Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : On the Beach with Mars

2019 June 8
On the Beach with Mars 
Image Credit & Copyright: Jack Fusco

Explanation: At the end of last year's northern summer, after its dazzling opposition, Mars still shone brightly in the night. The celestial beacon easily attracted the attention of these two night skygazers who stood still for just a while, but long enough to be captured in the sea and night skyscape from Big Sur, planet Earth. Its central bulge near the southwestern horizon, the Milky Way runs through the scene too, while the long exposure also reveals a faint blue bioluminescence blooming in the waves along Pfeiffer Beach. Now much fainter, Mars can be spotted near the western horizon after sunset, but this month Jupiter is near its closest and brightest, reaching its own opposition on June 10. Night skygazers can spot brilliant Jupiter over southern horizons, glaring next to the stars toward the central Milky Way.

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : The Planet and the Pipe

2019 June 7
The Planet and the Pipe 
Image Credit & Copyright: Alain Maury, Jean-Marc Mari

Explanation: Now posing against our galaxy's rich starfields and nebulae, brilliant planet Jupiter shines in the night sky. Its almost overwhelming glow is near the top of the frame in this colorful telephoto portrait of the central Milky Way. Spanning about 20 degrees on the sky, the scene includes the silhouette of LDN 1773 against the starlight, also know by the popular moniker the Pipe Nebula for its apparent outline of stem and bowl. The Pipe Nebula is part of the galaxy's Ophiuchus dark cloud complex. Located at a distance of about 450 light-years, dense cores of gas and dust within are collapsing to form stars. Approaching its opposition, opposite the Sun in the sky on June 12, Jupiter is only about 36 light-minutes from planet Earth. Fans of dark markings on the sky can probably spot the Snake Nebula below and left of Jupiter's glare.

Science & Technologie - Avions du futur : Le Boeing Sugar Volt, premier avion commercial hybride ? (2/17)

La Nasa a fait plancher les constructeurs aéronautiques sur des concepts d'avions bien plus économes. Boeing a répondu avec ce « Sugar », pour Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research, baptisé Volt. La motorisation serait... hybride, avec une propulsion partiellement électrique, utilisable au décollage, ce qui réduirait le bruit et la consommation de carburant. Celle-ci serait diminuée de 70 % et la réduction globale en énergie (compte tenu des phases électriques) serait de 55 %. On remarque aussi le très grand allongement des ailes (rapport envergure-profondeur). 
© Nasa, The Boeing Company

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : Messier 63: The Sunflower Galaxy

2019 June 6
Messier 63: The Sunflower Galaxy 
Image Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller

Explanation: A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the loyal constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across. That's about the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Known by the popular moniker, The Sunflower Galaxy, M63 sports a bright yellowish core in this sharp telescopic portrait. Its sweeping blue spiral arms are streaked with cosmic dust lanes and dotted with pink star forming regions. A dominant member of a known galaxy group, M63 has faint, extended features that are likely star streams from tidally disrupted satellite galaxies. M63 shines across the electromagnetic spectrum and is thought to have undergone bursts of intense star formation.

Music - Live - Video - Liberace - Tchaikovsky : "Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor"

"Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor"

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : The Interstellar Clouds of Orion

2019 June 5
The Interstellar Clouds of Orion Image Credit & Copyright: Andrew Klinger

Explanation: The constellation of Orion is much more than three stars in a row. It is a direction in space that is rich with impressive nebulas. To better appreciate this well-known swath of sky, a new long exposure image was taken over several clear nights in January, February and March. After 23 hours of camera time and untold hours of image processing, the featured collage in the light of hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur was produced spanning over 40 times theangular diameter of the Moon. Of the many interesting details that have become visible, one that particularly draws the eye is Barnard's Loop, the bright red orange arc just to the right of the image center. The Rosette Nebula is not the giant orange nebula just to the left of the image center -- that is larger but lesser known nebula known as the Meissa Ring. The Rosette Nebula is visible, though: it is the bright orange, blue and white nebula near the image bottom. The bright orange star just left of the frame center is Betelgeuse, while the bright blue star on the upper right is Rigel. About those famous three stars that cross the belt of Orion the Hunter -- in this busy frame they can be hard to locate, but a discerning eye will find them just to the right of the image center.

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : SEIS: Listening for Marsquakes

2019 June 4
SEIS: Listening for Marsquakes 
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Mars Insight

Explanation: If you put your ear to Mars, what would you hear? To find out, and to explore the unknown interior of Mars, NASA's Insight Lander deployed SEIS late last year, a sensitive seismometer that can detect marsquakes. In early April, after hearing the wind and motions initiated by the lander itself, SEIS recorded an unprecedented event that matches what was expected for a marsquake. This event can be heard on this YouTube video. Although Mars is not thought to have tectonic plates like the Earth, numerous faults are visible on the Martian surface which likely occurred as the hot interior of Mars cooled -- and continues to cool. Were strong enough marsquakes to occur, SEIScould hear their rumbles reflected from large structures internal to Mars, like a liquid core, if one exists. Pictured last week, SEIS sits quietly on the Martian surface, taking in some Sun while light clouds are visible over the horizon.

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day : Stephan's Quintet from Hubble

2019 June 3
Stephan's Quintet from Hubble 
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Daniel Nobre

Explanation: When did these big galaxies first begin to dance? Really only four of the five of Stephan's Quintet are locked in a cosmic tango of repeated close encounters taking place some 300 million light-years away. The odd galaxy out is easy to spot in this recently reprocessed image by the Hubble Space Telescope -- the interacting galaxies, NGC 7319, 7318B, 7318A, and 7317 (left to right), have a more dominant yellowish cast. They also tend to have distorted loops and tails, grown under the influence of disruptive gravitational tides. The mostly bluish galaxy, large NGC 7320 on the lower left, is in the foreground at about 40 million light-years distant, and so is not part of theinteracting group. Data and modeling indicate that NGC 7318B is a relatively new intruder. A recently-discovered halo of old red stars surrounding Stephan's Quintet indicate that at least some of these galaxies started tangling over a billion years. Stephan's Quintet is visible with a moderate sized-telescope toward the constellation of Winged Horse (Pegasus).

Science & Technology - Astronomy picture of the day - A Live View from the International Space Station

2019 June 2
A Live View from the International Space Station 
Image Credit: NASA, UStream, HDEV Project

Explanation: If you were floating above the Earth right now, this is what you might see. In 2014, a robotic SpaceX Dragon capsule that delivered supplies to the Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS) also delivered High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) cameras that take and transmit live views of Earth. Pictured here, when working, is the live video feed that switches between four cameras, each pointed differently. Watch white clouds, tan land, andblue oceans drift by. The featured live view will appear black when it is nighttime on the Earth below, but the space station's rapid 90-minute orbit compresses this dark time into only 45 minutes. The present location of the ISS above the Earth can be found on the web. If the video appears gray, this indicates that the view is either being switched between cameras, or communications with the ISS is temporarily unavailable. As the HDEV project continues, video quality will be monitored to assess the effects of high energy radiation, which types of cameras work best, and which Earth views are the most popular.

Science & Technologie - Aeronautique : "Voltige en hélicoptère au-dessus de New York

"Voltige en hélicoptère au-dessus de New York"

Du grand spectacle dans les airs. Un hélicoptère a enchainé les figures acrobatiques au-dessus de New York ce samedi 18 mai. Avec la statut de la Liberté et les gratte-ciels pour terrain de jeu, c’est un ancien pilote chevronné de l’armée américaine Aaron Fitzgerald qui était aux commandes. Il compte plus de 8 500 heures de vol. Ses tonneaux, boucles et autres piqués sont impressionnants à voir, notamment depuis le cockpit (vidéo). Il s’agissait là d’une répétition pour un meeting aérien (Bethpage Air Show) qui se tenait le week-end dernier au-dessus d’une plage de Long Island et auquel a participé la patrouille acrobatique de l’US Air Force, les Thunderbirds.

La machine utilisée pour les figures est un BO105, un hélicoptère bimoteur développé par le constructeur allemand MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, aujourd’hui Airbus Helicopters). Grâce à sa tête de rotor rigide en titane et ses quatre pales en fibre de verre, le BO105 est capable d’exécuter les figures de voltige les plus folles. Vous l’avez d’ailleurs sans doute déjà vu au cinéma dans le dernier James Bond (Spectre) notamment pour effectuer des acrobaties au-dessus de Mexico.

Aeronewstv