Comet Tempel 1 Now in StardustNeXT?s Field of View

The first image of comet Tempel 1 taken by NASA's Stardust spacecraft is a composite made from observations on Jan. 18 and 19, 2011. The panel on the right highlights the location of comet Tempel 1 in the frame. On Valentine's Day (Feb. 14 in U.S. time zones), Stardust will fly within about 200 kilometers (124 miles) of the comet's nucleus. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

It?s comet ahoy! for the Stardust spacecraft, which is on its way to a Valentine?s Day meetup with comet Tempel 1. The images above were taken on Jan. 18 and 19 from a distance of 26.3 million kilometers (16.3 million miles), and 25.4 million kilometers (15.8 million miles). On Feb. 14, Stardust will fly within about 200 kilometers (124 miles) of the comet’s nucleus and for the first time we?ll get a second closeup look at Tempel 1.

?We were there in 2005 with the Deep Impact spacecraft, said Stardust-NExT Project Manager Tim Larson, speaking on today?s 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, ?and this is a golden opportunity. It?s the first time we?ve ever been able to revisit a comet on a second pass near the sun.?
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Read the rest of Comet Tempel 1 Now in StardustNeXT’s Field of View (632 words)

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Full story at http://www.universetoday.com/82933/comet-tempel-1-now-in-stardustnexts-field-of-view/

Carnival of Space 182

The Carnival of Space 182 is up at nextbigfuture

After a one month hiatus, the Carnival of Space is back. Nextbigfuture will be working with Universe today on the organization of the Carnival of Space. There are hosts signed up into April already.

This week Carnival of space has an animation video of the Mars moon Phobos, nuclear fusion for space propulsion, vacuum engineering, cataclysmic variables and much more.

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Ken Kremer on Today?s APOD

Opportunity at Santa Maria Crater Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, NASA, JPL, Cornell; Image Processing: Marco Di Lorenzo, Kenneth Kremer

Congrats to Universe Today writer Ken Kremer and his image processing partner Marco Di Lorenzo for their handiwork being featured on today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. It’s one of their great images they have enhanced of the Opportunity Rover peering into its current location at Santa Maria Crater on Mars. Check it out on APOD!

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Post tags: APOD, Ken Kremer, Mars

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A Sense of Planetary Scale

Scale from Brad Goodspeed on Vimeo.

This is great! Blogger Brad Goodspeed created an animation which shows different planets in our solar system as they would appear in the sky if it shared an orbit with our Moon, 380,000 km from earth. On his blog, he said he created it “to make you feel small.” You succeeded, Brad!

He explains how he created the video on his blog, BradBlogSpeed.com

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Astronomy Without A Telescope ? Gravity Probe B

Gravity Probe B - testing the null hypothesis that the spin axis of a gyroscope will stay aligned with a distant reference point when it's in a free fall orbit. General relativity says it won't.

There’s a line out of an early episode of The Big Bang Theory series, where Gravity Probe B is described as having seen ‘glimpses’ of Einstein’s predicted frame-dragging effect. In reality, it is not entirely clear that the experiment was able to definitively distinguish a frame-dragging effect from a background noise created by some exceedingly minor aberrations in its detection system.

Whether or not this counts as a glimpse – frame-dragging (the alleged last untested prediction of general relativity) and Gravity Probe B have become linked in the public consciousness. So here’s a quick primer on what Gravity Probe B may or may not have glimpsed.(...)
Read the rest of Astronomy Without A Telescope – Gravity Probe B (703 words)

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Nu Aquilae

Nu Aquilae(? Aquilae) este o stea in constelatia Aquila.

Nu Aquilae este o stea alb-galbuie de tip F supergiganta cu o magnitudine aparenta de +4.64. Se afla la cel putin 3000 ani-lumina de Pamant, in apropierea ecuatorului celest.

Full story at http://www.astronomy.info.com.ro/2011/01/nu-aquilae/

Xi Aquilae

Xi Aquilae(? Aquilae) este o stea galbena giganta aflata la aproximativ 204 ani-lumina de Pamant in constelatia Aquila. In anul 2008, o planeta extrasolara a fost descoperita orbitand in jurul stelei.

Planeta Xi Aquilae B are o masa de 2.8 ori mai mare ca a lui Jupiter, aflata la o distanta de 0.68 UA fata de� Xi Aquilae.

Full story at http://www.astronomy.info.com.ro/2011/01/xi-aquilae/

Omicron Aquilae

Omicron Aquilae(? Aquilae) este o stea binara din constelatia Aquila, aflata 63.2 aproximativ ani-lumina de Pamant.

Componenta primara, Omicron Aquilae A, este o stea alb-galbuie de tip F pitica de secventa principala cu o magnitudine aparenta de +5.12. Companionul ei, Omicron Aquilae B, este o stea de magnitudinea a 14-a, aflata la 22.5 arcsecunde. O a treia stea, Omicron Aquilae B, este un companion optic.

Full story at http://www.astronomy.info.com.ro/2011/01/omicron-aquilae/

Firefox 4 is so close I can taste it

Today we've shipped Firefox 4 Beta 10. If you haven't tried a Firefox 4 beta yet, you should definitely give this one a spin. It's pretty amazing.

If you've been tracking our betas, you'll be pleased to hear we've got more than 500 fixes for you since Beta 9 including some huge performance, stability and usability wins. It's our fastest yet. It's more stable than Firefox 3.6. It's polished up to near release-quality in every way.

Full story at http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2011/01/firefox_4_is_so_clos.html

Watch Geminid Meteor Shower On 13th and 14th December

If you are a sky gazer then you won't like to miss a chance to watch the beautiful Geminid meteor shower coming this week and if astronomers are to be believed its going to the "best meteor shower of the year".

The name Geminids comes from the name "Gemini" constellation.On 13th December and 14th December you can expect these showers late night if you are willing to brave the chill of December.



Observers can see more than 100 meteors per hour.The meteor shower will be more visible as the sky will be dark and moonless on December 14.

One more event astronomical event for this year will be the only Total lunar eclipse on December 20th which will be witnessed North America, Central America, a bit of South America, Greenland and Iceland.

Do let us know if you caught a glimpse of spectacular Geminid meteor shower!

Full story at http://astronomyforeveryone.blogspot.com/2010/12/watch-geminid-meteor-shower-on-13th-and.html