Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

Description:

Diamonds may be rare on Earth, but surprisingly common in space — and the super-sensitive infrared eyes of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope are perfect for scouting them, say scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Using computer simulations, researchers have developed a strategy for finding diamonds in space that are only a nanometer (a billionth of a meter) in size. These gems are about 25,000 times smaller than a grain of sand, much too small for an engagement ring. But astronomers believe that these tiny particles could provide valuable insights into how carbon-rich molecules, the basis of life on Earth, develop in the cosmos.

Scientists began to seriously ponder the presence of diamonds in space in the l980s, when studies of meteorites that crashed into Earth revealed lots of tiny nanometer-sized diamonds. Astronomers determined that 3 percent of all carbon found in meteorites came in the form of nanodiamonds. If meteorites are a reflection of the dust content in outer space, calculations show that just a gram of dust and gas in a cosmic cloud could contain as many as 10,000 trillion nanodiamonds.

“The question that we always get asked is, if nanodiamonds are abundant in space, why haven’t we seen them more often?” says Charles Bauschlicher of Ames Research Center. They have only been spotted twice. “The truth is, we just didn’t know enough about their infrared and electronic properties to detect their fingerprint.”

To solve this dilemma, Bauschlicher and his research team used computer software to simulate conditions of the interstellar medium–the space between stars–filled with nanodiamonds. They found that these space diamonds shine brightly at infrared light ranges of 3.4 to 3.5 microns and 6 to 10 microns, where Spitzer is especially sensitive.

Astronomers should be able to see celestial diamonds by looking for their unique “infrared fingerprints.” When light from a nearby star zaps a molecule, its bonds stretch, twist and flex, giving off a distinctive color of infrared light. Like a prism breaking white light into a rainbow, Spitzer’s infrared spectrometer instrument breaks up infrared light into its component parts, allowing scientists to see the light signature of each individual molecule.

Team members suspect that more diamonds haven’t been spotted in space yet because astronomers have not been looking in the right places with the right instruments. Diamonds are made of tightly bound carbon atoms, so it takes a lot of high-energy ultraviolet light to cause the diamond bonds to bend and move, producing an infrared fingerprint. Thus, the scientists concluded that the best place to see a space diamond’s signature shine is right next to a hot star.

Once astronomers figure out where to look for nanodiamonds, another mystery is figuring out how they form in the environment of interstellar space.

“Space diamonds are formed under very different conditions than diamonds are formed on Earth,” says Louis Allamandola, also of Ames.

He notes that diamonds on Earth form under immense pressure, deep inside the planet, where temperatures are also very high. However, space diamonds are found in cold molecular clouds where pressures are billions of times lower and temperatures are below minus 240 degrees Celsius (minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Now that we know where to look for glowing nanodiamonds, infrared telescopes like Spitzer can help us learn more about their life in space,” says Allamandola.

Bauschlicher’s paper on this topic has been accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal. Allamandola was a co-author on the paper, along with Yufei Liu, Alessandra Ricca, and Andrew L. Mattioda, also of Ames.

Credit:

NASA

Description:

The equinox is an astronomical event that marks the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere and spring in the south. Equinox means equal night and with the sun on the celestial equator, Earth dwellers will experience nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Of course, for those in the south, the days will grow longer as the sun marches higher in the sky as summer approaches. A few weeks after the September Equinox of 1994, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour recorded this image of the sun poised above the Earth’s limb. Glare illuminates Endeavour’s vertical tail (pointing toward the Earth) along with radar equipment in the payload bay.

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NASA TV’s This Week @NASA

Week Ending Dec. 28 - A Space Shuttle update, resupply of the International Space Station, flight testing of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, Exploration Development Laboratory was dedicated, Global Hawks transferred, photo by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls honored.

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Jet Propulsion Lab Audio and Video

Explorer 1 — JPL and the Beginnings of the Space Age - JPL designed and built — and, in cooperation with the Army, launched — Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite and the first spacecraft ever to return scientific data from space.

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2007: An Out-of-This-World Year - 2007 was a year of scientific surprises and major milestones for JPL missions studying Earth, our solar system and distant galaxies.

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Science @ NASA Feature Stories Podcast

SERVIR: NASA lends a hand in Central America - SERVIR’s supercomputer at the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) in Panama City integrates data from a variety of sources and displays a real-time map of crisis points.

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The Hidden Universe of the Spitzer Space Telescope

Showcase: The X-Planets - These two extreme planets have set the records for the hottest and windiest known worlds anywhere.
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How to Observe the Quadrantids Meteor Shower - Describes ways to watch the Quadrantids Meteor Shower.

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Well I am going to try to add this feature every week. So here is a list of vidcast episodes updated this week.

NASA Glen Research Facilities
Space Power Facility - View an in-depth video about the world’s largest space simulation chamber (8 min.)

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10′x10′ Supersonic Wind Tunnel - View an in-depth video about the capabilities of this premier research wind tunnel (6 min.)

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Research Combustion Laboratory - View an in-depth video about the propulsion research capabilities of the RCL (10 min.)

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Electric Propulsion Laboratory - View an in-depth video about the space research capabilities of the EPL (8 min.)

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NASA Science Multimedia

New Phenomena on the Sun - Video podcast of the NASA TV broadcast of the event on March 21, 2007. This video shows the latest footage we have captured of the suns magnetic field.

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What is a Planet? - This is the final version of the “What Is A Planet?” animation which visually describes the definition of a planet as outlined by the IAU ruling in August, 2006.

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NASACast Video

NASA TV’s This Week @NASA, Week Ending Dec. 21 - A review of all the happenings at NASA this Week.

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Beyond the Light: Dark Matter - The cosmic ocean twinkles and transforms with the birth of stars and their explosive demise into supernovas.

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How to Observe the Ursids Meteor Shower - A meteor shower occurs when small pieces of comet dust collide with the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Credit:

NASA/CXC/Wesleyan Univ./R.Kilgard et al; UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: NASA/ESA/S. Beckwith & Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ Univ. of AZ/R. Kennicutt

Description:

M51, whose name comes from being the 51st entry in Charles Messier’s catalog, is considered to be one of the classic examples of a spiral galaxy. At a distance of about 30 million light years from Earth, it is also one of the brightest spirals in the night sky. A composite image of M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, shows the majesty of its structure in a dramatic new way through several of NASA’s orbiting observatories. X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals point-like sources (purple) that are black holes and neutron stars in binary star systems. Chandra also detects a diffuse glow of hot gas that permeates the space between the stars. Optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (green) and infrared emission from the Spitzer Space Telescope (red) both highlight long lanes in the spiral arms that consist of stars and gas laced with dust. A view of M51 with the GALEX telescope shows hot, young stars that produce lots of ultraviolet energy (blue).

The textbook spiral structure is thought be the result of an interaction M51 is experiencing with its close galactic neighbor, NGC 5195, which is seen just above. Some simulations suggest M51’s sharp spiral shape was partially caused when NGC 5195 passed through its main disk about 500 million years ago. This gravitational tug of war may also have triggered an increased level of star formation in M51. The companion galaxy’s pull would be inducing extra starbirth by compressing gas, jump-starting the process by which stars form.

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Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Velusamy (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Description:

In this processed Spitzer Space Telescope image, baby star HH 46/47 can
be seen blowing two massive “bubbles.” The star is 1,140 light-years
away from Earth.The infant star can be seen as a white spot toward the center of the
Spitzer image. The two bubbles are shown as hollow elliptical shells of
bluish-green material extending from the star. Wisps of green in the
image reveal warm molecular hydrogen gas, while the bluish tints are
formed by starlight scattered by surrounding dust.

These bubbles formed when powerful jets of gas, traveling at 200 to 300
kilometers per second, or about 120 to 190 miles per second, smashed
into the cosmic cloud of gas and dust that surrounds HH 46/47. The red
specks at the end of each bubble show the presence of hot sulfur and
iron gas where the star’s narrow jets are currently crashing head-on
into the cosmic cloud’s gas and dust material.

Whenever astronomers observe a star, or snap a stellar portrait,
through the lens of any telescope, they know that what they are seeing
is slightly blurred. To clear up the blurring in Spitzer images,
astronomers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed an image
processing technique for Spitzer called Hi-Res deconvolution.

This process reduces blurring and makes the image sharper and cleaner,
enabling astronomers to see the emissions around forming stars in
greater detail. When scientists applied this image processing technique
to the Spitzer image of HH 46/47, they were able to see winds from the
star and jets of gas that are carving the celestial bubbles.

This infrared image is a three-color composite, with data at 3.6
microns represented in blue, 4.5 and 5.8 microns shown in green, and 24
microns represented as red.

Technorati Tags: NASA, JPL, Spitzer Space Telescope, HH 46/47, Vela (the Sails),

Credit:

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Description:

This image shows several gullies along the southern wall of unnamed crater in the eastern Hellas region of Mars. This particular crater has gullies on both the polar and equatorial-facing walls. The gully floors appear to be filled with rough-textured, somewhat knobby-looking materials. As multiple gullies located upslope feed into a single gully reaching the crater floor, the materials have converged to form a large deposit. Lineations parallel to apparent flow direction are evident on the textured surface. It’s not clear if liquid flows carved the gullies at this location, but the eastern Hellas region is well known for its abundant ice-rich flow features, such as lobate debris aprons at the base of knobs and massifs. Thus, the gully floor materials may have also incorporated ice at some time in the recent past and moved downslope as possible glacial-like flows.

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Technorati Tags: NASA, JPL, University of Arizona, Hellas region, Hirise

Credit:

NASA/IoA/A.Fabian et al.

Description:

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a devilishly clever machine which can look back in time and probe the dark, hidden mysteries of the Universe. Chandra has seen the unseen, probing the fall of the house of the Cas A supernova remnant, measuring the tell tale heart of the Crab Pulsar, and many other amazing things. Here we reprise probably the “scariest” of Chandra’s observations, an image of the dark hot glowing demonic visage in the Perseus cluster of galaxies. The demon is the result of the “drumming” of a monster with a heart of darkness which has produced a banshee wail heard through the known Universe. Happy Halloween!

Technorati Tags: NASA, IoA, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cas A supernova, Crab Pulsar, HEAPOW

Credit & Copyright:

Franck Bugnet

Description:

What caused the Crescent Nebula? Looking like an emerging space cocoon, the Crescent Nebula, visible in the center of the above image, was created by the brightest star in its center. A leading progenitor hypothesis has the Crescent Nebula beginning to form about 250,000 years ago. At that time, the massive central star had evolved to become a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136), shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of our Sun’s mass every 10,000 years. This wind impacted surrounding gas left over from a previous phase, compacting it into a series of complex shells, and lighting it up. The Crescent Nebula, also known as NGC 6888, lies about 4,700 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. Star WR 136 will probably undergo a supernova explosion sometime in the next million years.

Technorati Tags: The Crescent Nebula, Wolf-Rayet star, NASA, Deep Space,

Credit:

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Description:

The ancient cratered highlands of the southern hemisphere of Mars has an intriguing and complex history as it has been riddled with impact craters and modified by volcanic processes and by the wind.

Additionally, it is one of the most heavily dissected terrains on Mars exhibiting the densest population of valley networks: old dried up channels and valleys that may have been formed by surface runoff, the seepage of ground water, or both.

Recently, the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) aboard Mars Odyssey (MO), in conjunction with spectral data from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) aboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) have revealed the presence of a unique surface deposit that may be rich in chloride salts formed from the presence of liquid water. Three separate missions (MGS, MO and MRO) have come to reveal the composition and nature of these unique deposits, which, although they occur as relatively small deposits (less than 25 square kilometers) are widely distributed in Noachian (most ancient) terrains with fewer occurrences in the Hesperian (middle geologic time) terrains.

This HiRISE infrared color sub-image (approximately 900 meters wide) shown here is part of one such deposit in an ancient partially buried unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria, that shows this deposit in a light-toned almost fleshy color. The deposit appears to be relatively thin and occurs in low-lying areas. It is also heavily pockmarked and discontinuous, possibly from removal of the material by erosion. Both of these aspects suggest that the deposit is indeed very old.

The presence of such salts is intriguing, and strongly suggests that conditions were favorable for water near or at the surface in the geologic past. Polygonal cracks can be observed in this image and other images of these deposits elsewhere on Mars (PSP_003160_1410) and are similar to desiccation cracks (formed from the rapid evaporation and drying of a wet surface) and indicate that these may were more likely deposited at the surface. However, the volume and duration the water required for these deposits is still being investigated.
 

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Credit & Copyright:

 Robert Gendler and Stephane Guisard

Explanation:

A jewel of the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula, aka NGC 3372, spans over 300 light-years, one of our galaxy’s largest star forming regions. Like the smaller, more northerly Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is easily visible to the naked eye, though at a distance of 7,500 light-years it is some 5 times farther away. This stunning telescopic view reveals remarkable details of the region’s glowing filaments of interstellar gas and dark cosmic dust clouds. The Carina Nebula is home to young, extremely massive stars, including the still enigmatic variable Eta Carinae, a star with well over 100 times the mass of the Sun. Eta Carinae is the bright star left of the central dark notch in this field and just below the dusty Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324).

Credit:

Xinhua, China Daily

Description from Chinadaily:

China launched its first lunar probe on Wednesday, first step into its three-stage moon mission, marking a new milestone in the country’s space exploration history.

The Chang’e I blasted off at about 6:05 pm on a Long March 3A carrier rocket from the No. 3 launching tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

Chinese space experts, technicians and other work staff, joined by experts from Japan, Germany and other countries as well as millions of domestic audience from across the country, were watching the launching process.

The circumlunar satellite, named after a legendary Chinese fairy who is said to have flown to the moon, is expected to enter the Earth-moon transfer orbit on October 31 and arrive in the moon’s orbit on November 5.

The satellite will relay the first pictures of the moon in late November and will then continue scientific exploration for a year.

As the launch began Wednesday evening, the attention of the whole country has turned to the small town in Southwest China.

The local television station has reported that at least 1,000 journalists have flocked to the town.

“Journalists can be seen everywhere, carrying video cameras or long lens. You can’t miss them,” said a local TV reporter.

Local hotels, taxi drivers and travel agencies are all benefiting from the big event, regarded as the third milestone in China’s space achievements after manned flights in 2003 and 2005.

Description from the Lunar and Planetary Institute:

As promised, China launched its much awaited lunar satellite, Chang’e 1, on Wednesday, October 24, at approximately 5:05 a.m. CST from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

China’s milestone lunar orbiter project only cost 1 to 1.4 billion yuan (about 133 to 187 million U.S. dollars). Chang’e 1 is the most sophisticated satellite China has built and maneuvered to date. The satellite weighs about 2300 kg in total. The fuel carried by the orbiter accounts for nearly half its total weight.

Chang’e 1, named after a legendary Chinese goddess of the Moon, is expected to enter Earth-Moon transfer orbit on October 31 and is expected to enter the Moon’s orbit on November 5. The satellite will relay the first picture of the Moon in late November and will then continue scientific explorations of the Moon for a year. It will carry out a series of projects, including acquiring three-dimensional images and analyzing the distribution of elements on the Moon’s surface.

According to Chinese officials, China will share the achievements of the lunar exploration with the world, but will not be involved in a Moon race with other countries.

For more information, visit:

China’s First Lunar Probe Blasts Off

China View:  China’s First Lunar Probe Chang’e-1 Blasts Off

China Daily:  China’s Moon Exploration Program

Video of the Chang’e 1 Launch

Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ J. Hora (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

Description:

The Helix Nebula, which is composed of gaseous shells and disks puffed out by a dying sunlike star, exhibits complex structure on the smallest visible scales. In this new image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, infrared light at wavelengths of 3.2, 4.5, and 8.0 microns has been colored blue, green, and red (respectively). The “cometary knots” show blue-green heads due to excitation of their molecular material from shocks or ultraviolet radiation. The tails of the cometary knots appear redder due to being shielded from the central star’s ultraviolet radiation and wind by the heads of the knots.

Credit:

Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/P.Plucinsky et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/SDSU/J.Orosz et al.

Description:

The main component of this graphic is an artist’s representation of M33 X-7, a binary system in the nearby galaxy M33. In this system, a star about 70 times more massive than the Sun (large blue object) is revolving around a black hole. This black hole is almost 16 times the Sun’s mass, a record for black holes created from the collapse of a giant star. Other black holes at the centers of galaxies are much more massive, but this object is the record-setter for a so-called “stellar mass” black hole.

In the illustration, an orange disk surrounds the black hole. This depicts material, fed by a wind from the blue companion star, which has been swept into orbit around the black hole. Rather than flowing unimpeded and uniformly into space, wind from the star is pulled towards the black hole by its powerful gravity. The wind that does make it past the black hole is disrupted, causing turbulence and ripples beyond the disk. The companion star itself is also distorted by the gravity from the black hole. The star is stretched slightly in the direction of the black hole, causing it to become less dense in this region and to appear darker.

The inset shows a composite of data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) and the Hubble Space Telescope. The bright objects in the inset image are young, massive stars around M33 X-7, and the bright, blue Chandra source is M33 X-7 itself. X-rays from Chandra reveals how long the black hole is eclipsed by the companion star, which indicates the size of the companion. Observations by the Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii track the orbital motion of the companion around the black hole, giving information about the mass of the two members of the binary. Other observed properties of the binary were also used to help constrain the mass estimates of both the black hole and its companion.

Credit:

NASA, JPL

Description:

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft successfully completed the first test of its ion propulsion system over the weekend. The system is vital to the success of Dawn’s 8-year, 1.6 billion-kilometer (3-billion-mile) journey to asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres.

“Dawn is our baby and over the weekend it took some of its first steps,” said Dawn project manager Keyur Patel of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “We have two months more checkout and characterization remaining before Dawn is considered mission operational, but this is a great start.”

Members of the Dawn mission control team have been sending up commands and checking out spacecraft systems ever since its successful launch on Sept. 27. The first test firing of one of Dawn’s three ion engines was the culmination of several days of careful preparation.On Saturday, Oct. 6 at 6:07 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (9:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time), the ion propulsion system began thrusting. Over the next 27 hours, spacecraft controllers and navigators at JPL monitored the engine’s performance as it was put through its paces.

“We evaluated the engine’s capabilities at five different throttle levels,” said Jon Brophy, the Dawn project’s ion propulsion manager at JPL. “From flight idle through full throttle, the engine performed flawlessly.”

Dawn’s ion engines are extremely frugal powerhouses. The 27 hours of thrusting from the ion engine resulted in the consumption of less than .28 kilograms (10 ounces) of the spacecraft’s xenon fuel supply — less than the contents of a can of soda. Dawn’s fuel tank carries 425 kilograms (937 pounds) of xenon propellant. Over their lifetime, Dawn’s three ion propulsion engines will fire cumulatively for about 50,000 hours (over five years) — a record for spacecraft.

Dawn will begin its exploration of asteroid Vesta in 2011 and the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015. These two icons of the asteroid belt have been witness to so much of our solar system’s history. By utilizing the same set of instruments at two separate destinations, scientists can more accurately formulate comparisons and contrasts. Dawn’s science instrument suite will measure shape, surface topography, tectonic history, elemental and mineral composition, and will seek out water-bearing minerals. In addition, the Dawn spacecraft itself and how it orbits both Vesta and Ceres will be used to measure the celestial bodies’ masses and gravity fields.

The Dawn mission to asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres is managed by JPL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The University of California, Los Angeles is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Other scientific partners include: Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg, Germany; DLR Institute for Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany; Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, Rome; and the Italian Space Agency. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the Dawn spacecraft.

Related Links:

NASA Dawn Portal

Dawn Mission Home

Dawn Mission Updates

Dawn Journal

Dawn’s Early Light

Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ C. Lisse (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)

Description:

An Earth-like planet is likely forming 424 light-years away in a star system called HD 113766, say astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

Scientists have discovered a huge belt of warm dust – enough to build a Mars-size planet or larger – swirling around a distant star that is just slightly more massive than our sun. The dust belt, which they suspect is clumping together into planets, is located in the middle of the system’s terrestrial habitable zone. This is the region around a star where liquid water could exist on any rocky planets that might form. Earth is located in the middle of our sun’s terrestrial habitable zone.

At approximately 10 million years old, the star is also at just the right age for forming rocky planets.

“The timing for this system to be building an Earth is very good,” says Dr. Carey Lisse, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. “If the system was too young, its planet-forming disk would be full of gas, and it would be making gas-giant planets like Jupiter instead. If the system was too old, then dust aggregation or clumping would have already occurred and all the system’s rocky planets would have already formed.”

According to Lisse, the conditions for forming an Earth-like planet are more than just being in the right place at the right time and around the right star – it’s also about the right mix of dusty materials.

Using Spitzer’s infrared spectrometer instrument, he determined that the material in HD 113766 is more processed than the snowball-like stuff that makes up infant solar systems and comets, which are considered cosmic “refrigerators” because they contain pristine ingredients from the early solar system. However, it is also not as processed as the stuff found in mature planets and the largest asteroids. This means the dust belt must be in a transitional phase, when rocky planets are just beginning to form.

How do scientists know the material is more processed than that of comets? From missions like NASA’s Deep Impact – in which an 820-pound impactor spacecraft collided with comet Tempel 1 – scientists know that early star systems contain a lot of fragile organic material. That material includes polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (carbon-based molecules found on charred barbeque grills and automobile exhaust on Earth), water ice, and carbonates (chalk). Lisse says that HD 113766 does not contain any water ice, carbonates or fragile organic materials.

From meteorite studies on Earth, scientists also have a good idea of what makes up asteroids – the more processed rocky leftovers of planet formation. These studies tell us that metals began separating from rocks in Earth’s early days, when the planet’s body was completely molten. During this time, almost all the heavy metals fell to Earth’s center in a process called “differentiation.” Lisse says that, unlike planets and asteroids, the metals in HD 113766 have not totally separated from the rocky material, suggesting that rocky planets have not yet formed.

“The material mix in this belt is most reminiscent of the stuff found in lava flows on Earth. I thought of Mauna Kea material when I first saw the dust composition in this system – it contains raw rock and is abundant in iron sulfides, which are similar to fool’s gold,” says Lisse, referring to a well-known Hawaiian volcano.

“It is fantastic to think we are able to detect the process of terrestrial planet formation. Stay tuned — I expect lots more fireworks as the planet in HD113766 grows,” he adds.

Lisse has written a paper (Click here to read Lisse’s paper, Circumstellar Dust Created by Terrestrial Planet Formation in HD 113766) on his research that will be published in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal; he will also present his findings next week at the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Orlando, Fla. Lisse’s research was funded through a Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Stuart S. Janney Fellowship and a Spitzer Space Telescope guest observer grant.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

The University of Maryland is responsible for overall Deep Impact mission science, and project management is handled by JPL.

Related Podcast:

Get it here

Related Links:

Spitzer Space Telescope’s Article

JHUAPL’s Article

Credit:

NASA/JHUAPL

Description:

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has provided new data on the Jupiter system, stunning scientists with never-before-seen perspectives of the giant planet’s atmosphere, rings, moons and magnetosphere.

These new views include the closest look yet at the Earth-sized “Little Red Spot” storm churning materials through Jupiter’s cloud tops; detailed images of small satellites herding dust and boulders through Jupiter’s faint rings; and of volcanic eruptions and circular grooves on the planet’s largest moons.

New Horizons came to within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter on Feb. 28, using the planet’s gravity to trim three years from its travel time to Pluto. For several weeks before and after this closest approach, the piano-sized robotic probe trained its seven cameras and sensors on Jupiter and its four largest moons, storing data from nearly 700 observations on its digital recorders and gradually sending that information back to Earth. About 70 percent of the expected 34 gigabits of data has come back so far, radioed to NASA’s largest antennas over more than 600 million miles. This activity confirmed the successful testing of the instruments and operating software the spacecraft will use at Pluto.

Related Links:

New Horizons Main Page

NASA’s Main Page

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Credit:

 NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Description:

Thousands of sparkling young stars are nestled within the giant nebula NGC 3603, one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy.

NGC 3603, a prominent star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way about 20,000 light-years away, image reveals stages in the life cycle of stars.

Powerful ultraviolet radiation and fast winds from the bluest and hottest stars have blown a big bubble around the cluster. Moving into the surrounding nebula, this torrent of radiation sculpted the tall, dark stalks of dense gas, which are embedded in the walls of the nebula. These gaseous monoliths are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. The stalks may be incubators for new stars.

On a smaller scale, a cluster of dark clouds called “Bok” globules resides at the top, right corner. These clouds are composed of dense dust and gas and are about 10 to 50 times more massive than the sun. Resembling an insect’s cocoon, a Bok globule may be undergoing a gravitational collapse on its way to forming new stars.

The nebula was first discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1834.

Credit:

Oliver Pettenpaul

Description by LPOD.org:

Oliver likes limb views and so do I. This oblique perspective of Pythagoras is unusual, for the 130 km wide crater is 27° in longitude from the mean limb and not usually seen so much on edge. We can see the central peak in profile - its a relatively steep-sided triangular mountain - fitting for Pythagoras! The brightness of one peak is probably due to it being at the right angle to effectively reflect sunlight, but perhaps is also partially because it contains anorthosite, the aluminum-rich, whitish rock of the lunar highlands. The floor of the crater looks quite flat, like the foreground Mare Frigoris. The little crater near the bottom of the opposite rim is on the northwest side of the crater, so we are looking approximately north of west. The shadow-casting scarp along the rim crest on the left side of the crater appears quite steep. I didn’t realize how flat the rim is below the scarp, and how it almost rolls over toward the floor. Near the middle of the image is Robinson - a crater with such a smooth rim that looks like it was turned on a lathe. And near the foreground is Horrebrow and its A, locked in an incestuous embrace. Oliver’s image illustrates that there is no bad time to look at the Moon, for even a very bad libration leads to a new view of old friends.

Chuck Wood

Technical Details:

Oct 5, 2007 05:18UT. Celestron C9.25″ + Meade #140 2x Barlow + Astronomik R filter + ImagingSource DMK21AF04.AS camera @ 15 fp. 700 frames stacked with 10x MAP processing.

Related Links:

Oliver’s website

Lunar Photo of the Day

Credit:

Bud Kuenzli

Description:

Sometimes, after your eyes adapt to the dark, a spectacular sky appears. In this case, a picturesque lake lies in front of you, beautiful green aurora flap high above you, brilliant stars shine far in the distance, and, for a brief moment, a bright meteor streaks by. This digitally fused breathtaking panorama was captured late last month across one of the Chena Lakes in North Pole, Alaska, USA, and includes the Pleiades open cluster of stars on the image right. The shot is unusual not only for the many wonders it has captured simultaneously, but because lakes this far north tend to freeze and become non-reflecting before a sky this dark can be photographed.