Posted by Davin Flateau on 9 Jun 2005 at 11:47 am.
Filed under Astronomy.
It’s time again for this week’s round-up of cool, awesome, surprising, shocking, amazing and otherwise outstanding otherworldly announcements!
Martian Lights - The Mars Express orbiter has confirmed that the red planet has its own version of aurora, much like the northern and southern lights here on earth. The discovery is especially curious because Mars really doesn’t have much of a magnetic field, which is the cause of auroral displays on the Earth and other planets. Now if they’d only discover Pink Floyd on Mars, we’d have one heck of a light show.
Phoenix Rising - Speaking of Mars, NASA gave the final thumbs-up to its next red planet explorer: the Mars Phoenix Lander, due to launch in August 2007. The stationary lander will set down in the icy northern Martian plains, and use its robotic arm to look for water ice and any hints of life past or present. Exploration Place alumnus and University of Arizona graduate student Andrew Shaner works on the educational aspects of the mission. Ad Martis per Aspera!
When Stars Go Boom - When a star goes supernova, astronomers expect to see something left over from the explosion - usually a neutron star or glowing gas being consumed by a black hole. But 18 years after Supernova 1987A exploded, astronomers have come up empty. Not even the Hubble Space Telescope had any luck. So either the remnant is too faint to see, or it isn’t there. All this and more on the next episode of CSI: Supernova.
Free at Last - As we reported earlier in the week, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was freed from its sand trap after a month of spinning its wheels. That’s NASA tough!
Titan Volcano - The orbiting Cassini probe spotted a strange feature on Titan, and astronomers think that it may be a volcano spewing frozen methane ice. The volcanic methane may be one source for the atmosphere on Titan. I can just imagine a newscast from the future. “Thank you Bob, and in weather today, we can expect it to explode methane ice for the next 14 days. In sports, the Io Volcanoes melted the Mimas Frisbees 3.14 to 2.41…”
Davin Flateau
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