The Cosmic Mirror

of News events across the Universe

Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer, Skyweek - older "Mirrors" in the Archive - and find out what the future might bring!

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Current mission news: MGS (science!) + Cassini + Galileo + Prospector

The next MEPCO is coming ... to Bulgaria, in early August, 1999!
For details on this astronomical conference just before the total solar eclipse click here!

New: every page on two servers, in Europe and the U.S.!

Update # 123 of March 11th, 1999, at 15:15 UTC

All hydrogen gone: WIRE a total loss
Ground controllers are slowly gaining control of NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE), but the entire supply of frozen hydrogen needed to cool its primary scientific instrument has been released into space, ending the scientific mission of the spacecraft before it even began. Spacecraft controllers believe the primary telescope cover was released about three days earlier than planned.
As a result sunlight began to fall on the instrument's cryostat, a container of frozen hydrogen designed to cool the instrument. The hydrogen then warmed up and vented into space at a much higher rate than it was designed to do, causing the spacecraft to spin. Controllers do not know what specifically caused the cover to be released. (Adapted from NASA News Release # 37 of March 8)

NASA News Release.
Reports on WIRE's tragic end from SpaceViews, ABC, BBC and CNN.

NASA confirms early HST Servicing Mission
NASA has confirmed that it will launch a Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in October so astronauts can replace portions of the spacecraft's pointing system, which has begun to fail. Hubble is operating normally and continuing to conduct its scientific observations, but only three of its six gyroscopes - which allow the telescope to point at stars, planets and other targets - are working properly. Two have failed and another is acting abnormally. If fewer than three gyroscopes are operating, Hubble cannot continue its science mission and automatically places itself in a protective "safe mode."
A team of veteran astronauts had already begun training to install the new instruments and upgrade the telescope's systems. In addition to replacing all six gyroscopes on the October flight, the crew will replace a guidance sensor and the spacecraft's computer. The new computer will reduce the burden of flight software maintenance and significantly lower costs. A voltage/temperature kit will be installed to protect spacecraft batteries from overcharging and overheating when the spacecraft goes into safe mode. A new transmitter will replace a failed spare currently aboard the spacecraft, and a spare solid state recorder will be installed to allow efficient handling of high- volume data.

NASA Release on the decision and the mission details.
A story from the BBC.

Rapid progress for the Very Large Telescope
Within days the second of the four 8 meter telescopes on Cerro Paranal has seen ist 'first light', the observatory has been inaugurated, and the four telescopes have been given real names:

Following the installation of the main mirror in its cell and a 20-hour working session to put the complex secondary mirror and its support in place, the Unit Telescope 2 achieved (technical) first light in the morning of March 1, 1999, when an image was obtained of a bright star. It showed this telescope to be in good optical shape and further adjustments of the optical and mechanical systems are expected soon to result in some "astronomical" images.
The official inauguration of the Paranal Observatory took place in the afternoon of March 5, 1999, in the presence of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Chile, Don Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, and ministers of his cabinet, as well the Ambassadors to Chile of the ESO member states and many other distinguished guests.
It had long been ESO's intention to provide "real" names to the four VLT Unit Telescopes, to replace the current, somewhat dry and technical designations as UT1 to UT4. Four names of objects in the sky in the Mapuche language were chosen: They live mostly south of Santiago de Chile. The four Unit Telescopes will be known as Antu (UT1; The Sun), Kueyen (UT2; The Moon), Melipal (UT3; The Southern Cross) and Yepun (UT4; Sirius).

Press Release on the new developments, including the sharpest-ever image of Antu.

Many more Antu results from the past months, with 9 links to further details.
The final steps before 1st Light for Kueyen.
The VLT watches a dissolving star cluster.
Antu pictures and what Paranal looks like today.

The largest map of the Universe
Astronomers have created the largest map of the Universe using the Anglo-Australian Telescope, and there is much more to come. The scientists are using the 2dF (Two-degree field) instrument on the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (the largest optical telescope in Australia). Researchers are only part way through their work, and are planning to make the map 10 times as big. So far the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey has pinpointed 30 000 galaxies in 3D space by measuring their redshifts.
The 2dF is one of the most complex astronomical instruments ever constructed. It took seven years to perfect, and was built in-house at the Anglo-Australian Observatory: It uses optical fibres to enable 400 objects to be observed simultaneously. The goal of the survey is an extremely detailed three-dimensional map of the Southern heavens, while a companion survey of distant quasars has now passed 3 000 quasars. And this is only the beginning: The researchers are looking for the redshifts of 250 000 galaxies and 25 000 quasars. The surveys should be complete by 2001.

Survey Homepage
The QSO Survey
The first map!

The main competitor: the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

ISO confirms: Normal matter in the universe not enough to cause a 'Big Crunch'
The fate of the Universe depends on the total amount of existing matter: New clues on this value have been obtained thanks to the Infrared Space Observatory, which has measured for the first time the abundance of a particular chemical element, deuterium, in a very active star-forming region in the Orion nebula. Their result confirms that the total amount of normal matter is not enough to stop the expansion of the Universe.
All the deuterium that can be detected today was produced a few minutes after the Big Bang, during a process called primordial nucleosynthesis. Apart from the Big Bang, there are no other known sources of deuterium in the Universe. In the Orion Bar one deuterium atom for every 100000 hydrogen atoms, which is consistent with other measurements in other places indicating that the amount of normal matter in the Universe is not enough to cause a 'Big Crunch'.

Press Release on the results.

Make your own ISO discovery: The satellite's data are rapidly becoming available publicly through the ISO Archive.

A precursor of solar Coronal Mass Ejections has been found on X-ray images from the Yohkoh satellite. More links and reports from ABC, BBC and CNN.
The real mapping mission of the Mars Global Surveyor has begun on March 8th, after more than a year on an elliptical orbit. The main antenna is still stowed but might be deployed on March 29th. Mission Status of March 10th, with links to new pictures.
Also: the 14th Mars meteorite has been found in Libya.
The spacecraft NEAR has resumed normal operations, having been in a safe mode since Feb. 23rd.

A long-forgotten horoscope drawn by Johannes Kepler 400 years ago has been found by accident in a 'miscellanea' drawer at the University of Santa Cruz - the University had bought it about 100 years ago and then put it away ...
The 40 km under-sea impact crater in the Barents Sea (Mjølnir) has now been confirmed - and it is particularly well preserved. Some details.
And Shuttle parts from a museum will fly again into space: Getting the SRB components from the Huntsville Rocket and Space Center is cheaper than ordering new ones ...

Have you read the the previous issue?!
All other historical issues can be found in the Archive.

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times since it was issued.

Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to [email protected]!), Skyweek

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All hydrogen gone: WIRE a total loss Ground controllers are slowly gaining control of NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE), but the entire supply of frozen hydrogen needed to cool its primary scientific instrument has been released into space, ending the scientific mission of the spacecraft before it even began. Spacecraft controllers believe the primary telescope cover was released about three days earlier than planned. As a result sunlight began to fall on the instrument's cryostat, a container of frozen hydrogen designed to cool the instrument. The hydrogen then warmed up and vented into space at a much higher rate than it was designed to do, causing the spacecraft to spin. Controllers do not know what specifically caused the cover to be released. (Adapted from NASA News Release # 37 of March 8)	NASA News Release. Reports on WIRE's tragic end from SpaceViews, ABC, BBC and CNN.
NASA confirms early HST Servicing Mission NASA has confirmed that it will launch a Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in October so astronauts can replace portions of the spacecraft's pointing system, which has begun to fail. Hubble is operating normally and continuing to conduct its scientific observations, but only three of its six gyroscopes - which allow the telescope to point at stars, planets and other targets - are working properly. Two have failed and another is acting abnormally. If fewer than three gyroscopes are operating, Hubble cannot continue its science mission and automatically places itself in a protective "safe mode." A team of veteran astronauts had already begun training to install the new instruments and upgrade the telescope's systems. In addition to replacing all six gyroscopes on the October flight, the crew will replace a guidance sensor and the spacecraft's computer. The new computer will reduce the burden of flight software maintenance and significantly lower costs. A voltage/temperature kit will be installed to protect spacecraft batteries from overcharging and overheating when the spacecraft goes into safe mode. A new transmitter will replace a failed spare currently aboard the spacecraft, and a spare solid state recorder will be installed to allow efficient handling of high- volume data.	NASA Release on the decision and the mission details. A story from the BBC.
Rapid progress for the Very Large Telescope Within days the second of the four 8 meter telescopes on Cerro Paranal has seen ist 'first light', the observatory has been inaugurated, and the four telescopes have been given real names: Following the installation of the main mirror in its cell and a 20-hour working session to put the complex secondary mirror and its support in place, the Unit Telescope 2 achieved (technical) first light in the morning of March 1, 1999, when an image was obtained of a bright star. It showed this telescope to be in good optical shape and further adjustments of the optical and mechanical systems are expected soon to result in some "astronomical" images. The official inauguration of the Paranal Observatory took place in the afternoon of March 5, 1999, in the presence of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Chile, Don Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, and ministers of his cabinet, as well the Ambassadors to Chile of the ESO member states and many other distinguished guests. It had long been ESO's intention to provide "real" names to the four VLT Unit Telescopes, to replace the current, somewhat dry and technical designations as UT1 to UT4. Four names of objects in the sky in the Mapuche language were chosen: They live mostly south of Santiago de Chile. The four Unit Telescopes will be known as Antu (UT1; The Sun), Kueyen (UT2; The Moon), Melipal (UT3; The Southern Cross) and Yepun (UT4; Sirius).	Press Release on the new developments, including the sharpest-ever image of Antu. Many more Antu results from the past months, with 9 links to further details. The final steps before 1st Light for Kueyen. The VLT watches a dissolving star cluster. Antu pictures and what Paranal looks like today.
The largest map of the Universe Astronomers have created the largest map of the Universe using the Anglo-Australian Telescope, and there is much more to come. The scientists are using the 2dF (Two-degree field) instrument on the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (the largest optical telescope in Australia). Researchers are only part way through their work, and are planning to make the map 10 times as big. So far the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey has pinpointed 30 000 galaxies in 3D space by measuring their redshifts. The 2dF is one of the most complex astronomical instruments ever constructed. It took seven years to perfect, and was built in-house at the Anglo-Australian Observatory: It uses optical fibres to enable 400 objects to be observed simultaneously. The goal of the survey is an extremely detailed three-dimensional map of the Southern heavens, while a companion survey of distant quasars has now passed 3 000 quasars. And this is only the beginning: The researchers are looking for the redshifts of 250 000 galaxies and 25 000 quasars. The surveys should be complete by 2001.	Survey Homepage The QSO Survey The first map! The main competitor: the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
ISO confirms: Normal matter in the universe not enough to cause a 'Big Crunch' The fate of the Universe depends on the total amount of existing matter: New clues on this value have been obtained thanks to the Infrared Space Observatory, which has measured for the first time the abundance of a particular chemical element, deuterium, in a very active star-forming region in the Orion nebula. Their result confirms that the total amount of normal matter is not enough to stop the expansion of the Universe. All the deuterium that can be detected today was produced a few minutes after the Big Bang, during a process called primordial nucleosynthesis. Apart from the Big Bang, there are no other known sources of deuterium in the Universe. In the Orion Bar one deuterium atom for every 100000 hydrogen atoms, which is consistent with other measurements in other places indicating that the amount of normal matter in the Universe is not enough to cause a 'Big Crunch'.	Press Release on the results. Make your own ISO discovery: The satellite's data are rapidly becoming available publicly through the ISO Archive.