Astrophysics Newsfeeds
Astronomy Picture of the Day: Meteor between the Clouds
November 20, 2009
Meteor between the Clouds This bright meteor streaked through dark night skies over Sutherland, South Africa on November 15. Potentially part of the annual Leonid meteor shower, its sudden, brilliant appearance, likened to a camera's flash,...
BIG DISCLAIMER: This page of links is assembled automatically via software algorithm. These come from non peer-reviewed news source, typically aimed at the general public.
Universe Today (Top 5 items)
- Hayabusa May Come Home After All (Fri Nov 20 5:26 pm)
As we reported last week, it seemed as if the Hayabusa asteroid explorer mission was dealt a fatal blow when the third of its four ion engines failed. But the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced yesterday that it may have... - Astronaut Glove Challenge Winners Announced (Fri Nov 20 3:23 pm)
NASA's Astronaut Glove Centennial Challenge contest was held yesterday at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Florida, and two contestants walked away with a total of $350,000 in prize money for their improved designs of space suit... - Find the Answer to this Week's WITU Challenge (Fri Nov 20 2:34 pm)
If you're still wondering what this very strange image is, find out by going to the original WITU challenge post for this week. Have a great weekend, and check back next week for another Where In The Universe Challenge! © nancy for... - Video of Utah Fireball (Fri Nov 20 2:20 pm)
Early Nov. 18th, eyewitnesses reported an explosion in the atmosphere above Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho in the western United States. Some said the fireball "turned night into day" and produced shock waves that shook the ground when it... - Cassini/IBEX Data Changes View of Heliosphere Shape (Fri Nov 20 1:22 pm)
Though the Cassini mission has focused intently on scientific exploration of Saturn and it's moons, data taken by the spacecraft has significantly changed the way astronomers think about the shape of our Solar System. As the Sun and planets...
EurekaAlert Space News (Top 5 items)
- NJIT receives NSF funding to improve Big Bear Telescope, study solar energy (Thu Nov 19 11:00 pm)
- New method to measure snow, vegetation moisture with GPS may benefit farmers, meteorologists (Thu Nov 19 11:00 pm)
(University of Colorado at Boulder) A research team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder has found a clever way to use traditional GPS satellite signals to measure snow depth as well as soil and vegetation moisture, a technique expected... - Watching a cannibal galaxy dine (Thu Nov 19 11:00 pm)
(ESO) A new technique using near-infrared images, obtained with ESO's 3.58-meter New Technology Telescope, allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes of the giant cannibal galaxy Centaurus A, unveiling its "last meal" in unprecedented... - SMOS satellite instrument comes alive (Wed Nov 18 11:00 pm)
(European Space Agency) The MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched earlier this month, has been switched on and is operating normally. MIRAS will map soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the role these... - AGU Fall Meeting: Press room update, book hotels by Nov. 19 (Tue Nov 17 11:00 pm)
(American Geophysical Union) This updates for the AGU 2009 Fall Meeting contains a press room update, reminder to book hotels by Nov. 19, how tosearch abstracts by affiliation, the blog roll and more.
Bad Astronomy Blog (Top 5 items)
- Sirius Stargazing (Fri Nov 20 3:00 pm)
I have few regrets in life, but if there’s one, it’s that I didn’t have access to all this amazing technology when I was a teenager and figuring out just how I was going to tackle my love for astronomy. How I would have loved... - NASA wants your junk (Fri Nov 20 12:31 pm)
While driving in Los Angeles recently, I was surprised to see this out my passenger window: Wow. I know NASA’s budget is small, but this seems a bit unnecessary. I wonder if Harry Broderick was driving? - Nerds rule: followup (Fri Nov 20 9:00 am)
Aha! The video I mentioned the other day featuring Watchmen advisor Jim Kakalios — about nerds running the planet — is now on YouTube! So I have embedded it below for those who are too busy to click an actual link. - Cosmospresso (Thu Nov 19 3:25 pm)
You know what "galaxy" means in Latin Greek, don’t you? Yeah, it’s Saturn, not the Milky Way, but still. That is made of awesome. I want to go to that coffee shop! Via Reddit. - Gorgeous 3D Mandelbrot sets! (Thu Nov 19 11:00 am)
Check. This. Out. You might think that’s an alien spore, or a crystal of some kind. But it’s actually what appears to be a rendering of a three-dimensional fractal! Fractals are very interesting. There are different ways to describe...
Science@NASA (Top 5 items)
- SOFIA Seeks Secrets of Planetary Birth (Thu Nov 19 12:00 am)
Imagine cutting retractable doors in the side of a 747 airliner, installing a 17-ton telescope, and flying to the stratosphere to solve one of astronomy's greatest puzzles. That's what NASA and the German Aerospace Center plan to do with... - LCROSS Finds Water on the Moon (Fri Nov 13 12:00 am)
The argument that the Moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. At a press conference today, researchers revealed data from NASA's LCROSS mission indicating that water exists in a permanently shadowed lunar crater. Please... - Can Spirit be Freed? (Thu Nov 12 12:00 am)
On Monday, NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast... - The 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower (Tue Nov 10 12:00 am)
The 2009 Leonid meteor shower peaks on Nov. 17th with a sprinkling of meteors over North America and a possible outburst over Asia. Please vote for this podcast at PodcastAlley! Get this podcast story. - A Tale of Planetary Woe (Fri Nov 6 12:00 am)
Long ago, something calamitous happened to Mars, transforming a hospitable world into the apparently lifeless desert we see today. Many scientists believe the Red Planet lost most of its atmosphere, but how? A new NASA mission named MAVEN...
RedOrbit Space News (Top 5 items)
- NASA Pushing Social Media Experience To New Heights (Fri Nov 20 10:35 am)
NASA launched a social media experience at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that quickly turned into an unprecedented world-wide event as more than 100 Twitter users got a unique look inside America's space program and front row seats to... - First SMOS Data Received (Fri Nov 20 12:20 pm)
This image is the first data sent to Earth by the MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched on November 2. - CryoSat Launch Campaign Gets Green Light (Fri Nov 20 10:24 am)
Image Caption: The CryoSat mission will provide data to determine the precise rate of change in the thickness of the polar ice sheets and floating sea ice. It is capable of detecting changes as little as 1 cm per year. The information from... - Planet 51 Star Brings NASA's Message Of Exploration Down To Earth (Fri Nov 20 8:25 am)
Actor Dwayne Johnson, usually known for his action and comedic film roles, takes to the stars as an astronaut in a new animated feature that brings important messages about the importance of space exploration and education to those of us here... - Robotics Work, Spacewalk Preps For Shuttle Crew (Fri Nov 20 5:35 am)
Though it began a little later than planned, the STS-129 crew is awake and starting work on the day's activities.Their wakeup call came at 3:28 a.m., which gave them 30 extra minutes intended to make up for sleep lost overnight when false depressurization...
Astronomer's Telegrams (Top 10 items)
- ATel 2307: Discovery of a likely FU-Ori-type system (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
We report the discovery of a possible FU-Ori-type eruption. The object CSS091110:060919-064155 located at R.A. = 06h09m19.32s, Decl. = -06d41'55.4" (equinox 2000.0) and coincident with the infrared source IRAS 06068-0641, was detected by... - ATel 2306: Fermi LAT detection of a GeV flare from GB6 B1310+4844 (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed an increasing gamma-ray flux from a source positionally consistent with the flat spectrum radio quasar GB6 B1310+4844 (VLBI position:... - ATel 2305: New X-ray Outburst in X1744-361 (A1744-36) (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
The recurrent transient and accreting neutron star, X1744-361, has begun the fourth outburst observed with RXTE (see ATel #1587). The ASM data rate for this source is impeded by the angular proximity of the Sun, but the outburst appears... - ATel 2304: New optical nova candidate in M 31 (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
We report the discovery of a possible nova in M 31 on a 12x60s stacked R filter CCD image obtained with the robotic 60cm telescope with an E2V CCD (2kx2k, 13.5 micron sq. ... - ATel 2303: Aquila X-1 optical rise (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
Analysis of CCD images obtained on 2009 November 18.75 UT by J.Taupenas with the 1.2-m Haute-Provence reflector shows the orbital phase-corrected magnitude of the object has brightened in the V band by 0.3 mag since November 12. ... - ATel 2302: Aql X-1 transition towards the soft (banana) state accompanied by radio/NIR detection (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
The currently active neutron star transient and atoll source Aql X-1 (Linares et al., ATEL #2288) has begun the transition from the hard (extreme island) state to the soft (banana) state (Rodriguez et al. ... - ATel 2301: Discovery of VHE Gamma-Ray Emission from the Fermi-LAT Source 1ES 0502+675 (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
The VERITAS Collaboration reports the discovery of very high energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object 1ES 0502+675. ... - ATel 2300: Swift and RXTE report the detection of a new galactic transient source Swift J1713.4-4219 (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
The hard X-ray transient monitor of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) has detected a previously unknown transient source. This source, Swift J1713.4-4219, was first detected at a daily average rate of 0.0048 ± 0.0017 counts/sec/cm2... - ATel 2299: INTEGRAL detects Aql X-1 in outburst in a hard state (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
The neutron star X-ray binary/microquasar Aql X-1 has entered a new outburst (ATel #2288 and #2296). In the framework of our INTEGRAL monitoring campaign on GRS 1915+105 (see e.g. ... - ATel 2298: INTEGRAL/JEM-X sees a flare from IGR J19112+1358 and gives a refined position (Wed Dec 31 6:00 pm)
The X-ray monitors JEM-X aboard INTEGRAL have detected IGR J19112+1358 (ATel #1489, #1554) during an observation of GRS 1915+105 between 2009 October 31, 18:55 and November 1, 00:40 (UTC). ...