ScienceDaily: Astronomy News

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• First cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system
• Ingredient of household plastic found in space
• A cosmic weather balloon at the center of the Milky Way
• Astronauts practice launching in NASA's new Orion spacecraft
• NASA wants investigations for a Mars 2020 rover
• Do black holes have 'hair'? New hypothesis challenges 'clean' model
• How engineers revamped Spitzer to probe exoplanets
• Dawn spacecraft reality-checks telescope studies of asteroids

First cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:08 PM PDT Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes have created the first cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system, a sizzling, Jupiter-like world known as Kepler-7b. The planet is marked by high clouds in the west and clear skies in the east. Previous studies from Spitzer have resulted in temperature maps of planets orbiting other stars, but this is the first look at cloud structures on a distant world.

Ingredient of household plastic found in space Posted: 30 Sep 2013 05:08 PM PDT NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene, a chemical used to make food-storage containers, car bumpers and other consumer products, on Saturn's moon Titan. This is the first definitive detection of the plastic ingredient on any moon or planet, other than Earth.

A cosmic weather balloon at the center of the Milky Way Posted: 30 Sep 2013 07:17 AM PDT The radiation field at the center of the Milky Way must be 1,000 times stronger than in the area surrounding our sun. Astrophysicists used computer simulations to reach this conclusion. The calculations are based on the data from a type of "cosmic weather balloon" -- the temperature data of an especially dense gas cloud near the center of the galaxy. Their research provides a new insight into the process of star formation, which is believed to take a different form at the centre of the Milky Way than it does at the galaxy's edges.

Astronauts practice launching in NASA's new Orion spacecraft Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:51 AM PDT NASA astronauts recently experienced what it will be like to launch into space aboard the new Orion spacecraft during the first ascent simulations since the space shuttles and their simulators were retired. Ascent simulations are precise rehearsals of the steps a spacecraft's crew will be responsible for -- including things that could go wrong -- during their climb into space. They can be generic and apply to any future deep space mission, or very specific to a launch that's been planned down to the second. For now, Orion's simulations fall into the first category, but practicing now helps ensure the team will have the systems perfected for the astronauts in any future mission scenario.

NASA wants investigations for a Mars 2020 rover Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:43 AM PDT NASA has released its announcement of an open competition for the planetary community to submit proposals for the science and exploration technology instruments that would be carried aboard the agency's next Mars rover, scheduled for launch in July/August of 2020.

Do black holes have 'hair'? New hypothesis challenges 'clean' model Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:37 AM PDT A black hole. A simple and clear concept, at least according to the hypothesis by Roy Kerr, who in 1963 proposed a "clean" black hole model, which is the current theoretical paradigm. From theory to reality things may be quite different. According to a new research black holes may be much "dirtier" than what Kerr believed.

How engineers revamped Spitzer to probe exoplanets Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:31 AM PDT Now approaching its 10th anniversary, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has evolved into a premier observatory for an endeavor not envisioned in its original design: the study of worlds around other stars, called exoplanets. While the engineers and scientists who built Spitzer did not have this goal in mind, their visionary work made this unexpected capability possible. Thanks to the extraordinary stability of its design and a series of subsequent engineering reworks, the space telescope now has observational powers far beyond its original limits and expectations.

Dawn spacecraft reality-checks telescope studies of asteroids Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:21 AM PDT Tantalized by images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based data, scientists thought the giant asteroid Vesta deserved a closer look. They got a chance to do that in 2011 and 2012, when NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbited the giant asteroid, and they were able to check earlier conclusions. A new study involving Dawn's observations during that time period demonstrates how this relationship works with Hubble and ground-based telescopes to clarify our understanding of a solar system object.

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