The Four Ages Of Sand

Surface of Mars captured in fantastic new images

Well spotted Alan.

If you're as old as me you'll remember when the best images of Mars were little more than fuzzy orange blobs. Ah how far we've come.

See here for more:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16741199

 

Possible Disintegrating Short-Period Super-Mercury Orbiting KIC 12557548

It's important to have catchy titles with a blog don't you think? ;-)

This from David:

I'm melting...

Hi Iain,

This just in:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.2662

I f you get the chance, watch this month's Sky at Night on catch up too. There's a lot of very interesting sdtuff about the latest on planets around other stars, also some updates on wandring planets.

Boffins now believe that planets around stars may be the exception rather than the rule, and that most planets are wandering free in space. Thety estimate there could be 4 billion of them in our galaxy alone. If they are large enough they will produce heat, much as Jupiter does, and this means that life may exist on their moons. You can imagine aliens looking for other life in the universe and never thinking to look in the direction of the stars! Full story here:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/05/18/the-galaxy-may-swarm-with-billions-of-wandering-planets/

and here:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/05/homeless-planets-may-be-common.html

Supernova explosion gives a glimpse of how ingredients for life are created

Ah how I'll always regret not making time to look at supernova this year. 

I was getting pretty good at imaging galaxies (previous post)

And would easily have been able to photograph the supernova, but I was caught up with other projects at the time. 

Ah well, there'll be another one as big along in (an average of) 40 years...

In the meantime here's an update on the findings sent in by David. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/dec/14/supernova-explosion-glimpse-life-created

Kepler 22-b: Earth-like planet confirmed

Gosh this is the news we've been waiting for!

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet in the "habitable zone" around a star not unlike our own.

The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years away and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth, and has a temperature of about 22C.

It is the closest confirmed planet yet to one like ours - an "Earth 2.0".

However, the team does not yet know if Kepler 22-b is made mostly of rock, gas or liquid.

During the conference at which the result was announced, the Kepler team said that it had spotted some 1,094 new candidate planets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16040655

Thank goodness that during this busy time, 4AoSers are keeping the blog going by sending stuff. Actually both David and Alan sent this in, but Alan is the winner because he submitted 2 items

You're not keeping us informed:

Ukulele star Bill Tapia dies aged 103

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16021947

 

360-degree Panorama of the Southern Sky

Spotted by Alan. Impressive or what?

For the full size version, see here:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/360-degree_Panorama_of_the_Southern_Sky_edit.jpg

NASA in Final Preparations for Asteroid Flyby today

Well spotted Alan.

They say it's an asteroid approaching but it's clearly a space ship!

This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was generated from data taken in April 2010 by the Arecibo Radar Telescope in Puerto Rico. Image credit: NASA/Cornell/Arecibo 

(Click on the image to activate)

Animation of the trajectory for asteroid 2005 YU55 - November 8-9, 2011. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 

Full story here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/yu55-20111025.html

Nature's laws may vary across the Universe

Funny how times change. 20 years ago if you'd raised the possibility that the laws of the physics might be different in different parts of the Universe they would have laughed at you, now it's being seriously considered.

(spotter: David)

Image credit: Quasar spectrum: Michael Murphy, Swinburne University of Technology;  Hubble Ultra Deep Field: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team.

Full story here: 

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-nature-laws-vary-universe.html

Southern Lights images captured by ISS

Blimey, I thought this was a simulation to begin with

Truly stunning.

Click here for the video. (Spotter: Alan)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14998679

Nasa's Kepler telescope finds planet orbiting two suns

David and Alan sent this one in. Thanks to both, as there was no mention of it on the telly and I would have missed it.

A planet orbiting two suns - the first confirmed alien world of its kind - has been found by Nasa's Kepler telescope, the US space agency announced.

More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14940885

Question of the week: Who is the best astrophotographer in the world?

I had hoped it would be me one day, but with an increasingly busy life, I find I have less and less time to stand outside in the freezing cold for hours on end battling with light pollution and cloudy skies. 

The winner is...

Damien Peach. He has produced images that would have been impossible with the largest telescopes in the world just a few years and and which now rival space-based images. 

 

He's just won the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition with this stunning image of Jupiter and 2 of its moons. When you look through a telescope at Jupiter it appears as a small wobbling blob so to produce something like this is almost beyond belief. 

More photos and other winning images here and Alan spotted this great video of the best submissions to the competition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14792580

Here's his website. Prepare to be amazed.

http://www.damianpeach.com/

And please take a look at his composite video of Jupiter rotating. It's quite simply the best Earth-based Astro video I've ever seen:

http://damianpeach.com/barbados10/20100912whole.wmv