Chaotic Astronomy

Hubblecast 22: Hubble Space Telescope Directly Observes Exoplanet Orbiting Fomalhaut.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered an extrasolar planet, for the first time using direct visible-light imaging. The strange world is far-flung from its parent star, is surrounded by a colossal belt of gas and dust, and may even have rings more impressive than Saturn’s.

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Credit:
- ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)
- Visual design & Editing: Martin Kornmesser
- Animations: Martin Kornmesser & Luis Calçada
- Web Hosting: Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ)
- Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen & Raquel Yumi Shida
- Written by: Lee Pullen & Lars Lindberg Christensen
- Host: Dr. J
- Narration: Bob Fosbury
- Cinematography: Peter Rixner
- Music: movetwo
- Footage and photos: A. Fujii, Digitized Sky Survey 2, NASA, ESA, and P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley). Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)
- Directed by: Lars Lindberg Christensen

Dr. J is a German astronomer at the ESO. His scientific interests are in cosmology, particularly on galaxy evolution and quasars. Dr. J’s real name is Joe Liske and he has a PhD in Astronomy.

Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre
Garching/Munich, Germany
• http://www.eso.org
• http://www.spacetelescope.org
• http://hubblesite.org
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Duration : 0:5:2

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Technorati Tags: 22, Astro, astronomers, Astronomy, Bang, Big, black, Cast, clusters, Cobe, Cosmic, Dark, Deep, Directly, Energy, ESA, ESO, Exoplanet, Exoplanets, Field, Fomalhaut, galaxies, gamma, Hawking, HD, herschel, Holes, hubble, Hubblecast, Images, JPL, Kepler, Large, Light, mars, Matter, milky, Mission, moons, NASA, nebulae, Observes, Of, Orbiting, Physics, Planck, planet, planets, rays, Sagan, science, Shuttle, solar, space, Speed, Spitzer, stars, Station, Stellar, sun, supernova, system, telescope, Telescopes, Ultra, universe, Very, Videos, VLT, way

All my 2012 essays are here: http://www.infinitelymystical.com/2012-essays.html

Since the Maya calendar and mythology are both based on the underlying astronomy, it can be very helpful to understand this Astronomy. This is fun and easy to do as long as we take it a little bit at a time. It won’t take us very long to lay out all the information yet you may find yourself pondering this subject more deeply for quite awhile. For me personally, the more I dug into this material, the more mind-blowing it all became. Perhaps you will have a similar experience.

- Thomas Razzeto

http://www.infinitelymystical.com
Mystical spirituality for personal and world peace

Duration : 0:9:43

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Technorati Tags: 2012, age, Astronomy, calendar, maya, mayan, mysticism, new, science, spirituality

Science@ESA (Episode 4): Following The Redshift (Part 2) – Hubble’s Successor: The James Webb Space Telescope.

In this fourth episode of the Science@ESA vodcast series Rebecca Barnes will identify some of the key discoveries achieved with the famous Hubble Space Telescope, look at the concept of redshift, and meet a new telescope that will be used to uncover the early Universe.

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Named in 2002 in honour of NASA’s administrator during the Apollo programme, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mission is a collaborative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

JWST will address many of the outstanding issues of modern Astronomy related to the ‘Early Universe’ and is expected to yield scientific breakthroughs as did its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope. JWST will be a general-purpose observatory with a suite of astronomical infrared-sensitive instruments.

Compared to existing or planned observatories, JWST will have the unique advantage of combining superb image quality throughout a wide wavelength range, a wide field of view and unparalleled photon sensitivity due to its 6.5-metre diameter telescope primary mirror.

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=29

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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a planned infrared space observatory, the partial successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST will not be a complete successor, because it will not be sensitive to all of the light wavelengths that Hubble can see.

The main scientific goal is to observe the most distant objects in the universe, those beyond the reach of either ground based instruments or the Hubble. The JWST project is a NASA-led international collaboration with contributors in fifteen nations, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Originally called the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), it was renamed in 2002 after NASA’s second administrator, James E. Webb (1906-1992). Webb had headed NASA from the beginning of the Kennedy administration through the Johnson administration (1961-68), thus overseeing all the manned launches in the Mercury through Gemini programs, until just before the first manned Apollo flight.

Current plans call for the telescope to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket in June 2014, on a five-year mission (10 year goal). The JWST will reside in solar orbit near the Sun-Earth L2 point, which is on a line passing from the Sun to the Earth, but about 1.5 million km farther away from the Sun than is the Earth.

This position, which moves around the Sun in exact orbital synchrony with the Earth, will allow JWST to shield itself from infrared from both Sun and Earth, by using a single radiation shield positioned between the telescope and the Sun-Earth direction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope
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Duration : 0:6:42

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Technorati Tags: agency, apollo, ariane, Astronomy, canadian, ESA, european, gemini, hubble, infrared, James, jwst, mercury, NASA, observatories, redshift, science, space, successor, Telescopes, universe, Webb

Ancient Astronomy – Best Of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (Part 17)

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BEST OF CARL SAGAN’S “COSMOS”:

1) 10 Years After: Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Reflect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTNfwfH0Jc
2) Lost Between Immensity And Eternity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVsDg6U0LU
3) The Realm Of The Galaxies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1axoV6HhWfI
4) Our Galaxy, The Milky Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOazBTHzRYA
5) Our Solar System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqjob-UVeo
6) Eratosthenes And The Round Earth Model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en5UKtcNujI
7) The Library Of Alexandria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVQs4B2jAW0
A Short History Of The Universe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2r0qOxJ6k
9) Artificial And Natural Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3uToVWZkWM
10) The Cosmic Year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFqbm_94nTM
11) Tree Of Life – 4 Billion Years Of Evolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0UECN4ndA
12) The Miracle Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOyojWeOYNA
13) DNA – The Common Basis Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmuvjSykf8
14) Abiogenesis The Origin Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yet1xkAv_HY
15) Astronomy vs Astrology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaQS9NJ0nI
16) Pictures In The Sky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCAwc4bge4
17) Ancient Astronomy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-5dwJwau1Y
18) Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lfmRqT-B_c
19) The Mysterious Tonguska Event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irVof7adq4s

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Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of Astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage”, which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.

A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel “Contact”, the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki’s film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.

During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.

http://www.carlsagan.com
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Duration : 0:8:58

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Technorati Tags: Albert, Ancient, Astronomer, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Atoms, Bang, Best, Big, black, Carl, Cosmos, Dark, Dilation, education, Educational, einstein, Energy, Episode, Evolution, galaxies, Galaxy, gravity, Hawking, Holes, Human, Lecture, Light, Matter, milky, Origin, Physics, planets, Quarks, Relativity, Sagan, Sagan's, science, Scientists, Series, SETI, solar, space, Speed, system, Theory, Time, universe, Videos, way

A discussion of what make the best first telescope. Learn buying tips for Telescopes in this free home Astronomy equipment video from a telescope designer and manufacturer.

Expert: Bill Burgess
Bio: Bill Burgess is the owner and founder of Burgess Optical, which is world-renowned for its custom-built telescopes and planetary eyepieces.
Filmmaker: Dimitri LaBarge

Duration : 0:1:16

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Technorati Tags: Astronomy, Expert, free, how, optics, science, Telescopes, to, Village

NASA Astronomy Pictures of the Week (3/2010).

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► Eclipse over the Temple of Poseidon
The Moon moved to partly block the Sun for a few minutes last week as a partial solar eclipse became momentarily visible across part of planet Earth. In the above single exposure image, meticulous planning enabled careful photographers to capture the partially eclipsed Sun well posed just above the ancient ruins of the Temple of Poseidon in Sounio, Greece.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100118.html

► Dust Sculptures in the Rosette Nebula
Noted for the common beauty of its overall shape, parts of the Rosette Nebula, also known as NGC 2237, show beauty even when viewed up close. Visible above are globules of dark dust and gas that are slowly being eroded away by the energetic light and winds by nearby massive stars. Left alone long enough, the molecular-cloud globules would likely form stars and planets. The Rosette Nebula spans about 50 light-years across and lies about 4,500 light-years away.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091202.html

► Watch Jupiter Rotate
What would it be like to coast by Jupiter and watch it rotate? This was just the experience of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approached and flew by Jupiter. Visible above in the extensive atmosphere of the Solar System’s largest planet are bands and belts of light and dark clouds, as well as giant rotating storm systems seen as ovals. The robotic New Horizons spacecraft continues to speed toward the outer Solar System and has recently passed the halfway point between Earth and Pluto.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

► NGC 6992: Filaments of the Veil Nebula
Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way star. About 7,500 years ago that star exploded in a supernova leaving the Veil Nebula, also known as the Cygnus Loop. At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright as a crescent Moon, remaining visible for weeks to people living at the dawn of recorded history. Today, the resulting supernova remnant has faded.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091201.html

► Dark Sand Cascades on Mars
They might look like trees on Mars, but they’re not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The image was taken near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks — streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions, but cast no shadows.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100119.html

► Eclipses in the Shade
Eclipses are everywhere in this shady scene. The picture was taken on the Indian Ocean atoll island of Ellaidhoo, Maldives, in January 2010, during the longest annular solar eclipse for the next 1,000 years. Tall palm trees provided the shade. Their many crossed leaves created gaps that acted like pinhole cameras, scattering recognizable eclipse images across the white sands of a tropical garden near the beach. From this idyllic location near the centerline of the Moon’s shadow track, the ring of fire or annular phase of the eclipse lasted about 10 minutes and 55 seconds.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100123.html

► Dust and the NGC 7771 Group
Some 200 million light-years distant toward the constellation Pegasus, NGC 7771 is the large, edge-on spiral near center, about 75,000 light-years across, with two smaller galaxies just below it. Large spiral NGC 7769 is seen face-on to the right. Galaxies of the NGC 7771 group are interacting, making repeated close passages that will ultimately result in galaxy-galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100121.html

► Millennium Annular Solar Eclipse
The Moon’s shadow raced across planet Earth on January 15. Observers within the central shadow track were able to witness an annular solar eclipse as the Moon’s apparent size was too small to completely cover the Sun. A visually dramatic ring of fire, the annular phase lasted up to 11 minutes and 8 seconds depending on location, the longest annular solar eclipse for the next 1,000 years. This picture of the Moon’s silhouette just before mid-eclipse was taken within the eclipse path from the city of Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100122.html

► Himalayan Skyscape
Capella, alpha star of the constellation Auriga, rises over Mt. Everest in this panoramic view of the top of the world at night.
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091205.html
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Duration : 0:3:36

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Technorati Tags: Astronomy, cygnus, days, earth, eclipses, galaxies, jupiter, mars, mergers, milky, moons, NASA, nebula, ngc, orbiter, pegasus, pictures, planets, pluto, reconnaissance, rosette, science, solar, space, Suns, supernova, surface, Systems, Telescopes, universe, veil, way, weeks

How often do you get to see the moon this close up?? This is some footage I got last night, 9/8/08 of the moon. My Nexstar 8 telescope was magnifying the moon 120x, allowing the craters of the Northeastern and southeastern quadrants of the moon to be seen in detail. There was a cloud in front of the moon, however, I was still able to get some good shots.

Some sections of the video are actually more than 120X, since I also used the zoom on the camera. Knowing that, there may have been segments of the video where the moon was around 200-250X (~2X zoom on camera).

Sorry for the shakiness, but the mechanism for moving the telescope has a small amount of vibration and it’s difficult to use a digital camera in this way. Hope you enjoy!

Please let me know what you think and leave a comment or question under Video Comments! Also Rate the video if you enjoyed it!

Thanks for watching

Across the Universe Eclipse Galaxy solar system star jupiter saturn rings sun science Beatles Cluster Nebula orion amazing crazy spore game creature creator fun Telescopes science nature Astronomy star charts sky

Duration : 0:3:59

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Technorati Tags: alien, Astronomy, Celestron, charts, close, crater, craters, GPS, hubble, moon, nature, Nexstar, outer, planet, science, sky, solar, space, star, system, telescope, UFO, Up, video, yt:quality=high

The pilot episode of ‘CrAP Debunked’. If you liked this video, please help to spread it. Various images/videos produced by ESA/NASA/ESO.

Errata:
1. The phrase “Infinite volume hypothesis” is incorrect here. I meant to say either “Infinite density hypothesis” or “Zero volume hypothesis” (each implies the other).
2. Typo. The proton is in fact around one TRILLION times smaller than a full stop, not one billion.
3. Typo. This should of course read “..YouTube account”. Thanks to Agnostic1 for making me aware of that!

Please check out the giants of YouTube’s pro science collective:

Thunderf00t – Creator of the ‘Why do People Laugh at Creationists?’ series and many other fine videos.
http://www.youtube.com/thunderf00t

Potholer54 – Creator of the ‘Made Easy’ series as well as the new ‘Debunking Creationist Junk’ series.
http://www.youtube.com/potholer54
http://www.youtube.com/potholer54debunks

AronRa – Creator of the ‘Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism’ series.
http://www.youtube.com/aronra

DonExodus2 – Creator of the ‘How Evolution Works’ series and many other excellent videos.
http://www.youtube.com/donexodus2

Absent from the video but certainly no less important is cdk007! http://www.youtube.com/cdk007

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. For those asking, the music used in this video in order is:
Chicago – Groove Armada
What We Need More Of Is Science – MC Hawking

Duration : 0:8:56

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Technorati Tags: Astronomy, Atheism, Christianity, cosmology, Crap, Creation, Debunked, Evolution, God, Islam, Propaganda, Reason, Religion, science, VenomFangX, VFX

All my 2012 essays are here:
http://www.infinitelymystical.com/2012-essays.html

Since the Maya calendar and mythology are both based on the underlying astronomy, it can be very helpful to understand this Astronomy. This is fun and easy to do as long as we take it a little bit at a time. It won’t take us very long to lay out all the information yet you may find yourself pondering this subject more deeply for quite awhile. For me personally, the more I dug into this material, the more mind-blowing it all became. Perhaps you will have a similar experience.

- Thomas Razzeto

http://www.infinitelymystical.com
Mystical spirituality for personal and world peace

Duration : 0:9:43

Read more »

Technorati Tags: 2012, age, Astronomy, calendar, ETs, extraterrestrials, maya, mayan, mysticism, new, science, spirituality

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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Subscribe to Science & Reason:
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• http://www.youtube.com/SagansCosmos
• http://www.youtube.com/FFreeThinker
• http://www.youtube.com/FFreeThinker2
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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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Technorati Tags: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Back, Better, Challenger, Chandra, Columbia, Deep, ESA, ESO, Ever, Field, Final, galaxies, HST, hubble, Hubblecast, Is, James, JPL, Mission, NASA, Observatory, planets, Rebirth, science, Servicing, Shuttle, solar, space, Spitzer, stars, STS, Suns, Systems, Telescopes, Than, The, Ultra, universe, Webb