Rare radio supernova in nearby galaxy is nearest supernova in five years May 28, 2009
Bower and his colleagues were studying the motion of M82 with the VLBA, which links the VLA and nine other radio telescopes into a very high resolution instrument, when they noticed a very bright radio source five times brighter than anything else in the galaxy in the VLA data. The team looked at earlier observations and found the same source, but almost twice as bright, in data taken May 3, 2008. (EurekAlert!)
NASA/University team develops new method to find alien oceans May 27, 2009
"So how do we find out if it is capable of supporting life? If we can determine that the planet has oceans of liquid water, it greatly increases the likelihood that it supports life. We used the High Resolution Imager telescope on Deep Impact to look at Earth from tens of millions of miles away -- an 'alien' point of view -- and developed a method to indicate the presence of oceans by analyzing how Earth's light changes as the planet rotates. This method can be used to identify extrasolar... (EurekAlert!)
Scientists snapshot life on Mars May 26, 2009
25 May 2009, 1139 hrs IST, PTI. MELBOURNE: Planetary scientists have provided a view of what life may have looked like on ancient Earth and other planets in the solar system, including Mars. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Historic Hubble Servicing Mission 4 Ends With Successful Landing May 26, 2009
ACS's powerful imaging capabilities at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths are now both available, although its High Resolution Channel could not be fixed. ACS now perfectly complements the powerful new Wide Field Camera 3, and the duo will be vital for the study of dark energy and dark matter. (Science Daily)
Atlantis Astronauts Install Ball Aerospace's WFC3 and COS Aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope May 25, 2009
Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), one of the original science instruments, removed in 1997. "The exceptional work performed by NASA's STS-125 astronauts during the long awaited servicing mission to Hubble is a reminder of what makes the U.S. space program great," said David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball Aerospace. (PR Newswire)
Rain or shine, Atlantis to attempt landing Sunday May 25, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Rain or shine, the crew of the US space shuttle Atlantis will have to attempt to land Sunday after bad weather forced delays in their return to Earth for two consecutive days. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Atlantis ready to return to Earth May 22, 2009
The only disappointment was the failure to restore the high resolution channel (one of three) on Hubble's main camera - the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Cloudy skies and stormy weather could yet pose a problem for Friday's landing attempts, Nasa has said. (BBC News -- Americas)
LISD honors students, teachers for success May 21, 2009
In other business, the board approved four waiver applications and adopted a waiver resolution to address the time missed by students and teachers earlier this month because of the swine influenza outbreak. Students and teachers won t have to make up the time missed. (McKinney Courier-Gazette, TX)
US astronauts equip Hubble on third spacewalk May 18, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Spacewalking astronauts revived a crippled camera and installed a second new scientific inst 000015AB rument aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, extending an ambitious effort by the crew of the shuttle Atlantis to overhaul the 19-year-old observatory into the weekend. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Astronauts wrap up 4th spacewalk to repair Hubble May 18, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Two spacewalking astronauts overcame a stuck bolt, a fickle power tool and other aggravations to revive a long-inactive science instrument inside the Hubble Space Telescope. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Spacewalkers pull off toughest Hubble repairs yet May 18, 2009
Two channels -- wide-field and high-resolution -- were dead on the camera ... But they had held out a slight hope that fixing wide-field would somehow also work on the high-resolution ... Test results Saturday night showed that as expected the high resolution channel wasn't working, but it was too early to call it a failure. (KHOU.com, TX)
Another spacewalk ahead today May 17, 2009
As for the camera repairs, there's still testing to see if work on the wide-field channel would fix a problem with the high resolution view. There wasn't time during the earlier spacewalk to address both problems. (WCAX.com, VT)
After camera, Hubble gets new gear to steady its gaze May 16, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. A second pair of spacewalkers from the shuttle Atlantis tackled the most important task on Nasas fix-up list for the Hubble Space Telescope on Friday, installing new positioning gear to steady its gaze. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
NRL part of multi-national team that launches Herschel Space Observatory May 15, 2009
However, because of its large size, required to increase the angular resolution and sensitivity of the Observatory, the Herschel telescope was designed for passive (radiative) cooling in space to an operating temperature of approximately 80 K, near the temperature of liquid nitrogen and still relatively cold ... Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS), three band camera and a low- to medium-spectral resolution integral field (5 X 5 pixel) spectrometer, covering the 55 210... (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
Two Spacecraft Set to Probe the Early Universe's Mysteries May 14, 2009
Planck will have three times the resolution of WMAP and will be far more sensitive than its precursor to the variations in temperature across the CMB.. "Whereas WMAP has measured roughly 10 percent of the information that we can obtain from the CMB temperature fluctuations, Planck should measure essentially all of it," says project scientist of JPL, Goldsmith's counterpart on the Planck mission. (Scientific American)
Atlantis on track despite damage May 14, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. The space shuttle Atlantis crew raced toward a risky high-orbit rendezvous with the Hubble telescope on Wednesday despite damage found on the underside of their craft. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
First Two ALMA Antennas Successfully Linked May 14, 2009
ALMA will operate as an interferometer, capturing millimetre and submillimetre wavelength signals from the sky with multiple antennas, and combining them to create extremely high resolution images, similar to those that would be obtained by a single, giant antenna with a diameter equal to the distance between the antennas used. This can only be achieved with the perfect synchronisation of the antennas and the electronic equipment: a precision much better than one millionth of a millionth of a... (Science Daily)
Honoring Holocaust victims, urging two-state solution May 12, 2009
As he landed in Tel Aviv, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of need for a 'just resolution' for Israelis and Palestinians ... "Every speech will try to maneuver between all parties," says Amnon Ramon, a professor at Hebrew University's Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management, & Resolution ... "I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own,... (Christian Science Monitor)
Nasa set for most dangerous mission to repair Hubble May 12, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. The US space agency said it was on target to launch on Monday the space shuttle Atlantis on its high-risk final mission to service the Hubble telescope. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Basketballs on their way to space May 11, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Space shuttle Atlantis will carry a pair of basketballs when it rockets away on a repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Looking Up: Thirsty? Astronomers look to the moon May 10, 2009
This will be enough resolution to photograph the lunar landing stages and equipment left behind by the Apollo astronauts more than 30 years ago. The last time astronauts have left their boot prints on the moon was in 1972. (Medfield Press, MA)
Herschel And Planck Share Ride To Space May 10, 2009
"The cosmic microwave background shows us the universe directly at age 400,000 years, not the movie, not the historical novel, but the original photons," said Charles Lawrence, NASA project scientist for Planck at JPL. "Planck will give us the clearest view ever of this baby universe, showing us the results of physical processes in the first brief moments after the Big Bang, and the starting point for the formation of stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. The clear view is a result of... (Science Daily)
Far UV detector built by UC Berkeley is part of new instrument to be installed on Hubble May 8, 2009
"The far UV detector is similar to what we built for NASA's FUSE mission, but with better resolution and much better sensitivity," said Siegmund, referring to NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellite, which was launched in 1999 to study the universe in the far UV waveband. That mission, operated by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, ended in 2007. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
Creating the astro-comb to locate Earth-like planets May 8, 2009
Smithsonian researcher David Phillips says that he and his colleagues expect to reach a velocity resolution of 60 cm/sec, and maybe even 1 cm/sec, which when applied to the activities of large telescopes presently under construction, would open new possibilities in astronomy and astrophysics, including simpler detection of more Earth-like planets. With this new approach, Harvard astronomers achieve their great improvement using a frequency comb as the basis for the astro-comb. (EurekAlert!)
Europe is about to take an astronomical lead over U.S. May 7, 2009
Planck is 10 times more sensitive and has three times the resolution of the best American microwave telescope, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, which was launched in 2001. Planck can detect temperature differences as small as one ten-millionth of a degree. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
Telescopes to peek into future May 5, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Scientists hope that the data from the telescopes will enable them to fill in the remaining mysteries of how the universe came into existence and how it is likely to end. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
British space mission to uncover 'secrets of universe' May 4, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. A British space mission, which would include two deep space telescopes, dubbed Herschel and Planck, will probe the ancient history of the cosmos going right back to the dawn of time at the Big Bang - and possibly before. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Atlantis scheduled for May 11 launch, says NASA May 2, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. US space agency NASA will launch its space shuttle Atlantis on May 11 to upgrade the Hubble telescope. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Unusual Impact Basin Discovered On Mercury May 1, 2009
The Rembrandt impact basin revealed by the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft during its second flyby of Mercury in October 2008 is shown here overlaid on an Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) image of the east coast of the United States ... 26, 2008) One week ago, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft transmitted to Earth the first high-resolution image of Mercury by a spacecraft in over 30 years, since the three Mercury flybys of Mariner 10... (Science Daily)
Missing planets suggest stars 'eat' their young Apr 30, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. A star's gravity can put a nearby planet on a "fast track" to spiralling into the star and may also cause the planet to lose much of its atmosphere, the 'New Scientist' reported. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Stars 'eat up' planets that venture close to them Apr 30, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Cannibalism is rampant in our universe. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Res00004000olution would end shuttle deadline Apr 29, 2009
Resolution would end shuttle deadline ... U.S. House and Senate negotiators agreed Tuesday on a budget resolution that would eliminate a hard deadline for the retirement of NASA's shuttle fleet and provide $2 ... Supporters say the resolution -- which is expected to be up for a final vote this week -- could help avert the type of schedule pressure that led to the 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia accidents. (Florida Today)
Cosmic 'Fountain Of Youth' Spied By Hubble Space Telescope Apr 28, 2009
Hubble's resolution shows clearly that the stream of material lies in front of the southern component of Arp 194, as shown by the dust that is silhouetted around the star cluster complexes. The details of the interactions among the multiple galaxies that make up Arp 194 are complex. (Science Daily)
Magic in gamma ray astronomy Apr 28, 2009
The second Magic telescope will give the observatory stereoscopic vision, making experiments up to nine times faster and increasing their angular resolution by nearly a third, so that the sources of the gamma rays can be more precisely pinned down. The telescopes will also be better poised to catch gamma-ray bursts, the showers of the rays that occur when a black hole is formed. (BBC News -- Science)
Shadow Of A Forming Star Apr 28, 2009
In the future the team plan to obtain images of the system at higher resolution and look out for any variability in the shadowed lane over time. Adapted from materials provided by , via. (Science Daily)
Super stargazer Apr 20, 2009
" This extra data will allow astronomers to see objects in the Universe in much finer detail than was previously possible, and it will also enable them to study parts of the cosmos that have never been seen before. Professor Simon Garrington, director of the e-Merlin project, said: "This combination of a boost in resolution and sensitivity will allow a whole community of scientists in the UK and around the world to address some of the key questions in astronomy today. "These questions cover the... (BBC News -- UK)
US scientists plan greenhouses on the Moon Apr 18, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Astronauts' meals have come a long way from the freeze-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago: now US scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the Moon. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Titanium reveals explosive origin of solar system Apr 18, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Astronomers have claimed that solar system actually emerged from a "well-blended soup of dust and gas". (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Mars Spacecraft Teams On Alert For Dust-Storm Season Apr 17, 2009
The Mars Color Imager camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sees the entire planet every day at resolution comparable to weather satellites around Earth. "We can identify where dust is rising into the atmosphere and where it is moving from day to day," said Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, principal investigator for Mars Color Imager. (Science Daily)
High-resolution Image Of The Brightest Orion Trapezium Star Apr 13, 2009
12, 2009) Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing the first high-resolution image of the young binary system Theta1 Orionis C, located in the Orion Trapezium cluster ... Thus, high-angular resolution is needed for an in-depth study of the system ... The dominant star is Theta1 Orionis C, which was imaged with unprecedented resolution with the VLT interferometer (lower right). (Science Daily)
CHS Tuition increasing-certified teachers decreasing Apr 12, 2009
They passed a resolution stating that Uhl could not hire his wife - but what does Uhl do - HIRES his wife. Until Father Charles does something we are stuck with a principle who puts his own wants before the needs of the school and more importantly the needs of the CHILDREN. " chs parent wrote on Apr 3, 2009 9:38 AM:" To Educated Response. (New Iberia, LA)
Earthshine Reflects Earth's Oceans And Continents From The Dark Side Of The Moon Apr 9, 2009
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars. . (Science Daily)
400 years of the telescope Apr 8, 2009
An advanced recording process that achieves 4,520 by 2,540 pixels per frame delivers a video that is more than five times the resolution of high-definition. "If you have a high-definition television, you will see a richness of quality in the images that has never been done before, as far as an astronomy broadcast," said Mr. Ratcliffe, who previewed the documentary in January at the American Astronomical Society convention. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
World's biggest telescope will search heavens for planets Apr 6, 2009
Isobel Hook, joint chair of the E-ELT science working group and an astronomer at Oxford University, said: "The astronomy community has been moving towards building progressively bigger telescopes to get sharper images. "The resolution of the ELT is going to allow us to see objects and structures in the universe that we have been blind to until know. " 00004000 Text: More Science My Times, My Voice Hotklix Speculation is rife in the industry... New feature to be introduced in Orkut also... Top... (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Sharpest image of Orion's binary star captured Apr 3, 2009
Now, a near-infrared beam-combination instrument known as AMBER installed at the VLTI "allowed us, for the first time, to obtain an image of this system with the spectacular angular resolution of only two milli-arcseconds," said Stefan Kraus, the study's author. "This corresponds to the resolving power of a space telescope with a mirror diameter of 130 meters," he added. (Xinhuanet, China)
Hidden Exoplanet Found In Archival Data Apr 2, 2009
"Even when using the best telescopes available, with the best resolution, the light from the bright star spills out in the area where the much fainter planets are located, making them impossible to see. It is essential to subtract out this bright glare of stellar light from the image to see faint dots, i.e., planets, that could be hidden underneath," says Rene Doyon of the University of Montreal. The stability of how light is scattered in the NICMOS camera, called the point spread function... (Science Daily)
Craters Reveal Ice in the Martian Dust Apr 1, 2009
3 m) in size; the on the European Space Agency's Mars Express is no slouch either, with a ground resolution of 7 feet (2 m). So HiRISE researchers were elated, but not particularly surprised, to discover some small, freshly gouged craters in images taken last year. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope to focus on Mars Mar 26, 2009
NASA and Microsoft will jointly develop a system to make high-resolution images and scientific data from Mars, the moon and elsewhere in the cosmos available for people to "explore" online at worldwidetelescope ... 0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Giant solar waves spew more energy than 10 bn atom bombs Mar 22, 2009
21 Mar 2009, 1634 hrs IST, IANS. LONDON: Scientists have detected vast turbulent waves in the sun's lower atmosphere that at a time spew the energy equivalent of 10 billion nuclear warheads. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Joint ESA/NASA mission using SPICE to explore the center of the solar system Mar 22, 2009
SPICE will measure different wavelengths of light emitted from the Sun to evaluate its plasma properties and composition using unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution. The data will advance our knowledge of the Sun's dynamics to better understand the effects on Earth and the solar system. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
> read more Mar 18, 2009
GOCE is set to offer 100-kilometer-resolution maps of Earth's entire gravity field, the most detailed yet ... The team hopes GOCE will measure deviations in the Earth's gravity field at a spatial resolution better than 100 km. That is three times better than NASA's , a pair of probes that launched in 2002 to measure how Earth's gravity field changes in time, largely as water is transported around the globe and the amount of groundwater changes at different areas ... The lack of a high-resolution... (SkyAndTelescope.com)
World Water Forum tackles freshwater crisis Mar 16, 2009
It concludes with a large ministerial gathering aimed at crafting guidelines for smarter management of water and resolution of water conflicts. Outside the political dimension, the conference is also a gathering place for companies involving in the multi-billion water industry. (Yahoo News -- Top Stories)
Can Hubble Space Telescope See Flag... Mar 15, 2009
The theoretical best resolution of a telescope or any other optical instrument is called the diffraction limit ... This resolution would require a space telescope with a diameter of about 20 kilometers. (Suite101.com)
Poll timing not good for nation's health: Astrologers Mar 12, 2009
0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024x768. Bookmark / Share. (India Times, India -- Community News)
Council in no hurry on Home Depot lighting, sign plan Mar 10, 2009
The task force is to report to the council for study sessions at the two April town council meetings, with a goal of having a resolution of sign issues at the May 11 Town Council meeting ... A dozen or so speakers, many from Tucson or the astronomy community, spoke in favor of continuing the task force process, which they said was moving toward a resolution that would serve the interests of both developer and observatories. (Green Valley News & Sun, AZ)
NASA Looking for Next Earth Mar 7, 2009
Will we find small organic traces of life, or just high resolution photos of approaching alien armadas. Either way, we're still stocking up on water and baked beans, waiting for the Sun to explode. (IGN Gear)
Faculty wants say in pay cuts Mar 4, 2009
"We did not get out in front of this, but I reacted to what I heard. The original idea I heard discussed was they would mandate a cut." Still, some professors, who say they voted for the resolution to make the Faculty Senate's concern known during the Feb. 9 meeting, believe Delehanty's letter went out too quickly, before Faculty Senate members had a chance to review the letter ... "I think we made it clear that the point was to carry out that resolution quickly so that leaders would hear our... (Pocatello Idaho State Journal, ID)
High-energy portrait of approaching comet released Feb 21, 2009
"Since the visible images have a higher spatial resolution, we use those images to calculate the extent of ice on Tempel 1's surface. That turns out to be a small fraction of the surface, only 0.5%. ". "What is significant is that the extent of this ice on Tempel 1's surface is not sufficient to produce the observed abundance of water and its by-products in the comet's coma. ". (New Scientist)
NASA's Kepler Mission To Seek Other Earths Feb 20, 2009
To achieve this resolution, Kepler will use the largest camera ever launched into space, a 95-megapixel array of charged couple devices, known as CCDs. "If Kepler were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front," said James Fanson, Kepler project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. (Science Daily)
Unique Details Of Double Star In Orion Nebula And Star T Leporis Captured By 'Virtual' Telescope Feb 19, 2009
The observations themselves have a spatial resolution of about 2 milli-arcseconds ... Also marked is the resolution of the image, 4 milli-arcseconds ... 10, 2008) Astronomers have used ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer to conduct the first high resolution survey that combines spectroscopy and interferometry on intermediate-mass infant stars. (Science Daily)
Open house planned at UGA Observatory Feb 15, 2009
What's your New Year's resolution. Get healthy. (Athens Banner-Herald)
Next generation digital maps are laser sharp Feb 12, 2009
Traditional DEMs offer a resolution that provides one measure of elevation value for every 10-square meters of ground. Lidar mapping offers one measure of elevation value for each square meter, reports Snyder, whose research was funded by the National Science Foundation. (EurekAlert!)
China, Japan build "sharp eyes" for further space observations Feb 11, 2009
"The huge FAST telescope will ultimately allow detection of fainter sources of celestial bodies," Reid wrote, "and the Japanese space antennae will yield the highest angular resolution possible." ... Armed with other advantages over the first generation such as higher observing frequencies and increased bandwidths, the VSOP-2 would gain higher resolution and sensitivity ... Se-Hyung Cho, initiator of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN), told Xinhua in an email, the correlator combines the observed... (Xinhuanet, China)
Movie review: Coraline is stunningly off-kilter Feb 10, 2009
Near the end, its complex story line narrows into a linear resolution that's great for kids but feels a bit shallow for adults who've become invested in the multifaceted design sketched out at the beginning. To place the film in recent stop-motion animation history, this flaw ranks Coraline a firm two notches below 1993's Nightmare Before Christmas (but a solid three notches above 2005's Corpse Bride). (Daily Iowan, IA)
Image Submission FAQ Feb 8, 2009
Send only low-resolution images sufficient for viewing, say 640 x 480 pixels in size at a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi). If we wish to use your images, we may ask for the original negatives or slides so we can make high-resolution scans ourselves ... When we ask for publication-quality images obtained with digital cameras or astronomical CCD cameras, please send us your full-frame, full-resolution files, preferably in TIFF format rather than the camera's native format. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
