January 2014

The Abell 2744 cluster observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (Image NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, and the HFF Team (STScI))

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The last meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) gave the opportunity to present the latest discoveries made by the Hubble Space Telescope. Among thise there’s a photograph with unprecedented detail of Abell 2744, also called Pandora Cluster, a giant galaxy cluster.

Astronomers had already observed Abell 2744 with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011, investigating the history of this cluster. Their conclusions were that at least four galactic clusters had crashed into one another to form a super-cluster never seen before.

Doctor Who - Nightmare of Eden

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“Nightmare of Eden” is an adventure of the seventeenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1979 featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9. It follows “The Creature from the Pit” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Bob Baker and directed by Alan Bromly.

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), Romana II (Lalla Ward) and K9 arrive on the starship Empress that has just emerged from hyperspace in the same coordinates as the cargo ship Hecate causing a crash. The two Time Lords offer their help to solve the situation but it’s clear that the co-pilot was under the influence of some drug. The Doctor recognizes the symptoms of Vraxoin, a drug which trade had been eradicated.

On board the Empress there’s the zoologist Tryst together with his assistant Della. They have a machine that records portions of planets they have visited on special crystals. The Doctor realizes that the machine has a problem in the stability of its contents. In particular, the recording of the planet Eden seems all too realistic.

Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft atop an Antares rocket right after lift-off (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus spacecraft lifted off on an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), part of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on Wallops Island, Virginia. After about 15 minutes it successfully separated from the last stage of the rocket and started its journey. This is its first official mission, Orbital-1 or simply Orb-1, of transport of supplies to the International Space Station for NASA.

Coyote by Allen Steele

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The novel “Coyote” by Allen Steele was published for the first time in 2002 fixing-up some stories published separately between 2001 and 2002 in versions that sometimes a little different. It’s the first novel in the Coyote series.

Coyote is a moon of a gas giant planet type in the system 47 Ursae Majoris, 46 light years from Earth and can support life. In 2070, the regime of the nation built after the fall of the USA decides to send to Coyote the URSS Alabama, a spaceship capable of interstellar travel carrying a crew in suspended animation.

The star Beta Pictoris and its planet Beta Pictoris b observed by the Gemini Planet Imager (Image Gemini/Christian Marois, NRC Canada)

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After nearly a decade needed for its development, construction and testing, in recent days the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) officially came into operation. It’s a huge camera built to take pictures of exoplanets. It was deployed on the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one of the two large twin telescopes with a diameter of 8.1 m (26.9 ft) each that form the Gemini – which means twins – Observatory.