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hunk of space junk
The Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) is a 1400-lb., double-wide refrigerator-sized hunk o junk that was thrown overboard from the International Space Station on July 23, 2007. At the time, the castaway was in a high orbit and barely visible from Earth's surface.
Not anymore: Twelve months later, with its orbit decaying, the EAS has become easy to see. The EAS is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate near the end of 2008 or early 2009.
Until then you can see it, growing brighter as it descends, with your own eyes.
Check out Space Weather's Simple Satellite Tracker:
http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys/index.php?PHPSESSID=...
VIDEO BONUS: On July 15, 2008, Kevin Fetter used a low-light video camera to photograph the EAS orbiting over his home in Brockville, Ontario:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2008/22jul08/31928.wmv... The Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) is a 1400-lb., double-wide refrigerator-sized hunk o junk that was thrown overboard from the Internat... more -
Cover-up: Apollo 14 astronaut claims aliens have made contact
Aliens have contacted humans several times but governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, the sixth man to walk on the moon has claimed. Apollo 14 astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell, said he was aware of many UFO visits to Earth during his career with NASA but each one was covered up.
Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.' He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.
Chillingly, he claimed our technology is 'not nearly as sophisticated' as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned 'we would be been gone by now'.
Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.
'I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real,' Dr Mitchell said. 'It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it. I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit.'
Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated.
He told the astonished Kerrang! radio host Nick Margerrison: "This is really starting to open up. I think we're headed for real disclosure and some serious organisations are moving in that direction.'
Mr Margerrison said: 'I thought I'd stumbled on some sort of astronaut humour but he was absolutely serious that aliens are definitely out there and there's no debating it.'
Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down. In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.' Aliens have contacted humans several times but governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, the sixth man to walk on the moon has c... more -
The Pole star comes to life again
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Northern Star, whose vibrations were thought to be dying away, appears to have come to life again.
An international team of astronomers has observed that vibrations in the Pole star, which had been fading away to almost nothing over the last hundred years, have recovered and are now increasing. And the astronomers don't know why.
Plot of decrease over 100 years of amplitude of 4-day light variation of Polaris and of the increase since 2000. Observations before 2000 from other work, observations after 2000 from this work. (PhysOrg.com) -- The Northern Star, whose vibrations were thought to be dying away, appears to have come to life again. ... more -
CERN to make it colder than space at -270C
CERN's Large Hadron Collider is an amazing experiment being conducted as a joint European project.
Oh and it may just cause the end of the world as we know it...... CERN's Large Hadron Collider is an amazing experiment being conducted as a joint European project. ... more -
New planetoid added to solar system!
Last week, a star was born. Or, more accurately, a planetoid was born. Makemake is the newest member of our solar system. The International Astronomical Union recently recognized the reddish object covered with frozen methane and ethane gases as a dwarf planet and classified it as a plutoid last week.
MakeMake, pronounced "Mah-keh Mak-keh" (rhymes with wakka-wakka?), was named after the creator god of Easter Island mythology because it was discovered around Easter in 2005. The plutoid's hobbies include orbiting Neptune, not having any satellites of its own, and being the second brightest Tran-Neptunian Object in our solar system. It is our solar system's fourth plutoid, joining Pluto, Ceres, and Eris in the heavens...and in our heart.
Don't let Pluto push you around, Makemake; dude's a hater. He's still angry over being demoted. You keep on orbiting, guy. We have your back.
DigitalJournal.com: Makemake, a Pluto-size non-planet, is named, despite the Easter Bunny
Last week, a star was born. Or, more accurately, a planetoid was born. Makemake is the newest member of our solar system. The Internat... more -
Get Yourself a Moonbase, Just Like A Real Villian
Discovery-News.com: Do sci-fi villains have the moonbase market cornered, or will we be living on the moon some day too? Jorge Ribas finds out when NASA's making the next giant leap for mankind. Discovery-News.com: Do sci-fi villains have the moonbase market cornered, or will we be living on the moon some day too? Jorge Ribas f... more
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Floating cities on Venus
"Some of you may have heard me talk about colonizing Venus. Well, for those who haven't, Universe Today is running story about floating cities on Venus. It's a reasonable alternative for space colonies — after all, the atmosphere of Venus (at about 50 km) is the most Earth-like environment in the solar system (other than Earth, of course). '50 km above the surface, Venus has air pressure of approximately 1 bar and temperatures in the 0C-50C range, a quite comfortable environment for humans. Humans wouldn't require pressurized suits when outside, but it wouldn't quite be a shirtsleeves environment. We'd need air to breathe and protection from the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere.'"
This link was a sum up, the link to the actual article is on this site. Pretty neato. "Some of you may have heard me talk about colonizing Venus. Well, for those who haven't, Universe Today is running story about floatin... more -
The fourth dwarf planet has a name: Makemake - Science Fair - USATODAY.com
The 4th dwarf planet has a new name: Makemake. Click the link for more information.
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Northern Star not as constant as expected: scientists at loss
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar once described himself as "constant as the Northern Star/ Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality/ There is no fellow in the firmament". But far from staying firm and fixed, the North Star has thrown astronomers into confusion with some unexpected activity.
The star is not, it seems, quite as constant as was previously thought. Polaris had long been known to be a Cepheid variable star, changing in brightness about every four days. But in recent decades astronomers have noticed the star's vibrations were dying away. Now they have been stunned to discover the star seems to have come back to life again.
The discovery will be announced to 350 international delegates today on the first day of the Cool Stars 15 conference at the University of St Andrews. Dr Alan Penny from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St Andrews will tell the conference that he was part of an international team of astronomers who observed that vibrations in the Pole star, which had been fading away to almost nothing over the past hundred years, have recovered and are now increasing.
The astronomers were watching Polaris in the expectation that they would catch the star switching off its vibrations completely when they made the surprising observation of their revival. Dr Penny said: "One hundred years ago Polaris varied by 10 per cent, but over the last century the variations became smaller and smaller until ten years ago it only varied by 2 per cent. It was thought the structure of the star was changing to switch off the vibration. Yet the team has found that about ten years ago the vibrations started picking up and are now back up at the 4 per cent level."
Cepheid stars are generally known to get brighter and fainter every four days, but the details of their variations are not well understood. Dr Penny said he was pleased the existing theory had been proved wrong, because it would further astronomical understanding. "Now we know it's doing this we will watch it for another 100 years and see what it does," he said. "We have found something new that we need to understand. That means we can make progress. We are very excited when we are proved wrong."
The slow decline in the vibrations in the star was in itself unusual, as no other Cepheid is known to have done this. Astronomers thought Polaris was ageing and its structure was changing so that it was no longer unstable. The scientists were following its progress to learn about how stars age. But now Polaris has started vibrating again, this explanation of the ageing process seems unlikely.
The scientists think a more complex process may be at work, which will require extra studying before it is understood.
(Excerpts / Jenny Haworth, Scotsman)
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar once described himself as "constant as the Northern Star/ Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality/ There i... more -
UFO Websites That You Have to See to Believe
Unidentified Flying Objects are being reported more than ever before. Are Earthlings the only form of life in the universe? Check out these links and you decide! Unidentified Flying Objects are being reported more than ever before. Are Earthlings the only form of life in the universe? Check out ... more
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Asteroids: Earth's Final Deadly Impact
Beyond global warming, fiery chunks of massive celestial bodies rocketing towards earth may be our final impact and completely out of our control. Beyond global warming, fiery chunks of massive celestial bodies rocketing towards earth may be our final impact and completely out of ... more
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Dwarf planet near Pluto named for Polynesian god
"A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said on Saturday.
The red methane-covered dwarf planet formerly known as 2005 FY9 or "Easterbunny" is named after a Polynesian creator of humanity and god of fertility.
Just last month the IAU, which names planets and other heavenly bodies, decided to create a new class of sub-planets called plutoids.
Pluto, demoted from planet status, and Eris are the other two plutoids. A fourth dwarf planet named Ceres has been excluded from the plutoid club because it orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Makemake is just slightly smaller and dimmer than Pluto and was only discovered in 2005."
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I liked "Easterbunny" better. "A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the Int... more -
Makemake is named the newest Plutoid
A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said Saturday.
The red methane-covered dwarf planet, formerly known as 2005 FY9 or “Easterbunny,” is named after a Polynesian creator of humanity and god of fertility.
Just last month the astronomical union, which names planets and other heavenly bodies, decided to create a class of subplanets called plutoids.
Pluto, demoted from planet status, and Eris are the other two plutoids.
Makemake is slightly smaller and dimmer than Pluto and was discovered in 2005.
“The orbit is not particularly strange, but the object itself is big, probably about two-thirds the size of Pluto,” said Michael E. Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who discovered and named Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh).
Dr. Brown said the name came to him when he was looking for a mythological god and thought of Easter Island in the South Pacific. Makemake was the chief god among people who settled the island. A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the Inte... more -
Time-lapse images of the Moon
NASA has released images of the Moon taken from its Deep Impact spacecraft - some 31 million miles from Earth.
A camera on the probe was turned back towards Earth and in a time lapse sequence, captured the moon passing in front on 29 May.
The video shows a graphic, in the corner, highlighting the position of the earth at the time of the image. NASA has released images of the Moon taken from its Deep Impact spacecraft - some 31 million miles from Earth. ... more -
Moon Orbiting Earth, as seen from 30 million miles away
Breathtaking.
(This is a link to the URL through Slashdot, because apparently the Current servers cannot locate the NASA.gov URL. Here is the direct URL:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/epoxi_t... ) Breathtaking. ... more -
New Video Shows Earth From Space
Link to the Video: http://www.space.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=SP_0...
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has made a movie of the moon passing in front of the Earth from the probe's vantage point millions of miles away.
Astronomers plan to use the video to develop techniques to look for Earth-like worlds in other solar systems.
"Making a video of Earth from so far away helps the search for other life-bearing planets in the universe by giving insights into how a distant, Earth-like alien world would appear to us," said Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland and the principal investigator for the Deep Impact extended mission.
Deep Impact, which sent an impactor into comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, is currently 31 million miles away from Earth on its way to a flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, 2010.
During its cruise to Hartley 2, Deep Impact will be searching for extrasolar planets.
Deep Impact took several images of the Earth during a full planetary rotation; these images have been combined into a color video. During the video, the moon enters the frame as it orbits the Earth and then is shown transiting, or passing in front of, the Earth.
While other spacecraft, including Voyager 1 and Galileo, have imaged Earth and the moon from space, Deep Impact is the first to show a transit of Earth with enough detail to see large craters on the moon and oceans and continents on Earth.
"Our video shows some specific features that are important for observations of Earth-like planets orbiting other stars," said Drake Deming of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the deputy principal investigator for the extended mission. "A 'sun glint' can be seen in the movie, caused by light reflected from Earth's oceans, and similar glints to be observed from extrasolar planets could indicate alien oceans."
Link to the Video: http://www.space.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=SP_080718_moon_transit ... more -
Striking similarities between Martian and Alaskan Landscapes
From the report: Little did Bucknell University geology professors Craig Kochel and Jeffrey Trop know, as they were working in Alaska, that they would soon predict one of the most important planetary observations ever made.
Although geologists can usually tell what shapes the landscape around us, it was a mystery what formed the Mars-like features found in Alaska.
The conditions on Mars are quite different than anything experienced on Earth. For example, Mars is much colder than even the Arctic — the average martian temperature is -81 degrees F (-63 degrees C) — and the planet's atmospheric pressure is lower than Earth's. Still, for the same features to be present on Earth and Mars, the two professors suspected similar processes would have made them. From the report: Little did Bucknell University geology professors Craig Kochel and Jeffrey Trop know, as they were working in Alaska,... more -
Air hostess picks up chocolate bar from trash and wins space trip
A French air hostess will become one of Europe's pioneer space tourists after picking a chocolate wrapper out of the rubbish and finding a winning number in a competition to fly to the upper reaches of the earth's atmosphere.
Mathilde Epron, 32, said she had bought a Kit Kat chocolate bar at her local supermarket but initially threw the wrapper in the bin, telling herself that "it's only others who win." Two hours later, thinking back to the competition, she decided to try her luck and fished the wrapper out of the bin, only to find a code marked inside. "For someone who works in air travel it's really a dream come true," she told France Info radio.
A spokeswoman for Nestle in France confirmed that Epron had won the prize to take a flight on a four-seater, fighter-sized aircraft built by Rocketplane, a company that builds aircraft intended to provide cheap flights into space.
She will receive four days of astronaut training in Oklahoma City in the United States before boarding the Rocketplane XP aircraft which will reach an altitude of 100 km (60 miles) and allow a five-minute experience of weightlessness.
(Joseph Tandy and James Mackenzie / Reuters) A French air hostess will become one of Europe's pioneer space tourists after picking a chocolate wrapper out of the rubbish and findi... more -
Stunning photos of the Martian landscape
looks like the Grand Canyon, if the Grand Canyon were at Burning Man. Let's get that manned mission to Mars going, people!
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NASA Collects Gallons of Employee Urine
From the report: Space program contractor Hamilton Sundstrand is seeking urine from workers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, as part of its work on the new Orion space capsule that eventually would take astronauts to the moon. From the report: Space program contractor Hamilton Sundstrand is seeking urine from workers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Te... more
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