Eclipse Report 10-8-2014

NOTE: All times listed are Central Time (CT), unless otherwise stated.

Credit: Sky & Telescope

Early on the morning of October 8, 2014 the second total lunar eclipse of the year occurred. The first was back in April. According to the RASC Observers Handbook, the total eclipse would last about 59 minutes, 20 minutes shorter than in April. The full eclipse would be visible from the Pacific Ocean and along the pacific coast of North America. For those in the central and eastern parts of North America the eclipse would reach totality shortly before Moonset.

In Houston the eclipse was set to begin around 3:45 am. I decided to get up at 4 am which would be around when the partial eclipse would begin, or when the first shadow would be visible on the moon. I had set up my camera the previous day, making sure the battery was charged and my shutter trigger was attached and working. Of course photographing the eclipse would not be easy. Our backyard presented a few challenges. Trees being the biggest hazard.

Thankfully the path across the sky the moon took would take it right down a clear slot in the trees. So I would have clear shots of the moon all the way through Moonset. The weather that morning was warm and humid with no wind. The sky at first appeared cloudless. But upon doing a test long exposure shot I discovered there was a small layer of haze over the area. About 10 minutes after getting outside and setting up thick clouds rolled in from the south. Thankfully these did not stick around very long. The sky for the rest of the eclipse was clear.

Mid-Eclipse was reached about 5:55 am. Several stars became visible at this time. The planet Uranus, while not naked eye visible, was clearly visible through my camera viewfinder. I took a little over 200 photos during the the eclipse. I stayed outside till about 6:10 am. My camera was getting covered with dew and I was tired.

My photos for the most part came out great. The long exposure shots were again awesome. At least 11 stars and one planet are visible in those. Uranus was a very nice pale blue color in one photo. Uranus is actually the farthest planet I have photographed. Previously it was Saturn. Anyway, sadly most of my photos after eclipse totality are a bit blurry. Either due to me keeping the shutter open to long or me moving. Not likely its because I was moving around to much. But that's ok, lesson learned again for next time.

The next eclipse is just a few days away, Oct. 23, 2014. This time it will be a partial solar eclipse. I have already started preparing my telescope for the event, and am currently trying to rig up a safe solar filter for my Nikon camera.

Stay Tuned!


To see more photos I too that morning click here.

**UPDATE** Possible Explanation of the Disassociation of a TDS from a Rotational Signature

***Just a few notes before we continue. First, This post is purely based off radar data only. At the time this was written, there were no confirmed sightings of a tornado. Second, I decided to write this because someone asked a question and I was curious to see what the answer was, or most likely was.***

****UPDATE 5-16-2014: Well NWS Raleigh did their damage survey of this storm today. An EF-1 tornado was confirmed, but not in the area I thought it would be. Unlike what I said below, the TDS was associated with the tornado as it was happening and not a delayed reaction like I thought. Either way i hope those of you who did read this enjoyed it. I have attached the PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT below.****

The origin of this post begins on facebook. Someone reported seeing a possible TDS (Tornadic Debris Signature) on the KRAX radar. The time stamp of the image was 2214z. Someone made note of the face that the TDS was not directly associated with the rotational couplet on SRV (Storm Relative Velocity).

Below is my attempt at finding out why the TDS was not associated with the velocity couplet seen on the original image post. The 4 panel images below show Reflectivity (Z), SRV, KDP, and CC.

2149z

At 2149z the rotation that caused the TDS can bee seen east of Fearrington. In CC low values can bee seen that range from .99-.88. This is most likely due to heavy rain, which is supported when looking at KDP, which had values from 2.95*-1.40*/km.

At 2158, the rotation appears to reach its strongest point as it crosses I-40. CC and KDP appear to remain at the same levels as they did back at 2149.

2209z

At 2209 the rotation appears to weaken and spread out. It also appears at this time in SVR that a new rotation is trying to form. In CC we see out first signs of a TDS with a local minimum of 0.75. In KDP the heavy rain had shifted slightly NW of the rotation.

2214z

Between 2209-2218 the rotation associated with the TDS weakens dramatically and disappears. A new rotation forms just to the NW. In CC the TDS is now clearly visible at 2214, with values as low as 0.61 at 2218. KDP drops below 0.95 near the TDS and is labeled at ND (No Data).

 

2223z

At 2223, the TDS weakens as values rise to 0.84. It also appears to diverge slightly from the original track, appearing to move NW as the new rotation moves NE. By 2228 the TDS is gone.






Using the RHI tool I made a cut across the TDS at 2214 in an attempt to see just how high the debris was lofted. It appears that whatever the debris was, was lofted somewhere between 7000 and 8000 KFT.

2214z

NOTE- The radar beam ranged from 1900-2400 KFT above the ground.

In my opinion, the tornado touchdown was around 2154 and possibly lifted around 2209? This would explain why the TDS was detached from the circulation we see in the above screen caps. The tornado was weak, which is why it took a little while for the debris to be lofted enough to be seen by radar, and also why the debris did not go above 10 KFT.

Again, just my non expert opinion. Hope you all enjoyed....LOL

 ***Again, This post is purely based off radar data only. At the time this was written, there were no confirmed sightings of a tornado. Second, I decided to write this because someone asked a question and I was curious to see what the answer was, or most likely was.***


Some helpful links to learn more about Dual Polarization Radar:

WDTB Dual-Pol Training

Dual-Pol Training Aid 

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
447 PM EDT FRI MAY 16 2014

...TORNADO CONFIRMED APPROXIMATELY 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DURHAM IN
DURHAM COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA...

LOCATION...3 SW DURHAM IN DURHAM COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA
DATE...MAY 15 2014
ESTIMATED TIME...610 PM TO 613 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF- SCALE RATING...EF1
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...90 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...150 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...0.8 MILES
* FATALITIES...0
* INJURIES...0

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN
NWS STORM DATA.

...SUMMARY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH NC HAS CONFIRMED A
TORNADO 3 SW DURHAM IN DURHAM COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA ON MAY 15
2014.

DAMAGE CONSISTED OF DOZENS OF SNAPPED AND UPROOTED TREES...AND
APPROXIMATELY 40 HOMES THAT EXPERIENCED ROOF OR OTHER STRUCTURAL
DAMAGE. MOST OF THE DAMAGE TO THE HOMES WAS CAUSED BY FALLING
TREES AND OTHER DEBRIS IMPACTING THE STRUCTURES. HOWEVER...THERE
WERE AT LEAST A HALF DOZEN HOMES THAT EXPERIENCED MINOR ROOF
DAMAGE CAUSED SOLELY BY THE WIND.

IN ONE CASE...A LARGE OAK TREE WAS UPROOTED...AND IN THE PROCESS
FELL ONTO A HOME AND SUBSEQUENTLY SLICED THROUGH THE ROOF AND AN
EXTERIOR WALL OF THE HOME.

THE EXTENT OF THE HARDWOOD TREE DAMAGE SUGGESTED MAXIMUM SPEEDS OF
90 MPH (EF1) BASED ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE.

THIS INFORMATION CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE AT
WEATHER.GOV/RAH.

Galileo spies 3 new stars near Jupiter

Looking through his newly improved spyglass, Galileo observes 3 new stars previously unseen near Jupiter. Here is his observation from January 7, 1610:

"Accordingly, on the seventh day of January of the present year 1610, at the first hour of the night, when I inspected the celestial constellations through a spyglass, Jupiter presented himself. And since I had prepared for myself a superlative instrument, I saw (which earlier had not happened because of the weakness of the other instruments) that three little stars were positioned near him, small but yet very bright. Although I believed them to be among the number of fixed stars, they nevertheless intrigued me because they appeared to be arranged exactly along a straight line and parallel to the ecliptic, and to be brighter than others of equal size. And their disposition among themselves and with respect to Jupiter was as follows:"

Observation by Galileo
January 7, 1610

Below is a simulation of what Jupiter looked like on the night of Jan 7, 1610 using Sky & Telescope's "Jupiter Moons" app.

Courtesy of Sky & Telescope

Of course we now know those little stars are in fact 3 of Jupiter's 4 major moons. Below is a photo I took last December of Jupiter in a somewhat similar configuration.

Jupiter Observation by Me
December 11, 2013

Earth from Juno

On Oct. 9, Juno flew by Earth using the home planet's gravity to get a boost needed to reach Jupiter. The JunoCam caught this image of Earth, and other instruments were tested to ensure they work as designed during a close planetary encounter. The Juno spacecraft was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 5, 2011. Juno’s rocket, the Atlas 551, was only capable of giving Juno enough energy or speed to reach the asteroid belt, at which point the Sun’s gravity pulled Juno back toward the inner solar system. The Earth flyby gravity assist increases the spacecraft’s speed to put it on course for arrival at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

High Above Saturn

This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. It was made by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic. This image has not been geometrically corrected for shifts in the spacecraft perspective and still has some camera artifacts.The mosaic was created from 12 image footprints with red, blue and green filters from Cassini's imaging science subsystem. Ugarkovic used full color sets for 11 of the footprints and red and blue images for one footprint. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http //www.nasa.gov/cassini and http //saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. Image credit  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/G. Ugarkovic

The Local Fluff

The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform, and shows patchiness even near our Sun. It can be quite difficult to detect the local ISM because it is so tenuous and emits so little light. This mostly hydrogen gas, however, absorbs some very specific colors that can be detected in the light of the nearest stars. A working map of the local ISM within 20 light-years, based on ongoing observations and recent particle detections from the Earth-orbiting Interstellar Boundary Exporer satellite (IBEX), is shown above. These observations indicate that our Sun is moving through a Local Interstellar Cloud as this cloud flows outwards from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association star forming region. Our Sun may exit the Local Cloud, also called the Local Fluff, during the next 10,000 years. Much remains unknown about the local ISM, including details of its distribution, its origin, and how it affects the Sun and the Earth. Unexpectedly, recent IBEX spacecraft measurements indicate that the direction from which neutral interstellar particles flow through our Solar System is changing.

Click to Enlarge

M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula

Are stars better appreciated for their art after they die? Actually, stars usually create their most artistic displays as they die. In the case of low-mass stars like our Sun and M2-9 pictured above, the stars transform themselves from normal stars to white dwarfs by casting off their outer gaseous envelopes. The expended gas frequently forms an impressive display called a planetary nebula that fades gradually over thousand of years. M2-9, a butterfly planetary nebula 2100 light-years away shown in representative colors, has wings that tell a strange but incomplete tale. In the center, two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk 10 times the orbit of Pluto. The expelled envelope of the dying star breaks out from the disk creating the bipolar appearance. Much remains unknown about the physical processes that cause planetary nebulae.

Voyager Reaches the Final Frontier

Courtesy NASA/JPL
Click to enlarge

This artist's concept puts solar system distances in perspective. The scale bar is in astronomical units, with each set distance beyond 1 AU representing 10 times the previous distance. One AU is the distance from the sun to the Earth, which is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. Neptune, the most distant planet from the sun, is about 30 AU.
Informally, the term "solar system" is often used to mean the space out to the last planet. Scientific consensus, however, says the solar system goes out to the Oort Cloud, the source of the comets that swing by our sun on long time scales. Beyond the outer edge of the Oort Cloud, the gravity of other stars begins to dominate that of the sun.
The inner edge of the main part of the Oort Cloud could be as close as 1,000 AU from our sun. The outer edge is estimated to be around 100,000 AU.
NASA's Voyager 1, humankind's most distant spacecraft, is around 125 AU. Scientists believe it entered interstellar space, or the space between stars, on Aug. 25, 2012. Much of interstellar space is actually inside our solar system. It will take about 300 years for Voyager 1 to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud and possibly about 30,000 years to fly beyond it.
Alpha Centauri is currently the closest star to our solar system. But, in 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will be closer to the star AC +79 3888 than to our own sun. AC +79 3888 is actually traveling faster toward Voyager 1 than the spacecraft is traveling toward it.
The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The Voyager missions are a part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

So...did Voyager 1 leave the Solar System? Astronomer Phil Plait shares his thoughts: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/13/voyager_1_space_probe_is_in_now_in_interstellar_space.html

Here are some more great links about Voyager 1's interstellar journey.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/voyager20130912.html

What does Interstellar space sound like? Click here.

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/interstellarvoyager/

For those who want to like to get technical, here is a paper about the sudden loss of Cosmic Rays back in August 2012. http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1212/1212.0883.pdf

From the Twitter of William Shatner!

Click to Enlarge

Super Earth Gliese 1214b Might Hold Water

Might this distant planet hold water? Actually, given how close Gliese 1214b is to its parent star, any water, if it exists, would surely be in the form of steam. In theabove artist's illustration, the super-Earth Gliese 1214b is imagined passing in front of its parent star, creating a mini-eclipse that alerted humanity to its presence. Gliese 1214b, also designated GJ 1214b, has been designated a super-Earth because it is larger than the Earth but smaller a planet likeNeptune. The entire Gliese 1214 planetary system is of the closest known systems to our Sun, located only 42 light years away. The parent star, Gliese 1214 is a slightly smaller and cooler version of our Sun.Recent observations from the Subaru telescope in Hawaii found very littlescattering of blue light from the parent star by the planet. This appears most consistent with a planet that has a watery atmosphere -- although it is still possible that the super-Earth has clouds so thick that little of any color of light was scattered. Detecting water on exoplanets is important partly because most lifeforms on Earth need water to survive.

Annular Eclipse of the Sun, as Seen by Curiosity

This set of three images shows views three seconds apart as the larger of Mars' two moons, Phobos, passed directly in front of the sun as seen by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.  Curiosity photographed this annular, or ring, eclipse with the telephoto-lens camera of the rover's Mast Camera pair (right Mastcam) on Aug. 17, 2013, the 369th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. Curiosity paused during its drive that sol for a set of observations that the camera team carefully calculated to record this celestial event. The rover's observations of Phobos help make researchers' knowledge of the moon's orbit even more precise.  Because this eclipse occurred near mid-day at Curiosity's location on Mars, Phobos was nearly overhead, closer to the rover than it would have been earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon. This timing made Phobos' silhouette larger against the sun -- as close to a total eclipse of the sun as is possible from Mars.

Image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M Univ.

A Spectrum of Nova Delphini

When a new star appeared in the constellation Delphinus late last week,astronomers found its spectrum hinted at the apparition's true nature. Now known as Nova Delphini, its visible light spectrumnear maximum brightness is centered in this image of the nearby star field captured withprism and telescope on the night of August 16/17 at the Sternwarte Bülach, Switzerland. Strong absorption lines due to hydrogen atoms are seen as the darkest bands in the nova's spectrum, but the strong absorption lines are bordered along their redward edge by bright bands of emission. That pattern is the spectral signature of material blasted from a catalysmic binary system known as a classical nova. Other stars in field are fainter, identified by theirHipparcus catalog numbers, brightness inmagnitudes, and spectral types. By chance, the faint emission line from planetary nebula NGC 6905 was also included, indicated at the lower right.

Hubble Peers at a Cosmic Optical Illusion

At first glance, this Hubble picture appears to capture two space giants entangled in a fierce celestial battle, with two galaxies entwined and merging to form one. But this shows just how easy it is to misinterpret the jumble of sparkling stars and get the wrong impression — as it’s all down to a trick of perspective. 

By chance, these galaxies appear to be aligned from our point of view. In the foreground, the irregular dwarf galaxy PGC 16389 — seen here as a cloud of stars — covers its neighboring galaxy APMBGC 252+125-117, which appears edge-on as a streak. This wide-field image also captures many other more distant galaxies, including a quite prominent face-on spiral towards the right of the picture. 

Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola Mission: Hubble 

Astrophotography Report (Nova Del 2013)

BOOM!
Photo obtained from AAVSO

On August 14, 2013 Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata, Japan found a nova in an image he had taken of Delphinus. This nova or "new star", was not present in a previous image he had taken the night before. news spread quickly of the nova. It did not take long for it to be confirmed. The nova's initial brightness was just under the naked eye limit. It steadily brightened to just under mag 4.5. Anyone at a dark site would be able to see it without the aid of binoculars or a telescope. It was a bit tougher under light polluted skies as I found out. Use this star chart to help you find the nova.

A nova in the making.
Image obtained from Universe Today

So what is a nova?

You might be thinking, 'oh you mean its a Supernova?', No. A supernova is basically when a star destroys itself in a massive explosion. A nova occurs when a when a White Dwarf pulls hydrogen from its companion star. The hydrogen reaches the surface of the white dwarf where it is compacted and heated. The hydrogen piles up until it is dense enough and explodes like a bazillion thermonuclear bombs. This process typically repeats itself several times.

So, now to my story.

After hearing of the news of the nova I was excited to get back outside and try to photograph it. Thunderstorms developed on the afternoon of the 15th threatening my chances of observing. This was going to be my first time seeing a stellar explosion only hours after it appeared. Thankfully the skies began to clear shortly after 10pm, but, thunderstorms had formed to the West of Houston. Even though they were not going to move our way, the cloud tops were being blown East. This meant there was a small window of clear skies.

I went outside, set up the camera and started snapping a few test shots to make sure I had my settings dialed in. I had no idea where Delphinus was. Thankfully with help from an app and star charts I was able to find the stars I had determined would help me point to the nova. I zoomed in to the star Altair and snapped a photo. Altair was in the center pf my photo, Delphinus and Sagitta, my other two guide constellations were to the left. I moved my camera to where both constellations were in the center and Altair was over to the right. I snapped several photos adjusting my focus here and there. After several minutes I could see those clouds moving in from the west. So I called it a night and went inside.

Pulling the images off my camera I quickly zeroed in on one. I could see all the constellations and stars I had determined would help me find the nova. Right in the middle of all of them was a star. According to everything I had used that was Nova Del 2013. But when I would compare my image to star charts, there were a few very slight differences. Plus let's be honest. I have never done anything like this before. I can find constellations using charts but anything in between dont count on it. I spent about an hour trying to confirm on my own if I had found the nova. Eventually I posted the photo to the Houston Astronomical Society (HAS), forum and I sent the same photo via Twitter to AAVSO

The morning of the 16th I awoke to a reply from AAVSO, "Mike, Thats It, NICE Job!". All day reports were coming in that the nova was still getting brighter. Those reports continued till late on the afternoon of the 16th, when the brightness was reported to have stabilized. I had found, seen, and photographed my first explosion in space!

Nova Delphinus 2013
Seen through a 55mm lens.

Thunderstorms again formed on the evening of August 16th. Again it would be a close call as to when the clouds would clear. For me I would only be able to observe this area of the sky till about midnight. After that my view would be obstructed by trees. This time I got brave. I pulled out my 70-300mm camera lens. I was going to capture that nova as close as I could. The skies cleared on my side of town about 10pm. As I did on the 14th, I started by taking a few test shots. I could barely make out the nova with my naked eye. Using my 55mm lens I could tell the nova was brighter. I attached my big lens and slowly zoomed in, taking a photo every so often to make sure I was centered on the nova. I snapped several photos at 300mm & 200mm. I finally called it a night after about an hour. It was very humid and I was sweating buckets.

Nova Delphinus 2013
Seen at 200mm.

Going over the photos I could see that all the photos taken at 300mm were not really going to work. Even though I was doing 5sec exposures, zoomed in that close the stars still move just enough to produce star trails in the image. Thankfully the images I shot at 200mm all came out.

It was exciting sharing this experience with others around the world. To see the reports flood in for two days. To see the nova for myself with my eyes and through my camera and binoculars was awesome! That i could see this happening to a star possibly thousands of light years away.

With the help of HAS this will hopefully be the second of many other observations of the night sky.

I would like to thank the folks at AAVSO for their helping me confirm I had found the nova. Thank you to Universe Today and Sky & Telescope for the very helpful star charts. Also thank you to HAS for providing the forums where I have been sharing most of my images with other local star gazers. For those wondering the app I used was Distant Suns

UPDATE 8-19-2013:

Just wanted to post a small update. Went back out last night, 8-18-13, and snapped a photo of Nova Del 2013 at 300mm. Its still visible through binoculars. The magnitude or brightness has dimmed some, but has remained steady for the last two and a half days. This will most likely be my last photograph of the nova. Unless it completely disappears or something dramatic happens.

Nova Del 2013
Seen at 300mm

Astrophotography 8-13-2013 (Satellite)

Before may of this year, I had not expeirence with astrophotography using a DSLR camera. Even now my experiences so far have mostly been reading a few tips in my books, running outside with the camera snapping away and looking over the results later. Hopefully learning something each time. Tonight I finally found the zone I believe is correct. Also, I might not know a lot about astrophotography, but I know even less about image processing. So the images I present here have very very little processing. All I have done is and "Auto Contrast" and a Color Inversion.

 I basically started out the same. Going outside picking a target take a shot, view the result, make any adjustments if needed, and repeat. Towards the end of my secession I pointed the camera straight up and took a photo. When I looked at it I noticed a small faint white streak at the top. So quickly I took another. There it was again! But in a different position. I took 3 more shots finally realizing what it might be. A satellite passing overhead. I have seen satellites passing overhead at the George observatory. But i never thought I would capture one on camera in the middle of light polluted skies.

My camera is a Nikon D3100. The lens I was using is a Nikkor 18-55mm. I was zoomed all the way in. 800 ISO at a 5 sec exposure.

Click to enlarge!

Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

Are asteroids dangerous? Some are, but the likelihood of a dangerous asteroid striking the Earth during any given year is low. Because some past mass extinction events have been linked to asteroid impacts, however, humanity has made it a priority to find and catalog those asteroids that may one day affect life on Earth. Pictured aboveare the orbits of the over 1,000 knownPotentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs). These documented tumbling boulders of rock and ice are over 140 meters across and will pass within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth -- about 20 times the distance to the Moon. Although none of them will strike the Earth in the next 100 years -- not all PHAs have been discovered, and past 100 years, many orbits become hard to predict. Were an asteroid of this size to impact the Earth, it could raise dangerous tsunamis, for example. Of course rocks and ice bits of much smaller size strike the Earth every day, usually pose no danger, and sometimes creating memorable fireball and meteor displays.

Hubble Reveals Rogue Planetary Orbit for Fomalhaut b

Newly released Hubble Space Telescope images of a vast debris disk encircling the nearby star Fomalhaut, and of a mysterious planet circling it, may provide forensic evidence of a titanic planetary disruption in the system. Astronomers are surprised to find that the debris belt is wider than previously known, spanning a gulf of space from 14 billion miles to nearly 20 billion miles from the star. Even more surprisingly, the latest Hubble images have allowed a team of astronomers to calculate that the planet follows an unusual elliptical orbit that carries it on a potentially destructive path through the vast dust ring.

The planet, called Fomalhaut b, swings as close to its star as 4.6 billion miles, and the outermost point of its orbit is 27 billion miles away from the star. The orbit was re-calculated from the newest Hubble observation made in 2012. The Fomalhaut team led by Paul Kalas (University of California, Berkeley) considers this circumstantial evidence that there may be other planet-like bodies in the system that gravitationally disrupted Fomalhaut b to place it in such a highly eccentric orbit. His team is presenting their finding today at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif.

Read the rest of the story at: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2013/01/full/

Kepler-62

The diagram compares the planets of the inner solar system to Kepler-62, a five-planet system about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The five planets of Kepler-62 orbit a star classified as a K2 dwarf, measuring just two thirds the size of the sun and only one fifth as bright. At seven billion years old, the star is somewhat older than the sun. Much like our solar system, Kepler-62 is home to two habitable zone worlds, Kepler-62f and Kepler-62e. Kepler-62f orbits every 267 days and is only 40 percent larger than Earth, making it the smallest exoplanet known in the habitable zone of another star. The other habitable zone planet, Kepler-62e, orbits every 122 days and is roughly 60 percent larger than Earth. The size of Kepler-62f is known, but its mass and composition are not. However, based on previous exoplanet discoveries of similar size that are rocky, scientists are able to determine its mass by association. The two habitable zone worlds orbiting Kepler-62 have three interior companions, two larger than the size of Earth and one about the size of Mars. Kepler-62b, Kepler-62c and Kepler-62d, orbit every five, 12, and 18 days, respectively, making them very hot and inhospitable for life as we know it. The artistic concepts of the Kepler-62 planets are the result of scientists and artists collaborating to help imagine the appearance of these distant worlds. The Kepler space telescope, which simultaneously and continuously measures the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, is NASA's first mission capable of detecting Earth-size planets around stars like our sun. Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech Mission: Kepler 

Exoplanet Directly Observed by Subaru Telescope

GJ 504b orbits at least 44 Earth-Sun distances from its host star, similar to Pluto's average distance from the Sun. The light from the host star has been suppressed in this image, revealing a tiny blue-white companion in the upper right corner. Click on the image to see two side-by-side observations of the speck which distinguish it from background noise.

NAOJ

 

 

 

Here is a link to the story from Sky & Telescope: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/Directly-Imaged-Planet-218380421.html

If you like to read research papers, here is a link to the paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.2886

Mars Landing at JSC, 1 Year Later

One year ago tonight, I asked my Dad to take me to Space Center Houston to watch the Mars landing. I know, it sounds like a 10 year old kid asking. But the excitement was enough to make you feel like a kid again.

It was a last minute idea. I had not planned on going. The landing was scheduled to happen after midnight. I could have stayed home and watched the coverage on NASA TV. But I wanted to be there, to experience the excitement of the mission with other people.

The landing was labeled "Curiosity's 7 minutes of Terror!". From the top of the Martian atmosphere to its landing zone in Gale Crater, would take 7 minutes. For Curiosity to sent a signal to Earth takes 14 minutes. So by the time we would hear that Curiosity had entered the atmosphere, it would have already landed or crashed. I will let these guys explain it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s Scary right?

My Dad and I arrived shortly after 10pm. There was already a good crowd. Admission was free. There were Astronauts signing autographs, games for the kids to play, things to build, plus free access to all the cool space artifacts there. After looking around we decided to take a seat in the cafe area where the main activities were going on. They had two big screens and in between them a podium where Astronauts and scientists were talking about mars science.


 Finally the moment came. Curiosity entered the Martian atmosphere. The 7 minute countdown had begun. On one of the screens the Live Feed from NASA TV was on. The other screen had a simulation graphically showing the landing. As you will see in the video below, we were sitting in front of the screen showing the simulation. The entry proceeded normally. The folks at JPL were reading off the data as it came in. The crowd was mostly silent during the entry, occasionally cheering as some of the major events went by. Then the moment of truth came. The Skycrane was deployed! Some applause broke out when the simulation showed touchdown. But it was running a few seconds ahead of the live data. Finally the words everyone was waiting for "Touchdown Confirmed!". Cheering and clapping broke out in the crowd. On the screen we could see the Curiosity team jumping for joy. Minutes later the first picture was beamed back to Earth.

The next day the Houston Chronicle posted a photo from the event. After carefully scanning all the faces in the crowd, I was able to spot me and my Dad!

Photo Courtesy of the Houston Chronicle

The excitement from that night is still with me. When i watch the video again I feel like I am there all over again. I can't believe its already been 1 year.

Congratulations to the Curiosity team for 1 Year on Mars!

On the Road Toward a Star, Planets Halt Their Migration

Researchers using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope have shown that migrating planets stop their inward journey before reaching their stars, as illustrated in this artist's concept. Jupiter-like planets, called "hot Jupiters" are known to migrate from their star's frigid outer reaches in toward the star and its blistering heat. Dozens of hot Jupiters have been discovered orbiting closely to their stars, whipping around in just days. 

Until now, it was not clear whether these massive planets remain in stable orbits close to their stars or keep marching in closer and closer until they are ultimately consumed. The new work not only demonstrates that the planets stop their migration inward, but also shows how. The tidal, or gravitational, forces acting to circularize the orbits of the planets cause them to cease their inbound travels once they have hit the stable orbits. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Mission: Kepler