Space Videos: Space Exploration News & Space Videos // Current

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22 days ago

Falcon 9 one step closer to launch

You can feel the excitement growing! The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is only a few months away from its inaugural launch. The company... more

bhigginbotham
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A possible new launch vehicle for NASA?

With Constellation woefully over budget, what does that mean for the Ares I and Ares V rockets? If rumors are right, it could mean... more

bhigginbotham
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NASA Space Shuttles Sold at Discount Prices

Here's a recession bargain: the space shuttle. NASA has slashed the price of these 1970s era spaceships from $42 million to... more

jmsrmy
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World's Most Bizarre Space Rocket

No, it’s not one of James Bond movie settings. This is a real rocket, called Roton ATV. It was meant to fly to the Earth... more

buzzhunt
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Cocaine in SPACE! ...ship hangers!

Somebody at NASA is tweakin!

craigsaid
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World's Most Bizarre Space Rocket

buzzhunt
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There's A "Dark Disk of Material" Hovering Out In Space

Some kind of obstruction is blocking our view of Epsilon Aurigae, a star in the constellation Auriga. Its exact nature is unknown — but astronomers say that if you've got a telescope, you could help them figure it out.

Epsilon Aurigae is a binary system, or a star locked in a pattern of mutual orbit with a second body. It lies in the constellation Auriga, about two thousand light-years away from Earth. We like this star, because it gives us the chance to shout out to some old-school Green Day.

About every twenty-seven years, Epsilon Aurigae undergoes an eclipse that lasts between twenty and twenty-four Earth months. During this time, the light from the star dims appreciably. Astronomers aren't sure what causes the eclipse; they believe it's the companion body in the binary system, but there's disagreement as to what exactly that body might be.

One popular school of thought is that the orbiting, eclipsing body is a huge disk of... something. Possibly dust and space debris, but really, no one is sure. Robert Stencel, a professor of astronomy at Denver University and longtime studier of Epsilon Aurigae, described the mystery object as "a dark disk of material" in a recent press release. "The exact shape and makeup of the disk has been unknown," said Stencel, "but it will be better defined soon."

"Soon," because there's another eclipse happening right now, and that affords us the chance to study the phenomenon again. This is where you and I come in, if we have any stargazing equipment. A project called Citizen Sky has put out an open call for amateur astronomers to watch Auriga and contribute information on the mysterious star-blocker. (Stencel is a team member of Citizen Sky, in addition to his professorial duties. He wears many hats, it seems.)

Epsilon Aurigae is so bright that it can be seen from just about anywhere on Earth, so if you're of a mind, head over to the Citizen Sky site and see whether it looks interesting. If it turns out — and I'm just going to say what we're all thinking here — if it turns out that the object orbiting Epsilon Aurigae is an alien mothership of some kind, and you're the first to identify it as such, then there's a decent chance you could get the thing named after yourself

http://io9.com/5449854/theres-a-dark-disk-of-material-hovering-out-in-spaceSome kind of obstruction is blocking our view of Epsilon Aurigae, a star in the constellation Auriga. Its exact nature is unknown... more

pjacobs51
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26 days ago

IMAX Hubble 3D

..Through the power of IMAX® 3D, Hubble 3D will enable movie-goers to journey through distant galaxies to explore the grandeur... more

pjacobs51
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6 comments

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26 days ago

Mind-Bending Science: Visualizing The Ten Dimensions

Dimensions for dummies, very clear bite size explanation to String Theory.. or at least it's a theory to String Theory I... more

epilepticfits
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26 days ago

Diamond Flow !

Neptune and Uranus May Have Oceans of Liquid Diamond http://bit.ly/5GHKrb

ras_menelik
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3 comments

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26 days ago

Diamond Oceans Possible on Uranus, Neptune

THE GIST: - Like ice on water, solid diamond floats on liquid diamond. - The finding explains possible liquid diamond oceans... more

pjacobs51
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6 comments

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26 days ago

Cocaine Found In Shuttle Processing Facility

A small amount of cocaine was found in a restricted area of the processing hangar for shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Center, NASA is launching an extensive investigation into the incident. KSC spokeswoman Lisa Malone said the substance was found by a United Space Alliance worker in a hallway outside two bathrooms and a janitor’s closet, in an area where workers have to swipe their identification cards to enter. Every one of the approximately 200 people who were in the Orbital Processing Facility 3 would be easily identified, NASA says, and added Discovery's planned launch in March should not be impacted by this event.

"This is a rare and isolated incident, and I'm disappointed that it happened, but it should not detract from the outstanding work that is being done by a dedicated team on a daily basis,"

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana said. "We are conducting an investigation and working with center security and law enforcement officials to get to the bottom of it. We have multiple checks and balances in place to ensure the work on the orbiter is done correctly, and I have no concern for Discovery's fitness for flight."

While there are no indications anyone who was working on Discovery was under the influence of any illegal substances, drug testing of personnel who were in that area has been conducted. Drug-sniffing dogs were immediately called in to check out the employees, but found nothing.

NASA said extensive efforts are being made to ensure flight hardware and equipment that will be used by astronauts on Discovery's upcoming STS-131 mission are completely safe.

"We have processes that will ensure the integrity of the shuttle," Cabana said. "There is no reason whatsoever to believe this incident will have any impact on Discovery's upcoming launch."

Meticulous records are kept on all work that is performed. Shuttle safety and quality assurance teams have the capability to trace individuals' work in detail. In addition, most work tasks are reviewed and approved by one, and sometimes two, quality inspectors and specialists who verify proper work was done on critical flight hardware.

http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/14/cocaine-found-in-shuttle-processing-facility/A small amount of cocaine was found in a restricted area of the processing hangar for shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Center, NASA is... more

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26 days ago

Annual Solar Eclipse Is Longest Of The Millennium

It was a once-in-a-millennium event

Rickbischoff
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26 days ago

Solar Eclipse In Africa & Asia (Earthquake Connection?)

"A solar eclipse has plunged parts of Africa and Asia into semi-darkness. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes... more

rodstradamus
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4 comments

added
27 days ago

The Shape of Space ?

Does space have a shape?

Centuries ago, human beings looked up at the night sky and imagined that a black globe enveloped the Earth. They believed the stars were simply pinpoints of light. The sun, moon and other planets circled the Earth in a regular, perfect pattern. In their minds, the universe was small, centered on Earth and organized into perfect spheres.

A diagram from the work of Copernicus showing how planets in our solar system move in relation to the sun.
Scien tists like Copernicus and Galileo discovered flaws in this philosophy. It took more than a century after Galileo's discoveries for the world to accept that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe. As time passed, we began to learn more about the universe. Today, we study the cosmos through advanced telescopes, satellites and probes.
Now we have images of galaxies
But what about the big picture? What do we know about the universe as a whole? Is it expanding? Is it infinite? If it isn't infinite, what lies beyond the boundary of space? And what exactly does space look like?
These questions fall under the category of cosmology, the study of the universe. People have tried many different approaches to study the universe. Some concentrated on mathematics. Others preferred using physics. And quite a few took a philosophical approach.
There's no consensus among cosmologists about what space looks like, but there are plenty of theories. Part of the challenge of describing space is that it's very difficult to visualize. We're used to thinking about locations in two dimensions. For example, you can determine your location on a map using longitude and latitude. But space has four dimensions. Not only do you have to add depth to the dimensions of length and width, you also must add time. In fact, many cosmologists refer to this collection of dimensions as space-time.
Space is Big
According to Stephen Hawking, the observable universe spans a million million million million miles across. That’s a one followed by 24 zeroes [source: Hawking].

more at link-

http://hoowstuffworks.blogspot.com/2009/01/does-space-have-shape.htmlDoes space have a shape? Centuries ago, human beings looked up at the night sky and imagined that a black globe enveloped the... more