Astronomy

[Dreamwoven]

http://astronomy.com/news/2018/03/ch...-cosmic-search

This radically different telescope is opening the door to new types of radio astronomy.


CHIME, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, is up and running in the mountains of southern British Columbia. A ceremony on September 7, 2017, inaugurated the telescope and its pioneering approach to studying the universe.

“This telescope is radically different from other telescopes,” says Matt Dobbs, Associate Professor of Physics at McGill University and a CHIME investigator. “CHIME is really a stepping stone to a new way of doing radio astronomy.”

"A new approach
The radio telescope – Canada’s biggest – is a joint venture co-led by the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, McGill University and the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). Participating institutions come from across North America.

CHIME is a digital telescope, which means all of its “imaging” is done digitally by software. It accomplishes this with commercial components: Amplifiers developed for cell phones and graphics cards developed for video game systems power an instrument that cost only $13 million USD ($16 million CAD) to build. General-purpose, programmable computing hardware like this also gives CHIME the flexibility to explore three frontiers of modern astronomy: dark energy, pulsars, and fast radio bursts (FRBs)."

[Danik 2016]

Interesting post, DW!Yes it was time that they incorporated cell phone tecnoogy when building new telescopes. I guess in the long run it will prove cheaper and perhaps more precise.

[Danik 2016]

Is there life adrift in the clouds of Venus?
Date:
March 30, 2018
Source:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Summary:
In the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists have turned over all sorts of rocks. Mars, for example, has geological features that suggest it once had -- and still has -- subsurface liquid water. Scientists have also eyed Saturn's moons as well as Jupiter's as possible havens for life in the oceans under their icy crusts. Now, however, scientists are dusting off an old idea that promises a new vista in the hunt for life beyond Earth: the clouds of Venus.

"In a paper published online today (March 30, 2018) in the journal Astrobiology, an international team of researchers led by planetary scientist Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center lays out a case for the atmosphere of Venus as a possible niche for extraterrestrial microbial life."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0330171302.htm

[Dreamwoven]

This post is interesting.

This is a a Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform, or VAMP. The aircraft, which would fly like a plane and float like a blimp, could help explore the atmosphere of Venus, which has temperature and pressure conditions that do not preclude the possibility of microbial life.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40196-black-ho...way-heart.html

A swarm of thousands of black holes may surround the giant black hole at the heart of our galaxy, a new study finds.

At the hearts of most, if not all, galaxies are supermassive black holes with masses that are millions to billions of times that of the sun. For example, at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, lies Sagittarius A*, which is about 4.5 million solar masses in size.

A key way in which scientists think supermassive black holes grow is by engulfing stellar-mass black holes each equal in mass to a few suns. Learning how that growth process works is vital to understanding the effects they can have on the evolution of their galaxies.

[Danik 2016]

These black holes, how they appear and their effect is still a partial mystery, I think.

[Danik 2016]

A fluffy galaxy!

A Galaxy Without (Much) Dark Matter
Astronomers have found a peculiar object: a fluffy galaxy that has little to no dark matter.

"You can’t have a cup of coffee without the cup. Astronomers have long thought the same goes for galaxies and dark matter: the dark matter forms the cup, and the galaxy coalesces from the gas that pours into that cup, pulled there by gravity. *
The fluffy galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 makes no sense in this picture: it’s the coffee without the cup. Using an impressive collection of ground- and space-based observations, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale) and colleagues have found that this diffuse galaxy has at most 1⁄400 as much dark matter as expected, based on other systems of similar mass. In fact, the best explanation may be that there’s no dark matter at all."

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astro...h-dark-matter/

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 466 2018 April 8

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy. The SPA is arguably Britain's liveliest astronomical
society, with members all over the world. We accept subscription
payments online at our secure site and can take credit and debit
cards. You can join or renew via a secure server or just see how
much we have to offer by visiting http://www.popastro.com/

INSIGHT TO STUDY CENTRE OF MARS

NASA

InSight -- short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations,
Geodesy and Heat Transport -- is a stationary lander scheduled to be
launched towards Mars as soon as May 5. It will be the first mission ever
dedicated to Mars' deep interior, and the first NASA mission since the
Apollo moon landings to place a seismometer on the soil of another planet.
Scientists hope that by detecting marsquakes and other phenomena inside the
planet, InSight can enable them to understand how Mars formed. InSight
carries a suite of sensitive instruments to gather such data; unlike a rover
mission, they require a spacecraft that sits still and carefully places its
instruments on the Martian surface. NASA is not the only agency excited
about the mission. Several European partners contributed instruments, or
instrument components. For example, France's Centre National d'Etudes
Spatiales (CNES) led a multinational team that built an ultra-sensitive
seismometer for detecting marsquakes. The German Aerospace Center (DLR)
developed a thermal probe that can bury itself up to 5 metres underground
and measure heat flowing from inside the planet. Looking deep into Mars
will let scientists understand how different its crust, mantle and core are
from their counterparts on Earth. In a sense, Mars is the exo-planet next
door -- a nearby example of how gas, dust and heat combine and arrange
themselves into a planet.

[Danik 2016]

A May 5 expedition to Mars!That is less than a month hence. I,m very curious about the results, DW.

[Danik 2016]

Might be of interest:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0404093935.htm

[Dreamwoven]

Is there a link to the post #1719?

[Dreamwoven]

OK I found it: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/n...nsight-mission

[Dreamwoven]

Here is how it opens:
"NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018.

InSight’s primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved. The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument prompted NASA in December to suspend preparations for launch.

InSight project managers recently briefed officials at NASA and France's space agency, Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), on a path forward; the proposed plan to redesign the science instrument was accepted in support of a 2018 launch.

“The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018.”

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will redesign, build and conduct qualifications of the new vacuum enclosure for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), the component that failed in December. CNES will lead instrument level integration and test activities, allowing the InSight Project to take advantage of each organization’s proven strengths. The two agencies have worked closely together to establish a project schedule that accommodates these plans, and scheduled interim reviews over the next six months to assess technical progress and continued feasibility.

The cost of the two-year delay is being assessed. An estimate is expected in August, once arrangements with the launch vehicle provider have been made.

The seismometer instrument's main sensors need to operate within a vacuum chamber to provide the exquisite sensitivity needed for measuring ground movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom. The rework of the seismometer's vacuum container will result in a finished, thoroughly tested instrument in 2017 that will maintain a high degree of vacuum around the sensors through rigors of launch, landing, deployment and a two-year prime mission on the surface of Mars."

[Danik 2016]

Is there a link to the post #1719?

Sorry, just back! Post #1719 is just a comment on the article you posted on # 1718

[Danik 2016]

Here is how it opens:
"NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018.

InSight’s primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved. The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument prompted NASA in December to suspend preparations for launch.

InSight project managers recently briefed officials at NASA and France's space agency, Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), on a path forward; the proposed plan to redesign the science instrument was accepted in support of a 2018 launch.

“The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018.”

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will redesign, build and conduct qualifications of the new vacuum enclosure for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), the component that failed in December. CNES will lead instrument level integration and test activities, allowing the InSight Project to take advantage of each organization’s proven strengths. The two agencies have worked closely together to establish a project schedule that accommodates these plans, and scheduled interim reviews over the next six months to assess technical progress and continued feasibility.

The cost of the two-year delay is being assessed. An estimate is expected in August, once arrangements with the launch vehicle provider have been made.

The seismometer instrument's main sensors need to operate within a vacuum chamber to provide the exquisite sensitivity needed for measuring ground movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom. The rework of the seismometer's vacuum container will result in a finished, thoroughly tested instrument in 2017 that will maintain a high degree of vacuum around the sensors through rigors of launch, landing, deployment and a two-year prime mission on the surface of Mars."

Interesting post, DW! The main goal of the project:
"InSight’s primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved. The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument prompted NASA in December to suspend preparations for launch."
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/n...nsight-mission