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Mit Weltraumteleskop PLATO 2.0 auf der Suche nach der zweiten Erde

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2014Scienceastronomie, cheops, deutschland, dlr, dlr institut, erde, esa, exoplanet, frankreich, grossbritannien, heike rauer, italien, johann dietrich woerner, kepler 2, max planck institut, mini gasplanet, NASA, planetensystem, plato, plato mission, sonnensystem, sonnensystemforschung, spanien, suche, tess, tilman spohn, weltraumteleskop, zweite erde

In einer genau ausbalancierten günstigen Entfernung von seinem Stern, mit Wasser auf der Oberfläche, so sollte der Planet sein, den die Wissenschaftler der PLATO-Mission außerhalb unseres Sonnensystems entdecken wollen. Unter der Leitung des Deutschen Zentrums für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) wird ein internationales Konsortium sich auf die Suche nach dieser zweiten Erde machen. 2024 soll das Weltraumteleskop starten, das die Europäische Weltraumorganisation ESA am 19. Februar 2014 unter fünf vorgeschlagenen Missionen ausgewählt hat. “Wir werden Planeten finden, die ihren sonnenähnlichen Stern in der lebensfreundlichen, der habitablen Zone umkreisen: Planeten, auf deren Oberfläche Wasser vorhanden sein könnte und auf denen dann vielleicht sogar die Entwicklung von Leben, wie wir es kennen, möglich wäre”, sagt Prof. Heike Rauer vom DLR-Institut für Planetenforschung , die das PLATO-Instrumentenkonsortium leitet. (more…)

“Blue Dot” – die Erde mit Alexander Gersts Augen sehen

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2014Sciencealexander gerst, astronaut reid wiseman, blue dot, die erde, die reise, dlr, esa astronaut, internationalen raumstation, iss, maxim surajew, NASA

Die Uhr tickt: In 100 Tagen wird der deutsche ESA-Astronaut Alexander Gerst zur Internationalen Raumstation ISS starten – gemeinsam mit seinen Kollegen, dem NASA-Astronaut Reid Wiseman und dem russischen Kosmonauten Maxim Surajew.

An Bord einer Sojus-Trägerrakete werden 274 Tonnen Treibstoff sie auf 28.000 Stundenkilometer beschleunigen. Damit werden Sie den orbitalen Außenposten der Menschheit in weniger als sieben Stunden erreichen. Der für den 28. Mai 2014 geplante Start ist der Beginn von Alexanders sechsmonatiger Mission “Blue Dot” als Teil der ISS Expedition 40/41. (more…)

Where the Wild Stars Are

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2014Sciencegas, generations of stars, micron light, NASA, neowise, trifid nebula, visible light views, wild stars, wise, young stars

A storm of stars is brewing in the Trifid nebula, as seen in this view from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The stellar nursery, where baby stars are bursting into being, is the yellow-and-orange object dominating the picture. Yellow bars in the nebula appear to cut a cavity into three sections, hence the name Trifid nebula.

Colors in this image represent different wavelengths of infrared light detected by WISE. The main green cloud is made up of hydrogen gas. Within this cloud is the Trifid nebula, where radiation and winds from massive stars have blown a cavity into the surrounding dust and gas, and presumably triggered the birth of new generations of stars. Dust glows in infrared light, so the three lines that make up the Trifid, while appearing dark in visible-light views, are bright when seen by WISE. (more…)

Curiosity Mars Rover Checking Possible Smoother Route

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2014Sciencecoeymans, curiosity mars rover, daniel limonadi, dingo gap, drilling site, gale crater, gap, geological layer, hirise, jim erickson, jpl, kimberley quadrant, kms 9, mars rover, mawson, mount sharp, NASA, richard rainen, slope, yellowknife quadrant

The team operating NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is considering a path across a small sand dune to reach a favorable route to science destinations.

A favorable route would skirt some terrain with sharp rocks considered more likely to poke holes in the rover’s aluminum wheels.

While the team has been assessing ways to reduce wear and tear to the wheels, Curiosity has made progress toward a next site for drilling a rock sample and also toward its long-term destination: geological layers exposed on slopes of Mount Sharp. The rover has driven into a mapping quadrant that includes a candidate site for drilling. Meanwhile, testing on Earth is validating capabilities for drilling into rocks on slopes the rover will likely encounter on Mount Sharp. (more…)

NASA Receives Mars 2020 Rover Instrument Proposals for Evaluation

By Guest PostJanuary 21, 2014Science2018 exomars rover, 2020, astrobiology, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, electra telecommunication radios, Environment, esa, european space agency, exploration technology, geological assessment, habitability, hazards, human explorers, humans to mars, instrument, john grunsfeld, landing site, mars, mars 2020 rover, mars in 2030s, mars rover, martian dust, michael gazarik, NASA, oxygen, President Obama, red planet, rocket fuel, space exploration, william gerstenmaier

NASA has received 58 proposals for science and exploration technology instruments to fly aboard the agency’s next Mars rover in 2020, twice the usual number submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past, and an indicator of the extraordinary interest in exploration of the Red Planet.

The agency is beginning a thorough review to determine the best combination of science and exploration technology investigations for the mission and anticipates making final selections in the next five months. (more…)

Eight Seconds of Terror

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2014Environmentandrea donnellan, aperture radar mission, better models, blind thrust fault, california, crack, crust, crustal deformation, data analyses, downtown los angeles, earth, earthquake faults, earthquake in long beach, eight seconds, geodetic imaging techniques, geophysicist, global positioning system, golden guardian, gps, isro, large earthquakes, NASA, nature magazine, northridge earthquake, periodic shakeout, plate boundary observatory, reseda, rupture, san fernando valley, synthetic, terror, uavsar

A JPL Scientist Reflects on L.A.’s Last Big Quake

Twenty years ago this week, in the predawn darkness of Jan. 17, 1994, at five seconds before 4:31 a.m. PST, the ground ruptured violently on a blind thrust fault (a crack in Earth’s crust that does not reach the surface) about 11 miles (18 kilometers) beneath Reseda, in California’s San Fernando Valley about 20 miles (31 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The resulting magnitude 6.7 earthquake, known as the Northridge earthquake, became the first large quake to strike directly under an urban area in the United States since the 1933 magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Long Beach, Calif. (more…)

Dead Star and Distant Black Holes Dazzle in X-Rays

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2014Scienceb1509, canada, cosmic evolution survey, cosmos field, dead star, distant black holes, fiona harrison, francesca civano, hand of god, hongjun an, mcgill university, montreal, NASA, new haven, nuclear, nustar, particle, psr b1509 58, pulsar, pulsar wind nebula, spectroscopic telescope array, spinning star, xrays, yale university

Two new views from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, showcase the telescope’s talent for spying objects near and far. One image shows the energized remains of a dead star, a structure nicknamed the “Hand of God” after its resemblance to a hand. Another image shows distant black holes buried in blankets of dust.

“NuSTAR’s unique viewpoint, in seeing the highest-energy X-rays, is showing us well-studied objects and regions in a whole new light,” said Fiona Harrison, the mission’s principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. (more…)

A rare crash at the Milky Way’s core: U-Michigan astronomers could be the first to see it

By Guest PostJanuary 10, 2014Scienceconstellation, core, g2, galactic center, galaxy by spring, gaseous g2 object, mark reynolds, Milky Way, mysterious gas cloud, NASA, nathalie degenaar, rare collision, sagittarius, scorpius, supermassive black hole, swift telescope, u michigan astronomers, university of michigan, xray wavelengths

ANN ARBOR — University of Michigan astronomers could be the first to witness a rare collision expected to happen at the center of the galaxy by spring.

With NASA’s orbiting Swift telescope, the U-M team is taking daily images of a mysterious gas cloud about three times the mass of Earth that’s spiraling toward the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s core. From our vantage point, the core lies more than 25,000 light years away in the southern summer sky near the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. (more…)

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