The BBC’s annual Stargazing Live event returns tonight on BBC2 at 8PM for its 4th series and is followed by a half-hour Q&A session where viewers can get answers on various astronomy questions from a panel of experts.
The event runs over 3 nights, Tue, January 7th to Thursday, January 9th, 2013.
Episode 1 (Tuesday – tonight):
In the most … Read the rest of this article
Anyone who has flown long distances will be familiar with the jetlag that comes with travelling across time zones. Our body clocks need time to adjust to different daylight times as high-fliers and frequent travellers know all too well. But what about astronauts, the highest fliers of all? Do they suffer from rocket-lag?
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ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli in his sleeping …
NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins completed a 5 hour and 28 minute spacewalk Saturday to remove a faulty ammonia pump on the International Space Station. A second spacewalk to install a new unit now is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 24.
The extra day will allow time for the crew to resize a spare spacesuit on the space station … Read the rest of this article
Almost a million people have watched the YouTube video of ESA’s 3D camera being used in space. Here on Earth, the same camera technology is equally successful.
“3D brings a human and immersive feel to images that nothing else can match,” says Max Collon from Dutch Cosine Research and its subsidiary 3D-ONE.
Cosine developed the ERB-1 and ERB-2 Erasmus Recording … Read the rest of this article
NASA engineers are developing climbing legs for the International Space Station’s robotic crewmember Robonaut 2 (R2), marking another milestone in space humanoid robotics.
The legless R2, currently attached to a support post, is undergoing experimental trials with astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory. Since its arrival at the station in February 2011, R2 has performed a series of tasks to demonstrate … Read the rest of this article
This montage of time-lapse photography from the International Space Station is collected from many taken in Expeditions 29, 30 and 31.
The previous sequence, ‘All Alone In The Night‘, highlighted night sequences and spectacular aurora light shows and intended to give a feeling of flying through space.
The goal with this sequence was to bring a bit more … Read the rest of this article
If you have a smartphone, take it out and run your fingers along the glass surface. It’s cool to the touch, incredibly thin and strong, and almost impervious to scratching. You’re now in contact with a “smart material.”
Smart materials don’t occur naturally. Instead, they are designed by human engineers working at the molecular level to produce substances made-to-order for … Read the rest of this article
The International Space Station celebrates its birthday today, 15 years after the first module was launched in 1998.
The Space Station is the largest cooperative project ever carried out in science, involving NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
On 20 November 1998 a Russian Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur space centre … Read the rest of this article
ESA’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ferry, Albert Einstein, completed its five-month mission to the International Space Station by reentering the atmosphere today and burning up safely over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific Ocean.
Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) are the most complex space vehicles ever developed in Europe and are the largest and most capable resupply ships … Read the rest of this article
A metal 3D-printing revolution is entering space. AMAZE is a recently announced project that aims to perfect the printing of space-quality metal components on Earth and beyond within five years.
3D printing builds a solid object from a series of layers, each one printed on top of the last. This ‘additive manufacturing’ technique produces very complex structures with minimal waste … Read the rest of this article
The Sun Now (Visible light)
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The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
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Aurora Oval
(Northern Hemisphere) |
Aurora Oval
(Southern Hemisphere) |
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