And new: An experimental German companion to the CM.
Update # 147 of September 16th, 1999, at 20:00 UTC
Supersharp Chandra image published!But ACIS spectra worse than expectedThe High Resolution Camera (HRC) of the Chandra X-ray Observatory has now taken its first 'pretty picture' - and pretty it is: Although the source, the supernova remnant N132D, is located in another galaxy, the LMC, the HRC image shows a lot of details. The N132D supernova remnant appears to be colliding with a giant molecular cloud, which produces a brightening on the southern rim of the remnant. The Chandra image is so rich in structure that it will take a while to sort out what is really going on: It could be multiple supernovae or absorbing clouds in the vicinity of the supernova.Even though Chandra's checkout has gone very smoothly, the science and engineering team is working a concern with a portion of one science instrument. The team is investigating a reduction in the energy resolution of one of two sets of X-ray detectors in the ACIS instrument. A series of diagnostic activities to characterize the degradation, identify possible causes, and test potential remedial procedures is underway. The degradation appeared in the front-side illuminated CCD chips of the ACIS. The instrument's back-side illuminated chips have shown no reduction in capability and continue to perform flawlessly. Even if these chips degrade to a point where they are no longer usable for spectroscopy, the vast majority of the experiments planned with the ACIS instrument can still be performed using the back-side illuminated chips or the other focal plane instrument, the HRC, NASA insists. |
Chandra's new pictures and a related press release ( MSFC, NASA versions). The ACIS troubles: Sept. 14 Update, CNN, SpaceViews stories. The Chandra Chronicles and Status Reports. ROSAT saw the point source in Cas A, too (the one that Chandra detected in its 'First Light' image; see Update # 145 and IAUC #7246): The object had been recorded earlier by the German X-ray satellite. The measurements are "consistent with blackbody emission from a 10-km radius neutron star with a temperature of 1.6 MK, and this supports the view that the object is the Cas A neutron star": IAUC #7249. "Kendall Square, we have a problem": a report from Chandra's control center in the Boston Phoenix. News from the other big X-ray satellite: XMM classroom competitions are being organized by ESA - details and a press release. |
New shuttle launch schedule announcedThe next two launches will be further delayed and also swapped, NASA announced Sept. 9th: First to go is STS-103, the new HST Servicing Mission by Discovery, with a launch no earlier than October 28th. And 2nd comes STS-99, Endeavour's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission - not before November 19th. And the next shuttle flight to the ISS will probably not happen before Jan. 22nd, 2000 (in contrast the Russian Proton launch of the Servive Module is now set for Nov. 12, 1999). Shuttle program officials have emphasized that these launch dates are tentative, and are dependent on the outcome of wiring inspections and repairs that are ongoing on both orbiters. |
SpaceViews story, earlier CNN comments. Related news: U.S. Congress keeps devastating NASA budget cuts intact: Fla. Today, SpaceViews stories, a chronology. Meanwhile the protests continue, while the ISS has survived again: ABC. Last development - the Senate subcommittee restores the budget: Space.com + update; SpaceViews. |
Close flyby of new minor planet on Sept. 23rdOn September 11th, the LINEAR 1-meter robotic camera in Socorro, New Mexico, operated by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, caught the first images of a 15th-magnitude asteroid with unusually rapid motion in the constellation Sculptor. During the next three days 11 other astrometric stations operated by amateur and professional astronomers around the world responded with more than 50 follow-up observations. These allowed to compute a preliminary orbit and designate the object 1999 RQ36. Probably less than half a kilometer across, this object should continue to brighten as it moves from Fornax into Eridanus in the next week or so.According to the first orbit, it will pass only 0.015 AU from Earth - about 6 times the Moon's distance - around September 23rd. At that time it will be about magnitude 13.9, similar to Pluto's brightness, as it races northeastward across Orion near the bright star Betelgeuse. While this event does not really qualify as a "near miss" (a handful of minor planets pass this close to Earth in any given year), the low-inclination orbit suggests the object could come considerably nearer during some future revolution. |
1999 RQ36 elements and ephemeris from the MPC. Related stories: NEO search to return in Australia - thanks to help from the University of Arizona, an old Australian telescope will be refurbished for the search of Near Earth Objects which had been abandoned by the Aussie government some years ago: U. of AZ Press Release. A minor planet priority list for objects needing urgent observations is now available in Italy. Dust in the atmosphere has a cosmic origin: Particles collected in the stratosphere by high-altitude aircraft may actually have its origin in interstellar space - Space.com. |
Auction features rare U.S. astronaut memorabiliaThe Christies auction "Space Exploration" on Sept. 18 in New York - briefly mentioned in the last issue - offers a rare chance to get personal memorabilia from - mainly U.S. - astronauts. "In spite of the key events of the U.S. and Russian Space Programs occuring within the last 50 years," the catalog explains, "significant items are already difficult to find, residing in institutions, with the astronauts themselves, or simply disposed of. [...] The present sale represents one of the most diversified collections of austronaut [sic] memorabilia ever offered to the public." Some more items from Russia - already a focus of several major auctions since 1993 - are also available. A sampling of the most important (or most unusual) items I found while browsing the catalog:
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Christies space page. View the lots! More stories from the NYT, CNN, ABC, Astronomy and CollectSpace.com. |
First Catalog of Gamma-ray Universe releasedOn Sept. 16 a list of the 63 gamma ray sources detected by the Imaging Compton Instrument (COMPTEL) on NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory has finally been released. "The catalog represents several years of data analysis," says Mark McConnell, a member of the COMPTEL team, "and yet it underscores how little we know about the universe as seen in the gamma ray part of the spectrum." Of the 63 gamma-ray sources in the COMPTEL catalog, thirty-two are steady sources, such as neutron stars and black hole candidates; the remaining 31 are mysterious gamma-ray bursts, which outshine the entire universe before fading within a few seconds. COMPTEL, one of four instruments aboard CGRO, captures a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has been previously unexplored, and it fills a gap between more easily detectable lower- and higher-energy gamma rays.Two unique sources that appear in the COMPTEL energy range are isotopes of titanium (Ti-44) and aluminum (Al-26), which are both produced in supernova explosions. Ti-44 has a half-life of 60 years; Al-26 has a half-life of 700,000 years. The detection of decaying titanium, therefore, can lead to the discovery of young supernova remnants; decaying aluminum can point to ancient supernova remnants. Both metals, in fact, played a role in COMPTEL's discovery of a supernova remnant now called GRO/RX J0852, which was as bright as the moon when it exploded 700 years ago yet somehow remained undocumented until last year. Other objects in COMPTEL's range include pulsars and active galactic nuclei (AGN). (University of New Hampshire Press Release of Sept. 16, 1999) |
Compton Observatory Homepage. COMPTEL Homepage. UNH Press Release. |
Cape Canaveral narrowly escapes Floyd's wrathFor the first time ever the Kennedy Space Center and the adjacent launch facilities for unmanned rockets have faced the danger of major destruction by a hurricane - but Floyd's sudden turn to the North has saved billions of dollars in hardware. "Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Station and Patrick Air Force Base reported only superficial damage from Hurricane Floyd on Wednesday," Florida Today reports now: "NASA's shuttle fleet was kept safe inside facilities at KSC, where Hurricane Floyd caused only minor damage to the center's grounds and some structures. Water was blown under the door of a hangar where three of NASA's $2 billion spaceships are being prepared for future missions. But it didn't reach the shuttles." The 4 ELVs on their launchpads didn't suffer either, but their launch preparations are delayed somewhat. The same will probably be true for the next shuttle mission that might not meet the Oct. 28 date mentioned in a previous story. If not launched by Nov. 4, Discovery would be delayed until Nov. 19: NASA does not want a shuttle in space during the Leonids. The next mission might be pushed into January in this case. |
Hurricanes of 1999 and what they mean for Florida. The Floyd Journal. And Space.com coverage. National Hurricane Center Homepage with predictions for the current hurricanes. News coverage about the threat to Cape Canaveral from the NYT, CNN, MSNBC, Space.com and SpaceViews. |
5th isolated old neutron star foundOf the estimated 100 million isolated neutron stars in the Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have found only about 700 that reveal themselves by their pulsed radio emissions. However, a large fraction of them can't be detected this way. Recent X-ray imaging of the sky is an efficient means to find more of these stars, especially the relatively close ones. Astronomers have now identified the fifth of this kind.Isolated neutron stars can radiate energy by one of two ways. Despite their age, they could still glow X-ray hot from the initial explosion. Or, the star's gravitational pull could attract nearby gas from the interstellar medium, the rush of which onto the surface of the neutron star would glow in X-rays. The recent discovery, a source called RX J1605+3249, is likely glowing in X-ray by itself from thermal emission and not by accreting interstellar gas. |
GSFC Press Release. |
Yet another moon of Uranushas been discovered telescopically from Earth, bringing the total to 21: IAUC #7248, Space.com.A big planet or a small brown dwarf?Astronomers have spotted a mysterious dark object the size of over a dozen Jupiters in the constellation Orion. Perhaps too light to be a brown dwarf the object could be a giant planet drifting alone through space: InSCIght story.NRO drops LockMart for Boeing as spysat makerLockheed had been the supplier of reconnaissance satellites for the U.S. since the early days - but now the National Reconnaissance Office has given the 6 billion dollar contract for the next generation of (cheaper) imaging spy sats to Boeing. That's another big blow for LockMart that had to suffer through various launch failures recently... (AW&ST of Sept. 13, 1999, p. 26-28 + Space.com story)Old spysat pix of Antarctica have now been released: NSF Press Release and picture pages, an ABC story. A hyperspectral camera developped by NASA sees the Earth with new eyes: NYT story. The future of Earth observation with privately owned hi-res satellites: an interview. Worth reading
Worth looking at
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Dust devils on Marswere seen by the Pathfinder camera: check out the Sept. 15 GRL highlights (esp. the figure + caption at end of the file). Also a small MSNBC story.The Mars Climate Orbiter is approaching its target and has delivered the first Mars image Also in the PhotoJournal; coverage by SpaceViews. The final trajectory correction of the MCO has also taken place, on Sept. 15: JPL Press Release, Space.com story. The U.S. experiment for Mars Express is now financed - it will use radar in a search for underground water on Mars: UIA Press Release.
The grand finale for Galileois approaching fast, with the last Callisto flyby under way and the first close Io flyby in October: NASA Science News.Russian capsule carries European experimentsThe Foton 12, launched September 9th on a Soyuz rocket from Plesetsk, will return Sept. 25th - ESA page, Sweden's telescience unit, SpaceViews story.All hope abandoned for Mir in Russia? So says space boss Koptev: BBC, ABC stories.
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All other historical issues can be found in the Archive.
The U.S. site of this Cosmic Mirror has been visited
since it was issued (the German site has no counter).
Compiled and written by Daniel Fischer
(send me a mail to dfischer@astro.uni-bonn.de!), Skyweek