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Space News Update — June 17, 2013 —

Contents

In the News

Story 1:

The Cat’s Paw Nebula — Our Galaxy’s Mini-Starburst?

Story 2:

Earth-Passing Asteroid is “An Entirely New Beast”

Story 3:

Details of Yuri Gagarin’s Tragic Death Revealed

Departments

The Night Sky

ISS Sighting Opportunities

Space Calendar

NASA-TV Highlights

Food for Thought

Space Image of the Week

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1. The Cat’s Paw Nebula — Our Galaxy’s Mini-Starburst?

The playfully named Cat’s Paw Nebula, otherwise known as NGC 6334, is the new hot spot for studying star

formation. The well-known stellar nursery could be a mini-starburst, a concentrated area of extremely rapid star

formation usually only seen in distant galaxies.

Astronomer Sarah Willis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Iowa State University) peered

through shrouds of dust to tally the stars in the Cat’s Paw Nebula, which is busy converting 200,000 Suns worth

of material into stars (some as big as 40 times the mass of our Sun). The nascent mini-starburst will probably

last for a few million years.

Most bona fide starbursts appear as smudges in a telescope because they reside in faraway galaxies. But NGC

6334 lies merely 5,500 light-years away within the Milky Way. The light from hot and massive O-type stars

produces the optical glow we see as the Cat’s Paw Nebula, though much of it is blocked by thick clouds of gas

and dust. Fortunately, ground-based and space-based telescopes can detect infrared light that pierces through the

dark clouds.

Using the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope and the NOAO Extremely Wide-Field Infrared Imager

(NEWFIRM) in Chile, Willis and her colleagues detected over 2,000 young stars down to those as faint as our

Sun. Most of these stars hide in the nebula’s dark, dense ridges. To estimate the number of stars less massive

than the Sun, the team extrapolated previous models of star formation while separating out background light

sources, like galaxies and cooler giant stars. They found that the nebula transforms 3,600 solar masses worth of

gas and dust into stars every 1 million years.

Star-forming regions in other galaxies also produce low-mass stars, but the light from high-mass stars often

outshines them. That’s why the Cat’s Paw Nebula provides a unique opportunity to study the fainter side of star

formation.

But the starbursting nebula provokes new questions, too. Most starbursts result from nearby supernova

shockwaves or molecular cloud collisions. Those explanations don’t apply to the Cat’s Paw. A detailed view of

the nebula could provide better answers to questions like these.

Source: Sky & Telescope Return to Contents

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2. Earth-Passing Asteroid is “An Entirely New Beast”

On the last day of May 2013 asteroid 1998 QE2 passed relatively closely by our planet, coming within 6 million

kilometers… about 15 times the distance to the Moon. While there was never any chance of an impact by the 3

km-wide asteroid and its surprise 750 meter satellite, astronomers didn’t miss out on the chance to observe the

visiting duo as they soared past as it was a prime opportunity to learn more about two unfamiliar members of

the Solar System.

By bouncing radar waves off 1998 QE2 from the giant dish at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico,

researchers were able to construct visible images of the asteroid and its ocean-liner-sized moon, as well as

obtain spectrum data from NASA’s infrared telescope in Hawaii. What they discovered was quite surprising:

QE2 is nothing like any asteroid ever seen near Earth.

Both Arecibo Observatory and NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California are

unique among telescopes on Earth for their ability to resolve features on asteroids when optical telescopes on

the ground merely see them as simple points of light. Sensitive radio receivers collect radio signals reflected

from the asteroids, and computers turn the radio echoes into images that show features such as craters and, in

1998 QE2′s case, a small orbiting moon.

QE2′s moon appears brighter than the asteroid as it is rotating more slowly; thus its Doppler echoes compress

along the Doppler axis of the image and appear stronger.

Of the asteroids that come close to Earth approximately one out of six have moons. Dr. Patrick Taylor, a USRA

research astronomer at Arecibo, remarked that ―QE2′s moon is roughly one-quarter the size of the main

asteroid,‖ which itself is a lumpy, battered world.

Dr. Taylor also noted that our own Moon is a quarter the size of Earth.

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QE2′s moon will help scientists determine the mass of the main asteroid and what minerals make up the

asteroid-moon system. ―Being able to determine its mass from the moon helps us understand better the

asteroid’s material,‖ said Dr. Ellen Howell, a USRA research astronomer at Arecibo Observatory who took both

radar images of the asteroid at Arecibo and optical and infrared images using the Infrared Telescope Facility in

Hawaii. While the optical images do not show detail of the asteroid’s surface, like the radar images do, instead

they allow for measurements of what it is made of.

―What makes this asteroid so interesting, aside from being an excellent target for radar imaging,‖ Howell said,

―is the color and small moon.‖

―Asteroid QE2 is dark, red, and primitive – that is, it hasn’t been heated or melted as much as other asteroids,‖

continued Howell. ―QE2 is nothing like any asteroid we’ve visited with a spacecraft, or plan to, or that we have

meteorites from. It’s an entirely new beast in the menagerie of asteroids near Earth.‖

Spectrum of 1998 QE2 taken May 30 at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea was ―red

sloped and linear,‖ indicating a primitive composition not matching any meteorites currently in their collection.

For more radar images of 1998 QE2, visit the Arecibo planetary radar page here.

Source: Universe Today Return to Contents

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3. Details of Yuri Gagarin’s Tragic Death Revealed

On the morning of April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin lifted off

aboard Vostok 1 to become the first human in space, spending 108 minutes in

orbit before landing via parachute in the Saratov region of the USSR. The soft-

spoken and well-mannered Gagarin, just 27 years old at the time, became an

instant hero, representing the success of the Soviet space program (Alan

Shepard’s shorter, suborbital flight happened less than a month later) to the entire

world. Gagarin later went on to become a director for the Cosmonaut Training

Center and was preparing for a second space flight. Tragically, he was killed

when a MiG-15 aircraft he was piloting crashed on March 27, 1968.

Gagarin’s death has long been shrouded by confusion and controversy, with many theories proposed as to the

actual cause. Now, 45 years later, details about what really happened to cause the death of the first man in space

have come out — from the first man to go out on a spacewalk, no less.

According to an article published online today on Russia Today (RT.com) former cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov

— who performed the first EVA on March 18, 1965 — has revealed details about the accident that killed both

Yuri Gagarin and his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin in March 1968.

Officially the cause of the crash was said to be the ill-fated result of an attempt to avoid a foreign object during

flight training in their MiG-15UTI, a two-seated, dual-controlled training version of the widely-produced Soviet

aircraft. ―Foreign objects‖ could be anything, from balloons to flocks of birds to airborne debris to… well, you

see where one could go with that. (And over the years many have.)

The maneuver led to the aircraft going into a tailspin and crashing, killing both men. But experienced pilots like

Gagarin and Seryogin shouldn’t have lost control of their plane like that — not according to Leonov, who has

been trying to release details of the event for the past 20 years… if only that the pilots’ families might know the

truth.

Now, a declassified report, which Leonov has been permitted to share, shows what actually happened during the

training flight: an ―unauthorized Su-15 fighter‖ flew too close to Gagarin’s MiG, disrupting its flight and

sending it into a spin.

―In this case, the pilot didn’t follow the book, descending to an altitude of 450 meters,‖ Leonov says in the

RT.com article. ―While afterburning the aircraft reduced its echelon at a distance of 10-15 meters in the clouds,

passing close to Gagarin, turning his plane and thus sending it into a tailspin — a deep spiral, to be precise — at

a speed of 750 kilometers per hour.‖

The pilot of the Su-15 — who is still alive — was was not named, a condition of Leonov’s permission to share

the information.

According to first woman in space Valentina Tereshkova, who was officially grounded by the government after

Gagarin’s death to avoid a loss of another prominent cosmonaut, the details come as a bittersweet relief.

―The only regret here is that it took so long for the truth to be revealed,‖ Tereshkova said. ―But we can finally

rest easy.‖

Read the full story here on RT.com.

Source: Universe Today Return to Contents

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The Night Sky

Source: Sky & Telescope Return to Contents

Monday, June 17

The Moon this evening forms the end of a

curving line with Spica and Saturn, counting to

the Moon's left. Look below the Moon for the

four-star figure of Corvus.

Tuesday, June 18

The Moon now shines just below the line

between Spica and Saturn.

Wednesday, June 19

Dim little Mercury is closest to bright Venus

low in twilight this evening. Look for it 2° to

Venus's lower left.

Saturn glows to the upper right of the waxing

gibbous Moon as night falls.

Thursday, June 20

Look lower left of the Moon at dusk, by

almost two fists at arm's lengths, for orange-red

Antares. Between them is the three-star row of

the Head of Scorpius, nearly vertical.

This is Midsummer's Night, the shortest night

of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The

solstice is at 1:04 a.m. on the 21st EDT; 10:04

p.m. on the 20th PDT. Wrote a friend in the

Pacific Northwest, "There'll be bonfires from

Kalaloch to Portland tonight."

Friday, June 21

Antares shines lower right of the bright Moon

this evening.

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ISS Sighting Opportunities

For Denver:

Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears

Mon Jun 17, 0:13 AM < 1 min 42° 10 above WNW 12 above WNW

Mon Jun 17, 9:48 PM 3 min 18° 15 above N 11 above ENE

Mon Jun 17, 11:24 PM 2 min 78° 13 above NW 36 above WNW

Tue Jun 18, 8:59 PM 3 min 14° 12 above N 11 above NE

Tue Jun 18, 10:36 PM 2 min 55° 27 above NNW 47 above ENE

Wed Jun 19, 9:47 PM 4 min 33° 23 above NNW 14 above E

Wed Jun 19, 11:23 PM 1 min 26° 11 above WNW 18 above W

Thu Jun 20, 8:58 PM 4 min 23° 17 above NNW 10 above E

Thu Jun 20, 10:34 PM 2 min 49° 18 above WNW 48 above SSW

Fri Jun 21, 9:47 PM 3 min 88° 35 above NW 25 above SE

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Daylight Time)

June 18, Tuesday

8:15 a.m. - ISS Expedition 36 In-Flight Event for ESA with Euronews - JSC (Public and Media Channels)

June 19, Wednesday

10:40 a.m. - ISS Expedition 36 In-Flight Educational Event with the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS -

JSC (All Channels)

12:05 p.m. - ISS Mission Control On-Console Interview with the Digital Learning Network - JSC (All

Channels)

June 20, Thursday

11 a.m. - Johnson Space Center Memorial Ceremony for Astronaut Neil Armstrong - JSC (All Channels)

June 21, Friday

6 - 10 a.m. - Live Satellite Interviews on the Supermoon Phenomenon - GSFC (Media Channel)

Watch NASA TV on the Net by going to the NASA website. Return to Contents

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Space Calendar

Jun 17 - Comet 91P/Russell Closest Approach To Earth (1.693 AU)

Jun 17 - Asteroid 4147 Lennon Closest Approach To Earth (1.186 AU)

Jun 17 - Asteroid 2157 Ashbrook Closest Approach To Earth (1.475 AU)

Jun 17 - Asteroid 7610 Sudbury Closest Approach To Earth (1.946 AU)

Jun 18 - [Jun 17] Asteroid 2013 LY28 Near-Earth Flyby (0.028 AU)

Jun 18 - Asteroid 2013 JR28 Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)

Jun 18 - Asteroid 20403 Attenborough Closest Approach To Earth (2.196 AU)

Jun 18 - 30th Anniversary (1983), 1st US Woman In Space (Sally Ride)

Jun 19 - [Jun 12] Progress M-19M Re-enters Earth's Atmosphere

Jun 19 - Comet 169P/NEAT Closest Approach To Earth (2.045 AU)

Jun 19 - Asteroid 3673 Levy Closest Approach To Earth (1.705 AU)

Jun 19 - Asteroid 4372 Quincy Closest Approach To Earth (2.087 AU)

Jun 19 - Asteroid 2191 Uppsala Closest Approach To Earth (2.233 AU)

Jun 19 - 10th Anniversary (2003), Nozomi, Earth Flyby

Jun 20 - Gonets M5, M6 & M7 Rokot KM Launch

Jun 20 - Mercury Passes 2.0 Degrees From Venus

Jun 20 - Comet P/2011 VJ5 (Lemmon) At Opposition (3.234 AU)

Jun 20 - Asteroid 2013 KL6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.035 AU)

Jun 20 - Asteroid 2933 Amber Closest Approach To Earth (1.559 AU)

Jun 20 - Asteroid 20469 Dudleymoore Closest Approach To Earth (1.643 AU)

Jun 20 - Asteroid 82332 Las Vegas Closest Approach To Earth (1.700 AU)

Jun 20 - Asteroid 3325 TARDIS Closest Approach To Earth (2.259 AU)

Jun 21 - Summer Solstice, 05:04 UT

Jun 21 - Resurs P-1 Soyuz 2-1B Launch

Jun 21 - Asteroid 2013 LC2 Near-Earth Flyby (0.098 AU)

Jun 21 - Asteroid 327 Columbia Closest Approach To Earth (1.622 AU)

Jun 21 - Max Wolf's 150th Birthday (1863)

Astronaut Sally Ride in 1984

Source: JPL Space Calendar Return to Contents

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Food for Thought

How duct tape patched up the world – and why we're still sticking with it

Over the past half a century, duct tape has been keeping NASA's astronauts alive, putting airplanes back

together, making race cars speedier and patching up millions of fix-it projects. It's even been used to remove

warts. But the makers of duct tape aren't resting on their sticky, gray laurels: On the contrary, engineers and

designers are adding some new twists to the decades-old standby.

"Ten years ago, I used to hear kids say, 'Oh, my dad uses that to fix everything,'" Scott Sommers, director of

marketing for ShurTech Brands, told NBC News. "Now I hear the dads say, 'Oh, my kids make everything out

of that stuff.'"

ShurTech makes one of the best-known brands of duct tape, known as Duck Tape, and is the motive force

behind this weekend's Duct Tape Festival in Avon, Ohio, the company's corporate headquarters. The annual

event is scheduled to coincide with Father's Day — which is apt, considering how many dads have gotten out of

a tough fix thanks to those silvery rolls of adhesive.

"I hope that women never find out about duct tape," humorist Dave Barry joked, "because once they do, men

will no longer serve any useful purpose."

Duct tape's triumphs add up to a list that would make TV's MacGyver envious:

The plastic-coated tape first came into its widespread use during World War II, when the U.S. military

used it as a waterproof sealant. During the Vietnam War, it was used to patch up helicopter rotor blades

— earning it the nickname "100-mph tape."

When the Apollo 13 spacecraft suffered a crippling explosion in 1970, ground controllers came up with

a plan to have the crew build improvised air filters using duct tape. Without that fix, "the crew would not

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survive," one of the Apollo engineers said. Two years later, Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan used

what he called "good old-fashioned American gray tape" to fix a fender on the lunar rover.

When an Alaska bush pilot discovered that a brown bear had ripped his plane virtually to shreds, he had

to call on friends to help put it back together with sheets of plastic wrap and a case of duct tape. A few

days of work made the plane airworthy enough to fly back to civilization. "I think that's as close as you

can get to MacGyver without going to outer space," said Jeff Malmer, a member of the research and

development team for 3M, which makes Scotch-brand duct tape.

NASCAR race crews routinely use duct tape to hold things together or modify airflow for peak

performance — earning it the upgraded nickname "200-mph tape." It's especially cool if the crew uses

color-coordinated tape.

Some experts have touted duct tape as a wart-removal therapy. Supposedly, the adhesive tape works by

irritating the skin and stimulating the body's immune system to attack the virus that causes the warts. Or

maybe it just covers up the skin in such a way that makes it less hospitable to the virus. Does it really

work? ShurTech's Sommers shies away from the question: "For legal reasons, I can't say we promote it,"

he said.

Today, duct-tape manufacturers are reluctant to mess too much with success. "The majority of people who buy

duct tape buy it to have around, just in case, and therefore we remain focused on making as much of a

universally focused product as possible," Sommers said. But ShurTech is introducing some manufacturing

innovations, such as a technique called "co-extrusion" that casts the plastic film at the same time that the rest of

the tape (cloth mesh and rubber-based adhesive) is made.

The basic formula occasionally gets tweaked to respond to the marketplace: ShurTech offers different grades of

tape for different applications. 3M has its own heavy-duty tape, called "Scotch Tough," as well as transparent

duct tape and a type of tape that doesn't leave a rubbery residue when you rip it off.

And then there are the colors and patterns: Both companies have capitalized on duct tape's growing popularity

as a craft item. "The kids have started to make fun things, and fashion things," Sommers said. 3M's marketing

manager for Scotch duct tape, Laura Maciejewski, told NBC News that "it's really the girls who are using it."

ShurTech offers Duck Tape designs with college themes, while 3M has marketing deals for

Barbie, Batman and Superman tape.

Is there anything duct tape can't do? Well ... yes.

"What's ironic about duct tape is that it's really not the best product for sealing duct work," Malmer said.

Source: MSNBC Return to Contents

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Space Image of the Week

SOUTHERN SUNSPOTS: So far, Solar Cycle 24 has been lopsided. Sunspots north of the sun's equator

have outnumbered sunspots to the south by a significant margin: data. But now the southern hemisphere is

catching up. Today a raft of southern sunspots is rotating over the sun's eastern limb.

Solar physicist and sunspot forecaster Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center believes Solar Cycle 24

is likely double-peaked. A surge in southern sunspots could herald the second peak, due in late 2013 or early

2014. This solar cycle has been fairly anemic so far, so it could use a boost; the sun's southern hemisphere could

be poised to provide it.

Source: SpaceWeather.com Return to Contents