H2G2 Astronomy Society
Previous Articles of 2003
Charting the uncharted backwaters of the Universe

All the articles below appeared on the h2g2as main page, and are now stored here for your reference. They are split into monthly sections.

2003
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003

2002
2002 News Articles

2001
2001 News Articles

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September 2003

SOHO Award
^{Spaceweather Update:}Congratulations are due to the scientists, engineers and managers responsible for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). They've just received the prestigious Laurels for Team Achievement Award of the International Academy of Astronautics. Data from SOHO are uniquely important for understanding and monitoring space weather. More information visit NASA's SOHO Website.

Tuesday 30th September

Galileo's Mission Finale
As its fuel runs out Galileo's mission has come to an end and the mission team have decided that the final act will be to plunge the probe into its primary target. For seven years the probe has been in orbit around Jupiter giving us a unique vantage point from which to observe the largest of our neighbours and its facinating moons. Galileo initially launched a probe through the atmosphere of Jupiter, studied in depth the moons revealing the fiery surface of Io and Europa's inner liquid mantle. Hailed as one of the most sucessful missions of NASA, the Galileo probe will end its 3 billion mile oddesy at 1857 GMT today.

Sunday 21st September

British Altitude Record
The two man QinetiQ team are preparing tonight for their attempt to beat the Balloon Altitude World Record. Weather has been setting the launch back for over a year now, but current forcasts are good for a launch at first light on Wednesday. Andy Elson and Coln Prescot will pilot the balloon, which is taller than the Empire State Building, in the open gondola wearing specially designed space suits. They will efectivly enter space and aim to reach an altitude of 132,000ft smashing the current record before decending to Earth. At first light the balloon may be visible from the UK. For more information and the life feed visit the QinetiQ 1 World Record Balloon Altitude Attempt site.

Tuesday 2nd September

August 2003

Mars Reaches Opposition
Mars is now receding from us and us from it after reaching the closest approach for 60 thousand years at 0951 UT this morning. If the sky is clear tonight then make sue you get a look at this beautiful planet. The next close approach will be in roughly a year and a half. If you have a 6 inch reflector or greater then try and get a photo of Mars while it's with us and send it in (address below), even a off-the-shelf web cam can achieve good results.

Wednesday 27th August

ISS Transit Video
^{Spaceweather Update:}
Usually when people spot the International Space Station (ISS), it's glowing in the night sky. On August 16th, however, Roland Stalder of Lucerne, Switzerland, photographed the ISS in broad daylight--when it passed directly between him and the sun. His impressive transit video of the event, which you can see by clicking on the link, is probably the finest such movie ever recorded.
Read the SpaceFlightNow article.

Tuesday 26th August

National Astronomy Week 2003
The week commencing the 23rd of August is the UK's National Astronomy Week, celebrating all things celestial and coinciding with the closest approach of Mars¹ and the 50th anniversary of the Society for Popular Astronomy.
- So what will be going on?
Well many of the countries local astronomy societies will be organising events, a full list of which can be found on the NAW Events page. There will be many programs throughout the week, but of particular note is the launch program on Saturday 23^rd when our very own Jake Norrish will be live on air on BBC2 at 11:20 pm!

Monday 18th August

Mars Attacks!
Well not exactly, but it is advancing on our current location and on the 27^th it will reach it's closest approach to the Earth in modern times. The exact time of the closest approach is 0852 UTC² at which point the centre to centre distance will be 55,758,006 km (34,646,418 miles). To the casual observer Mars will not appear brighter than at other times of the year, though the actual variation from other approaches will be unnoticeable. Mars rises in the evening around 9 to 10 pm and is easily visible as the bright red 'star' low in the south east. So make sure your outside to take a look.

Sunday 17th August

Perseid Meteor Shower
^{Spaceweather Update:}Although the peak of the 2003 Perseid meteor shower is still a week away, sky watchers have already spotted a few bright meteors, like the exploding fireball that streaked across Texas on August 4th. A movie of this Perseid, recorded by the Sandia Meteor Detection Network, is available on Spaceweather.com. Here at H2G2 we will be out watching the meteor shower so check back for more updates.

Thursday 7th August

Retrograde Mars
^{Spaceweather Update:}For months Mars has been creeping eastward among the stars of Aquarius. Last week the planet reversed course; now it's moving westward. This "retrograde motion" is a tell-tale sign that Earth and Mars are drawing closer together. Closest approach won't come until late August, but Mars is already dazzling. Visit Spaceweather.com for sky maps, pictures and observing tips.

Wednesday 6th August

July 2003

Detailed Maps Reveal Early Universe Galaxy Distribution
^{SpaceFlightNow Update:}Peering back in time more than 7 billion years, a team of astronomers using a powerful new spectrograph at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii has obtained the first maps showing the distribution of galaxies in the early universe. The maps show the clustering of galaxies into a variety of large-scale structures, including long filaments, empty voids, and dense groups and clusters. Read the SpaceFlightNow Galaxy Maps article.

Monday 21st July

June 2003

Solstice: Summer or Winter?
At 7:10pm UT the earth will be at the solstice marking the logest and shortest day of the year depending on your hemisphere. at this point the Sun will reach it's highest elevation in the North and lowest point in the South. This marks the begging of northern summer and southern winter, however if your worrying that this will be the peak of summer then don't as it takes about a month for the winds to reach their extent so the height of summer is a month away. Of course for you southerners it means winter isn't over yet!.

Saturday 21st June

May 2003

May Annular Solar Eclipse
^{Spaceweather Update:}Sky watchers in Alaska, parts of Canada, most of Europe and Asia will experience a partial eclipse of the Sun this weekend. The event takes place on Friday evening, May 30th, in Alaska and northwestern Canada; and on Saturday, May 31st elsewhere. Science@NASA Solar Eclipse article.
Also watch it on the live webcasts from: Norway; The Netherlands and Belgium.

Friday 30th May

Thursday Friday Aurora Alert
^{Spaceweather Update:}Geomagnetic activity reached severe storm levels for more than 9 hours on May 29th after two solar coronal mass ejections swept past Earth. Another CME struck our planet's magnetic field today at approximately 1600 UT or noon EDT, which means geomagnetic activity could soon resume.

Thursday 29th May

Thursday's Lunar Ecclipse
^{Spaceweather Update:}This week the full moon will glide through Earth's shadow and turn a lovely shade of sunset-red; it's the first lunar eclipse of 2003. When to look: Thursday night, May 15th, if you live in North or South America; Friday morning May 16th, if you live in Europe. Read the Science@NASA Lunar Eclipse article.

Tuesday 13th May

April 2003

Early Start Formation Hinted At
^{esa Update:}Recent observations with the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the first stars formed as little as 200 million years after the Big Bang. This is much earlier than previously thought. Astronomers have observed large amounts of iron in the ultraluminous light from very distant, ancient quasars. This iron is the 'ashes' left from supernova explosions in the very first generation of stars. Read the ESA Early Stars Article.

Wednesday 30th April

New ISS Crew Arrive
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked with the international space station early today, bringing a two-man "caretaker" crew to the lab complex, for a half-year stay, in a bid to keep the high-maintenance station manned until NASA's space shuttles can resume flights. Read the Spaceflightnow Shuttle story.

Wednesday 30th April

Easter and the Moon
April 16 brings us the first Full Moon of the new spring season and is designated as the Paschal Full Moon which marks pesach or Passover. Easter is then celebrated on the Sunday after, this year on April 20. The latest Easter is celebrated is April 25 so this year is rather late (the earliest being March 22). A number of h2g2as members are currently photographing the moon, so look on the yahoo page for the results.

Friday 11th April

Ariane 5 to Launch Today
The crucial return-to-flight of Europe's Ariane 5 rocket is scheduled for 6:49 p.m. EDT (2249 GMT) today from the South American spaceport in Kourou carrying a pair of Indian and American communications satellites.Ariane 5 Return full story
Launch was a sucess

Tuesday 8th April

March 2003

Mars Express
^{esa update:}Mars Express, the first European spacecraft to visit the planet Mars, has completed its tests at Toulouse, France. After six months extensive thermal environmental, mechanical and electric tests, the spacecraft with the Beagle 2 lander will leave for Baïkonur, Kazakhstan on 19 March 2003 onboard an Antonov 124 aircraft. It will be launched early June 2003 onboard a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket. Mars Express full story

Thursday 20th March

Evaporating Atmosphere
^{News from esa}Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have, for the first time, observed the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet evaporating into space. Much of this planet may eventually disappear, leaving only a dense core. It is a type of extrasolar planet known as a 'hot Jupiter'. These giant gaseous planets orbit their stars very closely, drawn to them like moths to a flame. esa Full story

Monday 17th March

Weekend Aurora Watch

The Earth has entered a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the Sun. Geomagnetic activity reached storm levels for a while on March 14th when Earth first glided into the stream. Conditions have since quieted, but they could intensify again this weekend as solar wind gusts continue to buffet our planet's magnetic field. Sky watchers at high latitudes, e.g., in northern Europe, Canada, Alaska and US states like Wisconsin or Minnesota, should be alert for Northern Lights this weekend. Visit spaceweather.com for images and updates.

Saturday 14th March

February 2003

Ariane 4 rocket to make last flight Wednesday
^{From Spacefilghtnow.com}Marking the end of the road for one of the most successful commercial rockets in history, the final Ariane 4 rocket is due to launch early Wednesday morning from its South American spaceport. Liftoff is set for the opening of an hour-long window at 0700 GMT. Full story and update

Tuesday 11th February

Comet NEAR Nears the Sun
Comet NEAR is currently visible low in the west horizon shortly after sunset at aroung 6pm local time. It will appear as a fuzzy fourth magnitude fuzzy star with it's delicate tail being depictable with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope. The comet is brightening but will be overwhelmed by the suns glare in a few days so make sure you get a look soon. The comet will pass perigee on the 18th of February and will then be viewed by the SOHO satelite.

Monday 10th February

Space Shuttle Columbia
At approximately 2pm on February the 1^st the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during the re-entry phase of it's scientific mission. Columbia was the oldest of the shuttle fleet of four craft, which are the most successful reusable space craft to date. The causes are still unclear and an update will be posted when more news is available however early reports suggest a possible incident during launch, which could have affected the craft. During re-entry unusual drag was corrected for on one aileron followed by the development of heat spots on the skin shortly before break up killing the crew of 7 on board. The h2g2as community will release a full article shortly.

Monday 3rd February

January 2003

Comet Passes by the Sun
As comet C/2002 X5 (Kudo-Fujikawa) approaches perihelion³ it has swung into the sights of SOHO. the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is our eyes on the sun and it continually monitors the sun and its emissions to give us warning of CME's for example. On the 29th the comet will reach perihelion and maximum brightness as its tail reaches greatest elongation. Why not keep an eye on the sun.

Tuesday 29th January

Starshine 3 Re-Entry
The glittering Starshine 3 satellite, built by children and launched in Sept. 2001, will soon re-enter Earth's atmosphere. Can you spot the fireball? Re-entry estimates vary from 0500 UT (midnight EST) to 1330 UT (8:30 EST) on Tuesday, Jan. 21st. Although Starshine is likely to re-enter above some unpopulated stretch of ocean, the satellite's final orbit does carry it over North America and eastern Europe where sky watchers might see it. Visit Spaceweather.com for more details.

Monday 20th January

Galileo's Closest and Final Io Flyby
NASA's Galileo orbiter will dart past Jupiter's moon Io on Thursday in the veteran spacecraft's last and closest flyby of any of the giant planet's four major moons. "Galileo's days are numbered now, so it's especially exciting to visit Io one last time," said Dr. Eilene Theilig, Galileo project manager. Read the full Spaceflightnow.com Io Flyby article.

Wednesday 16th January

Contact

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