Dave Reneke's
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Weird, Wild & Breaking News Stories in Space and Astronomy from around the World 24/7 delivered free every week with regular updates as they happen
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For The Media
If you are interested, an interview with astronomer, writer, educator and public lecturer representing Australasian Science Magazine and Editor of Astro Space News, Dave Reneke(Astro-Dave) can be arranged by contacting Dave by Phone/Fax(02) 65 85 2260 Mobile: 0400 636 363 or email Dave for an instant reply to davereneke@gmail.com. David is well experienced talking to the media and presents information in an easy to understand, up to date and informative manner. Interviews can be on any subject, tailored to your requirements.
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LETTERS TO DAVE
Your letters are welcome on any subject covered by the scope of this newsletter or any aspect of astronomy/space in general. All letters requesting help or advice will be answered personally by me.
Hi
I have just ordered your E- Book on your website and just wish to thank you for your patience and help you have given me. I would also like to add I love listening to your spot on Jeff Burzacott’s show on FiveAA Adelaide. You talk in very basic language that makes it very easy to understand finally have a very merry xmas and a happy new year. Regards, Rhonda G.
Many thanks Rhonda. Thanks too for the kind wishes and you enjoy a happy Christmas and New Year as well.
Hi
A few months ago you
Yep I remember. You are right – not much in the way of manuals around. I spent some time on the net for you and eventually chased up these similar scope manuals – hope it helps. Also get onto this astronomy forum – good guys with lots of advice and helpful articles on DOBs for you. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/reviews.html - or this one at South Celestial Pole http://www.scp3.org/main/ both set up for the beginner astronomer. Progress later to Southern or Northern Galactic. Post and you might find an experienced amateur in your region that can team up with you. Good luck. Merry Xmas to you and your family as well.
Hi David
Hey, I heard you have some software that can show how the universe looked years ago? I
Hi David , I was listening to your show the other morning re the Star that started at the Big Bang.Wherabouts is the photo on your web site ? Kind Regards
Gary C.
Hi Gary
Not sure what you mean here Gary. Not knowing what station you're referring to (I speak on about 60 a week) I was talking about a 'star' BUT it was the fabled Xmas Star we found usimng modern software. I did talk however about the image taken at the birth of the Universe BUT it wasn't a single star, it was a collection of galaxies that are part of the latest 'Hubble Ultra Deep Field' photo. Here's a link to that image. http://z-e-r-o.up.seesaa.net/image/Hubble_Ultra_Deep_Field_Black_point_edit.jpg The info on the Xmas Star is still on my website homepage.
Dave
I listen with interest to your weekly chats with Anne Delany of ABC Radio Wagga. A couple of weeks ago you observed that the ‘ice caps’ on Mars were decreasing in size and that even the light refraction from Pluto appeared to be changing, indicative that something was actually going on throughout the entire solar system. Have I got this right?The obvious conclusion is therefore that although there might be some anthropological contribution to climate change, the main cause could well be something to do with the Sun. Would greatly appreciate your comment. Thanks
Brad
Hi Brad
Yes, I remember the story. I'm not an advocate of 'climate change' – I think it's a little over the top and too much to expect to be asked to believe. I do believe though we have done some damage to the Earth's ecosystem BUT I also feel the planet is capable of absorbing that and healing, as the Ozone layer heals itself. I pointed out in the article and story you are referring to that Mars has undergone what appears to be some form of 'climate change' having increased it's mean temp by up to 2 degrees in 20 years. No humans have ever been there! Jupiter too shows signs of upper atmospheric 'climate changes' and even Pluto is observed to undergo similar effects. I suspect that changes in this planet are reflective of a maturing world, that these types of climatic changes we see MAY be normal, that all planets change and evolve and show signs of global temp variations in the process. I think that the Sun has a lot to do with it… what we call global warming because it's eventual fate is it will get progressuively hotter, turn into a Red Giant in 5 billion years then swell up 100 times it's size and envelope the inner planets. I stress I'm not an expert – this is simply my own personal overview and interpretation of the situation.
Dave
THIS WEEK'S TOP STORY
Strange Sky Phenomena Puts Norway In A Spin
A mysterious giant spiral of light that dominated the sky over Norway last week has stunned experts who believe the space spectacle is an entirely new astral phenomenon. Thousands of awe-struck Norwegians bombarded the Meteorological Institute to ask what the incredible light that could be seen in the pre- dawn sky for hundreds of miles could possibly be.
The phenomenon has been dubbed 'Star-Gate' — as the world's top scientists and the military lined up to admit they were baffled. Theories ranging from a misfired Russian missile, meteor fireball, never-before-seen type of northern light, 'black hole' and even alien activity were all proposed.
Witnesses across Norway, who first glimpsed the space show at 8.45am, all described seeing a spinning 'Catherine wheel-style' spiral of white light, centred around a bright moon-like star. A blue "streaming tail" appeared to anchor the spiral to earth, before the light "exploded" into a rotating ring of white fire.
The spiral spectacle — which lasted for two minutes — was seen by vast swathes of the Scandinavian country's almost five million population, with sightings as far north as Finnmark to Trondelag in the south. Totto Eriksen, from Tromso, in northern Norway, was one of the thousands who bombarded Norwegian newspapers with sightings — after nearly crashing his car on spotting the spiral overhead.
He said: "I was driving my daughter to school when this light spun and exploded in the sky. We saw it from the Inner Harbour in Tromso. It looked like a rocket that spun around and around – and then went diagonally across the heavens. It looked like the moon was coming over the mountain – but then turned into something totally different."
Blue tail … stunned Norwegians Jan Petter Jørgensen / Rex Features "People just stopped and stared on the pier – it was like something from a Hollywood movie." Axel Berg, from Alta, also in the north of the country, added: "It was like a giant spiral – a shooting star that spun around and around. "I initially thought it was a projector but then the 'tail light' left and the spiral remained spinning still."
Norway's most celebrated astronomer, Knut Jorgen Roed Odegaard, said he had never seen anything like the spiral before. Mystery … missile theory Jan Petter Jørgensen / Rex Features He said: "This was seen over an exceptionally large area of the country – in all of north Norway and the Trondelag. "My first thought was that it was a fireball meteor – but it lasted far too long.
"It may have been a missile from Russia – but I can't guarantee that is the answer. I rang the Air Traffic Control tower in Tromse. They said it was over in two minutes. To me, that is far too long for this to be an astronomical phenomenon.This spiral shape is unique. It is definitely not a variation of the aurora borealis – northern lights."
Astonishing … spinning UFO Chief Scientist Erik Tandberg, at the Norwegian Space Centre, said that he too was "totally amazed" by the spiral. He agreed with many other experts that the spiral pattern could have been caused by a missile from Russia — something the Russian military have strongly denied.
Dr Tandberg said: "I agree with everyone in the science community that this light was the weirdest thing. I have never seen anything like this ever. "It may have been anything from an exploding missile whose launch went wrong – to a comet or other celestial object that for some reason has been behaving strangely. If it was a missile – most likely from the launch base in Pletsevsk in Russia or one of the Russian submarines or even from the European Space Agency base in Kiruna – then we are talking about a rocket launch that has gone wrong."
"The spiral suggests the object came off course and balance and entered the spiral movement. Leaking rocket fuel could account for the blue light. "But I know that the military have denied this explanation. So we could be looking at an entirely new natural phenomenon."
Meanwhile, Nick Pope, former UFO analyst for the Ministry of Defence, yesterday added that the Norwegian sighting was a "real mystery". He said: "My first thought was this was a meteor, a fireball, or debris from an old satellite burning up in the earth's atmosphere. But the spiral motion makes this unlikely. This is truly bizarre. It's a real mystery. A meteor or a fireball would simply travel in a straight line but for something to spiral in this way appears to go against the laws of physics."
"Some may think it is the Northern Lights but they illuminate the sky with a green glow. "This is completely different from any image of the Northern Lights that I have ever seen. "It's ironic that something like this should happen the very week after the MoD terminated its UFO project. It just goes to show how wrong that decision was."
It seems, now, that an arrant Russian rocket, as described above, may have been the culprit.
Watch Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFQjt_QsrYA
Daily Mail/ Sun (UK)
MORE ASTRO-SPACE NEWS
Geminid Meteors Flash in December Skies
The annual Geminid meteor shower usually offers the best show of the year, outperforming even the Perseid shower of August. This year the Geminids will peak three days after new moon, so viewing conditions should be favorable. In a clear sky, observers may see more than 100 meteors per hour.
The Geminid meteor shower can be seen on the mornings of December 13 to 15, with the best activity on the morning of December 14. You should see a meteor every two to three minutes under dark skies in the early morning of December 14, between 1:00am and 4:00am local time.
Look northerly, with the bright stars of Gemini in the centre of your field of vision.Some meteors will appear as soon as the sky is completely dark, and the numbers will increase as the evening advances.
The nights before and after the peak should also provide good viewing opportunities.These "shooting stars" will seem to be coming from a point called the radiant near the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini the Twins, which gives the shower its name. The radiant will be well above the eastern horizon a few hours after sundown and will remain high in the sky for the rest of the night.
The higher the radiant is above the horizon, the more meteors there will be. Try facing southeast if you have a clear view in that direction, though meteors will be visible in all parts of the sky.
To stay comfortable in the frigid night, wear several layers of your warmest clothing and keep a thermos of hot coffee, tea or chocolate handy. A sleeping bag or blankets also will help. No special equipment is needed to watch a meteor shower — a reclining lawn chair will work fine. Try facing in different directions and see how the meteors vary in appearance. The ones closer to the radiant will be short, because they will appear to be coming toward you. Those farther from the radiant will be longer.
Jupiter will be fairly high in the south-southwest as darkness falls at the beginning of December. Observers with telescopes should view it as early in the evening as possible, before it sinks too low. Jupiter will descend toward the sun's afterglow as the month advance.
Finally, if you're feeling ambitious, take pictures! This is a real challenge, but if you're up to it, it's a very rewarding challenge. You'll need a tripod and a camera that can take long exposures. Set your exposure for somewhere around 30 seconds and let it record the whole sky. If a meteor crosses the field of view, it will be captured, and you can keep it forever!
Physorg
Victoria Principal Prepares to Blast into Space
Beam her up, Scotty! Former Dallas star Victoria Principal has signed up to take a ride in the world's first commercial passenger spacecraft, the VSS Enterprise, which was unveiled Monday in the Mojave Desert by space pioneers Sir Richard Branson and Burt Rutan.
"Going into space fulfills many desires I have of seeing the planet, going fast, going someplace very few people have been – and hopefully coming back down!" Principal said.
The actress, who is also a skin-care magnate and an amateur race car driver, says space travel has always been her fantasy. She wrote a TV movie script 30 years ago about the first female astronaut, before there even was such a thing, and two of her favorite movies are 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Right Stuff.
At US$200,000 per ticket, the Enterprise is the world's most expensive day trip. The two-pilot, six-passenger craft will be carried to the edge of space by a carrier plane, much like the space shuttle. Passengers will see the curvature of the planet and experience weightlessness.
Virgin Galactic, a company within Branson's Virgin Group, hopes to begin testing the craft early next year, with the first flights to begin in 2011. Principal, 59, says she's frustrated that the first passengers will be chosen randomly, since she was the third person to buy a ticket – and the first woman to sign up. "I'm a passenger in something that is pioneering," Principal says. "This will become to our great-grandchildren what Wilbur and Orville Wright were to you and me."
People
Giant 13-Billion-Year-Old Galaxy Found at Very Edge of Universe
Scientists have located a giant 13-billion year old galaxy at the edge of the observable universe. Detecting this huge galaxy was a challenge because of the massive quantities of light coming from the black hole, and if you think you spotted two problems in that sentence, read on.
(Pic representative only.)
The galaxy, which is 12.8 billion light-years from Earth, is as large as the Milky Way galaxy and harbors a supermassive black hole that contains at least a billion times as much matter as does our Sun.
"It is surprising that such a giant galaxy existed when the universe was only one-sixteenth of its present age, and that it hosted a black hole one billion times more massive than the sun. The galaxy and black hole must have formed very rapidly in the early universe," said University of Hawaii astronomer Dr. Tomotsugu Goto who discovered the object.
"How can a galaxy be giant when it's the same size as our own?" is because of lightspeed – the galaxy is almost thirteen billion light-years away, which means it's almost thirteen billion years ago, which is almost as much "ago" as there is. When the universe was only about a billion years old even a Milky Way sized galaxy was pretty big, and the supermassive black hole in the center was impressively huge.
Which brings us to the second issue: light coming from a black hole. Everyone knows that nothing can escape from a black hole, not even light, but that's only after matter passes the "event horizon" – the ultimate one-way sign in spacetime. But as matter falls in towards this cut-off point it's heated up by friction, radiating energy away as light, and this emission from infalling matter makes up over half of all the light detected from the distant galaxy. This is why we didn't see it before – a little thing like a few hundred billion stars was outshone by the superheated material around the black hole.
Detection was made possible by newly upgraded CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) Cameras fitted to the Suprime-Cam in the Hawaiian Mauna Kea observatory. The improvement was engineered by Professor Satoshi Miyazaki and colleagues of the National Observatory of Japan.
The new early-stage black hole-galaxy system will be an important clue in the evolution of such supermassive black holes. While asking how they get so big might sound simple (they just keep eating stuff, including each other), their ability such spectacular size in so short a time isn't explained by any current creation theories. And by "spectacular size" me mean about a giga-Sun of mass.
Yet another reminder of the amazing: our amazing ability to detect such incredibility, and the amazing universe where such awe-inspiring objects can be lost down the back of the cosmological sofa until we look really hard.
Daily Galaxy
Butterflies Attempt To Fly In Space And Fail (VIDEO)
The University of Kansas and Bioserve Technologies decided to send some monarch butterfly larvae to the International Space Station, provide them with microgravity (the nearest thing to feeling weightless) and see whether or not the caterpillars would become butterflies.
The creatures did manage to metamorphose, but now that they're butterflies, the poor things absolutely cannot fly. The low gravity conditions fling them into a chaotic and rapid flight pattern that sends them banging around the plastic cages they're living in.
The first video is of Dr. Chip Taylor, the director of Monarch Watch, explaining the experiment. The second is a video of the results of Monarch Watch, and the third seems to be a pair of butterflies who got stuck together.
Monarch butterflies in space – Univ. of Kansas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3lcgYNyCvU
Take a look at the butterfies in space: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzkgJUmQ1K4
Huffington Post
Virgin Galactic Unveils Commercial SpaceShipTwo
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne took the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004, unveiled SpaceShipTwo last week, a sleek commercial rocket plane that represents the ultimate thrill ride for well-heeled space tourists and amateur astronauts.
Seating six passengers and two pilots, SpaceShipTwo will begin test flights next year with commercial launchings carrying paying customers starting after government regulatory requirements are met.
More than 300 people have already put down deposits or paid the full $200,000 cost of a ticket for future sub-orbital up-and-down flights aboard the new spacecraft.
Most of those ticket holders, along with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, were on hand for the SpaceShipTwo unveiling Monday at Mojave airport, braving rain, high winds and frigid temperatures to witness the long-awaited rollout. Branson told the enthusiastic crowd that safety was Virgin Galactic's No. 1 priority and that "we will not be putting anybody into space until the test pilots have done many, many, many trips on this spaceship."
"Only when we are absolutely certain we can safely to to space will we go into space," he said. "I promise you, it will be well and truly tested before we go into space." Schwarzenegger said attending the unveiling was "one of the coolest things I've ever done." Describing Branson as "an extraordinary visionary," he called Rutan "one of the greatest space engineers of our time."
"Space is our next great frontier," he said. "When it comes to space enterprise, California is and always has been at the forefront and leading the way." Virgin Galactic reportedly plans to spend some $400 million to build a fleet of five or six rocket planes. Commercial flights will be launched from taxpayer-funded spaceport under construction in New Mexico. Assuming test flights go well and government requirements are met, commercial launchings could begin by 2011.
Spaceflight Now
Discovery of Intelligent Life In The Milky Way: "It's Only a Matter of Time…"
Time! In the search for life in the universe, time and the sheer scale of the cosmos are enemies of our all too brief human-life span. A few basic facts provide a startling and eye-opening perspective on both our mortality and the obstacles confronting our search for life beyond the Solar System.
A prime target for our early efforts to find a twin Earth is our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, 4.4 million light years away, which means that light (or an extraterrestrial message) takes 4.4 years to reach us.
It’s been the destination of interstellar travelers in science fiction writing for so long now that one would almost be forgiven for thinking we’d already colonized it. But Alpha Centauri, the three-star system closest to our own Sun, is now the center of some very exciting science.
Javiera Guedes who headed up a NASA-funded project to analyze the possibility of detecting an Earthlike planet in orbit around Alpha Centauri B, has shown that terrestrial planets are likely to have formed around Alpha Centauri B, and that these planets should be orbiting in the “habitable zone.”
"It's so close to us, and the position of the other stars is such that it should be very possible to find a small planet," she explained. She also found that, based on astronomers' current understanding of how solar systems form, the existence of a planet the size of our own is very likely, and that there's also a chance that it would lie in the habitable zone.
Now, the planet-hunting team is using a telescope in Chile to keep an eye on the star for the next three years, in order to collect enough data to determine whether or not the next Earthlike planet lies next door. "If they exist, we can observe them," said Guedes also showed that such planets would be observable if a telescope was dedicated to their search.
Guedes used a series of planet formation computer simulations to determine that terrestrial planets have probably formed around the star. Each time a system of multiple planets evolved with at least one planet – approximately the size of Earth – forming. In many of these simulations, this planet was often found to be orbiting within the habitable zone of the star.
Its brightness and its position in the sky are both positive factors that make the Alpha Centauri search plausible; the latter giving the team a long period of observability each year from the Southern Hemisphere. But the profound implication of the iron-clad law of astronomical time is that we see Alpha Centauri only as it was 4.4 years ago.In other words any message from inhabitants of Alpa Cenauri saying "Our planet is dying!" and our reply would consume a total of almost nine years.
The effect becomes even more starkly dramatic at greater distances. If we look at the awesome beauty of the Orion Nebula, we see it as the inhabitants of the Roman Empire saw it 1500 light years ago. A radio message we sent to a planet in the region would take some 3000 years for us to get their reply.
An even more extreme example would a message sent to us from the extreme outer edge of the Milky Way, which is 100,000 light years in diameter. Earth is located about 28,000 light years from the galactic center. A message reaching us now would have been sent 70,000 years ago.
To put astronomical time in an even more awesome perspective, scientists have located a giant 13-billion year old galaxy at the edge of the observable universe. The galaxy, which is 12.8 billion light-years from Earth, is as large as the Milky Way galaxy and harbors a supermassive black hole that contains at least a billion times as much matter as does our Sun.
A message received from a planet that existed in this ancient would have to have been sent some eight billion years before the Earth was formed when the universe was only one-sixteenth of its present age. And, would that planet, indeed, that galaxy, still exist?
Daily Galaxy
Prof's Book is a Smash Hit
A British university professor has become an unlikely top author – after his book was snapped in the wreckage of Tiger Woods' crashed car.
Get A Grip On Physics by Dr John Gribbins was published in 2003 and despite being out of print has shot up Amazon's sales rankings from 396,224th to 2,268th. Second-hand copies fetch £45.
The book, which describes basic physics in simple terms, was seen in the back seat of Woods' Cadillac surrounded by broken glass in a picture taken by the Florida cops.
Dr Gribbins, an astronomy professor at Sussex University in Brighton said: "I'm delighted that anybody reads my books. I just wish it was one that is still in print.
"Tiger's certainly one of the target audience – an intelligent layman with time to dip into a book like this on the plane between engagements."
The Sun (UK)
A Telescope Buyers Guide For Christmas
It’s time for the annual holiday telescope buying guide. It’s important to make the right buy for whatever age or level.
Avoid buying telescopes at most brick-and-mortar stores, especially the big discount and warehouse stores. They’re notorious for junky telescopes. The buyers for these stores have so much on their plates that there’s no way they can possibly research telescopes to ferret out bad telescopes from good ones.
I'd hate to see you buy a cheap telescope as a gift to someone, especially a kid. It can make the big difference as to whether or not that young mind continues his interest in backyard astronomy or throws in the towel, Get them a good stargazing book or some software too. There are many good books out there.
There are three basic kinds of telescopes; refractors, reflectors and cassegrains. The most important quality you’re looking for in all telescopes is light-gathering ability. That has everything to do with the aperture. The wider your scope, the better.
The magnification range on any type of telescope takes a back seat. You can change the magnification or power by changing eyepieces. Any decent telescope will include several eyepieces. Most of the time though you won’t need more than about 200 times power to get a good look into the universe.
The refractor scope is the kind of scope when most people visualize when it come to telescopes. The minimum diameter of the objective lens should be at least 60mm but preferably 70mm or greater. The main advantage of refractor is portability. Reflector telescopes were invented by Sir Isaac Newton, and I think they’re the best all-around telescope as far as ability and price. You get a lot of optical bang for your buck.
Reflectors are sold by the diameter of their mirrors in inches. The minimum diameter reflector telescope for a serious backyard astronomer should be at least six inches (from less than $300 to $400). For another $100 or so you can buy an 8-inch diameter reflector that’ll bringing in nearly twice as much light as a 6-inch scope.
A cassegrain telescope is more or less a hybrid between a refractor and a reflector. These are more expensive then reflector and refractors of the same aperture. The advantage is that they are very portable, but I’ve never found one that gives as good as an image as a reflector telescope with an equal aperture.
I think Dobsonian mounts are the best and easiest to use. An equatorial mount is more complicated, and you’ll definitely spend more money. You can get mounts with a small computer to direct the telescope to whatever you program it to find. Some purists think it’s cheating, hopping from star to star to find that faint galaxy. I think it’s just fine. Use the technology available. That’s why it was invented.
Just make sure though that the telescope you buy has good optical ability. That should be your first priority. Some telescopes on the market will skimp on optics for the all the bells and whistle. Herald Net
See also my telescope Buying Guide: http://www.davidreneke.com/buying-using-telescopes
Planetary Recycling: Critical to Life on Earth & Beyond?
If Earth had been slightly smaller and less massive, it would not have plate tectonics – the forces that move continents and build mountains.
Without plate tectonics, complex life might never have had the climate stability needed gained a foothold on our world, according to research by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
"Plate tectonics are essential to life as we know it," said Diana Valencia of Harvard University. "Our calculations show that bigger is better when it comes to the habitability of rocky planets. Recycling is important even on a planetary scale."
Plate tectonics are crucial to a planet's habitability because they enable complex chemistry and recycle substances like carbon dioxide, which acts as a thermostat and keeps Earth balmy. Carbon dioxide that was locked into rocks is released when those rocks melt, returning to the atmosphere from volcanoes and oceanic ridges.
If Earth had frozen over like Mars or overheated like Venus, we would not be here today. Plate tectonics has played a major role in our climate stability and carbon dioxide cycle. The Sun, like all stars has brightened as it ages, but Earth has remained habitable thanks to plate tectonics and the carbon-dioxide cycle. About 60 times as much carbon dioxide is dissolved in our oceans as is present in our atmosphere, which pales in comparison to the 170,000 times as much of the CO2 cycle locked up in carbonate rocks -sedimentary rocks such as limestone that are rick in oxygen and carbon.
Plate tectonics involve the movement of huge chunks, or plates, of a planet's surface. Plates spread apart from each other, slide under one another, and even crash into each other, lifting gigantic mountain ranges like the Himalayas.
Valencia and her colleagues, Richard O'Connell and Dimitar Sasselov, examined the extremes to determine whether plate tectonics would be more or less likely on different-sized rocky worlds. In particular, they studied so-called "super-Earths"-planets more than twice the size of Earth and up to 10 times as massive. (Any larger, and the planet would gather gas as it forms, becoming like Neptune or even Jupiter.)
The team found that super-Earths would be more geologically active than our planet, experiencing more vigorous plate tectonics due to thinner plates under more stress. Earth itself was found to be a borderline case, not surprisingly since the slightly smaller planet Venus is tectonically inactive. "It might not be a coincidence that Earth is the largest rocky planet in our solar system, and also the only one with life," said Valencia.
"There are not only more potentially habitable planets, but MANY more," stated Sasselov, who is director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, challengin the proponents of the rare hypothesis who claim that Earth-like planets can form only in a relatively small habitable zone of the Milky Way (green zone in image above). In fact, a super-Earth could prove to be a popular vacation destination to our far-future descendants.
Although a super-Earth would be twice the size of our home planet, it would have similar geography. Rapid plate tectonics would provide less time for mountains and ocean trenches to form before the surface was recycled, yielding mountains no taller and trenches no deeper than those on Earth. Even the weather might be comparable for a world in an Earth-like orbit.
"The landscape would be familiar. A super-Earth would feel very much like home," said Sasselov. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory to study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.
Universe Today
Wow! Astronauts In Space Photographed By Amateur Astronomer From The Ground!
Pic: Ralf Vandebergh's detail of an image he took on March 21, 2009 showing astronauts working outside the ISS. Credit: Ralf Vandebergh
Remember when it was a big deal when amateur astronomers starting imaging the International Space Station as seen from Earth, showing individual modules and other parts of the space station? One of the most proficient astrophotographers in that department has now just upped the game: Ralf Vandebergh has captured images of astronauts working outside the ISS during an EVA. That's working in space outside the Space Station!
Vandebergh, who lives in The Netherlands, used his 10-inch Newtonian backyard telescope to capture an image of STS-119 astronauts Joe Acaba and Steve Swanson working outside the ISS to install equipment on one of the trusses during the second EVA of the mission on March 21, 2009. Vandebergh told me he has been trying to image astronauts working outside the ISS since 2007, but hasn't been successful until now. "In all opportunities I had until now, the astronauts were not on a visible part of the station," he said "or they were in shadow or the pass or the seeing was simply not favourable."
Now, enjoy the video Vandebergh created about his extreme zoom-in handiwork, and his explanation of how he was able to take the images. Video: spacewalker seen from Earth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0pRy1ZsYeQ Check out his website of other telescopic spacecraft image here. Check out his website of other telescopic spacecraft image here.
"It was great luck they were working on the Earth-facing side of the port 3 truss on this spacewalk," Vandebergh said. "Why? This truss is a reasonable open structure, which means it appears a little bit transparent as seen from the Earth with the black space as a background. This makes this particular truss (and the Starboard 3 truss on the other side) look considerably darker then the other trusses in the vicinity.
"When a high reflective white suited spacewalker works in front of this truss, there is a very good chance you receive light from it on your CCD. By following very precisely the live station camera's– and helmet cam recordings on NASA TV, I knew exactly were to expect them on the image," he said.
Universe Today
After 50 years, UK Ministry Shuts Down UFO Unit
Britain's Ministry of Defense has had a close encounter of the credit crunch kind. After more than 50 years of service, the ministry has shut down its UFO investigation unit, saying it could no longer justify the cost of running the service.
The ministry said it had found no evidence of a threat to Britain or proof of the existence of extra-terrestrials, despite the public sending thousands of reportings of UFOs to a ministry hotline and email address.
It said it held no opinion on the existence or otherwise of alien life, but added it had "no specific capability for identifying the nature of such sightings."
"There is no defense benefit in such investigation and it would be an inappropriate use of defense resources," it said. Any threat to the country's air space would be spotted by radar checks and dealt with by Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft, a ministry spokesman said.
Resources would be focused on more important priorities, including the war in Afghanistan, where Britain has 9,000 troops fighting Taliban insurgents, as part of NATO forces, he added. The dedicated UFO officer who dealt with the reports has been re-assigned to another post, saving 44,000 pounds ($73,000) a year.
China Daily
Hear Astro-Dave on air
Dave Reneke might have stars in his eyes, but he's as down to Earth as they come! He's a self-confessed space-aholic and has more than 40 years' experience as an amateur astronomer and lecturer
Pic: Dave talking with Anne Delaney in the Wagga studios a few years back.
From Anne's ABC Blog: Dark energy or plasma as fuel for rockets? How would it work? Our astronomy expert Dave Reneke explains these interesting fuels, plus we fins out why UFOs seemed to have changed shape over the past few decades.
Listen live to Dave each Tuesday morning at 6.20am on ABC Riverina Breakfast, then catch up on bits you've missed on Anne's Breakfast Blog!
Anne Delaney & David Reneke interview 9.12.09 (Click to listen)
Richard Saunders Corners Astrologer on National TV
Astrology is all BUNKUM… And here's why….
Aussie skeptic Richard Saunders appeared on national TV and handed an astrologer his head. Milton Black claims to be a "professional astrologer." That's like saying "I'm a professional fraud." For 40 years now he's been telling people the bloody stars can influence their life! HOGWASH!!!!! He's made a motza out of all this – all from frightened, screwed up gullible people.
Well, sceptic Richard Saunders got a chance to show this guy up for what he is, a fake!! Watch the video from an Aussie brekkie TV show and make up y0ur own mind. How the hell a bunch of planets and stars wanderinga round the Sun billions of kms away can have any bearing on what I do, say, or think is beypond me. Do not fall for this crap! It doesn't work! Period!!
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MOVIE REVIEW
'2012' is a perfect disaster
If a film critic awards four stars to a movie directed by Roland Emmerich — Hollywood's reigning king of catastrophe, the critically scorned director of "Independence Day" and "Godzilla" — will the world come to an end? That's a question the ancient Mayans never asked, but it's the one facing me after the enormously satisfying, astonishingly accomplished, reprehensible-yet-irresistible "2012," the crowning achievement in Emmerich's long, profitable career as a destroyer of worlds.
Starting with the long-held misapprehension that the Mayan calendar picks 2012 as the date of humanity's doom, Emmerich fleshes out that bit of pseudo-history with some pseudo-science — some nonsense about solar flares, and neutrinos heating the Earth's core — and throws hundreds of millions of dollars and an expertly chosen cast at it. The result is a movie that takes the manifold guilty pleasures of such past Emmerich extravaganzas as "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow" — not to mention the Emmerich-inspired "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" — and amplifies and expands them until they fill up 2 1/2 overstuffed hours.
"2012" takes the disaster movie — once content simply to threaten the Earth with a comet, or blow up the White House — to its natural conclusion, the literal end of the world.
And boy, for aficionados of cinematic catastrophe, "2012" does it right. As a spectacle-delivery device, it has no peer. Other movies have explosions; "2012" has an atom-bomb-size detonation that wipes Yellowstone off the map. Other movies have earthquakes; "2012" sends California sinking, in flames, into the sea. Other movies kill thousands; "2012" kills zillions without breaking a sweat.
If you can't imagine why anyone would want to watch entire continents destroyed — "2012" is not the movie for you. For "2012," needless to say, lacks all reasonable perspective. It's the kind of movie that expects that audiences, shortly after watching the entire population of India subsumed by a tidal wave, will urge on a fluffy white dog as she crosses a chasm and leaps into her owner's arms. It's the kind of movie that has a father conduct a heart-to-heart with his son shortly before belly-landing a jumbo jet on a glacier. It preys on an audience's willingness to cheer for heroes even as we consign faceless masses to the narrative dustbin. It recognizes the thrill of the vicarious experience and the appeal of the clean slate. Behind on your mortgage? Overdue libray books? Don't sweat it.
So what makes "2012" a four-star movie? In an era in which Hollywood seems unable to execute even the most uncomplicated formulas, the ones that used to come easily, "2012" is, pardon the expression, a revelation. It gets everything right. The actors are right: John Cusack as a sardonic failed novelist, Amanda Peet as his wife, Tom McCarthy as her nice-guy new husband, Chiwetel Ejiofor as a conscience-stricken scientist, Oliver Platt as a snappish White House official, WoodyHarrelson as a radio-host crackpot. The storytelling is right: You will never be bored, for there will always be questions to answer. Who will survive? How will Cusack get his family to China, where salvation awaits the rich, the connected and the just plain lucky? What will Emmerich blow up next? And the dialogue is right: a rich blend of wisecrack and cheese, with a few moist-eyed goodbyes sprinkled here and there for good measure.
Most important, the special effects are so right. In fact, they are incredible. Emmerich is a virtuoso of panoramic cataclysm, and each of his dozens of wide shots is as densely packed with hellish detail as a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Power lines snapping in an earthquake, sparks flashing like distant fireworks; Honolulu on fire; mournful giraffes in slings, airlifted by helicopters through the snowy Himalayas.
Is "2012" art? Absolutely not. It reminds us that cinema exists not only to make art but also to expertly create sensation like no other medium.
When done well, that can be just as valuable and just as astonishing. But is "2012" a sublime example of the kind of huge-budget entertainment that Hollywood does best — indeed, the only kind of moviemaking at which Hollywood continues to excel? Yes. It is certainly the best movie of its kind ever made. It should (but surely will not) be the last movie of its kind ever made. After "2012," would-be Emmerichs will have a hard time impressing audiences with their asteroids and their space invaders. This is the way the world ends: with a bang.
PG- Contains intense disaster sequences and adult language. 158 minutes – Washington Post
EVENTS
"Summer School Holiday Tours at Siding Spring"
Donna Burton invites you to "Summer School Holiday Tours at Siding Spring" on Sunday, December 27 at 10:30am.
Donna says, "Please feel free to pass onto anyone you think may be interested thanks a lot!".
Event: Summer School Holiday Tours at Siding Spring What: Festival Start Time: Sunday, December 27 at 10:30am End Time: Sunday, December 27 at 1:30pm Where: Siding Spring Observatory Coonabarabran
Astronomy Weekend at Wiruna
Host: The Astronomical Society of New South Wales (ASNSW)
Type: Meetings – Club/Group Meeting Network: Global Start Time: Friday, December 18, 2009 at 7:00pm End Time: Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 3:00pm Location: "Wiruna" – Ilford, NSW
Description: Astronomy Weekend at Wiruna – Friday 18 November and Saturday 19 November, 2009. All Welcome!
Each month, over the weekend closest to New moon, the ASNSW holds an Astro-Camp or mini star party for ASNSW members, prospective members and guests.
These weekends are the perfect opportunity for members and guests to get together with other amateur astronomers, to look through a wide range of different types and sizes of telescopes, and are perfect for those new to astronomy to determine what type of telescope is best suited to their own personal needs.
Anyone hoping to join us at any one of these weekend, can Email us to make any arrangements. Info@asnsw.com
This weekend, I will be bringing along a massive 30" f/4.5 telescope which I will use to share the splendours of the southern skies with all those present. Why not come along for the weekend and see what astronomy is all about. I guarantee you won't regret it
NASA Has Released a Freebie Calendar
Ourf riends over at SCP Forum have alerted me to this.But WARNING! Large file size (10.2MB)
Download at: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/402659main_2010%20ISScalendar.pdf
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NEWS SNIPPETS
Astronauts to taste 'space sushi'
Sandtrapped Rover Makes a Big Discovery
World's 1st Space-Based Solar Power
Spirit Rover: Rear Wheel Trouble Continues
Earth's atmosphere came from outer space, find scientists
Rare Scottish mineral may indicate life on Mars
Best (Meteor) Shower of 2009 – No Towel Required
Galaxy Collision Switches on Black Hole
The Meandering Channels of Mars
Life on Mars – Still a Possibility
NASA's WISE Set to Blast Off and Map the Skies
First Monarch butterflies in space take flight
Aussie galaxy survey to lead to 'new physics'
Build the Space Elevator Above Volcano Thermals
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FEATURE STORY
The strangest moments in space launch history
Pic: Taking a midday stroll, an alligator crosses the Saturn Causeway June 2 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in front of the Astrovan with STS-127 crew members aboard. At times, NASA's attempts to launch a new Ares I-X rocket Tuesday seemed surreal — with bad weather, a stuck sensor sock and a wayward cargo ship offshore appearing to conspire to prevent the booster's liftoff. But believe it or not, there have been stranger things to pop up in NASA's launch history.
There was an astronaut who peed in his spacesuit before liftoff — a seemingly inauspicious start to what became the first American manned spaceflight. Bats and vultures have besieged space shuttles at the launch pad, not to mention lightning, which tried and failed to tackle NASA's mightiest rocket. NASA is hoping for better weather — and luck — on Wednesday morning, when it has another four-hour window to try and launch the $445 million Ares I-X rocket. The rocket launch is NASA's first suborbital test of the new Ares I booster to launch astronauts to space aboard its shuttle successor, the Orion craft.
The launch was delayed several times due to weather and some unexpected oddities like a stubborn sock-like cover that forced engineers into a tug-of-war battle with the Ares I-X until it finally came free. At one point, when weather finally cleared, an errant cargo ship strayed into the danger zone on the Eastern Range, a patch of restricted waters on the Atlantic Ocean over which rocket launches fly.
The Ares I-X delays were frustrating to say the least. But here's a look at some of the weirder moments, many from recent missions, in NASA's manned launch history:
No potty breaks The pinnacle of manned space oddities may be one of the first. On May 5, 1962, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard — one of the original seven Mercury spaceflyers — was ready to become the first American in space. Clad in a bright silver spacesuit, he climbed into his capsule Freedom 7 and engineers bolted the hatch shut behind him. The launch was delayed over and over, and then he had to pee. Shepard, who died in 1998 at age 74, related the experience in the book "Moonshot," which he wrote with fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton. 'I've got to pee. I've been in here forever," Shepard radioed launch control. "The gantry is still right here, so why don't you guys let me out of here for a quick stretch?''
But the answer was no. Shepard ultimately opted to urinate in his shiny spacesuit, but asked launch control to switch the power off to his medical sensors first. Astronauts can now add adult diapers to their spacesuits to avoid similar embarrassing situations. There is a Russian tradition among cosmonauts, however, to intentionally pee on the bus taking them to the Soyuz launch pad that dates back to the first-ever human space launch by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who launched a month earlier than Shepard.
A doomed, stowaway bat More recently, a small bat seemingly tried to stow away on the space shuttle Discovery when it launched into space last March. Cameras and an inspection team spotted the bat clinging to the side of Discovery's 15-story external tank as it was being fueled with propellant — super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Some experts thought the bat may have been frozen in place because of the cryogenic temperatures, but it changed position every now and then. The bat was still hanging on for dear life when Discovery blasted off on March 15 of this year, and likely met its doom.
"Based on images and video, a wildlife expert who provides support to the center said the small creature was a free tail bat that likely had a broken left wing and some problem with its right shoulder or wrist," NASA officials said after the launch. "The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery's climb into orbit." More bat weirdness: Riding aboard Discovery during the March launch was Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata on his second spaceflight. Another bat tried to stow away on his first shuttle launch in 1996, but flew away just before liftoff.
Lightning vs. Saturn V There's good reasoning behind NASA's weather rules for launching spacecraft. No one wants to get hit by lightning, but that's what happened to the massive Saturn V rocket launching the Apollo 12 mission — the second manned moon landing — on Nov. 14, 1969. A bolt hit the rocket 36 seconds after liftoff, causing some tense moments.
"I don't know what happened here, we had everything in the world drop out," Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad radioed Mission Control. "I'm not sure we didn't get hit by lightning." The bolt did not cause serious damage and Apollo 12 went on to make a successful, pinpoint landing on the moon near an old unmanned Surveyor probe.
An astronaut alligator? Sometimes, NASA astronauts have to find a good luck charm and the crew of the shuttle Endeavour apparently picked a lazy alligator that crossed their path while they were headed to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The reptile rendezvous occurred in June of this year, when astronauts were trying to launch on NASA's STS-127 mission to the International Space Station. After two false starts due to a gas leak, they were riding in NASA's silver Astrovan and spotted the alligator on the road in front of them. The toothy beast quickly became the crew's mascot, so taken were the spaceflyers by its abrupt appearance.
The alligator offered no extra luck, however. The seven Endeavour astronauts were ultimately delayed until July, when they flew a marathon delivery flight to the space station. NASA's Kennedy Space Center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island Wildlife Nature Refuge, which is a habitat for more than 310 species of birds, 25 species of mammals, 117 species of fish and 65 species of amphibians and reptiles.
Door defeats shuttle? Actually no, but it was almost the case in November 2006, when a launch pad technician forgot to secure a door in the White Room leading to the space shuttle Endeavour just before launch. NASA was worried the door, which is attached to the gantry structure of the launch pad, might swing wildly during liftoff and damage Endeavour as it blasted off. For a brief moment, launch controllers considered delaying the launch because of that risk. But engineers decided that the damage risk was not to Endeavour, but to the gantry structure near the door. It was deemed acceptable and Endeavour blasted off successfully. After launch, a quality inspector told launch director Michael Leinbach that he was the one who forgot to lock the door down.
Vexing vultures It seems that many of the weird space launch tales involve some sort of hapless animal. This one is no different. One problem NASA has tackled in recent years has been the proliferation of large turkey vultures around its Kennedy Space Center launch site. In July 2005, a large vulture hit the space shuttle Discovery's external tank during liftoff and sadly met its demise. But the odd incident, which occurred on NASA's first shuttle flight since the tragic 2003 Columbia accident, was a wake up call since similar bird strikes could create tank foam debris that could damage a launching shuttle.
NASA hit the challenge hard. The space agency built a bird radar to scan for flocks that could fly through a shuttle's launch path and pose an impact risk. There are sound cannons in place to scare avian interlopers at the Shuttle Landing Facility near the launch site so returning astronauts won't hit any birds during landing (sparing the birds and preventing damage to the shuttle). The agency also asks employees at the Kennedy Space Center to report any road kill at the space center that can attract large groups of the big turkey vultures.
Space.com./MSNBC
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== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ==
The new Moon is Wednesday December 16. In the morning, Mars is readily visible in the eastern sky. Red Mars is now in the constellation of Leo. Mars is a distinct gibbous disk in a small telescope, and becomes bigger and brighter during the week in the lead up to opposition in January. Saturn is visible low in the morning sky between the bright stars Regulus and Spica.
On Saturday December 12 the crescent Moon is close to Spica, forming a nice line with Saturn, Regulus and Mars. Mercury can be seen above the southwestern horizon between half an hour to an hour after sunset. Mercury is close to the bright star Nunki in the handle of the 'teapot' of Sagittarius on December 14 and 15.
Jupiter is easily seen as the brightest object in the western evening sky. Jupiter's moons are readily visible in binoculars or a small telescope. The Geminid meteor shower can be seen on the mornings of December 13 to 15, with the best activity on the morning of December 14. You should see a meteor every two to three minutes under dark skies in the early morning of December 14, between 1:00am and 4:00am local time. Look north, with the bright stars of Gemini in the centre of your field of vision.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/729199/682450/11560/0/
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ASTRO PIC OF THE WEEK
Hubble Sees Dazzling Dust in the Iris Nebula
Credit: NASA and ESA
Another gorgeous image from Hubble! This close-up of NGC 7023, or the Iris Nebula, shows an area filled with cosmic dust. Illuminated from above by the nearby star HD 200775, the dust resembles pink cotton candy, accentuated with diamond-like stars. The "cotton candy" is actually made up of tiny particles of solid matter, with sizes from ten to a hundred times smaller than those of the dust grains we find on Earth, and the "diamonds" are both background and foreground stars.
The image was taken previous to Hubble's recent servicing mission, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Astronomers also used Hubble’s Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) instrument to try to determine which chemical elements are present in the nebula.
NGC 7023 is a reflection nebula, which means it scatters light from the massive nearby star. Reflection nebulae are different from emission nebulae, which are clouds of gas that are hot enough to emit light themselves. Reflection nebulae tend to appear blue because of the way light scatters, but parts of the Iris Nebula appear unusually red-ish or pink.
Universe Today
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ASTRONOMY – SPACE PODCASTS
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Universe Today – Unlikely Wormholes
Wormholes are a mainstay in science fiction, providing our heroes with a quick and easy way to instantly travel around the Universe. Enter a wormhole near the Earth and you come out on the other side of the galaxy. Even though science fiction made them popular, wormholes had their origins in science – distorting spacetime like this was theoretically possible. But according to Dr.
Universe Today – NASA Tests a Solar Sail
Imagine a solar powered sail that could propel a space craft through the vacuum of space like a wind that drives a sail here on Earth. The energy of photons steaming from the Sun alone would provide the thrust. NASA and other space agencies are taking the idea seriously and are working on various prototype technologies. Edward Montgomery is the Technology Area Manager of Solar Sail Propulsion at NASA. They just tested a 20-meter (66 foot) sail at the Glenn research center
Universe Today – Best Spot for a Lunar Base
In case you missed the news, NASA is headed back to the Moon in the next decade. A permanent lunar base could be down the road, so scientists are starting to consider where we should build. Ben Bussey, with
Universe Today – Wolf-Rayet Binary System
Wolf-Rayet stars are big, violent and living on borrowed time. Put two of these stars destined to explode as supernovae in a binary system, and you
Did You Know?
Astronomy Fast Fact
If you could put Saturn in an enormous bathtub, it would float. The planet is less dense than water.
I know this has nothing to do with space or astronomy but …….
It sure gives you an incredible overview of the power of the internet and it's amazing reach. Like me, you'll probably be amazed after reading this!
Download The Evening Sky Map
The Evening Sky Map (PDF) is a 2-page monthly guide to the night sky suitable for all sky watchers including newcomers to Astronomy. AND its entirely FREE. Designed to print clearly on all printers.
The Evening Sky Map is ready-to-use and will help you to: Identify planets, stars and major constellations – Find sparkling star clusters, wispy nebulae & distant galaxies – Locate and follow bright comets across the sky – Learn about the night sky and Astronomy.
The Evening Sky Map is free for personal non-commercial educational use. Receive news of updated sky maps, reminders of Sky Calendar events, and other noteworthy news for sky watchers. And it's FREE! Sky Map Download
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Southern Galactic and Northern Galactic International
Northern Galactic and Southern Galactic are an International Astronomy Community. A global membership of professional and advanced astronomers, scientists, astrophotographers and science writers. I am proud to be one of their members.
This organisation was established to commemorate the United Nations International Year of Astronomy in 2009 and was officially launched in November 2008.
In partnership with scientists, professional and advanced astronomers and science writers from many countries, Southern Galactic and Northern Galactic International aims to gather together research and discoveries in the areas of optical and radio astronomy, astrophotography, planetary studies, and space atmospheric sciences as a service to the interested public. We achieve this by providing a globally themed internet presence with data storage and logistical support to astronomers both professional and amateur working in either hemispheres.
Founder and administrator Bert Candusio (right) said their service is available to all astronomers and scientists throughout the world so they may freely share their findings, news, images and discoveries in all areas of astronomy and their related sciences. Southern Galactic and Northern Galactic International also supports and contributes to the general understanding and appreciation of astronomy by initiating and participating in public education and outreach programs. This may include live broadcasts or video feeds of special or unusual astronomical events, or interactive live conferences between high profile members and the general public.
Both sites contain up-to-date weather data pertaining to either hemisphere as a service to Members and Users as well as other helpful astronomy based content.
News RSS Feeds from numerous Official Government sources on all aspects of astronomy are also made available to both NG and SG sites and are updated 4 times per day. This assists the reader in keeping up to date with the latest Astronomy News and Developments all from the one internet location.
Winners for For each Month Have Been Announced
Northern Galactic is now the home to many of the worlds most capable astrophotographers and this can be clearly seen in the quality of the imaging projects submitted each day.
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THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY 2009
INVITING THE WORLD TO DISCOVER OUR UNIVERSE
Opening: From Earth to the Universe
The international IYA exhibition, From Earth to the Universe, has opened at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. For an eye-witness account of the launch, see the blog entry by Nick Lomb on the Sydney Observatory website. Nick modestly fails to mention that he was the co-curator for this exhibition, the other co-curator being astrophotographer David Malinhttp://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/blog/?p=2500. .
In her opening remarks, CSIRO astronomer Ilana Feain, in talking about the beauty and meaning of these images, quoted the poet John Keats: "Beauty is truth, and truth beauty". As Keats also said, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever" – or, in the case of this exhibition, until it closes in July next year. See it if you can.
"Stargazing the Southern Skies" stamp and coin cover
Perth Mint and Australia Post have joined forces to offer sets of stamp and coin covers for IYA. They feature a $1 coin struck by the mint and three stamps featuring astronomical images chosen by astrophotographer David Malin.
The stamp and coin cover is available for $14.95 from the Perth Mint: http://www.perthmint.com.au/catalogue/stargazing-the-southern-skies-stamp-and-coin-cover-pnc.aspx. Australia Post is offering the same set; a set of stamps alone under another cover; and other related products: http://www.stamps.com.au/shop/stamps/stargazing
What is Amateur Astronomy Magazine About?
Amateur Astronomy Magazine is a printed forum of the activities relating to Amateur Astronomers around the world. Our magazine is written by amateur astronomers, for amateur astronomers.
Over the course of the past 15 years, we have covered telescopes, large and small, amateur telescope making, mirror grinding, collimating tips, observing techniques, astronomical equipment reviews, home observatories, professional observatories, observing lists, profiles of amateur astronomers, star parties, dark sites, imaging tips and techniques, observing logs, astronomical travel logs, astronomy businesses and their owners, DIY astronomical projects, cosmology, science and astronomy outreach. In short,we are about all the things and people that make this hobby special. www.amateurastronomy.com/
Southern Cross Observatory – Tasmania, Australia.
If you are interested in Astro-Photography, at any level, then this is the site for you. Take note and learn from the experts!
Shevill Mathers is recognized as one of the world’se leading amateur astronomers and is a specialist in his field. His regular columns and newspaper articles are now augmented by a wide range of articles including ATM articles, Astro News items and Activities from Tasmania as well as reviewing a wide range of astronomical equipment.
Shevill is a regular contributor to many various magazines including the Tasmania 40 Degrees South magazine, Leatherwood On-Line, Discover Tasmania, Quasar Publishing ‘Astronomy Yearbook’, Universe Today and various overseas scientific forums. He is a local media source for TV, radio and the print media.
Shevill Mathers has been a keen amateur astronomer / telescope and camera builder in the UK since the early 60’s, with a special interest in astrophotography. A member of the BAA, London (Lunar Section), his photographic expertise was greatly encouraged by Patrick Moore, with whom he has maintained a lasting friendship. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1968. During the IYA 2009, in recognition of his contributions to Astronomy; public outreach, teaching & research, Shevill was appointed an Honorary Associate, Dept. Maths & Physics UTAS – (University of Tasmania), with all rights & privileges of full time academic staff. Congratulations Shevill!!
Southern Cross Observatory – IYA – Two special sites have been established at the International ’Macedon Ranges Observatory’, in Victoria, to coordinate and share images, experiences and events around the world, the links are:http://www.southerngalactic.com/andhttp://www.northerngalactic.com/
Contact details:shevill.mathers@southernphone.com.au Shevillm@gmail.com Web:www.shevillmathers.id.au
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How much is overnight shipping?
If you indicate for what – I may be able to help you
Dave Reneke
Shipping for what and to where????????? PLEASE send messages that can be understood.