NASA - MESSENGER Teleconference: More 'Hidden' Territory on Mercury Revealed - I am a big fan of these robotic and orbital missions. And the Mercury flybys already bring a lot of interesting images.
astronomie
Best. Image. Ever. - Never, ever forget: we did this. This is what we can do.
Breaking News for sky afficionados: Apophis risk not increased - because the nonsense (originally - where else - appeared in the Blödzeitung) is now going around the world and I already have American acquaintances writing to me about the "math genius from Germany" and the impending end of the world, here is a link that tells how the whole nonsense came about. Quality journalism, of course.
NASA Extends Saturn Mission for Another 2 Years - it would be pretty stupid to end it now.
Mars-Roboter Spirit wird stillgelegt? - to shut down one of the most successful space projects of recent times would be highly stupid. But the NASA has experience with stupid decisions ...
Mars collision becomes more likely - just make sure it doesn't fall on top of Spirit or Opportunity!
'Second Earth' found, 20 light years away - hmm. Right in our backyard. Too bad we don't have anything useful to send there to check it out.
Earth 2.0: ESO researchers discover the most Earth-like exoplanet to date - 0-40 degrees temperature and possibly water-covered. People, start waving vigorously, if this is transmitted at the speed of light, the aliens will see it in 20 years.
The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme - Anniversary Image
NASA will repair Hubble space telescope after all - well, that's that. It can be done.
Nova 1 photo selection - Photos from the stratosphere. From a self-built spaceship. By three students. Wow.
Pluto no longer a planet - Rewrite textbooks. Pluto is now just a dwarf planet, along with Ceres and Xena. And Charon remains a moon. Too bad - a double planet would have been cool for our solar system.
Sternwarte Bochum has original recordings of the Apollo mission - only part of it, and certainly recorded differently than at NASA, but it still helps as a bulwark against all the moon hoax fanatics.
'Pioneer-Anomalie': Mysterious Force in Space - something is slowing down our probes. No one knows exactly what yet.
2003 UB313: "Tenth Planet" barely larger than Pluto - I still support giving this object planetary status - or revoking it from Pluto.
Slight Exaggerations in the Netzzeitung
The title Smallest Earth-like planet discovered is a bit strange. Okay, if you define "Earth-like" as "orbits a sun and is not a gas planet or ice lump," it might fit. But what does such a definition bring then? 5.5 times as large as Earth, the distance to the sun 3 times as far, the sun weaker than Earth's, and the temperature at minus 220 degrees - sorry, that's really not particularly Earth-like ...
A Year on Mars
About the Super Performance of the Mars Rover:
The dramatic landing, during which the 180-kilogram vehicle crashed into the Martian rubble wrapped in airbags, is celebrating its anniversary these days, as a Martian year, i.e. 687 Earth days, has passed since then. To everyone's surprise, the Mars rovers are still functioning.
Really great what these little boxes are doing there. Let's hope for another Martian year. And please, a few more from the model series on a few other planets and moons, if you please?
Pluto out or a new one in?
Astronomers have found a clump of mud outside Pluto's orbit that is at least as large, and likely even significantly larger than Pluto - Planet or Not, Pluto Now Has Far-Out Rival:
Astronomers announced yesterday that they had found a lump of rock and ice that was larger than Pluto and the farthest known object in the solar system. The discovery will probably rekindle debate over the definition of "planet" and whether Pluto still merits the designation.
Now it's about whether Pluto loses its planet status, or the new one also becomes a planet.
New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Hubble spies lord of the stellar rings
Hubble spies lord of the stellar rings - Saurons Auge guckt aus dem Weltraum auf uns. Und nur aus einer Entfernung von 25 Lichtjahren - das ist praktisch um die Ecke von hier. >The ring is composed of dust particles in orbit around Fomalhaut, a bright star located just 25 light years away in the constellation Pisces Austalis – or the Southern Fish. A recent image captured with the Hubble Space Telescope - which makes the system look uncannily like the Great Eye of Sauron from the blockbusting Lord of the Rings trilogy - confirms that Fomalhaut’s ring is curiously offset with respect to the star. Interessanter als das eigentliche Aussehen (wobei das wieder mal ein Beweis für die Notwendigkeit des Weiterbetriebs des Hubble Teleskops für mich ist) ist natürlich der vermutete Grund für das Aussehen: der Stern könnte ein Solarsystem ähnlich dem unseren haben. Also mehrere Planten in unterschiedlichen Entfernungen - möglicherweise sogar relativ kleine Planeten.
Astronomen entdecken Planet «Sedna»
Endlich Transpluto gefunden?
Bei NETZEITUNG.DE Wissenschaft fand ich den den Originalartikel.
Hubble sieht ältesten Planeten
Och menno, also doch bloss ein alter haufen Dreck im All
Bei Astronomische Kleinigkeiten gibts den Originalartikel.
Hubble entdeckt sensationellen extrasolaren Planeten
Woah, ein astronomischer Cliff-Hanger
Bei Astronomische Kleinigkeiten gibts den Originalartikel.
"Virtuelle" Sternwarte entdeckt Braunen Zwerg
Hmm. Also das wäre doch viel interessanter als Seti: einfache eine Client-Software zur verteilten Suche nach Himmelskörpern. Benutzer registrieren sich und kriegen Datenblöcke (grafische Daten der Teleskope) und durchsuchen diese mit der Software nach neuen Himmelskörpern (braune Zwerge, Planeten, whatever). Wenn ein Client etwas findet, wird das entsprechende Datenmaterial den Experten vorgelegt. Die bestimmen, ob wirklich was da ist. Und der Finder darf den Himmelskörper dann den Namen geben
Leider ist das viel zu Naheliegend, deshalb wird man mit verteiltem Rechnen wohl auch weiterhin nur die Wahl zwischen Frequenzanalysen des Hintergrundrauschens, kryptografischen Wettbewerben oder vielleicht doch ja mal diesem Proteinanalysator haben.
Bei Astronomische Kleinigkeiten gibts den Originalartikel.