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Showing posts from November, 2016

ExoMars

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ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) is a two-part Martian astrobiology project to search for evidence of life on Mars , a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian space agency Roscosmos . The first part, launched in 2016, placed a trace gas research and communication satellite into Mars orbit and released a stationary experimental lander (which crashed). The second part is planned to launch in 2020, and to land a rover on the surface, supporting a science mission that is expected to last into 2022 or beyond. [1] [2] [3] ExoMars goals are to search for signs of past and present life on Mars , [4] investigate how the Martian water and geochemical environment varies, investigate atmospheric trace gases and their sources and by doing so demonstrate the technologies for a future Mars sample return mission. [5] The mission will search for biosignatures of Martian life, past or present, employing several spacecraft elements to be sent to Mars on two launches.

Calling Earth - Fiona Joy

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Fiona Joy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP81wRBotTg&feature=youtu.be

JPL/Cal Tech Science Talks

Such As: Special Astrophysics Seminar Using HST/STIS data to Model High-Velocity Bullets from a Dying Star Presented by Samantha Scibelli Stony Brook University Friday, December 18, 2015 11:00 A.M. in 169-336 Abstract The carbon star V Hydrae (V Hya) experiences heavy mass loss as it transitions from an AGB star to a bipolar pre-planetary nebula. Although extensive observational and theoretical studies have been done, the nature of the launching mechanism for these jet-like outflows remain

Juno Mission

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Juno is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter . It was built by Lockheed Martin and is operated by NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory . The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 ( UTC ), as part of the New Frontiers program , [6] and entered a polar orbit of Jupiter on July 5, 2016 (UTC), [4] [7] to begin a 20-month scientific investigation of the planet. [8] After completing its mission, Juno will be intentionally deorbited into Jupiter's atmosphere. [8] Juno 's mission is to measure Jupiter's composition, gravity field , magnetic field , and polar magnetosphere . It will also search for clues about how the planet formed, including whether it has a rocky core, the amount of water present within the deep atmosphere, mass distribution , and its deep winds, which can reach speeds of 618 kilometers per hour (384 mph). [9]      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)   http://spaceflight101.com/juno

GAIA

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Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the process revealing the composition, formation and evolution of the Galaxy. Gaia will provide unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group. This amounts to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar population. http://sci.esa.int/gaia/   Portal  

Spectroscopy

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Spectroscopy / s p ɛ k ˈ t r ɒ s k ə p i / is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation . [1] [2] Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength , by a prism . Later the concept was expanded greatly to include any interaction with radiative energy as a function of its wavelength or frequency . Spectroscopic data is often represented by an emission spectrum , a plot of the response of interest as a function of wavelength or frequency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy   Portal   Astronomical Spectroscopy  

Star Catalogs

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A star catalogue ( Commonwealth English ) or star catalog ( American English ), is an astronomical catalogue that lists stars . In astronomy , many stars are referred to simply by catalogue numbers. There are a great many different star catalogues which have been produced for different purposes over the years, and this article covers only some of the more frequently quoted ones. Star catalogues were compiled by many different ancient peoples, including the Babylonians , Greeks , Chinese , Persians , and Arabs . Most modern catalogues are available in electronic format and can be freely downloaded from space agencies data center. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_catalogue   Portal  

SN 1987A (Supernova)

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SN 1987A was a supernova in the outskirts of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (a nearby dwarf galaxy ). It occurred approximately 51.4 kiloparsecs from Earth , approximately 168,000 light-years , [3] close enough that it was visible to the naked eye . It could be seen from the Southern Hemisphere. It was the closest observed supernova since SN 1604 , which occurred in the Milky Way itself. The light from the new supernova reached Earth on February 23, 1987. [5] As it was the first supernova discovered in 1987, it was labeled “1987A”. Its brightness peaked in May with an apparent magnitude of about 3 and slowly declined in the following months. It was the first opportunity for modern astronomers to study the development of a supernova in detail, and observations have provided much insight into core-collapse supernovae . Of special importance, SN1987A provided the first chance to confirm by direct observation the radioactive source of the energy for visible

Redshift

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One of the most important concepts in Astronomy/AstroPhysics: In physics , redshift happens when light or other electromagnetic radiation from an object is increased in wavelength , or shifted to the red end of the spectrum . In general, whether or not the radiation is within the visible spectrum , "redder" means an increase in wavelength – equivalent to a lower frequency and a lower photon energy, in accordance with, respectively, the wave and quantum theories of light. Some redshifts are an example of the Doppler effect , familiar in the change of apparent pitches of sirens and frequency of the sound waves emitted by speeding vehicles. A redshift occurs whenever a light source moves away from an observer. A special instance of this is the cosmological redshift, which is due to the expansion of the universe , and sufficiently distant light sources (generally more than a few million light years away) show redshift corresponding to the rate of increase in thei

Io

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Io ( pronunciation: / ˈ aɪ . oʊ / [7] ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter . It is the fourth-largest moon , has the highest density of all the moons, and has the least amount of relative water of any known object in the Solar System . It was discovered in 1610 and was named after the mythological character Io , a priestess of Hera who became one of Zeus 's lovers. With over 400 active volcanoes , Io is the most geologically active object in the Solar System. [8] [9] This extreme geologic activity is the result of tidal heating from friction generated within Io's interior as it is pulled between Jupiter and the other Galilean satellites— Europa , Ganymede and Callisto . Several volcanoes produce plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide that climb as high as 500 km (300 mi) above the surface. Io's surface is also dotted with more than 100 mountains that have been uplifted by extensive compression at the base of Io's silicate crust.

Linda A. Morabito

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Linda A. Morabito (born November 21, 1953), also known as Linda Kelly, Linda Hyder, and Linda Morabito-Meyer, is the astronomer who made the discovery of volcanic activity on Io , a moon of Jupiter, on March 9, 1979, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory . At the time of her discovery, she was serving as Cognizant Engineer over the Optical Navigation Image Processing System (ONIPS) on the Voyager deep space mission Navigation Team. While performing image processing analysis of a Voyager 1 picture taken for spacecraft navigation, she detected a 270 kilometres (170 mi) tall cloud off the limb of Io. The cloud was of volcanic origin. [1] This was the first time in history that active volcanism was detected outside Earth. Her discovery is considered by some planetary scientists as the largest discovery of the planetary exploration program that has come out of Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Morabito is currently an associate professor of astronomy at Victor Valley College . L

Lisa Randall

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Lisa Randall (born June 18, 1962) is an American theoretical physicist and an expert on particle physics and cosmology . She is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science on the physics faculty of Harvard University . [1] Her research includes elementary particles and fundamental forces and she has developed and studied a wide variety of models, the most recent involving extra dimensions of space. She has advanced the understanding and testing of the Standard Model , supersymmetry , possible solutions to the hierarchy problem concerning the relative weakness of gravity, cosmology of extra dimensions, baryogenesis , cosmological inflation , and dark matter . [2] Her best-known contribution is the Randall–Sundrum model , first published in 1999 with Raman Sundrum . [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Randall   Portal  

Karin Oberg

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Karin Ingegerd Öberg (born August 27, 1982) is a Swedish astrochemist . [1] She is an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University and leader of the Öberg Astrochemistry Group at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics . [2] She is best known for her work studying star formation , planet formation , and stellar evolution in relation to organic molecules , which are necessary to determine the origins of life on Earth and elsewhere. [3] [4] In April 2015, Öberg's group discovered the first complex organic molecule in a protoplanetary disk. [2] [5] [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_%C3%96berg   Portal   https://video.ias.edu/jointastro/2016/1101-KarinOberg  

Introduction To The Local Group

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OUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE: ZOOMING INTO THE LOCAL GROUP Most of this course will focus on the Local Group. Let's place the Local Group within its context in the local Universe. We have seen that CDM models of the universe predict a "soap-sudsy" universe, with matter concentrated into strands. What do we actually observe http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/ASTR5610/lectures/LECTURE1B/lec1b.html    Stickman

Great Attractor

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The Great Attractor is a gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space within the vicinity of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster at the centre of the Laniakea Supercluster that reveals the existence of a localised concentration of mass tens of thousands of times more massive than the Milky Way . This mass is observable by its effect on the motion of galaxies and their associated clusters over a region hundreds of millions of light-years across. The Great Attractor is moving towards the Shapley Supercluster . [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor   Portal  

Sloan Great Wall

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The Sloan Great Wall (SGW) is a cosmic structure formed by a giant wall of galaxies (a galaxy filament ). Its discovery was announced from Princeton University on October 20, 2003, by J. Richard Gott III , Mario Jurić , and their colleagues, based on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey . [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloan_Great_Wall   Portal