SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: March 2005
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Superflares could kill unprotected astronauts
(Mar 21, 2005)
A study of the most powerful solar flare of the past 500 years suggests
that another like it would carry enough punch to kill astronauts in
a poorly shielded spacecraft. The crew of a future mission to Mars
might be at risk unless their craft is made of the right materials.
Solar flares send high-energy protons streaming through the solar
system, and the radiation is sometimes intense enough to endanger
the health of astronauts. In January, the two men on the International
Space Station had to shelter in the bulkier Russian side of the station
during a particularly powerful series of flares.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
'Kissing craters' on Mars reveal glacial
activity
(Mar 21, 2005)
Two kissing craters revealed in a new image from Mars shows evidence
of past glacial activity, according to the European Space Agency.
The hourglass-shaped pair were found at the eastern edge of Hellas
Basin – roughly 38° South latitude and 104° East. The impact
craters lie near a mountain and scientists suspect a glacier accumulated
at the base at some time in the past. If so, ice first flowed into
the upper, smaller crater, which measures about 9 kilometres across.
The glacier then continued its flow downhill into the lower crater,
which is about 17 km in diameter. Stripes in the craters probably
indicate the direction of glacial flow from one crater to another.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Giant space-time ripples may cause cosmic
expansion
(Mar 20, 2005)
Dark energy is not necessary to explain the accelerating expansion
of the universe observed by astronomers, suggest controversial new
calculations. Instead, gigantic ripples in space-time – larger
than the observable universe – may be the cause. Astronomers
have known since the 1920s that space itself has been expanding since
the big bang about 14 billion years ago. But in 1998, they discovered
the expansion must have sped up about a billion years ago, based on
observations of supernovae that appeared farther away than expected.
So cosmologists came up with several exotic explanations, including
dark energy and a theory in which gravity behaves differently over
large distances.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
North Sea crater shows its scars
(Mar 19, 2005)
What is thought to be the UK's only space impact crater has been mapped
in detail in 3D for the first time. The so-called Silverpit structure
lies several hundred metres under the floor of the North Sea, about
130km (80 miles) east of the Yorkshire coast. The new pictures show
a spectacular set of rings sweeping out around a 3km-wide (1.8 miles)
central hole. Researchers report their description and interpretation
of the images in the Geological Society of America Bulletin.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Mars still alive, experts agree
(Mar 18, 2005)
New data from Europe's Mars Express spacecraft suggests liquid water,
active volcanism and large glaciers scoured the Red Planet in recent
times. Images from the probe's stereo camera show there was geological
activity in the last few million years – just yesterday in geological
terms. Signs of a huge frozen sea on Mars hint the planet could still
hold the right conditions for microbial life. Details of the findings
appear in a series of papers in Nature journal.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Lab fireball 'may be black hole'
(Mar 17, 2005)
A fireball created in a US particle accelerator has the characteristics
of a black hole, a physicist has said. It was generated at the Relativistic
Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York, US, which smashes beams of
gold nuclei together at near light speeds. Horatiu Nastase says his
calculations show that the core of the fireball has a striking similarity
to a black hole. His work has been published on the pre-print website
arxiv.org and is reported in New Scientist magazine.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Cassini finds an atmosphere on Saturn's
moon Enceladus
(Mar 17, 2005)
The Cassini spacecraft's two close flybys of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus
have revealed that the moon has a significant atmosphere. Scientists,
using Cassini's magnetometer instrument for their studies, say the
source may be volcanism, geysers, or gases escaping from the surface
or the interior. When Cassini had its first encounter with Enceladus
on Feb. 17 at an altitude of 1,167 kilometers (725 miles), the magnetometer
instrument saw a striking signature in the magnetic field. On March
9, Cassini approached to within 500 kilometers (310 miles) of Enceladus'
surface and obtained additional evidence.
Read
more. Source: NASA/JPL |
Martian dust devils finally caught on
camera
(Mar 16, 2005)
Swirling dust devils on Mars have given NASA scientists both a scientific
treat and a very welcome power boost. On 10 March, the rover Spirit
captured images of two dust devils in one day. It is the first time
any have been seen on Mars since first being identified in a single
image from the Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997. One of the two appears
on two different images from the rover's Navigation Camera, making
it possible to track its direction and speed. Furthermore, a separate
dust devil has apparently swept the rover clean.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Europe tells US: 'Come to Europa'
(Mar 15, 2005)
The next big cooperative European-US space mission will be to Europa,
the ice-crusted moon of Jupiter. A joint working team is being set
up to consider what sort of spacecraft would be needed and what each
side could do. Officials in Washington and Paris are keen to follow
up the spectacular success of Cassini-Huygens at Saturn. "It was a
beautiful marriage and we really are looking to do a repeat," said
Professor David Southwood, from the European Space Agency (ESA).
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Young universe looks like "vegetable soup"
(Mar 14, 2005)
What did the universe look like when it was only 2 to 3 billion years
old? Astronomers used to think it was a pretty simple place containing
relatively small, young star-forming galaxies. Researchers now are
realizing that the truth is not that simple. Even the early universe
was a wildly complex place. Studying the universe at this early stage
is important in understanding how the galaxies near us were assembled
over time. Jiasheng Huang (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
said, "It looks like vegetable soup! We're detecting galaxies we never
expected to find, having a wide range of properties we never expected
to see."
Read
more. Source: Harvard-Smithsonian |
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