Space

Ever been stuck in an airport? A foreign country? Try being stuck in orbit! Poor Air Force Major Abacha Tunde plus a colleague were trapped on a Soyuz in orbit for over 14 years. Fortunately, thanks to email, they were (presumably) able to get help getting ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Aug 13 2010 - 12:07pm

Cygnus Surprise: Gamma-rays From A Nova For The First Time (Citizen Science Found This One Too)

Citizen scientists are doing big things in astronomy in 2010. A few days ago, three amateurs discovered PSR J2007+2722, a neutron star that rotates 41 times per second and a recent Science article highlights V407 Cyg in the constellation Cygnus, which is ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 13 2010 - 11:52am

Astronomers Set Priorities For Next Decade

How did the first stars and galaxies form? Are there other planets like Earth? What is the universe made of? These are the fundamental questions that astronomers hope to answer in the next decade with a new generation of space- and ground-based telescopes. ...

Article - Dan Coe - Aug 16 2010 - 2:10pm

Citizen Scientists Discover New Pulsar With Einstein@Home

You must be quite familiar with what happens when you toss a pebble into a pond. You might describe the simple event as a massive rotating object splashing into a deformable fluid. Or, you might… not. However, astronomical bodies are like these pebbles sl ...

Article - Matthew T. Dearing - Aug 15 2010 - 7:50am

Proof Of Aliens Is Just Around The Corner

Proof of aliens within 25 years? What's the basis for this optimism? Well, of course, it's the Drake equation. It had to be. While it is certainly reasonable that everyone has their own perspective and opinion about the likelihood of alien lif ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Aug 16 2010 - 9:26pm

DIY Vacuum Chamber And Sex Gadget

Ah, summer, the time to neglect thinking and just build crap. So, much as with the DIY Clean Room, I started gathering bits to make the DIY Vacuum chamber. I'm building a vacuum chamber to make sure that my satellite doesn't go kablooey when it ...

Article - Project Calliope - Aug 17 2010 - 10:12pm

Lobate Scarps And The Incredible Shrinking Moon

Previously undetected landforms indicate the Moon is... shrinking. Lobate scarps are thrust faults that occur primarily in the Moon's lunar highlands. They were first recognized in photographs taken near the moon's equator by the panoramic camer ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 19 2010 - 3:11pm

Copenhagen Suborbital: World's Largest Amateur Space Rocket

"We're building a rocket. We're building it bigger"- Copenhagen Suborbital. "We've got the biggest balls of them all"- AC/DC I'll steal UniverseToday's summary, then tell you to skip reading everyone else' ...

Article - Project Calliope - Aug 23 2010 - 10:48am

New Computer Model Might Turn Theory Of Galaxy Formation On Its Head

Our universe is thought to be around 14 billion years old and astronomers recently determined that big galaxies formed much earlier in the universe's history than previously thought, within the first 1 billion years, and for more than two decades the ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 25 2010 - 3:37pm

Edge Learning And SpaceUpDC

Edges are where topics intersect. Edges are where uncomfortable thoughts reside. Edges define a topic by being just barely part of that topic. They are the border between what is known, and what is speculative. Working around edges requires new methods, ...

Article - Project Calliope - Aug 31 2010 - 2:21pm