In Upstate New York on Saturday (Columbia County), the clouds went away to show a beautiful view of the stars. Light pollution was at a minimum and one of my friends, who spent some time skiing in New Zealand, commented on how the view from the Southern Hemisphere is completely different.
Explanation: From Sagittarius to Carina, the Milky Way Galaxy shines in this dark night sky above planet Earth’s lush island paradise of Mangaia. Familiar to denizens of the southern hemisphere, the gorgeous skyscape includes the bulging galactic center at the upper left and bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri just right of center. About 10 kilometers wide, volcanic Mangaia the southernmost of the Cook Islands. Geologists estimate that at 18 million years old it is the oldest island in the Pacific Ocean. Of course, the Milky Way is somewhat older, with the galaxy’s oldest stars estimated to be over 13 billion years old. (Editor’s note:This image holds the distinction of being selected as winner in the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition in the Earth and Space category.)
I simply must visit New Zealand some day, but I’ll settle for watching USA vs. Italy today in the Rugby World Cup — in New Zealand.
First global map of salinity of ocean surface produced from data collected by NASA’s Aquarius, aboard the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite/observatory. [SatNews – 09/23/2011]
RRsat expands backup and disaster recovery with Spacecom, acting as Spacecom’s remote and mirror Earth station for telemetry monitoring, tracking, and commanding (TT&C) and In-Orbit Testing (IOT). [SatNews – 09/23/2011]
U.S. Department of Defense tracks NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite as its orbit decays, expecting to predict when – and possibly where – it will re-enter the atmosphere. [SatNews – 09/22/2011]
SES-2 satellite built by Orbital, with CHIRP hosted payload, successfully launched from French Guiana. [Market Watch – 09/22/2011]
Japan launches new military Information Gathering Satellite known as Optical-4, with primary mission to provide early warning of impending hostile launches (prompted by 1998 North Korean missile launch). [SatNewqs – 09/22/2011]
Two vessels receive Inmarsat-sponsored award recognizing extraordinary courage and seamanship for their rescue of a party of 64 students from sinking Canadian tall ship Concordia. [SatNews – 09/22/2011]
Defense Department’s 1000 lb., $150M 10-channel high power UHF satellite set to launch September 27 from Kodiak, Alaska – expected to free troops in the field from carrying heavy radio equipment and fiddling with antennas. [Stars and Stripes – 09/22/2011]
Sea Launch, now 95% owned by Russian aerospace giant Rocket & Space Corp. Energia and headquartered in Switzerland, set to launch its first rocket Friday in over two years – ATLANTIC BIRD(TM) 7 for Eutelsat. [LA Times – 09/22/2011]
Virgin Galactic unveils new $8M Final Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar (FAITH) at Mojave Air and Space Port for final stages of production of WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo. [SatNews – 09/22/2011]
Thrane & Thrane to manufacture broadband terminals for Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network. [Reuters – 09/22/2011]
Ariane 5 lifts off from French Guiana with Arabsat 5C and SES-2 one day after being delayed by local strike by French Guiana workers. [xinhuanet – 09/21/2011]
China receives first contract in Europe to build communications satellite for Belarus and launch from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. [Satellite Today – 09/21/2011]
South Africa’s one and only satellite, Sumbandila, out of contact with its Mission Control and not downloading any images since being hit by blast of solar radiation in July. [SatNews – 09/21/2011]
LightSquared claims filter developed by high-precision GPS receiver manufacturer Javad GNSS will fix problem of potential interference by LightSquared planned LTE network, can be adapted for receivers already in the market, and won’t make devices more expensive for consumers. [Wireless Week – 09/21/2011]
Following successful trial on one of its LNG tankers, MOL LNG Transport Co. Ltd. is adding the KVH TracPhone V7 satellite communications system and mini-VSAT Broadband service to three of its LNG tankers. [SatNews – 09/21/2011]
MTN Satellite Communications and Sensory International partner to deliver global VSAT services and connectivity to superyachts. [Market Watch – 09/21/2011]
Harris opens new and totally advanced center for manufacturing of tactical radios and assured communication systems. [SatNews – 09/21/2011]
General Dynamics receives FCC license for its Coms-on-the-Move terminals enabling continuous access to private- and government-owned communications satellites while on-the-move in vehicles. [PR Newswire – 09/21/2011]
Eutelsat and MultiChoice Africa Announce Winners of the First DStv Eutelsat Star Awards in competition by over 800 students from across Africa. [Sacramento Bee – 09/21/2011]
Gilat subsidiary Spacenet gets renewal contract valued at up to $27M from U.S. retail giant for critical network solutions and potential store expansion. [Market Watch – 09/21/2011]
NASA expects 26 of heaviest metal parts of a 20-year-old research satellite, which should break into more than 100 pieces as it enters the atmosphere this week, to reach Earth – but no one knows where. [R&D Magazine – 09/20/2011]
Russia’s Proton-M carrier rocket successfully launched with a military purpose spacecraft aboard. [SatNews – 09/20/2011]
Satmex signs multi-year multi-transponder lease agreement with Telefonica subsidiary Media Networks Latin America. [SatNews – 09/20/2011]
Ratheon fields first AEHF satellite communications terminals to U.S. armed forces tactical units. [Space Daily – 09/20/2011]
NewSat Jabiru-1 contracts reach $279M with latest $40.2M contract with Quicklink Communications. [Satellite Today – 09/20/2011]
Marlink and Sea Tel team up to provide satellite communications for third Kaisei expedition seeking viable solutions to problems associated with marine debris in North Pacific Gyre. [Maritime Executive – 09/20/2011]
Vizada and ARINC renew partnership to deliver mobile satellite services to commercial, government aviation customers. [Military & Aerospace – 09/20/2011]
Zhongxing-1A satellite carried aloft by Long March-3B from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province, China. [SatNews – 09/19/2011]
Senate Appropriations Committee approves $500M in funding for commercial spaceflight as part of NASA’s 2012 budget. [Satellite Today – 09/19/2011]
LightSquared CEO claims U.S. politicians using company as a pinata after being denied opportunity to testify at U.S. House Armed Service Committee hearing. [Satellite Today – 09/19/2011]
Component crunch slows delivery of Ka-band communications satellites as only two companies manufacturing Ka-band TWTs, L-3 and Thales, are unable to keep up with demand. [Space News – 09/16/2011]
Low-cost Disaster Warning Dissemination System conceived by India Space Research Organization can reach general public in local languages with early warnings of potential weather dangers using satellite-based Direct-to-home television broadcasts. [Microwaves&RF – September 2011]
Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s SUPERNOVA!!
Tonight, light from a white dwarf star that exploded 21 million years ago, give or take, and is brighter than all the stars in the universe combined, can be seen around the Big Dipper with a pair of binoculars. May your night sky be clear.
Here’s Peter Nugent, an astronomer and senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, with the details…
This is what you’re looking for, known as PTF11kly.
Besides an over-the-top Flash site, the Juno mission to Jupiter is pretty fascinating. It began years ago, culminating in a spectacular launch the other day. Since it’s got a long way to go, strap-on solid rocket boosters were called in to help make really move on up…
Now all we need to do is wait five years to get there.
NASA’s Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft will carry the 1.5-inch likeness of Galileo Galilei, the Roman god Jupiter and his wife Juno to Jupiter when the spacecraft launches this Friday, Aug. 5. The inclusion of the three mini-statues, or figurines, is part of a joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the partnership between NASA and the LEGO Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In Greek and Roman mythology, Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief. From Mount Olympus, Juno was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter’s true nature. Juno holds a magnifying glass to signify her search for the truth, while her husband holds a lightning bolt. The third LEGO crew member is Galileo Galilei, who made several important discoveries about Jupiter, including the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honor). Of course, the miniature Galileo has his telescope with him on the journey.
This is a map of the 50,000 galaxies nearest to our own Milky Way. Yeah, there’s billions more. That’s right: billions. The map was featured in NASA’s APOD yesterday.
Lunar Eclipses occur when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon. A Total Lunar Eclipse occurs at night and can be seen from the entire night side of the Earth and looks the same to everyone. A Total Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon are in perfect or near perfect aligment. The Moon passes behind the Earth and goes into Earth’s umbra shadow – the Earth is now between the Sun and Moon and blocks sunlight directly reaching the Moons suface. A Total Lunar Eclipse can only occur when there is a Full Moon.
Remote sensing of terrestrial vegetation fluorescence from space is of interest because it can potentially provide global coverage of the functional status of vegetation. For example, fluorescence observations may provide a means to detect vegetation stress before chlorophyll reductions take place. Although there have been many measurements of fluorescence from ground- and airborne-based instruments, there has been scant information available from satellites. In this work, we use high-spectral resolution data from the Thermal And Near-infrared Sensor for carbon Observation – Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) on the Japanese Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) that is in a sun-synchronous orbit with an equator crossing time near 13:00 LT. We use filling-in of the potassium (K) I solar Fraunhofer line near 770 nm to derive chlorophyll fluorescence and related parameters such as the fluorescence yield at that wavelength. We map these parameters globally for two months (July and December 2009) and show a full seasonal cycle for several different locations, including two in the Amazonia region. We also compare the derived fluorescence information with that provided by the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). These comparisons show that for several areas these two indices exhibit different seasonality and/or relative intensity variations, and that changes in fluorescence frequently lead those seen in the EVI for those regions. The derived fluorescence therefore provides information that is related to, but independent of the reflectance.
Real science is never too far from science fiction, is it?
This galaxy is similar to our own Milky Way. Located 30 million light years away, NGC 6744 was recently observed from the La Silla observatory in Chile.
This picture of the nearby galaxy NGC 6744 was taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla. The large spiral galaxy is similar to the Milky Way, making this image look like a picture postcard of our own galaxy sent from extragalactic space. The picture was created from exposures taken through four different filters that passed blue, yellow-green, red light, and the glow coming from hydrogen gas. These are shown in this picture as blue, green, orange and red, respectively.
ESO astronomers have used the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope to capture an image of NGC 6744. This impressive spiral galaxy lies about 30 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). But this view could almost be a picture postcard of our own Milky Way, taken and sent by an extragalactic friend, as this galaxy closely resembles our own.
We see NGC 6744 almost face on, meaning we get a dramatic bird’s eye view of the galaxy’s structure. If we had the technology to escape the Milky Way and could look down on it from intergalactic space, this view is close to the one we would see — striking spiral arms wrapping around a dense, elongated nucleus and a dusty disc. There is even a distorted companion galaxy — NGC 6744A, seen here as a smudge to the lower right of NGC 6744, which is reminiscent of one of the Milky Way’s neighbouring Magellanic Clouds.
One difference between NGC 6744 and the Milky Way is their size. While our galaxy is roughly 100 000 light-years across, the galaxy pictured here extends to almost twice this diameter. Nevertheless, NGC 6744 gives us a tantalising sense of how a distant observer might see our own galactic home.
