Author Archives: Allen Versfeld

About Allen Versfeld

Allen is an amateur astronomer, an IT professional, a podcaster, a father of five growing kids, a barely competent chess player, and the owner and publisher of the Urban Astronomer podcast and website. He has formerly served as Director of the Astrophotography and Citizen Science sections of the Astronomical Society of South Africa. You can find his personal social media feed on Mastodon!

WISE brought out of retirement to hunt NEO’s

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NASA’s Wide-field Infra-red Survey Explorer (WISE) was a highly successful short-term mission to map the sky in infra-red wavelengths.  Equipped with 4 infra-red detectors (operating at different wavelengths, correlating to different temperatures) and cooled to a frigid 260°C below zero, it was able to reveal an unprecedented view of both the universe and our own Solar System.  In the course of performing a second pass of its initial sky survey, it discovered 19 comets and more than 33,500 asteroids, including … Continue reading →

Carnival of Space #172

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Nice and early this week, the 172nd Carnival of Space is up!  This weeks host is Lights in the Dark and features some of the best and most interesting astronomy and space science articles of the past week.  There’s an awful lot of talk about the recent discovery of an earth-like planet, giving lots of perspective and a little speculation! To enjoy the show, visit http://lightsinthedark.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/carnival-of-space-172/

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Las Vegas Death Ray optics demonstration

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The MGM Mirage Vdara hotel in Las Vegas has a graceful curved shape which carries some unexpected consequences:  guests lounging around the pool at the wrong time of day can get a nasty surprise in what staff jokingly refer to as the “Death Ray”.  For about 3 hours every day around noon, a small zone of intense heat moves slowly across the pool deck, startling anybody who happens to be in the way.  The owners of the hotel are aware … Continue reading →

China to launch second Moon probe

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On Friday 1 October, China will launch their second lunar orbiter, Chang’E 2, which will join it’s predecessor Chang’E 1 in collecting scientific data on the Moon.  Chang’E 2 is almost identical to the first probe, but features a few enhancements.  It will orbit at a lower altitude of 100km compared to the original altitude of 200km, allowing the camera a much closer view of the lunar surface.  The camera itself is much more powerful, allowing photographs of features as … Continue reading →

Coronal Mass Ejections can change direction

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Coronal Mass Ejections (CME’s) occur when violent magnetic activity on the Sun lifts plasma from the solar surface and ejects it out into space.  If a CME reaches Earth, it gets scooped up by our own magnetic field and smashed into the upper atmosphere, causing a beautiful display of Aurora Borealis, and possibly affecting our satellites and electronic infrastructure.  But in a surprisingly twist, new observations from SOHO reveal that CME’s do not fly outwards in a straight line, as … Continue reading →