Thursday: March 4, 2010
- NASA has discovered an abundant amount of water on the moon.
The quantity of water present at the lunar poles is significant,' Spudis writes; 'at the north pole alone, the 600 million metric tons of water there -- turned into rocket fuel -- is enough to launch the equivalent of one Space Shuttle (735 mT of propellant) per day for over 2000 years.'
Monday: March 1, 2010
- Always wondered what it would be like to make sushi in space?
There is a pretty funny video/interview embedded over on the opposite side of the click. The sushi prep actually starts at about one minute in. Mark this as one small step for man and one giant leap for sushi-kind. Bon appétit.
Monday: February 22, 2010
- Space shuttle Endeavour lands safely at Kennedy Space Center.
Astronauts Bob Behnken and British-born Nicholas Patrick conducted three spacewalks during the mission, racking up a total of 18 hours, 14 minutes outside the orbiting outpost.
Friday: February 12, 2010
- Hubble manages to capture an overly blue view of Saturn.
Aurorae result from charged solar wind particles trapped in a planet's magnetic field striking atoms in the upper atmosphere. Just like Northern Lights on Earth, Saturn sees similar polar light shows as a result.
Wednesday: February 10, 2010
- Twenty-one unbelievable photos of Mars for your Martian viewing pleasure.
Behold the wondrous splendor of Martian landscapes in all their strange atmospheric glory. After viewing these photographs I have a strange desire to go watch Total Recall. Two weeks!
Tuesday: February 9, 2010
- Take a video tour of the International Space Station in HD thanks to YouTube.
Always wanted to know what life would be like aboard a working space station? This seven minute video will give you a good indication of just that. Enjoy, future space travelers.
Wednesday: February 3, 2010
- Rare asteroid collision caught via Hubble space telescope.
Have a glimpse of what it looks like when two asteroids crash into each other in wide open deep space. Well, not so deep really - this event occured in an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Monday: January 25, 2010
- Internet access finally comes to astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
And what did the astronauts do first with said brand new Internet access capabilities? Why they sent the first tweet from space of course. NASA expects this newly announced capability to 'enhance morale and productivity.'
Tuesday: January 19, 2010
- Eleven minute solar eclipse won't happen again until the year 3034 says NASA.
NASA said on its website the eclipse was annular, meaning the moon will block most of the sun's middle, but not its edges, causing it to look like a ring. This blockage will last for 11 minutes, 8 seconds, an annual duration NASA said would not be exceeded until December 23, 3043.
Tuesday: January 5, 2010
- Five new lightweight planets discovered via Kepler space telescope.
All five planets in question are really close to nearby stars making them a little too hot for any actual human/alien life. Also, the orbital period is about three to four days but still, your face would melt off.
Monday: January 4, 2010
- Mars Spirit Rover may be stuck for good this time.
This poor little vehicle has had nothing bad luck since it got to Mars. Latest reports from NASA indicate that Spirit is currently stuck in a sand trap and has lost a wheel as well. Bummer.
Tuesday: December 29, 2009
- A collection of the top ten space photos of 2009 just for you.
Behold the almighty power of a Geminid meteor as it streaks across the Mojave Desert of California. These meteors are apparently quite easy to see since they move slower and are essentially just comet leftovers. The real lesson here is that leftovers can be a good thing after all.
Monday: December 28, 2009
- Scientists would like you to know that they have spotted fog on one of Saturn's moons.
Brown and colleagues first looked at the data using a digital filter they developed that reveals details only on the moon's surface. In the filtered images, the fog appears during the moon's late southern summer as bright, reddish-white patches hovering above the surfaces of lakes.
Friday: December 11, 2009
- The Big Dipper constellation gets an upgrade via brand new star addition.
Alcor, the bright star that forms the bend in the dipper's 'handle,' has a dim red dwarf star orbiting it. They've put out this very pretty image, in which Alcor is renamed Alcor A, and its newly-found satellite star is called Alcor B.
Thursday: December 10, 2009
- Ten ways that space travel is nothing like how it appears in television or movies.
You might get an outburst of energy during an explosion on a spacecraft and maybe even some quick flames burning up leaking oxygen, but it wouldn’t be anything near the spectacle of, say, the Death Star exploding in Star Wars.
Wednesday: December 9, 2009
- Hubble manages to capture images of some of the oldest galaxies ever seen.
NASA said that not only are those the oldest galaxies ever seen, but the data that can be extracted from the image will provide 'insights into how galaxies grew in their formative years early in the universe's history.'
Friday: November 20, 2009
- Want to know what Earth would look like if it had a ring system?
Rings views from Earth's surface were created according to the location's latitude, northern or souther hemisphere, and the viewer's orientation. The size of the rings was calculated respecting the Roche limit for the Earth.
Thursday: November 19, 2009
- Jupiter's moon might be home to a variety of aquatic fish-like life.
That amount of oxygen would be enough to support more than just microscopic life-forms: At least three million tons of fishlike creatures could theoretically live and breathe on Europa, said study author Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Monday: November 16, 2009
- NASA confirms that there is in fact water on the moon.
...if you remember, a month ago we were talking about teaspoons going into glasses over football fields. Well, now I can say today that in the 20 to 30 meter crater LCROSS made, we found maybe about a dozen of these two-gallon buckets worth of water.'
Monday: November 9, 2009
- A collection of amazing Martian landscape photography just for you.
These photos were shot via NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which has been orbiting the planet for several years. And if you like these photos, chances are you'll love using Google Mars.
Thursday: October 29, 2009
- Exploded star blast is now the most distant space object ever seen.
The star in question actually would've had to exploded about thirteen billion years ago to be visible to our telescopes. So technically, that means that this star would've exploded a long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away (golf clap).
Tuesday: October 27, 2009
- Newly discovered lava-tube on the moon might make for one cozy lunar base.
If the idea of underground shelter gains traction, lava-tube locations could join potential water sources and other factors in the debate over just where people should put down roots on the moon.
Monday: October 26, 2009
- A large meteorite-like object, most likely a meteor, has crash landed in Latvia.
'My first impression is that, yes, it was a meteorite,' he said. 'All the evidence suggests this when compared to pictures of real meteorite craters.'
Friday: October 16, 2009
- A gallery of huge holes in the Earth as seen from space.
If you happen to be big fan of looking at holes in the Earth that we as a species made then you'll probably enjoy the other holes that we as a species did not make.
Wednesday: October 14, 2009
- The future of human spaceflight as discussed by a panel of eight experts.
It's about preparing way for where people are going to be in future. Science is a tertiary benefit. People weren't excited about landing on the Moon because learned about the early geology of Earth. They were excited because we landed on the damn moon.
Friday: October 9, 2009
- NASA all set to crash into the moon this morning.
The first and much bigger crash is set for 7:31 a.m. EDT. That's when an empty rocket that weighs 2.2 tons should hit the crater Cabeus and create a minicrater about half the size of an Olympic pool. It should kick up a plume of lunar debris about six miles high.
Thursday: October 8, 2009
- NASA says not to worry about pesky asteroid that would've destroyed Earth.
According to NASA scientists, there is now just a slim chance said asteriod may hit Earth. The asteroid is about the size of two-and-a-half football fields.
Wednesday: October 7, 2009
- Turns out that Saturn has another ring that it neglected to tell anyone about.
Its diameter is equivalent to 300 Saturns lined up side to side. And its entire volume can hold one billion Earths, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said late Tuesday.
Tuesday: September 29, 2009
- Ten outer space antics that you may not have previously known about.
Turns out that there is tons of fun to be had whilst visiting outer space. Who knew?
Thursday: September 24, 2009
- NASA has made it official, there is water on the moon.
Everything you wanted to know how about how much of it there is and how it potentially got there.
