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Deep Sky Objects
The First Seven Astronauts
Everything starts somewhere, and the space program began in earnest with the selection of the first seven astronauts that would participate in manned space flight. The NASA selection committee was made up of Charles Donlan, a senior management engineer; Warren North, a test pilot engineer; Stanley White and William Argerson, flight surgeons; Allen Gamble and Robert Voas, psychologists; and George Ruff and Edwin Levy, psychiatrists.
When the selection committee began their task, they received 508 applications. This number was reduced to 110 candidates after records were reviewed. The 110 candidates were brought together at an undisclosed location. A battery of tests were given and interviews were conducted. It took a month but the number of possible candidates was reduced to 32.
The 32 candidates were then subjected to even more stressful physical, psychological, and mental examinations. They were given full-body x-rays, tested in pressure suits, endured a variety of cognitive tests and really intense interviews. Finally, 18 or the 32 were recommended to the Mercury program without any medical reservations.
The final choices were made by Robert Gilruth, who was the head of the Space Task Group, as well as Charles Donlan, Warren North, and Stanley White.
The first seven astronauts selected for the Mercury program (the first manned space flight program) were Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Walter M. Schirra Jr., Alan B. Shepard Jr., and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton. Their names will resound through history forever.
Six of the original seven flew in Project Mercury. Only "Deke" Slayton did not fly because of a heart condition that had not been discovered. Deke later flew as a crewmember of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
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Our Sun
The Planet Jupiter
The planet Jupiter is was named by the Romans after their god Jupiter, who was also sometimes called Jove. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system by far. It is more than twice as large as all of the other planets combined.
Jupiter might well have become a star when it was born, had it been larger. There is very little (if any) solid matter on Jupiter. If there is any at all, it is hidden deeply inside the planet. Jupiter is made up entirely (as far as we know now) of gases and liquids.
The very composition of Jupiter means that its parts do not rotate at the same speed, but rotation is fast. Jupiter makes one complete revolution in a little less than 10 hours. This very fast rotation plus the makeup of gases and liquids are what causes the bulge at the equator of Jupiter.
Jupiter has an internal heat source. We are sure of this because it actually emits more radiation than it gets from the sun.
There are four large moons and dozens of small moons that rotate around Jupiter, making it a kind of small solar system unto itself.
One of the more outstanding features about Jupiter is the never-ending hurricane called "The Giant Red Spot" in the southern hemisphere. This disturbance has been going on for the last 400 years that we know of. It never abates…probably because it never passes over land (there isn't any) like hurricanes on earth do.
An explanation for the color of the clouds on Jupiter still eludes astronomers. With the conditions that exist, clouds should be colorless, but they are anything but colorless, and they change color over time. We still have a lot to learn! |
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Our Sun's Twin
Jorge Melendez of the Australian National University, and Ivan Ramirez of the University of Texas at Austin, are both astronomers from Peru. Using the Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory located atop Mount Locke and Mount Fowlkes in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, they discovered the best candidate as a twin to our sun that has been found to date in November 2007. The findings by Melendez and Ramirez suggest that our sun's chemical composition is not unique, as some previously thought.
The star found by the Peruvian astronomers is in the constellation Draco, which is over 200 light years away from our solar system. HIP 56948, the star in question is more like our sun than any yet seen. The star may be a billion years older than the sun.
There have been three other possible twins to our sun located, but there is a major difference in the amount of lithium they contained. These stars -- 18 Scorpius, HD 98618, and HIP 100963 -- have all been contenders, but they all contain several times more lithium than our sun. This difference has led astronomers to believe that our sun was possibly unique because of its low amount of lithium. Now, it seems, maybe our sun is not so unique after all.
The search for solar twins to our sun is important because astronomers use our sun as a baseline for a variety of astronomical studies, and studying our own sun is very difficult because it is too close and too bright.
The discovery of HIP 56948 by Melendez and Ramirez lays to rest the belief that our sun is somehow completely unique and that the uniqueness is what allowed life to spring up and thrive and raises the possibility (no, probability) that life exists in other places in the universe. Maybe we aren't alone.
Related Topics: Amateur Astronomy,
The Future of Space Travel, Astrology Beliefs
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