With three Earth Explorer satellites set to launch this year, another three under construction and up to three more about to be selected for feasibility study, 2009 promises to be a significant year for ESA's contribution to Earth science - paving the way to a clearer understanding of how our planet...
Owen Moore has stars in his eyes from three million light years away after building his own backyard observatory. Mr Moore has been keen on astronomy since he was 16 and worked at the Carter Observatory for 14 years. Retiring 3½ years ago, he moved to Levin and, with the help of local contractors, fulfi...
Another mysterious circle stone has surfaced in the city. The object owned by Jim Kidd is not believed to have any archaeological or paleontological value. Maybe a UFO or a petrified wheel? He challenges anyone to tell him what it is. Kidd lives at 116 Prairie St., about a stone's throw from a prehisto...
Orbital elements: 2007 RT9 Earth MOID = 0.2352 AU Epoch 2008 Nov. 30.0 TT = JDT 2454800.5 MPC M 317.40239 (2000.0) P Q n 0.45829662 Peri. 24.56274 -0.98093831 +0.16664042 a 1.6661149 Node 164.03722 -0.17221660 -0.98379097 e 0.5855051 Incl. 21.31259 +0.09000823 -0.06622912 P 2.15 H 18.8 G 0.15 U 4M...
Giant amphibious creatures, 8-foot-long turtles and large sabre-toothed "cats" once roamed in search of food in and around a watery landscape that today is known as Alabama. John Hall, an expert on geological formations, told a capacity crowd at the state Department of Archives and Hi...
Pyroxene-rich Pallasite Black Vermillion River, Kansas In 1991 the Vermillion meteorite was found in Marshall Country, Kansas in a wheat field near the Black Vermillion River. While the entire mass is just under 34 kilograms, it is the largest member of a rather small group of meteorites referred...
The Indian Space Research Organisation has recently commissioned a world class solid propellant plant at Sriharikota, where the 200 tonne propellant booster meant for the 'Mars programme' was processed, an official of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre said. [url=http://www.zeenews.com/Sci-T...
Title: A Close Binary Star Resolved from Occultation by 87 Sylvia Authors: Chi-Long Lin, Zhi-Wei Zhang, W. P. Chen, Sun-Kun King, Hung-Chin Lin, F. B. Bianco, M. J. Lehner, N. K. Coehlo, J.-H. Wang, S. Mondal, C. Al****, T. Axelrod, Y.-I. Byun, K. H. Cook, R. Dave, I. de Pater, R. Porrata, D.-W. Kim, T....
Title: IGR J16351-5806: another close by Compton-thick AGN Authors: A. Malizia, L. Bassani, F. Panessa, A. De Rosa, A. J. Bird IGR J16351-5806 has been associated with the Seyfert 2 galaxy ESO 137-G34, having been first reported as a high energy emitter in the third INTEGRAL/IBIS survey. Using a ne...
Title: The unusual X-ray light-curve of GRB 080307: the onset of the afterglow? Authors: K.L. Page (1), R. Willingale (1), P.T. O'Brien (1), N.R. Tanvir (1), J.P. Osborne (1), B. Zhang (2), S.T. Holland (3,4), A.J. Levan (5), A. Melandri (6), R.L.C. Starling (1), D. Bersier (6), D.N. Burrows (7), J....
Title: Gipsy 3D: Analysis, Visualisation and Vo-Tools Authors: J. E. Ruiz (1), J. D. Santander-Vela (1), V. Espigares (1), L. Verdes-Montenegro (1), J. M. van der Hulst (2) ((1) Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia - CSIC, (2) Kapteyn Astronomical Institute) The scientific goals of the AMIGA pr...
RV Tauri is a star in the constellation Taurus. It is a yellow supergiant and is the prototype of a class of variable stars known as RV Tauri variables. Over a period of 78.7 days its brightness varies from magnitude +9.8 to +13.3. This change in luminosity is accompanied by a change in spectral type, be...
After five groundbreaking years exploring the Red Planet, the communications engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory pretty much know what they are getting when another downlink from Spirit or Opportunity arrives. They know that with a typical transmission comes about 10 megabits of eng...
A unique find of 33 prehistoric axes in a ceramic pot discovered in a field at Mylor have gone on public display at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. Known as the Mylor Hoard after the riverside village near which the perfectly preserved axes were found, the find is officially considered to be the mo...
