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Friday 28 September 2012

Hubble captures deepest view of universe yet achieved

NEWSALERT: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 @ 1700 GMT
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The latest news from Spaceflight Now

 

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SPACE LEGENDS GATHER FOR AUTOGRAPH SHOW

The 2012 Astronaut Autograph & Memorabilia Show is set for November 1-3, 2012. Benefiting the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, the weekend's events include Cape tours, astronaut lectures, an Apollo 17 dinner and more. Over 30 astronauts and space celebrities will be present to sign autographs! Secure your tickets at http://www.AstronautScholarship.org/aams!

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HUBBLE CAPTURES DEEPEST VIEW OF UNIVERSE YET
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A stunning new composite photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope, made up of more than 2,000 images shot by multiple cameras over the past 10 years and combined in what amounts to a 23-day time exposure, shows some 5,500 galaxies in tiny field of view, including some dating back to just 450 million years after the big bang birth of the universe, astronomers said Tuesday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1209/25hubble/

 

ENGINEERS LOOKING INTO WEATHER SATELLITE ANOMALY
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A critical weather satellite assigned to monitor the East Coast of the United States and active hurricane zones in the Atlantic Ocean is out of commission, and NOAA officials are not sure when the spacecraft could be returned to service.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1209/26goes13/

 

ATV UNDOCKING CALLED OFF DUE TO COMPUTER GLITCH
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Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle was scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Tuesday, but the departure was scrubbed for the day by a problem with a laptop and command system inside the outpost's Russian service module.

http://spaceflightnow.com/ariane/va205/status.html

 

SPACEX'S REUSABLE ROCKET TESTBED TAKES FIRST HOP
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SpaceX's Grasshopper testbed, a slender white rocket fitted with insect-like landing legs, took off for a brief hop at the company's Texas test site Friday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1209/24grasshopper/

 

PHOTO FEATURE: COAST-TO-COAST WITH ENDEAVOUR
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Endeavour's ferryflight across the country last week traveled from the Cape to the City of Angels, and Spaceflight Now was on the move to capture the departure, the final visit to Edwards Air Force Base that had played a key role throughout the space shuttle program and the stirring flyover of Los Angeles where the spaceship now resides for retirement. See our four-page photo spread on the trip.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/ferrygallery/

 

INTERACTIVE iPAD GUIDE TO CURIOSITY ROVER MISSION
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Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now have created an interactive iPad guide to the Curiosity rover mission. Learn more about the mission, explore the rover's components and preview Europe's plans for the next Mars rover destined to visit the Red Planet. Now includes a clickable guide to all previous Mars missions.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-to-mars-astronomy/id548931049?mt=8

 

+++ FERRYFLIGHT SHUTTLE PATCH
"The Final Mission" - NASA emblem developed for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft crew and their support teams to deliver the orbiters to their final destinations at museums.http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/ +++


Forward email


Spaceflight Now | Launch Complex 39 Press Site | Kennedy Space Center | FL | 32899




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Good Clear Skies
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Astrocomet
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Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
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Wednesday 26 September 2012

Big Sun-diving Comet Discovered

Space Weather News for Sept. 25, 2012
http://spaceweather.com

SUNDIVING COMET: Astronomers are paying close attention to a newly-discovered comet, C/2012 S1 (ISON), which is heading for a remarkably close encounter with the sun.  Fierce solar heat could turn Comet ISON into a bright naked-eye object in Nov. 2013.  First images and speculation about the comet are highlighted on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com


--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
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SpaceX takes reusable hop / Endeavour photo feature

NEWSALERT: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 @ 1730 GMT
-------------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now

 

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We're proud to help launch Future Space(TM) in a new direction.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's half-century of proven, dependable rocket engines has powered missions that have changed life on Earth. Our employees are ready to lead the charge into Future Space(TM). To innovate solutions, embrace new opportunities and make giant leaps.

http://www.FutureSpaceUSA.com/
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SPACEX'S REUSABLE ROCKET TESTBED TAKES FIRST HOP
-----------------------------------------------------
SpaceX's Grasshopper testbed, a slender white rocket fitted with insect-like landing legs, took off for a brief hop at the company's Texas test site Friday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1209/24grasshopper/

 

PHOTO FEATURE: COAST-TO-COAST WITH ENDEAVOUR
-----------------------------------------------------
Endeavour's ferryflight across the country last week traveled from the Cape to the City of Angels, and Spaceflight Now was on the move to capture the departure, the final visit to Edwards Air Force Base that had played a key role throughout the space shuttle program and the stirring flyover of Los Angeles where the spaceship now resides for retirement. See our four-page photo spread on the trip.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/ferrygallery/

 

CALIFORNIA WELCOMES ENDEAVOUR BACK HOME
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Completing the final leg of the final space shuttle ferryflight, the decommissioned Endeavour toured iconic landmarks around California before her 747 carrier jet made a tire-smoking touchdown at the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/120921lax/

FERRYFLIGHT JOURNAL:
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/ferry/status105.html

 

NEW COMET MIGHT BLAZE BRIGHTER THAN THE FULL MOON
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A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013. With a perihelion passage of less than two million kilometres from the Sun in November 2013, current predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full Moon.

http://astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

 

INTERACTIVE iPAD GUIDE TO CURIOSITY ROVER MISSION
-------------------------------------------------
Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now have created an interactive iPad guide to the Curiosity rover mission. Learn more about the mission, explore the rover's components and preview Europe's plans for the next Mars rover destined to visit the Red Planet. Now includes a clickable guide to all previous Mars missions.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-to-mars-astronomy/id548931049?mt=8

 

+++ FERRYFLIGHT SHUTTLE PATCH
"The Final Mission" - NASA emblem developed for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft crew and their support teams to deliver the orbiters to their final destinations at museums.http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/ +++


Forward email


Spaceflight Now | Launch Complex 39 Press Site | Kennedy Space Center | FL | 32899




--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
--

Monday 24 September 2012

[BAA-ebulletin 00699] RR Tauri Observing campaign begins

============================================================
BAA electronic bulletin
============================================================
The BAA Variable Star and Deep Sky Sections are combining their skills
in an observing campaign to observe the star RR Tau and it's
associated nebula.

Optically RR Tau is an exciting star to observe, varying between
magnitudes 10.0 and 14.5, in an irregular and unpredictable fashion.

The aim of the project is simple. Visual VSS observers will monitor
the changes in brightness of RR Tau, whilst CCD observers - both
VSS and Deep Sky - will attempt to image the nebula on as many
occasions as possible, so that we can, at the end of the project,
correlate the two to see if we have anything interesting to show for
our efforts. Even if we do not, we will still have answered an
important question!

This star is also featured as the "Variable Star of the Year for 2013"
in the BAA Handbook. However, we've taken the liberty of placing the
information that will appear there on our web page at
http://www.britastro.org/vss/VSOTY.htm where you will also find a link
to the chart.

Good observing.

Roger Pickard, VSS Director (in the absence of the Deep Sky Section
Director)
14th September 2012

============================================================
BAA-ebulletin mailing list visit:
http://lists.britastro.org/mailman/listinfo/baa-ebulletin
(c) 2012 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/
============================================================

--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information -- And More Info

SPA ENB No. 339

                ***********************************
                 The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
                ***********************************
       ======================================================
        Electronic News Bulletin No. 339   2012 September 23
       ======================================================

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy.  The SPA is Britain's liveliest astronomical society, with
members all over the world.  We accept subscription payments online
at our secure site and can take credit and debit cards.  You can join
or renew via a secure server or just see how much we have to offer by
visiting  http://www.popastro.com/


SPACECRAFT WATCH FOR STORMS IN THE RADIATION BELTS
NASA

NASA has launched two spacecraft directly into the Van Allen radiation
belts.  Bristling with sensors, the heavily-shielded spacecraft are on
a 2-year mission to discover what makes the radiation belts so
dangerous and so devilishly unpredictable.  When the radiation belts
were discovered in 1958, they were a surprise.  It had been assumed
that the space around the Earth was empty, but the first American
satellite, Explorer 1, proved otherwise.  The tiny spacecraft was
equipped with a Geiger tube for counting energetic protons and
electrons, and it found so many charged particles that the counter
registered off-scale most of the time.  In the 1950s the radiation
belts had little effect on ordinary people, but today hundreds of
satellites used for everything from weather prediction to GPS to
television routinely skim the belts, subjecting themselves to
energetic particles that can damage solar panels and electronics.
During geomagnetic storms, when the belts are swollen by solar
activity, whole fleets of satellites can be engulfed, imperilling the
technological underpinnings of daily life on the planet below.  When a
solar storm hits the radiation belts, they often respond in
counter-intuitive ways.  Sometimes the radiation belts fill with
energetic particles such as the 'killer electrons' that worry mission
planners, but just as often the opposite happens, and the belts lose
their killer particles, temporarily making them a safer place.  And
sometimes nothing happens!  Researchers hope that the new satellites
will narrow the possibilities.  During storms, the probes can sample
electric and magnetic fields, count the number of energetic particles,
and detect plasma waves of many frequencies.  The hope is that the
data will lead to predictive models that can forecast when it is safe
to enter the belts, perform space-walks, and operate sensitive
electronics.


'DRY ICE' SNOWFALL ON MARS
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data have given scientists the clearest
evidence yet of carbon-dioxide snowfalls on Mars.  Frozen carbon
dioxide, better known as dry ice, exists only at temperatures below
about -125 C at the low pressure of the Martian atmosphere.  The
snowfalls occurred from clouds around the south pole in winter.  The
scientists analyzed data gained by looking at clouds from straight
overhead and sideways with the Climate Sounder, one of six instruments
on the orbiter.  The instrument records brightness in nine wavebands
of visible and infrared light, data that provide information about
temperatures, particle sizes and their concentrations.  The new
analysis is based on data from observations in the south polar region
during southern Mars winter in 2006-2007, identifying a tall carbon-
dioxide cloud about 500 kilometres in diameter persisting over the
pole and smaller, shorter-lived, lower-altitude carbon-dioxide ice
clouds at latitudes from 70 to 80 degrees south.

One line of evidence for snow is that the carbon-dioxide ice particles
in the clouds are large enough to fall to the ground during the
lifespan of the clouds.  Another comes from observations when the
instrument is pointed toward the horizon, instead of down at the
surface. The infrared signature of the clouds viewed from that angle
is clearly that of carbon-dioxide ice particles, and they extend to
the surface.  The south polar residual ice cap is the only place on
Mars where frozen carbon dioxide persists on the surface year-round.
Its existence there has been known for decades, but just how it gets
deposited from the atmosphere has been in question.  It has not been
known whether it occurs as snow or by freezing out at ground level as
frost.  The new results show that snowfall is especially vigorous on
top of the residual cap.


FLASH ON JUPITER
Spaceweather.com

Something appears to have hit Jupiter on September 10 (11:35 UT),
igniting a fireball in the cloud tops.  Amateur astronomers in
Wisconsin and Texas observed a bright white flash that lasted about
1.5 to 2 seconds.  The fireball was probably caused by a small
asteroid or comet hitting Jupiter.  Similar impacts were observed in
June and August 2010.  An analysis of those earlier events suggests
that Jupiter is frequently struck by 10-metre-class asteroids -- one
of the hazards of orbiting near the asteroid belt and having such a
strong gravitational field.  Astronomers around the world have begun
monitoring the impact site for signs of debris -- either the remains
of the impactor or material dredged up from beneath the cloud tops.
Not all impacts produce such debris.


MOST ANCIENT SPIRAL GALAXY YET DISCOVERED
Nature

Astronomers using the Hubble telescope have discovered a large, fully
formed spiral galaxy, that they have called BX442, that is the most
ancient spiral galaxy known.  Current wisdom holds that such galaxies
did not exist at such an early time in the history of the Universe,
because the formation of spiral arms takes a long time.  Most distant
galaxies, seen as they were billions of years ago, look clumpy and
irregular.  But BX442, a 10.7- billion-year-old entity, was in
existence 'only' 3 billion years after the Big Bang.  Researchers
think the reason the galaxy is so well formed may have something to do
with the existence of a dwarf galaxy near to it.  Computer simulations
indicate that gravitational interactions between the two, which appear
to be in the process of colliding, may have helped BX442 take shape.


SILVER AND GOLD MATERIALISED IN DIFFERENT STELLAR EXPLOSIONS
Heidelberg, Universität

In the quest for the cosmic origins of heavy elements, scientists have
established that silver can only have materialised during the
explosion of clearly defined types of star.  Those are different from
the kinds of stars that can produce gold when they explode.  The
evidence comes from the measurement of various high-mass stars with
the help of which the stepwise evolution of the components of all
matter can be reconstructed.  The light elements, helium and traces of
lithium, came into being a few minutes after the Big Bang.  All
heavier elements materialised later in the interiors of stars or
during stellar explosions, with each generation of stars contributing
a little to enriching the Universe with chemical elements.  The
elements that a star can generate in its 'lifetime' depend largely on
its mass.  At the end of their lives, stars about ten times the mass
of the Sun explode as supernovae, producing elements sometimes heavier
than iron. Depending on how massive the star originally was, silver
and gold can materialise in that way.

When various stars of the same mass explode, the ratio of elements
generated and ejected is identical.  That constant composition is
perpetuated in the subsequent generations of stars forming from the
remnants of their predecessors.  Investigations have now demonstrated
that the amount of silver in the stars measured is completely
independent of the amounts of other heavy elements like gold.  That
indicates that during a supernova explosion silver is created by a
process entirely different from that in which gold forms.


COSMIC LITHIUM IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE
Science Daily

Astrophysicists have explored a discrepancy between the amount of
lithium predicted by the standard models of elemental production
during the Big Bang and the amount of lithium observed in the gas of
the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).  The team, using observations from
the VLT in Chile, measured the amount of lithium in the interstellar
gas of the SMC, which has far fewer star-produced heavy elements than
the Milky Way.  Scientists believe that, in addition to the production
of elements by fusion in the cores of stars, conditions immediately
after the Big Bang led to the formation of some elements, including a
small amount of lithium.  Stars in the Milky Way have about four times
less lithium on the surface than expected by Big Bang predictions.
Stellar activity often destroys lithium, or the element might sink
from the surface through lighter hydrogen, but the remarkable
consistency of the maximum level remains a challenge.  Observations of
gas in the SMC revealed the amount of lithium that predictions say
would have been produced at the Big Bang, but leave no room for
subsequent production of the element.  One explanation could be a
novel kind of physics operating at the Big Bang that left less lithium
than the Standard Model expects. To pursue that possibility, the team
will conduct three nights of observations on the VLT in November.
It will look for the lithium isotope 7Li in the Large Magellanic
Cloud (LMC) and for 6Li in both the LMC and SMC.  The standard model
expects that no 6Li was created at the Big Bang.


DARK ENERGY CLAIMED AS REAL
RAS

Over a decade ago, astronomers observing the brightnesses of distant
supernovae thought that they saw evidence that the expansion of the
Universe is accelerating.  The acceleration was attributed to a
repulsive force associated with a mystery substance that has been
called 'dark energy', that has subsequently been suggested to make up
most of the content of the cosmos.  The researchers who made the
discovery received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2011, but the
existence of dark energy remains a topic of hot debate.  Many efforts
have been made to confirm its reality, but they are either indirect
probes of the accelerating Universe or are subject to their own
uncertainties, or both..

Some evidence in favour of dark energy comes from the 'Integrated
Sachs-Wolfe effect', named after Rainer Sachs and Arthur Wolfe.  The
cosmic microwave background (the radiation of the residual heat of the
Big Bang) is seen all over the sky.  In 1967 Sachs and Wolfe proposed
that that radiation would become slightly bluer as it passed through
the gravitational fields of lumps of matter.  In 1996, Robert
Crittenden and Neil Turok took the idea to the next level, suggesting
that astronomers could look for small changes in the energy of the
radiation by comparing maps of its temperature with maps of galaxies
in the local Universe.  In the absence of dark energy, or a large
curvature in the Universe, there would be no correspondence between
the two maps (the distant cosmic microwave background and relatively
closer distribution of galaxies), but the existence of dark energy
would lead to the strange, counter-intuitive effect whereby the cosmic
microwave background photons would gain energy as they travelled
through large lumps of mass.

The Sachs-Wolfe effect was first detected in 2003 and was immediately
hailed as corroborative evidence for dark energy.  But the signal is
weak, as the expected correlation between maps is small, so some
scientists suggested it had other origins.  Since the first Sachs-
Wolfe papers, several astronomers have questioned the original
detections of the effect and thus called even the strongest evidence
for dark energy into question.  In a new paper, the product of nearly
two years of work at the University of Portsmouth and a university in
Munich, the collaborators have re-examined all the arguments against
the Sachs-Wolfe detection as well as improving upon the maps used in
the original work.  They conclude that it is very likely that dark
energy is responsible for the hotter parts of the cosmic microwave
background maps.


SPA SOLAR SECTION REPORT AUGUST 2012
By Richard Bailey, Director, SPA Solar Section

Rotation Nos. 2126, 2127  WHITE LIGHT

With the solar disc never blank during the month, observers always had
ARs to see.  The quietest days were from the 13th to the 18th, the
busiest 1st to the 12th and the 25th to the end of the month.  Both
hemispheres had ARs daily except on the 18th and 19th.  The NH had the
largest, but no dominating ARs were to be seen.  12 ARs were recorded
on the 3rd, 2 in the NH, 10 in the SH.  NH AR 1555 was just 3 degrees
from the equator on the 31st.  No sunspots were large enough to be
seen with (protected) naked eye.  Light bridging was seen to the
largest umbrae.  Limb faculae, sometimes extending quite a way onto
the disc, were seen daily.
Week 1.  Both hemispheres were active, the SH with most of it, and
NH AR 1535 had the most sunspots.
Week 2.  Activity fell away in both hemispheres towards the end of the
week.  NH AR 1543 was the largest during the week, growing rapidly.
Week 3.  The lowest activity of the month.  On the 16th. just one AR
in each hemisphere, nearing the W limb.  Next day NH AR 1546 showed by
the E limb, soon followed by 47 and 48, and a SH AR 1549 appeared W of
centre on the 20th, the four then forming a diagonal line led by the
SH AR.
Week 4 to end of month.  Increasing activity in both hemispheres from
the 24th, with 8 ARs on the 31st, 4 in each.

MDF   5.25     R  70.04

H-ALPHA

Prominences of all shapes and sizes were on show throughout the month,
as were filaments and plaging to larger ARs.  No flares were reported.
A highlight of the month was the long-lasting, strong, lengthy
filament from the E limb from the start of the month, N of SH AR 1536,
visible, changing, until it reached the W limb on the 12th, the
preceding part standing out as a prominence.  In the SH an almost
semi-circular large filament was seen for a some days from the 17th
as it went west from the central area, losing shape and strength.
Another long filament appeared in the E at the end of the month,
extending from SH AR 1563, having showed on the 28th as a tall
prominence with a westerly filament.

MDF   5.62

View a selection of splendid pictures and drawings by Section members
on the Solar/Reports link from the SPA home page.  A full version of
this Report may be viewed there also.  A selection of Solar web sites
is shown on the Observing link.



Bulletin compiled by Clive Down

(c) 2012 the Society for Popular Astronomy




--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
--

Saturday 22 September 2012

[BAA-ebulletin 00698] BRILLIANT FRAGMENTING FIREBALL OF 21 SEPTEMBER 2012

======================================================================
BAA electronic bulletin
This is an announcements only list - please do not reply to this message.
======================================================================
BRILLIANT FRAGMENTING FIREBALL OF 21 SEPTEMBER 2012

Hundreds of eyewitness reports are coming in of a brilliant fragmenting
fireball, visible at about 22:55 BST (21:55 UT) on Friday, 21st September
2012. This is clearly one of the most dramatic events reported to the BAA
Meteor Section in recent years.

On Friday evening, there was scattered and more continuous cloud cover over
much of South-East England, but the rest of the UK and Ireland were largely
very clear, with transparent starry skies. This, coupled with the fact that
many people were out on a Friday evening and the truly spectacular nature of
the fireball itself, are clearly the main factors in it being reported by so
many thousands of people over such a very wide area. This extends northwards
and westwards from a line roughly linking Norfolk in the East to Devon in
the South-West, with the majority of sightings so far received coming from
Wales, the North-West, Central and North of England, Scotland and much of
Ireland.

When first seen the fireball appeared as a single very brilliant object but
it then fragmented into a very large number of bright secondary fireballs,
all travelling along roughly parallel paths across the sky.

One highly unusual feature of this fireball is the length of time for which
it was visible due to its apparent very slow speed of movement across the
sky.  This has led some people to speculate that the fireball was due to the
re-entry of a large fragment of space debris.  However, there are several
aspects of the event, at this very early phase of the investigation, that do
not appear to fit with this hypothesis and it would be unwise to rule out
other possibilities at this stage.

The undersigned has received many reports of the fireball, but these
extracts from the following two more detailed accounts (which have, of
necessity, been shortened here) give a very good general idea of the nature
of this most unusual event.

>From David Stewart, Observing Coordinator of the Irish Astronomical
Association (IAA), observing from Delamont Country Park, one mile south of
Killyleagh in County Down.
"At 22:54 BST, a group of 12 IAA members spotted an amazing group of
fireballs rising from trees at the eastern horizon to the right of Jupiter
as seen from the main car park. It was immediately thought they might be
fireworks but they continued to rise at a steady pace and fan out slightly
as they approached us from distance with their numbers increasing and their
brilliant intensity remaining unchanged. We estimated approximately 20-30
fireballs were seen following the same east to west trajectory each with an
estimated brightness between mag. -5 to -7 and each left a medium trail as
they travelled almost directly overhead. No noise was heard except for the
excited astronomers. A larger group of 4 or 5 fireballs were at the front of
the group and differences in size were apparent but each burned with a
similar brightness and a distinct orange hue. We were able to observe the
fireballs for 2mins from the trees in the east to the trees in western
horizon and we had particularly good views in that direction. As the
fireballs approached the western horizon their numbers dwindled, possibly
due to burning up and atmospheric extinction, at least 2 or 3 were seen
disappearing behind trees. They were travelling at a speed somewhat faster
than the ISS but not as fast as a typical meteorite on entry into the
Earth's atmosphere."

And from Paul Buglass, reporting on behalf of 10+ members of the York
Astronomical Society (YAS) who were observing at the YAS Observatory, 4
miles west of York. Conditions were totally clear, and a very transparent
night.
"At approximately 10:56ish (BST), a group of us were talking outside
and I noticed a very bright light low down over York (due East) . very
bright with a slight green tint.. It seemed to be moving very slowly,
flickering slightly, and at first I thought it was a low flying aircraft .
then I thought perhaps it was a helicopter.  It still hadn't moved much, but
as the seconds ticked by it slowly started to show more movement to the left
and slightly gain elevation .As its angular velocity increased, the bright
green light started to show a slight tail as it passed through the bottom of
Auriga, and then as its apparent angular speed increased more, a longer
trail of darker red/orange trail formed, with bits coming off, as it
approached the Plough. It then started to lose more distinct fragments
downstream, with a orange almost ember like appearance, then the main bright
white/green head puffed explosively and lost many more orange fragments
which trailed off downstream as it passed through the Plough.. It continued
West in a very flat trajectory, gradually losing the bright head as it moved
to the West, and . faded to about 6 or 7 glowing orange points .  The
direction it was finally lost from view was directly under Hercules.. Total
observation time was possibly 60+ seconds from first sighting low in the
East to fading from view in the West."

Most of the reports received so far are either quite brief or contain a lot
of descriptive information about the fireball's changing visual appearance,
BUT we urgently need more positional information relating to the fireball's
trajectory across the night sky.  Photographs which show background stars,
and even video clips or still images from mobile phones could prove very
useful in this regard.

PLEASE could local society secretaries or other officers who receive this
e-bulletin circulate it to all of their members and any other interested
parties.

Clearly this was a very major fireball event and any BAA members who saw it,
or who may have been contacted by non-astronomers who witnessed it, are
asked to collect as much information about the sighting as possible and send
it either to the Meteor Section Director at docjohn@dircon.co.uk or to
meteor@britastro.org.

Useful information will include the name and location of the observer, the
precise time of the event, the altitude and azimuth of the start and end
points of the visible track, the position of the observed track against the
background stars, and a description of the fireball's visual appearance,
colour, etc. together with any unusual features.


This e-bulletin issued by:
John W. Mason, Director, BAA Meteor Section
2012 September 22

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(c) 2012 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/
======================================================================



--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
--

Thursday 20 September 2012

Endeavour on cross-country ferryflight / Next X-37 flight readied

 

NEWSALERT: Thursday, September 20, 2012 @ 1545 GMT
----------------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Own a piece of Space History with The Space Shuttle Commemorative Coin. Limited edition coins made with metal flown in space on the very first Space Shuttle mission: STS-1. History you can hold in your hands. Get yours today at: http://http://www.SpaceShuttleCoin.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER BIDS FINAL FAREWELL TO ENDEAVOUR
-----------------------------------------------------
Bound for Southern California where America's space shuttle fleet was born, the retired spaceship Endeavour left her homeport Wednesday morning atop a modified 747 carrier jet to become a tool of inspiration at a children's science museum in Los Angeles.
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/120919depart/
PHOTOS: ENDEAVOUR OVER COCOA BEACH:
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/120919beach/
 
ENDEAVOUR HEADS ON WESTWARD TREK INTO RETIREMENT
------------------------------------------------
The space shuttle Endeavour began her hopscotching trek across the southern United States on a ferryflight into retirement Wednesday, departing Kennedy Space Center at sunrise on a four-leg trek to reach the busy Los Angeles International Airport at noon Friday.
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/120916preview/index2.html  
ANOTHER ATLAS 5 READIED TO LAUNCH MINI SPACE SHUTTLE
----------------------------------------------------
United Launch Alliance's Atlas-Centaur rocket has been put together for deploying the Air Force's third Orbital Test Vehicle flight, a mission that will demonstrate the reusability of the X-37B spaceplane when it blasts off Oct. 25.
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av034/stacking.html
 
LONG MARCH ORBITS CHINESE NAVIGATION SATELLITES
-----------------------------------------------
Two satellites for China's Beidou navigation system lifted off on top of a Long March rocket Tuesday, adding new spacecraft to the growing network to provide more accurate positioning services to military and civil users.
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1209/18longmarch/
 
INTERACTIVE iPAD GUIDE TO CURIOSITY ROVER MISSION
-------------------------------------------------
Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now have created an interactive iPad guide to the Curiosity rover mission. Learn more about the mission, explore the rover's components and preview Europe's plans for the next Mars rover destined to visit the Red Planet. Now updated with a timeline of the triumphs and disasters of Mars exploration.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-to-mars-astronomy/id548931049?mt=8
 
+++ FERRYFLIGHT SHUTTLE PATCH
"The Final Mission" - NASA emblem developed for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft crew and their support teams to deliver the orbiters to their final destinations at museums.http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/ +++ 





   
 
 
  
 

 
--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
--

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Endeavour departure delayed / Station crew lands

NEWSALERT: Monday, September 17, 2012 @ 2000 GMT
-------------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Own a piece of Space History with The Space Shuttle Commemorative Coin. Limited edition coins made with metal flown in space on the very first Space Shuttle mission: STS-1. History you can hold in your hands. Get yours today at:

http://http://www.SpaceShuttleCoin.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

WEATHER POSTPONES SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR'S FERRYFLIGHT TO WEDNESDAY
--------------------------------------------------------------
The space shuttle Endeavour will spend yet another day at the Kennedy Space Center as bad weather along the ferryflight's route remains problematic to begin the cross-country journey. Takeoff is rescheduled for Wednesday, with further details on the flight path and revisions to the plan still pending.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/ferry/status105.html

MUST-SEE NEW ENDEAVOUR PHOTO GALLERY:
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/120916pushback/

 

THREE-MAN SPACE CREW BACK FROM 125 DAYS IN ORBIT
------------------------------------------------
Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA flight engineer bid their three space station crewmates farewell Sunday, strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked from the lab complex and fell back to Earth, making a pinpoint landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 125-day voyage.

http://spaceflightnow.com/station/exp32/landing.html

 

SOYUZ LAUNCHES EUROPEAN WEATHER SATELLITE
-----------------------------------------
Europe's next polar-orbiting weather satellite launched from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket on Monday, on the way to join a fleet of international observers dedicated to improving global weather forecasts. Liftoff occurred at 1628 GMT (12:28 p.m. EDT).

http://spaceflightnow.com/soyuz/st25/status.html

 

SEQUESTRATION WOULD COME AT 'GREAT COST' TO NASA
------------------------------------------------
NASA stands to lose nearly $1.5 billion in 2013 unless Congress acts to reduce budget deficits by the end of the year, and the outlook is even worse for U.S. military space programs, according to a report released on Friday by the White House.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1209/14sequestration/

 

SIGNS POINT TO INTERSTELLAR SPACE FOR VOYAGER 1 PROBE
-----------------------------------------------------
More than 35 years after launching from Earth and now at the frontier of the solar system, NASA's Voyager 1 probe may be tasting interstellar space for the first time, according to scientists analyzing fresh data from the distant explorer.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1209/16voyager/

 

CALIFORNIA ATLAS 5 FINALLY FLIES WITH FLOCK OF SATELLITES
---------------------------------------------------------
Hoisting a clandestine prime payload -- likely a pair of formation-flying ocean surveillance satellites -- and a menagerie of micro missions hitchhiking into space, the Atlas 5 rocket reeled off another successful performance Thursday in a rare mid-day launch from California.

http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av033/

LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY:
http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av033/launch/

 

INTERACTIVE iPAD GUIDE TO CURIOSITY ROVER MISSION
-------------------------------------------------
Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now have created an interactive iPad guide to the Curiosity rover mission. Learn more about the mission, explore the rover's components and preview Europe's plans for the next Mars rover destined to visit the Red Planet. Now updated with a timeline of the triumphs and disasters of Mars exploration.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mission-to-mars-astronomy/id548931049?mt=8

 

+++ FERRYFLIGHT SHUTTLE PATCH
"The Final Mission" - NASA emblem developed for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft crew and their support teams to deliver the orbiters to their final destinations at museums.http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/ +++


--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
--

Thursday 13 September 2012

Explosion on Jupiter

Space Weather News for Sept. 11, 2012

EXPLOSION ON JUPITER: Amateur astronomers are reporting a bright fireball on Jupiter--apparently the result of a small asteroid hitting the planet during the early hours of Sept. 10th.  As the fireball fades, attention turns to possible debris around the impact site.  Observers will be monitoring the region in the nights ahead to see what surfaces.  Check http://spaceweather.com for images and updates.

AURORA ALERTS: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are underway? Aurora alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).


--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
--
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
--

Monday 10 September 2012

SPA ENB No. 338

                 ***********************************
                  The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
                ***********************************
        =====================================================
          Electronic News Bulletin No. 338  2012 September 9
        =====================================================

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy.  The SPA is Britain's liveliest astronomical society, with
members all over the world.  We accept subscription payments online
at our secure site and can take credit and debit cards.  You can join
or renew via a secure server or just see how much we have to offer by
visiting  http://www.popastro.com/


STAR MAY HAVE ENGULFED PLANET
BBC News

A US-Polish-Spanish consortium has been using the Hobby-Eberly
telescope in Texas to observe the red-giant star BD +48° 740.  Rising
temperatures near the cores of red giants cause them to expand; any
nearby planets will be engulfed.  The consortium suggests that that
has happened in the case of their star, merely because of that star's
chemical composition.  It contains an abnormally high amount of
lithium, an element created primarily during the Big Bang 14 billion
years ago.  Lithium is easily destroyed in stars, so its high
abundance in an old star is unusual.  Theoreticians have identified
only a few circumstances, other than the Big Bang, under which lithium
can be created in stars.  In the case of BD +48° 740, they suggest
that lithium production might have been triggered by a mass of the
order of a planet that was engulfed by the star and heated it up while
the star was digesting it.  Another piece of 'evidence', which is if
anything even more circumstantial than the first, is the highly
elliptical orbit of a newly discovered planet, at least 1.6 times the
mass of Jupiter, around the red giant.  Orbits so eccentric are
uncommon in planetary systems around evolved stars, and the
BD +48° 740 planet's orbit is the most elliptical determined so far.
The consortium notes that gravitational interactions between planets
may be responsible for peculiar orbits.


SUGAR MOLECULES FOUND AROUND YOUNG STAR
ESO

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA, a radio
telescope still in course of construction in the Chilean Andes)
have observed a young binary star, with a mass similar to the
Sun's, called IRAS 16293-2422.  They have identified molecules of
glycolaldehyde -- a simple form of sugar -- in the surrounding gas.
Glycolaldehyde has been seen in interstellar space before, but this is
the first time it has been found so near to a Sun-like star, at
distances comparable to the distance of Uranus from the Sun.  The gas
and dust clouds that collapse to form new stars are extremely cold,
and many gases solidify as ice on the particles of dust, where they
then bond together and form more-complex molecules.  But once a star
has been formed in the middle of a cloud of gas and dust, it heats the
inner parts of the cloud to around room temperature, evaporating the
chemically complex molecules, and forming gases that emit their
characteristic radiation as radio waves that can be mapped with radio
telescopes such as ALMA.  IRAS 16293-2422 got onto the astronomers'
programme of studying the molecules and chemistry around young stars
through its location around 400 light-years away, comparatively
'close' to the Earth.


DOUBLE-STAR SYSTEMS CAN HOST PLANETS
Science

Astronomers using the Kepler telescope have for the first time
discovered two planets orbiting a binary-star system.  Kepler had to
date detected four systems each with one circum-binary planet, but now
Kepler 47 has been found as the first system with more than one.
Kepler 47 and its planets, called Kepler 47b and Kepler 47c, are about
5,000 light-years away, in the constellation Cygnus.  Many of the
stars in the Galaxy are in binary or higher-order multiple systems,
so the fact that planetary systems can exist in such systems is of
interest.  The planets were discovered by the drop in brightness
caused when they transited in front of their star.  The dimming is
tiny, only 0.08% for planet b and 0.2% for planet c.  For comparison,
Venus blocked about 0.1% of the Sun's surface during its recent
transit.

One of the stars in the binary system is much like our Sun, and the
other is about a third its size and 175 times fainter.  The inner and
outer planets are respectively 3 and 4.6 times Earth's diameter.  The
smaller one is the smallest circumbinary planet seen yet; it completes
an orbit every 49.5 days, while the outer one takes 303.2 days.  The
stars themselves circulate around each other every 7.5 days.  It was
already known mathematically that planetary systems can exist round
binary stars, but finding an actual example shows that they can form
there too.  Planets are thought mostly to form from a residual disc of
debris left over from the star-formation process, and it is not
obvious that the disc could survive near a newly formed binary star,
owing to the orbital motions of the stars.  However, it now appears
that, apart from minor differences in the orbital spacings, planetary
systems around binary stars can be similar to those around single
stars.


41 MORE EXOPLANETS DISCOVERED BY KEPLER
Science Daily

Two newly submitted studies from Kepler verify 41 new transiting
planets in 20 star systems.  The results add more than 50% to the
number of Kepler's confirmed planets, to 116 planets in a total of 67
systems, over half of which contain more than one planet.  Nineteen of
the newly validated planetary systems have two closely spaced
transiting planets and one system has three.  Five of the systems are
common to both of the independent studies.  The planets range from
Earth-size to more than seven times the radius of the Earth, but
generally orbit so close to their parent stars that they would be
too hot to live on.  The planets were confirmed by analyzing Transit
Timing Variations (TTVs).  In closely packed systems, the
gravitational pull of the planets causes the acceleration and
deceleration of a planet along its orbit, making the orbital period of
each planet to change from one orbit to the next.  TTVs demonstrate
that two transiting planet candidates are in the same system and that
their masses are planetary in nature.  The two research teams used
data from the Kepler space telescope, which constantly measures the
brightness of more than 150,000 stars, to search for transiting
planets.  The sheer volume of planet candidates being identified by
Kepler is inspiring teams to look at the planet confirmation and
characterization process differently.  The TTV confirmation technique
can be applied to large numbers of systems relatively quickly and
needs little or no follow-up observations from the ground.


GRAVITY WAVES FROM WHITE-DWARF PAIR
BBC News

Researchers have found visible-light evidence for one of astronomy's
most esoteric concepts -- gravity waves.  A change in the orbits of
two white dwarf stars orbiting one another 3,000 light-years away is
evidence that such waves occur.  Gravitational waves were a
significant part of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity,
which viewed space itself as a malleable construct, and the gravity of
massive objects as a force that could effectively warp it.  The effect
is far too small to be measurable in Earth-bound experiments, but the
wider Universe provides a laboratory in which indirect effects of
gravity waves might be measured.  In principle, any two massive
objects orbiting one another can emit gravitational waves, slowly
losing their orbital energy into the waves.  The effect is to change
the size and period of the orbit slightly.  A measurement of a
minuscule change in the orbits of rapidly rotating neutron stars
garnered the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics.

It is the extreme nature of the pair of white-dwarf stars known as
J0651 -- each a substantial fraction of the Sun's mass orbiting each
other at a distance just a third of that between the Earth and Moon --
that produces observable effects of gravity waves.  In 2011, it was
reported that the orbital period of the pair was less than 13 minutes.
Since that discovery, the team has been keenly watching the pair
eclipse one another, with each briefly blocking out the other's light
as seen from here.  Over a period of 13 months, the team saw the
orbital period decline by some six seconds -- a tremendous rate of
change, and one that was easily measured.  The result was established
in part by a telescope nearly as old as Einstein's theory -- the Otto
Struve 2.1-m telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.  The team
will continue to monitor the pair's orbital period.


OBSERVATIONS OF TYPE 1a SUPERNOVA PROGENITOR SYSTEM
Science Daily

Exploding stars called Type 1a supernovae are used for measuring
cosmic distances because they are bright enough to observe across the
Universe and are supposed to have the same luminosity everywhere.
Although astronomers have various theories about the kinds of stars
that give rise to such explosions (the progenitor systems), no one has
ever directly observed one -- until now.  The multi-institutional
'Palomar Transient Factory' (PTF) team has collected evidence
indicating that the progenitor system of a Type 1a supernova, called
PTF 11kx, contains a red-giant star.  It also shows that the system
previously underwent at least one much smaller nova eruption before it
blew up as a supernova.  The system is located 600 million light-years
away in the constellation Lynx.  By comparison, indirect observations
of another Type 1a supernova progenitor system (called SN 2011fe,
conducted by the PTF team last year) showed no evidence of a red-giant
star.  Taken together, the observations suggest that, just because
Type 1a supernovae look the same, they don't all necessarily arise in
the same way.  We know that they do vary slightly from galaxy to
galaxy, and astronomers have been trying to calibrate that, but the
new PTF observation may be providing the first suggestion of why that
happens.  It is a surprise to find that thermonuclear supernovae,
which all seem so similar, may seem to come from different kinds of
stars.  Although Type 1a supernovae are rare, occurring maybe once or
twice a century in a typical galaxy, finding a Type 1a progenitor
system like PTF 11kx is even rarer.

The PTF survey uses a CCD mosaic in place of a photographic plate on
the 48-inch Schmidt telescope at Palomar to scan the sky repeatedly
and look for changes.  The data go to a computer in Berkeley which
identifies events for scientists to follow up.  The computer detected
the supernova on 2011 January 16, and astronomers at the Lick
Observatory promptly obtained spectra, which showed strong calcium
absorption lines in the gas and dust surrounding the supernova.  Later
observations made with the Keck Telescope in Hawaii indicated that the
clouds of gas and dust surrounding PTF 11kx were moving too slowly to
be coming from the recent supernova, but too quickly to be just a
stellar wind.  The astronomers suspected that the star had erupted
previously, propelling shells of material outwards.  The material,
they surmised, must be slowing down as it collided with a wind from a
nearby red-giant star.  But for that theory to be true, the material
from the recent supernova should eventually catch up with gas and dust
from the previous nova eruptions.  That is what the PTF team has
probably observed.  In the weeks following the supernova, the team
watched the calcium absorption drop and eventually vanish.  Then, 58
days after the supernova went off, observers at the Lick telescope
saw a sudden, strong burst of calcium emission coming from the system,
probably indicating that the new supernova material had caught up
and collided with the old shell.

It is not unusual for a star to undergo nova eruptions more than once.
Several 'recurrent novae' are known; they consist of a compact
white-dwarf star in orbit with a red giant or evolving star that is
losing mass in a stellar wind.  Some of the wind material eventually
lands on the white dwarf, where it is strongly compressed by the
star's very high gravity, becomes very hot, starts to undergo nuclear
reactions, and periodically explodes.  There has been some doubt as to
whether such a system could eventually give rise to a supernova, but
the recent evidence suggests that it can.


FEW GALAXIES SIMILAR TO OURS
Science Daily

Astronomers searched for groups of galaxies similar to ours in the
most detailed map of the 'local' Universe yet, the Galaxy and Mass
Assembly survey (GAMA).  Simulations of how galaxies form don't
produce many examples similar to the Milky Way and its surrounds, so
they may be quite a rare occurrence.  Astronomers haven't been able to
tell just how rare until now, with the discovery of not just one but
two exact matches amongst the hundreds of thousands of galaxies
surveyed.  They found about 3% of galaxies similar to the Milky Way
have companion galaxies like the Magellanic Clouds.  In total they
found 14 galaxy systems that are similar to ours, with two of those
being an almost exact match.  Many galaxies have smaller galaxies in
orbit around them, but few have two that are as large as the
Magellanic Clouds.  The research also found that although companions
like the Magellanic Clouds are rare, when they are found they are
usually near a galaxy similar to the Milky Way.



Bulletin compiled by Clive Down

(c) 2012 the Society for Popular Astronomy



--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--
Information
--

Saturday 8 September 2012

New facility rising for Atlantis / Probe departs asteroid for another

 
NEWSALERT: Friday, September 7, 2012 @ 1540 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
The latest news from Spaceflight Now
 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SPACE LEGENDS GATHER FOR AUTOGRAPH SHOW

The 2012 Astronaut Autograph & Memorabilia Show is set for November 1-3, 2012. Benefiting the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, the weekend's events include Cape tours, astronaut lectures, an Apollo 17 dinner and more. Over 30 astronauts and space celebrities will be present to sign autographs! Secure your tickets at http://www.AstronautScholarship.org/aams!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ATLANTIS HALL 2 MONTHS AWAY FROM RECEIVING SHOWPIECE
----------------------------------------------------
The massive new building that has sprouted up on the Kennedy Space Center landscape to display the space shuttle Atlantis as a national treasure will receive the spacecraft Nov. 2, officials said Wednesday during a "topping off" ceremony.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/120905topoff/

PHOTOS: WEDNESDAY'S TOPPING OFF CEREMONY
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/120905kscvcgaller/
 

DAWN DEPARTS ONE ASTEROID BOUND FOR ANOTHER
-------------------------------------------
Gently driven by ionized xenon gas from its electric propulsion system, NASA's Dawn spacecraft departed the giant asteroid Vesta on Wednesday after a year of science observations which unmasked the world's tortured, cratered surface.

 

SPACE PHOTOGRAPHS NOW AVAILABLE IN OUR STORE!
---------------------------------------------
We have launched in a new product line in the Spaceflight Now Store -- Space Prints! Choose from a selection of spectacular photos that will be printed on high-quality metallic paper and shipped direct to you. The imagery from the final days of the Space Shuttle era and this summer's Delta 4-Heavy rocket can adorn the wall of your home or office!

JUNO GIVEN PRECAUTIONARY DELAY TO COURSE ADJUSTMENT
---------------------------------------------------
The next-generation autopilot system being developed to guide future Russian Soyuz manned capsules and Progress resupply ships to the International Space Station successfully docked a cargo freighter to the outpost in a demonstration test Saturday night.

RANGE NOW GOOD FOR UPCOMING ATLAS 5 CALIFORNIA
----------------------------------------------------
Western Range officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base said final testing Tuesday confirmed the troubles that postponed an Atlas 5 rocket launch last month have been resolved.
 

INTERACTIVE iPAD GUIDE TO CURIOSITY ROVER MISSION
-------------------------------------------------
Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now have created an interactive iPad guide to the Curiosity rover mission. Learn more about the mission, explore the rover's components and preview Europe's plans for the next Mars rover destined to visit the Red Planet.

+++ FERRYFLIGHT SHUTTLE PATCH
"The Final Mission" - NASA emblem developed for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft crew and their support teams to deliver the orbiters to their final destinations at museums.
http://www.spaceflightnowstore.com/ +++



--
Good Clear Skies
--
Astrocomet
--
Colin James Watling
--
Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)
--
Lyra Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lyrasociety/
--
Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)
--