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ANTARES of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
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A Close Encounter Of The Ste
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| Title |
A Close Encounter Of The Stellar Kind |
| Explanation |
The unassuming star centered in this sky view [ http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov ] will one day be our next door [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010318.html ] stellar neighbor. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991120.html ], currently 63 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus [ http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/ophiuchus.html ], was recently discovered to be approaching our Solar System. Known in catalogs of nearby stars [ http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/htbin/myqcat3?V/70A/ ] as Gliese (Gl) 710 it is predicted to come within nearly 1 light-year of the Sun ... about 1.5 million years from now. At that distance this star, presently much too faint to be seen [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/MAG.HTML ] by the naked eye, will blaze at 0.6 magnitude - rivaling the apparent brightness of the mighty red giant Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970624.html ]. Ultimately Gliese 710 poses no direct collision danger itself although its gravitational influence will likely scatter comets out of the Solar System's reservoir, the Oort cloud [ http://www.windows.umich.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/comets/ Oort_cloud.html ], sending some inbound. This future stellar encounter [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/ nph-bib_query?bibcode=1999AJ....117.1042G&db_key=AST&high=3af6c03e8102908 ] was discovered by researchers Joan Garcia-Sanchez and Robert Preston (JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov ]), and collaborators while studying stars in the solar neighborhood [ http://www.clockwk.com/stars/ ] using data from the Hipparcos Astrometry Satellite [ http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Hipparcos/ hipparcos.html ]. The star field shown is based on the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey [ http://www-gsss.stsci.edu/Dss/dss_home.HTM ] and is 1/4 degree wide (about half the diameter of the full moon). |
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A Close Encounter of the Ste
…
| Title |
A Close Encounter of the Stellar Kind |
| Explanation |
The unassuming star centered in this sky view [ http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov ] will one day be our next door [ http://www.bigear.org/vol1no2/kraus.htm ] stellar neighbor [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/nearest.html ]. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970605.html ] currently 63 light-years away [ http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/Stars/parallax_ly.html ] in the constellation Ophiucus [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/nearest.html ] was recently discovered to be on a course toward our Solar System. Known in catalogs of nearby stars [ http://proxima.astro.virginia.edu/~pai/Recons/index.html ] as Gliese 710 it is predicted to come within 1 light-year of the Sun ... a million years from now. At that distance this star, presently much too faint to be seen [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/MAG.HTML ] by the naked eye, will blaze at 0.6 magnitude - rivaling the apparent brightness of the mighty red giant Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970624.html ]. Gliese 710 poses no direct collision danger [ http://ccf.arc.nasa.gov/sst/main.html ] itself although its gravitational influence will likely scatter comets out of the Solar System's reservoir, the Oort cloud, sending some inbound [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap961219.html ]. This future stellar encounter was discovered by researchers Joan Garcia-Sanchez and Robert Preston (JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov ]), and collaborators while studying stars in the solar neighborhood [ http://www.clockwk.com/stars/ ] using data from the Hipparcos Astrometry Satellite [ http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Hipparcos/ hipparcos.html ]. The star field shown is based on the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey [ http://www-gsss.stsci.edu/dss/dss.html ] and is 1/4 degree wide (about half the diameter of the full moon). |
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Moon Lightning
| Title |
Moon Lightning |
| Explanation |
Moonsets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020921.html ] are not often quite as exciting as this one. But amateur astronomer Marc-Andre Besel was impressed by the brilliant lighting displays that joined the first quarter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010428.html ] Moon and stars of the constellation Scorpius [ http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/sco/index.html ] in western skies. On August 22, 2004, his view looked [ http://people.freenet.de/besel/ Fotoalben/Blitz/PAGE1.HTM ] across the Gulf of Mexico from Anna Maria Island, Florida, USA, a region that would experience even more stormy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040903.html ] weather in the coming days. The alluring digital image is a time exposure, by chance [ http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/luceneweb/ fullimage.jsp?photoId=S83-40452 ] capturing the details of a brief flash of lightning [ http://thunder.msfc.nasa.gov/primer/primer2.html ] along with an overexposed Moon and dramatic cloud formations. In fact, the exposure is long enough to show the background stars as short streaks or trails [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/ I_ASTROP/I06/I0601/I0601.HTM ]. The bright yellowish star trail, just above and right of the lightning flash, is red giant star Antares [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/antares.html ]. |
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A Close Encounter Of The Ste
…
| Title |
A Close Encounter Of The Stellar Kind |
| Explanation |
The unassuming star centered in this sky view [ http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov ] will one day be our next door [ http://www.bigear.org/vol1no2/kraus.htm ] stellar neighbor [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/nearest.html ]. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991120.html ], currently 63 light-years away [ http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/Stars/parallax_ly.html ] in the constellation Ophiucus [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/ Ophiuchus.html ], was recently discovered to be approaching our Solar System. Known in catalogs of nearby stars [ http://tarkus.pha.jhu.edu/~thenry/RECONS.html ] as Gliese 710 it is predicted to come within 1 light-year of the Sun ... a million years from now. At that distance this star, presently much too faint to be seen [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/MAG.HTML ] by the naked eye, will blaze at 0.6 magnitude - rivaling the apparent brightness of the mighty red giant Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970624.html ]. Ultimately Gliese 710 poses no direct collision danger itself although its gravitational influence will likely scatter comets out of the Solar System's reservoir, the Oort cloud [ http://www.windows.umich.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/comets/ Oort_cloud.html ], sending some inbound. This future stellar encounter [ http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/meetings/dps97/html/H2501/H2501.html ] was discovered by researchers [ http://www.newscientist.com/ns/970524/doomstar.html ] Joan Garcia-Sanchez and Robert Preston (JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov ]), and collaborators while studying stars in the solar neighborhood [ http://www.clockwk.com/stars/ ] using data from the Hipparcos Astrometry Satellite [ http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/Projects/Hipparcos/ hipparcos.html ]. The star field shown is based on the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey [ http://www-gsss.stsci.edu/dss/dss.html ] and is 1/4 degree wide (about half the diameter of the full moon). |
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