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Simostronomy
19 Mar 2010, 19:44 UTC
Do you know where Pluto got its name? I didn't know until I stumbled on this quite by accident.Venetia Burney was born July 11, 1918. On March 14, 1930, when she was only 11 years old, Venetia's grandfather had just read an article in The Times about the discovery of a new planet. Venetia recalled some years later what transpired over breakfast that day."It was about 8 o’clock and I was having breakfast with my mother and my grandfather, and my grandfather as usual opened the paper, the Times, and in it he read that a new planet had been discovered. He wondered what it should be called. We all wondered. And then I said, “Why not call it Pluto”. And the whole thing stemmed from that.and he shared the story with his granddaughter."Her grandfather forwarded the suggestion to astronomer Herbert Hall Turner, who cabled his American colleagues at Lowell Observatory. Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of the new planet, liked the name because it started with the initials of Percival Lowell who had initiated the search for Pluto. On May 1, 1930, the name Pluto was formally adopted.An interesting side note to this story is that her grandfather's brother, Henry ...
Venetia Burney, The Girl Who Named Pluto
19 Mar 2010, 19:44 UTC
Do you know where Pluto got its name? I didn't know until I stumbled on this quite by accident.Venetia Burney was born July 11, 1918. On March 14, 1930, when she was only 11 years old, Venetia's grandfather had just read an article in The Times about the discovery of a new planet. Venetia recalled some years later what transpired over breakfast that day."It was about 8 o’clock and I was having breakfast with my mother and my grandfather, and my grandfather as usual opened the paper, the Times, and in it he read that a new planet had been discovered. He wondered what it should be called. We all wondered. And then I said, “Why not call it Pluto”. And the whole thing stemmed from that.and he shared the story with his granddaughter."Her grandfather forwarded the suggestion to astronomer Herbert Hall Turner, who cabled his American colleagues at Lowell Observatory. Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of the new planet, liked the name because it started with the initials of Percival Lowell who had initiated the search for Pluto. On May 1, 1930, the name Pluto was formally adopted.An interesting side note to this story is that her grandfather's brother, Henry ...
Cumbrian Sky
19 Mar 2010, 18:16 UTC
Poor Spirit. Not only is she stuck in that ghastly dust-filled crater, she’s now having to deal with a body temperature of minus 41 deg C… Hearing this inspired me to write a new astropoem about Spirit. Hope some of you like it… Minus 41 Degrees I am cold. So cold. Once I felt young; now – as old As the chipped, frost-nipped rocks surrounding Me. Hard to believe I once climbed the Mountains Of Mars, gazed down on Gusev’s Big Country Plain To watch dust devils whirling again and again ‘cross the landscape beneath my strong wheels… Now I feel… oh, so weary; the weight of the rusty crust Lying on my back stoops me like an old man And I cannot feel a thing, can merely flick My dry, itching electronic eyes this way and that, Wondering if each picture I take will be my last… Current flows through me grudgingly now. I am hungry for power, starved of it, As thirsty for it as a vampire gone weeks without A kill. The thrill of basking in prickly summer Sunshine is just a memory; the low winter sun Is sorbet-cold, hanging in the sky like a skull, A ...
Spirit shivering…
19 Mar 2010, 18:16 UTC
Poor Spirit. Not only is she stuck in that ghastly dust-filled crater, she’s now having to deal with a body temperature of minus 41 deg C… Hearing this inspired me to write a new astropoem about Spirit. Hope some of you like it… Minus 41 Degrees I am cold. So cold. Once I felt young; now – as old As the chipped, frost-nipped rocks surrounding Me. Hard to believe I once climbed the Mountains Of Mars, gazed down on Gusev’s Big Country Plain To watch dust devils whirling again and again ‘cross the landscape beneath my strong wheels… Now I feel… oh, so weary; the weight of the rusty crust Lying on my back stoops me like an old man And I cannot feel a thing, can merely flick My dry, itching electronic eyes this way and that, Wondering if each picture I take will be my last… Current flows through me grudgingly now. I am hungry for power, starved of it, As thirsty for it as a vampire gone weeks without A kill. The thrill of basking in prickly summer Sunshine is just a memory; the low winter sun Is sorbet-cold, hanging in the sky like a skull, A ...
Slacker Astronomy
19 Mar 2010, 16:33 UTC
This is a solar image from St. Patrick’s Day sent in by one of our Slacker friends, Glen Ward. You can clearly see a solar prominence in profile here. A prominence is usually in the form of a large, bright loop extending outward from the Sun’s surface into the corona. A prominence forms in about [...] St. Patrick's Day prominence. Image credit: Glen Ward This is a solar image from St. Patrick’s Day sent in by one of our Slacker friends, Glen Ward. You can clearly see a solar prominence in profile here. A prominence is usually in the form of a large, bright loop extending outward from the Sun’s surface into the corona. A prominence forms in about a day, and stable prominences may persist in the corona for several months. A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest ever observed by SOHO was in 1997. It was an awesome 350,000 km long. There is a lot we don’t know about the Sun. Scientists are currently researching how and why prominences are formed. NASA recently launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study the Sun in more detail than ever before. You can read more about ...
The Sun Gets Active Again
19 Mar 2010, 16:33 UTC
This is a solar image from St. Patrick’s Day sent in by one of our Slacker friends, Glen Ward. You can clearly see a solar prominence in profile here. A prominence is usually in the form of a large, bright loop extending outward from the Sun’s surface into the corona. A prominence forms in about [...] St. Patrick's Day prominence. Image credit: Glen Ward This is a solar image from St. Patrick’s Day sent in by one of our Slacker friends, Glen Ward. You can clearly see a solar prominence in profile here. A prominence is usually in the form of a large, bright loop extending outward from the Sun’s surface into the corona. A prominence forms in about a day, and stable prominences may persist in the corona for several months. A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest ever observed by SOHO was in 1997. It was an awesome 350,000 km long. There is a lot we don’t know about the Sun. Scientists are currently researching how and why prominences are formed. NASA recently launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study the Sun in more detail than ever before. You can read more about ...
Astronomy magazine editors' blog
19 Mar 2010, 16:21 UTC
The Orion Nebula (M42) imaged by Gene Turner with the 14-inch SCT at Astronomy Magazine Observatory, a Hyperstar correcting lens system, and a Canon XTI DSLR camera. It‘s a composite of five 15-second exposures at f/2. On Wednesday night, March 17, Gene Turner of Rancho Hidalgo shot the first deep-sky images using Astronomy Magazine Observatory. Previously, the telescopes had been used to shoot planetary images. On Wednesday Gene concentrated on short-exposure tests of the Orion Nebula (M42), and Omega Centauri (NGC 5139). The first image of M42, published here, is a simple, raw, unguided shot — yet it’s pretty nice overall and shows the incredible nature of the dark sky at Hidalgo. It‘s a composite of five 15-second exposures!Enjoy the opening salvo in what will be a stream of many more images to come, and let us know if you have favorite deep-sky objects you would like the editors to image and share with you in the future.
First deep-sky image from Astronomy Magazine Observatory
19 Mar 2010, 16:21 UTC
The Orion Nebula (M42) imaged by Gene Turner with the 14-inch SCT at Astronomy Magazine Observatory, a Hyperstar correcting lens system, and a Canon XTI DSLR camera. It‘s a composite of five 15-second exposures at f/2. On Wednesday night, March 17, Gene Turner of Rancho Hidalgo shot the first deep-sky images using Astronomy Magazine Observatory. Previously, the telescopes had been used to shoot planetary images. On Wednesday Gene concentrated on short-exposure tests of the Orion Nebula (M42), and Omega Centauri (NGC 5139). The first image of M42, published here, is a simple, raw, unguided shot — yet it’s pretty nice overall and shows the incredible nature of the dark sky at Hidalgo. It‘s a composite of five 15-second exposures!Enjoy the opening salvo in what will be a stream of many more images to come, and let us know if you have favorite deep-sky objects you would like the editors to image and share with you in the future.
Discovery News - Space News
19 Mar 2010, 16:00 UTC
The world's largest atom smasher has just broken its own record, and it's just getting started.
Geneva Atom Smasher Sets Record for Beam Energy
19 Mar 2010, 16:00 UTC
The world's largest atom smasher has just broken its own record, and it's just getting started.
Faulkes Telescope News
19 Mar 2010, 14:35 UTC
On Wednesday Astronomy Now's Nick Howes revealed images that suggest Comet C2007 Q3 Siding Spring is in the process of breaking up. We can now confirm that this is a fragmentation event, and catch up with Nick after his latest stint on the Faulkes Telescope.
Comet's split caught in the act
19 Mar 2010, 14:35 UTC
On Wednesday Astronomy Now's Nick Howes revealed images that suggest Comet C2007 Q3 Siding Spring is in the process of breaking up. We can now confirm that this is a fragmentation event, and catch up with Nick after his latest stint on the Faulkes Telescope.
Centauri Dreams
19 Mar 2010, 13:53 UTC
Type Ia supernovae have become important ’standard candles’ in judging cosmic distances, telling us how far away the host galaxy of a given supernova is. The idea here is that this kind of supernova produces a consistent luminosity because the white dwarfs that explode in the process are of uniform mass.
A Problem with ‘Standard Candles’?
19 Mar 2010, 13:53 UTC
Type Ia supernovae have become important ’standard candles’ in judging cosmic distances, telling us how far away the host galaxy of a given supernova is. The idea here is that this kind of supernova produces a consistent luminosity because the white dwarfs that explode in the process are of uniform mass.
Space Politics
19 Mar 2010, 10:45 UTC
Supporters of NASA’s Constellation program are fighting for the program wherever they can, including in legislation that has nothing to do with NASA. On Thursday Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL) announced that he was introducing an amendment to an FAA reauthorization bill that would reiterate an existing provision in the FY2010 appropriations legislation for NASA that prevents the agency from terminating any part of Constellation. “NASA is ignoring the will of Congress by taking steps to terminate the Constellation program,” LeMieux said in a statement, referring to claims that NASA has already started work to close down Constellation. “This effort sends the clear message that there are no loopholes, exclusions, or other routes the agency can use to kill the program.” In addition to the “reaffirmation of prohibition”, the amendment prohibits NASA from using anti-deficiency provisions to stop work or end contract procurements on efforts related to Constellation. The GAO would be required to issue a report within 180 days of enactment on any elements of Constellation “that are contrary to law or are experiencing waste, fraud, or abuse.” The amendment also prevents NASA from taking any steps that would “limit or impair” the launching of at least the payloads on ...
