Blue Moon

Much was made of the New Years blue moon. It was pretty, but in other parts of the world, they had more reason to enjoy it with a 8% partial eclipse in Europe, Asia, Africa and parts of Alaska. The following are some photos from around the world. (Click on the thumbnail for the larger photo.)

Enjoy!

--->Susan

"The eclipsed 'Blue moon' rose over the Alaska Range just before sunrise," says photographer Calvin Hall of Palmer, Alaska. "It was a beautiful sight."

Anthony Ayiomamitis, Northeastern outskirts of Athens, Greece

Dave Parkhurst, Knik Arm/Cook Inlet

Denis Joye, St-Petersburg, Russia

Jean-Paul Roux, FRANCE

Bruce Chandler, Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Andrew Wall, 30km West of Blanchetown, South Australia

Here There Be Monsters

It's been a while since I posted about space news here. Things have been...well, hard enough here on Earth that I haven't been paying much attention to what's happening beyond our atmosphere, but this photo caught my eye.


It was taken by the probe Cassini and shows the reflection of the sun off of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons in the northern hemisphere of Saturn's moon Titan. The lake is named Kraken Mare and is about 400,000 square kilometers (150,000 square miles). By comparison, Lake Superior is 82,414 square kilometers (31,820 square miles).

No, it's not water, but it is exciting because it's proof that liquid does exist on the surface of a celestial body other than Earth. And that lake of hydrocarbons could represent an unimaginable source of energy that we'll be able to use someday.

Plans are already in the works to visit Titan and the Kraken Mare with the Titan Saturn System Mission, but liftoff won't be until after 2020.

The Cassini-Huygens probe was launched in 1997 and its primary mission objectives include studying the composition of Saturn's rings and the geology of Titan. So far, it has exceeded NASA's expectation and the 3.26B cost has been well spent.

The lake is named after the legendary sea monster. Tennyson wrote a poem about it:

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

In our lifetimes we may never know if monsters lurk beneath Kraken Mare on Titan, but at least we know liquid hydrocarbons do. And science is always more real than science fiction.

Cheers!

--->Susan

News from the 'Verse

Aurorae on Mars

The aurorae phenomenon has been confirmed on Mars by the infrared atmospheric spectronometer on the Mars Express Orbiter. The lights are not visible in regular light. Mars doesn't generate a planet-wide magentic field like here on Earth, so our aurorae will always be prettier.



Artist's rendition of the Mars Express Orbiter

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Intersystem Visitor

Comet Machholz 1, discovered in 1986, has such a bizarre chemical makeup that scientists now believe it may have come from beyond our solar system. David Schleicher, a planetary astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.believes that Machholz 1 could be an interstellar interloper. He's found that the comet contains much less of a carbon-nitrogen molecule called cyanogen compared with the average found in other comets.



This image taken by the ESA-NASA sunwatching spacecraft SOHO reveals Comet Machholz 1 close to the sun on Jan. 8, 2002. SOHO's coronograph hid the bright sun, the size of which is shown by the inner ring. Credit: SOHO/LASCO (ESA & NASA).

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Exoplanetary News

A newly discovered exoplanet nearly six times the mass of Jupiter was discovered orbiting the red giant star HD 102272, which is located 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Leo. The researchers detected the planet with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope of McDonald Observatory in Texas. They used the radial velocity method, which involves measuring the slight wobbles of a star caused by the tug of an orbiting planet.



This artist's impression shows a red supergiant engulfing a Jupiter-like planet as it expands. The red giant HD 102272 will likely not engulf its planet for another 100 million years when it begins to mushroom dramatically. Credit: NASA

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Great Conjunction

I hope y'all got a good look outside last night at the amazing skyshow of the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. I tried to get some pics, but forgot to set up the tripod in time so I missed it. However, here are some shots for your enjoyment.

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Lunar Conjunction

Romanian photographer Stanescu Octavian took this picture of the moon running over Venus. These happen just twice a year with the next being February 28, 2009 and will be wonderfully visible here in North America.

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NEO News

On December 2, 2008 there were 1002 potentially hazardous asteroids.

Dec. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Mag.	Size
2008 WY94	Dec. 5	3.2 LD	19	35 m
2008 WG14	Dec. 5	4.8 LD	17	49 m
2006 VB14	Dec. 14	36 LD	15	795 m
2008 EV5	Dec. 23	8.4 LD	13	435 m

That's all!

--->Susan