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Laser Instrument on NASA Mars Rover Tops 100,000 Zaps

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2013Sciencealbuquerque, chemcam, chemical element, crater rim, curiosity mars rover, gale crater, geological process, horton newsom, igneous rocks, ionized gas, ithaca, laboratory project, laser instrument, mars science, micro imager camera, nasa mars rover, new mexico, plasma, rocks, soils, spectrum of light, university, veins of sulfates

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has passed the milestone of 100,000 shots fired by its laser. It uses the laser as one way to check which chemical elements are in rocks and soils.

The 100,000th shot was one of a series of 300 to investigate 10 locations on a rock called “Ithaca” in late October, at a distance of 13 feet, 3 inches (4.04 meters) from the laser and telescope on rover’s mast. The Chemistry and Camera instrument (ChemCam) uses the infrared laser to excite material in a pinhead-size spot on the target into a glowing, ionized gas, called plasma. ChemCam observes that spark with the telescope and analyzes the spectrum of light to identify elements in the target. (more…)

Astronomers Pin Down Origins of “Mile Markers” for Expansion of Universe

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2012Scienceastronomer, ben shappee, brightness, chemical element, dead stars, kris stanek, lbt, mile markers, mods system, mods1, ohio state university, optical telescope, origin, pattern, pinwheel galaxy, rick pogge, supernova 2011fe, supernovae, type ia, white dwarfs, zombies

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study using a unique new instrument on the world’s largest optical telescope has revealed the likely origins of especially bright supernovae that astronomers use as easy-to-spot “mile markers” to measure the expansion and acceleration of the universe.

In a paper to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers describe observations of recent supernova 2011fe that they captured with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) using a tool created at Ohio State University: the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph (MODS). (more…)

Blowing Up Stars

By Guest PostFebruary 3, 2012Sciencebart bok, big bang, black hole, caltech, cataclysmic explosion, chemical element, corot, david arnett, english astronomer, exotic physics, fred hoyle, gerard kuiper, kepler, mathematical equation, neutron star, rural kentucky, simulation, stellar explosion, steward observatory, supercomputer, supernovae, telescope, type Ia supernovae, universe, university of arizona, university of chicago, violent explosion

*For his discoveries about the lives and deaths of stars, the exotic physics of black holes and the origin of chemical elements, UA Regents’ Professor David Arnett has been honored with the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship.*

What happens when a star dies? How does a black hole form? What makes the chemical elements that form the building blocks of stars, planets and living beings?

Those are the kinds of questions that have fascinated David Arnett, a Regents’ Professor at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, from an early age. (more…)

Tag Archives: chemical element

Laser Instrument on NASA Mars Rover Tops 100,000 Zaps

Astronomers Pin Down Origins of “Mile Markers” for Expansion of Universe

Blowing Up Stars