NASA`s new proposed budget gets a boost to explore for extraterrestrial life

We're going to Europa! US committee assigns $18.5 billion to fund NASA's search for alien life and a mission to Jupiter's moon
--US House Appropriations Committee has revealed its budget for Nasa
--It directs NASA to start an 'Ocean Worlds Exploration Program'
--This would search for life in the solar system - such as on Europa
--However, it cuts Earth Science funding, drawing criticism from the agency

By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN FOR MAILONLINE
May 20, 2015

Nasa's latest budget is set to include a greater emphasis on the search for life and also fund a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa in 2022. In a draft bill, the agency has been told to start a new Ocean Worlds Exploration Program that would hunt for life in the outer solar system. But the budget proposals also include cuts for the Earth Science and private spaceflight programs, drawing criticism from both Nasa and the White House.

The bill, which can be viewed online, was drawn up by the US House Appropriations Committee and will be considered today. If passed, it will give the agency $18.529 billion of funding up to September 2016 - an increase of $519 million from last year.

Excitingly, there is a large emphasis on searching for life both in our own solar system and beyond, with multiple missions planned.

[...]

The bill proposes $140 million for a robotic mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa - $110 million above what was requested. It directs Nasa to achieve a launch ‘no later than 2022’ on its upcoming Space Launch System rocket.


The goal of the Ocean Worlds Exploration Programme would be to ‘discover [existing] life’ on one of the solar system’s outer moons. These include Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus, in addition to Europa, which are thought to have vast reservoirs of water - and possibly life - under their surface (illustrated) Img credit: NASA

A further $86 million  is intended for the Ocean Worlds Exploration Program, with a goal to ‘discover [existing] life’ on one of the solar system’s outer moons. These include Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus, in addition to Europa, which are thought to have vast reservoirs of water - and possibly life - under their surface.


Observations of Europa and other moons have heavily suggested there are vast reservoirs of liquid water underground waiting to be explored. It is theorized that the conditions in these environments could be suitable for life to survive. Img credit: NASA

[...]

While the budget doesn’t say specifically what sort of mission should be mounted, the money will be useful for researching methods to peer, or even travel beneath, the surfaces of these worlds.

The more primitive Europa Clipper mission, meanwhile, will have the goal of flying past Europa multiple times to evaluate the ocean believed to be underground.

It may even fly through ejected plumes from the moon, and Nasa is also looking at various proposals to include a lander that could analyse the surface. This could be useful in working out, for example, if it is possible to ‘melt’ the surface, which a future lander could do to explore underneath.
...

(read full article here)

Black holes do NOT exist and the Big Bang Theory is wrong, claims scientist - and she has the maths to prove it

By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN
DAILYMAIL
25 September 2014

• Scientist claims she has mathematical proof black holes cannot exist
• She said it is impossible for stars to collapse and form a singularity
• Professor Laura Mersini-Houghton said she is still in 'shock' from the find
• Previously, scientists thought stars much larger than the sun collapsed under their own gravity and formed black holes when they died
• During this process they release a type of radiation called Hawking radiation
• But new research claims the star would lose too much mass and wouldn't be able to form a black hole
• If true, the theory that the universe began as a singularity, followed by the Big Bang, could also be wrong

When a huge star many times the mass of the sun comes to the end of its life it collapses in on itself and forms a singularity - creating a black hole where gravity is so strong that not even light itself can escape.

At least, that’s what we thought.

A scientist has sensationally said that it is impossible for black holes to exist - and she even has mathematical proof to back up her claims.

If true, her research could force physicists to scrap their theories of how the universe began.


A scientist from University of North Carolina states she has mathematical proof that black holes (illustrated) can't exist. She said it is impossible for stars to collapse and form a singularity. Previously, scientists thought stars larger than the sun collapsed under their own gravity and formed black holes as they died

The research was conducted by Professor Laura Mersini-Houghton from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the College of Arts and Scientists.

She claims that as a star dies, it releases a type of radiation known as Hawking radiation - predicted by Professor Stephen Hawking.

However in this process, Professor Mersini-Houghton believes the star also sheds mass, so much so that it no longer has the density to become a black hole.

Before the black hole can form, she said, the dying star swells and explodes.

The singularity as predicted never forms, and neither does the event horizon - the boundary of the black hole where not even light can escape.

‘I’m still not over the shock,’ said Professor Mersini-Houghton.

‘We’ve been studying this problem for a more than 50 years and this solution gives us a lot to think about.’

Experimental evidence may one day provide physical proof as to whether or not black holes exist in the universe.

But for now, Mersini-Houghton says the mathematics are conclusive.
What’s more, the research could apparently even call into question the veracity of the Big Bang theory.

Most physicists think the universe originated from a singularity that began expanding with the Big Bang about 13.8 billion years ago.

If it is impossible for singularities to exist, however, as partially predicted by Professor Mersini-Houghton, then that theory would also be brought into question.

One of the reasons black holes are so bizarre is that they pit two fundamental theories of the universe against each other.

Namely, Einstein’s theory of gravity predicts the formation of black holes. But a fundamental law of quantum theory states that no information from the universe can ever disappear.

Efforts to combine these two theories proved problematic, and has become known as the black hole information paradox - how can matter permanently disappear in a black hole as predicted?

Professor Mersini-Houghton’s new theory does manage to mathematically combine the two fundamental theories, but with unwanted effects for people expecting black holes to exist.
‘Physicists have been trying to merge these two theories - Einstein’s theory of gravity and quantum mechanics - for decades, but this scenario brings these two theories together, into harmony,’ said Professor Mersini-Houghton.

‘And that’s a big deal.’

THERE ARE NO BLACK HOLES, ONLY GREY HOLES, CLAIMS HAWKING

Earlier this year Professor Stephen Hawking shocked physicists by saying 'there are no black holes'.

In a paper published online, Professor Hawking instead argues there are 'grey holes'
'The absence of event horizons means that there are no black holes - in the sense of regimes from which light can't escape to infinity,' he says in the paper, called Information Preservation and Weather Forecasting For Black Holes.

He says that the idea of an event horizon, from which light cannot escape, is flawed.

He suggests that instead light rays attempting to rush away from the black hole’s core will be held as though stuck on a treadmill and that they can slowly shrink by spewing out radiation.

Former NASA scientist claims possible evidence of life on Mars got destroyed

posted by Open Minds Productions
Published on Feb 19, 2014

Former NASA Scientist Richard Hoover shares revelations with journalist Lee Speigel from the Huffington Post. Hoover talks about the fact that someone may have destroyed evidence of life on Mars. This took place at the Open Minds 2014 International UFO Congress and Film Festival in Fountain Hills Arizona

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The North Star Polaris is getting BRIGHTER suddenly reversed two decades of dimming - and nobody is sure why

The mystery of the North Star: Astronomers baffled to find Polaris is getting BRIGHTER
--Team found that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than in 137CE
--Experts say find is 'entirely unexpected'

By MARK PRIGG
DAILYMAIL
February 5, 2014

The north Star: Polaris, also known as the North Star, Northern Star or Pole Star, is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. Historically it has been used to guide travelers, and is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star.

Recent papers calculate the distance to Polaris at about 434 light-years, although some suggest it may be 30% closer which.

Astronomers have discovered that Polaris, the north star, is getting brighter. They say the star has suddenly reversed two decades of dimming. It is expanding at more than 100 times the rate they expected - and nobody is sure why.

Is Polaris getting brighter? Stars appear to rotate around Polaris, the north star, in this long exposure picture taken near the 4-meter telescope dome at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. The image is composed of 114 30-second exposures of the night sky combined to make the equivalent of a nearly one hour exposure in which the earth's rotation causes the stars to appear to move across the night sky.

A team led by Scott Engle of Villanova University in Pennsylvania recalibrated historic measurements of Polaris by Ptolemy in 137 C.E., the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi in 964 C.E., and others. They investigated the fluctuations of the star over the course of several years, combing through historical records and utilizing the Hubble Space Telescope. The team found that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than in Ptolemy's time, which they say is a remarkable rate of change.

'If they are real, these changes are 100 times larger than predicted by current theories of stellar evolution,' says Villanova astronomer Edward Guinan.

The team's data also hint that the star's cyclic 4-day variation in brightness, although still weak, is once again growing more robust--but no one knows what's driving these flutterings or how long they will last. Engle and his team began to research the star around the beginning of 2000, when they found that the dropping brightness was on the rise again.

Pinpointing Polaris: Researchers say it is getting brighter far more quickly than they expected after reversing its dimming

'It was unexpected to find,' Engle told SPACE.com.'It started increasing rather rapidly.'
'Polaris is arguably the best-known star in the Northern Hemisphere, since it lies within a degree of the North Celestial Pole,' the researchers wrote.

'For much of human history, Polaris was highly regarded for its unchanging nature.
'However, we now know that Polaris is a Cepheid variable, undergoing ultra-low-amplitude pulsations.

'Thirty years ago, a paper in the Astrophysical Journal by A. Arellano Ferro announced that the amplitude of these pulsations was diminishing. 'This behavior was confirmed, and it was believed that soon enough Polaris would no longer be a Cepheid variable.

'We started photometrically monitoring Polaris in 1999 and discovered that the amplitude of pulsations had reached a minimum and was now, in fact, growing again.

'It was while gathering historic photometry for the amplitude study that we noticed the published magnitudes of Polaris were systematically fainter, the further back in time the data went. 'This is an entirely unexpected behavior for a Cepheid variable, and one that we wanted to investigate further. Engle presented the results of his research in a poster session at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington.

Has a UFO been spotted on MARS?

Has Nasa's Curiosity rover spotted a UFO on MARS? Rover images reveals conical object streaking through the sky
--Image taken by the Curiosity rover on the Martian surface
--Shows white streaking object in the air which appears to have a conical shape and vapor trail
By DAILY MAIL
January 28, 2014 

UFO hunters believe that may have found evidence of a UFO streaking through the sky - on Mars.

They claim a picture taken by the Curiosity rover shows a possible extra terrestrial craft.
In the image, a bright object can been seen appearing to leave a trail in the Martian sky.

UFO spotters claim the object in the top right of the sky could be a UFO - saying the conical shape exhibits all the hallmarks of an extra terrestrial craft, credit JPL/NASA

The video, posted by prolific UFO hunter Streetcap1 uses an image stored on Nasa's servers.

'Enlargement of the object reveals a spherical top cone, a rounded center mass and what looks like some kind of propellant ejecting from its tail,' the Bublews site claims.



Does Mars have its own space program?'

According to the ufosightingsdaily site, 'Another UFO was caught in a Mars rover photo.

'If you look at it closely, you see that it has a trail behind it and it looks to be moving to the upper right side of the photo.' The image is one of several UFO hunters have claimed show mysterious objects in the sky. However on further inspection many turn out to be meteors in the sky.

One Youtube commenter points this out, saying 'I'm sure they will have a meteor excuse but the trail says otherwise.' The finding is not Curiosity's first brush with extraterrestrial life - according to some experts.

This iguana-shaped rock is seen on the top right of this image. It would be easy to miss, but the keen eye of Scott C. Warin, was able to spot the iguana rock in several photos taken by the Mars Curiosity rover

In May, a science blogger claimed to have spotted a lizard meandering around Mars. The unknown spotter from Japan alerted Mr Warin of the unusual sight. The claim, posted on UFO Sightings Daily, caused some excitable conspiracy theorists to fear that Nasa could be planting life on the planet for scientific testing. ‘Then again, is NASA placing animals from tiny cryogenic chambers inside the rover onto the surface of Mars to conduct tests?' he continued. 

Curiosity landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, and has spent its time investigating and analyzing the landscape and geology of the red planet. The $2.5 billion rover was sent to the planet to assess if the planet most like Earth has or ever had the chemical ingredients and environments for microbial life.

NASA designs largest rocket ever built, hopeful to carry man to Mars...finally

NASA reveal plans for the biggest rocket ever made to take man to Mars - dwarfing the shuttle and the Saturn rockets that took us to the moon
--Construction of the SLS system has already begun
--Rocket will be 384 feet tall and weigh 6.5 million pounds
--First test flight scheduled for 2017
--Will be able to carry 130 tonnes into space
--Expected to be used to launch far larger interplanetary probes
--Could be used as part of Manned Mars missions
By MARK PRIGG
DailyMail
January 15, 2014

NASA`s SLS rocket, set for launch in 2017 credit: NASA

It is set to become the largest rocket ever built, dwarfing the rockets that took man to the moon and paving the way for manned missions to Mars.

Nasa today reveal stunning new pictures of its SLS (Space Launch System), which will eventually be capable of lifting 130 tonnes into orbit.

The rocket will be used to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and to help us explore the outer reaches of the solar system.

It is even hoped the craft could play a role in manned missions to Mars, being able to launch 'stepping stone' bases into orbit.

'The potential use of SLS for science will further enhance the synergy between scientific exploration and human exploration,' said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

'SLS has the promise of enabling transformational science in our exploration of the solar system and cosmos.'

Currently under construction, NASA’s Space Launch System will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle.

Designed to enable human exploration missions to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars, SLS is working toward a first launch in 2017.

For that first flight test, the rocket will be able to launch 70 metric tons (77 tons) of payload into low-Earth orbit, almost three times what the space shuttle could carry.

From there, SLS will be evolved to a configuration that will be able to carry 130 metric tons (143 tons), more weight than any rocket ever has been able to carry.

'While many people think of the Space Launch System in terms of human exploration, SLS could have a wide application in a lot of other areas, including space science,” said Steve Creech, assistant program manager for strategy and partnerships for SLS.

How it compares: NASA`s SLS is larger than the Saturn V that took man to the moon, credit: NASA

NASA`s previous rockets: The Saturn, Shuttle and right: the smaller version of the SLS, credit: NASA

'For missions to the outer planets, for example, SLS could make it possible to do things that are currently impossible, such as sending larger scientific spacecraft with more instruments to far off destinations with reduced transit times.'

Agency scientific and engineering teams have been evaluating whether there would be potential benefits from launching deep space robotic spacecraft, such as the Europa Clipper, a proposed mission to one of Jupiter's icy moons, on the SLS rocket, and determined the rocket would enable the spacecraft to fly direct trajectories to our solar system’s outer planets, rather than using planetary gravities to gain speed, reducing transit time compared to current launch vehicles.

In the case of the Europa Clipper, for example, the transit time would be reduced to less than half of what it would be using other launch vehicles.

'For as long as people have been launching rockets into space, mission designers have had to work within certain limitations – a spacecraft can only be so heavy and it has to fit within a certain width,” Creech said.

'Depending on how large you make it, it can only go so fast, which in some cases limits where you can go.

An artists impression of the giant rocket taking off, credit: NASA

An artist`s impression of the vast hanger needed to set the rocket up for flight, credit: NASA

'Today, if you want to send a mission to the outer planets, you have to be able to make it fit within that box. With SLS, we’re about to make that box much larger.

'With the space shuttle, for example, we were able to launch missions like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that were about the size of a school bus.

'With SLS, you can design a spacecraft even larger than the space shuttle that carried Hubble.
'It’s going to open up an entirely new way of thinking about how we plan and design planetary science missions.'

'The Space Launch System could be really game-changing for space science,” said ACO manager Reggie Alexander.

'For some missions, it makes it much easier and quicker to carry them out.

'A Mars sample return mission, for example, could be flown using only one rocket instead of three.

'But for other destinations, SLS lets you do things we could only dream of before – like collecting samples from the geysers of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.'

The top section of the rocket, credit: NASA

New study says life on Earth has another good 1.75 billion years to go...unless we humans screw it up beforehand

How Much Longer Can Earth Support Life?
[Life on Earth has another good 1.75 billion years to go, study says]
by Wynne Parry 
LiveScience
Sep. 18, 2013 

Earth could continue to host life for at least another 1.75 billion years, as long as nuclear holocaust, an errant asteroid or some other disaster doesn't intervene, a new study calculates.

But even without such dramatic doomsday scenarios, astronomical forces will eventually render the planet uninhabitable. Somewhere between 1.75 billion and 3.25 billion years from now, Earth will travel out of the solar system's habitable zone and into the "hot zone," new research indicates.

These zones are defined by water. In the habitable zone, a planet (whether in this solar system or an alien one) is just the right distance from its star to have liquid water. Closer to the sun, in the "hot zone," the Earth's oceans would evaporate. Of course, conditions for complex life — including humans — would become untenable before the planet entered the hot zone.

But the researchers' main concern was the search for life on other planets, not predicting a timeline for the end of life on this one.

The evolution of complex life on Earth suggests the process requires a lot of time.

Simple cells first appeared on Earth nearly 4 billion years ago. "We had insects 400 million years ago, dinosaurs 300 million years ago and flowering plants 130 million years ago," lead researcher Andrew Rushby of the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom said in a statement." Anatomically modern humans have only been around for the last 200,000 years — so you can see it takes a really long time for intelligent life to develop."

Rushby and his colleagues developed a new tool to help evaluate the amount of time available for the evolution of life on other planets: a model that predicts the time a planet would spend in its habitable zone. In the research, published Wednesday in the journal Astrobiology, they applied the model to Earth and eight other planets currently in the habitable zone, including Mars.

They calculated that Earth's habitable-zone lifetime is as long as 7.79 billion years. (Earth is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old.) Meanwhile, the other planets had habitable-zone lifetimes ranging from 1 billion years to 54.72 billion years.

"If we ever needed to move to another planet, Mars is probably our best bet," Rushby said in a statement. "It's very close and will remain in the habitable zone until the end of the sun's lifetime — 6 billion years from now."

While other models have been developed for Earth, they are not suitable for other planets, he added.


Original article published on LiveScience.

Newest discovery on Mars: Robotic finger or door handle to hidden chamber? You decide

The wild theories after Mars rover Curiosity discovers mysterious metal object sticking out of rock

UPDATE (2/13/13): NASA says `wait nothing to see here,' just a result of natural wind-erosion 

• Images show bizarre shiny object protruding from the surface
• Metallic object likely to measure just 0.5cm or less
• Pictures beamed back from Mars show small hole surrounded by dust
• Mission scientists to assess dust to see whether it can be analysed
• Analysis should show whether life has ever existed on the planet

By DAMIEN GAYLE
DAILYMAIL
February 8, 2013

Nasa's Curiosity rover has discovered a mysterious metal object emerging from rock on the surface of Mars.

These images were captured by a camera on Curiosity, and reveal the bizarre finger-like structure protruding from the Martian surface and casting a shadow on to the rock below.
Science buffs have suggested the small, shiny-looking object, which makes for an incongruous sight amid the rocks, could be composed of material less susceptible to erosion than its surroundings.


Robotic finger? An image captured by Nasa's Curiosity rover shows the strange metallic object protruding from the surface of the rock


Incongruous: The unidentified object is seen nestled on the rocky surface

A report on Universe Today said the structure was likely to measure just 0.5cm or less.
It was spotted in the picture beamed back from Mars, which was taken on January 30.

Pictures of the mysterious object emerged after Curiosity drilled its first hole in the surface of Mars, to generate dust it can analyse to detect any traces of life which may once have existed on the planet.

(Click here to read and view the full article)

India to launch Mars mission in 2013

France24 News
September 17, 2012

credit: NASA

AFP - India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars in November 2013, a senior official from the country's space research establishment said on Monday.

"We are scheduling to launch the Mars mission November 27, 2013 when the red planet will be closer to the earth," K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told reporters in Bangalore.

"We plan to put a spacecraft in an elliptical orbit for studying its atmosphere and detect presence of life on its surface," he said in the southern Indian city, where ISRO is headquartered.

The project would mark another step in India's ambitious space programme, which placed a probe on the moon three years ago and envisages its first manned mission in 2016.

According to Radhakrishnan, the unmanned mission could cost nearly five billion rupees ($90 million).

India has a well-established space programme, which is a source of strong national pride, but it has also attracted criticism as the government struggles to tackle dire poverty and child malnutrition.

In September 2009, India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe discovered water on the moon, boosting the country's credibility among more experienced space-faring nations.

But the space programme suffered a setback in December 2010 when a satellite launch vehicle blew up and fell into the Bay of Bengal after veering from its intended flight path.

The United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and China have all sent missions to Mars.

The US robot Curiosity is currently on the surface of the "Red Planet" after landing on Mars more than a month ago.

It is a nuclear-powered vehicle that is designed for a two-year mission, though scientists hope it will last at least twice that long.

Behold the rings of Jupiter - that's right, we said Jupiter!

By EDDIE WRENN
DAILY MAIL
June 22, 2012

It is probably one of the least-known facts of our solar system - but Jupiter has a ring system.

Yes, the giant gas planet, the biggest planet in our system, has rings, which were first discovered in 1979 by the passing Voyager 1 spacecraft - which, 33 years later, is making its own voyage of discovery on the very edge of the solar system.

Data from the Galileo spacecraft that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003 later confirmed that these rings were created by meteoroid impacts on small nearby moons.

As a small meteoroid strikes tiny Adrastea, for example, it will bore into the moon, vaporise and explode dirt and dust off into a Jovian orbit.

This is it: The rings are shown in profile, created by small meteorite impacts on the moons of Jupiter. Image credit: NASA

Pictured above is an eclipse of the sun by Jupiter, as viewed from Galileo. Small dust particles high in Jupiter's atmosphere, as well as the dust particles that compose the rings, can be seen by reflected sunlight.

The rings are not as well-known as Saturn and Uranus, partly because not many photographs of them exist.

The system is mainly composed of dust - caused by the collisions of meteorites on Jupiter's moons, and dust escaping from one of Jupiter's 60-plus moons, and the rings are probably as old as Jupiter.

Intriguingly, one of the moons of Jupiter, called S/2000 and about four kilometres in diameter, appears to have gone missing since it was first spotted in 2000. It is possible it crashed into a larger moon Himalia at 170 kilometres in diameter, and may have created its own ring.

The moons of Jupiter, with the rings circling in the same plane. Image credit: NASA

The Scorpion's Stellar Nursery (VIDEO)

- Most Detailed Look Ever...
SPACE.COM

Deep in the heart of the Scorpius constellation lies the chaos of dust, gas and developing stars of the NGC 6357 galaxy. Its light has been captured by the huge mirror of Europe's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the closest look to date.

A universe existed BEFORE the Big Bang, so says scientists according to new evidence

Does this picture show the 'ghost' of a universe that existed before the Big Bang?
By EDDIE WRENN
Daily Mail
June 11,2012

A renowned scientist says he has spotted evidence that a universe existed before the Big Bang.

Professor Roger Penrose from Oxford University says concentric circles discovered in the background microwaves of the universe provides evidence of events that took place before the universe came into being.

The cosmic microwave offers us a ghostly look at the the universe just 300,000 years after the Big Ban' - a microscopic amount of time compared to the universe's estimated age of 13.7billion years.

The research by Penrose, who was awarded the 1988 Wolf Prize along with Stephen Hawkings for adding to our cosmic knowledge, adds evidence to the theory that the universe has expanded ('the Big Bang') and contracted ('the Big Crunch') many times.

A map of the cosmic background radiation (CMB) in the universe with circles which may signify events that took place before the Big Bang

A map of the cosmic background radiation (CMB) in the universe with circles which may signify events that took place before the Big Bang

The cosmic radiation background (CMB) is believed to have cooled to a temperature of -270C in the near 14 billion years since the birth of the universe.

Stars and galaxies started to form around 300 million years later. Our Sun was born around five billion years ago, and life first appeared on the Earth around 3.7 billion years ago.

The Daily Galaxy reports that Prof Penrose, along with Professor Vahe Gurzadyan of the Yerevan State University, Armenia believe images of the CMB from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotophy Probe shows imprints in the radiation that are older than the Big Bang.

They say they have discovered 12 examples of concentric circles, some of which have five rings - which means the same object has had five massive events in its history.

The rings appear around galaxy clusters in which the variation in the background radiation appears to be strangely low.

Clues in the mist: Microwave radiation from the whole sky, captured by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite. Image credit: PA

The research appears to cast aside the widely-held 'inflationary' theory of the origins of the universe, that it began with the Big Bang, and will continue to expand until a point in the future, when it will end.

They believe the circles are imprints of extremely violent gravitational radiation waves generated by supermassive black hole collisions in a previous aeon before the last big bang.
They say that this means that this means that the universe cycles through aeons dominated by big bangs and supermassive black hole collisions.

Professor Penrose believes that his new theory of ‘conformal cyclic cosmology' means that black holes will eventually consume all the matter in the universe.

According to his theory, when they have finished, all that will be left in the universe will be energy - which will then trigger the next Big Bang - and the new aeon.

Professor Penrose told the BBC: 'In the scheme that I'm proposing, you have an exponential expansion but it's not in our aeon - I use the term to describe [the period] from our Big Bang until the remote future.

'I claim that this aeon is one of a succession of such things, where the remote future of the previous aeons somehow becomes the Big Bang of our aeon.'

Mars Opportunity rover wakes up from winter hibernation alongside Endeavor crater

Spring time on Mars: Nasa's Rover Opportunity wakes up from winter sleep to incredible view over misty blue Endeavour crater

By ROB WAUGH
Daily Mail
May 24, 2012

Nasa's Mars Rover Opportunity recently 'woke up' from a winter-long 'sleep' where it couldn't charge its solar panels - but even while it rested, it found time to capture a spectacular image of the 14-mile-wide Endeavour crater, the largest the robot vehicle has explored.

The Rover even 'sees itself' using its panoramic camera - Pancam - as it took the mosaic image between 4.30 and 5pm, local time on Mars.

The Rover even 'sees itself' using its panoramic camera - Pancam - as it took the mosaic image between 4.30 and 5pm, local time on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL [larger image]

Most of the component images were recorded during the 2,888th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. Opportunity had spent 19 weeks stuck in one place to 'weather out' the dark months of the Martian winter on an outcrop called Greeley Haven.

At that time, Opportunity was spending low-solar-energy weeks of the Martian winter at the Greeley Haven outcrop on the Cape York segment of Endeavour's western rim.

Opportunity has worked through four Martian southern hemisphere winters since it landed in in January 2004 about 14 miles northwest of its current location.

Closer to the equator than its twin rover, Spirit, Opportunity has not needed to stay on a sun-facing slope during the previous winters.

Now, however, Opportunity's solar panels carry a thicker coating of dust, and the team is using a strategy employed for three winters with Spirit: staying on a sun-facing slope.

A view captured by Opportunity before starting its first drive of 2012. The Rover has been 'stuck' in the same place for 19 weeks, waiting for the sun to provide enough power. Credit: NASA/JPL

In order to give the mosaic a rectangular aspect, some small parts of the edges of the mosaic and sky were filled in with parts of an image acquired earlier as part of a 360-degree panorama from the same location.

Opportunity has been studying the western rim of Endeavour Crater since arriving there in August 2011. This crater spans 14 miles , or about the same area as the city of Seattle.

This is more than 20 times wider than Victoria Crater, the largest impact crater that Opportunity had previously examined. The interior basin of Endeavour is in the upper half of this view.

The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see, such as the dark sandy ripples and dunes on the crater's distant floor.

Spectacular view of Saturn's moon Dione captured as Cassini probe hurtles past (DailyMail)

By ROB WAUGH
Daily Mail
May 22, 2012

The robotic Cassini spacecraft captured a spectacular view of Saturn's moon Dione on its closest-ever fly-past - and caught two of the ringed planet's 62 other moons in the background.

The picture, shown off this week on Nasa's Astronomy Picture of the Day site, shows off Epimetheus and Prometheus, as well as the snow-white surface of the 680-mile-wide moon Dione, where oxygen was detected by the probe on an earlier fly-past.

The robotic Cassini spacecraft captured a spectacular view of Saturn's moon Dione on its closest-ever fly-past - and caught two of the ringed planet's 62 other moons in the background. Photo credit: DailyMail/NASA/JPL/ESA

The image was taken when Cassini was only about 62,000 kilometers from the large icy moon last year.

The probe was launched in 1997, and continues its mission - it will fly past Titan tomorrow, and later this year will take a picture of Earth passing behind Saturn in June.

Dione has become an object of particular interest to the Cassini mission since oxygen was detected in its upper atmosphere.

The discovery was made by instruments on board the Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, and relayed back to scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

A sensor aboard the Cassini spacecraft called the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer detected the oxygen ions during a flyby of the moon in 2010.


Dione: Oxygen was found in the iccy moon's atmosphere by instruments on board the Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, and relayed back to scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Photo credit: DailyMail/NASA/JPL/ESA

Dione - discovered in 1684 by astronomer Giovanni Cassini, after whom the spacecraft was named, orbits Saturn at roughly the same distance as our own moon orbits Earth.

The tiny moon is a mere 700 miles wide and appears to be a thick, pockmarked layer of water ice surrounding a smaller rock core.

As it orbits Saturn every 2.7 days, Dione is bombarded by charged particles (ions) emanating from Saturn’s very strong magnetosphere.

These ions slam into the surface of Dione, displacing molecular oxygen ions into Dione’s thin atmosphere through a process called sputtering.

Molecular oxygen ions are then stripped from Dione’s exosphere by Saturn’s strong magnetosphere.

Read more:
Spectacular APOD Image of Saturn's Moon Dione

Voyager, our interstellar travelers reaches the outer boundary of our solar system

To infinity and beyond! Voyager probe will become first man-made spacecraft to reach the edge of our solar system 'within months' (35 years after it left Earth)

By ROB WAUGH
Daily Mail
April 26, 2012

• 'Shouldn't have long to wait to find out what space between stars is like'
• Probe launched in 1977
• More than 11 billion miles from sun
• Still detecting spikes in cosmic radiation - so it is still technically 'within' our solar system
• Batteries will last until 2020 - allowing vehicle to enter 'interstellar space'

More than three decades after launching, NASA’s workhorse spacecraft is now close to the edge of our solar system.

According to recent research published in Geophysical Letters, the probe is now 111 astronomical units from the sun - meaning it is 111 times further from the sun than it is from the Earth.

Voyager 1 has been exploring the fringes of the solar system since 2004 - and it is now close to the very edge of our solar system, affording the first-ever 'alien's eye' view of our planet.

The probe is still detecting 'spikes' in the intensity of cosmic ray electrons - which lead scientists to think it's still within the 'heliosheath', the very outer edge of our solar system. Photo credit: DailyMail

The probe is still detecting 'spikes' in the intensity of cosmic ray electrons - which lead scientists to think it's still within the 'heliosheath', the very outer edge of our solar system.

Voyager 1 still has a little way to go before it completely exits the solar system and becomes the first manmade probe to cross into interstellar space, or the vast space between stars.
The spacecraft has enough battery power to last until 2020, but scientists think it will reach interstellar space before that - in a matter of several months to years.

Chief scientist Ed Stone of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the timing is unclear because no spacecraft has ever ventured this far.

For the past year, Voyager 1 used its instruments to explore the new region. It appeared to be the cosmic doldrums where solar winds streaming out from the sun at 1 million mph have dramatically eased. Photo credit: DailyMail

'The journey continues,' Stone told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

For the past year, Voyager 1 used its instruments to explore the new region.

It appeared to be the cosmic doldrums where solar winds streaming out from the sun at 1 million mph have dramatically eased and high-energy particles from outside are seeping in - a sign that Voyager 1 is at the doorstep of interstellar space.

Voyager is now detecting the first traces of 'interstellar winds' - the signs it is finally reaching the edges of solar system. Photo credit: DailyMail

Scientists expect to see several telltale signs when Voyager 1 finally crosses the boundary including a change in the magnetic field direction and the type of wind. Interstellar wind is slower, colder and denser than solar wind.

Even with certain expectations, Stone warned that the milestone won’t be cut-and-dried.
'We will be confused when it first happens,' Stone said.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched in 1977 to tour the outer planets including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. After their main mission ended, both headed toward interstellar space in opposite directions. Voyager 2 is traveling slower than Voyager 1 and is currently 9 billion away miles from the sun.

History of planetary catastrophes...The Mysterious Tunguska Event - Carl Sagan

In the history of the solar system, and even in human history, there are clear records of extraordinary and devastating catastrophes… On the landscapes of other planets, where the records of the past are better preserved, there is abundant evidence of major catastrophes. It’s all a matter of time scales. An event which is improbable in a hundred years, may be inevitable in a hundred million years. Even on the Earth in this century there have been bizarre natural events.

Carl Sagan
Cosmos – A Personal Voyage (1980) [video]

The Tunguska Event, or Tunguska explosion, was a powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Lower Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, on June 30, 1908 (June 17 in the Julian calendar, in use locally at the time).

Although the cause of the explosion is the subject of debate, it is commonly believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 510 kilometres (36 miles) above the Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates of the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across.

Although the meteor or comet burst in the air rather than directly hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 megatons[4] to as high as 30 megatons of TNT, with 1015 megatons the most likely—roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb tested in late February 1954, about 1,000 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and about one-third the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.

The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 square miles). It is estimated that the shockwave from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area. This possibility has helped to spark discussion of asteroid deflection strategies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

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Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage", which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.

A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel "Contact", the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki's film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.

During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.

http://www.carlsagan.com

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