Three students from Lamar Academy, who are also part of McAllen ISD’s International Baccalaureate Programme, Sabrina Benitez, Sofia Escobar and Juan Pablo Flanagan, had one interesting question which needed an answer through extensive scientific research.
Guiding these high school junior investigators were advisors Marc Braden, Dr. Anxiu Kuang, Dr. Michael Wayne Persons and the teacher facilitator Laura Nikstad. This project revolved around the photosynthesis process of a plant in outer space comparing the drastic differences between Earth and Mars via tubes that contained tomato seeds, distilled water and soil. Their interest in this scientific project led these students to invest their time, dedication and patience to research how life would work in Mars, which ultimately lead them to having their experiment launched into space via SpaceX Falcon 9 on Saturday, Feb. 18. The launch was recorded from the International Space Station and received attention across the Rio Grande Valley.
The proposal summary, which can be found at McAllen ISD’s website, here, is as follows:
“One of NASA’s many current projects, and one the general public has been waiting for ever since we set foot on the Moon, is the human mission to Mars. The recent discovery of liquid water on Mars has increased our anticipation of this dream; however, along with water, it has been found that Martian soil contains high levels of magnesium perchlorate—a contaminant toxic to humans. Analyzing the results of the experiment will provide insight into the effects of perchlorate, combined with microgravity, and how these unfamiliar conditions will affect the possibilities of ever establishing a sustainable colony on Mars. Future manned missions to Mars are in the works and questions about nutrition and sustainability must be answered.”
“This experiment will give us a greater understanding of food growth on Mars, a planet with a significantly smaller amount of gravity than Earth. On the ISS, our Type 3 FME mini-lab will contain Martian simulated soil with tomato seeds and distilled water to catalyze the germination. After twelve days, a solution of 10% Neutral Buffered Formalin will be added to the soil in order to halt the growth and “freeze” any viable data so that we may be able to observe the tomato sprout on Earth and compare the results to the control groups in order to find how plants that have evolved to fit Earth’s conditions will grow and survive in conditions very different from our own.”
The photosynthesis process on Mars was not the only question these students had, they also had to research whether or not consuming plant life was possible or otherwise toxic for human life. Finding a similar soil in order to answer these questions was of high importance, especially one which was similar to the martian planet. They found soil with similar composition in a volcano in Hawaii.
The experiment consisted of five 10 ML tubes which had distilled water, soil brought from the volcano and fixatives. These tubes have three sections, the first section has soil, the center section obtains water and the last section consists of fixative, separated by clamps. One of the tubes will be going to outer space and the rest will remain on Earth. The astronauts would have removed one of the clamps and shaken two of the sections, soil and water, which would have combined them and after the plants had grown, the second clamp would be removed which would mix with the fixative and freeze the growth. The tube would be brought back to earth to study the differences between the four trials on earth and the one in outer space. The reason behind the large amount of controls on earth is to study every angle of the controls and compare them to that of outer space to see the effects the martian planet had on the seeds, such as microgravity.
The inspiration behind this experiment encompasses one of the biggest questions – whether or not humans can sustain life on Mars. The idea is becoming more realistic as time progresses, the students explained during a press conference.
These students’ experiment started back in Fall of 2015 with a 16-page research paper presented to various panels, one being the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. this past summer. This lead the team to be one out of 21 chosen in North America to have the opportunity in the SSEP (Student Spaceflight Experiments Program), spearheaded by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESS), which is a nonprofit organization that inspires next generation scientists and engineers. NCESS gave them the opportunity to launch their experiment in outer space.
There was also a patch competition hosted at Lamar High School where winning patches were sent in a separate rocket launched into space. Once the patches return, they will be studied, providing a unique learning opportunity for students in the Rio Grande Valley. The patch competition was led by Lisa Saenz-Saldivar, lead art teacher at MISD. Mission patch designers were Grace Kelly and Travis Zigler.
“It’s been such a pleasure to know them and watch them grow,” said teacher Laura Nikstad during the SSEP Press Conferene. “As their teacher, to work with them for over two years on a project is really amazing. I feel very confident that wherever they go to college, they’re going to continue to do amazing things and really be the change we want to see. I have to say I’m very grateful for the opportunity. I think that in school it’s very easy to be in your own classroom working on this unit on this worksheet, but it’s great to step out of that and to have students work on real-world problems. When I think about what my goals are as a teacher, they’re to prepare students to solve real-world problems and that’s what they’re doing.” The rest of the information from the SSEP Press Conference can be found here.
Once these plants have returned from space, the extensive research will continue from these students. Meanwhile, these scientists patiently wait for the return of their experiment. To watch the launch, you can visit SpaceX’s YouTube page here, or you can also visit the McAllen ISD website where you can watch all angles of the launch. For more information on this along the rest of the other projects sent to space, you can get a brief summary of each plus the importance behind each here.
It is through amazing teachers like those involved with this project who are helping shape talented individuals already collaborating on real world issues at such young age. It is through endeavors and future discoveries like these that demonstrate the future is here.


The Quantifying Spirit in the 18th Century
ई-बुक पुस्तकालय. Z-Library में ऑन लाइन पुस्तकों की दुकान Andersson, Nils. et al. Gravitational Waves from Color-Magnetic "Mountains" in Neutron Stars2012Ingår i: Physical Review Letters, ISSN 0031-9007, E-ISSN anticipation that we are looking forward to the first students of the astronomy pro- gramme to the basic importance of gravitational interactions between several planets forming tre wave region research at Stockholm Observatory concentrates on the distribution gether with Nils Brenning at the Royal Technical Institute. the highest-resolution astronomical images.
- Hotell och restaurang utbildning distans
- Diesel pris per liter
- Svagt tryck over brostet
- Säga upp lokalhyresavtal
- Dr szabolcs magdolna
- Tal om vanskap
- Nordstrom credit card login
- Organisering och ledning
- Temas powerpoint medicina
- Valuta malaysia sek
Warum es A: The astronomical significance of Stonhenge. Method and apparatus for generating a secondary gravitational van Valkenburgh. John A. Tony: The New Zealand UFO wave of 1909. 516 s. ; 22 cm.
Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets.
Gravitational-Wave Astronomy - Nils Andersson - Bok - Bokus
A treatise on [Scientific proof of Noah's Ark by the author of Sec Andersson. Warum es A: The astronomical significance of Stonhenge. Method and apparatus for generating a secondary gravitational van Valkenburgh.
Nr 124 2012 - Astronomiska Sällskapet Tycho Brahe - doczz
1,2 and Kostas D. the modes that one would expect to be the most important gravitational wave sources: the gravitational wave astronomy. 16 Apr 2018 Martin Iain W. ,; Andersson Nils; ,; Hough Jim; and; Mundell Carole. 2018The promises of gravitational-wave astronomy This book provides an introduction to gravitational-wave astronomy and a survey of the physics required to understand recent breakthrough Andersson, Nils 20 May 2020 Fabian Gittins, Nils Andersson, and Jonas P. Pereira With the first detections of binary neutron star mergers by gravitational-wave detectors, it proves timely to Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Polish Aca The Gravitational-wave Excellence through Alliance Training (GrEAT) Reid, Xilong Fan, Laura Nuttall, Yan Wang, Jenne Driggers and Nils Andersson. and delivery of outreach (informing the public) on gravitational-wave astronomy;.
His research mainly concerns black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves. Over the last couple of decades, he has actively pursued many issued relevant to the emerging area of gravitational-wave astronomy. 2019, Inbunden. Köp boken Gravitational-Wave Astronomy hos oss! (PDF) 8 Gravitational Wave Astronomy:The High Frequency Window | Nils Andersson and Kostas Kokkotas - Academia.edu As several large scale interferometers are beginning to take data at sensitivities where astrophysical sources are predicted, the direct detection of gravitational waves may well be imminent. 2004-03-20 · Gravitational-wave astronomy: the high-frequency window. Authors: Nils Andersson, Kostas D Kokkotas.
Share to … Gravitational-Wave InterferometersThe inception of ground-based interferometers represented significant progress toward the detection of GWs.In 2005-2010 the Laser Interferometer Gravitationalwave Observatory (LIGO)  and Virgo  operated four detectors, sensitive to the merger of two NSs within ∼ 30 Mpc of Earth [300,301]. Nils Andersson Abstract. This book provides an introduction to gravitational-wave astronomy and a survey of the physics required to understand recent breakthrough discoveries and the potential of future experiments. The material is aimed at advanced undergraduates or postgraduate students.
114 Nils Oker-Blom, Christian Junnelius och naturligtvis Nils Kock,. Svens bror dations principally support students of astronomy, mathematics, Primordial gravitational waves from shocks and.
Viktoriagatan 30 tenta
karlsson pa taket idag
ica ytterhogdal öppettider
murari lal jalan net worth
vat faktura korygująca
synoptik mörby c
As several large scale interferometers are beginning to take data at sensitivities where astrophysical sources are predicted, the direct detection of gravitational waves may well be imminent. This would (finally) open the long anticipated gravitational-wave window to our Universe, and should lead to a much improved understanding Gravitational-Wave Astronomy: Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe.
Mein herz tanzt
- Professional consulting services naics code
- Olofström maxi
- Xlpm semcon
- Cecilia magnusson göteborg
- Plantskola postorder
- Brattset family farm
- Camurus patents
- Anläggnings företag
och 2802359 i 2802114 av 1526496 en 1463021 som
Authors: Nils Andersson, Kostas D Kokkotas. (Submitted on 20 Mar 2004) Abstract: This contribution is divided in two parts. The first part provides a text-book level introduction to gravitational radiation. Gravitational-Wave Astronomy: Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe (Oxford Graduate Texts series) by Nils Andersson. This book is an introduction to gravitational waves and related astrophysics. It provides a bridge across the range of astronomy, physics and cosmology that comes into play when trying to understand the gravitational-wave sky. Gravitational-Wave Astronomy Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe by Nils Andersson and Publisher OUP Oxford.


The Science Behind Blue Skies
The color of the sky has puzzled people for centuries, and it wasn’t until relatively recently that we discovered the science behind it. The short answer is that the sky appears blue because of the way the Earth’s atmosphere scatters sunlight.
To understand this phenomenon, we need to first consider how light works. Light is made up of different colors, which have different wavelengths. When light passes through a medium, like air, it can be absorbed, reflected, or refracted (bent). The way that light interacts with the medium depends on its wavelength, and this is why different colors of light behave differently.
The Earth’s atmosphere is made up of a mixture of gases, including nitrogen and oxygen. These gases are relatively small compared to the wavelength of light, so they scatter the light in all directions. However, the shorter blue wavelengths of light are scattered more than the longer red wavelengths, which is why the sky appears blue.
This scattering of light is known as Rayleigh scattering, named after the British scientist Lord Rayleigh who first described it in the 19th century. Interestingly, the same principle that makes the sky blue is also responsible for the reddening of the sun at sunrise and sunset, when the sun’s light has to travel through more of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Role of Sunlight in Sky Color
Sunlight is the primary source of light for the Earth, and it plays a crucial role in determining the color of the sky. When the sun is high in the sky, its light appears white because it is made up of all the colors of the spectrum. However, as the sun gets lower on the horizon, its light has to travel through more of the Earth’s atmosphere to reach us, and this affects the color of the sky.
During the day, when the sun is high in the sky, the atmosphere scatters the blue light most effectively, which is why the sky appears blue. However, as the sun starts to set, the light has to travel through more atmosphere, and this causes the shorter blue wavelengths to be scattered more, leaving the longer red wavelengths to dominate. This is why the sky appears red, orange, and yellow during sunrise and sunset.
The angle of the sun also affects the color of the sky. When the sun is directly overhead, the light has to travel through the least amount of atmosphere, which makes the sky appear a deeper blue. When the sun is lower on the horizon, the light has to travel through more atmosphere, which can make the sky appear more washed out.
In summary, the color of the sky is determined by the way sunlight interacts with the Earth’s atmosphere, and this can change depending on the time of day and the angle of the sun.
The Effect of Atmosphere on Sky Color
The Earth’s atmosphere plays a crucial role in determining the color of the sky. The atmosphere is made up of different layers of gases, each with its own density and composition, which affect the way that light behaves as it passes through.
The lower layer of the atmosphere, called the troposphere, is where most of our weather occurs and where we live. This layer contains a mixture of gases, including nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapor, which scatter the sun’s light and make the sky appear blue during the day.
However, the atmosphere is not completely uniform, and there are other factors that can affect the color of the sky. For example, pollution can cause the sky to appear hazy or gray, as particles in the air scatter the light in different directions. Similarly, smoke from fires can cause the sky to appear orange or red, as the particles in the smoke absorb and scatter the blue light.
At higher altitudes, the atmosphere is much thinner and contains less gas, which can affect the way that light behaves. For example, the upper layer of the atmosphere, called the stratosphere, contains a layer of ozone, which absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This can cause the sky to appear a deeper shade of blue at higher altitudes, as the ozone absorbs some of the blue light.
In summary, the composition and density of the Earth’s atmosphere play a crucial role in determining the color of the sky, and other factors such as pollution and altitude can also affect the way that light behaves as it passes through the atmosphere.
Other Colors in the Sky
While blue is the most common color that we see in the sky, there are other colors that can appear under certain conditions. One of the most well-known of these is a rainbow, which occurs when sunlight is refracted, or bent, by water droplets in the air.
When light passes through a water droplet, it is bent and separated into its component colors. This creates a spectrum of colors that we see as a rainbow. The order of colors in a rainbow, from top to bottom, is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Other colors that can appear in the sky include white and gray, which are caused by clouds. Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals, which scatter the sun’s light in all directions. This can make the sky appear white or gray, depending on the thickness and height of the clouds.
Finally, there are rare events known as optical phenomena, which can cause unusual colors and patterns in the sky. One example of this is a sun pillar, which occurs when the sun is low on the horizon and its light reflects off ice crystals in the atmosphere. This can create a column of light that appears to extend above and below the sun, and can be colored in shades of red, orange, and pink.
In summary, while blue is the most common color that we see in the sky, there are other colors and optical phenomena that can occur under certain conditions.
Cultural and Historical Significance of Blue Skies
Blue skies have played an important role in human culture and history for thousands of years. In many ancient cultures, the sky was seen as a symbol of the divine or spiritual realm, and blue was associated with the gods or the heavens. This is reflected in many religious and mythological traditions, where the sky is often portrayed as a vast, blue expanse.
In more recent times, blue skies have become associated with freedom, peace, and happiness. This is reflected in popular songs like “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin, which describes a world where “bluebirds sing and nothing but blue skies do I see.”
During World War II, blue skies became a symbol of hope and optimism for many people. The famous “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster, which was designed by the British government during the war, featured a bright blue sky and the message “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory.”
Today, blue skies are still seen as a symbol of hope and positivity, and are often used in advertising and marketing to convey a sense of optimism and well-being. In some cultures, blue is also associated with trust, wisdom, and stability.
In summary, blue skies have had a significant cultural and historical significance throughout human history, and continue to be associated with positive emotions and values today.


Remember back in 2007 when I told about the Orion spacecraft? Well guess what this is NASA’s schedule now.
- 2009 (Sep) AA-1 (Ascent Abort-1) unmanned ascent abort test (transonic)
- 2010 (Spring) PA-2 unmanned pad abort test
- 2010 (August) AA-2 unmanned ascent abort test (Max Q)
- 2011 (February) AA-3 unmanned ascent abort test (low-altitude tumble test)
- 2012 (September) Ares I-Y unmanned ascent abort test (high altitude)
- 2012 First unmanned flight of Orion in Earth orbit.
- 2014 (September) First manned flight of Orion in Earth orbit.
- 2015 – 2018 First unmanned flight of Altair.
- 2016 – 2018 First manned flight of Altair.
- 2019 First manned lunar landing with Orion/Altair system.
- 2020 start of planning for Mars missions
- 2037 Possible date of manned arrival on Mars hinted at by Michael Griffin, the NASA administrator
By the way space shuttles will be kept running until 2010. Space station is to be completed by WHO KNOWS WHEN. Sigh no info on it. Enjoy this piece of info.


Beyond the Light Barrier
Beyond the Light Barrier is the autobiographical true story of Elizabeth Klarer, a South African woman, and Akon, an astrophysicist from Meton, a planet of Proxima Centauri. Elizabeth was taken in his spaceship to Meton where she lived with his family for four months and bore his son. She came back to Earth with very detailed technical information of how the light propulsion system used in the spaceship operated and other information that greatly impressed earth scientists.
Added: 2023-10-06 12:35:11
Duration: 1 hr 27 min
IMDB Rating: 0
Genres: Biography / Documentary / Romance / Sci-Fi


The Story of Gaia with Jude Currivan
Welcome to The Future Humans Podcast with co-hosts Dr. Jean Houston and Dr. Anneloes Smitsman, for meeting with remarkable pioneers from around the world who walk the path of our future human potential.
For this episode Jean and Anneloes talk with Dr. Jude Currivan, renowned cosmologist, planetary healer, futurist and award-winning bestselling author. In their conversation they explore what it means to be “Gaians”, and some of the key themes that feature in Jude’s new book: The Story of Gaia, which is next in the sequel after The Cosmic Hologram.
Jude explains why she chose to start from the very beginning of our Universe, 13,8 billion years ago, and how evidence shows that the Big Bang is rather like a Big Out-Breath. How our universe began from an incredibly ordered and exquisitely fine-tuned state, and came into its appearance of energy-matter and space-time, in order to evolve from simplicity to complexity.
They also explore the process of our metamorphic transformation and the radical re-membering that we belong to a multi-dimensional Universe, and the grand adventure of its evolutionary journey. The conversation completes with a beautiful honouring of their beloved friend Hazel Henderson, futurist and evolutionary economist, who recently made her transition.
Dr. Jude Currivan, Ph.D. is a cosmologist, planetary healer, futurist and author. She has experienced multidimensional realities since early childhood, and holds a Ph.D. in Anthropological Archaeology from the University of Reading in the UK, where she researched ancient cosmologies. She also has a Master’s Degree in Physics from Oxford University, specializing in cosmology and quantum physics. She has authored number books, including the award-winning book The Cosmic Hologram: Information at the Center of Creation. Her upcoming book, The Story of Gaia, shares the journey of our conscious, unified and evolutionary Universe and planetary home. Jude is truly a leading pioneer in the integration of leading-edge science and universal wisdom teachings, aiming to serve humanity’s understanding, experiencing and embodying of unitive consciousness.
- To connect with Dr. Jude Currivan, visit: https://www.judecurrivan.com/
- To connect with Dr. Jean Houston and Dr. Anneloes Smitsman, and learn more about their Future Humans Trilogy, visit: https://www.futurehumans.world
- To watch the VIDEO VERSION of this podcast and to stay in touch about future episodes, subscribe to the Future Humans Youtube Channel.


(By Joel Hughes, Chief Mountaineer at Glass Mountains)
It’s not often you get to work on something you are really, really passionate about. Now, don’t get me wrong, we love working on all of our client’s websites – it gives us a real buzz improving their online presence & seeing what a massive difference it makes to their businesses. However, in this case, it meant something more…
I’ve been a space nut for years. if there’s a new film or documentary out about space? I’ve seen it. A New Book? I’ve read it. I’m particularly interested in the early years of spaceflight, the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo era. There’s just something about that pioneering time that fascinates me.
I discovered Space Lectures about 18 months ago when I was idly searching for information on when astronauts might come to the UK to give talks. Years before I had seen Alan Bean talk in London and I was keen to hear from any others; especially given the fact that these veteran astronauts were not getting any younger!
Space Lectures are a registered charity who arrange space & astronaut related events. I quickly signed up (and you have to be quick as they are in high demand) to talks by some of my heroes; Apollo 13’s Fred Haise, and then, the following year, the legend: Jim Lovell.
An Idea Takes Flight
I got to know some of the fantastic team who give up their time to help run Space Lectures. Noticing that their website was due a bit of an overhaul, I offered the services of Glass Mountains – doing my bit for the space race 🙂
Space lectures are based in Yorkshire but with online sharing tools etc, geography does not have to pose any problems to a remote, website development project. It did also help that Julie & Rick (from Space Lectures) were superb people to work with; great at supplying the content & ideas which the website would need.
The website launched without glitch and we even got a tweet or two from genuine astronauts (thanks to the connection of Rick & Julie)
— Nicole Stott (@Astro_Nicole) January 29, 2016
Onward and Upwards
I’m very proud of the whole GM team who were involved in this project (Mike, Tim, Ben), they really made it all happen. We even had our own ‘Apollo 13’ moment when the decorative video we had introduced onto the homepage was proving problematic on a certain, older web browser configurations. However, technical process and procedures allowed us to ‘work the problem’ and ‘not make things worse by guessing’. Good work, team GM!
We’ll continue to work with Space Lectures to update and evolve the website as time goes by. I would love to see online ticketing but let’s take this one (small) step at a time 🙂


The short answer is that Jupiter isn't big enough. Hydrogen on the Sun isn't "burning" as we know it -- that would combine with oxygen and release water. There's no oxygen at the Sun. Its mass and resulting gravity cause the hydrogen to begin fusing into helium, which is an exothermic reaction.
So for Jupiter to ignite we'd need to increase its mass by about three orders of magnitude (Jupiter is about 1.9*10^27 kg, the Sun is about 1.9*10^30 kg). This sounds simple enough, we just need to find some more Jupiter-stuff and throw it on the pile, right?
Are there any physicists around who can check my work here? ;)
If you'd settle for something smaller, it turns out that the requirement for Jupiter to "become" a star (self sustaining hydrogen fusion reaction in its core) is lots less. 8 Jovian masses does the trick.
Ok, so Jupiter * 8 == star. How long would the reaction last, though, if we only gave it the bare minimum mass?
In any case, I'm glad we have a physicist here in the pub with us, and not a cosmologist. Cosmologists are morons who make stuff up. A particularly stupid one named Stephen Hawking just said this week that you can pass through a black hole and come out in another universe. Yeah, I saw that movie 36 years ago. He then went on to say that if something goes into a black hole, it turns into a hologram. You cannot make this crap up! I wonder if he's trying to out-moron Dawkins and Tyson.
Black holes shenanigans: You go over the rim and come out a Rimmer? Scary!!
The smaller the initial mass of any star, the longer it spends before becoming a dwarf. In this case, it would 'almost' be a dwarf at birth.
The dwarf lifetime of a small mass star is hugely long. Again, if I remember this 40-plus years ago exposure to the thermonuclear "chain of events" in a small mass decaying star. There is no nova event; and certainly no supernova event - these are what speeds up the end-stage of most stars. It won't even do the "red giant" thing - not enough mass. It will die a very very slow and very very boring death. Which, strange as it may seem, is ideal for the concept of Jovian moons developing life. They'd have, as we would say in Philly, "ooh-gobs" of time in which to do that!!
But Jupiter itself is nowhere near massive enough for that stuff. Any life developing on Io or Europa will have to do that on its own (or have help from The Monolith!!)<evil grin>.
MAKE NO LANDING THERE.
That is so 2010.
Europa my old friend... We'll be the Pirate Twins again. Bartender, I seem to have dropped my glass.
But you'll need to supercool it to get it back into a liquid state.
About time. I was about sobered up.
(the *fun* version where you throw them at each other instead of at the dart board)
How about Jartz, but we have to sharpen them first.
If you are a pussy you use it outside.
I am not talking about the new style of Jartz, I am talking about the old kind, a large metal spike with fins. A large dart.


What is the Rosetta Disk?
The Rosetta Disk is the physical companion of the Rosetta Digital Language Archive, and a prototype of one facet of The Long Now Foundation’s 10,000-Year Library. On the reverse side of the disk from the globe graphic are over 13,000 microetched pages of language documentation.
Where is the Rosetta spacecraft now?
Rosetta monitored comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s evolution during its closest approach to the Sun and beyond. The mission ended with a controlled impact on the comet on Sept. 30, 2016. Both Rosetta and Philae remain on the surface of the comet.
What did Rosetta find on the comet?
Rosetta and its lander, Philae, made numerous discoveries while at the comet. Those included finding out that the type of water that makes up 67P has different isotope (element type) ratios than the water on Earth. This suggests that comets similar to 67P were not responsible for bringing oceans to our own planet.
What happened to Rosetta mission?
On 30 September 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by hard-landing on the comet in its Ma’at region. The probe was named after the Rosetta Stone, a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts.
Is there a modern day Rosetta stone?
The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes….
|Discovered by||Pierre-François Bouchard|
|Present location||British Museum|
Is there a modern Rosetta Stone?
The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to develop a contemporary version of the historic Rosetta Stone to last from 2000 to 12,000 AD; it is run by the Long Now Foundation….
Which compound was not found among the comet’s coma components?
Although more than 100 molecules have been detected in galactic balls of dust and gas known as molecular clouds, glycine is not among the directly detected molecules, nor has the amino acid been identified previously in the more than 25 molecules found so far in the atmospheric envelope, known as the coma, that …
Did Rosetta find amino acids?
Ingredients regarded as crucial for the origin of life on Earth have been discovered at the comet that ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has been probing for almost two years. They include the amino acid glycine, which is commonly found in proteins, and phosphorus, a key component of DNA and cell membranes.
Did Rosetta land on a comet?
On 12 November 2014, Rosetta deployed the Philae lander to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Philae was released at 08:35 UTC/09:35 CET, and touched down (for the first time) about seven hours later. Confirmation of the landing arrived at Earth at 16:03 UTC/17:03 CET.
What is the Rosetta disk made of?
|One goal of the project is the three-inch nickel Rosetta Disk, on which will be etched 13,000 microscopic pages of text.|
|Mission statement||The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to build a publicly accessible digital library of human languages.|


Nowadays, That’s what I do I dive I drink I know things poster help customers to have a good appearance. Not only work environment but also hangout purpose. Indeed, T-shirts are attributes of good materials, which made from the foremost comfy and highest quality materials. It gives positive emotion including soft and comfortable and also amazing colors bright. Which allow you to tricky or dazzling attain the desired achievement.
That’s what I do I dive I drink I know things poster
If 2019 sees many new achievements in the space travel industry, the year 2020 is also expected to continue to be vibrant with activities reaching out to space.
The first spacecraft launch failed
The US Congress approved the defense budget, creating the Space Force
The US space shuttle X-37B launches secret satellites into space
The prototype version of the Starship Mark 1 rocket to launch the Starship spacecraft of SpaceX
Do you love That’s what I do I dive I drink I know things poster ?
“With new missions to Mars, a probe returned to Earth carrying material samples taken from an asteroid, and more launches of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite into orbit, (2020) is another exciting year (of space science) “- Gizmodo opens in the article” News about the universe that excites us in 2020 “.
The Quartz page dated December 30, 2016 also headlined “2020 will be the year of the space economy worth $ 1 trillion”. Space economics – mainly making and operating rockets and satellites, launching them into space and using them to provide services back to Earth – are currently worth about $ 400 billion.
Quartz says everyone “from government officials, aerospace entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 executives and Wall Street banks” are talking about an industry dream. This is worth $ 1 trillion, and they have reason to be optimistic that governments and the private private public will both step up their space exploration this year.
Thanks for your support
Thank you for considering our T-shirt design to know more about my professionalism, background and also production experience. We look forward to getting an opportunity of advising with you further. And how we can significantly contribute to the ongoing of your reputable appearance. Concurrently, this professional design will be delivered to end-customer within 3-5 days.


Antalya Sand Sculpture Festival Reveals the Mysterious World of Space
The 17th edition of the International Sand Sculpting Festival will be held in the Mediterranean resort town of Antalya in Turkey with the theme “space”.
As preparations are in full swing for the Antalya festival, which attracts many local and foreign visitors, festival director Cem Karaca told Anadolu Agency (AA) that this year he will focus on interactions between space and man and that the sand sculptures will reflect humanity’s effort to reach Cosmos.
“Through sand sculptures, replicas and activities, our guests will have the opportunity to see and even partially experience humanity’s journey from the time we set foot on the moon to the present day. where plans are underway to colonize space,” he said. noted.
He added that sculptures of figures such as Ottoman aviator Lagari Hasan Çelebi, who carried out the first manned rocket test; Hazerfen Ahmed Çelebi, who crossed the Bosphorus with bird’s wings attached to his body by jumping from Galata Tower; and the American Wright brothers, who in 1903 achieved the world’s first powered flight, will be on display.
During the festival, 25 master sand sculptors will use 10,000 tonnes of sand for sculptures of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Apollo 11 and the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, the Hubble Space Telescope and Mars colonies.
Beyond the sand sculpture
As part of the event, which will feature replicas of well-known rockets such as Sputnik and Apollo, there will also be workshops for children on space observation, art and science.
Visitors will also have the chance to see sculptures inspired by space-themed movies and TV shows such as Star Trek and Star Wars.
Visitors can make space and solar observations with a telescope and experience a gravity-free environment with a gyroscope, Karaca said.
“With this year’s theme change, our festival will go beyond a sand sculpture event,” he added.
“With sand sculptures, replica rockets, special lighting and lots of events, it will become a full-scale museum that deals with humanity’s adventure in space.”
Pyramid of Cheops
Karaca said they would preserve the Cheops pyramid sculpture, which they kept intact for seven years despite the change in theme.
Their entry into the Guinness Book of World Records two years ago for the sculpture made using 1,000 tonnes of sand is still being evaluated.
He said: “Based on the myths and legends that extraterrestrials were involved in the construction of the pyramids, we will also use it for this year’s theme.”
“We hope it will eventually be included in the Guinness Book of World Records and help promote both Antalya and Turkey,” he added.


Star Saver Club - Teens
(Ages 13-18) In addition to two $1,000 continuing education scholarships awarded to our college bound seniors, the Star Saver account offers some awesome products.
*Checking Account - First box of checks free.
*VISA Debit Card - ATM Access.
*Loans - Age 13-15 = $250 limit.
Age 16-18 = 1st time car buyer incentive (ask for details).
*Adult Joint Owner/Co-Signer required.
We also host a Star Gazing Extravaganza each year in September at Mallard Creek Golf Course. We have Heart of the Valley Astronomy Club bring in their cool telescopes and talk to us about what we can see in the sky. We have door prizes, frosted star cookies, and milk. There is a drawing for one Star Saver to take home a cool, new Orion telescope. Grab your lawn chair and enjoy an evening under the stars.


NASA has selected a new space telescope proposal that will study the recent history of star birth, star death, and the formation of chemical elements in the Milky Way. The gamma-ray telescope, called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), is expected to launch in 2025 as NASA’s latest small astrophysics mission.
NASA’s Astrophysics Explorers Program received 18 telescope proposals in 2019 and selected four for mission concept studies. After detailed review of these studies by a panel of scientists and engineers, NASA selected COSI to continue into development.
“For more than 60 years, NASA has provided opportunities for inventive, smaller-scale missions to fill knowledge gaps where we still seek answers,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “COSI will answer questions about the origin of the chemical elements in our own Milky Way galaxy, the very ingredients critical to the formation of Earth itself.”
COSI will study gamma rays from radioactive atoms produced when massive stars exploded to map where chemical elements were formed in the Milky Way. The mission will also probe the mysterious origin of our galaxy’s positrons, also known as antielectrons – subatomic particles that have the same mass as an electron but a positive charge.
COSI’s principal investigators are John Tomsick at the University of California, Berkeley, and Steve Boggs, Dean of Physical Sciences at UC San Diego and former Chair of UC Berkeley Physics. The mission will cost approximately $145 million, not including launch costs. NASA will select a launch provider later.
The COSI team spent decades developing their technology through flights on scientific balloons. In 2016, they sent a version of the gamma-ray instrument aboard NASA’s super pressure balloon, which is designed for long flights and heavy lifts.
The current COSI team includes Berkeley Physics PhDs Alex Lowell, Carolyn Kierans, and Clio Sleator, as well as graduate students Hadar Lazar and Jacqueline Beechert, and post-graduate researcher Nick Pellegrini. Meet the COSI team.


Welcome to your Universe! You stand on the threshold of entering previously unknown astrological understanding of the Cosmos. This report includes a comprehensive look at your natal Centaur placements to ensure complete grounding and connection with your home planet, Earth.
Your personal connection to the powerful and transforming black holes takes you into a dimension of inner self reflection intended to clarify your essence and your connection with All That Is.
Enjoy your journey into the exciting vastness of space!
Centaurs are asteroids with several properties in common, one of which is that they travel from deep regions of our solar system to within the orbit of Jupiter. They are similar to comets but are larger. The first Centaur discovered was Chiron in the year 1977. Chiron was first thought to be a kind of planet, but is now considered a Centaur by most astronomers.
Beginning with Chiron, the Centaur Reports takes a comprehensive look at your natal Centaur placements, beginning with Chiron, and continuing with Pholus, Nessus, Asbolus, Chariklo and Hylonome.


Tencent cloud is the cornerstone cloud of industrial Internet and the " information energy engine " in the era of industrial Internet . It serves Tencent's cooperative enterprises , supports small and medium-sized enterprises to grow in a short period of time , and makes them develop into large enterprises , reaching the transformation of 30 to 80 people . The design echoes the corporate culture of Tencent cloud , with the cloud system in the galaxy disk as the theme , and the nebula system is a component of the regular galaxy with disk structure . The most common form of regular galaxies is a disk on / to a central nucleus . There are a lot of gas and dark nebulae in the disk , and the brightness increases from / to the decrease of the distance from the center . The large-scale disk on / to flat galaxies has huge angular momentum . The cloud elements are extracted from the disk and used in various spaces .
The first floor front desk reception area uses a large number of arc elements . After entering from the main entrance , it will be attracted by the logo background wall . The shape of the top ceiling and each functional area is both interrelated and relatively independent , meeting the needs of different scenes . A large area of white is used as the bedding , while blue is used as the auxiliary color to embellish the space . The arc shape is matched with a lamp belt , which highlights the smooth arc shape of the space and shows its sense of science and technology .
The third floor are designed as an independent office space for small and medium-sized enterprises , so an independent small reception hall is set up . The combination of linear blue and white color breaks the dull feeling of white wall , and the linear interpenetration and concave convex texture sense play an important role in the visual feeling of space .
The staff office area is an open office environment , and the main body uses a lot of white , which makes the office area more clean , bright and concise . The top lamps use strips / stripped lamps with strong sense of sequence , and the dark carpet of the corridor , which is in sharp contrast to the gray carpet and wood grain floor glue , has the function of guidance , and also makes the space more hierarchical .


The latest news from the Space Technology Centre...
The Space Technology Centre at the University of Dundee was awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to research various technologies for use onboard spacecraft.
The Space Technology Centre at the University of Dundee was opened on March 18th by Lord Sainsbury, Undersecretary of State for Science and Technology. The Space Technology centre brings together the Satellite Receiving Station at Dundee, the Space Systems Research Group and related commercialisation activities.
Scientists and engineers from Japan today visited the Space Systems Research Group at the University of Dundee and used equipment from STAR-Dundee Ltd to test their SpaceWire equipment. JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, are planning to use SpaceWire technology on the Bepi Colombo mission to Mercury, and the NeXT Xray telescope.


Out Of Space - Bonus Blog Activities
Friday 13th April 2018
This week we are immersing ourselves in the world of outer space. Whether you fancy making some rice cake moon snacks, getting messy with paint and shaving foam, or singing along to the solar system song, we've got something for everyone in this blog post!
Nut Free Recipe - Moon Bites
If you came here looking for a nut free alternative to the recipe in this week’s box, look no further! Click the link here to view the recipe.
Marble Paint Planets
This cool craft can be repeated again and again with different colours to create a whole solar system full of wonderful planets! All you will need is some acrylic paint, shaving foam and paper.
Simply squirt out the shaving foam onto a washable surface (we used a cake tin!) and then pour some different colours of acrylic paint on it as shown.
Use your fingers or some cocktail sticks to swirl the colours about. Get some circles of white paper and press them lightly on top of the shaving foam and paint. Peel them off. Look at that cool marble effect! Now leave them to dry and stick them on some black card to create a cool intergalactic picture.
Take a break from all your crafting to learn a bit more about the solar system with a cool song! Whoever said learning was boring?!
Edible Moon Snacks
These snacks are healthy, tasty and easy to make! All you have to do is spread a small amount of peanut butter or cream cheese onto a rice cake to create the moon base. Add some craters to the moon made out of thin banana slices and cheerios - it really is as simple as that!
Build your own Rocket!
As a final activity, why don’t you try building your own virtual rocket on the Nasa website?
There’s loads to do this week, so we hope you enjoy going to infinity… and beyond!
Love, the Weekend Box Team.


Mars changes signs, entering Aries on Wednesday, March 1.
The planet of Action, Combat, Victory, etc. will be in its own sign until mid-April. A planet in its own sign is strong for what the planet represents. Further, Mars will not be under any malefic influence during this transit. Therefore, it's a good time for Initiating New Projects, Taking Independent Action, Engaging in Competition, etc. In your own birth chart, locate the house position of Aries. This sector of your life will be strong for new events, for moving forward, for the next 6 weeks, until April 13.
Uranus and Venus are still in Pisces and still opposite Retrograde Jupiter for March.
But now that Mars is moving out of the picture, Uranus will be only influenced by two benefic planets, and can give more positive results. This is good for Realizations, Humanitarian Concerns, Finding New Approaches to Solving Problems.
Venus begins a Retrograde Period on Saturday, March 4.
The planet of Romance and Agreement will be traveling "backwards" in the zodiac, in Pisces, for the next 6 weeks, until April 14. Retrograde planets are close to the Earth, therefore extra bright in the sky. Venus will be visible as the "Evening Star" on the Western horizon after sunset.
A retrograde planet is going back over the past.
Therefore this is a time when Venus significations are to be "reviewed." It's a time for reassessing your Romance, Agreements, Purchases, Values, etc. Romance will be reconsidered. Sometimes this means rekindling a romance that fell apart. True Value is harder to determine when Venus is retrograde; it's not a good time to make important purchases.
The New Moon is on Sunday, February 26, @ 14 deg Aquarius.
This begins the Hindu Lunar month Falguna
, named for the nakshatra of the Full Moon, which will be in Uttara Phalguni. This New Moon is also a Solar Eclipse, which will be an Annular eclipse, i.e., the disc of the Sun will not be completely covered by the shadow of the Moon. The New Moon will be flanked by Neptune on one side and Mercury on the other, combining the energy of the planet of Dreams with the planet of the Rational Mind. The result is good for the Creative Imagination, but doesn't help Realistic Thinking.


Home | Writing | Reading | Social Studies | Math | Science
Earth Science (and space!)
The earth is a planet that orbits a star that we call the Sun. The Sun has nine planets orbiting around it. From the center out they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The moon orbits the earth and is referred to as a satellite. Other planets also have moons orbiting them. There is an asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. There are also comets that make long orbits that take them close to the sun and then far away again. Together, all these objects make up the Solar System, the earth’s local neighborhood. In sum, the solar system includes the sun, nine planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, meteoroids, interplanetary dust and plasma.
The Sun is one of several hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is the neighborhood that the Sun belongs to. Many of the other stars have planetary systems orbiting around them.
The Milky Way is only one of the many, many galaxies sprinkled throughout the universe.
When you look with a powerful enough telescope, the galaxies appear to be moving away from each other which leads to the conclusion that the universe is expanding.
1. Galaxies are groups or systems of:
THE BIG BANG
The Big Bang theory is used to describe how the entire universe is likely to have begun. Physicists theorize that if we (conceptually) go back far enough in time, we find the universe starting out at a single point of very high energy and pressure. It would be hard for us to recognize or even grasp how that looked.
It went through a series of expansions and evolutions where the substance of the universe literally cooled down and formed what we see around us today.
This model has been put together by using many clues such as current expansion, various forms of radiation that occur throughout space, and the re-creation of the original high-energy conditions in laboratories.
As the universe flung out its substance, atoms that took the form of hot gas and dust, this material started to stick to itself and form clumps much like soap bubbles do. One or more of these clumps formed the beginnings of the Milky Way and smaller ones formed the stars within it. Our Solar System was a ball of gas and dust that coalesced under the force of its own gravity to form the sun and planets.
The Earth, like all the other planets, took time to develop into the state that it is in now. It had a process of hardening from a molten state over long periods of time.
1. The earth is a:
Scientists can read the history of development of the earth by examining the geologic record. By digging into the earth, layers are uncovered revealing chemical compositions and other conditions of the past. Fossils imbedded in these layers reveal the different forms of life that existed in the past.
More commonly just called air; the earth’s atmosphere is relatively thick and made up of nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%) and argon (1%) as well as trace amounts of carbon dioxide and water vapor. The troposphere is the name of the lowest portion of the atmosphere, where we can see clouds. The atmosphere plays the role of buffer between the earth and the sun. The earth has an unstable atmospheric composition which is maintained by the biosphere, that is, the atmospheric oxygen sustained through the interaction of solar energy with the earth’s plants.
Read the following passage, study the diagram, and answer the questions below:
The Water Cycle:
The water cycle, also called the “hydrologic cycle,” is the process of circulation of water within the earth’s hydrosphere. It involves the change in the physical state of water between its liquid, solid and gas phases. This cycle refers to the continuing exchange of water between land, atmosphere, surface and subsurface waters and organisms. This cycle involves five main physical actions: evaporation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow.
1. Evaporation: involves the transfer of water from bodies of surface water into the atmosphere necessitating a change in the physical nature of water from liquid to gas. 90% of atmospheric water comes from evaporation.
2. Precipitation: is the atmospheric moisture already condensed into clouds and falling to the surface of the earth. Precipitation normally occurs in the form of rain, and sometimes snow, hail, and fog.
3. Infiltration: The transition from surface water to groundwater is called infiltration. Groundwater tends to be slow moving, so this water may return as surface water thousands of years later.
4. Runoff: is the name for the different ways in which land surface water moves downhill to the oceans. Streams and rivers often end in lakes for some time and don’t make it to the ocean. A lot of runoff will evaporate before reaching a body of water or an aquifer.
5. Subsurface flow: is the term for the movement of water within the earth in the vadose zone or in aquifers. After infiltration, subsurface water often returns to the surface or seeps into the ocean.
1. In terms of the water cycle, what is the name for the process in which water that melts off of a snow cap reaches the ocean?
A. Subsurface flow
Answer: E. A snowcap is above ground and we just learned that water that melts or simply runs on the surface of the earth to an ocean is called runoff.
2. Which of the five physical actions involves water changing into its gaseous state?
E. Subsurface flow
Answer: B. Evaporation is the physical process in which water changes from its liquid state into its gaseous state and is dispersed in the atmosphere.
Conservation of earth’s resources involves the protection and smart management of the natural resources supplied by the earth for the benefit of each and every person and every living organism on this planet. Without conservation, all of the natural resources that are necessary for supporting life, like air, water, minerals, soil, animals, and energy will be destroyed. Currently, we waste incomprehensible amounts of natural resources every day through conscious recklessness as well as through negligence and ignorance. If we do more to conserve, we will save money and our environment. The more the earth’s populations increase, the greater a demand there is on the earth’s limited resources, which increases the need for conservation and the search for alternative energy sources.
Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
Different Forms of Energy
Currently, the majority of our energy comes from non-renewable energy sources that can never be replaced once they are exhausted. About 90% of our energy comes from fossil fuels like crude oil, natural gas, and coal. Because of this incredible rate of use and the impending loss of all of our natural resources, many scientists and activists have turned towards alternate forms of energy. These include methanol, ethanol, garbage and plant material, corn, wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectricity, and tidal energy. These are called renewable energy sources.
1. Why are people looking for renewable energy sources?
A. Because they’re hippies
B. Because we will soon be out of non-renewable energy sources
C. Because they’re bored
D. Because they want to increase our energy use
E. None of the above
2. Crude oil, natural gas, and coal are called
A. Nuclear energy sources
B. Alternate energy sources
C. Renewable energy sources
D. Fossil fuel sources
Click on the link below to move on to the Summary.
Back: Lesson 2 | Next: Science Summary
Signup! It's Free! | Language Arts | Reading | Social Studies | Math | Science


In a second of a series on factual designed spacecraft from the 1968 film '2001: A Space Odyssey' we will look at one of the more esoteric spacecraft designs featured: the Pan Am Space Clipper.
By the mid 1960's the race to the moon was in full swing by both the United States and the U.S.S.R. NASA in particular was developing plans for a robust space program that they assumed would continue beyond the initial moon landing at the same frenzied pace as Project Apollo.
Von Braun proposed grand schemes included large orbital space stations serviced by winged space shuttles, moonbases, and trips to Mars.
A rare illustration from a 1968 illustration by Robert McCall showing a winged booster for the clipper.
Many of these ideas were lavishly illustrated by several space artists and designers. The space clipper design used in '2001' came from many of these designs speculating on a winged space shuttle. One possible source for the space clipper was a antipodal space bomber that German scientist Eugene Sanger designed for the Third Reich during the second world war. This bomber which was called the "silverbird" was a winged glider that was intended to be launched by a rocket-powered sled.
There is a cool CGI animation depicting the Silverbird at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Lzgmg-9-c
Many early space shuttle concepts depicted either a rocket sled launcher or a 'twin' glider where one vehicle would lift the orbiter to Mach 25.
Over the decades I took care to keep my space clipper kit safe from being broken or discarded. My kit was also rebuilt twice since the mid-70's to utilize gained experiences in model building.
Having fun with PhotoShop
Below are photos of my Aurora space clipper as it looks 37 years after I purchased it.


When I was on Mauna Kea I felt like I was on Mars. The limited light cast the bare soil in a deep shade of red. The sky was bright orange, but only up to the cloud’s horizon. The skyline was dotted with crazy-looking satellites and telescopes. I had studied data collected from Mauna Kea many times while working on my bachelor’s in geography, but I had never actually been there. It was surreal- a vast contrast from the warm green jungles below. There was snow on the ground and it was only June. I looked up through a telescope and gazed at the “jewelry box” constellation. It was a magical night.


In Finland, the Northern Lights, also known as “Fire Foxes”, can be seen around 200 nights of the years. The Lapland area is where folks go to snowshoe, hike or dog sled their way to some of the most unreal viewing points to see the colorful display. Some choose to bunk up in arctic treehouses or glass igloos to enjoy the lights. So if you’re coming to see this impressive phenomena, which is actually caused by the sun, these are great tours to book.
#1 Aurora Ice Floating in Rovaniemi
Not likely what you’d imagined when seeing the northern lights, this outing takes guests out into icy waters, while wearing a dry suit of course. Float amongst the frosty terrain while gazing at the glowing green hues in the Finnish sky. A warm beverage awaits after the float, and transportation from Rovaniemi is included.
#2 Northern Lights Snowmobile Safari from Rovaniemi with Campfire Picnic
Also departing from Rovaniemi, travelers get the thrill of zipping around in a snowmobile, on the way to prime viewing locations. Riding through the wilderness, there will be an opportunity to see glistening rivers and perhaps some wildlife. Socialize and indulge in makkara sausages over a toasty warm campfire after the three-hour adventure.
#3 Aurora Floating in Rovaniemi
Another float trip will take you to an arctic lake, where you’ll be bundled in a buoyant suit for hours of relaxing drifting. If timed right, the Aurora Borealis will give quite the show via a rainbow of lights shining over the trees. These floating excursions are extremely stress diffusing, as your body will almost feel weightless, while you seemingly drift into another world.
#4 Northern Lights Hunt from Rovaniemi with Folk Tales and Snacks over Campfire
Just like camping when you were a kid, except you probably weren’t looking for one of the world’s most famed lights displays, you’ll huddle by a Finnish tent for an exciting two hour time frame. A crystal lake sets off to the side, slightly illuminated under the night sky. A campfire will be roaring, while the hosts prepare snacks and hot beverages over the flames. Legendary folk tales will be elaborated while guests gaze up toward the stars and lights.
#5 Northern Lights Flight from Rovaniemi
Sometimes, despite the best planning efforts, some might be leaving Finland without ever having caught a dream-worthy glimpse of the Northern Lights. Or maybe you got a peek, but just not what you were hoping for. By taking the air via plane, the chances of seeing the spectacle are much higher since the clouds are no longer an obstacle. Along the two and a half hour flight, you’re bound to see something amazing.
#6 Aurora Borealis Picnic in Rovaniemi
It doesn’t get cozier than this hike through the rustic Lapland forests of Finland. Once settled, hosts will prepare a traditional picnic, and beverages to keep you warm. Then the lookout begins, for the jaw-dropping Aurora Borealis. Relish in true Finnish hospitality, snuggle up and pinch yourself, because this is real.


October optics adventures!
Lack of blogging (particularly on the food side) is a good indication that I’m working towards something pretty special in my scientific research.
During the last month I’ve been pushing my programming skills to the limit with my PhD research to get as much done as possible before jetting off from Cape Town to attend the biggest conference of my career so far, followed by a meeting with the European Space Agency in preparation for the launch of their new ocean colour satellite.
The ocean optics conference is held every two years. This year it is being held in Glasgow, which is where I’m writing to you from right now! Oral presentation and poster sessions will cover a huge range of topics within the field of optics in the global oceans, including: Remote sensing, shallow water, ecosystem models, high latitudes, phytoplankton, particles and environmental management. It promises to be a great conference, with workshops on processing and data management and various meetings taking place around the central event. I will be presenting both an oral presentation and a poster about my work so far – see my abstract here. I’ll also be attending a user meeting to discuss the fantastic instrument HICO – located on the international space station.
Following ocean optics, I’ll be jumping on another plane to Frascati, just outside of Rome, Italy to visit the European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) for the Sentinel-3 OLCI/SLSTR and MERIS/(A)ATSR workshop. After the loss of ENVISAT and the MERIS instrument aboard earlier this year, we’ve struggled to get good satellite coverage of my research region. Though we are now pursuing the use of hyperspectral data from HICO, we could really do with getting data regularly, as we did with ENVISAT/MERIS. The European Space Agency (ESA) will be launching a constellation of replacements for the ENVISAT satellite from next year. The workshop in Frascati will focus on one of these satellites (Sentinel 3) and one instrument in particular – the Ocean Land Colour Instrument (OLCI). I’ll be presenting a broad overview of our current and future research in South Africa and hopefully will learn a lot on both the technical side of the launch plans and from other researchers hoping to use the data.
Follow me on twitter – @HayleyEversKing for day to day updates about both ocean optics (I’ll be encouraging others to tweet under the hashtag #oceanoptics2012) and the ESA workshop. I’ll be doing some follow up posts on thoughts and overviews of some talks when I get back to Cape Town!


For all those people who have been asking whether there is an appropriate George Woodward sketch to mark the transit of Mercury: Yes, indeed there is:
The cartoon (ref: D5459/1/93/24) shows the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande (1732-1807) telling Napoleon Buonaparte that he has discovered an island in the moon. Napoleon’s response – that he has already despatched a king to take possession of it – refers to the latter’s policy of turning family members into kings.
The celestial whatnot will begin not long after midday today. Looking up at the sun won’t work – and obviously you are too smart for that anyway – but if you are reading this before it happens, you can follow a broadcast of the event by clicking the Play button below. Or you can find out more about the whole shooting-match courtesy of the NASA website.


Could primordial soup be served ice-cold and made with a liquid other than water? Astrobiologists believe that it’s possible on Titan. Although the temperature on Saturn’s massive moon is a chilly minus 179 degrees Celsius, it has a thick nitrogen atmosphere rich in organic molecules and a surface speckled with methane lakes. These ingredients, according to computer simulations recently conducted at Cornell University, could combine to form cellular membranes, which are crucial for the evolution of complex cells. “Ours is the first concrete blueprint of life not as we know it,” said one of the researchers in a news release. Another expressed hope that we might someday send a probe “to float on the seas of this amazing moon.”
But the creationists at the hilariously misnamed Discovery Institute, a prominent advocate for intelligent design theory, had a different spin on the story. It described the Cornell researchers as hucksters who had proved nothing: “Get out your checkbook, U.S Congress. Coming up: a search across the Solar System for stone-cold dead BUBBLES.”
Ridiculing astrobiologists is a favorite sport at the Discovery Institute, which complains on its news site that “hardly a month goes by lately when the science media fail to breathlessly report the discovery of a new planet, in some star's ‘habitable zone,’ that might hypothetically be capable of supporting life.” The institute attributes the coverage in part to hype purposefully generated by “organized science” to shake down the government for grant money.
But the creationists also see a more sinister agenda than naked greed. They place astrobiologists among the ranks of the “Darwin Brigades” who have always been “eager to undermine human exceptionalism,” since “the alleged ordinariness of the human race was vital in establishing common ancestry as a plausible theory.” Astrobiology, they argue, expands this line of thought, since it holds to the Darwinist belief that life started by accident and that—under the right conditions—it can emerge anywhere with a liquid solvent (preferably water), energy, and organic compounds. This delusion, the Discovery Institute adds, undermines human exceptionalism on a cosmic scale by proclaiming that the Earth is not particularly special, just one among billions of potentially life-bearing planets.
The Discovery Institute claims instead that, the more data we gather about the Earth and other solar systems, the more clear it becomes that the cosmos was designed specifically with us in mind: “Someone decided that life should exist in this universe and made sure that Earth received all the proper protection and environmental benefits it needed to become the home of humankind.” And, of course, scripture is always available to provide supporting evidence. “The Earth's uniqueness brings to mind what the prophet Isaiah recorded thousands of years ago: ‘For thus says the Lord—Who created the heavens, God Himself, Who formed the Earth and made it, Who established it and did not create it to be a worthless waste; He formed it to be inhabited—I am the Lord, and there is no one else.’”
The intellectual godfather of these views is Guillermo Gonzalez, a proponent of intelligent design who is an assistant professor of astronomy at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and a senior fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Gonzalez puts a theological twist on some of the theories proposed by his more secular-minded colleagues. Chief among these is the “rare Earth” hypothesis, which emphasizes that even the slightest deviations in cosmic and terrestrial events could have rendered our planet inhospitable to life.
The most recent scientific treatment of this idea is the book Lucky Planet, by David Waltham, an astrobiologist and geophysicist at Royal Holloway College, University of London. “There are many ways of getting a world wrong but few ways of getting it right,” Waltham writes. “Earth was blessed with incredible good fortune, giving it all the right properties to sustain a complex and beautiful biosphere.”
Gonzalez and theologian Jay Wesley Richards present a different interpretation in their book The Privileged Planet, which has become a manifesto for intelligent design cosmology. Scientists such as Waltham, Gonzalez says, “argue that although Earth’s complex life and the conditions that allow for it are highly improbable … [they’re] still nothing more than an unintended fluke.”
Privileged Planet, however, sees evidence of a divine architect, arguing that the cosmos has been purposefully engineered to enable us to appreciate it: “The fact that our atmosphere is clear; that our moon is just the right size and distance from Earth; and that its gravity stabilizes Earth’s rotation; that our position in the galaxy is just so; that our sun is its precise mass and composition—all of these facts and many more not only are necessary for Earth’s habitability, but also have been surprisingly crucial to the discovery and measurement of the universe.”
This measurability is presented as a refutation of chance. For instance, the composition of our atmosphere is such that it filters out deadly radiation while remaining transparent enough for the science of astronomy. Gonzalez takes correlation between habitability and measurability a step even further, noting that our transparent atmosphere also enables us to detect and deflect asteroids that could potentially collide with Earth. Such knowledge would only be useful for a technologically advanced civilization. Therefore, he reasons, it endows humanity with a survival mechanism that is intrinsically tied to our predestined development as a scientifically literate species.
It’s the sort of circular reasoning that can give you an ice cream headache. But, from the perspective of creationists who believe that the Earth is God’s very special planet, it answers two questions that have been dogging them ever since scientists in the 19th century began seriously investigating the possibility of life on other worlds: If the Earth is at the theological center of the universe, why is it physically located in the boondocks of the Milky Way galaxy? And why would God create so many planets just to leave them barren of life?
Intelligent design cosmology purports to answer the first question by declaring that we are, in fact, located at an exalted place. A planet situated in intergalactic space, far from other stars, would have less light pollution, making it ideal for observing distant phenomena, but with no other nearby planets to observe, the location would be virtually worthless for discovering the laws of celestial mechanics. A planet near a dense nebular cloud, on the other hand, would be conducive to learning about star formation, but because of the glare, not the wider universe. Earth, Gonzalez argues, “offers surprisingly good views of the distant and nearby universe while providing an effective platform for discovering the laws of physics.”
And why would a deity who cares only about Earthlings bother to design an infinite cosmos just to fill it with dead planets? Intelligent design proponents have an answer for that, too. They see the wider universe as the byproduct of the lengthy process of bringing the Earth into being—a massive undertaking that began with the creation of energy, followed by the formation of matter, elements, galaxies, planets, and ultimately, us. Extraterrestrial life is not a factor in this equation.
That’s why the Discovery Institute exudes an I-told-you-so schadenfreude whenever scientists discover exoplanets that appear to be poor candidates for sustaining life. The most basic definition of a “habitable” planet is one that exists in its solar system’s “Goldilocks zone”—close enough to its star to provide sufficient heat for liquid water but not so close that any water steams away. But there are a myriad of other factors that determine whether an exoplanet can host life. For instance, if an exoplanet is too small, it won’t be able to retain an atmosphere; if it’s too large, the high surface pressure will make water solid, regardless of the temperature.
“Not only are more requirements for habitability being discovered, but they are often found to be interdependent, forming a complex ‘web,’ ” the Discovery Institute says. “This means that if a planetary system is found not to satisfy one of the habitability requirements, it may not be possible to compensate for this deficit by adjusting a different parameter in the system.”
That might be true if you believe that our solar system is the perfect template for habitability. Scientists have discovered combinations of factors that could allow for planetary systems very different from ours to support life. For instance, a planet orbiting close to a small, cool star can become “tidally locked,” so that one side always faces the sun while the other side is trapped in permanent darkness. It was once thought that the daylight side of such a world would lose all its water, since it would evaporate and freeze on the night side. But recent climate modeling suggests that ocean currents could transport enough heat to melt away dark-side glaciers, keeping the planet wet enough for life.
And then there are the surprising potential habitable zones that we’ve found within our own solar system—in the methane lakes of Titan and the massive oceans of water beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. There might be microbial life on Mars, or fossils of long-extinct organisms that thrived around 4 billion years ago, when the Red Planet had an atmosphere and water.
The intelligent design crowd doesn’t rule out the existence of what it calls “simple life” on other worlds. However, as the Discovery Institute sniffs, “we likely won't be satisfied with microbes barely surviving on a moon. … We are looking for much more complex life, with a brain capacity similar to our own, and the ability to modify its surroundings into complex technology.”
It’s stunning that even critics of astrobiology could be witless enough to write those words. We’d be quite satisfied with microbes eking out an existence on an alien moon. In fact, evidence that life can emerge on other worlds would be the most significant discovery of the millennium.
Perhaps the most revealing statement made by creationists is their disdain for “simple life.” Yes, compared with us, a bacterium is simple life. But there is nothing simple about life itself. It is, to our knowledge, the only thing in the natural universe that is capable of physically changing itself to adapt to its environment. Darwin’s words still resonate today: “Whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
And that’s what really worries the missionaries of intelligent design. The discovery of extraterrestrial organisms would confront them with two unpalatable conclusions—that evolution is the driving force behind life, and that God has plans that don’t necessarily include us. For creationists, it’s far more comforting to pin their faith upon a dead universe.


Resolving power of Optical Instruments :-
Resolving power of Optical Instruments is the ability of an Imaging device to separate points of an object that are located at a small angular distance or It is the power of an optical instrument to separate far away objects, that are close together into individual images.
Consider a parallel beam of light falling on a convex lens, If the lens is well corrected for aberrations, then geometrical Optics tells us that the beam will get focused to a point.
However, because of diffraction, the beam instend getting focused to a point gets focused to a spot of finite area.
Due to diffraction the pattern on the focal plane would consist of a central bright region surrounded by concentric dark and bright rings.
r₀ = 1·22 λ f / 2a = 0·61 λ f / a
Where f is the focal length of the lens 2a is the diameter of the circular aperture or the diameter of the lens.
The size of the spot is very small, It plays an important role in determining the limit of resolving power of optical instruments like a telescope or a microscope.
For the two stars to be just resolved
f ∆θ = r₀ = 0·61 λ f / a
Thus ∆θ will be a small if the diameter of the Object is large. This implies that the telescope will have better resolving power if ‘a’ is large.
Assume that light of wavelength 6 x10⁻⁵ cm is coming from a star. what is the limit of resolution of a telescope whose objective has a diameter of 100 inch ?
2a = 100 inch = 254 cm
λ = 6 x10⁻⁵ cm
∆θ = ?
∆θ = 0·61 x 6 x 10⁻⁵ / 127 = 2·9 x 10⁻⁷ radians
Resolving Power of a Microscope :-
The object is placed slightly beyond ‘f’ that a real image is formed at a distance ‘V’ , Diameter of the object is D
Then tanβ = D/2 / f
2tanβ = D /f
Where 2β is the angle subtended by the diameter of the Objective lens at the focus of the microscope.
The image of a point Object will again be a diffraction pattern whose size in the image Plane will be
V θ = V ( 1·22λ ) / D
Linear magnification by the lens is
m = V / u = V / f = V θ / d min.
Where d min. is the minimum size of the Object or minimum separation.
d min. = V θ / m = V ( 1·22λ ) / D m
d min. = 1·22λ f / D
since f = V / m
hence d min. = 1·22λ / 2tanβ
since 2tanβ = D / f
For small value of β
tanβ = sinβ
Hence d min = 1·22λ / 2sinβ
If the medium between the object and the objective lens is not air but a medium of refractive index μ
Then we gets modified to
d min = 1·22λ / 2μ sinβ
The resolving power of the microscope is given by the reciprocal of minimum separation of two points seen as distinct.


(STL.News) The Starscope Mobile Phone Telescope Mount is an ideal accessory for astronomers who love the outdoors. It can easily be clipped to your phone and will turn it into a powerful camera lens, allowing you to view objects from afar in amazing detail. This waterproof, fog proof, scratch proof, and universal mount is great for a variety of devices and is easy to use. It is an excellent gadget for astronomy lovers who want to enjoy the outdoors.
Lightweight and Portable:
The Starscope Mobile Phone Telescope Mount can be used with any smartphone model. It comes with an adapter that fits smartphones that are two to three inches wide. The mounting system is lightweight and portable and can be taken anywhere you go. It allows you to take photos and record videos with the convenience of a telescope. In addition, you can even use the mount to snap pictures. This product is easy to use and is ideal for astronomical enthusiasts.
Despite its name, the Starscope Mobile Phone Telescope Mount offers you a number of benefits. It features a monocular camera mount that is adjustable. It comes with a powerful zoom and can even be used for photography. It also comes with a mini telescope mount that fits binoculars or smartphones. It comes with a microfiber lens cloth and is weather resistant. The Best Monocular is durable and has 24 hours of UV protection.
The Starscope Mobile Phone Telescope Mount is an add-on accessory that can be attached to a smartphone and allow users to view distant objects with great clarity. It can hold up to two inches wide smartphones, so it is perfect for long-distance photography. It has an incredibly sturdy eyepiece and a spring-loaded clip for fast attachment. And with a price tag of only a few dollars, it’s definitely a good investment.
The Starscope mobile phone telescope mount is an accessory that allows users to take awesome pictures of objects from a distance. This mobile mount is compatible with most types of cell phones. The phone is connected to a monocular adapter and monocular. The monoculars are also compatible. With the Best monocular telescope, you can observe the stars from a distance with the help of a smartphone.
Versatility and Utility:
A Starscope Monocular is an affordable and durable monocular designed to transform a smartphone into a portable telescope. Its Ipx5 water-resistant and shock-proof features make it a great companion for outdoor activities. It is an ideal accessory for travel and is a perfect companion for travel. Regardless of your needs, you will be amazed at the versatility and utility of this device. You’ll love its sleek, compact design and its many useful features.
This portable monocular mount will transform your smartphone into a mobile telescope. It is a sturdy, shockproof, and water-resistant mount for your phone. It will also protect against dust and other debris. It will also protect your phone from damage. A smartphone’s camera will be protected by the Starscope Telescope. The monocular phone adapter is a very useful accessory that will give you crystal clear images.
Perfect for Astronomers:
This versatile mount is a must-have accessory for any astronomer. The Starscope Mobile Phone Telescope Mount makes your smartphone a portable telescope. The monocular tripod provides hands-free viewing. The monocular is compatible with most cell phones. This unique accessory is the perfect accessory for any astronomer. It makes it easy to take photos with your smartphone. Its monocular tripod is designed to connect to the Starscope.


Comparison Between Egyptian and Chinese Astronomy
|Criteria||Egyptian Astronomy||Chinese Astronomy|
|Calendar||Simple solar calendar - suited to agricultural seasons and Nile flood predictions.|
- 365 days year
- 12 months with 30 days each
- Month divided into three 10 day weeks
- Five festival days added to the end of the year.
|Complex lunisolar calendar - months follow the phases of the moon. As a result, they do not accurately follow the seasons of the solar year.
To assist farmers to plant or harvest crops, the calendar has 24 seasonal markers, which follow the solar year|
- An ordinary year has 12 lunar months
- A leap year has 12 lunar months and a 13th intercalary month which may come after any regular month
- An ordinary year has from 353 to 355 days
- A leap year has from 383 to 385 days
- Seven days week
|Role in Society||Practical role in construction and Agriculture|
- Positioning the pyramids - aligned accurately with the star B Scorpii's rising direction.
- Astronomers were simply priests - their main duty was to calculate the time of the Nile flood, which occurred at the summer solstice when the bright star Sirius rose before the sun.
|Complex role in divination|
- Chinese developed complex mythologies surrounding the planets and stars.
- They saw planetary phenomena as indicators of life out of balance. The worst event was a solar eclipse, which they thought happened as a dragon tried devouring the Sun
- Astrology - the divination of the future from the Chinese Zodiac played an important part in the culture of China
- Astronomers in ancient China had to announce the first day of each month, track the seasons, and predict eclipses for their rulers. Failure to get the predictions right, resulted in the beheading of astrologers.
|Astronomical knowledge||- Limited knowledge and interest in stars and planet movements (exception in the Ptolemaic Period )
- Geometry was limited, and did not allow for complicated mathematical computations.
Chinese astrologers developed sophisticated observatory buildings, movements of stars were calculated and tracked with great attention and accuracy
- Beijing Ancient Observatory
- Master Zhou's Observatory
- Chang'an observatory
- 2400 BC -Astronomical Calendar
- 238 BC -Ptolemy 3 suggested adding one day every four years to calendar - implemented two centuries later under Julius Caesar and known as the Julian calendar.
- Alexandria University - Ptolemaic Period scientists reached solid conclusions on the earth's rotation around the sun and the approximate geosphere of the planet
|- 2137 BC -"Classic of History" records solar eclipse.
- 2000 BC -Jupiter revolution around its orbit is 12 years.
- 1400 BC -Calculation of solar and lunar eclipses by analyzing the Moon's motion.
- 1100 BC -Chinese determine the spring equinox.
- 613 BC -Comet Halley recorded
- 532 BC -A nova recorded by Zuo Zhuan.
- 28 BC -"Book of Han" makes earliest record of sunspot.
- 185 A.D. - The earliest recorded supernova of RCW 86
- 687 A.D. - Earliest recording of meteor shower.
- 1054 A.D. - Recording of the appearance of a guest star, the supernova Crab Nebula.
|Catalogue of the universe||- Simple 5 constellations (division of the sky)
- 36 groups of stars called decans.
|Astronomers undertook the daunting task of cataloging every observable star.
- 28 constellations (division of the sky)
- 283 asterisms - each visible star is assigned into one of the asterisms.
|Famous Astronomers||- Amenhotep||- Li Shu
- Li Fan
- Gan De
- Yi Xing


'Leap Second' to make New Year's Eve longest day of 2016
- Author: Toni Ryan Jan 01, 2017,
Jan 01, 2017, 0:46
The leap second is needed as tides and weather patterns can alter what exactly a year is. If it is not made then every year, the atomic time would drift away from the time estimated due to the Earth's rotation.
So chances are you'll be shouting 'Happy new year!' and clinking glasses a second too early.
Even so, unless you're paying extremely close attention, you likely won't notice the added second.
Counting down to 2017 will take longer than usual this New Year's Eve as clock experts compensate for a slowdown in the Earth's rotation.
Now, why is there a difference between atomic time and Earth's rotation?More news: Joe Mixon apologizes for 2014 assault
Universal Time, as this is called, is governed by the gravitational motions of the Earth, moon and sun but since the 1960s, time has been measured by atomic clocks that are independent of planetary motion. The federal government also accounts for leap seconds in its Global Positioning System navigation messages, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Meanwhile, the extra second will be added to the first day of 2017 for areas across the Eastern Hemisphere. Organizations writing timekeeping software ensure that the leap second doesn't cause any trouble to people.
So, I only say 2016 was a disgusting year because I think that every year is a terrible year, but this year was notable in that everyone else thought it was frightful, too. Previous estimates reported Earth's rotation is actually slowing by two-thousandths of a second every day. This happens because the earth's rotations aren't regular, sometimes they speed up and sometimes they slow down. Ever since the setting up of the system, 26 leap seconds have been inserted at intervals of 6 months to 7 years; the last one was done last year, on June 30.
So when the clocks hit 23.59.59 on New Year's Eve in the United Kingdom, they will then move to 23.59.60 before moving on to 00.00.00 on January 1, 2017. In order to keep the two measuring systems in sync, leap seconds have been added starting with 1972.
When adding a second, it doesn't mean clocks move forward by a second.


December 7, 1972 – Apollo 17, the 6th and final lunar landing mission, launched at 12:33 AM EST and was witnessed by approximately 500,000 spectators. The astronauts landed on lunar surface at 2:55 PM EST on December 11 and lifted off on December 14 at 5:55 PM EST. They landed safely in the Pacific Ocean at 2:25 PM on December 19. Approximately 5 hours into the flight, the astronauts, with the sun behind them, took a photograph of the earth fully illuminated. To them, it appeared as a glass marble and the image was named the Blue Marble. Apollo 17 was the last lunar mission. Since then, no other humans have travelled to the lunar surface or been in a position to photograph a whole earth view of our planet.


Are you ready to embark on a journey through the wonders of space? Look no further than Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex! Located in Merritt Island, FL, this extraordinary destination offers a captivating history, thrilling attractions, and exciting events.
Whether you’re an avid space enthusiast or simply seeking an adventure, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has something for everyone. So grab your spacesuit and get ready to explore the outer reaches of the universe – freedom awaits!
History of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
If you’re interested in learning about the history of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, you can explore exhibits that highlight its fascinating past. The complex has a rich and storied history that dates back to the early days of space exploration. It was established in 1967 as a way to provide public access to NASA’s launch facilities and showcase the achievements of the space program.
One of the key exhibits at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the Early Space Exploration exhibit. Here, you can learn about the Mercury and Gemini programs, which paved the way for human spaceflight. You can see artifacts from these missions, including spacesuits worn by astronauts like John Glenn and Alan Shepard.
Another notable exhibit is the Apollo/Saturn V Center. This massive facility houses an actual Saturn V rocket, which was used during the Apollo missions. You can walk beneath it and marvel at its size and power. Inside, you’ll find interactive displays that tell the story of how humans first set foot on the moon.
In addition to these exhibits, there are also displays that highlight more recent accomplishments in space exploration, such as the Mars Rover exhibit and the Astronaut Training Experience. These exhibits offer a glimpse into what lies ahead for space exploration.
The history of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is one filled with triumphs and challenges. By exploring these exhibits, you can gain a deeper understanding of humanity’s journey beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Attractions at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
There’s so much to see and do at the attractions in KSC Visitor Complex. From learning about space exploration to experiencing simulated space missions, there is something for everyone who desires freedom and wants to immerse themselves in the wonders of outer space.
One of the main attractions at KSC Visitor Complex is the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit. Here, you can get up close to an actual space shuttle, touch a moon rock, and even experience what it’s like to launch into space through a thrilling simulation.
For those interested in the history of space travel, the Rocket Garden is a must-visit. You can walk among historic rockets that were used during various NASA missions and learn about their significance in shaping our understanding of the universe.
Another popular attraction is the Astronaut Training Experience (ATX). This interactive exhibit allows you to train like an astronaut by participating in simulated missions and experiencing what it feels like to live and work in space.
If you’re looking for more hands-on activities, be sure to visit Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted. Here, you can try your hand at operating a robotic arm or designing your own Mars rover.
With so many attractions to explore, KSC Visitor Complex offers an unforgettable experience for those seeking knowledge and adventure.
Events and Special Exhibits at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
The current special exhibits and events at KSC Visitor Complex offer a unique experience for visitors. From interactive displays to awe-inspiring presentations, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
One of the most popular exhibits is ‘Heroes & Legends,’ which tells the stories of NASA’s pioneers through artifacts and multimedia presentations. You can learn about the early days of space exploration and the brave men and women who made it possible.
For those interested in the future of space travel, the ‘Space Shuttle Atlantis’ exhibit is a must-see. Here, you can get up close to an actual space shuttle, touch a moon rock, and even experience what it’s like to be inside a shuttle cockpit.
In addition to these permanent exhibits, KSC Visitor Complex also hosts special events throughout the year. The Rocket Launch Viewing Parties are particularly exciting as you get to witness real rocket launches up close. Imagine feeling the ground shake as a massive rocket lifts off into space!
Whether you’re a space enthusiast or just curious about our universe, KSC Visitor Complex has something for everyone. So come on down and explore the wonders of space!
Plan Your Visit to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
When planning your visit to KSC Visitor Complex, don’t forget to check the schedule for special events and exhibits. This will ensure that you make the most of your time at this incredible destination.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers a wide range of activities and experiences that cater to all ages and interests. Start your journey by exploring the numerous exhibits that showcase the rich history and achievements of space exploration. From interactive displays detailing NASA’s missions to fascinating artifacts like moon rocks, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn about the heroes who have ventured into space and made groundbreaking discoveries.
In addition to the permanent exhibits, be sure to check out the special events happening during your visit. These events can include rocket launches, astronaut talks, or even behind-the-scenes tours. Keep in mind that schedules may vary, so it’s important to plan ahead and secure tickets if necessary.
Lastly, take advantage of the various amenities available at KSC Visitor Complex. Grab a bite at one of the onsite restaurants or browse through unique souvenirs at the gift shops.


All essential infrastructure designs required for the first phase of the world’s most powerful radio telescope – the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – have been completed.
The SKA is a collection of thousands of antennas spread over 3 000km which will work together as one gigantic, virtual instrument creating a radio telescope at least 50 times more powerful and 10 000 times faster than any other radio telescope currently in existence.
The telescope will be made up of many large antennas and other types of radio wave receivers that will be linked together via optic fibre cables which are constructed in South Africa and Australia.
For the last five years, engineers have been hard at work at their sites in Murchison, Western Australia and the Northern Cape designing all the essential infrastructure required for construction of this complex global project.
Following the successful review of the key infrastructure components, the project will now move on to the bridging phase, the Department of Science and Technology said on Monday. This phase will bring together all the individual detailed designs of elements of the SKA and integrate them on a system level.
A system critical design review will be conducted in December after which the project will enter the procurement phase, followed by construction once the establishment of the SKAO as an intergovernmental organisation has been concluded.
Minister of Science and Technology, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane has welcomed the progress made by the teams.
“I am proud of the sterling work by our engineers who are part of the SKA project.
“I have no doubt the expertise and best practice developed during the delivery of this precursor telescope enabled the INSA [Infrastructure South Africa] consortium to meet the SKA Organisation’s stringent standards for infrastructure design,” the minister said.
The minister went on to wish the SKAO well for the system critical design review at the end of 2019, and the development of the construction proposal for approval by the intergovernmental organisation.
South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology has already invested more than R760 million in infrastructure for the MeerKAT radio telescope, which was completed in July last year in Carnarvon, the Northern Cape.
Kubayi-Ngubane said she looks forward to her official visit to Rome next month for the signing of the SKA Convention, following four rounds of negotiations over the last few years.
Italy, which led the multilateral negotiation process, was the first country to initial the document. The Minister will then proceed to the SKA Global Headquarters in Manchester, UK.
Once completed, the radio astronomers will use the SKA to understand how stars and galaxies formed, how they evolved over time; what the so-called “dark-matter” is that occupies 95% of the universe; how magnetic fields formed and evolved in the universe and how they influence astrophysical processes; to investigate the validity of Einstein’s theory of relativity, and perhaps detect life elsewhere in the universe


On Saturday May 5th, Cinco De Mayo, while others are out drinking the night away another event is going on, a “supermoon” is in the sky, it is the closest and therefore the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. At 11:34 p.m., the moon is about 221,802 miles from Earth. That’s about 15,300 miles closer than average. That proximity will make the moon appear about 14 percent bigger than it would if the moon were at its farthest distance.
Check out the new section of my portfolio for Lunar Photography, I still don’t own any gear to make a solid attempt at Lunar Photography but that added challenge helps make it more fun.
I also added a few images to the Scenic Photography section from the night leading up to the supermoon shots.


On Monday, April 8, a solar eclipse will be visible (weather permitting) across the U.S. Anyone within a 115-mile-wide path cutting from Texas through Maine will experience a total eclipse. A partial eclipse will be visible in the Allentown area beginning at 2:08 p.m. It will peak at 3:23 p.m. and conclude at 4:35 p.m.
If you plan to observe the solar eclipse at any time during those 2 hours and 27 minutes, Lehigh Valley Health Network encourages you to review these important safety tips.


*-If you are an educator who would like to use this episode as part of your class, please email us at [email protected] and we will provide it to you free of charge.
The great eclipse of 2017 is has captured Americans’ imagination, and millions of Americans are planning to travel to catch a glimpse of this rare event. This got us thinking- how have Americans’ responded to similar events in the past? Fortunately, we were able to speak with historian Steve Ruskin, who has been researching this topic for years. Steve explains the reasons that eclipses excite our imagination, the ways that people have understood eclipses throughout history, and the parallels between the 2017 eclipse and America’s first great eclipse in 1878.
Dr. Steve Ruskin is a historian of science whose new book America’s First Great Eclipse: How Scientists, Tourists, and the Rocky Mountain Eclipse of 1878 Changed Astronomy Forever was published in May of 2017. To learn more about the book or purchase your own copy, click here.