Here’s a excellent video compilation featuring images from the Hubble Space Telescope, along with music by Kanye West and quotes from astronomers Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss and Carl Sagan reflecting on our place in the Universe… and the Universe’s place within each of us.

Uploaded to YouTube by video editor Brandon Fibbs, this is a reminder of how Hubble has opened our eyes to the wonders of the cosmos. Enjoy.

“The cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star stuff… we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”
– Carl Sagan

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
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Artist's concept of a free-floating Jupiter-like planet. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

The concept of nomad planets has been featured before here on Universe Today, and for good reason. Not only is the idea of mysterious lone planets drifting sunless through interstellar space an intriguing one, but also the sheer potential quantity of such worlds is simply staggering. If some very well-respected scientists’ calculations are correct there are more nomad planets in our Milky Way galaxy than there are stars — a lot more. With estimates up to 100,000 nomad planets for every star in the galaxy, there could be literally quadrillions of wandering worlds out there, ranging in size from Pluto-sized to even larger than Jupiter.

That’s a lot of nomads. But where did they all come from?

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Read the rest of Worlds Without Suns: Nomad Planets Could Number In The Quadrillions (723 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Astronomy, galaxy, Kavli foundation, Microlensing, nomad, panspermia, planets, Rogue planets, space

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his is a view of the moon transiting, or passing in front of, the Sun as seen from the STEREO-B spacecraft on Feb. 25, 2007. The Sun is in false color, and the moon appears as a black disk on the upper right. NASA's STEREO mission consists of two spacecraft launched in October, 2006 to study solar storms. Credit: NASA

From a NASA press release:

With the Moon as the most prominent object in the night sky and a major source of an invisible pull that creates ocean tides, many ancient cultures thought it could also affect our health or state of mind – the word “lunacy” has its origin in this belief. Now, a powerful combination of spacecraft and computer simulations is revealing that the moon does indeed have a far-reaching, invisible influence – not on us, but on the Sun, or more specifically, the solar wind.
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Read the rest of The Moon Affects the Solar Wind (765 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Moon, solar wind, sun

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X-37B after its first mission in 2010. Credit: 30th Wing, Vandenberg Air Force Base.

After nearly 15 months on a secret mission, the Air Force’s X-37B, an unmanned, reusable space plane, will soon be coming back home. A news release from the Vandenberg Air Force Base says the landing is expected to occur during the early- to mid-June timeframe, although the exact landing date and time will depend on technical and weather considerations. The mini space plane has been in orbit since March 5, 2011.
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Read the rest of Secretive X-37B Space Plane Will be Landing Soon (316 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Air Force, Military, X-37B

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A Murchison meteorite specimen at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.

Where does the methane on Mars come from? That has been one of the biggest unanswered questions in planetary science since the discovery of large plumes of methane gas in the Martian atmosphere. Scientists have been trying to figure out how the planet’s environment or geology can keep replenishing this short-lived gas, and of course, in the back of everyone’s mind is whether the methane has any connection to possible life on Mars.
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Read the rest of Meteorites Could Provide New Explanation for Mars Methane (560 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Mars, Meteorites, methane on Mars

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SpaceX Dragon was grappled by robot arm, on May 25, 2012 and then became the first commercial space capsule in history to be connected to the International Space Station. Dragon will be detached on May 31 and splashdown hours later at about 11:44 a.m. EDT several hundred kilometers (mi) off the coast of California. Credit: NASA

The historic flight of the first private spaceship to ever connect to the International Space Station (ISS) has entered its waning hours and by all accounts it’s been a resounding success thus far ahead of the imminent return trip to Earth.

All objectives have been fully accomplished and all that remains is for the unmanned Dragon cargo capsule to be detached from the huge outpost early Thursday morning, May 31, following by a mission ending splashdown and ocean recovery off the coast of California some 6 hours later.(...)
Read the rest of SpaceX Dragon Sealed for Earth Return on May 31 (930 words)

© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 4 comments |
Post tags: commercial cargo, Commercial Space. SpaceX, COTS, Falcon 9, International Space Station (ISS), ISS, NASA, SpaceX, SpaceX Dragon

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The name of everyone's favorite space news blog written in starlight!

Ever wanted to see your name in lights? How about star lights? Well there’s a fun little website that will let you assemble your name — or anything you want to say — using real galaxies as the letters… very cool!

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Read the rest of Write Your Name In Galaxies! (191 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments |
Post tags: galaxies, Galaxy Zoo, My Galaxies, Sloan Survey, space, Steven Bamford, website

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Book review by David L. Hamilton

Dr. Nick Lomb’s book, “Transit Of Venus: 1631 To The Present,” covers the history of observed transits of Venus since the invention of the telescope in the early seventeenth century. The timing of the release of this book coincides with the upcoming transit of Venus, the last one that anyone alive today can witness due to the fact that the next transit will occur on December 2117. The upcoming transit will take place on June 5th or 6th of 2012, depending on your location, and Dr. Lomb’s book has a wealth of information on the times and locations across the globe from where one can observe the event.
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Read the rest of Book Review: Transit Of Venus: 1631 To The Present (1,077 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Book Reviews, Transit of Venus

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'Moon Landing:'' This is one of Hardy's very earliest paintings, done in 1952 when he was just 15. It was also the first to be published. Credit: David A. Hardy. Used by permission. Click image for access to a larger version and more information on Hardy's website.

For over 50 years, award-winning space and astronomy artist David A. Hardy has taken us to places we could only dream of visiting. His career started before the first planetary probes blasted off from Earth to travel to destinations in our solar system and before space telescopes viewed distant places in our Universe. It is striking to view his early work and to see how accurately he depicted distant vistas and landscapes, and surely, his paintings of orbiting space stations and bases on the Moon and Mars have inspired generations of hopeful space travelers.
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Read the rest of Visions of the Cosmos: The Enduring Space Art of David A. Hardy (1,596 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: art, artist, David A. Hardy, Science, science fiction, Space Art

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JP Aerospace's MiniCube program can send your stuff to the "edge of space"

Ok, at 100,000 feet it’s not really “space” but for $320 USD JP Aerospace is offering a very affordable way to get your research experiment, brand statement, artwork or anything you can imagine (and that fits into a 50mm cube, weight limits apply) into the upper atmosphere. Pretty cool!

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Read the rest of Fly To Space For $320! (174 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 6 comments |
Post tags: balloon, Earth, high altitude, JP Aerospace, MiniCubes, Science, Space Flight, suborbital

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