The Week in Space

August 17-23, 2009

An Elephant Fit for a King  The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is an elongated, dark globule within the emission nebula IC 1396 in the constellation of Cepheus. Located at a distance of 2,450 light-years, the globule is a condensation of dense gas that is barely surviving the strong ionizing radiation from a nearby massive star that lies just beyond the top edge of this image. The globule is being compressed by the surrounding ionized gas.  The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young stars (less than 100,000 years old) that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Cepheus is a house-shaped constellation in the northern sky, named after Cepheus, the King of Ethiopia in Greek mythology. It is an ancient constellation, one of the forty-eight listed by Ptolemy.

Image credit: Davide De Martin / skyfactory.org / acquired by Jim Misti / ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator

Weekly Calendar

August 17-23, 2009

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 17

Neptune at opposition
Venus 1.7° south of Moon

1877: Asaph Hall discovers Phobos
1966: Pioneer 7 launched
1970: Venera 7 launched
2006: Voyager 1 is 100 AU from Earth

Tuesday 18

Vesta 0.4° south of Moon
Mercury 3° south of Saturn

1868: Norman Lockyer discovers helium in the Sun
1960: Discoverer XIV launched, first successful US photo reconnaissance satellite
1993: First DC-X flight
1999: Cassini spacecraft flies by Earth

Wednesday 19

Moon at perigee

1646: John Flamsteed born
1891: Milton Humason born
1982: Soyuz T-7 launched, Svetlana Savitskaya is second woman in space

Thursday 20

New Moon 6:02 am

1953: First Redstone rocket launched
1960: Sputnik 5 launched
1975: Viking 1 launched
1977: Voyager 2 launched

Friday 21

Saturday 22

Sunday 23

1963: X-15 sets world altitude record for a winged craft (354,000 feet)
1976: Luna 24 returns soil samples from Moon

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