News Briefs: Astronomy, Astophysics & Space Exploration

A well known polymath whose published works range far and wide, including (but not limited to) Archaeology, Paleontology, Astronomy, Space Propulsion systems, and Science Fiction.

Official Website: http://www.charlespellegrino.com

Moderators: Mr. Titanic, Charlie P., ed_the_engineer

Darb
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Post by Darb »

There are some neat pics of Lapetus and Dione up at the cassini site. :thumb:
Darb
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Post by Darb »

Stephen Hawking says he was wrong about Black Holes.

Full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science ... es.html?hp
jweb
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Post by jweb »

Brad_H wrote:Stephen Hawking says he was wrong about Black Holes.

Full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science ... es.html?hp
Here's one that doesn't require a subscription to the NY Times:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996151
Darb
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Post by Darb »

Thanks - the article in new scientist is much better written than the NY Times article.

I got lazy and didn't bother to post a link to a more reputable source. :oops:
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Post by Aunflin »

Thanks, jweb, a very interesting article...now I want to know Hawking's full thoughts on the matter....
"A writer's chosen task is to write well and professionally. If you can't keep doing it, then you're no longer a professional, but a gifted amateur." L. E. Modessit, jr.
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Post by felonius »

Thanks for the link, jweb.

The conference in Ireland was yesterday, yes? Anyone have the scoop on how Hawking's findings were received?
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Post by Darb »

More pics from Cassini are up, including:

* Mimas (the giant crater makes it looks like "The Death Star" of Star Wars ... somewhat similar to Jupiter's Miranda)
* Dione
* Lapetus
* Tethys
* Enceladus
* Titan

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassi ... index.html
Darb
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Post by Darb »

Cool B&W rear-view pic of Opportunity's progress down into the Endurance crater.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ ... B176R1.jpg
(115k bytes)
Darb
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Post by Darb »

SATURN: Cassini may have discovered 2 new small moons ! Click on the link already provided for the latest.

MARS: Both rovers are atill alive and doing fine, on Sols 208 and 192 respectively. Click on the links on page 1 for the latest pictures.
jweb
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Matter/Antimatter asymmetry

Post by jweb »

Physicists conducting the BaBar experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), a Department of Energy laboratory operated by Stanford University, announced exciting new results demonstrating a dramatic difference in the behavior of matter and antimatter. They submitted their results to the journal Physical Review Letters for online publication Friday July 30th.

BaBar homepage
August 2 Press Release
Full paper

A recently fabricated survey indicates that both comedians and bureaucrats alike reacted to this news with the question, "Does it really matter?". :wink:
Darb
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Post by Darb »

The +13% preference of B over Anti-B Mesons is ENTIRELY due to the effects of my winning personality. 8)

- B
jweb
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Post by jweb »

Brad_H wrote:The +13% preference of B over Anti-B Mesons is ENTIRELY due to the effects of my winning personality. 8)

- B
:lol: Now I understand why your avatar looks like a superimposed 1 and 3! Brad_H stands for B Meson radiation bar Halflife.
Darb
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Post by Darb »

jwebster wrote:a superimposed 1 and 3
Well, I did mention that I was a closet triskaidekaphile ... :P

Anyway, thanks for the very interesting article linkage :thumb:
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Post by Darb »

Cassini just completed a 51 min engine burn that will lower it's next close approach to Saturn by 186k miles. :)
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Post by Aunflin »

Cool. :thumb:
"A writer's chosen task is to write well and professionally. If you can't keep doing it, then you're no longer a professional, but a gifted amateur." L. E. Modessit, jr.
Darb
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Post by Darb »

Opportunity continues to make it's way deeper into Gusev crater:

Image
Echus Cthulhu Mythos
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Post by Echus Cthulhu Mythos »

Ooo! I can't wait until NASA publishes all it's findings from these missions.
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Darb
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Post by Darb »

Why wait to start reading ?

You can see their inprogress updates now - they're posted on their website.

Personally, it's more interesting to see stuff as it happens, and see how opinions evolve with each new bit of information ... you can see the scientific method, and the thrill of discovery, in action :thumb:
Darb
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Post by Darb »

The Project Genesis capsule, which NASA was hoping to be able to soft-land with the aid of a risky mid-air capture (via helicopter) crash-landed today, when it's re-entry chute failed to open. :(

Image

Ouch ... that's gonna leave a mark. :slap:

Details: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/genes ... index.html
Darb
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Post by Darb »

Looks like all may not be lost ... mission scientists are recovering some useful data, despite the crash landing.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/se ... pdate.html

Image

Image
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TheJekyll
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Post by TheJekyll »

Very cool stuff here. I would go off about the importance of the human race finding a way to get off Earth as a full time venture, lest we risk finding our survival as a species at the mercy of a rogue comet...but then I think I might be preaching to the choir.
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Post by Darb »

Indeed - many people have been sounding the clarion call of the need to bring the human diaspora to fruition ... and they've been doing it for several decades.
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Post by Darb »

Genesis Mishap Investigation Board Status Report #1

The NASA Genesis Mishap Investigation Board (MIB) arrived at Dugway Proving Ground (DPG), Utah, September 10, to take charge of the investigation. The Genesis Sample Return Capsule (SRC) impacted the ground after its drogue and parafoil systems failed to deploy during re-entry September 8. Dr. Michael Ryschkewitsch is the leader of the MIB.

Thanks to excellent work by the Genesis Project Team, functioning as an initial response team, the wreckage of the SRC and its contents of scientific samples were recovered from the dry lakebed. The science team continues work securing and curating the recovered sample materials, working independently from the activities of the MIB.

Since the initial recovery of the hardware, an inventory was made of the impact crater, both by visual examination and metal detector, to ensure no significant wreckage remains. The recovery team finished its work and turned the impact crater site back over to DPG.

The team finalized plans for preparing and transporting the SRC wreckage to Lockheed Martin Space Systems' facilities in Denver, where the spacecraft was built and tested.

The MIB determined all the science-specific hardware is not relevant to the Board's work in determining the causes of the mishap. That hardware was released to the Project's Science and Curation Team for continued processing. At the request of the Board, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and Lockheed Martin have begun the process of sorting and assembling the Genesis records and data.
Wow ... I didn't know the "MIB" were involved. I thought they were just a hollywood myth :lol: (kidding)
Darb
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Post by Darb »

Cassini finds new object in Saturn's F-Ring:

Image

Here's a 1.6mb animated GIF, for those with broadband: :mrgreen:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/6472 ... -movie.gif

They're not sure if it's a micro-moon or not yet.
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Post by KiltanneN »

Cool.

There appears to be a slightly brighter object on the Saturn side of those two rings located about ½ way between the green square and the lower left corner of the overall picture...

Any ideas what that object is?

kilt
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