Solar Science, Space Systems

New IRIS space telescope sees fine details of sun’s atmosphere

NASA releases images of the suns atmosphere (in particular the the interface between the photosphere and corona) from the newly launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) observatory: NASA’s IRIS Telescope Offers First Glimpse of Sun’s Mysterious Atmosphere –  NASA

Comparison SDO and IRIS solar images

These two images show a section of the sun as seen by NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, on the right and NASA’s SDO on the left. The IRIS image provides scientists with unprecedented detail of the lowest parts of the sun’s atmosphere, known as the interface region.
Image Credit:  NASA/SDO/IRIS

This animation shows the IRIS in action:

And this video shows the initial imaging of the sun by IRIS:

Science and Technology, Space books

“The Pioneer Detectives” by Konstantin Kakaes

1 Comment

Konstantin Kakaes announces a new book about the Pioneer Anomaly and the investigation into its cause:

The Pioneer Detectives

I’ve just published a short book. I’m very excited about it, and wanted to share the news with you.

The Pioneer Detectives is on sale now on amazon.com for a mere $2.99, less than a cup of fancy coffee. It’s also out in Britain for just £2 (and a half-shilling).

The book is short and fun—the length of a novella—but also, in the words of Amazon’s reviewer, “powerful and sad”. If you’ve got any curiosity about how NASA works behind the scenes or why scientists believe what they do, I think you’ll enjoy the book. Many others already are—I’m happy to say it’s the #1 best-selling Kindle Single in “The Sciences” and the #2 best-selling astronomy book on Amazon.

The book tells the story of the “Pioneer Anomaly”—a force slowing down the spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 while they left the solar system as humanity’s first emissaries into the galaxy. I hope you’ll forgive the mass e-mail, both if it’s been quite a while since we’ve talked, and if we’ve been in touch recently and you’re already aware of the book.

Astronomy, Education, Exoplanets

A new resource guide for exoplanets

Prof. Andrew Fraknoi of the Foothill College Astronomy Department sends this announcement about a new resource guide for the study of exoplanets:

A new annotated guide to written, web, and audio-visual resources for teaching about planets orbiting other stars is now available.  Materials in the guide to this rapidly-changing branch of astronomy include video and audio files of lectures and interviews with leading scientists in the field, phone and tablet apps, a citizen-science web site, popular-level books and articles, and more.

Published by the NASA Astrophysics Education and Outreach Forum and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the guide can be found as a PDF file at:

http://www.astrosociety.org/education/astronomy-resource-guides/the-search-for-planets-around-other-stars/

 

Rockets, Space Systems

Video: Latest Project Morpheus flight test

Project Morpheus did another tethered flight test on Tuesday. The new lander vehicle is the most steady that I’ve seen it in any flight video so far:

Exoplanets, SETI

Geoff Marcy searches for ET in Kepler data and laser flashes

Famous exoplanet hunter Geoff Marcy is looking for signs of exo-civilizations: Astronomer uses Kepler telescope’s data in hunt for spacecraft from other worlds – The Washington Post.

Everyone can participate in space