Stellary Starry Universe

 

Space shuttle Discovery launched Sunday, March 15th, on a construction mission to the International Space Station. Perfect timing for sky watchers! The mission coincides with a series of ISS flybys over North American towns and cities. People who go outside after sunset can see the shuttle-station combo with their naked eyes and view the changing outlines of the ISS through backyard telescopes.

Astronauts are about to add a pair of 115-foot-long solar wings to the International Space Station. The station’s solar arrays are the largest deployable space assemblies ever built and the most powerful electricity producing arrays in orbit. Each wing weighs 2,400 pounds, uses 32,800 individual solar cells, and adds about 4000 sq. feet of light-collecting surface area to the ISS. When the work is done, the space station will have enough usable electricity to light up 42 houses.

Amateur astronomers can see it happen with their own eyes.

Source: Nasa Science – click here for full article

 

 

Telescopes reveal 3-D views of more than one hundred remote galaxies.

The Hubble Space Telescope can scope out the structure of faraway galaxies, while the European Southern Observatory’s VLT can use a spectrograph to reveal the motions of galactic gases. The combined 3-D view of ancient galaxies halfway across the known universe allows astronomers to trace mass and orbits relatively accurately.

“This unique combination of Hubble and the VLT allows us to model distant galaxies almost as nicely as we can close ones,” said Francois Hammer, an astronomer with the Paris Observatory in Meudon, France. [...]

 

 

Source: Space.com – click here for full article

 

 

NASA is turning control of the Hubble Space Telescope over to the general public to give non-scientists a chance to choose which target the iconic observatory should turn its camera eyes on next.

The U.S. space agency is inviting the public to vote for one of six candidate astronomical objects for Hubble to observe in honor of the International Year of Astronomy, which began this month. The options, which Hubble has not previously photographed, range from far-flung galaxies to dying stars. Votes can be cast until March 1. [...]

 

Source: Space.com – click here for full article

 

 

From humble beginnings in a Utah beryllium mine to the most advanced laboratories in the world, the mirrors of NASA’s next great observatory are taking an incredible journey to space.

December 10, 2008: The James Webb Space Telescope, targeted for launch in 2013, is already taking an incredible journey right here on Earth. It’s zigzagging up, down, and across the US to be “spit and polished” to perfection for its lofty space mission.

“To find the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe, which are millions and even billions of light years away, the Webb telescope mirror has to be wickedly smooth,” says Jeff Kegley of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

To get ready for space, the 18 mirror segments that will ultimately form the Webb telescope’s huge primary mirror are trucked from pit stop to pit stop in tandem cross-country for careful processing and polishing. They visit seven different states, some several times.

During the long odyssey, every precaution is taken for their protection. How many years of bad luck would you have if you broke one of these mirrors?

“That’s something we don’t talk about,” laughs Helen Cole, also of Marshall. “But seriously, we do have three spare segments, so no problem there.”

Let’s trace a mirror segment’s Earthly journey from rough start to “wickedly smooth,” and finally to union with its 17 siblings to form a 6.5 meter (21 ½ foot) wide whole with a total area of 25 square-meters (almost 30 square yards).

Source: Nasa Science – click here for full article