Tag: space

Artist’s concept of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop the volcanic peak of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The construction phase of the TMT project officially kicked off in October 2014; the telescope should achieve “first light” in 2022, if all goes according to plan. Credit: Courtesy TMT International Observatory

The group building a huge telescope on Hawaii’s tallest mountain plans to restart construction this week, ending a two-month delay caused by protestors opposed to the ambitious project.

Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano — work that was halted in April after a series of protests—will resume on Wednesday (June 24), project representatives said in a statement issued over the weekend.

“Our period of inactivity has made us a better organization in the long run,” Henry Yang, chair of the TMT International Observatory Board, said in the statement. “We are now comfortable that we can be better stewards and better neighbors during our temporary and limited use of this precious land, which will allow us to explore the heavens and broaden the boundaries of science in the interest of humanity.” [The Biggest Telescopes on Earth: How They Measure Up]

Construction of the $1.4 billion TMT began in October near the top of Mauna Kea, which rises 13,796 feet (4,205 meters) into the sky from the Big Island of Hawaii. The TMT will link up 492 small, hexagonal mirrors to form a giant light-collecting surface 98 feet (30 m) wide.

Once complete in the early 2020s, the observatory will return images 10 times sharper than those captured by NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope, TMT representatives have said. Astronomers will put the telescope to a number of uses: searching for and characterizing exoplanets, for example, and investigating the nature of mysterious dark matter and dark energy. (Two other huge, ground-based scopes — the Giant Magellan Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope — should come online in Chile at about the same time as TMT, and do similar work.)

But not everybody is enamored with the TMT. Native Hawaiians regard the peaks of mountains throughout the island chain as sacred, and Mauna Kea may be the most sacred one of all.

So building another telescope on this dormant volanco, which already houses a number of observatories, has been controversial from the start. For instance, protestors disrupted the TMT’s groundbreaking ceremony in October, and further demonstrations in March and April resulted in a number of arrests and eventually halted construction altogether.

In his statement, Yang said TMT representatives are “mindful of those who have concerns, and yet, we hope they will permit us to proceed with this important task while reserving their right to peaceful protest.” But another showdown appears to be looming Wednesday.

“By proceeding with the project, the TMT officials neglect to acknowledge and act on the concerns of citizens of Hawai’i who have voiced their strong disapproval of the project. This action further demonstrates the lack of respect that the State of Hawai’i and project officials have for Native Hawaiians and their culture, in addition to the health and well-being of the people and the environment,” members of the group Idle No More Mauna Kea wrote in a Facebook post Sunday (June 21).

“Members of the global Mauna Kea ‘Ohana [family] are asked to lift prayers, songs and chants for our mauna [mountain] and those who will be standing physically on the mauna,” they added. “Those who are on island and plan to be on the mauna Wednesday morning are asked to bring their highest selves to protect the mauna and stand with compassion, patience, love and forgiveness in their hearts. Bring digital cameras, phones and video cameras to the mauna to document the day as it unfolds.”

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Early summer is an “in-between” time in the skies. The realm of the galaxies has moved off to the west, but the summer Milky Way has not yet arrived. This is the best time of year to observe globular clusters and double stars.

The centerpiece of the early summer constellations is Boötes, the herdsman, with the bright star Arcturus at his heart. Arcturus is easy to find by following the “arc” of the Big Dipper’s handle away from the ladle: it is the only bright star in this part of the sky. Alternately, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, simply look straight overhead around 11 p.m. your local time.

Although Boötes looks like it might be pronounced like “booties,” the diaeresis (double dot) over the second “o” gives you a clue: the two “o”s are pronounced separately: Boh-OO-tes. Its stars form a distinctive kite shape, complete with tail. [The Brightest Stars in the Night Sky]

Arcturus is the third brightest star in the night sky, after Sirius and Canopus. It is relatively close to us, only 37 light-years distant. It is an orange giant star, slightly cooler than the sun, but quite a bit larger in diameter.

These three constellations contain many interesting objects to look at with binoculars or a small telescope.
Credit: Starry Night Software

Boötes contains relatively few deep sky objects, but is rich in double and variable stars. Izar (Epsilon Boötis) is one of the finest double stars in the sky. With a separation of only 2.9 arc seconds, it requires at least 3 inches aperture, steady skies, and high magnification to see its duality; its stars are gold and greenish in colour. Alkalurops (Mu Boötis) is a much wider double at 2 arc minutes separation, but it is a challenge to see that one of its stars is itself a double.

Although not within Boötes itself, most amateur astronomers use the stars of Boötes to star-hop to the Messier globular cluster Messier 3 in the dim constellation of Canes Venatici. M3 forms an almost perfect equilateral triangle with Arcturus and Rho Boötis. This is one of the finest globular clusters in the sky.

Just to the left (east) of Boötes is a small circlet of stars forming Corona Borealis, the northern crown. Look within the circle to see if you can see R Corona Borealis, a very unusual variable star. Some have called this an “inverse nova.” Most of the time, it shines steadily with a brightness of about magnitude 7, just below naked eye visibility, but easily seen in binoculars. At long and irregular intervals, instead of brightening like a nova, it dims by about 6 magnitudes. This dimming is caused by occasional expulsion of a dark obscuring cloud of dust. Currently R is entering its dark phase, but keep watching, and it should soon reappear.

Constellation Quiz: What’s Your Cosmic IQ?

Constellations ancient and modern grace the skies year round. Let’s see what you know about the star patterns that appear overhead every night.

0 of 10 questions complete

Constellation Quiz: What’s Your Cosmic IQ?

Constellations ancient and modern grace the skies year round. Let’s see what you know about the star patterns that appear overhead every night.

0 of questions complete

Below Corona Borealis is one of the most unusual constellations, or rather “half constellations.” Serpens represents a snake cut in half, each half held in one hand of Ophiuchus. This is the front half: Serpens Caput, or the head of the serpent. The other half, located quite a ways to the east, is Serpens Cauda, the tail of the Serpent. A triangle is supposed to represent the head of the spent, but I always see this and the two stars above as a large “X.”

The brightest star in Serpens bears the ugly name Unukalhai, which is Arabic for “the serpent’s neck.” Just above Unukalhai is Delta Serpentis, a fine pair of pale yellow stars in a telescope.

But the real prize in Serpens Caput is the globular cluster Messier 5, every bit as fine as Messier 3 to the northwest. Like all globular clusters, M5 responds well to aperture and magnification. Besides resolving the cluster into myriads of tiny stars, a large telescope will reveal chains of stars and clusters within the cluster.

This article was provided to SPACE.com by Simulation Curriculum, the leader in space science curriculum solutions and the makers of Starry Night and SkySafari. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookand Google+. Original article on Space.com.

NASA is celebrating the New Year on Mars on June 19, 2015. One Mars year is 687 days long, nearly twice the time of an Earth year, due to Mars’ longer orbit around the sun. Credit: NASA

It’s New Year’s Day on the Red Planet today and NASA is celebrating in style with an epic three-day party in Mars itself … Mars, Pennsylvania, that is.

NASA scientists and Mars experts have descended on the town of Mars to celebrate the Martian New Year today (June 18) with a press briefing at a flying saucer spaceship monument in Mars, Pennsylvania, kicks off a weekend of Mars-themed activities by NASA to inspire kids to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics – all fields that the space agency says it will need in its push to the Red Planet. [Mars Myths & Misconception: A Quiz]

Among the invited speakers is Jim Green, NASA’s director of planetary science. Green not only oversees many aspects of Red Planet exploration, but also was a technical consultant on the upcoming movie “The Martian,” which lands in theaters in November.

NASA will celebrate the Martian New Year with an event at this flying saucer spaceship monument in Mars, Pennsylvania on June 19, 2015, which marks the official start of a new Martian year.
Credit: Jon Dawson

Mars celebrates its New Year about once every two Earth years because the Red Planet takes twice as long to orbit the sun as our world. Astronomers count the Martian New Year from the time that the planet’s northern hemisphere spring equinox starts on Mars. This year, the Martian New Year starts June 19.

Other NASA activities at the event include a “blast-off” dinner, a talk about music of the Red Planet, and a performance by a Mars Jump Rope Team. There will also be a miniature rocket launch on Saturday (June 20), subject to weather.

In recent months, NASA has been publicly aligning many of its activities to what it says will be the ultimate goal: landing a human on Mars in a few decades. For now, NASA’s human exploration is confined to low Earth orbit, but it has an Orion spacecraft under development to bring people further into the solar system.

Space.com Exclusive T-shirt. Available to Populate Mars. Buy Now
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Mars is currently being studied by a fleet of spacecraft built by NASA and the space agencies of Europe and India. On the surface, NASA’s Opportunity and Curiosity rovers continue to drive across the Martian terrain, while several orbiters monitor changes in the planet from above. The most recent addition was India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, which arrived at the Red Planet on Sept. 24, 2014, two days after NASA’s own Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission orbiter.

You can see more details about the Martian New Year celebrations at http://www.marsnewyear.com/.

Editor’s note: This story was corrected to reflect that NASA’s Mars briefing today will not be webcast on NASA TV.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.