Space News and Views

High energy collisions by the nearly-completed Large Hadron Collider (LHC) may be able to generate particles that are sensitive to dimensions beyond our four dimensional space-time. These exotic particles, called Kaluza-Klein gravitons, would be highly sensitive to the geometry of extra-dimensions, giving scientists an idea about what lies beyond our universe. If these particles are detected, and if their characteristics can be measured, then perhaps the extra dimensions predicted by string theory may be proven to exist…
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There's a real advantage to having a spacecraft orbit a planet for days, months and even years. You have lots and lots of time to really pull in the science. And now, almost 2 years into its visit at our evil twin planet, ESA's Venus Express has been able to map the planet's atmosphere at lower altitudes, searching for chemicals that will help scientists understand the planet's global climate and weather systems.
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If you can't afford to send a telescope to space, you'll want the next best thing; a location on Earth which is cold, dry and at a high altitude. Perhaps the best place on Earth is "Dome A", a high altitude region in Antarctica - the coldest and driest place on Earth. A team of astronomers recently climbed the summit of Dome A, and installed a new robotic observatory that should see some amazingly clear skies.
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On Wednesday I reported that NASA was looking into a bent coolant hose on the space shuttle Atlantis. They weren't sure if this might cause a potential launch delay while it was repaired. Shuttle managers met over the weekend, and decided that it wasn't enough of a problem to delay the launch.
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Sometimes, we don’t get to decide what our show’s about. So many threads come together at the same time driving the decision for us. This is one of those situations. We’ve gotten so many questions from listeners in just the last week about antimatter that our show had just been chosen for it. You command, we obey. Let’s talk about antimatter.

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Antimatter - Show notes and transcript

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Understanding dark energy is probably one of the largest mysteries in cosmology right now. Figure this out, and a Nobel Prize in physics is assured. But it won't give up its secrets so easily. Since they can't measure dark energy directly, astronomers can only measure its effects on the large-scale structures of the Universe, and then tease out some of its characteristics.
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Your image for the day is NGC 1514, captured by Stargazer 7000.

Space Politics has a look at NASA's upcoming budget. There's going to be a NASA briefing later today, so we'll have more details soon.

Life everywhere? Centauri Dreams has an article about new research theorizing that terrestrial planets are common.

davep caught these cool pictures of star trails.

Astroprof talks about Mercury's strange terrain.

Bad Astronomy reviews the presidential candidates' views on science.

Caltech astronomer Mike Brown assures us he's no fan of pseudo science.

While normally our friends in the Southern Hemisphere get left out of most major meteor showers, now is the time to keep alert for the Alpha Centaurids which are active during the entire month of February. While the Alpha Centaurids are considered a minor meteor shower, they do create some interesting viewing during the summer nights south of the equator. The peak (time of most activity) should occur around the universal date of Februrary 6/7, but don't wait until then to start your observations! (more…)