DAWN SPACECRAFT

NASA is planning to launch their new "DAWN" spacecraft, TODAY!

This space vehicle will be probing two planet wannabes which reside in the asteroid belt. They will arrive to begin their exploration in August 2011.

The would-be planets that they will be exploring are CERES and VESTA

There is enough material in orbit between Mars and Jupiter for a planet to form. But the huge gravitational forces from Jupiter have prevented this from happening. Ceres and Vesta are the largest pieces of material that have been able to form, with the two of them being 330 miles and 600 miles in diameter.

A full report on the spacecraft can be read at:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0926/p03s03-usgn.html?s=hns

POTENTIALLY HABITABLE PLANET FOUND

Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press reports this morning that astronomers have announced discovery of a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures. The planet, located about 120 trillion miles away is about the right size and may have water.

Although much is still unkown about the planet, it is significant that it orbits a "red dwarf" star. These are much dimmer than our sun and put out much less energy. But if the planet is in the right location the dwarf could still provide what is necessary to support life. The find opens up a new area in the search for life in the universe. Not much attention has been paid to dwarf stars to this point. Who wants to buy some real estate on planet 581c? It's only 20.5 light years away!

Read the full article at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_sc/habitable_planet_14

AP Drawing

MOON TRANSIT OF THE SUN

NASA launched two satellites last year called STEREO A & STEREO B. The purpose of these satellites is to take stereo pictures of the sun to aid in scientific studies of our mother star. NASA recently published a photo taken by Stereo B of the moon transiting the sun. On earth we see solar eclipses when that happens, because of the unique relationship of apparent size of the two bodies as seen from the Earth. From Stereo B's position in space, the moon is less than 1/4 the apparent size of the sun. As a result we now have a unique photo of the two, in a perspective that man has never seen before.

Read the article at http://skytonight.com/news/home/Lunar_Transit_from_STEREO_B.html

SOUTH POLE TELESCOPE (SPT)

Telescopes on the earth have difficulties getting clear images because they have to peer through our thick atmosphere. That's why most major installations are located at high altitudes, where the air is clear and cold. The National Science Foundation reports that a new telescope is now in place in Antarctica. (The air doesn't get any colder or clearer anywhere than down there). It was put into use on February 16th, capturing images of Jupiter.

When it is fully up and running the SPT will help astronomers understand dark energy's influence on the expansion of the Universe and precisely measure the cosmic microwave background radiation. It will do this because it make images at the submillimetre spectrum. This is a region in between radio waves and infared radiation. Using submillimetre observations, the astronomers will be able to detect molecular clouds, map galaxy clusters, and chart that pesky cosmic microwave background radiation.

The telescope is 75 feet tall and weighs 280 tons. The parts were flown from New Zealand with the telescope being put together on site during the relatively warm Antarctic summer.