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By Daniel Fischer Every page present in Europe & the U.S.!
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The latest issue!
| A German companion - only available here! Current mission news: MGS (latest pictures!) + Cassini + Stardust |
Two huge sunspot groups cross the disk of the Sun - twiceAR 10649 = 656 and 652 = 661 have crossed the solar disk twice in July and August - and each time they were visible to the protected naked eye: current solar images are always featured on SpaceWeather. Also a SOHO gallery from August, an SEC report of July 25, articles from S&T and SC (earlier), and a gallery of auroral effects. AR 649/656 in August: pictures and reports by Vollmann (fr�her, noch fr�her), Pikhard, Wah, Paice, Perissinotto (earlier) and Nolf (earlier). AR 652 in July: pictures by Palmer (H-Alpha; just leaving the disk), Wohler (H-Alpha), Benvenuto, Newton (H-Alpha), Westmaas, Uytterhoeven, Simons, Vesely, Graboleda, Bardelli, Heutz, Darganov, Go (with a flare!), Vollmann, Nolf, Vandam, Yeom, Rousselle, Koppejan. And early impressions of the AR by Rapavy, Strehl, Lok, Pickhard, Weigand and Vollmann.
| Posted in part from Bucuresti and Bacau, Romania, and from the German Physikzentrum |
MESSENGER launched to Mercury, in orbit in 7 yearsNASA's MESSENGER - set to become the first spacecraft to orbit the planet Mercury - was launched on August 3 (one day late due to bad weather on the 2nd) at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The approximately 1100-kg spacecraft was placed into a solar orbit 57 minutes after launch. Once in orbit, MESSENGER automatically deployed its two solar panels and began sending data on its status. Once the mission operations team at APL acquired the spacecraft's radio signals, Project Manager David G. Grant confirmed the craft was operating normally and ready for early system check-outs.During a 7.9-billion km journey that includes 15 trips around the sun, MESSENGER will fly past Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury three times before easing into orbit around its target planet. The Earth flyby, in August 2005, and the Venus flybys, in October 2006 and June 2007, will use the pull of the planets' gravity to guide MESSENGER toward Mercury's orbit. The Mercury flybys in January 2008, October 2008 and September 2009 help MESSENGER match the planet's speed and location for an orbit insertion maneuver in March 2011. The flybys also allow the spacecraft to gather data critical to planning a yearlong orbit phase. Since MESSENGER is only the second spacecraft sent to Mercury the mission has an ambitious science plan. With a package of seven science instruments MESSENGER will determine Mercury's composition; image its surface globally and in color; map its magnetic field and measure the properties of its core; explore the mysterious polar deposits to learn whether ice lurks in permanently shadowed regions; and characterize Mercury's tenuous atmosphere and Earth-like magnetosphere. MESSENGER, short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, is the seventh mission in NASA's Discovery Program of lower cost, scientifically focused exploration projects. |
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Perseids enhancement only 'seen' with math ...Is it now becoming clearer what has happened on the evening (UTC) of August 11: Yes, there was a - modest and shortlived - enhancement of the Perseid rate in the sky, but the effect was all but cancelled out for observers all over Europe by the low radiant elevation around 21 hrs UTC. The number of meteors seen then per time intervall was not larger than several hours later, and only if one corrects the observed rate (by dividing thru the sinus of the elevation) one can see that during the enhanced period the meteor rate was perhaps 60% higher than later in the night (as e.g. in this analysis of video data from yours truly). Only for observers much farther East (i.e. in Western Asia) the 'feeling' of an actual short outburst may have been possible, since there the radiant was already high and the necessary correction small at that time.
Perseids confusion: Was there an extra peak or not?The picture is unusually confusing after the maxiumum of the Perseids in 2004: Everyone who saw them under good conditions agrees that they were another fine show, with - as one knows them for - not many but often quite bright and impressive meteors. But opinions differ widely on whether the predicted extra peak on August 11 really appeared or not: Some claim they saw a short outburst, with the EZHR (the hourly zenithal rate, extrapolated from shorter time intervals) reaching some 200, others - observing continously under good skies - did not notice anything unusual. Similarly some video recordings are said to show a short but significant increase of faint meteors (as one would have expected) while others don't show it. In any case there was nothing to be seen that even remotely resembled the high Perseid activity in the early 1990's, let alone the breathtaking Leonid storms of 1999 to 2002.
Perseids could reach ZHR of several hundreds this year2004 is a good year for Perseids, for two reasons: First, the Moon is new in mid-August; moonlight won't spoil the show. Second, in addition to the usual shower on August 12th, there might be an extra surge of meteors on August 11th caused by a filament of dust newly drifting across Earth's orbit. The filament, like all the rest of the dust in the Perseid cloud, comes from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The difference is, the filament is relatively young: It boiled off the comet in 1862. Other dust in the cloud is older (perhaps thousands of years old), more dispersed, and responsible for the month-long shower that peaks on August 12th. The filament will eventually disperse, too, but for now it retains some of its original ribbon-shape.If predictions are correct, Earth will plow through the filament on Wednesday, August 11th at 20:50 UTC: This will produce a surge of mostly-faint meteors over Europe and Asia. Observers might see "as many as 200 meteors per hour," according to some modellers (predicting the rates is always much more difficult than getting the timing right - witness the Leonids of 1999 to 2002!), while others think it is just possible that the Perseids could to an effective ZHR of 1000 for a few minutes, producing a minor meteor storm. Later the same night, observers in North America can see the "traditional Perseid peak" caused by the older dust from Swift-Tuttle. 40 to 60 meteors per hour, some of them bright, can be expected then. |
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Aura launched, will study Earth's atmosphere chemistry, physicsAura, a mission dedicated to the health of the Earth's atmosphere, successfully launched on July 15 from the Western Range of Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), Calif., aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. NASA's latest Earth-observing satellite, Aura will help us understand and protect the air we breathe. Aura joins its siblings, Terra, Aqua and 10 more research satellites developed and launched by NASA during the past decade to study Earth. It will help answer three key scientific questions: Is the Earth's protective ozone layer recovering? What are the processes controlling air quality? How is the Earth's climate changing? NASA expects early scientific data from Aura within 30 to 90 days.Aura also will help scientists understand how the composition of the atmosphere affects and responds to Earth's changing climate. The results from this mission will help scientists better understand the processes that connect local and global air quality. Each of Aura's four instruments is designed to survey different aspects of Earth's atmosphere: They will survey the atmosphere from the troposphere, where mankind lives, through the stratosphere, where the ozone layer resides and protects life on Earth. With the launch of Aura, the first series of NASA's Earth Observing System satellites is complete. The other satellites are Terra, which monitors land, and Aqua, which observes Earth's water cycle. |
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Saturn UpdateThe Saturn orbiter has already found two unknown small moons. New pictures # 64... 24. 23. 22. 61... 00. 60... 90, 89, 87, 81. 54... 29, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 16, 15, 14, JPL and NASA Releases of Aug. 16, Aug. 5 [SN version with inlined images; Cass.], | July 29, July 22, July 15 and July 12, ESA on Huygens' health and Iapetus and coverage of Aug. 19: BdW. Aug. 18: ScAm. Aug. 17: Nature, BBC, SF Gate, ST, NZ. Aug. 16: AP, SC. Aug. 11: Plan. Soc., FT. Aug. 10: APOD, Dsc. Aug. 8: ST. Aug. 6: New Sci. Aug. 5: SC. Aug. 2: BBC. July 23: BBC, NZ. July 22: Ast. July 20: SC. July 15: Cornell Chr. July 14: USA Tod. July 13: UPI. July 12: ScAm, APOD, AP, FT, SC, NZ. |
Mars UpdateMER Releases of Aug. 18, Aug. 4, Aug. 3 and July 16 [NASA], an ESA PR on Mars Express relaying MER data, a Cornell (earlier) and Texas A&M Press Releases, a Mission Status of Aug. 18 and Aug. 4, cool recent Spirit and Opportunity pictures and coverage of Aug. 19: S&T, FT, Cornell Chr., BBC, Dsc., ST. Aug. 18: SC. Aug. 12: Nat. Aug. 9: SF Gate. Aug. 6: BBC, AFP, Welt. Aug. 5: PhysWeb, New Sci., Dsc., ST. Aug. 4: SC. Aug. 3: APOD. July 22: BBC. July 21: Israel21. July 20: NZ. |
July 19:
S&T,
New Sci.,
BBC.
July 18:
FT,
ST.
July 17:
SF Gate,
FT.
July 16:
Dsc.,
SC.
July 14:
BBC.
July 12:
AB.
Next orbiter one year from launch:
MRO Status.
Mars Express ammonia, water vapor detections debated, 'recent' volcanism indicated: ESA Releases of Aug. 16, Aug. 2 and July 23 and coverage of Aug. 5: BBC. July 27: Nature. July 26: BBC. July 22: UPI. July 15: BC, UPI. Britain's future - or lack of - at Mars: BBC (earlier), Guard. (earlier). New Antarctic Mars meteorite: NASA News, Wired, ScAm. ALH 84001 abiogenic after all? AB. Bacteria tested in Mars simulator: BBC. |
ISS etc. UpdateA drastic cut of NASA's budget is looming, stopping the lofty 'visions', while another EVA succeeds on the ISS. NASA Releases on the budget trouble, the future of the ISS, Discovery's status and SSMEs (earlier), ESA on an ISS agreement, the first ATV @ ESTEC and Aurora, the OMB on the budget, PPARC on Aurora, a famous article by van Allen on the obsolenscence of manned space flight and coverage of Aug. 20: Nat. Aug. 18: FT, ST. Aug. 16: SpaceRev. Aug. 14: BBC, SN, ST, NZ. Aug. 13: New Sci., AP. Aug. 11: AD, SN, SC, ST. Aug. 4: AFP. Aug. 3: FT (other story), BBC, HC, AFP (earlier), SC, ST. Aug. 2: SpaceRev (other story). July 31: Wired, FT, SR. July 30: UPI, FT, ST. July 29: FT (other story), HC, UPI, SC (other story), ST, ZEIT. July 28: SR, FT, SC (other story), BdW. July 27: NZ. July 26: BBC, FT, UPI, SC, AD, SpaceRev. July 25: HC. July 24: FT (other and abother story), HC, Xinhua, ST (other story). July 23: NSU (other story), FT (earlier, other stories), SC (other, another and another story), BBC, ST. |
July 22:
ST.
July 21:
HC,
Wired,
FT
(other
story), UPI,
SC.
July 20:
GovExec,
BBC,
FT,
HC,
SR,
ST.
July 19:
FT
(and OpEd),
SD,
SC
(other and
another
story), ST.
July 17:
FT,
SC.
July 16:
HC,
SC
(other story).
July 15:
FT.
July 14:
AD,
FT,
SC.
July 13:
Welt.
July 12:
Space News,
SD,
SpaceRev.
July 11:
ST.
The HST crisis - committee recommends reexamining shuttle Hubble mission! And STIS has shut down and probably cannot be recovered: a NASA Release and a GSFC Note on STIS, the panel report in PDF or as pictures (10 pages), NASA's and House Democrats response, the JSC on a possible robot and coverage of Aug. 18: SD. Aug. 12: Wired, AD, PhysOrg, Guard., Ast., FT. Aug. 11: New Sci., HC, Guard., BBC, FT (other story). Aug. 10: New Sci., FT, Dsc., UPI, SC, Ast., ST. Aug. 9: Wired, AB, NZ. Aug. 8: HC. Aug. 7: S&T, BBC, SC, ST. Aug. 5: UPI. July 30: AB. July 24: Science News. July 21: PlainsDlr. July 20: UPI, SC. July 16: SC, Welt. July 15: S&T, HC, AFP. July 14: HC, FT, BBC, New Sci., SC (also OpEd), ST. July 13: SN, UPI, SC. ESA orders JWST instrument: ESA Release. |
When everything fits: cosmology Anno 2004Combining the constraints from the recent Ly-alpha forest and bias analysis of the SDSS with previous constraints from SDSS galaxy clustering, the latest supernovae, and WMAP, a rather simple model of inflation fits best: papers by Seljak & al., McDonald & al. and McDonald & other al., an SDSS Press Release and Penn State Live. Thoughts on the nature of Dark Energy: U Wash. News, New Sci., SC, BdW. Antimatter vs. matter: a paper from Babar, PPARC Release, BdW, Kwork. 3 dimensions enough? BdW.Amazing galaxies in a random sky field appear in a Hubble ACS image - the camera was taking a picture of a typical patch of sky, while Hubble's infrared camera was viewing a target in an adjacent galaxy-rich region: HST Release. Chandra sees intergalactic hot gas clouds merging: Chandra PR [MSFC], BBC. Globular clusters remains of dwarf galaxies damaged in mergers? CfA Press Release, Dsc., BdW. Dwarf galaxies evolved objects? NAOJ PR [SN]. Big galaxies in the early Universeare being discovered all the time now - a challenge for the popular 'hierarchical' model of their formation: ESO, Gemini and JHU Press Releases and stories by CSM, SC and BdW.Doubts about a galaxy with z=10 - an independent study does not find the crucial spectral line, but its discoverers stand firm: papers by Weatherley & al. and Pello & al. plus more details. Spitzer tracks down SCUBA's distant galaxies with starbursts - the IR satellite could do in minutes where other telescopes struggled for years: PPARC Release [alt.]. Relatively close, dim GRB hints at overlooked classGRB 031203 is the closest cosmic gamma-ray burst on record, and also the faintest - this suggests that an entire population of sub-energetic gamma-ray bursts has so far gone unnoticed: a paper by Soderberg & al., Caltech, Chandra and ESA Releases, S&T, New Sci., SC.Jupiter, Saturn formed differently?One may have a big core, the other may not - say models based on lab experiments: LANL Press Release [SR], SC, BdW. Ganymede's interior clumpy, Galileo data reveal: JPL Release. Outer planet moon origins: New Sci., NZ. Did it all start with dust worms? New Sci. Earths rare after all? RAS PR, Nature, New Sci., SC, UPI, ZEIT, Welt. Planets forming around AU Mic? A paper by Liu, IfA and Keck Releases, SciAm, ScNow, SC, Welt. How important was/is formaldehyde in planet making? OSU News.Spicules on the Sun explained by solar oscillations tunnelling into the chromosphere: LockMart PR [SN], S&T, SciAm, New Sci., APOD SC, BdW. Little solar role in climate changes seen, debate going on: MPG PR and PM, UPI, New Sci. NASA selects New Frontiers mission candidatesNASA has announced missions to the Moon and Jupiter as finalists to be the agency's next mission in its New Frontiers program - the two missions were selected from seven proposals; each will receive up to $1.2 million to fund detailed studies due in March of next year: NASA Release, AB, ST.Future 'Origins' missions studied - NASA has selected nine studies to investigate new ideas for future mission concepts within its Astronomical Search for Origins Program; each of the selected studies will have eight months to further develop and refine the concepts: NASA [JPL], UA Press Releases, New Sci., ST. A second chance for the Solar Probe? A positive assessment of the proposal by the National Research Council has renewed interest at NASA: BBC. ROCSAT-2 sees its first spritesPhotos of red sprites, blue jets, elves and sprite halos are now flowing from an experiment on a Taiwanese Earth observing satellite which is also monitoring the upper atmosphere: Berkeley Press Release, BBC.2nd Double Star satellite launched in China on July 26 - Tan Ce 2 (which in Chinese means Explorer 2) will join Tan Ce 1, the first satellite launched on 29 December 2003: ESA News, Xinhua, SC, ST, AFP. Preview: RAS PR. Lunar A faces yet another delay ...The Japanese lunar mission had already slipped countless times: AP. Rosetta view of distant Earth-Moon system: ESA Release. And of one of its ovens: ESA. SMART 1 view of Middle East: ESA.GP-B to start measurements soon after lengthy checkout: Wired and the July 13. Status. Swift arrives at KSC: PPARC Release. Talking to MOST from Vienna: TU Wien PM. MOST's Procyon affair: S&T. Genesis corrects trajectory, sample return approaches: NASA, JPL Releases, Guard., Dsc., AP, New Sci., SC, ST. |
The first direct mass determination of a single starother than the Sun has been made possible by a microlensing event after which the Lensing star itself has been detected separately: a paper by Gould & al., STScI and OSU Press Releases and stories by S&T, SciAm and BdW.Hubble peers inside a celestial 'geode', a gas cavity carved by the stellar wind and intense ultraviolet radiation from a young hot star: HST, ESA HST Releases, BBC. HST view of NGC 3949, similar to MW: Release. Spitzer views planetary nebula NGC 246: JPL Release. Transit of Venus detected with SORCE satelliteWhen Venus came between the Earth and the Sun on June 8, the planet reduced the amount of sunlight reaching Earth by 0.1 percent: GSFC Press Release, SC. An emotional report: CSM. Pictures from Greece: Espenak and Pasachoff. Pictures in the Ca K line: Viladrich. An AU from parallax measured relative to granulation: G�hrken.How amateurs can still beat the robot telescopes in comet huntinghas been studied with lots of statistics by Murakami. Comet award winners 2004: S&T. Clarissa moon detection doubted: S&T. Meet SN hunter Robert Evans from Australia: AFP. Celestron, Meade end litigation: S&T.X-Ray outburst from young star in McNeil's NebulaObservations with Chandra captured an X-ray outburst from a young star, revealing a probable scenario for the intermittent brightening of the recently discovered McNeil's Nebula: Chandra, Vanderbilt Releases, SC.11th mag. supernova in NGC 2403 brightest in 11 years: S&T, G�hrken stuff. Dust imaged around SN 1987A at 10 µm with Gemini South: Release. Miniquasar tracked back to origin: NRAO Press Release. Hotspots on Geminga: SC. EADS to build imaging satellite for ThailandThe European aerospace company EADS has announced that it has signed a contract with Thailand's space agency to build a remote sensing satellite that may also have military applications: EADS PR, AFP, ST.Ariane 5 launches heaviest comsat - Anik F2 had a mass of 5.95 tons: ESA and Arianespace Releases and coverage by BBC, ST (earlier, still earlier), NZ, DPA, RP. First X Prize flights of SS1, GoldenPalace set for Sep. 29 & Oct. 2The Canadian competitor - formerly named da Vinci and now after a sponsor - has never flown before, not even in an unmanned mode: X Prize (earlier), and Golden Palace Press Releases, New Sci., FT, Wired, BBC (earlier), SC (earlier), ST, NZ. Earlier: Ansari PR, SN, Nature, Wired, BBC, HC, Dsc., FT (earlier), UPI, New Sci., SC (earlier), ST (earlier), NZ. What is SS1 good for? SD, SpaceRev (earlier). Another Canadian competitor performs a drop test: New Sci., SC (earlier), ST. Yet two other entrants fail in unmanned tests: New Sci., BBC, Seattle Times, AP, SC, ST, NZ.Solar sail technology testsIn a pair of recent, independent tests, Japanese and American teams have successfully tested systems that could be used to deploy giant solar sails - while Cosmos 1 could fly late this year: JAXA, MSFC, TPS [SN] Press Releases and coverage by Nat., BBC, Guard., New Sci., ST, BdW.
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Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
