CosmoBC.com AstroBlog

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-25

Paul — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @spacefuture Black hole knocked off axis by galaxy collision #space http://bit.ly/ccVI2X #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-18

Paul — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @starsmaven 25,000 new asteroids found by NASA ’s sky mapping: Worried about Earth-threatening asteroids… http://bit.ly/aysJDJ # RT @earthskyscience Tonight's sky, Moon near Spica – planets – plus lunar night versus day http://bit.ly/bcdWWn # RT @nasablog The Space Shuttle Main Engine operates at greater temperature extremes than any mechanical system in common use today. #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-11

Paul — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Astronomy Picture of the Week – Crescent Neptune and Triton http://is.gd/cGH86 #

Astronomy Picture of the Week – Crescent Neptune and Triton

Paul — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:27:42 +0000

This is a photo of a crescent Neptune and its largest moon Triton taken by the Voyager 2 probe in 1989. It is unique because such a picture could not be taken from Earth since Neptune never shows a crescent phase to sunward Earth. Image Credit: NASA, Voyager 2 mission.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-06

Paul — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @rdfrs Titan: Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exists on Saturn's moon' http://bit.ly/ai5WU5 # RT @katmatcreations: Wow Nasa believes they have found life on Saturns moon Titan! http://bit.ly/dstQnX # RT @digg_sciences "Experimental Jet Breaks Record, Flies 6 Times Speed of Sound" – http://digg.com/d21T6R1?t10 # RT @earthskyscience Tonight's sky, Moon and Jupiter pair up before sunrise June [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-23

Paul — Sun, 23 May 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @AsteroidMisses asteroid (2010 KO10) missed earth by 0.4 lunar distances: diameter ~18 m, velocity 11.94 km/s, energy ~156 kilotons. # RT @NASA_FB Sunday morning will mark the end of the STS-132 docked mission. 7:25 am(CDT) is Hatch Close and starting… http://bit.ly/b2M1dp # RT @nasablog Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at the [...]

Mars photos by HiRISE

Paul — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:25:17 +0000

This is a video showing photos of Mars taken by HiRISE:

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-04-25

Paul — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @spacefuture The "Hubble Effect" -A New Picture of the Universe #space http://bit.ly/c4SUMJ # RT @digg_sciences "Russian Shuttle Clone: The Original Unmanned Space Flight" – http://digg.com/d21PEsr?t10 # RT @SpaceflightNow Pentagon officials say they lost contact with a hypersonic glider testbed launched Thursday http://tinyurl.com/27y8qqq # Astronomy Picture of the Week – Jupiter from Voyager: This photo of Jupiter featuring the [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – Jupiter from Voyager

Paul — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 23:26:14 +0000

This photo of Jupiter featuring the Great Red Spot was taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it flew-by the planet in 1979. The Great Red Spot is a giant hurricane-like storm rotating in the planet’s atmosphere. It is so large that three Earth’s would fit inside. It is still unclear as to how old [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-04-18

Paul — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @Unstrung Beautiful crescent moon above the western horizon. Check it out if you can! # RT @NASA: More NASA satellite views of that Iceland volcano ash plume spreading over Europe. http://tinyurl.com/y5ucox7 # RT @creepingsharia: First man on moon, Armstrong: Obama NASA plan 'devastating' http://kl.am/aORY # RT @WeatherPlanet STS-131: mission management clears Discovery's heat shield for reentry. http://ff.im/-j9cP0 [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – Distant Nebula

Paul — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 01:05:20 +0000

This nebula, designated as N 49 or DEM L 190, looks like puffs of smoke or sparks from a fireworks display. It is one of the most distant nebulae ever observed, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. The nebula is the result of a large supernova, whose light [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-04-11

Paul — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Rover Spotted On The Moon: The Russian Lunar rover Lunokhod 2 was recently spotted on the Moon’s surface. As show… http://bit.ly/9146zg # RT @Spacedotcom Space Junk Threat Invisible to Astronauts in Orbit: http://bit.ly/c7P4d6 # RT @science Data from Europe's Venus Express probe suggests Venus is still volcanically active http://bit.ly/9IsUJx # Astronomy Picture of the Week – M27 Or Dumbbell [...]

Rover Spotted On The Moon

Paul — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:17:02 +0000

The Russian Lunar rover Lunokhod 2 was recently spotted on the Moon’s surface. As shown in the photo below, the black arrow indicates where the tracks begin, while the white one shows the resting place of the rover. The arrows were placed by Phil Stooke, geography professor at University of Western Ontario. Richard Garriott, a successful [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – M27 Or Dumbbell Nebula

Paul — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:14:39 +0000

This greenish nebula was discovered by Charles Messier, a French astronomer of the 18th century. Originally he did not know what the object was, except that it was neither a star nor a comet. Now we know that it is a planetary nebula. It was formed by the explosion of a sun-like star (nova). It [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-04-04

Paul — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Saturn’s Moon Mimas Looks Like Pac-Man In Infrared: In an earlier article we have showed you how Saturn’s moon Mi… http://bit.ly/d0JB0p # RT @SpaceflightNow Mission Management Team today gave unanimous "go" for Discovery launch. http://tinyurl.com/y9vsah7 # RT @nasablog Did you know that every day the Hubble Space Telescope archives 3 to 5 gigabytes of data? # RT @SpaceflightNow Countdown [...]

Saturn’s Moon Mimas Looks Like Pac-Man In Infrared

Paul — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 21:59:31 +0000

In an earlier article we have showed you how Saturn’s moon Mimas totally looks like the Death Star from the Star Wars movies. Now it seems that Mimas also looks like Pac-Man from the 1980s video game when seen in infrared. Saturn’s moon Mimas looks like Pac-Man when seen in infrared. This infrared picture was taken by [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – Nebula NGC 7009

Paul — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:38:42 +0000

This odd greenish nebula, called NGC 7009, is the result of a star similar to our sun going nova. Since then, a bright new star was born from the gases of its predecessor. It can be seen in the center of the nebula, inside the bluish sphere of gas. The nebula is located 1,400 light-years [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-28

Paul — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @AsteroidWatch Small asteroid 2010 FW9 will safely pass Earth at 3.03 lunar distances (725,000 mi or 1.17 mil km) on 3/28 at 0542 UTC # Did You Know? The Space Shuttle Runs On Only One Megabyte Of RAM!: It’s true! NASA’s space shuttle is controlled… http://bit.ly/b24qxp # RT @NASA To learn more about today's suborbital @NASA_Wallops launch, [...]

Did You Know? The Space Shuttle Runs On Only One Megabyte Of RAM!

Paul — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 01:36:49 +0000

It’s true! NASA’s space shuttle is controlled by a computer running on only one megabyte of RAM. How is this possible? Since the space shuttle and all its hardware is over 30 years old, so is its computer. The current computer is actually an upgraded version of the 500-kilobyte computer that was used until 1991, [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-21

Paul — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:30:00 +0000

RT @Astro_Ron Why the Moon matters to the future of our planet: http://ow.ly/d/1xy # RT @Astro_Soichi http://twitpic.com/19to2b – Sometimes, sand dune is as big as an airport. Arabia. # Astronomy Picture of the Week – The Rings of Saturn: This picture of Saturn’s rings in its natural colors has been… http://bit.ly/cjQmy6 # Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-14: Inflatable [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – The Rings of Saturn

Paul — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:49:30 +0000

This picture of Saturn’s rings in its natural colors has been taken by the Cassini probe from an angle impossible to get from Earth. We can see a huge gap in Saturn’s rings. This is caused by the planet obscuring the Sun’s light. Since the rings do not emit light on their own, a lack [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-14

Paul — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Inflatable Space Stations: NASA is considering the use of inflatable modules for the International Space Station (… http://bit.ly/9i9Pgt # Astronomy Picture of the Week – The Rosette Nebula: The Rosette Nebula is a quite large nebula and is located 3,00… http://bit.ly/cbqtsj # Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-07: Dark Asteroids Discovered, Possible Threat to Earth: An infrared space [...]

Inflatable Space Stations

Paul — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:13:58 +0000

NASA is considering the use of inflatable modules for the International Space Station (ISS). This idea has been proposed as early as in the 1960s, but it has never been put to use in space until Bigelow Aerospace took over the idea and developed two working prototypes and tested them in space. The main advantage [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – The Rosette Nebula

Paul — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:06:55 +0000

The Rosette Nebula is a quite large nebula and is located 3,000 light-years away. This picture was taken in the light emitted by three elements of the ionized gas from the nebula. The red color comes from hydrogen, green from oxygen and blue from sulfur. Image Credits: NASA

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-07

Paul — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Dark Asteroids Discovered, Possible Threat to Earth: An infrared space telescope, called the Wide-Field Infrared S… http://bit.ly/9phoqT # RT @dailygalaxy Earth's Magentic Shield 3.5 Billion Years Old Shielded Early Life http://bit.ly/925h6D # RT @dailygalaxy Scary Zone: NASA Extraterrestrial Impact VIDEO http://su.pr/2nSuCr # RT @nasablog The USSR's Soyuz was the first Soviet spacecraft to dock with an American spacecraft. [...]

Dark Asteroids Discovered, Possible Threat to Earth

Paul — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:15:25 +0000

An infrared space telescope, called the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has discovered several dark asteroids close to Earth that could possibly be a threat to our planet. Those asteroids are very dark and reflect less than 10% of the sunlight they receive, which makes them extremely hard to spot with traditional telescopes. However they [...]

Mimas And Iapetus, Two Odd Moons Of Saturn

Paul — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:54:39 +0000

Saturn has a lot of moons. Two of them are really odd, and bear a striking resemblance to the Death Star from the Star Wars movies. Mimas has a crater of approximately the same scale as the one on the Death Star. Iapetus also has large craters, but the resemblance lies in its equatorial ridge. Mimas [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – Sombrero Galaxy

Paul — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:20:19 +0000

This stunning picture of the Sombrero Galaxy in infrared was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, is 50,000 light years across which makes it one of the largest galaxies of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. It is 28 million light years away from us. Image Credits: NASA, Spitzer Space Telescope.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-28

Paul — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Possibilities for Life on Mars: An article was recently published by Scientific American, a very reputable science… http://bit.ly/cM98fX # Did you know? The Moon has an Atmosphere: It is a common misconception that the Moon’s surface is a perfect vacuum… http://bit.ly/dklygo # Astronomy Picture of the Week – The Orion Nebula: This is an awesome picture of [...]

Possibilities for Life on Mars

Paul — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:52:38 +0000

An article was recently published by Scientific American, a very reputable science magazine, stating that evidence was found that life existed on Mars and was brought to Earth on a meteorite. The meteorite in question is called “Allan Hills 84001”. It was blasted from Mars by a huge meteorite impact 16 million years ago and [...]

Astronomy Picture of the Week – The Orion Nebula

Paul — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:45:20 +0000

This is an awesome picture of the Orion Nebula taken by the Hubble Telescope. The Orion Nebula is located 1,500 light-years away from Earth. Astronomers believe it contains over a thousand young stars. Credits: NASA

Did you know? The Moon has an Atmosphere

Paul — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:31:54 +0000

It is a common misconception that the Moon’s surface is a perfect vacuum. It is not! The Moon indeed has an atmosphere, a very tenuous one however. If you could capture the Moon’s entire atmosphere, it would weigh about 10,000 kg. In other words, it would weigh less than a large truck. Sources of the lunar [...]

7 (Crazy) Civilian Uses for Nuclear Bombs

Paul — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:23:30 +0000

A much longer and more detailed article published on our sister blog CosmoBC.com InTheBlogs about 7 crazy civilian uses for nuclear bombs: 7 (Crazy) Civilian Uses for Nuclear Bombs Out of seven civilian uses for nuclear bombs, two are space related: - They could be used for human spaceflight, - Or they could be used to defend Earth from [...]

NASA unveils new space ship

Paul — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:11:09 +0000

This is a short summary of an article about NASA’s new space ship mock-up design, the Orion exploration vehicle, posted on our sister blog CosmoBC.com InTheBlogs: NASA unveils new space ship Since the recent revision of the NASA program by the Obama Administration, the future of this space ship is uncertain.

Space Shuttle Discovery Lands After Landmark Flight

Paul — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:51:25 +0000

Another article published earlier on our sister blog CosmoBC.com InTheBlogs about the space shuttle Discovery landing after completing its mission on the International Space Station: Space Shuttle Discovery Lands After Landmark Flight

How to Defend Earth Against an Asteroid Strike

Paul — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:34:21 +0000

A longer and more detailed article from our sister blog CosmoBC.com InTheBlogs about how to defend Earth against an asteroid strike: How to Defend Earth Against an Asteroid Strike The article lists a number of possible solutions.

India to launch student built Satellite

Paul — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:24:51 +0000

An article published earlier on our sister blog CosmoBC.com InTheBlogs: India to launch student built Satellite

Welcome!

Paul — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:31:50 +0000

Welcome to CosmoBC.com AstroBlog – The Astronomy & Space Exploration Blog! There will be more posts here shortly, so stay tuned!