NASA space telescope finds fewer asteroids near Earth

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2011) — New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought. The findings also indicate NASA has found more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids, meeting a goal agreed to with Congress in 1998.

Astronomers now estimate there are roughly 19,500 -- not 35,000 -- mid-size near-Earth asteroids. Scientists say this improved understanding of the population may indicate the hazard to Earth could be somewhat less than previously thought. However, the majority of these mid-size asteroids remain to be discovered. More research also is needed to determine if fewer mid-size objects (between 330 and 3,300-feet wide) also mean fewer potentially hazardous asteroids, those that come closest to Earth.

The results come from the most accurate census to date of near-Earth asteroids, the space rocks that orbit within 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) of the sun into Earth's orbital vicinity. WISE observed infrared light from those in the middle to large-size category. The survey project, called NEOWISE, is the asteroid-hunting portion of the WISE mission. Study results appear in the Astrophysical Journal.

"NEOWISE allowed us to take a look at a more representative slice of the near-Earth asteroid numbers and make better estimates about the whole population," said Amy Mainzer, lead author of the new study and principal investigator for the NEOWISE project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It's like a population census, where you poll a small group of people to draw conclusions about the entire country."

WISE scanned the entire celestial sky twice in infrared light between January 2010 and February 2011, continuously snapping pictures of everything from distant galaxies to near-Earth asteroids and comets. NEOWISE observed more than 100 thousand asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, in addition to at least 585 near Earth.

WISE captured a more accurate sample of the asteroid population than previous visible-light surveys because its infrared detectors could see both dark and light objects. It is difficult for visible-light telescopes to see the dim amounts of visible-light reflected by dark asteroids. Infrared-sensing telescopes detect an object's heat, which is dependent on size and not reflective properties.

Though the WISE data reveal only a small decline in the estimated numbers for the largest near-Earth asteroids, which are 3,300 feet (1 kilometer) and larger, they show 93 percent of the estimated population have been found. This fulfills the initial "Spaceguard" goal agreed to with Congress. These large asteroids are about the size of a small mountain and would have global consequences if they were to strike Earth. The new data revise their total numbers from about 1,000 down to 981, of which 911 already have been found. None of them represents a threat to Earth in the next few centuries. It is believed that all near-Earth asteroids approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) across, as big as the one thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs, have been found.

"The risk of a really large asteroid impacting the Earth before we could find and warn of it has been substantially reduced," said Tim Spahr, the director of the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

The situation is different for the mid-size asteroids, which could destroy a metropolitan area if they were to impact in the wrong place. The NEOWISE results find a larger decline in the estimated population for these bodies than what was observed for the largest asteroids. So far, the Spaceguard effort has found and is tracking more than 5,200 near-Earth asteroids 330 feet or larger, leaving more than an estimated 15,000 still to discover. In addition, scientists estimate there are more than a million unknown smaller near-Earth asteroids that could cause damage if they were to impact Earth.

"NEOWISE was just the latest asset NASA has used to find Earth's nearest neighbors," said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near Earth Object Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The results complement ground-based observer efforts over the past 12 years. These observers continue to track these objects and find even more."

WISE is managed and operated by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at the University of California, Los Angeles. The WISE science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing occur at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology.

For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wise .

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NASA space telescope finds fewer asteroids near Earth

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2011) — New observations by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought. The findings also indicate NASA has found more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids, meeting a goal agreed to with Congress in 1998.

Astronomers now estimate there are roughly 19,500 -- not 35,000 -- mid-size near-Earth asteroids. Scientists say this improved understanding of the population may indicate the hazard to Earth could be somewhat less than previously thought. However, the majority of these mid-size asteroids remain to be discovered. More research also is needed to determine if fewer mid-size objects (between 330 and 3,300-feet wide) also mean fewer potentially hazardous asteroids, those that come closest to Earth.

The results come from the most accurate census to date of near-Earth asteroids, the space rocks that orbit within 120 million miles (195 million kilometers) of the sun into Earth's orbital vicinity. WISE observed infrared light from those in the middle to large-size category. The survey project, called NEOWISE, is the asteroid-hunting portion of the WISE mission. Study results appear in the Astrophysical Journal.

"NEOWISE allowed us to take a look at a more representative slice of the near-Earth asteroid numbers and make better estimates about the whole population," said Amy Mainzer, lead author of the new study and principal investigator for the NEOWISE project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It's like a population census, where you poll a small group of people to draw conclusions about the entire country."

WISE scanned the entire celestial sky twice in infrared light between January 2010 and February 2011, continuously snapping pictures of everything from distant galaxies to near-Earth asteroids and comets. NEOWISE observed more than 100 thousand asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, in addition to at least 585 near Earth.

WISE captured a more accurate sample of the asteroid population than previous visible-light surveys because its infrared detectors could see both dark and light objects. It is difficult for visible-light telescopes to see the dim amounts of visible-light reflected by dark asteroids. Infrared-sensing telescopes detect an object's heat, which is dependent on size and not reflective properties.

Though the WISE data reveal only a small decline in the estimated numbers for the largest near-Earth asteroids, which are 3,300 feet (1 kilometer) and larger, they show 93 percent of the estimated population have been found. This fulfills the initial "Spaceguard" goal agreed to with Congress. These large asteroids are about the size of a small mountain and would have global consequences if they were to strike Earth. The new data revise their total numbers from about 1,000 down to 981, of which 911 already have been found. None of them represents a threat to Earth in the next few centuries. It is believed that all near-Earth asteroids approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) across, as big as the one thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs, have been found.

"The risk of a really large asteroid impacting the Earth before we could find and warn of it has been substantially reduced," said Tim Spahr, the director of the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

The situation is different for the mid-size asteroids, which could destroy a metropolitan area if they were to impact in the wrong place. The NEOWISE results find a larger decline in the estimated population for these bodies than what was observed for the largest asteroids. So far, the Spaceguard effort has found and is tracking more than 5,200 near-Earth asteroids 330 feet or larger, leaving more than an estimated 15,000 still to discover. In addition, scientists estimate there are more than a million unknown smaller near-Earth asteroids that could cause damage if they were to impact Earth.

"NEOWISE was just the latest asset NASA has used to find Earth's nearest neighbors," said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near Earth Object Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The results complement ground-based observer efforts over the past 12 years. These observers continue to track these objects and find even more."

WISE is managed and operated by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at the University of California, Los Angeles. The WISE science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing occur at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology.

For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wise .

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Herschel Telescope Spots a Star Spewing Powerful Water Jets into Interstellar Space

Herschel Telescope Spots a Star Spewing Powerful Water Jets into Interstellar Space | Popular Science@import "/files/css/6edcefdeec368e2924b9d287beacf12b.css";@import "/files/css/33f6b7ecb4513ed2fe6c670880a27187.css"; home Login/Register Newsletter Subscribe RSS GadgetsComputersCamerasSmartphonesSmart TVsVideo GamesMore From Our Partner: CEAGCarsConceptsHybridsElectric CarsAuto DIYMore From Our Partner: DriversideScienceFuture of the EnvironmentEnergyHealthPopSci Eco TourTechnologyMilitaryAviationSpaceRobotsDIYProjectsHacksToolsAuto DIYMore From Our Partner: Toolmonger GalleriesVideosColumnsThe GrouseSex FilesGreen Dream How It WorksAuto DIYFeatures Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Reddit Print Email Herschel Telescope Spots a Star Spewing Powerful Water Jets into Interstellar Space By Clay Dillow Posted 06.16.2011 at 1:39 pm 25 Comments
A Protostar and its Polar Jets NASA/Caltech

Researchers looking for signs of life elsewhere in the universe often start by looking for one key ingredient necessary to complex life as we know it: water. And just 750 light-years away, they’ve found quite a bit of it spewing from the poles of a young, sunlike star that is blasting jets of H2O into interstellar space at 124,000 miles per hour.

This discovery is interesting on a number of levels. For one, it indicates that throughout the universe young protostars could be distributing vast quantities of water, potentially seeding life elsewhere. But it also sheds some light on the formation of our own sun, and the role water may have played in its formation and in the formation of our own planet.

Related ArticlesGalaxy Closeup Reveals Best-Ever Snapshot of Black Hole Jets Herschel Returns First Science Results: Stunning Image of a Giant Gas Bubble Sheds Light on Massive Star FormationHerschel Telescope Captures Star Formation In Never-Before-Seen Corner of Deep SpaceTagsTechnology, Clay Dillow, esa, herschel telescope, life, protostars, Space, star formation, waterThe star was discovered by ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, whose eyes were able to pierce the dense cloud of gas and dust that is feeding the star’s formation. There, Herschel saw light signature indicative of hydrogen and oxygen, and in following those traces found that these atoms are forming water on and around the star. But as the molecules move through the star and are injected into the massive jets of gas spewing from the poles, the heat and pressure vaporize the water into jets of gas.

Only when the gas jets are far enough away from the star do they rapidly cool and turn back into liquid. At this point, the water droplets are essentially bullets of water moving something like 80 times faster than the average round fired from a rifle. And there’s a lot of them. The amount of water ejecting from the star is equal to the amount that flows through the Amazon every second, researchers say.

Astronomers think this water-spewing stage is short, but that it is also something every protostar goes through. If so, that means water could be scattered all over the universe. And that’s an interesting thought indeed.

[National Geographic]

Previous Article: Dextre, the Space Station's Robotic Arm, Will Try its Hand at Satellite RefuelingNext Article: Video: Introducing Kilobot, a Swarm Robot Cheap Enough to Actually Swarm 25 Comments Link to this comment quist 06/16/11 at 2:10 pm

this is phenomenal. Wow

Link to this comment EPB6190 06/16/11 at 2:15 pm

So it wasnt just comets that brought water to planet earth. It was your friendly neighborhood star the sun!

Link to this comment drchuck1 06/16/11 at 2:14 pm

very cool

Link to this comment Turbo Two Tone 06/16/11 at 2:26 pm

The Intergalactic Car Wash, or should I say Planet Wash?

"We use High powered Jets of Oceans of water to blast those pesky, stuck on life forms completely away! Leaving you with a planet clean and ready for your population!"

Sounds like something straight out of the Hitchhikers Guide.

No wonder why Ford always needed a towel!

Link to this comment topstop 06/16/11 at 2:36 pm

No, quite hot actually.

Link to this comment Lord Elliot the... 06/16/11 at 2:55 pm

This is amazing. Enormous steam jets shooting out of a star. Wow.
-Spouting a fountain of nonsense since 1995-

Link to this comment dahiteman 06/16/11 at 3:17 pm

Am I the only one that realized that water is more basic than rock. Come on people. This planet didn't start as a giant rock that accumulated water. It started a a giant water ball that accumulated rock...like the gas planets further out. I figured this out when they said they had discoverd water much further down in the earth than was thought possible. Our planet is saturated to the core with it. Stars are hydrogen. The most abundant element because it is the most basic. To get water you only need to add an O. Early on I thought that the planet started as rock and hydrogen, and the abundant volcanos stirred up enough lightening to turn hydrogen into water. Then, I realized if we had gas planets, why can't we have water planets. A water planet would collect rock which would build a core until it gained enough mass to heat itself. Core melts. Creates magnetic field. Water vaporizes. Creates atmosphere. Incredibly simple.

Link to this comment Zabazoom 06/16/11 at 3:23 pm

can you imagine the permit process they had to go thew to get that fountain built.

Link to this comment GTO 06/16/11 at 4:10 pm

@dahiteman

If our planet was made entirely of water and rock was added over time, then the planet would not exist.

Without the solid core of the earth surrounded by the molten iron, the earth would not generate a magnetic field strong enough to hold an atmosphere on the earth, let alone water. The sun would blast everything off of the planet like what happened with mars.

Link to this comment pdxwebdev 06/16/11 at 4:14 pm

@GTO, didn't he cover that by saying the rock collected and formed a core?

@Zabazoom Don't think for a second that there wont be interplanetary zoning laws.

Link to this comment dahiteman 06/16/11 at 4:18 pm

The earth would have a core by the time the atmosphere was created. The core would promote the atmosphere. If a gas planet can exist, why can't a water planet? This question is not for GTO. Someone with actual knowledge about why this could not be.

Link to this comment B.V. 06/16/11 at 4:55 pm

I think typically you see gas planets existing further from the sun, and rocky planets closer to the sun...

Which makes me think that gasses might be swept out by solar energy if they are close enough.

If this were true, it could be a reason for why a water planet could not have existed at the distance from the sun where the earth exists...

I'd imagine before there could be a water planet, there would have to be a cloud of water that slowly condensed into a ball.

If close enough to the sun, this "space fog" could be dispersed before it has a chance to form into a water planet.

I don't have any evidence... just a possible explanation for why it "couldn't" be.

Interesting concept though...

Link to this comment JediMindset 06/16/11 at 5:24 pm

@dahiteman

interesting...i never thought about it that way. makes sense. but it still needs a solid/rocky core in order to keep it intact. we only perceive things in 3 states(solid,gas,and liquid) what if there were other states that we couldn't see?

Link to this comment macmansa 06/16/11 at 8:24 pm

@Jedimindset

actually there are FOUR states of mater solid,liquid,gas, and PLASMA just correcting

Link to this comment dex drako 06/16/11 at 9:28 pm

we already have "water" planets they're called neptune and uranus the ice giant.

@B.V.

there's a problem with this idea and that is we've found countless gas giants closer there their stars then any planet in this system. many beleive our own gas giants form close to the star then get thrown out to where they are now.

Link to this comment dahiteman 06/16/11 at 9:40 pm

Think of earth as one giant comet, mostly composed of frozen water and some rocky material also. As water is spewed out from a star some would fall back down like a fountain, some would fall into orbit as comets (frozen water). Those would slowly gather to form a large frozen planet like Jupiter's moon. It would then collect rocky material which would settle to the core and once there was sufficient mass it would heat up. The outside frozen so as to not lose to much mass to solar wind and the core is molten and slowly generating a magnetosphere to protect the melting ice from the sun. Then the water vaporizes. This regulates the temperature of the atmosphere. The chemical bonds that are most capable of maintaining energy levels become the most common. That last sentence sums up existence for stars, planets, molecules, and....wait for it....life. There is your meaning of life people. Sorry its not that exciting but it gave us the cosmos and all of the life forms in it, including you. I'm rambling. I'll stop now.

Link to this comment JediMindset 06/16/11 at 10:11 pm

@macmansa
oh yeah i forgot that one.

Link to this comment Aldrons Last Hope 06/17/11 at 2:05 pm

This is a very insightful discovery. I always thought that the earth getting its water from comets was too farfetched. I mean the amount of water on the planet...it would have taken billions of comets hitting earth to create the oceans. But this is amazing...young stars create their own water for their solar system.

Can't wait 'till they spy young planets forming. Then we can put the water v rock debate to rest.

Link to this comment drchuck1 06/17/11 at 2:12 pm

@dahiteman...sorry, just because you dream up something in your great mind does not make it possible, especially since you have no evidence to back it up, we all have great minds, some know it's limitations and some don't, dreaming up fantasies are fun but you should know the diffrence between that and a real hypothesis

Link to this comment drchuck1 06/17/11 at 2:19 pm

@Aldrons Last Hope...your typical rubish...really? billions of comets? how much water does an average comet have? how much water is on earth? great math you have with your guessing game...they have imaged young solar systems developing, no water jets from their stars observed...nicely done, you and dahiteman should go on a date

Link to this comment dahiteman 06/17/11 at 2:42 pm

Wow. Chuck is a bitter little man. Do you feel smarter now chuck? Does it make you feel better when you TRY to put others down? I, for one, am impressed with you insight. Thank you for enlightening us with your wisdom.

Link to this comment Dr. Luck 06/17/11 at 2:45 pm

@macmansa & @Jedimindset

Actually, there are currently FIVE known and accepted states of matter; the fifth being Bose–Einstein condensates.

Also just correcting :-)

Link to this comment drchuck1 06/18/11 at 2:10 am

@dahiteman...you are just another hypocrite, don't want to be called out on nonsense? too bad

Link to this comment argon_picnic 06/18/11 at 5:53 am

Yeah dahiteman who do you think you are Mr. Big Shot!

Link to this comment --HyperNova-- 06/19/11 at 9:24 pm

I must be fooling myself, but is the above image showing the death of star an artistic rendition or an entirely real image produced by a telescope.

Sorry, I've somehow misplaced my glasses.

Anyways, without stars life would not be possible. The general study in it should remarkably bring new theories and matters to look about.

Thank you, HyperNova

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Green ring fit for a superhero: Spitzer Space Telescope spies powerful light of giant 'O' stars

ScienceDaily (June 19, 2011) — This glowing emerald nebula seen by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is reminiscent of the glowing ring wielded by the superhero Green Lantern. In the comic books, the diminutive Guardians of the Planet "Oa" forged his power ring, but astronomers believe rings like this are actually sculpted by the powerful light of giant "O" stars. O stars are the most massive type of star known to exist.

Named RCW 120 by astronomers, this region of hot gas and glowing dust can be found in the murky clouds encircled by the tail of the constellation Scorpius. The green ring of dust is actually glowing in infrared colors that our eyes cannot see, but show up brightly when viewed by Spitzer's infrared detectors. At the center of this ring are a couple of giant stars whose intense ultraviolet light carved out the bubble, though they blend in with the other stars when viewed in infrared.

Rings like this are so common in Spitzer's observations that astronomers have even enlisted the help of the public to help find and catalog them all. Anyone interested in joining the search as a citizen scientist can visit "The Milky Way Project," part of the "Zooniverse" of public astronomy projects, at http://www.milkywayproject.org/ .

The flat plane of our galaxy is located toward the bottom of the picture, and the ring is slightly above the plane. The green haze seen at the bottom of the image is the diffuse glow of dust from the galactic plane.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit http://spitzer.caltech.edu/ and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Green ring fit for a superhero: Spitzer Space Telescope spies powerful light of giant 'O' stars

ScienceDaily (June 19, 2011) — This glowing emerald nebula seen by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is reminiscent of the glowing ring wielded by the superhero Green Lantern. In the comic books, the diminutive Guardians of the Planet "Oa" forged his power ring, but astronomers believe rings like this are actually sculpted by the powerful light of giant "O" stars. O stars are the most massive type of star known to exist.

Named RCW 120 by astronomers, this region of hot gas and glowing dust can be found in the murky clouds encircled by the tail of the constellation Scorpius. The green ring of dust is actually glowing in infrared colors that our eyes cannot see, but show up brightly when viewed by Spitzer's infrared detectors. At the center of this ring are a couple of giant stars whose intense ultraviolet light carved out the bubble, though they blend in with the other stars when viewed in infrared.

Rings like this are so common in Spitzer's observations that astronomers have even enlisted the help of the public to help find and catalog them all. Anyone interested in joining the search as a citizen scientist can visit "The Milky Way Project," part of the "Zooniverse" of public astronomy projects, at http://www.milkywayproject.org/ .

The flat plane of our galaxy is located toward the bottom of the picture, and the ring is slightly above the plane. The green haze seen at the bottom of the image is the diffuse glow of dust from the galactic plane.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit http://spitzer.caltech.edu/ and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here