One egg over easy, toast and bacon
My favorite used to be scrambled eggs, but while I still find them tasty, these days I prefer an egg over easy. Add toast for sopping, a couple strips of bacon and it's one of the greatest breakfasts of all times. No doubt a few of the scientists responsible for the Cassini spacecraft mission at Saturn start their day with this classic. Imagine their delight late last month when Cassini snapped closeup photos of the planet's little moon Prometheus. Here was a satellite that looked for all the world like an egg in orbit.
Saturn's moon Prometheus in a photo taken on January 27. The bulgy world is reminiscent of a favorite breakfast item. The spots on the right side of the moon are artifacts from image processing. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Prometheus had been photographed many times before but not at an angle that emphasized its lovely ovarian figure. It's about 90 miles long and 53 miles wide and highly reflective. That fits well with its low density indicating it's probably made of porous ice. The moon lies about 86,000 miles from Saturn and completes an orbit in just 14 1/2 hours.
You can clearly see the waves that the gravity of Prometheus creates within the F ring in this photo. The arcs at left is a portion of the bright inner rings of the planet. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Other than egginess, Prometheus' chief claim to fame is how it whips Saturn's nearby F ring into shape. The F ring is a skinny, multi-stranded ring that lies just outside the main bright rings you see in photos of Saturn. Prometheus orbits so close to the ring that it interacts with it, sometimes plunging into right the ring and dragging material out. At first it was thought that the moon "steals" from the ring but further study showed that all the particles eventually return to their places.
Pandora (left) and Prometheus work together to define the F ring. Pandora orbits on the outside of the ring and Prometheus inside. Other moons of the planet help define many of its other rings which consist primarily of hunks of ice.Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Prometheus and another small moon, Pandora, orbit on either side of the F ring and use their combined gravities to define the ring. They act as "shepherds" by keeping the flock of ring particles from straying. If a piece starts to drift away from the ring, one of the two moons tugs it back into place. Be sure to click on the short video below to watch this amazing duo at work. (Here's the LINK if you're not able to see the video.)
This photo of the sun was taken earlier this morning by the space-based Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Credit: NASA/ESA
This large sunspot group numbered 1045 continues to kick out flares and bursts of hot plasma called coronal mass ejections. Some are headed for Earth where they may cause northern lights at high latitudes. Although Duluth and the northern U.S. might be too far south to see these, it's worthwhile to check the northern sky tonight through the 11th just in case the unpredictable happens. We all need a dose of unpredictable right now when it comes to aurora.
Posted by: rking@duluthnews.com on 2/9/2010 at 8:49 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Seven windows on the world
Space shuttle Endeavour roars off the launch pad
earlier this morning on its mission to deliver the Tranquility
node and cupola to the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
The shuttle Endeavour is now silently orbiting the Earth at over 17,000 mph as the astronauts prepare to power up the shuttle's robotic arm. Tomorrow they'll use the arm and camera to inspect the heat shield tiles for any damage and then rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday.
This amazing photo of the shuttle takeoff was taken by Jim Schaff of Vero Beach, Florida. Jim lives 60 miles south of the launch site and set up a camera outside his house around 4:15 a.m. "The whole sky to the north began to glow as they lit it off," said Schaff. "It took 10 to 20 seconds before I could see the plume." Details: 16mm lens at f/5.6, ISO 400 and 155-second exposure.
During the two week mission, astronauts will deliver and install the Tranquillity node and its cupola, a dome-shaped extension with seven windows for keeping an eye on robotic operations outside the station. The node will house the station's environmental control equipment which removes carbon dioxide from the air and converts urine to drinkable water. There's even room for the treadmill which has been taking up needed space elsewhere on the station. The node will be a welcome addition to the astronauts' cramped "house".
The seven-windowed cupola extends from the Tranquility node in this artist's illustration. Credit: NASA
The most interesting new piece of equipment is the cupola which provides an all-around vista of the space station and the Earth below. Up until now, the astronauts have been stuck looking through windows like the ones in airplanes that are flush with the walls of the craft.
“Just the idea of providing this great view of the station and the world beneath us is going to be pretty great,” said mission commander George Zamka. “That’s not what it’s for, but it will be spectacular.” Currently video cameras are used to piece together a view of what's going on when astronauts use the robotic arm to do things like attach new modules to the station. Once the cupola's installed, they'll see it all right through the window.
A artist's view of looking through the cupola -- sweet! Credit: NASA
If I were up there, I'd spend my free time in the Tranquility node sightseeing and daydreaming in the cupola. What better way to feel the spaciousness of space than peering out one pane after another while floating in microgravity.
You can see both the space station (ISS) and Endeavour shuttle chasing each other across the sky the next couple mornings. After Wednesday, they'll be linked up together and appear as one single satellite. The times below are Central standard and good for northern Minn. - NW Wisc. For times for your city, click HERE and type in your zipcode. The pair will be making passes across the northern sky from west to east during morning twilight.
* Tuesday morning Feb. 9 -- A bright pass of the ISS at 6:26 a.m. followed by Endeavour at 6:53 a.m.
* Weds. Feb. 10 -- Bright pass of Endeavour starting at 6:19 a.m. followed by the ISS at 6:48 a.m.
* Thurs. Feb. 11 -- ISS/Endeavour at 5:38 a.m. first visible almost due north and traveling east. Brilliant pass!
* Fri. Feb. 12 -- ISS/Endeavour at 6:00 a.m.
* Sat. Feb. 13 -- ISS/Endeavour at 6:22 a.m.
Planet highlights this week include Venus' return to the evening sky though it will take perserverence to find it in the twilight glow. Jupiter and Venus are closing in on each other all week long in preparation for their gathering with the thin crescent moon on Valentine's Day. Illustration: Bob King
Posted by: rking@duluthnews.com on 2/8/2010 at 8:37 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Four-million-mile coin toss
Mars sits right above the bright star cluster called the Beehive in Cancer the Crab. While the cluster looks like a puff of cloud with the naked eye, you can resolve it into a rich group of individual stars in binoculars. This map shows the view around 9 o'clock. Created with Stellarium
Sometimes the cruddiest nights make for the steadiest air and the best views of the planets. Last night clouds were all over the place, but Mars popped out often enough between the cracks to entice me to bring out the telescope. I figured it was worth at least two minutes to check out, right? Those minutes turned into an enjoyable hour and a half. Air turbulence was almost nil and the planet was sharp and looked like a real world. All kinds of cool stuff was going on up there -- numerous dark markings, the north polar cap, a bit of cloud swathing the far south, plus it was fun to watch the planet rotate during the interval.
Mars rotates once every 24 hours and 37 minutes. Depending on what time you look, you'll see a different hemisphere of the planet. If you're a telescopic observer and want to know what you're seeing on Mars, Sky and Telescope magazine's online site has the perfect interactive Mars map. Read their short article and then click on the Mars Profiler link at the end. Type in the time you want to see the planet and you'll get a labeled map displaying its most prominent features.
Planning on watching the Super Bowl today? Pay attention to the opening-toss coin at the start of the game. The coin (at right) is a special medallion that was flown aboard the space shuttle Atlantis last November. It traveled over four million miles while making 171 orbits around the Earth.
The shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to lift off at 3:14 a.m. CST tomorrow morning. There are only five missions left before NASA ends the shuttle program, and this is the last mission to launch at night. We'll look at the goodies Endeavor will be hauling to the International Space Station in tomorrow's blog.
This photo was taken by the SOHO spacecraft at 8:24 this morning (Sunday) and shows the new, large spot group (1045) and a second group along the sun's edge. Credit: NASA/ESA
A huge new sunspot group in the sun's northern hemisphere has come out of nowhere in the last 24 hours. I looked at it this morning and its many spots are strung out like a line of kids leaving a daycare. I'm crossing my fingers for some big flares and maybe even aurora. We'll keep you in the loop if these possibilities happen.
“The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do.” Galileo
Posted by: rking@duluthnews.com on 2/7/2010 at 9:46 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
The prettiest dust bunny around
The Great Nebula in Orion is one of the brightest in the sky yet there's no mention of it in records left by the ancient Greeks, Romans and Chinese. Sky watchers from the Middle Ages through the early Renaissance seemed blissfully unaware of its presence. Even Galileo missed it in his telescope. The first person to see the Orion Nebula was French astronomer Nicholas Peiresc in 1610 (right). To give him his due, Galileo was the first to notice the small cluster of stars in the nebula's center called the Trapezium, but he never recorded the hazy clouds of nebulosity. Perhaps the field of view of his telescope was too narrow to show the contrast of nebula against the darkness of the sky.
There's no better time to see the Orion Nebula than early February when it stands high in south around 8:30 p.m. Your guide is Orion's Belt, three stars of equal brightness tipped at a 45-degree angle like a row of x's in a game of tic-tac-toe. The Belt is about four outstretched fists above the southern horizon. Just below it is Orion's Sword, another group of three stars but these are fainter and arranged vertically. See below.
Even as a kid from suburban Chicago I remember the hazy look of the Sword, and when I looked more closely, I could tell the haze seemed to be centered on the Sword's middle star.
What I saw was the Orion Nebula. It's not a difficult object with the naked eye except if you're in a badly light-polluted area. Before you attempt your observation, allow about 15 minutes to properly adapt your eyes to the darkness.
Unless you deliberately seek out the nebula it's easy to miss. You'll know this the first time you find it. It's quite possible our ancestors may have seen the cloudy patch but dismissed it for the typical hazy appearance a compact group of stars presents to the eye.
Once you've found the nebula, point a pair binoculars at the spot and you'll start to appreciate its shape and sparkle. The whole area is spangled with stars and there, right in the middle, lies the little nebula. Depending on the size of your binoculars, you might even see its fan-like shape, which opens to the south, punctuated by several bright stars. The stars buried within the nebula are "newly-hatched" suns, born in the swirls and folds of the nebula's dust and gas. Peeping chicks toddling about the nest as it were.
A closer view of Orion's Sword shows the nebula in more detail. This is about how the scene would look in a pair of binoculars from a suburban location. Nebula comes from the Latin word for cloud. Maps created with Stellarium
This nebula is one enormous nest! It measures 24 light years across (about the distance between the sun and the star Vega) and sits in a nearby arm of the galaxy about 1340 light years away. Using large telescopes astronomers have seen at least 2000 stars within the cloud. A tight, bright group of four stars called the Trapezium in the nebula's center is estimated to be only 300,000 years old. That's incredibly young as stars go. The sun has just reached early middle age having recently celebrated its 4.5 billion years old birthday.
In the photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (above), you can see the Trapezium as well as newly-formed stars and their potential solar systems called proplyds (protoplanetary disks). They're the tadpole-like stars with tails. The tails are dust and gas blown off by the powerful energy radiating from the brightest Trapezium star at lower right. Within each proplyd a new star is forming and perhaps planets as well.
Two drawings of the Orion Nebula. On the left is the view through a moderate-sized telescope; on the right is how it appears in binoculars among the stars of the Sword. Sketches: Bob King
While the Trapezium merges into a single star in binculars (above), even a small telescope will split it into four, closely-spaced but separate suns. The powerful stellar winds and radiation emanating from the foursome have actually blown a huge hole in the nebula which is why we can see them so clearly in the first place. Ultraviolet radiation bearming from them also lights up the nebula and causes gases like hydrogen and oxygen to fluoresce in pale greens and reds. These colors are too faint to see in binoculars but most telescopes will show the pale green of oxygen. Bigger instruments reveal a subtle deep pink in the outer regions that will take your breath away.
Here's the glory shot! The Orion Nebula photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Trapezium is the bright spot in the bright patch just above center. Hi-res photo HERE. Credit: NASA/ESA
Throughout the Orion nebula, gravity is causing the denser knots of dust and gas to collapse into stars. Slowly but surely, the nebula is converting itself into a star cluster, like the Seven Sisters cluster in nearby Taurus did long, long ago. We'll leave that to the future. For now, go out the next clear night and discover this stellar nursery for yourself.
Posted by: rking@duluthnews.com on 2/6/2010 at 9:10 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Little Pluto shows its true colors
This video was created using the most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.
How good would your vision have to be to discern detail on a soccer ball 40 miles away? Could you even see a ball at a tenth that distance? Using special computer processing techniques on multiple images made by the Hubble Space Telescope, Marc Buie of the Southwest Research Institute has created the most detailed maps of Pluto yet, the equivalent of making out patterns on that distant soccer ball. What's so amazing is how colorful the dwarf planet is --- burnt orange, white, butterscotch and velvety black.
This is the most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003. The center disk has a mysterious bright spot that is unusually rich in carbon monoxide frost.Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute)
At Pluto's distance of three billion miles, Hubble can only resolve features a few hundred miles across but that's sharp enough to show seasonal changes like the brightening of its northern hemisphere and the darkening of the southern. Sunlight vaporizes ice on the planet's sunlit pole which then refreezes on the other pole creating the variations. Pluto has also become redder since 2000-2002 as ultraviolet light from the sun converts the frozen methane on its surface to red-hued carbon material. Yes, even this tiny orb experiences seasons as it wends its way around the sun over its 248 years orbital period.
This artist's concept shows the Pluto system from the surface of its tiny moon Hydra. Pluto is the large disk at center; Charon is the smaller disk to the right of Pluto. The other moon, Nix, is the bright dot on Pluto's far left. Credit: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon (STScI)
These will likely be the best images we get of Pluto until the New Horizons craft flys by in 2015. One of the more interesting features is the bright spot that's rich in carbon monoxide frost, not exactly something I'd want to tiptoe through on my lawn. Materials that are normally gases on the warm and cozy Earth are frozen solid on Pluto where the average surface temperature is 380 below. Scientists will use the new photos to help target interesting areas for study and photography during the flyby. For more information on the new Pluto images, please click HERE.
Closer to home, Andrew Kirk of Bishop, California photographed the
sunrise near his home yesterday morning. "While jogging, I stepped over
the fence into the golf course to use their pond for reflections. Sure glad I did."
We are too Andrew. Thanks for sending your photo. We've been in a cloudy spell here in northern Minnesota but just because I'm an optimist -- and most sky watchers are optimists because we have no other choice -- let's check out the next few mornings of space station passes.
* Saturday morning Feb. 6 beginning at 6:51 a.m. This will be a spectacularly bright pass directly across the top of the sky. Early on, the station will cross right in front of Saturn which will be low in the southwest at the time.
* Sunday Feb. 7 at 5:41 a.m. A lower pass starting in the south and moving toward the northeast.
* Monday Feb. 8 at 6:03 a.m. Another high and brilliant pass.
Tomorrow we'll explore the Orion Nebula with an emphasis on what you can see with your naked eye and binoculars.
Posted by: rking@duluthnews.com on 2/4/2010 at 7:36 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink
