Indholdsfortegnelse for No. 71 i All About Space

LAUNCH PAD YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE NASA releases new findings about Saturn Data captured by Cassini before it plunged into the ringed planet’s atmosphere has given scientists fresh insights © NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute;  Although NASA's Cassini spacecraft is no more after diving into Saturn's atmosphere, the wealth of data it gathered during its long life is continuing to throw up fresh findings about the planet and its icy rings. “Scientists have direct measurements of the components in Saturn's upper atmosphere” Among the latest insights are stunning views taken by Cassini's cameras during its Grand Finale which show the rings emerging from behind the planet's hazy limb, as well as a panoramic view outward across the ringscape. Researchers have also been able to see an astonishing number of tiny…

Large Binocular Telescope’s instruments see first light A clever spectrograph is allowing astronomers to find further clues about the properties of distant stars and exoplanets © NASA A relatively new high-resolution spectrograph – which can image bright objects through thin clouds and even work around the full Moon – has received its first polarised light. The two polarimeters of the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI) are able to separate starlight according to its oscillation planes. They have now been mounted in the focus points of each of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT)'s 8.4-metre mirrors in Arizona, resulting in a powerful telescope that allows astronomers to obtain spectra in polarised light. By pointing to the star gamma Equ, polarised light has been received. This success means astronomers can work…

What's up with the Sun? WHAT’S UP WITH THE SUN? With our nearest star recently displaying even more erratic behaviour, solar physicists have turned their attention to its tempestuous surface – and, for the first time, could have found answers to its greatest puzzle Written by Michael Carroll The summer of 2017 treated the North American continent to a rare total solar eclipse. Keen observers could see – even with the naked eye – neon tongues of solar flares licking the sky from behind the Moon’s limb. The flares have been part of a recent trend in solar activity, a trend that affects power grids, communications, weather satellites and even the aurora in our night sky. On 6 September, 2017, two titanic flares exploded from the Sun. The first, rocketing…

Our volatile, nearest star On Earth, we have to be aware of space weather, which can influence the performance and reliability of space- and ground-based technological systems, and can endanger life or health © Tobias Roetsch Sunspots These regions of the Sun are cooler, at temperatures of no more than 4260 degrees Celsius (7,700 degrees Fahrenheit), and shoe the location of strong magnetic fields protruding through what we would see as the solar surface. When there are large, complex sunspot groups they are generally the source of some significant space weather. Solar wind A constant outflow of electrons and protons from the Sun that’s always present and buffers Earth’s magnetic field. The solar wind moves at a speed of approximately one million miles per hour. Earth’s magnetic field Like a…

How does WASP-12b compare to Jupiter? It may be a hot Jupiter, but there are some differences to the planetary king WASP-12b More enormous WASP-12b is 80 per cent larger than Jupiter, with a radius of 125,140 km (77,758 miles). Tight-knit orbit WASP-12b orbits 3,440,000 kilometres (2,140,000 miles) from its stellar host, less than half a per cent of Jupiter’s more-distant orbit. Losing its mass The host star is pulling material off WASP-12b at a rate of ten millionths of Jupiter’s mass per year. Reflecting barely any light With an incredible low albedo of 0.064, this means that 94 per cent of the visible light is absorbed. Scorching temperatures The super-hot WASP-12b is 2,242 degrees Celsius (4,069 degrees Fahrenheit). JUPITER King of the Solar System Jupiter is our Solar System’s…

The space age 60-YEAR ANNIVERSARY RISE OF THE SPACE AGE Shadowed by fear of war, the initial launch of Sputnik revealed humanity at its most bold Written by Ben Evans © NASA; Getty/Bjorn Holland Sixty years ago, the world stood still, gazed at the sky and listened through shortwave radio receivers with fascination and fear. For millennia, humans had clung to the Earth’s surface, only recently having mastered the long-held dream of flight and with scant awareness of what lay beyond the thin veil of the atmosphere. But, on 4 October 1957, our sense of place in the cosmos changed forever. Over three weeks, a steady ‘beep-beep’ transmission from Sputnik 1 – the first artificial satellite – heralded the dawn of the space age. Yet the euphoria of conquering space…

Space Age Timeline The US and Russia pressured each other into great advances © NASA ; Adrian Mann; Chinese Space Agency 4 October 1957 Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, spent three months in space and travelled 43 million miles and 1,440 orbits of the Earth. 3 November 1957 Launch of the dog Laika, the first living creature to enter orbit around the Earth. She died within hours, when the cabin of her Sputnik 2 satellite overheated. 12 April 1961 Atop a modified version of Sergei Korolev’s R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to enter space and complete a single Earth orbit. 20 February 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, launching aboard a modified Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile and…

NGC 4993: Targeting a mysterious galaxy It took more than one telescope to uncover the collision between two neutron stars © Adrian Mann; LIGO/Caltech; NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Gamma rays can only be observed from space as (thankfully) they can't penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. NASA's Fermi telescope performs all-sky surveys in order to find phenomena such as gamma ray bursts. Ft found one in the same area of the sky as NGC 4993, which could be related to the potential gravitational wave event. Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) ALMA is an array of radio telescopes in Chile that combines the signal of 66 telescopes in order to create a really sharp radio image. The observations of NGC 4993 that ALMA performed in August were following up…

Saving the ISS International building blocks Where did each part of the ISS come from and what are they for? “Whether it gets filled in by the private sector or not, we’re moving out ” William Gerstenmaier, NASA 01 ZARYA ADDED BY ROSCOSMOS FN NOVEMBER 1998 Launched from Baikonur on a Proton rocket, the first building block of the FSS provides power, storage and docking ports for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft – but not the Space Shuttle. 02 UNITY (NODE 1) ADDED BY NASA FN DECEMBER 1998 Space Shuttle Endeavour – mission STS-88 – captured Zarya and pulled it into a mating position with Unity inside the cargo bay, before undocking on 13 December. 03 ZVEZDA ADDED BY ROSCOSMOS FN JULY 2000 Launched from Baikonur on 12 July, Zvezda provides…

STARGAZER What’s in the sky? Jargon buster Conjunction A conjunction is an alignment of objects at the same celestial longitude. The conjunction of the Moon and the planets is determined with reference to the Sun. A planet is in conjunction with the Sun when it and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Sun. Right Ascension (RA) Right Ascension is to the sky what longitude is to the surface of the Earth, corresponding to east and west directions. Ft is measured in hours, minutes and seconds since, as the Earth rotates on its axis, we see different parts of the sky throughout the night. Declination (Dec) This tells you how high an object will rise in the sky. Like Earth’s latitude, Dec measures north and south. Ft’s measured in…

Deep sky challenge Night sky treasures of Perseus There are star clusters, variable stars and nebulae galore to be seen in the night skies of late autumn The constellation of Perseus, which looks a little like an inverted letter 'Y', rides high in the night sky for northern hemisphere observers at this time of year, and it is packed with amazing objects to see with your telescope. Perseus sits on the faint river of the Milky Way, and it is famous for two objects in particular: a short-period variable star and a fine 'double' star cluster. Whereas the 'Demon Star' Algol, one of the most famous of all the short-period variable stars, is a naked eye object, the double cluster Caldwell 14 needs at least binoculars to see well, and…

STARGAZER The Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere The darker, longer nights are officially here, offering a splendour of night sky objects for astronomers © Wil Tirion; ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit, Roberto Mura, ESA/Hubble & NASA Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Sculptor are just some of the constellations offering a selection of targets for telescope and binocular-wielding astronomers this month. With the Sun dipping below the horizon at approximately 4pm (GMT), those wanting to catch new or favourite targets don’t have to wait long for dark skies to boast these treasures. Head over to Andromeda and you’ll be rewarded with not just its spiral galaxy M31, but also its dwarf elliptical galaxies M32 and M110. While the parent galaxy is easy to spot, you’ll need at least a medium-sized telescope to…

Signals from space Have we made ALIEN CONTACT? World-leading astronomers reveal the likelihood that ET has finally phoned home Written by Jonathan O’Callaghan © Ikon Images / Alamy Stock Photo The odds are good when it comes to alien life: trillions of galaxies with billions of stars – surely it must be elsewhere? To that avail, many have long searched the skies for evidence we are not alone. This has ranged from looking for alien signals to finding indirect evidence of life on other worlds. There have been a few promising moments, with several signals at first glance bearing the hallmarks of E.T. The conclusion is normally foregone; an error in an instrument, Earth-based interference, and so on. However, some signals remain unexplained. They elude all rational explanation, and thus…

Our puzzling Sun It might be our nearest star, but there’s still much we're trying to work out about it What’s powering the solar cycle? Astrophysicists agree that the solar cycle is driven by a solar dynamo – the flowing, electrically charged gas that’s within the Sun, and of which generates its magnetic field and causes fluctuations that trigger solar explosions. Why’s the corona so hot? A fire feels warmer the closer you get to it, so in theory, the core of the Sun should be hotter than its surface. Strangely, though, the corona – that’s the outermost layer of the Sun – is far hotter than its surface, and by quite a few millions of degrees more. Why the corona is so hot is still debated, with some suggesting…

Asteroid survey Swarming the 300 An innovative new Finnish space mission recently presented to the European Planetary Science Congress could enable a massive survey of up to 300 asteroids © Adrian Mann “Asteroids are very diverse and, to date, we’ve only seen a small number at close range” Asteroids are material left behind from the formation of the Solar System. They range in size from the 946-kilometre (587-mile) Ceres down to pebbles, and most of them are irregular objects collected in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is estimated that there are around 1.5 million asteroids larger than a kilometre in the main belt. Fortunately for our future exploration plans they don't form a rocky cloud like in the movies, being on average 2-million-kilometres apart. Despite their…

Saving the ISS How the Space Station helps us on Earth From medical breakthroughs to improvements in viniculture, the ISS has produced many benefits Opening space to private enterprise Already more than half of the commercial research payloads are self-financing. Crystallised protein for better drugs Protein crystallography is an exciting area of pharmaceutical development, and one protein developed on the FSS – hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase (H-PGDS) – may lead to drugs for muscular dystrophy. Laser eye surgery Laser surgery to correct vision defects is a life-changer for many people, and relies on eye tracking technology first developed in an FSS experiment into balance and eye movement. Exercise and medicine for osteoporosis Studies of astronauts' loss of bone density led to breakthroughs in the value of exercise and vitamins, as…

STARGAZER Planet of the month This month’s planets The seventh world from the Sun is visible after sunset and Venus puts on a good show for early risers This is a great month to track down Uranus in the night sky. Many people consider Uranus to be the ‘Forgotten Planet’ of the night sky, because although it is bright enough to be seen with just the naked eye, if you know exactly where to look, relatively few amateur astronomers have ever actually seen it, or even bothered to look for it. Why? Perhaps because it looks like a very faint star to the naked eye, even from an observing site without any light pollution. Or maybe it’s because even through a telescope, the seventh planet out from the Sun looks…

STARGAZER How to… Star-hop your way around the night sky It has been a well-known way of finding astronomical objects of interest for decades - here's how it's done " There is a lot of fun to be had, and much to discover, hunting for objects" You’ll need: • Star chart • Red torch • Binoculars • Small telescope There are thousands of objects in the night sky within the grasp of binoculars and small telescopes which are just too faint to be seen with the naked eye. The question is though, how do you find them? Even if you have a clever, computerised GoTo mount, there is a lot of fun to be had, and much to discover, hunting down objects using the simple method of 'star hopping'. There…

STARGAZER How to… Master setting circles If you own an equatorially-mounted telescope, you're sure to have noticed those strange dials on the mount. Here’s how to make them work for you " This saves time hunting for those elusive faint objects" You’ll need: • Equatorial mount • Setting circles • Star chart • Red torch • Small telescope They can be very confusing at first, but those dials on your equatorial mount are there for a purpose: to help you locate objects quickly and easily in the night sky. There are two dials, one on the right ascension (RA) axis and one on the declination (Dec) axis. They correspond to the lines of latitude and longitude (RA and Dec) which are used as coordinates in the night sky. To use…

STARGAZER Astroshots of the month Send your astrophotography images to space@spaceanswers.com for a chance to see them featured in All About Space Terry Hancock Michigan, USA Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor “Above is my deepest ever narrowband image of NGC 7000, in part it has helped by having the use of some better equipment. For starters, I had a significant upgrade to my monochromatic CCD, which now has a heating ring to combat the dew when we have very high humidity (most of the time it’s around 80 per cent here in western Michigan) and a large seven-position filter wheel. For this image I used the Chroma 7nm H-alpha, SII and OIII filters, and I am extremely happy with the detail and contrast these filters have helped me achieve. For the…

Peggy Whitson She has broken many records during her time in space © NASA/Bill ingalls Having recently returned from the International Space Station (ISS), it is fair to say that Peggy Whitson has set a new standard for astronauts. She has smashed numerous records with her time in space, which tallied up to 665 days, but she still insists this should only a benchmark for future astronauts. Whitson was born in Mount Ayr, Iowa, United States on 9 February 1960, but she considers her hometown to be Beaconsfield, Iowa. Having gained her many degrees, including a doctorate degree in biochemistry, Whitson began her NASA career in 1989 as a research biochemist at the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. Her journey as an astronaut began in…

Interview Mars simulation Living in a Mars simulation Six candidates spent eight months away from civilisation on the side of the dormant Mauna Kea volcano. Astrobiologist Samuel Payler was one of the six chosen, here he tells All About Space about his 'Red Planet experience' Interviewed by Lee Cavendish © University of Hawai’i; NASA/P. Rawlings, SAIC “ There were only six of us, and that’s all the face-to-face interaction we had for eight months” What made the simulation Mars-like and what were the objectives for the mission? HI-SEAS V was an isolation programme that occurred on the side of Mauna Kea [a dormant volcano in Hawaii] to test how we, as humans, would live on Mars. In terms of what made it a Mars-like environment was that we were cut…

The dark planet THE DARK PLANET One of the hottest exoplanets ever found is also now one of the blackest as well. All About Space uncovers the reason why... Written by Lee Cavendish © Tobias Roetsch What do we really know about planets beyond our Solar System? It has been 25 years since our first detection of an exoplanet and there's still so much more we're keen to know about these distant worlds. In 1992, the first exoplanet was discovered orbiting a pulsar, a neutron star rotating at rapid speeds. Obviously any planet orbiting this kind of star would be inhospitable to life as we know it, principally due to the intense radiation would rain down upon the surface. It wasn’t until 6 October 1995 where Michel Mayor and didier…

Why is the planet eating light? Strange atmospheric behaviour is thought to be the likely cause © Tobias Roetsch; NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI); Frank Vincentz; NASA/Desiree Stover 1. Severe starlight As WASP-12b sits astonishingly close to its host star, the tidally locked dayside of the planet is continuously bombarded by the radiation of the main sequence star. 2. Ripping apart the molecules This intense radiation rips apart even the smallest molecules, such as H2, into its fundamental atoms, absorbing the sunlight as this happens. 3. Dispersing the atoms After the atoms have separated from the molecules, they are swept through to the other face of the planet, the much cooler nightside. 4. Recombining to form new molecules Once these atoms have found the cooler side, they can reform…

Animals in Space The animal kingdom paved the way to space for humankind Fruit flies 20 February 1947 First animals sent into space, launched to a 68-mile altitude by a V-2 rocket for a radiation-exposure study. The fruit flies were recovered alive. Tsygan and Dezik 22 July 1951 The two dogs reached an altitude of 62.7 miles, and became the first living ‘higher' organisms to be recovered alive following a spaceflight. Félicette 18 October 1963 Paris street-cat Félicette is the only feline to have launched into space and returned alive, completing a 15-minute suborbital flight. Bullfrogs 9 November 1970 Launched on the Orbiting Frog Otolith mission, two were flown to examine their inner ears and understand more about motion sickness. Anita and Arabella 28 July 1973 These two garden spiders…

New gravitational waves Neutron-star crash! How do these waves form, and how are they detected on Earth? 1 What is gravity? On forming his theory of general relativity, Einstein revealed that gravity is the result of celestial objects distorting the fabric of the universe – space-time – around them. 2 What are gravitational waves? The more massive an object is, the stronger its gravitational force is. Really massive objects, like neutron stars, or black holes, create a dent in space-time. This 'dent' doesn't produce gravitational waves, but if two black holes spiral towards each other they will lose energy, which will be sent forth as ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves – similar to how a stone dropped in a pond will send ripples across the surface. 3 Where…

Saving the ISS Saving the International Space Station Built after dozens of space flights over two decades, and costing $150 billion, are we really prepared to let the ISS simply crash back to Earth? Written by Russ Swan © Getty Images/scibak FOR SALE: one space station. Five billion miles on the clock. One careful owner. Built and maintained regardless of expense. Would suit a variety of new uses. Buyer to collect from current location in low-Earth orbit. You might not see this advertisement on an online auction anytime soon, but already there is a lot of discussion about what to do with the International Space Station (ISS) when it reaches the end of its life. The station has been built over a period of 20 years and a cost of…

Stargazing sites BEST STARGAZING LOCATIONS IN THE WORLD Escape the light pollution and head to our pick of the best places on Earth to observe the night sky Written by Jamie Carter © John R. Foster/Science Photo Library Darkness is disappearing. With light pollution on the increase as white LED streetlights spread across the globe, it's increasingly difficult to see more than a few very bright stars if you’re in a city. Cue a network of places designated as having dark enough skies for stargazing and astronomy. The most extensive program is by the US-based IDA – the International Dark-Sky Association (www.darksky.org) – which runs a certification scheme that monitors light pollution, and has certified Dark Sky Parks (which recognise the world’s very darkest places) and Dark Sky Reserves (dedicated…

STARGAZER Moon tour Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises) Find a huge impact basin on the Moon, even without a telescope… © NASA If a prize was ever awarded for 'easiest feature to find on the Moon” it would surely be given to Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises. It’s so big, so obvious, so well-placed that it actually takes a lot of effort to miss it. Even if you know absolutely nothing about the Moon and its surface features you’ll have seen Mare Crisium already, many times. Named in 1651 by astronomer and lunar cartographer Giovanni Riccioli, after being known previously as 'The Caspian Sea' among other things. Mare Crisium doesn’t just have a special place in lunar science; it has featured heavily in science fiction, too. It was the setting…

STARGAZER Master your setting circles Use your circles to find a galaxy in Leo An accurate setup will help you find objects using their coordinates A good set up is key to your setting circles being accurate enough to find objects. The Dec circle is easy to set up. Once you are polar aligned, set the Dec circle to 90°, or just under if you are using Polaris, as its declination is 89° 15". The RA circle will need resetting after each object, just a tweak to reset it to the coordinates of the object you just visited. Here is an example of how to find M66 in Leo... 1 Use Denebola (Beta Leonis) for your starting point You can use the star Denebola in the tail of Leo to…

STARGAZER Visionary STARLA 80 This fantastically simple refractor is a great instrument to boost you into the celestial scene “ Everything a beginner needs to start touring the night sky is in this box” Telescope advice Cost: £199.99 / $259.99 From: Optical Hardware Ltd Type: Refractor Aperture: 3.15” Focal length: 35.43” Best for... Beginners Medium budget Planetary viewing Lunar viewing Bright deep-sky objects Visionary is not a brand that everyone is familiar with, but its latest offering - the STARLA 80 - has impressed us as a novice-style refractor. This telescope includes everything you need to immerse yourself in the finest objects the night sky has to offer. Its lightweight design, makes it the ideal telescope for portability. Everything a beginner needs to start their hobby in astronomy is in…

STARGAZER Christmas gift guide With the holiday season just around the corner, All About Space selects the space gifts sure to delight any fan of the universe 1 Planetarium Universe2go: My Personal Planetarium Cost: £59.90 (approx $69.90) From: universe2go.com In combination with the accompanying smartphone app, this newly developed star viewer shows the stars with a wealth of information and fantastic images. With Universe2go, you can experience the stars as if in the planetarium. Even dimmer stars, which generally remain unseen as a result of large cities and their light pollution, are now visible thanks to the star viewer. Constellations, planets, deep-sky objects and even satellites are observable with explanations on Universe2go. The audio guide features several hours of material, which provides further elucidation to the observed phenomena. The menu…