From Cassini: Closest Views of Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ Moon

FYI:
Some in 3D.
–Ben
————
Dear Friends and Colleagues,

After spending some quality time poring over the images and data Cassini collected
last month during its closest flyby yet of Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon, Mimas, we are
finally ready to release the goods. And they are outta sight!

After much deliberation, we have concluded: Mimas is NOT boring. Who knew?!

To see all our spectacular images, mosaics, thermal results and more, go to …

http://ciclops.org

… and check it out. You’ll see details in the moon’s craters that reminded us
imaging folks of features we’d seen on Phoebe and Hyperion. You’ll discover that
Mimas has a very peculiar thermal signature that we can’t yet explain. And best of
all … be sure you have a pair of red/green glasses handy ’cause you won’t want to
miss peering into gigantic Herschel crater in 3D!

Enjoy,

Carolyn Porco
Cassini Imaging Team Leader
Director, CICLOPS
Space Science Institute
Boulder, CO

http://ciclops.org

http://twitter.com/carolynporco

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carolyn-Porco/116163229386

The Sun Gets Active Again

St. Patrick's Day prominence. Image credit: Glen Ward

This is a solar image from St. Patrick’s Day sent in by one of our Slacker friends, Glen Ward. You can clearly see a solar prominence in profile here. A prominence is usually in the form of a large, bright loop extending outward from the Sun’s surface into the corona. A prominence forms in about a day, and stable prominences may persist in the corona for several months. A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest ever observed by SOHO was in 1997. It was an awesome 350,000 km long.

There is a lot we don’t know about the Sun. Scientists are currently researching how and why prominences are formed. NASA recently launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study the Sun in more detail than ever before. You can read more about the Sun and SDO in this Simostronomy blog.

Hunting the Edge of the Universe

In April, NOVA will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope with a two-hour special that examines how a simple instrument, the telescope, has fundamentally changed our understanding of our place in the universe. NOVA sent me an advance copy of this two part series to review and share with you.

The episodes will air on April 6 and 13. I recommend you watch them or set your DVR accordingly.

I especially appreciated they way the series presents the material chronologically, which shows how each successive genertion built on the discoveries of the telescopes of the previous generation. The production quality, narration and interviews were put together in a logical, seamless fashion. I particularly like when they say ‘novae’ and ‘supernovae’ instead of the dumbed down incorrect novas and supernovas that some documentaries resort to these days.

In a word it is first rate. It is mostly scientifically accurate and well presented. My only minor distraction was when they occasionally used planetary nebulae pictures to represent stellar explosions like supernovae. At least the narrator says nebulae, not nebulas, which isn’t even a word.

The synopsis from NOVA adequately describes the two episodes without my intervention, so here they are.

Hunting the Edge of Space: The Mystery of the Milky Way – April 6
Three centuries of engineering have produced telescopes far beyond Galileo’s simple spyglass. Perched on mountaintops, orbiting the Earth, and even circling other planets, these telescopes are revealing the solar system in detail Galileo could only dream of. The Milky Way brings viewers up close with today’s most powerful telescopes and embarks on a stunning journey to the planets and moons now being imaged as never before.

Hunting the Edge of Space: The Ever Expanding Universe – April 13
From the discovery that the Milky Way is just one galaxy among billions, to the stunning revelation that these galaxies are speeding away from each other faster every second, The Ever Expanding Universe investigates the universe’s distant past—and its future. Now, modern telescopes have added a mysterious new twist to the plot: The vast majority of the stuff of the universe is invisible, tied up in dark matter and dark energy. But what are these mysterious dark forces? A new generation of telescopes is embarking on a mission impossible to see the unseeable, and answer one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the cosmos.

I give it two thumbs up, even if my wife says I spoiled it all because I knew what was coming next and said it out loud before it happened. She doesn’t go to planetarium shows with me any more for the same reason. Don’t worry; I won’t be in your living room. Watch this…you’ll be glad you did.

This is your chance for your name to go to Mars!

This is your chance for your name to go to Mars!

Fill in your information below and your name will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011!

More at:
http://marsparticipate.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/

Amateur astronomers to shed light on solar storms

more armchair astronomy work for the internet masses.
–Ben

Amateur astronomers to shed light on solar storms

“…Becoming a solar storm tracker involves setting up a ‘Zooniverse account,’ logging into the Solar Stormwatch site at http://solarstormwatch.com and completing a short interactive training programme. Almost anyone can help the project says Dr Davis. “Many motivated individuals will always be able to scrutinise the data far more carefully than small dedicated science teams ever could. Contributing will enable more information to be gleaned from the data than would otherwise be possible.”

The site requires members to study video footage and photographs to identify past solar storms, described as big lightbulb-shaped explosions. Then they may be asked to look at data of real-time space-weather conditions. Dr Davis says, “the real-time data is less detailed but potentially provides a means of making true predictions about any solar storms heading towards Earth.” …

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1003/02solar/