An image of sunset on Mars, taken by Spirit, won in a public poll. This contest, and other new multimedia pieces, help mark the twin rovers’ third anniversary on the red planet. On May 19th, 2005, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured a stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. The Panoramic Camera (PanCam) mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover’s 489th martian day, or sol.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20050610a.html
Astronomers surveying the nearby Andromeda galaxy have discovered an association of stars in its outskirts, which they believe to be part of a separate galaxy that merged with Andromeda about 700 million years ago. The discovery corresponds to computer models created by University of Massachusetts Amherst astronomer Mark Fardal, which simulate a dwarf galaxy merging with Andromeda.
Evidence of Ancient Galactic Collision Found, Confirmed by UMass Amherst Astronomer’s Model
Researchers at the University of Rochester have made an optics breakthrough that allows them to encode an entire image’s worth of data into a photon, slow the image down for storage, and then retrieve the image intact.
Ultra-Dense Optical Storage – on One Photon
A research team, led by UC Riverside’s Ludwig Bartels, was the first to design a molecule that can move in a straight line on a flat surface. Now this team has found a way to attach cargo: two CO2 molecules, making the nano-walker a molecule carrier.
Although New Horizons’ main target is Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, it will have plenty of opportunities to do some science along the way. The spacecraft is now just a few weeks away from its closest approach to the gas giant Jupiter, where it will capture some images and gather science data but also receive a much needed speed boost. New Horizons will reach Jupiter on February 28, 2007, passing as close as 2,3 million km away from the planet’s centre. The spacecraft is expected to make 700 observations of Jupiter and its moons during the flyby. Jupiter’s gravity will accelerate New Horizons towards Pluto, giving it an additional 14.500 km/h velocity. The stage will then be set for New Horizons to reach Pluto in 2015.
Zooming to Pluto, New Horizons Closes in on Jupiter
For a brief time in April 2006, the active region surrounding the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way settled down. Ten different sources of high energy rays all faded away temporarily, and ESA’s Integral probe was able to capture images of less bright regions, which weren’t completely obscured by the bright objects in their vicinity.
Integral sees the Galactic centre playing hide and seek
A planet-hunting satellite that launched in December 2006 has opened its eye to the stars. Its first images suggest the satellite’s instruments are in good working order, paving the way for planet searching to begin in February 2007. The mission, called “Convection, Rotation & Planetary Transits” (COROT) and led by France’s Centre Nationale d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), launched on December 27, 2006, from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will use a 27-centimetre telescope to look for the tiny brightness dips of stars caused by planets passing in front of them, potentially spotting planets just two or three times the size of Earth.
http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT/GP_actualite.htm#janv2007
The high-resolution camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged the 1997 landing site of NASA’s Mars Pathfinder, revealing new details of hardware on the surface and the geology of the region.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-005
Two years ago, planetary scientists across the world watched as Europe and the US did something amazing. The Huygens descent module drifted down through the hazy atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, beaming its data back to Earth via the Cassini mothership. Today, Huygens’s data are still continuing to surprise researchers.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEM7QJRMTWE_0.html
Deep down, the moon may be more like Earth than scientists ever thought. A new moon-rock study suggests the satellite has an iron core. The findings add weight to the theory that the moon formed from debris thrown off when a Mars-size object collided with the young Earth.
Planetary Geosciences Institute, University of Tennessee
