Feeling Isolated? The Universe is Closer Than You Think
Posted: October 27, 2010 Filed under: astronomers, astronomy, entertainment, Goddard Flight Center, IBEX, Interstellar Boundary Explorer, interstellar boundary region, NASA, Sol, space history, the heliosphere, the Milky Way galaxy, the solar system, the solar wind | Tags: astronomers, astronomy, heliosphere, IBEX, Interstellar Boundary Explorer, interstellar boundary region, NASA, outer solar system, sky maps of the solar system, Sol, spacecraft, the solar system, the solar wind Leave a comment »
IBEX recently completed a six-month job. The sky map below is the result.
Six months of observations later, this is the result
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Worshipping Sol
Posted: October 26, 2010 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: ancient star gazers, astronomers, astronomy, heliosphere, Sol, Sumerians, the corona, the Hinode spacecraft, the solar corona, the solar system, the Sun, the suns magnetic field, Utu Leave a comment »
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.
Collisions in Space
Posted: October 24, 2010 Filed under: ARTEMIS, astronomers, astronomy, Earth, entertainment, Magnetosphere, meteorites, NASA, Sol, The Earth, the Moon, the solar system, the solar wind, the Universe, THEMIS-B | Tags: ARTEMIS, astronomer, astronomy, collisions in space, Magnetosphere, meteorites, Moon, NASA, solar wind, spacecraft, THEMIS Leave a comment »
Something might have hit THEMIS-B
Considering the volume of bodies circling in the solar system one might think that collisions between bodies in the solar system is commonplace, but in fact collisions between bodies circling in the solar system are relatively uncommon. This is what makes a recent report by NASA of a possible collision of one of their spacecraft with a meteorite a highlight of sorts, or at least something relatively unusual. NASA reported a possible collision between a meteorite and part of the sensitive instrumentation on board their THEMIS-B spacecraft, which is one of the two ARTEMIS spacecraft, at 0605 UT on October 14. Apparently, the flight dynamics data collected on THEMIS-B indicated that it might have been struck by a meteorite, which likely means the meteorite made a slight change in the flight path of the spacecraft. According to NASA, everything is still a go with THEMIS-B’s insertion into Lissajous orbit, and up coming simultaneous measurements of particles and the electric and magnetic fields in two different locations, using both ARTEMIS spacecraft. This will provide astronomers with the first three-dimensional look at how energetic particle acceleration happens near the Moon’s orbit, in the solar wind, and in the distant magnetosphere.
