New Horizons, NASA’s Pluto probe, passed a milestone on the 19th of this month. It passed the orbit of Uranus. The mission was slated at launch to take 9 ½ years before the probe even reaches its destination. Patience is a must.
Read the rest of this entry »
Astronomers have been tracking a 900-foot wide rock that is hurtling towards earth. Will it strike us? Only the math can tell.
All of the calculations are made by doing some careful comparisons with the “known” distances of stars near the asteroid. As stars move very slowly, they can be fairly reliable space-scale distance markers, but the passage of time still has to be taken into consideration upon each new measurement.NASA has put a loaf of bread in orbit around earth. Wait, no. Scratch that; they have put a satellite the size of a loaf of bread in orbit. Let us introduce you to NASA’s newest baby: a nanosatellite, O/OREOS. Isn’t it cute?
Read the rest of this entry »
Last Monday, February 14, one of the largest solar storms in over a decade took place. It knocked out radio transmissions in the Western Pacific, parts of Asia, and even caused some polar flights to reroute for the sake of regaining communications. It could have been much worse, though, say space weather experts. The solar flare in this picture took place last September.
Read the rest of this entry »
A huge star, 20 times the mass of our own sun, is hurtling through space. Possibly sent on its course by its former binary star companion’s supernova, the star has been surfing the heavens at roughly 54,000 miles per hour. NASA’s WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) telescope has captured the star as it hurtled through a giant dust cloud, creating a massive shockwave, called “bow shock,” like the wave preceding a ship in the ocean. Zeta Ophiuchi, of the constellation Ophiuchus (of recent zodiac fame/infamy), can be seen here creating the giant, golden arc before its path.
Read the rest of this entry »
Some news agencies, including the Huffington Post, have recently been running reports that Earth will “soon” be warmed by a second sun beginning in 2012. Betelgeuse (yes, pronounced beetle-juice) is losing mass and is due to explode, or go “supernova.” When it does so, it is expected to become significantly brighter for a period of time, even gaining the ability to cast shadows.
Now, “soon,” we must remember, is being used in astronomical terms, reminds astronomer Jim Kaler at the University of Illinois, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on stars. “It’s as likely to happen a million years from now as it is tomorrow,” he cautions, so Earth can rest easy and breathe a collective sigh of relief. There is only a laughably slim chance that it could actually blow in 2012.
Betelgeuse is about 10-20 times as massive as our Sun, and is about 600 light years away in the constellation Orion. A light year is a measure of distance that denotes the distance a ray of light can travel in one year; about 6 trillion miles. So at that distance, Earth is in no danger from any sort of gamma-ray bursts or radiation, says Kaler. He notes, too, that Betelgeuse is not even the correct kind of star to emit gamma-bursts when it goes supernova. It will, however, make a ghastly mess of the constellation Orion when it does finally decide to kick the bucket, however, as supernovas usually destroy everything within a 30 light year, 360 degree perimeter with the powerful shock wave they emit. So, think death star explosion, but oh, so much bigger. This image is an artist’s rendition of what the supernova may look like.
So will it be Earth’s second sun? Not likely, Kaler says. It will be noticeably brighter outside for a time, but it will probably only cast about as much light as a crescent moon.
For more information please call 229-432-6955. Credit: SPACE.com. Image credit: SPACE.com.
Almost one month ago, the Mars Rover Odyssey set a new working lifespan record on the red planet. Having landed in 2001, Odyssey set a new record on December 22, 2010 as the longest-serving spacecraft on Mars. It surpassed the previous record set by the Mars Global Surveyor, another NASA spacecraft that orbited Mars for almost a decade, ending in 2006.
Read the rest of this entry »
Albany – A man in Wisconsin who had the dream but not the grades decided to skip the institution and bring the stars to his fingertips… by making them himself. Frank Kovac, a 45 year-old paper mill worker, once aspired to be an astrophysicist but could not make it through college math at university. Despite this, Kovac was determined to build—completely by hand—his own planetarium.
Read the rest of this entry »
Albany – Sky watchers can once again see a sight that has not been seen for three years: a complete lunar eclipse. The eclipse is expected to begin shortly before midnight next Monday, December 20th, and will continue on until just after 5:00 in the morning on the 21st.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes opposite from the sun, through Earth’s shadow. While there are other types of partial lunar eclipses where only portions of the moon are hidden in shadow, a total lunar eclipse can only occur during the full phase of the moon. This is because the moon has to line up just right on the other side of Earth, exactly opposite of the sun.
Read the rest of this entry »
Albany – When asked what they are studying in college, most students in Southwest Georgia probably would not answer with “astronomy.” One teacher in Albany, Georgia, though, is slowly changing that.
Dr. George C. Flowers, associate professor of Chemistry at Darton College, who also teaches several introductory science courses, has been taking some of his classes over the past several years to visit the Wetherbee Planetarium at Thronateeska Heritage Center. Much of the content covered in the planetarium is used to supplement teaching material used in the college classroom.
Read the rest of this entry »
Monday, Jun 13
Fair
Currently: 93˚F
Feels Like: 95˚ F
Hi: N/A˚, Lo: 72˚
weather feed courtesy of weather.com - thanks!
