Vidulini Observatory

The largest telescope in the world, who will order several sizes exceed all previous giant to look to the stars, will be built on the mountain Cerro Armazones (3060m above sea level) in Chile, it was decided on 26 April at the meeting held at the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Comparison of the size of the E-ELT with intercontinental travel by car and plane

After thorough testing several potential sites around the world Cerro Armazones is rated as the best place to accommodate the giant world has not seen any. No small role played by the fact that the sky is clear during the 320 days a year and it is close (twenty miles), another "astronomical top" Cerro Paranal, where telescopes are located in the VLT-VLTI system.
E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope) will be a giant mirror with a diameter of up to 42m. The previous largest telescopes in the world have a mirror diameter of ten meters, and the famous Hubble Space Telescope "only" 2.4m!
E-ELT will have a mass of over 5.000tona! His course will be a mirror The cast in one piece but will be set to the correct structure even 984 small mirrors to the precision engineering and computer control to work as an equivalent single telescope mirror diameter of 42m.
Six special laser will generate artificial stars in order to ensure perfect navigation telescopes but they will primarily serve to opto-electronic equipment "used my" atmospheric turbulence and neutralize interference which will ultimately give a hundred times better performance than the latest editions Hubble Space Telescope!

Cerro Armazones

It is believed that the E-ELT will allow astronomers to see the ISK and planets around other stars, as well as monitoring activities (detection of stellar spots) on the stars in our galaxy. You will be able to clearly distinguish and record individual stars in close GCs even in other galaxies of the local group. Construction jobs around the telescope and the supporting infrastructure will start later this year and I have a telescope should be operational in 2018th Cost of construction is estimated to be at least a billion of euros, which are part of the funds already secured.

Marino Tumpić

Pluto, the former ninth planet of the Solar System has been translated into the assembly of the International Astronomical Union, 2006th the category of so-called. dwarf planet. Research proposals and the Australian National University (ANU) on the categorization of bodies belonging to the solar system move in the direction that the status of dwarf planet get all objects with a diameter greater than 200 km (previously 400 km), which would automatically contributed to a group of planets that dwarfs suddenly "grow" the more fifty objects.

Planet dwarfs in comparison with the Earth

We know that the arrangement astronomers in the solar system bodies we share the planet, dwarf planets and small bodies which include all other objects (comets, asteroids ..).
The new division, or better yet, a new categorization of this time is based on sound physical principles and properties of the body. It is believed that the objects with a diameter greater than 200 km and massive enough that gravity implies that the result will be roughly spherical, kuglolikog shape. Dr Charley Lineweaver and Dr Marc Norman, both from the ANU, suggests that it is precisely the foundation of the new classification. His views are based on data on the properties of these objects. For icy bodies and lower density limit of 200 km when it takes on a spherical shape while the body for higher density shifts the boundaries of three hundred miles. Of course, that everything would be easy here and the nature of the care of the exceptions.
Adopt a motion to increase the number of dwarf planets will present a dozen to over fifty. On the other hand in our planetary system, there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of small bodies. Some of them astronomers monitored with special attention given pass very close to the country and represent a potential threat to our civilization.

Marino Tumpić

Globally renowned icon of modern astronomy, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), celebrated her birthday yesterday. Launched on 24 April 1990. The board the Discovery after several years of delay due to technical and safety problems in some of the telescope and shuttle.

Hubble moves on long space odyssey

It is the most famous astronomical telescope in the world, although it should be said that this was not the only telescope in space. Today, at a short distance from the Earth, there are several telescopes. All of them perceive the universe in various parts of the spectrum elektromagnetsog and some of them have the important task of observations of the Sun.
The Hubble Space Telescope sees several times further and better sun (star) that are distant from us, "undetectable" mileage. Its mission dvadesetgodišnja much has changed not only astronomy but also the world of each individual. Images are recorded by the textbooks around the world.
HST is 25 April 1990. was released from the cargo space shuttle Discovery and then began his independent way outer space. A few weeks later, when he took his orbit a 600-km above the Earth, and they received the first pictures. Because of errors in making the mirror telescope Hubble a few years ago was "shortsighted." But the mission engineers were able to solve in the first service mission 1993rd Over the years there were a total of five service missions where instruments HSTu modernized and extended life for over two decades. It is estimated to be operational for at least another few years until the end of this decade, it does not replace the more powerful James Webb Space Telescope.
It is estimated that the total cost HSTa over six billion!

Marino Tumpić

Several newly discovered planets around other stars, and careful study of several well-known of them earlier on the way to overthrow the generally accepted theory about the formation of planetary systems in the universe. At the national conference of the British astronomer (Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting) held in Glasgow in a group of students and professionals (Andrew Cameron, Amaury Triaud, Andrew Cameron, Didier Queloz and others) presented the discovery of nine newly found planets around other stars, bringing the number of known planets in the universe climbed to number 452, plus eight known planets around our star.

Orbits of extrasolar planets

But what is more interesting than that is finding ways of their orbits around the parent star. Six of twenty-seven carefully researched extrasolar planet around its parent star turns opposite of gentle rotation! It is now considered an excluded the possibility of early evolution of planets. Theoretical and computational models of astronomers assumed that the protoplanetarni disks and planets around young stem Suns must rotate in the same direction as the star rotates on its axis. But these six extrasolar planet rotates in the direction of them otherwise! You could say that this is a "glove challenge" for modern astronomy and astronomers now have the difficult task to explain this unusual situation. Is such orbits cause strong gravitational effect of two or more planets, which are able to enter a "mess" in the movement of celestial bodies, or something else entirely (a close passage of a star), now becomes the subject of speculation and new research.
In this study we used the telescopes of the WASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) in collaboration with ESO and ENO (European South Observatory / European South Observatory) telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile, the Canary Islands, Hawaii, France and South Africa.

Fifteen years ago, astronomers have found the first large planet around another star. Most of today ekstraspolarnih discovered planets are actually large, gaseous giants like Jupiter or greater, but all they are very close to its parent star. Only recently we started to discover the planet that are located on the "decent" distance from the star. Astronomy is imerativ in the next few months or years to find a so-called "super-Earth", like our planet!

In Croatia, research exstrasolarnih planet is engaged in Vidulini Astronomical Association and the American AXA statistics over the past year, Gregor Srdoc (AUV) was the most productive researcher in the world!

Marino Tumpić

The system radiotelescope LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) initiated by Dutch scientists and approved in several European countries began mapping the universe while he was still a baby. Scanning the sky in a very short radio waves is almost uncharted territory, and astronomers hope to get answers to questions related to the birth of the first stars and galaxies and radio communication capabilities extraterrestrial civilizations!

Recording radio telescopes LOFAR

For the first time we have a chance to see the universe in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum in the moments when it was less than 500,000 years, which would be in human life was the equivalent of baby only about ten hours after birth!
One of the first high-resolution images of the sky in the radio spectrum dobijuenu LOFAR system published by Dr. John McKean earlier this week at a conference of astronomers in Glasgow (RAS). McKean added that LOFAR is still under construction and that works but with limited capabilities but they show tremendous potential of this system versus the current radio telescopes. In addition, radio-telescope is, in contrast to the "visual" of astronomy, the advantage given to the radio observations can run day and night.
Besides the need for astronomical research, parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that will record LOFAR will be used for the purposes of seeking life in the universe - the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence).
LOFAR has no moving antenna and thus not demanding management system. A large number of individual minor antenna is positioned on a special pedestal in the country. The antennas are positioned and oriented toward a specific position in the sky. Computer processing of data received by the antenna receives the radio sky high image resolution and quality in a very short period of time. It uses two types of antennas, one for low (10-80MHz) and the other for high frequencies (110-240MHz).

The appearance of LOFAR

LOFAR is an international project with the infrastructure being built or already built in Germany, Fancuskoj, UK and Sweden. All stations are connected to the central office for receiving and processing data that is located in Dwingeloo, near Groningen, where supercomputer processing data, creating the best images of the universe in the radio field. It is planned that the system is fully operational in the autumn of this year.

Marino Tumpić

The American spacecraft Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) designed the study began with the sun sending scientific data about the Sun. The first pictures show the sun with the details that previously could not take no spacecraft or terrestrial telescope. The first photo was submitted by the sun made the SDO show many complex chemical and physical processes taking place in the sun.

The sun as seen SDO

Modern cameras recorded every 0.75 seconds, the Sun and the Earth day will be sent to 1.5 TB of data. To illustrate this is a day about the same amount of data to memory as the computer took the 400-odd movies! However, for the time when the spacecraft was in Earth's shadow will be short "break from a busy" looking at the sun.
SDO has in recent months geosinhronu placed in orbit high above Earth. Its launch weight of 3100kg, 1400kg of waste that the rocket fuel that will operate the aircraft position in space, while the rest belongs to the structure, solar panels, communication systems, computers and the weight of scientific instruments around 270kg.
Even with four special telescopes, which are the materials for the media of water as a unique instrument, SDO observes the Sun in nine target areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, with an emphasis on research in the field of UV EMSA.
SDO also observes the entire solar disk, and just received the results show how big an improvement over the known SOHO spacecraft, which since 1995. The research has the task of the Sun, and even the recently launched twin spacecraft STEREO-A and B..
SDO is a key component of a large project, "Living with the Sun" (Living With a Star) they want to find evidence of the interdependence of life on Earth against the events on the Sun. Earth system - the sun is in constant interaction and we want to know how and what exactly happens and with what consequences for our planet and life on it.
SDO was launched on 11th February this year, the Atlas V rocket with raketodroma in Florida.

Marino Tumpić

The astronauts are doomed to decades of Earth's orbit

Vidulini

This week's visit and speech predsjednka U.S. Barack Obama in NASA's Space Center in Florida has shown that this superpower declaratory remain in the position of the leading competitors in the universe. But after the speech Obama reads the lack of a concise vision of how and what people will move into a new historical mission. After termination of the Constellation program, which aimed to return Americans to the moon, the White House is facing a number of pressures and lobbying in favor of future pilotiranih expeditions into space. President Obama apparently had to give, and in Florida, accompanied by Edwin Oldrina (second man on the lunar surface), presented a new plan for the U.S. presence in space.

Several important segments of the canceled Constellation program will financially survive the cut, moving into the development of new, extremely powerful rocket and essence of everything would be on a mission from an asteroid and Mars somewhere around 2040th year. Obama has emphasized that the Americans were on the moon and believes that no matter what and there is reason for re-entry but no longer as a main goal, but as a step in the perspective of landing on Mars. In the words of American space program that is not considered a luxury but a necessity and the promise of opening 2,500 new jobs in Florida with an additional six billion for NASA over the next five years, his speech was greeted with applause. He added that NASA will have the task of intensifying robotic missions throughout the solar system, with special emphasis on missions to Mars and the Sun.

New U.S. space program to the mission of one of the asteroids

We need a new, demanding time and space visionary, but he must go and spend wisely optimal funding, Obama concluded.

However, the reality and the real picture is quite different. No elaborate plans, deadlines and financial parameters is hardly any plan can be considered serious. The technical reality is that today's technology, even the one you'll have two to three decades, based on the Apollo-Soyuz guidelines and will not be able to multi-year time astronauts in space. Demanding conditions in space are well recognized on space stations. At this point we (humanity) are unable to keep ISS operating for more than a few months without any technical difficulties. When a malfunction occurs in the Earth orbiting astronauts have a reservation, either in the form of pumped from the earth key equipment and devices for a period of several days or weeks later to ISSA ships leaving rescue Soyuz type. Such a scenario for missions to asteroids or Mars is not possible because it would help in the best case could be reached in a few months or more than a year.

Americans on the Moon, a movie that we watch

Obama confirmed the abolition of shuttle (space shuttle) until the end of this year, which is definitely a good decision. Too expensive and technically demanding rocket must fly as soon as possible to stop. The security risks of the new disaster, but has long since exceeded the completion of the ISSA is no need for the task of sending astronauts to the ISSA pays billions of dollars when the Russian Soyuz to make up for about fifteen times lower cost with far lower security risk to astronauts.

Astronaut Cernan on the moon, what we could forty years ago might fail to reprise the following forty years

Commercial flights into space, and servicing of ISSA and banknotes have been entrusted to private companies in the coming years, these programs will become a reality in practice.

We can conclude that we piloted missions to the Moon, Mars and other celestial objects still today than they were at the beginning of the seventies! The truth is that in this kind of schedule strength and vision only print boots of Chinese astronauts on the moon and the development of entirely new technologies space flight can not guarantee a new step of human space exploration. Until then, walking on Mars will be the exclusive domain of science fiction movies and very bad sročenih synopsis bezidejnih space programs.

Marino Tumpić

The moment of landing Soyuz TMA 16 on Earth

Vidulini

Yesterday, 18 March at 12:25 CET U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev successfully into space aboard Soyuz TMA-16 landed on Earth in the northeast of the town of Arkalyk in the Kazakh steppe. After 169 days stay in space to Issa, the duo landed on Earth and feel well said from Moscow control center. Rescue teams quickly arrived at the landing spaceship, and the crew of a helicopter was able to capture the moment and I am launching Soyuz TMA-16 on the icy-snowy Kazakh steppe.

Rescuers helped out astronauts from the spaceship, and after a long stay in space followed by their adaptation to the demanding conditions under the influence of Earth's gravity.

ISS these days in the evening we can see with the naked eye as preljeće over our region as a bright, traveling "stars". Soyuz-type spacecraft was introduced four decades as a piloted spacecraft to fly astronauts into space in the return to Earth.

Marino Tumpić

Month III

The third month does not provide much, when we think of meteor swarms. The sky was very quiet at this time. We have no big swarm, only two small, of which only one in the northern hemisphere, in our northern sky. Delta Leonid and Gamma Normidi the swarms that have characterized the third month of the year. Besides them, an observer can see more and sporadike and antihelione. So absolutely no joy for visual observers, unless you are really bored or have an excessive desire for freezing (a word we call "meteoric bag"), e, then in that case only worth a go on the March cold night. This is a good time to process the backlog of observational material .

Delta Leonid

(DLE)

activity of 15.2-19.3

Date of max. 25.2.

ZHRmaks 2

RA 135 °,

DEC 8 °

As we see from the attached tables, the maximum they passed late last month, the maximum is normally a very weak, as we see in the ZHR maximum of only two meteors. For this swarm is proposed mainly telescopic observations ...

A second swarm that I mention there's no need to waste words, because he has seen just south of the equator. Poor this month ... Currently on average we can catch up to 5 meteors per hour of observation. But because we all await the next month, and Liride, and something warmer evenings!

Astronomical greeting

The first Croatian electronic journal of astronomy and astronautics M111 in the new edition brings a very provocative topic, Astronomy and astrology - the truth and falsehood. All those who at one point wanted to distinguish between truth and falsehood of astrology have finally come into its own. Several authors in their texts provides a view of creation and influence of astrology in our civilization, the way that astrology is science bowed and what is modern astrology. Do you want along with a multitude of specific examples, illustrations and interesting facts to know more certainly kliknike at www.m-111.org where you can download the whole number of M111 as a PDF document (3Mb).

In addition to the number of threads that are a lot of interesting articles and events in astronomy and astronautics incurred by excellent keyboard connoisseurs problmatike from home and abroad.

How about sitting in the shuttle cockpit, where they are and what new worlds around other stars? Are there traces of life on them? The new space programs of private companies preparing for a new space age ..
How and Why the (astro) photos. Superb local astronomers astrophotography and funny side of astronomy presented by astrokarikatura are just part of what you are expecting in the new issue. There was even room for the presentation of Croatian astronomers, and celestial mechanics under which you will learn during this quarter, certainly you must not miss the view of the night sky.

In 65 richly illustrated pages of the magazine M111 expecting you quite yet other interesting topics and articles. Editorial (Editor in Chief Marino Tumpić, technical editor Marcela Rasonja, Professor., And Neven Udovicic as a member of the editorial board), in collaboration with the authors of texts and co-workers have succeeded in Matteo difficult times and continue to hold a magazine with the emergence of numbers, although slightly delayed because of the notorious problems of recession.

Journal M111 issued Vidulini Astronomical Association. The first issue appeared on the world of the Internet in summer 2004. year and has so far published five p.m. numbers. They all donated to the Croatian public and free of charge at all available for downloading to your computer as PDF documents on the website of the journal www.m-111.org.

Tumpić Marino, president of the AUV