Venus, Jup, Moon appear conjunction

New Delhi, Dec 01: As the Sun goes down in the evening, step outside and look southwest to see a celestial phenomenon.

The three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Crescent Moon will be spectacular event for skygazers in the next few days.

With the exception of the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the brightest source of light in the heaven, and Jupiter comes a close second, Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), President Chander Bhushan Devgun told.

In the evening sky, skywatchers can see Venus and Jupiter getting close to each other as they circle the Sun.

Conjunction is a term used in positional astronomy. It means that, as seen from the Earth, two celestial bodies appear near one another in the sky, he said.

The celestial triangle will be visible from all parts of the world, even from light-polluted cities. People in New York and Hong Kong will see it just as clearly as astronomers watching from remote mountaintops. Only cloudy weather or a midnight Sun can spoil the show, Devgun said.

The great conjunction offers something extra to Europeans. For more than an hour this evening, the crescent moon will eclipse Venus.

Astronomers call such an event a "lunar occultation". "Venus emerging from the dark edge of the Moon is a remarkably beautiful sight", Devgun said.

Space shuttle Endeavour returns home after successful mission

Washington, Dec 1: NASA's space shuttle Endeavour and its crew landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California on November 30, after the successful completion of repair work at the International Space Station (ISS).

The STS-126 mission featured important repair work and prepared the ISS to house six crew members on long-duration missions beginning next year.

The new station equipment includes a water recovery system, additional sleeping quarters, a second toilet and an exercise device.

During four spacewalks, the crew serviced the station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allow its solar arrays to track the sun, and installed new hardware that will support future assembly missions.

Astronaut Sandra Magnus replaced Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff on the ISS, who returned to Earth on Endeavour after more than five months on the station.

Weather concerns prevented the crew from returning to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the primary end-of-mission landing site.

In 7-10 days, Endeavour will be transported approximately 2,500 miles from California to Florida on the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet.

Once at Kennedy, Endeavour will be separated from the aircraft to begin immediate processing for its next flight, targeted for May 2009.

STS-126 was the 124th space shuttle mission, the 22nd flight for Endeavour and the 27th shuttle visit to the station.

With Endeavour and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the launch of STS-119, targeted for February 12, 2009. (ANI)

Earth's plate tectonics began a billion years earlier than thought

London, Dec 1: New evidence has suggested that plate tectonics, which is crucial for creating the oceans and atmosphere essential for life, began around a billion years earlier than previously thought.

According to a report in New Scientist, Michelle Hopkins and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, have found evidence of tectonics in zircon deposits that formed about 4 billion years ago.

Analysis showed that minerals trapped within the zircon crystals had formed at a lower temperature and higher pressure than expected for crust of that age.

This suggests that the crystals had been formed in a subduction zone, where one rocky tectonic plate plunges beneath another, showing that plate tectonics was up and running at this time.

Craig Manning, co-author of the research paper about the finding, said that while chemical traces in zircons have hinted that tectonics began this early, this is the first direct evidence from actual minerals of the period. (ANI)

'Space family' says goodbye as mission nears end

HOUSTON: Seven astronauts piled into space shuttle Endeavour for the return trip to Earth after eating Thanksgiving dinner, leaving their counterparts at the international space station.

After Endeavour undocks early Friday, it was to circle the international space station so shuttle astronauts can photograph the outpost orbiting 354 kilometers above Earth. Endeavour then will fly 74 kilometers from the station for a final inspection to make sure the shuttle's heat shield is damage-free before re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

``I'm looking forward to the views,'' said pilot Eric Boe, who will be at the shuttle's controls.

The shuttle's crew was set to return to Florida on Sunday after completing a 16-day mission. It delivered a huge crate of cargo to the space station, which included a new bathroom, kitchenette, two bedrooms, exercise equipment and a system that purifies urine, sweat and condensation into drinking water. All is needed to double the space station's population to six next year.

Endeavour astronauts also performed four spacewalks to clean and lubricate a jammed joint that rotates solar wings toward the sun to generate power.

``You've totally fixed us up on the inside and on the outside,'' station commander Mike Fincke told Endeavour's crew before the hatches between the station and shuttle shut Thursday evening. ``You guys were such perfect guests. You left the place cleaner than you found it.''

The shuttle will bring back Gregory Chamitoff, who lived for six months at the space station. Astronaut Sandra Magnus took his place on the three-person crew after arriving Nov. 16 aboard Endeavour. The station's other crew members are Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov.

``As I leave it today, I feel both happy and sad,'' Chamitoff said Thursday evening. ``Sad to leave my crew. ... And of course I'm really happy because I'm really looking forward to seeing my family.''

Before the hatches closed and the astronauts exchanged farewell hugs, the two crews celebrated the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving by eating a meal together of smoked turkey, candied yams, green beans and cornbread dressing. Flight controllers in Mission Control also got into the Thanksgiving spirit. They ate Thanksgiving dinners at their consoles and displayed an animated turkey on the center's gigantic electronic map, which tracks the space station's orbit around the world.

In the afternoon, flight controllers lined up in Mission Control, each holding a sign with a letter spelling ``Happy Thanksgiving'' for the space shuttle crew, as the song ``Grease'' played over loudspeakers as a tribute to the grease-gun-carrying spacewalkers.

Endeavour astronaut Donald Pettit, who lived for five months at a smaller version of the space station six years ago, said the outpost has become grander with each new addition.

``It's like coming back to visit your parents and finding out they put a new addition onto the house,'' Pettit said.