Category: Astrosphere

Today’s astrophoto is brought to you by Bokmakierie. It’s an image of the Alpine Valley on the Moon. You’ll want to click the image to enlarge it and read the text. Bokmakierie compares this image with one taken by ESA’s SMART-1 at only 6,000 km altitude above the surface.

I think this is a really fascinating article at the Christian Science Monitor. Scientists have figured out a way to search for hurricanes in the past – looking for ash from ancient wildfires. When a hurricane strikes, it knocks down lots of trees, and this creates a greater risk for wildfires.

When she’s not writing for Universe Today, Nancy Atkinson has been busy with other freelance activities. Check out this new magazine called Space Lifestyle, where Nancy profiles our good friend Phil Plait. With extra quotiness from me.

I love it when people come together to organize and create cool content. Here’s a website called The Moon Wiki. Volunteers are cataloging every single crater and feature on the Moon, and linking it to photographs. They still need help, so check it out.

Welcome back to your friendly astrosphere.

This week, the photograph is of the Swan nebula, captured by seeker372011. It was made using an ED80 telescope on a CG5 mount. A Canon 300D DSLR camera. It’s a composite picture taken over the course of 190 minutes, shot over two Saturday nights in August.

And for the stories…

If you’ve got an old satellite dish, you could turn it into a garden gazebo, like these guys. Thanks to Really Rocket Science for the tip.

Did you know the rabbit fence in Australia is actually affecting its climate? Check out this New York Times article for the details. Thanks to Earth & Sky Blogs for the tip.

Spaceref has news that the National Academy of Sciences will be looking 50 years in the future of space science.

On his Cosmic Log, Alan Boyle investigates claims from a Spanish company that recently announced they’ll be launching a space hotel by 2012.

NASA updates its climate data, correcting a mistake, and the global warming deniers go bonkers. My Wired Science teammate Brandon Keim has a great look at the controversy.

And finally, the 16th Carnival of Space has been posted live over at the advanced nanotechnology blog.

RickJ captured this image Cassiopeia A, the aftermath of a supernova explosion. What’s cool is that you can compare Rick’s version with the Hubble version. You can see the fine details that only space telescopes can get.

Forbes has a very interesting article about the future of NASA.

Ars Technica looks at black holes as a mechanism to constrain the universe.

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer calculates that if creationists are correct, the Universe is only 12,000 light years across.

Did you ever get the feeling that you’re living in a simulation?

Tom Davis captured this image of the Western Veil and Pickering’s Triangle.

Gizmodo has a cool article with images and information about the upcoming Galactic Suite hotel, which could open as early as 2012.

EcoGeek explains how tether launching might be the best way to get into space while saving the planet.

Sky and Telescope asks, do sunspots forecast the rain?

Strongmanmike captured this amazing image of spotlights on Corona Australis. Really impressive picture Mike, thanks!

Ever wonder what would happen if a meteor struck the Earth? Ouch

HowStuffWorks has a cool description of how zero-gravity flights work.

When astronauts return to the Moon, here’s what their bases might look like. According to a new story from New Scientist.

Today’s astrophoto for the astrosphere is of Hoag’s Object, captured by RickJ. This is a difficult galaxy to capture with an amateur telescope, so nice work Rick.

Sshhhh. Do you hear that? It’s the sound of the Universe.

A levitation device? Oh, now that would be cool.

There’s a great 6-page article over at Newsweek about Global Warming deniers. Having dealt with it myself, it was great to see a main stream media article that goes this deeply into the concerted effort by polluters to confuse the public.

Today’s astrophoto is supplied by forum member andyschlei. It’s a great photo of M13, the great globular cluster in Hercules. The photo was taken using a C-11 telescope, with a total exposure time of 37.5 minutes.

You’ve heard about the dust devils on Mars, but they’re actually much larger than even tornadoes here on Earth. The Stars My Destination has some diagrams to show us a sense of scale.

Is it a star or a planet? Centauri Dreams has a story about a brown dwarf planet.

Now this is cool, Carl Zimmer is collecting images of science related tattoos. Show him your ink.

Have you heard? Queen guitarist Brian May turned in his PhD thesis in astrophysics… or was it astrology? Thanks to DaveP for the catch.

Did you know there are 13 telescopes perched atop Mauna Kea? Astroprof breaks them all down for us.

Sentient Developments has the transcript of a speech about the Fermi Paradox. Wondering where the aliens are gives a few clues about the future of humanity.

New member Strongmanmike has joined the Bad Astronomy/Universe Today forum, and offers up this picture of Omega Centauri. Thanks, and welcome!

Now for the stories.

The Spaceward Foundation has opened up registration for their Light Racer Championship. In this race, drivers will compete with light-powered remote-control cars. Apart from being really fun, the technologies will help engineers work out the challenges of powering a vehicle with a beam of light.

There’s also a story over at Cnet.com about the space elevator challenges that’ll be happening at the event.

In the movie Sunshine, one of the characters goes out into the vacuum of space without a spacesuit. What would really happen to the human body? Slate magazine has the answers.

Today’s astrophoto is brought to you by stargazer_7000. It’s an image of M27 taken with a 9″ telescope.

Darker Matter has a fascinating story about the potential development of generation spaceships that humans could use to colonize other stars.

This isn’t a space story, it’s an energy/environment story, but I really enjoyed it. Rolling Stone looks at the boondoggle that is ethanol.

First the Terrestrial Planet Finder was canceled, now it looks like Kepler might be scaled back. Chris Lintott notes on his blog that the mission has been shortened by 6 months.

Somebody out there has some guy love for the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait. No, not me, we’re just… friends.

Today’s astrophoto is brought to you by bloodhound31, it’s a photo of the Triffid Nebula.

Centauri Dreams is reporting on an interesting theory to explain mass extinctions in the past: the Sun’s rise and fall above the galactic plane.

The Space Review has a cool article about the potential for using space guns to access space.

Here’s a cool 6-part series of articles about how to get started in amateur astronomy from Helium. And another 8-part series on how telescopes work.

Pamela Gay is attending the American Association of Physics Teachers, and has this great article about the challenges of both doing and popularizing science.