StarStuff

kenobi-wan-obi: Arp 154 ARP 154 (NGC 1316) is an elliptical...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:47:20 +1000

Arp 154

ARP 154 (NGC 1316) is an elliptical galaxy located in the southern constellation Fornax.

Credit and copyright: Donald Waid (processing); Hubble Legacy Archive (data)

It lies on the edge of the Fornax galaxy cluster and is approximately 62 million light-years from the Earth. The galaxy is unusual for an elliptical as it has very prominent dust clouds embedded in its structure. It is thought that the galaxy was formed by the merger of at least two spiral galaxies in the last few billion years.

Could this be the fate of our own Milky Way when it merges with Andromeda? (M31) The galaxy is also thought to be evolving in shape and may eventually resemble the Sombrero Galaxy. (M104) There is a super-massive black hole at the center of the galaxy. It is estimated to be as much as 150 million times as massive as our Sun. Studies indicate it is actively consuming gas. Arp 154 is one of the brightest radio sources observed. The active central black hole may be responsible for the radio emissions.

lavadapagan: Gorgeous

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:46:04 +1000

lavadapagan:

Gorgeous

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:45:27 +1000

spacettf: M16 by Tim Stone on Flickr.

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:44:56 +1000

spacettf:

M16 by Tim Stone on Flickr.

starsofyesteryear: Probably one of my favorite pictures of all...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:43:50 +1000

starsofyesteryear:

Probably one of my favorite pictures of all time, Saturn V rocket getting arranged on the launch pad, nine of these took us to the moon, in the 1960’s and 70’s with primitive computers and most math skills being done purely from the operator’s own heads, this one pictured here was actually for the launch of Apollo 13, the recovery of which should definitely go down as a miracle of human spirit and history

dailytrain: Shinkansen by saldesalsal on Flickr.Your Daily...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:42:04 +1000

dailytrain:

Shinkansen by saldesalsal on Flickr.
Your Daily Train

knowledgethroughscience: Earthrise filmed during the Apollo 10...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:41:34 +1000

knowledgethroughscience:

Earthrise filmed during the Apollo 10 mission, 1969.

the-science-llama: Earth Airglow and Orion

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:41:00 +1000

the-science-llama:

Earth Airglow and Orion

space-pics: ISS Transit Over the Moon [1131 x...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:40:35 +1000

space-pics:

ISS Transit Over the Moon [1131 x 1500]
http://space-pics.tumblr.com/

laboratoryequipment: X-rays, Microscopes Combine for Precise...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:40:07 +1000

laboratoryequipment:

X-rays, Microscopes Combine for Precise Experiments

Getting the atomic-level fingerprint of a material takes a lot more than just a dab of ink.

By pairing the capabilities of X-ray analysis and extremely precise microscopy, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have developed a way to simultaneously determine the physical structure and chemical makeup of materials at close to the atomic level. The research opens new routes to the next generation of materials for a wide assortment of energy-related applications.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/06/x-rays-microscopes-combine-precise-experiments

spaceplasma: The Whirlpool Galaxy Like You’ve Never Seen it...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:38:28 +1000

In an interferometer, each pair of antennas makes a set of interference fringes on the sky which are proportional to the resolution of the telescope

spaceplasma:

The Whirlpool Galaxy Like You’ve Never Seen it Before

Where do we come from? This is the sort of big question that keeps people up at night, and NASA funded. If you are a star, however, the answer is easy: you come from a big cloud of gas. As astronomers, if we want to understand what controls properties of stars — what makes them big, small, clustered, or isolated– we can start by looking at the gas that will make them.

This paper presents a detailed study of the gas in M51, the Whirlpool galaxy. This system is actually two galaxies, but this paper focuses on the larger, main spiral (NGC 5194) in this interacting pair. This galaxy is relatively close by (20 million light years away), massive (~150 billion solar masses), and quite well-studied: astronomers have looked at it in wavelengths from radio to near-infrared, optical and ultraviolet. The combined resolution and sensitivity of these new millimeter observations (the J=1-0 rotational transition of the carbon monoxide molecule) allow the authors to detect for the first time individual molecular clouds in this galaxy, the objects from which stars and star clusters are born. Below is an image of M51 from this study showing the gas surface density (the amount of gas along our line of sight) from small amounts (dark blue) to large amounts (bright pink), all representing the fuel required to make the next generation of stars in this galaxy.

So what does it take to make an image like this? ALMA? Not quite. M51, with a declination of +47 degrees, is a galaxy that ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, located in Chile at a latitude of 23 degrees South) will find very difficult to observe. Instead, the authors used the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) and the IRAM 30m radio telescope to detect gas clouds as small as 40 parsecs across. The image above is a mosaic combining 60 pointings of PdBI with IRAM observations over the same region. But isn’t one telescope enough for the job of observing M51? Why take the time to observe it twice?

The answer is that interferometers (arrays of two or more telescopes which work together to act like a telescope with a diameter equal to the separation between antennas) by themselves have a big problem for big objects like M51. Although interferometers give us the advantage of higher resolution, that is not whole story– not only does the antenna separation determine the resolution, it also sets the size scales that you are sensitive to, acting like a high-pass filter for spatial frequencies. As shown in the figure below, a pair of antennas in an interferometer resolve ‘fringes‘ on the sky representing the resolution of that antenna pair (a function of the frequency of the observations and the spacing of the antennas). Different spacings and orientations from the combinations of many antenna-pair fringes contribute to making your beam– the tiny white dot in the bottom left corner of the above image, and the interferometric equivalent of the point-spread function (PSF). The problem is that flux from structures larger than the largest fringe that goes into making this beam will be lost. Since the shortest antenna spacing yields the largest fringe, and the antenna spacing cannot be smaller than the size of the telescope (get too close and the antennas will start bumping into and blocking each other), there is a maximum size scale that you can detect flux from.

How can we get that flux back? Use a single dish telescope! These telescopes are sensitive to the flux on all size scales larger than the resolution of their dish. By combining the data from an interferometer with single dish data, you can recover all of the flux from an object, and still observe it at high resolution. This synergy is why the most effective radio and millimeter interferometers all have a single-dish buddy: the Very Large Array (VLA) has the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), the PdBI (which took these images) has IRAM, and ALMA will have both a compact array and several ‘total power’ single dishes.

So now that you have a high-resolution picture of almost all of the gas clouds in M51, what do you do with it? This paper focuses on comparing (correlating) the location and amount of this gas with other tracers of galaxy properties. This includes tracers of different phases of the interstellar medium (the ISM, or gas in a galaxy at all temperatures, from plasma to neutral to molecular), tracers of star formation, and tracers of the existing stellar populations.

The PdBI Arcsecond Whirlpool Survey (PAWS). I. A Cloud-Scale/Multi-Wavelength View of the Interstellar Medium in a Grand-Design Spiral Galaxy →

distant-traveller: Messier 61 looking straight into the...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:37:27 +1000

distant-traveller:

Messier 61 looking straight into the camera

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this image of nearby spiral galaxy Messier 61, also known as NGC 4303. The galaxy, located only 55 million light-years away from Earth, is roughly the size of the Milky Way, with a diameter of around 100,000 light-years. The galaxy is notable for one particular reason — six supernovae have been observed within Messier 61, a total that places it in the top handful of galaxies alongside Messier 83, also with six, and NGC 6946, with a grand total of nine observed supernovae.

In this Hubble image the galaxy is seen face-on as if posing for a photograph, allowing us to study its structure closely. The spiral arms can be seen in stunning detail, swirling inwards to the very centre of the galaxy, where they form a smaller, intensely bright spiral. In the outer regions, these vast arms are sprinkled with bright blue regions where new stars are being formed from hot, dense clouds of gas.

Messier 61 is part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, a massive group of galaxies in the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin). Galaxy clusters, or groups of galaxies, are among the biggest structures in the Universe to be held together by gravity alone. The Virgo Cluster contains more than 1,300 galaxies and forms the central region of the Local Supercluster, an even bigger gathering of galaxies.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgements: G. Chapdelaine, L. Limatola, and R. Gendler.

8bitfuture: Solar powered screen extends battery life by...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:37:04 +1000

8bitfuture:

Solar powered screen extends battery life by 20%.

French company SunPartner have developed a 300 micron thick transparent layer able to be added above or below a regular touchscreen which can harvest energy from sunlight.

The low cost panel uses stripes of standard thin-film solar cells alternating with transparent film. It then adds a layer of tiny lenses that spread the image coming from the screen to make the opaque stripes disappear and to concentrate rays coming in from the sun.

The company say the panel is currently being tested with a ‘number of manufacturers’ and they hope licensing deals to follow which will see phones using the technology come to market in 2014.

asonlynasacan: ifuckinglovespace: nasa: NASA Selects 2013...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:35:15 +1000

Josh A. Cassada

Victor J. Glover

Tyler N. Hague (Nick)

Christina M. Hammock

Nicole Aunapu Mann

Anne C. McClain

Jessica U. Meir

Andrew R. Morgan

asonlynasacan:

ifuckinglovespace:

nasa:

NASA Selects 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class

After an extensive year-and-a-half search, NASA has a new group of potential astronauts who will help the agency push the boundaries of exploration and travel to new destinations in the solar system. Eight candidates have been selected to be NASA’s newest astronaut trainees.

The 2013 astronaut candidate class comes from the second largest number of applications NASA ever has received — more than 6,100. The group will receive a wide array of technical training at space centers around the globe to prepare for missions to low-Earth orbit, an asteroid and Mars.

“These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we’re doing big, bold things here — developing missions to go farther into space than ever before,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “They’re excited about the science we’re doing on the International Space Station and our plan to launch from U.S. soil to there on spacecraft built by American companies. And they’re ready to help lead the first human mission to an asteroid and then on to Mars.”

Watch Administrator Bolden’s message about the Astronaut Class of 2013

The new astronaut candidates are:

Josh A. Cassada, Ph. D., 39, is originally from White Bear Lake, Minn. Cassada is a former naval aviator who holds an undergraduate degree from Albion College, and advanced degrees from the University of Rochester, N.Y. Cassada is a physicist by training and currently is serving as co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum Opus.

Victor J. Glover, 37, Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, hails from Pomona, Calif., and Prosper, Texas. He is an F/A-18 pilot and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. Glover holds degrees from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Air University and Naval Postgraduate School. He currently is serving as a Navy Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Congress.

Tyler N. Hague (Nick), 37, Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force, calls Hoxie, Kan., home. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards, Calif. Hague currently is supporting the Department of Defense as Deputy Chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.

Christina M. Hammock, 34, calls Jacksonville, N.C. home. Hammock holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. She currently is serving as National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Station Chief in American Samoa.

Nicole Aunapu Mann, 35, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, originally is from Penngrove, Calif. She is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Stanford (Calif.) University and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Md. Mann is an F/A 18 pilot, currently serving as an Integrated Product Team Lead at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River.

Anne C. McClain, 34, Major, U.S. Army, lists her hometown as Spokane, Wash. She is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.; the University of Bath and the University of Bristol, both in the United Kingdom. McClain is an OH-58 helicopter pilot, and a recent graduate of U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station, Patuxent River.

Jessica U. Meir, Ph.D., 35 is from Caribou, Maine. She is a graduate of Brown University, has an advanced degree from the International Space University, and earned her doctorate from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Meir currently is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Andrew R. Morgan, M.D., 37, Major, U.S. Army, considers New Castle, Pa., home. Morgan is a graduate of The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and earned doctorate in medicine from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md. He has experience as an emergency physician and flight surgeon for the Army special operations community, and currently is completing a sports medicine fellowship.

The new astronaut candidates will begin training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in August.

“This year we have selected 8 highly qualified individuals who have demonstrated impressive strengths academically, operationally, and physically” said Janet Kavandi, director of Flight Crew Operations at Johnson Space Center. “They have diverse backgrounds and skill sets that will contribute greatly to the existing astronaut corps. Based on their incredible experiences to date, I have every confidence that they will apply their combined expertise and talents to achieve great things for NASA and this country in the pursuit of human exploration.”

LOL EXTENSIVE SEARCH Y’ALL DIDN’T EVEN CALL ME

Who am I kidding, I didn’t even apply.

distant-traveller: M13: A great globular cluster of...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:34:45 +1000

distant-traveller:

M13: A great globular cluster of stars

M13 is one of the most prominent and best known globular clusters. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hercules, M13 is frequently one of the first objects found by curious sky gazers seeking celestials wonders beyond normal human vision. M13 is a colossal home to over 100,000 stars, spans over 150 light years across, lies over 20,000 light years distant, and is over 12 billion years old. At the 1974 dedication of Arecibo Observatory, a radio message about Earth was sent in the direction of M13. The reason for the low abundance of unusual blue straggler stars in M13 remains unknown.

Image credit: Danny Lee Russell

SciPak: Did You Know...?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:34:14 +1000

SciPak: Did You Know...?:

scipak:

Click to watch the slideshow.

Did you know…that the size of a single whole-embryo imaging experiment is comparable to that of the entire book collection of the U.S. Library of Congress?

“Advanced light-sheet microscopes can record dozens of terabytes of data and millions of…

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:33:18 +1000

howstuffworks: The Top 10 Inventions of Sir Isaac Newton When...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:33:00 +1000

A telescope Newton built. Image via http://preview.tinyurl.com/d4hdjqr

One of Isaac Newton's notebooks. Image via http://preview.tinyurl.com/c22ksvo

howstuffworks:

The Top 10 Inventions of Sir Isaac Newton

When he wasn’t envisioning space cannons and figuring out what holds the universe together, Isaac Newton applied his considerable intellect to other problems — possibly including ways to keep the cat from scratching on the door.

Born the son of an uneducated farmer, Newton died a true polymath — a celebrated master of astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and theology. His many inventions, discoveries, and harebrained notions provide a glimpse into a legendary mind. Here are our 10 favorites.

Keep reading…

space-pics: Insane Timelapse of a Rotating Supercell Looks Like...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:32:03 +1000

space-pics:

Insane Timelapse of a Rotating Supercell Looks Like an Alien Spaceship
http://space-pics.tumblr.com/

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:31:38 +1000