Totally lied about coming back. Well, I've actually been kinda busy. But I took a video of the Sun, for anyone left following, enjoy it...
Saturday, October 8, 2011
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Returning
7:37 AM
Astronomy Pirate
I am back, but I am considering how to get back into blogging. Please, accept this as my return. I got a job working overnight flow at Target. Not glorious, but it will do temporarily. Future plans include pursuing my Master of Arts in Teacher (MAT) with a science education focus and moving in with my GF. But for the next few months, I feel I will be stable enough to blog fairly regularly.
There have been a fairly large amount of new astronomy stories my last update. There is no possible way to cover them all. I only hope you have been following the news for the past month and a half or so since I have been away. But I hope to be getting back into providing quality astronomy news and educational articles soon. Plus, hopefully, some more of my own images and videos of the night sky.
I...
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
On Hold
9:01 PM
Astronomy Pirate
I'm putting this blog on the back burner as I need to focus on getting my life organized. I'll hopefully be back whenever I find a stable form of income. It may not be daily when I get back, but I would like to try to update every other day, there's still so much to write about, literally a whole Universe.
I do enjoy it though, sharing a bit of the Universe with readers. I already do astronomy outreach in my community, and I always felt this was a nice way to reach a larger audience. But, there's only so much someone can do without gainful compensation. I would hope that even if I don't come back, I would hope that my readers continue following our expanding understanding of the cosmos. A good list of informative sites are in the sidebar to the right, under 'Useful Astronomy Links'.
I do...
Monday, August 1, 2011
August 2011 Highlights
6:30 AM
Astronomy Pirate
August is here and we are moving into late summer in the northern hemisphere. July wasn't a very ambitious month for me because I spent so much time enjoying my summer, we'll see about a new month. The dominant astronomical event for August is the Perseids meteor shower. Although a Full Moon at it's peak will dampen the experience, the rest of the month should still be full of a few bright traces through the night sky. The weather is still warm, and many great constellations are high in the sky. So if you get the chance, go out and look up:
August 5: Juno Launch: Juno is an ambitious mission to understand the origin and evolution of planet Jupiter. You can read more about it on NASA Juno mission page.
August 8: First Quarter Moon: The Moon is halfway through the waxing phase, a great...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Earth's First Asteroid Companion Discovered
9:56 PM
Astronomy Pirate
This is an amazing discovery. Up until now, companion asteroids that more or less share an orbit with Earth have been theoretical. This class of asteroids is known as Trojans; Jupiter has them, and so do Mars and Neptune. Now Earth joins the club with 2010 TK7, an asteroid approximately 300 meters (1000 feet) across and 80 million km (50 million miles) from Earth.
Asteroid 2010 TK7 is circled in green, in this single frame taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) managed to notice the small asteroid. WISE sees in the infrared, where...
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Largest, Most Distant Water Reservoir Found
8:47 PM
Astronomy Pirate
This artist's concept illustrates a quasar, or feeding black hole, similar to APM 08279+5255, where astronomers discovered huge amounts of water vapor. Image credit: NASA/ESA
More than 12 billion light years away sits a massive body of water surrounding a large, feeding black hole. The amount of water is equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water on Earth. It also shows an early abundance of water in the Universe, being 12 billion light years away means that the light from this event is 12 billion years old. Early for a 13.75 billion year old Universe.
Black holes that are active like this one are known as quasars. Known as...
Friday, July 22, 2011
I Guess I Should Stop Being Lazy
2:00 PM
Astronomy Pirate
I have been back home from my vacation since Monday, but haven't felt much like writing a post. First it was because I was a bit sad leaving the beach and my girlfriend. And then when trying to come up with something in the past few days, there has just been an overwhelming amount of astronomy news that it was hard to pick where to dig into.
Anyways, I am back. You can expect normal posting to resume Monday. I'll probably be checking out the blogs that I follow this weekend. I dunno how much I will get back into it though, I am still working on that job hunt.
But for some weekend reading, here are some of the big astronomy stories that I haven't taken the time to tackle:
The next Mars Rover, Curiosity, had its landing site chosen, Gale crater.
The Dawn probe entered orbit around asteroid...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Happy Birthday Neptune!
6:34 PM
Astronomy Pirate
Today marks the first orbit Neptune has made around the Sun since it was discovered September 23, 1846. In other words, one Neptunian year, that lasts approximately 165 Earth years. NASA has commemorated this anniversary by releasing new Hubble images of Neptune taken on June 25-26. You can read more about the picture (seen above) on NASA's Hubble Telescope page. Or you can just enjoy Neptune in its pale blue glo...
Friday, July 8, 2011
Final Space Shuttle Launch
9:44 AM
Astronomy Pirate
Atlantis is set to launch in roughly 2 hours from this posting, at 11:26 AM EST. I am going to the beach to hope to catch a glimpse of it as it soars on its final mission into space. If you want to watch it live online, I suggest going here: http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
This is hoping that the weather clears up. It stands at a 30% chance of a 'go', 70% that it will get delayed. The good thing is that they have back up launch dates Saturday and Sunday, so it will go up this weekend. If anything, good luck to the brave astronauts on this momentous occasion.
I have been thoroughly enjoying my time in the Outer Banks, sorry for the lack of updates... OK, no I am not, it's my vacation. Anyways, I will be back home next Friday. There are plenty of updates to share, and lots of missed astronomy...
Friday, July 1, 2011
July 2011 Highlights
11:19 AM
Astronomy Pirate
Well, we are heading into another month. Prime time to be enjoying cookouts and beaches and all that great stuff. Or at least that's the case for the northern hemisphere. I am off on vacation, so this is a scheduled post this time around. But, at least with these it is pretty easy to schedule. There are plenty of sites to see this month, and it will be plenty warm, so no excuse to not go out and enjoy the night sky! You all know you like a cool summer's night, so let's see what we got:
July 1: New Moon: The Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth.
Partial Solar Eclipse: This one will only be visible off the coast of Antarctica. It you see it, I salute your bravery.
July 4: Earth at Aphelion: The...
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
'Gone' on Vacation.
5:00 PM
Astronomy Pirate
I am going to be spending a week or two down in North Carolina at the Outer Banks with my girlfriend. I will have my laptop and telescope and stuff with me, so I will make occasional updates on whatever catches my fancy. I will try to cover the final space shuttle launch, which is hopefully on the 8th, if it doesn't get delayed. I might even get to watch it travel up the eastern seaboard if we time it right.
Needless to say, I am excited to spend some time with my girlfriend, but the Outer Banks has another draw. See, it gets dark there, really really dark. To give you an idea of this, and maybe inspire some jealousy, I want you to watch the video below. It circulated on a couple astronomy blogs around June 15th. It is made by Daniel Lowe, and he wrote an article on how the video was made.
You...
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Preparing for Final Flight
5:00 PM
Astronomy Pirate
The last space shuttle mission is about a week and a half away. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is gearing up for launch on July 8th. The 'Final Four' astronauts are on site and conducting practice runs while Atlantis is being a thorough examination in preparation for launch.
But Atlantis sure does look amazing in the morning light. NASA recently released the above photo of the Sun rising behind Space Shuttle Atlantis, taken on June 23rd.
Meanwhile, the crew of STS-135 (the designation of this final mission) have been hard at work. The 'Grande Finale' of NASA's shuttle program is approaching fast. This is one time where we do not want 'bombs bursting...
Monday, June 27, 2011
Close Call With an Asteroid
8:40 PM
Astronomy Pirate
Earlier today, (Monday, June 27 2011) at 17:01 UTC (1:01 PM Eastern US time) a small rock, roughly 10 meters in size, and named Asteroid 2011 MD, flew right past the Earth. In fact, if flew really really close to Earth, at about 12,400 km (7430 mi) from Earth’s surface. That distance is less than the diameter of the Earth itself! Or about 1/32 the distance to the Moon. But astronomers were dead on in determining that it would miss us.
Trajectory of near-Earth asteroid 2011 MD passing Earth on June 27, 2011. Credit: NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office.
It is actually fairly easy to determine where things are heading in space, or at least...
Saturday, June 25, 2011
'Magnetic Ropes' on the Sun Cause Solar Storms
2:22 AM
Astronomy Pirate
I always enjoy hearing about new discoveries in space science. I especially enjoy it when we learn more about our Sun. AND I really really enjoy it when it's a discovery made by researchers from my old University and have met in the past.
On the left, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the magnetic rope as the thick looped structure extending above the edge of the sun. On the right, SDO observes as the surrounding cool magnetic field lines are pushed away by the intruding magnetic rope seen on the left. Both images are taken almost simultaneously (within three seconds of each other). [Credit: NASA and GMU]
George Mason University...
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Becoming An Ice Hunter
5:35 PM
Astronomy Pirate
Just last week, I was praising and encouraging people to participate with the ambitious citizen scientist project, the Zooniverse. Now, if looking for exoplanets, identifying galaxies, examining the surface of the Moon, watching for solar storms, and studying the structure of our Milky Way Galaxy all sound boring to you (and really it shouldn't), then be prepared for their latest project: Ice Hunters.
Ice Hunters will have members of the public contribute in modern space exploration unlike any other way before. You can examine images from the giant Magellan and Subaru telescopes looking for Kuiper Belt Objects, or KBOs. These Pluto-like objects...
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Astro-Lesson: Summer Solstice
2:11 PM
Astronomy Pirate
The Sun as it appeared just a few minutes before today's solstice occurred. (Credit: NASA/SDO)
As of 17:16 UTC (1:16 p.m. Eastern US time) today, June 21, 2001, the Sun will reach the furthest north of its travel across the sky. This event is known as the summer solstice in the north, and consequently has the most daylight of the year. In the southern hemisphere, it would be the winter solstice and the shortest day.
The summer solstice is generally used to either mark the beginning of summer or the midpoint, neither is really right or wrong. Seasons are kind of an abstract notion as it is. But from this point on, the remaining days of the...
Monday, June 20, 2011
So Much Science, So Little Time
2:03 PM
Astronomy Pirate
I hope everyone enjoyed their Father's Day weekend, I know I had some good times with my family. There has been some great astronomy stuff happening (as always) so I figured I'll dump some links.
This hemispheric view of Venus was created using more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, and is centered on the planet's North Pole. This composite image was processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small features, and was color-coded to represent elevation. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS
First up, Life's Little Mysteries is presenting The Greatest Mysteries of the Cosmos every Friday this...
Friday, June 17, 2011
Firestorm in Centaurus A
6:27 PM
Astronomy Pirate
The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most amazing tools that astronomers have ever had. I don't think to many people would argue that. But in addition to that, it provides the world with some of the most amazing pictures of our Universe. It shows us a beautiful Universe that would be an abstract artist's dream. And just yesterday, another hit was released to the public: (you are gonna want to click to see the larger image.)
This is a nearby galaxy named Centaurus A, or well, a portion of Cen A. The image shows a close up of the dark and murky dust of Cen A lite up by the fires of starbirth happening throughout the galaxy. It is an interesting...
Thursday, June 16, 2011
MESSENGER Update
6:09 PM
Astronomy Pirate
NASA's MESSENGER probe has been orbiting Mercury for about 3 months now, since it entered orbit on March 18, 2011, being the first spacecraft to do so. In that time, the probe has taken tens of thousands of high resolution images of major features of the planet. It has taken millions of measurements of things like chemical composition, topography, and the magnetic field.
Degas crater imaged as a high-resolution targeted observation (90 m/pixel). Impact melt coats its floor, and as the melt cooled and shrank, it formed the cracks observed across the crater. For context, Mariner 10’s view of Degas is shown at left. Degas is 52 km in diameter....
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Citizen Scientists
11:36 PM
Astronomy Pirate
I have mentioned these kinds of things in the past, but I think it's good to reiterate, especially if you are a newer reader. I also like encouraging people to be involved in science and understanding the world around them. So, with the Planet Hunters site turning 6 months old, now is a great time to remind people that they can participate in making real discoveries.
Planet Hunters is part of the Zooniverse. According to their about page, "The Zooniverse is home to the internet's largest, most popular and most successful citizen science projects." The projects hosted include Galaxy Zoo, Moon Zoo, the Milky Way Project, of course Planet Hunters,...
Monday, June 13, 2011
Vesta Approach Video
2:06 PM
Astronomy Pirate
NASA's Dawn spacecraft is slowly inching closer to asteroid Vesta. Last month, NASA released Dawn's first glimpse of Vesta, at about 1.21 million kilometers (752,000 miles) away. Today they have released a really short video. In the video, Vesta rotates from left to right, and covers about 30 degrees of rotation.
The view of Vesta has really improved, the craft is now at a distance of about 300,000 miles (483,000 kilometers). This short video is the looping of 20 images taken over about 30 minutes. The images were obtained on June 1st for navigational purposes.
The resolution here is on par with the Hubble Space Telescope images of Vesta. Astronomers are busy looking for familiar landmarks and picking out new details. The large crater at the south pole appears to be a real feature, one...
Friday, June 10, 2011
Surf's Up... On the Sun!?
6:53 PM
Astronomy Pirate
The Sun has been amazing us all week. First there a massive explosion; then we learned it's magnetic field created a froth of magnetic bubbles at the edge of the Solar System; And now it has been discovered that there are "surfer waves" on the Sun. Whoa, dude...
Surfer waves -- initiated in the sun, as they are in the water, by a process called a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability -- have been found in the sun's atmosphere. Credit: NASA/SDO/Astrophysical Journal Letters
I wouldn't suggest trying out your "hang 10" on these waves though. Besides being the surface of the Sun, the waves are about the size of the continental U.S. and moving at...
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The Surprising Edge of Our Solar System
4:59 PM
Astronomy Pirate
A couple of days ago I mentioned that NASA was having a teleconference today (June 9) to discuss conditions at the edge of the Solar System. (You can find it mentioned at the end of this post.) Well, the conference is over, and the press releases are out, along with some new images and a nifty video to explain it all.
I find the video gives the best explanation about what has been learned. It is a bit amazing to know we are still learning so much about our own Solar System, and we recognize that we still have much to learn.
Old and new views of the heliosheath. Red and blue spirals are the gracefully curving magnetic field lines of orthodox...
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Spectacular Stellar Explosion
9:21 PM
Astronomy Pirate
I wanted to get something science-y in today, and since this has been all over the place, I figured I would mention it. Yesterday morning (June 7th) there was a massive explosion on the surface of the Sun. The video can be seen below, and is spectacular.
To describe the event, the Solar Dynamics Observatory science team says: “The Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare with a substantial coronal mass ejection (CME) on June 7 that is visually spectacular. The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface.”
“SDO observed the flare’s peak at 1:41 AM EST. SDO recorded these images in extreme ultraviolet light and they show a very large explosion of cool gas. It is somewhat unique because at many places...
For A Gay Girl in Damascus
5:29 AM
Astronomy Pirate
WARNING: This is not my normal sort of post!
Some of you in the blog-o-sphere, or even just avid news consumers, may have heard of this girls blog before: A Gay Girl in Damascus. I first learned about her in late April when the story was making the rounds about this girl and her bravery and her father's heroism, as recorded in this post.
I have felt touched and supportive of this blog. To be an open lesbian in country like Syria cannot be easy. And then in the last month everything has exploded. There is a revolution happening that most news sites seem to put aside as security forces versus protestors. The problems are much deeper than that.
So,...
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Our Changing Solar System
7:00 AM
Astronomy Pirate
As they keep searching, astronomers learn more and more about how our Solar System formed. There is a good amount of understanding on how things happened, but a lot of the finer details of just why things appear the way they do still have to be answered.
Our Solar System is like a giant cosmic puzzle, and we are constantly finding new clues about the course of its evolution.
This week a few amazing findings that are redefining the way we understand our Solar System, planet formation, and what we might expect to find in other star systems.
An artistic rendition of the impact that created the Moon.
The idea that our Earth-Moon configuration...
Monday, June 6, 2011
30 Kilometers for Opportunity
7:30 PM
Astronomy Pirate
There's no stopping NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars.
This collage maps the the entire route of the Opportunity Mars Rover. (Click to enlarge) Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell Marco Di Lorenzo, Kenneth Kremer
On June 1, 2011, a short drive of 482 feet (146.8 meters) pushed the rover's odometer past 30 km (18.64 miles). It has taken nearly seven and a half years since the rover landed on Jan 24, 2004. Also keep in mind that this mission only had a 3 month 'warranty', and was expected to travel only a quarter mile.
The rover has managed to rove 50 times the initially planned distance, over 29 times beyond the original design lifetime! An amazing...
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Cassini Mission: The Movie
3:00 AM
Astronomy Pirate
CASSINI MISSION from cabbas on Vimeo.
[You'll probably want to watch this with HD and full screen turned on.]
This is footage from the Cassini Imaging Science System by the hard workers at NASA. The Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn for nearly 7 years now, tracking moons, rings, and the planet. Many thousands of images have been sent back to Earth and have been enjoyed by the public over the past few years.
Videographer Chris Abbas got the idea to string them together into a video. The result was an eerily beautiful look at the sixth planet using raw, unprocessed data. You can see some of the 'defects' that astronomers tend to work around since it gets in the way of the science being done. But in the case of art, the dark donuts created by dust in the camera, cosmic rays hitting...
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Other Life on Mars
2:31 AM
Astronomy Pirate
I felt like I haven't done a good astrobiology article in awhile. And I wanted to do something a bit different then the normal way we tend to think about life in the Universe. This one is about life on Mars, but in a different sense. It also pulls on an idea I talked about in the Life on Ceres article from a couple weeks back.
Lets just go ahead and throw the big-worded-phrase out there: Unintentional Anthropogenic Panspermia. More simply: human activity might have accidentally brought life to another planet. Specifically, Mars in this case.
OK? Yeah, it is kind of a crazy idea, along with lots of questions of hows and whys. But, like the classic...
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