Update # 145 of August 28th, 1999, at 20:45 UTC
Chandra delivers the first imagesAnd they aren't even the sharpest yet: Only the AXAF CCD Imager and Spectrometer (ACIS) with its lower angular resolution has been activated so far - and still the images of both the first and the second astronomical target have led to new discoveries! Quasar PKS 0637-752 had been selected as the very first target because it was believed to be a point source, ideal for focussing: Instead a nice jet emerged. And in the middle of the supernova remnant Cas A a point source was discovered that could well be the neutron star that formed during the explosion.The image of Cas A corresponds with earlier X-ray pictures taken by the German ROSAT, but with incredible amount of detail. A video of the Chandra team watching the Cas A image appear on computer screens shows amazement, awe, and wonder amidst clapping and shouts of joy. "It works," said Dr. Ed Weiler, director of astrophysics at NASA Headquarters. "It works perfectly. It's meeting all of our objectives. The United States is back in charge of observational X-ray astronomy. We have the most powerful X-ray astronomy telescope in the world, and it's called Chandra." By December, though, it will be joined by Europe's XMM that promises better spectra: Both big X-ray observatories will complement each other. |
XrayTelescope.com. Chandra's Homepages at Harvard and NASA. NASA and MSFC Press Releases on the first pictures. NASA Science News on what the first images show; the first images in detail (including planned ones), and what Australian telescopes saw at the quasar. Ample news coverage by CNN, BBC, ABC, MSNBC, SpaceViews, Space.com and ExploreZone. |
Mir abandoned - one more crew to come?With the return of the last regular crew early on August 28th, the Mir space station is uninhabited for the first time in a decade (in which there had been a permanent presence of at least two people in orbit). What next? While a new computer has been installed to guarantee guidance for the coming months, Russia apparently plans to send another crew to the station early next year, to prepare it for de-orbiting. Or ... there is a commercial future for the station after all: Russian sources have told German reporters that there is now serious interest by various Russian companies to 'buy' Mir and keep it running (the station is said to be good for another 5 years). One indication of this plan: Not one but two crews are in training for future Mir missions at the moment. Stay tuned ... |
"Mir Farewell" coverage from ABC, BBC, MSNBC, SpaceViews and Space.com (news collection). Some stories about the end of an era from ABC, MSNBC and Space.com. The Mir timeline, the Mir experience by Helen Sharman in 1991 and a salute from Jerusalem. A related story: There will be a movie about the Mir experience, based on the book "Dragonfly", after all: Space.com. |
Landing site for Mars Polar Lander selectedIt's a very different place from where the Mars Pathfinder came down: A strip of gentle, rolling plains near the Martian South Pole with slopes no steeper than 10 degrees, no hills and no craters has been chosen as the target area for the MPL's descent on December 3rd. The landing site is located at 76 degrees South latitude and 195 degrees West longitude, near the northern edge of the South Pole's layered terrain. It is believed that this layered terrain is a record of climate changes on Mars, and in a sense, digging into its surface will be like reading tree rings or layers in an ice core.The landing will be targeted to the center of the site, a rectangular area 200 km long and 20 km wide. The site was selected after the project team studied pictures and altimeter information gathered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which is currently orbiting the planet. The search was narrowed to four sites before the final location was chosen. A backup landing site is located nearby, at 75 degrees South latitude and 180 degrees West longitude. The Dec. 3 landing occurs toward the end of spring in the Martian Southern Hemisphere. The sun will shine all day, moving higher and lower in the sky but never dipping below the horizon. This nonstop sunshine will power the lander's solar panels for 90 days, until the Martian seasons change and the mission ends. |
NASA Science News. MGS pictures of the site. The landing site seen at an angle (more simulated views are here and here). News coverage of the selection from CNN, BBC, ABC, ExploreZone and SpaceViews. A related picture: Mars as seen by Hubble this year - combined into one big map: Photojournal. |
A pulsar that defies the theoryhas been discoverd during a large sky survey with an Australian radio telescope: It is so slow (one rotation in 8 seconds) that it must be very old and should long have ceased emitting radio waves - but it does. The theory says pulsars that spin slower than once every few seconds don't have the energy to put out pulses - their heartbeat stops and they die. This pulsar is on the slab, so to speak, but its heart is still beating. By rights it should be a corpse. As a pulsar gets older its spinning slows down. So the new pulsar is quite aged, about 280 million years old. It was found only because it's relatively nearby - about 600 light-years away. It has a small beam and a fairly weak signal: This means there could be a lot more slow, old pulsars lurking out there undetected. The best guess is about 100 000 in the Galaxy - as many as all the other pulsars put together. |
CSIRO Press Release. And an Introduction to Pulsars. An earlier story: 1000th pulsar discovered by the survey: Press Releases from the UK and US. Related stories: Young pulsars lose a lot of energy by emitting gravitational waves, new model calculations show: MPG PRI. Speeding stars on galaxy's edge can now be tracked by radio telescopes: Cornell Press Release. |
Two jets from a protostarhave been imaged with the Subaru telescope in L1551-IRS5, which is about 450 light years from Earth. It is believed to be a binary system consisting of two protostars. The new picture shows two parallel jets being emitted from a nebula, within which the protostars are located. Observations with the HST had previously revealed the two jets, but the high resolution of the Subaru Telescope has allowed them to be separated from the ground for the first time. The jets emit strongly in light produced by ionized iron and are thought to be produced separately by each of the protostars, and extend for about 1500 AU. |
Subaru Press Release. A paper on proplyds of the 2 stars in L1551. Coverage by Space.com. |
ICO declares bankruptcy, too- Iridium isn't alone anymore as the first company to fail in marketing satellite-based cell phones: SpaceViews.The best-ever Galileo images of Iowere taken during a flyby in July - a preview of things to come this fall: NASA Science News, Photojournal, coverage by CNN, MSNBC, SpaceViews.How the moon gets its atmospherehas been studied in laboratory experiments: The electron flux or flow from the solar wind is too small to expel sodium from the lunar surface, but the solar photon flux (the light itself) is more than sufficient, though sometimes meteoroids help - Rutgers Press Release.
| Big Bang outlawed in KansasNo joke, unfortunately: In their anachronistical quest to eradicate any thoughts about evolution from U.S. schools, creationists have been successful in removing the basic tenet of modern biology and cosmology from the curriculum in Kansas. Kansas biology teachers page, Yahoo coverage, an ABC story.The status of X-33, X-34 and X-37was discussed by NASA recently: Both the X-33 and X-34 suborbital demonstrators should fly by mid-2000 while the X-37 will be thrown out of a space shuttle in late 2002. An MSFC Release, NASA Pages and stories from CNN, BBC, ABC and SpaceViews.The schedule for the space shuttle is in flux once more: the latest plans from SpaceViews. Meanwhile Russia denies plans to hijack the ISS and man it early with cosmonauts: Space.com.
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Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
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