Swirling clouds in Saturn's atmosphere
Monstrous eddies in Saturn’s upper atmosphere are clearly visible in this near-infrared image from Cassini, taken in November 2009 and released on NASA’s planetary Photojournal on February 4.
Winds on Saturn are some of the fastest in the solar system, blowing around the planet in opposing bands at speeds of several hundreds of miles per hour. The bright equatorial zone, shown here with the rings seen edge-on and their darker shadows just below, circles the planet in an eastward direction, causing dramatic eddies and shears where it meets the boundary of the westward-moving southern bands.
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Skyward bound: Endeavor lit up the night on Monday, February 8. Image: NASA/Ben Cooper.
Welcome! I’m very honored to host the 140th edition of Carnival of Space here on Lights in the Dark, especially considering that this week marks this site’s one-year anniversary! It’s really been a fascinating year for me. I’ve had a lot of fun finding and featuring images from the various missions exploring our solar system…from the adventures of the resilient Mars rovers to the MESSENGER spacecraft exploring mysterious Mercury…the stunning solar observations of SOHO and the high-res lunar landscapes revealed by JAXA’s KAGUYA probe…and, of course, the Cassini spacecraft with its endless array of breathtaking images from the Saturnian system. Not to mention the many other missions currently investigating everything from our own pale blue globe to the wonders of deepest space.
Regarding deepest space, Discovery News writer Ian O’Neill reports that scientists using NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) have placed a “refined” estimate of the age of the universe at precisely 13.75 billion years old. This comes from data from the probe which is constantly scanning the background energy of space, called CMB (cosmic microwave background) radiation. It’s the leftover “echo” of the Big Bang, the oldest light, and by measuring it they can estimate not only how long ago it started but also what sorts of elements made up the newly-formed universe. (The new results aren’t without debate though…the universe knows better than to give out its age that easily.)
When stars collide: the Antennae Galaxies. NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration.
Another deep space mystery are black holes, and astrophysicist Bente Lilja Bye writes on PlanetBye about what happens when two of them decide to engage in a little dance. I’m not sure how they decide who gets to take the lead, but the result is the creation of billions of new stars and quite the view for the HST.
And for a closer look at the mechanics of black holes, check out spacewriter Carolyn Collins Petersen’s latest installment of The Astronomer’s Universe, where she spoke with astronomers at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC.
Black holes aren’t the only bad drivers in the universe…sometimes even quasars collide, as described by Kimberly Arcand on ChandraBlog, Harvard’s news site for the Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite.
Maybe not billions of stars but definitely many thousands can be seen in NGC 3603, a large star-forming region in our own galaxy. Astronomer and author extraordinaire Phil Plait writes on BadAstronomy about the huge – make that ginormous – stars this region has spawned…one 116 times the mass of our Sun! Stars that big live fast and die young though, and when they go, they go big.
Our Sun is about to get another set of (electronic) eyes on it, and Nicole Gugliucci will be there when the Atlas V launches with NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on board, ready to enter orbit and begin its work observing our home star. Read her enthusiastic post on NoisyAstronomer.com.
Monday’s launch of the STS-130 mission puts us one step closer to the end of the shuttle program with only 5 more launches scheduled…JPL’s Solar System Ambassador and digital artist Jim Plaxco discusses in-depth where NASA is headed and showcases a poignant piece from his portfolio of space art.
STS-130 mission patch. NASA/LOIRP
The STS-130 mission crew will be helping memorialize the canceled Constellation lunar program with a Flight Kit full of lapel pins and other mementos from various missions destined for the ISS…read more and see the full listing of artifacts in Robert Pearlman’s article on collectSPACE.
While other programs may have been mothballed by the newly-proposed NASA budget, the ISS will enjoy more funding, continuing scientific work for at least another decade. Universe Today senior editor Nancy Atkinson writes a glowing review about the biological studies being conducted aboard the ISS, and, on her new personal blog, describes the emotions of her first visit to Kennedy Space Center as a member of the press in anticipation of the shuttle launch. (Also be sure to check out her recap of the launch itself on her home page!)
Another thing the changes to the space program have done is open the door to the private sector for the development of space technology…Ken Murphy discusses the exciting potential for new business opportunities waiting just above our heads, and Next Big Future writer Brian Wang covers the advantages of a VASIMR plasma-based rocket that can double the carrying capacity of a chemical-based rocket for lunar missions and a self-replenishing plasma fusion engine that could power the future of deep space exploration.
While Ken and Brian look ahead, amateur astronomer Steve Tilford delves into the past with a 106-year old 16″ telescope at the Cincinnati Observatory Center. Read about his experience with the historic instrument on Steve’s Astro Corner.
Old or new, telescopes were designed to gather light from distant sources…but what exactly is light? In the first of a two-part series, “occasional volunteer explainer” Steve Nerlich shines a light on light in his latest podcast on Cheap Astronomy.
Now if light starts to mysteriously disappear in a region of space, it might be due to a Fermi bubble – the result of the expansion of an interstellar civilization that has significantly tapped into the resources of nearby stars. Paul Gilster discusses the concept of this in his article “Toward an Interstellar Archaeology” on Centauri Dreams.
Meanwhile, back in our own solar system, Adam Crowl anticipates the arrival of New Horizons at Pluto and the recent discovery of seasonal surface variations on the outpost ex-planet, and Ian Musgrave gives us a complete guide to observing Mars at opposition, as well as an extensive list of Mars-related links.
Speaking of Mars, the Opportunity rover has reached a rock feature called “Chocolate Hills”. Named after landforms on Bohol Island in the Philipines, the Chocolate Hills on Mars feature some interesting knobby texture…Stuart Atkinson shows us Opportunity’s findings in his post on The Road to Endeavour.
Will Earth become the future’s low-rent zone? On Habitation Intention, Aron Sora asks if he can apply urban sociology to the concept of human colonization in space.
Pele's red ring
Heading out to Jupiter’s moon Io, one of the moons first observed by Galileo, Jason Perry posts on The Gish Bar Times about successful computer modeling of large volcanic plumes from Pele, one of the unique moon’s biggest volcanoes.
And finally, last but not least, is Emily Lakdawalla’s article on The Planetary Society’s blog outlining – by way of John Spencer’s original post from February 2009 – plans for the Cassini spacecraft’s upcoming Solstice mission. Cassini has been green-lighted to continue its tour around Saturn for another seven years, taking it alongside the ringed planet as it passes into its winter season. I’m sure we’re all looking forward to seven more years of fantastic Cassini images! (I know I am!)
This wraps up this 140th edition of the Carnival of Space. It’s been an honor hosting it, my gratitude to Fraser Cain at Universe Today for the opportunity! Thanks for visiting Lights in the Dark, if you’re new here take a look around and, as always, keep looking up!
- J. Major
After some delays over the weekend, this morning Endeavor lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in what was officially the last nighttime launch of the space shuttle. Watch the video of the liftoff and rocket separation below, recorded from NASA TV.
The STS-130 mission carries the Tranquillity module to the International Space Station and the ESA’s Cupola viewing capsule consisting of 7 windows that will provide amazing Earth observation capabilities for researchers aboard the International Space Station.
This is Endeavor’s 24th flight and the 130th flight of the shuttle program, which will be retired at the end of the year. There are 5 more flights scheduled before the end of the space shuttle era.
Also check out Nancy Atkinson’s description of the launch on Universe Today!
Mimas and Epimetheus
246-mile-wide Mimas (foreground) and 70-mile-wide Epimetheus bracket a section of Saturn’s rings in this color-calibrated image from the Cassini spacecraft, taken in October 2009.
Cassini discovered ice geysers on Enceladus in 2005
Happily, we can expect to see beautiful images like this for another 7 years…NASA has extended the Cassini mission until at least 2017! During that time Cassini will transition into its “Solstice” mission, observing Saturn as its summer season approaches and performing more flybys of its moons Titan and Enceladus.
This will allow scientists to study the Saturnian system for the first time over the course of a full seasonal period, winter to summer.
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004 after a seven-year journey from Earth. Since then it has sent back over 210,000 images, landed the Huygens probe on Titan, executed 67 flybys of Titan and 8 of Enceladus and several of other moons as well, and discovered countless amazing and unexpected details about the planet’s ring system and atmosphere. And, after traveling over 2.6 billion miles, it’s still performing very well.
“This is a mission that never stops providing us surprising scientific results and showing us eye popping new vistas. The historic traveler’s stunning discoveries and images have revolutionized our knowledge of Saturn and its moons.”
– Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division
Read more about the Cassini mission’s extension here, or visit the main mission site.
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The New Horizons spacecraft may still be several years away from its flyby of the outermost ex-planet, but the Hubble Space Telescope is meanwhile grabbing glimpses of the frozen world at the edge of our solar system.
The video above is composed of hundreds of individual images of Pluto, assembled over the course of four years by the Southwest Research Center in Boulder, CO. It shows the planet’s rotation and differences in coloration around its surface. The most recent images point at changing surface colorations as well, hinting at active atmospheric processes and possibly helping scientists on the New Horizons team target key areas to image in 2015.
The overall color is believed to be a result of ultraviolet radiation from the distant Sun breaking up methane that is present on Pluto’s surface, leaving behind a dark, molasses-colored, carbon-rich residue.
Since its discovery in 1930 Pluto has only traveled 1/3 of its 248-year-long orbit around the Sun. It is 32 times farther away from the Sun than Earth is…from Pluto (and its moons Charon, Nix and Hydra) the
Artist's vision of Pluto's surface. Image: NASA
Sun would appear as an extremely bright star in an otherwise dark sky, casting deep shadows in a perpetual frozen twilight. Yet there’s still enough heat to create a dynamic process of freezing and thawing of an atmosphere that spends part of the time as a brittle ground cover and part of the time as a thin haze. Still, at 400º below zero, the term “heat” means something very different than anything we are familiar with.
Read the release on the Hubble site here.
Animation: NASA/ESA/M. Buie/Southwest Research Institute.
Around 6pm local time, February 3 2009, a large fireball was seen in the evening skies over Ireland. First video of the blazing meteor can be seen above.
Reports are coming in that the “desk-sized” meteor may have landed in a field. It may be a piece of a larger object that exploded in the atmosphere, scattering debris over the country.
“I saw the ball of fire just above the trees. I rang the emergency services. I thought it was a helicopter.”
– Local caller
Read more on Universe Today, or on the Irish Times website.
UPDATE: The video above is most likely false….at least it does not show the meteor over Ireland from February 3. I have searched the net for any images or video of the meteor and haven’t found anything yet, although Irish news sites are actively asking readers to submit their photos so hopefully some will surface soon. Regardless, there was a very bright meteor that lit up the evening skies and attracted a lot of attention yesterday, the RTE broadcast footage can be seen here.
UPDATE: Video has been removed by the user….to which I say “good”. 
Hubble spots asteroid impersonating a comet
With a long trail of material streaming out into space one would assume this to be a photo of a comet…but it’s not. Rather, it’s believed to be the result of a collision between two asteroids that produced a weird X-shaped pattern of filaments emanating from a small remnant object. Material from the filaments has since been blown back into space by solar radiation.
P/2010 A2
This object, called P/2010 A2, was first discovered on January 6 by the LINEAR (Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research) Program and appeared unusual enough in ground-based observations that they had the HST take a better look at it. The resulting image, above, was taken on January 29. (The blue coloration was added later for better visibility.)
Unlike their science-fiction movie counterparts, asteroids rarely encounter each other…but when they do the results can be impressive. Colliding at over five times the speed of a rifle bullet, asteroids can literally blow each other to bits. It’s been theorized that the asteroid belt is slowly being worn down by impacts but this is the first time the result of one has been seen directly.
“If this interpretation is correct, two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight.”
– David Jewitt, Principal Investigator, UCLA
Read the release on the Hubble site here.
Image: NASA/ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA)
A poignant entry on xkcd.com, a webcomic by Randall Munroe.
This is based on the recent news that the rover named Spirit will now officially be a “stationary science platform”. After repeated attempts to dislodge it from its current location, wheels hopelessly embedded in soft sand in a locale called “Troy”, the decision was made to cease efforts to free the rover and instead switch to a different sort of exploratory science.
“We told the world last year that attempts to set the beloved robot free may not be successful. It looks like Spirit’s current location on Mars will be its final resting place.”
– Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program
Spirit's current location
Spirit and her sister rover Opportunity have been exploring the surface of Mars since November 2004. Originally slated for 90-day missions both rovers have far surpassed expectations, still operating to this day. The mountains of data and images the rovers have returned to us over the years have been nothing short of groundbreaking. And, although immobile, Spirit’s scientific equipment is still very much in working order so it is still has enough work cut out for it to keep it busy for a long time.
In fact, as a bit of a silver lining to the dark cloud of Spirit’s entrapment, the region the rover is currently in may have once been covered with water based on the discovery of sulfates in the soil. This would most likely never have been realized had Spirit’s wheels not broken through the surface crust.
“There’s a class of science we can do only with a stationary vehicle that we had put off during the years of driving. Degraded mobility does not mean the mission ends abruptly. Instead, it lets us transition to stationary science.”
– Steve Squyres, principal investigator for Spirit and Opportunity.
The reward for work well done is, after all, more work. 
Images: www.xkcd.com (thanks Laurie) and NASA/JPL-Caltech
