Archive for April, 2009
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
From CNN on April 29, 2009 (courtesy my sister Connie)
The exploding star was up to 100 times larger than our own sun, pictured above.Scientists spot oldest ever object in universe (CNN) — Edo Berger got an alert early last Thursday morning when a satellite detected a 10-second blast of energy known as a gamma ray burst coming from outer space.
Telescopes around the world swiveled to focus on the explosion, soon picking up infrared radiation, which travels more slowly than gamma rays. Berger waited for the visible light which he expected to come next. It never arrived.”We were kind of blown away. We immediately knew what that meant,” Berger said.What it meant was that he was looking at the oldest thing ever spotted — an enormous star exploding 13 billion years ago.”At that point the age of the universe was only 600 million years,” he said. In other words, Berger said, he was looking “95 percent of the way back to the beginning of time.”The star which exploded was 30 to 100 times larger than our own sun, and when it died, it gave off “about million times the amount of energy the sun will release in its entire lifetime,” Berger told CNN by phone from Harvard University, where he is an assistant professor of astronomy.Its death throes produced so much energy that “momentarily, we can essentially see it anywhere in the universe,” Berger said.The object, known as GRB 090423, is about 200 million years older than the previous record-holder for oldest object ever seen.Berger isn’t just interested in the record books, though — the gamma ray burst extended the frontiers of human knowledge about the history of the universe.”We learn that already massive stars were around 600 million years after the universe formed,” Berger said. “We suspected that, but now we have proof. Now that we know these objects are so bright, in the next few years we should be able to pinpoint exactly at what stage in the evolution of the universe stars and galaxies formed.”
The gamma radiation from GRB 090423, which took 13 billion years to reach earth, was detected by a NASA satellite called Swift. The infrared radiation was detected by the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii.
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
What’s Where Tonight April 29, 2009
Planets:
9:00 PM … The Moon will be in the West between Betelgeuse (in Orion) and the Castor & Pollux Genini twins. The Moon will set at about midnight.
9:00 PM …. Saturn will be in the South. It will be at about 55°
above the horizon. Saturn will set in the West at around 4:00 AM.
5:00 AM … Jupiter will rise from the Southeast just about 20° above the horizon before it is washed out by the sunrise.
5:00 AM … Venus will peak out over the horizon in the East and may be visable in the increasing light of the sunrise.
Stars and Constellations:
9:00 PM … Orion will be in the West Southwest at around 10° – 20°.
9:00 PM … Sirius will be about 15° above the horizon. It will be to the left of Orion (follow a line from the three stars that form the “Belt of Orion”).
9:00 PM … The Pleiades (7 sisters) star cluster will be visible in the West at about 15° above the horizon. It will be to the right of Orion; follow the belt of Orion until you see a small star cluster.
9:00 PM … Cassiopeia will be in the North Northwest. Polaris is the bright star to the upper right of Cassiopeia.
9:00 PM ….. Capella, a very bright star, will be high overhead at about 40° to the West Northwest. It will be above and to the right of the Pleiades.
9:00 PM … The two brightest stars of the Gemini Constellation, Castor & Pollux, will be West at about 70° above the horizon. Draw a line from Rigel & Betelgeuse (in Orion) and extend it upward and there will be the two bright stars of Gemini.
9:00 PM … Procyon is a bright star in the South Southwest at about 50°. Procyon, Serius & Betelgeuse form the Winter Triangle.
10:00 PM … If you follow the arc of the Big Dipper’s handle, almost directly overhead, and you will come to a bright star; its Arcturus in the East Southeast. If you continue the arc, you will come to Spica at about 20° aboue the horizon in the Southeast.
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Venus and the Moon do it again! April 22 2009
Attention all early risers (or late night people), we are having another crack at seeing the conjunction of Venus and the Crescent Moon. This occurs on April 22 (Wednesday) between 5:00 AM and 6:00 AM. My reference is Cortland N.Y.; times will vary a little other locations. As the Cresent Moon climes into the sky in the East, Venus will start to disappear behind the Moon. The whole event will end by being washed out by the rising Sun. Just below the moon will sit Mars, may not see it but you never know. Also, to the upper right (Southeast) will be the very bright Jupiter. So, given a clear sky to the East, pleasant temperature, and lots of coffee, we can expect a very nice celestial evert on Wednesday morning.
