Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Astronomy

Intelligent Design?

In a universe where entropy prevails, it’s interesting to see something like this:

SPACE.com — Cosmic ‘DNA’: Double Helix Spotted in Space

Magnetic forces at the center of the galaxy have twisted a nebula into the shape of DNA, a new study reveals.

Image: Double Helix Nebula – Credit: M. Morris, UCLA

The double helix shape is commonly seen inside living organisms, but this is the first time it has been observed in the cosmos.

“Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm,” said the study’s lead author Mark Morris of UCLA. “Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas—space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order.”

[ read more ]

It turns out that this phenomenon may be an effect caused by a large gravitational mass orbiting our galaxy center; the gravitational attraction causes the dust and gas in the nebula to twirl around every 10,000 years or so, as the nebula slowly drifts away from galaxy center on a line roughly perpendicular to the galactic plane. This theory is consistent with the observations.

Picture the Blue Angels in an air show doing formation aileron rolls with smoke jettisoning from the F-18s. The resulting double or triple helix is a real crowd pleaser.

16 Mar 2006 by Astronomy Science

Solar and Terrestrial Conveyor Belts

We previously posted the prediction of the next solar maximum in this article. Now, another article from NASA on essentially the same topic offers a different twist; the notion of similarities between the terrestrial ocean “conveyor belt” and a conveyor belt phenomenon postulated to occur in the solar interior are considered in the article:

NASA – Solar Storm Warning

It’s official: Solar minimum has arrived. Sunspots have all but vanished. Solar flares are nonexistent. The sun is utterly quiet.

Like the quiet before a storm.

[more]

In the article, they refer to the “ocean conveyor belt” which is an attribute of ocean circulation patterns. These patterns can alter the climate in certain areas . For example, the Gulf Stream portion of the “conveyor” keeps Northwestern Europe more temperate than normal for a high-latitude area. Likewise, Hawaii is cooler than many 20th latitude tropical areas due to the California Current, another segment of the “belt.” Left: Illustration of ocean circulation “conveyor belt” – NASA

The article describes the solar circulation pattern a bit more:

The sun’s conveyor belt is a current, not of water, but of electrically-conducting gas. It flows in a loop from the sun’s equator to the poles and back again. Just as the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt controls weather on Earth, this solar conveyor belt controls weather on the sun. Specifically, it controls the sunspot cycle.

[ . . . ]

The top of the conveyor belt skims the surface of the sun, sweeping up the magnetic fields of old, dead sunspots. The ‘corpses’ are dragged down at the poles to a depth of 200,000 km where the sun’s magnetic dynamo can amplify them. Once the corpses (magnetic knots) are reincarnated (amplified), they become buoyant and float back to the surface. Presto — new sunspots!

I think the comparison between the solar circulation and Earth’s ocean circulation is interesting, but the circulation of solar plasma is probably more analogous to the triple-cell atmospheric circulation model here on Earth, where there is lateral motion due to the rotation of the planet and Coriolis forces. Since the sun is effectively gaseous (albeit dense), the same sorts of forces should be in effect.

Left: Triple circulation cell illustration – WikiPedia

Don’t forget that both conveyor belts on Earth are driven by the energy of the Sun. The added insight into the Sun’s most complex workings will continue to benefit mankind. As solar research continues and we learn even more about the Sun, it will better enable us to prepare for the terrestrial effects of solar activity, whether it be for colder or warmer.

12 Mar 2006 by Astronomy Global Warming Science

Planet Mercury in the Twilight

If you step out this evening or or tomorrow evening, you might catch a glimpse of the seldom-seen planet – Mercury. Known as the Incredible Shrinking Planet, Mercury is about to slip back out of sight as it disappears behind the Sun until it emerges later this year.

Right: Mercury over the Rockies as seen from Denver – Credit: Jeffrey Beall.

Meanwhile, a little known NASA mission – MESSENGER – got a boost from it’s thrusters to place it on trajectory for another gravity-assisted sling around planet Venus toward it’s ultimate goal of orbiting the closest planet to the sun.

New Scientist has some information about NASA’s MESSENGER mission:

Messenger probe nudged towards Venus flyby

NASA’s first mission to Mercury in more than 30 years completed its final trajectory correction manoeuvre on Wednesday before a flyby of Venus in October 2006.

Messenger – short for Mercury, Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging – is on a 7.9 billion kilometre path to becoming the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

Note: words in the New Scientist article are spelled correctly – at least in the UK where the magazine is based.

24 Feb 2006 by Astronomy Rocket Science

Stars – Celestial vs. Celebrity

Caving into the almighty quest for capital, a famous London company will shut down a popular planetarium & science exhibit in favor of shows featuring celebrities. In essence, celestial stars are out, superficial stars are in.

From Sky and Telescope: London Planetarium to Close

February 22, 2006 The stars at one of central London’s well-known tourist attractions will go dark for good this July. Madame Tussauds waxworks, the owner of the London Planetarium, has decided to close the facility as the company shifts its focus from science education to entertainment. The planetarium (renamed the Auditorium) will soon replace its shows with programs about celebrities.

Built in the 1950s, the London Planetarium seats around 330 under its green 18-meter (60-foot) dome. Although Madame Tussauds had cut the screenings of its shows to just one 10-minute program called “Journey to Infinity,” the planetarium has remained very popular with local schoolchildren and their teachers.

“The London Planetarium has inspired generations of schoolchildren,” notes Robin Scagell, vice president of Britain’s Society for Popular Astronomy. “Many parents can still remember their first visit to it when they were young. To lose the planetarium now would be a tragedy.”

The Royal Observatory’s new, state-of-the-art 120-seat planetarium in Greenwich Park, about 30 minutes from downtown London by boat or rail, is currently under construction and won’t be completed until early 2007. “The only other planetarium of any size within striking distance of London,” says Scagell, “is the South Downs Planetarium near Chichester on the South Coast, about 60 miles from the capital, which is certainly not readily accessible unless you happen to be in the area.”

“I don’t think the Madame Tussauds management wants to sell or lease out the London Planetarium,” he adds. “It’s a valuable bit of real estate in a very expensive part of the world, and I’m sure they want to hang on to it. The dome itself is not a listed building, that is, not protected as being of historic or architectural value, but I doubt that they would want to pull it down just yet.”

It’s a shame to trade science for sensationalism. Most celestial stars are in their main sequence and will glow for billions of years to come. Terrestrial stars might be compared to final sequence giant stars, which have only a short time left before they collapse into the dwarfs they are all destined to become.

23 Feb 2006 by Astronomy Science

New Horizons off to Pluto

Today, the New Horizons spacecraft was launched from the Cape Canaveral Launch Complex. It looked spectacular on NASA’s streaming video!

From NASA:

NASA – New Horizons

After launch aboard a Lockheed-Martin Atlas V rocket, the New Horizons spacecraft set out on a journey to the edge of the solar system. Liftoff occurred Jan. 19, 2006 at 2:00:00 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. New Horizons is headed for a distant rendezvous with the mysterious planet Pluto almost a decade from now.

Space artist Dan Durda was commissioned to do artist’s renditions for the project and thinks that New Horizons could encounter this view of Pluto and Charon while looking back toward the Sun when it arrives in a decade:

19 Jan 2006 by Aerospace Astronomy Rocket Science

Stardust Home After 2.88 Billion Mile Voyage

The Stardust probe landed safely in Utah this morning, bringing with it cometary and interstellar particles collected over a nearly 3 billion mile journey. After the recovered capsule is returned to Houston, it will be opened and the process of analysis will begin. Home PC users are being asked to help with locating and identifying recovered particles.

NASA’s Stardust sample return mission returned safely to Earth when the capsule carrying cometary and interstellar particles successfully touched down at 2:10 a.m. Pacific time (3:10 a.m. Mountain time) in the desert salt flats of the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range.

“Ten years of planning and seven years of flight operations were realized early this morning when we successfully picked up our return capsule off of the desert floor in Utah,” said Tom Duxbury, Stardust project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “The Stardust project has delivered to the international science community material that has been unaltered since the formation of our solar system.”

. . .

The sample return capsule’s science canister and its cargo of comet and interstellar dust particles will be stowed inside a special aluminum carrying case to await transfer to the Johnson Space Center, Houston, where it will be opened. NASA’s Stardust mission traveled 2.88 billion miles during its seven-year round-trip odyssey. Scientists believe these precious samples will help provide answers to fundamental questions about comets and the origins of the solar system.

My money’s on finding traces of the same heavy elements we see on our own planet and in spectrographs of astronomical objects throughout the universe.

Read NASA’s Comet Tale Draws to a Successful Close in Utah Desert for the entire story.

15 Jan 2006 by Astronomy Rocket Science

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