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The Space shuttle Endeavour lands in California after a 16-day mission to the ISS
By John Antczak and AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn, November 30, 2008


» Endeavour / 2 / 3 / 4 » Video

- After undocking from the ISS the space shuttle Endeavour was flying 51 orbits of the planet entering than at an altitude of 42 miles into the Earth atmosphere. Around one hour and ten minutes later, flying at a speed of 15700 miles p.h., 15 times the speed of sound, the shuttle landed in California, as one could watch live on NASA TV.


» ISS crew watched landing from space


» high.r / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

- The space shuttle Endeavour comes in for a landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008 in California. Endeavour's landing ends a 16-day mission during which the shuttle flew to the international space station delivering a new bathroom, kitchen, exercise machine, sleeping quarters and recycling system designed to convert urine and sweat into drinking water. Endeavour traveled 6,615,109 miles during its journey.


Edwards Air Force Base, California. (AP) - Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday, taking a detour to sunny California after storms hit the main landing strip in Florida. The mission wasn't without its problems. Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper let go of a $100,000 tool bag during the first spacewalk, muttering "Oh, great" as it floated away. And Endeavour's astronauts also had to put in extra effort to get the urine processor working.

The shuttle crew also conducted four spacewalks to clear metal shavings from a solar wing rotary joint at the space station. The joint had been jammed for more than a year and hampered energy production at the orbiting outpost. Initial tests indicated the repairs on the joint were successful. The space station additions — and a few more scheduled to go up on the next shuttle flight in February — should enable NASA to double the size of the space station crew by June. On Sunday, NASA ordered the detour to California after dangerously high wind and a stormy sky prevented a Florida landing. "Welcome back. That was a great way to finish a fantastic flight," Mission Control radioed. "And we're happy to be here in California," shuttle commander Christopher Ferguson replied. Congratulations also came down from the space station. "Wow," said skipper Mike Fincke, who watched the landing broadcast live.

Returning home from a six-month mission was former space station resident Gregory Chamitoff, who had rocketed away from the planet at the end of May. The space shuttle's journey, short by comparison, spanned 6.6 million miles and 250 orbits of Earth. NASA always prefers to land the space shuttles at their home base in Florida. It takes about a week and costs $1.8 million to transport a shuttle from California to Florida, atop a modified jumbo jet. The astronauts also had been rooting for a Florida touchdown; that's where their families were waiting. As Endeavour soared over Houston, home to Mission Control, Ferguson could see all the bad weather in Florida. "I think you made a good call," he radioed. It was the first space shuttle landing at Edwards in more than a year.

When Endeavour hurtled over metropolitan Los Angeles, firefighters responded to a report of an explosion that turned out to have been the spacecraft's signature sonic booms. Ferguson landed on a temporary runway that's shorter and more narrow than the Kennedy landing strip. Edwards' main runway — which parallels the temporary one — just underwent maintenance and upgrades, and has yet to be equipped with all the necessary navigation equipment. NASA officials said both Ferguson and his co-pilot, Eric Boe, had practiced on the temporary runway in training aircraft. Flight surgeons were standing by at Edwards. Chamitoff, in particular, was expected to need assistance at touchdown; he had not experienced gravity for six months. Endeavour's crew members were expected to be reunited with their families on Monday in Houston. Early Sunday morning, a Russian supply ship arrived at the space station with Christmas presents, food, clothes and other items. (more)

• NASA: Endeavour Lands in California • Photos: Endeavour back on Earth • www.space.gs
Technologyreview: Obama's NASA Dilemma - The fate of the U.S. space program hangs in the balance.
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On the Net:

Photos: Aug. '07

NASA News Archive: Nasawatch.com/shuttle - Iss
NASA News Releases: Montebubbles.net/nasa_news
forum.nasaspaceflight.com • www.nbbd.com/events/nasa

MOSCOW (AP) - A modernized Russian cargo ship has brought holiday gifts and vital supplies to the International Space Station. Russian mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin says the unmanned Progress M-01M docked safely with the station on schedule. Station crewman Yuri Lonchakov took over the docking process manually after an automatic system brought the Progress within about 20 metres.


• Russian Mission Control Center


Lyndin said the reason for the switch to a manual docking was not immediately clear. The M-01M has a new main computer, a fully digital telemetric system and other improvements over older Progress craft. The Progress delivered propellant, oxygen and water as well as equipment and hardware and personal items for Lonchakov and his two American crewmates
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Related articles:

• • Spacecraft • Photos • Soyuz in space


• Interactive: Shuttle history - Trace every flight of America's space fleet
• MSNBC: Astronaut perfects space coffee with zero-G cup • Astronauts toast in orbit
• BBC: In graphics: Space StationFinally, urine recycler passes astronauts’ test (more) • Chronicle: Space News • Space Agencies links

G. Observatory: Gemini releases historic discovery image of planetary "First Family"

• HR 8799, Artwork by Lynette Cook


Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope and W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea have obtained the first-ever direct images identifying a multi-planet system around a normal star.The Gemini images allowed the international team to make the initial discovery of two of the planets in the confirmed planetary system with data obtained on October 17, 2007. Then, on October 25, 2007, and in the summer of 2008, the team, led by Christian Marois of the National Research Council of Canada’s Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (Victoria B.C., Canada) and members from the U.S. and U.K., confirmed this discovery and found a third planet orbiting even closer to the star with images obtained at the Keck II telescope. In both cases, adaptive optics technology was used to correct in real-time for atmospheric turbulence to obtain these historic infrared images of an extra-solar multiple-planet system. (more)

Related Articles and Information:

• • SETI Telescope • SETI Institute • Home: Arecibo Observatory

- The Arecibo Space Telescope in Puerto Rico scans the sky for signals. The collected data is divided up into work packets and distributed to volunteers' computers for analysis. This distributed analysis project is called Seti@home (more) • Distributed.net


- Each Carl Sagan Center research project is related in some way to understanding the origins of life or the extent to which life may be present beyond Earth. Devised as a means to inform SETI research, the Drake Equation addresses broad areas of scientific research, and each project relates to one or more factors in the Equation. How did life begin on Earth? How many stars have planets and how many of these planets might support life? Scientists in the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe explores these and other fundamental questions through a research program consisting of more than 30 externally funded, peer-reviewed projects. Sagan Center principal investigators conduct basic research into a field often known as astrobiology. MORE »

• LiveScience: Major Breakthrough: First Photos of Planets Around Other Stars
• Scientific Document: Extrasolar Planetary Systems • http://exoplanet.eu • Photos
• Membrana.ru: Чуждые планеты претендуют на экстрасолнечное первенство • space.gs
• W. M. Keck Observatory News: Astronomers capture first images of newly-discovered solar system
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On the Net:
* NASA: Astrobiology Institute
* Gemini Observatory: http://www.gemini.edu/
* The VLT Project: http://www.eso.org/projects/vlt/ * more links
* W. M. Keck Observatory: http://www.keckobservatory.org/index.html

Planets Detected with Telescopes


• Scientists Hunt For Light Flashes From Extraterrestrial Civilizations

- The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico is one of the facilities used by SETI. (more) Setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu


Using large space-based telescopes (>10-meter) Astronomers could search for terrestrial planets with atmospheres suitable for life as we know it. Spectroscopy could be used to detect the presence of Ozone, an indicator of oxygen in the atmosphere as well as water bands. Methane produced as a result of biogenic activity could be searched for using the same methods.

Using telescopes in Earth orbit planets could be searched for using direct detection methods. Stellar coronagraphs can be used to supress the light from the planet's parent star making detection easier. There is a higher probability of detecting planetary companions around nearby stars in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is due to the fact that the star to planet flux ratio is less in this region of the spectrum than in the visible.

To separate a planetary companion from its primary stellar halo, one must use a telescope (or array of telescopes) with an aperture (or baseline) B such that r/D is greater than or equal to the wavelength at which the observation is being carried out divided by the aperture (or baseline) of the telescope (or array of telescopes). MORE »

Stellar Habitable Zone

• Birth of a Planetary System

- In the spring of 2005, an image of an extrasolar planet was finally captured by the combined effort of VLT, HST, and the Subaru Telescope. The mass of the planet is about two times that of Jupiter. It is about 100 times farther from the young star GQ Lupi than Earth is from the Sun. The star GQ Lupi is part of a star-forming region about 400 light-years away. It is about 1 million years old with 70% the mass of the Sun. The planet is only 156 times fainter than the star, because it is still very young and hence still forming, still contracting with a temperature of about 3000oF. This system resembles in some respects our own solar system in its formation years. Despite the observational difficulties, astronomers have found about 150 extrasolar planets over the past decade. It seems to indicate that formation of planetary system is a rather common phenomena. MORE »

Extrasolar Planets Catalog - 155 Planets Detected by Radial Velocity Method

Planet Name M*sin(i) Period a e d Spec.Type Z M

14 Her b --- 4.74 1796.4 2.8 0.338 18.1 K0V 0.35 1
16 Cyg B b -- .69 798.938 1.67 0.67 21.4 G2.5V 0.09 1.01
70 Vir b -- 7.44 116.689 0.48 0.4 22 G4V -0.03 1.1
BD-10 3166 b -- 0.48 3.487 0.046 G4V 0.5 1.1
Eps Eri b -- 0.86 2502.1 3.3 0.608 3.2 K2V -0.1 0.8
Eps Eri c -- 0.1 102270 40 0.3 3.2 K2V -0.1 0.8 MORE »


The Beginning

- "Evolution is the gradual development of a system from one form to another. For astronomical and biological systems it takes billions and millions of years respectively for their development into the present form. The history of modern science is simply too short to record the changes to these systems. However, with the aid of advanced observational technology, the evolutionary history of the cosmos can be reconstructed from astronomical objects in different stages of development. For the biological evolution, the fossil records and DNA comparison offer some helps to trace the evolution. In the absence of direct evidence, theory often offers some clues. There is no definitive answer to the cause" MORE »


http://universe-review.ca/F02-cosmicbg.htm

On the Net:
Extra Solar Planets: Planetary.org/explore/extrasolar/

UNESCO, Paris, France, January 15-16 2009


» Video: Astronomy 2009 (more)


- 2009 has been declared International Year of Astronomy by the General Assembly of the UN (United Nations Organization). The Opening ceremony of the International Year of Astronomy will take place in Paris, January 15-16, 2009, under the aegis of the UN, the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), the IAU (International Astronomical Union). It is also supported by a number of sponsors including French and international organizations and institutions . About 400 participants are expected, among them eminent scientists (including Nobel Prize winners), and also about 200 young students from over 100 countries, participating to the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009. MORE »

Scientific Research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean




• An Aurora seen at the South Pole Station in Antarctica


• www.usap.gov • Video

• Photos - Earth Observatory and Telescope in Antarctica: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13

- The South Pole Observatory (SPO) is one of four atmospheric baseline observatories for NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL). The South Pole Observatory was established at the geographical south pole at 2837 m above sea level in 1957 as part of the International Geophysical Year. MORE »

Relevant Web Sites

• S. Pole Ozone Hole Data • Climate Prediction Center
• NASA Ozone Hole Watch • 2008 Sees Fifth Largest Ozone Hole




SUNRISE AT THE SOUTH POLE: On Sept. 21st, Ethan Dicks looked out the window of his office and saw the sun for the first time in 6 months. He quickly grabbed his camera and snapped this picture of sunrise at the South Pole: "I am a researcher for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, running IceCube, the large (1 km3 when completed) neutrino telescope that's under construction a mile below the ice near the South Pole," explains Dicks. "The past six months have been almost nothing but night; it's good to see the sun again." MORE»


• Scientific Research links: Nsf.gov • Usap.gov • Astro.uchicago.edu
• Rsmas.miami.edu • Ice.rsmas.miami.edu • Apo.nmsu.edu
• NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory: www.esrl.noaa.gov

• Photos: Aurora, Northern Lights

• An Aurora in Finland • Photos: Aurora Gallery • Solar Wind

On the Net:
Visual Sattelite Observer: Satobs.org - http://celestrak.com

Aurora from Nov. 30, 2008

From Claus Vogel's website:
- "Welcome to Pangnirtung, Nunavut located on Baffin Island in Canada's Arctic. Join me each Sunday as I introduce you to life in Canada's North. Pangnirtung, an Inuit community of 1400, is nestled on the shores of a fjord some 50km south of the Arctic Circle. I'm here for a third year teaching high school science, math and photography. Over the years I've bumped into polar bears, spotted bowhead whales, enjoyed the northern lights and had lunch with the President of Germany. MORE »

The International Polar Year 2007-2008 - (ipy.org)

• Polar Vortex • (Pdf): Astronomical investig. in Antarctica

- The International Polar Year 2007-2008 is a huge, exciting scientific campaign focussing on the polar regions. It is also an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate, follow, and get involved with, cutting edge science in real-time. MORE


• Arctic Ozone Loss

- Space research during IPY focuses on space itself, particularly solar processes that impact earth’s outer atmosphere, on making measurements of distant space from polar regions, and on the use of satellite sensors in space to monitor polar conditions and processes. In partnership with the International Heliophysical Year, IPY scientists will explore global geoelectric circuits and the auroras, and relationships of those systems with meteorological and solar variations. Researchers will evaluate Antarctic sites for suitability as locations of future astronomical facilities to determine, for example, polarization of the cosmic microwave radiation. Other researchers will make new polar geomagnetic measurements to help quantify a rapid field decrease that may signal a reversal of the Earth’s field and drift of the magnetic poles. Satellite sensors will provide large-scale views of snow and ice properties and dynamics, of ocean colour and roughness, of terrestrial geography and vegetation, and of atmospheric processes and properties. MORE »
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• Po. stratosph. clouds

On the Net:
eFestival of science: www.eu.cyberdusk.pl/astronomy - 50 years in space - (more...)

• www.astronomy2009.org • Video Trailer


• Int.yoastro.com


Above the Poles Day, TODAY!

Today, Thursday December 4th, IPY is celebrating it’s seventh International Polar Day, this time focussing on research Above The Polar Regions. In conjunction with this event, several IPY partners have released new information about their projects.

GIIPSY has been central in the research behind this announcement. that the Wilkins Ice Shelf is Under Threat. New rifts have developed on the Wilkins Ice Shelf that could lead to the opening of the ice bridge that has been preventing the ice shelf from disintegrating and breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula. GIIPSY investigators have also been involved in the following research: DLR’s TerraSAR-X contributes to international fleet of radar satellites to map the Arctic and Antarctica Monitoring the North and South Polar Regions using the ALOS/PALSAR, & obtaining images such as this ice island in the Arctic Solar Linkages To Atmospheric Processes SLAP .

SLAP is an International Polar Year project investigating the links between changes in solar output and weather and climate. This SLAP release discusses their research into weather and climate from the Antarctic extremes, and includes an interview with Evgeny Gruzinov, a leading engineer-geophysicist of the Russian Antarctic Expeditions (RAE), who has been working with Ausralian and Russian teams on this project and has almost spent a compete year at Vostok station. MORE »

• BBC: Russia abandons Ice Station Vostok (2003)

- At the very centre of the Antarctic continent and some 1,000 km (620 miles) from the South Pole, Vostok is a research station like no other. It is officially the coldest place on Earth, with a recorded low of minus 89.2 Celsius. It is positioned at the south geomagnetic pole and as such is in a good place to observe changes in the Earth's geomagnetic field. Ice cores drilled into the lake cap have revealed remarkable data about the Earth's past climate and scientists suspect the lake itself, cut off from the biosphere for millennia, may contain unusual lifeforms. The station usually houses 25 scientists and engineers in the summer and 13 over the winter. MORE »


• Web images / 2 / 3

- Lake Vostok may be the coldest, deepest and most southerly lake on earth. Vostok is thought to be one of the less than twenty ancient lakes on earth, although the lake's exact age is unknown. Vostok's water is considered to be the most pure on earth, since it has remained untouched beneath 4km of ice for its entire lifespan. Lake Vostok sits beneath a Russian research station that has seen the lowest temperatures ever recorded on this planet: minus 126.9 degrees Fahrenheit (53 degrees Celsius). Lake Vostok is the largest of over 70 sub-glacial lakes on Antarctica. MORE »


• Photos: North vs. South Poles


• History Channel Docu.: The Universe • Univ. Interactive
• Livescience: Explorers Reach Antarctic Pole (22. Jan. 2007)
• Space and Astronomy Exploration News: http://images.livescience.com/space

BBC..

Ancient supernova mystery solved
By James Morgan, Dec. 4, 2008


• Tycho Supernova Remnant

- On November 11, 1572, Tycho Brahe noticed a star in the constellation Cassiopeia that was as bright as the planet Jupiter. No such star had ever been observed at this location before. It soon equaled Venus in brightness. For about two weeks the star could be seen in daylight. At the present time, Type Ia supernovae remain key players in the newest cosmological discoveries. (more)


In 1572, a "new star" appeared in the sky which stunned astronomers and exploded ancient theories of the universe. Now the supernova recorded by Tycho Brahe has been glimpsed again, by Max Planck Institute scientists. They used telescopes in Hawaii and Spain to capture faint light echoes of the original explosion, reflected by interstellar dust. This "fossil imprint" of Tycho's famous supernova is reported in Nature. The study will help solve a 400-year-old mystery over the nature of the celestial event which captivated observers across the globe. In early November 1572, the brilliant "new star" appeared in the constellation Cassiopiea, and was even visible during daylight. Among those who marvelled was the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who recorded its precise position in his book, "Stella Nova".

His measurements revealed the "new star" was located far beyond the Moon - contradicting the Aristotelian tradition that such stars were unchangeable - which had dominated western thinking for nearly 2000 years. This set the stage for the work of Kepler, Galileo, Newton and others. "The supernova of 1572 marked a milestone in the history of science," said Oliver Krause, of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany. "It ultimately led to the abandonment of the notion of the immutability of the heavens. "But its classification has been controversial. "The determination of the exact supernova type has not been possible, without spectroscopic information." Based on historic records, Tycho's supernova [SN 1572] has traditionally been interpreted as a type Ia supernova. Such supernovas are believed to occur when a white dwarf star undergoes a titanic, thermonuclear explosion. Material from the star is ejected at up to 18,000 miles per second - or one-tenth of the speed of light. MORE »

Related article:
Space telescope looks into cauldron of an exploded star
- Supernovae are one of the most cataclysmic events in the Universe, violent explosions by which stars end their lives. A star may then have a brightness over a billion times that of our Sun and outshine the galaxy in which it lies. Their effects can be observed centuries later. XMM-Newton has been observing the remnants of the Tycho supernova observed by Tycho Brahe. MORE »
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On the Net:

Skepticworld.com


N.M. Museum of Space History: Nmspacemuseum.org
Star explosions visible to naked eye: Physics.uoregon.edu
History of Science and Technology: Saburchill.com/astronomy
Journey through the Galaxy: http://burro.astr.cwru.edu (more)