Category: Astro-NEWS

An asteroid a quarter-mile-wide will, astronomically speaking, narrowly miss Earth next week.

And while it is the closest an asteroid this size has come to the home planet since 1976, there’s no need to call Bruce Willis … yet.

“There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon,” Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program office, told Reuters.

But that doesn’t mean the asteroid — named 2005 YU55 — won’t be a threat to earth in the future.

Lance Benner, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a video from NASA (available below) that scientists haven’t been able to reliably compute the asteroid’s path beyond a couple of hundred years from now.

At its closest point, the space rock will be about 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) away, which is 0.85 the distance between the moon and the Earth. NASA says that the asteroid will reach this point at 6:28 p.m. EST on Tuesday.

“In effect, it’ll be moving straight at us from one direction, and then go whizzing by straight away from us in the other direction,” Benner said.

An asteroid this size — which, according to Scientific American is larger than an aircraft carrier — would cause widespread damage if it were to hit Earth, however. The Associated Press spoke to Jay Melosh, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University, who said that the asteroid would create a four-mile wide crater 1,700 feet deep. It could cause 70-foot tsunami waves and shake the ground like a magnitude-7 earthquake.

Even though the asteroid will be inside the orbit of the moon, NASA said that the space rock’s gravitational pull shouldn’t have any “detectable effect” on Earth’s tectonic plates or tides.

Yeomans told HuffPost that the flyby will give astronomers a great view of 2005 YU55 and is an opportunity to do research into the asteroid’s composition. He said that it’s a C-Type asteroid, which means it contains carbon-based minerals which could potentially be used in future space exploration.

“These objects are important for science … they’re potential resources for raw materials in space that we may wish to take advantage of some day,” he said.

The New York Times reported last month on proposed fuel stations in space that one study says could put astronauts on an asteroid by 2024.

Oct 28, 2011; 6:45 AM ET
Earlier this week we had a major solar event that led to widespread viewing of the northern lights. It was beautiful, and for many people, it was the first time seeing this phenomena. I know it was my first. Just before 2 p.m. EDT Monday a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) moved into our atmosphere and a Sudden Geomagnetic Impulse was detected shortly after. The solar wind (click here for more information on the solar wind) blew past 500 km/s. Moderate geomagnetic storming (click here for more information on geomagnetic storms) reached the G2 Level at very high latitudes.
This is the positive side of the sun entering into peak solar activity. However, there is a negative side of a busy sun that not many people think, or know, about. And it could be devastating to the electronically connected world that we live in!
Earlier this month, Telesat’s Anik F2 satellite (Telesat is a Canadian satellite communications company headquartered in Ottawa) stopped working. The HD signals disappeared when the satellite experienced a “technical anomaly” that resulted in loss of satellite services to its customers. Imagine if this occurred in a major market in the Lower 48! Not only did this service get interrupted, but banking (including use of ATM, debt and credit card transactions), telephone and cellular services, and radar coverage were all disrupted to some degree.
Anik F is one of the largest, most powerful communications satellites ever built. In addition to delivering HD television signals to Shaw Direct, it is used by Northwestel, the primary telecommunications provider of the northern part of Canada. The satellite malfunction also left communities across Nunavut, N.W.T. and the Yukon without long distance calling and data service. Even radar service north of the 54th parallel of latitude was disrupted, and the normal communications systems between aircraft and the ground stopped working.
The suspected reason for the was a large solar flare that caused the satellite to shut down and turn away from the Earth.
My point with this blog is to question how an area with a major population handles these above-mentioned problems. Imagine if the people in the New York Metro area could not use an ATM card or their cell phones. Imagine the panic and the helplessness that our 21st century population would feel.
My next blog I will go into the whys and hows of a solar event causing major problems around the globe, and how likely this threat is, especially since the sun will be in its busy phase for the next couple of years. Also, I will try to find some information on how the major communication companies are preparing to deal with a major solar disturbance.

Please join in on the conversations about astronomy by clicking here. You can leave your comments there, as well as being a part of a community where discussions on this or any other astronomy subject take place. We are now over 2,000 likes. Tell your friends about this site and blog, then weigh in on some exciting issues. We encourage open discussion and will never criticize any idea, and no negative conversation will be allowed.
I am always looking for subjects to write about and encourage you to share any pictures of anything astronomy-related.

accuweather.com

Thanks to Huffington Post for this.CLICK ON BLUE -link in the video

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a satellite monitoring the sun, caught an amazing scene over the weekend: A comet slammed into the sun, and then, a few minutes later, a solar explosion occurred.

The video, created by a sequence of images and available above, could be out of a Hollywood blockbuster. It shows a fiery comet approaching and appearing to collide with the sun and, seconds after the collision, the sun emits a huge blast from the other side.

The video creates the impression that the comet is somehow related to the explosion, which is called a coronal mass ejection, or CME.

But scientists say the two events aren’t actually linked.

According to a blogpost from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, “…there still remains zero evidence for a link between sungrazing comets and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that can’t be better explained than by simple coincidence.”

Dr. Phil Plait, an astronomer who writes Discover Magazine’s Bad Astronomy blog, explains in a video and post why this is most likely a coincidence. (Video available below.)

According to Dr. Plait, these type of comets, called sungrazers, constantly get close to the surface of the sun, sometimes hitting the surface or becoming absorbed. At the same time, he explains, coronal mass ejections are frequently occurring on the Sun, even when there aren’t any comets colliding with it.

To support this, Dr. Plait shows three videos of the incident taken by three different satellites. The different angle of one of NASA’s STEREO satellites shows a coronal mass ejection occurring before the comet even makes its way to the sun. A third video, from images taken by another STEREO satellite, shows that the comet could have even missed the sun.

“At this stage of the solar cycle,” writes Karen C. Fox at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, “the sun is producing many mass ejections — in fact there were several earlier in the day — and it is only chance that one of them burst off the sun at the same time the comet approached.”

This was the 2,143 comet that the SOHO satellite has recorded, according to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

Comets colliding with the sun in May and September also produced some spectacular videos.

Video at top courtesy of ESA/NASA/LASCO C2

For more on the collision — and the coincidence — be sure to check out The Bad Astronomer’s blog post.

NASA reported on Thursday the discovery of Kepler 16b, a planet with two suns that evokes images of Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tatooine, from the “Star Wars” franchise.

The planet, which is 200 light years away and roughly the size of Saturn, is the first circumbinary planet — meaning that it orbits two suns — ever discovered, according to NASA.

ILLUSTRATION AND ANIMATIONS BELOW

“This discovery confirms a new class of planetary systems that could harbor life,” William Borucki, the principal investigator of the Kepler telescope said in a statement. “Given that most stars in our galaxy are part of a binary system, this means the opportunities for life are much broader than if planets form only around single stars. This milestone discovery confirms a theory that scientists have had for decades but could not prove until now.”

Kepler 16b was discovered by the Kepler space vehicle, a satellite telescope that searches for habitable planets. Scientists, however, do not believe that life exists on the planet. The temperatures are about minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Researchers say that Kepler 16b is composed of roughly half rock and half gas. The suns that the planet orbits are smaller — and cooler — than Earth’s sun; one of the stars is about 69% the mass of the sun and the other is about 20%. According to The New York Times, one of the stars is orange, and the other is red, and the planet orbits both stars every 229 days.

The research will be published on Friday in the journal Science.

In a HuffPost blog post published on Thursday, Dr. Laurance Doyle, an astrophysicist at the SETI Institute and the lead author of the paper, referenced Star Wars: “But today science fiction has become science fact, and that galaxy far, far away has become our own galaxy. A whole new kind of planetary system has been shown to exist and — like Luke in the story — the adventure is just getting started.”

LOOK: An artist’s illustration of Kepler 16b:

From Huffingtonpost.com

Sep 13, 2011; 4:20 AM ET
Several months ago, I wrote a post about the supermoon that gathered a lot of attention. To read this post, please click here.
Anyway, in a couple of days, another supermoon will occur. A supermoon, by definition, is when the Earth, Moon and Sun are all in a line at the same time that the Moon is at its closest approach to Earth. To be a supermoon, the moon has to be either full or new, or else the “line” mentioned above would not be in effect. This supermoon will take place on Sept. 27.
Basically, the super moon causes an increase on the gravitational pull on the Earth by the two celestial bodies that influence the gravitational pull the most, the Sun and the Moon. When theses bodies are lined up, such as during a new or full moon, the two gravitational pulls of these two bodies act in concert together on the Earth. That is why the tides are astronomically higher during a full or new moon. When the Sun and Moon are not lined up, they cancel each other out somewhat. When the moon is at perigee (its closest pass to the Earth), the gravitational pull of the Moon on the Earth is also slightly stronger. So all of these facts cause an increased gravitational pull on the Earth during a supermoon.
Supermoons are not rare. At least two, or perhaps a half dozen, occur each year. So, this phenomenon is not unusual or unheard of.
Unashamedly, I am not an expert on the supermoon. Astrologer Richard Noelle coined the term in 1979 and is the “man” when it comes to all aspects of the supermoon. Please see this article about him and the supermoon by clicking here. You can also visit his terrific site by clicking here.
As mentioned before, some people believe that the supermoon may play a role in severe weather or seismic events. Daniel Vogler, AccuWeather Astronomy expert added, “There will as usual an increase in quakes with in the +-3 day window. If sunspot 1289 picks up intensity and facing us, Expect more of what happened in Canada.”

Please join the AccuWeather.com Astronomy fanpage by clicking here. You can leave your comments there, as well, and be part of a community where discussions on this or any other astronomy subject take place. We are now approaching 1,900 likes on Facebook, and recently the growth has been rapid. With your help we will get to 2,000 soon. Tell your friends about this site and blog and weigh in on some exciting issues. We encourage open discussion and will never criticize any idea, and no negative conversation will be allowed.
blogs Home >

Aug 21, 2011; 3:37 PM ET
Earth’s aurorae, or Northern and Southern Lights, provide a dazzling light show to people living in the polar regions. Shimmering curtains of green and red undulate across the sky like a living thing. New research shows that aurorae on distant “hot Jupiters” could be 100-1000 times brighter than Earthly aurorae. They also would ripple from equator to poles (due to the planet’s proximity to any stellar eruptions), treating the entire planet to an otherworldly spectacle.
“I’d love to get a reservation on a tour to see these aurorae!” said lead author Ofer Cohen, a SHINE-NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
The alien gas giant would be subjected to extreme forces. In our solar system, a CME spreads out as it travels through space, so it’s more diffuse once it reaches us. A “hot Jupiter” would feel a stronger and more focused blast, like the difference between being 100 miles from an erupting volcano or one mile away.
“The impact to the exoplanet would be completely different than what we see in our solar system, and much more violent,” said co-author Vinay Kashyap of CfA.
In the model, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits the “hot Jupiter” and weakens its magnetic shield. Then CME particles reach the gas giant’s atmosphere. Its aurora lights up in a ring around the equator, 100-1000 times more energetic than Earthly aurorae. Over the course of about 6 hours, the aurora then ripples up and down toward the planet’s north and south poles before gradually fading away.

Please join the AccuWeather.com Astronomy fanpage by clicking here. You can leave your comments there, as well, and be part of a community where discussions on this or any other astronomy subject take place. We are now over 1,750 likes on Facebook and recently the growth has been rapid. With your help we will get to 2,000 soon. Tell your friends about this site and blog and weigh in on some exciting issues. We encourage open discussion and will never criticize any idea, and no negative conversation will be allowed.
blogs Home >
Comments
Comments left here should adhere to the AccuWeather.com Community Guidelines. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.

Aug 15, 2011; 1:10 PM ET
Observations from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.
“NASA’s Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration.”
Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars’ southern hemisphere.

“The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water,” said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson. McEwen is the principal investigator for the orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and lead author of a report about the recurring flows published in Thursday’s edition of the journal Science.
Some aspects of the observations still puzzle researchers, but flows of liquid brine fit the features’ characteristics better than alternate hypotheses. Saltiness lowers the freezing temperature of water. Sites with active flows get warm enough, even in the shallow subsurface, to sustain liquid water that is about as salty as Earth’s oceans, while pure water would freeze at the observed temperatures.
“These dark lineations are different from other types of features on Martian slopes,” said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Scientist Richard Zurek of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Repeated observations show they extend ever farther downhill with time during the warm season.”
The features imaged are only about 0.5 to 5 yards or meters wide, with lengths up to hundreds of yards. The width is much narrower than previously reported gullies on Martian slopes. However, some of those locations display more than 1,000 individual flows. Also, while gullies are abundant on cold, pole-facing slopes, these dark flows are on warmer, equator-facing slopes.
The images show flows lengthen and darken on rocky equator-facing slopes from late spring to early fall. The seasonality, latitude distribution and brightness changes suggest a volatile material is involved, but there is no direct detection of one. The settings are too warm for carbon-dioxide frost and, at some sites, too cold for pure water. This suggests the action of brines, which have lower freezing points. Salt deposits over much of Mars indicate brines were abundant in Mars’ past. These recent observations suggest brines still may form near the surface today in limited times and places.
Please join the AccuWeather.com Astronomy fanpage by clicking here. You can leave your comments there, as well, and be part of a community where discussions on this or any other astronomy subject take place. We are now over 1,750 likes on Facebook and recently the growth has been rapid. With your help we will get to 2,000 soon. Tell your friends about this site and blog and weigh in on some exciting issues. We encourage open discussion and will never criticize any idea, and no negative conversation will be allowed.

NASA’s next Mars rover will land at the foot of a layered mountain inside the planet’s Gale Crater.
The car-sized Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year and land in August 2012. The target crater spans 96 miles in diameter and holds a mountain rising higher from the crater floor than Mount Rainier rises above Seattle. Gale is about the combined area of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Layering in the mound suggests it is the surviving remnant of an extensive sequence of deposits. The crater is named for Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale.
“Mars is firmly in our sights,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Curiosity not only will return a wealth of important science data, but it will serve as a precursor mission for human exploration to the Red Planet.”
During a prime mission lasting one Martian year (nearly two Earth years), researchers will use the rover’s tools to study whether the landing region had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed.
“Scientists identified Gale as their top choice to pursue the ambitious goals of this new rover mission,” said Jim Green, director for the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The site offers a visually dramatic landscape and also great potential for significant science findings.”
Curiosity is about twice as long and more than five times as heavy as any previous Mars rover. Its 10 science instruments include two for ingesting and analyzing samples of powdered rock that the rover’s robotic arm collects. A radioisotope power source will provide heat and electric power to the rover. A rocket-powered sky crane suspending Curiosity on tethers will lower the rover directly to the Martian surface.
The portion of the crater where Curiosity will land has an alluvial fan likely formed by water-carried sediments. The layers at the base of the mountain contain clays and sulfates, both known to form in water.

Please join the AccuWeather.com Astronomy fanpage by clicking here. You can leave your comments there, as well, and be part of a community where discussions on this or any other astronomy subject take place. We are now over well over 1,600 likes on Facebook and recently the growth has been rapid. With your help we will get to 2,000 soon. Tell your friends about this site and blog and weigh in on some exciting issues. We encourage open discussion and will never criticize any idea, and no negative conversation will be allowed.
blogs Home >

From accuweather.com

Major Beauty — open to full screen