Public Picks
'Dreamliner' as Name for Boeing's
7E7
LE BOURGET, France --
Dreamliner will be the name for Boeing's newest
airplane, the 7E7, officials announced this week at the
Paris Air Show. The name was selected from an online
ballot in which some 500,000 votes were cast from more
than 160 nations.
"The people of the world made
a great choice," said Rob Pollack, vice president of
Branding for Boeing Commercial Airplanes Marketing,
saying that Dreamliner "demonstrates how the airplane's
economics will enable more people around the world to
fulfill their dreams of traveling to new places,
experiencing new cultures and staying connected to one
another."
Dreamliner Click to
Enlarge
Among the four possibilities,
the three other choices were eLiner, Global Cruiser and
Stratoclimber. Voting took place at http://www.newairplane.com/
as part of a joint promotion between Boeing and AOL Time
Warner Inc.
Boeing is still developing
the overall features of the commercial airliner, which
is meant to be a mid-sized plane capable of competing
with jumbo jets in terms of speed and
economy.
In addition to naming the
airplane, 120,000 people around the world signed up to
join the World Design Team -- an internet-based global
forum to encourage participation and feedback while the
airplane is being developed.
"Since we design our
airplanes for the people who use them, it's only natural
to reach out to get their opinions," Pollack said. "We
will gather their ideas through online surveys and
provide updates on the progress of the new airplane as
the design of the exterior and interior
evolves."
Authority to offer the
airplane is expected in late 2003, with the first firm
offers being made to airlines in early 2004. Production
will begin in 2005. First flight is expected in 2007
with certification, delivery and entry into service
occurring in 2008.
June
16
China's First Human
Space Trek Set for Autumn
Chinese space officials
remain on schedule for the first piloted flight of that
nation's Shenzhou spacecraft. Chief designers and
mission directors say Shenzhou 5 will be launched in
autumn, reported the People's Daily last
week.
All is going well in readying
the spacecraft, a Long March booster, and astronauts
training for the voyage, despite the SARS epidemic that
has struck China hard. Also, space suits are at the
ready, including more than 20 kinds of China-made space
food.
China has a cadre of 14
fighter pilots in training to become astronauts. They
are reportedly all under 30 years of age, each with a
flying time of over 1000 hours. Shenzhou 5 crew size
remains unknown. The space ship is large enough to
support more than one person.
Earlier reports in the
People's Daily have noted that Shenzhou 5 will
carry fewer experiments and instruments than past
missions. Doing so will make a far roomier spacecraft
for those onboard.
Between 1999 into early 2003,
China conducted four unpiloted Shenzhou missions. Given
a successful Shenzhou 5 piloted trek, China becomes the
third nation after Russia in 1961 and the United States
in 1962 to have an independent capability of launching
humans into Earth orbit and returning them safely to
terra firma.
History of Flight
Fact: On this day
in 1963, Valentina
Tereshkova became the first women
in space. She orbited Earth 48 times aboard the
Soviet spacecraft Vostok 6.
June
15
History of Flight
Fact: On this day in 1921,
Bessie Coleman became the first
African-American woman to receive a Fédération
Aéronautic Internationale (FAI) pilot's
license.
June
13
Space Rock Impact Tied to
Mass Extinction 380 Million Years
Age
Debate
ebbs and flows from year-to-year over whether
asteroid and comet impacts have caused significant mass
extinctions on Earth. The only event most scientists
agree on is the one 65 million years
ago that caused or
contributed to the demise of dinosaurs. Even that
remains controversial, with some researchers claiming
that volcanic activity and other factors may have played
significant roles.
New research reported in the June 13 issue of the
journal Science indicates a space rock hit Earth
380 million years ago in what is now the Moroccan
desert.
The timing coincides with a mass extinction surmised
from previously uncovered evidence. Up to 40 percent of
marine animal genera disappeared, scientists say. At the
time, life was mostly aquatic. Interestingly, fossil
evidence suggests many new species appeared shortly
thereafter. Many scientists believe that impacts are not
only deadly but have played a crucial role in evolution
and the appearance of new sorts of plants and animals.
(Even the rise of dinosaurs has been
The new work, led by Brooks Ellwood of Louisiana
State University, found evidence for the impact in
mineral concentrations and rock deformations, among
other things.
"This impact is important because it is coincident
with a major global extinction event … suggesting a
possible cause-and-effect relation between the impact
and the extinction," the researchers write in the June
13 issue of the journal Science. [
Stars are commonly thought to
be round, but astronomers have long known this is never
quite true. Even Earth, owing to its rotation, bulges a
bit at the midsection.
New observations, however,
have detected the flattest star ever.
Spare
Tire Click to
Enlarge
The fast-spinning star is
about 50 percent wider at its equator than if measured
from pole to pole. The standard model of stellar
composition and rotation -- which assumes solid-body
rotation and a mass concentration at the center of the
star -- can't account for the extreme out-of-round
shape. Researchers said the finding presents "an
unprecedented challenge for theoretical
astrophysics."
The star, called Achernar, is
about six times more massive than the Sun. It sits 145
light-years away in the Southern Hemisphere
constellation Eridanus, the River.
The observations were led by
Armando Domiciano de Souza at the Laboratoire Univ.
d'Astrophysique de Nice in France, using the European
Southern Observatory's new VLT Interferometer at the
Paranal Observatory in Chile. The results will be
published in the journal Astronomy &
Astrophysics.
Mountain Peak in
Colorado Named in Memory of Columbia
Mission
To honor the memory of the
seven space shuttle Columbia astronauts, a 14,000-foot
mountain peak in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains
has been renamed Columbia Point.
Columbia Point is located on
the east side of Kit Carson Mountain. On the northwest
shoulder of the same mountain is Challenger Point, a
peak of the same height previously named in memory of
the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which
exploded soon after liftoff on January 28,
1986.
"The people of NASA and the
families of the Columbia crew are humbled and grateful
for this unique American honor that the Interior
Department has bestowed upon the crew of STS-107," NASA
Administrator O'Keefe said. "When people look upon these
mountains, they see the challenge of the American
frontier -- bold in vision, courageous in spirit and
endless in horizon. The crew of Columbia, like the
Challenger before her had these qualities at their core.
These mountains are a natural testament to their memory,
their spirit of exploration and will endure
forever."
Relatives of the Columbia
astronauts joined NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and
Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton at the naming
ceremony held at the U.S. Department of the Interior in
Washington D.C. on Tuesday, June 10 2003.
Space Rock Destroys
Siberian Forest, Again
As The Times of London put it, if the meteorite that
crashed through Earth's atmosphere last September were
aimed at central London, "Britain would no longer have a
capital city." But London was spared, as the space rock
was drawn to what could almost be called a hot spot for
asteroid strikes: Siberia.
The large object -- its size has yet to be pinned
down -- soared into a remote region of eastern Siberia
on Sept. 25, rattling windows and setting off flashes in
the sky seen by only a few. Ground tremors similar to
those of an earthquake were felt 60 miles away. The U.S.
Department of Defense tracked the incoming
object by
satellite.
Scientists later began a hunt for ground zero, but
weather and snow hampered the search.
The devastation has now been examined, the Interfax
news agency reported late last week. Trees were toppled
and burnt across some 40 square miles of forest. Pieces
of the meteorite have been found, and scientists expect
them to be valuable for studying the object's
composition.
Researchers speculate that this may be the largest
space rock to hit Earth since one in 1908, which fell,
ironically, in the Tunguska region of Siberia. As in
1908, however, it appears the 2002 rock exploded before
it hit the ground, scientists said. So while the event
had tremendous impact, technically speaking the rock did
not impact the Earth.
In 1996, astronomers were surprised to discover
X-rays coming from comet Hyakutake.
In the subsequent year or two, about a half-dozen other
comets were found to produce X-rays. Since comets are
cold, it was a mystery how they could emit X-rays, which
are generated from hot sources.
In 2000, observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray
Observatory, of a comet called Linear, showed that
X-rays were created when energetic particles called
ions, streaming away from the Sun, collided with
material in a comet's fuzzy, tenuous atmosphere. The
process is called charge exchange. But astronomers were
not sure it accounted for all the X-rays observed.
New lab tests led by physicist Peter Beiersdorfer at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory simulated charge
exchange and were found to match up with comet Linear's
emissions.
"Our measurement is the first to show that the entire
emission from comet Linear observed with Chandra can be
described by the charge-exchange model," Beiersdorfer
told SPACE.com.
He explained what happens: An ion from the solar wind
collides with a cometary gas atom or molecule and rips
off an electron. The ion acquires the electron and gives
off an X-ray. The collision reduces the speed of the ion
and gives a kick to the gas particle. The ion keeps
colliding with gas particles until its charged is
reduced to a certain level.
The results were published in the June 6 issue
of the journal Science.
Importantly, Beiersdorfer said, the X-rays will
differ depending on the gas involved. So future
observations of cometary X-rays will yield valuable
clues about their possible differing compositions. Such
observations should also shed more light on the solar
wind.
In an odd twist to climate change, researchers say
the world is getting greener, on average, due to
increases in sunlight, water or heat in places that
lacked one or more of these key growth factors.
Plants are flourishing in many places around the
globe.
Scientists do not know if the growth phases, logged
over 17 years, are due to short-term or long-term
climate changes, however, said Charles Keeling of the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Keeling is one of
several scientists involved in the study, which is
detailed in the June 13 issue of the journal
Science.
Getting
Greener Click to
Enlarge
The increases were noted between 1982 and 1999.
Overall productivity of land plants in select regions
improved by 6 percent. This map shows productivity
increases in green, with decreases -- there are fewer of
these -- in brown. The research cites specific factors
behind some of the regional changes during the period.
In the Amazon, skies grew less cloudy. In India, the
monsoon became more dependable.
The study was led by Ramakrishna Nemani of the
University of Montana and was funded by NASA and the
Department of Energy. The conclusions are based on
satellite observations of vegetation greenness, among
other factors.
History of Flight
Fact: On this day in 1965
astronaut Edward White became the first
American to "walk'' in space, during the flight of
Gemini 4. The event was in response to
the March, 1965 walk completed by Soviet cosmonaut
Alexei Leonov. White floated at the end
of a 25-foot (7.6 meter) golden tether, and
attempted to use a small "zip gun," powered by
compressed nitrogen, to propel himself through space.
The spacewalk
lasted 22 minutes.
June
5
Bush-Putin Push for Continued Space Station
Assembly
The White House has released a Joint Statement by
U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President
Vladimir VP Putin on U.S.-Russian Cooperation in
Space.
The June 1 White House communiqué underscores the
need for safe return to space shuttle flight.
Furthermore, the U.S.-Russian statement supports moving
forward on assembly of the International Space
Station.
The statement reads as follows:
"The loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia has
underscored the historic role of the United States and
Russia as partners in space exploration, who have
persevered despite tragedy and adversity. During this
challenging time, our partnership has deepened and the
International Space Station (ISS) program remains
strong. The extraordinary efforts of our countries
continue. The United States is committed to safely
returning the Space Shuttle to flight, and the Russian
Federation is committed to meeting the ISS crew
transport and logistics resupply requirements necessary
to maintain our joint American astronaut and Russian
cosmonaut teams on board the ISS until the Space Shuttle
returns to flight.
"We confirm our mutual aspiration to ensure the
continued assembly and viability of the International
Space Station as a world-class research facility,
relying on our unprecedented experience of bilateral and
multilateral interaction in space. We reaffirm our
commitment to the mission of human space flight and are
prepared to take energetic steps to enhance our
cooperation in the application of space technology and
techniques."
Chinese Navigation Satellite in
Position
China has successfully nudged a Beidou navigation and
positioning satellite into Earth-synchronous orbit over
the equator on June 3. The Xi'an Satellite Monitoring
Center, located in the capital of Northwest
China's Shaanxi Province, played a major role in
tracking and controlling the Beidou spacecraft.
The Beidou satellite was carried aloft by a Long
March 3A rocket launched from the Xichang launch center
in Sichuan on May 25.
As the third in a series of navigation satellites,
the new arrival completes a network that provides
all-weather navigation and positioning information
services.
China orbited the first two Beidou navigation
satellites on October 31 and December 21 of 2000,
respectively.
According the People's Daily news service, the
China-made system serves multiple purposes. It will play
an important role in economic matters, offering
efficient navigation and positioning services for the
sectors of transportation, meteorology, petroleum
production, forest fire prevention, disaster forecast,
telecommunications and public security.
Last month's Beidou launch represented the 70th
flight for China's Long March series of rockets and the
28th consecutive successful launch for the series since
October 1996, the People's Daily reported.
Doorstep Astronomy: Jupiter and Moon Converge
Tonight
The Moon and Jupiter will be near each other in
tonight's sky, providing casual skywatchers with a
chance to easily find the planet by using the Moon as a
guide.
Jupiter is the brightest point of light in the night
sky. Binoculars or a small telescope can reveal up to
four points of light near the planet, all lined up.
Those are the Galilean moons. Moderate-sized
telescopes afford a look at Jupiter's colorful cloud
belts.
Moon
and Jupiter Click to
Enlarge
Earth's Moon is now a thin crescent. It is waxing
toward the full phase, due June 14. The Moon is always
an easy target, with or without optical aids.
Binoculars or a small telescope allow endless
exploration of the satellite's many craters.
This map shows the pair as of 9:30 p.m. from
mid-northern latitudes.
History of Flight
Fact: On this day in
1930, Lt. Apollo Soucek,
flying a Wright Apache, open
cockpit landplane, set a new world altitude record of
43,166 ft. Thirty four years later, in 1974, Lt.
Col. Sally Murphy becomes the first woman to
qualify as an U.S. Army pilot.
June
3
History of Flight Fact: On this day
in 1965
Gemini IV was launched on a mission that would
include the first U.S. spacewalk
performed by astronaut Ed White.
June
2
Mars Goes Looney
Tunes
Popular cartoon characters, Marvin The Martian and
Daffy Duck will be showcased on official 1st Space
Launch Squadron patches for the two upcoming NASA Mars
Exploration Rover Missions slated for blastoff this
month.
The rovers are to be hurled toward Mars courtesy of
Boeing-built Delta boosters.
You're dith-picable!! Oh
my. Click to
Enlarge
The special patches will act as the defining logo, to
be worn by Team Delta crews, comprising members from
NASA, the United States Air Force, and Boeing.
Additionally, the characters get a place of honor in a
mission control booth, at an Air Force launch pad, and
on crew suits, jackets and mugs.
Representatives from the Air Force working with
Warner Bros. Consumer Products created the official
patch designs for both the MER-A and MER-B missions, one
patch featuring Marvin The Martian saluting the Mars
Rover and the other, Daffy Duck posed proudly with the
American flag.
The first rover is slated for dispatch from Florida's
Space Coast no earlier than June 8. The second rover is
to roar skyward on June 25.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is looking for a few
good men and women -- again.
The nation's space agency is gearing up for its
every-two-years-or-so ritual of finding the best, the
brightest and perhaps the most daring to become career
astronauts. Or put more formally: NASA is accepting
applications for mission specialist and pilot astronaut
candidates to join the 2004 Astronaut Candidate Class.
According to the NASA statement announcing the job
availability: "Typically, successful applicants for the
mission specialist astronaut positions have significant
qualifications in engineering or science, while pilot
candidates must have extensive experience flying
high-performance jet aircraft."
Historically speaking, candidates who are selected
and then hope to fly in space some day must also be able
to successfully play an intense Survivor-style game of
office politics -- as astronaut memoir after memoir has
repeated.
NASA will spend about six months evaluating the
applications and conducting a series of interviews
before expecting to announce the new class of astronauts
early in 2004. Those selected will report for duty in
Houston during the summer of 2004 and begin a basic
training program that will lead to their promotion as
full astronauts awaiting a flight assignment.
This particular class will be joined by two to four
teachers who will have been selected as part of the
Educator Astronaut program. The deadline to be
considered for that selection process passed on April
30.
History of Flight Fact: On this day
in 1966 the
spacecraft Surveyor 1 became
the the first U.S. soft
landing on the Moon.
June 1
History of Flight Fact: On this day
in 1937, Amelia Earhart
began her world flight attempt in a Lockheed
Electra airplane.
May
30
Japan Creates New Space Agency:
JAXA
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is to
be born on October 1, 2003 merging the Institute of
Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), National
Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), and National Space
Development Agency of Japan (NASDA).
The creation of JAXA represents a new chapter in
Japanese aerospace development.
President Shuichiro Yamanouchi of NASDA is to become
the first chief of JAXA. The entity is one of the
largest-scaled domestic independent administrative
corporations and be the leading aerospace agency of
Japan.
Melding Japan's current three aeronautical and space
agencies has a purpose.
Individually, ISAS is for space and planetary
research, while the NAL focuses on next generation
aviation and space research and development. NASDA has
concentrated on the development of large-size rockets,
such as H-IIA booster, satellites and the space
station.
By merging those three organizations, JAXA can
perform basic research and development through
utilization under one organizational roof.
Astronauts Memorial Foundation to Add
Columbia Names to Monument
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Astronauts Memorial
Foundation (AMF) is raising money to pay for the
addition of the STS-107 Columbia astronauts' names to
the Space Mirror, the official national monument for
fallen space heroes that is located at the Kennedy Space
Center.
The black granite memorial now has the names of 17
astronauts who have died in the line of duty. Each name
is carved out of the reflective granite and lit from
behind so that to the observer it appears as though the
names are hovering in the sky.
The Space Mirror was dedicated in 1991 and stands
42.5 feet (13 meters) high and 50 feet (15.2 meters)
wide. Its home is on the grounds of the Kennedy Space
Center Visitor Complex.
A ceremony to unveil the addition of Columbia's final
crew to the Space Mirror is targeted for this Fall.
Former astronaut Robert Crippen is chairing the
fundraising effort.
AMF was established by Central Florida community
leaders following the 1986 Challenger disaster. In
addition to the monument, the AMF opened in 1994 a
"living memorial" to the astronauts, namely the Center
for Space Education which is located near the Space
Mirror.
To make a tax-deductible donation directly to the
non-profit AMF, visit the organization's Web site
athttp://www.amfcse.org.
May
29
Mega-Moon Resort Update
The effort to build MOON -- a theme resort hotel to
be built in Las
Vegas, Nevada -- has taken a step forward.
Toronto-based designer Johnson Chou has joined the
effort to help shape the proposed $5 billion dollar, 5
Star, 5 Diamond, 350 acre, 10,000 room all suite, resort
complex.
Entrepreneur Michael R. Henderson, creator of MOON,
said Johnson and his design team will keep the timetable
for building the resort on a fast track. In addition, an
architectural and structural engineering group will soon
be appointed, he said.
"Moon has the potential to be one of the few
spectacular architectural sites of our time that can
engage the public's imagination and interest to a
near-mythic level," Johnson told SPACE.com.
"Unfortunately, it also has the potential and ease to be
squandered on an equally spectacular level. The key to
MOON's success will be that ineffable empathy for
authenticity, that MOON will not debase itself to be a
trite or "Disneyfied" interpretation of our celestial
neighbor," the designer explained.
Johnson said that he and his team see MOON to be a
serious, informed dissertation on the quality of life
and inhabitation in our near and distant future. "It
will be a site where the envelope of architecture and
design are realized at its zenith, serving as exemplars
of structures that are truly unique and inspirational
and will be for generations to come," he said.
The space-oriented MOON resort, when complete,
promises to house up to ten permanent live shows
encompassing all the worlds' diverse cultures. Guests
will in essence be able to circle the globe of
entertainment. A television production studio is also
planned for moviemakers and television producers to take
advantage of Moon's unique design features. In addition
the resort will be able to broadcast live television
specials and major sporting events from its own
satellite facilities to all the major global
networks.
Time will tell if MOON craters early…or becomes
reality by taking one small step on a shovel at
groundbreaking ceremonies.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) delayed Rosetta
mission to a comet is back on track.
During its meeting on May 13-14, ESA's Science
Program Committee decided Rosetta should be sent to
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Rosetta was originally designed as a long haul
mission to encounter Comet Wirtanen in 2011.
But a December 11, 2002 failure of a souped-up
version of the Ariane 5 launcher -- using hardware
common to a standard-version Ariane 5 that would shove
Rosetta into space -- caused a major review of the
booster.
A special review board was established to advise on
the launch of Rosetta, given the Ariane 5 booster
problems. That board's findings prompted the rocket's
operator, Arianespace, and ESA to postpone Rosetta's
departure. The result: Rosetta's launch was left in
limbo.
ESA has now come to grips with the Rosetta mission.
The decision has been made to send the comet probe
spaceward to reconnoiter Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Blastoff aboard an Ariane 4 G-plus rocket is now set for
February 2004 from Kourou, French Guiana.
Rendezvous with the new target comet is expected in
November 2014.
Busy minds. Busy hands. A NASA contractor has been
indicted for using his talents to build and distribute
hardware that illegally accesses DirecTV satellite
signals.
NASA's Office of Inspector General stated May 27 that
a computer technician with United Space Alliance (USA)
-- a contractor at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas -- along with four others were indicted
by a Texas Grand Jury for manufacturing and distributing
devices to hack DirecTV's satellite signal.
The USA employee operated a privately owned
Internet-based business called Digital Smartcard
Solutions.
DirecTV officials reported to the NASA Office of
Inspector General that they had traced unauthorized
access to their networks from a NASA computer network.
Federal search warrants were executed at the alleged
perpetrator's residences in Houston, Texas; Urbana,
Illinois; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
During these searches, agents seized electronic
equipment, manufacturing tools, and thousands of hacking
devices in various stages of assembly. The manufacture
or delivery of devices used to illegally intercept a
satellite signal is a violation of federal and state
statutes.
If convicted in a District Court in Texas, each
defendant faces a maximum penalty of two to ten years of
imprisonment.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced today John
Schumacher would be appointed the agency Chief of Staff.
Schumacher had served as NASA's Assistant Administrator
for External Relations since June 1995. He replaces
Courtney Stadd, who is returning to the private sector
in July.
"John brings invaluable experience and perspective to
the job. He is well versed in NASA programs, familiar
with our many national and international commitments,
and a proven resource manager. His ability to
simultaneously direct or manage numerous initiatives
will benefit all of us at NASA Headquarters,"
Administrator O'Keefe said in a written statement.
O'Keefe praised Stadd's dedication and loyalty to
both the President and NASA. "Courtney has been a
faithful public servant and a creative leader who knows
how to motivate people and get things done," O'Keefe
said. "He knows the aerospace industry, he knows NASA,
and he knows how to articulate and carry forward the
agency's goals and objectives."
"I've been very honored to serve the President and my
colleagues at NASA. Working at NASA, which I regard as
one of the most dynamic and exciting agencies in the
federal government, has truly been the dream of a
lifetime," Stadd said in a written statement. "On top of
that, I had the privilege to work for an Administrator
who cares deeply about effective management and the
welfare of the workforce. But I feel it's time to move
on to new challenges and new opportunities."
Assistant Administrator for External Relations since
1991, Schumacher was responsible for NASA's interaction
with Executive Branch offices and agencies;
international relations; administration of
export/international technology transfer control;
history office, advisory councils and commissions.
Schumacher joined NASA in June of 1989, and served as
Advisor to the Administrator until being promoted in
January 1991.
New Hubble: Puzzling Nebula is Way Out of
Round
Gravity is good at making things round. Planets,
moons, stars and even giant gas clouds tend toward the
spherical because gravity wants them that way.
But not the Red Rectangle, an odd amalgam of gas and
dust ejected by a dying star. The protoplanetary nebula,
as it's called, was photographed by the Hubble Space
Telescope. Raghvendra Sahai of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory showed the image off here this week at a
meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Sahai doesn't know for sure why the Red Rectangle,
officially named HD 44179, is not round. But there are
new clues in the new photo.
Red
Rectangle Click to
Enlarge
Very fast outflows of material, in narrow jets,
appear to be behind the strange shapes, Sahai said. They
move at 40 miles per second (65 kilometers per second).
In this image, the jets are just a few years old,
providing an opportunity to examine the process more
thoroughly than ever. It's also likely that a second
star orbits the primary star evident at the center of
the nebula, and that might have something to do with the
jets' behavior and the nebula's shape.
Protoplanetary nebulae represent a late stage of
evolution for stars like our Sun, which swell to become
red giants. The Red Rectangle is destined to evolve into
a planetary nebula. Such objects have nothing to do with
planets, but to early astronomers they looked a bit like
the smudges on the sky that our solar system's outer
planets presented in a telescope.
Pretty New Picture of Exploding Star and the Stuff of
Life
NASHVILLE -- A new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray
Observatory captures a star in the process of exploding,
tossing newly forged ingredients that are crucial to
life out into a nearby galaxy.
Astronomers have long known that oxygen and other
elements necessary for life are forged in supernova,
stars that explode at the ends of their lives. Few have
been found to have as much oxygen as this one, called
SNR 0103-72.6, said Sangwook Park of Penn State
University.
Exploding Star Click to
Enlarge
"This supernova remnant will become a laboratory for
studying how stars forge the elements necessary for
life," Park said here this week at a meeting of the
American Astronomical Society.
The object is about 190,000 years away in a satellite
galaxy of the Milky Way known as the Small Magellanic
Cloud. A ring of material around the oxygen-rich cloud
is about 150 light-years in diameter. The ring is
produced as material ejected by the supernova slams into
the interstellar medium. Park said the star that
exploded was probably at least 10 times as massive as
the Sun.
NASHVILLE -- Astronomy is typically about power. Get
the biggest telescope you can, look as far away as
possible, and record the all the available photons. But
in a developing worldwide project to observe the entire
night sky, astronomers are only interested in
photographing what the human eye can see.
The project, called Night Sky Live, recently set up
small autonomous observatories in the Southern
Hemisphere to compliment others in the north. These
"observatories in a box," as they're called, are now in
Hawaii, Arizona, Florida, Chile, the Canary Islands,
Australia, and South Africa. The campaign can now
photograph almost the entire cosmos, or at least
anything bright enough to be easily seen.
CONCAM
catches meteor Click to
Enlarge
Each CONCAM (CONtinuous Camera) uses a fish-eye lens
to see horizon to horizon.
"Our cameras see essentially what the human eye can
see, but they look all night long, and from all over the
world," Robert Nemiroff, an astrophysicist at Michigan
Technological University and NASA, told astronomers here
today at a meeting of the American Astronomical
Society.
The images, which sometimes reveal things like
shooting stars that would otherwise not be recorded, are
posted on the Web for anyone to see, at http://concam.net.
History of Flight Fact: On this day
in 1911 France's Jules Vedrines
is the only competitor to finish the
cross-country race from Paris to
Madrid.
May
25
History of Flight Fact:
On this day in
1910 Orville and Wilbur Wright
made a short flight at Huffman Field, Dayton, Ohio. It
was the only time the Wright Brothers actually flew in
the air together. In 1927 ,
barnstormers got to add another trick to their
repertoire when Lt. James H. Doolittle completed
the first ever "outside loop" in an
airplane.
Forty-five years later, in 1972, NASA research
pilot Gary Krier flew the very first
Digital-Fly-By-Wire Control System . Installed in
a modified F-8C, the aircraft used electrical and
mechanical systems to replace hydraulic systems for
aircraft control surface actuation. Today widely
used by commercial airliners, the Digital-Fly-By-Wire
Control System allows for better maneuver control,
smoother rides, and for military aircraft, a higher
combat survivability.
And on this date in 1975, the first-ever U.S.
space station mission, Skylab 2, began with
astronauts Pete Conrad, Joe Kerwin, and
Paul Weitz.
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 for MER-A and Daffy Duck (right) for MER-B. CREDIT: © Warner Bros.)
 of this nebula.)
