Carnival of Space #217
http://www.dearastronomer.com/
Once again it’s time for another weekly installment of the “Carnival of Space”, featuring weekly highlights from Space and Astronomy blogs across the Internet. This super-sized episode includes some great articles about UARS, SpaceX, NASA, and more!
This map shows the ground track for UARS. Credit: NASA
Kicking off this week’s carnival is news from Deborah Byrd at Earthsky.org on the final resting place of NASA’s UARS satellite.
Turns out the numerous reports of the satellite coming down over northern Canada were hoaxes.
Here’s a link to one (of many) hoax videos, courtesy of Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33BPFxA8Ndg
Astrophotographer Thierry Legault also has some breathtaking imagery of UARS before its reentry. You can see his work at: http://legault.perso.sfr.fr/uars_110915.html
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast celebrated their 1000th episode this week with a two part series on the electromagnetic spectrum.
You can read part one at: http://365daysofastronomy.org/2011/09/27/september-27th-wavelengths-more-than-meets-the-eye/ and part two at: http://365daysofastronomy.org/2011/09/28/september-28th-wavelengths-the-long-and-the-short-of-it/
Ian O’Neill at Discovery News discusses the possibility of whether or not famed exoplanet Fomalhaut b exists. Also coming from Discovery news is a great article on solar astronomy by Nicole Gugliucci.
This week brought incredible views of aurorae, thanks to an intense solar outburst. Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy provided an informative write-up at: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/09/26/aurora-alert-for-tonight/
Faster than a speeding Photon? Probably not. Chad Orzel wrote about the recent kerfuffle regarding the recent announcement of possible faster-than-light neutrinos. You can read Chad’s analysis at his blog, “Uncertain Principles”.
David Portree at Beyond Apollo provided an in-depth Special Study of the Surface of the Moon.
The above image has been circulating around the internet over the past month. The image makes a commentary that more people should know who Carl Sagan is, instead of Snooki (MTV’s “Jersey Shore”). Emily Lakdawalla provides her thoughts on the image (and Sagan’s legacy) over at the Planetary Society Blog).
Speaking of the Cosmos, Tibi Puiu at zme science has a post covering a UC Santa Cruz supercomputer simulation confirming a universe formation model
Fans of Mars exploration will enjoy a write-up on Vintage Space covering NASA’s ten-year plan for Mars exploration.
While we’re on the subject of decades, this week marks 106 years since Einstein’s “Annalen der Physik” (or “Annals of Physics” in English)known for its most famous equation: E=mc2. Megan Watzke provides her thoughts on the matter at: http://chandra.si.edu/blog/node/309
Paul Anderson at The Meridiani Journal brings us an update on potentially habitable exoplanets and the Habitable Exoplanet Catalog
SpaceX is in the news again this week, this time founder Elon Musk announced plans for a reusable launch system, as well as re-iterating his desire for a human colony on Mars. You can read Nancy Atkinson’s write-up of Musk’s speech at Universe Today., along with news on NASA’s plans to use the Space Launch System for a manned mission to an asteroid. Louise Rifrio also has her thoughts on SpaceX’s reusable rocket plans over at: GM=TC^3.
If you haven’t heard about the newest planned single-stage-to-orbit craft in development, Next Big Future has a great write-up of Sklon at: http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/09/skylon-testing-key-part-of-hypersonic.html
Curious about what might be next for humanity in space? You can read an opinion piece over at Habitation Intention.
Like to read space news en espanol? You can read about November’s approach of asteroid 2005YU55 at vega00.com. (Note: Google Chrome can translate the page.)
Having lived near Fermilab ( and interviewing there about ten years ago ), I’ll be raising a glass to toast the Tevatron tonight after work. Kelly Oakes at Scientific American discusses the Tevatron’s closure, scheduled for today. You can read more about the shutdown at: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/basic-space/2011/09/29/in-praise-of-the-tevatron/
Brian Berger at spacenews.com reported that Edward Weiler, NASA associate administrator for science will be resigning today, September 30th. You can read Berger’s coverage at http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110927nasa-science-chief-stepping-down.html
On a lighter note, Google+has opened the doors to the public. If you haven’t joined Google’s social network offering, you should give it a try. Once you join Google+, feel free to add me to your circles. You can find my profile at: https://plus.google.com/107935490847186075336 I’m giving away a Galileoscope kit next week to one lucky Google+ member who has added me their circles.
That’s it for this week’s carnival of space! If you want to check out any of the carnival entries from the past, a full listing is available at: http://www.universetoday.com/12019/carnival-of-space/
If you run an Astronomy or Space related blog and would like to be a part of the Carnival of Space, drop an e-mail to [email protected] It’s a great way to get to know the community and help your writing reach a wider audience.
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:06:42
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2011/10/03/carnival-of-space-217/
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