posted Apr 4, 2011 8:53 AM by peter christoforou
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updated Apr 4, 2011 9:04 AM
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Thankfully times have changed since Galileo in 1632 claimed the Earth revolved around the Sun and was subsequently tried by the Pope for heresy and sentenced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest.
In fact, the Holy See's interest in true astronomy has been mounting since opening the Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana) in 1787, now located at the Pope's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy,
One Jesuit brother who has made his home at the Vatican Observatory since taking his vows in 1991 is the American Guy Consolmagno. Currently in service as a Vatican astronomer, as well as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection, "Little Guy" as he is known, believes in science and religion as compatible ideologies and explains:
"Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism – it's turning God into a nature god."
Over many years of research and study for the Church, Brother Guy Consolmagno has produced many influential papers in his field, as well as publishing several books including Brother Astronomer, Adventures of a Vatican Scientist (2000), Intelligent Life in the Universe? (2005), and God's Mechanics (2007). In 2000, Consolmagno even had an asteroid named after him to honor his dedicated work. Elaborating further on his love of Church and science, Guy Consolmagno said:
"That’s one of the joys I get from doing science as a Jesuit; by playing with the Universe I play with God, and thus I get to know God, I get to see his quirks and his personality, His way of doing things; his special brand of subtlety, that is His sense of humour. That’s my aesthetic; that is what has trained my sense of the elegant.
"If we close our eyes to the people and the culture and the knowledge of the universe around us, we are closing our eyes to God."
It is refreshing to hear men of the cloth speaking out with such forward looking vision and I believe that his statement is one that even many an atheist astronomer would be happy to say amen to.
posted Feb 1, 2011 9:38 AM by peter christoforou
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updated Feb 3, 2011 1:59 PM
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At a distance of 640 light years from Earth, recent announcements that Orion's second brightest star was about to go supernova would mean that the red giant would have had to have exploded in the middle ages.
At around 19 times the mass of the Sun and 100,000 times brighter, the news that Betelgeuse would soon explode created a stir on the internet, which tied in very neatly with 2012 Mayan Calendar doomsday theories. According to Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at Southern Queensland University:
"This old star is running out of fuel in its center. This fuel keeps Betelgeuse shining and supported. When this fuel runs out the star will literally collapse in upon itself and it will do so very quickly."
"It goes bang, it explodes, it lights up -- we’ll have incredible brightness for a brief period of time for a couple of weeks and then over the coming months it begins to fade and then eventually it will be very hard to see at all."
However, astronomers have since moved to allay concerns over when Betelgeuse may explode and to what effect after various exaggerated reports were picked up by media.
Firstly, it is pointed out that a supernova would have to be at a distance of no farther than 25 light years in order to affect the Earth. Secondly, there is no accurate way to predict when it may explode and thirdly, contrary to some claims, it would not appear anywhere near the brightness of the Sun. As Phil Plait from Discovery News explains:
"At that distance, it’ll get bright, about as bright as the full Moon..It’ll hurt your eyes to look at it, but that’s about it..It won’t even get 1/100,000th that bright [as the Sun]."
All told, University of Illinois astronomer Jim Kaler summed things up quite nicely when asked what would be the effect of Betelgeuse exploding, when he replied:
"Well, it will make a God-awful mess of the constellation Orion."
posted Nov 11, 2010 2:49 PM by peter christoforou
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updated Dec 3, 2010 11:30 AM
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Astronomy professor Doug Finkbeiner, at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, speculated recently that the 25,000 light-year long gamma rays emissions north and south of the Milky Way's core might in fact be caused by an actively feeding supermassive black hole.
The energy produced by the "enormous energetic event in the center of our galaxy" is measured at around that of a hundred thousand exploding stars, causing speculation that either an outbreak of supernovae or a massive black hole were the likely culprits.
Professor Finkbeiner theorised that the known but usually dormant] black hole at the our galaxy's core is presently actively feeding and spewing high-energy jets of gamma rays emissions from its poles. The enormous bubble structures currently witnessed are consistent with a black hole belch. which has been observed in other active galactic nuclei.
It is, however, the first time it has been observed at the center our our own Milky Way.
"So you have to ask, where could energy like that come from in the Milky Way?...So [the gamma-ray bubbles] might be the first evidence for a major outburst from the black hole at the center of the galaxy," Finkbeiner commented.
The obsevations were made using data collected from the ultra sensitive gamma-ray detecting Fermi's Large Area Telescope. In the meantime, Professor Doug Finkbeiner and his team will continue with their research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"But it is a striking image," Finkbeiner pondered, "and I think one that will be challenging astronomers over the coming years to do both future observational work and theoretical work to understand what's going on here and to make connections to other areas of galactic and extragalactic astronomy."
posted Oct 20, 2010 7:43 AM by peter christoforou
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updated Nov 12, 2010 9:15 AM
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This week astronomers released some bitter/sweet news for the legion of believers who held stock in the December 12, 2012 Mayan Apocalypse prediction, after it was announced that the scientists responsible for converting the ancient calendar to modern dates probably miscalculated by between 50 to 100 years.
The new finding was published in a chapter from Santa Barbara professor Gerardo Aldana's recently released book "Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World".
Apparently, a calculation called the GMT constant was used to convert the Mayan calendar to today's Gregorian calendar, which relied heavily on dates gathered from colonial translations from old Mayan texts.
The results achieved were further confirmed by anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury, who used the location of the planet Venus contained in the ancient Dresden Codex Venus Table, to confirm the dates produced including the 2012 Apocalypse.
However, professor Gerardo Aldana has now cast doubt on the whole validity of his predecessor's findings and as he explains:
"He [Lounsbury] took the position that his work removed the last obstacle to fully accepting the GMT constant. ...If the Venus Table cannot be used to prove the FMT as Lounsbury suggests, its acceptance depends on the reliability of the corroborating data," which Aldana suggests is very far from reliable.
This will all no doubt come as a bit of a disappointnment for the doom sayers who have been expecting the Earth to go out with a bang on December 12, 2012.
However, they might take some comfort in the fact that several Russian scholars, despite not acknowledging the Mayan prophecies, are still predicting an increase in solar activity by 2012. As Russian scientist Vladimir Kuznetsov at the Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation (IZMIRAN), quoted recently:
"The solar exposure on near-Earth space will increase [in 2012], causing perturbations in the atmosphere, which will break space apparatus... Enhanced radiation could also endanger cosmonauts."
posted Oct 16, 2010 5:24 AM by peter christoforou
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updated Nov 12, 2010 9:20 AM
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On Sept. 29th 2010, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Steven Vogt and his team of scientists made the exciting announcement they had detected the presence of an Earth-like planet three times the size of our own located only 20 light years away in the constellation of Libra.
The planet they named Gliese 581g is the 6th member of the Gliese 581 planetary system and its discovery, if confirmed, has been haled as one of the most important in the hunt for extraterrestial life as it is essentially the first ‘Goldilocks' planet discovered outside of the Earth.
As assistant professor of physics and astronomy, Danilo Marchesini explains:
"A ‘Goldilocks' planet is one that falls within a star's habitable zone. A planet following this principle is one that is neither too close nor too far from a star to rule out liquid water on its surface, and thus life on the planet."
At 4.3 billion years old, Gliese 581g is only slightly younger than Earth and orbits its own small red star called Gliese 581 once every 37 days. Also one side of the planet is perpetually facing its star while the other side remains in darkness, with the 'grey' zone considered the most likely area to support life.
Gliese 581g is attracting considerable interest, as despite discovering nearly 500 exoplanets outside our own solar system, most have been found to be either gas giants or too hot or too cold to support potential life.
As the planet's discoverer Steven Vogt explains
“Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent. I have almost no doubt about it.”
As further studies and observations continue to take place on Gliese 581g, the discovery of the planet, as Danilo Marchesini explains, increases the likelihood of finding intelligent life in our ‘solar neighborhood' and "it gives the potential of companionship in a lonely universe."
posted Jun 5, 2010 7:25 AM by peter christoforou
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updated Nov 12, 2010 9:23 AM
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 Scientists at the US space agency NASA, have speculated that Saturn's moon Titan was a likely candidate to support life, after analyzing the latest data sent back from their space probe Cassini. Titan is the largest of Saturn's moon and the only one to contain a dense atmosphere, as well as stable bodies of surface liquid. The satellite's atmosphere is almost entirely composed of nitrogen with a small percentage of methane and hydrogen present. Scientists have now discovered that traces of hydrogen gas flowing through the moon's atmosphere actually disappear on the surface of Titan, indicating that it was possibly being breathed by methane-based life-forms. Also, a lack of acetylene molecules was taken to indicate that the alien life-forms could be consuming the organic molecules whilst creating methane in the process. Commenting on the find, astrobiologist at Nasa Ames Research Centre California, Chris McKay said: “We suggested hydrogen consumption because it's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan, similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth. "If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life, it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth.” Before taking the findings as undisputable proof of extra-terrestrial life, Nasa was keen to point out that the result could also be caused by non-biological chemical reactions and further studies would be required to confirm the startling observations.
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posted Apr 30, 2010 12:44 PM by peter christoforou
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updated Nov 12, 2010 9:27 AM
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On April 29, 2010 it was announced that water ice and organic molecules have been found on a 123 mile diameter asteroid, lying in the main 'asteroid belt' between Mars and Jupiter, known as 24 Themis.
Independent discoveries of the find were initially announced by two scientists Andrew S. Rivkin and Joshua P. Emery, using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility 3m telescope. They further revealed that the water ice appears all over the asteroid's surface.
The presence of organic molecules including hydrocarbons and aromatics, were also discovered after conducting spectral analysis, and then subtracting the effect of the water ice from the tests.
Considering the relatively close proximity of 479 million kilometers between 24 Themis and the Sun, the scientists concluded that the asteroid must be carrying its own supply of water in order to have avoided sublimation into space.
Although water has been found on other planets, it is the first time an asteroid has been found with its own supply which has now had a major impact on scientific thought. As Central Florida astronomy professor Humberto Campins explains:
"This asteroid holds clues to our past and how the solar system and water on Earth may have originated and it also has clues to our future with exploration of near-Earth asteroids. We're showing that they're wetter than we thought. We're showing they have organic molecules that might have been the building blocks of life on Earth."
The discovery of water on asteroids would prove of incredible importance to the future of space exploration, as visiting astronauts could then use asteroids as a source of drinking water, as well as in the production of fuel.
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posted Feb 5, 2010 6:48 AM by peter christoforou
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updated Oct 21, 2010 5:32 PM
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A large fireball seen in the Irish night sky on Wednesday caused quite a stir, as it flew low enough to be mistaken by one Cavan resident as an airplane. The next day, however, fortune hunters in the north of Ireland were out looking for a piece of the meteorite which could net them in excess of $41,000.
The Irish police, Coast Guard and Irish Aviation Authority started receiving a flood of calls around 6 p.m. when the witnesses phoned in their sighting of a green and white flare traveling at low altitudes across the night sky.
Lillian Cassin from the Irish Aviation Authority said: “I saw what looked like a flare or a single firework, it was green and it lasted only about six or seven seconds,” while Joss Scott, who was out driving his car at the time, described it as "very bright green, with an orange trail coming from it.. travelling at [a] fantastic speed."
As the search for a piece of the rare meteorite continues, David Moore from Astronomy Ireland, said: “This is a huge event..We think it’s a fireball, that’s a rock from space the earth has slammed into, and they burn up as huge shooting stars. This one appears to have lit up the whole country.”
Although difficult to estimate the size of the rock at this stage, experts believe it was probably travelling 100 times faster than a bullet and slammed into the Earth atmosphere with the force of a small atomic bomb, before exploding and potentially scattering fragments which hadn't burnt up, in the Irish countryside.
Although rare, similar sighting have occured from time to time in Ireland, with the last one in 1999 when fragments of the meteorite were retrieved in Co Carlow and sold for $500 per gram.
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posted Jan 18, 2010 11:20 PM by peter christoforou
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updated Nov 12, 2010 9:33 AM
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This Wednesday at 1247 GMT, an object named 2010 AL30 will pass close to the Earth. At a fly-by distance of 76,000 miles (122,000km), the object will be approximately one third closer to us than our own Moon, and those able to view it will see a faint light in the sky similar to a 14th-magnitude star.
Although its exact nature is not yet know to scientist, NASA believe it is likely
a small asteroid measuring between 10 to 15 meters wide, and thus of no immediate risk here on Earth. As a NASA scientist explains, stony asteroids under 25 meters tend to “burn up in our atmosphere, causing little or no ground damage."
Earlier speculation suggested it may have been a man-made object, with Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero from the Remanzacco Observatory proposing it may have been a spent rocket booster. However, that theory has since been dismissed, with a NASA spokesman explaining: “Because its orbital period is nearly identical to the Earth's one year period, some have suggested it may be a manmade rocket stage in orbit about the Sun,” he said. “However, this object's orbit reaches the orbit of Venus at its closest point to the sun and nearly out to the orbit of Mars at its furthest point, crossing the Earth's orbit at a very steep angle. This makes it very unlikely that 2010 AL30 is a rocket stage." “Furthermore, trajectory extrapolations show that this object cannot be associated with any recent launch and it has not made any close approaches to the Earth since well before the Space Age began.”
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posted Jan 9, 2010 6:55 AM by peter christoforou
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updated Oct 21, 2010 5:30 PM
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Researchers at Ohio State University have recently concluded that around 15 percent of all stars in our galaxy could host solar systems. Our galaxy is estimated to contain between 100 and 400 billion stars, so the study would suggest the presence of over 100 million solar systems, like our own, in the Milky Way.
The study made use of a technique called "gravitational microlensing," to extrapolate the figure. Basically stated, light rays in space are bent by the gravity of a massive object, such as a star. When a planet passes in front of a star and our line of sight, the planet's gravity will act like a lens and focus the light rays, causing a short term increase in brightness and altering the apparent position of the star. It is this "gravitational microlensing effect,"
which astronomers then use to find objects that emit no light, such as planets.
“Now we know our place in the Universe. Solar systems like our own are not rare, but we're not in the majority, either,” said Scott Gaudi, astronomer at the Ohio State University.
In separate research, over 400 extrasolar planets have been detected orbiting around 300 stars, thus far. Most of the planets discovered, however, are massive and quite likely gas giants, like Jupiter or Saturn. Astronomers are keen to discover more smaller Earth like planets, composed of rock and metals, as these are more likely able to support life.
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