It’s ALIVE! Well, Almost…

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spied the unique spectroscopic signature of Methane on a far away (63 Light Years), Jupiter-like planet circling close into its parent star, in the constellation Vulpecula. Methane is a molecule associated with what is called prebiotic chemistry, the precursor to life. The planet, named HD 189733b as only a scientists would do, is a hot, gas giant type planet that takes a mere two days to orbit around its sun. The methane detected leads scientist to hope that they can find more of this type of chemical on planets located in that orbital sweet spot where water can exist as a liquid and life can flourish.

According to NASA’s website, “This discovery proves that Hubble and upcoming space missions, such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, can detect organic molecules on planets around other stars by using spectroscopy, which splits light into its components to reveal the ‘fingerprints’ of various chemicals.”

The discovery comes after extensive observations made in May 2007 with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). It also confirms the existence of water molecules in the planet's atmosphere, a discovery made originally by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2007. "With this observation there is no question whether there is water or not - water is present," said Swain.

Mark Swain of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the team leader on the project that discovered the Methane with HST said, "This is a crucial stepping stone to eventually characterizing prebiotic molecules on planets where life could exist." Swain is also lead author of a paper that will be published in Nature about the discovery.

We are all looking forward to the day in 2013 when the James Webb Space Telescope is launched. NASA says this about both the HST and the James Webb Space Telescope:

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) and is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations. The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington, D.C. JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope for NASA. Scheduled for launch in 2013, JWST will probe even deeper into the universe than Hubble can now. JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). GSFC is managing the development effort. The prime contractor is Northrop Grumman Space Technologies. STScI will operate JWST after launch.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) and is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations. The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington, D.C. JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope for NASA. Scheduled for launch in 2013, JWST will probe even deeper into the universe than Hubble can now. JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). GSFC is managing the development effort. The prime contractor is Northrop Grumman Space Technologies. STScI will operate JWST after launch.

The discovery also brings to light questions about our understanding of exoplanet atmosphere as we understand them as the temperature of a planet so close to its sun should not have as much methane as HST detected.

"These measurements are an important step to our ultimate goal of determining the conditions, such as temperature, pressure, winds, clouds, etc., and the chemistry on planets where life could exist. Infrared spectroscopy is really the key to these studies because it is best matched to detecting molecules," said Swain.

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Atlantis Delivers Columbus to ISS

In February the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched the STS-122 mission. One of its tasks was to deliver a laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS). The laboratory, a 23-foot-long cylinder called Columbus required a space walk to install. The European Space Agency built Columbus and NASA delivered it to join NASA’s own laboratory, called Destiny.

After a perfect take off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, described by NASA as “stunning… Atlantis leapt off Launch Pad… and rode a brilliant plume of golden fire and gray smoke into space.”

No sooner had the space station’s Commander and Flight Engineers had the ISS cleaned up after playing host to a Russian capsule crew when the Americans came knocking. Isn’t that just the way?

At least the Americans came bearing a gift, one that will hold experiments inside and outside. The laboratory has a life support system of it’s own to accommodate the scientists.

After Columbus was deployed and attached one of the ISS crew announced, "The European Columbus module is now a part of the ISS.”

NASA reports that, “The addition gives Europe a permanent footing in space, and the mission was seen as a starting point for more European contributions to the station, including cargo flights by a new spacecraft known as an Automated Transfer Vehicle, or ATV. Bigger than the Russian Progress supply capsules, the ATV was designed to carry whole experiment racks to the station.”

What we forget in these times of semi-regular space missions by the Space Shuttles is how amazing an accomplishment it is to fly humans into space and actually operate experiments and projects in outer space.

These images, from NASA’s website feature the crew working on attaching Columbus to the ISS. It’s an amazing site to see and know that this is no movie, that’s no green screen effect and that below their feet (heads?) is the longest drop-off known to mankind. I sometimes get a little vertigo looking out a tall building or off the side of a short cliff. Imagine the experience of floating with the entire planet filling your vision. It must be awe inspiring and frightening at the same time.

When the ISS or Space Shuttle (or the moon for that matter) are in orbit around the earth, they are basically in a constant free fall, just nicking the edge of the inner limit of earth’s gravity well, sending them constantly around and around. While they’re falling, they’re orbiting, which is exactly what an orbit is: Sustained freefall.

So while orbiting at breakneck speeds, relative to the earth, ESA astronauts Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts walked in space.

The NASA website reports: “After serving on the STS-55 mission in 1992, Schlegel waited almost 16 years for his second flight. He said the experience was worth it, particularly the chance to don a spacesuit and venture outside the station on a spacewalk, also known as an Extravehicular Activity or EVA. He joined Walheim for the second EVA of STS-122.

“The pair spent most of the spacewalk hooking up a new nitrogen tank assembly on the central truss of the station. Atlantis brought back the old one at the end of the flight. The tanks are a key component of the cooling system that pumps ammonia through fluid lines on the station to radiate heat into space.”

When Atlantis left the ISS, it had done more that deliver the Columbus. Dan Tani, Flight Engineer on the ISS swapped places with Eyharts, who stayed behind to maintain systems on the new laboratory.

“With the orbiter's main gear touching down at 9:07 a.m. EST,” NASA reported, “the STS-122 flight ended after 12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes and 50 seconds. The shuttle traveled about 5.3 million miles during the mission. For Tani, the return to Earth stopped the clock on 120 days in the weightlessness of space.”

With the death of Arthur C. Clarke, there is a tinge of sadness in the air. But with the continuation of exploration, there is hope for the future. While I am all for sending humans to Mars, I do not agree that it should come at the expense of the very important and much cheaper (and already in planning stages) unmanned science missions to study the universe. The amount of resources needed to send a man into space versus sending an unmanned probe is enormous and wasteful. It seems to me that with less than 1% of the United States budget going to NASA (still a large number to be sure) there is some money to be found somewhere to add to the Mars mission.

There are too many unanswered questions in the field of Physics and Astronomy that can be answered with the funds that are redirected toward the Mars mission.

When reading Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff recently I was struck by the years of failures that we had to endure before actually sending a man into space. While a very noble effort for America at the time, we already have an aging Shuttle to replace.

Of course NASA can use some of the funds it earmarked for the Mars mission to further private space exploration ala the X-Prize. Privatization of the space race also seems inevitable. There are Billionaires just itching to be the first to get into space and set up shop. From orbiting hotels to joy rides, private space exploration is very much a reality.

The future of space exploration promises to become very exciting and very interesting. While all of the data and findings that come out of NASA remains always in the public domain, I hope the spirit of sharing never leaves even when it goes into the hands of privateers. I have faith. If Google can come up with a model to sell words on the internet and provide the world with a suite of free applications and virtually unlimited storage space, then someone will come up with a way to monetize private exploration of space and still make the data and findings an open and free.

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What Is That Dust And Gas In Space Called?

A Nebula. That’s what it’s called, a Nebula. So many people query this on Google and end up at my website, I thought I’d write a post about it.

Actually, I think NASA said it best on their website:

“A nebula (NEHB yuh luh) is a cloud of dust particles and gases in space. The term nebula comes from the Latin word for cloud. Early astronomers also used the term for distant galaxies outside the earth's galaxy, the Milky Way. Such galaxies, called extragalactic nebulae, looked like hazy patches of light among the stars. But modern telescopes showed that extragalactic nebulae are actually systems of stars similar to the Milky Way.”

There are two types of Nebula.

The first type is a cloud of gas and dust expanding out of a supernova. The nebula is the ejecta that speeds away from the core of the star after it puffs off its outer shell. This cloud of dust and gas eventually becomes fodder for the next type of Nebula.

The second type of Nebula the ones that are out there forming new stars. Gravity causes the particles to coalesse. At some point the mass gets dense enough to ignite into a star. Eventually the stuff that was the Nebula forms suns and planets in a constant albeit very long-term galactic cycle.

That’s the Reader’s Digest version.

In the past, some sky gazers thought that other galaxies were Nebulas that were relatively close by. That is because they looked so diffuse. They appeared similar to the classic Nebula. In fact they were objects that were many billions of light-years away and some were much larger than our entire galaxy. Also, there is a term called Planetary Nebula out there. It is a misleading term as Nebula have to little to do with planets (except that they eventually form into suns and planets but that is besides the point.) Early astronomers thought they looked like the disks of planets.

Also, Nebula are the incubators of life. Why? Well, after many, many billions of years of stars forming and then blowing up, the Nebula that they eject became more infused with carbons, oxygen, and all kinds of heavier and more complex elements. While the ratio of hydrogen and helium (the two most common elements in the universe) to the heavier elements is still very high even after all this time, it is enough to have become the basic building blocks of planets and then of course to life itself. This is why Carl Sagan has been quoted as saying that we are all made of star stuff.

Below are a couple more great images of Nebula taken off of the NASA website.

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Hexagonal Monster With One Eye Found On Saturn

The Cassini craft has imaged a Hexigonal storm system on the North Pole of Saturn that Voyager 1 and 2 spotted more than 20 years ago. The longevity and geometry of the storm have scientists perplexed. On the other side of the planet at the South Pole, Cassini imaged a hurricane-type storm system with an eerie looking eye that looks like a human eye.

Read the article on space dot com.

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Astronaut charged with attempted murder

ORLANDO, Fla. - She was the Robochick. He was Billy-O. According to police, her obsession with him led her to drive 900 miles from Houston to Orlando, bringing with her a trenchcoat and wig, armed with a BB gun and pepper spray, and wearing a diaper to avoid bathroom breaks on the arduous drive.



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