Dave Reneke’s

 ‘WORLD of SPACE and ASTRONOMY’

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 – Subscribe Now!

Here’s a selection of Astronomy/Space related stories you may find interesting. Be sure to sign up for your own copy of Astro Space News. I absolutely do not disclose your address to anyone! There is no cost and no obligation for this service. Anyone can subscribe by completing the opt in form just over there on the right … see it, do it now! We work 24/7/365 to report the most relevant ‘Astro-Space’ news back to you … virtually as it breaks. Bookmark this page and check back regularly.

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.

AUSTRALASIAN SCIENCE MAGAZINE

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Australasian Science is dedicated to Australian and New Zealand science, providing a unique local perspective on scientific developments and issues that other science magazines can’t match. Australasian Science boasts Australia’s most experienced team of science journalists, including Australia’s only two international Science Journalism Laureates.

Its Patrons are Nobel Laureate Prof Peter Doherty and renowned science broadcaster Robyn Williams, representing excellence in science and its communication. Written in simple language, Australasian Science is a unique and independent source of news and commentary on local scientific developments.

Check out the latest issue NOW: http://www.australasianscience.com.au/

For school & institution rates please contact Control Publications on 03 9500 0015. Fax: (03) 9500 0255 Email science@control.com.au

Letters To Dave

My sincere thanks for your wonderful and informative newsletter, to which I have only recently become a subscriber, after having heard you on our local ABC radio station – 891 Adelaide.

Kindest regards,Mick 

Hi Dave,

Thank you very much for the E-Book, we will read it with avid interest. How can I find out when you are "on air"?, because we really enjoy your discussions and your info. Kind regards

Mick and Vera – live long and prosper

Hi Dave,

I have a question which has been puzzling me for years and was wondering whether you might be kind enough to settle it for me once and for all. I’m curious to know; why is it that everything in space, from galaxies to stars, planets and moons, is spinning and what comic forces are at work to cause this to be the case? In addition to this; why is it that some stellar objects are known to rotate much faster than others and does this have a bearing as to why some planets orbit their parent stars extremely rapidly, whilst others travel at a much more ’sedate’ pace? Your explanation to these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Mick

Damn good question mate… The reason things spin is a basic law of physics… ‘Conservation of Momentum’. Any cloud of gas/dust will have some motion and everyting was once a cloud of hot gaseous dust. When it condenses and contracts, that motion is conserved and in the smaller volume, amplified. Classic example, the spinning skater, who draws their arms in and spins faster; stretches them out to slow down.

When a cloud of gas begins to compress toward its centre of gravity the molecules always travel in a curved path, they spiral inward in the same direction, this starts a turning motion which the star maintains when it forms, the same conditions apply when planets form from an accretion disc.The rotation speed of stellar (stars) objects is dependent on a lot of things. It’s initial mass, it’s initial rotation speed as a gas cloud, the closeness of any planets/moons to slow it down etc etc.

Now planets orbit at differing speeds depending also on their mass and distance from the parent star and of course the angle of their orbit to the sun. Where did you think this one up

All the best. Dave

Many, many thanks Dave, I really appreciate your extremely prompt reply to my ‘burning question’. Your explanation was excellent,concise and told me everything I needed to know – much better than a long, complicated and drawn-out   answer in which a lay-person, such as myself, can often get confused by intricate details . Next time I have an astronomical-type query, I shall now know who to turn to for help!

Thanks again, mate. Very best wishes,Mick 

OUR TOP STORY

Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is back in business, ready to uncover new worlds, peer ever deeper into space, and even map the invisible backbone of the universe.

The first snapshots from the refurbished Hubble showcase the 19-year-old telescope’s new vision. Topping the list of exciting new views are colorful multi-wavelength pictures of far-flung galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, an eerie "pillar of creation," and a "butterfly" nebula.

With its new imaging camera, Hubble can view galaxies, star clusters, and other objects across a wide swath of the electromagnetic spectrum, from ultraviolet to near-infrared light.

A new spectrograph slices across billions of light-years to map the filamentary structure of the universe and trace the distribution of elements that are fundamental to life.

The telescope’s new instruments also are more sensitive to light and can observe in ways that are significantly more efficient and require less observing time than previous generations of Hubble instruments. NASA astronauts installed the new instruments during the space shuttle servicing mission in May 2009. Besides adding the instruments, the astronauts also completed a dizzying list of other chores that included performing unprecedented repairs on two other science instruments.

These four images  are among the first observations made by the new Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the upgraded NASA Hubble Space Telescope.

The image at top left, shows NGC 6302, a butterfly-shaped nebula surrounding a dying star. At top right, is a picture of a clash among members of a galactic grouping called Stephan’s Quintet. The image at bottom left, gives viewers a panoramic portrait of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of Omega Centauri, a giant globular cluster. At bottom right, an eerie pillar of star birth in the Carina Nebula rises from a sea of greenish-colored clouds. 

Just How Good is the "New" Hubble? Look At This Comparison – Before and After

Are there any discernible differences between the old images from Hubble and the new ones released today? You better believe it. Above is the star field of Omega Centauri before (2002) and after (2009).

Scientists at today’s briefing said the new instruments are more sensitive to light and therefore will significantly improve Hubble’s observing efficiency. The space telescope is now able to complete observations in a fraction of the time that was needed with earlier generations of Hubble instruments.

NASA/Hubble

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MORE ASTRO-SPACE NEWS

Strange Star Racing Through Milky Way at 5 Million KPH!

One of the the fastest-moving stars ever discovered in the Milky Way has challenged theories about why it’s moving so fast. The object is a piece of the Puppis A supernova remnant created when a massive star ended its life in a supernova explosion about 3,700 years ago, forming an incredibly dense object called a neutron star.

Astronomers used five years of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory images to show that the rogue star (poetically dubbed RX J0822-4300) is careening away from what’s left of a star that exploded about 3,700 years ago. The neutron star is exiting the Milky Way at about 5 million kph!  Other hypervelocity stars known to be exiting the Milky Way move at speeds about one-third as great – believed to be hurled toward interstellar space by an aggressive, supermassive black hole at our galaxy’s center.

Just after it was born, this neutron star got a one-way ticket out of the galaxy. Astronomers have seen other stars being flung out of the Milky Way, but few as fast as this. In the case of RX J0822-4300, a tremendous lopsided supernova explosion launched the neutron star to its blinding speed. It has traveled 20 light-years thus far, and will take millions of years to escape the clutches of the Milky Way. Despite using advanced computer models to simulate how such a stellar rocket could form, astronomers have no concrete explanation.

Daily Galaxy

Saturn Moon Could Power 150 Billion Barbecues

Since its discovery by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens in 1655, Saturn’s most massive moon, Titan, has been known as a place of mystery and intrigue. The large, cloud-enshrouded moon is such a scientific enigma that for the past five years, it has been targeted by NASAs Cassini spacecraft with more than 60 probing flybys. One of its latest findings could be a valuable asset to future generations of space explorers hunting for materials to whip up a whopper Australia Day barbecue.

“Titan’s atmosphere is extremely rich in an assortment of hydrocarbon chemicals, including propane, which we use to fill our barbecue tanks,” said Cassini scientist Conor Nixon of the University of Maryland, College Park. "Titan’s atmospheric inventory would fuel about 150 billion barbecues, enough for several thousand years.

For those who are burger, barbecue or Titan challenged, propane is a chemical compound consisting of carbon and hydrogen that is non-toxic and heavier than air. With its low boiling point of minus 43.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42 degrees Centigrade), propane vaporizes as soon as it is released from its pressurized container. Here on Earth, propane is commonly used as a fuel for forklifts, flamethrowers, residential central heating, portable stoves, hot air balloons, and – of course – barbecues. On other worlds propane is an untapped resource.

This gas of many terrestrial uses was first discovered in Titan’s atmosphere back in 1980 when NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft flew past the Saturnian system. Over the years, both ground and space-based instruments have added to the research, but accurately quantifying the amount of propane on Titan has proved elusive. Then, in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn. Measuring the amount of propane on Titan is important to scientists because the gas is a very complex molecule. Measuring propane  helps enormously in our hunt for other complex molecules that are potential building blocks for biological molecules, such as our DNA. If we can detect this on Titan, that would be very significant.

So exactly how much propane does it take to fire 150 billion barbies? "We estimate there are nearly 700 million barrels of propane on Titan, said Nixon. "That is enough to fill six-billion 20-pound tanks of liquefied propane gas.  How many hamburgers could future generations of outer-planet explorers grill using Titan’s atmospheric propane? "A dozen at a time, that’s two trillion hamburgers," said Cassini’s Nixon, "assuming you stop at medium-well."

OK you do the math: How do we get from “150 billion barbeque” to “two trillion” burgers? You can fit 700 million barrels of propane into about six billion 20-pound tanks of liquefied propane gas (LPG). A full tank of LPG burns for about nine hours – enough time to turn out 25 to 30 meals. That brings us to about 150 to 180 billion meals. If you average 12 medium-well patties per meal, then we’re talking about 2 trillion burgers… When it comes to figuring out how many hot dogs could be cooked, you’re on your own. Whew, don’t know about you but I’m famished…

AMT Website

What Global Hotspots are Most at Risk Of Getting Hit by an Asteroid?

“The threat of the Earth being hit by an asteroid is increasingly being accepted as the single greatest natural disaster hazard faced by humanity,” according to Nick Bailey of the University of Southampton’s School of Engineering Sciences team.

The team used raw data from multiple impact simulations to rank each country based on the number of times and how severely they would be affected by each impact. The software, called NEOimpactor (from NASA’s "NEO" or Near Earth Object program), has been specifically developed for measuring the impact of ’small’ asteroids under one kilometer in diameter.

Early results indicate that in terms of population lost, China, Indonesia, India, Japan and the United States face the greatest overall threat; while the United States, China, Sweden, Canada and Japan face the most severe economic effects due to the infrastructure destroyed. The top ten countries most at risk are China, Indonesia, India, Japan, the United States, the Philippines, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Nigeria.

“The consequences for human populations and infrastructure as a result of an impact are enormous,” says Bailey. “Nearly one hundred years ago a remote region near the Tunguska River witnessed the largest asteroid impact event in living memory when a relatively small object (approximately 50 metres in diameter) exploded in mid-air. While it only flattened unpopulated forest, had it exploded over London it could have devastated everything within the M25. Our results highlight those countries that face the greatest risk from this most global of natural hazards and thus indicate which nations need to be involved in mitigating the threat.”

The team is also examining how the consequences of an impact change with increasing impact energy. Initial results indicate that a 100 meter diameter asteroid will predominantly cause localized casualties and damage across a few countries when impacting on either land or ocean. However, the consequences of a 200 meter diameter asteroid hitting the ocean increase significantly, with the generated tsunamis reaching a global scale. At 500 meters in diameter, almost any ocean impact will generate significant casualties and economic cost across the world.

As Stephen Hawking says, the general consensus is that any comet or asteroid greater than 20 kilometers in diameter that strikes the Earth will result in the complete annihilation of complex life – animals and higher plants. (The asteroid Vesta, for example, one of the destinations of the Dawn Mission, is the size of Arizona).

How many times in our galaxy alone has life finally evolved to the equivalent of our planets and animals on some far distant planet, only to be utterly destroyed by an impact? Galactic history suggests it might be a common occurrence. An asteroid or comet wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago that was absolutely enormous: an object ten to 20 kilometress in diameter streaked through the Earth’s atmosphere at 40,000 kilometress an hour and struck the Yucatan region of Mexico with the force of 100 megatons -the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb for every person alive on Earth today. Not a pretty scenario!

Recent calculations show that our planet would go into another "Snowball Earth" when it is believed the oceans froze over. While microbial bacteria might readily survive such calamitous impacts, our new understanding from the record of the Earth’s mass extinctions clearly shows that plants and animals are very susceptible to extinction in the wake of an impact.  In general there is one major impact every million years -a mere blink of the eye in geological time.

The asteroid that hit Vredefort located in the Free State Province of South Africa is one of the largest to ever impact Earth, estimated at over 10 km  wide, although it is believed by many that the original size of the impact structure could have been 250 km in diameter, or possibly larger(though the Wilkes Land crater in Antarctica, if confirmed to have been the result of an impact event, is even larger at 500 kilometers across).

What has kept the Earth "safe" at least the past 65 million years, other than blind luck is the massive gravitational field of Jupiter, our cosmic guardian, with its stable circular orbit far from the sun, which assures a low number of impacts resulting in mass extinctions by sweeping up and scatters away most of the dangerous Earth-orbit-crossing comets and asteroids

Daily Galaxy

Space Auction Opens with a “Big Bang”

Astronauts relish space’s international food court

When it comes to grabbing a bite to eat, the international space station is living up to its first name. It’s a veritable food court of international cuisine, observed new resident Nicole Stott, an American astronaut who will stay aboard the space station until November. Stott said she found that for different meals she could sample foods from various parts of the world: U.S., Canada, Japan, Europe and Russia.

"I think you can find something for anyone," Stott said in a news conference by the 13 members of the joint crews of the space shuttle Discovery and space station. Stott is moving into the space station, after getting a ride on the shuttle. Stott and her fellow astronauts addressed reporters through a video link hours after a piece of space junk sped safely by the two spacecraft. NASA had been monitoring the situation but decided it was unlikely to be a problem, and the old rocket part passed by as the astronauts slept.

In past years, astronauts have complained about the poor taste and variety of food in space. Astronaut Norm Thagard, the first American to fly on the Russian space station Mir, bemoaned jellied perch and borscht in his diet and lost a considerable amount of weight.

Now the international aspect of the space station – those on board are from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Russia and Germany – is a selling point. Even though there is no Japanese astronaut on board now – one just recently left – there is Japanese food, Stott said. Discovery astronaut Christer Fugelsang said said he wishes he had as much variety on Earth. "It works for the best for everyone. I wish we could do the same on Earth," said Fugelsang, who is from Sweden. Astronauts spoke in English, Spanish, French, Norwegian and Swedish during the press conference.

"I’m really going to miss this place. This place exceeded anything I thought it would be like, one said"

The Associated Press

Astrology should not be confused with astronomy

A person featured inan article, “Psychic festival’s in her future”, in the Sunday Times Extra, August 30, categorically states that “astrology is a science”.

Such a claim does not bear critical scrutiny. Astrology is not to be confused with astronomy, the most ancient of the sciences that has existed since the dawn of recorded civilisation. It deals with the origin, evolution and motion of all bodies in the universe.

Astrology, on the other hand, is a form of divination based on a geocentric worldview that has the earth at the centre of the solar system It originated in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millenium BCE and spread to other parts of the world. In such a dispensation the heavens are divided according to the 12 constellations of the Zodiac and the stars that rise at intervals are believed to have an influence on human destinies and temporal matters.

By the mid 16th century Copernicus scientifically formulated a heliocentric model of the solar system that had the sun at the centre of the solar system. Such incontrovertible scientific evidence invalidated the geocentric model that astrology requires. In spite of the fact that the very foundations of astrology have been shattered by the Copernican system, interest in the subject has continued to the present day. There is a wide cross-section of people who still believe that astrologers can foretell the future. The mind boggles!!

The Times

 Oldest known black hole reported found

 As­tro­no­mers have found a gi­ant gal­axy sur­round­ing what they de­scribe as the old­est and most dis­tant black hole known. The gal­axy is as large as the Milky Way gal­axy and har­bours a “su­per­mas­sive,” or giant, black hole es­ti­mat­ed to weigh the equiv­a­lent of at least a bil­lion Suns.

A black hole is an ob­ject so com­pact that its gra­vity drags in any­thing that pass­es too close by, in­clud­ing light rays. Some black holes are formed from burned-out stars, but others are too large to be ex­plained in this way and their ori­gin is some­what mys­ter­ious. The newfound black hole and galaxy are meas­ured as lying 12.8 bil­lion light years from Earth.

Since a light-year is the dis­tance light trav­els in a year, that would mean that from Earth we see the gal­axy as it was that many bil­lion years ago.

It’s 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 To­mot­sugu Goto, one of the re­search­ers.

The find­ing is con­sid­ered im­por­tant in un­lock­ing the se­cret of how ga­lax­ies evolved to­geth­er with the super­mas­sive black holes that most of them con­tain at their cores. Un­til now, stu­dy­ing black-hole-containing host ga­lax­ies in the dis­tant un­iverse has been ex­tremely dif­fi­cult be­cause the blind­ing bright light from near the black hole makes it harder to see the al­ready faint light from the host gal­axy.

Un­like smaller black holes, which form when a large star dies, the or­i­gin of super­mas­sive black holes re­mains an un­solved prob­lem. A cur­rently pop­u­lar mod­el re­quires sev­eral mid-sized black holes to merge to form the gi­ant black hole. The newfound gal­axy pro­vides a res­er­voir of such in­ter­me­diate black holes, ac­cord­ing to Goto and col­leagues. Af­ter form­ing, super­mas­sive black holes of­ten con­tin­ue to grow be­cause their gra­vity draws in mat­ter from sur­round­ing ob­jects. The en­er­gy re­leased in this pro­cess ac­counts for the bright light that these black holes pro­duce.

To see the super­mas­sive black hole, the team of sci­en­tists used new cam­era equip­ment in­stalled in the Sub­aru tel­e­scope on Mauna Kea, Ha­waii, and de­vel­oped by Satoshi Miyazaki of the Na­tional As­tron­o­my Ob­serv­a­to­ry of Ja­pan and col­leagues. “We have wit­nessed a super­mas­sive black hole and its host gal­axy form­ing to­geth­er. This discovery has opened a new win­dow for in­ves­ti­gat­ing gal­ax­y-black hole co-evolution at the dawn of the un­iverse,” said You­suke Ut­sumi, al­so of the Na­tional As­tron­o­my Ob­serv­a­to­ry.

World Science

Andromeda Galaxy Eating the Neighborhood

From Earth, the Andromeda Galaxy looks like a calm, bright galaxy, and is visible with the naked eye in our night sky. But astronomers have discovered things aren’t as tranquil as it seems over at M31. Andromeda is eating the neighbors. The Andromeda Galaxy contains a trillion stars and lies only about 2 million light-years away, so it is a great object to observe and study. But recently astronomers observed wispy streams of stars on the outer fringes of Andromeda, and realized they were leftovers from a cannibalistic feeding frenzy of smaller galaxies it has absorbed.

"This is a startling visual demonstration of the truly vast scale of galaxies," said Dr. Mike Irwin from the University of Cambridge. "The survey has produced an unrivalled panorama of galaxy structure which reveals that galaxies are the result of an ongoing process of accretion and interaction with their neighbours." The cannibalism continues and another victim lies in wait: M33 in the constellation of Triangulum, is destined for a future meal.

Ultimately, these two galaxies may end up merging completely. Ironically, galaxy formation and galaxy destruction seem to go hand in hand.

Astronomers from Cambridge were part of an international team that made a million light-year-wide survey of the Andromeda Galaxy and its surroundings using a powerful digital camera on the giant Canada-France-Hawaii telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The team reason that they are almost certainly the remnants of other, smaller galaxies which have been absorbed by Andromeda – and that Andromeda itself is still in a state of expansion.

The team’s paper argues that the larger-scale substructures identified on the galaxy’s fringes are probably the "undigested" remains of previously accreted dwarf galaxies. In all likelihood, they originally belonged to dwarf galaxies or other, proto-galactic fragments.

Universe Today

Is ET A Threat To Earth?

 Mankind has always been driven by contradictory drives.  The relentless curiosity that pushes us forward and is directly responsible for our progress from caves to  cities.  The fear of change that tells us there isn’t any greater potential threat to the status quo than the discovery of extraterrestrial life, which is why some people would prefer we didn’t try.

There has been some outrage recently over attempts to contact intelligent aliens, where instead of hiding in the corner and listening real hard some astronomers beamed intense directional messages up up and away.  Critics decried these actions as dangerous, though their fears reveal more about us than any eventual ETs. 

They assume that they would be similar to humanity, so their first response to finding a more primitive culture would be to exploit the hell out of it.  While such a fate might be pleasingly ironic (for anyone who isn’t human, at least), others contend that any species that can make the journey here has advanced to a point where their goals are rather higher-minded than "Shoot us".

Dr Alexander Zaitzev, of the Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, doesn’t think much of these worries either way.  He’s a proponent of METI  - Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.  He said, "This METI thing we’re doing has only a tiny chance of working and whether it is overall a good idea remains to be seen"  An important point is that METI represents an intentional will to make contact, rather than the accidental alien interception of some random radiation from Earth – the difference between saying "Hello!" and just being a suspicious strange noise late at night.

Most of the objections to contacting aliens are weak under close examination.  We can’t suddenly decide to hide after fifty years of pumping electromagnetic radiation into space without rhyme or reason – in fact, we’d better hope that an advanced civilization doesn’t catch an episode of "American Idol" and just vaporize us outright.  Suddenly keeping quiet would be like a drunk boyfriend carefully taking off his shoes after knocking over a bookshelf on his way to the bedroom.

Then there’s the assumption that aliens would have the same kind of technology we do – despite the extremely obvious fact that our technology can’t actually get to other planets.  Any attempt to mask radio emissions will likely look like cavemen closing their eyes to hide from satellite imaging.

The simple fact is that certain people have always opposed progress while other, better people have driven it.  "Experts" decried boiled water as unhealthy compared the vital stuff straight from the river, cursed antibiotics as a temporary placebo, and confidently declared that computers were nothing but expensive toys.  As an intelligent species we must make every effort to contact anyone or thing we can – and if you don’t like it, there are some lovely caves you can move back to.

Daily Galaxy

Jupiter Captured Comet For 12 Years In Mid-20th Century

Comet 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu was captured as a temporary moon of Jupiter in the mid-20th century and remained trapped in an irregular orbit for about twelve years. There are only a handful of known comets where this phenomenon of temporary satellite capture has occurred and the capture duration in the case of Kushida-Muramatsu, which orbited Jupiter between 1949 and 1961, is the third longest.

An international team led by Dr. Katsuhito Ohtsuka modeled the trajectories of 18 similar comets. Most of the cases of temporary capture were flybys, where the comets did not complete a full orbit. However, Dr. Ohtsuka’s team used recent observations tracking Kushida-Muramatsu over nine years to calculate hundreds of possible orbital paths for the comet over the previous century. In all scenarios, Kushida-Muramatsu completed two full revolutions of Jupiter, making it only the fifth captured orbiter to be identified.

Dr. Asher, a team member said, “Our results demonstrate some of the routes taken by cometary bodies through interplanetary space that can allow them either to enter or to escape situations where they are in orbit around the planet Jupiter.”

Asteroids and comets can sometimes be distorted or fragmented by tidal effects induced by the gravitational field of a capturing planet, or may even impact with the planet. The most famous victim of both these effects was comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which was torn apart on passing close to Jupiter and whose fragments then collided with that planet in 1994. “Fortunately for us Jupiter, as the most massive planet with the greatest gravity, sucks objects towards it more readily than other planets and we expect to observe large impacts there more often than on Earth.

Comet Kushida-Muramatsu has escaped from the giant planet and will avoid the fate of Shoemaker-Levy 9 for the foreseeable future”, said Dr. Asher. The object that impacted with Jupiter this July, causing the new dark spot discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley, may also have been a member of this class, even if it did not suffer tidal disruption like Shoemaker-Levy.

The results of our study suggest that impacts on Jupiter and temporary satellite capture events may happen more frequently than we previously expected,” said Dr. Asher.The team has also confirmed a future moon of Jupiter. Comet 111P/Helin-Roman-Crockett, which has already orbited Jupiter three times between 1967 and 1985, is due to complete six laps of the giant planet between 2068 and 2086.

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The last quarter Moon was Saturday September 12. Mercury is below the bright star Spica in the western evening twilight and is rapidly lowering towards the horizon. By the end of the week it will be almost impossible to see. Saturn is no longer visible, immersed in the twilight glow. Jupiter is visible the whole night and is easily seen as the brightest object in the sky. While Jupiter is past opposition, where it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, it is still more than big enough to be appreciated in even the smallest telescope. Jupiter’s moons are readily visible in binoculars or a small telescope.

In the morning, Venus and Mars are readily visible in the eastern sky. On Monday September 14 the crescent Moon is just below Mars. Bright white Venus is close to the horizon, but is still readily visible in the dawn twilight if you have a clear, unobstructed horizon.

On Thursday September 17 Venus is near the crescent Moon. During the week it comes closer to the horizon. In the early hours of the morning of September 11 (between midnight and 1am depending on where you live) the Moon will pass through the Pleiades cluster, occulting several stars, some bright, most very faint.

The best views will be in northern Australia (Darwin, Cairns, Cape York), followed by Alice Springs, Mt Isa, Townsville and Rockhampton. Those south of Rockhampton (except WA and Tasmania who miss out completely) will see only one moderately bright star uncovered, but the sight of the Moon drifting through the Pleiades is well worth getting up for.

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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.

More added Features and Content will be comming On-Line each day as we continue to develop the Southern Galactic and Northern Galactic Sites. Go to: http://www.southerngalactic.com

ASTRO PIC OF THE WEEK

Northern/Southern Galactic

From the admin – Bert Candusio: Well, things are getting busy at Northern Galactic image wise with many new members signing on in August after hearing about what goes on here.

And judging by the high standard of imaging projects being submitted, its no wonder.

Thank you all for your image submissions in June. There were some wonderful images uploaded this month (August) but one in particular (left)caught our attention. Congratulations to Eddie Trimarchi for this stunning portrait of M20.

It was a great night, the seeing was quite good, it was a calm early-winter night in Oz and the system was performing admirably.

Filters and exposures used for this image were, 90 minutes of L, 40 minutes each for Red, Green and Blue, with 40 minutes of Ha.Taken on 17th June 2009."

Eddie Trimarchi is one of the worlds best known amateur Astrophotographers

By Permission: Southern Galactic

This Months (June) astro photo at right was hard to choose based on the high quality of images posted to the group (again!), but the judges did manage to select one that again seemed to stand out from the rest. so here it is. Edward Henry with his M 81 / M 82 with Integrated Flux Nebula.

 Wind the clock back 400 years and follow in the footsteps of a giant — experience now just what first amazed Galileo in 1609! The latest Cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), Galilean Nights, will see thousands of public observing events around the world replicating Galileo’s observations and bringing what he saw 400 years ago to the public of today. From 22 to 24 October, amateur and professional astronomers, science centers, schools, and all interested groups are invited to be part of the Galilean Nights project and to register their events on the project website www.galileannights.org. We can all make this a worldwide success.   

The Galilean Nights builds on the unprecedented success of April’s 100 Hours of Astronomy, another IYA2009 Cornerstone project. Over three nights amateur and professional astronomers, and enthusiasts, will share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the Universe by encouraging as many people as possible to look through a telescope at our neighboring planets. The focus for the Galilean Nights is on the observations made by the Italian astronomer Galileo 400 years ago, including those of Jupiter and the Moon, which will be well-positioned in the night sky for observing during the event. For many members of the public it will be their first look through a telescope, when they can see such breathtaking sights such as the cloud bands of the gas giant, Jupiter, and intricate details on our cratered Moon. It will be an unforgettable experience.

Anyone, from any background and with any level of experience is encouraged to organize events, from one person sharing the night sky through a telescope with a small group of neighbors and friends, to large astronomical groups holding major observing sessions in public areas. To keep track of developments, assist with promotion and to help people to find local Galilean Nights activities, all events should be registered on the project website: www.galileannights.org.

Hundreds of events all over the world have already been registered and the number is increasing every day.

IYA2009 Executive Committee Chair, Catherine Cesarsky, says, "Amateur observations have always played an important role in astronomy, a fact highlighted by one of the most exciting events of this year when it was an amateur astronomer who noticed that Jupiter had suffered a massive impact by an asteroid or comet. So it is fitting that Galilean Nights continues this tradition as thousands of amateur astronomers and the public will turn their attention to Jupiter and other objects that Galileo observed 400 years ago."

Stunning images of distant objects in the Universe are well known around the world and do more to bring astronomy to the wider public and to inspire future astronomers than words ever could. The public have been set the challenge of capturing the inspirational nature of our local solar neighborhood in the worldwide Galilean Nights photography competition. Run in partnership with Europlanet, the Galilean Nights competition encourages anybody with an enthusiasm for astronomy to try a different approach to their observations and create their own inspirational photographs of our planetary neighbors.

Four hundred years since Galileo’s telescopic observations revolutionized our view of the Universe, the public will once again be turning their attention to the heavens. People all around the world are encouraged to take part in the Galilean Nights Cornerstone project and experience for themselves the same sense of awe and wonder that Galileo must have felt.

Galilean Nights website: www.galileannights.org.

And on 26 October, the University of NSW is going to run Galileo’s trial all over again. Perhaps this time the result will be different! This is a one-night-only performance, so grab a ticket if you can.

Details are online at www.astronomy2009.org.au.  

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A NEW PUBLICATION YOU SHOULD SUBSCRIBE TO

UNIGALACTIC Space Travel Magazine

UniGalactic Space Travel Magazine was launched with the first issue published on May 29, 2009. You’ll find articles on a variety of topics including but not limited to SpaceX’s and Virgin Galactic’s NEW space tourism developments, international space station, Mars missions, future space launches, as well as outer space news. Amazon will ship ANYWHERE in the Globe. Footnote from Dave: I’m so impressed with thi

s magazine and it’s contents that I’ve asked to write for them and have been accepted. I highly recommend this publication for it’s different slant and content we don’t normally get a chance to hear about in Oz.

Subscribe to UniGalactic Space Travel Magazine Website: Click here

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    Events & Activities

* Tours: Some exciting news about a serties of New Zealand astronomy tours I’ve been invited to take part in with Grand Pacific Tours P/L and closer to the end of the year I have been asked to take part in and run a couple of back to back astro lectures and sky viewing travelling on Great Southern railway trains – namely the ‘Sourthern Star’. Stay tuned!

* Book Reviews: I’ve recently been given the opportunity to become a book reviewer for some of the most respected publication houses in the world. This offer has been extended to the review and critique of DVDs as well so, in the coming months, I’ll be looking at a few new releases and giving you my impression of them in an impartial and non-biased manner. Any other publishers interested in having me review their material as well as are asked to contact me direct from any of the personal adresses on these pages. The first publication just receieved is the newly released hard cover book ‘The New Race For Space’ from Rosenberg Sales N.Y. followed by another new release ‘Rocket Men – The Epic Story Of The First Men On The Moon by Craig Nelson by the Penguin Group New York. Stay tuned!

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.

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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Sources: NASA, SKY & SPACE Magazine, Associated Press, Nature, Space.Com, Universe Today, BBC Science News, JPL, European Space Agency, Science Daily, ABC News Online, New Scientist Magazine, Reuters, Astrobiology News, Google Astronomy/Space News Alerts, Cornell University News Service, The Australian, NASA Science News, SpaceRef Interactive Inc. and Associated Affiliates. (E&OE)