MESSENGER REVEALS MORE HIDDEN TERRITORY ON MERCURY

A NASA spacecraft's third and final flyby of Mercury gives scientists, for the first time, an almost complete view of the planet's surface and provides new scientific findings about this
relatively unknown world.

The Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging spacecraft, known as MESSENGER, flew by Mercury on Sept. 29. The probe completed a critical gravity assist to remain on course to enter into orbit around Mercury in 2011. Despite shutting down
temporarily because of a power system switchover during a solar eclipse, the spacecraft's cameras and instruments collected high-resolution and color images unveiling another 6 percent of the planet's surface never before seen at close range.

Approximately 98 percent of Mercury's surface now has been imaged by NASA spacecraft. After MESSENGER goes into orbit around Mercury, it will see the polar regions, which are the only unobserved areas of the planet.

Many new features were revealed during the third flyby, including a region with a bright area surrounding an irregular depression, suspected to be volcanic in origin. Other images revealed a double-ring impact basin approximately 180 miles across. The basin is
similar to a feature scientists call the Raditladi basin, which was viewed during the probe's first flyby of Mercury in January 2008.

One of the spacecraft's instruments conducted its most extensive observations to date of Mercury's exosphere, or thin atmosphere, during this encounter. The flyby allowed for the first detailed scans over Mercury's north and south poles. The probe also has begun to
reveal how Mercury's atmosphere varies with its distance from the sun.

The observations also show that calcium and magnesium exhibit different seasonal changes than sodium. Studying the seasonal changes in all exospheric constituents during the mission orbital phase will provide key information on the relative importance of the processes
that generate, sustain, and modify Mercury's atmosphere.

The third flyby also revealed new information on the abundances of iron and titanium in Mercury's surface materials. Earlier Earth and spacecraft-based observations showed that Mercury's surface has a very low concentration of iron in silicate minerals, a result that
led to the view that the planet's crust is generally low in iron.

The spacecraft has completed nearly three-quarters of its 4.9-billion-mile journey to enter orbit around Mercury. The full trip will include more than 15 trips around the sun. In addition to flying by Mercury, the spacecraft flew past Earth in August 2005 and Venus
in October 2006 and June 2007.

The spacecraft was designed and built by APL. The mission is managed and operated by APL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/messenger

Hubble Telescope is Back: Fantastic New Images Released

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is back in action after its most recent upgrade, with a spectacular array of new images showing off the telescope's new capabilities.

Among the first images – a closely guarded secret until today – is one of galaxy NGC 6217. The picture was taken with NASA's newly refurbished Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

This is "the day many of us have all been waiting for to celebrate Hubble's new beginning," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Hubble also snapped pictures of a group of five galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, an eerie "pillar of creation," and a "butterfly" nebula.

Scientists also released spectroscopic observations that slice across billions of light-years to probe the cosmic-web structure of the universe and map the distribution of elements that are fundamental to life as we know it.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., who has provided key support for Hubble and NASA in Congress, unveiled the images at NASA Headquarters. She was given the honorary title "Godmother of Hubble." Mikulski's district includes the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, where Hubble images are processed.

Hubble's new instruments, including the Wide Field Camera 3, a new super-sensitive spectrograph, were installed on the 19-year-old telescope by shuttle astronauts during a 13-day service mission in May. The mission, which was initially cancelled in 2004 due to safety concerns after the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster, also revived two instruments — Hubble's main ACS and a versatile imaging spectrograph — that were never designed to be fixed in space.

The new instruments are more sensitive to light and, therefore, will improve Hubble's observing efficiency significantly. It is able to complete observations in a fraction of the time that was needed with prior generations of Hubble instruments.

The WFC3 was actually used to take a picture of Jupiter's new black spot — thought to have been caused by a comet collision — back in July, but the camera wasn't yet fully calibrated then. WFC3 also took new images of the Omega Centauri star cluster in our galaxy, in which the contrast between hot and cool stars can vividly be seen, and the Butterfly Nebula, for which astronomers used the new filters on the camera to see the envelope of gas expanding away from this planetary nebula.

Images taken with the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph were taken in one-tenth of the time of Hubble's older spectrograph, which will allow scientists to view 10 times as many targets or look at targets one-tenth as bright, said James Green, the COS principal investigator at the University of Colorado. Scientists hope to build a catalogue of hundreds or thousands of targets and map the distribution of matter throughout the universe.

Hubble will also be able to continue observations of Eta Carinae, one of the most massive stars in the galaxy (and actually a pair of stars), that were suspended by instrument failure in 2004, said David Leckrone, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Eta Carinae has erupted before and is expected to do so again.

Despite a few bumps in the three-month checkout, Hubble's systems and instruments are all up and running now.

NASA's new administrator Charlie Bolden was also on hand to congratulate the scientists and astronauts on Hubble's new lease on life. Bolden was one of the astronauts on the shuttle mission that deployed Hubble in 1990. Read More


[SOURCE: SPACE.COM]

How NASA Would Send Humans on Mars

As the 40th-anniversary celebrations of the moon landing end, a human voyage to Mars remains a holy grail for NASA.

"We're still looking at human exploration of Mars as one of the goals of the future at the top level," said NASA researcher Bret Drake with Lunar and Mars Integration at Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Having a human actually set foot on another planet would be one of the greatest adventures possible, one of the greatest monuments to history."

A crewed mission to the red planet is a daunting challenge that lies at the edge of current technological capabilities and possibly beyond. Still, NASA keeps a strategy to go there and constantly keeps up to date with new ideas.

"Mars is one of those targets of fascination that has been around a long time," Drake said.

A voyage to Mars would take a crew about 180 days. So far NASA is exploring two options for propulsion there — a nuclear thermal rocket and a chemical engine.

A nuclear thermal rocket, based off designs from the '60s and '70s, would use a nuclear reactor to super-heat a gas and blast it out the nozzle to generate thrust. "It's a very high-performance vehicle, and we think it's very safe, not radioactive at launch, but it is a nuclear system," Drake said. "The idea for the chemical engine is similar to that used on the space shuttle, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. It's a fairly well-known technology, but it's not as efficient as nuclear thermal."

To reach the Martian surface, NASA envisions an aerodynamic lander that flies down with thrusters to help it descend. The ascent vehicle that takes the crew back into space for the six-month trip home will likely rely on a combination of methane and liquid oxygen. "Oxygen is present in the Martian atmosphere in the carbon dioxide, so you can use resources on Mars to make it," Drake said.

Before the crew even gets to Mars, the plan is to send as much cargo there ahead of time as possible.

"That way we can know it's operating right before we ever commit the crew," Drake said. "A Mars mission is not like a lunar mission where you can come home at any time — once they're committed, a crew is out there for years."

By current NASA estimates, a crewed mission to Mars needs to lift about twice the mass of the International Space Station into space — roughly 1.76 million lbs. (800 metric tons) of technology. To launch the equipment, NASA plans on using the Ares V rocket, designed to be the most powerful rocket ever built and capable of carrying about 414,000 lbs. (188 metric tons) to low Earth orbit at one time.

"We're going to try to minimize the amount of assembly needed," Drake said. "The heavy lift capacity we'll have with the Ares V will allow for simple automatic rendezvous in orbit and docking of components."

The crew would ride up in one of the upcoming Ares I rockets before starting the voyage to Mars.

"Having humans in place could bring a wealth of experience and training and the ability to put into context what they see and to make real-time decisions, all things difficult to do with robots," Drake said.

The very habitat the crew stays at on the Martian surface would be sent ahead of time. "You can also do things like produce and store oxygen from resources at Mars beforehand for the crew and the ascent vehicle. You could generate water as well."

NASA envisions a crew of six astronauts for a Mars mission. "That's about what's required for the skills needed — a commander, scientist, engineer, medical officer, things like that, as well as cross-training," Drake said. "They'll need expertise in a wide range of disciplines."

Currently NASA envisions a long stay for a crew at Mars, about 500 days.

"Crew autonomy is vital, because there's an up to 40 minute time delay in communication between Earth and the crew because of the distance," Drake said. "And the crew doesn't have a capability for re-supply — they'll just have what they send ahead or what they bring with them — so when things fail, they'll have to be able to repair them. They must be self-sufficient."

To survive the voyage, air and water need to be completely recycled regularly.

"We're learning a lot on the International Space Station right now on air revitalization and water recovery," Drake said. "What's nice about Mars is that there's carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so that can help get us oxygen and water for the crew. In terms of food, we're looking at smaller systems, 'salad machines,' to grow food for the crew. Fresh food is not only good for nutrition, but good for the mind as well. A fresh tomato can really boost psychology."

"It's humanity's next step to understanding and expanding our presence outward," Drake said. "We view human exploration of Mars as being an international endeavor, most likely not limited to just one country, but probably of global scale.

Read More

[SOURCE: SPACE.COM]

NASA's Kepler Spies Changing Phases on a Distant World

NASA's new exoplanet-hunting Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere of a known giant gas planet, demonstrating the telescope's extraordinary scientific capabilities. The discovery will be published Friday, Aug. 7, in the journal Science.

The find is based on a relatively short 10 days of test data collected before the official start of science operations. Kepler was launched March 6, 2009, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The observation demonstrates the extremely high precision of the measurements made by the telescope, even before its calibration and data analysis software were finished.

Kepler team members say these new data indicate the mission is indeed capable of finding Earth-like planets, if they exist. Kepler will spend the next three-and-a-half years searching for planets as small as Earth, including those that orbit stars in a warm zone where there could be water. It will do this by looking for periodic dips in the brightness of stars, which occur when orbiting planets transit, or cross in front of, the stars.

The observations were collected from a planet called HAT-P-7, known to transit a star located about 1,000 light years from Earth. The planet orbits the star in just 2.2 days and is 26 times closer than Earth is to the sun. Its orbit, combined with a mass somewhat larger than the planet Jupiter, classifies this planet as a "hot Jupiter." It is so close to its star, the planet is as hot as the glowing red heating element on a stove.

The Kepler measurements show the transit from the previously detected HAT-P-7. However, these new measurements are so precise, they also show a smooth rise and fall of the light between transits caused by the changing phases of the planet, similar to those of our moon. This is a combination of both the light emitted from the planet and the light reflected off the planet. The smooth rise and fall of light is also punctuated by a small drop in light, called an occultation,
exactly halfway between each transit. An occultation happens when a planet passes behind a star.

The new Kepler data can be used to study this hot Jupiter in unprecedented detail. The depth of the occultation and the shape and amplitude of the light curve show the planet has an atmosphere with a day-side temperature of about 4,310 degrees Fahrenheit. Little of this heat is carried to the cool night side. The occultation time compared to the main transit time shows the planet has a circular orbit. The discovery of light from this planet confirms the predictions by researchers and theoretical models that the emission would be detectable by Kepler.

This new discovery also demonstrates Kepler has the precision to find Earth-size planets. The observed brightness variation is just one and a half times what is expected for a transit caused by an Earth-sized planet. Although this is already the highest precision ever obtained
for an observation of this star, Kepler will be even more precise after analysis software being developed for the mission is completed.

Full Story

ATLANTIS CREW READY FOR FIRST SPACE WALK

Space shuttle Atlantis' crew awoke today to “Stick Shifts and Safety Belts” by Cake at 4:31 a.m. EDT. The song was played for Mission Specialist Drew Feustel.

During the STS-125 mission's fourth day, astronauts Grunsfeld and Feustel are set to make the first of five Hubble servicing spacewalks. Scheduled to begin work at 8:16 a.m. EDT.

The spacewalkers will remove Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and replace it with the new Wide Field Camera 3, which will allow Hubble to capture a wide range of images from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths. They also will replace a failed science data processing computer that delayed Atlantis' launch last October and install a mechanism for a spacecraft to capture Hubble for de-orbit at the end of its life. The spacewalk is set to last six and a half hours.

HUBBLE CAPTURED
Using the shuttle's robotic arm STS-125 Mission Specialist Megan McArthur grappled the Hubble Space Telescope at 12:14 p.m. CDT Wednesday. McArthur then maneuvered the telescope onto a Flight Support System maintenance platform in Atlantis’ payload bay.

The stage is set for five spacewalks in as many days to repair and update instruments, extending Hubble's lifespan through 2014.

Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel conducted a final review of plans for the first spacewalk with the help of fellow spacewalkers Mike Good and Mike Massimino, and the rest of the crew. They also checked out all of the tools necessary for the mission’s spacewalks.

Mission managers declared Atlantis’ thermal protection tiles safe for reentry, but continue to examine the imagery from Tuesday’s inspection of the reinforced carbon carbon on the shuttle’s nose cap and wing leading edges.

Follow Progress of Mission
Check out The Mission Summary

HUBBLE SERVICING MISSION FOR MAY 11th

The Hubble Telescope

The space shuttle Atlantis and a crew of seven astronauts are officially set for a planned May 11 launch to give the Hubble Space Telescope one last upgrade.

After more than half a year of delays, top shuttle mission managers found that Atlantis and its crew are ready to overhaul the 19-year-old Hubble for the final time. Liftoff is set for 2:01 p.m. EDT (1801 GMT) on launch day at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Commanded by veteran spaceflyer Scott Altman, Atlantis and its crew are slated to launch on an 11-day mission to Hubble. Five back-to-back spacewalks are scheduled to add new instruments, replace broken gyroscopes and old batteries, as well as attach a docking mechanism for a future robotic vehicle. The astronauts will also attempt unprecedented repairs on equipment never designed to be fixed in space.

If all goes well, the mission will extend Hubble's mission life through at least 2014, mission managers said. Astronauts have not visited Hubble since 2002 and Atlantis' mission is NASA's first since adding routine heat shield inspections following the 2003 Columbia tragedy.

Initially slated to launch in October 2008, the Hubble servicing mission has been delayed for months after a data handling unit aboard the space telescope failed unexpectedly last year. The added chore of fixing that broken part was added to the flight.

NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in April 1990 and has sent astronauts to repair or upgrade the observatory four times. With the space shuttle fleet set to retire in 2010, Atlantis' mission will be the fifth and last service call, NASA has said.

NASA is also prepared if the mission goes substantially awry. While Atlantis is in orbit, a second space shuttle - the Endeavour orbiter - will be on standby to launch a rescue mission in case of an emergency.

Unlike recent shuttle missions to the International Space Station, where astronauts can seek refuge if their orbiter suffers critical damage, Atlantis astronauts have no such safe haven.

Endeavour would rendezvous with Atlantis, where the stricken shuttle's astronauts would perform three spacewalks to abandon ship and return home. Atlantis would then be disposed of during re-entry over the Pacific Ocean, NASA officials have said.

NASA official said that there's "a very low probability" that Atlantis would suffer any damage just after launch or during the mission that would warrant launching a rescue flight.

Atlantis is currently scheduled to land on Friday, May 22 at the end of the Hubble mission. Once the shuttle returns, NASA would begin preparing Endeavour for a planned June mission to continue construction of the International Space Station.

Read More

[SOURCE:SPACE.COM]

NASA's KEPLER MISSION BLASTS OFF

NASA's Kepler mission successfully launched into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II at 10:49 p.m. EST, Friday (0349 March 7 GMT).

The $600 million spacecraft is designed to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting stars at distances where water could pool on the planet's surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.

Named after the 17th century German scientist Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, NASA's Kepler spacecraft will use those laws to seek out Earth-like worlds around distant stars.

The spacecraft will point its unblinking eye at a patch of sky near the constellations Cygnus and Lyra, where it will scan some 100,000 stars for the telltale dip in brightness that signals a planet crossing in front of its parent star as seen from Earth. The tiny "wink" in light that Kepler is designed to measure with its 95 million-pixel camera is comparable to a person trying to watch a flea cross a car's headlight from miles away, NASA officials have said.

Engineers acquired a signal from Kepler at 12:11 a.m. Saturday, after it separated from its spent third-stage rocket and entered its final sun-centered orbit, trailing 950 miles behind Earth. The spacecraft is generating its own power from its solar panels.

"Kepler now has the perfect place to watch more than 100,000 stars for signs of planets," said William Borucki, the mission's science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. Borucki has worked on the mission for 17 years. "Everyone is very excited as our dream becomes a reality. We are on the verge of learning if other Earths are ubiquitous in the galaxy."

Engineers have begun to check Kepler to ensure it is working properly, a process called "commissioning" that will take about 60 days. In about a month or less, NASA will send up commands for Kepler to eject its dust cover and make its first measurements. After another month of calibrating Kepler's single instrument, a wide-field charge-couple device camera, the telescope will begin to search for planets.

The first planets to roll out on the Kepler "assembly line" are expected to be the portly "hot Jupiters" -- gas giants that circle close and fast around their stars. NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will be able to follow up with these planets and learn more about their atmospheres. 

Neptune-size planets will most likely be found next, followed by rocky ones as small as Earth. The true Earth analogs -- Earth-sized planets orbiting stars like our sun at distances where surface water, and possibly life, could exist -- would take at least three years to discover and confirm. Ground-based telescopes also will contribute to the mission by verifying some of
the finds.

In the end, Kepler will give us our first look at the frequency of Earth-size planets in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as the frequency of Earth-size planets that could theoretically be habitable.

"Even if we find no planets like Earth, that by itself would be profound. It would indicate that we are probably alone in the galaxy," said Borucki.

As the mission progresses, Kepler will drift farther and farther behind Earth in its orbit around the sun. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which was launched into the same orbit more than five
years ago, is now more than 62 million miles behind Earth.

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

[SOURCE: NASA.GOV, SPACE.COM]

VOTE FOR HUBBLES NEXT TARGET

NASA is turning control of the Hubble Space Telescope over to the general public to give non-scientists a chance to choose which target the iconic observatory should turn its camera eyes on next.

The U.S. space agency is inviting the public to vote for one of six candidate astronomical objects for Hubble to observe in honor of the International Year of Astronomy, which began last month. The options, which Hubble has not previously photographed, range from far-flung galaxies to dying stars. Votes can be cast until March 1.

Hubble's camera will take a high-resolution image revealing new details about the object that receives the most votes. The image will be released during the International Year of Astronomy's "100 Hours of Astronomy" from April 2 to 5.

Everyone who votes also will be entered into a random drawing to receive one of 100 copies of the Hubble photograph made of the winning celestial body.

NASA is also inviting teachers and students to participate in a related Hubble Space Telescope classroom collage activity that integrates art, science and language arts. Students in participating classes can select their favorite Hubble images and assemble them in a collage. Students in each class will also choose their favorite object from the image voting contest and write essays about why they made their selections.

Launched in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has spent 18 years peering into the depths of the cosmos to return stunning images and helping scientists better understand the history of the universe. NASA has launched four shuttle missions to fix and upgrade Hubble. The fifth and final overhaul by astronauts is due to launch on May 12 aboard the shuttle Atlantis.

Commanded by veteran spaceflyer Scott Altman, Atlantis' STS-125 Hubble servicing crew plans to fly an 11-day mission and stage five spacewalks to add new instruments, batteries, gyroscopes and other gear to extend the space telescope's mission through at least 2013.

Click here to Vote or visit the following Web site to cast your vote for Hubble's next target: http://YouDecide.Hubblesite.org

Read More at Space.com

IYA2009 OPENING CEREMONY

After months of anticipation, the official launch of IYA2009 is occurring today, in Paris. Around 900 delegates are in attendance, including eminent scientists and heads of state.

Launched under the theme, 'The Universe - Yours to discover', IYA2009 involves more than one hundred countries, and will stimulate worldwide interest, especially among young people, in astronomy and science.

The official opening ceremony takes place in Paris, 15-16 January 2009, under the aegis of the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Nobel Prize winners, scientists from all over the world and government ministers are attending this prestigious event.

Check out The Opening Ceremony site
The Cosmic Diary website
The Official Website

NASA CHIEF TO STEP DOWN

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin is planning to leave office on Jan. 20, and a short list of potential replacements is starting to emerge as the incoming Obama administration moves toward Inauguration Day.

Griffin, a veteran rocket scientist who always has said he serves at the pleasure of the president, does not expect to be offered an opportunity to stay on after President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

He and all other political appointees from the Bush administration have submitted their letters of resignation as a matter of course. All are effective Jan. 20, a Tuesday. Monday, Jan. 19, is a federal holiday, so that means the preceding Friday would be Griffin's last day in his ninth-floor office at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Friends and family are campaigning and petitioning for Obama to keep Griffin on board, but all indications are that a new NASA administrator will be nominated along with a new NASA deputy administrator sooner rather than later. The Government Accountability Office rated the impending retirement of NASA's shuttle orbiter fleet as one of the top 13 issues the new president will have to deal with in short order.

The administration is expected to nominate new NASA leadership before making any significant decisions regarding U.S. space policy and the future of the human spaceflight program.

According to congressional sources, a former astronaut who would be the first black NASA administrator leads the list of potential candidates.

Charlie Bolden flew four times on the space shuttle, including the mission to deploy NASA's flagship Hubble Space Telescope and the historic first joint U.S.-Russian shuttle mission. He also flew on a 1986 mission with then-congressman Bill Nelson, who now is the senior U.S. senator from Florida.

Nelson likely will be a key figure in the selection process. He runs the Senate committee that oversees NASA and has been advising Obama on the future of the nation's space agency. Nelson declined comment on the possibility of Bolden heading NASA.

Other potential candidates might include:

Sally Ride: who became the first American woman to fly in space in 1983. Ride, who served on the commissions that investigated both the Challenger and Columbia accidents, wrote an editorial in support of Obama during the presidential election.

Alan Stern: The principal investigator of a mission to Pluto, Stern served a short term as associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters. After he left, Stern criticized NASA for ongoing cost overruns in space and planetary science missions.

Wesley Huntress: A former NASA space science chief, Huntress played a key role in the deployment of a series of vitally important planetary science missions after the 1986 Challenger accident, including the Magellan Venus Radar Mapper, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Galileo Jupiter probe.

Scott Hubbard: Known for turning around NASA's Mars program after back-to-back failures in the late 1990s, Hubbard was a key member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He went on to serve as a director of NASA's Ames Research Center before leaving the agency for academia.

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TELESCOPES OF TOMORROW - EEET

A Modern Telescope

400 years ago, Galileo Galilei first trained a telescope on the night sky. That original telescope was relatively primitive, with a magnifying power of four. Modern telescopes have little in common with their 16th century counterpart. They are bigger, more powerful and far more complex.

A notable example is the European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT. When it goes into operation in 2017, it will be the most modern of its kind, heralding a new class of high-performance telescopes, 100 times more sensitive than today's most powerful telescopes.

This model shows what could one day be the world's biggest telescope. Its main mirror will measure 42 meters in diameter. It's been designed for the European Southern Observatory. The Extremely Large Telescope - or E.L.T as this kind of telescope is called - will give astronomers an unprecedented look at space.

The ground-based telescope will detect the visible and infra-red light that's penetrated the atmosphere. Their biggest headache is the atmosphere itself. Large modern telescopes have to be adjusted to account for the atmosphere. To correct the distortions of the incoming light, Markus Kissler-Patig and his team are applying a sophisticated technique known as Adaptive Optics. He developed it at the European Southern Observatory.

Markus Kissler-Patig thinks: "By the time they reach the telescope, the smooth images coming from space have been distorted by the earth's atmosphere. So we need to correct these distorted pictures . What we do is build a mirror into the telescope - not a smooth one, but one that we can deform. We deform it a hundred times a second - after calculating exactly how the deformations have to look to smooth out the distorted images. It passes on the smoothed-out images to the instruments. It can turn a blob into a high-definition image."

Making the mirror is a huge challenge. So far it's possible to make single mirrors with a diameter of eight meters. But 42 meters? Impossible. So the Extremely Large Telescope's main mirror will be made up of 984 smaller ones fitted together. Each part can be adjusted separately.

The makers also have to secure the telescope against earthquakes, storms and other extreme conditions. A possible site for the giant telescope is the high, dry Chajnantor plateau in Chile. The ESO has already started to build another telescope there. Called ALMA, it will have an array of antennas that will scan the universe in the radio-frequency part of the spectrum. Together, ALMA and the ELT should provide astronomers with fabulous new insights.

The scientists asking themselves if we are alone in the universe? Is there life outside our solar system, outside our planet? We'll be looking for answers to those questions. And the Europeans are prepared to pay for it. The costs of designing, constructing and operating the 42-meter telescope will exceed 800 million Euro. For that they'll get an instrument beyond the wildest dreams of Galileo - who first looked through a telescope at the night sky 400 years ago.

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2009 IS INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is a global effort initiated by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.

Its a year long celebration of astronomy, which will coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century.

The Year was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the UN. A global scheme, laid out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), has also been endorsed by UNESCO - the UN body responsible for Educational, Scientific and Cultural matters.

In 1609, Galileo Galilei first turned one of his telescopes to the night sky and made astounding discoveries that changed mankind’s conception of the World forever: mountains and craters on the Moon, a plethora of stars invisible to the naked eye and moons around Jupiter. Astronomical observatories around the World promise to reveal how planets and stars are formed, how galaxies assemble and evolve, and what the structure and shape of our Universe actually are.

In the same year, Johannes Kepler published his work Astronomia nova in which he described the fundamental laws of planetary motions.

On 25th September 1608, Hans Lippershey, a young man from Middelburg, travelled to The Hague to demonstrate one of his inventions to the Dutch government - the telescope. Although Hans was not awarded the patent, Galileo heard of this story and decided to use the "Dutch perspective glass" and point it towards the heavens.

The official IYA2009 opening ceremony will take place in Paris on January 15-16, 2009. It will feature keynote speakers, including nobel laureates, and live video feeds to scientists working in remote locations. Many nations are holding their own opening ceremonies in January and February, showing their dedication to the year.

One of IYA2009's aims is to raise awareness of light pollution and how the beauty of the night sky is progressively being drowned out, particularly over urban areas. The project "Dark Skies Awareness" is tackling these issues head-on in a practical, inclusive manner.

One way in which it is doing this is by holding star-counting events where the public is encouraged to see how many stars in a particular area of the sky are actually visible from their location. When compared with data from truly dark sites, the results are often very surprising! The "How Many Stars" event will run from January 2009.

A list of event highlights is available on the official IYA2009 website, www.astronomy2009.org/highlights. From there it is also possible to contact the National Nodes, responsible for organizing local events in the many participating countries.

IYA2009 seeks to involve the public in its activities, and to this end amateur astronomers have been called upon to help organize and run events. So many people across the globe are already involved, they have formed the world's largest astronomy network.

Catherine Cesarsky, IAU President, says: "135 countries have committed themselves to the Year, all pulling together toward the common aim of making astronomy accessible to the public. IYA2009 will reinforce the links between science education and science careers, stimulating a long-term increase in student enrolment in the fields of science and technology and an appreciation for lifelong learning."

Read More At www.astronomy.com, Wikipedia

Check out The Official IYA Website

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