Space

Mars As Big As The Moon... This Year Only! (and Next Year, And The Next)

Painted green by a flashlight, astronomer Dennis Mammana of California points out Mars to onlookers on Aug. 26, 2003, when Mars was particularly close to Earth. Photo credit: Thad V'Soske via NASA Science. ...

Article - Matthew T. Dearing - Jul 27 2010 - 7:29am

Spacebook And NASA Social Media

As I bask in media attention for my Project Calliope, it's worth noting I'm not the only Antunes getting media coverage in the space/IT world.  This is one story of 'the other Antunes', and of NASA's Spacebook. NASA created an inte ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Jul 30 2010 - 12:03pm

The Sound Of The Ionosphere

What does the ionosphere sound like?  Well, our Project Calliope sonification will map the ionosphere's properties to a musical range.  What you'll hear is the volume and changes of activity within it. In some ways, sound is the best method for g ...

Article - Project Calliope - Jul 28 2010 - 9:55am

Solar Flare Alert C3-Class with Video

This morning a more unique solar event occurred from the current sunspot 1092. A class C3 solar flare was unleashed from this spot along with a nearly simultaneous magnetic filament stretching mostly across the sun's northern hemisphere. The two even ...

Blog Post - Matthew T. Dearing - Aug 1 2010 - 9:55pm

Picosatellite To-Do List

I am often asked questions about my musical picosatellite, Project Calliope. Easy questions have concrete answers. "What are your sensors?": I-CubeX magnetic, thermal, light. "What magnetic field is expected?":."How are you going t ...

Article - Project Calliope - Aug 4 2010 - 11:34am

Moon Had No Water Of Its Own- Study

A group of researchers mimicked the surface of the Moon in their basement and concluded that it was always inherently dry. They used an ion beam accelerator underground at Los Alamos National Laboratory to simulate solar winds on the surface of the Moon an ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 6 2010 - 10:02am

Get Ready for the Perseid Meteor Shower this Week

This week will include the peak evenings for the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although sky watchers have already seen a few exciting fireballs already, August 12 and 13 are expected to be the primary nights for viewing. ...

Blog Post - Matthew T. Dearing - Aug 8 2010 - 11:47am

NGC 4696: Why Is It Shaped Like A Cosmic Question Mark?

The odd shape of NGC 4696, the largest galaxy in the Centaurus Cluster (galaxy cluster Abell 3526), leads to fundamental science questions.  First, why is it such a strange shape? And what are the odd, capillary-like filaments that stretch out of it? What ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 12 2010 - 8:38am

Enough With The Space Junk Mania!

Will picosatellites pollute space like in Wall-E? Why do we let amateurs kill Mother Earth? Send in the UN! These are part of the overwhelming comments following my Discovery interview. I am amazed at the variety of space litter connondrums presented.  I t ...

Article - Project Calliope - Aug 10 2010 - 11:45pm

Watch The Perseids Tonight!

This is a good year for summer meteor watching. The moon, just past new, will not interfere with observations of faint meteors. And the Perseid shower, originated from the dust left behind in the orbit of comet Swift-Tuttle, will produce a nice show.  Pers ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Aug 12 2010 - 2:13am