Something Unusual, Something New

Posted: October 28, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: American Astronomical Society, astronomers, Astronomical Societies, astronomy, entertainment, European Space Agency (ESA), Goddard Flight Center, scientists, space history, Spitzer Space Telescope, star evolution, supernovae, the Milky Way galaxy, the Universe | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »
 
 
Supernovas are some of the most powerful and visually striking events observed during the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time. Releasing more energy in a single moment than Sol will over its entire lifetime, a supernova is luminous enough to shine brighter in the night sky than entire galaxies during one moment in space and time, before slowly fading from view over several weeks or months. The force of a supernova expels a large percentage of a star’s mass into the darkness of space and time at about 10 percent of the speed of light, and creates a shockwave that sweeps up the expanding shell of gas and dust released during the explosion referred to by astronomers as a supernova remnant. 
 
Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to search the night sky for active galactic nuclei (AGN), super-massive black holes at the center of galaxies, recently reported the discovery of a supernova smothered in the remnants of its own star-dust during their search. This has astronomers scratching their heads in amazement at something they have never viewed during the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time. Scientists think supernovas like this one probably occurred during the early universe, more than they do during present time, and this discovery has astronomers looking for answers to questions they never thought they would be asking.
The recorded temperature of the object they were viewing was about 1,000 Kelvin (about 700 degrees Celsius), which is slightly hotter than the surface of Venus. This means something was dissipating the light energy of the supernova as heat? Astronomers wondered if the dust from the supernova could be choking off the light from the supernova and creating the heat they were viewing? Taking data from studies of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope astronomers worked backward in space and time to see if they could figure out what kind of star could have theoretically created this supernova and if they could recreate a scenario where the dust from a supernova obscures the universe from the light released during the supernova. They calculated that the star in this supernova would have to be a giant star at least 50 times as massive as Sol. Astronomers have viewed these types of stars releasing huge clouds of dust as they near the end of their lives, but they calculated this particular star probably released clouds of star-dust several times during this same period of time. The last cloud of star-dust expelled would therefore be closer to this massive star, than earlier released clouds of star-dust, they reasoned. If the earlier dust cloud was also opaque, it would absorb the light energy released during later energy releases, and this could certainly account for the hot dust cloud they observed through NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
 
 
 
 

 

This dust cloud obscures the dust from its parent star

Astronomers Bring Another Strange Creature to the Pulsar Zoo

Posted: October 26, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: American Astronomical Society, astronomers, Astronomical Societies, astronomy, Chandra observatory, entertainment, ESA's XMM-Newton Telescope, European Space Agency (ESA), Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Goddard Flight Center, International Astronomical Union, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), John Hopkins University, National Solar Observatory, neutron star SGR 0418+5729, Rossi X-ray observatory, Royal Astronomical Society, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Swift observatory | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

This is an artists conception of a slowly rotating neutron star

 

Neutron star SGR 0418+5729 shows off

The human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time’ discovered another neutron star on June 5, 2009 that’s currently keeping astronomers and space scientists busy looking into the unusual properties of this newest member of the pulsar zoo. Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra, Swift and Rossi X-ray observatories, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and ESA’s XMM-Newton telescope have been taking a look at this slowly rotating neutron star with an ordinary surface magnetic field as it gives off x-rays and gamma rays. Astronomers think the facts they have collected during their study of neutron star SGR 0418+5729 could indicate the presence of an internal magnetic field much more powerful than the surface magnetic field of this pulsar. This has definite implications in relation to the evolution of the most powerful magnets we have observed during the human “Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time” and astronomers are now delving into the mysteries they see within this neutron star to determine the facts.

Astronomers looking at neutron star SGR 0418+5729 think this pulsar is one of a strange breed of neutron stars they refer too as magnetars, which normally have strong to extreme magnetic fields 20 to 100 times above the average for galactic radio pulsars they have viewed in the universe. What really has astronomers viewing SGR 0418+5729 scratching their heads is the fact that over a 490 day period of observing this pulsar astronomers saw no detectable decrease in this neutron stars rotational rate. Astronomers think that the lack of rotational slowing of this neutron star could mean that the radiation of low-frequency waves is pretty weak, which leads them to believe the surface magnetic field of this pulsar must be quite a bit less powerful than normal. This conclusion gives astronomers another puzzle to solve, since with this thought astronomers are wondering where the energy for this neutron stars power bursts and x-ray emissions come from. Does the power and energy creating this neutron stars power bursts and x-ray emissions originate in the twisting and amplifying of this pulsars internal magnetic field in the chaotic interior of this neutron star? Present theories on this indicate that astronomers believe that if the internal magnetic field becomes ten or more times stronger than the surface magnetic field, the twisting or decay of the magnetic field could lead to the production of steady and bursting x-rays through the heating of the pulsar’s crust or the acceleration of particles in the magnetic field. The question astronomers want to answer now is how large can the imbalance between the surface and interior magnetic fields be? If further observations indicate that the surface magnetic field limit is pushed to low, then astronomers will have to dig a little deeper into SGR 0418+5729 to find out why this neutron star is rotating slower.

Worshipping Sol

Posted: October 26, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: American Astronomical Society, astronomers, Astronomical Societies, astronomy, entertainment, European Space Agency, European Space Agency (ESA), Goddard Flight Center, Hinode spacecraft, International Astronomical Union, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japanese spacecraft, John Hopkins University, Magnetosphere, NASA, National Solar Observatory, Royal Astronomical Society, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Sol, Space Agencies, space history, star evolution, the heliosphere, the solar corona, the solar system, the solar wind | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »
 The energy of the sun effects all life on Earth in ways we don’t even imagine

Three separate instruments aboard Hinode will study Sol

The original source of energy for all life on Earth, Sol has always ruled the lives and minds of human beings in many ways. The ruler of the day time sky in ancient times and still today, Sol was worshipped by ancient humans of many cultures, and will always be a major force in the life of every human being on Earth. The Sumerians worshipped Utu as their sun god over two thousands years in the past and modern humans worship the sun in their own way. We send spacecraft toward Sol, to study the lifecycle and physical and chemical characteristics of our sun, and determine everything we can about the sun.

The Hinode (Solar B) is one spacecraft humans have sent out toward Sol in an attempt to delve deeper into the mysteries of the sun. A highly sophisticated observational satellite equipped with three solar telescopes, the Hinode has recently revealed that the solar corona isn’t quite as static as solar scientists were first thinking. Hinode has surprised solar scientists of late with views of complex structures in the solar chromosphere, solar scientists use to think were static, but now believe to be dynamic structures flowing in time. This is making solar scientists rethink some of the previous ideas they had about the heating mechanisms and dynamics of the active solar corona.

What questions will solar scientists working with Hinode try to answer next? They’ll be looking into why a hot corona exists above a cooler atmosphere? The origins and driving forces behind solar flares and the Sol’s magnetic field? The changes that the release of solar energy in its many forms has on interplanetary space in our solar system and life on Earth? The answers to these questions could be a key to eventually answering many of the questions the first star gazers and all humans have been asking for thousands of years. Solar scientists are also interested in knowing how magnetic changes near Sol’s surface effect the heliosphere, the outer atmosphere of Sol that extends beyond Pluto, and how severe changes in the heliosphere can cause satellites to malfunction and electrical blackouts on Earth.

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