EurekAlert! - Space and Planetary Science

NJIT receives NSF funding to improve Big Bear Telescope, study solar energy

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(New Jersey Institute of Technology) The National Science Foundation has recently provided support that totals nearly $4.3 million for the diverse efforts of the following investigators under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

New method to measure snow, vegetation moisture with GPS may benefit farmers, meteorologists

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of Colorado at Boulder) A research team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder has found a clever way to use traditional GPS satellite signals to measure snow depth as well as soil and vegetation moisture, a technique expected to benefit meteorologists, water resource managers, climate modelers and farmers.

Watching a cannibal galaxy dine

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(ESO) A new technique using near-infrared images, obtained with ESO's 3.58-meter New Technology Telescope, allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes of the giant cannibal galaxy Centaurus A, unveiling its "last meal" in unprecedented detail -- a smaller spiral galaxy, currently twisted and warped. This amazing image also shows thousands of star clusters, strewn like glittering gems, churning inside Centaurus A.

SMOS satellite instrument comes alive

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(European Space Agency) The MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched earlier this month, has been switched on and is operating normally. MIRAS will map soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the role these two key variables play in regulating Earth's water cycle.

AGU Fall Meeting: Press room update, book hotels by Nov. 19

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(American Geophysical Union) This updates for the AGU 2009 Fall Meeting contains a press room update, reminder to book hotels by Nov. 19, how tosearch abstracts by affiliation, the blog roll and more.

NASA's QuikScat and Aqua providing important data on Tropical Storm Anja

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Tropical Storm Anja has continued to weaken over the last 24 hours, and NASA's QuikScat satellite has confirmed that the once mighty Category 4 Cyclone is now a tropical storm in the southern Indian Ocean. Two instruments on NASA's Aqua satellite have also helped forecasters determine Anja's location and change of shape.

'Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites' wins award from the Geoscience Information Society

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Springer) The Springer book "Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites" by O. Richard Norton and Lawrence A. Chitwood has been awarded the Mary B. Ansari Best Reference Work Award 2009 by the Geoscience Information Society. This award, established in 2005, recognizes and honors significant contributions to the geoscience information profession.

Baffling boxy bulge

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(ESA/Hubble Information Centre) Just as many people are surprised to find themselves packing on unexplained weight around the middle, astronomers find the evolution of bulges in the centers of spiral galaxies puzzling. A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 4710 is part of a survey that astronomers have conducted to learn more about the formation of bulges, which are a substantial component of most spiral galaxies.

Cyclone Anja hits wind shear, weakens drastically

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) This morning, Cyclone Anja was a powerful Category 4 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Wind shear has now giving Anja a strong "punch in the gut" as the storm has weakened to a Category 1 cyclone.

Ticking stellar time bomb identified

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(ESO) Using ESO's Very Large Telescope and its ability to obtain images as sharp as if taken from space, astronomers have made the first time-lapse movie of a rather unusual shell ejected by a "vampire star." This enabled astronomers to determine the distance and intrinsic brightness of the outbursting object. It appears that this double star system is a prime candidate to be one of the long-sought progenitors of the exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae, critical for studies of dark energy.

Record-breaking radio astronomy project to measure sky with extreme precision

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(National Radio Astronomy Observatory) Thirty-five radio telescopes on seven continents, a new record, will work together to strengthen the basic measuring grid for celestial positions. The improved reference frame will benefit both astronomy and geophysics.

Close-up movie shows hidden details in the birth of super-suns

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) A new high-resolution time-lapse movie reveals the process of massive star formation with radio images a thousand times sharper and more detailed than any previously obtained. The movie shows that massive stars form like their smaller siblings, with disk accretion and magnetic fields playing crucial roles.

NASA's TRMM satellite mapped 'Ida the Low's' rainfall from space

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite known as "TRMM" has the ability to measure rainfall from space, and assessed the heavy rainfall from last week's coastal low pressure area, formerly known as "Ida" that drenched the US east coast.

NASA's Terra satellite spots Tropical Cyclone Anja, the first of the southern season

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA's Terra satellite captured a stunning image of Anja, the first tropical cyclone of the southern Hemisphere cyclone season. When Anja formed on Saturday, Nov. 14, in the Southern Indian Ocean, about 330 miles south-southwest of Diego Garcia it was designated Tropical Cyclone 01S ("S" for south). By Sunday, Nov. 15, 01S had strengthened into a tropical storm and was named Anja.

Satellite imagery confirms Ida's low is finally moving away from the east coast

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Satellite imagery and weather ground station readings today along the Mid-Atlantic indicate "Ida the coastal low pressure area" is finally moving away from the US east coast.

Goddard team develops new carriers for space station

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) In a partnership that exemplifies One NASA, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., teamed up with engineers at NASA's Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers to design, build, and test five new ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, or ELCs, which will be delivered to the International Space Station. "ExPRESS" stands for Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station.

Cyclone Phyan raining on Tibet after breaking a record in India

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Cyclone Phyan broke a 43 year record when it made landfall north of the city of Mumbai, India during the evening hours on Nov. 11. NASA's Aqua satellite captured Phyan's landfall with one instrument, and a day later, another of Aqua's instruments show the storm's remnants raining Tibet as Phyan continues to dissipate.

Rosetta bound for outer Solar System after final Earth swingby

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(European Space Agency) This morning, mission controllers confirmed that ESA's comet chaser Rosetta had swung by Earth at 8:45 CET as planned, skimming past our planet to pick up a gravitational boost for an epic journey to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.

The astronaut's cookbook

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Springer) Most people are intimately familiar with the awe-inspiring photos of space shuttle launches or images of the Earth from the International Space Station. But how many have thought about what astronauts eat when they're living on the International Space Station? Now, a truly unique book, "The Astronaut's Cookbook -- Tales, Recipes, and More," written by NASA veterans Charles T. Bourland and Gregory L. Vogt, gives a first look at what astronauts eat while in space.

Former Ida a huge rainmaker, causing flooding in the Mid-Atlantic

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The GOES-12 satellite is tracking the coastal low, formerly known as Ida. It is currently quasi-stationary off the North Carolina coast, adding more rain on top of what it has already brought. The low is creating serious flooding from northeast North Carolina to coastal Virginia.

Nanotech in space: Rensselaer experiment to weather the trials of orbit

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are scheduled to blast off into orbit on Nov. 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The project, funded by the US Air Force Multi University Research Initiative, seeks to test the performance of the new nanocomposites in orbit. The materials will be mounted to the International Space Station's outer hull and exposed to the rigors of space.

Ida now a coastal low assaulting the Mid-Atlantic

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Ida is one stubborn girl. Her remnants have moved out to sea and reformed as a powerful coastal low pressure system that's been raining on the mid-Atlantic since Tuesday night, Nov. 10. The GOES-12 satellite showed its cloud cover stretching from North Carolina up to Maine.

New water management tool may help ease effects of drought

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(North Carolina State University) Continued improvement of climate forecasts is resulting in better information about what rainfall may look like months in advance. A researcher from North Carolina State University has developed an innovative water management framework that would take advantage of these forecasts to plan for droughts or excess rain in order to make the most efficient use of an area's water resources.

How much water does the ocean have?

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Short-term fluctuations in the spatial distribution of the ocean water masses

ESA spacecraft may help unravel cosmic mystery

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(European Space Agency) When Europe's comet chaser Rosetta swings by Earth tomorrow for a critical gravity assist, tracking data will be collected to precisely measure the satellite's change in orbital energy. The results could help unravel a cosmic mystery that has stumped scientists for two decades.