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Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name
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VANISHING RINGS:
Amateur astronomers around the world have noticed, something is
happening to Saturn. The planet's rings are rapidly narrowing and,
if this continues, before long they'll be a wafer-thin line almost
invisible to backyard telescopes. Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
ARTHUR C. CLARKE:
Sir Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka
at the age of 90. Clarke penned many classic science fiction novels
such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End,
A Fall of Moondust, Rendezvous with Rama and more
than 80 others. But he was not limited to fiction. Clarke is widely
credited for conceptualizing geosynchronous orbits (sometimes called
Clarke orbits) and communication satellites, and he posited Clarke's
Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magic."
Above: Dr. Tony Phillips' childhood
copy of A Fall of Moondust.
His work was an inspiration to countless young writers and scientists
of the middle to late 20th century. "Although his personal
odyssey here on Earth is now over, his vision lives on through his
writing," says Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's
Science Mission Directorate in Washington DC. "He will be sorely
missed."
PHOTO TRIBUTE: "I
join with all who mourn the loss of the incomparable Arthur C. Clarke,"
says space photographer Doug Zubenel. "When I saw the film
2001 in the spring of 1969, it left an indelible impression
upon me. This photo
entitled Spacegate, which I took on March 2, 1994,
at Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark in Kansas, was heavily
influenced by the imagery near the end of that mind-expanding movie."
Obituaries: BBC,
LA
Times, Associated
Press, CNN.
THREE RED SPOTS:
How many red spots does Jupiter have? On March 17th, Mike
Salway of Australia looked through his 12-inch telescope and
counted three:
Red spot #1 is the Great
Red Spot you've heard about, hundreds of years old and twice
as wide as Earth. Red spot #2 is Oval
BA, which formed white in 2000 and turned red in 2006. Red spot
#3 is a newcomer, "the Little Red Spot," says Salway,
possibly only weeks old.
All these spots are storms--anticyclones big enough to swallow
a rocky planet. What makes them red? Curiously, no one knows why
the Great Red Spot itself is red. A favorite idea is that the storm
dredges "chromophores" (color-changing compounds) from
deep inside Jupiter up to the cloudtops where sunlight triggers
a chemical reaction with red by-products. But what are
the chromosphores and what is the chemical reaction? It's
a mystery--now multiplied by three.
Jupiter is emerging from the glare of the sun as a bright morning
star, visible in the southeast before sunrise: sky
map. "I'm still waiting for some 'excellent' morning to
deliver the best resolution and detail," says Salway, "but
as Jupiter keeps climbing I'm sure it will come soon." Stay
tuned!
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