Astronomy

Here's an article about Population III stars, the oldest stars, "unpolluted" by atoms besides hydrogen and helium, that I found by running the query you provided, tailor STATELY: https://medium.com/starts-with-a-ban...e-f5385eb4264d

It is 2 weeks to the historic flyby of the Pluto system. The last planet to visit in a half-century of exploring our solar system. New Horizons will pass at high speed between Pluto and Charon. See EarthSky.

The animation in the video doesn't make it look as if the center of gravity is outside Pluto. I would have expected them to both circle a center outside Pluto.

NASA and New Horizons show what they term "the wobbly dance" of Pluto and Charon. Maybe this is indicative of the centre of gravity being outside Pluto?

Yes, that one does show the center of gravity outside Pluto. I wonder if we would feel dizzy living on such a planet? Probably not. Perhaps the stars would have a retrograde motion as the outer planets do for us.

Take a bit of getting used to, I suppose...

It is now only a week to the flyby of Pluto/Charon and its moons. New Horizons has had its last course adjustment to make it pass between Pluto and Charon.

http://earthsky.org/space/pluto-char...ates-july-2015

The anomaly showed the importance of the robotics on that mission. I wonder why methane was considered important?

Jupiter and Venus are near each other in the night sky. http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/30/us/fea...ion/index.html

I think methane is important as indicating the possibility of extra-terrestrial life: http://www.space.com/29674-mars-mete...fe-search.html

Yes, that makes sense. On dwarf planets like Pluto it may be a liquid to support life in place of water.

In the coming week we will be getting better images of Pluto and Charon. This one from earth sky.com is the latest. I have often wondered what kind of images we can expect from New Horizons and I wondered how, if the probe passes between Pluto and Charon at tremendous speed, this will be done?

The answer lies in the New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). There is an article on it in Wikipedia, and more information at this site: http://arxiv.org/pdf/0709.4278.pdf.

The "whale" and "donut" are interesting formations on Pluto along with those spots. I was thinking as well that there may not be enough time to explore Pluto with just a fly-by.

Update Pluto:

http://www.space.com/29924-pluto-lar...ent=FeedBurner

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

I'm surprised they didn't have the size correct before. At least in this video the new size has an estimate of the error with it.

The New Horizons probe is now well past Pluto and heading further into the Kuiper Belt, where it is planned to study at least two other objects. We have not seen most of the data from the Pluto/Charon Flyby, it is still being sent back but by the much slower link. It will be coming in the next couple of months. The only other object to be snapped is one of Pluto's tiny moons, Nix: perhaps other moons will follow? You can see the images here, just 25 miles in diameter and here for further images of Pluto-Charon.

It is interesting that the funding to go to those other two KBO objects has not yet be obtained.

New Horizons has shot off on its projected route. There is little else for it to do, as it can't stop and turn around. They even have some fuel left to slightly change course should that be needed. This has been planned for quite some time, I don't think they need funding. Perhaps they hope that Kuiper Belt objects they are going to fly past will provide reason to send another probe there.

I think the additional funding would be for the staff on earth, however, I don't see why it should cost much more just to get the data even if no one analyzes it. It would be years from now anyway before New Horizons reaches those objects.

NASA funds specific projects as specified in the grant application. The New Horizons project must have been funded well before launch (just some 10 years ago). There are already some detailed images of Pluto arriving (see 21 July image of Pluto's mountains).

Pluto has fleshed out more in my imagination since that flyby mission. It is interesting that they did not build a better data transmission technology since it will take a year to get the full data back.

I agree with you, YesNo. Information is coming in dribs and drabs, and will continue to do so for the next 18 months.

Here is an item from EarthSky image with evidence of what looks like flowing ice on Pluto.

The closest exoplanet yet to be found is is just 21 light years away. it can be read about here: http://www.rt.com/news/311233-exoplanet-new-nasa-earth/. We may now be entering a new phase in space exploration using large telescopes launched into space.

I also liked this link contained in the one you mentioned about finding a planet similar to earth circling another star: http://www.rt.com/news/310612-space-...e-planet-nasa/

It has been 20 years since the first evidence of exoplanets was found.

Cassini is still operating around Saturn, it seems. This post shows that red arcs are visible on one of its larger moons, Tethys, that no-one is able to explain: http://www.space.com/30149-saturn-mo...kly_2015-08-05

Those red markings on Tethys are as unusual as those bright spots on Ceres.

This year will be very favourable for the annual Perseid meteors, with virtually no moonlight to spoil the view – weather permitting, of course! The peak of activity for the UK is expected this coming Wednesday night, 12–13 August, with the actual peak being predicted at 07h on the Thursday morning.
However, says Meteor Section Director Tony Markham, good rates are also likely during the nights of Aug 11–12 and 13–14, so don't just focus on the night of Aug 12–13 and risk it being clouded out.
While other predicted showers may have higher rates, the comparatively mild evenings at this time of year make the Perseids a favourite. And unlike most other types of observing, you need virtually no equipment other than your eyes. Just lie down comfortably on a lounger or similar, gazing up at as much of the sky as you can manage, out of the line of sight of any bright lights. Don’t forget a blanket – it can still get chilly in August!

I'm going to have to make sure I'm out looking for them later this week.

I saw a really bright shooting star last night while looking for the Perseid meteor showers. That one and the one I saw the night before last while trying to scout out the sky to find out where the Perseus constellation was are the only two that I saw. I noticed that the Andromeda galaxy is not far away, but the light was too bright where I live even with binoculars to locate it clearly. Also the sprinkler system for the lawn turned on and so I stopped.

The Perseides are meant to be especially visible at that time. I didn't get to see any. This idea for an inflatable space elevator is amazing. It just got funding to develop.

So they raise and lower this 12 mile high tower to reduce the initial liftoff costs. That is an amazing idea.

Well, its a private venture, and this was just an application for funding. I guess we will see :)

This post in Space discusses two project to visit Saturn's moon Enceladus to search for life. The post is quite detailed and worth reading,though it will only be in the mid-2020s that they will happen.

Being able to go through the plumes coming out of Enceladus without landing looks promising. Also using solar power for the mission should help expand our reach without using more expensive fuels.

I spent last week in Wisconsin along Green Bay in a cottage facing north-west and a picture window over the bay. The nights were mostly clear and I was able to watch the dippers and draco move around the north star and early in the morning watch Vega sink to the horizon while the swan and Hercules majestically came into view and pass into the dawn. At times there were shooting stars and I think I even saw satellites moving across the sky. Of course there was the Milky Way. Binoculars showed many more stars pointing in that direction than elsewhere.

Venus came close to the moon at dawn earlier this week and put on a fine display. Brilliant, it was, almost dazzling.

When I looked out an eastern facing window this morning the first thing I saw was Venus. Not even Chicago's light pollution can stop that from shining brightly.

I wondered if there was any more news about Ceres spots. This Wikipedia article seems to have the most pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_spots_on_Ceres

It will be a while yet:

"Dawn will fly around Ceres eight times in its current orbit until June 28, when it will begin to spiral closer to the draft planet, heading for a 900-mile (1,450-kilometer) orbit in early August. By the end of the year, Dawn is scheduled to be closest to Ceres at an altitude of 232 miles (373 kilometres)." source: http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/06/10...heir-close-up/

I have been re-reading Immanuel Velikovsky's Earth in Upheaval which decided me to write a longer post on this work of his. Quite by chance, today on earth sky.com, I found this post about a huge double asteroid impact, some 450 million years ago in Mid-Sweden around Östersund. It has only just been discovered!

I don't know anything about Velikovsky's theories. Looking forward to the longer post on this.

Just a report. I saw the blood moon earlier this evening. Unless it is delayed for some reason, the end of the world didn't happen.