The Space News Archive *Warning, massive resolution pictures inside*

[LLR]

Time to change the history books, folks.


It's Official: Water Found on the Moon

Since man first touched the moon and brought pieces of it back to Earth, scientists have thought that the lunar surface was bone dry. But new observations from three different spacecraft have put this notion to rest with what has been called "unambiguous evidence" of water across the surface of the moon.

The new findings, detailed in the Sept. 25 issue of the journal Science, come in the wake of further evidence of lunar polar water ice by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and just weeks before the planned lunar impact of NASA's LCROSS satellite, which will hit one of the permanently shadowed craters at the moon's south pole in hope of churning up evidence of water ice deposits in the debris field.

The moon remains drier than any desert on Earth, but the water is said to exist on the moon in very small quantities. One ton of the top layer of the lunar surface would hold about 32 ounces of water, researchers said.  

"If the water molecules are as mobile as we think they are — even a fraction of them — they provide a mechanism for getting water to those permanently shadowed craters," said planetary geologist Carle Pieters of Brown University in Rhode Island, who led one of the three studies in Science on the lunar find, in a statement. "This opens a whole new avenue [of lunar research], but we have to understand the physics of it to utilize it."

Finding water on the moon would be a boon to possible future lunar bases, acting as a potential source of drinking water and fuel.

Apollo turns up dry

When Apollo astronauts returned from the moon 40 years ago, they brought back several samples of lunar rocks.

The moon rocks were analyzed for signs of water bound to minerals present in the rocks; while trace amounts of water were detected, these were assumed to be contamination from Earth, because the containers the rocks came back in had leaked.

"The isotopes of oxygen that exist on the moon are the same as those that exist on Earth, so it was difficult if not impossible to tell the difference between water from the moon and water from Earth," said Larry Taylor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who is a member of one of the NASA-built instrument teams for India's Chandrayaan-1 satellite and has studied the moon since the Apollo missions.

While scientists continued to suspect that water ice deposits could be found in the coldest spots of south pole craters that never saw sunlight, the consensus became that the rest of the moon was bone dry.

But new observations of the lunar surface made with Chandrayaan-1, NASA's Cassini spacecraft, and NASA's Deep Impact probe, are calling that consensus into question, with multiple detections of the spectral signal of either water or the hydroxyl group (an oxygen and hydrogen chemically bonded).

Three spacecraft

Chandrayaan-1, India's first-ever moon probe, was aimed at mapping the lunar surface and determining its mineral composition (the orbiter's mission ended 14 months prematurely in August after an abrupt malfunction). While the probe was still active, its NASA-built Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) detected wavelengths of light reflected off the surface that indicated the chemical bond between hydrogen and oxygen — the telltale sign of either water or hydroxyl.

Because M3 can only penetrate the top few millimeters of lunar regolith, the newly observed water seems to be at or near the lunar surface. M3's observations also showed that the water signal got stronger toward the polar regions. Pieters is the lead investigator for the M3 instrument on Chandrayaan-1.

Cassini, which passed by the moon in 1999 on its way to Saturn, provides confirmation of this signal with its own slightly stronger detection of the water/hydroxyl signal. The water would have to be absorbed or trapped in the glass and minerals at the lunar surface, wrote Roger Clark of the U.S. Geological Survey in the study detailing Cassini's findings.

The Cassini data shows a global distribution of the water signal, though it also appears stronger near the poles (and low in the lunar maria).

Finally, the Deep Impact spacecraft, as part of its extended EPOXI mission and at the request of the M3 team, made infrared detections of water and hydroxyl as part of a calibration exercise during several close approaches of the Earth-Moon system en route to its planned flyby of comet 103P/Hartley 2 in November 2010.

Deep Impact detected the signal at all latitudes above 10 degrees N, though once again, the poles showed the strongest signals. With its multiple passes, Deep Impact was able to observe the same regions at different times of the lunar day. At noon, when the sun's rays were strongest, the water feature was lowest, while in the morning, the feature was stronger.

"The Deep Impact observations of the Moon not only unequivocally confirm the presence of [water/hydroxyl] on the lunar surface, but also reveal that the entire lunar surface is hydrated during at least some portion of the lunar day," the authors wrote in their study.

The findings of all three spacecraft "provide unambiguous evidence for the presence of hydroxyl or water," said Paul Lucey of the University of Hawaii in an opinion essay accompanying the three studies. Lucey was not involved in any of the missions.

The new data "prompt a critical reexamination of the notion that the moon is dry. It is not," Lucey wrote.

Where the water comes from

Combined, the findings show that not only is the moon hydrated, the process that makes it so is a dynamic one that is driven by the daily changes in solar radiation hitting any given spot on the surface.

The sun might also have something to do with how the water got there.

There are potentially two types of water on the moon: that brought from outside sources, such as water-bearing comets striking the surface, or that that originates on the moon.

This second, endogenic, source is thought to possibly come from the interaction of the solar wind with moon rocks and soils.

The rocks and regolith that make up the lunar surface are about 45 percent oxygen (combined with other elements as mostly silicate minerals). The solar wind — the constant stream of charged particles emitted by the sun — are mostly protons, or positively charged hydrogen atoms.

If the charged hydrogens, which are traveling at one-third the speed of light, hit the lunar surface with enough force, they break apart oxygen bonds in soil materials, Taylor, the M3 team member suspects. Where free oxygen and hydrogen exist, there is a high chance that trace amounts of water will form.

The various study researchers also suggest that the daily dehydration and rehydration of the trace water across the surface could lead to the migration of hydroxyl and hydrogen towards the poles where it can accumulate in the cold traps of the permanently shadowed regions.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/24sep_moonwater.htm
More found here<






Also:

Asteroid attack: Putting Earth's defences to the test

IT LOOKS inconsequential enough, the faint little spot moving leisurely across the sky. The mountain-top telescope that just detected it is taking it very seriously, though. It is an asteroid, one never seen before. Rapid-survey telescopes discover thousands of asteroids every year, but there's something very particular about this one. The telescope's software decides to wake several human astronomers with a text message they hoped they would never receive. The asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. It is the size of a skyscraper and it's big enough to raze a city to the ground. Oh, and it will be here in three days.

[LLR]

This just in:

SOLAR FLARE:  New-cycle sunspot 1026 is crackling with magnetic activity, and this morning it produced a C-class solar flare. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's (SOHO's) extreme UV telescope recorded the action around 0100 UT on Sept. 25th:



If you thought that flare seemed small, you were right. It was about 100-times too weak too affect Earth. During Solar Maximum, such a minor eruption would probably go unnoticed and certainly unmentioned. But during the deepest solar minimum in almost 100 years, it's a big event. A C-flare! The blast raised no radio blackouts or radiation storms--only the hopes of solar observers for something more flamboyant. Stay tuned.



Here we go....

[LLR]

>>>>>>>>>URGENT UPDATE<<<<<<<<<

LUNAR IMPACT:  NASA's LCROSS spacecraft and its Centaur booster rocket will hit the Moon on Friday morning, Oct. 9th, at approximately 4:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 UT). The spectacular double-impact will be broadcast live on NASA TV. Can't wait? Click below to watch a computer-generated preview (11 MB Quicktime):

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/lcrossvg/preview.mov



The impacts are designed to unearth frozen water from the cold and shadowy floor of crater Cabeus near the lunar south pole. Moon water is valuable stuff. It costs about $30,000 to rocket a liter of water from Earth to the Moon. If NASA could find water already on the Moon, it would save a lot of money for future thirsty colonists. H2O also can be split into O2 for breathing and H2 for rocket fuel.

Evidence of water will be sought in two plumes of debris that billow out of Cabeus. The Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter, and several great telescopes on Earth will monitor the plumes for spectral signs of water (H2O) or water fragments (OH). Mission scientists say the plumes might also be visible in backyard telescopes with apertures of at least 10 inches. US observers west of the Mississippi River are favored with darkness and a good view of the Moon when the spacecraft strike. Browse the links below for observing tips:


http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/05oct_lcrossvg.htm

LCROSS Slideshow

http://www.lcross.arc.nasa.gov/resources/cabeus_pointing_chart_GMOS_2009sep12_1335UT.ppt

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33196816/ns/technology_and_science-space


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33200206#33200206




ALSO!

Spitzer Discovers Saturn's Largest Ring

This thing is HUGE!


http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/07oct_giantring.htm

[LLR]

IT'S ABOUT TO HIT ON NASA TV!

Give it a click!

*edit

What a flop..  No boom at all.     :   grrrr
\

What a flop..

LUNAR IMPACT! NASA's LCROSS spacecraft and its Centaur booster rocket have hit the lunar surface. The impact flash from the Centaur booster rocket was not bright--it has been described "a dud" visually--but mission scientists say that could be good news, indicative of an impact in loose, relatively water-rich regolith. Mission scientists are sharing first images and results at a post-impact press conference that began at 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT). Stay tuned.

The LCROSS mothership took this picture of crater Cabeus during the spacecraft's death plunge into the shadows. "X" marks the point of impact:



The impacts were designed to excavate frozen water from the crater's cold and shadowy floor. Moon water is valuable stuff. It costs about $30,000 to rocket a liter of water from Earth to the Moon. If NASA could find water already on the Moon, it would save a lot of money for future thirsty colonists. H2O also can be split into O2 for breathing and H2 for rocket fuel.

The Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and several large telescopes on Earth monitored the LCROSS debris plumes for spectral signs of water (H2O) or water fragments (OH). It might take days for their results to become available.

[LLR]

BOOM.  With out any warning what so ever, yesterday (Saturday) the Sun launched a CME directly at the earth.  

EARTH-DIRECTED ERUPTION:  On Saturday, Oct. 17th, starting around 18:24 UT, a spotless active region in the sun's southern hemisphere erupted, hurling a faint coronal mass ejection (CME) in the general direction of Earth. SOHO's extreme UV telescope recorded this movie of the blast. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Oct. 19th or 20th when the CME arrives

Be advised.  More to come soon.




So the Lunar Impact last week.  What happened?  Officially a SMALL dust cloud formed and we are just now getting info about it.  For most though, no one could see anything.  Due to some confusion on NASA's end the real footage of the impact was simulated rather than live.  Again, "officially" there was no HUGE dust cloud because it hit in  a crater of SODIUM.  Kinda odd to hit a crater filled with salt on the moon.... More info coming soon:

LUNAR IMPACT PLUME:  There was a plume after all. Observers on Earth had their doubts after LCROSS and its Centaur booster rocket hit the Moon on Friday, Oct. 9th. The twin lunar impacts failed to produce visible plumes of debris, prompting speculation that something had gone wrong. On the contrary, members of the LCROSS science team are now calling the experiment "a smashing success."

Fifteen seconds after the Centaur hit the shadowy floor of crater Cabeus, the LCROSS spacecraft flying 600 km overhead took the following picture of a plume measuring 6 to 8 km wide:



"There is a clear indication of a plume of vapor and fine debris," says LCROSS principal investigator Tony Colaprete of NASA/Ames. "The ejecta brightness appears to be at the low end of our predictions and this may be a clue to the properties of the material the Centaur hit."

Nine cameras and spectrometers on LCROSS captured every phase of the Centaur's impact: the intial flash, the debris plume, and the creation of the Centaur's crater. "We are blown away by the data returned," says Colaprete. "The team is working hard on the analysis and the data appear to be of very high quality."

But did the impact reveal any water at the bottom of Cabeus? The LCROSS team isn't ready to say yet. Combining their data with those of other observatories and analyzing the full dataset could take weeks. According to NASA, "any new information will undergo the normal scientific review process and will be released as soon as it is available."

MORE




BIG Story here:

http://www.physorg.com/news174918239.html

Jupiter's Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life

New research suggests that there is plenty of oxygen available in the subsurface ocean of Europa to support oxygen-based metabolic processes for life similar to that on Earth. In fact, there may be enough oxygen to support complex, animal-like organisms with greater oxygen demands than microorganisms.

Gear up, kids.  This means a major mission to Europa will now be in the works.  Hmm.. what a coincidence!  Already announced in June of 05

The $700 million "Juno" mission, part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, must be ready for launch by June 30, 2010, although it would take five years for the solar-powered probe to reach its destination.

Just to note: The new news coming in about space is really over 5 years old.  We are just now getting it.  Important to remember that.







GIANT RIBBON DISCOVERED AT THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM:

For years, researchers have known that the solar system is surrounded by a vast bubble of magnetism. Called the "heliosphere," it springs from the sun and extends far beyond the orbit of Pluto, providing a first line of defense against cosmic rays and interstellar clouds that try to enter our local space. Although the heliosphere is huge and literally fills the sky, it emits no light and no one has actually seen it. Until now.

NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft has made the first all-sky map of the heliosphere and the results have taken researchers by surprise. The map is bisected by a bright, winding ribbon of unknown origin:



"This is a shocking new result," says IBEX principal investigator Dave McComas of the Southwest Research Institute. "We had no idea this ribbon existed--or what has created it. Our previous ideas about the outer heliosphere are going to have to be revised."

The two Voyager spacecraft (labeled V1 and V2 in the figure) have spent decades traveling to the edge of the solar system for in situ inspection of whatever might be there--but ironically both spacecraft missed the ribbon. "It's like having two weather stations, but missing the big storm that runs between them," says Eric Christian, IBEX deputy mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

At the moment, theorists are "working like crazy" to understand this discovery and how the ribbon might effect the ability of the heliosphere to shield us from cosmic rays. Science@NASA has the full story
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15oct_ibex.htm




Now just a second.....  Lets talk about this one.   First though..

Please watch the following videos:



What the Heliopause looks like.  It is what exists just out side our solar system.  Galactic hardcore winds.  Nothing could probably survive out there.  No star could form, no planet could stay together and no probe could survive.
http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392292main_JourneyToHeliopauseVis1.mpg

Our Sun (as with all stars) keeps the galactic wind from entering the solar system.  That is what keeps us safe here.  Lets us send probes to other planets and moons and test the limits of our solar system.  The area that exists between instant death wind and our own solar system is called the Heliopause.  However..  If this wind was to ever enter our solar system... it would spell doom to every planet for thousands of years.  It would instantly remove any atmosphere of any planet or moon and vaporize any organic material it comes in contact with.    

What this ribbon could mean is...  well.. This is just my take on it.  This seems very coincidental all this hoopla over 2012 and end times.  All while in 2012 we are set to align to the galactic center of the Milky Way.   No one knows what would happen if the Earth were to align with it.  Whats out there?  Energy?  Gravity?  Would it effect life?  No one knows.  Odd how this ribbon of energy popped up in the exact spot where our solar system is entering this galactic center line. (Think of a small ball bobbing up and down around a CD or record.  The area where the ball lines up with the side of the CD or record would be the galactic center)  We do this every 22 thousand years....  Anyone know anyone from 22 thousand years ago?   That's kinda what is scary in this story.

Got me now?  Good, watch the rest of the videos now.

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392551main_EricVis2AllSkyMapWithVoyagersSmall.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392299main_DaveVis3VoyagerVsIBEXData512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392305main_DaveVisual4_512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392315main_DaveVis6_2IBEXMapsTheEdgeViaOrit512x384.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392988main_IBEXskymap512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392321main_DaveVis8RibbonFeature512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392978main_RosineGalaxyZoom512x288.mpg




And this is how these protective spheres look to us looking at other solar systems:

[LLR]

How about an update?

Martian Dust Devil Trails 
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091021.html

In this portion of a recent hi-res image from the camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, twisting dark trails are seen over the lighter terrain of the Martian surface. Such trails are thought to be the work of wind vortices or "dust devils."

A large hole in the moon found.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18030-found-first-skylight-on-the-moon.html



Wonder where it leads and how it formed?  hmmm...



Neat one here:
Nearly Three DOZEN Extra-solar planets found
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091019-exoplanet-harps.html

Astronomers announced today the discovery of 32 extrasolar planets, some just five times the mass of Earth and others five times heftier than giant Jupiter.

The findings significantly boost the number of planets closer to Earth in size and help astronomers better understand what types of stars birth what kinds of planets.

That is srsly cool.

Here is Another source

Ok folks....HOLD ON TO YOUR BROAD BAND!  NEW CASSINI PIX HAVE BEEN RELEASED!
(that would be the probe sent to Saturn for all you n00bs)


Tethys passes a blury Titan.  (odd, all the images of Titan are blury in this set.)

Here is a big fat source:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/saturn_at_equinox.html


And these are AMAZING.


This series of images of Janus, one of Saturns's smaller moons, shows strips of light and shadow passing over its face. Janus is in the shadow of Saturn's rings, and is briefly lit by a stripe of sunlight as it passes behind a gap in the rings. Photos taken on August 27, 200



The moon Prometheus and its nearby disturbance of Saturn's F ring. Prometheus periodically gores the F ring, drawing out streamers of material from the ring. The image was taken in visible light at a distance of approximately 950,000 km (590,000 mi) from Saturn

(there is something odd going on out here btw..)




Jagged looking shadows stretch away from vertical structures of ring material created by the moon Daphnis, a bright dot (8 km, or 5 mi across) casting a thin shadow just to the left of the center of the image. The moon has an inclined orbit, and its gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles of the A ring forming the Keeler Gap's edge and sculpting the edge into waves having both horizontal (radial) and out-of-plane components. These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after Saturn's equinox, which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years. This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 26, 2009, at a distance of approximately 823,000 km (511,000 mi) from Daphnis.



Another view of waves in the edges of the Keeler gap in Saturn's A ring, created by the embedded moon Daphnis. Image acquired on July 11, 2009, at a distance of approximately 496,000 km (308,000 mi) from Daphnis


This animated series of images of Saturn's F Ring was acquired by Cassini on June 10, 2009. Shepherd moons Prometheus (inner) and Pandora (outer) pass by, alternately smoothing and disturbing the particles that make up the ring. Kinks, knots, wakes and disturbances are apparent in the thin ring as it rotates.
(This is a good visual example of torsion physics.)



Do check the source, there are many many more.


Just rambling for now-  I can't believe that no one is commenting on the energy ribbon found.  To me that is like HUGE!  No one thinks it is a bit ODD that the exact spot where we can SEE the galactic center  (arm of milky way) there is an energy ribbon forming?  That is just a bit WEIRD.   
Anyone actually read this stuff?   :

All for now.  K BYE!

[Bidet to you sir]

I know this is mostly our solar system but oh well, the solar system is in the universe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo&feature=player_embedded

[Corganis]

A great series to check out on netflix is the Cosmos with Carl Sagan.

From what I understand the last peak in solar activity was 2001 and we have been in an unusually long lull of relative inactivity since then. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Hyruleansoldier]

I really hope LLR will return with more updates, since this is probably my favorite thread ever.  I eat this stuff up, and love to indulge in all these scientific factoids.  I still have a lot of catching up to do on this thread.  A lot of it I already knew from watching 'Known Universe', 'Earth: Investigated' and 'Aftermath' on National Geographic channel, but there's so much more here, and so many awesome pictures.  So humbling, really, all these intergalactic sights and universal factoids.

[Bidet to you sir]

watch my youtube link, it shows how the universe could come into being from nothing, presented by lawrence krauss, who knows his damn stuff.

It may be from a lame atheist convention, but the science is damn interesting.

[Hyruleansoldier]

A great series to check out on netflix is the Cosmos with Carl Sagan.

From what I understand the last peak in solar activity was 2001 and we have been in an unusually long lull of relative inactivity since then. Correct me if I'm wrong.

There's an 11-year cycle, but I'm not sure whether that implied from solar minimum to solar maximum or not.  At any rate, in 2012 it will be solar maximum again, and there will be geomagnetic disturbances for sure!

[Śeptime]

Corganis is correct, we have had relatively inert solar activity since the declination of the apex of the eleven year cycle ranging from around 2000-2001.  We are nearly twice as inactive than the average solar minimum as far as spotless days are concerned. We've recently seen a few behemoths, but release C-Class flares(which is average, for those who do not know), and those are seldom no less. The impending solar maximum supposed to occur in around 2012-2013 is just another solar maximum, but is coincidentally aligned with the disinformation associated with 2012 hype. In the past month, I've been observing more complex sunspots than the ones that regularly form around this time, which could be a telltale sign of the beginning of an incline(if there even happens to be one — we could be approaching another minimum with decades in longevity). A recent example is the newest geoeffective sunspot, named AR(active region) 1089.

It comprises of many pores, and on average produces B-Class to C-Class flares:



Here is the C-Class Flare that happened three days ago, which is sunspot 1089's highest flare thus far:

[LLR]

I really hope LLR will return with more updates

Whuts that?  Someone say my name?  Yup, hey guys.  I've not been here in.... almost a year! wow!  I sort of thought you guys lost interest in solar news and I was peeing in the wind. Anyway, lets see what I can do here.  For the solar news fans - here is an archive.  See, I have a website of my own and I've been updating there every week for the past 5 years.  Here is a link to the archive where THIS thread left off.

http://wppc.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=World&num=1163086897&action=display&start=135
(don't bother signing up or anything, I'm just showing you where to find info ... it would be a MASS of things to post here.  If someone wants to fish through that (or if you ask me nicely to make a summery of it, I will)

That is page 11 and all the way up to page 15..  (56kers beware... those pages take a LONG time to load but it is worth it)  

Things to note, the launch of SDO (a camera in orbit around the sun that is a hundred times the res of blu ray.) the R2 robot..  and others... hmm..  Ah what the heck, I'll post some of my favs.

2 days ago there was an alignment (and 2 large quakes happened)

Jupiter, and the Sun  and then opposite the Sun, Earth, the moon and Mars.  


The Wise Telescope:
http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/wise

Look at these infrared pics:









And a few weeks ago, SDO was finally launched.  SDO will basically X-ray the Sun and re-write text books on how stars do what they do.  Interestingly enough, the launch of this probe was not so normal as well!  It was launched from an Atlas V and there just so happen to be a Sun Dog above it in the sky....  (Sundogs are caused by ice crystals held into the upper atmosphere.  They look like rainbows but only in a ball or a pillar)   As the rocket flew through the sundog it broke the sound barrier.  The result... was awesome.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsDEfu8s1Lw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsDEfu8s1Lw</a>






NASA Project M Puts Scientists' Avatars On the Moon

NASA can put humanoids on the Moon in just 1000 days. They would be controlled by scientists on Earth using motion capture suits, giving them the feeling of being on the lunar surface. I'd pay to use one.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFPNcWN7QnM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFPNcWN7QnM</a>

now from April:

[Beh]

Some of those pictures are beautiful. *drool*

[LLR]

TY for posting!  I was going to ask permission to double post.  Now I can post more! Mwahahha!

That beauty is the work of SDO.  Man that is one awesome camera.  Want more?  ohhh just you wait.. but first is May.  Sorry those pix don't look right in this thread.  You can right click them and hit view to see the full image or see it on the other site I posted which re-sizes them automatically.
(side note to admin manager.  Can you change my name to JUST "LLR"?)  

Now May!

First up:

Relativity To Be Tested With Three Spaceships and Lasers

http://gizmodo.com/5535208/relativity-to-be-tested-with-three-spaceships-and-lasers

55 years after Albert Einstein's death, physicists will be testing something he scribed in his theory of general relativity report. Three spacecraft flying 3million miles apart will fire lasers at each other, overseen by Nasa and the European Space Agency.

It sounds bonkers (and like a terrible waste of money), but once and for all we'll discover if gravitational waves are actually possible. The laser beams won't harm the spacecraft, which will be carrying floating cubes of gold platinum, instead they'll be used to measure the changes. It's said to be the largest scientific apparatus to ever be built�and sounds like one of the more expensive, too.

A Glasgow University professor by the name of Jim Hough told The Telegraph that gravitational waves "are produced when massive objects like black holes or collapsed stars accelerate through space, perhaps because they being pulled towards another object with greater gravitational pull like a massive black hole."

It's apparently the last part of Einstein's theory of general relativity to be tested, but hasn't been possible yet due to the tricky nature of detecting them. Why bother with all this time and expense? Apparently once we learn more about gravitational waves, we learn more about space and the universe around us�giving us insight into collapsed stars' matter and black holes.

Unfortunately we've got a good number of years ahead of us before the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (or LISA as it's known) is able to proceed, with 2020 being the year we unlock the last piece of Einstein's puzzle

http://lisa.nasa.gov/



Amazing find:
NASA Studies Find Omega-3 May Help Reduce Bone Loss
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/may/HQ_10-108_Omega-3_Studies.html

That's right, NASA figured out how to treat osteoporosis.  That is because bone loss happens while in space.  As I've said before, we really have to fund NASA more. As I wrote on page 12, so many things we all use every day is thanks to nasa.  No other government agency that has ever been created that pays back more than what it cost in funding! NASA is a money making gold mine for the economy.


Ok, well maybe not this next story BUT! It is kinda cool.

The Crazy Ride of Orion's Launch Abort System On Video
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j68mszdhTmY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j68mszdhTmY</a>
Watch the video of the completely successful�and awesome�Orion Launch Abort System test. Hey NASA, in the future, please give me a call. I'll sign any papers you want, but I must get inside for the next ride.

The 97-second full test of Orion's Launch Abort System�which was already budgeted before Obama's space plan�was conducted on May 6. At 9AM EDT, the abort motor accelerated the Orion crew vehicle with half-million pounds of thrust for six seconds. In the first three seconds, the crew module reached 445mph. Three seconds later, it was flying at 539mph, 1.2 miles above the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces, the largest military installation in the United States at 3,200 square miles (8,300 square kilometers).

At that time, the attitude control engine kicked in, reorienting the craft using eight thrusters with 7,000 pounds of thrust. When the angle was correct, the jettison motor ejected the launch abort system, leaving the crew module clear for parachute deployment. A few seconds later, the spacecraft touched ground at 24 feet per second.


NASA can always use that system in future projects so it isn't a total waste of money.  And it would have had to have been tested at some point in time anyway.  FIRE AWAY!

Here's another:
http://gizmodo.com/5531593/the-european-suborbital-shuttle


Nifty way to get funding by getting tourists up there.



Now for something that doesn't seem real -imagine that, in this thread
NASA  and GM are making Droids.
Whats that? The federal government making droids?

Meet (such an original name) R2

I have to do this..

(Interesting choice of pose by NASA)

R2 stands for Robonaught 2.  He will be sent into space in the NEXT MONTH for testing on board the ISS!  :o
Here is a video first:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yadj3asTyc0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yadj3asTyc0</a>
R2 will be used like an Avatar (like the movie but not alive) people on the ground (high paid teenagers who are no doubt awesome at video games) will be using computers/controllers/body simulators and the signals will be sent from Earth to space by remote and activate the R2s in the space station or on THE MOON.  Amazing.  R2 can hold tools, can weld, can build things, use screw drivers, drills, riveters, really just about anything you can DO in space R2 will do it better with out the need of the  bulky space suit.  Speaking of which, R2 has interchangeable parts.  Each of his arms can be removed and new job specific arms can be attached.  Need to hold a drill for a whole day, (or more) just replace the humanoid arm with a drill arm.  Easy,  Don't need to walk on the moon?  Too slow?  Change the lower torso and legs to really get rolling.. I mean, really.


By now I would guess you've seen the big GM on the front of R2... perhaps this might have had to something to do with the bail out last year...  

But hey, not to worry, this droid will help us!  It can build space stations and cars, go to the moon and all sorts of other things... Wait if it can hold a drill.. it could hold a gun.. nah that is crazy talk... but wait..

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbYj10RYD8c" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbYj10RYD8c</a>

In the earlier videos it shows R2 was made by DARPA. :o... The DEFENSE DEPARTMENT!  Well.. I'll keep an eye on that.. I think we all know several scenarios that that sort of thing could lead too..


Odd and expensive thing:
This suit is made of gold.. and lots of it.  Reasons are pretty much the same reasons we add gold to just about any satellite/shielding (space helmet visors are coated in gold) to reflect radiation from the sun back and keep from damaging the host body.  Also gold is an awesome conductor which I'm guessing this thing being made of lots of gold means solar flares won't damage it while bobbing abouts in space and keep it from frying.

Next up: Voyager 2

Voyager 2 in serious distress:

Engineers have shifted NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft into a mode that transmits only spacecraft health and status data while they diagnose an unexpected change in the pattern of returning data. Preliminary engineering data received on May 1 show the spacecraft is basically healthy, and that the source of the issue is the flight data system, which is responsible for formatting the data to send back to Earth. The change in the data return pattern has prevented mission managers from decoding science data.

The first changes in the return of data packets from Voyager 2, which is near the edge of our solar system, appeared on April 22. Mission team members have been working to troubleshoot and resume the regular flow of science data. Because of a planned roll maneuver and moratorium on sending commands, engineers got their first chance to send commands to the spacecraft on April 30. It takes nearly 13 hours for signals to reach the spacecraft and nearly 13 hours for signals to come down to NASA's Deep Space Network on Earth.

Voyager 2 launched on August 20, 1977, about two weeks before its twin spacecraft, Voyager 1. The two spacecraft are the most distant human-made objects, out at the edge of the heliosphere, the bubble the sun creates around the solar system. Mission managers expect Voyager 1 to leave our solar system and enter interstellar space in the next five years or so, with Voyager 2 on track to enter interstellar space shortly afterward. Voyager 1 is in good health and performing normally.

"Voyager 2's initial mission was a four-year journey to Saturn, but it is still returning data 33 years later," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "It has already given us remarkable views of Uranus and Neptune, planets we had never seen close-up before. We will know soon what it will take for it to continue its epic journey of discovery."

The original goals for the two Voyager spacecraft were to explore Jupiter and Saturn.

As part of a mission extension, Voyager 2 also flew by Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989, taking advantage of a once-in-176-year alignment to take a grand tour of the outer planets. Among its many findings, Voyager 2 discovered Neptune's Great Dark Spot and 450-meter-per-second (1,000-mph) winds. It also detected geysers erupting from the pinkish-hued nitrogen ice that forms the polar cap of Neptune's moon Triton. Working in concert with Voyager 1, it also helped discover actively erupting volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io, and waves and kinks in Saturn's icy rings from the tugs of nearby moons.

Voyager 2 is about 13.8 billion kilometers, or 8.6 billion miles, from Earth. Voyager 1 is about 16.9 billion kilometers (10.5 billion miles) away from Earth.

The Voyagers were built by JPL, which continues to operate both spacecraft. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about the Voyagers, visit: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/.

My take on it:
Ok, grab your tin foil hat, remember back on page 10 of this thread (little from the top) Heck I'll just quote my self:

This might be a problem... (this is double posted in this thread and the 2012 thread)

GIANT RIBBON DISCOVERED AT THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM:

For years, researchers have known that the solar system is surrounded by a vast bubble of magnetism. Called the "heliosphere," it springs from the sun and extends far beyond the orbit of Pluto, providing a first line of defense against cosmic rays and interstellar clouds that try to enter our local space. Although the heliosphere is huge and literally fills the sky, it emits no light and no one has actually seen it. Until now.

NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft has made the first all-sky map of the heliosphere and the results have taken researchers by surprise. The map is bisected by a bright, winding ribbon of unknown origin:



"This is a shocking new result," says IBEX principal investigator Dave McComas of the Southwest Research Institute. "We had no idea this ribbon existed--or what has created it. Our previous ideas about the outer heliosphere are going to have to be revised."

The two Voyager spacecraft (labeled V1 and V2 in the figure) have spent decades traveling to the edge of the solar system for in situ inspection of whatever might be there--but ironically both spacecraft missed the ribbon. "It's like having two weather stations, but missing the big storm that runs between them," says Eric Christian, IBEX deputy mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

At the moment, theorists are "working like crazy" to understand this discovery and how the ribbon might effect the ability of the heliosphere to shield us from cosmic rays. Science@NASA has the full story
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/15oct_ibex.htm


What the Heliopause looks like. It is what exists just out side our solar system. Galactic hardcore winds. Nothing could probably survive out there. No star could form, no planet could stay together and no probe could survive.
http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392292main_JourneyToHeliopauseVis1.mpg

Our Sun (as with all stars) keeps the galactic wind from entering the solar system. That is what keeps us safe here. Lets us send probes to other planets and moons and test the limits of our solar system. The area that exists between instant death wind and our own solar system is called the Heliopause. However.. If this wind was to ever enter our solar system... it would spell doom to every planet for thousands of years. It would instantly remove any atmosphere of any planet or moon and vaporize any organic material it comes in contact with.

What this ribbon could mean is... well.. This is just my take on it. This seems very coincidental all this hoopla over 2012 and end times. All while in 2012 we are set to align to the galactic center of the Milky Way. No one knows what would happen if the Earth were to align with it. Whats out there? Energy? Gravity? Would it effect life? No one knows. Odd how this ribbon of energy popped up in the exact spot where our solar system is entering this galactic center line. (Think of a small ball bobbing up and down around a CD or record. The area where the ball lines up with the side of the CD or record would be the galactic center) We do this every 22 thousand years.... Anyone know anyone from 22 thousand years ago? That's kinda what is scary in this story.

Got me now? Good, watch the rest of the videos now.

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392551main_EricVis2AllSkyMapWithVoyagersSmall.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392299main_DaveVis3VoyagerVsIBEXData512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392305main_DaveVisual4_512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392315main_DaveVis6_2IBEXMapsTheEdgeViaOrit512x384.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392988main_IBEXskymap512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392321main_DaveVis8RibbonFeature512x288.mpg

http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392978main_RosineGalaxyZoom512x288.mpg

Ok, so back Oct 16th, 2009 (officially) we get word that Voyager has incountered some serious doo-doo and found a huge energy ribbon in space.  This ribbon matches perfectly with the center line of the galaxy (see 2012 thread)  NASA says "whoa now, take off the tin foil hat.  There is a perfectly reasonable explanation of this ribbon but it will take about 6 months to test the theory"

This theory is roughly as follows:
The energy ribbon isn't actually there, our solar system is surrounded by a bubble.  This bubble is called our helosphere and it is made by the Sun. Energy from the Sun pushes back deep space radiation and keeps the solar system safe, think of the bow of a ship pushing through water.  Our Sun keeps our solar system protected from this radiation as we go sailing through the Milky Way much like the bow of a ship.  At the point of impact where it cuts through the water there will be ripples as the water breaks around the front of the ship.  The theory is the energy ribbon is actually a reflection of our own Suns energy.  Sort of like looking up from the bottom of a pond and you see the surface of the water but it looks like a mirror and you see another person (you) looking back down at you from above you.  This roughly sums up the theory.  NASA said it would take several months to compile the data from the Suns activity.  If the Sun has a strong eruption and the energy ribbon grows or moves, we know it is a reflection!

Now, several things about that theory doesn't (pardon the pun) hold water.  1) The energy ribbon matches perfectly with the center of the galaxy.
http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/392978main_RosineGalaxyZoom512x288.mpg
 2) The ribbon is exactly where the helopause (point where the front of the ship cuts through the water) is!  3)... Using the same analogy, what happens when the front of the ship has a hole?  Water gets in...  

That is my point!  Voyager 2 was suppose to tell us "all is well! it is a reflection! Its ok!"  Instead we get the news that Voyager 2 is about to be destroyed by the heloshock..

Cover up or convenient coincidence?
*takes off tin foil hat*
I'm done for today.. lol

now June:

Holy cow, I'm a slacker.  So here is the space news for the past 2 weeks.

Overview: The sun is ticked again, Jupiter is changing and some Mars news.

first up:
Jupiter.  Last month Jupiter lost one of its red stripes along the equator.  This seemed odd enough then it lost a second red stripe, turning the middle of the planet WHITE.  This obviously let Jupiter reflect more light back than normal and it became a bit brighter.  (So if you saw something brighter in the eastern sky in the past few weeks, its probably Jupiter.)  So here is what Jupiter looks like now:

*note, it has further lost another stripe after this picture, currently looking for another shot*

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1277734/Jupiter-loses-stripes-scientists-idea-why.html


The rings keep disappearing and reappearing, scientists have NO IDEA why this is going on.  Just thought I would throw this out there though, Jupiter is only 1 element off from our Sun...  and it is possible for Jupiter one day to ignite into a star.  I'm just saying...   So all this is pretty weird about Jupiter, thats gotta be about it.... right?  Wrong!  

 Impact today:
JUPITER IMPACT!  Amateur astronomers Anthony Wesley of Australia and Christopher Go of the Philippines have independently observed an impact event on Jupiter. The strike occurred at 20:31 UT on June 3rd and produced a bright flash of light in the giant planet's cloudtops:


Video http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod201...iterimpact.wmv

http://www.spaceweather.com/
"I still can't believe that I caught a live impact on Jupiter," says Go, who has made a must-see video of the event.

"There were no visible remains at the impact point for the next half hour or so, until sunrise put an end to the imaging," says Wesley.

The nature of the impactor is presently unknown. It might have been an asteroid or a comet. In either case, a dark and cindery debris field is expected to develop around the impact point; that's what has happened in the aftermath of previous Jupiter impacts. Professional and amateur astronomers are encouraged to monitor Jupiter in the hours ahead, and stay tuned for updates.

Update: Anthony Wesley has pinpointed the impact site at Jovian latitude minus 16.1o, and central meridian longitudes CM1: 300o, CM2: 33.8o and CM3: 210.4o.

More on this later:

The Sun is ticked... again..

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/potw.php?v=item&id=1

This SDO close-up of a filament and active region, taken in extreme UV light, shows a dark and elongated filament hovering above the Sun�s surface (May 18, 2010). The bright regions beneath it, which show where heating is going on in the magnetic field, send up shafts of plasma that trace magnetic field lines emerging from them. Filaments are cooler clouds of gas that are suspended by tenuous magnetic fields. They are often unstable and commonly erupt. This one is estimated to be at least 60 Earth diameters long (about 500,000 miles).

Recent!
FAST-GROWING SUNSPOT:  Sunspot 1076 has tripled in size since yesterday and now poses a growing threat for C-class solar flares. Cai-Uso Wohler sends this picture of the active region from Bispingen, Germany:


Each of the dark cores in Wohler's image is about the size of Earth. That's why the active region is such an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. Monitoring is encouraged.




More to come in the morning:

If anyone posts like, NOW.  I will post MORE.. (trying not to double post and I got a few minutes.  )

[Hyruleansoldier]

yes, YES!!  LLR is back!  And with lots of juicy astronomical pics and factoids!

Even more for us to read   I hope you won't forget about us this time   Woot!

[LLR]

I  had a few reasons for leaving before.  Mostly though I thought I was a waste of space. (no pun intended.. lol)  I didn't think anyone really cared about this stuff since I was just posting and bumping a thread where it looked as if I was talking to my self.  Didn't want to get on peoples nerves with it.  But hey, back by popular demand!

Anyway, enough Archives... How about some current?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Space Weather Turns into an International Problem

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/16jul_ilws/

July 16, 2010:  Sometimes a problem is so big, one country cannot handle it alone.

That's the message scientists are delivering at today's International Living with a Star (ILWS) meeting in Bremen, Germany, and representatives from more than 25 of the world's most technologically-advanced nations have gathered to hear what they have to say.

"The problem is solar storms—figuring out how to predict them and stay safe from their effects," says ILWS Chairperson Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters. "We need to make progress on this before the next solar maximum arrives around 2013."

 The sun and Earth are separated by 93 million miles of space—a seemingly safe distance. But since the Space Age began, and especially in recent years, there has been a growing realization that 93 million miles really isn't so far apart. Spacecraft and ground-based observatories have shown that Earth is located in the sun's outer atmosphere, buffeted by solar winds and pelted by hail storms of energetic particles. Moreover, the two bodies are actually connected  by invisible threads of magnetism. During "reconnection events," which typically happen several times a day, you can trace invisible lines of force all the way from Earth's poles to the surface of the sun.

"The Earth and sun are interconnected. We cannot study them separately anymore," says Guhathakurta.

A few years ago, scientists coined the term "heliophysics" to describe the emerging science of the sun-Earth system. As a nod to the importance of the topic, NASA has set up a dedicated Heliophysics Division at HQ in Washington DC, and the United Nations declared 2007 the "International Heliophysical Year" (IHY) in hopes of spurring global involvement in this new field.

 Predicting solar activity is a complicated problem, akin in some ways to terrestrial weather forecasting but multiplied in difficulty by the thorny physics of solar plasma and magnetism. Predicting the sun is only half the problem, though; the other half is Earth. How our planet's magnetic field and atmosphere respond to any given solar storm is a magnetohydrodynamical riddle that top scientists struggle to understand even with the aid of Earth's most powerful supercomputers. For these reasons, it is often said that space weather forecasting lags 50 years behind its terrestrial counterpart.

"We need more data--and more ideas," says Guhathakurta.

That's why, this week, she is handing over her chairmanship of ILWS to Dr. Ji Wu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition to leading the ILWS, Wu will spend the next two years harnessing the special talents of the world's most populous country for heliophysics.

"We have many scientists and lots of fresh ideas," says Wu. "China will be able to make important contributions in this area."

Another complication is volume. Heliophysics plays out on a stage which is hundreds of millions of miles wide. Simply keeping track of what's going on is a significant challenge. NASA and other space agencies have dozens of spacecraft out there, but they are spread over an enormous volume.

 "Imagine trying to monitor Earth's oceans with a small number of buoys. You'd miss a lot. That's the situation we're in now with the 'ocean of space,'" says Guhathakurta.

China is about to contribute a space-buoy known as "KuaFu," named after a giant in Chinese mythology who wished to capture the sun. Kuafu will be located at the L1 Lagrange point where it will sample the solar wind upstream from Earth.

"We're putting KuaFu at a strategic point in space," says Wu. "The solar wind at L1 is an important input to many science models of the sun-Earth interaction."

When KuaFu launches it will join a growing international fleet of spacecraft dedicated to heliophysics. NASA, the European Space Agency, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, JAXA and China are all making significant contributions.

And just in time...

If forecasters are correct, the solar cycle will peak during the years around 2013. And while it probably won't be the biggest peak on record, human society has never been more vulnerable. The basics of daily life—from communications to weather forecasting to financial services—depend on satellites and high-tech electronics. A 2008 report by the National Academy of Sciences warned that a century-class solar storm could cause billions in economic damage.

Preparing for a "solar Katrina," launching a new science, harnessing the talents of scientists around the globe: "These are just a few of our goals for this week's meeting," says Guhathakurta.

Ambitious? Yes, but in heliophysics thinking big comes with the territory.

Read the article for more, (Check those links on the right of the page)




Sun:
SOLAR ACTIVITY:  The magnetic canopy of sunspot 1087 is crackling with low-level solar flares. The biggest of the day so far, a C1-flare at 1230 UT on July 14th, caught the attention of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Click on the image to set the scene in motion:

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2010/14jul10/ar1087.mpg

On the Richter scale of solar flares, C-class eruptions are considered small---and indeed they have little effect on Earth. But consider the following: A typical C-flare packs as much punch as 100 million atomic bombs. It's a good thing we're 93 million miles away.

SINUOUS BEAUTY:  Sunspot 1087 is developing into a behemoth many times wider than Earth. It now has dozens of dark cores with a long magnetic filament snaking among them. "What amazing active region!" says Britta Suhre who sends this picture from her backyard observatory in Rosenheim, Germany:




http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2010/09jul10/c3flare.mpg





Last week:
EMERGING ACTIVE REGION:  An active region is emerging over the sun's northeastern limb. It appears to be the remains of old sunspot 1082, but unlike a genuine corpse, these remains are animated. The region is crackling with low-level solar flares. Click on the image to view a C-class eruption:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2010/09jul10/activeregion.mpg

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the movie around 2200 UT on July 8th. The blast produced not only an ultraviolet flash of light, but also a coronal mass ejection (CME). The cloud is not heading for Earth, however, so we will experience no effects from the event.





So, last week there was a solar eclipse.  Here is a gallery!
http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_11jul10.htm


Other news:

Nasa finds a planet with a tail:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7894738/Nasas-Hubble-Space-Telescope-discovers-superheated-planet-with-comet-tail.html


More single star systems found! (not just us in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19189-single-star-count-ups-odds-of-et.html

Most powerful Xray blast found from distant galaxy:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19187-deep-space-xray-flash-is-most-powerful-ever-recorded.html

Strong flares with possible .... X class...  So far just C class.. *whew* but it has already caused some problems.

ULTRAVIOLET SUNSPOT:  Sunspot 1089 is churning out a lot of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photons. Witness this EUV image taken just hours ago by the Solar Dynamics Observatory:


Extreme high res:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2010/21jul10/ar1089.jpg

The bright glow comes from hot (80,000 K) plasma trapped by the sunspot's magnetic field. All by itself, this one 'hot spot' is lifting the EUV brightness of the entire sun toward a high point for the year. EUV photons from sunspot 1089 are absorbed in Earth's upper atmosphere where they heat the rarefied air and help reverse the recent collapse of the thermosphere.

(Story)
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/15jul_thermosphere/

July 15, 2010:  NASA-funded researchers are monitoring a big event in our planet's atmosphere. High above Earth's surface where the atmosphere meets space, a rarefied layer of gas called "the thermosphere" recently collapsed and now is rebounding again........

This sunspot group is also visible with the naked eye.... at sunset..


KITT PEAK SUNSET:  Sunspot 1089 has grown so large, it can now be seen without the aid of a specialized solar telescope. Yesterday, Gil Esquerdo "spotted it" as the sun set over Kitt Peak, Arizona:





Yesterday in the San Bernardino mountains of southern California,  a man looked at the sky and saw this:




The phenomenon is called iridescence. Tiny water droplets and ice crystals in clouds diffract sunlight, producing pastel hues of surpassing beauty. Mountain wave clouds are notorious for this kind of display.


(What this means) Sun is burning so hot it is evaporating the water droplets in clouds causing a rainbow prism pattern to be seen.  ODD.. but beautiful.




Also, Here is a new gallery of the sun:
http://www.bbso.njit.edu/cgi-bin/LatestImages



Related to the sun:

Enjoying the Heat Wave?  It is across the country now, it is 105 here in TN.. I heard on the news yesterday that over two thousand cows died in Kansas yesterday from the intense heat.  Look out guys..  If you have out door pets or other critters, be sure to leave extra water out for them for awhile.  This heat is bad!  I heard last week it got so hot in Eastern China that it actually MELTED a freshly paved road.  While people were stuck in traffic due to an accident... CARS ACTUALLY MELTED into the road.  The asphalt turned all gooey and tires sank.  It took a day to get the cars out.  Related to the Sun?  You be the judge.

[Hyruleansoldier]

I read about the bovine deaths... and people, too, lol.  People don't appreciate just how fragile life on earth is.  We really can't afford to have it be hotter by just a few degrees, constantly.

iridescence... never heard about that before!  Makes for some beautiful sights

I thought 2012 was the solar maximum, but it seems 2013 is going to provide the biggest peak?  I heard it might get pretty bad, though not necessarily cataclysmic. But there will be destruction.

I'm glad you got back to providing updates here   I'd rather keep reading everything on here than on your forum.  I can finally catch up on everything on here now   Keep up ze good work!

[LLR]

SUNSET PLANETS:  Mars and Saturn are converging with Venus to form a skinny triangle in the sunset sky. When the sun sets tonight, go outside and look west. Venus pops out of the twilight first, followed by Saturn, then Mars. Dates of note include July 30th and 31st when Saturn and Mars are only 2o apart






















The Sun:
SUNSPOT 1089:  The two dark cores of sunspot 1089 are each larger than Earth, and the whole region is criss-crossed by dark magnetic filaments. It's a photogenic ensemble:

Although sunspot 1089 is big, it has not yet produced any flares of consequence. Perhaps it is gathering energy for a good eruption.

A challenger appears:
OVER THE HORIZON:  Something bright and active on the far side of the sun is about to turn toward Earth. Magnetic loops towering over the eastern limb herald its approach:

Extreme high res:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2010/26jul10/overthehorizon.jpg

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture during the early hours of July 26th. The bright glow revealed by SDO's extreme ultraviolet camera comes from million-degree plasma trapped by overlying magnetic fields. A sunspot is likely at the bottom of it all.

Or maybe two sunspots... NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft is stationed over the sun's eastern limb, and it sees a pair of active regions approaching single file. The one peeking over the limb now is actually the smaller of the two.





More about SDO
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/briefing-materials-20100421.html




Star with largest mass found:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10707416


Now remember, thats only MASS... not size...  Lets not forget about Canis Majoris

[Hyruleansoldier]

Is VY Canis Majoris the newly discovered super big star?  Cause they didn't seem to be entirely sure about that.  Where's that article...  I read it last week.  Oh here it is:

Anyway, http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100727/sc_space/massiveblackholebendslighttomagnifydistantgalaxy;_ylt=Agz4QSXJQSMsgUugXEkCaymHgsgF;_ylu=X3oDMTNwdGtyaDJpBGFzc2V0A3NwYWNlLzIwMTAwNzI3L21hc3NpdmVibGFja2hvbGViZW5kc2xpZ2h0dG9tYWduaWZ5ZGlzdGFudGdhbGF4eQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNtYXNzaXZlYmxhY2s-]black hole stuff!