Dawn in the first wide orbit around Vesta, first for a main-belt asteroid Insertion took place as planned on July 16. Status, News, Press Kit, pics of July 31, July 9 and July 1, Dawn Journal of July 18, JPL/NASA Releases of Aug. 1, July 28 (more), July 21, July 18, July 17 [NASA], July 14 and July 7, MPS PM vom 18. Juli, DLR PM vom 18. Juli, MPG PMn vom 1. August, 25. Juli, 23. Juli und 18. Juli, A&A Release of July 15, S@N of Aug. 1, July 18, July 17, July 14 and July 6, paper on Ceres by Rambaux & al. and coverage of Aug. 2: PSB (earlier), S&T, NaB, CD, ST, DLF, Sp. Aug. 1: SN, USAT, SC, NwS, AP, PSB. July 29: BBC, PSB. July 27: ScAm. July 24: KSJ. July 23: UT. July 22: BBC. July 21: Tel., PSB. July 20: S&T. July 19: PSB, BBC, UT, asb, KL. July 18: SC, PSB, UT, NwSB, KSJ, WdP. July 17: S&T, SN, BBC, SC, Dsc., CbS, ST, Tw. July 16: SFG, Tel. July 15: MPML, S&T, NwS, CSM, AT, BBC, Tel., BR. July 14: SpO, UT, SC (more), BBC. July 13: Nat., DLF. July 11: SC. July 8: MPML. July 7: UT. July 5: SC. July 4: PSB, Eur. June 28: NwS. Hayabusa, movie star: Asahi.

Update # 343 of Sunday, August 7, 2011

Juno launched to Jupiter (grown since June 26)

Juno sent to Jupiter, to become first polar orbiter in 2016 Nail-biting series of delays, then picture-perfect launch NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 16:25 UTC on August 5 to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter - several technical issues and boats in the range led to a 51-minute delay, but then everything worked just perfectly, and Juno has left Earth orbit on the right trajectory. Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system in 2016/17 will help reveal Jupiter's origin and evolution: As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars. Juno covered the distance from Earth to the Moon (about 402,000 kilometers) in less than one day's time. It will take another five years and 2,800 million kilometers to complete the journey to Jupiter via a gravity assist by Earth on October 9, 2013. The spacecraft will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core. Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology: The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the goddess Juno alias Hera, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature ...

Home, Status, Launch Blog, Press Kit, JunoCam Home, JPL/NASA Releases of Aug. 5, Aug. 4, Aug. 3 (more, more), Aug. 1, July 27, July 26 and July 19, July 7 and July 5, JHU APL PR of Aug. 5, U. Iowa PR of Aug. 2, CU Boulder PR of Aug. 1, S@N of July 29, TW@N of July 29, NASA launch video, lauch close-ups (more), Juno in space imaged from Spain and the Czech Republic and coverage of Aug. 6: DP, UT, TS. Aug. 5 post-launch: SW (with links to many early stories, pictures, videos; earlier); SN, ABC, AW&ST, SC, PSB, LiD, KSJ, ST, DLF, Eur. Aug. 5 pre-launch: Tel., UT. Aug. 4: PSB, SC, NwS, NG, NYT, DaC, G, BBC. Aug. 3: SC, AsM. Aug. 2: SC, QSp. Aug. 1: Nat., SABJ, WdP. July 31: Tel., UT. July 30: SN. NSF. July 29: AFP. July 28: LAT, Sp. July 27: SpO, Dsc., SC, PSB. Earlier: AW&ST, AZPM, SC.

Mars Update MRO NASA Release of Aug. 4, UA News of Aug. 4 and June 30, Uni Bern PM vom 5.8., S@N of Aug. 4 and coverage of Aug. 5: LAT, SFG, Eco., KSJ, ST, Z, TP. Aug. 4: Nat., PW, S&T, ScN, AT, NwS, SNo, NYT, SC (more, more), CSM, Dsc., BaS, T, CNN, CV, BBC, UT, AN, BdW, Sp. MER JPL Release of July 19, JPL Blog of July 20 and coverage of Aug. 7: R2E, PSB, TwP. Aug. 6: TMJ, MaP. Aug. 5: R2E, MaP. Aug. 3: R2E. July 31: PS, R2E, PSB. July 26: R2E. July 22: R2E. July 21: PSB. July 19: US. July 17: R2E, MaP. July 16: R2E. July 12: R2E. July 3: TwP. June 30: PS.

Mars Express ESA PR of Aug. 5, DLR PM vom 14.7. MSL landing site Gale now official. JPL/NASA Releases of July 29, July 22, July 18 and July 6, UCD PR of July 22 and coverage of Aug. 1: AW&ST. July 29: NPR. July 27: Nat. July 26: Dsc., PbA. July 25: KSJ. July 24: S&T. July 23: ST, LE. July 22: SN, BBC, SC (more and more), NwS, ScN, CSM, SI, NYT, NaB, AGU Blog, PSB. July 19: SC. July 11: PSB. July 8: KSJ. July 6: SC, NaB, PSB. July 5: ExT. June 28: NwS. June 27: NaB. Fobos-Grunt coverage of July 30: PSB. July 16: Int. MAVEN NASA Release of July 22, U Co. Release of July 22. ExoMars ESA Release of June 28 and coverage of Aug. 3: AW&ST. June 30: SpN, BBC. RedDragon pre-proposal: SC, Dsc. Water under varnish: NASA and SETI Releases, BdW.

Saturn Update Cassini Releases of July 18, July 6 (more) [JPL], ESA Release of July 26, Herschel News on Enceladus, paper by Kennedy & al. on the irregular satellites and coverage of Aug. 3: PSB. July 28: Sp. July 26: PSB, BdW. July 13: S&T. July 12: ScN. July 11: NwS. July 7: NwSB, BdW. July 6: LAT, SC, NaB, CD, WdP. Neptune rotation: UA News, Nat., S&T.

ISS etc. Update The last shuttle mission is over! Therefore private manned orbital space efforts will now also be carried in the green box. STS-135 Status and Journal; pad pics, close-out crew tribute, launch wide-angle w/great sound, in full-dome, seen from the SRBs, from the flight deck, a pic (another, another and another; more), pics from a stratosphere ballon (later, still later and much later), a passenger plane (later), a STA and an F-15, of the plume shadow and in the White House, 801 frontpages (!), SRB return and video [YT] (very different one and two a extremely bad ones ...), reentry from the ISS (!), landing & wheel stop, NASA Releases of Aug. 2, July 21, July 19, July 13, July 9, July 8, July 7 (kind of ...), July 1, June 28, ESA Releases of July 27, July 21, July 8 (earlier) and July 4, JAXA Feature on MAXI, UNL Release of July 15, DLR PM vom 20. Juli, DLR Blog vom 22. Juli und 11. Juli, AdAstra Release of July 15, Obama statement of July 8, Bolden Blog of July 20/21 [alt.], Planetary Society statement (on SLS) of July 12, Boozman article of July 8, 8 and chat transcript of July 5, Garver blog of July 7, NASA HSF promo video of July 1, NASA shuttle promises of 1972 and coverage of Aug. 6: SpO. Aug. 5: OS, BBC, SpP. Aug. 4: SN, NwSB, ST. Aug. 3: NSF, SC (earlier), KSJ, ST. Aug. 1: PCM, Z.

July 31: Inf. July 29: SD, AW&ST, PSB, SpP, MeD, Sp. July 28: SpN, FT, SpP, Nov., Eur. July 27: NSF, SC (more), AFP, CL, SSt, Sp. July 26: SN, NwSB, NSF, UT, FgO. July 25: SN. July 24: FT (more), SN, OS, UT, Eur. July 23: AP, KSJ. July 22: SW w/many links; JSR, WSJ, AWST, DM, SpP, BBC, Dcy., SB, Dsc., SC, SpN (more), 1KW, CD, BG. July 21: NSF, NYT (OpEd), BBC (more), SC (more and more), CNN (V), G, NSJ, FT, G, CSM, SMJ, Dsc., DoS, UT, SCB, OEN, AP, KSJ, BWJ, ST, AwF, DLF (mehr), Sp., Eur. July 20: SC (other story). AD, asb, ST. July 19: CBS, SC (other and another story), SN, UT, PSB, ST, AMS Vid. July 18: CSC, Rpg, MaB, T., Sp., DW, WL. July 17: CBS, SC, DP, UT, SNV. July 16: NSF, SC (other story), UT, SNV. July 15: SN, AW&ST (more), SpW, UT. July 14: SW; SN, SC (earlier), ST, TDS, KL. July 13: SpN, SC, CL, WL, Sp. July 12: SC, SpO, DGC, ST (other story), DLF. July 11: SC (earlier), Dsc., Ast., SN, SpW, WP, ABCB, PoS, Ori., TS. July 10: SW (w/many links), CBS, SC, T. Vid., SpW, ST, LE. July 8: SW (w/many links), WPTV, Tel., NYT (more), BBC (M, (V), S&T, WP, DW, Y., TR, LAT (B), AW&ST, VV, T, HC, SpP, NYDN, SC (earlier), YNN, SpW, TST, NaB, Atl., Scb, KSJ, ST, DWs, Eur. July 7: SN, WP, SC (earlier), Nat., SpO, SpP, PSB, KSJ, Sp. July 6: SC, TR, NwS, CS, NYT, ST, Sp., TS. July 5: BBC, SC (more), SN pics, MFH, AP (more), SpR (other angle), AW&ST, ST, TS, KL. July 4: SN, NYT, BaS, SpW, Sp. July 3: WP, HT, SpW. July 2: MrcN. July 1: CNN, WP, Rtr, CD, SpO, AW&ST (more), Atl., WPB. June 30: SpP, CNNB. June 29: ST (earlier), And. June 28: SpP, Sp., TwP. June 26: KL.

Cancellation of JWST proposed by House appropriators - firestorm from astronomers unleashed: Approp. doc., APS PM, AURA, AAS (also a Press Release), IAU and Mikulski Statements, July 13/14 Status, Summer Webb Update, FB page; HT, RDF (echo), DLF, SB, Nat., CV (earlier still earlier),, SN (earlier), FYI (more), Dsc. (earlier), SpP, SC (earlier), SPO (earlier, still earlier), SpN (earlier), G (earlier), NPR, CoS, BBC, KVOA, S20, SwB, OtC, NYT (OpEd), ScAm, AW&ST, AJC, SB, SI, PSB (earlier), AT, S&T, ECB, Ast., NaB, PoS, SAs, ItD, UT, eAs, KSJ, ST (earlier), YT. Mather talking about JWST at a SKA meeting the day the news broke: YF. Launch delay past 2018 likely? NaB. Primary & secondary mirrors ready: NASA Release (more). LISA progress: AEI Note. Spektr-R launched, antenna deployment trouble solved: Updates, Roskosmos PR of July 23 and July 22, TASS, SN, AFP, Eur. Earlier: SW w/links; s/c & upper stage (details), ToI, SN, S&T, PbA, LnT, PSB, ST, DLF. HST milestone: SW w/links; PWB, PSB, SpW, WdP. 2nd Fermi cat: BBC. Most distant & brightest quasar discovered with a redshift of 7: papers by Mortlock & al., Bolton & al. and Willott, ESO, Gemini and Nottingham Releases and coverage by ScN, ScAm, S&T, Tel., And., KSJ, ST, WdP, BdW. Water in distant quasar: paper by Bradford & al., JPL, UMD, Carnegie and U. Co Releases, BdW, Sp. CMB FX <-> DE: ScN, PW, NwS. No void explanation of DE: PW. DE sims: OSU PR. Ia SNe & DE: UCSB PR. Ho measure: ICRAR. Strange correlation: RAS PR. Star formation in young Universe: asb. On the largest distance scales distribution of galaxies too clumpy: APS. Early galaxy growth, lighting up: NASA and JPL Releases, ScN. Red star-forming galaxies: NAOJ PR. Late forming ellipticals? CFHT Release, WdP. SMBH activation, gas flow: ESO and NASA Releases, BdW. Voorwerpjes: ZVB. MW shape: ICRAR. MW recent crash? axb. MW center gas twist (had that already in the last Update): JPL Release, Wir. MW HZ: axb, asb. LMC/SMC * xchange: NOAO PR. Dark Segue 1: Keck PR, PW. AGN theory: ESA Release. Hack saves Cluster mission: ESA Release. Cluster & plasma heating: ESA Release.

Another superbright supernova with -22M has been discovered - again by Quimby: AT. Dust in SN 1987A detected: paper by Matsuura & al., Herschel News (more), ESA and JPL Releases, S&T, ScAm, SC. Also a paper by Lakicevic & al. Dust in more SNe: asb. Extreme SNe from PanSTARRS: asb. Dual gamma-ray flares: NASA PR. Neutron star flare: ESA Release, S&T. New GRB/SN case: asb. SS 433 mystery: CMa. Cyg X-1 mass: paper by Reid & al., PW, NwS. Hydrogen peroxide in interstellar cloud at Rho Oph found: ESO, SRC and MPIfR Releases, FR, BdW, more media response. Oxygen molecules in Ori: paper by Goldsmith & al., ESA and JPL Releases, BdW. Evolved stars locked in fatalistic dance: CfA Release, S&T. Herschel & Mira: Uni Wien PM. New close BDs: paper by Scholz & al., AIP PR, Dsc., Des. 55 Cnc system: MIT Release. Titius-Bode useful for exoplanets? UT. Super-Earths: axb. Exoplanet aurorae: CfA PR. Planethunters, Kepler progress: ZoB (more), S&T. Hunting for WD planets: Oklo, S&T. Akatsuki problem identified, solutions proposed: NHK, PSB, PbA. MESSENGER corrects orbit, celebrates 7 years: Aug. 3 and July 27 Update, PsA. New Horizons' post-Pluto targets: Tw. LRO study of Moon's roughness offers insight into its history: Caltech feature. 2nd ARTEMIS in lunar orbit, too: NASA and Berkeley Releases, NwSB, SpW. LADEE status of Aug. 2. Moon origin: UCSD Release, Uni Bern PM, Nat., PW, NwS, S&T, SC, Tel., AT, KSJ, ST, BdW, WdP. Lunar hotspot? WUStL PR, LROC pics, NYT, ABC, SC. Moon swirls: Dsc. K/PB questions: Yale PR, NwS. ET math: axb, asb. SKA competition heats up, selection process defined: SKA and CSIRO Releases, PW, Dsc. (more), NwS, X. 1000 ALMA proposals; 16 antennas on site: ESO Release, Announcement, BBC. 40 years Effelsberg: TP. CanariCam for GTC: U. Fla. PR. VLT instruments from Germany: Uni Goettingen PM. CHARA successes: paper by ten Brummelaar & al. Subaru dirty & clean again: July 27, July 14, July 5 and July 4 Updates, NaB, S&T. Subaru LGS AO: NAOJ PR. PS1 MOPS: PS1SC Blog. Bad wx @ ESO: Ann. Chile scopes: BBC (V). Dutch School for Research in Astronomy has funding line renewed beyond 2013: SAs. Most cited astronomy papers: THE.