Astronomy.FM

(http://astronomy.fm/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/UBS_logo-300x1502.png) This month on UBS we heard from Iain Melville and Nick Howes all about their Spacefest V adventures.  Geoff Notkin from the Meteorite Men was our Live extra special guest. The shownotes for this episode can be downloaded here: Episode 34 Shownotes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C455NbmsPwHAZUDcK00Xo_FLqBMHE4YTdIpgmxzKz6g/pub) The UBS team Join the Under British Skies Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ubsafm/)Follow @UnderBritishSky on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#%21/underbritishsky)

Hosts: Jesse, Harrison, and Paul (partially) Title: Hadfield’s Opportunity A big week for Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield as he announces his retirement from the corps. Harrison and Jesse fondly recall the highlights of his extensive and impressive career with the CSA. Are you an avid meteor shower observer? Hopefully you had a chance to check out the gamma Delphinids, a meteor shower last seen in June of 1930! Paul joined the show halfway through, mostly to make sure Harrison and Jesse weren’t pronouncing Aussie words incorrectly. This week in history the Hayabusa spacecraft returned from an encounter with Itakawa. It landed in Woomera, Australia. Thanks for listening all; show notes and podcast below. This week in space/astronomy history: 1. June 13, 2010 - The spacecraft Hayabusa returns the first samples of an asteroid to Earth (NASA article (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/hayabusa.html)) 2. June 11, 2003 - FERMI (http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/) telescope was launched 3. June 13, 2003 - Spirit (MER-A) Launches towards Mars 4. June 10, 1995 - Spektr (http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/spacecraft/s-mir-spektr-main.htm) docks with MIR News: 1. Hadfield Retires. After 21 years as an astronaut, 3 flights, 166 days in space, and the only Canadian to visit MIR and command the International Space Station, Commander Chris Hadfield has announced his impending retirements from the Canadian Astronaut Corps. Suggested Reading: CBC article (http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/10/tech-hadfield-mission-recap.html), CSA Mission Summary (http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/media/news_releases/2013/0610.asp), CTV news (http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/astronaut-chris-hadfield-to-retire-from-canadian-space-agency-1.1319477)2. Delphinids Meteor Shower. Astronomers of the notable SETI institute are indicating there may be a brief but viewable meteor shower outburst from the small Delphinus constellation. The peak of the shower is predicted to be at 4:30am EDT (8:30am UTC) on 11 June 2013. This shower has not been observed since 11 June 1930, when a few astronomers noted an outburst (not predicted). Suggested Reading: Universe Today article (http://www.universetoday.com/102794/observing-alert-rare-meteor-shower-may-outburst-on-june-11/#more-102794) Major Topics Discussed: 1. The Spinning Down of a Magnetar When stars that are between 4 and 8 times the mass of the Sun run out of fuel and stop fusing, they begin to collapse. The energetic source at the centre of the star that was holding up the massive outer layers is no longer present, leading to an inward collapse. This crushes the core of the star to very high density. The core reaches a degeneracy point, where it cannot be crushed any further, and the outer layers then ‘bounce’ off the core. This creates the massive supernova remnants we all see, and leaves a leftover ball in the centre known as a neutron star. Neutron stars are approximately 20 km across and weigh about 1.4 solar masses (near the Chandrasekhar limit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit)). Due to the large mass and small size, the density of a neutron star is very high. In fact, one tablespoon of a neutron star can weigh as much as 1 billion tons. Neutron stars also have two other extreme features: they spin very quickly and have very strong magnetic fields. Some neutron stars are clocked at 43000 revolutions per minute, and can have magnetic fields 1 trillion times stronger than Earth. At the magnetic poles of a neutron star are massive jets of radiation/material shooting away from the object. If the beam of light created by these jets points at Earth for a brief moment during the rotation of the neutron star, it will appear to pulse in brightness. Therefore, we call spinning neutrons pulsars. Further, a magnetar defines a neutron star that has a larger than average magnetic field. Astronomers, using the NASA SWIFT X-ray telescope,

Hosts: Jesse, Lianne, Paul, Ryan Title: Ryan to Mars: An Unexpected Journey Back from a much needed rest, the York Universe team was full of energy! With so much to discuss (two week break and all...) and only an hour to chat, it turned into a very p...

(http://astronomy.fm/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/UBS_logo-300x1502.png) This month on UBS team talk about the upcoming Spacefest V, discuss the latest astro-news, and round up this months comet action. The shownotes for this episode can be downloaded here: Episode 33 Shownotes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/13JQX6HnywjIe3UrhzTg2cO_tJoYN3LaDQJG47gkADXM/pub) The App of the Month was NEO Droid The Book of the Month was Haynes Apollo 11 Owners Manual The UBS team Join the Under British Skies Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ubsafm/)Follow @UnderBritishSky on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#%21/underbritishsky)

Show notes for the 22nd of April 2013 Title: The Spectacular York Universe 150th episode extravaganza Time: Starting 8 pm EDT (12 AM UT) - Ending 10 pm EDT (2 am UT) Hosts: Paul, Ryan, Jesse, Lianne, Ted, Harrison, Sophia, Rob, John, and George This episode was broadcast live via webcam to our Online Public Viewing (OPV) chatroom! York Universe (originally named ‘Live from YorkU’) has been on the air for 3 years and counting. A multitude of hosts have been through our camp, and all of them have helped shape York Universe into the wonderful product that you hear today. Today we celebrate our 150th episode. A large milestone, and one we thought worth marking with a special show! We’ve invited back past hosts, organized a fun trivia challenge (for hosts AND listeners), and designed some debate discussion. To accommodate all the additional content we also broadcast a full 2 hour program (instead of our usual 1 hour). Thank you to all our hosts and volunteers, thank you to astronomy.fm, and thank you very much to all our listeners without whom our show wouldn’t exist! See below for the show notes and the podcast. This week in Astronomy/Space History 1. April 23, 1962: The United States launched Ranger 4 (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/details.php?id=5957), a Lunar Hard Lander. Ranger 4 was a spacecraft that was intended to take images of the surface of the Moon during a 10 minute flight and transmit them to Earth, after which it would crash into the Moon and leave a "seismometer capsule" behind. Ranger 4 was also to collect gamma-ray data during flight as well as study the radar reflectivity or the surface of the Moon. However, the spacecraft failed to deploy its solar panels and navigation systems due to a computer failure, and it crashed into the far side of the Moon on April 26, 1962, after 64 hours of flight, and no data was returned. 2. April 21-23, 1972: The Apollo 16 Manned Lunar Lander (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo16.html) left the Moon on April 23, 1972. The entire mission ran April 16-27, 1972, crewed by John W. Young, Charles M. Duke, Jr., Thomas K. Mattingly II. Young and Duke landed on April 21, 1972, at the Descartes crater located at latitude 9°00' N and longitude 15°31' E. They deployed instruments, drove the lunar rover, and collected 94.7 kilograms of samples during a 71-hour surface stay 3. 25 April 1990: The Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31) carried the Hubble Space Telescope (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html) to orbit on the 25th of April 1990. HST forever changed the landscape of astrophysics research, as well as provided fantastic images for public outreach. Happy Earth Day! Earth day (http://www.earthday.ca/pub/) is a day that is meant to raise awareness and appreciation for the environment and the issues that pose a threat to the Earth, including the destruction of the environment and endangered species. It is also to appreciate the beauty of the Earth and its wildlife. Indeed, the beauty of the Earth can be appreciated from space as well, as our pale blue dot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot) is the only planet that looks blue and green with beautiful white cloud cover from space! April 22nd was designated a national day by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. Today, over 192 countries across the world celebrate Earth day. Happy Earth Day! Listener Trivia For the 150th episode, we posed two questions to our OPV chatroom. In the chatroom we set up a poll and allowed all those present to vote. The first question was posed at the beginning of the show, the second closer to the middle of the show. 1. What do you think Dark Matter will turn out to be? a) MACHOs b) WIMPs c) Modified Newtonian gravity d) Axions Result: For this question, the visitors in the chatroom mostly agreed that WIMPs will most likely be what Dark Matter turns out to be. 2. What do you think will be the next big exoplanet surprise?

Hosts: Jesse, Paul, Sophia, Ryan (only for curiosity corner) Special Guest: Dr. Matt Johnson Title: Dr. Matt planck-ing alongside supernovae April Fools everyone! The internet was a-buzz with multiple april fools pranks, including the astronauts on ...

From Pink Floyd to nuclear power to vaginas in school; at the intersection of Science & Society it's "First*Light!"; a co-production of public radio WNMC-FM + Astronomy.FM*Radio!  "First*Light!" is hosted each week by Dave Gault, Michael Foerster, and ...

Show Notes for the 26th of March 2013 (GMT) Hosts: Paul, Jesse, Lianne Title: The Sequester Walks The Planck A little extra time on the show tonight allowed us to pontificate on the political strife in the United States. The sequestration has caused...

It's that time of year; Messier Marathon Time! This is an AFM*Radio Special Event; a re-broadcast of a "classic" Astronomy Out & About episode, presented by Jeff & Becca Setzer, with the juicy back story on how Chuck Messier put his list together. ...

Show Notes for the 19th of March 2013 (GMT) Hosts: Jesse, Ryan, Lianne Title: Exploding Stars and Life on Mars?  Tonight’s episode was the 145th episode of YorkUniverse! good job team! This week in history was the anniversary of the first ever human space walk by Alexei Leonov back in 1965. Cmdr Chris Hadfield has officially taken over as the commander of the ISS. We also chatter about the origins of Cosmic Rays and a very unique supernova. Make sure you check out the Lunar Orbiter Recovery Project (links below). Thanks for listening everyone. This Week In Astronomy and Space History: 1. 18 March 1965: first ever human space walk by Alexei Leonov - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Leonov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Leonov) * He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds on 18 March 1965, connected to the craft by a 5.35-meter tether. At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off, and was barely able to get back inside the capsulee 2. 18 March 1980: Vostok rocket exploded on launch pad while being refueled, killing 50 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_(rocket_family) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_(rocket_family))http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/28/world/1980-soviet-rocket-accident-killed-50.html (http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/28/world/1980-soviet-rocket-accident-killed-50.html)A Vostok rocket - the same type of two-stage booster used to send the Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961 - exploded while being fueled on the launching pad. Many Soldiers Killed: Forty-five people, mostly young Soviet soldiers, were burned to death and 5 others died later of their injuries. 3. 22 March 1997: Comet Hale-Bopp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale%E2%80%93Bopp) Closest Approach to Earth (1.315 AU) * It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Comet_of_1811) * Great Hale Bopp Story: Hale chanced upon Hale–Bopp just after midnight. The comet had an apparent magnitude of 10.5 and lay near the globular cluster M70. Hale first established that there was no other deep-sky object near M70, and then consulted a directory of known comets, finding that none were known to be in this area of the sky. He emailed the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, the clearing house for astronomical discoveries.Bopp did not own a telescope. He chanced across the comet while at the eyepiece of his friend's telescope. He checked his star maps to determine if any other deep-sky objects were known to be near M70, and found that there were none. He alerted the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams through a Western Union telegram. Brian Marsden, who had run the bureau since 1968, laughed, "Nobody sends telegrams anymore. I mean, by the time that telegram got here, Alan Hale had already e-mailed us three times with updated coordinates. 4. 17 March 2011: MESSENGER enters mercury orbit, first ever to do so http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER) * It became the second mission after 1975's Mariner 10 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_10) (launched by NASA on November 3, 1973) to reach Mercury successfully * The probe had discovered large amounts of water present in Mercury's exosphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exosphere) * MESSENGER also provided visual evidence of past volcanic activity on the surface of Mercury, as well as evidence for a liquid planetary core (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_core) * And Just for fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Portrait_(MESSENGER) News: 1. Chris Hadfield takes command of the ISS 2 The environment at Gale Crater could have supported life: Mission Accomplished! http://science.nasa.

Show Notes for the 12th of March 2013 (GMT) Title: Pan-STARRS and New Stars Hosts: Ryan, Lianne, Paul Kicking off Astronomy Night in Canada, the humble hosts of York Universe chatted about the VERY soon to be Cmdr Chris Hadfield. Come Pan-STARRS, part of our show name, is gracing the skies beautifully in both the north and the south (but better observed from the south). A new star system is discovered in our backyard, and astronomers perform reconnaissance of another solar system. Check out the show notes and podcast to see/hear the details. This week in space/astronomy history: * 10 March 1977 - Astronomers discover that Uranus has rings (Elliot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Elliot), Dunham, Mink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_J._Mink)). There is a good infrared (IR) version of the images here (http://fb.me/zepecTpp ). Uranus was the second planet where rings were discovered. * 14 March 1879 - Happy Birthday to Albert Einstein, and Pi Day. * 11 March 1997 - Ashes of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry are launched into space. News: 1. Chris Hadfield to take command (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition34/e34_031213.html) of the International Space Station on Wednesday 13 March 2013. Hadfield's twitter feed continues to grow, starting near 20 000 followers before launch, now at >500 000. 2. Observe Comet Pan-STARRS right now! This comet can be seen from the Northern Hemisphere low in the western sky and has already been spotted in Southern Hemisphere skies. It is low in the west just after sunset. There are many viewing guides online. 3. 'Curiosity Corner' with Ryan Marciniak - http://www.universetoday.com/100579/solar-storm-blasting-to-mars-shuts-down-curiosity-1st-rocky-sample-results-on-tap/ (http://www.universetoday.com/100579/solar-storm-blasting-to-mars-shuts-down-curiosity-1st-rocky-sample-results-on-tap/) Major Topics Covered: 1. Chinese Space Debris Collides with Russian Satellite The Center for Space Standards and Innovation (CSSI) has determined that on January 22, 2013 debris from the Chinese FENGYUN 1C collided with Russia’s BLITS satellite. The FENGYUAN 1C is the satellite that was destroyed by China on January 11, 2007 in a test of an anti-satellite missile. The collision changed the orbit of the Russian satellite, along with its spin velocity and attitude. The collision wasn’t reported until February 4, 2013 when engineers at the Institute for Precision Instrument Engineering (IPIE) in Moscow reported to CSSI a significant change in the orbit for their BLITS satellite. BLITS is tracked to high precision by the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS), and IPIE had detected a sudden decrease of 120 meters in the semi-major axis of its orbit and a change in its spin velocity and attitude. http://blogs.agi.com/agi/2013/03/08/chinese-space-debris-hits-russian-satellite/ (http://blogs.agi.com/agi/2013/03/08/chinese-space-debris-hits-russian-satellite/),http://www.universetoday.com/100608/chinese-space-debris-collides-with-russian-satellite/#ixzz2NGaG9hVa (http://www.universetoday.com/100608/chinese-space-debris-collides-with-russian-satellite/#ixzz2NGaG9hVa) Space Cleanup: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/15/swiss-create-janitor-satellite-space-cleanup 2. Closest Solar System Found in a Century http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130311124052.htm (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130311124052.htm) A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun Distance of 6.5 light years from the sun So close that Earth’s television transmissions are 2006 are now arrive there! The duo is the closest star system discovered since 1916 the close-up views of this binary system we can get with big telescopes like Gemini and the future James Webb Space Telescope will tell us a lot about the low mass stars known as brown dwarfs

Show Notes for the 5th of March 2013 (GMT) Title: Speedy Spin on Small Planets Hosts: Ryan, Jesse, Paul Special Event: We fielded live questions from the Warren Astronomical Society (http://www.warrenastro.org/was/) (@WarrenAstro (https://twitter.com/warrenastro)) meeting located at the Cranbrook Institute of Science. This evening's show featured the return of 'the dean,' Paul Delaney, from his trip to the Canary Islands, where he got to visit the largest optical telescope in the world, at 10.4 m. SpaceX was in the news again with its 'little-capsule-that-could,' the Dragon capsule docked with the ISS over the weekend. We also (finally) chatted about the tiny planet Kepler 37-b, and how some astronomers using XMM-Newton and NuSTAR have made a reliable measurement of a super massive black hole's spin....and it's HUGE. See show notes and podcast below. This week in space/astronomy history: 4 March 1979 - Jupiter’s rings discovered http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Jupiter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Jupiter) 5 March 1979 - Voyager 1 flies by Jupiter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1) 7 March 1930 - Happy Birthday to Stan Miller of the Yuri -Miller experiments - molecules of life from electricity News: 1. SpaceX’s Dragon docks with ISS, http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/expedition34-35/blog.asp (http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/expedition34-35/blog.asp)2. Update on the Russian Meteor Event http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/26feb_russianmeteor/ (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/26feb_russianmeteor/)3. Curiosity Corner, with Ryan Marciniak, http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57572443-76/amid-troubleshooting-curiosity-computer-swap-under-way/ (http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57572443-76/amid-troubleshooting-curiosity-computer-swap-under-way/)4. Paul returns from the Canary Islands Major Topics Covered: 1. Planet smaller than Mercury discovered http://www.universetoday.com/100122/smallest-exoplanet-yet-discovered-by-listening-to-a-sun-like-star/ (http://www.universetoday.com/100122/smallest-exoplanet-yet-discovered-by-listening-to-a-sun-like-star/) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v494/n7438/fig_tab/nature11914_F1.html (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v494/n7438/fig_tab/nature11914_F1.html) Dubbed Kepler-37b, the orbiting planet finder has found the smallest known planet orbiting a sun-like star to date. This finding indicates that stellar systems are home to planets both larger and smaller than anything we see in our solar system. Kepler-37b is located 210 light-years away, and orbits its host star every 13 days; the other two planets in the system (37c and 37d) orbit every 21 and 40 days respectively. This planet is definitely inhospitable, due to its very close proximity to its parent star. Technique is everything: this new planet, Kepler-37b, was found using the principles of asteroseismology. Most planets discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope are found using the transit method, i.e., the dip in light from the parent star as the planet passes in front of it. In order to discover this planet, scientists watch the flickers in brightness of the star which are created by stellar-quakes. This project helped inspire the ‘Pale Blue Dot Project.’ http://whitedwarf.org/palebluedot/index.html (http://whitedwarf.org/palebluedot/index.html) 2. Earth sized planets are common! http://keckobservatory.org/news/surprise_earth_sized_planets_are_common#When:01:26:06Z (http://keckobservatory.org/news/surprise_earth_sized_planets_are_common#When:01:26:06Z) Press Release from Keck Observatory 3. Scientists show super massive black hole has large spin http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=monster-black-holes-spin&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20130228 (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=monster-black-holes-spin&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20130228) http://www.

Show Notes for the 26th of February 2013 (GMT) Title: NEOSSat and a fireball splat Hosts: Jesse, Ryan Ryan (@AstroInAction (https://twitter.com/AstroInAction)) and Jesse (@jesserogerson (https://twitter.com/jesserogerson)) were live-to-air! York...

(http://astronomy.fm/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/UBS_logo-300x1502.png) This month on UBS team talk about the recent Asteroid action, and also discuss Astrofest. The shownotes for this episode can be downloaded here: Episode 31 Shownotes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CHCb2PUYQptrsn_fo83-yt6k00ZU9flN4p85ThVa1HE/pub) The App of the Month was Planetdroid The Book of the Month was Mark Thompson's A Down to Earth Guide to the Cosmos The UBS team Join the Under British Skies Group on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ubsafm/)Follow @UnderBritishSky on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#%21/underbritishsky)

Show Notes for the 12th of February 2013 (GMT) Title: Sophia's Quasar Hosts: Sophia, Jesse, Lianne, Paul Tonight we welcomed a new YorkUniverse host, Sophia Naser, to our team as she discussed possible new theories on what Dark Matter might be. Lianne Manzer was back after a long hiatus! We chatted This Week in History, Curiosity, Chris Hadfield, the 50th anniversary of the first quasar, and much....much more! happy birthday Darwin! This week in space/astronomy history: 12 February 1809 - Darwin is born! 11 February 1970 - Japan becomes 4th nation to indepently put a satellite, Osumi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Csumi_(satellite)), in orbit 11 February 1984 - STS 41-B Challenger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-41-B) becomes first shuttle to land at Kennedy Space Centre 10 February 1990 - Galileo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(spacecraft))passes by Venus on its way to Jupiter 11 February 2010 - NASA SDO launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/), check out highlight video (http://youtu.be/dVCe5elYvu0) Breaking News: LandSat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Launch - http://ldcm.nasa.gov/ (http://ldcm.nasa.gov/) Land-sat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft launched Monday 11 February 2013 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. at 10:02am PST. (1pm EST) Collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey Continue the Landsat Program's 40-year data record of monitoring the Earth's landscapes from space LDCM is in a polar orbit, over north and south poles. It takes 100 mins to loop over poles. Cover whole globe every 16 days. ~13 orbits a day. The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis. Monitors the earth to see how the landscape changes. How climate change and land use is changing our planet. This is the only record of how our land is changing over time. Observes in in visible and Near IR and shortwave IR. Observes OLI Urban sprawl  forest growth and loss, changes in farmland, and melting of glaciers. Data is available open source. So used for science. Free and open access to data! Look at large scale changes over the globe! continue to obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government. Great Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/8465970134/in/photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/8465970134/in/photostream) https://twitter.com/NASAKennedy/status/301035221053227008/photo/1 (https://twitter.com/NASAKennedy/status/301035221053227008/photo/1) Siding Spring update As a brush fire tore through the Warrumbungle National Park, the Siding Springs Observatory was forced to close its doors. It even had many structures fall victim to the fire, though none of the telescopes were harmed. Just a few short weeks after the observatory’s run-in with the fire, the site will allow the telescope operators access to the observatories. Amanda Bauer has been keeping us all up on the details at her blog:  http://amandabauer.blogspot.ca/2013/02/siding-spring-obs-fire-burn-scars.html (http://amandabauer.blogspot.ca/2013/02/siding-spring-obs-fire-burn-scars.html) See the Official Website for updates: http://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observatories/siding-spring-observatory (http://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observatories/siding-spring-observatory) Close Approach of Asteroid 2012 DA14 Friday, February 15, 2013, is the close flyby of Near Earth Asteroid 2012 DA14 (http://www.universetoday.com/99660/in-two-weeks-this-50-meter-asteroid-will-buzz-our-planet/), passing just 27,630 kilometers (17,168 miles) from the surface of the Earth. About 50 meters (164 feet) in size marks the the first time there has been passage of an asteroid this close that we’ve known a year beforehand it passes within the ring of geosynchronous satellites orbiting the Earth there’s no danger. Friday,