Showing posts with label outer space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outer space. Show all posts

Monday, May 12, 2014

People keep spotting UFO'S in NASA's Feed


 Recently NASA attached a bunch of high-definition cameras to the outside of the International Space Station. The main result -- for those of us on the sidelines of space research and commerce -- has been a few days of utterly beautiful images of Earth. Inevitably, it has also been something of a treasure trove for UFO hunters. A brief search on YouTube and conspiracy theory sites reveals a bunch of different sightings of unidentified objects - some mere flashes in space, others quite hilariously huge - which they claim are aliens above the Earth. The example above was posted on UFO Sightings Daily, and concerns a UFO which burns "as bright as the Moon" near to the space station, and captured on 9 May. The site reports: "The color of the UFO matches that of the space station due to the suns odd angle and reflection from its surface, which causes the orange hue." There are other examples too, though none quite as obviously absurd as the 'docked' UFO video published earlier this year. Needless to say, it is incredibly unlikely that any of these objects is an alien space craft. And no, neither is it an American drone. The US would never send something weird and mysterious into space for no reason.


Sunday, February 16, 2014

Amazing Hubble Images makes us seem Small

The Majestic Sombrero Galaxy (M104)
Source: Hubblesite.org
A brilliant white core is encircled by thick dust lanes in this spiral galaxy, seen edge-on. 
The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light years from Earth.


The Cat
Source: Hubblesite.org


The Antennae Galaxies/NGC 4038-4039
Source: Hubblesite.org              The Antennae Galaxies/NGC 4038-4039



Source: Hubblesite.org     A Rose made of Galaxies


Star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon)- September 2, 2002
Source: Hubblesite.org    Star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon)

Hubble Site

The Webb Telescope
A million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope will soar through a frigid void, peering back to the time when new stars and developing galaxies first began to illuminate the universe. Scanning the universe for the invisible radiation called infrared, Webb will have to be larger than any space telescope ever placed in orbit, and function at temperatures just tens of degrees above absolute zero — the temperature at which even atoms are frozen into immobility.
With its infrared vision, Webb will be able to see light from the early universe that has been stretched as it travels across the expanding fabric of space. It will be able to see through clouds of dust to the warm, infrared-emitting objects hidden within. Our view of the universe will expand as Webb opens up previously unexplored territory to our gaze.


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

3D Printing in outer space


A metal 3D-printing revolution is entering space. AMAZE is a recently announced project that aims to perfect the printing of space-quality metal components on Earth and beyond within five years.
3D printing builds a solid object from a series of layers, each one printed on top of the last. This ‘additive manufacturing’ technique produces very complex structures with minimal waste and maximum flexibility.
Never before have titanium structures been so flexible. Leaving traditional casting techniques aside, the AMAZE team printed its logo in titanium as an intricate net shaped to millimetre precision. The project is working with materials that can withstand temperatures up to 3500°C.
Pieces like the example in this photo were shown in the London Science Museum, UK, on 15 October, where international experts presented the world’s largest metal 3D-printing project, lead by ESA and the EU.
AMAZE – Additive Manufacturing Aiming Towards Zero Waste & Efficient Production of High-Tech Metal Products – involves 28 industrial partners across Europe.
Most of the work to tune this novel technology for industrial applications on Earth is being done on the ground in laboratories. ‘Factories of the future’ are being set up in Germany, Italy, Norway and the UK. Little-to-no material is wasted and cutting the number of steps in the manufacturing chain offers enormous cost benefits.
Before taking a 3D printer to the International Space Station, ESA will test the technology on parabolic aircraft flights and suborbital rockets to see how weightlessness affects the behaviour of the liquid metals.



Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Close up Video of International Space Station

Impressive video, although there is quite a bit of lint? or something on the camera outer cover.


WAIT FOR THE CLOSEUP, IT'S IMPRESSIVE. :)





Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Gaia SpaceCraft to photograph hundreds of millions of stars


Gaia is a global space astrometry mission. It will make the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of our Galaxy by surveying more than a thousand million stars.




Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Tyche, Giant Hidden Planet, May Exist In Our Solar System


We may have lost Pluto, but it looks like we might be getting Tyche.
Scientists may soon be able to prove the existence of the gas giant, which could be four times the size of Jupiter, according to astrophysicists John Matese and Daniel Whitmire from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The two first proposed Tyche's existence in order to explain a change in path of comets entering the solar system, according to The Independent.
From the The Independent:
Tyche will almost certainly be made up mostly of hydrogen and helium and will probably have an atmosphere much like Jupiter's, with colourful spots and bands and clouds, Professor Whitmire said. "You'd also expect it to have moons. All the outer planets have them," he added.
For a graphical representation of Tyche, click here.
So how could we have missed such a massive planet in our own solar system?
Well, it's 15,000 times further from the sun than Earth, according to Gizmodo. Tyche (if it does exist) lies in the Oort cloud, the outer shell of asteroids in our solar system.
Despite what the scientists believe they will find in the data (which will be released in April and was collected by NASA Wise space telescope), there is at least one flaw in their theory. Theoretically, a planet of Tyche's size should seriously disturb comets in the inner Oort Cloud, but that effect is yet to have been observed, according to The Independent.