2013 could be the best year for comet spotting in generations | Crave - CNET

2013 could be the best year for comet spotting in generations | Crave - CNET

"The moon could have some serious competition in 2013. 

No, we're not finally building a real Death Star, no matter how much the American people demand one. I'm talking about a surprise visit from a recently discovered heavenly body known as the comet Ison. The chunk of ice and rock has likely broken free from the Oort cloud and is heading our way right now. If it survives the journey, astronomers say it could become even brighter than our lunar neighbor in the night sky as it makes a pass through our neighborhood next fall."

It'll be nice to have something like this to look forward to in December 2013.  If course, it may be a flop like the recent apocalypse scare when the Mayan calendar rolled over to a new cycle....

Seriously, a lot can happen to a comet on its long journey.  The chances of it hitting anything are remote, but you never know.  It should be interesting to follow this as astronomers are tracking its progress.

Magnetic Polar Shifts Causing Massive Global Superstorms - Salem-News.Com

Magnetic Polar Shifts Causing Massive Global Superstorms - Salem-News.Com:

"(CHICAGO) - NASA has been warning about it…scientific papers have been written about it…geologists have seen its traces in rock strata and ice core samples…

Now 'it' is here: an unstoppable magnetic pole shift that has sped up and is causing life-threatening havoc with the world's weather. ..."

Anyone who reads topographical maps has ween the diagram on the bottom edge that points to true north and magnetic north, and if you are like me, have maps of the same region that are 40 years apart in their publication dates, knows that true and magnetic north are not equivalent in most parts of the world. And they also know that the difference between the two has changed over the years.

Close to 40 years ago, in college, I took a number of courses in geology, and one of the many interesting things I learned was that the magnetic poles are constantly shifting and have actually reversed many times in geological history. The recent acceleration of the shifting of the magnetic pole suggests that a reversal may be on its way.

What is more significant is the effect the the Earth's magnetic field has on weather patterns, and the increasing chances of "super storms" and climate changes of regions of the world.

Searching for the Star of Bethlehem | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Searching for the Star of Bethlehem | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction:

"Using powerful computer software, an Australian astronomer says that he has re-created the night sky over Bethlehem in the year 2 B.C. and discovered a planetary conjunction that may have been the Star of Bethlehem that drew the Magi to worship the baby Jesus.

Astronomer Dave Reneke said the close proximity of Venus and Jupiter created a spectacle in the night sky just before the summer solstice that year. Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported that Reneke went so far as to suggest that perhaps Christmas should be celebrated on June 17 rather than December 25. An interesting idea, since the December Christmas celebration probably doesn't mark the true birth day of Jesus either. The December observance has its roots in a Roman celebration of the winter solstice."

Here is an interesting summary of various theories on what constituted the Star of Bethlehem. Since this was a physical phenomenon, it is certainly within the realm of science to propose possible explanations. Adding in historical references in the Gospels that constrain the actual year of the birth of Jesus to sometime before Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., there are a limited number of theories that actually fit the known facts. Read the full article for further information.

Hubble scores a perfect ten

Hubble scores a perfect ten:

"The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is back in business. Just a couple of days after the orbiting observatory was brought back online, Hubble aimed its prime working camera, the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), at a particularly intriguing target, a pair of gravitationally interacting galaxies called Arp 147."

Good to see the Hubble Space Telescope back in business. Its contribution to not only our knowledge but our enjoyment has been immense.

Follow the link back to the article for a higher-resolution image of this astronomical feature.

Workings of Ancient ‘Computer’ Deciphered - NYTimes.com

Workings of Ancient ‘Computer’ Deciphered - NYTimes.com:

"After a closer examination of the Antikythera Mechanism, a surviving marvel of ancient Greek technology, scientists have found that the device not only predicted solar eclipses but also organized the calendar in the four-year cycles of the Olympiad, forerunner of the modern Olympic Games.

The new findings, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, also suggested that the mechanism’s concept originated in the colonies of Corinth, possibly Syracuse, in Sicily. The scientists said this implied a likely connection with the great Archimedes. ..."

This device is quite sophisticated for its time, which suggests that earlier versions must have been made, yet thus far this is the only one found.

Earlier blog entries on this:

• EurekAlert!: Mystery of ancient astronomical calculator unveiled
• Nature: Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism

Most detailed image of the Crab Nebula

Most detailed image of the Crab Nebula:

"This new Hubble image - One among the largest ever produced with the Earth-orbiting observatory - shows gives the most detailed view so far of the entire Crab Nebula ever made. The Crab is arguably the single most interesting object, as well as one of the most studied, in all of astronomy. The image is the largest image ever taken with Hubble?s WFPC2 workhorse camera."

Credit: NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

Not to trivialize such an awe-inspiring view of one of the wonders of the universe, but doesn't this look just a little like a cross-section of a loofah sponge?

Hubble’s sweeping view of the Coma Galaxy Cluster

Hubble’s sweeping view of the Coma Galaxy Cluster:

"Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys has observed a large portion of the Coma Cluster, stretching across several million light-years. The entire cluster is more than 20 million light-years in diameter, is nearly spherical in shape and contains thousands of galaxies.

Also known as Abell 1656, the Coma Cluster is over 300 million light-years away. The cluster, named after its parent constellation Coma Berenices, is near the Milky Way’s north pole. This places the Coma Cluster in an area that is not obscured by dust and gas from the plane of the Milky Way, and so is easily visible to observers here on Earth."

If I try to wrap my mind around the scale of this cluster, my head might explode.

10-Jun-2008: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures the magnificent starry population of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies, one of the densest known galaxy collections in the Universe.

To see the full image, click it and you will be taken to the appropriate page on spacetelescope.com where you can choose "image 1". The "publication JPEG" image isn't too large, but if you have a good broadband connection, try the "Large JPEG". It's a big one, so be patient.

Nearby Dust Clouds in the Milky Way

Nearby Dust Clouds in the Milky Way:

"The yearly ritual of spring cleaning clears a house of dust as well as dust 'bunnies', those pesky dust balls that frolic under beds and behind furniture. NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has photographed similar dense knots of dust and gas in our Milky Way Galaxy. ..."

Follow the link for a more complete explanation. And while you are there, try browsing around www.spacetelescope.org for more interesting images.

NASA - Messenger Reveals Mercury's Geological History

NASA - Messenger Reveals Mercury's Geological History:

"NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft’s closest approach to Mercury on January 14, 2008, acquired this image as part of a mosaic that covers much of the sunlit portion of a hemisphere not view by previous spacecraft. Images such as this can be read in terms of a sequence of geological events and provide insight into the relative timing of processes that have acted on Mercury's surface in the past. ..."

There are some pretty awesome images coming back from the Messenger probe of the planet Mercury.

Anatomy of a cosmic bird

Anatomy of a cosmic bird:

"Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers [1] has discovered a stunning rare case of a triple merger of galaxies. This system, which astronomers have dubbed 'The Bird' - albeit it also bears resemblance with a cosmic Tinker Bell - is composed of two massive spiral galaxies and a third irregular galaxy."

Tinker Bell works as a nickname. Who says astrophysicists have lost their child-like imaginations?

The original ESO press release has links to additional images and explanatory information.

Holiday wishes from the Hubble Space Telescope

Holiday wishes from the Hubble Space Telescope:

"Messier 74, also called NGC 628, is a stunning example of a 'grand-design' spiral galaxy that is viewed by Earth observers nearly face-on. Its perfectly symmetrical spiral arms emanate from the central nucleus and are dotted with clusters of young blue stars. ..."

32 million years ago the light from this galaxy began its journey to Earth. I am in awe of its beauty and its Creator.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Click the photo for more information. If you are on a broadband connection, give this link to a higher resolution image a try.

Images: Comet bursts into view | CNET News.com

Images: Comet bursts into view | CNET News.com:

"Last week Comet Holmes was just another fuzzball you could only see with a telescope--until it suddenly brightened a million times in a few hours. Now, you can easily see it with the naked eye, it's still expanding, and it has even changed color. ..."

When Comet 17P/Holmes was first discovered in 1892, it showed a magnitude change much like its 2007 visit to our neighborhood. Its orbital period is roughly 6.9 years, so it evidently does not traverse a major part of our galaxy.

If you can find the Big Dipper, you should be able to find
Comet Holmes over the next week or so.

All-in-all, this has been a pretty good season for interesting astronomical observations.

Hubble sees the graceful dance of two interacting galaxies

Hubble sees the graceful dance of two interacting galaxies:

"A pair of galaxies, known collectively as Arp 87, is one of hundreds of interacting and merging galaxies known in our nearby Universe. Arp 87 was catalogued by astronomer Halton Arp in the 1960's. Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies is a compilation of astronomical photographs using the Palomar 200-inch Hale and the 48-inch Samuel Oschin telescopes."

This is awesome. Go to the article for more images and explanation.

Monster galaxy pileup sighted

Monster galaxy pileup sighted:

"New Haven, Conn. — Four galaxies are slamming into each other and kicking up billions of stars in one of the largest cosmic smash-ups ever observed.

The clashing galaxies, spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the WIYN Telescope, will eventually merge into a single, behemoth galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way. This rare sighting provides an unprecedented look at how the most massive galaxies in the universe form.

“Most of the galaxy mergers we already knew about are like compact cars crashing together,” said Kenneth Rines of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. “What we have here is like four sand trucks smashing together, flinging sand everywhere.” Rines, who was a Mead postdoctoral fellow at Yale from 2003-6 when much of this work was done, is lead author of a paper accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters."

Wow!

The photo is made available courtesy of Kenneth Rines.

NASA: Cassini Images Bizarre Hexagon on Saturn

NASA: Cassini Images Bizarre Hexagon on Saturn

Pasadena, Calif. -- An odd, six-sided, honeycomb-shaped feature circling the entire north pole of Saturn has captured the interest of scientists with NASA's Cassini mission.

NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged the feature over two decades ago. The fact that it has appeared in Cassini images indicates that it is a long-lived feature. A second hexagon, significantly darker than the brighter historical feature, is also visible in the Cassini pictures. The spacecraft's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer is the first instrument to capture the entire hexagon feature in one image.

"This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides," said Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We've never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn's thick atmosphere where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."

The word "bizarre" is not inappropriate here.

To me, this is one of those "Psalm 8" moments -- even if a clear explanation is forthcoming, the shape and sheer scale of this object leave me in awe. Hexagons, by the way, are not uncommon in nature; honeycombs and basalt columns come to mind.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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NASA - Blinding Saturn

NASA - Blinding Saturn:

"Surely one of the most gorgeous sights the solar system has to offer, Saturn sits enveloped by the full splendor of its stately rings. ..."

What can I say?

Reuters: NASA plans permanent base on moon

Reuters: NASA plans permanent base on moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA said on Monday it plans to build a permanently occupied base on the moon, most likely at the lunar south pole.

The habitat will serve as a science outpost as well as a testbed for technologies needed for future travel to Mars, and construction will follow a series of flights to the moon scheduled to begin by 2020.

"We're going for a base on the moon," Scott "Doc" Horowitz, NASA's associate administrator for exploration, told reporters in a teleconference from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Plans for what the base will look like and what astronauts would do there have yet to be determined. Similarly, NASA has not projected a date when the base would go into operation.

The moon's polar sites are preferred to equatorial regions because of more moderate temperatures and longer periods of sunlight, which is critical for the solar-powered electrical systems NASA plans to develop. Eventually, nuclear power may be used to augment or replace the solar energy systems.

Scientists also suspect the poles have resources such as hydrogen, ice and other materials that could be used for life support.

Recently we were watching some mindless television show and there were visual and dialog references to Stanley Kubrick's late 1960s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. I made the comment to my wife that Kubrick's reach extended far beyond his death, and my son mentioned that he had seen those visual images a lot in the shows he likes to watch, but who was Stanley Kubrick?

Well, Saturday afternoon we took over the television (a rare occurrence in our house) and put 2001 - A Space Odyssey into the DVD player and showed our son one of the seminal cinematographic milestones of the past century. He sat through most of it without complaint, but was pretty wierded out by the last segment. We then put 2010: The Year We Make Contact into the DVD player and watched that. This one had more action, dialog, and answered a few of his questions as to just what was going on in the earlier film. This was not a Kubrick film, and that was quite obvious, but it was enjoyable enough.

Two days later (Monday, December 4, 2006) NASA held a press conference to announce that plans for a permanent Lunar base would go forward, with work to begin by 2020. I was reminded of the scene in 2001 of the lunar base, Clavius, where the second monolith was found.

I can barely remember Sputnik, but I remember the subsequent space flights, and I am excited about this new development and look forward to seeing it unfold. I hope my son, who has never experienced anything other than the space age, can enjoy this as much as I.

Nature: Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism

Nature: Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism:

"The Antikythera Mechanism is a unique Greek geared device, constructed around the end of the second century bc. It is known that it calculated and displayed celestial information, particularly cycles such as the phases of the moon and a luni-solar calendar. Calendars were important to ancient societies for timing agricultural activity and fixing religious festivals. Eclipses and planetary motions were often interpreted as omens, while the calm regularity of the astronomical cycles must have been philosophically attractive in an uncertain and violent world. Named after its place of discovery in 1901 in a Roman shipwreck, the Antikythera Mechanism is technically more complex than any known device for at least a millennium afterwards. ..."

Yesterday I pointed to a news release about this and as it happened, Nature had already published a letter from the research team about this. The above quote is part of the abstract of a 5 page letter on the subject of the Antikythera Mechanism. If you are at a university or your public library has a Nature subscription, you should be able to read the full text.

The bibliographic citation for this article is "Nature 444, 587-591 (30 November 2006)"

EurekAlert!: Mystery of ancient astronomical calculator unveiled

EurekAlert!: Mystery of ancient astronomical calculator unveiled:

An international team has unravelled the secrets of a 2,000-year-old computer which could transform the way we think about the ancient world.

Professor Mike Edmunds and Dr Tony Freeth, of Cardiff University led the team who believe they have finally cracked the workings of the Antikythera Mechanism, a clock-like astronomical calculator dating from the second century BC.

Remnants of a broken wooden and bronze case containing more than 30 gears was found by divers exploring a shipwreck off the island of Antikythera at the turn of the 20th century. Scientists have been trying to reconstruct it ever since. The new research suggests it is more sophisticated than anyone previously thought.

Detailed work on the gears in the mechanism show that it was able to track astronomical movements with remarkable precision. The calculator was able to follow the movements of the moon and the sun through the Zodiac, predict eclipses and even recreate the irregular orbit of the moon. The team believe it may also have predicted the positions of some or all of the planets.

This can be filed under "seriously cool". This will be published in Nature and I am looking forward to reading the article when it appears. Professor Edmunds raises the tantalizing question of what else the Greeks were making at the time, if they could design a mechanical computer as sophisticated as this.

Penn State -- Twin Star Explosions Fascinate Astronomers

Penn State -- Twin Star Explosions Fascinate Astronomers:

"21 November 2006—Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite stumbled upon a rare sight: two supernovas side by side in one galaxy. Large galaxies typically play host to three supernovas per century. Galaxy NGC 1316 has had two supernovas in less than five months, and a total of four supernova in 26 years, as far back as the records go. This makes NGC 1316 one of the most prodigious known producer of supernovas. ..."

This is pretty impressive, especially when you consider the scale that must be involved here. According to Wikipedia, NGC 1316 is about 100 million light years from Earth. According to HubbleSite, NGC 1316 is 60,000 light years wide. By comparison, our own galaxy, the Milky Way is estimated to be about 100,000 light years in diameter, but its diameter includes the arms that spiral out from a central disc that is much smaller and more compact.

In this image, the large bright blob at the center is the galactic core, and the bright object on the left is a star that is considerably closer than the galaxy itself. The two supernovae are circled, and the one on the right was first noted on June 19, 2006. The one on the left was first seen on November 5, 2006. They would have gone supernova 100,000,000 years ago -- about the middle of the Cretaceous period.

I can't back this up with facts and figures, but for a long time it has seemed to me that the scientific discipline in which the highest percentage of committed Christians are found is the field of astrophysics. Could it be the sheer awesomeness of what is to be seen here?

The very idea of seeing things that happened so long ago is mind-boggling. Not that many years ago Comet Hale-Bopp passed close to Earth and provided a spectacular view. It's period is approximately 4300 years, placing its last perihelion around 2300 B.C. Who saw it then? What did they think about it?

^{Ps 8:3} When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
^{Ps 8:4} what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

-- Psalm 8:3-4, NIV