So much wrong here

This is just cool, so many exciting things about this.

Astronomers have claimed the existence of a new class of planet: a "water-world" with a thick, steamy atmosphere.

Read more HERE

"GJ 1214b is like no planet we know of," Berta said. "A huge fraction of its mass is made up of water."

The ground-based MEarth Project, led by CfA's David Charbonneau, discovered GJ 1214b in 2009. This super-Earth is about 2.7 times Earth's diameter and weighs almost seven times as much. It orbits a red-dwarf star every 38 hours at a distance of 2 million kilometres, giving it an estimated temperature of 230 degrees Celsius.

In 2010, CfA scientist Jacob Bean and colleagues reported that they had measured the atmosphere of GJ 1214b, finding it likely that it was composed mainly of water. However, their observations could also be explained by the presence of a planet-enshrouding haze in GJ 1214b's atmosphere.

Also, read more HERE

The Swiss have a plan for cleaning up space junk currently in orbit, they have made an annoucement about a debris removal device which is hoped to be launched in in three to five years. The first objecting of the program will be to capture two Swiss owned sattelties.

There’s a space junk issue in orbit. In fact, NASA tracks a half-million pieces of orbital debris... more generally gets added with new launches, and there is always the possibility current debris could be fractured in to more from objects reentering orbit and hitting ones there. Cleaning that up does sound like a good thing. The plan is to detect the offending item, match its trajectory, grab it somehow (which includes halting any spinning that it’s doing), then encapsulating everything for an eventual re-entry. Looks like they plan on the whole robot burning up along with the junk during that final stage.

Swiss scientists said Wednesday they plan to launch a “janitor satellite” specially designed to get rid of orbiting debris known as space junk.

The 10-million-franc ($11-million) satellite called CleanSpace One — the prototype for a family of such satellites — is being built by the Swiss Space Center at the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology in Lausanne, or EPFL.

EPFL said Wednesday its launch would come within three to five years and its first tasks are to grab two Swiss satellites launched in 2009 and 2010.

Read more HERE

Former American President Dwight D Eisenhower had three secret meetings with aliens from another planet, a former US government consultant has claimed.

The 34th President of the United States met the extra terrestrials at a remote air base in New Mexico in 1954, according to lecturer and author Timothy Good.

Eisenhower and other FBI officials are said to have organised the showdown with the space creatures by sending out 'telepathic messages'.

The two parties finally met up on three separate occasions at the Holloman Air Force base and there were 'many witnesses', it is claimed.

Conspiracy theorists have circulated increased rumours in recent months that the meeting between the Commander-in-Chief and people from another planet took place.

But the claims from Mr Good, a former U.S. Congress and Pentagon consultant, are the first to be made publicly by a prominent academic.

Read more HERE

Researchers at the University of Manchester’s School of Mathematics think the same technology used in light-bending “invisibility cloaks” could be used to protect buildings from earthquakes.

Invisibility cloaks, like the one recently created by University of Texas scientists, scatter waves of light away from an object using metamaterials. The earthquake-stopping technology would use specially-treated rubber to disperse seismic waves in the same way, scattering them away from a building.

The seismic waves would be converted into sound and heat energy, the researchers explained in a paper submitted last week.

“Five or six years ago scientists started with light waves, and in the last few years we have started to consider other wave-types, most importantly perhaps sound and elastic waves,”

said William Parnell in a press release.

“The real problem with the latter is that it is normally impossible to use naturally available materials as cloaks. We showed theoretically that pre-stressing a naturally available material – rubber – leads to a cloaking effect from a specific type of elastic wave.”

The next step for Parnell and his team is to put that theory into practice. The technology could eventually be used to protect sensitive buildings like nuclear power plants from earthquake damage.

That is just fun. Heh.

    On the sea, on the ocean, on the island, on Bujan,

    On the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ashstock lying

    In a green wood, in a gloomy vale.

    Toward the stock wandereth a shaggy wolf.

    Horned cattle seeking for his sharp white fangs;

    But the wolf enters not the forest,

    But the wolf dives not into the shadowy vale,

    Moon, Moon, gold-horned moon,

    Check the flight of bullets, blunt hunter’s knives,

    Break the shepherd’s cudgels.

    Cast wild fear upon all cattle,

    Oh men, on all creepings things,

    That they may not catch the grey wolf,

    That they may not rend his warm skin!

    My word is binding, more binding than sleep,

    More binding than the promise of a hero!

Spirit of the Wolf,
You who wanders the wild lands,
You who stalks in silent shadows,
You who runs and leaps
between the moss-covered trees,
lend me your primal strength,
and the wisdom of your glowing eyes.
Teach me to relentlessly track my desires.
And to stand in defense of those I love.
Show me the hidden paths and the moonlit fields.
Fierce Spirit,
Walk with me in my solitude
Howl with me in my joy
and
Guard me as I move through this world.

Dear Mr. Mercer:

 

Thank you for sharing with me your opposition to proposals such as S. 968, the Protect IP Act of 2011, and H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act.  I share many of the concerns that were raised about this legislation.

 

As you may know, Majority Leader Reid indefinitely postponed Senate consideration of the Protect IP Act.

 

The widespread use of digital media is still a relatively new phenomenon, and the law has not caught up with all the capabilities available to anyone with a computer and Internet access.  This has prompted a vigorous debate on how digital copyrights should be protected, particularly with respect to the ongoing conflict between the rights of artists and producers to protect their intellectual property versus the recognized right of consumers to make recordings for personal use.

 

While I believe that we must ensure the continuing integrity of our important copyright laws both domestically and abroad, I agree that enforcement must take place in a manner that protects the rights of all parties involved.  I will continue to closely follow this issue.  Again, thank you for contacting me.

 

                              

                              Sincerely,


                                                            Richard G. Lugar
                                                            United States Senator

Too bad it's 22 light years away and not say 3 or 4. Project Orion could get us there well within an acceptable amount of time if it was 3-4, but nooo no one wants to do it.

An international team of scientists has discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star. With an orbital period of about 28 days and a minimum mass 4.5 times that of the Earth, the planet orbits within the star’s “habitable zone,” where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the planet’s surface. The researchers found evidence of at least one and possibly two or three additional planets orbiting the star, which is about 22 light-years from Earth.

Read more HERE

Russia sets its sights on the moon for 2020

Good, now lets start a cold war with them again so we go back too! I swear, war is the only way we will achieve more space exploration via governments, fortunately private space industry is growing ever day.

Looks like Republican Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich might have some competition if he wants to be the first to build a base on the Moon. Last week, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos announced plans to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade with a lunar base as its next step.  

Read more HERE

Classic portrait of a barred spiral galaxy

Here is your beautiful photo for the week.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073, which is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies such as NGC 1073 helps astronomers learn more about our celestial home.

Read more HERE