Innehållsförteckning för No. 61 från All About Space

Mysterious cosmic radio burst pinpointed For the first time, the behaviour of a fast radio burst has been traced to a galaxy 2.5 billion light years from Earth “This detection has really broken open the gates of a new realm of science and discovery” Scientists have identified the source of fast radio bursts coming from deep within the universe, offering an amazing insight into one of astronomy’s most enigmatic phenomena. According to researchers, radio wave blasts have originated from a dim dwarf galaxy that is around 2.5 million light years away from Earth. It is the first time astronomers have been able to see the origin of the burst, making it a hugely exciting breakthrough. Fast radio bursts were first described in 2007 when astronomer Duncan Lorimer was working on…

Interview Fred Haise & John Wilson Restoring the rocket to the Moon Astronaut Fred Haise and executive director of the Infinity Science Center, John Wilson, on bringing the Saturn V booster back to life here on Earth “At about 6.30am on 18 June the booster began its last journey on a water route it had traversed before, some 43 years earlier” Interviewed by Nick Howes Can you tell us how restoring the Apollo 19 first stage [Saturn V booster] came about? John: The idea of moving the booster goes as far back as 2005 in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and the storm surge/flooding that impacted the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, US, which is where it was being kept at the time. The booster sat in outdoor…

THE PLAYERS BLUE ORIGIN Founded: 2000 Owned by: Jeff Bezos The secretive Blue Origin aerospace company is developing pioneering reusable spacecraft that could play a key role in future Solar System exploration›– but will it overtake its bigger rivals in the ongoing race to the Red Planet? SPACEX Founded: 2002 Owned by: Elon Musk The fast-growing commercial space company has already made a big impact, and its Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) is a spacecraft like no other. But are the ambitious company’s plans for a Mars landing in the next decade realistic? NASA Founded: 1958 Administrator: Charles Bolden The US national space agency has a big budget on its side in the race for Mars, but delays to Orion and the SLS mean that it’s still without a functional crewed…

START Cygnus Operator: Orbital ATK Carrier/rocket: Antares/Atlas V Despite its current role as an uncrewed cargo spacecraft for the ISS, Cygnus is equipped with solar panels that allow it to generate electrical power. Its operators have suggested it could be docked with an Orion spacecraft to provide additional pressurised space during a long-duration spaceflight. Space Launch System Operator: NASA Carrier/rocket: N/A NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket system, the launch vehicle for the Orion spacecraft, is derived from Space Shuttle technology but will evolve over time until the later ‘Block 2’ version is capable of sending a crewed mission to Mars. Vulcan Operator: United Launch Alliance Carrier/rocket: N/A Vulcan is a heavy-lift launch vehicle being developed by a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing space divisions. An agreement with Blue Origin…

How to find an alien moon The different methods being used to hunt for exomoons Transit timing effect The transit timing method works by measuring a change in the regular transit of a planet. Essentially, as a planet swings around a star, if there are other objects in its vicinity then it can affect how often a transit is completed. This often indicates the presence of other planets in the system, but in theory the method could be used to hunt for large exomoons as well, revealing their tug on their parent planets. It’s hard to distinguish between an exoplanet and an exomoon via this method, though, so it might be difficult to make a discovery with it. Radial velocity method When an exoplanet orbits a star, its gravity can…

What’s in the sky? What’s in the sky? 2 FEB Conjunction between the Moon and Eris at a separation of 8°41’ in Pisces and Cetus 3 FEB The Moon and Ceres make a close approach, passing within 0°59’ of each other in Pisces 11 FEB Penumbral lunar eclipse 15 FEB Conjunction between the Moon and Makemake at a separation of 27°35’ Virgo and Coma Berenices 15 FEB The Moon and Jupiter make a close approach, passing within 2°33’ of each other in Virgo 16 FEB Conjunction between the Moon and Haumea at a separation of 25°13’ in Virgo and Boötes 17 FEB Venus shines in the evening sky at a brilliant magnitude of -5.5 in Pisces 18 FEB Asteroid 14 Irene reaches opposition in Leo and glows at a magnitude…

What can I expect to see? Know when an auroral display is in action and how you can make the most of the view In the olden days, following a solar flare, aurora-watchers just had to cross their fingers and hope that an aurora might be visible from where they lived. Today, things are very different. Dedicated websites feature daily “space weather” reports following solar activity and give early warnings of possible displays. Special “aurora alert” apps downloaded onto your tablet or smartphone will tell you when auroral activity might be visible from your specific location, giving you invaluable “heads up” time that will help you decide whether you should stay where you are, or if you need to head somewhere with better weather prospects when the display is due…

Planet of the month This month’s planets As we approach late winter, the worlds of our Solar System still remain a treat for astronomers during the long evenings and just before dawn Uranus Right Ascension: 01h 21m 11s Declination: +07° 56’ 06” Constellation: Pisces Magnitude: 5.9 Direction: West Many people think of Uranus as boring. After all, its rings are dark and thin, poor imitations of Saturn’s glittering icy hoops; its cyan atmosphere is bland and featureless compared to Jupiter’s, with its churning bands of caramel and toffee-coloured storms. And it’s so far away that it takes 84 years to make one orbit of the Sun, which is 3 billion kilometres (1.8 billion miles) away. But Uranus is actually a fascinating world – an ice giant that could hold 63…

How to… Capture the spiral arms of Bode’s Galaxy Discovered in 1774 by Johann Elert Bode, this beautiful spiral galaxy is a treat for astrophotographers © Ken Crawford You’ll need: • A telescope • Tracking mount • DSLR camera • Camera adaptor • Remote shutter release About 12 million light years from Earth lays one of the most beautiful galaxies in the entire night sky. Bode’s Galaxy, also known as M81 or NGC 3031, can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear) and it shares its region of sky with another galaxy of completely different shape, known as the Cigar Galaxy, catalogued as M82. What makes Bode’s Galaxy outstanding is its glorious spiral arms. It is almost face on to us, so we get a very…

How to… Observe a solar annular eclipse This spectacular event will be visible on 26 February from South America and parts of West Africa. Here’s how to make the most of it… © Kevin Baird You’ll need: • Solar eclipse viewers • DSLR camera • Tripod Solar eclipses, both total and annular, occur when the Moon lines up with the Sun for a few precious moments and the path of the shadow created by the Moon sweeps across the surface of the Earth. The Moon is about 400-times smaller than the Sun, but the Sun, by chance, is about 400-times further away from us, so they appear roughly the same size in our sky. The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is also slightly elliptical rather than circular and so the…

Feature STARGAZER : Topic here Me & My Telescope Send your astrophotography images to photos@spaceanswers.com for a chance to see them featured in All About Space Jeff Johnson Las Cruces, New Mexico Telescope: Takahashi FS-60C refractor “I have a long love of astronomy and have observed the night sky for many years with binoculars and a telescope. I did my first “real” astrophotography in 1996, when I used a 35mm SLR (film) camera to take photos of Comet Hyakutake. I took a tripod out into the desert here in Las Cruces and just experimented with exposures. Later, I bought a 10-inch Dobsonian for viewing, and within a week I was taking pictures through the eyepiece for fun. Within a few more weeks, I knew I wanted to get serious with…

Part-time pulsars found to perform vanishing act Astronomers spot neutron stars that temporarily turn off and vanish from view Two pulsars in the Milky Way have been seen to behave in a very odd manner: emitting radio waves for a while before suddenly becoming inactive until they are ready to fire again. Indeed, one of them has been seen to be in an active state only 30 per cent of the time with the other going as low as 0.8 per cent. Since most pulsars are continuously broadcasting, scientists are intrigued. For a start, if such behaviour is typical of many other pulsars then it may well be that scientists are failing to see scores of them – their observations coming during the “off” phases. Second, there appears to be…

Rover finds more evidence for life on Mars Study of Gale Crater finds boron, a good indicator of a past abundance of groundwater NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered boron on the surface of Mars for the very first time, delivering fresh evidence that life may have once existed on the Red Planet. During its study of the composition of rocks at Mars’ Gale Crater, it has come across exposed mineral layers as it ascends Mount Sharp and takes samples every 25 metres (82 feet). These regular stops are allowing it to uncover younger layers of rock sediment and it’s using its ChemCam instrument to analyse the elemental composition. Finding boron is hugely significant because the element is typically found on Earth in arid areas that have a history of evaporated…

Will the Higgs destroy us? WILL THE HIGGS DESTROY THE UNIVERSE? Could the God Particle cause space and time to collapse, as supposedly quoted by Stephen Hawking? Written by Kulvinder Singh Chadha © Tobias Roetsch “ Could our universe be on an unstable ‘mound’ with a danger of collapsing to a lower-energy ground state?” The universe could collapse into oblivion at any moment, the culprit being related to a recently discovered particle. The Higgs particle, known as the Higgs boson, was discovered in 2012 by the ATLAS and CMS detectors (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus and the Compact Muon Solenoid, respectively) of the Large Hadron Collider, also known as LHC. The Collider is a huge particle accelerator, 27 kilometres (16.7 miles) in circumference, located underground at the European Organisation for Nuclear…

Why we came from comets Why we came from COMETS They race in and out of our Solar System and according to evidence, they could have brought life with them Written by Colin Stuart © Tobias Roetsch “The fact that we live on a wet planet today suggests that more water must have arrived some time later” In the void between the planets, town-sized snowballs tumble quietly around the Solar System. These comets – relics from an age before large worlds circled the Sun – have been patrolling our local neighbourhood for 4.6 billion years. Hidden away in their icy layers are clues to what our Solar System was like all that time ago, along with teasers as to how our family of planets formed. But their real bounty could…

A cosmic double whammy Focus on A cosmic double whammy For the first time ever, astronomers have seen what happens when two of the most powerful phenomena in the universe combine © X-ray: NASA; CXC; SAO; R. van Weeren et al Optical: NAOJ; Subaru Radio: NCRA; TIFR GMRT What happens when you combine the stupendous powers of a supermassive black hole with the collision of giant galaxy clusters? Astronomers using combined observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India, the Karl G Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico, among other telescopes, have discovered that you get a gigantic cosmic particle accelerator. This cosmic double whammy is the work of galaxy clusters Abell 3411 and Abell 3412, which have collided some 2 billion light…

HOW TO GET TO MARS 1. Assembly in orbit The components of a Mars spacecraft are launched separately from Earth, and are fuelled and assembled in orbit. 2. Earth departure A long rocket engine burn boosts the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and sets it on a course for Mars. 3. Deep-space cruise Over six months or more, the spacecraft follows an arc-like trajectory between the orbits of Earth and Mars. 4. Mars arrival On arrival, the spacecraft must lose speed to enter orbit, by turning around and using its engines as retrorockets. 5. Descent to the Red Planet The main spacecraft remains in orbit around Mars in readiness for the return journey, while the crew board a lander that will take them to and from the surface.…

Future Tech Suspended animation Suspended animation A staple of science fiction, putting you to sleep during interstellar travel might be closer than we think Space is big and this presents a problem for prospective interplanetary explorers, and screenwriters. With present technology even our upcoming missions to Mars will take a year or so but reaching the outer Solar System takes decades, and interstellar travel would take millennia. This is a very long time to have to spend in a small spacecraft, or write an engaging movie, so finding some way to put the passengers on hold so they don’t have to perceive the duration of time, or suffer the ageing, has popped up in as many serious studies as movies. In Interstellar astronauts were covered in plastic and submerged in…

QUICKFIRE Discovered: the first alien moon? Astronomer David Kipping from Columbia University thought he might have found the first concrete evidence for an exomoon around the planet Kepler-90g in 2013 @ NASA; JPL; Ball Aerospace; Caltech; Dunca Daniel Mihai; Alamy; Cédric Foellmi; ESA; C. Carreau; Space Science Institute; Kris Snibbe; Harvard University “To me, moons and exomoons are more exciting than Mars to look for life” David Kipping, Columbia University Why did you think you’d found an exomoon? The Kepler photometry seemed to show a decrease in flux compatible with the signal expected for an exomoon. It was close to Kepler-90g and indeed within the region of stability for a moon, and it had just the right depth and duration, too. What made you doubt your finding? The discovery of…

Where and when can I see the Northern Lights? If you want to see the aurora dancing, here’s when you should look and where you should be “ It’s often a waiting game when it comes to hunting for the Northern Lights” The key to seeing the Northern Lights is actually very simple – you just have to be in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, the “right time” is totally out of our control; an aurora is triggered by activity on the Sun, and if Earth just happens to get in the way of a cloud of material blasted off the Sun, and a few things go the right way in the upper atmosphere and in Earth’s magnetic field, an auroral display will be triggered that might…

STARGAZER Creating memories that last: imaging the Northern Lights Effortlessly capture those vivid greens, purples and reds Photographing the Northern Lights isn’t as easy as lifting your camera to the sky during a display. As the aurora is usually a lot fainter than dramatic photographs published on websites and in magazines suggest, you need to be able to take long exposures and keep your camera very steady. So, although a display might be bright enough for your smartphone or tablet’s camera to capture it (and you should always try, just in case!), you’ll need a good digital camera, such as a DSLR or a modern bridge camera. These will let you take the long exposures you need, and can also be mounted on a tripod to keep them steady and…

Moon tour Aristarchus crater This is a good time to enjoy looking at the brightest major feature on the Moon… © NASA; GSFC; Arizona State University Many astronomers will tell you that full Moon is the absolute worst phase of the whole lunar month to look at our nearest celestial neighbour; after all, all you can see are the Moon’s major light and dark areas – its flat seas and rugged highlands, respectively. That’s a little unfair. While it’s true that you can see a lot of stark and fascinating surface relief on the Moon when it is a crescent, or first or last quarter, at full Moon you can see things not obvious at any other time. For example, at full Moon it’s much easier to appreciate how the…

Capture Bode’s Galaxy Imaging the deep sky Achieve stunning results of this deep-sky wonder Ensure you have sharp focus by using the magnify function on your camera’s view screen. Then set the ISO value to 800 or 1000, as this allows good sensitivity of the imaging chip without too much unwanted noise. Take exposures between one and five minutes in length; the length depends on local conditions and how well set up your mount is. It is sometimes better to take five one-minute exposures rather than one five-minute exposure, but take lots of shots of the same duration though. Use software such as Deep Sky Stacker, which is free to download online, and/or Photoshop to process the images. 1 Prepare your camera Attach your DSLR camera to your telescope using…

Valeri Polyakov The cosmonaut who holds the record for the longest single space flight © Alamy Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned to Earth looking fresh. After being helped out of his capsule in Kazakhstan, he walked to a chair, sat down, lit a cigarette and took a sip of brandy. It was quite remarkable given he had lived in space for 437 days and 18 hours, especially since most of us feel quite groggy after a long car journey. But, as NASA astronaut Norman Thagard once said, Polyakov was different. Indeed, he looked “like he could wrestle a bear.” Polyakov’s time in space is still talked about today. Launched aboard Soyuz TM-18 on 8 January 1994, he lived on the Mir space station and he arrived back on Soyuz TM-20 on…

LAUNCH PAD YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE @ ESO; B. Tafreshi A fisheye view of an exoplanet hunter and the Milky Way Like a great dagger penetrating the night sky, the Milky Way hangs above the winding road that leads to La Silla Observatory, located on the outskirts of the Atacama Desert in Chile, in this fisheye projection, which was captured by astrophotographer Babak Tafreshi. The centre of our galaxy is immediately obvious in this unique piece of astrophotography, and is home to supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Meanwhile, the European Southern Observatory’s 3.6-metre (11.8-foot) telescope – which hosts the world’s foremost exoplanet hunting instrument, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) – isn’t just visible on the horizon; it’s reflected in a roadside mirror. @ ESA; NASA…

Black holes closer than originally thought Exotic objects may be playing hide and seek in the cosmic background Astronomers say supermassive black holes could be concealed behind thick layers of gas and dust, causing them to question just how many more may be “missing”. Studies using NASA’s space-based NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), which is designed to see higher energy X-rays, discovered black holes at the centre of two “active” galaxies relatively close to the Milky Way. These would have been hidden from the view of most telescopes, paving the way for more discoveries. The conclusion was made by researchers at Durham and Southampton universities who had been studying NGC 1448 and IC 3639, which are 38 million and 170 million light years away respectively. They were able to detect…

New missions set to explore history of the Solar System Psyche and Lucy will attempt to unlock the secrets of the planets © NASA; JPL-Caltech; Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey; MSSS; SwRI; SSL; Peter Rubin; Donald E. Davis NASA is set to launch two missions aimed at uncovering new information about the birth of the Solar System. The Discovery missions Psyche and Lucy will be shedding fresh light on the 10-million-year period following the birth of the Sun, hoping to provide a better understanding of its history. Lucy is due to launch in 2021 with the aim of visiting the target-rich area of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. It will arrive at its first destination four years later and then explore six asteroids between 2027 and 2033. NASA says the asteroids are thought to…

Hunt for clues: missions to a comet By getting up close and personal with comets, we’ve learned more about their role Stardust This audacious NASA mission was sent to return a sample of Comet Wild 2 to the Earth. Launched in February 1999 and rendezvousing with its quarry in 2004, it successfully returned the sample home in 2006. Initial analysis found it contained the amino acid glycine, although some researchers had suggested the analysis might have contaminated the sample (even though the clean room used for the experiment was 100-times cleaner than a hospital operating room). Herschel Space Telescope A telescope that saw in the infrared, Herschel was used to peer more closely at Comet Hartley 2. It found that there was a good match between the proportion of heavy…

SUPPLIES Transport In order to explore the landing site, astronauts will need transport. This could range from small, agile buggies to a pressurised laboratory capable of spending weeks away from base. Air Using electricity from solar panels, water molecules can be split apart in a process called electrolysis, releasing oxygen for life support systems and hydrogen that could be recycled in a fuel plant. Food With food supplies from Earth limited, astronauts will grow as much of their own food as possible – at first in sealed hydroponic greenhouses, but perhaps later in the Martian soil itself. Fuel Using the Sabatier process, a fuel plant could combine a hydrogen ‘feedstock’ with carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to form methane and oxygen. Stored in liquefied form, these could provide rocket fuel…

Alien moons The hunt for ALIEN MOONS The life we find outside the Solar System might not be on a planet… Written by Jonathan O’Callaghan @ Tobias Roetsch “If there are moons in our Solar System that are potentially habitable, then who knows what else is out there in the universe” As we continue to find more exoplanets, it’s becoming abundantly clear that there is a huge variety; some may be habitable, others definitely not so. But perhaps the most overlooked part of exoplanet astronomy at the moment is what is orbiting these planets. Their moons, called exomoons, might prove to be even more fascinating, and more likely to be habitable, but we’ve barely scratched the surface. In 2009, with the launch of the Kepler space telescope, the field of…

Why our Moon is important From protecting us from asteroids to creating tides on Earth It lights up the night sky It’s not always bright but when it is, the Moon can provide an excellent source of light at night, useful not only for humans but for animals as well. It keeps us safe from asteroids The Moon plays a role in keeping us safe from impacts, either deflecting asteroids or taking hits, although the extent of this is debated. It creates tides on Earth Without the Moon, we would not have lunar tides, one of the drivers for spreading nutrients through the ocean, and life would struggle to survive. It slows down our planet Without the Moon, our planet would rotate a couple of seconds faster every 100,000 years.…

How to observe the Northern Lights How to observe the NORTHERN LIGHTS How do you see one of the most beautiful sights in the sky, and where do you need to go? The Northern Lights. Even saying those words conjures up visions of beauty and mystery, doesn’t it? More than a solar or lunar eclipse, a meteor shower or any other astronomical phenomena, the Northern Lights – or the Aurora Borealis to give them their proper scientific name – has a hold on our imagination that refuses to let go. They call to us, like sirens. Non-astronomers who have never seen them long to with a passion, and dream of gazing up at them, arms outstretched. More seasoned observers who have seen too many aurorae to count over the years…

Top places to catch the aurora 1 Norway The Northern Lights are most visible between late autumn and early spring. The best areas are within the Arctic Circle in northern Norway or the Svalbard Islands, especially during the polar night. It’s said there’s no better place on Earth to see it! 2 Iceland The Northern Lights can be seen from anywhere in Iceland but a great spot involves heading out to the plains of the Thingvellir National Park. The extended viewing season goes from Setember to mid-April, but the winter months are the darkest. 3 Sweden The Northern Lights are best seen from Sweden during winter, with Abisko National Park, Jukkasjärvi, the Torne Valley and Porjus in Swedish Lapland favourite spotting locations. Even regions close to large towns in Swedish…

How to… capture a Northern Lights skyscape Add trees or mountains to your images to compliment your shots of the aurora 1 Be prepared You’ll need a DSLR camera or a high-spec bridge camera, mounted on a tripod. It should be fitted with a wide-angle lens, or set to its widest field of view. 2 Set your camera’s ISO to 800 Set your camera to ‘manual’ mode so it can take long exposures of several seconds. Set the white balance to “daylight” and the ISO value to around 800. 3 Get into focus To ensure your images are sharp, focus your camera on a bright star or a streetlight on the horizon. Keep checking your focus between images. 4 Frame your shots with scenery Aim your camera towards the aurora,…

Deep sky challenge Star clusters of the Great Dog Marked by the brightest star in the entire night sky, Sirius, get lost in Canis Major's many deep-sky wonders this evening © ESO; G. Beccari; Adam Block; Mount Lemmon SkyCenter; University of Arizona; Martin Rusterholz; Christos Doudoulakis Only ever skimming the southern horizon during the winter from the Northern Hemisphere, the constellation of Canis Major is rich with beautiful star clusters and, of course, that extraordinarily bright star Sirius. The star clusters vary in size and brightness; some are easy to resolve in even the smallest backyard telescope, while others will require a much larger aperture. The largest and brightest of the clusters, M41, can be seen in binoculars but a telescope will resolve many of the stars in the group.…

STARGAZER Celestron Astro Fi 130 Packed with the latest WiFi technology and new on the market, this reflector provides observing fun for the whole family “The Astro Fi employs a completely ‘handsfree’ experience without the need for a hand control” Telescope advice Cost: £409 (approx. $498) From: David Hinds Ltd Type: Newtonian reflector Aperture: 130mm (5.19”) Focal length: 650mm (25.59”) Best for... Beginner Medium budget Planetary viewing Lunar viewing Bright deep-sky objects Basic astrophotography Families The Astro Fi series of telescopes are the new scopes on the market, suitable for beginners and families keen on touring the night sky. The new series features the latest WiFi technology, which enables you to control any Astro Fi with your smartphone or tablet using the free Celestron SkyPortal. The Astro Fi 130 employs…