tagged w/ Hubble Telescope
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CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) — In an unprecedented step, a space shuttle was moved to the launch pad Friday for a trip NASA hopes it will never make — a rescue mission.
The shuttle Endeavour is on standby in case the seven astronauts who go up on Atlantis next month need a safer ride home.
RELATED: Hubble mission may be delayed again
Atlantis and its crew are headed into space for one last repair job on the 18-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. It's a venture that was canceled when first proposed a few years ago because it was considered too dangerous.
The risk is this: If Atlantis suffers serious damage during launch or in flight, the astronauts will not be at the international space station, where they could take refuge for weeks while awaiting a ride home. They would be stranded on their spacecraft at the Hubble, where NASA estimates they could stay alive for 25 days. Air would be the first to go.CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) — In an unprecedented step, a space shuttle was moved to the... more
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brad62
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added this
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3 years ago
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The shuttle that will carry astronauts into space next month to repair the Hubble Space Telescope faces a greater risk than usual of a catastrophic collision with space debris, NASA officials said Monday.
The risk of a fatal accident exceeds a NASA safety standard. As a result, NASA chief Michael Griffin will be involved in the final decision to launch, which is scheduled for Oct. 10, said shuttle program manager John Shannon. The shuttle that will carry astronauts into space next month to repair the Hubble... more
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The cosmic collision of two galaxy clusters has given astronomers a clearer look at the mysterious substance known as dark matter. Researchers say when the two clusters crashed into each other, the dark matter from each cluster [appeared] to pass through the cosmic mess unscathed, leaving ordinary matter behind in the galactic pileup [SPACE.com]. Using data from NASA’s Hubble and Chandra space telescopes, astronomers were able to produce an image showing clouds of dark matter, colored blue, on either side of the impact site.
Dark matter, mysterious stuff that exerts a gravitational force on other matter, was originally proposed to explain what holds spinning galaxies, like the Milky Way, together. Observations suggest it outweighs ordinary matter by a factor of about 6 to 1. But no one knows what it is made of, and normally dark matter and ordinary matter are too well mixed to observe the dark matter independently [New Scientist].
The new study, which will be published in a future issue of the Astrophysical Journal [subscription required], suggests that the galaxy clusters collectively known as MACS J0025 were moving at a speed of millions of miles per hour when they collided. In the melee, hot gas from each cluster collided and slowed down, but the dark matter did not. That separation provides evidence to support the view that dark-matter particles interact with each other only very weakly or not at all, apart from the pull of gravity [MSNBC].
While researchers can use the new data to study how dark matter interacts, it won’t give them any insight into the substance’s composition, which looms as one of the biggest unanswered questions in astrophysics. Some scientists have hypothesized that dark matter is composed of exotic subatomic particles that they call weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), but these oddities have never yet been detected.
The cosmic collision of two galaxy clusters has given astronomers a clearer look at... more
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Discovery-News.com: NASA hopes the Solar Dynamic Observatory will turn its scientists into space weathermen. Discovery Channel’s Dave Mosher and Jorge Ribas learn more about the satellite that’s set to launch in December.Discovery-News.com: NASA hopes the Solar Dynamic Observatory will turn its scientists... more
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Hanny van Arkel was poring over photos of galaxies on the Internet in August 2007 when she stumbled across a strange object in the night sky: a bright, gaseous mass with a gaping hole in its middle. read more... Hanny van Arkel was poring over photos of galaxies on the Internet in August 2007... more
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Hubble, without a doubt the most spectacular digital camera in the solar system, has completed its 100,000th orbit. To celebrate, scientists pointed the telescope to NGC 2074, a spectacular star birthplace 170,000 light-years away, right next to the Tarantula nebulaHubble, without a doubt the most spectacular digital camera in the solar system, has... more
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Discovery-News.com: The Wide Field Camera 3 will let Hubble look deeper into space and further back in time than ever before. Dave Mosher gets the details on the telescope’s newest eyes. Jorge Ribas produces.Discovery-News.com: The Wide Field Camera 3 will let Hubble look deeper into space and... more
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GREENBELT, MD. -- This month, 24,000 pounds of what may be the most thoroughly tested and closely inspected hardware on Earth is being delivered to Cape Canaveral, Fla.
After it arrives, the one-of-a kind camera and spectrograph, which has been stored at the Goddard Space Flight Center, will be inspected once more, loaded onto the space shuttle Atlantis and launched into orbit 350 miles above Earth.
Together, the improvements should give Hubble unprecedented capabilities to shed light on how galaxies form, how stars are born and die, the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, and the architecture of the universe itself, NASA says.GREENBELT, MD. -- This month, 24,000 pounds of what may be the most thoroughly tested... more
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Cosmic Ribbons!
From the report...
"Medieval skywatchers got to see a star explode, but modern-day astronomy buffs get all the pretty pictures of its ghostly remains.
Hubble has captured a close-up of the remnant of a supernova that exploded in the Milky Way over 8000 years ago, and whose light reached Earth on 1 May 1006. The explosion is one of the brightest in recorded history and was visible with the naked eye.
The delicate-looking remnant is actually part of a shock wave from the stellar explosion. The roiling remains are still expanding, moving at a clip of about 10 million kilometres per hour.
Hubble's image is mostly a composite made from the visible light emitted by hydrogen atoms in the remnant.
Bright parts of the twisting ribbon are places where the shock wave from the explosion lies edge-on with our line of sight.
The remains of the supernova are faint in visible light, but astronomers have produced stunning images in the X-ray part of the spectrum.
View a gallery of other shimmering supernova remnants (move your mouse over the images to read the captions)."Cosmic Ribbons!
From the report...
"Medieval skywatchers got to see a... more
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Yes, that picture above is a genuine picture of the Universe as a near whole compiled by astronomers data, pictures from Hubble and other data. Its like you were looking at it from yet another Universe, or from trillions of light years away.
Its been described as "bubbles within bubbles", "foam". I look at it and see some mystical, philosophical and religious symbolism.
To me, the Universe picture here is intertwined and connected in some way. One end of the Universe has a connection to the farthest end and so on.
I see butterflies, the true spirit of freedom and metamorphosis within us all. Everything is energy and energy is merely changed into something else when it dies, is burned or destroyed some how. We are made from atoms of stars and other suns and those atoms will move on after our bodies move on. We will all undergo a metamorphosis!
Each circle representing the 'foreverness', the never ending cycle of life. Eternity. Our atoms will live way beyond our physical life and be part of something else. Our conscious is made up of energy, energy that never dies. Our conscious will live on in another dimension, possibly a better one than this one, or a worse one...depending on the life you lived here.
I also see "Trinities" of circles. Three circles that stand out among the others in various areas. Life is also a trinity. We are born to live, we die and we are all transformed.
I see flowers, flowers that bloom in the spring to make the world we live in more colorful and more beautiful. Flowers mixed with the Butterflies!
Most of all, I see in this picture of the Universe, this picture of "Everything"...I see unity, harmony, and a design that could only be constructed by someone who is full of love. This Higher Power put this here for us to see, for if we were not here to see the Universe, would the Universe exists considering we are part of this grand scheme?
If we are supposed to have been created by a Creator that made us in His own image, then who are these people on this planet that love war, love hate, love lies, loves money? I believe they too have the power to love love and to bring peace in the world. They only need to get beyond the greed and hunger for power to become part of the whole.
When you read this linked article, you will see what man has done to try to explain our Universe, try to come up with a "Theory for Everything" in one breath. It's actually alot simpler than it looks. The theory for everything is that, well, we are everything!
I propose a birthday anniversary for the Universe. A yearly anniversary that celebrates the fact that we are all connected and are all the same. And that Love built this house we all live in.
Happy Birthday Universe!
peace,
louieYes, that picture above is a genuine picture of the Universe as a near whole compiled... more
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Maybe there is more than one way to look for peace in the Universe from here on earth. Now, thanks to the people at Microsoft Research, you can do exactly that and more. WorldWide Telescope is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.
And, its free to download for a trial run. Link is in the yahoo news story. But you need to hurry, earth is running out of natural resources, gas is going to be 100 dollars a gallon, corporations wants to take over the world and make everyone live in poverty and some people just don't give a hoot! So, hurry before this offer-or world expires!!!!Maybe there is more than one way to look for peace in the Universe from here on earth.... more
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Hubble precisely measured the age of the universe. It found evidence of dark energy. It brought you images of distant galaxies in the young universe. And now, with the state-of-the-art instruments delivered by Servicing Mission 4 (SM4), the Hubble Space Telescope will look onto the universe with new eyes, surpassing even its previous vision.
Hubble was designed to be repaired and upgraded by astronauts, and these servicing missions have occurred several times since Hubble’s launch in 1990. NASA has selected a crew for the upcoming servicing, and the astronauts are currently training. The mission is scheduled for August 28, 2008.
Veteran astronaut Scott D. Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to Hubble. Navy Reserve Capt. Gregory C. Johnson will serve as pilot. Mission specialists include veteran spacewalkers John M. Grunsfeld and Michael J. Massimino, and first-time space fliers Andrew J. Feustel, Michael T. Good and K. Megan McArthur. Grunsfeld, Massimino and Altman have visited Hubble on previous servicing missions.
SM4 has an ambitious program of activities and three main objectives.
The first objective is to extend Hubble's operational life by at least five years. Over a series of five spacewalks, astronauts will replace all six gyroscopes, install new batteries, and exchange a degraded Fine Guidance Sensor with a new one. They will also install replacement thermal insulation on critical component bays of the telescope, and attach a mechanism that will aid in Hubble's final de-orbiting.
The second objective is to enhance Hubble's scientific power. Astronauts will install two new instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). WFC3, which sees in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light, will improve Hubble's sensitivity 10-30 times because of improvements in technology and design that have occurred since the last instruments were installed.
COS, Hubble's new spectrograph, will improve Hubble's sensitivity at least 10 times. Spectrographs are instruments that break light into its component colors, revealing information about the object emitting the light. COS sees ultraviolet light, which is particularly important because most of the ultraviolet light from space is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, making ground-based telescope observations impossible.
The third objective is to repair Hubble's out-of-commission instruments, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). STIS stopped working in 2004 and ACS failed in 2007.
ACS is Hubble's most prominent camera. Its wide field of view and ability to see in wavelengths from ultraviolet to visible light allows it to conduct broad surveys of the universe, study the nature and distribution of galaxies, and examine some of the universe's earliest activity. ACS was responsible for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field Image, NASA's deepest view of the cosmos.
STIS is a spectrograph. It separates light into its component colors, allowing scientists to examine the object's temperature, chemical composition, density and motion. STIS can see in ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared and has been used to examine black holes, quasars and planets.
If these objectives can be successfully carried out during the servicing mission, then Hubble will be at the apex of its scientific capability, with six working, complementary science instruments. These upgrades will keep Hubble functioning at the pinnacle of astronomy well into the next decade.
Hubble precisely measured the age of the universe. It found evidence of dark energy.... more
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HubbleSite is the home of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the renowned orbiting telescope whose discoveries have forever altered our knowledge of the universe.
Hubble news, images, telescope facts and fun, astronomy 101, and more.HubbleSite is the home of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the renowned orbiting... more
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Images of colliding galaxies show them spinning, sliding and slipping into one another, wreaking stellar destruction that will give birth to new and larger galaxies.
The Maryland-based Space Telescope Science Institute released 59 new images from the Hubble Space Telescope on Thursday to celebrate the 18th anniversary of its launch.
"This new Hubble atlas dramatically illustrates how galaxy collisions produce a remarkable variety of intricate structures in never-before-seen detail," the Institute said in a statement.
"Astronomers observe only one out of a million galaxies in the nearby universe in the act of colliding. However, galaxy mergers were much more common long ago when they were closer together, because the expanding universe was smaller."
The color images, available online here http://hubblesite.org/news/2008/16 , are a look back in time. It takes hundreds of millions of years for galaxies to merge and the light from their stars has traveled for hundreds of millions of years across space.
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More at link.Images of colliding galaxies show them spinning, sliding and slipping into one... more
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NASA will announce this Wednesday the first-ever detection of the organic molecule methane in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star.
Though the planet is too hot to support life as we know it, the finding demonstrates the ability to detect organic molecules spectroscopically around Earth-like planets in habitable zones around stars.
NASA will announce this Wednesday the first-ever detection of the organic molecule... more
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Scheduled for August, 2008, astronauts will fit the aging HST with new components that will let it see distant galaxies all the way back to about 400 million years after the Big Bang - it'll be like going back in time to take actual pictures of our very early Universe.
Rad.Scheduled for August, 2008, astronauts will fit the aging HST with new components that... more
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Check out this gallery of some of the most amazing photographs from the Hubble telescope. I love the idea that things like this exist gazillions of miles away. It makes me appreciate life more.Check out this gallery of some of the most amazing photographs from the Hubble... more
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Break out the binoculars. This stunning celestial catherine wheel is a galaxy roughly 32m light years away with about 100bn stars. Nicknamed the "phantom galaxy" by amateur astronomers, it can just about be viewed on a clear night using binoculars. That is SO cool!
Break out the binoculars. This stunning celestial catherine wheel is a galaxy roughly... more
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Great 6 min video about the Hubble Deep Field imagery. The most detailed photos of the most distant, most ancient structures in the universe. When you look this deep into space, you're looking back in time - almost the beginning of the universe itself around 13 billion years ago. Now that's some reality TV!Great 6 min video about the Hubble Deep Field imagery. The most detailed photos of... more
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Celestia is freeware that's as close to finding a free telescope as you're going to get. Explore galaxies, the solar system, or even objects in earth orbit, like the Hubble Telescope or International Space Station. It's simple to get and easy to use. Give it a spin.Celestia is freeware that's as close to finding a free telescope as you're... more
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