European Association for Astronomy Education

Source: Space Daily

Evolution of the Universe. Credit: NASA/WMAP

Sophisticated new technologies created by NASA and university scientists are enabling them to build an instrument designed to probe the first moments of the universe's existence.

Former NASA scientist Chuck Bennett, now an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, Md., won a $5-million National Science Foundation grant to build a new ground-based instrument, the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS). Bennett is building CLASS with his collaborators at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Goddard will provide most of the instrument's sophisticated detectors and other state-of-the-art technologies that will allow the scientists to test the "inflation theory" of the universe's origin. (read more)

Source: NASA Science-News

In Sept. 2010, space shuttle Discovery will deliver Robonaut 2--"R2" for short--to the ISS, where it will become the first humanoid robot to travel and work in space. Developed jointly by NASA and General Motors, R2 looks a bit like C-3PO of Star Wars fame but lacks the chatty robot's gift of gab. That's okay, because the humans on board need a worker that can wield more useful tools than a sharp tongue. (read more)

Source:University of Central Florida

An artist conception of asteroid 24 Themis.
Credit: G. Pérez (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Spain)

The first-ever discovery of ice and organic molecules on an asteroid may hold clues to the origins of Earth’s oceans and life 4 billion years ago.

University of Central Florida researchers detected a thin layer of water ice and organic molecules on the surface of 24 Themis, the largest in a family of asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

Their unexpected findings will be published Thursday, April 29 in Nature, which will feature two complementary articles by the UCF-led team and by another team of planetary scientists.

“What we’ve found suggests that an asteroid like this one may have hit Earth and brought our planet its water,” said UCF Physics Professor Humberto Campins, the study’s lead author.

Some theories suggest asteroids brought water to Earth after the planet formed dry. Scientists say the salts and water that have been found in some meteorites support this view.

Using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, Campins and his team of researchers measured the intensity of the reflected sunlight as 24 Themis rotated. Differences in intensity at different wavelengths helped researchers determine the makeup of the asteroid’s surface.

Researchers were surprised to find ice and carbon-based compounds evenly distributed on 24 Themis. More specifically, the discovery of ice is unexpected because surface ice should be short lived on asteroids, which are expected to be too warm for ice to survive for long.

The distance between this asteroid and the sun is about three times greater than between Earth and the sun.

Researchers will continue testing various hypotheses to explain the presence of ice. Perhaps most promising is the possibility that 24 Themis might have preserved the ice in its subsoil, just below the surface, as a kind of “living fossil” or remnant of an early solar system that was generally considered to have disappeared long ago.

Campins’ team is made up of scientists from UCF, the University of La Laguna in Spain, University of Southern Maine, University of Maryland, Universidade Federal Do Rio De Janeiro in Brazil, NASA-Ames Research Center and NAIC-Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

Source: American Society for Microbiology

Mars. Credit: NASA/ESA/HST

Bacteria common to spacecraft may be able to survive the harsh environs of Mars long enough to inadvertently contaminate Mars with terrestrial life according to research published in the April 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The search for life on Mars remains a stated goal of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program and Astrobiology Institutes. To preserve the pristine environments, the bioloads on spacecraft headed to Mars are subject to sterilization designed to prevent the contamination of the Martian surface.(read more)

Source: ESA Space Science

A low activity, star-formation region in the constellation Perseus, as seen with Planck.
Credit: ESA/Planck

New images from ESA’s Planck space observatory reveal the forces driving star formation and give astronomers a way to understand the complex physics that shape the dust and gas in our Galaxy.

Star formation takes place hidden behind veils of dust but that doesn’t mean we can’t see through them. Where optical telescopes see only black space, Planck’s microwave eyes reveal myriad glowing structures of dust and gas. Now, Planck has used this ability to probe two relatively nearby star-forming regions in our Galaxy.(read more)

Source: ESO1018 - Organisation Release

Cerro Armazones. Credit: ESO.

On 26 April 2010, the ESO Council selected Cerro Armazones as the baseline site for the planned 42-metre European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Cerro Armazones is a mountain at an altitude of 3060 metres in the central part of Chile's Atacama Desert, some 130 kilometres south of the town of Antofagasta and about 20 kilometres from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. (read more)

The Summer School is not aimed at experts.

The preliminary theme of this Summer School is " Teaching Astronomy at the beginning of the 21st century".

The aim of the organisers is to promote very active participation and the exchange of ideas.

General Lectures will be presented by EAAE and IAU members.

Workshops will be held in two groups (each 30 participants).

The objective of WS is to offer teachers very practical and didactic presentations presented by EAAE and IAU members.

Observation sessions can be held during the Summer School depending on the weather.

The goal is to introduce the participants to all types of astronomical observations.

The course will offer participants special visit to the Royal Astronomy Observatory of San Fernando - Cadiz.

The language of the Summer School is Spanish.

Summer School chair: Amalia Williart (member of UNED and EAAE) and chair Rosa M. Ros (Member EAAE and IAU)

e-mail: awilliart@ccia.uned.es

Registration:

This Summer School is a COMENIUS course. The title is "Basic astronomy for everybody" and the code is ES 2010-260-001.

Pre-registration form.

Organisers: European Association for Astronomy Education (EAAE) International Astronomical Union (IAU) Astronomical Observatory and Planetarium-Varna, Regional Inspectorate of Ministry of education and science-Varna, Bulgarian Astronomical Society, Society of Innovative Teachers in Bulgaria, National Astronomical Observatory-Rozhen and Shumen University.

The Summer School is for school teachers interested in astronomy.

The Summer School is not aimed at experts.

The preliminary theme of this Summer School is " Teaching Astronomy at the beginning of the 21st century".

The aim of the organisers is to promote very active participation and the exchange of ideas.

General Lectures will be presented by EAAE and IAU members.

Workshops will be held in two groups (each 30 participants).

The objective of WS is to offer teachers very practical and didactic presentations presented by EAAE and IAU members.

Observation sessions can be held during the Summer School depending on the weather.

The goal is to introduce the participants to all types of astronomical observations.

The course will offer participants special observations using the Astronomical observatory and planetarium - Varna.

A poster session will be organised, to which participants are invited to contribute by presenting posters of particular astronomical activities.

The posters will be presented during the Summer School.

The language of the Summer School is Bulgarian.

The 20^th Anniversary of the launch of The Hubble Space Telescope was celebrated in St Peters National School Walkinstown Dublin 12 on April 23^rd.  As an outreach educator I decided to put on my Astronomy hat and my Artists hat that morning and bring the enormous printed image of the Carina Nebula to the attention of the children and teachers from 5^th class.

The Carina Nebula was the image of choice by both The European Space Agency and NASA to mark the 20^th Anniversary of Hubble.  The image shows a section of a powerful and beautiful star forming region in the constellation Carina. This constellation is only visible from the southern hemisphere.

It was therefore doubly engaging that this extraordinary image at this wonderful school in Dublin was also playing a part in informing young pupils about the view of the sky from different locations on the planet.

Nature created this awesome visually rich stellar nursery. Hubble became the servant who has worked so long to bring the wonders of our surrounding universe down to Earth.

I wanted to really engage children with this image, and bring it to them in a very personal way.

The idea of putting it on the floor instead of a wall has the immediate effect.  An art / astronomy workshop was in my opinion the way to grab young people’s interest and invite them to learn in an exciting and productive way.  The children of 5th class at St Peters National School sat around the image and I gave them a simple explanation about what they are looking at and how it was achieved.

The children had a lesson in star formation, distance in space, the colour indications within the image, details of The Hubble Space Telescope and the significance of this new camera and its work.

Through my workshop I wanted to literally bring the Hubble Anniversary image down to the ground in Dublin for the education and inspiration of children, the future scientists, space explorers, astronomers and artists in this country.

I am sure you will agree that the images speak volumes about the success of my workshop which was also a Global Astronomy Month event.

Links:
http://www.deirdrekelleghan.com/

Source: Hubble Site

NASA's best-recognized, longest-lived, and most prolific space observatory zooms past a threshold of 20 years of operation this month. On April 24, 1990, the space shuttle and crew of STS-31 were launched to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope into a low Earth orbit. What followed was one of the most remarkable sagas of the space age. Hubble's unprecedented capabilities made it one of the most powerful science instruments ever conceived by humans, and certainly the one most embraced by the public. Hubble discoveries revolutionized nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology. And, its pictures were unmistakably out of this world. This brand new Hubble photo is of a small portion of one of the largest seen star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula. The scene is reminiscent of Hubble's classic "Pillars of Creation" photo from 1995, but is even more striking in appearance. The image captures the top of a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being pushed apart from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks like arrows sailing through the air.

NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) are celebrating Hubble's journey of exploration with this stunning new picture, online educational activities, an opportunity for people to explore galaxies as armchair scientists, and an opportunity for astronomy enthusiasts to send in their own personal greetings to Hubble for posterity.

Happy Birthday Hubble Space Telescope.

Links:

On Saturday, April 24, the Global Star Party gives you an opportunity to bring your community’s attention into sharp focus on the sky, in concert with your brother and sister astronomers all over the world. All are invited, all will be excited. It is amazing that when we turn our gaze upward, all religious, national, geographical, cultural and political barriers fade into the darkness.

For more information, see here: www.astronomerswithoutborders.org

Source: NASA/SDO

An erupting prominence observed by SDO on March 30, 2010.
The 29 MB movie takes a while to download, but it is worth the wait.
Credit: NASA/SDO.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is beaming back stunning new images of the sun, revealing our own star as never seen before. Even veteran solar physicists say they are amazed by the data. Movies and images may be found in today's story from Science@NASA. (read more)

Source: ESA/Herschel

Herschel's latest image reveals the formation of previously unseen large stars, each one up to ten times the mass of our Sun. These are the stars that will influence where and how the next generation of stars are formed. The image is a new release of 'OSHI', ESA's Online Showcase of Herschel Images.(learn more)

Related links:

Space Daily

Source: Space Daily

An international team of astronomers have discovered compelling evidence that rocky planets are commonplace in our Galaxy. Leicester University scientist and lead researcher Dr. Jay Farihi surveyed white dwarfs, the compact remnants of stars that were once like our Sun, and found that many show signs of contamination by heavier elements and possibly even water, improving the prospects for extraterrestrial life. (read more)

Source: NASA/JPL

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured images of lightning on Saturn. The images have allowed scientists to create the first movie showing lightning flashing on another planet.

After waiting years for Saturn to dim enough for the spacecraft's cameras to detect bursts of light, scientists were able to create the movie, complete with a soundtrack that features the crackle of radio waves emitted when lightning bolts struck. (read more)

Source: ESA

The International Space Station (ISS) is now almost complete and capable of housing a crew of six astronauts. At times, more than 12 people can work aboard.

One of the most ambitious international projects ever and the largest spacecraft to orbit our planet is ready for at least 10 more years of productive operations.

Now that the International Space Station is fully operational, the programme partners will gather in Berlin on 19–21 April to discuss the successes and potential of this unique international cooperation. (read more)

Source: ESA

Polar skies glowed with ghostly auroras last week during the biggest geomagnetic storm of 2010. The event owed its origin to a solar eruption a few days earlier – revealed here in high-speed detail by ESA's small Sun-watcher Proba-2.(read more)

Source: ESA News

This figure shows the volcanic peak Idunn Mons
(at 46°S, 214.5°E) in the Imdr Regio area of Venus.
Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL

ESA's Venus Express has returned the clearest indication yet that Venus is still geologically active. Relatively young lava flows have been identified by the way they emit infrared radiation. The finding suggests the planet remains capable of volcanic eruptions.(read more)

This week is an excellent opportunity to see all the five “naked eye” planets in one night of observation.

You need to start about an hour after sunset by looking relatively low on the western horizon, you should be able to make out both Mercury and Venus, Mercury being the lower and fainter of the pair. You then need to look almost directly above your head to spot Mars – with it’s reddish hue you shouldn’t miss it. Saturn can be found by looking towards the east (to your left); if you have a telescope take a look, even a small instrument should show the famous rings. For the final of the five planets, Jupiter, you need to wait until the morning and take a look low on the eastern horizon about an hour before sunrise.

As the month progresses there will be some interesting encounters to watch out for – Venus and the Pleiades, the Moon and Saturn, Mars and the Beehive………. So keep reading the blog for more information.

The Sky literally brings together the Earth during GAM-be part of a global peace chain!