SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: December 2004
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New galaxies teem with baby stars
(Dec 22, 2004)
The Universe still produces massive newborn galaxies full of baby
stars, despite being billions of years old. The findings are a surprise
- many astronomers thought the Universe had gone through a "cosmic
menopause" and was now incapable of such formations. The Galaxy Evolution
Explorer (Galex) telescope detected 36 bright, compact galaxies resembling
the youthful ones that existed billions years ago. These "new" galaxies,
though, may be as young as 100 million years old, as viewed from Earth.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Monkey vocal ability investigated
(Dec 21, 2004)
Diana monkeys possess a complex vocal tract whose shape can be adjusted
to articulate sophisticated sounds – just as humans do, scientists
report. Non-human primates were thought to have vocal tracts resembling
simple tubes incapable of sophisticated articulation. But a British-US-German
team reports in the Journal of Human Evolution that the alarm calls
of Diana monkeys would be impossible without a complex tract. It says
the finding may shed light on how and when human speech evolved.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
New clouds add to Titan's mystery
(Dec 19, 2004)
Using adaptive optics on the Gemini North and Keck II telescopes on
Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, a US team has discovered a new phenomenon in the
atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon Titan. Unlike previous observations
showing storms at the south pole, these new images reveal atmospheric
disturbances at Titan’s temperate mid latitudes – about halfway
between the equator and the poles. Explaining the unexpected activity
has proven difficult, and the team speculates that the storms could
be driven by anything from short-term surface events to shifts in
global wind patterns.
Read
more. Source: Gemini Observatory |
Saturn's outer rings may be eroding
(Dec 19, 2004)
A massive eruption of atomic oxygen from Saturn’s outer rings, seen
by Cassini's ultraviolet camera as the spacecraft neared its destination,
may be an indication that the planet's wispy E ring is eroding so
fast that it could disappear within 100 million years if not replenished.
Cassini’s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) detected the oxygen
atoms spewing into a huge cloud on the dark side of Saturn’s rings
as Cassini prepared to enter orbit around Saturn in January 2004,
said Donald Shemansky, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering
in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Data indicated that about
275 million pounds (125 million kilograms) of oxygen was abruptly
released in a short period of time.
Read
more. Source: University of Southern California |
Mystery of 'chirping' pyramid decoded
(Dec 18, 2004)
A theory that the ancient Mayans built their pyramids to act as giant
resonators to produce strange and evocative echoes has been supported
by a team of Belgian scientists. Nico Declercq of Ghent University
and his colleagues have shown how sound waves ricocheting around the
tiered steps of the El Castillo pyramid, at the Mayan ruin of Chichén
Itzá near Cancún in Mexico, create sounds that mimic the chirp of
a bird and the patter of raindrops.
Read
more. Source: Nature |
Titan clouds seen to come and go
(Dec 17, 2004)
Scientists now have their first direct evidence of changing weather
patterns on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. When the Cassini spacecraft
flew past the satellite on Monday it spied clouds at mid-latitudes
that were not present on its last flyby in October. The observations
will allow researchers to investigate atmospheric dynamics on Titan,
the only moon in the Solar System with a thick covering of gas.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Giant Mars rover will search for life
(Dec 17, 2004)
NASA will search for signs of life on Mars with a giant rover due
to launch in 2009. The agency selected the vital instruments that
the Mars Science Laboratory rover will carry on Tuesday. Scientists
have long debated whether life ever blossomed on our neighbouring
planet. NASA's twin Viking landers beamed back contradictory evidence
for biological activity after they touched down in 1976. But since
then, the agency has not searched directly for signs of life but for
the conditions and substances that support it, such as water. Now,
NASA is planning a rover with three times the mass (600 kilograms)
and twice the number of instruments (10) as those currently on Mars,
the long-lived Spirit and Opportunity.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Scientists find new Indian monkey
(Dec 16, 2004)
A species of monkey unknown to science has been photographed in India
by an international team of researchers. The monkey, a member of the
macaque family, was sighted in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, which
lies in the country's remote north-eastern region. Named the Arunachal
macaque, the new monkey is a comparatively large brown primate with
a relatively short tail. The scientists say they are surprised to
have found a hitherto unknown large mammal in such a populous country.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Comet mission set for 2005 launch
(Dec 15, 2004)
NASA scientists have been giving details of a space mission to crash
a projectile into a comet, peeling away its outer skin in order to
look inside. The audacious Deep Impact mission will launch on January
12 from Cape Canaveral and will arrive at Comet Tempel 1 six months
later. A mother ship will release the 360 kg projectile, called an
"impactor", directly into the path of Tempel 1. The projectile will
impact on July 4, 24 hours after its release.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Mars rovers spot water-clue mineral, frost,
clouds
(Dec 14, 2004)
Scientists have identified a water-signature mineral called goethite
in bedrock that the NASA's Mars rover Spirit examined in the "Columbia
Hills," one of the mission's surest indicators yet for a wet history
on Spirit's side of Mars. "Goethite, like the jarosite that Opportunity
found on the other side of Mars, is strong evidence for water activity,"
said Dr. Goestar Klingelhoefer of the University of Mainz, Germany,
lead scientist for the iron-mineral analyzer on each rover, the Moessbauer
spectrometer. Goethite forms only in the presence of water, whether
in liquid, ice or gaseous form. Hematite, a mineral that had previously
been identified in Columbia Hills bedrock, usually, but not always,
forms in the presence of water.
Read
more. Source: NASA/JPL |
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