The Last 31 Days in Astronomy

JUL-23-07 • Life Necessary Compounds from Star • Astronomers at the University of Arizona have found interesting compounds flowing from the star VY Canis Majoris. So far they have found salt, hydrogen cyanide, phosphorous nitride and a lot of oxygen coming from this star. http://www.spacearchive.info/news-2007-07-23-ua.htm

JUL-24-07 • Planets with 4 suns • Spitzer has found a star, HD 98800 if you must know, that is a 4 star system and maybe planets. The evidence for the planets is circumstantial. A dusty disk around the two central stars has a gap in it that suggests planetary formation. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer20070724.html

JUL-31-07 • Rovers hit by dust storms • The Mars Rovers are having a tough time coping with the dust storms covering much of Mars. The rover Opportunity has experienced temperatures near the limit where some emergency heaters turn on. If they do, the energy consumption goes up and the solar panels are covered with dust. This could cause a low power fault on the rover which would cause it to essentially shutdown except for checking every so often if the energy levels are back up. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-083a

AUG-01-2007 • Cassini snow driving • The Cassini spacecraft may fly through the ice geyser spewing out of the Saturnian moon Enceladus. If the goahead is given for the maneuver, Cassini will travel to within X miles of the planet. It will orient itself to protect some instruments but the idea is to learn as much about this geyser as possible. This flyby will occur around March of 2008. http://www.space.com/news/070801_cassini_update.html

AUG-04-2007 • Mars Phoenix • The Mars Phoenix spacecraft headed toward the red planet starting a 9 month journey. The spacecraft is expected to land near but not at the Northern Pole of Mars (think Greenland). Landing is set for May 25,2008. http://jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-086

AUG-08-2007 • Shuttle Launch • The Space Shuttle Endeavor flew into space for the first time in nearly 5 years. While the media buzz is about former teacher Barbara Morgan’s first trip into space, this mission is full of ISS construction activities. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20178250/