Cygnus_X-1: Famous black hole divulges its vital statistics

SOME black holes keep a tight hold on everything, even their own vital
statistics.

Now Cygnus X-1, the first black hole discovered, has divulged its distance from Earth and in turn its weight - and that it was born spinning.

Cygnus X-1 was identified as a likely black hole in 1972, but its distance from Earth has been maddeningly difficult to pin down. 

This in turn has made it hard to determine basic properties like its mass and spin.

Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and colleagues used the Very Long Baseline Array of radio telescopes spanning the US to measure the object's parallax - tiny shifts in its apparent position due to Earth's motion around the sun. 

Based on the size of the shifts, Cygnus X-1 is 6000 light years away, give or take a few hundred light years, the team reports (arxiv.org/abs/1106.3688).

Combining this measurement with other information revealed a rapid spin rate and the mass of the black hole to be 14.8 times the sun's (arxiv.org/abs/1106.3689).

It was likely born in a spin as it would not have had enough time to "spin up" by stealing gas from its companion star.

Red Wine: Preventing the negative effects of spaceflight

As strange as it sounds, a new research study published in the FASEB Journal, suggests that the "healthy" ingredient in red wine, resveratrol, may prevent the negative effects that spaceflight and sedentary lifestyles have on people. (Credit: © Julián Rovagnati / Fotolia)

Read the full story here

NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Sunrise on the Moon

On June 10, 2011, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter angled its orbit 65° to the west, allowing the spacecraft's cameras to capture a dramatic sunrise view of the moon's Tycho crater.

A very popular target with amateur astronomers, Tycho is located at 43.37°S, 348.68°E, and is about 51 miles (82 km) in diameter.

The summit of the central peak is 1.24 miles (2 km) above the crater floor. The distance from Tycho's floor to its rim is about 2.92 miles (4.7 km).

Tycho crater's central peak complex, shown here, is about 9.3 miles (15 km) wide, left to right (southeast to northwest in this view).

Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Tibetan singing bowls

We present the results of an experimental investigation of the acoustics and fluid dynamics of Tibetan singing bowls.

The Acoustic effect of Tibetan Singing Bowls on Water

Their acoustic behaviour is rationalised in terms of the related dynamics of standing bells and wine glasses.

Striking or rubbing a fluid-filled bowl excites wall vibrations, and concomitant waves at the fluid surface.

Acoustic excitation of the bowl's natural vibrational modes allows for a controlled study in which the evolution of the surface waves with increasing forcing amplitude is detailed.

Particular attention is given to rationalising the observed criteria for the onset of edge-induced Faraday waves and droplet generation via surface fracture. Our study indicates that drops may be levitated on the fluid surface, induced to bounce on or skip across the vibrating fluid surface.

Watch the study video here on the BBC website:

Read the full report here: http://iopscience.iop.org/

A YouTube Video of Tibetan Singing Bowls Music

NASA astronaut Sandy Magnus, STS-135 mission specialis

NASA astronaut Sandy Magnus, STS-135 mission specialist, flies in a T-38 trainer on her way from Houston to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Magnus was flying in a plane piloted by Doug Hurley, while Commander Chris Ferguson and mission specialist Rex Walheim are in the plane at left.

The crew is preparing for space shuttle Atlantis' scheduled liftoff on July 8.

Picture: AP

Aurora Borealis image

Andy Keen, 44, points towards the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in February 2011 in Lapland, Finland.

He has spent the last three years chasing the Aurora Borealis with his camera, and admits to having fallen completely under its spell.

ESA: Ariane 5 VA203 ready for launch

The next Ariane 5 launch is scheduled for 1 July. It will carry the ASTRA 1N and BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R satellites into their planned geostationary transfer orbits. This will be the 59th launch of Ariane 5.


The Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch zone has welcomed another heavy-lift Ariane 5 as preparations enter the final phase for Arianespace’s dual-passenger mission tomorrow with the ASTRA 1N and BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R satellites.

Emerging from the Final Assembly Building in the French Guiana sunshine, the Ariane 5 was transferred atop one of two operational mobile launch tables for the workhorse Arianespace vehicle.

All is ready for the countdown leading to a liftoff on July 1 during a launch window that opens at 6:43 p.m. (21h43 Universal time) on Arianespace’s fourth mission in 2011.

The two passengers for this flight are direct-to-home (DTH) television broadcasting satellites with coverage over Europe and Japan, which are to be delivered to geostationary transfer orbit by the Ariane 5.

To be deployed first during the 38-minute mission is ASTRA 1N, which was built by EADS Astrium in Toulouse, France for the Luxembourg-based operator SES Astra. 

Based on Astrium’s Eurostar E3000 platform, ASTRA 1N has an estimated liftoff mass of 5,350 kg. and is fitted with 52 active Ku-band transponders. 

It initially is to deliver interim capacity from an orbital position of 28.2 deg. East, and subsequently will move to SES ASTRA’s prime location at 19.2 deg. East for primary and backup services during a designed operational lifetime of 15 years.

BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems at its plant in Newtown, Pennsylvania as part of a turnkey contract for Japanese operators B-SAT Corporation and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation.

Produced using an A2100 A platform, this satellite will weigh approximately 2,910 kg. at launch, and is to be positioned at 110 deg.

East longitude in geostationary orbit, and offers a design life exceeding 16 years. BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R is fitted with 24 active Ku-band transponders, and is primarily designed to provide direct TV broadcast links for all of Japan.