As Many As 100 New Extrasolar Planets May Have Been Discovered By Hubble Telescope

According to an early report, the Hubble Space Telescope may have discovered up to 100 new extrasolar planets in the bulge of our galaxy, the Milky Way. During a seven-day period of observations, by astronomer Kailash Sahu, a number of stars were seen to dim slightly, consistent with the expected results of a planet's orbit crossing in front of a star. Over the next few weeks, astronomers will use other ground-based techniques to confirm these findings. If confirmed, this would essentially double the number of known extrasolar planets.

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ISS Gyro To Be Brought Online Today

After the faulty circuit breaker on the ISS was replaced during Wednesday's spacewalk, flight controllers on the ground began testing the Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) that had been taken offline by the troublesome hardware. The gyroscope was slowly brought up to it's full operating speed, 6,600 RPM, by about 2:30 PM EDT yesterday. Flight controllers expect to bring the restored CMG back online today to join the other two functioning gyroscopes in maintaining the orientation of the ISS.

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Cassini Successfully Brakes Into Saturn's Orbit

After a successful 96 minute main engine burn, the Cassini spacecraft slowed enough to enter orbit around Saturn. Ground controllers received confirmation of burn completion at 9:12 p.m. PDT Wednesday evening. Due to the distance from Earth, signals from Cassini took approximately 84 minutes to reach ground receiving stations. New images of the ringed giant have already begun flowing in.

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AMSAT-OSCAR Echo Amateur Radio Satellite Launched

The AMSAT-OSCAR Echo Amateur Radio satellite launched into an 800 kilometer sun-synchronous orbit from from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan yesterday at 0630 UTC. This miniature satellite, only 10 inches square, will provide amateurs with various voice and data communications modes. On-orbit checkout and testing should be complete in about ten days. AMSAT will release a bulletin when the satellite is available for use by amateur radio operators.

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ISS Expedition 9 Spacewalk A Go For Today

The ISS Expedition 9 crew received the go-ahead to proceed today with the planned spacewalk that was cut short on June 24th when ground controllers discovered a higher than expected oxygen flow in Astronaut Mike Fincke’s suit. Troubleshooting revealed that the problem was caused by an open oxygen flow switch on Fincke’s primary oxygen bottle. Today's spacewalk will begin at 5:40 PM EDT and is expected to last six hours.

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Satellite Remote Sensing Data Aids Prediction of New Species Discovery

During a recent project, scientists integrated satellite remote sensing data, museum records, and genetic computer algorithms to predict the discovery of seven news chameleon species in Madagascar, a large island off the coast of Africa. Existing museum records, some over 100 years old, provided location data where different chameleon species had been found. Remote sensing data from NASA’s Terra satellite, NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mapping Mission, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites provided environmental information, including seasonal vegetation changes and topography. These data were processed by a genetic algorithm called GARP (Genetic Algorithm for Rule-set Prediction), which predicted locations where chameleons should be found. Field studies using these predictions confirmed that chameleons, including the seven previously unknown species, do live in the predicted areas.

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New IMAX Short Film Uses Hubble Images

A recent IMAX short film, "Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time," provides a three-minute 3-D tour of the cosmos using data and images collected by the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) project - a collaborative effort which includes observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope, and a handful of ground-based observatories. The movie, which premiered in April and has already won the "Best Short Feature" award at the Large Format Cinema Association's 2004 Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA), is currently playing only in San Diego and Detroit, but will start appearing at more large format theaters across the nation in the coming months. The film was created by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).

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Telstar 18 Satellite Launched

Last night at 11:59 pm EDT, a Zenit-3SL rocket propelled the Telstar 18 communications satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from the Odyssey Sea Launch platform at the equator in the Pacific Ocean. Although the spacecraft separated early from the Zenit's upper stage, it is still expected to reach its intended final orbital location at 138 degrees East longitude and still last for it's full 13-year lifetime. Built by Loral Space & Communications, Telstar 18 will serve markets in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific.

  

Saturn's Rotational Period Difficult To Determine

After recently measuring radio signals from Saturn, scientists discovered that at 10 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds (plus or minus 36 seconds), the Saturnian day now appears to be 6 minutes longer than than the Voyager 1 and 2 readings showed. Scientists believe this may may due to a change in the rotational speed of Saturn's magnetic field and not an actual slowdown of the planet's physical rotation. This discovery may indicate that the magnetic field rotation in gas giants like Saturn behaves more like in our own sun, having a rotational period that varies with latitude. Measuring emitted radio signals from "gas giants" has been the most accurate method for determining the rotational periods of these planets, since any surface features are obscured by thick, swirling atmospheres.

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ESA Provides Zero-G Science Opportunity To Students

During a three week period from 29 June through 16 July, 124 students will perform a number of scientific experiments aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Airbus A300 Zero-G aircraft. Each flight will provide students with 30 weightless opportunities lasting 20 seconds each by repeating a parabolic flight path. This is the ESA's seventh Student Parabolic Flight Campaign.

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