NASA – Whats Up for April 2009

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:16:11 +0000

Whats Up for April? Did you know you can see other galaxies through modest telescopes or binoculars? Well you can!
Hello and welcome. I’m Jane Houston Jones at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California During 2009, were celebrating International Year of Astronomy by taking you on a tour of one of the months best celestial objects. This month, its the Whirlpool Galaxy!
Join me as we step away from our solar system, look beyond our own galaxy, and view the spiral arms of another galaxy.
Because we are inside our own galaxy – about two-thirds of the way from the galactic core, we can’t see the whole thing. But we can see the spiral arms and so we know we live in a spiral-shaped galaxy.
Early astronomers looked up in the night sky and saw patches of light which appeared like faraway clouds. They called these patches nebulae.
In 1845, Irelands Third Earl of Ross, William Parsons, used his huge telescope at Birr Castle in the center of Ireland to observe and sketch the spiral structure of the Whirlpool Galaxy.
Other 18th and 19th century astronomers, including father and son William and John Herschel, noted the structure of this galaxy, too.
A galaxy is an enormous collection of gas and stars held together by gravity. Since the 19th century, astronomers have aimed Telescopes at galaxies, discovering their composition.
In the 20th century, NASAS orbiting telescopes have looked at this amazing galaxy to see it in many portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to infrared, on to visible light, and past visible to ultraviolet, X-Ray and on to gamma ray.

NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope looks at galaxies in the infrared part of the spectrum. It can see long lanes in the spiral arms. They are stars and gas laced with dust.
The Hubble Space Telescope sees similar views in a different wavelength. It looks at the optical part of the spectrum or what we think of as visible light. Thats the light we can see.
NASAS Chandra X-ray observatory reveals black holes, neutron stars and a glow between the stars of the Whirlpool Galaxy.
And last, but not least, the GALEX telescope shows that hot young stars produce a lot of ultraviolet energy.
Dont forget to view Saturn this month either. Its higher in the sky and easier to see.
You can read all about the Whirlpool and other galaxies in the distant universe this month on NASA’s International Year of Astronomy website: astronomy2009.nasa.gov
And you can learn all about NASA’s missions at: www.nasa.gov
That’s all for this month. I’m Jane Houston Jones.

Duration : 0:3:1

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Hubble Space Telescope – Better Than Ever!

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:03:07 +0000

The Hubble Space Telescope Is Back – Better Than Ever! The Final Servicing Mission.

“Improved Hubble Shows Evidence of Dark Matter”
• http://www.youtube.com/user/tdarnell#play/uploads/2/3wluv08tDhU [HD]
• http://www.deepAstronomy.com/

“When Hubble Opened its New Eyes”
• http://www.youtube.com/AndromedasWake
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bytNgT7l8k&fmt=22 [HD]

“The Hubble Space Telescope – Rebirth of an Icon (Hubblecast 30)”
• http://www.youtube.com/ESOcast
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjy7YSIH-GI&fmt=22 [HD]

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The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy.

The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, and is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Space Telescopes were proposed as early as 1923. The Hubble was funded in the 1970s, with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the Challenger disaster. When finally launched in 1990, scientists found that the main mirror had been ground incorrectly, severely compromising the telescope’s capabilities.

However, after a servicing mission in 1993, the telescope was restored to its intended quality. Hubble’s orbit outside the distortion of Earth’s atmosphere allows it to take extremely sharp images with almost no background light. Hubble’s Ultra Deep Field image, for instance, is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe’s most distant objects. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

The Hubble is the only telescope ever designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. There have been five servicing missions, the last occurring in May 2009. Servicing Mission 1 took place in December 1993 when Hubble’s imaging flaw was corrected. Servicing missions 2, 3A, and 3B repaired various sub-systems and replaced many of the observing instruments with more modern and capable versions.

However, following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the fifth servicing mission was canceled on safety grounds. After spirited public discussion, NASA reconsidered this decision, and administrator Mike Griffin approved one final Hubble servicing mission. STS-125 was launched in May 2009, and installed two new instruments and made numerous repairs.

The latest servicing should allow the telescope to function until at least 2014, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched. The JWST will be far superior to Hubble for many astronomical research programs, but will only observe in infrared, so it will complement (not replace) Hubble’s ability to observe in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
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Duration : 0:6:46

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Chaotic Astronomy » Chandra

NASA – Whats Up for April 2009

Hubble Space Telescope – Better Than Ever!