Glast is now Fermi

The Gamma Ray Large Telescope is now the Fermi Telescope. And there is an all sky image. What do you think of the image? http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/glast_findings_media.html

Chandrayaan I - - India's first Moon mission

I'm not sure how many of you have heard of the Indian Moon mission Chandrayaan-I (Chandra means 'moon' in Indian language). So, a few updates on the Chandrayaan mission.

A few years back, when I was working with the Chandrayaan group, the launch was planned after Astrosat (an upcoming multi-wavelength astronomy satellite), but apparently, this first Indian Moon mission is all set for its launch quite soon (between Oct-Dec), as told by the former ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) chairman Dr. Kasthurirangan.

The mission includes five ISRO (Indian space research organization) payloads and six payloads from other space agencies (NASA, ESA & Bulgarian Aerospace agency). Mission objectives are:

* To carry out high resolution mapping of topographic features in 3D, distribution of various minerals and elemental chemical species including radioactive nuclides covering the entire lunar surface using a set of remote sensing payloads. The new set of data would help in unraveling mysteries about the origin and evolution of solar system in general and that of the moon in particular.

* Realize the mission goal of harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle with suitable ground support system including DSN station, integration and testing, launching and achieving lunar orbit of ~100 km, in-orbit operation of experiments, communication/telecommand, telemetry data reception, quick look data and archival for scientific utilization by identified group of scientists.

More info: Chandrayaan homepage

India has already planned its second Moon mission "Chandrayaan II" to launch by 2010/2011 (hoping to land a motorized rover on Moon).

And how did the sky make you feel?

How did the sky make you feel at less than 8 years old? Can you remember? What words would an 8 year old use? How does the universe, and studying it,  make you feel now? Would the words be different?  Can you find any words that are not cliche?  I've been thinking about this since a reporter contacted me in order to write a travel article.   

You can check out the article at the National Post.  In the hardcopy version they reprinted the award-winning NRAO image in, sigh, black and white. Other than that it is a good human interest story. 

With respect to the interview process, some of my expressions the reporter did use and others she didn't.  For example, I believe I said "ummm a beach of stars is too cliche" and she used "beach" - ha ha!  But what I came up with as a substitute was probably too geeky - "a vast scattering of mysterious gems". 

So I now feel that it is important to (re-)articulate how I feel every so often so that when I'm asked I might say something, um, pithy ;-)  It is a real challenge.  I'm curious about how other astronomers express themselves when asked to describe looking at the sky and how it makes them feel. 

Water found on Mars

"The Phoenix lander confirms the existence of martian water." -- This is an interesting press release which I read on Mar's mission Phoenix lander (excerpts from the press release follows).

Laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies water vapors produced by the heating of samples.

"We have water," says William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time martian water has been touched and tasted."

The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2 inches deep. When the robotic arm first reached that depth, it hit a hard layer of frozen soil. Two attempts to deliver samples of icy soil on days when fresh material was exposed were foiled when the samples became stuck inside the scoop. Most of the material in Wednesday's sample had been exposed to the air for 2 days, letting some of the water in the sample vaporize away and making the soil easier to handle.

Schoolteacher discovers 'cosmic ghost'

Here's a news about a cosmic ghost discovered by a Dutch school teacher.

"A Dutch schoolteacher has discovered a mysterious and unique astronomical object through the Galaxy Zoo project, which enables members of the public to take part in astronomy research online.."

To read more, go to this website
here

UofM Astro-blog

This is a new blog created for the Astronomers at the University of Manitoba to discuss anything related to astronomy !! I hope to get a good participation from all the Astro members !!