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Thursday’s CSExtra offers reports on the latest space activities. NASA will announce findings from its Kepler planet hunting mission on Thursday. In Europe, astronomers find a multi-planet star of their own. Supercomputers suggest an ancient origin for super massive black holes. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer begins its journey by air from Geneva to Cape Canaveral, Fla.
1. From CNN.com: NASA plans to discuss the discovery of an “intriguing” planetary system around another star on Thursday. The findings come from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, which was launched in March 2009 on a mission to identify Earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zones of other stars. Thursday’s briefing is set for 1 p.m., EDT. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/26/nasa.planet.hunt/
A. From AstronomyNow.com: Astronomers in Europe detect a star with a record five and possibly as many as seven planets. This star is 127 light years from the Earth. The arrangement of planets around this star is very similar to those in our own solar system. Two of the planets include one that may have Earth-like qualities.
http://astronomynow.com/news/n1008/24exo/
B. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: In Europe, odds makers improve the line on the discovery of extra-terrestrial life in the next decade from 33 to 1 to 10 to 1. The better line is attributed to the continuing discovery of planets around other stars.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/finding-et-%e2%80%93-an-odds-on-favorite
2. From Space.com: The super massive black holes that reside at the centers of galaxies likely sprang from collisions between star systems early in the universe, according to new super computer modeling.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/scienceastronomy/monster-black-holes-galaxy-collisions-100825.html
3. From Spaceflightnow.com: Russia positions itself to begin the construction of a new launch complex in early 2011. Currently, Russia launches most missions from Kazakhstan, at the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1008/25cosmodrome/
4. From the Associated Press via the Los Angeles Times: In Geneva, the U.S. Air Force loads the $2 billion, 8.3 ton Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer aboard a military transport for its flight to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, it will be readied for launching aboard Endeavour on the final shuttle mission. Lift off is tentatively set for Feb. 26, 2011. Once attached to the outside of the International Space Station, the AMS will study cosmic rays and search for dark matter.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/sns-ap-antimatter-detector,0,958200.story
5. From the Houston Chronicle: Beatle Paul McCartney writes NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to oppose the use of spider monkey as subjects for radiation research. McCartney cites objections raised by PETA.
http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2010/08/paul_mccartney_joins_peta_in_asking_nasa_to_halt_m.html
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