The Last 31 Days in Astronomy

DEC-13-2007 • New Work for Deep Impact • The Deep Impact spacecraft has two new mission objectives. It will swing by Earth a few times and eventually fly by comet Hartley 2 on Oct. 11, 2010. In the meantime, one of the onboard telescopes will be pointed at known extrasolar planetary systems to see if planets as small as three Earth masses can be detected. The spacecraft mission is now calle Epoxi. It was going to investigate another comet but comet Boethin has apparently broken up and can no longer be detected. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-150

DEC-18-2007 • GRB from nothing? • Last February, gamma ray burst GRB 070125 was detected by the Swift spacecraft. When the afterglow faded it was expected that the source of the GRB would be seen. But even with the 10-meter Keck telescope, no host galaxy has been found. It seems like there must be a new class of objects that can cause powerful gamma-ray bursts. In this case, the object would be 9.4 billion lightyears away. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/12604061.html

DEC-21-2007 • 2009, The International Year of Astronomy • The year 2009 has been declared the International Year of Astronomy. Did you think this is old news? The International Astronomical Union made this declaration months ago but it was not until December that the United Nations’ General Assembly anted up. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/12718882.html

JAN-03-2008 • Super sized SETI@home • I know what you are thinking. SETI is going to start using the Allen Telescope Array and it has new computers. Who needs SETI@home anymore? Turns out that a refurbished Arecibo radio telescope is pulling 300 Gb a day for SETI and the SETI@home software has been upgraded as well. http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6443

JAN-04-2008 • Life building blocks found extrasolar • Tholins, a complex organic molecule, have been found around the star HR 4796A. This star is believed to be in the last stages of forming planets. http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6446

JAN-08-2008 • Supernova blue • Consider the possible deleterious effects of a supernova. What would be the worst of it? Gamma-rays; X-rays; high energy particles? What about blue light? Turns out that visible blue light might be worse - obviously blue light gets through the atmosphere better than many forms of radiation. Also, a nearly constant addition in blue light might mess up the internal clock of planets, animals and even humans. More to the point, there is a possibility that the blue light effect might visit the Earth if future supernova candidate Eta Carinae follows the pattern of SN 2006gy. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080108-eta-carinae.html

JAN-09-2008 • New record for black hole size • A massive black hole, 18 billion times the mass of the sun, has been found. The black hole has another black hole orbiting it. The previous record was 3 billion solar masses. The binary black hole powers a quasar that is 3.5 billion lightyears away in the constellation Cancer. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080109-aas-massive-black-holes.html

JAN-09-2008 • Astronomy team discovers ancestors of Milky Way-type galaxies • Astronomers at Rutgers and Penn State universities have discovered galaxies in the distant universe that are ancestors of spiral galaxies like our Milky Way. The galaxies are quite small – one-tenth the size and one-twentieth the mass of our Milky Way. They also have fewer stars – only one-fortieth as many as are in the Milky Way. From ground-based telescopes, they look like individual stars in size. Recent images made by the Hubble Space Telescope, however, reveal them as regions of active star formation. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080108142446.htm

JAN-10-2008 • Mars asteroid bash cancelled • It turns out the asteroid 2007 WD5 will not crash into Mars after all. Previously it appeared that there might be a chance for a Tunguska-sized event on the red planet. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080109-mars-asteroid-update.html