And new: An experimental German companion to the CM.
The Special page about the Padova conference is now complete with pictures!
Update # 154 of October 28th, 1999, at 18:25 UTC
Proton fails again - more trouble for ISS!Less than 4 months after the last launch failure, another Russian Proton rocket has crashed - this time taking a Russian comsat with it. Ground controllers lost contact to the rocket 3 m 40 sec after liftoff on October 27th, and after some confusion it became clear that it never made it to orbit. Apparently the engines on the Proton's second stage shut down three and a half minutes after liftoff; both booster and payload are thought to have crashed either in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan or the Altai mountains of neighboring Siberia - in striking similarity to the July accident (see Update # 139 story 3). The Proton had worked twice since - and one of the next payloads is the ISS Zvezda module. Now Kazakhstan has again banned all Proton launches from Baikonour... |
On the accident: CNN, Space.com, SpaceViews. On the launch ban: Space.com, Space Daily, BBC, SpaceViews, CNN. Related: Station Maneuvers to Avoid Space Junk - the International Space Station (ISS) maneuvered on October 26 to avoid a potentially-dangerous piece of orbital debris: Status Report, Astron. Now, Discovery, Space.com, SpaceViews. Glitch in Zvezda computer found, but other issues remain: Space.com. Discovery one step closer to launch, but flying on Dec. 2 will be hard: Space.com. |
HST resolves stars deep in elliptical galaxyThe space telescope's exquisite resolution has allowed to resolve, for the first time, hot blue stars deep inside an elliptical galaxy. Hubble confirms that the ultraviolet light comes from a population of extremely hot helium-burning stars at a late stage in their life. The swarm of nearly 8000 blue stars resembles a blizzard of snowflakes near the core of the neighboring galaxy M32, a companion of the Andromeda galaxy. Over the years since the initial discovery of unexpected UV light in ellipticals 30 years ago, indirect evidence had accumulated that it originates in a population of old, but hot, helium-burning stars. Now Hubble has provided the first direct visual evidence. |
STScI Press Release. CNN, Astron. Now, Space.com, SpaceViews. Other astrophysics pictures: Chandra reveals X-ray jet in nearby galaxy Cen A, as long as our galaxy: NASA Science News, Astron. Now, Space.com, CNN. How serious are the CCD problems? Space.com. VLBI tracks jet down to galaxy's center in M 87: NRAO Press Release and STScI Press Release, Astron. Now, MSNBC, Space.com, SpaceViews, ExploreZone, BBC, Discovery stories. |
First Io close-up image already releasedThe closest-ever image of Jupiter's moon Io, taken during a daring flyby of the volcanic moon by Galileo on October 10 (see Update # 152) shows a lava field near the center of an erupting volcano - to the surprise of many the image was already released to the public less than 2 weeks after the encounter, as a teaser for more to follow. The image was taken from an altitude of 671 kilometers and is 50 times better than the previous best, taken by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979. Visible in the image are new lava flows from the volcanic center named Pillan, an area with erupting lava hotter than any known eruption that occurred on Earth within billions of years. |
JPL Press Release and NASA Science News. The picture and an Io picture archive. Coverage by SpaceViews, BBC, Space.com, Astron. Now, Discovery, ExploreZone, Space Daily (on radiation problems). Related: Jupiter's opposition on Oct. 23 reviewed by NASA Science News. And an excellent site with current observations of Saturn (opposition in November), run by the BAA. |
Doubts about the double star planetIt had caused quite a stir when the analysis of a microlensing event indicated that a Jupiter-sized planet may be orbiting a double star - both components of them (see Update # 144 small stuff). The model with the three bodies - two ordinary stars plus the planet - fit the changing brightness of the lensed star really well. But so does a model with just a binary star and the two stars moving around each other a new study has found: Again the data points are reproduced well, as are brightness measurements from other observers... (Albrow & al., preprint) |
New preprint. The old binary star interpretation. A BBC story celebrating the discovery - that perhaps wasn't. |
GM Sgr - the outburst never happened!Oops: The recent outburst of a cataclysmic variable that everyone thought was the star GM Sagittarii (see Update # 148 small stuff) didn't happen there at all - but on a nearby hitherto unknown star! Only now have photographic plates shown up that show both the burster (now named V4641 Sgr) and GM Sgr next to each other: A mistake in the latter's coordinates more than 20 years ago led to the confusion today, and a lot of papers will have to be rewritten with the real name of the "star-eating mass" near the galactic center... |
IAUC # 7277 with the solution. A new story on V4641 Sgr - with radio jets. With the wrong identification: NASA Science News and an earlier Space.com story. |
Clinton signs NASA budgetNASA's eight-and-a-half-month budget odyssey came to an end on October 20th, when President Bill Clinton signed an appropriations bill that included funding for the space agency: Space.com, SpaceViews.More doubts: MPL trajectory correction delayed againAre there really no bugs in the Mars Polar Lander software? The JPL has now delayed the next TCM from Oct. 20 to 30: Mission Status, Space.com, Space Daily, SpaceViews.Is the landing site too rough? New MGS images cast doubt on the smoothness of the previously selected area (see Update # 145 story 3): Space.com, CNN. But it has been decided to stick with the primary landing site: CNN. "Pseudocraters" on Mars are visible in some of the latest MGS images, formed by explosions due to the interaction of molten lava with a water-rich surface: MSSS Release, Space.com, Space Daily. Also nice: the arrival of autumn's frost on Martian dunes. Mars Microphone ready for duty - despite the data delay problems, we should be able to hear from Mars soon: Planetary Society Press Release, Space Daily. MCO investigation to present first report on the Sept. 23 accident on Oct. 29: Astron. Now, Space.comr. Beagle 2 takes technical hurdle and is now ready for the next phase: ESA Science News. Biomarkers for Mars to be defined - NASA wants criteria to identify traces of life in soil samples: Space.com. NEAR Suffers Minor Thruster ProblemThe Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft encountered a minor problem with its thrusters during a maneuver, but it should not have a major impact on the mission: Status of Oct. 22, SpaceViews.Did Clementine see traces of an LTP?It was a presentation at the DPS Meeting in Padova that didn't convince the CM: a poster with the tentative detection of a change in color of an area on the Moon after someone saw a Lunar Transient Phenomenon there. Even the author of the poster was skeptical, but many found this 'news fit to print' (and be in in electrons): New Scientist, ExploreZone, Space Daily, BBC, NewsReality, Space.com, SpaceViews.3 million dollars to make better Moon maps based on data from the Lunar Prospector: Space Daily, ABQ Journal, SpaceViews, Space.com. Private lunar orbiter planned - TransOrbital has announced a private venture to photograph the moon from lunar orbit. The photos will be very high resolution, using a telescope with a video imager: Space Daily. Items from a NASA conference on Gamma Ray Bursts
Europe's aerospace mergers: U.S. next?Analysts think that the current wave in European aerospace mergers (see the last two issues) will continue with Europe's giants trying to strike deals with major U.S. companies - and that EADS might be the winner. (AW&ST of Oct. 18, 1999, p. 26/7) Ministers hail mergers: Space Daily. Will France leave EADS? Space.com.Delta 3 failure explainedA Boeing Delta 3 rocket's failure in May resulted from a combustion chamber breach, due at least in part to poor manufacturing, according to an interim report by a Boeing investigation panel: Space.com; full Fla. Today coverage. |
Do growing planetary systems form rings?A sharply defined ring of dust found around the star HR 4796A may be a common feature in the history of planetary formation, a new model indicates: CfA Press Release, pictures, Space Daily, SpaceViews, Space.com.Do many stars eat their own planets or has their high metal content been misinterpreted? A Preprint about a specific case study, a general article from the New Scientist and coverage from Space Daily, SpaceViews and Space.com. Small and big stars can form in the same starburstThat's the result from a thorough photometric survey of the famous giant star forming region NGC 3603 (featured in Update # 134 story 8) where many very faint, low mass stars sit among the shining giants: an ESO Press Release, an ExploreZone story, a paper and a remarkable NGC 3603 Special Page.Germany loses Taiwanese satellite contractBecause the export control buerocrats (the "Bundesausfuhramt") blocked it, Germany's DASA has lost the contract for Taiwan's ROCSAT 2 Earth observation satellite - now Matra Marconi will build it: Space Daily, Fla. Today.NASA's plans for the future of space transportation are outlined in the new Integrated Space Transportation Plan, now published: Space.com, Discovery. A detailled map of the light pollution in Europemit 1 km resolution(!) has been created from DMSP satellite images by modelling the additional sky brightness caused by artificial sources: Paper by Cinzano & al.
Three space anniversaries
VdS Medal for Michael JägerThe prolific Austrian comet observer and first amateur comet discoverer in the German-speaking region in decades has been honored with the 1st Medal of the German Vereinigung der Sternfreunde. (Press Release # 5 of Oct. 22nd, 1999)New hope for ICO?ICO, one of two troubled communications satellite companies that filed for bankruptcy protection in August, has raised more than $200 million from investors in a first step towards getting back on track: Press Release, SpaceViews.Latest space auction brings prices down to EarthWhen not investors but 'real' collectors are the bidders, space memorabilia can stay affordable, an auction in Beverly Hills has shown: some of the lots, some results and previews from CollectSpace and Space.com.
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All other historical issues can be found in the Archive.
The U.S. site of this Cosmic Mirror has been visited
since it was issued (the German site has no counter).
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to [email protected]!), Skyweek
