NewsBriefing05180705 21507

Space News Update: 

Space News Update May 18-21, 2007

News Content This Week: 

News Content This Week Hubble Finds Ghostly Ring of Dark Matter NASA’s Shuttle Atlantis Rolls Back Out to Launch Pad Ancient Microbes Living in Frozen Antarctic Soil May Be Model for Life on Mars Space Calendar NASA TV Popular Space Space Image of the Week (click on the images for more information)

Slide3: 

Hubble Finds Ghostly Ring of Dark Matter

NASA’s Shuttle Atlantis Rolls Back Out to Launch Pad: 

NASA’s Shuttle Atlantis Rolls Back Out to Launch Pad

Slide5: 

Ancient Microbes Living in Frozen Antarctic Soil May Be Model for Life on Mars

Space Calendar: 

Space Calendar May 18 - Asteroid 3767 DiMaggio Closest Approach To Earth (1.342 AU) May 19 - Asteroid 1115 Sabauda Occults HIP 81632 (6.4 Magnitude Star) May 19 - Asteroid 2006 WN3 Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU) May 19 - Asteroid 9880 Stegosaurus Closest Approach To Earth (1.519 AU) May 19 - Asteroid 2829 Bobhope Closest Approach To Earth (1.846 AU) May 19 - 1st International Sidewalk Astronomy Night May 19 - NASA Glenn Visitor Center Event: Space Stations Then and Now, Cleveland, Ohio May 19-20 -[May 15] Jet Propulsion Laboratory Open House, Pasadena, California May 20 - Cassini, Orbital Trim Maneuver #111 (OTM-111) May 20 - Asteroid 1225 Ariane Closest Approach To Earth (1.315 AU) May 20 - Asteroid 5145 Pholus Closest Approach To Earth (20.254 AU) May 21 - Asteroid 3949 Mach Closest Approach To Earth (1.145 AU)

NASA TV: 

NASA TV The program listed below is changed to the general NASA Television schedule. All times are Eastern U.S. time. May 18, Friday -11 a.m. - Aeronautics Technical Seminar - The Quest for Onboard Real-Time Characterization of Aircraft Stability and Control - HQ (Education Channel) May 22, Tuesday -10:35 - 10:55 a.m. - ISS Expedition 15 In-Flight Interview with MSNBC and CBS News - JSC (Public and Media Channels)

Popular Space: 

Popular Space NASA's SOFIA to be Rededicated on Historic Lindbergh Anniversary On May 21, Charles Lindbergh's grandson Erik will help NASA dedicate a special 747 astronomy aircraft to the trailblazing aviator. May 21 is the 80th anniversary of Lindbergh's historic solo New York-to-Paris flight. The ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. CDT, at the Texas State Technical College Airport in Waco. The SOFIA 747 was originally christened by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, widow of the famous aviator, when it began service as an airliner in 1977. The plane has a 16-foot-high door in the aft fuselage that will open, allowing the 45,000-pound telescope to capture astronomical data in the infrared spectrum at altitudes that could exceed 40,000 feet. By flying above 90 percent of the Earth's atmospheric water vapor, SOFIA will significantly exceed the capabilities of infrared observatories on Earth.

Space Image of the Week: 

Space Image of the Week (Want to see your favorite space science-related images during the SO briefing? Send them to RenataH@earthlink.net) Hubble Celebrates Its Seventeenth Birthday with the Birth of a Star In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is releasing one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras. It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth - and death - is taking place. The nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. In the process, these stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born. The immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina the Keel.