NASA spacecraft reveals recent geological activity on the moon
New images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft show the moon’s crust is being stretched, forming minute valleys in a few small areas on the lunar surface. Scientists propose this geologic activity occurred less than 50 million years ago, which is considered recent compared to the moon’s age of more than 4.5 billion years. A team of researchers analyzing high-resolution images obtained by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) show small, narrow trenches typically much longer than they are wide. Read more
Scientists see ‘sloshing’ galaxy cluster
A Naval Research Laboratory scientist is part of a team that has recently discovered that vast clouds of hot gas are “sloshing” in Abell 2052, a galaxy cluster located about 480 million light years from Earth. The scientists are studying the hot (30 million degree) gas using X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical data from the Very Large Telescope to see the galaxies. “The X-ray images were amazing. We were able to see gas sloshing like liquid in a glass” explains NRL’s Dr. Tracy Clarke. “Of course this would be one enormous glass since we see the gas sloshing over a region of nearly a million light years across!” Read more
Astronomy: A Beginner’s Guide to the Universe (6th Edition)
The authors incorporate three themes in this briefer version of their two textbooks; process of science (how we know what we know), the size and scale of the universe as well as the evolution of the universe. Astronomy: A Beginner’s Guide to the Universe (6th Edition)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: A Year of Achievement and Success
The James Webb Space Telescope marked a year of significant progress in 2011 as it continues to come together as NASA’s next generation space telescope. The year brought forth a pathfinder backplane to support the large primary mirror structure, mirror cryotesting, creation of mirror support structures, several successful sunshield layer tests and the creation of an assembly station within NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s cleanroom. Achievements were also made in the areas of flight and communications software and the propulsion system. In December, manufacturing and testing of all flight mirrors was completed in a final test at the X-ray and Calibration Facility at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. During these tests mirror segments were chilled to temperatures similar to those Webb will see in space, around minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Read more
BARSKA 40070 Starwatcher Compact Refractor Telescope
The BARSKA 40070
BARSKA 40070 Starwatcher Compact Refractor Telescope with Table Top Tripod And Carrying Case
- Portable refractor telescope for aspiring astronomers
- 300x maximum power with 70mm objective lens
- Eyepieces with 3x Barlow lens
- Includes pan-head tripod and carrying case
- Includes tripod and carrying case
Lunar Eclipse
A lunar eclipse is coming Saturday, the first visible in the US in 2011. Don’t miss it — the next total eclipse that will be visible in the United States won’t be until 2014. This year’s second total lunar eclipse on Saturday, Dec. 10, will offer a rare chance to see a strange celestial sight traditionally thought impossible.
Great areas for the lunar eclipse can be found in Alaska, Hawaii, northwestern Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia. Over the contiguous United States and Canada, the eastern zones will see either only the initial penumbral stages before moonset, or nothing at all.
Astronomers look to neighboring galaxy for star formation insight
An international team of astronomers has mapped in detail the star-birthing regions of the nearest star-forming galaxy to our own, a step toward understanding the conditions surrounding star creation. Led by University of Illinois astronomy professor Tony Wong, the researchers published their findings in the December issue of the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. Read more
Current Moon Phase
New Moon The moon is currently in Pisces The moon is 1 day old
Distance: 62 earth radii
Ecliptic latitude: 5 degrees
Ecliptic longitude: 351 degrees
