Zero-Gravity Sex: Is It Safe to Have an Orgasm in Space? Sunset behind Gale's western rim, Curiosity sol 587. Join our eNewsletter for updates & action alerts The Bruce Murray Space Image Library Filed under pretty pictures, amateur image processing, Mars, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory) Go Back A blue halo surrounds the just-set Sun in this 6-image mosaic taken by Curiosity on sol 587 (April 1, 2014). The Sun has just set behind the tall western rim of Gale crater.
NASA / JPL / MSSS / Don Davis About this mosaic, Don writes: "I am assuming the preliminary release version JPEGs are in this case too blue overall, so I balanced the whole to make the far corners of the sky closer to a neutral gray. See also this version of the Gale crater sunset, assembled by Damia Bouic > Copyright holder: Don Davis This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.Contact us to request publication permission from the copyright holder.
Other Related Images Connect With Us. First Distant Planet to Be Seen in Color Is Blue [Video] From Nature magazine A navy-blue world orbiting a faraway star is the first exoplanet to have its colour directly measured. Discovered in 2005, HD 189733 b is one of the best-studied planets outside the Solar System, orbiting a star about 19 parsecs away in the Vulpecula, or Fox, constellation. Previous efforts to observe the planet focused on the infrared light it emits — invisible to the human eye.
Last December, astrophysicist Tom Evans at the University of Oxford, UK, and his colleagues used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the planet and its host star. Hubble's optical resolution is not high enough to actually 'see' the planet as a dot of light separate from its star, so instead, the telescope receives light from both objects that mix into a single point source. To isolate the light contribution of the planet, Evans and his colleagues waited for the planet to move behind the star during its orbit, so that its light would be blocked, and looked for changes in light colour.
Atmosphere of the Sun: Photosphere, Chromosphere & Corona. The atmosphere of the sun is composed of several layers, mainly the photosphere, the chromosphere and the corona. It's in these outer layers that the sun's energy, which has bubbled up from the sun's interior layers, is detected as sunlight. The lowest layer of the sun's atmosphere is the photosphere. It is about 300 miles (500 kilometers) thick. This layer is where the sun's energy is released as light. Because of the distance from the sun to Earth, light reaches our planet in about eight minutes. Image of the solar corona, taken by the SECCHI outer coronagraph (COR2) on the STEREO Ahead observatory on June 8, 2010 at 01:09:35 UT.
The photosphere is marked by bright, bubbling granules of plasma and darker, cooler sunspots, which emerge when the sun's magnetic field breaks through the surface. The photosphere is also the source of solar flares: tongues of fire that extend hundreds of thousands of miles above the sun's surface. The next layer is the chromosphere. The Smells of Space: Burned Steak, Gunpowder, Raspberries. Chemical bond discovered that only exists in space - space - 19 July 2012. By Nicola Guttridge There’s a new bond in town, and this secret agent works best in extreme situations. The bond, of the chemical variety, occurs in the presence of very strong magnetic fields, such as those found around ultra-dense white dwarf stars. Its discovery not only demonstrates the existence of an unfamiliar and exotic type of chemistry, it may also give insight into the behaviours of these mysterious stellar bodies.
White dwarfs are the remnant cores of low-mass stars that have exhausted all their fuel. They are thought to be the final state for most of the stars in our galaxy. Though they have masses comparable to that of our sun, white dwarfs only occupy the same amount of space as a small planet like Earth, making them incredibly dense. They also exhibit super-strong magnetic fields on the order of 100,000 tesla – 10 billion times greater than Earth’s magnetic field, and 10 million times greater than that of an average refrigerator magnet. Exclusion principle Reading the stars. Historia de la tecnología: 50 años del Telstar 1. Si bien el primer satélite artificial de la historia llegó de la mano de la Unión Soviética con el lanzamiento del Sputnik en octubre de 1957, la serie de satélites de la Unión Soviética emitían señales de radio de telemetría, es decir, mediciones realizadas desde el propio satélite que se enviaban a un control de Tierra en una comunicación unidireccional.
El auge de la radio y la televisión tanto en Europa como en Estados Unidos planteó la necesidad de mejorar los sistemas de transporte de señal y aumentar la oferta de contenidos ofreciendo retransmisiones de otros lugares del mundo así como mejorar las comunicaciones a través de la red telefónica fija. Tras la constitución de los socios, el equipo de los Laboratorios Bell inició el proyecto con el ingeniero John R. Pierce como responsable del mismo (y responsable del diseño global), Rudolf Kompfner (encargado del transpondedor del satélite) o James M. Telstar 1: The Little Satellite That Created the Modern World 50 Years Ago | Wired Science. Satellites Photograph Solar Eclipse From Space | May 20 Annular Solar Eclipse. Spectators on Earth weren't the only ones to spot an impressive solar eclipse Sunday (May 20). Two satellites managed to snap amazing images and videos of the solar eclipse from space.
The European Space Agency's Proba-2 microsatellite and Japan's Hinode sun observatory had ring-side seats to Sunday's so-called "ring of fire" solar eclipse. In fact, both satellites were able to capture multiple views of the eclipse as they orbited Earth. The Proba-2 space weather microsatellite recorded four views of the solar eclipse as it flew 435 miles (700 kilometers) above the surface of the Earth.
The satellite first spotted the natural phenomenon at 5:09 p.m. Yesterday, the moon passed between Earth and the sun in a so-called annular solar eclipse. This image taken by the Hinode satellite shows the annular solar eclipse at its maximum on May 20, 2012.Credit: JAXA/Hinode The European Space Agency's Proba-2 space weather satellite observed the annular solar eclipse on May 20, 2012. Frontline -The Medicated Child 2 of 6. Press Release - Surprising Discovery of a Rare "Emerald-Cut" Galaxy - Subaru Telescope. Print This Article Surprising Discovery of a Rare "Emerald-Cut" Galaxy March 19, 2012 An international team of astronomers—from Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Finland—has discovered a rare, rectangular-shaped galaxy (LEDA 074886) that has a striking resemblance to an emerald-cut diamond.
While using the Subaru Prime Focus Camera (Suprime-Cam) to look for globular clusters of stars swarming around NGC 1407, a bright, giant galaxy in the Constellation Eridanus and 70 million light years from Earth, the researchers discovered an unusually shaped dwarf galaxy toward the edge of their image. Professor Alister Graham (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia), lead author of the paper describing the research, said, "It's one of those things that just makes you smile because it shouldn't exist, or rather, you don't expect it to exist. " Its discovery allows astronomers to obtain useful information for modeling other galaxies. Reference: Top Ten Mysteries of the Universe. Space Law: Is Asteroid Mining Legal? | Wired Science. Can a private company claim ownership of an asteroid based on sending a probe out to it? Can it at least get exclusive mining rights? Would it own the gold, platinum or other materials mined from the asteroid? Last week, a new private company, Planetary Resources announced an ambitious plan to prospect for and eventually mine near-Earth asteroids.
Backed in part by Google execs Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, this venture has stirred the pot once again on the question of outer space property rights. Understanding the legality of asteroid mining starts with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. Berin Szoka and James Dunstan About Others have argued that because Article II only applies to nations, individuals are free to claim chunks of the solar system.
This question is too far in the future to answer. Image: NASA/Wired. What Is on Voyager’s Golden Record? “I thought it was a brilliant idea from the beginning,” says Timothy Ferris. Produce a phonograph record containing the sounds and images of humankind and fling it out into the solar system. By the 1970s, astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake already had some experience with sending messages out into space. They had created two gold-anodized aluminum plaques that were affixed to the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
Linda Salzman Sagan, an artist and Carl’s wife, etched an illustration onto them of a nude man and woman with an indication of the time and location of our civilization. The “Golden Record” would be an upgrade to Pioneer’s plaques. Mounted on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, twin probes launched in 1977, the two copies of the record would serve as time capsules and transmit much more information about life on Earth should extraterrestrials find it. NASA approved the idea. Over the course of ten months, a solid outline emerged. The following is a selection of items on the record: The Solar Photosphere. The Sun is made up of layers of material, like a baseball or rubber band ball. The photosphere is the lowest layer of the solar atmosphere.
It is essentially the solar "surface" that we see when we look at the Sun in "white" (i.e. regular, or visible) light. When we observe sunspots and faculae (bright little cloud-like features) we are observing them in the photosphere. Like the Sun, our planet, Earth, is made up of layers, too. The thickest or most dense material on the Earth is in the very middle of our planet -- the core. .
A Review of the Universe. Audio Gallery: What Other Planets Might Sound Like | Wired Science. Travelers to other bodies in our solar system would get to explore amazing sights and sounds. But while the sights have been well-documented using robotic probes, we are still quite ignorant of what it sounds like on other planets. Now, a team from the University of Southampton in England has used its knowledge of acoustic properties to simulate the sounds of other worlds. The noises, some familiar and some quite alien, represent the rich acoustic diversity in our solar system.
Several prior attempts have been made to pick up real sounds from other planets. The European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which touched down on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, carried a microphone. In lieu of these recordings, the simulated sounds below may help transport you to another world. Rhymes on Other Worlds A person reading "Mary Had Little Lamb" on different worlds produces strikingly different sounds. Waterfall and Methanofall Splashdown Dustdevil on Mars.
Space.com. The Earth, shaped by gravity, is anything but round. The saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder means that what we see is subject to our perspective. Take our planet for example. From space through human eyes or a camera, it seems to be a beautiful uniform sphere, but that’s not how the European Space Agency’s ( ESA ) GOCE satellite sees it.
In fact, looking through its eyes you would have to say that Earth looks more like a potato. GOCE was launched in March 2009 with the mission to map the small differences in our planet’s gravity . It does this through its gradiometer which consists of six highly sensitive accelerometers that measure gravity in 3D. Using data that the satellite has collected over the last 12 months, scientists have been able to construct what is referred to as a geoid.
Such gravity data can help scientists and researchers better understand the processes that cause earthquakes like the one in Japan. The GOCE satellite currently has enough fuel to continue collecting data until the end of 2012. How Dark Matter Messes with Our Galaxy [Video] This video shows the spiral shape of our galaxy and two of its small satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (to the left). The satellites orbit the main galaxy and, in the process, trigger slow-motion waves in it. On a human time scale, those waves look like a static warp in the galactic outskirts. The strange thing is that the satellites are too lightweight to have such a dramatic effect. Astronomers recently demonstrated that their gravity is greatly amplified by dark matter (which this video does not show -- it is, after all, dark). The Magellanic Clouds are not the only satellites of the Milky Way.
Astronomers have counted some two dozen. This video shows their three- dimensional position relative to the plane of the galaxy, where the sun and most other stars lie. Is Pluto a Planet? | What Is a Planet? | What Is a Dwarf Planet? | Space & Astronomy | Space.com. Poor little Pluto. Five years ago, after a lengthy, contentious debate among astronomers, the International Astronomical Union announced its new criteria for what it takes to qualify as a planet. Pluto didn't make the cut. To be considered a true planet, a non-satellite, celestial body must: (A) be in orbit around the Sun. (B) have sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape. (C) have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. If it meets only the first two conditions, it is classified as a "dwarf planet. " Pluto, for example, is surrounded by several other non-satellite objects, so it has not met the third criterion.
When Pluto was discovered in 1930, it was thought to be larger than Mercury. This, along with some of Pluto's other eccentricities, got astronomers talking about demoting Pluto. Interestingly, astronomers have been through this type of reclassification before. NASA Orbiter Catches Mars Sand Dunes in Motion.
Cassini Chronicles the Life and Times of Saturn's Giant Storm. 6 Questions with the Man Who Had Sex On the Moon | Thad Roberts On Stealing NASA Moon Rocks, Quantum Space Theory | NASA Moon Rocks Theft | Space.com. In 2002, Thad Roberts was a 25-year-old intern at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Like so many young lovers, he had promised his girlfriend the moon. Uniquely, he decided to actually deliver on the promise, and stole 17 pounds of moon rocks from the space agency that had been brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts.
He got caught selling the rocks on the Internet. The stunt landed Roberts in prison for 100 months. Not willing to let his NASA experience or undergraduate degree in astrophysics go to waste, he spent his time behind bars contemplating the greatest mysteries of the universe, and conceived a theory to explain them. According to Roberts and his followers, quantum space theory (QST) could unify Einstein's general relativity with quantum mechanics at long last. Robert's extraordinary story is chronicled in a new book by Ben Mezrich called "Sex On the Moon" (Doubleday 2011), which hit stores July 12. 1. What was it like to possess those moon rocks? What Would Earth Be Like with Two Suns? | Tatooine-Like Planet Discovered Orbiting Two Stars | Space.com. Space Travel in the 22nd Century | Innovations. Mars Attack: The 100 Year Starship Symposium and When Jesus Meets the Aliens. Logy Magazine. The Problem With Landing Humans on Mars (and How to Fix It) | Wired Science.
GRAIL Satellite's First Video of the Far Side of the Moon | Wired Science. Black Hole Eats Asteroids, Burps Out X-Rays | Wired Science. Olympics on Mars? Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains. Logy Magazine. How NASA Makes Those Incredible High-Res Images of Earth | Wired Science. To Infinity and Beyond at DARPA’s 100-Year Starship Symposium - Interstellar Travel. Destination: Moon or Asteroid? Part I: Operational Considerations | The Once and Future Moon. Unity Node: Ready to Launch. Could Living Planets Exist? | Alien Planets. Amateur Astronomers Flash the Space Station. Astronomers Find Evidence of a Special Direction in Space. ASTR 1230, Whittle [Fall 2009]. Lecture Notes. 03.16.2007 - Origins of the universe: Stephen Hawking's J. Robert Oppenheimer Lecture. The Top 5 Astronomical Events to Witness Before You Die | Fun Lists - Top 10 Lists.
Gallery: Tech Designed for the Space Shuttle That We All Can Enjoy. 'Heartbeat' of Earth's Atmosphere Detected from Space | Atmosphere Layers, Ionosphere, Atmosphere Heartbeat | Space.com. Slideshow: 6 Everyday Things that Happen Strangely In Space. NewsCenter - Hubble, Swift Detect First-Ever Changes in an Exoplanet Atmosphere (06/28/2012) - Introduction. Hubble Pinpoints Furthest Protocluster of Galaxies Ever Seen | Press Releases. NASA's Hubble Spots a Relic from a Shredded Galaxy (02/17/2012) - The Full Story. Astronomers Watch Delayed Broadcast of a Powerful Stellar Eruption (02/15/2012) - The Full Story. The World Through a Looking Glass. Beginnings and Endings: Lots in Between. Fifty Years of Human Spaceflight.
Herschel - Herschel detects abundant water in planet-forming disc. Amateur astronomer glimpses an alien solar system. Saturn: the Forbidden Planet. S. P. McGreevy's ground-based ELF-VLF recordings, 1991 - 1998. The Eerie Sounds of Saturn's Radio Emissions. The scale of Saturn. Sunset on an alien world. Amazing moonset video taken from space! Exoplanet in a triple star system smack dab in the habitable zone. Stellar tantrum blasts away part of its planet’s atmosphere! Onward to the Edge. The 6 Most Mind-Blowing Things Ever Discovered in Space. Hubble Captures a “Lucky” Galaxy Alignment. Alien bright lights, big city could reveal ET - space - 03 November 2011. Astrophile: Attack of the mystery green blobs - space - 04 November 2011.
Hyperactive sun clears space junk – for now - space - 25 January 2012. One Per Cent: Drone could soar through Titan's skies for years. Aliens don't need a moon like ours - space - 13 November 2011. Diamond planets may not be life's best friend - space - 06 December 2011. What a trip through a wormhole would look like. Space is bad for astronauts' eyes - space - 14 March 2012.