Astronomers Daily

They wander two by two across the cosmos
Photo courtesy of NASA

Binary asteroids are a pair of asteroids orbiting each other in a two-body system astronomers are currently developing theories on to explain their formation. Astronomers are presently studying binary asteroids in an effort to both confirm recent theories and develop new ones.

Astronomers recently took a closer look at the relative brightness of 35 binary asteroids, in order to determine the relative sizes, spin rates and shape of each asteroid pair. Backtracking along the orbit of each binary asteroid 1 million miles, they also determined 31 of the asteroid pairs studied came together sometime in the past.

Examining the 31 asteroid pairs they believe came together sometime during the past, astronomers determined that for each asteroid pair the smaller asteroid is consistently 60 percent less than the size of the larger asteroid. Astronomers believe this coincides with rotational fission theory first suggested in 2007 in explain the formation of binary asteroids.

The rotational fission theory postulates that sunlight striking the surface of an asteroid can increase rotational velocity of a smaller stellar body. Astronomers believe that if enough rotational velocity is added this could provide enough force to split an asteroid into two separate pieces orbiting each other.

Computer simulations of binary asteroids seem to indicate that is the asteroid in question breaks into two smaller pieces, with one asteroid being no more than 60 percent of the size of the other, they'll begin orbiting one another. The computer simulations also indicate that if the smaller asteroid is 60 percent less than the size of the larger asteroid in the binary asteroid pair. The asteroid pair created during rotation fission will separate and head off on their own. Astronomers believe this could indicate a range of size required for the formation of binary asteroids in our solar system.

The immortal words of Hamlet "There's a lot more under heaven and earth than is imagined in your philosophy Horatio" are words modern astronomers must learned to embrace fully during the human journey to the beginning of space and time. The solar system in itself is a lot more active and dynamic than first thought and astronomers are finding things just in our own backyard that are currently making modern astronomers smile at their discoveries. Modern astronomers who are essentially detectives trying to discover things science only imagined and trying to understand the mechanics and origins of the mysteries they view.

Like forensic scientists examining the scene of a crime, astronomers using data and information provided by NASA's Galileo, Cassini and New Horizon missions, recently traced telltale ripples in the rings of Jupiter from a decade ago to the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with the ring system of and Jupiter. They also believe similar ripples observed in the ring system of Saturn could be the result of a similar collision between Saturn's rings and a comet, or space debris of some type.

What does all of this indicate to the astronomers looking at this information? The astronomers think the fact that we can view traceable evidence of events that happened during the last three decades, and even sooner, indicates the solar system and corresponding universe is a lot more dynamic and active than we first thought. At first, astronomers were thinking they would be looking at events only from millions of years ago in the past, but they're finding things of interest to the human journey to the beginning of space and time in our own backyard.

What will they find next? Tune in next time to this website to find out as we continue the human journey to the beginning of space and time.

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known" are the immortal words of Carl Sagan a noted figure of the human journey to the beginning of space and time whose path to understanding is an inspiration for millions of young people aspiring to be part of the human search for understanding of the universe. Immortal words leading the current human search for planets with Earth-like characteristics, these words have helped prepare the path the current and next generation of human space explorers will follow during the centuries ahead.

Carl Sagan continues to aspire young people around the world today to reach into the heavens with their minds to delve into the mysteries of the cosmos, in the form of the Carl Sagan Fellowship Program. A program formed by NASA to help the young people of the world continue the human journey to the beginning of space and time and break beyond the bounds of present understanding of Earth-like planets in the galaxy, the Carl Sagan Fellowship Program recently named another five space explorers to the fellowship list.

The Carl Sagan Fellowship Program was created in 2008 and awards selected postdoctoral scientists with annual stipends of around $64,500 for up to three years, and throws in about $16,000 for the annual research budget of each scientist.
Who are this years 2011 Carl Sagan Fellows? This year David Kipping, who will be looking for moons around exo-planets while working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been selected, along with Bryce Croll from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will be delving into the mysteries of the atmospheres of exo-planets. In addition, Vladimir Lyra over at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been selected for the award and will be studying planet-forming disks and exo-planet formation, along with Katie Morzinski at the University of Arizona, who will be studying Jupiter-like exo-planets, has been selected to receive a Carl Sagan fellowship award. Lastly, Sloane Wiktorowicz at the University of California, Santa Cruz has been selected as the fifth and final 2011 Carl Sagan Fellow, and he'll be trying to detect new exo-planets.

NASA has also created two other fellowship programs named after scientists that have changed the boundaries of human understanding during their times. The Einstein Fellowship Program, which provides aspiring space explorers conducting research into the physics of the cosmos and the Hubble Fellowship Program, which delves into the mysteries surrounding the beginning of space and time.
 
You can check out the careers and future scientific endeavors of these five space explorers by clicking on this link to NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program at JPL on the grounds of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

Reports of the death of NASA's Constellation program appear to have been a little premature as rocket scientists were testing Development Motor-2 (DM-2), currently the world's largest and most powerful solid rocket motor, on August 31 in static tests conducted by ATK Aerospace Systems in Promontory, Utah. The development of the DM-2 has been managed by the Ares Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and despite reports that this booster wouldn't be used in the near future to power Constellation program space vehicles, it appears the DM-2 is being prepared to go to work.

The DM-2 roared to life in a mighty column of flame during a two-minute, full-scale testing of the most powerful engine humans have yet designed and built for space travel. The DM-2 is actually suited to be used on heavy-lift vehicles used by the American space program to move heavy loads from Earth into space and it's still possible we'll see the DM-2 used for this very job in the future. The stationary firing of the first-stage development solid rocket motor referred too as the DM-2 was monitored by more instruments than at anytime in NASA's history, with a record 760 instruments measuring 53 variables of the test-firing.

The DM-2 is designed to produce about 3.6 million pounds of thrust at ignition, enough power to lift a significant amount of weight mass into space orbit. This full-scale testing of the DM-2 is designed to collect information and data that will be combined with previous tests to allow rocket scientists to better evaluate the potential of the DM-2 for future NASA programs. The DM-2 is similar to the successful solid rocket boosters NASA used to lift the space shuttle into Earth orbit, but include significant improvements and upgrades designed by NASA and ATK engineers. Engineers added a fifth segment to the DM-2, a larger nozzle throat, and upgraded the insulation and liners, all additions they expect to make a difference in performance and reliability of the DM-2 as compared to previous rocket engines.

What's next for the DM-2 and the engineers in charge of its development? After additional testing the DM-2 will be certified to be used by NASA at temperature ranges between 40 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. There has been no additional information provided by NASA and ATK concerning future plans for the DM-2, but apparently they have something in the pipeline. We'll have to wait and see what happens in the months ahead in the century of the environment with the DM-2.

Secure the Future of Astronomy by Opening Young Minds to the Possibilities in the Night Sky

Take a young mind on your journey to the beginning of the universe and you'll be helping to secure the future of astronomy and possibly humankind. The young minds of the world are the future and will be making the important choices in the century of the environment. The experiences they undertake at this critical age will lay the foundation for everything they believe throughout their lives. Once they lay their head upon the cold earth and their mind embraces the immensity of the night sky above them. They'll may realise just how small and diminutive the Earth and life-on-earth, really is, and the importance of protecting the planet, for all life.

Make it a family affair and take the wife and kids out into the wilderness. Set up your time machine to the stars and take the family on a journey to the beginning of the universe. On a clear night the night sky will open the young mind to the universe and the immensity of space and time. Point out larger, more visible celestial objects first, and then you can slowly introduce the harder to view celestial bodies, as their mind begins to digest the information and grasp the concepts involved and their consciousness expands in response to the possibilities before their eyes.

By opening a young mind to the universe in the night sky, you're opening their consciousness to the possibilities before their eyes and helping them put everything in the universe in realistic-proportion in their young minds, and you could in the end be giving them a useful tool for survival in the battle for survival on planet Earth. At the same time, you're helping to breathe life into astronomy, and contributing to the general understanding of the true role humans play and could play in coming cosmic events in the century of the environment.

Start with the basic celestial objects in the solar system, and save the longer space trips and abstract objects and concepts, until a later time in your journey to the beginning of the universe. Before you know it, your young ones will be asking to journey to some far off part of the universe they have only heard mentioned in whispers, and their journey will really begin.

By taking a journey to the beginning of the universe you could inadvertently be creating the desire to venture out into the universe to witness the awesomeness of the night sky in person and the birth of a space explorer that will alter the course of human history. Helping to protect the Earth, all living things, and shape the future of humankind, in your own little way.

Black holes and humans have more in common than we first thought, we can both be a little off-center

Black holes are unusual celestial objects typically found at the center of galaxies, according to space scientists and astronomers, but space scientists at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands think they have found a black hole a little off-center. Astronomers typically find black holes by looking for strong x-ray sources near the places they think black holes should exist. Friction heats matter falling into a strong gravity source, such as a black hole, creating copious amounts of x-rays, which space scientists use to locate possible black holes. Astronomers at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands believe they have found a black hole in a less typical location in one nondescript galaxy.

The black hole in question appears to be located about 10,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy in question. What's this 1-billion-solar-mass black hole doing so far from the center of the galaxy? Space scientists postulate using the available facts that large black holes, like the one in question, could be created during the collision of two smaller black holes. This would eject the bigger black hole out of the galaxy's center at high-speed, space scientists believe, and could be one way black holes could be relocated to another galactic address.

Could a Cradle For a New Human Genesis be found in Our Solar System?

The search for another home to act as a cradle for a new human genesis has turned another page today. Two papers analyzing the chemical activity reported by observations made by NASA's Cassini Orbiter of Saturn's moon Titan report the data is consistent with the possible presence of theoretical methane-based life and how such life forms existing in an exotic and dynamic environment could affect their surroundings.

The first paper is available online and in the August edition of Icarus and was authored by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins University. This paper describes a flow of hydrogen molecules through the atmosphere of Titan that disappear at the surface. "It's as if you have a hose and you're squirting hydrogen onto the ground, but it's disappearing."

The second paper is also available online and will appear in a future issue of The Journal of Geophysical Research. This paper reports a lack of acetylene and an abundance of organic compounds on the surface of Titan. This implies that Titan could be a place in the solar system where dynamic organic chemistry is currently taking place, and Titan could be a possible place in our solar system where the elements could exist for a home to act as a cradle for a new human genesis.

This news in no way means they have found life on Titan, but it does strengthen the case for the possibility of life taking more forms and existing in environments beyond those envisioned by humans. The scientists releasing these studies can certainly be applauded for keeping an open mind to the possibility that life exists beyond the bounds set by human imagination. We should keep in mind that chemical processes can also explain the data collected by the Cassini Orbiter and this is certainly a much simpler explanation for a flow of hydrogen molecules through the atmosphere of Titan that disappears at the surface. Indeed hydrogen would seem to be the element of choice to consume in life processes on Titan. We should probably exhaust all other possibilities, before suggesting there the result of life processes though, and save the existence of life for the last conclusion.

This little rock looks like it has an interesting story to tell!

 

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been traveling across the surface of the Red Planet looking at anything that interests scientists, while making its way toward its main goal, Endeavour Crater. The latest object of study for planetary scientists playing with their toys is this meteorite NASA's planetary scientists have affectionately named "Oilean Ruaidh", which is also the Gaelic name of an island off the coast of northwestern Ireland. NASA planetary scientists first got a glimpse of this gem on September 16, 2010, which was the 2,363rd Martian day rover has spent on the surface of the Red Planet. The picture above was actually taken on September 24, 2010, using the panoramic camera on Opportunity, four days before Opportunity would continue its journey to Endeavour Crater, by traveling a distance of about 328 ft (100 meters).

The four days that planetary scientists spent looking at "Oilean Ruaidh" using the microscopic imager and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer of Opportunity to take a closer look at the texture and composition of this little meteorite revealed that it's a nickle-iron meteorite. The image above is presented in a color close to the true color of the meteorite and combines component images taken through three Pancam filters admitting different wavelengths.

The Moon dances, spins and twirls and crater Goddard arcs past your view

Star gazers can pay respects to a true pioneer of human space travel Robert Goddard beginning on the night of October 10th, by taking a journey to the Moon to view the crater named after this gentleman of astronomy. Your view of the Moon's crescent will show plenty of open landscape between the Moon's eastern limb and Mare Crisium on this night. 

A large oval plain encompassing an area 270 miles wide by 350 miles long, with the long side running east to west, Mare Crisium will appear different on this night because of the foreshortening of the lunar globe. Mare Crisium also stands alone on the surface of the Moon and isn't interconnected with the other maria you'll view on the Moon's surface during your journey to the beginning of the universe. The last place on the Moon's surface to be visited by mankind, Mare Crisium, or the Sea of Crises, was host to the unmanned soviet spacecraft Luna 24 in 1976. Look for dark patches along the Moon's limb on October 10th, which is actually hardened lava of Mare Marginis, the Sea on the Margin, and find the short white arc just beyond the eastern shore of the sea. This short white arc is in fact the illuminated rim of crater Goddard. Watch as Goddard arcs past the Moon's eastern limb over the next few nights and you'll get a good lesson in how the Earth's satellite moves as the Moon's eastern limb rotates away from Earth.

On October 15th, Goddard will appear in profile and you should see the rim of this crater poking outward, like two towering peaks framing a darker interior. On October 18th, Goddard will have disappeared over the limb and only about half of Mare Marginis will be viewable. On October 22nd, the Moon will be in full phase at 9:37 P.M. EDT, and only an outline of the shoreline of Mare Marginis will be visible. By this time Mare Crisium will appear much closer to the limb and is prominent in your view of the Moon.

Why does Mare Crisium appear closer and what causes this visual sleight-of-hand? The Moon actually spins at a pretty constant rate, generally completing one rotation on it axis each month. In the same time frame, however, the Moon orbits the Earth on an elliptical path, and this means the Moon's speed of rotation will vary. This allows viewers to see a few degrees beyond the normal limb of the Moon during specific time frames of the lunar cycle, which is an effect astronomers refer too as the libration of the Moon.

One benefit of the space race for the human race is the spread of scientific knowledge and understanding developed through the space program to commercial and civil uses. The technology developed by NASA and its business partners during the years the American space program has been running is responsible for saving lives around the world. It has also been critical in the former and current development of techniques and equipment currently changing the landscape of many technical fields of study and endeavor in the United States of America and the world.

One field of scientific and medical study NASA's research could aid is the interpretation of mammograms, ultrasound, and other medical images, and a possible reduction in the number of human errors made by doctors during the analysis of these medical images. This computer-based technology could in this way allow for earlier detection of medical abnormalities in human tissues and the saving of thousands of lives in the months and years ahead in the century of the environment.

The new technology is called the new MED-SEG system, developed by Bartron Medical Imaging Incorporated, a Connecticut-based firm, this system takes advantage of innovative software developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt to help analysis mammograms, ultrasounds, X-rays and other medical imagery. The United States Federal Food and Drug Administration has cleared the MED-SEG system for use with trained professionals in the United States that process medical images.

NASA scientists originally developed and designed the software used for the MED-SEG system to look closely at features on the Earth's surface and distinguish them from everything around them. The software is capable of grouping items into groups based upon useful criteria and this ability has been transferred to the job of analysing medical images and helping doctors detect abnormalities in human tissue faster and more reliably. Using this software doctors can send images via a secure Internet connection to a Bartron data center for quick processing by the firms imaging software and after analysis the images are quickly sent back to the doctors for them to use in the diagnosis of patients.