Thursday, January 10, 2008

Hubble telescope

Hubble's prolonged life



I've followed Hubble with great interest. The Hubble telescope is the first instrument of it's kind to escape the Earth's atmosphere. Hubble thereby revolutionizes astronomical observations. In spite of considerable problems since it was launched in 1990 it remains one of the most valuable instrument in astronomy's history.

Need for repair

"The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), a sophisticated instrument which separated the light from different celestial objects into its components, failed in 2004.

Astronauts will repair these existing instruments and install two new ones, which will be carried into orbit on the space shuttle Atlantis. The new instruments are the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)." The space shuttle Atlantis will bring the astronauts to Hubble after two other missions, presumably after August 2008.

The fix will increase the space observatory's quality and prolong it's lifespan with a decade or so (from previewed "death" in 2010-11).

HUBBLE'S BEST
Remarkable pictures taken by the orbiting telescope




This infrared picture of the magnificent Sombrero Galaxy (M104) was one of the largest Hubble mosaics ever assembled. Images: Nasa/The Hubble Heritage Team

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Columbus on board Atlantis - blog

Columbus Blog



Excellent blog about the exciting launching of Europe's first pay load to the International Space Station.


The Columbus laboratory is ESA's biggest single contribution to the International Space Station. The 4.5-metre diameter cylindrical module is equipped with flexible reseach facilities that offer extensive science capabilities.

During its 10-year projected lifespan, Earth-based researchers, together with the ISS crew, will be able to conduct thousands of experiments in life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and a whole host of other disciplines, all in the weightlessness of orbit.



GeoFlow experiment


Fluid Science Laboratory on board Columbus


Two experiments on board Columbus - GeoFlow and Solar - are strong examples of science which can only be conducted in zero g which will have direct benefits down here on Earth.

"The experiment will basically use a liquid-filled spherical shell under zero g to model the convection movements that occur beneath the Earth's crust. The experiment also involves simulated gravity, and is important for scientists' understanding of large scale geophysical motions as the convective transport phenomena in the Earth's liquid outer core.

Studies related to the GeoFlow experiment should help us better understand what happens inside the Earth - and lead to better models that could help us understand things like earthquakes."

This will contribute to a better understanding of the system Earth and hence also to the foundation of Earth observation - geodesy.


Columbus on board Atlantis



The European Columbus laboratory will be launched with the NASA space shuttle Atlantis. As usual there are delays and on the blog you can get the latest news about the schedules etc.

Launching of space shuttles are always exciting!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Welcome




Welcome to PlanetBye



Credit: NRAO/AUI and J. Hibbard

The Antennae




PlanetBye is the website of Bente Lilja Bye aka Stellare. It covers mainly scientific topics but also completely random topics like art, social media, personal ramblings etc. The last year Stellare has collected an awesome set of science related photography and they will appear on this blog too. As Stellare will leave it to her son to make millions, PlanetBye is completely ad free without any economic interests whatsoever. You can all breathe here. :-)

Note: PlanetBye will be updated several times a day the days to come as I am copying my science posts from Stellare. I imagine I'll be writing stuff only for PlanetBye also eventually, but for now I am working on safeguarding my previous work on Stellare.





Women in the Fields

"To be a good geologist, you have to start your job in the field. Sometimes you have to stay in the field for one or two weeks, sleep in a tent. It's very hard for ladies to work such long hours under the sun and you have to make special arrangements for them when there are only one or two in the field with all men." Jordan Times

I am in shock! Translation: Deep, deep blood dripping sarcasm...I'm Norwegian. I'm a woman. Hell, I'm a Viking Woman. We women are not allowed indoors at all in this country. We live in the snow all year.

Stellare - Intro

Introduction



Welcome

to


Stellares Universe





Sun ¤ Astronomy ¤ Geodesy ¤ Space Exploration ¤ Earth ¤ Science ¤ Animals ¤ Blue ¤ Arts

Archive of all posts

50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 | 300 | 350 | 400 | 450 | 500 | 550 | 600 | 650 | 700 | 750



Above is a list of topics that I particularly like. I've made a small selection under each of those tags. By clicking on a tag above you'll see. :-)

If you are interested in exploring more of my science posts you should head over to my blog PlanetBye. It turned out to be too tedious to file all my posts on SU whereas on my external blog you can easier navigate to find posts on your favorite topic. Almost all of the science posts on Stellare can be found there.


¤ PlanetBye ¤




SU Technical - Culture



XineAnn has made a beautiful and inspirational How To's for new and not so new SU members.




¤ Messages ¤


¤ Warning: Stellar Madness ¤








Stellare - Intro








Galaxy Cluster



Credit: NASA, ESA, M.J. Jee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)









Since 2. May 2008

Picked up from several blogs first at Etcetera then reminders at XineAnn, IntrepidDreamer and Don.