Students discover new 'nearby' Super Nova:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25860454

The cool thing about this for me is that UCL is my old college where I studied Astronomy & Physics and Dr Fossey who was taking the class is one of my old lecturers.

What got me though was the difference 20 years makes. The students were sat eating pizza while observing! Would never have happened in my day! we would have been out in the cold of the domes observing by eye and taking photographs on plates!

How about that? Me too (pure Astronomy), except I was there early 80s and Dr Fossey must have arrived later, although you will know "M²D". I well remember the nights up at Mill Hill, including one night when I dragged a supervisor up there for a 5am photo opportunity of the crescent Moon for my 3rd year project. Unfortunately due to a mix up mainly caused by getting the time of moonrise from the previous day's paper there was nothing to photograph, after setting everything up and waiting all night. I was not popular! Was there still a sign up at the observatory saying "Abandon hope all ye who enter"?

And miraculously, the skies have cleared up (at least in this part of the country), so a bunch of us from my local Astro Society are going up to our regular rural dark-sky site for a few hours tonight.
M82 and it's new supernova will be number 1 on the target list.

In my 1st year I got to look through a scope at something precisely once, the winter was so rubbish! Looking back now I was at UCL just at the wrong time, just at the end of 'traditional' astronomy but before modern computer based astronomy. In my first year practical astronomy course I had two papers in particular, the first locating your position accurately using a theodolite (now superseded by GPS) and the second learning how to use and develop photographic film (superseded by CCD). That was fully 50% of the whole module which is probably now used to develop image processing techniques or some other relevant skill.

M2D was my tutor one year! Eccentric to say the least, but good fun. Looking at the roster of staff in the department now I can barely recognise any of the names, not much of a surprise 20 years on.

Ah the theodolite experiment! And trailing round Mill Hill taking arty photographs to develop! You are giving me very nostalgic flashbacks. I wonder if you spent another few sessions measuring plates of spectra with a micrometer too.

I notice M²D retired a couple of years ago, he was very entertaining, unlike one or two of the lecturers I could mention.

I don't know if you've been back up there recently, but since they persuaded the council, after years of trying, to install energy saving, shielded lighting on the A41 it got so dark in the observatory grounds that they had to actually install safety lighting! Ironic or what?

Astronomy books and programmes seem to unfortunately neglect the wealth of celestial objects that can be observed from the southern hemisphere. Whilst there may be fewer prominent constellations, two external galaxies (the Large & Small Magellanic Clouds) are easily visible, there are two stunning globular clusters (Omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae) and numerous interesting galaxies, nebulae and star clusters to see. There's even a Southern Pleiades star cluster! https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=so...h=579#imgdii=_

I have provided some book and other resources below that cover this neglected area of astronomy:

Exploring the Southern Sky: A Pictorial Atlas from the European Southern Observatory
On the occasion of its 25th anniversary the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is publishing a selection from its photographic treasures of the southern skies: 90 colour and 147 black and white plates have been reproduced. Thirty maps make it easy to locate the objects shown. Part 1 is devoted to extragalactic phenomena. Part 2 deals with our Galaxy. Part 3 contains the results from observations of minor bodies in the solar system (asteroids and comets with an emphasis on the most beautiful Halley's comet photographs). The final part presents the Observatory itself. (Publication Date: Oct 1987).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exploring-So...e+southern+sky

I have this book and I bought it from one of the second hand book suppliers listed above. Although relatively old, I think it makes the ideal companion for either of the two more recent books below. It can also be downloaded for free from here http://www.eso.org/public/products/books/book_0002/ although I do recommend the print version.

Treasures of the Southern Sky
The beauty and richness of the southern night sky is legendary. From southern latitudes the finest globular clusters in the sky are visible to the unaided eye, as are the nearest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds. The brightest part of the Milky Way passes overhead during the southern winter and the nearest bright star as well as the legendary asterism known as the Southern Cross are both observable throughout the year. Despite these stunning highlights, the southern sky has received has received less attention than its northern counterpart, and fewer photographs exist of its lesser known, yet equally stunning and intriguing objects. This visual anthology features striking photographic portraits of the most celebrated to the more obscure southern astronomical objects. Carefully selected world-class images have been assembled using the latest digital methods, revealing these southern gems in ways never before seen.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Trea.../9781461406273

I have this book too and there's another equivalent book below which covers the same broad ground which I don't have.

Europe to the Stars: ESO's First 50 Years of Exploring the Southern Sky
The creation of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in 1962 was the culmination of the dream of leading astronomers from five European countries. Over the years, as more member states joined, ESO constructed the La Silla and Paranal observatories, as well as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) together with partners. ESO is now starting to build the world?s biggest eye on the sky, the European Extremely Large Telescope. At the dawn of 2012, its 50th anniversary year, ESO is ready to enter a new era. One that not even its founding members could have anticipated in their boldest dreams. Constantly at the technological forefront, ESO is ready to tackle new and as yet unimaginable territories of high–precision technology and scientific discovery. Produced especially for ESO's 50th anniversary, this sumptuously illustrated book takes the reader behind the scenes of the most productive ground–based observatory in the world. It contains the best 300 of ESO's images, hand–picked from a large collection of more than 100 000 images.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_od...n+sky&_sacat=0

There's also a video to accompany the above book and it can be freely viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdJ6-PJ-_F4

I remember the shock I got the first time I saw the southern night sky. Not just the different constellations or the comparative lack of stars (more than compensated for by the lack of light pollution where I was), but the orientation of the recognisable sky objects once your 'down under'. The moon was particularly jarring. It was upside down and you don't realise how familiar you are with lunar features subconsciously until you see it all turned round in real life.

http://blogs.esa.int/mex/2014/02/07/...iding-springs/


This is the worrying bit for Mars spacecraft though:

Anyone else going to be at this weekends Astrofest? Hoping to visit tomorrow.

European Space Agency picks Plato planet-hunting mission
A telescope to find rocky worlds around other stars has been selected for launch by the European Space Agency's (Esa) Science Policy Committee. Known as Plato, the mission should launch on a Soyuz rocket in 2024. The observatory concept was chosen following several years of assessment in competition with other ideas.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26267918

Mars rover sees Earth as brilliant evening star
Reminiscent of the iconic pale blue dot photograph from the Voyager 1 space probe, the Curiosity Mars rover has sent home another cosmic postcard showing the Earth hanging over the rugged Martian horizon as an evening star.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n14.../#.UwjdAfRFU9U

Largest asteroid Ceres is venting water vapour into space
Scientists using the Herschel Space Observatory have made the first definitive detection of water vapour on the largest and roundest object in the asteroid belt, dwarf planet Ceres. Ceres is located in the main asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The scientists say that Ceres possesses significant quantities of water ice on or below its surface that gets heated by solar energy, shooting plumes of water vapour out into space.
http://earthsky.org/science-wire/lar...por-into-space

Scientists reveal the anatomy of an asteroid
ESO's New Technology Telescope has been used to find the first evidence that asteroids can have a highly varied internal structure. By making exquisitely precise measurements astronomers have found that different parts of the asteroid Itokawa have different densities.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n14.../#.UwjdZPRFU9U

LADEE star trackers record glimpse of the Moon
The LADEE lunar atmospheric probe has returned its first views of the moon's surface as it enters the second half of its research mission, NASA announced last week
http://spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/l.../#.UwjduvRFU9U

Good luck to anyone wanting to observe in the current weather. I'm utterly sick of it! Cloud, rain, cloud, rain, rain, cloud, cloud etc. etc. for week after week after week. I did get out with the scope last night but the turbulence in the atmosphere made the seeing horrendous. And then it started to rain so I came inside.

Sorry to hear that but it does go kind of go with the UK though . It reminds me of just why the rather good Isaac Newton Telescope was relocated at great expense from grey skies Sussex to clear skies La Palma in the Canary Islands (see http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/telescopes/int/). Personally, I'd really like to travel to somewhere that has reliable crystal clear skies, e.g. New Mexico (see https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=as...2F%3B640%3B425).

Had about three hours with the telescope last night, for the first time in ages The seeing wasn't great but it was still worth the wait.

I was surprised that the supernova in M82 was still visible as it was 20 days since I last saw it, when it was at its brightest. It had definitely dimmed but was still noticeable. I guess it'll be gone completely in another couple of weeks.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-065

If the moon were only one pixel.

"A tediously accurate scale model of the solar system" Scroll right to go...

Probably a relief then that data from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has pretty much ruled out a Planet X / Tyche / Nemesis lurking waaaaay out in the Solar System: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog...-up-empty.html

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics will announce a 'major discovery' at 16.00 tomorrow, though generally with these things it's something that may excite the astronomical society but will leave the man or woman on the street saying, "Meh."

Anyway, speculation is that primordial gravitational waves have been detected:

If there is evidence for gravitational waves, it would be a landmark discovery that would change the face of cosmology and particle physics.

Gravitational waves are the last untested prediction of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. They are minuscule ripples in the fabric of the universe that carry energy across space, somewhat similar to waves crossing an ocean. Convincing evidence of their discovery would almost certainly lead to a Nobel prize.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2...universe-bicep

I have a question which I hope some of the contributors to this thread may have an answer for concerning the Doppler information for MH370 pings..

Do satellite and ground receiver systems routinely record the Doppler shifts on transmissions? Is it usually used for some purpose? I would have expected it to be discarded at time of reception, if indeed it was being measured.

I know some satellite positions have to be monitored and adjusted in orbit, but I thought that was done by measuring time delays from fixed points.

Anyone know? Sorry, not quite the usual S&A post.

Doppler shifts result in timing errors in data transmissions, and are routinely compensated for using doppler buffers. In the case of a geostationary satellite receiving a signal from a moving aircraft, the effect is a combination of the moving transmitter and the inherent wobble in the satellite orbital position, which is well-known. It seems to have been the movement of the satellite that has allowed them to disambiguate the two possible arcs.

I presume the clock shifts that are applied to recover the data stream are retained for some time for debugging purposes, rather than being immediately discarded.

Thanks for that njp. I had never heard the term 'Doppler buffer' before. Seems they are quite necessary and important.

Most Earth-like planet so far discovered:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27054366

Has anyone caught a sight of the Lyrids yet.?

Nasa shows off prototype spacesuit for journey to Mars
US space agency Nasa has been showing off the wardrobe essentials for future astronauts looking for a new outfit for their first flight to Mars. Nasa said the Z-2 spacesuit was only a prototype, but elements of it would be incorporated into the suit worn by the first humans to reach the Red Planet.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27238452

(It does kind of look like a Dr Who costume )

Brown dwarf found lurking 7.2 light-years away
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered what appears to be the coldest "brown dwarf" known -- a dim, star-like body that surprisingly is as frosty as Earth's North Pole.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n14.../#.U2UAKcBHASk

Government backs UK launch site plan for space tourism
The government has backed plans for a four-fold expansion of the UK space industry to £40bn by 2030. It is also considering developing the necessary legal framework to permit a spaceport to be set up in the UK. It is hoped that this might see the growth of new space tourism companies to start operating services in Britain.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27222077

Earth's 'cousin' planet lies 500 light-years away
Astronomers using NASA's Kepler space telescope have found the first Earth-sized planet around another star that might harbour life-sustaining liquid water, raising hopes for detecting more rocky Earth-like worlds closer to home.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n14.../#.U2UAb8BHASk

Move Over Exoplanets, Exomoons May Harbour Life Too
Although more than 1,000 exoplanets have been discovered since the first one was found in 1995, only a handful of those are thought to be habitable, at least by life as we know it. New research shows that exomoons, too, could provide habitable environments. Although we are yet to find exomoons, we have good reasons to believe that there should be many, even more than exoplanets.
http://www.space.com/25645-move-over...-life-too.html
http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.4493

"A new computer simulation, called Illustris, can take you on an epic journey through space and time"

"—researchers spent five years developing Illustris. Within that, actual calculations took three months of “run time” on supercomputers and involved a whopping 8,000 central processing units (CPUs, each being the "brain" of a computer) working simultaneously. For comparison, the average desktop computer working alone would have completed this task in 2,000 years."

The universe is pretty!

YouTube: Most detailed simulation of our Universe

Smithsonian article: Watch the Universe Evolve Over 13 Billion Years

Illustris Project: Media page

Brown dwarf found lurking 7.2 light-years away
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered what appears to be the coldest "brown dwarf" known -- a dim, star-like body that surprisingly is as frosty as Earth's North Pole.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n14.../#.U3kMeqcXLeU

NASA spacecraft snaps view of Earthrise from the Moon
Earlier this year, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter turned away from the moon and recorded an image of Earth looming above the lunar horizon, a modern version of the iconic "Earthrise" photograph taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts 45 years ago.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n14.../#.U3kMvqcXLeU

A couple of live events will be covered on the Slooh website in 5 days' time: http://events.slooh.com/

Finally, I have a few Youtube video suggestions:

A virtual Universe
Scientists at MIT have traced 13 billion years of galaxy evolution, from shortly after the Big Bang to the present day. Their simulation, named Illustris, captures both the massive scale of the Universe and the intriguing variety of galaxies -- something previous modelers have struggled to do. It produces a Universe that looks remarkably similar to what we see through our telescopes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY0bKE10ZDM

The beginning of everything
Scientists from the Centre for Astrophysics have found evidence of gravitational waves created mere moments after the dawn of the Universe. These waves were created in a period of rapid expansion called cosmic inflation. This new evidence could prove the definitive confirmation of the inflation theory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJYc9YmKIO8

Supervolcanoes on Mars
Scientists have found evidence of supervolcanoes on Mars. Several craters, thought to be created by impacts from space, may have actually been caused by explosive volcanic eruptions thousands of times larger than your garden variety volcano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f0mh-Fimk4

Phobos & Deimos: Moons of the Solar System
Named after the Greek gods of fear and dread, Mars's two moons remained undiscovered until the late 19th century. Since the start of the Space Race they've been minor supporting characters in our quest to understand the Red Planet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcHkXgesG0M
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/scienc...-and-astronomy