Top 10 Strangest Things In Space Space Let’s be honest: space is an absolutely crazy place. Most science fiction writers throw in a planet with two stars that looks vaguely like Southern California, and call it a day. But the cosmos is a lot stranger than we give it credit for: Everyone knows that shooting stars are just meteors entering the atmosphere, right? If you didn’t, congratulations—you just failed the fourth grade. When a binary star system is gobbled down by the supermassive black hole (that’s the scientific term, by the way) at the center of a galaxy, one of the two partners is consumed, while the other is ejected at high speed. Gliese 581 c wants to kill you. This planet orbits a red dwarf star, many times smaller than our Sun, with a luminosity of only 1.3% of our sun. The tidal locking of the planet alone results in some pretty odd features. Living on Gliese 581 c would have its challenges, though. As if one or two giant, fiery balls of gas weren’t enough, here we have the Castor System.
Want to snag a satellite? Try a net / Clean Space / Space Engineering & Technology Want to snag a satellite? Try a net Netting a derelict satellite 23 March 2015 One of humanity’s oldest technologies, the humble fishing net, may yet find a new role in space: bringing down dead satellites. The behaviour of nets in orbit was recently checked on an aircraft flying parabolic arcs to create brief periods of weightlessness. “We shot nets out of a compressed air ejector at a scale-model satellite,” explains ESA engineer Kjetil Wormnes. Weightless net testing for derelict satellite capture “We fired 20 nets at various speeds during 21 parabolas over two days. “The good news is they worked extremely well – so much so that the nets usually had to be cut away with a knife before we could shoot again.” Team boarding aircraft The Falcon 20 aircraft is flown so that for 20 seconds at a time it falls through the sky, effectively cancelling out gravity inside the aircraft. “Everything was recorded on four high-speed HD cameras,” Kjetil added. Canada's Falcon 20 parabolic aircraft
Stars & Planets Scale Comparison A Humbling Perspective"Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise." This scale comparison shows "the true place" of Earth and our Sun among the various giants of the universe. It is simultaneously sobering and mind-boggling experience.First series of images opens with the Death Star compared to Mimas, one of Saturn's moons. Note the similarities between the two :) Earth is small enough to be swallowed by an average sunspot:(picture credt) Second series of images (from this site) shows the similar progression, now in 3-D: "The Universe is a big place populated by stars and thoroughly confused humans." -- Avi Abrams "We simply do not understand our place in the universe and have not the courage to admit it" -- Barry Lopez (American writer, b.1945) "The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. "The reduction of the universe to a single being, the expansion of a single being even to God, this is love." -- Victor Hugo (source Ochevidec)Permanent Link...
Dark alien planet discovered by NASA An alien world blacker than coal, the darkest planet known, has been discovered in the galaxy. The world in question is a giant the size of Jupiter known as TrES-2b. NASA's Kepler spacecraft detected it lurking around the yellow sun-like star GSC 03549-02811 some 750 lightyears away in the direction of the constellation Draco. The researchers found this gas giant reflects less than 1 percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it darker than any planet or moon seen up to now. [The Strangest Alien Planets] "It's just ridiculous how dark this planet is, how alien it is compared to anything we have in our solar system," study lead-author David Kipping, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told SPACE.com. "However, it's not completely pitch black," co-author David Spiegel of Princeton University said in a statement. "It's a mystery as to what's causing it to be so dark," Kipping said. This article was reprinted with permission from SPACE.com.
Japan's huge magnetic net will trawl for space junk - space - 22 January 2014 Gravity wasn't all fiction: tiny pieces of high-speed orbiting debris endanger our satellites. Now Japan is set to launch an electromagnetic net to catch them SOMEWHERE in Earth's orbit, a satellite explodes into a terrifying cloud of debris. Moments later, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are left scrambling to dodge the deadly space junk. Next month, the Japanese space agency, JAXA, will pilot its "electrodynamic tether" for the first time. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of spacecraft, satellites and other equipment from human spaceflight zip around our planet, some travelling faster than the speed of sound. To build its debris-catching net, JAXA brought in Nitto Seimo, a company that specialises in fishing equipment. JAXA thinks the net's main advantage is its simplicity – it's lightweight and doesn't require any propellant to move. However, the test will also explore some possible drawbacks. Not everyone is convinced of the idea. Catch 'em, drag 'em, blast 'em Furless midriff ()
Solar System Scope Earth-size planet found: Lightest exoplanet yet orbits Sun-like star Alpha Centauri B Newly found world orbits Alpha Centauri B, 4.3 light years from our SunIt is the lightest exoplanet yet found orbiting a Sun-like starIt is thought to be too hot for life, and there is likely no water presentBut presence suggests there may be other planets within the same system By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 08:18 GMT, 17 October 2012 | Updated: 12:37 GMT, 17 October 2012 An Earth-sized planet has been found orbiting a star in Alpha Centauri, our nearest neighbouring solar system. The mystery world circling Alpha Centauri B is thought to be much too hot to support life, with surface temperatures of around 1,500C. But astronomers say it is likely to be part of a more extensive solar system containing other planets, one or more of which might be habitable. Scroll down for video Next-door neighbour: An artist's impression of the recently found planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to our own 'Alpha Centauri is our closest neighbour.
arksien comments on Simulation of space debris orbiting Earth New comet likely to impress when it passes closest to Earth in December By Alan Pickup, The GuardianSunday, October 14, 2012 20:16 EDT A comet found recently beyond the orbit of Jupiter could well become spectacular late next year and may be a sibling of one of the most celebrated comets of all time. What is formally known as Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) was not at first recognised as a comet when it was spotted as a 19th magnitude object using a small Russian telescope of the International Scientific Optical Network on 21 September. Earlier images have been found stretching back to last year, allowing its orbit to be calculated and showing that it is destined to sweep within 1.2 million km of the Sun’s surface at perihelion on 28 November 2013. Some predictions claim that it could rival the full moon in brightness at that time. Its orbit resembles that of Kirch’s Comet, the Great Comet of 1680, which hangs over Rotterdam in our illustration from a painting by the Dutch artist Lieve Verschuier. © Guardian News and Media 2012
11 cheap gifts guaranteed to impress science geeks Science comes up with a lot of awesome stuff, and you don't need a Ph.D, a secret lab, or government funding to get your hands on some of the coolest discoveries. We've got a list of 11 mostly affordable gifts that are guaranteed to blow your mind, whether or not you're a science geek. Click on any image to see it enlarged. 1. Aerogel Also known as frozen smoke, Aerogel is the world's lowest density solid, clocking in at 96% air. Aerogel isn't just neat, it's useful. Price: $35 2. Inside these sealed glass balls live shrimp, algae, and bacteria, all swimming around in filtered seawater. EcoSpheres came out of research looking at ways to develop self-contained ecosystems for long duration space travel. Price: $80 3. NASA has been trying to figure out how to get a sample of rock back from Mars for a while now. Every once in a while, a meteorite smashes into Mars hard enough to eject some rocks out into orbit around the sun. Price: $70+ 4. Price: $150 5. Price: $110 6. Price: $80 7. Price: $15 8.
Sizes of the Universe Poster Share this infographic on your site! <a href=" src=" alt="Sizes of the Universe" width="500" border="0" /></a><br />Source: <a href=" Sleuth</a> Embed this infographic on your site! Have you ever wondered how big the universe is? Maybe you've wondered how big Texas is in comparison to Pluto? Interact: Magnifying the Universe Interactive Infographic
Scientists say mysterious 'Oumuamua' object could be an alien spacecraft Get the Mach newsletter. Nov. 5, 2018 / 7:06 PM GMT By David Freeman Maybe it's an alien spacecraft. Scientists have been puzzling over Oumuamua ever since the mysterious space object was observed tumbling past the sun in late 2017. Now a pair of Harvard researchers are raising the possibility that Oumuamua is an alien spacecraft. The researchers aren't claiming outright that aliens sent Oumuamua. Who would have sent such a spacecraft our way — and why? "It is impossible to guess the purpose behind Oumuamua without more data," Avi Loeb, chairman of Harvard's astronomy department and a co-author of the paper, told NBC News MACH in an email. Earthlings have launched simple solar-powered lightsails of our own, and Loeb is an adviser to Breakthrough Starshot, an initiative that plans to send a fleet of tiny laser-powered lightsail craft to the nearest star system. Coryn Bailer-Jones, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, voiced similar objections.
Physics 20b: Introduction to Cosmology - Spring 2010 - Download free content from UC Irvine