Balloon & Duct Tape

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/03/25/1736252/Balloon-and-Duct-Tape-Deliver-Great-Space-Photos

This link sent to me by my hubby.

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

ISS from 1998 to 2008

Got this article from my good friend Steve,

Subject: International Space Station
This is fast-moving but impressive.
Look at what happened from 1998 until 2008. In just ten years it
has grown and grown. Watch the pieces come together as they are
sent up from Earth. This is the International Space Station (ISS)
Assembly diagram, piece by piece. I had no idea the Space Station
had grown to this size. This is really cool.....
What a piece of engineering!!
Click here:
http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

Scale of the Universe

This is a well written piece about the scale of the universe .....
http://anotherj.blogspot.com/2010/02/space-and-numbers.html
-- Bob

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

Nasa's next space destination

Received from Matt.

For NASA no easy answer for next space destination

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON – Where to next? It's a simple question that NASA can't answer so easily anymore. The veteran space shuttle fleet is months from being mothballed and the White House has nixed a previous plan to fly to the moon.

For the first time in decades, NASA has no specific space destination for its next stop, although it has lots of places it wants to go. Future space flight, NASA officials say, now depends on new rocket science and where it can take us.

That uncertainty may not sit well with Congress, which will be grilling NASA chief Charles Bolden on Wednesday and Thursday in the first hearings since the George W. Bush moon mission was shelved.

There are only a few places in space where humans can go in the next couple of decades. NASA wants to go to all of them, with the ultimate destination, as always, being Mars.

"The suite of destinations has not changed over time," NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver said in an interview. "The moon, asteroids, Mars — if you're going to go anywhere — is where we are going."

But with any itinerary there is a first stop. So what is that?

Check back in a couple of years. That's when new technology should be developed enough to answer that question, Garver said. President Barack Obama plans to divert billions of dollars from the Bush moon plan toward developing better rocketry.

"The best way to get anywhere ... is really invest in technologies that will reduce the cost, reduce the time, reduce the risk and so forth," Garver said.

Some of those technologies seem like science fiction. The possibilities noted by experts inside and outside of NASA include the equivalent of an in-orbit gas station, electric-hybrid rockets, nuclear thermal rockets, inflatable parts for spaceships, and methods of beaming power between Earth and space.

Former astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, who has developed a new type of electric propulsion engine called VASIMR that the NASA leadership mentions specifically, said this new emphasis is especially welcome because six years ago NASA killed its advanced rocket technology program.

"We clearly need the technology leap if we really want to go to Mars," Chang-Diaz said. "We are not going to Mars on chemical rockets."

Chemical rockets are what has always been used to get into space and they require carrying lots of expensive fuel. Electric propulsion would get better mileage, but versions so far don't have nearly enough thrust to get off Earth.

To some critics, however, technology isn't as important as a destination. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who will be chairing Wednesday's Senate subcommittee hearing, plans to push for some kind of commitment and specific plan of action.

"The president is the only one that can lead the space program, and he ought to set a goal," Nelson said in an e-mail. "He needs to say where we're going and let NASA design the architecture to do it."

Former NASA associate administrator Alan Stern said he's waiting to hear what NASA officials outline in the Capitol Hill hearings, but he too has concerns about not having a precise destination.

"We need a destination and a timetable and that's really lacking," Stern said. He said that relying on technology to dictate a location "sounds like a program to nowhere."

Because human spaceflight is about inspiration, science and international cooperation, Stern said, "you need a specific destination, a proper noun, something that's capitalized."

The outline for much of NASA's future was sketched out by an independent spaceflight panel the White House appointed last year. Led by retired Lockheed Martin Chairman Norman Augustine, the panel laid out options, including canceling an immediate return to the moon and instead proposing a "flexible path."

Panel member Chris Chyba, a professor of astrophysics and public affairs at Princeton University, said just because the flexible path doesn't point to a specific starting point doesn't mean it's without a goal.

"You begin by saying what your goal is, not what your destination is," Chyba said. "And the goal is the human expansion into the solar system."

The spaceflight panel charted a possible roadmap, based on the easiest trips first, such as a flight to the moon but no landing. Next might be any of a handful of points in space where the gravitational pull between the Earth and the moon, or the Earth and the sun are equal.

Such locations are places of engineering importance because future space telescopes and other science satellites are slated to go there and this would allow astronauts to repair them. But they risk ridicule as flights to nowhere, Chyba said.

Then the panel suggested landing on a near-Earth asteroid, followed by flights to and around Mars and landing on a Martian moon. The panel also noted that landing on Earth's moon is "an obvious alternative" to Mars, maybe after an asteroid mission and serving as a possible training stop for other flights. The space agency also might still opt to go to the moon before anywhere else, NASA's Garver said.

Several experts believe the most sensible place for astronauts to go first is an asteroid.

"If the goal is ultimately the human exploration of Mars," landing on an object near Earth is a logical first step because it's easier, says Donald Yeomans, chief of NASA's near Earth object program.

What asteroids offer is a lack of gravity, making it easy to leave. Landing on larger objects, such as the moon and Mars, would require the extra but expensive thrust that chemical rockets provide, demonstrating the need for a hybrid vehicle.

Visiting an asteroid would have the appeal of some place new, would provide legitimate scientific study and could even help scientists figure out how to save Earth from some future killer asteroid, Stern said.

Another of the key points in future spaceflight will be the ability to stop in space to refuel or even switch vehicles, said NASA's new chief technologist Bobby Braun.

The future for NASA is not about future space destinations, contends MIT astronautics professor Ed Crawley, a member of the White House-appointed panel.

"It's about the journey," he said. "It's a journey of technology. It's a journey of discovery. It's a journey of capability. It's a journey away from the cradle. At some point we have to learn how to leave the planet."

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

Flyby

Space Weather News for Feb. 19, 2010
http://spaceweather.com

DOUBLE FLYBY ALERT: Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, Feb. 19th, at 7:54 pm EST. This sets the stage for a weekend of double flybys. The ISS and Endeavour will be circling Earth in mutual proximity, streaking through the night sky as distinct points of light. The show will continue until Endeavour lands at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, Feb. 21st, at 10:16 pm EST. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker to see if you are favored with an apparition: http://spaceweather.com/flybys

NEW AND IMPROVED: SpaceWeather's Satellite Tracker app for the iPhone and iPod touch has been improved. It now predicts flybys worldwide, uses GPS location services, and more. Check it out at http://simpleflybys.com .

GREAT NORTHERN LIGHTS: This past week, Arctic sky watchers have seen some of the best auroras in years. It's another sign that the sun is coming back to life after a long, deep solar minimum. Recent images may be found in our photo gallery; start browsing here: http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01feb10_page3.htm

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

Sunspots

Space Weather News for Feb. 8, 2010
http://spaceweather.com

BIG SUNSPOT: The sudden emergence of big sunspot 1045 over the weekend has caused a sharp uptick in solar activity. The active region has produced three M-class and almost a dozen C-class solar flares since it appeared on Saturday. The strongest blast, an M6-class eruption on Feb. 7th, may have hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras in the nights ahead as a result of this activity. Also, ham radio operators are picking up strong solar radio bursts using shortwave receivers. Sample sounds and images may be found at http://spaceweather.com.

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

PLUTO

Received from Matt:

Hubble sees Pluto changing color, ice sheet cover

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer – Thu Feb 4, 4:17 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Spurned Pluto is changing its looks, donning more rouge in its complexion and altering its iceball surface here and there.

Color astronomers surprised.

Newly released Hubble Space Telescope photos show the distant one-time planet — demoted to "dwarf planet" status in 2006 — is changing color and its ice sheets are shifting.

The photos, released by NASA Thursday, paint a Pluto that is significantly redder than it had been for the past several decades. To the layman, it has a yellow-orange hue, but astronomers say it has about 20 percent more red than it used to have.

The pictures show icy frozen nitrogen on Pluto's surface growing and shrinking, brightening in the north and darkening in the south. Astronomers say Pluto's surface is changing more than the surfaces of other bodies in the solar system. That's unexpected because a season lasts 120 years in some regions of Pluto.

"It's a little bit of a surprise to see these changes happening so big and so fast," said astronomer Marc Buie of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. "This is unprecedented."

From 1954 to 2000, Pluto didn't change in color when it was photographed from Earth. But after that, it did. The red levels increased by 20 percent, maybe up to 30 percent, and stabilized from about 2000 to 2002, Buie said. It's not as red as Mars, however, Buie said.

Buie said he can explain the redness, but not why it changed so dramatically and so recently. The planet has a lot of methane, which contains carbon and hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen gets stripped off by solar winds and other factors, leaving carbon-rich areas on the surface, which tend to be red and dark.

The Hubble photos were taken in 2002 and the analysis took a few years. But why Pluto changed so quickly was such a mystery that Buie held off for years on announcing what he had found, worried that he might be wrong. However, since Pluto's moon Charon hadn't changed color in the same telescope images, he decided the Pluto findings weren't an instrument mistake.

His analysis also found that nitrogen ice was shifting in size and density in surprising ways. It's horribly cold on Pluto with, paradoxically, the bright spots being the coldest at about -382 degrees Fahrenheit. Astronomers are still arguing about the temperatures of the warm dark spots, which Buie believes may be 30 degrees warmer than the darker areas.

Part of the difficulty in figuring out what is going on with Pluto is that it takes the dwarf planet 248 years to circle the sun, so astronomers don't know what conditions are like when it's is farthest from the sun. The last time Pluto was at its farthest point was in 1870, which was decades before Pluto was discovered. Unlike Earth, Pluto's four seasons aren't equal lengths of time.

Buie's explanation makes sense, said retired NASA astronomer Stephen Maran, co-author of a book on Pluto. "Pluto is interesting and poorly understood, whether it qualifies as a planet or not," he said.

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

Sundogs

This came to me by email. Enjoy!

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Happens every time you are in line with the sun & shadow.

We work hard to keep it from happening in our photogrammetry aerial
photos by watching the sun angle during the flight. In a phoenix summer
this means flying very early, to keep the sun angle below 30 degrees.

Some times called a sun dog or glory.
http://www.weatherquesting.com/glory.htm

Thanks,


Robert G. Parks

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

New Website for Kids

NASA's Gives Kids Their Own Guide to Climate Change

A blinking red-eyed tree frog and flitting butterfly greet visitors to the new NASA Climate Kids website. Targeting grades 4 – 6, this kid-friendly guide de-mystifies one of the most important science issues of our time. The site answers the “Big Questions” about global climate change using simple illustrations, humor, interactivity, and age-appropriate language. For example, one interactive feature is the Climate Time Machine, which reveals how global changes have affected or will affect our planet over time. “Climate Tales” has animal cartoon characters coping— more or less good humoredly—with the effects humans are having on their habitats. A collection of Earth-science-related games offers such experiences as “Wild Weather Adventure” and “Missions to Planet Earth.” A Green Careers section profiles real people doing jobs that help slow climate change. Visit Climate Kids at climate.nasa.gov/kids.

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society

Music from Supernovas

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/01/29/1422213/Grateful-Dead-Percussionist-Makes-Music-From-Supernovas

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Terri, Events Coordinator
Email: Events@PASAz.org
Phoenix Astronomical Society