Chandrayaan-I moon mission over

Ten months after it was launched, India's maiden moon mission the Chandrayaan-1 came to an abrupt end today after ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft.

Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1 mission said that the mission is over as we have lost contact with the spacecraft. However, he said that Chandrayaan-1 has done its 90-95% job.

At the moment moon mission has been suspended. The two year moon mission was launched on last October and was abandoned today after radio contact with the mooncraft was abruptly lost at 0130 hours.

It has provided large volume of data from sophisticated sensors such as terrain mapping camera, hyper-spectral imager and moon mineralogy mapper, meeting most of the scientific objectives of the mission and providing meaningful
data for study by physics students at many world's research universities.

Chandrayaan-1 had sent more than 70,000 images of the lunar surface which provide breathtaking views of lunar mountains and craters, especially craters in the permanently shadowed areas of the Moon's polar region

Foreign universities' satellites to be launched by ISRO

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up to launch foreign universities into space.

Five months after ISRO launched India's first student satellite " Anusat" on April 20 , it will place in orbit four university satellites in September.They are from Germany, Switzerland and Turkey. "Chandrayaan-1 " and "Anusat" have boosted India's space program.

India will launch a Turkish student satellite in September.

India will launch six international nano satellites mainly from Germany and one from Turkey totally weighing 25 kg.

The tiny foreign satellites are "Rubin 9.1", and " Rubin 9.2" both from Germany. "Rubin 9.1" is related to the field of communications." Rubin 9.2" is for technology demonstration.

The satellite from Switzerland is called "Swisscube-1", which is first entirely built Swiss student satellite.

The launch is scheduled for the second half of September and the launch campaign has been initiated.

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NGC 6280 Nebula

NGC 6820 is an emission nebula that surrounds open cluster NGC 6823 in the constellation Vulpecula.

Emission nebulae are clouds of high temperature gas. The atoms in the cloud are energized by ultraviolet light from a nearby star and emit radiation as they fall back into lower energy states (in much the same way as a neon light). These nebulae are usually red because the predominant emission line of hydrogen happens to be red .

Velpecula is a faint constellation in the northern sky.

Picture of Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat's eye nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco.

A nebula is a cloud of dust and gas in space. A nebula is of four types- planetary nebula , reflection nebula , emission nebula and absorption nebula.

Cat's nebula can be seen through Hubble's telescope and can even be seen through small telescopes.

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Meteor shower in the sky

The meteor season is into full swing over the next few days as the Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak over the nights of 11-12 and 12-13 August. If we can blot out some of the Moon’s light behind a tree or nearby building, we can see at least one meteor per minute.

Perseids , gets the name from constellation Perseus. The warm summer nights in UK will make the Perseids more visible.

Some Perseids can be as bright as the brightest stars, such as Vega or as Jupiter or even as Venus. Some leave behind lingering orange trails or on odd occasions appear as fireballs. You either record these events or sit back and just enjoy.

First orbital launch attempt by South Korea

South Korea's space agency has announced it will attempt to fly its first satellite launcher this week.

The rocket's design and construction has cost about $400 million.

The new rocket, made from Russian and South Korean parts, could lift off as soon as Aug. 11 from the new Naro Space Center at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, about 300 miles south of Seoul.

Motion of stars in distant galaxy

Astronomers have measured the motions of stars for the first time in a very distant galaxy, speeding around its host at twice the speed of our Sun through the Milky Way.

The speeding stars may help astronomers understand how such compact galaxies form so early in the Universe and then evolve into the galaxies we see in today's 13.7 billion year old Universe.

It will also help to see how these galaxies are formed with the help of Hubble's new Wide Field Camera 3.

Future of U.S human space flight

A commission is reviewing the future of U.S. human spaceflight and will present up to a half-dozen options to President Obama late next month, ranging from a conservative, methodical space program to an aggressive blueprint for a mission to Mars.

NASA is having budget constraints and is planning to retire the space shuttle next year and continuing the station program until at least 2015. Lunar flights will not start until after 2020.

The White House established the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee in May to help chart the nation's future in space. It will complete its report by the end of August.

After space shuttle Endeavour returned Friday from its current mission, there are only seven more flights planned for the spaceplane.