BPD

Fun Facts About Comet ISON

2013-04-05T19:29:00.003+03:00

Dear Diary...

All you need to know about the so-called Comet of the Century is right here, you're welcome. Even though, I wouldn't go as far as calling it the Century's Superstar, Comet ISON will be making headlines in no time! The last Comet that got astrophotographers around the world drooling, is Comet PanSTARRS, check these photos out if you still haven't.

Comet ISON's trajectory

Again, astronomers shouldn't be allowed to name things, this comet's official name is C/2012 S1 (ISON). 'Why', you ask? Because it was discovered by two Russian fellows in September of 2012 at the International Scientific Optical Network (and that spells ISON, you silly). What's most interesting about comets is how unpredictable they are, ISON could be the show of the decade or the joke of the month, it could turn out to be a dazzling light in the sky or a completely failed event. Let's get down with some numbers:

ISON is as old the Solar System, and I mean 4,6 billion years old. All comets and other small space objects roaming about, were formed while our Solar System was taking shape, so these rocks are older than any rock you can find on Earth (that's not a meteor, of course)
ISON was discovered while it was 940 million kilometers (584 million miles) away from the Sun, that's nearly 6 times the Earth-Sun distance.
ISON has been traveling towards the Sun, and coming all the way from the edge of our Solar System, or the Oort Cloud (you can pronounce that however you like by the way) that's 1 light year away (yep, 10 million million kilometers)
ISON's trajectory is so perfect that it suggests that this Comet is visiting the Sun for the very first time, and once it does, the Sun will twist the trajectory a little bit.
ISON is moving towards the Sun, getting brighter and brighter, until reaching its perihelion (that's a techie word for closest to the Sun) on November 28th 2013, it'll come as close as only 1,3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) to the solar surface
ISON will reach the Sun at a dazzling speed of 684,000 Km/h (425,000 mph) and the temperature on its surface can reach 1,1 million degrees Celsius (1,98 million degrees Fahrenheit)
ISON pauses no risk whatsoever, news of a possible collision are not true, don't click on those links children, they're all lies. We're at a safe distance of 60 million kilometers away, all we might get is a meteor shower when the Earth passes through the Comet's debris in space.

Here's the list of possible scenarios:

If ISON survives its solar pass-by, it could emerge so bright it could outshine Venus and even a Full Moon, and it would be visible during broad daylight (and you're very unlucky if you live in a super-cloudy city). Kind of like Comet Lovejoy back in 2011, it emerged intact with an awesome tail.

Comet Lovejoy from from Quarry Hill Lookout, South Australia, by Mark Dawson.

Or ISON could break up, leaving a trail of shiny pearls, easily visible through a telescope. Kind of like Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 back in 1994.

Come Shoemaker-Levy 9 taken by the Hubble Telescope

Or else, ISON will just burn up and die, due to the Sun's stormy fits and strong gravity, and all astro-loving humans like myself, will be very unhappy. Kind of like Comet Kohoutek back in 1973, the Sun destroyed its nucleus and it was barely visible to the naked eye.

Hopefully ISON's relatively big size will assist in its safe flyby and will offer a breathtaking celestial show, as well as a staggeringly bright and large tail. This event is one that can not and that should not be missed!

Good news: ISON is twice as big as Lovejoy. (Less annihilation risk)

Bad news: ISON will come 10 times more closely to the Sun than Kohoutek did. (More annihilation risk)

Good news: (I couldn't help it) the closer a comet gets to the Sun, the brighter it'll shine. (Prettier show)

TED Junior - Alina Razzouk

2013-04-04T00:27:00.001+03:00

Dear Diary...

A few weeks ago, I got an awesome invitation to what turned out to be a very memorable and blog-post-deserving event. The Guides Du Liban - Groupe Sainte Famille Fanar organized a TED Junior event at my old school, and I was lucky enough to be one of the speakers!
I warmly welcomed the opportunity to talk to a teenage audience, to some familiar faces as well as new ones. The purpose of the conference was primarily an orientation, a sort of 'hey so here's what I went through, do this not that', and I also rambled about my personal post-graduation adventures, both professionally and academically. Enough text, I'll leave you with the conference video, accompanied by English subtitles. I've been told it's popcorn-worthy, so be sure to watch these fifteen minutes!

2013-03-26T21:33:00.000+03:00

The following article is not as scientifically reliable as the rest of the blog, but some things just need to be put out there, for the world to see, literally.

Some of you may not know the story of Frida, commonly recognized as a Mexican painter; she's also known to be an evil witch, according to legend of course. She never went to Hogwarts though.

This article is by a guest author, one of my dearest friends on the Blue Planet, a psych major with an above average IQ, a very pretty lady, and a very promising author. Her style is flawless, her writing is expressive, and her thoughts are deep. Enjoy it as much as I did!

Frida, the b**** wished dead by everyone

Dear Diary...

Science has studied over the years the evolution of b******. They are not what they used to be. Let’s journey back to a time when a b**** was simply the female dog.

Cute as hell right? RIGHT?!

Such cute and harmless creatures! If you wanted one, you’d get one, they didn’t come bugging you anyway even if they were uninvited! And they certainly wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.

But society couldn’t just leave these b****** alone; they had to name prostitutes after them.

Not so cute anymore huh?

No more innocence there, and definitely not cute anymore, but still, they mind their own business, if you want one (for any reason, hey, no one’s judging), you get one. They don’t come unless they’re wanted.

Now to our principal matter, the new kind of b****, the one that never should have existed in the first place, the only… Frida.

Now THAT is what I call Ugly!

Not cute, not innocent, not harmless… just plain cruel and ugly. Unlike the other b******, this one doesn’t care if you want her to or not, b**** is going to show up on your scans and go like “Deal with it suckers, I’m here to stay”, unfortunately for you my dear horrible Frida, with a level of awesomeness as high as my friend’s you ain’t got nothing to do here! So I take this opportunity, for her birthday, to wish you, with all my heart, goodbye. I will not miss you; I will not even remember you when you’re gone; and I hope you’ll never ever show your face again.

Sincerely,

Nour Abdelnour.

Comet PanSTARRS Around The World

2013-03-26T01:42:00.001+03:00

Dear Diary...

The internet has been buzzing with news and photos about Comet PanSTARRS, a comet that reaches its perihelion (that's geeky for closest-to-the-Sun-like-ever) during March 2013.

Comet is one of Santa Claus' reindeer, or it's an object composed of dirt and ice, it originates from either the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud, and it's characterized by a tail when in proximity to the Sun. A few pictures of the the comet from around the world:

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Best part? It's visible to the naked eye, yet tricky; it's best visible right after sunset and right before twilight, annoying right? Anyway, you can tell your friends you stargazed, no telescope required. The comet was next to the Moon on March 12 and 13, and if you still haven't seen it, you still have a chance to do so till the end of March. Its light will be dimmer but your chances of spotting it are greater since it'll be appearing in darker skies as it climbs higher.

Spotting PanSTARRS

This is all exciting and all, but the comet I can't wait to see is Comet ISON, that'll be visiting in late 2013, and promising an awesome light show. Now, more fun facts about PanSTARRS:

Its closet approach to Earth is within 164 million kilometers (102 million miles)
Its closet approach to the Sun is within 45 million km (28 million miles)
The ice contained in that comet is primitive, meaning it's as old as the Solar System, that's right, it's some 4.5 billion years old
The comet's been traveling for millions of years to reach us, all the way from the Oort cloud that's nearly 1 light year away, and the gravity from the Sun will shorten its orbit by 110,000 years

Star-Gazing and Cancer-Fighting

2013-02-26T01:13:00.003+03:00

Dear Diary...

It's no secret that astronomy has always, even if indirectly, bettered humanity. Whether it's in our understanding of the cosmos and some other concepts that require really long words, or simple NASA inventions we use everyday like invisible braces, ear thermometers, shoe insoles and water filters. However, how can space telescopes help out oncologists? How can nebulae imaging techniques lower heart attack risks?

Speaking of stargazing, "Le Petit Prince"

Behold! The new best thing: Astronomy and Medicine. This cross-discipline of science may seem ridiculous and questionable; and I'm not discussing astronauts' health problems like Alzheimer's, I'm talking about imaging tools and techniques. Here's how Harvard's Astronomical Medicine Project's homepage sees it:

While astronomy and medical imaging seem very different, both fields search through large amounts of image data looking for meaningful patterns. For example, a physician may inspect a patient's MRI scans looking for signs of disease, while an astronomer will analyze radio telescope image data to find evidence of a new star being born.

Computerized algorithms carried out in telescopes, are being implemented in microscopes, so that the same techniques used to zoom in on distant galaxies are assisting in indicating the presence, or gravity, of a tumor. Even though this combination of fields is unfamiliar, I'm surprised they didn't consider to team up a long time ago. These two departments realized their similarity by accident while discussing data analysis techniques, and I'm really glad they did.

Same imaging techniques used on human brain (left) and IC348, a star formation region (right)

Oncologists and astronomers at some of UK's best colleges, have collaborated by using astro-awesome computer programs to analyze cancerous cells. This technique can even improve survival rates by by better analyzing large numbers of tumors, and by better determining suitable treatments, and allowing doctors to commence healing at an earlier stage.

These two disciplines can go beyond cancer treatment, 3D data visualization used in nebulae mapping fro example, can help cardiologists better locate dysfunctional coronary arteries to avoid heart diseases, you can watch a TED talk on Astronomical Medicine right here, you're welcome.

"It's nice to think that my normal job is hunting for the most distant supernova but now I'm helping oncologists speed up their work and improving survival rates for people much closer to home. It's an inspiring thought." - Dr Nicholas Walton, of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge

This recent breakthrough promises a new leap in oncology and medicine in general, researchers are planning to launch an international study involving samples from more than 20,000 breast cancer patients.

For a reminder on the very best stargazing events in 2013, go here!

Yosemite Winter Night, December 25th 2012's Astronomy Picture Of the Day

What Is The Universe?

2013-02-17T01:00:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

I admit, the question is very philosophical, but I'll be blaming Minute Physics for this post. The following video doesn't really need an introduction, so here you go:

I would just like to add a few things that I think are pretty, pretty fun:

The Universe is expanding at a rate of ~70 Km/s, and while doing so, it's getting colder and colder.
The observable Universe spans a diameter of over ~90 billion light years. (1 light year is ten million million kilometers, that makes the Universe's diameter worth 900,000 million million million kilometers, minimum, maybe, just the observable)

See? Dark stuff.
The Universe is flat, not in a Earth-is-flat-or-we-shalt-hang-thou kind of way, but based on Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity (please don't run away) and the measurements by the WMAP, we know this
We can only detect 4% of the Universe, in that 4%, I mean you, me, planets, stars, galaxies, etc. That other 96% is dark stuff we don't understand
Multiverse, that's a theory that states that there are many universes, making up this multiverse. The most notable theory that tries to proof that many universes exist, is the "eternal inflation" is the notion that the universe expanded rapidly after the Big Bang, in effect inflating like, well, bubbles

San Fransisco Meteor

2013-02-16T10:03:00.002+03:00

This article is being updated as more information from reliable sources comes in, science reports are still rudimentary, and the actual scenario questionable.

Dear Diary...

24 hours after the fireball that hit Russia, reports of an other meteor falling over the Californian coast started going viral on the net. Now, I don't know whether the US is jealous from all the Russian attention, or if this is a weird version of the Cold War, but unlikely is what this is.

Fireball that streaked across the skies over San Fransisco back in October 2012, caught by Wes Jones in Belmont, California using a wide-field camera

"We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average," said Paul Chodas of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office in Pasadena, CA.

Sightings of the meteor were reported from Santa Clara to Fairfield, in the Central Valley cities of Fresno and Stockton, and even the northern parts of Nevada. Car dashboard cameras have proven their worth in scientific news reports, in this video right here, you see the dash-cam footage of the fireball in San Francisco Bay Area burning up in bright blue:

The last time a similar event went down in San Fran's Bay area was back in October 2012, when a random chunk of space debris that entered Earth’s atmosphere and vaporized due to friction with the air (EarthSky.org link). Again, this new space visitor has nothing to do with the Russian Meteor, or Asteroid 2012DA14.

Russian Meteor (Updated)

2013-02-15T11:58:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

On February 15th at 7:15 am, Moscow time, a meteor fell from the skies, resulting in a powerful blast and an amazing sight. The fireball's properties slowly unveiled themselves as scientists were gathering more data on the fireball, and solving some ridiculously long maths equations, some of which include:

10 tons worth of mass
10 to 17 meters diameter
Shooting across the sky at a speed of 54,000Km/h (33,554 miles/h)
Released 500 kilotons worth of energy
Struck Earth's atmosphere with a force ~40 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb
Hit the region of Chelyabinsk some 1,500 Km (930 miles) east of the capital
Caused a shock-wave, a sonic boom: trembling infrastructure, breaking windows, car alarms, intermittent phone service...

Friendly reminder, a meteor is "a small body of matter from outer space that enters the Earth's atmosphere, becoming incandescent as a result of friction and appearing as a streak of light."

Still from the Russian Meteor video - Russia Today

"Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted an emergency official as saying. "We have information about a blast at 10,000-meter (32,800-foot) altitude. It is being verified."

This meteor exploded in the air, causing 5 to 6 explosions on the ground, so it rained molten rock on Russian soil, in six different cities. Youtube videos, recorded from car dashboards have been going viral on the media, showing mindbogglingly bright objects shooting across the sky. The Russian Emergency Minitry reported that background radiation levels in Chelyabinsk remain unchanged.

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Amateur photograph of the Russian Meteor

"The train (the term used for a meteor trail) is interesting indeed. It appears to split, so I’m guessing the main mass split there." - Bad Astronomer Phil Plait, from Slate.com

Some pictures of the meteor's fall and the its impact. Two of these impacts have been found near Chebarkul Lake, and an other one in Zlatoust.

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Here's some of the videos that I just had to share: This one was the first I saw, and it got me wondering how people were able to drive through the whole bright-object-right-in-front-of-me situation, and it shows that Russian people have awesome taste in music:

In this one you actually hear a sonic boom (so check your laptop's volume, or get your earphones out):

To avoid any confusion, this surprise visit of the fireball is unrelated to the asteroid's visit tonight, these objects are some 500,000 kilometers apart. This is a mere coincidence, and more information on the 50-meter asteroid fly-by can be found here.

Without further ado, here's a list of the random but awesome facts I like to gather and throw around:

The blast was not seen by Moscow citizens, but they heard it
The meteor hit Earth 16 hours before asteroid 2012DA14's fly-by
Around 100 tons of space rock hit Earth everyday
Had the meteor hit Earth during the night instead of the day, the Sun wouldn't have outshone it, and officials would've spotted it, and alerted citizens of the coming impact
The rock fell with a speed that's dozens of time the speed of sound
Similar events occurred in 2009 in South Africa (video link), and an other in Indonesia
Early predictions state that the meteor's diameter is 10 to 17 meters high, that's two to three times as high as an American football post
The meteor blast produced a 2.7 magnitude-earthquake equivalent
4,700 asteroids at least 330 feet (100 m) wide come uncomfortably close to our planet at some point in their orbits

Space Music

2013-02-13T11:21:00.002+03:00

Dear Diary...

"What happens when you get Chris Hadfield, the Wexford Gleeks Choir, er Robertson and the Barenaked Ladies togther? An inspirational song title ISS (Is Somebody Singing), pun intended."

On Friday, the Coalition for Music Education teamed up with the Canadian Space Agency to celebrate music education in schools across Canada, and launched the very first original song to be performed simultaneously in space and on the ground. Here's the music video, followed by the lyrics, you're welcome: (by the way, you also get to see a floating guitar in microgravity)

On solid fuel and wires
Turn the key and the light the fires
We’re leaving Earth today
This rocket's burning bright
We’ll soon be out of sight
And orbiting in space

Pushed back in my seat
Look out my window
There goes home
That ball of shiny blue
Houses everybody anybody ever knew

[Chorus]
So sing your song I’m listening out where stars are glistening
I can hear your voices bouncing off the moon
If you could see our nation from the International Space Station
You’d know why I want to get back soon

Eighteen thousand miles an hour
Fueled by science and solar power
The oceans racing past
At half a thousand tons
Ninety minutes Moon to Sun
A bullet can’t go half this fast

Floating from my seat
Look out my window
There goes home
That brilliant ball of blue
Is where I’m from, and also where I’m going to

[Chorus]

All back and white just fades to grey
Where the sunrises sixteen times a day
You can’t make out borders from up here
Just a spinning ball within a tiny atmosphere

Pushed back in the seat
Look out my window
Here comes home
What once was fueled by fear
Now has fifteen nations orbiting together here

[Chorus]

Pluto Rocks

2013-02-12T20:28:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

First off, some cool facts about Pluto:

Pluto's a dwarf planet; it got 'de-planetized' in 2006
Pluto's average temperature is 44 degrees above absolute zero
Pluto's not named after the Disney character, but after the Roman god of the Underworld (Hades in Greek mythology), which makes the Disney nomenclature a bit confusing, but that's not the point
Pluto's diameter of only 2,274 km makes it smaller than our Moon
Pluto's equator is at almost right angles to the plane of its orbit, just like Uranus
Pluto has five moons

Pluto and its moons

Here's an overview of some of Pluto's moons and their etiology:

Charon: This moon is named after an old man in Greek mythology who ferried the souls of the dead across the Styx and Acheron rivers to Hades, god of the Underworld.
It's Pluto's largest satellite with a diameter of 1,270 Km (789 miles) which is a little more than half that of Pluto. This proportion between planet-moon is very unusual in our Solar System, some scientists prefer to think of Pluto as the planet system Pluto-Charon. Also, Charon and Pluto are tidally locked, like the Earth and the Moon. Finally, Charon's surface seems to be covered with water ice, we'll find out for sure once New Horizons reaches Pluto in 2015!
Nix: This moon is named after the Greek goddess of darkness, the female personification of the night, and daughter of Chaos. Who also happens to be Charon's mum (which makes her really really old since Charon is a really old man). The satellite's called 'Nix' in Egyptian spelling instead of the classical spelling of 'Nyx' to avoid the confusion with an asteroid named 'Nyx'.
Hydra: This moon is named after the nine-headed serpent, which is able to grow back its cut off heads, and that battled Hercules during his 12 Labors quest, or Heracles. The snake's lair is the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, and there's an entrance beneath the waters to the Underworld, which Hydra guards. This satellite was discovered along with Nix in June 2005.

Hades, from Disney's Hercules (Character who I find to have a striking resemblance to the Little Mermaid's Ursula)

Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011 and 2012 revealed two previously unknown moons of Pluto, temporarily named P4 and P5, very creative. However, folks over at SETI launched this website allowing anyone to vote for potential names that the IAU (International Astronomical Union) will take into consideration. Some of these options include:

Acheron: The river of pain, one of the five rivers of the Underworld, also described as the river of Hades
Styx: An other river of the Underworld, that literally translates to 'hate'. This is where Achilles was dipped, except for his heel. It's the river that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead
Lethe: A third river of the Underworld, the river of Oblivion from which the dead drink to forget about their past lives on Earth
Alecto: One of the Furies, which were three avenging deities; murder, jealousy and anger. Alecto represents anger
Cerberus: A three-headed dog (think Fluffy, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), which guards the river Styx
Erebus: The embodiment of darkness, he's also the brother of Nyx.
Eurydice: She is a nymph, one of Apollo's daughters, and Orpheus' lover, who tried to bring her back to life with his music, as he traveled the Underworld with the permission of Hades
Orpheus: The greatest musician in Greek mythology, and Eurydice's lover
Hercules: Son of Zeus, best known for his Disney movie, and the 12 Labors that include slaying lions, stealing mares, and capturing a bull. Well, not very animal-friendly tasks
Hypnos: The embodiment of sleep, the twin brother of the god of death Thanatos, and they're the sons of Nyx. Cute, right?
Persephone: The goddess of the Underworld; Hades fell in love and abducted her, and forced her to spend four months of every year in the Underworld by his side. At her disappearance from Earth, winter begins and the soil ceases to be fertile
Obol: When the dead reach the Styx (one of the rivers), that's guarded by Cerberus (Fluffy), Charon (the old man) only ferries the souls of those who are buried with a coin placed in their mouths upon burial, think of it as a tip. This tip is called an obol.

Orpheus and Eurydice

Asteroid on Valentine's Day

2013-02-09T17:04:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

We already talked about this last year, remember? Here's a fresher, updated version of the article about an asteroid that misses Earth on February 15, 2013.

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

27,680 Kilometers (17,200 miles), that's how close the Asteroid DA14 will fly by Earth, that's even closer than some navigation and weather satellites! Unfortunately, it's not visible to the naked eye, but don't be sad, if you don't have a pair of kick-ass binoculars or a telescope, you can track it, in real-time right here, thanks to the Slooh Space Camera.

Asteroid DA14

On the day when a dozen roses cost hundreds of dollars, the asteroid will be wandering from the southern evening sky into the northern morning sky, at a velocity of 7.82 Km/s (4.8 miles per second). The rock will also be visible from Eastern Europe, Asia, and Australia. With its closest Earth approach occurring about 19:26 UTC (that's 21:26 pm in Beirut time), we'll probably get to see it for a good 15 minutes before it fades away.

Some information on Asteroid DA14

Some extra-info while we wait for the asteroid:

The asteroid is 45 meters wide, that's almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty, without the pedestal.
This is also the very first time that scientists have the chance to observe the fly-by of this NEO (Near-Earth Object), with their high-tech instruments.
To date, there are ~8,900 NEOs.
100 tons of asteroid material hit Earth everyday.
After sunlight reaches an asteroid, it is absorbed by the surface of the asteroid, then re-emitted into space. The energy from the re-emitted heat, or thermal radiation, adds a tiny thrust to the asteroid's motion. This effect is called the Yarkovsky acceleration.
Earth’s gravity will slingshot the asteroid into a slightly different orbit after is fly-by.
Hollywood will probably make a movie out of this event.

Mona Lisa On The Moon

2013-01-20T12:59:00.003+03:00

Dear Diary...

What is considered priceless and can not be insured? Hint: It's sitting in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, inside a climate controlled environment (that cost 7 million dollars), and is encased in a bullet proof glass? The Mona Lisa. I'm sure the article's title helped you with that, but that's okay, I know you're smart since you're reading this.

Recently, NASA sent the Mona Lisa to the Moon, and back. The famous picture was broken down into 30,400 pixels, and using a laser beam, it was sent to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, that later sent it back to Earth. Kind of like this:

Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging station at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt

Yes, this is a big deal. Why? It's pretty. Also, using lasers instead of microwave telecommunication to communicate at such distances (380,000Km or 240,000 miles), allows it to communicate better and faster using smaller equipment.

“In the near future, this type of simple laser communication might serve as a backup for the radio communication that satellites use. In the more distant future, it may allow communication at higher data rates than present radio links can provide.” says David Smith of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It took the NASA team about ten tries to get it right; once the lunar orbiter received the image, it tidied the photo up, corrected its imperfections, and then sent the image back to Earth using good old radio waves. Both data deliveries took into account the Earth's atmosphere.

The Lisa on the left: how it was sent back to Earth, no corrections. The Lisa on the right: how it looks after using some pixel correction methods

How did they make this happen? Very cool science: The laser sent consecutive beams to the moon, each corresponding to a pixel of that photo. This a black and white picture, so they later told the orbiter how bright each pixel is, by delaying the pulse, withing a range of 4,096 possible slots. Thus, the orbiter received the different pixels in 4,096 different shades of color between black and white. More is explained in this video here, you're welcome:

Your Chance To Go To Space

2013-01-15T02:52:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

Buzz Aldrin is an American astronaut and Apollo 11 pilot. Axe (or Lynx in the UK) is a brand of male grooming products. How are these two related? Space travel!

This commercialization of the stratosphere is Axe's biggest promotional program in the three-decade history of the brand. They finally got tired of throwing women from Space to Earth (remember the making-angels-fall ad?), and decided to do things the other way around. You can't be surprised about this type of campaign after the success of Red Bull with Felix Baumgartner's 39-kilometer-jump. So, it’s all in service of promoting Axe’s Apollo line of products: Felix 2.0!

You want to go to space? Simple steps:

Be older than 18 years old.
Write an astronaut profile to convince people of your awesomeness, and state why you should be chosen. (Extra points if you don't bribe your English teacher).
Get votes. Lots of them. Only 100 people will be chosen at this point of the competition. (Annoy your friends by spamming silly astro-posts, everywhere. Social prostitution, really.)

Axe -AASA

After some astronaut-style training, only 22 (I'm assuming pleasant-smelling) winners will go to Space in 2014. This training only lasts for three days, and will take place in the Axe Apollo Space Academy, or AASA. It includes space-simulation exercises, flips and flaps in zero gravity, Buzz Lightyear suit modeling, etc.... The shuttle will take off and land horizontally, like an airplane, and use rocket power to blast into space from the Venezuelan coast. Check out AxeApollo.com for more details (by the way, you can only access the website if you're from one of the countries that are eligible to apply).

This is an ad recently released by Axe, that shows why 'Astronauts > Firemen', that's right. With the same motto that Aldrin used in his introduction video: "Leave a man. Come back a hero". I admit, it could've been a slightly better catch-phrase, since there may be women going up there!

One Way Ticket To Mars

2013-01-09T15:10:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

A nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands plans to send astronauts to Mars, seriously. Funding, you ask? Putting the first 4 astronauts on Mars approximately costs $6 billion but don't worry, the firm intends to use the profit it will make by "involving the whole world as the audience of an interactive, reality-style televised broadcast of every aspect of this mission, from the astronaut selections and their preparations to the arrival on Mars and their lives on the Red Planet."

Look! (Fake) image of human on Mars

This is not an overly-used Hollywood movie plot, right? Mars One is a private spaceflight project lead by Dutch entrepreneur, Bas Lansdorp, to establish a permanent human colony on Mars in 2023. Best part is that almost anyone can apply, here are the qualification requirements, but briefly, it says that: "The astronauts must be intelligent, creative, psychologically stable and physically healthy".

This is Mars One's plan staged over the years, and I quote:

2011: Mars One Mission Plan through the creation of technical documentation, from astronaut selection through the first human landing.

2013: This will be the year in which our astronaut selection begins! Mars One will build a replica of the Mars settlement on Earth, likely in a cold, desolate environment, to help the astronauts prepare and train and for a realistic environment in which to test the equipment.

2014: The supply mission will land on the Red Planet in October 2016 with its cargo of 2500 kilograms of spare parts, solar photovoltaic panels, and general supplies. It will land close to where the outpost is expected to be.

2018: In 2018 the first settlement rover will land on Mars. A video stream will be broadcast on Earth 24/7/365.

2021: All the components of the settlement reach their destination in six separate landers. All water, oxygen and atmosphere production will be ready by early 2022, which is when the Earth crew is granted the go-for-launch of Mars Team One. Each component of the Mars transit vehicle is launched into a low Earth orbit and linked.

2023: The Mars Team One astronauts land.

2025: Mars Team Two the second crew of four astronauts lands. They are received by their predecessors who have completed the construction of the settlement.

Basically, this is like Survivor 2.0. He who wins the reality TV show, wins a one-way trip to a red, but dead planet. Of course, that's after trying to survive eight years of training before launch, including simulated missions, practice in a restricted mobility environment, and lessons in electronics, equipment repair, basic and critical medical care.

Naturally, there's been a lot of criticism, some positive: 1999 Nobel Prize winner and theoretical physicist Dr. Gerard Hooft thinks that "it's an extraordinary idea". Other critics don't agree: BBC's Jonathan Amos said that "without hardened habitat on Mars, cancer would kill them within a year". Wired gave the plan a score of 2 out of 10 as part of their 2012 Most Audacious Private Space Exploration Plans.

Ten Years To Go?

17 Billion Earths

2013-01-09T01:12:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

The Milky Way is an über-cool place, why? There's a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. As if that's not enough, the Kepler space telescope estimates that 17 percent of stars around here are orbited by Earth-sized planets. In other words (or numbers), there are ~100 billion stars in the Milky Way so that's 17 billion Earth-sized planets, I mean 17,000,000,000. If we toss numbers around, we can safely say that 1 in 6 Milky-Way-Stars have an Earth-sized planet orbiting around them. Here's an artistic infographic:

The question remains, where are these Alien Earths that are capable of supporting life? Pretty please? Despite the explosion of exoplanet discoveries in recent years, we still haven't found a planet:

That is the right size (Earth-type planets have 0.5 or 2 times the Earth's mass or having 0.8 to 1.25 times its diameter)
Where water can be liquid-y: exoplanets should be a habitable zone where they're not too far, nor too close to their star(s) so that they could hold H₂O in liquid form

The Kepler spacecraft continues to spot planets as they pass between Earth and the star they orbit. There are, in total, 2,740 potential planets (that's a 20% increase from February 2012 by the way!) according to mission scientist Christopher Burke from SETI.

Awesome news that got published yesterday: There are 461 brand new planet candidates. Four of these potentials are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's habitable zone. Feel free to read that again. What's this? An other infographic, kinda:

“The analysis of increasingly longer time periods of Kepler data uncovers smaller planets in longer period orbits– orbital periods similar to Earth’s,” said Steve Howell, Kepler mission project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center. “It is no longer a question of will we find a true Earth analogue, but a question of when.”

All in all, it really seems like 2013 is off to a great start in astronomy, and exoplanetology, which is not a word that I made up. Oh, and this is for the exoplanet stalker in you.

Should You Walk Or Run In The Rain?

2013-01-07T12:32:00.001+03:00

Dear Diary...

The weather in Beirut has been catastrophic, not Sandy-bad, but Seriously-bad. The usual Lebanese Lullaby has been on repeat: wet traffic jams, 'oh government where art thou' cries, floating cars, scuba-diving pedestrians, playlists with Adele music, etc.

Graph showing the wetness per second according to speed

Now, if you ever forget your umbrella, what are the physics of keeping your clothes as dry as possible? Here's the answer to the existentialist question: should you walk, or should you run?

Stargazing in 2013

2013-01-05T15:38:00.003+03:00

Dear Diary...

If you still haven't checked the Best of 2012 in Pictures, I'll wait for you here. Done? Lovely, here are a few reasons to be excited about 2013, monthly astro-highlights will be briefly described:

January

3-4: Peak of the annual Quadrantid meteor shower during the early morning hours when up to 40 meteors per hour may be seen, but the waxing gibbous (really bright moon) will ruin it.
21: Conjunction between Jupiter and the moon, they’ll be about one moon diameter apart.

February

7-8: Conjunction between Mercury and Mars
15: Asteroid 2012 DA14 will swing by Earth, or as I call it The Asteroid That Will Nearly Miss Earth in 2013
2-23: Best evening time to view Mercury

March

10-24: Comet C/2011 L4 will be visible to the naked eye in the western sky after sunset, with a brightness magnitude of 0, or as bright as Vega. (5th brightest star in the sky)
26: Once-a-year position of the Earth around the Sun marking my birthday

April

25: Partial eclipse of the moon. It will be visible from Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa
28: Opposition of Saturn, best time to view its rings through a telescope

May

5-6: Peak of the Eta Auarid meteor shower (10 to 15 meteors per hour)
9: Annular eclipse of the sun (Ring of Fire eclipse)
24: Conjunction between Venus and Mercury
25: Penumbral lunar eclipse visible across North and South America (except Alaska) and Africa
24-30: Conjunction between Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, right after sunset

June

1: Lineup of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury low in the western sky after sunset

July

22: Conjunction between Mars and Jupiter
23: Biggest Full Moon of the year, 2013's Supermoon (appears 14% closer and 30% brighter)
28-29: Peak of the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower (20 meteors per hour, show might be ruined by moon's waning gibbous phase)

August

4: Lineup between Mercury, Jupiter and Mars in the Eastern morning sky between Auriga and Orion
12-13: Peak of the great Perseid meteor shower. (100 meteors per hour, the moon will set at 11pm, which is perfect)
10-20: Comet ISON emerges in the constellation Cancer with a brightness of 11 (visible through an amateur telescope)
27: Opposition of Neptune, best time to view that other blue planet (you'll need a telescope)

September:

8: Conjunction between Venus and the crescent moon

October:

3: Opposition of Uranus, best time to view the planet (you'll need a telescope)
18: Penumbral eclipse of the moon partially visible from North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia
21: Peak of the Orionid meteor shower (20 meteors per hour, show might be ruined by moon's waning gibbous phase)
27: Comet ISON brightens to a magnitude of 7 (visible through binoculars)

November:

3: Total solar eclipse this year, visible across the equatorial Atlantic Ocean and West Africa
1-15: Comet ISON visible to the naked eye with a brightness magnitude of ~2.0 (as bright as Polaris)
17-18: Peak of the Leonid meteor shower (10 to 15 meteors per hour are expected, show will be ruined because of the full moon)
25: Conjunction between Mercury and Saturn

December:

All month long: best time to view Venus
1-15: Best time to view Comet ISON, it'll be as bright as Jupiter, with a long tail, it'll be awesome
13: Peak of the Geminid meteor shower (120 meteors per hour, best time to view after moonset at ~4:00 am)

Looks like an eventful year to me, the most promising meteor shower will probably be the Geminid, according meteor-shower-pros, and some sources have been calling comet ISON the comet of the century. Also, experts say that the first Alien Earth will be discovered this year.

Keep checking the What's Up In The Sky section of the blog for detailed monthly information or questions and happy stargazing.

Alzheimer's and Astronauts

2013-01-03T14:08:00.001+03:00

Dear Diary...

Space travelers face a lot of dangers during their journeys: shuttle failure, loneliness and depression, weight and bone loss, the consistent wee-wee they experience, encounters with aliens, etc. We can add Alzheimer's disease to that list now. An eight-year long study, that took place at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at Brookhaven National Laboratory on New York's Long Island, found that cosmic radiation on such space missions could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's: where cells die

The new paper shows that, at least in mice, similar types of radiation as that found in deep space lead to increases of Aβ plaque pathology, which could lead to Alzheimer's. Basically, exposure to radiation produces cognitive problems and speeds up irreparable damages in the brain. I've never been a fan of the effects of radioactive particles beyond low Earth orbit: cancer, cardiovascular disease, cataracts, etc.

“Galactic cosmic radiation poses a significant threat to future astronauts,” said M. Kerry O’Banion, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy. “The possibility that radiation exposure in space may give rise to health problems such as cancer has long been recognized. However, this study shows for the first time that exposure to radiation levels equivalent to a mission to Mars could produce cognitive problems and speed up changes in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.”

Cosmic radiation showering Earth

Let's all take a moment and pray that this won't paralyze future NASA missions, like visiting asteroids in the 2020s and Mars ten years after that, or threaten commercial spaceflight. The spacecrafts currently in use don't protect travelers from the radiation as much as Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere protect us. Also, I assume it's every engineer's nightmare, to be asked to cover a space shuttle with something bulky like concrete, or lead.

Defying gravity (and brain damage)

You can find the published PDF, here! The information seems pretty solid, but I'm sure more studies will follow to back it up.

That's a space shuttle. And there's Mars. You see?

Best Of 2012 In Pictures

2012-12-31T16:53:00.002+03:00

Dear Diary...

It's that time of the year again, the Blue Planet will complete its journey around the Sun in a few hours, in the meantime, let's take a look at the best of what cameras and telescopes captured in 2012. I chose these pictures, in no particular order, 15 were taken from/of Earth and 15 from Space:

Best Space-y Earth Photos of 2012

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Best Space Photos of 2012

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This post is dedicated to my friend, and brilliant (astro)photographer Mhammad Vlad Chadded.

Secret Space Mission

2012-12-13T00:22:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

Secret space plane or mini-space shuttle? Both. The Boeing X-37, a spacecraft operated by the US Air Force, was recently launched from NASA's Cape Canaveral. The launch was flawless even though the window was five hours long, with a 30% chance of favorable weather conditions for lift off. Its sole purposes are to rotate around the blue planet, to test reusable vehicle technologies as well as landing technologies... is that all?

Artist's conception of X-37B, NASA

Defense Department Officials along with the USAF have remained tight-lipped about the spacecrafts mission, and its possible future uses. If top secret missions don't spike speculation and rumors, I don't know what does; scientist McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, speculates the spacecraft is carrying sensors designed for spying and is likely serving as a testbed for future satellites by intercepting transmissions of electronic emissions. Brian Weeden, technical adviser to Secure World Foundation, which promotes peaceful uses of outer space, said the primary mission might be to test advanced radar, hyperspectral or infrared sensors.

X-37B on the runway

However, the Pentagon has denied those claims, but does support the development of space-based weapons. The US military isn't saying much about this new secret mission, known as OTV-3, or Orbital Test Vehicle, flight No. 3. In fact, launch commentary ended some 15 minutes into the flight and a news blackout followed.

X-37B launch aboar the Atlas V

Currently, Boeing and the US Department of Defense are working together to build an enhanced spacecraft, the X-37C which will be 1.6 to 1.8 times larger than the current X-37B, will be able to hold up to six astronauts inside a pressurized compartment. I'll take a wild guess and assume that scientific research aboard the X-37C is not the main goal.

Planets Standing In Line

2012-12-11T00:55:00.001+03:00

Dear Diary...

This post has nothing to do with the planetary alignment with the Giza pyramids (you want to click that by the way), this is just about the alignment of three planets. Now the weather's been bipolar in Beirut, torn between warm blue skies and monster thunderstorms, but with any luck, if the skies are cloudless during the morning hours of December 11th, this is what you'll get to see if you look South-East at around 5:30 am:

Looking South-East from Beirut

The moon won't be full, though; it's still in its waning crescent phase, but it's there. If the weather's really bad, and/or if you're not an early riser (and if you live in Beirut, you're probably not) don't worry about missing out on the alignment, instead just watch the Geminids meteor shower that's peaking later this week, you'll still get to see a slightly twisted planetary alignment. More recent and cool updates on the planets include:

Ice on Mercury, even if temperatures on its surface can reach 427 degrees Celsius (800 degrees Fahrenheit), we can probably go ice-skating there
Active volcanoes on Venus, we know this for sure because of the fluctuations of sulfur dioxide in the Venusian upper atmosphere, which ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has been recording for the past six years
Cassini convinced scientists, that Saturn's largest moon Titan is icier that they thought, because of its interaction with the gas giant. Also, a new analysis of the moon’s topography and gravity indicates that its icy outer crust is twice as dense as previously believed.

And, below is a video, that has nothing to do with what you just read. But I like it, and I think you will to:

The Black Marble

2012-12-06T23:04:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

On Earth, we use Instagram, however, for Earth, satellites use different spectra. Recently, data from NASA's Suomi, orbiting at an altitude of 824 kilometers (512 miles), was stitched together to form a picture of the Blue Planet at night, nicknamed The Black Marble. Check out the pictures below, or view them on NASA's flickr (for mobile devices).

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This night-time imagery has been enhanced thanks to the satellite's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suit or VIIRS, which detects light from green to near-infrared, and uses filters to catch dim signals like aurorae, wildfires, city lights, gas flares, and even reflected moonlight. In fact, the VIIRS is sensitive enough to detect the light from a single ship in the sea, this qualifies as super-powers.

Can you find Beirut?

Be sure to watch this video, it's just 30 seconds long and it's ridiculously good!

Gemini Puts On A Show

2012-12-05T21:34:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

Save the best for last, right? The Geminids concludes this year's meteor showers and peaks on the 13th of December. Of course, this meteor shower owes its name to the constellation Gemini, or The Twins. Very easy to spot, just look East, to find Pollux and Castor.

Mojave Desert Fireball, in California. Taken during the Geminids of 2009

You don't want to miss this event, and here's why:

Shooting stars are pretty
This is the best meteor shower of the year; most active and brightest (predictions are 80 to 120 meteors per hour, after midnight, from a dark location)
Colors, the Geminids offer a rare multi-color shower, kind of like this:

65% white shooting stars
26% yellow shooting stars
9% green, blue and red shooting stars

Ninja skills aren't required since the meteors are slow, meaning the star trails last a number of seconds
The peak coincides with the new moon, so the moonlight won't be there to outshine any meteors
Debris originates from a comet called Phaethon, this is cool because Phaethon is Helios's son in Greek mythology. Long story short, Phaethon steals Helios' solar chart, and later that day, Zeus kills him with a thunderbolt to save Earth. Typical Greek day, really.

However, if the weather's really bad, you can always catch a few meteors using the hashtag #meteorwatch on twitter. If you're still not very excited about this, VirtualAstro has recently published a video trailer anticipating the Geminids with a cute doomsday theme:

Planetary Alignment With The Pyramids, not

2012-12-02T20:13:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

As if not enough cuckoo events were taking place during December 2012, this image has been going viral on the net for a while now. Fascinating.

Not Really

What bothers me the most is not how wrong the info is, but the caption. It's what the Grammar Nazi in me would like to say: "Dear smart person who created this pretty picture, I think you mean: This only happens once every 2,737 years".

In the picture below, the grammar's fine (effort appreciated), and the planets are again aligned with the pyramids, but it's not the same alignment as the first picture, interesting. And notice the colors, apparently Venus, Saturn and Mercury are visible in pink, purple and turquoise colors, as usual? Also, you'll see that the pyramids have changed positions, I wonder if this happens once every 2,737 years too!

Not Really

According to star charts however, if you're standing on the site of the Giza pyramids on December 3rd, and you look towards the South East, this is what you'll see:

Really

Unless the pyramids of Giza are sitting on top of each other, this is isn't really working. Now for the big question: ...So?

This happens every x number of years, okay. It's true that these three planets are close to each other, but this doesn't mean anything, and it happens once a while. Earlier this year, Venus and Jupiter looked even closer to each other from Earth, when they were only separated by 0.5 degrees. (Read one of my old entries: Venus and Jupiter Have A Date). Quite sadly, the photo wasn't accompanied by an explanation or anything of the sort, it was just that.

One more fun fact about this fake image is that if you're standing in the North West (NW) corner of the map below, and you're looking towards the South East (SE), you'll see from your left to your right the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, don't try to read these out loud, but what you'll see is that the pyramid to your right is bigger to the pyramid to your left. Surprise, the opposite is true in the Photoshopped pictures.

Really

Space Turkey

2012-11-23T20:50:00.000+03:00

Dear Diary...

I'm sure you're all familiar with 'Thanksgiving', and I'm sure that this American holiday wouldn't be so popular, if it didn't include food, shopping, and food. Did I say that twice?

Ever wonder how Americans aboard the ISS spend Thanksgiving? The astro-nutrition (I created this word, don't use it in public) has come a long way since cube and tube foods, now that trips to the ISS are more frequent, thanks Dragon. So it's easier to keep food supplies going up, and a lot of new food-freezing ideas are gaining territory, like sushi in space. NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, who is currently the only American astronaut aboard the ISS, didn't get to shop this holiday, but he celebrated Thanksgiving with two Russian astronauts, some 400 kilometers above the ground (250 miles), jealous? No? Here's the menu:

Space (turkey-day) food

Smoked turkey
Cornbread stuffing
Russian mashed potatoes with onions
Cherry and peach cobbler
Bonus containers (NASA sends you your favorite food)

I won't discuss the recipes or share instagram kind of photos, but watch this video of Ford, doing unintentional microgravity magic tricks, and flaunting food. I think the original purpose of the video was to wish Earth a 'Happy Thanksgiving', but I'm not so sure anymore.