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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 39 declined, 97 accepted (136 total, 71.32% accepted)

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Space

Submission + - Rumor of Betelgeuse's death greatly exagerrated (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "A rumor is spreading on the net like wildfire that the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is about to explode in a supernova. This rumor is almost certainly not true. First, it's posted on a doomsday forum. Second, it's three times removed from the source, and is anonymous at each step. Third, the evidence is shaky at best. Plus, even if true, the supernova is too far away to hurt us. But other than that..."
Space

Submission + - Om nom nom: star eating its own planet (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Last year, the planet WASP 12b was discovered orbiting a star much like the Sun. Recent observations using the Hubble Space Telescope's new ultraviolet camera indicate, however, that unlike the Sun, this star is eating its planet. WASP 12b orbits so close to the star that its atmosphere has swollen, expanding so much that the gas leaves the planet and the star's gravity can swallow it down. At the rate it's going, the planet has about 10 million years before it's gone entirely."
Space

Submission + - Cannibal galaxy the biggest in the near Universe (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Astronomers have found the most massive galaxy in the near Universe: an obese, bloated monster that may tip the cosmic scales at 13 trillion times the mass of the Sun, 20 times the mass of the entire Milky Way. The galaxy, called ESO 146-IG 005, sits at the center of a dense cluster of other (but much more lightweight) galaxies, and grew to its present size by eating the galaxies around it. In fact, the so-far undigested cores of at least five other galaxies are still easily seen in the cannibal's nucleus. Astronomers are having difficulty pinning down the galaxy's exact mass, but it's clearly the biggest bruiser within 1.5 billion light years of home."
Space

Submission + - Record-breaking galaxy cluster found (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Astronomers are reporting that they have detected the most distant cluster of galaxies ever seen: a mind-smashing 9.6 billion light years away, 400 million light years more distant than the previous record holder. The cluster, handily named SXDF-XCLJ0218-0510, was seen in infrared images by the giant Subaru telescope, and confirmed with spectroscopy and the X-ray detection of million-degree gas (a smoking gun of clusters). Every time astronomers push back the record for cluster, they learn more about the early conditions of the Universe, so this cluster will provide insight into how the Universe itself changed over the first few billion years after the Big Bang."
Space

Submission + - Obama outlines bold space policy... but no Moon (discovermagazine.com) 2

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "In front of a mostly enthusiastic audience at NASA's Kennedy Space Center today, President Obama outlined a bold, new space policy. It's a change from his previous policy; the Constellation rockets are still dead, but a new heavy-lift rocket system is funded. He also specifically talked of manned asteroid and Mars missions, but also stated there would be no return to the Moon. This is a major step in the right direction, but still needs some tweaking."
Space

Submission + - Does water still flow on the Red Planet? (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "A series of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show tantalizing evidence of transient liquid water flowing down sand dunes. Dozens of gullies are seen, and their structure is better explained by liquid water running down the dunes than flowing dislodged sand. Not only that, but the length of the gullies increases between pictures, meaning this is happening right now. Liquid water can only last a few seconds or minutes before boiling away in the low atmospheric pressure on Mars, so if these grooves really are due to water, it's only a short-term phenomena. But any liquid water at all is amazing, and something of an enigma for scientists to explain."
Space

Submission + - 90% of the Universe found hiding in plain view (discovermagazine.com) 2

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "As much as 90% of previously hidden galaxies in the distant Universe have been found by astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Previous surveys had looked for distant (10 billion light years away) galaxies by searching in a wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms — distant young galaxies should be blasting out this light, but very few were detected. The problem is that the ultraviolet light never gets out of the galaxies, so we never see them. In this new study, astronomers searched a different wavelength emitted by hydrogen, and voila, ten times as many galaxies could be seen, meaning 90% of them had been missed before."
Space

Submission + - Barnstorming the final frontier (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Inexpensive access to space is right around the corner: Virgin Galactic will be launching people in their spaceplane to the threshold of space next year, in 2011! Flights cost $200,000, and will take passengers straight up to a height of 100 km (62 miles), what is officially designated space. From that height, the sky will be black and you'll see the curvature of the Earth. You'll also get 3 — 4 minutes of freefall before landing like a plane in the New Mexico desert. You can keep your jetpack; I want a rocketship!"
Space

Submission + - Give space a chance (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "A lot of pundits, scientists, and people who should know better are decrying the demise of NASA, saying that the President's budget cutting the Constellation program and the Ares rockets will sound the death knell of manned space exploration. This simply is not true.The budget will call for a new rocket design, and a lot of money will go toward private space companies, who may be able to launch people into orbit years ahead of Ares being ready anyway."
Earth

Submission + - Antarctic and Himalayan glacial ice disappearing (discovermagazine.com) 2

Submitted by The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: Studies using a NASA satellite and ground-truth measurements indicate that Himalayan glaciers are in retreat to the tune of 47 billion tons per year, and that Antarctica is losing ice at 100 billion tons per year — the latter equivalent to the volume of a 14,000 foot mountain every year. Both studies possibly indicate this rate is accelerating as well. While the 2007 IPCC report may have dropped the ball on statements about the Himalayan glaciers (they won't disappear by 2035 as stated in the report), the ice loss rate is alarming.
Space

Submission + - Fifth anniversary of a cosmic onslaught (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "Five years ago today (December 27, 2004), a vast wave of high-energy gamma and X-rays washed over the Earth, blinding satellites and partially ionizing the Earth's atmosphere. The culprit was a superflare from the magnetar SGR 1806-20, located 50,000 light years away. The energy released was mind-numbing: in one-fifth of a second, this supercharged magnetic neutron star blasted out as much energy as the Sun does in 250,000 years!"
Space

Submission + - Lake on Titan winks from a billion km away (nasa.gov) 1

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "NASA's Cassini spacecraft took an image of Saturn's giant moon Titan earlier this year that serendipitously provides proof of liquid (probably methane) on its surface. The picture shows a glint of reflected sunlight off of a monster lake called Kraken Mare (larger than the Caspian Sea!). Scientists have been getting better and better evidence of liquid methane on Titan, but this is the first direct proof."
Space

Submission + - NASA detects life on Earth! (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "The LCROSS probe — currently orbiting the Moon on its way to doom when it impacts the lunar surface on October 9 — took some routine calibration spectra of the Earth the other day, and in doing so detected signs of life. The spectra show free oxygen respirated by plants, as well as direct signs of plant life as well. Looking for life was not why the spectra were taken; they were just to test the instruments and to make sure everything was running smoothly. But this technique may be used by astronomers in the future to look for little green men living on planets circling other stars."
Space

Submission + - NASA releases hi-res pix of Apollo landing sites (discovermagazine.com) 1

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "After much anticipation (years on my part!) NASA has released high-resolution pictures of the Apollo landing sites. The images, taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, clearly show Apollo artifacts on the Moon, including the landers... and in the Apollo 14 site image you can actually see the lunar surface disturbed by the astronauts' bootprints! These are stunning images, reminders of a time when our reach exceeded our grasp, and an impetus urging us to do it once again."
Education

Submission + - Texas creationists on a wild roller coaster ride (discovermagazine.com)

Submitted by
The Bad Astronomer
The Bad Astronomer writes: "The Texas State Board of Education is voting Friday on the new science standards for the state, and half the sitting board is composed of young-Earth creationists. By a sliver, a bogus "strengths and weaknesses" amendment was voted down, which was a success for science... but mere hours later an amendment passed (11-3!) to put in a statement calling the Big Bang into question. Check the Texas Freedom Network blog for the blow-by-blow."

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