Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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The showers start tonight at 0130hrs PDT.....200+ an hour=15 per second.....
They peak tomorrow...
They peak tomorrow...
astronomy & space stuff
- Thread starter linuxgeek
- Start date
linuxgeek
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NASA launches Mars orbiter
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- A spacecraft designed to gather more Mars data than all previous missions combined blasted off Friday into a golden morning sky on its way to the Red Planet.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter lifted off on an Atlas V rocket for the seven-month journey, which began three days after space shuttle Discovery completed its mission.
"So far, an absolutely terrific week for space exploration," said Orlando Figueroa, a deputy associate administrator at NASA.
The launch went flawlessly. The booster rocket shut down and dropped off into the Atlantic minutes after liftoff, and the second-stage rocket separated less than an hour later, leading workers at the launch control center to break into applause. A short time later, two solar panels that will provide power during the voyage unfolded from the orbiter.
A glitch in computer sensors and software during fueling forced NASA to postpone the launch Thursday.
"What a difference a day makes," said launch manager Chuck Dovale. "It couldn't have been any smoother."
Circling the planet for at least four years after arriving in March 2006, the orbiter is to provide unparalleled information on Mars' weather, climate and geology, which could aid possible future human exploration of the Red Planet.
The $720 million mission has two parts.
During its first two years, the orbiter will build on NASA's knowledge of the history of the planet's ice. The planet is cold and dry with large caps of frozen water at its poles, but scientists think it was a wetter and possibly warmer place eons ago -- conditions that might have been conducive to life. Scientists are also trying to determine if it could support future human outposts.
Equipped with the largest telescopic camera ever sent to another planet, the orbiter also will collect data that will help NASA plan where to land two robotic explorers later this decade. The Phoenix Mars Scout, in search of organic chemicals, will be launched in 2007, and the Mars Science Laboratory will follow two years later.
During the mission's second phase, the orbiter will transmit messages between Earth and the robotic explorers on Mars. The reconnaissance orbiter's antenna can transmit 10 times more data per minute than the current trio of satellites positioned around the planet -- NASA's Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey and the European Space Agency's Mars Express.
Two NASA rovers launched in 2003, Spirit and Opportunity, continue to roam the planet and may be the first to send information back to Earth via the reconnaissance orbiter.
The orbiter is loaded with two cameras that will provide high-resolution images and global maps of Martian weather, a spectrometer that will identify water-related minerals and a radiometer to measure atmospheric dust. The Italian Space Agency has provided ground-penetrating radar.
NASA launches Mars orbiter
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- A spacecraft designed to gather more Mars data than all previous missions combined blasted off Friday into a golden morning sky on its way to the Red Planet.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter lifted off on an Atlas V rocket for the seven-month journey, which began three days after space shuttle Discovery completed its mission.
"So far, an absolutely terrific week for space exploration," said Orlando Figueroa, a deputy associate administrator at NASA.
The launch went flawlessly. The booster rocket shut down and dropped off into the Atlantic minutes after liftoff, and the second-stage rocket separated less than an hour later, leading workers at the launch control center to break into applause. A short time later, two solar panels that will provide power during the voyage unfolded from the orbiter.
A glitch in computer sensors and software during fueling forced NASA to postpone the launch Thursday.
"What a difference a day makes," said launch manager Chuck Dovale. "It couldn't have been any smoother."
Circling the planet for at least four years after arriving in March 2006, the orbiter is to provide unparalleled information on Mars' weather, climate and geology, which could aid possible future human exploration of the Red Planet.
The $720 million mission has two parts.
During its first two years, the orbiter will build on NASA's knowledge of the history of the planet's ice. The planet is cold and dry with large caps of frozen water at its poles, but scientists think it was a wetter and possibly warmer place eons ago -- conditions that might have been conducive to life. Scientists are also trying to determine if it could support future human outposts.
Equipped with the largest telescopic camera ever sent to another planet, the orbiter also will collect data that will help NASA plan where to land two robotic explorers later this decade. The Phoenix Mars Scout, in search of organic chemicals, will be launched in 2007, and the Mars Science Laboratory will follow two years later.
During the mission's second phase, the orbiter will transmit messages between Earth and the robotic explorers on Mars. The reconnaissance orbiter's antenna can transmit 10 times more data per minute than the current trio of satellites positioned around the planet -- NASA's Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey and the European Space Agency's Mars Express.
Two NASA rovers launched in 2003, Spirit and Opportunity, continue to roam the planet and may be the first to send information back to Earth via the reconnaissance orbiter.
The orbiter is loaded with two cameras that will provide high-resolution images and global maps of Martian weather, a spectrometer that will identify water-related minerals and a radiometer to measure atmospheric dust. The Italian Space Agency has provided ground-penetrating radar.
linuxgeek
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GROWING SUNSPOT: Sunspot 797 is growing rapidly. Although it does not yet pose a threat for strong solar flares, it could become a source of flares in the days ahead if its rapid growth continues.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/14aug05/midi140.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/14aug05/midi140.gif
linuxgeek
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Largest Communications Satellite Launched
Aug 11, 2005 - An Ariane 5G rocket blasted off from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana today carrying the largest telecommunications satellite ever to be placed into geostationary transfer orbit. The massive Thaicom 4 (previously named iPSTAR) satellite weighed almost 6500 kg at launch. Thaicom 4 will provide Internet access to customers in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Arianespace's next scheduled launch will be two satellites on September 29, 2005.
Full Story
Aug 11, 2005 - An Ariane 5G rocket blasted off from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana today carrying the largest telecommunications satellite ever to be placed into geostationary transfer orbit. The massive Thaicom 4 (previously named iPSTAR) satellite weighed almost 6500 kg at launch. Thaicom 4 will provide Internet access to customers in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Arianespace's next scheduled launch will be two satellites on September 29, 2005.
Full Story
linuxgeek
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AURORA WATCH: Earth is about to enter a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the sun, and the encounter could spark a mild geomagnetic storm. Sky watchers in Alaska and Canada should be alert for auroras on August 16th and 17th.
linuxgeek
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AURORA WATCH: For the second day in a row, a high-speed solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field. Sky watchers in Alaska and Canada should remain alert for auroras.
In Manitoba, Canada, on August 6th, Chris Gray was amazed when an early-morning fog turned green:
http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2005/06aug05/Gray1_strip.jpg
"A mild display of auroras had been active for about 40 minutes when the temperature dropped and the meadow I was in filled with mist and fog," explains Gray. "The fog picked up the colour from the aurora. It turned out to be a very good morning!"
In Manitoba, Canada, on August 6th, Chris Gray was amazed when an early-morning fog turned green:
http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/images2005/06aug05/Gray1_strip.jpg
"A mild display of auroras had been active for about 40 minutes when the temperature dropped and the meadow I was in filled with mist and fog," explains Gray. "The fog picked up the colour from the aurora. It turned out to be a very good morning!"
linuxgeek
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Original Einstein Manuscript Discovered
August 21, 2005, 9:09 AM EDT
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The original manuscript of a paper Albert Einstein published in 1925 has been found in the archives of Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics, scholars said Saturday.
The handwritten manuscript titled "Quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas" was dated December 1924. Considered one of Einstein's last great breakthroughs, it was published in the proceedings of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin in January 1925.
High-resolution photographs of the 16-page, German-language manuscript and an account of its discovery were posted on the institute's Web site.
"It was quite exciting" when a student working on his master's thesis uncovered the delicate manuscript written in Einstein's distinctive scrawl, said professor Carlo Beenakker. "You can even see Einstein's fingerprints in some places, and it's full of notes and markups from his editor."
"We're going to keep it as a reminder of his visits here, which is quite a fond memory for us," Beenakker said.
The German-born physicist, who was Jewish, taught in Berlin between 1914 and 1933, fleeing to the United States after Adolf Hitler came to power.
Einstein, whose name is now synonymous with genius was a frequent guest lecturer at Leiden in the 1920s due to his friendship with physicist Paul Ehrenfest, among whose papers the manuscript was found.
The paper predicted that at temperatures near absolute zero -- around 460 degrees below zero -- particles in a gas can reach a state of such low energy that they clump together in one larger "mono-atom."
The idea was developed in collaboration with Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose and the then-theoretical state of matter was dubbed a Bose-Einstein condensation.
In 1995, University of Colorado at Boulder scientists Eric Cornell and Carl Wiemann created such a condensation using a gas of the element rubidium and were awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 2001, together with Wolfgang Ketterle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Beenakker said the student who found the manuscript, Rowdy Boeyink, was painstakingly reviewing documents in the archive for a thesis on Ehrenfest when he came across the Einstein manuscript and immediately recognized its importance.
He said Boeyink had found other interesting documents during his search, including a letter from Danish physicist Niels Bohr, and was all but certain to receive top marks on his thesis.
Original Einstein Manuscript Discovered
August 21, 2005, 9:09 AM EDT
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The original manuscript of a paper Albert Einstein published in 1925 has been found in the archives of Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics, scholars said Saturday.
The handwritten manuscript titled "Quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas" was dated December 1924. Considered one of Einstein's last great breakthroughs, it was published in the proceedings of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin in January 1925.
High-resolution photographs of the 16-page, German-language manuscript and an account of its discovery were posted on the institute's Web site.
"It was quite exciting" when a student working on his master's thesis uncovered the delicate manuscript written in Einstein's distinctive scrawl, said professor Carlo Beenakker. "You can even see Einstein's fingerprints in some places, and it's full of notes and markups from his editor."
"We're going to keep it as a reminder of his visits here, which is quite a fond memory for us," Beenakker said.
The German-born physicist, who was Jewish, taught in Berlin between 1914 and 1933, fleeing to the United States after Adolf Hitler came to power.
Einstein, whose name is now synonymous with genius was a frequent guest lecturer at Leiden in the 1920s due to his friendship with physicist Paul Ehrenfest, among whose papers the manuscript was found.
The paper predicted that at temperatures near absolute zero -- around 460 degrees below zero -- particles in a gas can reach a state of such low energy that they clump together in one larger "mono-atom."
The idea was developed in collaboration with Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose and the then-theoretical state of matter was dubbed a Bose-Einstein condensation.
In 1995, University of Colorado at Boulder scientists Eric Cornell and Carl Wiemann created such a condensation using a gas of the element rubidium and were awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 2001, together with Wolfgang Ketterle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Beenakker said the student who found the manuscript, Rowdy Boeyink, was painstakingly reviewing documents in the archive for a thesis on Ehrenfest when he came across the Einstein manuscript and immediately recognized its importance.
He said Boeyink had found other interesting documents during his search, including a letter from Danish physicist Niels Bohr, and was all but certain to receive top marks on his thesis.
linuxgeek
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Discovery is Home!
The Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery successfully landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Discovery, riding piggy-back on the modified Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), made a sweep of the Brevard County beaches as it circled for a landing, giving residents a birds-eye view of the duo.
Cheers from media and Kennedy Space Center employees erupted when the 747's wheels touched down. Landing on Runway 15, the vehicle came to a stop where it was then towed to the Mate/Demate Device (MDD) at the SLF. During the next few hours Discovery will be lifted off the 747. The vehicle will be backed-out and the orbiter will be gently lowered to the runway on its landing gear.
On Monday, the Discovery will be towed by a diesel-powered tractor to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) via a two-mile tow-way strip from the SLF. Once inside the OPF the payload bay doors will be opened and the materials brought back from the International Space Station will be unloaded. After Discovery is inside the processing facility, Mission STS-114 will then be completed.
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Discovery is Home!
The Space Shuttle orbiter Discovery successfully landed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Discovery, riding piggy-back on the modified Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), made a sweep of the Brevard County beaches as it circled for a landing, giving residents a birds-eye view of the duo.
Cheers from media and Kennedy Space Center employees erupted when the 747's wheels touched down. Landing on Runway 15, the vehicle came to a stop where it was then towed to the Mate/Demate Device (MDD) at the SLF. During the next few hours Discovery will be lifted off the 747. The vehicle will be backed-out and the orbiter will be gently lowered to the runway on its landing gear.
On Monday, the Discovery will be towed by a diesel-powered tractor to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) via a two-mile tow-way strip from the SLF. Once inside the OPF the payload bay doors will be opened and the materials brought back from the International Space Station will be unloaded. After Discovery is inside the processing facility, Mission STS-114 will then be completed.
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linuxgeek
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AURORA ALERT: Sunspot 798 exploded twice yesterday, August 22nd, and hurled a pair of coronal mass ejections toward Earth. Geomagnetic storms are possible when the clouds arrive on August 23rd and 24th. Sky watchers, particularly those in Alaska and Canada, should be alert for auroras
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/22aug05/cme_c3a_big.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/22aug05/cme_c3b_big.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/22aug05/midi140.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/22aug05/cme_c3a_big.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/22aug05/cme_c3b_big.gif
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/22aug05/midi140.gif
linuxgeek
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linuxgeek
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Hurricane Katrina threatens shuttle external tank facility
Posted: August 28, 2005
A small "rideout" crew is in place at Lockheed Martin's sprawling external tank production facility in New Orleans, braced for potentially catastrophic flooding and destructive winds from Hurricane Katrina. A powerful category 5 hurricane, Katrina was packing sustained winds of 175 mph Sunday afternoon, making it one of the most potentially destructive storms to ever threaten the U.S. coast.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0508/28michoud/michoud.jpg
Seven substantially complete space shuttle external tanks are on site at the Michoud Assembly Facility with another eight to 10 in various stages of production. Any major damage to the facility could impact NASA's plans to resume shuttle flights next year.
Marion Lanasa, a spokesman for the plant, was in the process of evacuating his family Sunday when contacted by cell phone. Stuck in heavy traffic, Lanasa had spent the previous two hours covering 24 miles.
"The lowest spot on our levies are 19.3 feet above sea level," he said of the Michoud tank factory. "The facility has been shut since 8 a.m. this morning. At this point, we will be shut through Tuesday and we'll see how it goes from there.
"We've got about two dozen folks as members of a rideout crew that will remain on site during the storm to make sure that whatever systems they can keep operational will stay operational. But of course, once you get into a storm, they're sort of in a lockdown mode. The building they're in is a protected structure, it's the safest we've got out there."
The Michoud Assembly Facility covers some 832 acres just 15 miles or so east-northeast of downtown New Orleans.
"We have seven substantially completed tanks that are on site and another eight or 10 tanks in various stages of production," Lanasa said. "They're in various buildings and various locations within the building. Our main production facility is 43 acres under one roof and those tanks are located in several different areas, they're not all congregated and they're not all in one building."
He said engineers were unsure about how the various buildings would stand up to category 5 winds.
"They're looking at perhaps the most powerful storm (ever to) hit the continental U.S.," he said. "It's actual landfall and the course that it takes is going to be critical. We're certainly familiar with the fact that the northeast quadrant (of a hurricane) is usually where the most destructive winds are. Ten or 15 miles difference in that ultimate path could play a significant role in the amount of damage that we see."
Three external tanks retrofitted with post-Columbia improvements were shipped to the Kennedy Space Center earlier this year. One of them was launched with the shuttle Discovery in July. The other two must be shipped back to Michoud for additional work to fix problems with foam insulation that were observed during Discovery's flight. One of those tanks had been scheduled to ship out last week, but the barge trip around the tip of Florida was held up because of Katrina's approach to the Sunshine State.
Given the delay getting the tank back to Louisiana, and any potential damage suffered by the Michoud facility after landfall Monday, NASA will be extremely hard pressed to launch Discovery next March as currently planned. To make the opening of the March launch window, the first of the two KSC tanks must be fixed and back at Kennedy by around Nov. 12.
Hurricane Katrina threatens shuttle external tank facility
Posted: August 28, 2005
A small "rideout" crew is in place at Lockheed Martin's sprawling external tank production facility in New Orleans, braced for potentially catastrophic flooding and destructive winds from Hurricane Katrina. A powerful category 5 hurricane, Katrina was packing sustained winds of 175 mph Sunday afternoon, making it one of the most potentially destructive storms to ever threaten the U.S. coast.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0508/28michoud/michoud.jpg
Seven substantially complete space shuttle external tanks are on site at the Michoud Assembly Facility with another eight to 10 in various stages of production. Any major damage to the facility could impact NASA's plans to resume shuttle flights next year.
Marion Lanasa, a spokesman for the plant, was in the process of evacuating his family Sunday when contacted by cell phone. Stuck in heavy traffic, Lanasa had spent the previous two hours covering 24 miles.
"The lowest spot on our levies are 19.3 feet above sea level," he said of the Michoud tank factory. "The facility has been shut since 8 a.m. this morning. At this point, we will be shut through Tuesday and we'll see how it goes from there.
"We've got about two dozen folks as members of a rideout crew that will remain on site during the storm to make sure that whatever systems they can keep operational will stay operational. But of course, once you get into a storm, they're sort of in a lockdown mode. The building they're in is a protected structure, it's the safest we've got out there."
The Michoud Assembly Facility covers some 832 acres just 15 miles or so east-northeast of downtown New Orleans.
"We have seven substantially completed tanks that are on site and another eight or 10 tanks in various stages of production," Lanasa said. "They're in various buildings and various locations within the building. Our main production facility is 43 acres under one roof and those tanks are located in several different areas, they're not all congregated and they're not all in one building."
He said engineers were unsure about how the various buildings would stand up to category 5 winds.
"They're looking at perhaps the most powerful storm (ever to) hit the continental U.S.," he said. "It's actual landfall and the course that it takes is going to be critical. We're certainly familiar with the fact that the northeast quadrant (of a hurricane) is usually where the most destructive winds are. Ten or 15 miles difference in that ultimate path could play a significant role in the amount of damage that we see."
Three external tanks retrofitted with post-Columbia improvements were shipped to the Kennedy Space Center earlier this year. One of them was launched with the shuttle Discovery in July. The other two must be shipped back to Michoud for additional work to fix problems with foam insulation that were observed during Discovery's flight. One of those tanks had been scheduled to ship out last week, but the barge trip around the tip of Florida was held up because of Katrina's approach to the Sunshine State.
Given the delay getting the tank back to Louisiana, and any potential damage suffered by the Michoud facility after landfall Monday, NASA will be extremely hard pressed to launch Discovery next March as currently planned. To make the opening of the March launch window, the first of the two KSC tanks must be fixed and back at Kennedy by around Nov. 12.
WingNut_N_Bolt
Really Experienced
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linuxgeek said:
Those poor bastards had fun time of it didn't they? I still think they were lucky to get back considering all the fuck ups at NASA. That's a nice shot of the shuttle being piggy backed. I really like it.
Fagin
little fishie
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Comet Busting
Comet-Busting Mission Puzzles Scientists
Sep 6, 4:42 PM (ET)
By ALICIA CHANG
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two months after a NASA spacecraft smashed a comet with a space probe, scientists are still puzzling over how big a hit the icy body took.
There are no clear pictures of the crater because the Deep Impact spacecraft whizzed by the comet before the debris and dust had time to settle.
Even so, the mission did accomplish its main goal: to determine what makes up the interior and exterior of a comet. And the answer is that these layers are very different.
Scientists consider that significant because comets are the leftover building blocks of the solar system, and learning more about them will help explain how the solar system formed.
Three research papers on the July 4 Deep Impact mission will be published online Thursday in the journal Science. Researchers presented their results Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's division of planetary sciences in Cambridge, England.
In an overview study, post-impact images shot by the mothership showed the shadow of the debris plume spread more than 900 feet. The images suggest the excavated crater must be smaller than that, but more processing is needed to determine the actual size.
Preliminary analysis suggests the crater length is about 330 feet, or roughly the size of a football field, principal investigator Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland said in a telephone briefing Tuesday. The probe appeared to penetrate the comet surface at least 30 feet deep.
The copper probe was shot into the path of comet Tempel 1, 83 million miles away from Earth, on Independence Day while telescopes around the world watched the celestial fireworks. Imaging by one of the spacecraft's instruments indicated the debris spewed from the comet's belly was quite different from its surface.
Hot water vapor was detected shortly after impact, followed by a spike in concentration of organic, or carbon-based, dust. Scientists are still working to determine the type of organic substances released, but they have identified hydrogen cyanide and methyl cyanide in the plume.
The outflow of organic materials was also confirmed by dozens of ground-based telescopes. Those results were reported in a second study led by Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii.
The presence of simple organic compounds supports the idea that comets are primitive bodies and are not complex like planets, said Lucy McFadden, a mission co-investigator from the University of Maryland.
John Brandt, a comet expert with the University of New Mexico who was not part of the mission, said the results "unequivocally" show that comet layers are different and that could provide clues to how the solar system was formed.
Researchers also reported that the charcoal-colored surface of Tempel 1 is unlike any other comet studied. It's nearly 5 miles long and 3 miles wide - much less elongated than previously thought - and held together by very weak gravity.
Its surface, made up of very fine talcum powder-like particles, contains areas of circular depressions that look like impact craters. It's the first time that crater-like features have been found on a comet. Tempel 1 also has spontaneous outbursts of dust on its surface, probably due to sunlight exposure.
In a third study, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, en route to another comet, observed that the comet grew brighter after impact, a finding that may help scientists determine the crater size.
http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/COMET_BUSTER.sff_LA101_20050906160642.jpg
(AP) This image provided by NASA shows comet Tempel 1 at the moment of impact with NASA's Deep Impact...
http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/COMET_BUSTER.sff_LA102_20050906160541.jpg
(AP) This image provided by NASA shows comet Tempel 1 approximately five minutes before Deep Impact's...
link
Comet-Busting Mission Puzzles Scientists
Sep 6, 4:42 PM (ET)
By ALICIA CHANG
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two months after a NASA spacecraft smashed a comet with a space probe, scientists are still puzzling over how big a hit the icy body took.
There are no clear pictures of the crater because the Deep Impact spacecraft whizzed by the comet before the debris and dust had time to settle.
Even so, the mission did accomplish its main goal: to determine what makes up the interior and exterior of a comet. And the answer is that these layers are very different.
Scientists consider that significant because comets are the leftover building blocks of the solar system, and learning more about them will help explain how the solar system formed.
Three research papers on the July 4 Deep Impact mission will be published online Thursday in the journal Science. Researchers presented their results Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's division of planetary sciences in Cambridge, England.
In an overview study, post-impact images shot by the mothership showed the shadow of the debris plume spread more than 900 feet. The images suggest the excavated crater must be smaller than that, but more processing is needed to determine the actual size.
Preliminary analysis suggests the crater length is about 330 feet, or roughly the size of a football field, principal investigator Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland said in a telephone briefing Tuesday. The probe appeared to penetrate the comet surface at least 30 feet deep.
The copper probe was shot into the path of comet Tempel 1, 83 million miles away from Earth, on Independence Day while telescopes around the world watched the celestial fireworks. Imaging by one of the spacecraft's instruments indicated the debris spewed from the comet's belly was quite different from its surface.
Hot water vapor was detected shortly after impact, followed by a spike in concentration of organic, or carbon-based, dust. Scientists are still working to determine the type of organic substances released, but they have identified hydrogen cyanide and methyl cyanide in the plume.
The outflow of organic materials was also confirmed by dozens of ground-based telescopes. Those results were reported in a second study led by Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii.
The presence of simple organic compounds supports the idea that comets are primitive bodies and are not complex like planets, said Lucy McFadden, a mission co-investigator from the University of Maryland.
John Brandt, a comet expert with the University of New Mexico who was not part of the mission, said the results "unequivocally" show that comet layers are different and that could provide clues to how the solar system was formed.
Researchers also reported that the charcoal-colored surface of Tempel 1 is unlike any other comet studied. It's nearly 5 miles long and 3 miles wide - much less elongated than previously thought - and held together by very weak gravity.
Its surface, made up of very fine talcum powder-like particles, contains areas of circular depressions that look like impact craters. It's the first time that crater-like features have been found on a comet. Tempel 1 also has spontaneous outbursts of dust on its surface, probably due to sunlight exposure.
In a third study, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, en route to another comet, observed that the comet grew brighter after impact, a finding that may help scientists determine the crater size.
http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/COMET_BUSTER.sff_LA101_20050906160642.jpg
(AP) This image provided by NASA shows comet Tempel 1 at the moment of impact with NASA's Deep Impact...
http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/COMET_BUSTER.sff_LA102_20050906160541.jpg
(AP) This image provided by NASA shows comet Tempel 1 approximately five minutes before Deep Impact's...
link
linuxgeek
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SOLAR FLARE: At 1740 UT on Sept. 7th, Earth-orbiting satellites detected a major X17-class solar flare coming from the sun's eastern limb. The source of the explosion was probably returning sunspot 798, which sparked strong auroras in August.
Today's blast was not Earth-directed, but explosions later this week (and next week) could be as the active region turns more and more toward our planet. September might be a good month for auroras; stay tuned.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/07sep05/SXI_20050907_181547259_BB_12_strip.gif
Above: Today's solar flare, photographed from Earth-orbit by the GOES Solar X-ray Imager. The image is false-colored: the dim green disk is the sun; the bright white spot is the flare. Credit: NOAA/SEC.
Today's blast was not Earth-directed, but explosions later this week (and next week) could be as the active region turns more and more toward our planet. September might be a good month for auroras; stay tuned.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2005/07sep05/SXI_20050907_181547259_BB_12_strip.gif
Above: Today's solar flare, photographed from Earth-orbit by the GOES Solar X-ray Imager. The image is false-colored: the dim green disk is the sun; the bright white spot is the flare. Credit: NOAA/SEC.
linuxgeek
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Just what we need with the amount of traffic HF nets are trying to move. Level 4 Radio blackout over the last 24 hours from the X-17 flare.
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SWN/
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SWN/
linuxgeek
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linuxgeek
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Powerful Solar Flare Disrupts HF Communication
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 7, 2005--One of the largest solar flares on record occurred today as a very active solar region 808 produced a powerful X17.1 flare--a "severe" or R4 event on NOAA's R1 to R5 scale. NOAA's GOES-12 satellite observed the flare at 1740 UTC. R4 events typically occur about eight times during each 11-year solar cycle, and today's was the fourth largest in 15 years.
"This event created a complete blackout of high-frequency (HF) communications on the daylit side of Earth," NOAA's Space Environment Center (SEC) reported. "Communications used by emergency services along the Gulf Coast may have experienced problems due to this flare. Low frequency navigation systems may also have experienced a period of significant degradation." R4 events also can disrupt satellites.
The effects of the X17.1-class solar flare began at 1717 UTC, peaked at 1740 UTC and ended at 1803 UTC. X-ray flux exceeded M5 at 1726 UTC.
A very bright and fast coronal mass ejection was observed, but the material was not Earth directed. An S1 to S2 is expected following this eruption, but it won't begin until late today or early September 8.
Over the past two weeks, the same active region of the sun has produced a series of significant solar eruptions as it made its passage around the back side of the sun. "Significant eruptions are expected in the coming days," the SEC said. "Agencies impacted by space weather storms may experience disruptions over the next two weeks. These include spacecraft operations, electric power systems, HF communications, and low-frequency navigation systems."
As of 2030 UTC, the SEC was reporting minor (R1) radio blackout conditions. That means weak or minor degradation of HF radio communication on Earth's sunlit side and occasional loss of radio contact.
Solar activity is expected to be moderate to high. Old region 798 is rotating onto the visible disk and is expected to significantly increase solar activity levels.
The September 7 event drove the Boulder 24-hour running A index up to 15 between 1500 and 1800 UTC. The Boulder K index for the same period was 3.
More information is available on the SEC Web site.
Powerful Solar Flare Disrupts HF Communication
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 7, 2005--One of the largest solar flares on record occurred today as a very active solar region 808 produced a powerful X17.1 flare--a "severe" or R4 event on NOAA's R1 to R5 scale. NOAA's GOES-12 satellite observed the flare at 1740 UTC. R4 events typically occur about eight times during each 11-year solar cycle, and today's was the fourth largest in 15 years.
"This event created a complete blackout of high-frequency (HF) communications on the daylit side of Earth," NOAA's Space Environment Center (SEC) reported. "Communications used by emergency services along the Gulf Coast may have experienced problems due to this flare. Low frequency navigation systems may also have experienced a period of significant degradation." R4 events also can disrupt satellites.
The effects of the X17.1-class solar flare began at 1717 UTC, peaked at 1740 UTC and ended at 1803 UTC. X-ray flux exceeded M5 at 1726 UTC.
A very bright and fast coronal mass ejection was observed, but the material was not Earth directed. An S1 to S2 is expected following this eruption, but it won't begin until late today or early September 8.
Over the past two weeks, the same active region of the sun has produced a series of significant solar eruptions as it made its passage around the back side of the sun. "Significant eruptions are expected in the coming days," the SEC said. "Agencies impacted by space weather storms may experience disruptions over the next two weeks. These include spacecraft operations, electric power systems, HF communications, and low-frequency navigation systems."
As of 2030 UTC, the SEC was reporting minor (R1) radio blackout conditions. That means weak or minor degradation of HF radio communication on Earth's sunlit side and occasional loss of radio contact.
Solar activity is expected to be moderate to high. Old region 798 is rotating onto the visible disk and is expected to significantly increase solar activity levels.
The September 7 event drove the Boulder 24-hour running A index up to 15 between 1500 and 1800 UTC. The Boulder K index for the same period was 3.
More information is available on the SEC Web site.
linuxgeek
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MAGNETIC ARCHES: Sunspot 798, the source of yesterday's flare, has an impressive magnetic field. You can see it in this Sept. 7th picture from Jack Newton of Osoyoos, British Columbia:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/08sep05/newton1_strip.jpg
The arches are magnetic force fields emerging from the sunspot below; they're filled with hot-glowing gas held together by magnetism. When these kinds of magnetic fields become unstable, they can collapse and explode--a solar flare! Forecasters estimate a 30% of another X-flare from sunspot 798 during the next 24 hours.
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2005/08sep05/newton1_strip.jpg
The arches are magnetic force fields emerging from the sunspot below; they're filled with hot-glowing gas held together by magnetism. When these kinds of magnetic fields become unstable, they can collapse and explode--a solar flare! Forecasters estimate a 30% of another X-flare from sunspot 798 during the next 24 hours.
Lost Cause
It's a wrap!
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That pic made me heat up!
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/1024/latest.gif
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
Geez, that is power!
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/1024/latest.gif
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
Geez, that is power!
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
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- Posts
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linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
- Joined
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