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Category Archives: Astronomy

NASA's Kepler ushers in a new era of astronomy

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Scientists from around the world are gathered this week at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., for the second Kepler Science Conference, where they will discuss the latest findings resulting from the analysis of Kepler Space Telescope data. Included in these findings is the discovery of 833 new candidate planets, which will be announced today by the Kepler team.

Ten of these candidates are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's habitable zone, which is defined as the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet may be suitable for liquid water.

At this conference two years ago, the Kepler team announced its first confirmed habitable zone planet, Kepler-22b. Since then, four more habitable zone candidates have been confirmed, including two in a single system.

New Kepler data analysis and research also show that most stars in our galaxy have at least one planet. This suggests that the majority of stars in the night sky may be home to planetary systems, perhaps some like our solar system.

"The impact of the Kepler mission results on exoplanet research and stellar astrophysics is illustrated by the attendance of nearly 400 scientists from 30 different countries at the Kepler Science Conference," said William Borucki, Kepler science principal investigator at Ames. "We gather to celebrate and expand our collective success at the opening of a new era of astronomy."

From the first three years of Kepler data, more than 3,500 potential worlds have emerged. Since the last update in January, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler increased by 29 percent and now totals 3,538. Analysis led by Jason Rowe, research scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., determined that the largest increase of 78 percent was found in the category of Earth-sized planets, based on observations conducted from May 2009 to March 2012. Rowe's findings support the observed trend that smaller planets are more common.

An independent statistical analysis of nearly all four years of Kepler data suggests that one in five stars like the sun is home to a planet up to twice the size of Earth, orbiting in a temperate environment. A research team led by Erik Petigura, doctoral candidate at University of California, Berkeley, used publicly accessible data from Kepler to derive this result.

Kepler data also fueled another field of astronomy dubbed asteroseismology -- the study of the interior of stars. Scientists examine sound waves generated by the boiling motion beneath the surface of the star. They probe the interior structure of a star just as geologists use seismic waves generated by earthquakes to probe the interior structure of Earth.

"Stars are the building blocks of the galaxy, driving its evolution and providing safe harbors for planets. To study the stars, one truly explores the galaxy and our place within it," said William Chaplin, professor for astrophysics at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. "Kepler has revolutionized asteroseismology by giving us observations of unprecedented quality, duration and continuity for thousands of stars. These are data we could only have dreamt of a few years ago."

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NASA's Kepler ushers in a new era of astronomy

UH researchers make another big astronomy discovery

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The University of Hawaii played a big role in another significant astronomical discovery announced Monday.

Astronomers now estimate that one in five stars in our galaxy that are similar to the sun have an earth-like planet.

Over the past four years, NASA's Kepler spacecraft has been scanning the Milky Way galaxy, looking for other planets like ours.

"Kepler looked at 150-thousand stars and it hunted for Earth-like planets around each one of them, and we counted those planets very carefully and we came up with an estimate that about 20 percent of stars like the sun have a planet that's about the size of the Earth, in an orbit that's about like the Earth's orbit," said University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy faculty member Andrew Howard.

He was one of three scientists associated with the findings, which were published online in the journal "proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" on Monday.

The team of researchers looked for Earth-sized planets with orbits in a habitable zone. An orbit too close to its star is too hot for life. Too far, too cold.

Howard said the study was far too short to scan all of the stars in the Milky Way.

"You can think of it like taking a census. You don't have time to knock on every single door. So you just knock on one neighborhood's worth of doors and that tells you about the entire population," he said.

"There's a hundred-billion stars in our galaxy. So 20 percent of that is a huge number. that's more Earth-like planets than there are people on the Earth."

But Howard warns, it's unknown how many of these planets are rocky with a similar atmosphere to Earth, making it capable for life.

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UH researchers make another big astronomy discovery

NASA Kepler Results Usher in a New Era of Astronomy

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Scientists from around the world are gathered this week at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., for the second Kepler Science Conference, where they will discuss the latest findings resulting from the analysis of Kepler Space Telescope data.

Included in these findings is the discovery of 833 new candidate planets, which will be announced today by the Kepler team. Ten of these candidates are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's habitable zone, which is defined as the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet may be suitable for liquid water.

At this conference two years ago, the Kepler team announced its first confirmed habitable zone planet, Kepler-22b. Since then, four more habitable zone candidates have been confirmed, including two in a single system.

New Kepler data analysis and research also show that most stars in our galaxy have at least one planet. This suggests that the majority of stars in the night sky may be home to planetary systems, perhaps some like our solar system.

"The impact of the Kepler mission results on exoplanet research and stellar astrophysics is illustrated by the attendance of nearly 400 scientists from 30 different countries at the Kepler Science Conference," said William Borucki, Kepler science principal investigator at Ames. "We gather to celebrate and expand our collective success at the opening of a new era of astronomy."

From the first three years of Kepler data, more than 3,500 potential worlds have emerged. Since the last update in January, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler increased by 29 percent and now totals 3,538. Analysis led by Jason Rowe, research scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., determined that the largest increase of 78 percent was found in the category of Earth-sized planets, based on observations conducted from May 2009 to March 2012. Rowe's findings support the observed trend that smaller planets are more common.

An independent statistical analysis of nearly all four years of Kepler data suggests that one in five stars like the sun is home to a planet up to twice the size of Earth, orbiting in a temperate environment. A research team led by Erik Petigura, doctoral candidate at University of California, Berkeley, used publicly accessible data from Kepler to derive this result.

Kepler data also fueled another field of astronomy dubbed asteroseismology -- the study of the interior of stars. Scientists examine sound waves generated by the boiling motion beneath the surface of the star. They probe the interior structure of a star just as geologists use seismic waves generated by earthquakes to probe the interior structure of Earth.

"Stars are the building blocks of the galaxy, driving its evolution and providing safe harbors for planets. To study the stars, one truly explores the galaxy and our place within it," said William Chaplin, professor for astrophysics at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. "Kepler has revolutionized asteroseismology by giving us observations of unprecedented quality, duration and continuity for thousands of stars. These are data we could only have dreamt of a few years ago."

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NASA Kepler Results Usher in a New Era of Astronomy

Giveaway and Review: Astronomy Photographer of the Year: Collection Two

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Universe Today and Royal Observatory Greenwich are pleased to offer one free copy of Astronomy Photographer of the Year: Collection Two!

Universe Today Review by Dave Dehetre

Astronomy Photographer of the Year is a large format glossy book that covers the Royal Observatory, Greenwichs annual astrophotography competition. It covers the competition years from 2009 to 2012 and subject categories: Earth and Space, Our Solar System, Deep Space, Young Astronomy Photographer, People and Space, Best Newcomer, and Robotic Scope. It also includes a brief how-to primer on astrophotography which, while fine, seemed perfunctory and tacked on.

The book is organized by years and then by category, with nice double page section breaks and clear detailed info alongside each image. However, within each year, the categories arent delineated, either through typographic means, such as headers or section breaks, or through any indication alongside the images themselves. Usually the category was obvious enough, but it was somewhat confusing at times. Each category contains images by the winner, runner-up, and sometimes one or more highly-commended entrants. Some categories also had other images without any designation of why they were included. This could be a typographic omission of some sort, or it could be that they were just additional entrants worthy of inclusion.

I was happy to see the consistently high caliber of work that came out of the competition. There isnt one image in the book that was less than outstanding. Ive spent many a night far out in the countryside doing astrophotography as a hobby, and Ive never come up with an image to compare.

I was also happy to see the competition segmented into subject areas as well as the more expected age/experience categories. This seems to acknowledge that there are different metrics and merit for the broad scope of styles/subjects in astrophotography.

One other point worth mentioning is that I found that many of the astrophotographers presented were people I was already familiar with, some from Flickr, some from Youtube, and some from periodicals like Sky at Night. I knew these people, and not because they produce great images, but because they are some of the people I learned astrophotography from. I think this points out one of the great underlying aspects of astrophotography: that it is collaborative in nature. And I find it heartening that the people who share the most, who help others and communicate, seem to be the ones who do the best work and are the most successful.

Im of two minds about Astronomy Photographer of the Year though. On the one hand, its very well done, beautiful, and stunning. Really everything you could ask for in a book on this subject. But against it, in part it is trying to document something (astrophotography) that is bigger and richer than can be captured in a book.

While the images are flawlessly presented, they lack the backlit brilliance provided by a computer screen, and they arent zoomable to view fine details. Many astrophotography images are available on-line at resolutions equivalent to wall-size if they were printed out.

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Giveaway and Review: Astronomy Photographer of the Year: Collection Two

Ghanaian scientists train in radio astronomy

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Regional News of Monday, 28 October 2013

Source: GNA

A team of seven Ghanaian research scientists, electronic technologists and mechanical engineers, have began training in South Africa on the independent operation and maintenance of radio telescopes on the continent.

This represents the first technical team from Africa to receive training as part of the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (AVN) programme.

The project is a collaboration between Ghana Space Sciences and Technology Institute of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Ministries of Science and Technology Innovation in Ghana and South Africa, National Science Foundation, and Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The aim of the programme is to create a network of radio telescopes among the SKA SA African partner countries, namely, Ghana, Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.

"The training programme marks the start of a programme to strengthen African technical capability and a holistic approach to human capital development for radio astronomy, the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Michael Masutha said at a launch of the project at MeerKAT Headquarters in Pinelands, Cape Town.

Involving the African partner countries in the AVN training programme is a means of ensuring that Africa is capacitated and ready for hosting the SKA.

Masutha said the training project would establish strong collaborative Africa-Europe network in science and engineering and would deliver practical training and hands-on experiences that would enthuse a new generation of scientists and engineers on the continent.

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Ghanaian scientists train in radio astronomy

Free astronomy event for parents in Henderson

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Child reportedly hit by vehicle on Evansville's west side Child reportedly hit by vehicle on Evansville's west side

Updated: Friday, October 25 2013 5:02 PM EDT2013-10-25 21:02:51 GMT

Updated: Friday, October 25 2013 9:44 AM EDT2013-10-25 13:44:08 GMT

Updated: Sunday, October 27 2013 2:31 PM EDT2013-10-27 18:31:56 GMT

Workforce Solutions of Henderson Community College is offering Astronomy for Parents.

Take your family on a journey through the night sky with tips you will learn for exploring astronomy.

Parents are invited to the free informational class with HCC faculty, who will share online resources, recommend smart phone apps, explain sky charts and much more.

Middle and high School age students are welcome to accompany their parents.

The class is scheduled for Thursday, November 7from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Sullivan Technology Center, Room 305 at Henderson Community College.

For more information contact Jo Ann Brock 270-831-9658 or joann.brock@kctcs.edu

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Free astronomy event for parents in Henderson

Space, digitisation and storage. Astronomy Legacy Project has it all

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Photographic plate image of the colliding galaxies NGC 6769, 6770, and 6771. These galaxies are located 190 million light years away. The photograph was taken September 21, 1954 using the 74-inch telescope at Radcliffe Observatory.

Nestled in a 200 acre campus in western North Carolina, the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) is home to possibly the worlds biggest library of astronomical photographic plates - some 220,000 images taken between 1898 and 1993.

The Institutes Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) team says there is much to explore with this photographic treasure trove, which represents perhaps 20 per cent of all the plates in North America.

It estimates the archive should contain at least 40 undiscovered novae but the images are fragile and their analogue data is difficult to access.

Nothing that an expensive but not astronomically so Optek digital scanner, a hired hand, and volunteer labour couldnt fix.

So, as is the way of the world, this non-profit institute has jumped on to Kickstarter to seek crowdfunding for the Astronomy Legacy Project (ALP) to take the "diverse and rich data set of 20th century astronomy into the 21st century digital world, according to director Michael Castelaz. He says unexplored astronomical research areas will emerge as "century-old analog data is made accessible in digital format online".

And once digitised, the archive will be shared with the world through the Astronomy Legacy Project website.

The APDA preservation project is seeking $67,000 in the first instance to digitise two collections held in the archive, and there is 24 days to go.

This way for Kickstarter.

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Space, digitisation and storage. Astronomy Legacy Project has it all

Astronomy group eyes Mindanao observatory

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MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 22 Oct) Mindanao should have its own astronomical observatory because astronomy is an effective way of boosting interest in science and technology, Rodion Herrera, program director and head lecturer of Voyager Adventures said.

Herrera told MindaNewsSundaythat existing astronomical observatories like the Manila Observatory are inaccessible to Mindanaos students and instructors.

He said the group hopes to build an astronomical observatory in Mindanao either in Davao or in Zamboanga City to help raise the quality of science and technology education.

He acknowledged that this requires a huge investment and might take a long time to be realized so in the meantime, his group goes around Mindanao to bring the universe closer to the students.

Voyager Adventures, a Davao-based private group promoting the study of astronomy, ended its nine-day tour in BukidnonTuesday.

The group visited schools in Bukidnon from October 14 to October 22 as a follow up to their August 2013 run.

On October 14, the 12-member Voyager team went to Lantapan for an exhibit with elementary and high schools students and teachers. They proceeded to Valencia City Central School on October 16, to the Valencia City National High School on October 18 and in Malaybalay City on October 21 and 22, at the Bukidnon National High School, Bukidnons biggest high school.

The group first toured Bukidnon in August 2013, spending two weeks in the towns of Quezon, Maramag, Pangantucan, and Manolo Fortich.

The group has toured more than 200 schools around Mindanao, except in the cities of Surigao, Cotabato, Pagadian, Gingoog, and Cagayan de Oro, said Herrera.

The group uses educational events program with a state of the art Voyager Planetarium, mobile digital educational podium, as a visual and entertaining tool in teaching astronomy and other sciences.

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Astronomy group eyes Mindanao observatory


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