http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/science/space/astronomersreport-finding-earliest-stars-that-enriched-cosmos.html?

_r=0
June 17, 2015
This interesting New York Times article focuses on a recent
discovery that astronomers have made. The have discovered a lost
generation of monster stars that ushered light into the universe after
the Big Bang and jump-started the creation of the elements needed for
planets and life before disappearing forever. The scientists speculate
that some of these starts couldve been 100 or even 1000 times
greater in mass than our sun. Wow!
Spotting old stars and searching for more is a key focus for
astronomers today. Many telescopes have been invented for this very
purpose. The James Webb Space Telescope is one of the most
anticipated arrivals from NASA. It will be ready by 2018 and its main
function will be to expand our worlds exploration efforts of galaxies
far, far, away (intro to star wars theme music). It is believed that the
light we see from these monster stars have been traveling to us for
12.9 billion years. Astronomers also hypothesize that these stars could
have emerged roughly 200 million years after the universe began. The
universe is 13.8 billion years old so this is fairly recent. Or old I
guess. depending on how one looks at it.
This is fascinating because it taps into an ancient inquiry that
mankind has always possessed. Where do we fit in all of this
massiveness? Discovering the age of stars helps us gain perspective

and respect for a simple concept that theres so much more. I

appreciate the reminder, space.

http://www.space.com/19619-top-10-moon-facts.html
June 21st, 2013
This article taken from Space.com gives 10 facts about the moon
that the common person may not know. I guess Im more common
than I realize because many of these were new to me as well. Some of
the more interesting facts suggested that our moon may not be the
only moon that earth actually has. Cruithne, as it is called, is a 3-mile
wide asteroid that takes 770 years to complete a horseshoe-shaped
orbit around Earth, scientists say, and it will remain in a suspended
state around Earth for at least 5,000 years.
Another interesting fact is that the moon is not round (or
spherical). Instead, it's shaped like an egg. If you go outside and look
up, one of the small ends is pointing right at you. And the moon's
center of mass is not at the geometric center of the satellite; it's about
1.2 miles (2 kilometers) off-center. Other interesting facts include that
the moon is slowly moving away from or that its mass is larger than
pluto.
While we explore the outer reaches of the great beyond, its good
to know that we have scientists and astronomers studying and learning

about the natural phenomenons that occur right in our front yard.
Our moon plays a pivotal role in the natural function our home planet
so its important we continue to learn everything we can about it.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2014/12/chandra-weighs-mostmassive-galaxy-cluster-in-distant-universe
Scientists have recently made a determination of the mass of a
young distant galaxy cluster named Gioiello which means jewel in
Italian. The galaxy cluster was originally discovered using ESAs XMMNewton observatory and is located about 9.6 billion light-years from
Earth. Astronomers used X-ray data from Chandra that, when
combined with scientific models, provides an accurate weight of the
cluster, which comes in at a whopping 400 trillion times the mass of
the Sun. Scientists believe the cluster formed about 3.3 billion years
after the Big Bang.
This discovery raises some issues with theories about how the
universe was made. Previously, astronomers had found an enormous
galaxy cluster, known as El Gordo, at a distance of 7 billion lightyears away and a few other large distant clusters. According to the
best current model for how the universe evolved, there is a low chance
of finding clusters as massive as the Gioiello Cluster and El Gordo.

This story is interesting because it demonstrates that were

always in pursuit of more information even if it requires we need to
revise previous theories. This is the beauty of science, not the flaw of
it. The community of science (whether astronomy, anthropology,
psychology, etc.) dedicates their craft to higher understanding and this
is impossible without continuous revision. Being open to possibility that
you were wrong always has to be in the back of a true scientists
mind.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/23/416828532/nasaflummoxed-by-dwarf-planet-s-bright-spots-pyramid-shaped-peak
Scientists are perplexed at recent pictures of a dwarf planet
named Ceres thats located in an asteroid belt between Jupiter and
Mars. Ceres has long been a bit of a mystery, but it began mystifying
NASA in earnest earlier this year, when images arrived that showed
two unmistakably bright spots in a large crater on the dwarf planet's
surface.
All of the images that are coming to us are being sent by the
Dawn Spacecraft which is located about 2700 miles for Ceres - which
means that capturing images of its surface is a bit like taking a
photograph of San Francisco from New York City. At the end of June,
however, the Dawn Spacecraft will get a much closer look at the dwarf

planet. Itll move into a distance of about 900 miles away. Ceres is
about 590 miles across so this will be exponential change in the quality
and closeness any images taken. Of the newly highlighted pyramidshaped mountain, NASA estimates that it rises about 3 miles (5
kilometers) above the surface of Ceres, which lies in an asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter.
People (including myself) are very intrigued guessing what these
bright spots could be. It seems that the majority of people believe that
its ice but others think it may be volcano, salt deposit, or even a
geyser. Either way its exciting to anticipate what the Dawn Spacecraft
will send us when it gets closer.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/07/radio-astronomers-see-blackhole-come-to-life
Recently radio astronomers have been using telescopes to
discover activity in a black hole roughly 42 million light years away.
Most of the time these are quiet, with just their invisible gravitational
pull shaping their surroundings. But in about 10 percent of galaxies,
the central black hole is much more active, swallowing material and
spitting out giant jets. For the first time ever it seems that astronomers
are starting to see this black hole turn on.

Like most galaxies, it has a thick disk of stars and gas. But NGC
660 (the galaxies name) also hosts a larger and much less dense ring
of stars and smaller star-forming clouds in orbit over its poles. This
additional ring is thought to be the remnants of a past encounter with
another galaxy that disrupted both systems.
It all began in 2012 when researchers discovered that NGC 660
had become 100 times brighter in just the span of a few months.
Normal galaxies dont do this as quickly so this phenomenon drove the
researchers to look closer. The likely culprit for the exponential change
in brightness was thought to be an exploding star within the system or
the supermassive black hole.
Our galaxy is always showing us things that make us go back to
the drawing board. The material that is flying out of the black hole is
like a jet is mostly gas and dust and it is traveling quick (about 10% the
speed of light). Scientists wonder whether it has enough energy to
overcome gravity and punch its way out of the galaxy or if it will fizzle
out before getting that far.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/07/a-heart-from-pluto-as-flybybegins
We have just received the closest photo of Pluto to date and it is
very interesting. The spacecraft New Horizons has been traveling for 9
years and about 3 billion miles to reach Pluto. Can you imagine that

weve built a spacecraft thats traveled 3 BILLION MILES?!?! This is the

first image that weve received since the craft recently shut down and
went into Safe Mode. On July 14th, we will have an even closer picture
but the one recently captured is still amazing.
This view is centered roughly on the area that will be seen closeup during New Horizons July 14 closest approach. This side of Pluto is
dominated by three broad regions of varying brightness. Most
prominent are an elongated dark feature at the equator, informally
known as the whale, and a large heart-shaped bright area measuring
some 1,200 miles (2,000km) across on the right. Above those features
is a polar region that is intermediate in brightness. The next time we
see Pluto, it will be with a resolution thats 500 times better than the
image we currently have.
The pictures roughly take about 5 hours to reach us which is
amazing when you consider the distance its traveling. Im not sure if
the New Horizons craft will keep flying outward, but I deeply hope so.
Itd be a shame to see the craft crash after the completion of its
mission. .

http://www.iflscience.com/space/six-awesome-facts-we-learned-aboutpluto-week
As new horizons travels onward to hopefully newer and better
things, it leaves us with lots of new information about the dwarf planet,
Pluto. One relatively small and interesting discovery is that Pluto is
roughly 56 kilometers wider than scientists had previously though.
Does this finally mean that Pluto can be called a planet?!?!....umm no.
56 kilometers is roughly the size of Manhattan. In scale of the entire
planets size, this is a small increase.
There were theories that Pluto had ice caps but nothing was for
certain until now. The ice has been confirmed as frozen methane and
nitrogen ice. Also, weve discovered that the famous heart shape
found on Plutos surface is constantly changing. Most likely its eroding
according to a New Horizons Planetary Scientist. We can enjoy that
familiar shape for now but odds are, it wont be there in the future.
Who knows, maybe we wont either! Also, new horizons was able to
detect nitrogen emissions 5 days before it reached its target. Because
New Horizons picked up these whiffy emanations from 6 million
kilometers (3.7 million miles) away rather than the predicted 2.5
million kilometers (1.6 million miles), it suggests that the source of the
gassy releases could be much stronger than estimated, the
atmosphere of Pluto is much thinner than previously thought, or

something else entirely. Fortunately, New Horizons should have

collected sufficient data on its flyby to determine a definite reason.
All of this information is just being discovered by humans for the
first time ever!! How is this not exciting!?

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/07/jupiter-twin-discoveredaround-solar-twin
The quest for finding another solar system thats similar to ours
is one of the most exciting endeavors we can explore. If this is
possible, then there may be an Earth 2.0 that we could investigate.
Recently a group of European astronomers were able to discover, using
a 3.6 meter telescope, a Jupiter-like planet that is roughly the same
distance from its sun-star as ours. According to current theories, the
formation of Jupiter-mass planets plays an important role in shaping
the architecture of planetary systems. The existence of a Jupiter-mass
planet in a Jupiter-like orbit around a Sun-like star opens the possibility
that the system of planets around this star may be similar to our solar
system.
According to more theories, Jupiter has played a massive role in
the formation of our solar system. Its gravitational influence on our
planets was crucial for any potential life to exist. If planet earth was 1
million miles closer or further from our sun, wed be in trouble. In fact,

we probably wouldnt be here. The Jupiter-like planet orbits a sun-like

star thats not only similar in size to ours, but also similar in age.
This research has been ongoing for the last two decades and
finally scientists are discovering large gas giant planets thanks to
stability of the tools they have been using. Theres no doubt that
theres other worlds out there, but time will tell whether these worlds
have the same things to offer as ours does.