World's Most Sensitive Astronomical Camera Developed.

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2009) — A team of Université de Montréal researchers, led by physics PhD student Olivier Daigle, has developed the world's most sensitive astronomical camera. Marketed by Photon etc., a young Quebec firm, the camera will be used by the Mont-Mégantic Observatory and NASA, which purchased the first unit.

The camera is made up of a CCD controller for counting photons; a digital imagery device that amplifies photons observed by astronomical cameras or by other instruments used in situations of very low luminosity. The controller produces 25 gigabytes of data per second.
Electric signals used to pilot the imagery chip are 500 times more precise than those of a conventional controller. This increased precision helps reduce noise that interferes with the weak signals coming from astronomical objects in the night sky. The controller allows to substantially increase the sensitivity of detectors, which can be compared to the mirror of the Mont-Mégantic telescope doubling its diameter.
"The first astronomical results are astounding and highlight the increased sensitivity acquired by the new controller," says Daigle. "The clarity of the images brings us so much closer to the stars that we are attempting to understand."
A thriving Quebec company Photon etc. developed a commercial version of the controller devised by Daigle and his team and integrated it in complete cameras. NASA was first to place an order for one of these cameras and was soon followed by a research group from the University of Sao Paulo, and by a European-Canadian consortium equipping a telescope in Chili. In addition, researchers in nuclear medicine, bioluminescence, Raman imaging and other fields requiring rapid imagery have expressed interest in purchasing the cameras.
Photon etc. is a Quebec research and development company that specializes in the manufacting of photonic measurement and analysis instruments. The company is growing rapidly after spending four years in the Université de Montréal and its affiliated École Polytechnique IT business incubator.
"The sensitivity of the cameras developed by the Centre de recherche en astrophysique du Québec (CRAQ) and Photon etc. will not only help us better understand the depths of the universe but also better perceive weak optical signals coming from the human body. These signals can reveal the early signs of several diseases such as macular degeneration and certain types of cancer. An early diagnostic leads to early intervention, hopefully before the disease becomes more serious thus saving lives and important costs," says Sébastien Blais-Ouellette, president of Photon etc.
Scientific results for the camera were recently featured in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a prestigious instrumentation journal.
This research was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Natural Sciences And Engineering Research Council of Canada, Photon etc., the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Montreal.

James Webb Space Telescope Begins To Take Shape At Goddard.

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2009) — NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is starting to come together. A major component of the telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module structure, recently arrived at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. for testing in the Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility.

The Integrated Science Instrument Module, or ISIM, is an important component of the Webb telescope. The ISIM includes the structure, four scientific instruments or cameras, electronics, harnesses, and other components.
The ISIM structure is the "backbone" of the ISIM. It is similar to the chassis of a car. Just as a car chassis provides support for the engine and holds other components, the ISIM Structure supports and holds the four Webb telescope science instruments : the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS). Each of these instruments were created and assembled by different program partners around the world.
When fully assembled, the ISIM will be the size of a small room with the structure acting as a skeleton supporting all of the instruments. Ray Lundquist, ISIM Systems Engineer, at NASA Goddard, commented that "The ISIM structure is truly a one-of-a-kind item. There is no second ISIM being made."
Before arriving at Goddard, the main ISIM structure – a state of the art, cryogenic-compatible, optical structure was designed by a team of engineers at Goddard, and assembled by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) at its Magna, Utah facility. That's the same facility where the Webb Telescope's Backplane is also being assembled.
Now that the structure has arrived at Goddard, it will undergo rigorous qualification testing to demonstrate its ability to survive the launch and extreme cold of space, and to precisely hold the science instruments in the correct position with respect to the telescope. Once the ISIM structure passes its qualification testing, the process of integrating into it all of the other ISIM Subsystems, including the Science Instruments, will begin.
Each of the four instruments that will be housed in the ISIM is critical to the Webb telescope's mission. The MIRI instrument will provide information on the formation and evolution of galaxies, the physical processes of star and planet formation, and the sources of life-supporting elements in other solar systems. The NIRCam will detect the first galaxies to form in the early universe, map the morphology and colors of galaxies; detect distant supernovae; map dark matter and study stellar populations in nearby galaxies. NIRSpec's microshutter cells can be opened or closed to view or block a portion of the sky which allows the instrument to do spectroscopy on many objects simultaneously, measuring the distances to galaxies and determining their chemical content. The FGS is a broadband guide camera used for both "guide star" acquisition and fine pointing. The FGS also includes the scientific capability of taking images at individual wavelengths of infrared light to study chemical elements in stars and galaxies.
In addition to designing the ISIM structure, NASA Goddard provides other infrastructure subsystems critical for the operation of the instruments, including the ISIM Thermal Control Subsystem; ISIM Control and Data Handling Subsystem; ISIM Remote Services Unit; ISIM Flight Software; ISIM Electronics Compartment, and ISIM Harness Assemblies.
The ISIM itself is very complicated and is broken into three distinct areas:
The first area involves the cryogenic instrument module. This is a critical area, because it keeps the instrument cool. Otherwise, the Webb telescope's heat would interfere with the science instruments’ infrared cameras. So, the module keeps components as cold as -389 degrees Fahrenheit (39 Kelvin). The MIRI instrument is further cooled by a cryocooler refrigerator to -447 degrees Fahrenheit (7 Kelvin).
The second area is the ISIM Electronics Compartment, which provides the mounting surfaces and a thermally-controlled environment for the instrument control electronics.
The third area is the ISIM Command and Data Handling subsystem, which includes ISIM flight Software, and the MIRI cryocooler compressor and control electronics.
NASA Goddard will be assembling and testing the ISIM and its components over the next several years. The integrated ISIM will then be mounted onto the main Webb telescope.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the next-generation premier space observatory, exploring deep space phenomena from distant galaxies to nearby planets and stars. The Webb Telescope will give scientists clues about the formation of the universe and the evolution of our own solar system, from the first light after the Big Bang to the formation of star systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth. It is expected to launch in 2014. The telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
Related Links:
For more information about each of the instruments on the ISIM, visit:
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/instruments.html
For more information about the Webb Telescope, visit:
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
Adapted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

'Ram Pressure' Stripping Galaxies, Hubble Space Telescope Scientists Find

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2009) — A newly released set of images, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope before the recent Servicing Mission, highlight the ongoing drama in two galaxies in the Virgo Cluster affected by a process known as "ram pressure stripping", which can result in peculiar-looking galaxies.

An extremely hot X-ray emitting gas known as the intra-cluster medium lurks between galaxies within clusters. As galaxies move through this intra-cluster medium, strong winds rip through galaxies distorting their shape and even halting star formation.
Ram pressure is the drag force that results when something moves through a fluid — much like the wind you feel in your face when bicycling, even on a still day — and occurs in this context as galaxies orbiting about the centre of the cluster move through the intra-cluster medium, which then sweeps out gas from within the galaxies.
The spiral galaxy NGC 4522 is located some 60 million light-years away from Earth and it is a spectacular example of a spiral galaxy currently being stripped of its gas content. The galaxy is part of the Virgo galaxy cluster and its rapid motion within the cluster results in strong winds across the galaxy as the gas within is left behind. Scientists estimate that the galaxy is moving at more than 10 million kilometres per hour. A number of newly formed star clusters that developed in the stripped gas can be seen in the Hubble image.
Even though this is a still image, Hubble's view of NGC 4522 practically swirls off the page with apparent movement. It highlights the dramatic state of the galaxy, with an especially vivid view of the ghostly gas being forced out of it. Bright blue pockets of new star formation can be seen to the right and left of centre. The image is sufficiently deep to show distant background galaxies.
The image of NGC 4402 also highlights some telltale signs of ram pressure stripping such as the curved, or convex, appearance of the disc of gas and dust, a result of the forces exerted by the heated gas. Light being emitted by the disc backlights the swirling dust that is being swept out by the gas. Studying ram pressure stripping helps astronomers better understand the mechanisms that drive the evolution of galaxies, and how the rate of star formation is suppressed in very dense regions of the Universe like clusters.
Both images were taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys on Hubble before it suffered from a power failure in 2007. Astronauts on Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009 were able to restore ACS during their 13-day mission.
Adapted from materials provided by ESA/Hubble Information Centre.

Raining Pebbles: Rocky Exoplanet Has Bizarre Atmosphere, Simulation Suggests.

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ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2009) — So accustomed are we to the sunshine, rain, fog and snow of our home planet that we find it next to impossible to imagine a different atmosphere and other forms of precipitation.

To be sure, Dr. Seuss came up with a green gluey substance called oobleck that fell from the skies and gummed up the Kingdom of Didd, but it had to be conjured up by wizards and was clearly a thing of magic.
Not so the atmosphere of COROT-7b, an exoplanet discovered last February by the COROT space telescope launched by the French and European space agencies.
According to models by scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, COROT-7b's atmosphere is made up of the ingredients of rocks and when "a front moves in," pebbles condense out of the air and rain into lakes of molten lava below.
The work, by Laura Schaefer, research assistant in the Planetary Chemistry Laboratory, and Bruce Fegley Jr., Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, appears in the Oct. 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
Astronomers have found nearly 400 extra-solar planets, or exoplanets, in the past 20 years. But because of the limitations of the indirect means by which they are discovered, most are Hot Jupiters, chubby gas giants orbiting close to their parent stars. (More than 1,300 Earths could be packed inside Jupiter, which has 300 times the mass of Earth.)
COROT-7b, on the other hand, is less than twice the size of Earth and only five times its mass.
It was the first planet found orbiting the star COROT-7, an orange dwarf in the constellation Monoceros, or the Unicorn. (This priority is designated by the letter b.)
Solid as a Rock
In August 2009 a consortium of European observatories led by the Swiss reported the discovery of COROT-7c, a second planet orbiting COROT-7.
Using the data from both planets, they were able to calculate that COROT-7b has an average density about the same as Earth's. This means it is almost certainly a rocky planet made up of silicate rocks like those in Earth's crust, says Fegley.
Not that anyone would call it Earth-like, much less hospitable to life. The planet and its star are separated by only 1.6 million miles, 23 times less than the distance between the parboiled planet Mercury and our Sun.
Because the planet is so close to the star, it is gravitationally locked to it in the same way the Moon is locked to Earth. One side of the planet always faces its star, just as one side of the Moon always faces Earth.
This star-facing side has a temperature of about 2600 degrees Kelvin (4220 degrees Fahrenheit). That's infernally hot—hot enough to vaporize rocks. The global average temperature of Earth's surface, in contrast, is only about 288 degrees Kelvin (59 degrees Fahrenheit).
The side in perpetual shadow, on the other hand, is positively chilly at 50 degrees Kelvin (-369 degrees Fahrenheit).
Perhaps because they were cooked off, COROT-7b's atmosphere has none of the volatile elements or compounds that make up Earth's atmosphere, such as water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
"The only atmosphere this object has is produced from vapor arising from hot molten silicates in a lava lake or lava ocean," Fegley says.
What might that atmosphere be like? To find out Schaefer and Fegley have used thermochemical equilibrium calculations to model COROT-7b's atmosphere.
The calculations, which reveal which mineral assemblages are stable under different conditions, were carried out with MAGMA, a computer program Fegley developed in 1986 with the late A. G. W. Cameron, a professor of astrophysics at Harvard University.
Schaefer and Fegley modified the MAGMA program in 2004 in order to study high-temperature volcanism on Io, Jupiter's innermost Galilean satellite. This modified version was used in their present work.
Raining Rocks
Because the scientists didn't know the exact composition of the planet, they ran the program with four different starting compositions. "We got essentially the same result in all four cases," says Fegley.
"Sodium, potassium, silicon monoxide and then oxygen — either atomic or molecular oxygen — make up most of the atmosphere." But there are also smaller amounts of the other elements found in silicate rock, such as magnesium, aluminum, calcium and iron.
Why is there oxygen on a dead planet, when it didn't show up in Earth's atmosphere until 2.4 billion years ago, when plants started to produce it?
"Oxygen is the most abundant element in rock," says Fegley, "so when you vaporize rock what you end up doing is producing a lot of oxygen."
The peculiar atmosphere has its own singular weather. "As you go higher the atmosphere gets cooler and eventually you get saturated with different types of 'rock' the way you get saturated with water in the atmosphere of Earth," explains Fegley. "But instead of a water cloud forming and then raining water droplets, you get a 'rock cloud' forming and it starts raining out little pebbles of different types of rock."
Even more strangely, the kind of rock condensing out of the cloud depends on the altitude. The atmosphere works the same way as fractionating columns, the tall knobby columns that make petrochemical plants recognizable from afar. In a fractionating column, crude oil is boiled and its components condense out on a series of trays, with the heaviest one (with the highest boiling point) sulking at the bottom, and the lightest (and most volatile) rising to the top.
Instead of condensing out hydrocarbons such as asphalt, petroleum jelly, kerosene and gasoline, the exoplanet's atmosphere condenses out minerals such as enstatite, corundum, spinel, and wollastonite. In both cases the fractions fall out in order of boiling point.
Elemental sodium and potassium, which have very low boiling points in comparison with rocks, do not rain out but would instead stay in the atmosphere, where they would form high gas clouds buffeted by the stellar wind from COROT-7.
These large clouds may be detectable by Earth-based telescopes. The sodium, for example, should glow in the orange part of the spectrum, like a giant but very faint sodium vapor streetlamp.
Observers have recently spotted sodium in the atmospheres of two other exoplanets.
The atmosphere of COROT-7b may not be breathable, but it is certainly amusing.
Adapted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis.