Eye of God pictured in space

European astronomers have taken a stunning photo of a Big Brother-style cosmic eye, nicknamed the Eye of God, staring down from space.

The bright blue pupil and the white of the eye are fringed by flesh-colored eyelids - but this eye is so big that it light takes two and a half years to cross from one side to the other.

The object is actually a shell of gas and dust that has been blown off by a faint central star. Our own solar system will meet a similar fate five billion years in the future.

It lies around 700 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius, and can be dimly seen in small backyard telescopes by amateur astronomers who call it the Helix nebula. It covers an area of sky around a quarter the size of the full moon.

The photo was taken with a giant telescope at the European Southern Observatory, high on a mountain top at La Silla in Chile. It is so detailed that a close-up reveals distant galaxies within the central eyeball.

Six people selected for Mars flight simulation experiment

Six people have been selected by scientists at the Moscow-based Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. They will take part in a 105-day experiment to simulate a flight to Mars.

Four Russians - astronauts Oleg Artemyev, Sergei Ryazansky, Alexei Baranov, a doctor, and sports physiologist Alexei Shpakov - and two members of the European Space Agency, France's Cyrille Fournier, a civilian pilot, and Germany's Oliver Knickel, a mechanical engineer, will take part in the experiment.

Initially, six Russians and four Europeans wanted to participate in the institute's project.

All participants will receive 15,500 euros (USD 20,000) each, Institute spokesman Mark Belakovsky said.

Institute Director Igor Ushakov said the 105-day trial is a continuation of the 14-day experiment of November 2007 and precedes the main event, a 520-day simulation flight due to start in late 2009.

The 520-day experiment will simulate all aspects of the journey including the 250-day one-way trip to the Red Planet, a 30-day stay on its surface, and the 240-day return flight.

During nearly two years of isolation, crew members will experience many of the conditions likely to be encountered by astronauts on a real space flight.

They will stick to a rigid daily regime of work, rest and exercise, and follow the diet of crews aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Comet Lunin comes closest to Earth

Stargazers are in for a treat as Comet Lulin will swing closest to Earth and is expected to be visible to the naked eye on Tuesday. Comet Lulin, also known as the "Green Comet" because of the green tint due the chemicals in its head, will be within 38 million miles from Earth.

"The comet is brightening every day as it approaches Earth," said Amar Sharma a Bangalore-based amateur astronomer who has been observing the comet for the past few days.

"On Tuesday, February 24 the comet will be at its closest approach to Earth and is expected to be visible to the naked eye," Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree said.

The comet will be visible as a faint green smudge low in the east-southeast sky before dawn. If the weather is clear and there is no haze in the sky, one should be able to locate the comet. A pair of binoculars or a moderate telescope might be needed to view the comet from the light polluted areas of cities like Delhi, she added.

When it's able to be seen, the Comet Lulin will be just 61 million kilometres away — about 160 times the distance between the Earth and the moon — which will be its closest approach to our planet, according to NASA.

The comet, whose official name is C/2007 N3, is expected to appear about a third of the way up the southern sky, a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. It is called "Lulin" after Lulin Observatory in Taiwan, where astronomers discovered it last year.

Scientists are using NASA's Swift Satellite to track and study the comet as it approaches.

The satellite includes probes that detect ultraviolet and X-ray radiation, which can be used to learn more about its chemistry, said a news release Friday from the Science and Technology Facilities Council in the United Kingdom, which is collaborating with NASA.The satellite can detect hydroxyl molecules that are produced when water is broken down by ultraviolet light from the sun.

NASA to launch CO2 tracking satellite

The world's first satellite designed to map concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere will be launched by NASA

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (Oco) will collect precise measurements of the greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere, identifying where it is coming from, where it is absorbed and what happens to it in between.

Scientists hope to get a clearer picture of how the Earth reacts to carbon dioxide with the launch of a new spacecraft designed to collect data on the climate-changing gas on Tuesday

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is set for launch early Tuesday from California and will take about eight million measurements every 16 days for the next two years.

Researchers said that the information will give them a picture of how the carbon cycle affects climate and how net emissions vary by region. The goal is to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) sources and so-called "sinks" that pull the gas from the atmosphere.

Scientists know that only about 40 percent of the CO2 released since the Industrial Revolution remains in the atmosphere. They can only account for the absorption of another 30 percent, leaving questions about what happened to the 30 percent.

More complete measurements from the observatory should give them a better picture of where the carbon dioxide is being stored and how it changes over time. It should also help account for the uneven absorption of the gas from year-to-year, which does not correspond consistently with how much is released each year.

"It's critical that we understand the processes controlling carbon dioxide in our atmosphere today so we can predict how fast it will build up in the future and how quickly we'll have to adapt to climate change caused by carbon dioxide buildup," scientist David Crisp said.

Previous measurements of carbon dioxide have relied heavily on Earth-based observations and occasional images from aircraft.

India's Cryogenic Engine Is Ready

The indigenous cryogenic engine that would make India totally self-reliant in all aspects of space launch vehicle technology is set to be integrated with the indigenous Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

"Now, it is getting ready for flight and I hope by the middle of the year, we should be able to make a launch", Chairman of ISRO, G Madhavan Nair, said. ISRO officials indicated that they are looking at a June-July date for the launch.

Indigenous development of cryogenic stage was taken up in 1996 for achieving self-reliance in cryogenic propulsion technology.

Technological challenges faced during the development stage include development of new materials, composite thermal insulation, and new fabrication techniques, handling of cryogenic fluids at cryogenic temperatures, realization of facilities for assembly, integration and testing, and associated safety systems.

GSLV flights launched so far by India used Russian cryogenic engine. Seven cryogenic stages were procured from Russia of which five stages have been utilized.

Forthcoming GSLV launch with indigenously developed cryogenic stage would launch GSAT-4 communication satellite.

ISRO Spokesperson S Satish said: "GSAT-4 communication satellite carries a lot of experiments. Our main interest will be to see how cryogenic engine performs. We have developed the engine using indigenous technology and indigenous fabrication capability. We have completed all qualification tests. We are very confident. We have already conducted flight acceptance test and it has met all parameters.

The indigenous cryogenic engine develops a thrust of 73 kilo Newtons (kN) in vacuum with a specific impulse of 454 seconds and provides a payload capability of 2200 Kg to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) for GSLV.

The engine works on 'Staged Combustion Cycle' with an integrated turbo pump running at around 42,000 rotations per minute (rpm). It is also equipped with two steering engines developing a thrust of 2 kN each to enable three-axis control of the launch vehicle during the mission.