Astronomy Folk | Planets, Meteors, Comets, Telescopes: October 2010

Study Links Fresh Mars Gullies to Carbon Dioxide

PASADENA, Calif. -- A growing bounty of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals that the timing of new activity in one type of the enigmatic gullies on Mars implicates carbon-dioxide frost, rather than water, as the agent causing fresh flows of sand.

Researchers have tracked changes in gullies on faces of sand dunes in seven locations on southern Mars. The periods when changes occurred, as determined by comparisons of before-and-after images, overlapped in all cases with the k [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art23492/study-links-fresh-mars-gullies-to-carbon-dioxide.html

Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report

Spacecraft: Glory
Launch Vehicle: Taurus XL 3110
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Launch Date: Feb. 23, 2011
Launch Time: 2:10 a.m. PST
Altitude/Inclination: 440 miles/98.2 degrees

The Taurus rocket is in Orbital Sciences Hangar 1555 on north Vandenberg Air Force Base where integration and testing of the vehicle's flight hardware components continue. Avionics sub-system component installation continues. Application of the avionics system thermal blankets is nearing complet [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art23495/expendable-launch-vehicle-status-report.html

Kepler Mission Manager Update

The Kepler project team completed another science data download Oct. 23, 2010. The scheduled activity was completed on time without incident. The download represented the completion of the Quarter 7 Month 1 science data collection. Another 107 gigabytes of raw data were delivered to the NASA Ames Research Center Science Operations Center for processing and analysis.

As this operation was completed, the team reflected on how well the Kepler mission is meeting one of its most important metrics [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art23498/kepler-mission-manager-update.html

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat!

Happy Halloween, everyone! I almost put up a big scary picture here — my brother-in-law Chris took one that is honestly really creepy… but decided it might freak a few people out, so I put it in after the jump. If you’re an arachnophobe, I wouldn’t suggest clicking the "Read the rest of this entry" link…

Boo!

AAAAAAIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

That little lady is a Black Widow spider Chris spotted making a meal of a honeybee on his patio behind the house. He spotted the bee in trouble on the web and then the spider ran out from the siding, did her business, and ran back in.

So. Sweet dreams, me droogs. Why, I’m sure that itch on your leg as you lie under the covers is nothing, nothing at all.

Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/45f1ZUiOUIc/

Shuttle Launch Delayed at Least One Day

Space Shuttle Discovery.

Second Update (10/30): Launch of space shuttle Discovery is now targeted for Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 3:52p EDT. Technicians are still working to make repairs on the OMS engine.

The launch of space shuttle Discovery for the STS-133 mission has been pushed back at least one day due to the discovery of leaks in the right hand Orbital Maneuvering System Pod. Therefore, the launch will occur no sooner than Tuesday, Nov. 2 (and that has now been pushed to Nov. 3) . Managers, engineers and technicians are evaluating helium and nitrogen leaks in the pressurization portion of the OMS pod. The leaks must be fixed before launch and the decision was made to delay at least a day. Countdown had been scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. EDT today (Friday) but could begin on Saturday at 2 p.m. if the leak situation is resolved soon. The launch window on ~~Tuesday, November 2 would open at 4:17 p.m.~~ Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 3:52p EDT. NASA will be holding a press conference at 10 am EDT (watch on NASA TV), and we’ll provide an update after the conference. (See update below)

These leaking helium and nitrogen seals are unrelated to the fuel leak that was repaired last week, also related to Discovery?s right OMS pod.
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Full story at http://www.universetoday.com/76913/shuttle-launch-delayed-at-least-one-day/

Carbon Dioxide ? Not Water ? Creating Gullies on Mars, New Study Says

he gullies on a Martian sand dune in this trio of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deceptively resemble features on Earth that are carved by streams of water. However, these gullies likely owe their existence to entirely different geological processes apparently related to the winter buildup of carbon-dioxide frost. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Intriguing images of brand new, fresh gullies on Mars has most of us thinking of one thing: water. But at least for one type of Mars gully, carbon dioxide frost is the impetus behind fresh flows showing up on images from orbiting spacecraft.

“Gullies that look like this on Earth are caused by flowing water, but Mars is a different planet with its own mysteries,” said Serina Diniega, author of a new paper published in the journal Geology. “The timing we see points to carbon dioxide, and if the mechanism is linked to carbon-dioxide frost at these dune gullies, the same could be true for other gullies on Mars.”
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gullies, HiRISE, Mars, mars global surveyor, Water on Mars

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Full story at http://www.universetoday.com/76986/carbon-dioxide-not-water-creating-gullies-on-mars-new-study-says/

A Comet that Gives Twice?

A green and red Orionid meteor striking the sky below Milky Way and to the right of Venus. Zodiacal light is also seen at the image The trail appears slightly curved due to edge distortion in the lens. Taken by Mila Zinkova

While historically, meteor showers were portents of ill omens, we know today that they are the remnants of ejecta from comets entering our atmosphere. Many showers have had their parent comets identified. But a new study is suggesting that two meteor showers, the December Monocerotids and the November Orionids, may share the same parent.

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Full story at http://www.universetoday.com/76984/a-comet-that-gives-twice/

Mitigating Asteroid Threats Will Take Global Action

Computer generated simulation of an asteroid strike on the Earth. Credit: Don Davis/AFP/Getty Images

During the past 24 hours, the Earth has been hit by about a million small meteoroids ? most of which burned up in the atmosphere as shooting stars. This happens every day. And occasionally ? once every 10,000 years or so — a really big asteroid (1 km in diameter or larger) comes along and smacks Earth with an extinction-level impact. That idea might cause some of us to lose some sleep. But in between are other asteroid hits that occur every 200-300 years where a medium-sized chunk of space rock intersects with Earth?s orbit, producing a Tunguska-like event, or worse.

?Those are the objects we are concerned with,? said former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, speaking at a 3-day workshop in Darmstadt, Germany which focused on plans and recommendations for global coordination and response to an asteroid threat. ?We need to take action now to bring the world together and recognize this as a global threat so that we can make a cooperative international decision to act to extend the survival of life on Earth.?
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