Spitzer telescope detects dust around carbon star

Dust plays an important role in the evolution of galaxies like our Milky Way.

With the help of NASA's Spitzer space telescope researchers have observed dust forming around the carbon star MAG 29, located 280,000 light years away from a smaller galaxy called the Sculptor Dwarf . Stars more massive than the sun end their lives as carbon stars, which in our galaxy are a rich source of dust.

The Sculptor Dwarf contains only 4% of the carbon and other heavy elements in our own galaxy.

The more we can understand the quantity and composition of the dust , the more we can understand how stars and galaxies evolve.

Chandrayaan has completed 100 days in space today

Chandrayaan has completed 100 days in space today and has confirmed the presence of iron and has picked up x-ray signals from its cratered terrain.

70 scientists including members from NASA and ESA will meet in ISRO.

The unique set of equipments of Chandrayaan ,Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) has highest spatial resolution of 5m and the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar ( Mini- SAR) is designed to detect water in lunar poles.Moon Impact Probe (IMP) impacted the moon where no other instruments has.

Space tours make bones brittle of astronauts

Astronauts who spend long time in space lose bone strength.

Orthopaedic researchers study the hipbone or spine to see effects of long-duration spaceflight.The hip experiences the greatest rate of bone loss in space and a hip fracture requires a major surgery. A person's ability to walk can be lost or in worst case death of the person.

To lessen the effects, space station astronauts must exercise at least two hours every day and undergo weeks of rehabilitation after their return to Earth.

Solar eclipse on 26th January, 2009

A rare annular solar eclipse will be seen in southern parts of Africa , Antarctica, South-East Asia and Australia.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon is farther from the Earth than normal in its elliptical orbit and hence, its size is not that sufficient to cover the sun completely.

To view the sun during an eclipse you should use special eye protection so as to block the harmful radiation fro the sun.

Magnesium, Aluminium and Silicon detected on moon

The Chandrayaan-I X-ray Spectrometer (CIXS) orbiting the moon has send data which indicates the presence of Magnesium, Aluminium and Silicon.
The X-rays are absorbed by the atoms in the lunar soil and are remitted in a way which reveals the make-up of the surface.
Spectrometer is sensitive to magnesium, aluminium and silicon X-rays. It may also make measurements of elements like iron, titanium and calcium when solar illumination is bright.

Liquid found in saturn

The liquid found on Saturn's moon, Titan makes one of the most exciting and challenging discoveries of our century, since besides Earth, this is the second solar body with liquid on the surface in the system. The lake-like formations contain liquid hydrocarbons, most probably ethane according to NASA press release. Cassini spacecraft was the probe to send hundreds of pictures of Saturn and its satellites in its forty close flybys in the area. According to theories, there could be real oceans of methane, ethane and various other hydrocarbons; the dark color of the liquid found on Saturn's moon could only point to these components of crude oil. Nevertheless, the liquid form was not confirmed until a probe reached the surface of Titan in January 2005.

The depth of these pools or lakes of liquid found on Saturn's satellite could be a few or hundreds of feet deep. Infrared scanning by Cassini spacecraft allowed an approximation of the features. Yet, the main question remains as whether this planet can support life or not. Another Saturn moon, Enceladus, revealed cold water geysers issuing from liquid reservoirs lying a little below the frozen soil. Could such discoveries start a new era in the planetary exploration programs? Though life is difficult to imagine in the cold conditions of this icy world, right beneath the surface of Enceladus, all the premises indicate that life is more than possible.

This is the reason why the liquid found on Saturn's Enceladus set the course for new investigations for life in the solar system. Plus, the other prerequisite for life existence on Enceladus, organic materials, is also met: there is methane, ethane, carbon dioxide and several others. Last but not least, near the thermal vents, deep down in Saturn's center, the temperature could also create a favorable environment for the appearance and development of life forms.

The liquid found on Saturn's moons makes the most exciting discovery in the last twenty five years, since volcanic activity was identified on one of Jupiter's satellites. Though the source of the water geysers could not be spotted by the camera of the spacecraft the water and ice sprays were very visible in the sunlight, in the polar region of Enceladus. The same warm-icy model in the structure of comets applies to this liquid found on Saturn's satellite, Enceladus, since the geysers were identified as a combination of ice and hot water vapors.

Scientists to review data of Chandrayaan -I

Scientists from various countries will participate in the first meeting to review scientific findings from the data collected by Chandrayaan -I and the scientists are expecting something new about the moon to emerge from their meeting.

One of the instruments of Chandrayaan -I, MiniSAR, has the objective of detecting water ice in regions on the lunar surface which will be a step towards setting up a colony in the moon.

Astroblog: What Meteor Showers to Watch

Astroblog: What Meteor Showers to Watch

davep's astronomy: Member of a UK Astronomy Society?

davep's astronomy: Member of a UK Astronomy Society?

Work on Chandrayaan -II has started

Chandrayaan -II will be launched in 2012 and work on its engineering aspect has started.
The total cost of the project is Rs.425 crores. The lander-cum- rover is an Indo-Russian joint venture and major responsibility will be shared by Russia.The launcher will be GSLV Mark III.
The Chandrayaan II will have an orbiter besides a lander-cum-rover. After the spacecraft reaches the lunar orbit, the lander-cum-rover will release from it and soft-land on the Moon by means of powered descent.
The orbiter weight will be 2700 kgs.