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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 |
The storm appears as the white spot visible in Saturn's southern hemisphere - it is rapidly fading now - and corresponds with a large outburst of radio noise detected by the Cassini spacecraft: an initial APOD, U Iowa and SSI Releases, Cassini's views of the storm # PIA77... 88 and 89, the radio data, amateur pictures showing the storm of Mar. 2, Feb. 26, Feb. 22, Feb. 19, Feb. 14 (!), Feb. 10 (more), Feb. 5, Feb. 3, Feb. 2 (more), Feb. 1, Jan. 31 and Jan. 24 and coverage by PSB, NG, APOD, NwS, Stern, NZ. Saturn w/9 moons: Pikhard pic. Jovian WOS turns red: Science@NASA. More Cassini stuff: ESA Releases of March 1, Jan. 24 (new animation of Huygens' descent) and Jan. 23, UA PR, MPG and Uni Köln PMn, a movie clip of Hyperion rotating, pictures 51776, # 81... 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 77... 09, 08, 07, 06, 05, 04, 03, 02 and 01, 76... 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, 85, 84 (as a movie), 82, 81, 80, 21... 47, 46 and 45 (Titan IR mosaics) and coverage of March 2: NwS, ST. March 1: SC. Feb. 27: PSB. Feb. 14: NwS. Feb. 10: PSB. Jan. 31: SC.
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NASA cancels Dawn asteroid mission!More devastating news for NASA's suffering science program (as well as for German-American cooperation in space): The space agency has quietly killed the Dawn double asteroid mission that was already on hold since last fall; what was first reported by news services has since been confirmed officially. The reasons apparent so far are cost overruns and lingering technical problems, none of which had looked like a showstopper or was significantly out of the ordinary. The loss of the mission, selected in 2001 for the Discovery program (see Update # 231), is not only a further blow to the American planetary science program (see story 5 below) but also for the German Space Agency which was to supply the camera for Dawn! Add to that the uncertain future of the flying observatory SOFIA into which Germany has sunk a lot of money as well (its fate will be decided in April and is apparently not quite sealed yet, according to AW&ST of Jan. 27, p. 19), and the prospects for further joint German-U.S. space missions (which were great successes in the past, e.g. Galileo to Jupiter) look pretty dim ... |
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Another Gamma Ray Burst turns supernovaIt started as a weird GRB already when GRB 060218 flickered around for some 2000 seconds before fading in the gamma range (normally GRBs are done in seconds or fractions of one). And three days later, on Feb. 21, the spectrum of a supernova began to emerge in the light of the optical afterglow. This has happened only two times before that clearly, the last time 3 years ago (see Update # 252). The supernova component of the cosmic explosion - which was the 2nd-closest observed so far and one of the dimmest in absolute terms - may still be on the rise: In late February the supernova shone at 18th magnitude but may rise yet to 17th or 16th, within the range of advanced amateur astronomers. Catching its maximum would be important for modelling the GRB process which is still shrouded in some mysteries (though it is all but certain that the explosion of a very massive star in the heart of the long GRBs). GRB 060218 = SN 2006aj is already one of the most intensely observed cosmic bangs in recent years, with telescopes all over the world called into action. |
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Akari: Japanese astronomy satellite promises new view of the infrared skyIt's the first significant IR survey mission since the IRAS satellite in 1980s: Akari, launched as Astro-F by the Japanese space agency JAXA on an M-V on Feb. 21 (Feb. 22 local time) will image the whole sky, in greater detail and in more (six) colors, from 6 to 160 µm - and then observe thousands of invidual objects and deep fields until the liquid helium runs out that is cooling Akari's two instruments to just 6 Kelvin. For the survey the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) will be used, covering 50 to 160 µm, while the InfraRed Camera (IRC) is good for 2 to 26 µm; in its shortest wavelengths it can even operate when the LHe runs out about 18 months from now. Akari can be considered complementary to NASA's Spitzer Space Observatory in that it has a wider field of view and better spectral coverage (with few gaps while Spitzer misses a great deal in the mid-IR).Its science topics range from protostars and dusty star disks in the nearby Universe to star forming regions in our and neighboring galaxies to the distant Universe at redshifts of 4 and beyond. The latter will be accessible in particular close to the poles of the ecliptic where Akari's 69-cm telescope will point most often, due to its 745-km polar orbit and Sun and Earth avoidance rules: Here extremely deep exposures will be accumulated after the 6-month all-sky survey (commencing about 2 months after launch) is done. At the same time pointed observations of other targets will begin for the next 10 months or so, and when the LHe is gone, the IRC can still work for a while with a mechanical cooling system. 10% of the observing time after the survey will go to European astronomers, in return for the European Space Agency's help in downlinking Akari's data stream through the Kiruna ground station: About two years from now ESA's own big Herschel observatory will be launched, and Akari's map will help select targets for it while working with the spacecraft is a nice trial run. |
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Recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi erupts for the first time in 21 years - and fades rapidlyIt's one of only half a dozen stars known that perform nova-like eruptions (sudden increases in brightness of some 6 magnitudes or a factor 250) and do it again every few decades. A red giant star is feeding matter onto a white dwarf companion where the influx somehow causes the eruptions: RS Oph was discovered when that happened in 1898, and other outbursts have since been seen in 1933, perhaps 1945, 1958, 1967 and 1985; since the star is monitored by amateur astronomers very frequently, it is all but certain that no eruption since has been missed. It was amateurs - of course - who discovered the latest outburst in on Feb. 12 when the star's brightness had jumped to 4.5m in 24 hours. Usually it then falls at 0.1m per day, and the light curves of the outbursts (the spacing of which is varying greatly) all seemed to be alike. But this time RS Oph dropped rapidly, reaching 5.3 on Feb. 14, 6.3 on Feb. 16 and 6.7 on Feb. 18, then dropping more slowly to 8 mag. at the month's end - catch it while you can! |
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Storm of anger over NASA science cutsAnd the first congressman calls for a fundamental rethinking of the space agency's priorities & goals"I'm extremely uneasy about this budget, and I am in a quandary at this point what to do about it": So said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, Chairman of the House Committee on Science, at the latter's first hearing on NASA's FY 2007 Budget Proposal on Feb. 16 - and he was not alone in wondering what to do next. The brutal cuts in future science projects this Budget Request introduces in order to save the shuttle and the ISS have been condemned almost unisonous by American politicians and media, let alone scientists and space support groups. "This budget is bad for space science, worse for earth science, perhaps worse still for aeronautics," Boehlert continued: "It basically cuts or deemphasizes every forward looking, truly futuristic program of the agency" - all to keep the shuttle flying (which will be grounded in 2010 anyway, Atlantis already in 2008) and to continue building the ISS (the use of which is less clear than ever). NASA administrator Mike Griffin repeated his arguments at the hearing that it would be detrimental on the long run to let the manned space program suffer, and that the gap between the end of the shuttle flights and the availibility of the CEV should be minimized at all cost.That the American manned space program is a value per se, regardless of what it actually accomplishes, is still a widespread view - but one that's starting to crumble. At the same hearing, Rep. Bart Gordon, Ranking member of the Committee, who - as Boehler - admitted to having "not yet decided on my final position," clearly pointed out the alternatives: Either NASA's overall funding must increase. Or the lofty 'exploration' goals in the manned program have to be slowed down or stopped until the resources are there. Or one should "step back and consider whether there are meaningful alternatives to the President's exploration initiative that might be more appropriate given our overall goals for NASA and the resource constraints we are likely to face." (As this 'initiative' was cooked up in all secrecy inside the White House in 2003 such a discussion seems to be long overdue anyway.) Boehlert indicated at the hearing that he might be "willing to support" an increase in NASA's total budget, but only for the benefit of unmanned programs and if science funding elsewhere doesn't suffer. This will be an interesting year, and at a second hearing on March 2, the suffering of science under the present plan was emphasized even more, this time with leading scientists as witnesses ...
NASA to sacrifice $2 billion in science missions over the coming 5 yearsIt's official: To fund ISS & STS, the science budget will suffer dearly; transition to CEV largest challenge aheadThe good news was that NASA Administrator Mike Griffin doesn't try to hide the dire truth: During his first budget request presentation news conference on Feb. 6 he readily admitted that in order to fund another 16 shuttle flights to the ISS (and one to the HST) and to prepare the transition to the Crew Exploration Vehicle, with the annual increase of NASA's overall budget slowing down in the coming years, it's the scientific missions of the future that will suffer. Griffin is fully supportive of the new direction NASA was sent to two years ago, with 'exploration' - still pretty ill defined - and a certain 'vision' (however dubious) taking center stage in all decisions. In the past two years supporters of that approach could still hold out hope that NASA could afford to go after these lofty goals and still do what it has done best in the past: perform breathtaking science missions that advance our knowledge of the Universe. Not anymore.The contradictions inherent in nowadays' NASA strategy are now in plain view: For Griffin the science missions are "the crown jewels", and there have been generous increases of that budget segment over the past decade. Not anymore: In the proposed 2007 budget, the science part - still sounding impressive at $5.33 billion - will rise only by 1.5% and 1% in each of the following years. In the FY07-11 timeframe this means a loss of $2 billion over what was promised when the 'vision' was first taking hold, and highly important missions like the Terrestrial Planet Finder are gone. Science would not suffer to fund the lofty manned Moon/Mars missions, they said back then, and many horrified scientists didn't believe it even at that time. Now they heard it from Griffin himself: You were right! It remains to be seen whether Congress will force a new course: The new policy - in which even most research onboard the ISS is deferred until the next decade - seems to be in direct contradiction of the Authorization Act passed last December. Work on 'exploration' i.e. mainly on the CEV, its rocket(s) and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is to be funded at $3.98b in the budget request, an increase of 30%, the shuttle program gets $4.06b, the ISS $1.81b, and the overall budget requested is $16.79 billion: This is 1.0% over the current budget which has been amended with an emergency supplement of $350m for Hurricane Katrina response and recovery. If one takes out these funds (which Griffin hopes won't become an annual necessity ...), the FY2007 request is 3.2% over the FY2006 budget. The increases for the coming years as envisioned today are 3.1, 1.8, 2.3 and 2.4 percent. At that point - FY2011, beginning Oct. 1, 2010 - the exploration budget should have grown to $8.8b, while the shuttle is gone: That the last one will launch before Sep. 30, 2010, is about the only certainty today. (DF, based on the Griffin PC and numerous NASA documents) |
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German radio astronomers nail down diameter of 2003 UB313: At 3000±330 km it's one third larger than Pluto!By measuring the thermal emission from the distant world, astronomers working with the 30-meter IRAM radio telescope in Spain, have finally determined the diameter of the huge Kuiper Belt Object announced last year (see Update # 290): It's 3000±300(statistical)±100(systematic) kilometers, far larger than Pluto at 2300 km. Confusing reports about a much smaller diameter determined with HST images in December that would have made UB313 only Pluto-sized (and would have given it an outrageously high albedo of 92%) were premature, and the HST observer (and UB313 discoverer) Mike Brown has told the Cosmic Mirror: "Contrary to rumors otherwise, we're just in the preliminary stages of analyzing the HST data. When we are done we should have a very precise measurement." The German radio astronomy work, however, is "the best info that we have for now about how big and reflective it [UB313] is. The uncertainties are large, but it seems a solid result to me. I hope that we will have the HST analysis done within perhaps a month, and I'll be able to say more then."In optically visible light, solar system objects are visible through the light they reflect from the Sun. Thereby the apparent brightness depends on their size as well as on the surface reflectivity. The latter is known to vary between 4% for most comets to over 50% for Pluto, which makes any accurate size determination from the optical light alone impossible. The Bonn group therefore used the 30-meter telescope, equipped with the sensitive Max-Planck Millimeter Bolometer (MAMBO) detector developed and built at the MPIfR, to measure the heat radiation of UB313 at a wavelength of 1.2 mm, where reflected sunlight is negligible and the object brightness only depends on the surface temperature and the object size. The temperature can be well estimated from the distance to the Sun, and thus the observed 1.2 mm brightness allows a good size measurement. One can further conclude that the UB313 surface is such that it reflects about 60% of the incident solar light, which is very similar to the reflectivity of Pluto. |
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Small exoplanet found far from its star with microlensingIt's not Earth-like as some claim, but its presence shows that the models for planet formation - that predict such bodies - are on the right trackIt's not a particularly Earth-like world, more like a mini-Uranus or -Neptune, and it's not even certain that its mass is smaller than that of the smallest exoplanet found with the radial velocity method (see Update # 289 story 2 item 2) as the error bars overlap. What makes OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb so important instead is the fact that it is the first low-mass exoplanet found far from its star, with a distance of at least 2 AU: Current models of planet formation by core accretion (i.e. the 'traditional' view) predict such planets (inaccessible so far by any other method). Jupiters should be a rarity, and they are indeed, but planets of 5 to 15 Earth masses at 1 to 10 AU should be common. And given that their discovery stretches even microlensing to the limit, the detection of even one case is of huge importance and supports the standard model of planet making - which also includes other Earths.Astronomers discovered the planet indirectly with a technique called gravitational microlensing. The technique takes advantage of the random motions of stars, which are generally too small to be noticed. If one star, however, passes precisely in front of another star, the gravity of the foreground ("lens") star bends the light from the background ("source") star. The foreground star, therefore, acts like a giant lens, amplifying the light from the background star, a phenomenon called gravitational microlensing. A planetary companion around the foreground star can produce additional brightening of the background star. This additional brightening can thus reveal the planet, which is otherwise too faint to be seen by telescopes. The higher the mass of the "lensing" star, the longer is the duration of the microlensing event. So, while a microlensing event due to a star lasts many days, the extra brightening due to a planet lasts a few hours to a couple of days. In the case of the newly found planet, the extra brightening lasted only about 12 hours. Unfortunately neither the distance of the lens nor of the source are known, though their probability distribution can be calculated from the position in the sky where the lensing event was seen and from models of the Milky Way. It follows that the lensing star was in all likelyhood (95% confidence) a small main sequence dwarf of 0.2(-0.1/+0.2) solar masses, 6.6±1.0 kpc from the Earth - and its planet has 5.5(-2.7/+5.5) Earth masses and orbits it at a distance of 2.6(-0.6/+1.5) AU. Since the star is so small, the planet is only heated to about 50 Kelvin. No direct information whatsoever is available on the object's composition. "Astronomers think the planet is composed of ice and rock," claims a press release from the STScI: "Its estimated mass suggests that it is a giant version of terrestrial planets like Earth and Mars." The 73(!) authors of the discovery paper don't discuss that at all, however - and a companion article by an exoplanet expert suggests that OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb is rather a small version of Uranus or Neptune. (Beaulieu & al., Nature 439 [26.1.2006] 437-40 + Queloz, ibid. 400-1) |
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Mars UpdateMars Express ESA Releases of March 3, Feb. 24, Feb. 17 (another one w/Phobos shadow), Feb. 9 and Jan. 31, WUStL, MPG and RUB Pressemitteilungen and coverage of Feb. 21: BdW. Feb. 20: NwS. Glaciers on Mars: Dsc. ExoMars mission design begins: Alcatel PR. MER IMAX movie premiers while Spirit reaches 'home plate'. JPL Release of Jan. 24, Cornell PR, a special page on Martian moon transits across the Sun as seen by the MER and pictures 2399 and 21... 87, 86 and 56. | Coverage of Feb. 28: PS. Feb. 18: PSB. Feb. 17: CSM. Feb. 16: NwS. Feb. 10: SC. Feb. 9: S&T. Feb. 8: PSB. Feb. 2: SC. Jan. 31: PS. Jan. 30: SpRev. Jan. 28: TP. Jan. 27: SF Gate, MercN, NYT, Zap2it, Grand Rapids Press, SD. Jan. 26: APOD, Variety, Zap2it, FlickFilos. Jan. 25: PSB, AdAstra. MRO in approach phase, orbit insertion on March 10: JPL Spotlight, NASA, JPL (earlier), WUStL and NOAA Releases and coverage by PS, SN, NwS, SC, ST, DPA. Odyssey picture 2185. Sample Return dreams. And the long NASA MEPAG Report on "Mars Science Goals, Objectives, Investigations, and Priorities". MGS recorded solar flare in 2001: BU PR, SC. Speculation about life traces in Nakhla meteorite: NHM PR, BBC, SD, Scotsm., NwS, ST. |
Broken asteroid dust in sedimentsTraces of the Veritas event 8.2 millions years ago: SwRI and Caltech Press Releases and coverage by S&T, NwS, SC, BdW, RP, TP.Earth's building blocks parked in asteroid main belt - and the iron meteorites hitting us today actually originated in our vicinity, according to a simulation: NwS, BdW. GEMS made in lab: A&A PR. How dying stars make dust: GSFC Release. Big impact on young Moon blamedfor maria production on other side: OSU PR, NwS, SC, BdW, RP.Meteorite Center to channel commerce a bit so that valuable finds are not lost to science: UA Release, Ast. "Most threatening" asteroid: NEO News, SC, NwS, PSB, Risk List. Siberian crater studied: BdW. Where the Anomalous Cosmic Rays come from - new ideas spawned by Voyager 1 surprise: BU and SwRI (pix) PRs, BdW. Radiation belt shifts after solar action: GSFC PR. Ejected stars not uncommonin the Galaxy - they get their kicks close to the Galactic Center: CfA Press Release, CSM, SC, BdW.Globular cluster Messier 12 robbed of most stars in tidal stripping incident: ESO and ESA Releases, S&T, NwS, SC. Most stars in the Galaxy are single because M dwarfs dominate the numbers and those tiny stars have few companions: a paper by Lada, a CfA Release and coverage by S&T, NwS, SC. Magnetic field measurement in forming planetary nebula suppots key role of B fields in sculpting these nebulae: NRAO PR. High-energy gamma rays from the Galactic Center Ridgehave been detected with HESS, directly related to Cosmic Rays: a paper by Aharonian & al., MPG and RUB PMn and TP.Short GRBs should prefer globular clusters because of close stellar encounters: CfA Release, NwS. SGR outburst affected ionosphere: Stanford PR. Yet another minute dwarf galaxy near M 31is Andromeda X: a paper by Zucker & al., NwS.M 31 halo structure resembles Galaxy's - the two galaxies are closely related: Caltech PR, SC. Shocking news from Stephan's Quintet in new Spitzer false color image: Spitzer and MPG [Engl.] PRs, PhotoJ, NZ. Hot halo gas supports infall theoryGalaxies are still collecting gas from the intergalactic medium: Chandra Release and picture, SC. Metal-rich H cloud in young Universe: ESO PR, NwS.Silicate dust in ULIRGs points to star formation: Cornell, JPL PRs. Rapid merging in early Universe: Nottingham PR. SMBH growth: PSU PR. Temperature of Dark Matter measured? There isn't even a paper yet but lots of talk ... BBC, G, NwS, SC, ST. DM in NGC 3379: Gemini PR. |
Proton launch of comsat fails!Upper stage malfunction leaves Arabsat 4A stranded in low orbit - the failure on Feb. 28 was was the third in 36 launches of Protons for ILS since commercial missions began in 1996: ILS Press Release (earlier), SN, ST.ESA approves CryoSat replacementThe ESA Earth sciences satellite will replace one lost in a launch failure last year: ESA Release, BBC, NwS, ST. MSG-2 sends first images: ESA Release.Landsat 5 resumes operations - engineers were able to make adjustments to operating procedures for the solar array drive mechanism: USGS Press Release, SN, ST. Boeing strike endsA three-month strike that crippled Boeing's launch vehicle program ended Wednesday when striking workers ratified a new contract: FT (earlier), ST (earlier).Chinese manned space plans change for Shenzhou 7 and following: Xinhua. Earlier: FI, SD, SC, ST. Attempt to resolve the hard X-ray backgroundinto single AGNs by using INTEGRAL and the Earth as a mask: ESA Release. Soft X-ray background traced to X-ray stars in Galaxy thanks to RXTE data: NASA, MPG [Engl.] PRs, S&T, Sci., NwS, SC.Laser Guide Star finally at the VLT, tooThe artificial star high in the atmosphere will improve adaptive optics on Paranal a lot: ESO PR, MPG PM, BBC, NwS, NZ.VLTI resolves Cepheid cocoons, perhaps a product of these stars' pulsations: ESO PR, NwS. Optical astronomy threatened by contrails and global warming? BBC. Pan-STARRS progress, first light soon: IfA PR. First data release from RAVEwith radial velocities, data on 25,000 stars: AAO, JHU, AIP and RAS Press Releases, NwS, BdW."Augmented Reality Telescope" may aid public star viewing by projecting information into the eyepiece: NwS (w/link to original paper). Progress for the Square Kilometer Array? At least more study money is flowing: PPARC Press Release, G.
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All other historical issues can be found in the Archive.
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
