| FATHER'S DAY:
Skip the tie. This year, give Dad the stars -- a gift subscription
to Space
Weather PHONE. |
|
|
 PLUTOID:
In 2006, the International Astronomical
Union (IAU) announced that Pluto is not a planet. So what
is it? After two years of careful deliberation, the IAU has
an answer: Pluto is a plutoid. No, this is not a joke. The IAU offers
"the plutoid" as a serious new category of celestial body.
Read all about it in the June 11th press
release. [comment]
DOUBLE FLYBY:
Space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station (ISS)
are flying around Earth in tandem, resulting in some beautiful double-flyby
sightings. Ben Cooper sends
this picture of the two streaking through clouds over Daytona Beach,
Florida, on June 11th:
"The ISS was the brightest I have ever seen it, while the
shuttle was several magnitudes fainter," says Cooper. In the
photo, "Discovery is the relatively dim streak just to the
right of the ISS," he points out.
Double flybys continue tonight. Check our Satellite
Tracker to see if your hometown is favored with an appearance.
more images: from
Graham Palmer of Hastings, New Zealand; from
Néstor Camino of Esquel, Patagonia, Argentina; from
Edward Staples of Waldo, Florida; from
Gerald DeShirlia of Wimberley, Texas; from
Loyd Overcash of Houston, Texas; from
Hassan Alsabbar of Diwaniya, Iraq; from
Tom King of Watauga, Texas;
PHOENIX UPDATE:
Phoenix's oven is full
of martian soil. For days, the clumpy red dirt had been stuck
on a screen at the oven's door while engineers tried a variety of
tricks to coax it onward. On June 10th, with little warning, the
soil sifted through. "There's something very unusual about
this soil," says Peter Smith of the University of Arizona.
"We're interested in learning what sort of chemical and mineral
activity has caused the particles to clump together." In the
days ahead, Phoenix's mass spectrometer will "sniff" fumes
from the oven and report the soil's composition. Stay tuned.
SAUCER DOWN:
Put on your 3D
glasses and see if you can identify the saucer-shaped object
on Phoenix's southern horizon:
It is Phoenix's backshell, which held the parachute
as Phoenix descended through the atmosphere. Just before jet-assisted
touchdown, the backshell
and 'chute
were discarded and they landed some 300 meters downrange of Phoenix.
"The parachute is not visible, probably because of the bumpy
terrain," says graphic artist Patruck Vantuyne who created
the anaglyph by combining right- and left-eye images from Phoenix's
stereo camera. The complete
panorama is a must-see; stare a while for full effect.
more anaglyphs: Arctic
Vista, Mars
Yeti, One
small step..., Vines,
Scoop
Two.
May
2008 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora Alerts] [Night-sky
Cameras]
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