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For years now, experts have been warning about the danger of collisions with space junk in Earth orbit. There is so much “stuff” rattling around up there, both working and not, that it is almost inevitable that a collision will occur.

On Tuesday, the first such major collision happened, between an Iridium communications satellite and a Russian satellite. The collision occurred 490 miles above Siberia, and the resulting bits of broken satellite briefly posed a serious threat to the International Space Station, until it was shifted into a higher orbit. The risk to the ISS is now judged as “very small” by a NASA spokesperson.

The American satellite, part of the Iridium Satellite network, is described as weighing about 1,200 pounds, with a body that was 12 feet long. The Russians have not yet released information about their satellite which was destroyed. Iridium is tactfully describing it as “presumably non-functional.”

The United States military is attempting to track all the pieces from the collision, with only some success. Some of the pieces are large, but many are very small – too small for radar – but not too small to cause serious damage to anything else in orbit.

The NASA spokesperson added that the “swarms of debris” could threaten the rest of Earth’s network of satellites, in an “orbital chain reaction.” Which, if it happened in a movie, would be pretty funny to watch. Not so funny if it happened in real life.

This is another of my favorite Hubble images, taken in January of 2005. It’s an image of the Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC 1594, better known as M51, and, just to its right, its much smaller companion galaxy, NGC 5195. Sometimes the two galaxies are referred to as M51a and b.Technically, the image to the right is a four-color mosaic, composed of 96 slightly overlapping images taken with four different filters. The Whirlpool galaxy, as its name and image suggests, is a spiral galaxy, like Earth’s own Milky Way.

The smaller “companion” galaxy has enough of a gravitational pull on the gasses of the larger galaxy, that the gravitational forces are triggering the formation of new stars, appearing as bright red clusters in the larger image, the red filter highlighting the consequent hydrogen emissions from the newly born stars. The resolution of the 2005 Hubble images is such that astronomers can study the very detailed, intricate structures embedded in the spiral arms of the larger galaxy, in the form of “spurs” of dust spinning off the two arms, as well as a large central dust “disk” in the nucleus. The way the disk is formed, and some of the data from images using non-visible light waves suggest that there may be a black hole at its center.

When astronomers first began to study M51, they thought that the two galaxies were joined; Hubble’s extraordinary detail, and the evidence from radio astronomy, makes it very clear that the two galaxies are separate. NGC 5195, the smaller companion galaxy, is passing behind the Whirlpool, making measured progress over hundreds of millions of years. As the smaller galaxy passes, however, its gravitational pull is enough to tug at the larger Whirlpool, creating gravitational ripples or waves in its central disk. When the waves pass through nearby dense clouds of gas, they exert pressure on the gassy matter near the inner edges of the Whirlpool’s spiral arms, collapsing the clouds and generating new stars, visible in the reddish-pink areas along the edge. Eventually, mature star clusters emerge, the bright blue clusters along the arms.

About four years before the Hubble images were generated, in 2001, Cal Tech’s Spitzer telescope team used their own infra red data, plus x-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with earlier Hubble data to create this composite image of M51. The purple point-like objects are black holes and neutron stars in binary star systems, revealed by Chandra; Chandra also detects the presence of hot gasses in the spaces between stars, which appears as a diffuse glow in the image. The earlier Hubble optical data and the infra red data from Spitzer show long streams in the spirals arms, filled with stars and gas, intermingled with dust. The blue points are young, and still very hot stars, that are still emitting lots of ultraviolet, captured with Cal Tech’s GALEX telescope. There’s another gorgeous image, taken with the Earth-based telescope National Science Foundation’s 0.9-meter telescope located at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, and using a mosaic CCD camera here, from 2001.

In this pan-and-zoom version of the 2005 Hubble image of the heart of M52, the blue areas are fairly young, very hot stars, while the clusters of red are hydrogen regions, the nurseries of new stars. Look closely at the edges of the two spiral arms, and you can see streams of dust and dense matter being pulled away from them. The spiral structure of M52 was most likely caused by the smaller NGC 5195/M51b passing through the central disk of the larger galaxy, 500 or 600 million years ago, from behind, and then crossing again 50 to 100 million years ago, and ending up where it is today, slightly behind M51. Those younger stars are one reason that the Whirlpool is so very bright compared to the surrounding objects in the night sky.

M51 is roughly 30 million light years from Earth, yet it is also one of the brightest spirals in the night sky. One of the interesting things about M51 is that it can be seen quite well from Earth, using fairly basic telescopes. To find it, follow the handle of the Big Dipper’s dipper away from the cup, all the way to the last, eastern-most bright star in the handle. Then, look just a bit to the south-west, and the brightest object is likely to be M51, the Whirlpool galaxy, and its companion. The Whirlpool galaxy is so bright in fact that in 1845 in Ireland William Parsons the Third Lord of Rosse, turned his then state-of-the art seventy-two inch telescope to one of the brightest spots in the night sky, in the constellation Canes Venatici. Parsons observed the Whirlpool galaxy well enough to create the drawing you see here. You’ll note that Rosse’s drawing very clearly shows the dark center of M51, the spiral arms, and the smaller companion galaxy, streaming away from the center.

Both Albert Boime, a UCLA art historian, and Simon Singh in his book Big Bang: The Origins of the Universe have both pointed out that there are remarkable similarities between the sketch Lord Rosse made of M51 in 1845, and Vincent Van Gogh’s painting of the night sky in Arles, France, “The Starry Night” 44 years later. If you look at the image of Van Gogh’s painting, you can see the larger, central spiral, with a smaller spiral spinning off of it. You can even see the dark center of M51. Compare Van Gogh’s picture, to the drawing Lord Rosse made, embedded above. We’ll never know, of course, but it is tempting to speculate about Van Gogh seeing Rosse’s drawing, or possibly, catching a glimpse of the Whirlpool and its companion through a friendly astronomer’s telescope.

A French team of astronomers have recently announced the discovery of a new planet. Spotted by their exo-planet hunter, the Corot Satellite, which was launched back in 2006, the new planet has been dubbed Corot Exo 7b. There have been more than 300 so-called exo-planets discovered in our solar system since 1995 but 7b sticks out because the majority of them are gas giants and it appears to be just 1.75 times the width of Earth and is believed to have a similar mass.

Speculators have suggested it may be made of rock or water although it may also be composed of liquid lava. Best not to start booking holidays there just yet since the planet is extremely close to its parent star which would put the temperature on the surface at between 1000 and 1500 degrees Celsius. It also orbits the star once every 20 hours and it is 457 light years away from us. Some experts have suggested that it may have begun life as an ice planet and become a water world as it approached the star and began to heat up.

The Corot satellite managed to detect the planet by looking for dimming light as it crossed in front of the star, so they basically saw a small silhouette. It is not the smallest planet found but it is the smallest planet found which appears to be vaguely similar to our planet. The research continues and scientists are hoping that the launch of the Kepler space craft later this year might help them learn more.

Gene Roddenberry was the creator of Star Trek, one of the finest science fiction inventions ever to capture the public imagination. He died back in 1991 and in 1997 some of his ashes were launched into space by a Houston based company called Celestis who specialise in space burials.

His widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry died recently and she was heavily involved in the franchise, appearing in the pilot episode and in various parts throughout the years most recently as the voice of the computer in the upcoming Star Trek film due to be released this summer. As a fitting tribute to the couple their ashes will be launched into space in 2012.

Celestis have conducted a number of space burials and the writer Timothy Leary and Start Trek actor James Doohan were both cremated with their ashes being launched into space to orbit the earth. They also sent the remains of scientist Eugene Merle Shoemaker to their final resting place on the moon back in 1998 aboard NASA’s Lunar Prospector.

Celestis offer a number of services for people who want to send their loved ones remains into the unknown. Prices range from $695 into the thousands and options on the website offer the Earth Rise Service, which is a spaceflight with a return to earth as well as earth and lunar orbit options and the chance to be buried on the moon. Their most expensive option is the Voyager Service which launches remains into deep space. Prices are based on the weight of ashes sent and the service is touted as a chance for the deceased to be at one with the cosmos.

Their next flight is scheduled for this year and family and friends can attend the launch to view their loved ones remains blasting off. You can even keep tabs on their memorial spacecraft orbiting the earth. Small portions of the remains are stored in lipstick sized capsules engraved with their name and a personal message. The orbiting satellites will eventually return to earth although it could take hundreds of years. The website even offers the option to view the earth from the satellites.

It may seem like a strange idea but the service is reportedly very popular. They have sent the remains of various people into the stars from astronauts to accountants and although some families have opted for privacy there are pages on their website listing some of the participants who have been launched. They offer the service to anyone willing to pay the fee and they employ representatives in various countries around the world.

They are planning further burials on the moon and the website is currently taking orders. The company apparently plans to create a kind of lunar cemetery and there are speculations that with the advance of commercial space flights relatives may one day be able to visit the graves.

Celestis traces its roots to another company, Space Services Inc. of America who made history as the first private enterprise to launch a rocket into outer space. They also run a non-profit organisation called the Celestis Foundation dedicated to exploring the universe.

Mars is conventionally described as a cold, lifeless world that’s a giant barren desert, because the surface explorations we’ve made via Mars Rovers pretty much demonstrate that. But NASA’s recently released data about Methane on Mars is providing fodder for excitement, and speculation.

“Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas,” said Dr. Michael Mumma of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, California.”

Scientists using Earth-based telescopes at NASAS’s University of Hawaii site and the W. M. Keck telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawai, with spectrometers attached to them (spectrometers

Science Magazine reports that Chinese researchers have decided that silkworms would be the most optimum food source for space travelers on long-distance voyages.

This makes perfect sense, from a logical standpoint. Silkworms produce very little excrement, and are not very sensitive to disturbances or environmental conditions. Silkworms “breed quickly, require little space and water, and generate only small amounts of excrement, which could serve as fertilizer.” The researchers also found that silkworms are surprisingly nutritious – chock full of protein and amino acids. As an added bonus, their silk can also be made edible.

The researchers have determined that every space traveler “would need to consume 170 silkworm pupae and cocoons a day to fulfill their animal protein needs.” Which is an off-putting thought indeed, although silkworms are a staple food in some areas of China, and a snack food in Korea.

If you would like to have a taste of the possible future of space travel, canned silkworms can be purchased over the internet. Steve of “Steve, Don’t Eat It” fame, once tried eating a can of silkworms. His report on the experience can be found here.

2009 is the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s cosmos-destroying observations and discoveries. They include the fact that Venus has phases, that Jupiter has moons, and a number of other observations that helped create modern astronomy and encouraged Galileo to support a solar-centric Copernican view, which, of course, did not make him BFF with the Inquisition, or the Catholic church, who favored the inaccurate but comforting geocentric view, which believed that the sun revolved around the earth.

In 1609, Galileo makes his first telescope, an improvement on other European models which offered 3 x views of objects; Galileo’s telescope provided 20 x magnification of distant objects. Over time, Galileo refines his telescope, including discovering a way to reduce the aperture, thus allowing him to control the light entering the telescope, and reduce it enough so that very bright objects, like Jupiter, could be seen more clearly.

On January 7, 1610, Galileo turns his newly improved telescope towards Jupiter, and observes what, at the time, he thought were three stars, arrayed in a line through Jupiter. Fascinated, he continues to observe them. A week later, the fifteenth of January, his notes reveal that he had realized that there were four of the objects, not three, and that they were moons revolving around Jupiter. The four moons are named the Galilean Moons, and consist of Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. In March of that year, his book, Siderus Nuncius, reveals his discoveries and makes Galileo famous.

Or infamous, in some circles. As Galileo becomes increasingly convinced that the sun was the center of the solar system, not the earth, the officials of the church become increasingly agitated, and Galileo’s views, against a backdrop of supporting evidence from other astronomers, draw the attention of the Inquisition. In 1616 a committee appointed by Rome to report to the Inquisition declares that the idea that the sun was the center of the universe, and that the earth itself has an “annual motion,” or orbit, is not only absurd, but heresy. Galileo is privately ordered by Cardinal Bellarmine, on instructions from Pope Paul V, not to discuss or write about the Copernican theory. By 1624, then Pope Urban VIII, a personal friend of Galileo, allows Galileo to write about the Copernican theory as long as he writes about it as a mathematical theory, rather than a matter of observable astronomy.

In 1632 Galileo publishes his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which he compares and analyzes the solar-centric Copernican model against the church-favored geo-centric model. Despite granting conditional permission to publish, Pope Urban VIII is convinced by church officials to forbid the publication. Galileo, now ill and infirm, is summoned to Rome to report to the Inquisition. After 18 days of formal, rigorous interrogation, Galileo confesses that he may have made his argument in favor of the Copernican system too persuasive, and offers to tone it down in a subsequent book. The pope decides instead to imprison Galileo. Shortly thereafter, Galileo receives a formal notification of investigation by the Inquisition, including the threat of torture. He is examined again, and sentenced to prison and a life spent in religious repentance. Galileo formally recants his “errors,” publicly, and is placed under house arrest in Sienna. He dies, blind, infirm, and still under house arrest, in Florence, in 1642.

In 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a formal apology for all the errors of the Church over the last 2000 years, and specifically included the trial of Galileo.

NASA’s remaining shuttle is nearly 30 years old and scheduled to be retired in 2010. NASA’s new spaceship, Orion, won’t be ready for launch until 2015, according to the current budget and schedule. NASA is reported to be examining alternatives for maintaining space transport, either moving up the completion date for Orion—an expensive strategy—or else extending the current shuttle program

NASA’s quandary is nothing new. In fact, it brings up the same problem we’ve been looking at pretty much since our first ventures into space: what’s the best way to get there? Putting stuff on a big rocket, fueled with super-test fossil-fuels, and blasting it into space by sheer force has worked pretty well, so far. Except it’s expensive, and rockets tend to blow up, since . . . well . . . they’re explosive by design.

NASA announced the successful test launch of a prototype super-pressure high-altitude balloon this week. The balloon reached and maintained an altitude of over 100,000 feet, and maintained pressure for course of an eleven-day test. They launched the balloon from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic-based McMurdo Station

The long-range hope is that payloads will eventually be transported to the edge of space by high-tech balloons. This isn’t nearly as far-fetched as it may sound to those of us who are more accustomed to thinking about rocket-ships and space-shuttles, than to thinking about helium balloons. There are experimental programs underway already, designing balloons to study the surfaces of Venus, Mars, and the moon. Balloons in space have long been an area of intense scientific interest, in part because balloons are extremely economical both to transport and to operate in comparison to other types of vessels.

Earth has been using balloons in space since the 1984 international VEGA project, when Russia released instrument-bearing balloons from two spacecraft to pass through the atmosphere of Venus, on their way to study Halley’s comet.

Even the idea of manned balloons in space isn’t inconceivable. In fact, in 1961, Malcolm Ross and Vic Prather rode a balloon to over 11,000 feet in altitude, launching from an aircraft carrier and splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. Prather drowned before Navy divers could rescue him. In 2001, a couple of British engineer-adventurers announced a project to reach the edge of the earth’s atmosphere in an open balloon gondola, wearing spacesuits. The balloon developed a leak shortly before their scheduled launch, however, and the flight was called off.

I really don’t expect to see balloon launches from Cape Canaveral transporting fresh crew to the space station anytime soon, if ever. That’s just not logistically practical. But it’s seeming more and more likely that a balloon dropped into the atmosphere of Venus or Mars could circumnavigate the globe, take samples, and transmit data home.

The idea of a lunar base has long been discussed and first reared its head in science fiction. A lunar base could be used as a research centre, a base for further exploration of our galaxy and as a possible location for advanced astronomical telescopes. However any such undertaking would be massively expensive and scientists are still arguing about how useful such a structure would be.

In 1998 a NASA space probe sent to the moon discovered high concentrations of hydrogen in deep polar craters on the moon. Some scientists have suggested that there could be large deposits of lunar ice contained in these craters which remain untouched by the suns rays. There have been suggestions that the ice could help support human life on the moon and perhaps even be split into liquid hydrogen and oxygen to produce rocket propellant. The problem is they can’t be certain that the ice is there at all and if it is they don’t know how difficult it would be to extract.

The argument for placing advanced astronomical telescopes on the moon seems to have been met with scepticism by astronomers who point out that because of dirt and gravity space telescopes offer a much better solution.

Back in 2004 Bush announced plans to revisit the moon with the idea of building a base there as a platform to push on and visit Mars. However since that time the funding for space programs has been limited and various shuttle and space station plans have gone over budget and schedule. The idea of a lunar base is not confined to the US however and the European Space Agency, China, Russia and even Japan and India have all announced plans to build on the moon within the next 15 years.

The reality of living on the moon would be a terribly harsh one for any colonist who chose to go. There are terrible abrasive dust problems, long lunar nights and temperature extremes and we don’t know what the long term effects of living with 1/6th of the Earth’s gravity would be on the human body.

In November of last year there was an International conference on the subject which was seeking to encourage sharing of current research and the possibility of an International Lunar Base. The conference was hailed as a success with scientists, engineers and various industry representatives in attendance but funding for such a project remains a real barrier and many see engaging the commercial sector as the only viable way to make it happen.

Although the plans to construct a lunar base have not been officially cancelled there hasn’t been much obvious movement either and some senior scientists and ex-NASA directors have suggested manned asteroid landings would be a better stepping stone for a manned expedition to Mars. NASA have been continuing to test equipment at Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano because the conditions there are as close as you can get to the moon on Earth. They are aiming to show how astronauts could extract resources like oxygen, fuel and water from lunar rocks and soil.

With a number of lunar probes in recent years or planned for the near future a lunar base remains a possibility and much will depend on how governments choose to direct their funding and whether the private sector will get more involved. We will just have to wait and see.

The most distant object easily visible to the human eye is the Andromeda Galaxy, roughly two million light-years away, our nearest neighbor galaxy, and very very large. Without a telescope Andromeda looks like a faint, gassy cloud in the constellation Andromeda. Conventional astronomical reasoning for years has held that Andromeda, also known as M31, was larger and denser than our own Milky Way galaxy. Using a high-end telescope, and multiple digital images, Andromeda looks like the image embedded to the left.

Thanks to research presented this week at the American Astronomical Society’s annual convention, we now know we’re in a galactic neighborhood every bit as good as Andromeda. Using the Very Long Baseline Array, scientists have managed a much more detailed three-dimensional map of the Milky Way, and discovered it’s 15% larger in breadth, much denser than we thought, with 50% more mass. The Milky Way is also shaped differently than previously thought. It appears to have four, not two, spiral arms of gas and dust, giant clouds of gas where new stars are forming, as you can see in this artist’s rendition above. Do click the image to read the annotations on the linked page.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that additional mass means much greater gravity, which means, well, the Milky Way sucks more, increasing the likelihood that our galaxy will collide with Andromeda, or even smaller but still nearby galaxies.