5 Weird Things About Vesta

4 Vesta appears to be only a rock to most of us, it's still an appreciable body not far in relative terms.  Vesta orbits at a distance of 156, 000,000 miles from Earth in asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn spacecraft orbited Vesta for a year to learn more about our solar system.   Five new discoveries are reported, as a result, in recent Universe Today article.  It was over 200 years ago, "when Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers first glimpsed Vesta on March 29, 1807 — this date in history — the asteroid was but a small point of light. Asteroid science was very, very new at the time as the first asteroid (Ceres) had been discovered only six years before," begins article.  The five surprising observations made about the heavenly body:  1) Vesta dirt is "well-mixed and mobile," lending smooth appearance to surface, 2) stretch marks apparent around asteroid's equator, may be due to a large impact, causing layers to separate inside asteroid and surface expansion, 3) "'Vesta is a transitional body between a small asteroid and a planet and is unique in many ways,' said mission scientist Vishnu Reddy of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany. 'We do not know why Vesta is so special,'"  4) hydrogen discovered near equator possibly delivered to asteroid by impacts with meteors or comets, and 5) northern and southern hemispheres look completely different. "'The northern hemisphere is older and heavily cratered in contrast to the brighter southern hemisphere where the texture is more smooth and there are lots of sets of grooves. There is a massive mountain at the South Pole. One of the more surprising aspects is the set of deep equatorial troughs,' said Carol Raymond, Dawn deputy principal investigator, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif."

Asteroid 2012 DA14 Close Approach Feb 15

Don Yeomans, NASA manager of Near Earth Object Office, reassures in two minute video that asteroid DA 14 will not hit earth or even a satellite. 2012 DA 14 will pass Earth at a distance of  17,200 miles, 5,000 miles inside the satellite belt.  The asteroid half the size of a football field,  is compared, to meteor that caused 1908 Tunguska Blast.  You may be able to spot the asteroid with binoculars if you live in Australia or Southeast Asia! There's nothing to worry about so no need to kiss good-bye on February 14th!

Apophis Flyby Of Earth Tonight

 Planetsave blog entry  advises of  "...close fly-by on Wednesday night researchers will have a good opportunity to learn more about the asteroid, getting a better idea of its future trajectory." You shouldn't worry about stepping outside as blog adds: "it [Apophis] probably won’t be visible with ‘backyard’ type telescopes." Another blog reports Apophis much bigger than previously thought here.  Are odds greater for Apophis striking Earth in 2036? Apophis is Greek name for evil god of death, destruction and chaos!  Is the name 99942 Apophis of significance? 

#DataDump: Homeless Hotspots, Phonehacking, Hollywood

Turning the Homeless Into 4G Hotspots at SXSW*

FBI says paying cash for coffee is a sign of terrorist intent*
FBI 'Communities Against Terrorism' Suspicious Activity Reporting Flyers*
New Arrest In UK Phone Hacking Probe*
DARPA’s Director Quits to Take Executive Slot at Google*
Digg's Kevin Rose Will Join Google*
Google Exec Joins Microsoft, Trashes Google*
Europe's Robotic Cargo Ship to Launch to Space Station Next Week*
Could a Nuke Stop an Asteroid After All?*
Video: Straight out of Hollywood: Supercomputer models atomic bomb saving Earth from massive asteroid*
@NASA is scheduled to launch 5 rockets within 5 minutes early morning March 15*
Update: NASA Five Rocket ATREX Mission Rescheduled*
Update: Dharun Ravi found guilty in Rutgers webcam spying trial*

astronomycast revisits 1908 tunguska blast

The June 30, 1908 Tunguska blast remains an unexplained mystery.  Universe Today reports Astronomycast responded to requests by devoting episode 243 to the Tunguska event. The speculations are varied as to what happened in Siberia, over a hundred yeas ago. Explanations include the reasonable such as an asteroid or comet to Tesla test firing an energy weapon. Regardless, a fireball split the sky in the early daylight hours with sufficient force to throw people off their feet to land yards away at a distance of forty miles! Victims experienced also intense heat from blast that flattened over 60,000,000 trees in a 200 sq mile area. Astronomycast Episode 243 is well done, and Tunguska, a natural science phenomenon! Please listen to the hosts who provide recent evidence. A previous post on the Tunguska blast can be read here. It's very interesting stuff!

dawn mission update: vesta no longer fuzzy blob

Dawn spacecraft spent past month mapping asteroid 4 Vesta in a 420 mile High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO). An article at Space Daily, "Dawn Journal for October," reveals successful phase of mission completed while the probe, "..has spent most of its time over the illuminated side taking pictures and other scientific measurements and most of the time over the dark side beaming its precious findings back to eager Earthlings...Dawn revolves in a polar orbit around Vesta, passing above the north pole, then traveling over the day side to the south pole, and then soaring north over the night side. Each circuit takes 12.3 hours. Meanwhile, Vesta completes a rotation on its axis every 5.3 hours." The spacecraft has captured more than 7000 images. The northern pole of Vesta, presently in darkness, awaits mapping in a Low Altitude Mapping Orbit (LAMO). The present writer asks where is Richard C Hoagland? Hoagland believes there's "geometric evidence" of ruins on Vesta, discussed a few months ago on Coast to Coast AM! Vesta has remained little more than a fuzzy blob for over 200 years ago, since Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers' discovery in 1807. The Dawn mission has turned our view of Vesta into crystal clarity in a very short time, indeed. Any evidence of geometric anomalies on Vesta's surface will be awaited with much anticipation!

2005 yu55 update: fly by expected at 200,00 miles from earth on nov 8

Many telescopes, around the world, will be pointed at asteroid 2005 YU55, during its expected fly by November 8 at 6:28/5:28 ET/CT. It's the closest passage at 200k by an asteroid since 1976, when asteroid 2010 XC15 went by unnoticed at about half the distance to the Moon. The asteroid will pass over the Northern Hemisphere, but will only be viewable by telescopes with a minimum 12.5 centimeter aperture. Astro Guyz website provides excellent details on the asteroid's passage as it crosses our skies.  Aricebo and Goldstone telescopes will closely study the asteroid, according to JPL research scientist, Lane Benner in brief video here. ESA Herschel space observatory will also study near Earth asteroid, YU55.

asteroid 4 vesta: factoids and vestoids

Asteroid 4 Vesta is the brightest object in the Asteroid belt, sometimes, viewable with the naked eye. German Astronomer Heinrich Olbers discovered Vesta, on March 29, 1807, the fourth "minor planet" as they were called to be detected after Ceres, Pallas and Juno. Olbers gave honor of naming Vesta to mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. In mythology, Vesta is goddess of the hearth and sister to Ceres.

Vesta has a differentiated interior with a crust and mantle, as a result, classified a protoplanet. The asteroid's dark regions reveal basaltic areas a direct result of lava flow. Astronomers believe Vesta's close proximity to Jupiter and the giant neighbor's gravitational pull, possibly, prevented further development into a full planet.
Vesta is surrounded by small asteroids (Vestoids), possibly, due to a collision with another heavenly body as evidenced by the large crater at the asteroid's South Pole. Vestoids have reached Earth. Other Vesta factoids are listed below:

330 mile diameter

5 hour and 20 minute day and 3.6 year orbit around Sun.

over 200 million miles from the Sun

An excellent Space.com article provides more facts about Vesta and its formation. One last factoid: Richard C Hoagland believes Vesta also has ruins on it!

earthquake watch: planetary alignment aug 11

Physical forces exerted on our planet by gravitational waves of other heavenly bodies are very real! Planetary alignments may precipitate quakes. Newsbad.com sees a possible 7.2 earthquake on August 11th because of a Earth-Mercury-Sun-Venus alignment. It will be interesting to see if there's bad news on that date?

updates:
solar flare may spark dazzling northern lights displays aug5*
'breathable' oxygen found in space*
nasa finds new evidence of liquid water on mars*
video: see the asteroid trapped in earth's orbit*
space needle celebrating 50yrs with trip to space*
has texas drought exposed shuttle columbia piece?*
space shuttle columbia part found in east texas*
unidentified floating object?: potential ufo spotted under baltic sea*
video: kaku says crop circles made with gps, lasers & microwave ovens*

elenin arrives oct. 28, 2011: hype or history?

A Camelot Roundtable video conference, Elenin (link to synopsis), offers new input into mystery comet headed towards Earth. Michael Salla, of exopolitics.org, provides nice summary of presenters in a recent Examiner article. Richard C. Hoagland began conference with "...presentation on the significance of Elenin's orbit, and why this pointed to...either an artificial object under intelligent control (an ancient spacecraft) or a natural body (a comet) that has been deliberately launched on an artificial orbit. He placed special emphasis on Elenin's perihelion (closest point to the sun) on September 11, 2011 as evidence that this was a result of artificial design to draw attention to the profound geopolitical events that occurred ten years earlier." Hoagland also noted coincidence on November 9, 2011 of FEMA Homeland Security Test and Asteroid 2005YU55 passing within 200,000 miles of Earth.

Keith Hunter, author and writer at Ancient World Mysteries website, offered his view, "Elenin is a small mass that could do something unusual if caught up in powerful harmonic configurations." This theme seemed built upon by Conference organizer Kerridy Cassidy, Richard C Hoagland and Dr. Joseph Farrell, who dismiss Elenin is a brown dwarf but see it exerting powerful gravitational effects through gravity waves. They offer explanation that this may be possible through torsion field physics. Salla is critical that Dr Mensur Omerbashich's observations on incidence of alignments and seismic activity, was not included more in discussions. Andy Loyd, Dark Star author, is also of opinion Elenin is a sub-brown dwarf. Dr Carl Johan Calleman, author and Mayan Calendar researcher believes, "..the world will enter a New Age based on an expanding 'unity consciousness.' While the precise ending of the Mayan Calendar is disputed by others advocating a December 21, 2012 end date, Calleman has produced cogent arguments for the October 2011 end date."

The Camelot Roundtable concludes Comet Elenin possesses artificial attributes, is of small mass, yet exerts strong gravitational influence effects. Elenin will pass closest to the Sun on September 11, 2011, a reader wonders what effect the comet may have on the Sun? The comet's closest approach to Earth is on October 28, 2011, and again, wonder what gravitational effect will be upon Earth--if any! Are we going to die from a solar flare's direct hit or a huge earthquake and tsunamis? November 9th will bring the asteroid's pass close to the moon? Will this near miss provoke a campaign to increase humanity's capabilities to knock out "dangerous" asteroids?  The secret agenda revealed by Wernher Von Braun to Carol Rosin to weaponize space.

A Universe Today article, "Comet Elenin: Just Passing By," is probably the reality. Humanity likes small doses of adrenaline at times, and why, horror films and sports are popular. An adrenaline rush may help explain the Comet Elenin media frenzy, but keep in mind the importance of a perceived threat to those who want to control our fates!