VLT captures oddball galaxy, supernova and asteroids in same image.

The Very Large Telescope has taken one of the best ever images of two galaxies locked in a slow motion, disruptive collision, scientists say.

The image has also given astronomers a peak at an unusual exploding star in the same area of the sky. Both interacting galaxies were probably dwarfs not unlike the Magellanic Clouds orbiting our own galaxy. [...]

Source: Space.com – click here for full article

 

NASA’s next great Moon rocket promises to do more than land astronauts on the Moon. In its spare time, it could revolutionize the science of astronomy.

Jan. 14, 2009: In the game of astronomy, size matters. To get crisp, clear images of things billions of light years away, a telescope needs to be big.

“The bigger the better,” says astronomer Harley Thronson, who leads advanced concept studies in astronomy at the Goddard Space Flight Center. And he thinks “NASA’s new Ares V rocket is going to completely change the rules of the game.”

Ares V is the rocket that will deliver NASA’s next manned lunar lander to the moon as well as all the cargo needed for a lunar base. Its roomy shroud could hold about eight school buses, and the rocket will pack enough power to boost almost 180,000 kg (396,000 lbs — about 16 or 17 school buses) into low Earth orbit. Ares V can haul six times more mass and three times the volume the space shuttle can.

“Imagine the kind of telescope a rocket like that could launch,” says Thronson. “It could revolutionize astronomy.”

Optical engineer Phil Stahl of the Marshall Space Flight Center offers this example: “Ares V could carry an 8-meter diameter monolithic telescope, something that we already have the technology to build. The risk would be relatively low, and there are some big cost advantages in not having to cram a large telescope into a smaller launcher.”

For comparison, he points out that Hubble is only 2.4 meters wide. [...]

Source: Nasa Science – click here for full article