ASTR330 SPRING 2003 BULLETIN BOARD

MESSAGE #107. Thu May 15 1:03:51 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Hey Everyone! There will be a total eclipse of the Moon starting at 11:14am on May 15 and going till 12:06am on May 16. North America will have an excellent view for this. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. For the full story, go to http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/12may_lunareclipse.htm

MESSAGE #106. Sun May 11 17:26:51 2003 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

I just wanted to let you all know that I have posted a ASTR330 Review Sheet as a link from the Assignments webpage. There will also be a review session the night before the final and a time/place to be determined. I still have to reserve a room for this.

Nice Picture David! And speaking of strange names for asteroids Supreet, check out this link.

MESSAGE #105. Sun May 11 1:24:11 2003 . David Bettis wrote:

Amazing HST image: http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2003/15/images/a/formats/full_jpg.jpg

MESSAGE #104. Thu May 8 0:07:33 2003 . David Federman wrote:

In response to an earlier post, the mass of Jupiter is 1.9 x 10^27 kg. Hope that helps.

MESSAGE #103. Wed May 7 18:52:05 2003 . Justin Miller wrote:

Here's a link for an article about the first evaporating planet discovered. Pretty neat actually.

http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=9447856&db=aph

Justin

MESSAGE #102. Wed May 7 17:15:49 2003 . Veris Prasarntree wrote:

I'm having a little trouble with the Quantitative question. I'm pretty sure it requires the mass of the sun and Jupiter to work out, and the only mass of Jupiter given in the book is in terms of the mass of Jupiter, so it's listed as 1.00.

MESSAGE #101. Mon May 5 22:23:38 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Mercury is passing directly in between the Earth and the Sun tomorrow. Those in the southern hemisphere will have a clear view of watching Mercury pass infront of the Sun (with protective eye gear, of course). So, if you can hop on a plane and fly to South America or Africa, feel free to look at Mercury.

MESSAGE #100. Sat May 3 16:26:22 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

I found this on MSN. Asteroid MisterRogers There is now an asteroid that is named in honor of Fred Rogers the guy who played Mr. Rogers on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Check it out. :)

MESSAGE #99. Thu May 1 20:59:08 2003 . Isonguyo Udoka wrote:

Here is the link again, sorry about that

Take the Quiz

MESSAGE #98. Thu May 1 20:58:13 2003 . Isonguyo Udoka wrote:

Lets see if you really know your Astro....take the quiz....

Go Ahead, don't be afraid, its quite easy...

http://encarta.msn.com/quiz/quiz.asp?QuizID=42

This is the most innane quiz i've ever seen!!!! I thought it was a joke!!!!

MESSAGE #97. Mon Apr 21 17:22:16 2003 . Michael McGovern wrote:

"Stuart's Event" was an interesting link to follow because it has a photograph of an impact the surface of the moon. However, this is a very contraversial topic because the calculations made show that this particular impact would cause an explosion too small to be seen from an EBT (Earth Based Telescope). Also, the chances of someone taking a picture that the precise moment critical for the picture are highly unlikely. Some scientists questioned the integrity of the photograph and began to search for clues to see if the crater was fresh or using sophisticated coloration techniques. The results show that the moon was weathering and is not quite so geologically dead as we once thought. This is mostly exciting because we captured and impact on film before sophisticated technology was around.

MESSAGE #96. Thu Apr 17 9:40:23 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

I forgot to link up the site in the last message so here it is again. The link I followed was posted by Jason Seabrease. The site can be found at Planetary Photojournal, this link explores the pictures taken by several missions that were sent to various planets over the years. The site has some very good pictures on it that are very interesting to look at. Some of the pictures that I looked at were the rings of Saturn, and I also looked at pictures that were taken through a variety of means such as infrared, megnetoshperic imaging, and solid state imaging. I also looked at pictures from the moons of Jupiter such as Io, Europa and Callisto from the Cassini, Galileo, and Voyger missions.

MESSAGE #95. Thu Apr 17 9:38:38 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

The link I followed was posted by Jason Seabrease. The site can be found at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ .this link explores the pictures taken by several missions that were sent to various planets over the years. The site has some very good pictures on it that are very interesting to look at. Some of the pictures that I looked at were the rings of Saturn, and I also looked at pictures that were taken through a variety of means such as infrared, megnetoshperic imaging, and solid state imaging. I also looked at pictures from the moons of Jupiter such as Io, Europa and Callisto from the Cassini, Galileo, and Voyger missions.

MESSAGE #94. Thu Apr 17 1:18:00 2003 . Keith Weicksel wrote:

I followed the link from the page Erin Masters found about High Tide on Europa. This discusses alot of what we have been talking about in class -- how tides impact planets. Basically Europa is in a complete tidal lock with Jupiter. It is a 1:2:4 resonance with Ganymede and Io. These tidal forces (especially from Jupiter), create a large bulge on the surface of the planet. When distances change this bulge may grow or shrink. This infinite expansion and contraction creates heat. This heat is then distributed throughout the core, mantle and outer shell of the planet -- scientist are just trying to determine if it is enough heat to create an ocean under the ice shell. If there is liquid water then that greatly improves the chances of finding life on the planet.

MESSAGE #93. Wed Apr 16 22:54:18 2003 . Reed Porada wrote:

Started following this link here from Brent Lawrence. Then from there followed a link to newly discovered satellites of Jupiter (20 in just this year!). From there I noticed a trend in the discovers of Scott Sheppard and David Jewitt. I then went to Scott's homepage which then lead me to a site on Jupiter's satellites. There I noticed that it said the majority of Jupiters small irregular satellites, many of its 60 total satellites, have a retrograde motion. I then did a search to try to figure out why. Found that retrograde orbiting satellites end in "e" and prograde in end "a" from this article. Still trying to figure out why they are in retrograde. Anyways the original link proved to be an intriguing link in that it mentions other recent developments in astronomy on the same page. Also one is able to quickly get information on any possible unknown term by clicking on some of the highlighted terms within various articles on the site. I also like the original link because it always intrigues me when I find things that seem out of whack, I always want to try and figure out why once I notice this. In the end the link itself did not provide much information on the topic, but easily guided me to more information and hopefully will eventually discover why many of Jupiter's satellites have retrograde orbits.

MESSAGE #92. Wed Apr 16 16:14:41 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Some nifty astronomy info.: THE PLANET MERCURY: This is a good week to spot the innermost planet in our solar system. Look low and to the west just after sunset; Mercury will be there shining like a 1st magnitude star. Mercury, which is usually hidden by the Sun's glare, reaches greatest elongation (apparent distance from the Sun) on April 16th. Visit spaceweather.com for sky maps and details. (Note: When you're done looking for Mercury in the west on April 16th, spin around and look at the full Moon rising in the east. Low-hanging full Moons very often seem swollen and colorful--a lovely sight.)

AURORA WATCH: Earth is once again slipping into a high-speed solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the Sun. Auroras are possible on April 16th and 17th--especially at high latitudes: e.g., New Zealand, southern Australia, northern Europe, Canada, Alaska and other northern US states such as Wisconsin, Vermont and Michigan. Because at this time of year nights are shortening in the northern hemisphere and lengthening in the southern hemisphere, southern sky watchers could be favored during this week's geomagnetic activity. The bright full Moon will make faint auroras harder-than-usual to see in both hemispheres.

MESSAGE #91. Mon Apr 14 22:16:25 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Here's 2 more: (if for some reason they don't work, just go to www.science.nasa.gov ) http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/10apr_grb.htm?list878909 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/14apr_zeroglass.htm?list878909

MESSAGE #90. Mon Apr 14 22:09:54 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Hey Guys! Here's a few links that may be of interest to do the hw written assignment on: http://science.nasa.gov/pprod/y2003/09apr_aurorablues.htm

MESSAGE #89. Mon Apr 14 21:13:46 2003 . Kristofer Quinn wrote:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/asteroid_moons_021003.html

This is a site posted earlier by David Bettis, about Asteriod Moons. Since it was a subject covered ealier in class I found it wuite interesting. It pins 1,000 to 1,200 as being the number of Asteriod pairs though to inhabit the solar system. It also states that NEO binarys are far more common that main belt binaries, suggesting a different formation mechanism.

MESSAGE #88. Fri Apr 11 0:18:09 2003 . Brent Lawrence wrote:

The discovery was made by Scott Sheppard, David Jewill adn Jan Kleyna. heres the link

http://www.astronomy.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/285lhqyw.asp

http://www.astronomy.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/285lhqyw.asp

MESSAGE #87. Fri Apr 11 0:14:53 2003 . Brent Lawrence wrote:

A small irregular moon orbiting, called S/2003 S1, Saturn discovered, bringing the total of known Saturn moons to 31. this is the 14th known irregular orbiting satellite of Saturn.

MESSAGE #86. Tue Apr 8 13:49:57 2003 . Willie Walton wrote:

http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Sept99/MoonCore.html

MESSAGE #85. Tue Apr 8 13:46:18 2003 . Willie Walton wrote:

Ok third time is the charm. I forgot an "a" in hawaii. Sorry.

www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Sept99/MoonCore.html

MESSAGE #84. Tue Apr 8 13:42:38 2003 . Willie Walton wrote:

Sorry about that I don't know why everything is linked to my article. Here is the website that April Roste wanted you guys to see.

www.psrd.hawii.edu/Sept99/MoonCore.html

MESSAGE #83. Tue Apr 8 13:35:07 2003 . Willie Walton wrote:

Remember in class last week we asked if anything in the movie "The Core" could happen. Well, while I was surfing the web I found an article from badastronomy.com. In this article the explain some of the goods and bads about the movie. Let me warn you that this article will spoil the movie for you, if you wanted to see the movie. However, it is an interesting article about the movie. Just click on the link above and it should take you right to the article. If not just go to badastronomy.com, the article will be on the front page. Hope you guys enjoy it.

MESSAGE #82. Tue Apr 8 12:28:46 2003 . April Roate wrote:

I found this interesting article on the tiny core of the moon. It's a few years old, but I think that it does a wonderful job in explaining why a small iron core in the moon might be interesting.

http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Sept99/MoonCore.html

MESSAGE #81. Fri Mar 28 16:38:53 2003 . David Bettis wrote:

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/087/nation/Meteor_lights_up_Midwestern_sk%3A.shtml

"'I always tell my wife that when I die, I hope I get hit in the head by a meteorite flying through the roof and it came pretty close,' he said."

MESSAGE #80. Tue Mar 18 22:37:33 2003 . Reed Porada wrote:

Actually I thought about this after class, and was wondering why the resonance with Jupiter creates gaps in the asteroid belt, while the resonance with Neptune creates clusters? Only thoughts I have is that since Neptune is smaller thus a different result. In addition, the position of Neptune relative to the KBO's is fundamentally different than that of Jupiter and the asteroid belt, thus producing the different result. Is it either of those, or something completely different? Thought it was odd to at one point say resonances cause gaps, and another causes clusters.

MESSAGE #79. Tue Mar 18 20:05:14 2003 . Veris Prasarntree wrote:

Oh, and can someone explain resonance in asteroid belts to me? All I've got so far is that the gravity of Jupiter influences the orbits of asteroids so that they don't orbit they way they should. As a result, there are gaps in certain spots in the asteroid belt.

MESSAGE #78. Tue Mar 18 19:41:04 2003 . Veris Prasarntree wrote:

The only section of meteorite chapter that will be on the exam is that chart, correct? Since he already covered the majority of the chapter on the last exam.

MESSAGE #77. Wed Mar 12 23:56:43 2003 . Hannah Lee wrote:

If you get the mass as 5 solar masses and the distance to 1 AU, the rogue star hits the Sun, creating this domino effect that looks like a game of pool with all the planets except Mars getting ejected. Mars then continually hits the sun at one point in its orbit.

MESSAGE #76. Wed Mar 12 23:51:30 2003 . Tara Bell wrote:

For homework number two I on the web exploration seven, I changed the solar mass to 10 and some really kewl stuff happened. It was all kinds of messed up. Check it out.

MESSAGE #75. Wed Mar 12 22:55:56 2003 . Reed Porada wrote:

Anybody able to get inner planets other than Venus to go retrograde? Found that modifying just date, or just the Solar Mass, but even a small fraction can prevent the retrograde motion from happening. Also after doing increments of 2 months at a time, or .1 Solar Mass, I am unable to get a planet to go into retrograde. However, playing at 0.01 Solar Mass increments I was able to continue to have Venus go retrograde. Seems that you need to find a Mass/Time/Distance for the Rogue Star such that the orbit of the planet crosses in front of the Rogue star and slingshots around it back towards the Sun. Just wondering if anyone else has had success, or tried.

MESSAGE #74. Wed Mar 12 17:30:24 2003 . Sean Mao wrote:

I put a 100 Solar mass star at 1 AU from the sun. the star seems to bounce off the sun and come back like a yo yo. This is because you made the Sun immovable. The sun should be moved instead of the 100 solar mass star.

MESSAGE #73. Wed Mar 12 1:27:13 2003 . Erin Masters wrote:

If the rogue star is 1/2 a solar mass and comes into the solar system at a high speed to 1AU from the Sun, all the planets in the inner and outer Solar System are ejected and it captures Mercury.

MESSAGE #72. Mon Mar 10 21:53:19 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Homework web problem #7d: Conditions: Date: 2/01/2001 Star Mass: 0.5 solar masses Close Approach Distance: 5.0 AU Flyby speed: very fast It's interesting to see what happens in the outer solar system. I don't understand why Saturn sticks around. Can anyone tell me?

MESSAGE #71. Mon Mar 10 20:11:07 2003 . Michael McGovern wrote:

If you set the Rogue Star's mass to 100, and set the approach distance to .1 AU, you will see a pretty wild event that takes place in our inner solar system. Just think about how crazy that would be if we were all around if something like that happened.

MESSAGE #70. Wed Mar 5 14:31:07 2003 . Erin Masters wrote:

This is just an interesting way of how Kepler's Laws influenced other aspects of life in the 17th century. When Bernini designed St. Peter's Square in Rome, he made it in the shape of an ellipse after Kepler discovered that the orbits of the planets were elliptical. It is very ironic that this shape would be given to the square for St. Peter's Cathedral because the church was so opposed to the heliocentric view of the Solar System and Kepler's imperfect orbits.

http://members.aol.com/Sokamoto31/vaticano2.htm

MESSAGE #69. Fri Feb 28 13:11:01 2003 . Kathryn Noyes wrote:

I thought Quaoar was extremely exciting when the press release came out this past semester in October. I wanted to post it in case anyone had yet to hear about this Kuiper Belt object that just recently has been seen by Hubble. There are many links within this press release to find out more about the icey Quoaor, which is 1/2 the size of pluto!

I remember the discussion about Pluto in class the other day and I also saw the previous post which mentioned an object that is bigger then pluto. However, this is the most recent object found WITH pictures! So take a look!

Quoaor

MESSAGE #68. Fri Feb 28 8:35:09 2003 . Reed Porada wrote:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_horizons_030225.html

Though this link was interesting given that we were talking about Pluto being classified as a planet. This mission could provide more insight, and help us refine the definition of a planet as Professor Hamilton mentioned. Also it would be interesting if we found an object larger through the use of this probe. Is it possible, kinda like the Trojan Asteroids of Jupiter, that a dark object larger than Pluto, though un able to be seen by our current equipment, lies in the Kuiper Belt. Should be something interesting to watch over the next couple of years, better stated something interesting after the 12 years it takes to arrive at Pluto.

MESSAGE #67. Thu Feb 27 16:14:51 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

I thought that this might be an interesting link. The link talks about how there might have been a collision between the moon and and asteroid back in 1953. It talks about how an amateur astronomer photographed this event.

NASA Solves Half-Century Old Moon Mystery

MESSAGE #66. Mon Feb 24 18:01:31 2003 . Michael McGovern wrote:

I missed last Thursday and I understand that there was some material that is crucial for the exam tomorrow that is incorrect in the book. Does anyone feel like telling us all what that is exactly? It would be 100% appreciated.

MESSAGE #65. Mon Feb 24 14:36:55 2003 . David Bettis wrote:

RE: Half-life Chart

The chart shown is an example of an isochron. Each point is a sample of a meteorite. If the rock was just born, we would expect the line to be completely horizontal. As time goes on, we expect the slope of the line to increase, as more "areas" of the rock have a chance to undergo radioactive decay.

A better (and more detailed) explanation is available here: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/isochron-dating.html#generic

But the basic idea is that instead of taking a single sample and calculating the age from that one sample-- take many samples. Measure the slope of the line to calculate the age -- a much more accurate method.

MESSAGE #64. Sun Feb 23 22:06:49 2003 . Veris Prasarntree wrote:

Could anyone explain to me that half life chart that was in class again. I recall it, but my notes are a bit sketchy. I recall the axis being the ratio of Strontium to Ribidium (spellcheck?) and the line charted the various possibilities of ratios. That's about all I remember.

MESSAGE #63. Fri Feb 21 3:25:53 2003 . Michael Drain wrote:

I was wondering if someone could help me out. I was not in class on Thursday because of the snow and won't be back on campus until Tuesday and was hoping that someone could fax or email me the notes from class. Since they covered material that will be on the test and the fact that they differ from the material in the book I would like to have this material to study for. If anybody is willing to help me out it would be greatly appreciated. My email is mdrain31@yahoo.com.

thanks,

Mike

MESSAGE #62. Tue Feb 18 11:59:52 2003 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Hi Class,

A number of you have asked about Thursday's test - I'm going to move it to Tuesday Feb. 25!! Please catch up on the reading and bring questions to class on Thursday (if the campus is open!). I'll bring some sample exam questions to class on Thursday too.

You all found a lot of nice astronomy links! I haven't explored all of them yet, but will soon.

Happy snow days!

MESSAGE #61. Thu Feb 13 11:58:42 2003 . Jason Seabrease wrote:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/ This website is sponsored by NASA and shows pictures taken by the many spacecraft that have passed by or landed on all nine planets of the solar system. The website shows interesting pictures of all nine planets as well as the rings around Saturn and the moons around the gaseous giants. Many of the images shown display these bodies through such means as near infrared mapping spectroscopy which shows hot eruption spots on Jupiter’s moon Iao.

MESSAGE #60. Thu Feb 13 11:47:04 2003 . Chaim-Meyer Heller wrote:

This is from a site I check out alot: http://www.newscientist.com/

The article is about Venus and the possibility of microbes living in its atmosphere.

http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/astrobiology/venusmicrobe.jsp

MESSAGE #59. Thu Feb 13 2:33:05 2003 . Isonguyo Udoka wrote:

http://www.astrobiology.com

This site focuse on the idea that there might be life on planets other than the Earth. From this site I learned that there is new evidence that water once flowed on Mars. An article on this site describes an intricate martian network of streams, rivers, and lakes which are believed to have carried water across Mars. Also, I learned that NASA have proposed a new mission to the icy moons of Jupiter (Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa) within the decade. The interesting part of this mission is that NASA will be using a nuclear fission reactor to power the probes sent to these moons. This site is very interesting to me because I am curious to know if life exists or existed on planets other than the earth and I can stay informed about new findings involving this topic by logging on to this site.

MESSAGE #58. Thu Feb 13 1:19:46 2003 . Bayardo Nunez wrote:

http://neat.jpl.nasa.gov/

Sorry my previous post was not the general link. There is a great website that keeps track of all the asteroids and/or objects that are near Earth. It updates monthly and has the history of all the asteroieds or objects discovered by the program. It is i believed run by NASA and the program is called Near Earth Asteroid Tracking(NEAT). It has images of the newly found asteroids/objects and the data also. I found it very interesting. Check it out!

MESSAGE #57. Thu Feb 13 1:15:02 2003 . Bayardo Nunez wrote:

http://neat.jpl.nasa.gov/u40f5j.jpg

There is a great website that keeps track of all the asteroids and/or objects that are near Earth. It updates monthly and has the history of all the asteroieds or objects discovered by the program. It is i believed run by NASA and the program is called Near Earth Asteroid Tracking(NEAT). It has images of the newly found asteroids/objects and the data also. I found it very interesting. Check it out!

MESSAGE #56. Thu Feb 13 0:33:20 2003 . Vishweshwar Dumpeti wrote:

http://marsweb.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

The red planet Mars has inspired wild flights of imagination over the centuries, as well as intense scientific interest. Whether fancied to be the source of hostile invaders of Earth, the home of a dying civilization, or a rough-and-tumble mining colony of the future, Mars provides fertile ground for science fiction writers, based on seeds planted by centuries of scientific observations. Thus the Mars Exploration Program, in NASA. The part of the site that interests me the most is the Technology. In order for all these scientific observations to be available for us, we need State-Of-The-Art technology. This site does a very good informing about how current and future technology, in Mars Exploration, work. Check it out!!

MESSAGE #55. Thu Feb 13 0:22:17 2003 . Kathryn Noyes wrote:

Black holes have always fascinated me, so I wanted to share with you a page with interesting information as well as pictures! It reminds us that black holes are regions of spacetime from which nothing can escape, not even light! The page also brings up neutron stars, escape velocity and much more so check it out! http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/bh_home.html

MESSAGE #54. Wed Feb 12 23:55:16 2003 . Michael Bethea wrote:

http://ringmaster.arc.nasa.gov/saturn/saturn.html

This is a site that focuses on Saturn's ring system. The site mainly talks about what the ring system is composed of. On the site there are animations as well as images from probes. The site also contains links to other related web pages.

MESSAGE #53. Wed Feb 12 23:54:59 2003 . Michael Bethea wrote:

http://ringmaster.arc.nasa.gov/saturn/saturn.html

This is a site that focuses on Saturn's ring system. The site mainly talks about what the ring system is composed of. On the site there are animations as well as images from probes. The site also contains links to other related web pages.

MESSAGE #52. Wed Feb 12 23:49:44 2003 . Hannah Lee wrote:

Oops! I didn't post the link right.

Life on Venus

MESSAGE #51. Wed Feb 12 23:47:21 2003 . Hannah Lee wrote:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astrobio_venus_030211.html

Being a Biology major, I thought this sounded pretty interesting. There's a research group hoping to study Venus' atmosphere to see whether there are tiny life forms, or microbes, that are viable in a certain region. It would be in a zone about 31 miles from the surface where it's not too low that the temperature gets too hot, and it's not too high where ultraviolet radiation would zap them. Before, everyone believed that Venus was too harsh. The plan is to trap some atmosphere and then send it to the International Space Station to be observed. If there is life there, we would be able to study it and try to understand how life formed here on Earth.

MESSAGE #50. Wed Feb 12 23:41:38 2003 . David Federman wrote:

This is a pretty fascinating article about interplanetary collisions. It’s amazing how most people don’t have a sense of the amount of energy released in a collision of this magnitude. It goes on to talk about cratering on Earth, and collisions that the Earth has had in the past. It also talks about the similarities of past impacts on Earth and Mars. Check it out, I found it to be extremely interesting.

http://exploration.jsc.nasa.gov/education/websites/craters/CollisionBetweenEarth.htm

MESSAGE #49. Wed Feb 12 23:35:03 2003 . Michael Drain wrote:

planetary formation

One more time and maybe I'll get it right.

MESSAGE #48. Wed Feb 12 23:31:01 2003 . Michael Drain wrote:

planetary formation

I guess the third time will be the charm, I hope.

MESSAGE #47. Wed Feb 12 23:28:03 2003 . Michael Drain wrote:

www,pha.jhu.edu/~akir/Seminar/seminar

OK lets try this again. This site is about planetary formation which goes along with the lecture from Tuesday. Even though most of this information was covered in class this sight helps to reforce the idea of how the solar system evolved. This site also has some new information about the planets that I found to be interesting and really helped to drive home the theories of how the universe came to be.

MESSAGE #46. Wed Feb 12 23:26:01 2003 . Artin Petrossian wrote:

Universe to expand forever

This is a pretty short article about some recent findings by NASA, but it states some very bold findings. Apparently, by measuring cosmic microwave background levels in space, NASA has made some important findings regarding the origin and fate of the universe. This article claims that our universe will expand forever and that it is permenantly cooling. This leads to the idea that is presented in the final paragraph, that eventually "all will become an ever-cooling thin gas". These are all very interesting ideas, but it seems a little early to be calling these sure facts.

MESSAGE #45. Wed Feb 12 23:20:44 2003 . Michael Drain wrote:

EarthSky

This site provides of view of the night sky, check here then go out and look. Click on tonight sky

MESSAGE #43. Wed Feb 12 23:02:21 2003 . Brent Lawrence wrote:

http://www.blackskies.com

Doug Synder created and maintains this web site on planetary nebulae. He provides images, observational reports, and links. A planetary nubula is the final stage of a star's life, when a red giant begins expelling the outer layer of hydrogen gas producing red and blue light caused by oxygen and hygrogen gases. The largest planetary nebula in the night sky i sthe Helix Nebula in Aquarius, it may also be the nearest. The name planetary nebula refers to the planet like shape of the central obeject and the interstellar cloud of gas with the bulk ionized hydrogen.

MESSAGE #42. Wed Feb 12 21:50:28 2003 . Eric Groenthal wrote:

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/venus/venus.html

This was about the tenth site that I visited and feel that it was by far the most informative one. I really just picked something off the top of my head and chose volcanic activity on Venus. This site had MANY pictures of the planet and its volcanoes. I learned that Venus is the owner of over 1600 large volcanoes, and has a temperature of over 900 degrees Farenheit. That's hot enough to melt lead. Not where I would like to be, maybe just Florida will do.

MESSAGE #41. Wed Feb 12 21:35:17 2003 . William McConlogue wrote:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/gemini_keck_020107.html

This article is about huge objects called brown dwarfs relatively near Sun sized stars (only 14 AU away from its star). This discovery challenges current ideas of the solar system’s formation out a disk of gas. "This [brown dwarf] companion is probably too massive to have formed the way we believe that planets do," The brown dwarfs are likened to failed stars –huge balls of gas much more massive than Jupiter but not massive enough to generate the thermonuclear fusion that powers a star. These are still new discoveries and competing theories say that the brown dwarfs may either inhibit the formation of terrestrial planets or foster the creation of their own planetary systems. Some think that these dwarfs are formed out of the same collapsing gas cloud as the star but more research is necessary. The problem is that they do not emit light other than infrared so they are very difficult to detect.

MESSAGE #40. Wed Feb 12 20:56:06 2003 . Jennifer Harvey wrote:

I agree with you some Michael about the Columbia shuttle crew. I feel that their families and friends should have the privacy they deserved to grieve their loved ones instead of being thrust into the public eye. The only reason I think they are so widely publicized is because shuttle accidents are very uncommon. There have only been two space shuttle accidents, the Challenger and the Columbia. That's two accidents out of 100+ space shuttle missions. I for one hope that they find out the exact causes of this accident and are able to adapt to it with the other three shuttles that are still in operation. They already have one shuttle ready to launch but it is onhold until NASA gives it the green light again.

MESSAGE #39. Wed Feb 12 19:03:47 2003 . Justin Baldi wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59406-2003Feb11.html

Although I know this does not relate to the this class, it relates greatly to ASTRO 340 which I took last semester, and it talks about the formation of the universe. as of only a few years ago estimates did vary of how old the universe was and it ranged from 8 billion to 20 billion years. With new photography recently analyzed, it is now ceratin that the universe formed 13.7 billion years ago with a certainty within 1 percent. The same pictured showed that within 200 million of the begining of the universe the first stars were born. It also proves motre conclusively that 73% of our universe is not matter but energy that we cannot detect. to culminate the article it talks about the end of the universe and how it will expand exponentially forever and and therefore be less and less dense.

MESSAGE #38. Wed Feb 12 18:47:29 2003 . Justin Baldi wrote:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/features/planets/pluto/pluto.html

This site, although very general give a lot of information about Pluto.It basically starts out with the debate of is Pluto a planet or not, it goes through both scenarios, that it is a planet or that it could be the largest body of the Kuiper Belt. It also gives a brief history of Pluto and how it was discovered in 1930 and between 1979 and 1999 it was closer to the sun than Neptune. Pluto has a layer of frozen methane, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide, and at periods where it is closest ot the sun that layer often turns into a gas and is turned into a small atmosphere. Pluto and its moon Charon (which is only half the size of Pluto) are in a constant orbit around eachother, making some people think that they could be part od a double planet system.

MESSAGE #37. Wed Feb 12 17:43:48 2003 . Michael Drain wrote:

This message is unrelated to the homework, its about the Columbia Shuttle. I agree that this was a terrible event but it is bothering me how these seven people are being honored. I'm not saying that they provided our country with a great service and I do think it is horrible what happened to them and they should be praised for their service. However, I feel that they are the equivalent to people who serve in the military. I think that they both serve our country but when a military plane or helicopter goes down somewhere its all of about 5 minutes worth of news and maybe 1/2 a page in the newspaper. I think they both should recieve the same amount of respect and news coverage when something unfortunate like this occurs. Just thought that I would put my opinion out there and see how others felt about it?

MESSAGE #36. Wed Feb 12 17:20:47 2003 . Joseph Dacey wrote:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/rjn_bht.html

I apologize about message #9's link not working. I typed it in completely wrong. Here it is again......if this time works. It's a site on black holes. Personally, I am fascinated with how the universe began, but, unfortunately all we really have are theories. Being so interested in how everything began, I can't help but be interested in how everything will end. Black holes are representative of the end.

MESSAGE #35. Wed Feb 12 15:58:15 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Here's a little exciting and interesting article, unrelated to the homework assignment. Please enjoy.

NASA Science News for February 11, 2003

A NASA satellite has taken a picture of the Big Bang's ancient afterglow. Scientists have analyzed the data and learned that the universe is 13.7 billon years old (plus or minus 1 percent)and that the first stars appeared only 200 million years after the Big Bang. These results are a milestone in cosmology, says the NASA director of astronomy and physics.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/11feb_map.htm?list878909

MESSAGE #34. Wed Feb 12 14:47:36 2003 . Christopher Zalamia wrote:

The Origin of the Universe by a Process of Natural Selection

I posted the link wrong, sorry about that.

MESSAGE #33. Wed Feb 12 14:45:23 2003 . Christopher Zalamia wrote:

http://www.mira.org/bonestell/kai/einstein.htm

This website deals with the multiverse theory. It is thought possible that black holes are the birthplaces of whole other universes with slightly different properties. One can compare this process of "giving birth" to the evolution of life on Earth, passing traits along with slight changes, and the offspring best suited for survival (i.e. having partical types and forces that allow for star formation which leads to black holes) are more likely to pass their traits. This is a possible answer to the question of why our universe has such impossibly convenient properties that it is able to support life and so on. We may have evolved to be that way, and could be giving birth to more universes that also support life. I think it's a really interesting subject and this website explains it nicely.

MESSAGE #32. Wed Feb 12 13:56:20 2003 . Joshua Land wrote:

Hubble Space Telescope- Solar System Images

I found this site very interesting because it allows you to see numerous pictures of the planets, other objects and processes that we discuss in class. The Hubble Telescope is the best telescope there is and this site has the best images of the solar system that you can find. This site has the newest, most updated pictures of objects in our solar system. It also has news about Hubble findngs in our Solar System, illustrating all of them in detail.

MESSAGE #31. Wed Feb 12 12:45:37 2003 . Sherry Blackmon wrote:

YOURLINK

Link for message 29.

MESSAGE #30. Wed Feb 12 12:24:16 2003 . Willie Walton wrote:

http://www.astronomy.com/home.asp

It was hard for me to pick a topic that interested me. Since everything about astronomy interest me I decided to present a website. Astronomy.com is a place where you can get news and information about the astronomy world. The website also informs you of what to look for in the skies that night. You can also read reviews on equipment that can make looking at the stars easier. The site was developed by Astronomy magazine. So naturally you can subscribe to their magazine and receive monthly information about Astronomy. That is about all I can say about this website. I encourage you to take a look at this website. They have some very interesting things on this site.

MESSAGE #29. Wed Feb 12 9:09:37 2003 . Sherry Blackmon wrote:

www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bin4/030106a.asp

I thought this was and interesting article because it is about studying planet formation of neighboring solar systems, like beta Pictoris, and how it can help in understanding the Earth's formation. University of Toronto Scientists have proposed that future radar telescopes can be used to study dust grains created by collisions of objects during or after planet formation. Kind of relevent and timely to our class discussion of planet formation!

MESSAGE #28. Wed Feb 12 0:29:48 2003 . Joseph Caprara wrote:

Joseph Caprara Homework #1

YOURLINK

This web site is run by Jeremiah Ostriker from Princeton University. Mr. Ostriker talks about the ties between the Big Bang theory and the total sum of matter expected to be in the entire universe (deemed omega=1). When all visible matter in the universe is summed, the total is only equal to about 5 to 10% of the theorized total. This confliction suggests that an enormous amount of matter is present in the universe, however we cannot see or detect it with current scientific methods. The site includes several audio files of Mr. Ostriker speaking on the different topics about dark matter. There are also links to other pages including for information.

MESSAGE #27. Wed Feb 12 0:27:11 2003 . Chase Ighani wrote:

Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia

I found this site to be very interesting site. It not only gave a multitude of papers and discussions on the detection and the techniques used to find extrasolar planets but also a list of the planets discovered as of right now, which seems to be updated at a rather frequent pace. The site also contains links to many different groups that are searching for extrasolar planets. The other nice feature is a large amount of illustrations and graphs to give a visual interpretation of the data that the charts portray. I have always loved the idea of planets around other stars and this site seems very good at presenting the information that is known to the public while still using sources that seem credible.

MESSAGE #26. Tue Feb 11 23:39:08 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

I found this link while searching for a story I saw on the CBS Evening News about the Universe I ran into this link. I thought this was kewl link. I learned a lot while looking at it. Hope you enjoy it. :) Peering Into The Cosmic Past

MESSAGE #25. Tue Feb 11 23:08:28 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

This site takes a look at meteorites recovered from Antartica and other places on the Earth. It shows how it's classified and it also shows you charts and other interesting information on the chemical make up as well as comparsions to other meteorites and asteroids. Meteorite QUE 93148: Asteroid Mantle Material?

MESSAGE #24. Tue Feb 11 22:46:50 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

Sorry about that. Here's the link.

www.solarviews.com/eng/marsvolc.htm

MESSAGE #23. Tue Feb 11 22:38:56 2003 . Andrew Marmillion wrote:

Helioseismology

This website discusses helioseismology which is the study of the seismic waves generated by the sun. The seismic waves that emanate from the sun produce 10 million notes of sound, which gives researchers clues to the environment in the interior of the sun. Helioseimology also helps researchers the study the variations in rotational speed of the sun at different depths and latitudes.

MESSAGE #22. Tue Feb 11 22:22:18 2003 . Chalbeth Reynolds wrote:

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/marsvolc.htm

Since I'm a huge volcano buff, I decided to find a webpage about the volcanoes on Mars. Surprisingly enough, though Mars is not the largest planet in the solar system, it does have the largest volcano, Olympus Mons. It towers 15 miles high and 340 miles in diameter! Compared to Earth's largest volcano, Mauna Loa found in the Hawiian Island chain, which is 6 miles high and 75 miles across. These 2 volcanoes are shield volcanoes, known for their massive size, gentle slopes, quiet eruptions and basaltic lava. Thanks to the lack of plate tectonic on Mars, the red planet's volcanoes were able to grow to massive proportions sporting the largest volcano in the solar system. If Mars' and Earth's largest volcanoes were to go head to head in a boxing match, my money would definitely be on Mars' Olympus Mons.

MESSAGE #21. Tue Feb 11 22:21:33 2003 . Erin Masters wrote:

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_phillips_europa_030123.html

This article is about the possibility of life on Jupiter's moon Europa. Scientists believe that if there is water on Europa there is a good possibility of life or former life in the form of microrganisms. There is evidence that the gravity from Jupiter causes tidal flexing on its moons which creates heat. Because of this heat there could be liquid water underneath the icy surface. There are areas of Europa's surface that appear to be broken up and seem to have shifted like icebergs on Earth. Another section has ridges and cracking near the surface that seem to correspond to the movement of tides from a liquid ocean underneath. Other articles I found about this showed a picture with bubbles that might show convection currents, and one said that studies of life on Antarctica may show that life on Europa could be similar.

MESSAGE #20. Tue Feb 11 21:54:06 2003 . Matthew Lapides wrote:

http://www.dd.chalmers.se/~f93jojo/sidan2.htm

This website is about wormholes and time travel. I have always been fascinated by the possible consequences of time travel, and I have heard about wormholes in past classes, but I never really considered that they could be used to travel through time. Almost makes your head hurt...

MESSAGE #19. Tue Feb 11 20:54:49 2003 . Sean Mao wrote:

http://www.badastronomy.com/

Instead of finding a website about topics in astronomy, i found a website that debunks all the myth and false information in astronomy. This site is updated regularly with how the news, tv, and movies spread false information to make it look more interesting. The most interesting thing i learned from this site was that evethough movies are science "fiction", most people will belive it to be fact. The author says that even though we just had 2 comets pass by earth and everone saw them, most people will still remember the asteroids from "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon better.

MESSAGE #18. Tue Feb 11 18:53:23 2003 . Michael McGovern wrote:

http://www.chron.com/content/interactive/space/astronomy/news/1998/solarsys/980513.html

This website poses the interesting question of what NASA would do in the case of a "life-threatening" astonomical situation. It explains that the scientist and NASA, collectively, are to wait 72 hours before releasing the information to the public. This is most likely due to the way the media would create mass-hysteria and if there were to be any positive steps taken to correct or cusion the situation, they would have a few days to use prior to a public/media fiasco. Interesting information to know, you should take a minute to browse the article.

MESSAGE #17. Tue Feb 11 2:53:38 2003 . Christopher Perry wrote:

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/io.html

Io is the third largest moon orbiting Jupiter, and is one of the few terrestrial bodies in the solar system other than the Earth to be known to be active. Two Voyager spaceships sent back images of active volcanoes on the surface of Io with plumes as much as 300 km high. All of Io’s energy is believed to be drawn from tidal interactions between two other moons, Europa and Ganymede, as well as Jupiter. The three moons are locked in a resonant orbit and Europa and Ganymede cause Io to “wobble” as much as 100 meters.

MESSAGE #16. Mon Feb 10 22:21:58 2003 . Armen Galustyan wrote:

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/io.html

Io

Io is a satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by Galileo and Marius in 1610. It is primarily composed of silicate rock. The surface of Io is very much different then other places in our solar system. There almost no craters. This can be explained by volcanic activity on the surface of the Io. Currently there is some high volcanic activity on the surface of Io. This volcanic activity is caused by tidal interactions between Io, Europa, Ganymede and Jupiter. So Io gets squeezed from difference sides and its center gets hot. I found this to be most interesting about this web site.

MESSAGE #15. Mon Feb 10 19:43:01 2003 . David Bettis wrote:

I know the whole Columbia thing has been slightly overdone, but I ran across an op-ed piece which was a little more sentimental, as opposed to sensational. Regardless, I thought I'd share it.

MESSAGE #14. Mon Feb 10 19:38:08 2003 . David Bettis wrote:

Tally of Asteroid Harboring Moons Grow

For the longest time, asteroids were thought to be large chunks of rock floating through space. It was assumed that these bodies were single-- and relatively isolated. Recent observations, however, suggest that some asteroids have satellites; current understanding is not sufficient to explain why this occurs. Evidence is mounting in the form of recurring discoveries of asteroid/satellite pairs to suggest that this property might be more common than previously thought. As of October 2002, the official count of asteroid/satellite pairs has grown to 31. While this figure may seem small, detecting tiny chunks of rock orbiting already small chunks of rock is not exactly the easiest endeavor. Adaptive optics has been used to compensate for the distortion of Earth's atmosphere, enabling many of these discoveries.

I find the implications of this new property of asteroids interesting; could they be formed by a process aside from gravitational collision?

MESSAGE #13. Sun Feb 9 19:57:32 2003 . Keith Weicksel wrote:

Supernovae

This is a link to a website on Supernovae. Supernovae explosions occur when a star dies. A star (must be a giant star, not like our sun) basically collapses when the star attempts iron fusion (it has already burnt through all of its hydrogen, helium, carbon, etc.). When this collapse is happening (for only about 15 seconds) all of the elements are pushed together in the core and it produces heavy elements. Then the huge explosion occurs and this material (and plenty of energy) is spread out throughout the galaxy. It is a massive explosion. The most interesting part is how it relates to planetary science. The planet that we live on and our own bodies are made up from the heavy elements created in that blast. Like everything else in the universe, we came from the stars.

MESSAGE #12. Sun Feb 9 18:23:24 2003 . Kristofer Quinn wrote:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast24aug_1.htm This website provides the result of a NASA survey to gather more information on Brown Dwarfs. These bodies, typacally 15 to 80 times the mass of Jupiter are to small to start the Hydrogen burning process but mush more massive then what we typically define to be planets. The survey concluded that Brown Dwarfs tend to be formed as lone bodies, and do not form as planets would, that is to say, revolving around a star. This provides some proof that Brown Dwarfs are different from the recently discovered massive extra-solar planets. The most interesting part of this report, in my opinion, was that Brown Dwarfs do not occur frequency enough to make up a substantial part of the "dark matter" that scientist are searching for to provide evidence for the closed universe theory.

MESSAGE #11. Sun Feb 9 17:46:19 2003 . Reed Porada wrote:

Following up on some others interest on upcoming mission to Mars, and my interest in humans going to explore other planets I stumbled upon http://www.exploringmars.com. At that site there is a timeline of missions, past and present, news about results from the current Odyssey orbiter, and links to other sites about Mars. The Odyssey orbiter, launched in 2001, is creating detailed maps of elements and minerals on the surface of Mars. There is also sensors that NASA hopes might be able to detect frozen water just under the surface of Mars. The Odyssey mission is also detecting radiation levels on the surface of Mars. This from http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/. With missions like Odyssey, and previous and future rover missions we may be only a few decades away from sending man to Mars. Though given the recent Columbia accident, future travel to Mars may be put on hold indefinitely, let alone future work on the ISS. Some interesting facts learned are: 1) Mars is half the diameter of Earth, yet it has nearly equal land surface area( mainly due to Earth being covered in water, which also brings up an intersting question, what happens if we melt the icecaps of Mars?), 2) The moons of Mars are irregular, further adding to the theory of satellites are possibly captured in addition to forming with the planet.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/ http://www.exploringmars.com

MESSAGE #10. Sat Feb 8 19:54:03 2003 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

The Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn are clearly visible in the sky tonight! If anyone is online, take a look outside and note the following:

1) Where is the Moon in the sky relative to Jupiter and Saturn?
2) What is the phase of the Moon (cresent, half full, full)?
3) Where are Jupiter and Saturn relative to a line drawn through the most and least curved points on the Moon (the symmetry axis)?

Please post it to this site too! Now see if you can understand how the answers to these questions follow from the fact the the Moon and all of the planets orbit in nearly the same plane.

MESSAGE #9. Sat Feb 8 18:11:21 2003 . Joseph Dacey wrote:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/rjn_bht.html

I’ve always been interested in black holes. I think it has something to do with the question of light speed being the limit of speed. A black hole is in essence a hole in space rotating so fast that light does not have the escape velocity to get out. So, it’s possible that the speed of light is not the true assessment of speed, but rather thru gravitational force can speeds greater than light be achieved. Just a hypothetical shot in the dark. This web site is kind of cool, and pretty informative on black holes http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/rjn_bht.html

MESSAGE #8. Sat Feb 8 2:15:37 2003 . April Roate wrote:

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=MARSEXP

Here's a web site about the Mars Express orbiter set to launch in June of this month. It consists of two parts, an orbiter, the Mars Express, and a lander, the Beagle 2. This site gives a pretty good technical description of the space craft and lander as well as a description of the mission.

-April

MESSAGE #7. Thu Feb 6 13:06:54 2003 . Jennifer Harvey wrote:

This link is a good site for anyone interested in what happened to Space Shuttle Columbia. It answers some questions and has a very good detailed timeline.

Columbia FAQ

~Jen

MESSAGE #6. Wed Feb 5 13:40:36 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

I posted a link yesterday but forgot to href it. here it is with the href.

Dumbbell Nebula

MESSAGE #5. Wed Feb 5 0:04:13 2003 . Supreet Kaur wrote:

I was surfing the website for NASA and I came across their picture of the day. It's really kewl...it's a picture of the Dumbbell Nebula in Hydrogen and Oxygen. I thought this might be interesting to check out because of what we talked about today in calss with the Super Nova explosions and stuff.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/MM_Image_Feature_01.html

MESSAGE #4. Tue Feb 4 22:34:46 2003 . Veris Prasarntree wrote:

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

The website I found, Planet Quest: The Search for Another Earth, is about, of course, searching for other worlds outside our own star system. Many words have been located, specifically 105 planets in 91 planetary systems, and none of them have terrestrial worlds. Most planets discovered are either type similar to Jupiter or gas giants. Multiple missions are also planned with the goal of expanding our knowledge of worlds outside of the system, such as the Keck Interferometer and the Terrestrial Planet Finder.

MESSAGE #3. Tue Feb 4 15:23:11 2003 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Nice site Jennifer! That's an early start on Homework #1! I'm interested to see what you all will come up with as a class. I hope that you will all follow each others links and explore the sites that interest you most.

By the way, to earn the 4 bonus points you have to post a message here of your own free will (not just as part of a homework assignment - sorry Jennifer!). Something like: "Saturn is visible as a bright yellow star, straight up at 8pm!". It is ... I saw it Sunday. Or comment on interesting things that you found out (or questions that you have) from following other students links. Have fun!

MESSAGE #2. Tue Feb 4 12:53:23 2003 . Jennifer Harvey wrote:

The Origin of the Moon

This website was created by the originators of the modern theory of the origin of the Moon. The theory is that a planetesimal the size of Mars collided with the Earth shortly after the planet formed and differentiated. After the impact, a bunch of debris was thrown into space and formed a ring around the Earth. This ring was then condensed into the Moon. The website also gives the proof for this theory as well as some of the previous theories about the origin of the Moon.

MESSAGE #1. Mon Jan 27 8:24:24 2003 . Prof. Doug Hamilton wrote:

Welcome to ASTR 330! I hope that you will use this bulletin board to communicate with other students in the class. You can learn a lot from each other as well the Prof. But wait, there's more! Act now (by posting a message anytime in February) and you'll earn a cool 4 bonus points added to your grade at the end of the semester!!

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