the solar events.
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Cultural Astronomy in the Torres Strait (10th ISAAC Meeting, Cape Town - Video)
Talk by Dr Duane Hamacher (UNSW Australia) given at the 10th annual meeting of the International Society of Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture at the South African Astronomical ...
By: Duane Hamacher
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Cultural Astronomy in the Torres Strait (10th ISAAC Meeting, Cape Town - Video) - Video
What are neutron stars? (Astronomy)
Stars are not eternal and unchanging - they are born, live their lives, and then die. The way a star dies depends on its mass. A low mass star ends as a white dwarf. A high mass star becomes...
By: Socratica
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365 Days of Astronomy
Launched in 2009 as part of the International Year of Astronomy, this community podcast continues to bring you day after day of content across the years. In 2013, we evolved to add video, and...
By: 365 Days of Astronomy
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Did Indigenous people use rock formations for astronomy? (SBS Radio)
SBS World News, 22 MAY 2013, 8:56 PM Researchers have found stone arrangements in New South Wales that may have functioned as ancient compasses. Dr Duane Hamacher is a lecturer at the ...
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Did Indigenous people use rock formations for astronomy? (SBS Radio) - Video
Early Radio Astronomy and the Pigeon Problem - Professor Ian Morison
In the early days of Radio Astronomy, major advances and discoveries were made in spite of the adio astronomer #39;s great nemesis; the pigeon: ...
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Early Radio Astronomy and the Pigeon Problem - Professor Ian Morison - Video
Normally, Play-Doh is simply a ball of brightly colored clay. But in the hands of volunteers and children at the Keystone Science School (KSS), it becomes much more a link to the greater mysteries of the universe, and a science lesson on top of that.
Now entering into its fourth year, the astronomy program reaches into the classroom of fourth-graders throughout Summit County, offering them one hour of classroom learning, with the opportunity to follow up with an evening of more hands-on science activities, plus a glimpse of the heavens through the science schools telescope. They can also invite their parents.
COMBINING SCIENCE AND FUN
While many of the children who participate in the KSS programs and summer camps come from the Front Range and other schools, programs like astronomy for fourth-graders and ecology for third-graders reach out specifically to Summit County students.
The topics chosen for each grade level correspond with state standards. Fourth grade studies astronomy, which lends itself to unique opportunities with the science school.
First, instructors from KSS go into fourth-grade classrooms to teach a one-hour lesson having to do with the science behind daytime and nighttime, and the changing of the seasons.
It really depends on how the school has put together their curriculum as to whether its a review, whether its a new thing, whether were adding on to what theyve already learned, said Daniel Van Horn, staff and curriculum manager for school programs at KSS.
The follow-up component to the classroom lesson is a non-mandatory option of attending astronomy family night at the science school. On six different nights over the next two months, staff and volunteers will gather at KSS to present hands-on activities and experiences for the students and their families. Each night is dedicated to students from a different elementary school. There is no cost.
Getting there is easy, too. Vans from the science school gather at the elementary school parking lot to drive the students and their families to the Keystone facility, and then back again when the night is over.
The night consists of a variety of hands-on experiences for the students on astronomy-related topics, from size of the different planets (thats where the Play-Doh comes in) to star constellations, moon phases and, of course, the chance to look at the real thing through the schools 14-inch reflecting telescope.
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Keystone Science School astronomy program offers children, adults a chance to learn
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Newswise AMHERST, Mass.Last September, after years of watching, a team of scientists led by Amherst College astronomy professor Daryl Haggard observed and recorded the largest-ever flare in X-rays from a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The astronomical event, which was detected by NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory, puts the scientific community one step closer to understanding the nature and behavior of supermassive black holes.
Haggard and her colleagues discussed the flare today at a press conference during this years meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.
Supermassive black holes are the largest of black holes, and all large galaxies have one. The one at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is called Sagittarius A* (or, Sgr A*, as it is called), and scientists estimate that it contains about four and a half million times the mass of our Sun.
Scientists working with Chandra have observed Sgr A* repeatedly since the telescope was launched into space in 1999. Haggard and fellow astronomers were originally using Chandra to see if Sgr A* would consume parts of a cloud of gas, known as G2.
Unfortunately, the G2 gas cloud didnt produce the fireworks we were hoping for when it got close to Sgr A*, she said. However, nature often surprises us and we saw something else that was really exciting.
Haggard and her team detected an X-ray outburst last September that was 400 times brighter than the usual X-ray output from Sgr A*. This megaflare was nearly three times brighter than the previous record holder that was seen in early 2012. A second enormous X-ray flare, 200 times brighter than Sgr A* in its quiet state, was observed with Chandra on October 20, 2014.
Haggard and her team have two main ideas about what could be causing Sgr A* to erupt in this extreme way. One hypothesis is that the gravity of the supermassive black hole has torn apart a couple of asteroids that wandered too close. The debris from such a tidal disruption would become very hot and produce X-rays before disappearing forever across the black holes point of no return (called the event horizon).
If an asteroid was torn apart, it would go around the black hole for a couple of hours like water circling an open drain before falling in, said colleague and co-principal investigator Fred Baganoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. Thats just how long we saw the brightest X-ray flare last, so that is an intriguing clue for us to consider.
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Amherst College Astronomy Professor Detects Record-Breaking Black Hole Outburst
Astronomy Cast Ep. 363: Where Did The Earth #39;s Water Come From?
Join +Fraser Cain and +Pamela Gay for a live episode of Astronomy Cast. We #39;ll record our 30-minute show, and then stick around to answer your questions about space and astronomy. Astronomy...
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 363: Where Did The Earth's Water Come From? - Video
Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine GUITAR BACKING TRACK
Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine GUITAR BACKING TRACK Jam on this guitar backing track and enjoy. Also LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE for more guitar backing tracks uploaded every day. Follow ...
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A huge meeting of space scientists kicks off this week in Seattle, Washington, as thousands of attendees descend on the coastal city.
The winter 2015 meeting of the American Astronomical Society will play host to 2,600 scientists, journalists and educators this year, according to a press kit released by AAS. Space.com reporters will be on-site covering the news coming from the large gathering of planetary scientists, astronomers and other space researchers sometimes dubbed the "Super Bowl of Astronomy."
"This 225th AAS meeting will feature more than 1,900 scientific presentations, including prize and invited lectures, short oral talks, and posters," AAS representatives wrote in the press kit. Scientists will present finding about new alien planet findings, far away galaxies and other new space discoveries throughout the conference, which runs from Jan. 4 to Jan. 8.
Officials from NASA, the National Science Foundation and other space organizations will host town hall meetings throughout the conference to discuss funding and science outlooks in the coming year. Attendees will also give special presentations about everything from astronomy throughout history to the legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope, which will be in space for 25 years in 2015.
"The Seattle meeting offers no fewer than 17 prize and invited talks by distinguished astronomers, beginning with the Kavli Lecture by Daniel Baker (University of Colorado, Boulder) on the Earth-girdling Van Allen radiation belts and ending with the Berkeley Prize Lecture by David Weinberg (Ohio State University) on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's contributions to astrophysics," AAS representatives added.
The winter meeting of the AAS is usually the first of two AAS meetings per year; however, this year will be different. The International Astronomical Union is hosting its general assembly in August in Hawaii, therefore, AAS will combine with the general assembly in lieu of a summer meeting.
The last AAS meeting was held in Boston, Massachusetts in June 2014.
Interested people unable to attend the conference in person can participate in and follow the conference online by using the hashtag #aas225 on social media. Space.com staff writers Miriam Kramer (@mirikramer) and Calla Cofield (@callacofield) will be in Seattle covering the conference.
Find out more about the astronomy conference directly from the AAS: http://aas.org/meetings/aas225. Visit Space.com daily this week for the latest news from the American Astronomical Society meeting.
Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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This new column about astronomy is for those of us who are interested in the subject but don't have the patience to process a lot of numbers.
I am an amateur who gets a thrill every time I look up at night and see the stars. I have been that way for as long as I can remember.
This column is for those of us who just want to know what's happening in the sky and in the field of astronomy and don't want a lot of other stuff to distract us from the wonder of it all.
Our objective will be to get all of the information out to anyone who reads this with a minimum of effort and a maximum of satisfaction.
This month is a fairly quiet one but there are still plenty of things to see when you look up.
The most interesting sight this month could be comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy which should be arriving in the southeast and progressing gradually towards the North Star Polaris during the month. It will be faint, most likely binoculars will be needed to see it, but there is a possibility it will grow in brightness to be visible to the naked eye.
It will be closest to us on Jan. 7, a bit less than half the distance from Earth to the sun. It will continue to recede into the distance after that.
A second sight this month, but again a bit disappointing, is the Quadrantid meteor shower, peaking around Jan. 4.
Normally, this is a good shower to watch for, but this year it will be poor only for one reason the full moon on Jan. 5. Strong moonlight is the bane of meteor watching, and this shower will be washed out by the moon.
The shower will radiate from a point a bit to the left of the Big Dipper.
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January will be quiet, but theres plenty to see when you look up
TCW_AUTISM_INSIDE_12312014_1 - "Me talking about Astronomy"
Pardon me being "in the dark" outside.
By: Thomas Wood
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TCW_AUTISM_INSIDE_12312014_1 - "Me talking about Astronomy" - Video