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Carnival of Space Week 84 – Next Big Future

Superb! Possibly for the first time ever, an Astroengine.com article features at the top of page for the Carnival of Space! Nice. It’s more than likely luck, but I really appreciate Brian Wang reading and posting my article about the Space Exploration Crisis. As it turns out, there are a few blogs that are concerned about the recent NASA turmoil, and the pressure will be on President-elect Barack Obama to enact some changes…

So, this week, be sure to check out week 84 of the Carnival of Space at Brian Wang’s Next Big Future. There are loads of space news articles from all over the web, in fact each CoS seems to be getting bigger and bigger; compiling all the submissions from the space blogosphere is no easy task. However, Brian did a great job this week, and I’ll be sure to give a rundown on some of the entries that caught my eye during Wednesday’s Astroengine Live…

Tune into Paranormal Radio… Now! A Chat About Anti-Gravity

I’ll be appearing on Paranormal Radio to chat about anti-gravity with Captain Jack… right now! The show has already started, but it’s a three-hour show, so you’ve got plenty of time to tune in! Check out the Paranormal Radio website for details, I’m sure it will be fun! I have very little opinion on the subject… but I think that might change tonight…

Astroengine Live Notes #5: Water Interrupts Play…

Turns out cable and live radio do not mix...

I went into today’s show a little disorganized after tending to a flood in the garage. I was a little rushed to prepare all my notes, so I thought I’d do a more informal show, running through the Carnival of Space, and ending up discussing the recent Obama-NASA funding debate. Alas, things got a little worse than just wet socks. The microphone died in the first 15 seconds of the show and then my Internet connection went completely AWOL, ripping Astroengine Live from the airwaves (I was even broadcasting across Central Texas via KVMP Radio, 99.9FM!). According to my cable company, due to the adverse weather (i.e. rain. Yes, rain. Not snow, blizzards or electrical storms. Rain), cable was “patchy” in some regions.

So, no more live radio shows in the rain, then. Fortunately this is California where rain is a fleeting feature.

Anyhow, I am currently editing the show that did record my end to remove the ominous silent patch. Alas I wasn’t able to get to the meat of my discussion, and fell back on my backup instead. Oh well, more to discuss next week. Regardless of the technical issues, I hope you enjoyed this week’s show, next week will be far more polished. Thanks for tuning in!

Cheers, Ian

Astroengine Live #5: Constellation… A Bad Idea?

Sorry for the late post on today’s Astroengine Live, running woefully behind schedule. However, the show will be going live at 4pm PST/7pm EST (that’s about 2 hours from when I post this). I have some assorted news from the week’s goings on in space, so be sure to tune in. However, if you miss the live broadcast, you can catch up with all the archives soon after I’m off air, so be sure to keep an eye on the nifty radio player on the Astroengine Live pages. A special thanks goes to John Greenewald at Black Vault Radio for hosting my shows and making my archives a reality!

There isn’t a specific theme for today’s show, but no doubt I’ll be having a rant about NASA funding, so I’ll be discussing the recent articles I’ve written on the subject. There is actually a live teleconference today at 4pm EST at NASA HQ discussing the progress of Constellation, so I’ll try to bring you updates from that if and when I get them… why do I get the feeling it’s not going to be pretty…?

Anyhow, I’ll give a rundown of all the space news, plus the Carnival of Space. I’ll also be giving a rundown of the activities of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) who are doing an astounding job keeping their eyes on those variable stars. I hope to do an interview with Mike Simonsen who has been a member of the AAVSO for many years in the future to get an idea about what his job entails…

Get Involved!

Have any articles or stories you want to contribute? Have an opinion on anything in the world of space? Email me on astro@wprtradio.com and I’ll be sure to give it a mention. Eventually, I hope to have telephone call-ins, but for now, email will do.

Listen to Astroengine Live using your default streaming audio player.

The Space Exploration Crisis

President-elect Barack Obama has some big challenges to confront when he takes office in January. Let's hope it's not to the detriment to the US space agency

When you look up on a starry night, what do you see?

Do you see a Universe with endless potential and resources for mankind to discover? Or, do you see an unnecessary challenge; too expensive, too risky and too pointless to consider wasting billions of tax-payers dollars on?

Right now, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is pondering the future of US manned spaceflight, and I’m sure they are addressing each of the above questions in turn. There has always been an unhealthy mix of politics and spin when it comes to the way NASA is funded, and while it would appear NASA’s future is confronted with a flood of budget cuts and red tape, the Obama administration will want to put a positive light on whatever direction they choose.

However, it will be hard to justify a funding cut (and therefore a delay) of the Constellation Program. We already have a “5-year gap” between Shuttle decommissioning and proposed Ares launch (2010-2015), if this block on US-administered manned spaceflight is extended, the damage inflicted on NASA will be irreversible. However, I doubt we’d ever be able to measure the permanent damage caused to mankind.
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Top 5 Space Exploration Mishaps of 2008

In the last 12 months, we’ve seen some of the most astonishing advances in space exploration technology. From SpaceX launching the first commercial rocket into Earth orbit to seeing the first Chinese spacewalk, all of our endeavours in space will help develop the future of manned spaceflight. Even the recently published Time Magazine Top 10 Scientific Discoveries list space and physics endeavours high up the list.

However, there is a flip-side to this coin. Fortunately there has been no loss of life through manned spaceflight in 2008, but we’ve had our fair share of mishaps. Some have been expensive, some just embarrassing, but each one has taught us what to do, and what not to do, as we begin to venture further from the protective atmosphere of Earth. So, to recognise our mistakes, and move on from them, here are the Top 5 Space Exploration mishaps of 2008…
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Fire at Auckland Warehouse Caused by Meteorite Impact? (Update)

Update (16:00 PST Dec. 14th): Eyewitness accounts are becoming more detailed, if you were in the Auckland area at 10pm (December 13th) and you saw something, please let me know (by leaving a comment below). Please give as detailed an account as possible, including your location and the direction at which you saw the meteorite. Hopefully we’ll piece this event together…

Auckland warehouse fire. Meteorite or foul play? (Paul Tonkin)

A fire erupted in an Auckland warehouse shortly after several eyewitness reported seeing a meteorite over the North Island of New Zealand. One witness (named “Mike”) even went as far to say that he watched the fiery object hit the Ponsonby area of the city, followed by an exploding noise.

The time of the several eyewitness reports (not amateur astronomer reports I want to point out) and the start of the blaze appears to correlate (although the local media is a little sketchy about the details at the moment). Apparently the fire caused serious roof damage to the warehouse and there was one minor casualty (a man who happened to be in the building at the time). However, none of the surrounding buildings were touched.

The meteorite was observed at around 10pm last night, and the fire was eventually extinguished at 11:30pm.
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Introducing the Exomoon, and Detecting them via Exoplanet Wobble

Exomoon: The natural satellite of an exoplanet.

Before today, I hadn’t heard anything about the possibility of looking for moons orbiting planets in other star systems. Sorry, exomoons orbiting exoplanets in other star systems. But a British astronomer has calculated that it is possible to not only detect exomoons, but it is possible to deduce their distance from the parent exoplanet and their mass.

All this is done by measuring the exoplanet’s “wobble”; a practice more commonly used in the pursuit of the exoplanets themselves. By detecting the wobble of distant stars, the gravitational pull of the exoplanet becomes obvious. The same can be done with exoplanets, possibly revealing the presence of Earth-like exomoons.

Of the 300+ exoplanets discovered, 30 are within the habitable zones of their stars. If these large gas giant exoplanets (usually several times the mass of Jupiter) have an exoplanet system of their own, these exomoons also fall within the habitable zone…

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

For the full article, check out Astronomers Now Looking For Exomoons Around Exoplanets on the Universe Today…

Small but Mighty: KPD 0005+5106, the 200,000K White Dwarf

A white dwarf called KPD 0005+5106 has been identified as the hottest star observed, ever. KPD 0005+5106 lives in the globular cluster M4, 7,200 light years away, and astronomers have always been intrigued by this stellar lightweight as its emissions have previously hinted it was quite toasty. Now, astronomers using data from the defunct NASA Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), have studied the white dwarf in more detail. KPD 0005+5106 emits radiation in the far-ultraviolet, indicating that its surface has a temperature of 200,000K. This is an unprecedented discovery, far-ultraviolet emissions are usually reserved for superheated stellar coronae. It may be small, but it’s a record-breaker…
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Carnival of Space Week 83 – Astroblog

Yes, I know it's upside down, but this is how Mars looks from Australia... really

Fresh from the land down under Ian Musgrave presents the Antipodian edition of the Carnival of Space. It’s a strange experience, and my caffeine-addled morning brain had a hard job understanding what was going on. But why are all the pictures are upside down? I pondered for a few seconds… Ah, now I get it, Ian lives in Australia! Fortunately I didn’t embarrass myself by sending him a message, advertising my sleep-deprived state. This got me thinking, if I host the Carnival, do I need to tilt all the images 56°… left? I might just do that next time and confuse Mr Musgrave with my SoCal edition of the Carnival… or, perhaps, I need to get back to bed…

So, enough of the rambling, get over to Astroblog for a superb Carnival, with loads of superb posts from the world of space blogging!