ESA Planck 50 Million Pixel All-sky Snapshot Maps Oldest Light

A new, super detailed map of the most ancient light-radiation in the cosmos has revealed our universe to be almost 90 million years older than previously thought, providing a more accurate view of the universes standard model.

The 50-million pixel, all-sky snapshot of radiation left over from the Big Bang was compiled from data gathered by the European Space Agency – ESA – Planck satellite, launched four years ago. Planck was created as part of ESA’s  Horizon 2000 Scientific Programme.

The snapshot depicts Cosmic Microwave Background – CMB – or relic radiation at a point 380,000 years after the Big Bang, as the newly-formed universe started cooling down.

Planck was launched in May 2009, reaching the Earth/Sun’s L2 point in July, and by February 2010 had successfully started a second all-sky survey. according to the ESA team the universe is 13.798 billion years old, it contains nearly 5 percent ordinary matter, 27 per cent dark matter and a whopping 68 per cent dark energy :: Read the full article »»»»

Astronomers Hear Last Cry From Dying Star

For the first time astronomers have detected the last gasps of a star being torn apart by – a previously dormant – giant black hole. The signals, which came from a galaxy 3.9 billion light years away, were x-rays generated by matter heated to millions of degrees and torn apart as material from the star crosses the black hole’s event horizon.

Known as quasi-periodic oscillations, they are a characteristic feature of stellar black holes, which have about 10 times the mass of the Sun. Dr Rubens Reis from the University of Michigan is the lead author of the paper published today in the journal Science.

Dr Reis says the findings confirm the constancy of black hole physics. ”This is telling us that the same physical phenomenon we observe in stellar mass black holes is also happening in black holes a million times the mass of the Sun, and in black holes that were previously asleep,” he said.

Dr Reis and colleagues first detected the event with NASA’s Swift Gamma Ray Burst Telescope last year, but did not pick up the oscillations at that time. The blips in the signals were detected in follow-up observations using the joint Japanese-NASA Suzaku and the European Space Agency ZMM-Newton orbiting X-ray observatories.

“You can think of it as hearing the star scream as it gets devoured,” said University of Michigan astronomy professor Jon Miller, who co-authored the paper.

The oscillating signal repeats at a characteristic frequency, which would sound like an ultra-low D sharp. The oscillations were occurring once every 200 seconds, meaning the stellar material was orbiting less than 9.3 million kilometres from the centre of the black hole. Professor Miller said that the discovery opens the possibility of studying orbits close to black holes, but that are extremely distant from earth.

European Space Agency Fishing on Jupiter’s Moons

The European Space Agency has approved a mission to Jupiter’s moons to discover whether fish live under their icy surfaces. The mission will send a five-tonne satellite to the solar system’s biggest planet to study three of its largest moons – Callisto, Europa and Ganymede.

These are of special interest because beneath their icy surface it is thought they might have vast oceans. Scientists believe this makes them one of the most likely places in the solar system to harbour alien life, possibly even fish.

The spacecraft would use the planet’s gravity to fly around the moons in the hope of discovering whether they host microbial life. The mission is due for launch in 2022 and would arrive in the Jupiter system around 2030.

LINKS:

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European Space Agency

NASA: OSIRIS-REx

In 2016 NASA will launch its Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx, on a mission to collect samples from an asteroid using a robotic arm.

NASA is developing a high-tech harpoon that could one day pierce a comet and grab samples for scientists on Earth to study for hints about how the universe formed. The idea borrows on a concept developed by the European Space Agency but adds a sample chamber to the spear so it can capture dust from a fast-moving, ice-spewing comet by hovering near it and launching the space harpoon.

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Funkinwagnill: Fact # 000149

Only one satellite has been ever been destroyed by a meteor, the European Space Agency’s Olympus in 1993. If two satellites collide who’s insurance pays, and do you have to overtake on the right in space. Whatever road rules they’re using in space it’s working. With well over 8,000 satellites whirling around the planet - all launched since 1957 – there has ever only been one hit by a meteor and only one collision between two satellites. With the added complication that some satellites travel at very high speed -26,00km/h- while others don’t travel at all – they are in geo-stationary orbits -  it is amazing that more satellites haven’t met an early demise. The satellite Olympus was hit by debris from the Perseid shower, a meteor shower caused by the annual visit of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle passing close to the earth. The satellite would normally have been moved out of danger but had already been partially disabled. The fact that there aren’t more satellite incidents is completely down to the satellites being moved to avoid any known dangers, such as meteor showers. Ground control of satellites by NORAD and other montioring stations is the only defence for satellites, until the get theyre own lasers anyway.