The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft focused its OSIRIS imaging system and the VIRTUS infrared-sensitive spectrometer on asteroid (2867 Steins) last night and came away with some great images of a diamond-shaped chunk of rock. The images were presented at a press conference early Saturday, and they show quite a lot of detail. Rita Schulz, Rosetta Project Scientist, said, “In the images is a chain of impact craters, which must have formed from recurring impact as the asteroid rotated. The impact may have been caused by a meteoroid stream, or fragments from a shattered small body.”
That chain is made up of at least seven craters laid down when successive pieces of debris hit the asteroid. There are more images and data to analyze, making this a very well-studied asteroid indeed! You can follow the mission at the link above.
It’s moving on toward autumn sky-viewing time here in the northern hemisphere (and early spring for the folks in the south). If you don’t already have a collection of star charts, or a program like Software Bisque’s TheSky, or a book or two about stargazing, you can always look online for any number of great free (or low-cost) resources to help you figure out what you want to observe. (If you’re interested in finding astronomy products, check out TheSpacewriter’s Store.)
A screenshot of the Sky View Cafe
So, browsing around online, I found a great astronomy resource today while I was trying to figure out what the skies would be like over the Caribbean later next year (for a lecture I need to give). This one’s an interactive planetarium page called Sky View Café. You can use it with your Java-enabled web browser to find out what’s up tonight at your location. You can also download a desktop version for offline use. It’s the work of an imaginative coder named Kerry Shetline. Here’s a screenshot of the online interface, and it couldn’t be easier to use. Simply input your location and the date and time you want to observe, and it automatically takes the sky to the proper position. There’s an extensive and easy-to-understand help section, too. Go take a browse through the starry sky before your next stargazing session!
