• What Would It Be Like To Travel Into A Black Hole?

    Updated: 2012-05-31 21:16:53
    Home Blog Articles Videos About Contact What Would It Be Like to Travel Into a Black Hole Download this video mov 1280x720 472.34MB Black holes are among the simplest objects in the universe . They are simpler than stars , much simpler than planets , and vastly simpler than human beings . Black holes are what is created when matter is compressed into a very small place . They are General Relativity's most extreme prediction . They are commonly created from the violent deaths of stars many times the size of our sun , usually forming from the collapsed core of a supergiant star after it explodes . At the heart of a black hole is a singularity . An infinitesimal point in space where the pull of gravity is infinitely strong and spacetime infinitely curved . At the singularity , space and time

  • Hold on tight: in 4 billion years, we’re due for a galactic collision!

    Updated: 2012-05-31 20:01:53
    : , Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS History is made as Dragon splashes down safely in the Pacific Hold on tight : in 4 billion years , we’re due for a galactic collision The galaxy we live in , the Milky Way , is a large spiral galaxy that lives in a small cluster of other galaxies called the Local Group . The other big member is the Andromeda galaxy , located about 2.5 million light years away . That’s a long way off , but we’ve known for a long time that Andromeda is heading more or less toward us at a speed of roughly 100 km sec 60 miles second The question is , is it headed directly at us , or does it

  • Rise and Shine

    Updated: 2012-05-31 18:35:47
      Here’s a Rover Opportunity update from the MER team: Sols 2956-2961, May 18-23, 2012: After moving from her winter perch, Opportunity drove to an undisturbed dusty patch to investigate the chemical origin of the ubiquitous Martian dust. On Sol … Continue reading →

  • Video of the daylight California fireball

    Updated: 2012-05-31 01:00:48
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Timeline for the fall of the Dragon History is made as Dragon splashes down safely in the Pacific Video of the daylight California fireball On April 22, 2012, a chunk of asteroid one or two meters across burned up in Earth’s atmosphere . It came in over California and was seen by a lot of people , despite it occurring at about 8:00 a.m . local time and in broad daylight . I just became aware that some footage was taken of the event , and as far as I know is the only video we have of it . It was taken by Shon Bollock , who was making a time-lapse kayaking video just outside

  • Website lets you say it with galaxies

    Updated: 2012-05-30 22:40:54
    Want to see your name up in lights? How about harnessing galaxies to send a message? There's a website for that, thanks to University of Nottingham astronomer Steven Bamford and Galaxy Zoo's legions of virtual sky-searchers. "My Galaxies" lets you spell out anything you want, usi hellip;

  • Eclipse of the Strawberry Moon

    Updated: 2012-05-30 18:55:12
    Ah yes, the Strawberry moon, I like it. Too bad I’m not in postion to see the eclipse, of course I’m no where near it LOL. Check it out if you can though. In the mean time I will be … Continue reading →

  • Photography Monthly interview on astrophotography

    Updated: 2012-05-29 20:46:01
    I had a lot of fun talking about astrophotography to Fiona Keating from Photography Monthly magazine a few weeks ago. The 4-page interview appears in the June issue of the magazine, which has just hit newsstands. In the interview I talk about some of the methods and equipment that can be used to take pictures [...]

  • Rainbow Pinwheel galaxy

    Updated: 2012-05-29 14:00:31
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Another tiny rock will pass Earth tomorrow Victoria , Australia government wants to stop free pertussis vaccines Rainbow Pinwheel galaxy I have no shame in admitting I love face-on spiral galaxies . Scientifically , of course , they’re fascinating spread out in front of us are all the inner workings of a galaxy . It’s like having an X-ray of human body in front of you , making it easier to understand anatomy . But their beauty well . The scope and grandeur of a face-on spiral is unparalleled , I think , in astronomy , or perhaps any field of science . But don’t take my word on

  • Beautiful Saturn

    Updated: 2012-05-28 19:41:35
    Cassini just returned this very nice image of Saturn and the moon Tethys (660 miles / 1,062 km in diameter).  The northern hemisphere still looks a little ragged following a huge storm that was present a good part of 2011. … Continue reading →

  • Unveiling Venus

    Updated: 2012-05-27 19:02:55
    Only days away from the transit! Source

  • When a Dragon mated the space station

    Updated: 2012-05-25 17:08:57
    Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Dragon is approaching the space station UPDATED : CAPTURED Small asteroid to buzz Earth on May 28 When a Dragon mated the space station At 16:02 UTC , Friday , May 25, 2012, the SpaceX Dragon officially became the first privately-owned commercial spacecraft to be captured by and berthed at the International Space Station . It is if I’ve done the math correctly the 114th spacecraft to dock with ISS , including the missions sent up to build the station . It is the first privately-owned commercial spacecraft in history to do . so You can read more about this in my last post which

  • Update: the Dragon capsule as seen by the ISS

    Updated: 2012-05-24 23:49:17
    : Subscribe Today Renew Give a Gift Archives Customer Service Facebook Twitter Newsletter SEARCH Health Medicine Mind Brain Technology Space Human Origins Living World Environment Physics Math Video Photos Podcast RSS Obi Wan better watch his back Dragon is approaching the space station UPDATED : CAPTURED Update : the Dragon capsule as seen by the ISS Just a quick update : a new series of pictures of the Dragon capsule as seen by astronauts aboard the International Space Station has just been released , and they’re way cool . Here’s : one Click to embiggen . Earlier today Dragon passed just 2.4 kilometers 1.5 miles from the station , performing a series of tasks to make sure it was ready to dock with ISS tomorrow . I’m sure the folks at SpaceX are poring over these images to make sure

  • Dragon meets the Space Station

    Updated: 2012-05-24 21:37:38
    Tomorrow Friday May 25th the new Dragon reusable space craft developed by SpaceX will rendezvous with the International Space Station to provide new supplies, spend approximately 3 weeks docked with it, and then return back to earth. It has been possible to photograph the Dragon nearing approach to the space station, as shown in this picture. [...]

  • Spaceships

    Updated: 2012-05-20 02:09:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Spaceships An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Spaceships Astrochemist Markus Hammonds aka Invader Xan has made a nice graphic over on Supernova Condensate showing the relative sizes of a bunch of spacecraft . As you can see , the International Space Station is really huge these days . He has also made another graphic that shows them in comparison to the . Enterprise A comparison of spaceships : CREDIT Markus Hammonds Supernova Condensate Tags : space exploration spaceships ISS Soyuz Posted in astro blog by Stuart on Sunday 20th May 2012 02:09 BST Add a comment Permalink Comments : ADD A : COMMENT Don't provide an email URL unless really necessary as your

  • Sunspots and flares

    Updated: 2012-05-12 13:51:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Sunspots and flares An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Sunspots and flares As we head towards the maximum of the Sun's 11 year cycle of activity , the Sun's surface is becoming much more interesting . Although here in the UK we've had awful weather for the past month or two , the sudden improvement of the past couple of days has meant we're able to see huge sunspot 1476 which is launching solar flares in our direction . Here is my photo taken a few minutes : ago The Sun seen at the eyepiece of a Coronado PST 12 May 2012 : CREDIT Stuart It isn't the best picture ever but you can see the sunspot to the left of centre as well as some prominences around the edge .

  • Multilingual, multi-wavelength sky

    Updated: 2012-05-11 20:36:00
    , Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Multilingual , multi-wavelength sky An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Multilingual , multi-wavelength sky One of the projects I've been working on in my spare time for the past few years is Chromoscope It originated in an idea I had with Rob Simpson Zooniverse fame and Chris North Sky at Night fame to let people see how the sky varies across the electromagnetic spectrum . Even as we launched Chromoscope at Astronomy in 2009, we realised that we should make it available in languages other than English . As of today , Chromoscope is available in 12 languages : English , Cymraeg Welsh Deutsch German Español Spanish Français French Gaeilge Irish Gaelic עברית

  • All systems JUICE

    Updated: 2012-05-02 20:09:01
    So the SPC has done its thing. Vast petitions and stern letters nothwithstanding, they have chosen JUICE and its all systems go for launch in 2022. Jupiter here we come. The official announcement is here. There’s some coverage already at the Beeb, and at Skymania. Always quick off the mark that Suthers. Andrew Coates and [...]

  • An Owl Nebula

    Updated: 2012-05-02 00:18:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive An Owl Nebula An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name An Owl Nebula Welcome to my 1000th blog post . I can't believe I've been blogging for nearly 9 years even if I have slowed down a bit in my old age in internet years I wasn't sure how to mark this personal milestone but , as chance would have it , something happened this week that lets me combine art , astronomy , and people being excellent to one another in one single . post On Monday , Yodatheoak retweeted a plea for help by origami_owl Paul Groom I didn't know Paul but it turned out he was having trouble with some HTML Javascript on his Tumblr blog . People on Twitter often lend me a hand with stuff so it was

  • Asteroids 1980-2011

    Updated: 2012-04-30 23:44:00
    Astronomy Blog You are : in Astronomy Blog archive Asteroids 1980-2011 An astronomy blog usually but not always based in the UK . Pondering questions such as What is in an exoplanet name Asteroids 1980-2011 Via Alberto Conti I re-discovered an animation from last year that shows the discovery of over 500,000 asteroids since 1980 The video shows the planets orbiting the Sun and each asteroid discovery is highlighted when it happens . As time runs into the 2000s the pace really picks up and the asteroid belt becomes incredibly obvious . You should quickly spot that the discoveries occur on the side of the Earth facing away from the Sun i.e . when it's night although there are some interesting evening morning discovery wedges in 2010 and I'm not sure . why Tags : asteroids video animation

  • X-ray astronomy crunch

    Updated: 2012-04-19 22:23:14
    I got an email this morning from old chum Paul Nandra. You may not be surprised because about eight squillion of you got the same email. In fact I also got it yesterday from Andy Fabian, and also via the Euclid mailing list (followed by a knuckle rapping from Yannick reminding us that the Euclid [...]

  • Watching a wandering star

    Updated: 2012-04-14 21:58:18
    Over the past few weeks it’s been hard to miss Venus shining away high in the west after sunset. At the end of March it was less than 3 degrees from the crescent Moon, while the first week of April saw Venus drifting past the Pleiades star cluster. Below I’ve collected together some pictures of [...]

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