This Week In Space

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This Week in Space

Asteroid Lutetia seen by ESA’s Rosetta: As Rosetta flew by the asteroid Lutetia, photos were taken of possible landslides and boulders on its cratered surface. It is an oval shaped asteroid approximately 80 miles (130 km) across. Scientist will be inspecting the images closely to determine if Lutecia is a C-type asteroid (a remnant of the formation of the solar system) or an M-type asteroid (fragments of cores of larger objects). See the images and read more about the encounter at http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM44DZOFBG_index_1.html.

Herschel Space Observatory (HSO) telescope peers into cosmic dust: The Herschel telescope was named for William Herschel, the discoverer of infrared spectra and the planet Uranus. The telescope looks at far infrared and submillimeter wavelengths, which means it “sees” relatively cool objects and objects that may be concealed by cosmic dust. Some of the first observations of new star forming regions are currently being studied by astronomers. Read more about the discoveries at: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Special_Issue_Of_Astronomy_And_Astrophysics_Dedicated_To_Herschel_First_Results_999.html

You can find more information, including how to apply for time on the telescope (yes, anyone can apply!), at the Herschel Space Observatory homepage: http://herschel.esac.esa.int/.

Opportunity passes 13 mile mark and gets a spring cleaning: The rover Opportunity has surpassed 13 miles of travel on the Martian surface. Martian winds helped clean dust off the solar panels, boosting the rover’s power production and allowing back to back drives. Find out more about the rover status from Mars Daily at http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Wind_Cleans_Solar_Panels_999.html.

Spirit sleeping: The rover Spirit appears to be in sleep mode. If the rover does not get enough sunlight to keep power output at an acceptable level, the rover goes into a deep sleep and all energy is used to recharge the batteries. Hopefully the batteries will recover and Spirit will be able to resume communications and explorations in the future.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Spirit_Still_Silent_999.html

Seasons on Saturn’s moons? Scientists are studying data from the Saturian moon Titas which has liquid methane lakes on its surface. One of the lakes – Ontario Lacus – is about the size of Lake Ontario and shows what appear to be seasonal changes in lake the lake level similar to those seen on earth. More details about the Ontario Lacus and the work being done by Caltech researchers can be found at http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/Caltech_Scientists_Measure_Changing_Lake_Depths_On_Titan_999.html.

See a video tour of the lake at:

http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/See_Beautiful_Ontario_Lacus_Cassini_Guided_Tour_999.html.

Hot discovery by Hubble: The Hubble Telescope found a giant gas planet with a tail resembling a comet in a tight orbit around its star. The tail is thought to be the planet’s atmosphere being torn off by stellar winds from the star as it orbits once every 3.5 days. Check out your July issue of The Astrophysical Journal or http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Finds_Super_Hot_Planet_With_Unique_Comet_Like_Tail_999.html.

Earth’s Atmosphere rebounds following collapse: The upper layer of the atmosphere, called the thermosphere recently contracted and is not expanding back to its former size. This has happened in the past, and can occur during solar minimums. However, this collapse was bigger than usual and carbon dioxide is being suspected as a culprit. Carbon dioxide acts as a coolant in the thermosphere and increased levels may have contributed to the larger than normal collapse. http://www.spacemart.com/reports/A_Puzzling_Collapse_Of_Earth_Upper_Atmosphere_999.html.

Solar Eclipse of 2010: A total solar eclipse was seen in relatively isolated locations last week. Images can be found at several sites on the internet. A composite image of the sun and the eclipse is at http://www.skynightly.com/reports/Composite_Image_Of_2010_Eclipse_999.html.
On Easter Island, unique photos were captured by photographers from around the world. An Eclipse photo gallery can be found at

http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_11jul10_page2.htm.

One of my favorites is posted on the astronomy.com blog by Michael Bakich,. The photo is the last one in the list and was taken by George Willis. http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/astronomy/archive/2010/07/13/on-the-road-easter-island-and-the-moai.aspx.

Clear Skies!

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