Innehållsförteckning för No. 44 från All About Space

Andromeda Galaxy more like Milky Way than previously thought Hubble brings us closer to understanding the nature of blue star masses in our neighbouring spiral galaxy A recent initiative to inspect the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) has revealed it has a similar percentage of newborn blue star clusters (based on mass) as the Milky Way. Located 2.5 million light years away, Andromeda has been re-created using 414 mosaic images captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the results are helping scientists determine the composition of our galaxy in the wider universe. Capturing said percentage all comes down to determining the masses of stars within a given cluster, otherwise known as its Initial Mass Function (IMF). Nailing down this empirical function enables scientists to study a galaxy’s formation from the light that…

DARK MATTER 85 per cent of reality is missing. All About Space sheds light on the secret controlling the fate of the universe Written by David Crookes When you look up at the night sky, you’ll see millions upon millions of illuminated objects, from the Moon and stars to the planets in our Solar System. It is easy to think that they make up the bulk of what exists in the universe but, in fact, what can be viewed is a tiny fraction of what is there. What you can’t see is an invisible yet important entity called dark matter, which makes up 22 per cent of the cosmos. That may strike you as odd since there is six times more dark matter than the normal matter that comprises everything…

Building the SLS What makes the Space Launch System the most powerful rocket ever made? RS-25 engines Previously used as the main engine of the Space Shuttle, four RS-25 engines will power the core stage of the SLS. Core stage The first and largest element of the SLS, the core stage is 61m (200ft) tall and contains cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will mix and feed the four RS-25 boosters beneath it. LH2 tank The largest of the components within the Core stage, this tank contains the other element needed to fuel the RS-25 rockets below – cryogenic liquid hydrogen. Intertank One of a number of components incorporated from the defunct Space Shuttle programme, the intertank feeds fuel loads between the LOX and LH2 tanks. Forward skirt Built…

Giant space balloon tourism Take a voyage to the edge of space with World View © World View If you are considering becoming a space tourist and are feeling a little nervous after Virgin Galactic’s developmental problems, then Arizona-based World View Enterprises might be the answer. World View is developing a balloon-based system to offer trips to near space, hopefully starting in 2016. The rocket-based projects currently in the works will boost you up to a few Gs, either from the ground or dropped off a carrier aircraft depending on the company. They will fly a ballistic path called a parabola that sticks wildly out into space. This will give you a few minutes at the top to experience zero gravity and admire the view before you have to strap…

Message to outer space The Voyager Golden Records are an example of how to communicate using maths and astronomy How to play Shown are instructions on how to play the Golden Record with a stylus, included on each spacecraft. We are here This diagram shows the location of the Sun relative to 14 pulsars – rapidly rotating neutron stars that act as beacons. Into deep space A Golden Record is included on both the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, which are travelling out of the Solar System, although it’s unlikely they will ever be found. Life on Earth The records contain images and sounds from Earth, with these instructions detailing how the video signals should appear. Hydrogen atom This diagram proves our scientific knowledge by showing the lowest states of…

SOLAR SYSTEM Why does Saturn have such prominent rings? Laura Hearn Scientists are not yet sure exactly how the rings of Saturn came to exist and therefore why they’re so much wider than those around other outer Solar System planets. Some theories suggest that, millions of years ago, one of the planet’s moons might have been destroyed. Perhaps a collision with an asteroid or comet may have left only shattered remains or maybe it strayed too close to Saturn and got ripped apart. Over time the debris would have spread out to create the rings. It’s possible that the rings are a constantly changing system, often being replenished as new debris comes too close. Some even think that ejecta from an icy moon could provide a source of ring material.…

SOLAR SYSTEM What would happen if Earth were surrounded by black holes? John Leonard The result ultimately depends on how the black holes are positioned around our planet. Regardless of setup the Earth would probably become very cold and dark. Black holes are black because their gravity is so strong that nothing can escape if it gets too close, not even light. Surrounding the Earth with black holes would mean that any energy from the Sun or other sources, stars etc, would be blocked and absorbed by the black holes. If the black holes were set up correctly a gravitationally stable setup could be achieved that would just have the black holes orbit the Earth and absorb the energy headed this way. This would be complicated and should these sources…

DEEP SPACE How do galaxies get their spiral arms? James Lane © ESO; IAU; JPL-Caltech; NASA A phenomena known as a density wave creates this eye-catching feature of a spiral galaxy. Spiral arms in galaxies are not rigid, permanent structures, but are analogous to a traffic jam on the motorway – when a car slows down, all the cars behind it have to slow down too, causing a traffic jam. As the cars at the front move on, the traffic jam moves further down the road as more cars join the back of the jam. This is a manifestation of a phenomenon called a density wave and the same thing happens in galaxies. When stars move around a galaxy, they may be slowed by the gravity of a nearby massive…

Top five planetarium software Get to know the night sky from the comfort of your sofa Starry Night A richly featured planetarium program with great graphics and a user-friendly interface, fully customisable for the individual user. Various versions are available. Cost: $49.95 (approx £35) for CSAP version Available for: Windows/Mac Redshift A highly capable planetarium program, Redshift’s drop-down interface requires some familiarisation to get the most out of it. On handheld computers it can be used to locate and identify objects live beneath the stars. Cost: From £7.99 / $9.99 (depending on version) Available for: Windows/iOS/Android SkyMap Online SkyMap Online is a free web app that comes with a full set of features to help both casual stargazers and amateur astronomers to explore and locate objects in the night sky.…

Top sights to see on the Moon Our lunar companion is a glorious object, with some of its features visible without an optical aid The lunar ‘seas’ Visible as dark patches on the Moon, the ‘seas’ are actually large areas of lava that spread over big asteroid impact craters billions of years ago. Earthshine When the Moon is a narrow crescent phase in the dark twilight skies, you’ll notice a faint glow of its unilluminated side. This is caused by sunlight reflected from Earth onto the Moon’s night side. Highlands The brighter areas you can see on the Moon are the lunar mountain ranges. Craters Impact basins pepper the Moon’s surface. In particular, the crater Tycho can be seen with the naked eye.…

Instruments for beginners A range of devices are available for those just breaking into stargazing Achromatic refractor Price: Start at around £50 to £100 / $75 to $150 Best for: •General night-sky viewing •Low-high magnification views of the Moon and planets Pros: Wide range available Low maintenance, optics are factory set and don’t require adjusting Portable Mount can be upgraded as needs and budget allow Cons: Requires a sturdy tripod and Some degree of false Maksutov-Cassegrain Price: Start at around £250 / $380 Best for: •General night-sky viewing •High-magnification views of the Moon and planets •Deep-sky objects Pros: Come with computer-controlled drives and GoTo facilities Cons: Can be fairly heavy Expensive Dobsonian Price: Start at around £50 to £100 ($75 to $150) Best for: •General night-sky viewing •Low-magnification views of…

Stargazing stories Email the story of how you got into astronomy to photos@spaceanswers.com for a chance to feature in All About Space Scott Phillips Location: Llanelli, South Wales Twitter: @scottphillips11 Info: Astronomer for one year Current rig Telescope: Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 GoTo Mount: EQ-5 SynScan Other: Canon 450D DSLR camera “I’ve always been interested in space but I think I truly decided to get into astronomy after a six-month trip to New Zealand. After a spectacular sight of the Milky Way, with the whole sky filled with stars nearly every night, my mind was blown. “When I returned to the United Kingdom, I started researching how I could get involved in stargazing and shortly after purchased my first telescope (Travel Scope 70). The first sight I got of the Moon…

Spotting scopes for casual astronomers We pit two spotting scopes against each other to see which deserves a place in your stargazing armoury Olivon T800 20-60x80mm Cost: £349.99/$509 From: Optical Hardware Ltd The Olivon T800 is a very well manufactured piece and features nitrogen fog-proofing inside the armour that keeps the optical system protected from water. This spotting scope is light enough to hold but, in order to achieve steady views of targets, a T-mount and tripod are an essential piece of kit. The objective lens cap was, at first, difficult to remove, but with a bit of twisting and turning we managed to get it off. The Moon was our first target and, we have to say, the Olivon T800’s optical system performed very well. The rugged lunar surface…

LAUNCH PAD YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE Postcard from Mars NASA’s endeavouring rover, Curiosity, took this selfie of itself trundling across the dusty Martian landscape on 5 August 2015 while exploring the lower hills of Mount Sharp, which is a 5.5-kilometre (3.4-mile) high mountain. The camera appears to be floating in midair because the selfie is made up of dozens of smaller pictures taken by the rover’s MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager) camera that is on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm. The final mosaic is made from the sections of these images where the arm is out of shot. The cosmic sunflower This is the spiral galaxy Messier 63 (M63), seen in spectacular detail by the Hubble Space Telescope. The intricate but fluffy-looking spiral pattern, sporting dark lanes…

Spacecraft catches Moon’s double photobomb The Solar Dynamics Observatory’s views of the Sun are interrupted twice as it attempts to monitor our star Launched in 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) keeps a constant watch on the Sun, monitoring its behaviours and fluctuations in the hope of truly understanding its effect on the Earth. However, that vigil was momentarily obscured when our Moon decided to partially block the SDO’s view. To make the event even more bizarre, the Earth also passed into view, completely blocking any sign of our home star in the process. The SDO has witnessed a number of lunar transits since its launch, but never an alignment of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun in such a startling manner. This crossing of celestial paths even resulted…

What is dark matter? A galactic glue Dark matter has a gravitational attraction which enables it to hold clusters of galaxies together. Perplexing matter Astronomers still know little about dark matter. Most believe it is not made up of photons, electrons and atoms, though. Space’s scaffolding As well as binding clusters, dark matter acts as a kind of skeleton to hold the universe together in a web-like structure. In the dark Dark matter is non-luminous meaning astronomers can study its effects but are unable to directly observe it. It does not emit or absorb light. Lending extra mass At the speeds they rotate, galaxies should tear themselves apart. Dark matter lends extra mass, generating the gravity needed to keep them intact. War in the cosmos Dark matter ‘battles’ with dark…

Making a dark matter map From the ground and space, astronomers are building a picture of the dark universe The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Currently being built in Chile, the LSST will map the visible sky using a mix of strong and weak gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing Gravitational lensing relies on concentrations of matter bending light from a more distant source. It allows astronomers to measure the dark universe. Introducing Euclid Euclid is an ESA mission which seeks to map the geometry of the dark universe. It will launch in 2020. Taking snapshots The telescope will feed a visible-light camera and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer. Measuring expansion The telescope will point to a position in the sky to accurately measure the accelerated expansion of the universe, getting a better understanding of…

Explorer’s Guide Venus Our nearest neighbour in space is also the most hostile planet in the Solar System How big is Venus? With an equatorial diameter of 12,100 kilometres (7,520 miles), Venus is just 638 kilometres (396 miles) smaller than Earth (roughly five per cent). How far is Venus? The distance to Venus varies hugely depending on its position relative to Earth. At its closest approach Venus can be just 38.2 million kilometres away (23.7 million miles), while at its most distant it can be up to 261 million kilometres (162 million miles) from Earth. How to get there 1. Leaving Earth While a manned Venus mission could theoretically launch direct from Earth, it’s more likely to be assembled in Earth orbit and to leave from there with a single…

Why is Mars so popular? We’re so fascinated by the Red Planet that people are willing to settle there permanently. Find out why we persist with missions to Mars Past, present and future missions to the Red Planet © Ed Crooks; Rebekka Hearl; Nasa Successes and failures by decade In 1960, the Soviet Union chose Mars as its target for the first interplanetary probes. Although they failed, these attempts were just the first of decades of Mars missions. The first successful flyby took place five years later with NASA’s Mariner 4, which sent back the first pictures of the Martian surface. Since then, more ships have been sent to Mars than any other planet in our Solar System, and more than half of our total attempts to visit Mars have…

The new search for ALIEN LIFE The next ten years could make or break the hunt for another intelligent civilisation Written by Jonathan O'Callaghan The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, has always been a fringe science. Since it began in the mid-20th century, scientists involved in the field have had to fight for scraps of funding, often to ridicule from the public and media alike for what many consider a fruitless task. But now, thanks to a Russian billionaire, SETI is no longer going to be an also-ran – it is about to join the upper echelons of astronomy and, if a positive detection is made, those scientists once on the fringe could find themselves propelled into a whole new limelight. In July, it was revealed that investor Yuri…

Decoding a message for alien life Devised in 1974 by the likes of Frank Drake and Carl Sagan, the Arecibo message was broadcast into space in the direction of globular cluster M13 some 25,000 light years away Numbers The numbers one to ten written in binary. DNA The atomic numbers of the elements that make up DNA. Formula The formulas for the sugars and bases in DNA. Double helix The structure of DNA. Earth’s population The height of an average man and the human population on our planet. Solar System Our solar neighbourhood along with which planet the message is coming from. Arecibo telescope The dimension of the radio dish from which the message is being transmitted.…

Become an ASTRONOMER Part 1 If the starry skies inspire you with wonder and curiosity then you have the ‘right stuff’ to become an astronomer Written by Peter Grego Humans have been awed by the night skies for countless millennia. We know so much more about the universe than our ancestors, but the same visceral feelings about the vast, silent majesty of the cosmos sweep through our senses. A wealth of objects and phenomena delight the night-sky viewer. Some objects, like the stars, star patterns and constellations, are permanent fixtures in the cosmic tapestry, acting as guideposts to understanding and finding one’s way around the heavens. Other objects, like the Moon and planets, move along a highway through the constellations and appear to change over time. A few phenomena, like…

How to view Comet Catalina Be prepared for a potential comet of the year with our essential guide Comets are notoriously fickle night-sky objects. Some are given high expectations of putting on a good show and fail to deliver, whereas others, originally thought to be unremarkable, may suddenly flare up and astound everyone. In general, though, it’s really difficult to say just how a comet is going to behave and making predictions for Comet Catalina can be just as dangerous. However, it does seem to be brightening steadily and all being well, should become a naked-eye object in the next few weeks. Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina, to give it its proper designation, travels from southern to Northern Hemisphere skies over the course of October through to December and should keep…

Visionary FirstView Table Top Compact and easy to use, this small reflector is ideal for the entire family Telescope advice Cost: £49.99 (approx $80) From: Optical Hardware Ltd Type: Dobsonian Aperture: 3” Focal length: 11.8” Best for... Beginners Low budgets Planetary viewing Lunar viewing Bright deep-sky objects Given its ‘toy-like’ appearance, we didn’t have high hopes for the Visionary FirstView. However, while the views through this desktop telescope wouldn’t suffice for those taking a serious step into astronomy, it does the job for children who are keen to learn about space as well as parents who have taken a passing interest in viewing the universe. What’s more, at just £49.99 it’s not a huge outlay if the novelty of stargazing happens to wear off. The Visionary FirstView provides the experience…

John Grunsfeld The valiant journeys of Hubble’s keeper Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1958 to the renowned architect Earnest Alton Grunsfeld III, John Grunsfeld’s youth was filled by the drama and excitement of the Space Race. As an adventurous and idealistic young man, he frequently daydreamed in class, doodling pictures of mountains and spaceships in the margins of his school books. Even in his early years, Grunsfeld had a passion and drive to explore everything the Earth, and beyond, had to offer. This desire for adventure led Grunsfeld to participate in a number of wilderness courses in his teenage years where he built up the essential leadership skills that would aid him in his later life. In 1980, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he achieved a…

Liquid water found on present-day Mars Dark streaks seen on the surface of the Red Planet can now be tied to periodic flows, increasing the chance of finding basic life NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has found strong evidence that water is running freely on Mars, carving out gullies on hills and crater walls. The presence of liquid water on the Red Planet increases the chances that it could be home to microbial life. Indications that Mars might have running water first came in 2007, when comparisons of images of the surface taken by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor showed dark streaks running down gullies appearing to change over time. However, although water was suspected, scientists couldn’t prove whether it was liquid, or avalanches of dry material that were causing the…

Self-building habitats for alien world colonisation in development Europe-led project aims to deploy first terrestrial and space habitats on Mars and beyond © NASA; SHEE Project; SpaceX While the space agencies of the world continue to pursue the dream of manned expeditions to Mars and beyond, a new initiative involving a consortium of five European nations is designing a series of domiciles for when the first astronauts get there. However, these aren’t just any homes. The Self-deployable Habitats for Extreme Environments (SHEE) have been designed to build themselves in locations too adverse for direct human involvement. The brainchild of architect and assistant professor of human-centered design and aerospace engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology, Ond›ej Doule, the project is the centrepiece of a 36-month long, €2.3-million (£1.7-million/$2.6-million) investment from…

What is the universe made of? 68.3% Dark energy Astronomers believe dark energy makes up the majority of our universe. It’s thought that this mysterious form of energy will become more dominant in the future. 26.8% Dark matter Over 25 per cent of our universe is made up of dark matter – just over five times that of normal. 31.7% All matter Take dark energy out of the equation and the amount of matter in the universe is 85% dark and 15% normal. 4.9% Normal matter Normal matter – the visible substance making up the baryonic matter we can observe – comprises a small per cent of the universe.…

Hot, warm and cold dark matter Cold dark matter The cold dark matter theory is favoured by most astronomers. It posits that cold dark matter particles move much more slowly than the speed of light. This means they possess lower energies and have an increased chance of growing hierarchically since they can attract and merge with each other, forming large-scale structures. Warm dark matter Warm dark matter sits between cold and hot matter. Structures are formed from the bottom-up, as with cold dark matter where the distribution can grow denser and more massive. They also form from the top-down, in the manner of hot dark matter. Warm dark matter particles move at a higher speed than cold dark matter but slower than hot. Hot dark matter Possessing high energy and…

LISA Pathfinder prepares for launch With less than two months until launch, the revolutionary spacecraft takes its final exams ©ESA The first part of one of the most precise space missions ever planned is set to launch this autumn to put to the test technology designed to find elusive gravitational waves, which are ripples in the fabric of space-time that come from colliding black holes and neutron stars. The mission, named LISA Pathfinder, is a prototype that will pave the way for the full LISA, or Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, mission next decade. We can see the Pathfinder here undergoing testing at a European Space Agency centre in Germany. The plan for the full LISA mission is to have three spacecraft that each fire highly accurate lasers at each other…

ZOMBIE STARS +10 other terrifying space objects All About Space reveals the scariest stars, planets and galaxies lurking in the corners of our universe Written by Laura Mears Space has been an inspiration behind human mythology for thousands of years, and with a little help from technology, we are capturing some images that really bring these legends to life. However, far from being evidence of the supernatural at work, the spooky space images that we are about to show you are nothing out of the ordinary. Humans can’t help but try to find meaning in meaningless shapes, and the phenomenon even has a name – ‘pareidolia’. It is why we see faces in the clouds, religious icons in our food, and constellations in the night sky. The universe really is…

Breakthrough Listen How this groundbreaking project will search for intelligent life beyond the Solar System Parkes Radio Telescope The other major radio telescope is the 64m (210ft) diameter Parkes Radio Telescope in New South Wales, Australia. Green Bank Telescope The world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope, the 100m (330ft) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, US, will be used in the search. APF Telescope A third telescope, the Automated Planet Finder Telescope at Lick Observatory in California, will look for optical laser transmissions. Searching nearby The two radio telescopes, and maybe others at a later date, will study the closest 1 million stars to Earth for radio signals from an intelligent race. Milky Way The centre of our galaxy and the entire galactic plane as seen from Earth will also…

What happens if we make contact? Seth Shostak, director at the SETI Institute, explains what would happen if a signal were to be found What’s the procedure if we find alien life? In the case of SETI, there is a set of protocols. I was the chair of an international committee that revised these protocols over the last five to ten years, and basically you have ample time to check out the signal, tell everybody, and don’t respond without international agreement. That’s basically all there is to it. But the truth is, it doesn’t really work that way. And we know that because, in the case of false alarms, you see what really happens. There’s no policy of secrecy within SETI. If you get a signal, and it looks interesting…

SPACE EXPLORATION Why does water form spherical droplets in space? David Connell If you were to squirt a water pistol on board the ISS, the water would do something weird, congealing into a bunch of perfect spheres. The reason this happens is the condition of microgravity, which arises in free fall around the Earth. However, while the absence of substantial gravity gives rise to the spheres, there is a deeper explanation. At the boundary between liquid water and the air, the water molecules have a stronger attraction to each other than with the air molecules, creating a ‘surface tension’ that acts in an inward force pulling the water together. On Earth, gravity dominates this surface tension, so squirt a water pistol and the tear-shaped water droplets will spill on to…

DEEP SPACE Can stars have weather? David Leonard Weather has been detected on brown dwarf stars, which are cool ‘failed stars’. While brown dwarfs are still too warm for water rain or snow, infrared observations with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have detected mottled surfaces that have been interpreted as clouds. Not white fluffy clouds either, but at temperatures of 1,000 to 2,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 to 3,664 degrees Fahrenheit) the clouds are made of silicate (rocky) particles such as iron. On the brown dwarf named 2M1404B, these ‘rocky’ clouds emit near-infrared light, making the clouds appear darker at that wavelength and the brown dwarf to appear patchy. These clouds could also rain hot sand or molten iron. Meanwhile, in one survey Spitzer also observed 44 brown dwarfs and found that…

DEEP SPACE Can we see planets in other galaxies? Ben White It’s not possible to observe planets in other galaxies outside our own. Other galaxies are so far away and planets are so relatively small and dark compared to their stars that current telescopes are not powerful enough to see them. So far more than 1,700 extrasolar planets have been found orbiting stars within our galaxy. There is a planet, known as HIP 13044b, which was discovered outside of our galaxy. This planet is found with a group of stars that wander just outside of the Milky Way. These stars, and therefore the exoplanet HIP 13044b, are thought to have formed in a dwarf galaxy that ended up crashing into the Milky Way. This is good proof that planets can…

SPACE EXPLORATION How long can a person live in space? Jamie Roberts Nowadays astronauts normally spend six months in space at any one time although some missions can last longer. The record for the longest single spaceflight is 437 days and 18 hours. Theoretically it would be possible for us to live in space for much longer provided we developed a spacecraft with all the provisions to support life. If we became almost perfectly efficient at recycling resources such as oxygen, water and food it might be possible to live in space indefinitely. However, we currently do not know the full long-term effects of living in space on the human body. Hopefully future missions and experiments with astronauts will help us find out more. ZB…

SPACE EXPLORATION Is Mercury too hot for us to land on? The surface temperature on the dayside of Mercury reaches a sweltering 427 degrees Celsius (801 degrees Fahrenheit), so astronauts couldn’t land where they can see the Sun from the surface. Mercury is a strange planet though. It rotates very slowly, three times for every two orbits (Mercury takes 88 days to complete one orbit, or year, around the Sun), which means that the hemisphere that is facing the Sun stays there for a long time, while the hemisphere facing away, where it is night, gets as cold as -173 degrees Celsius (-279 degrees Fahrenheit). Astronauts could land there, protected from the cold by their spacesuits, but if they are clever there is a zone that runs around the…

Step 1 Understanding the night sky Knowing how the heavens work is essential before you get started in astronomy Learning the basics is key to being able to maximise your enjoyment of astronomy. Being able to find individual objects – whether they’re permanent fixtures within constellations, such as double stars, star clusters or nebulae, or transitory visitors such as planets, comets or asteroids – depends on knowing where to look. It’s a big sky. At first, it may seem a daunting task to learn the layout of the skies, the positions of the main constellations and the often tongue-twisting names of the brightest stars. Time is on your side – there’s no rush, and the thrill of being able to identify star patterns and individual stars remains with you forever…

Step 3 What to observe on your first night Now that you’re familiar with the night sky, you are ready to begin a fuss-free evening of stargazing The darkness of the night sky at your viewing location determines the number of stars that you will be able to observe. From an urban area, with its many streetlights and other sources of illumination lighting up the atmosphere, the sky never looks completely dark, and you’ll only be able to see the brightest objects. However, from a dark country location you’ll see many more stars – perhaps more than a small star map will actually depict. Being under a light-polluted sky can have its advantages when you come to learning the basics, because a truly dark night sky seen from a remote…