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The Observable Universe

By Thomas Posted 09 May 2018 — 0 Comment ↓
The Observable Universe

How far can you see? Everything you can see, and everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could detect all types of radiations around you — is the observable universe. In visible light, the farthest we can Continue reading →

Posted in Universe | Tagged galaxies, universe | Leave a reply

Space Shuttle and Space Station

By Thomas Posted 31 Aug 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
Space Shuttle and Space Station Photographed Together (NASA)

Usually, pictures of the shuttle, taken from space, are snapped from the space station. Commonly, pictures of the space station are snapped from the shuttle. How, then, can there be a picture of both the shuttle and the station together, Continue reading →

Posted in Satellites and spacecrafts | Tagged endeavour, iss, space shuttle | Leave a reply

Saturn’s moon Rhea

By Thomas Posted 12 Aug 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
Saturn's moon Rhea, Epimetheus transiting (NASA/JPL)

Saturn has a great many more moons than our planet – a whopping 62. A single moon, Titan, accounts for an overwhelming 96% of all the material orbit the planet, with a group of six other smaller moons dominating the Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged cassini, epimetheus, rhea, saturn | Leave a reply

Rosetta rendezvous with comet

By Thomas Posted 06 Aug 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft on final approach to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in early August 2014. This collage of imagery from Rosetta was taken on Aug. 1, 2, 3 and 4 from distances of 1026 km, 500 km, 300 km and 234 km. (ESA/Rosetta)

After a decade long chase of 6.4 billion kilometers (4 Billion miles) through interplanetary space the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft is now on final approach for its historic rendezvous with its target comet 67P scheduled for Wednesday morning, Continue reading →

Posted in Comets, Satellites and spacecrafts | Tagged 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, philae, rosetta | Leave a reply

A “selfie” from Mars

By Thomas Posted 29 Apr 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
A mosaic of images acquired by Curiosity on Mars (NASA/JPL)

This is very cute — Curiosity’s latest “selfie,” a mosaic made up of about a dozen images acquired with the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument on April 27-28, 2014 (Sol 613) with the 5.5-km-high Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons, Rovers | Tagged curiosity, mars | Leave a reply

Asteroid Itokawa

By Thomas Posted 11 Feb 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
25143 Itokawa as observed by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa (JAXA)

Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) New Technology Telescope (NTT) have found that different parts of the asteroid Itokawa have different densities, providing first evidence that asteroids can have a highly varied internal structure. Using very precise ground-based observations, Continue reading →

Posted in Asteroids | Tagged eso, hayabusa, itokawa, jaxa | Leave a reply

Mars view from the edge of a dune

By Thomas Posted 02 Feb 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
Curiosity's View Past Dune at 'Dingo Gap'

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover reached the edge of a dune on Jan. 30 and photographed the valley on the other side, to aid assessment of whether to cross the dune. Curiosity is on a southwestward traverse of many months from Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons, Rovers | Tagged curiosity, mars | Leave a reply

China’s rover lands on the Moon

By Thomas Posted 15 Dec 2013 — 0 Comment ↓
Yutu rover emblazoned with Chinese Flag as seen by the Chang’e 3 lander on the moon on Dec. 15, 2013 (China Space)

China scored a stunning, history making success with the successful touchdown of the ambitious Chang’e-3 probe with the ‘Yutu’ rover on the surface of the Moon today, Dec. 14, on the country’s first ever attempt to conduct a landing on Continue reading →

Posted in Others, Rovers | Tagged china, moon, rover, yutu | Leave a reply

22% of Sun-like stars have Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone

By Thomas Posted 05 Nov 2013 — 0 Comment ↓
The habitable zone corresponds to the range of orbital distances where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface. Credit: Petigura/UC Berkeley, Howard/UH-Manoa, Marcy/UC Berkeley.

How common are planets like Earth? That’s been a question astronomers and dreamers have pondered for decades, and now, thanks to the Kepler spacecraft, they have an answer. One in five Sun-like stars in our galaxy have Earth-sized planets that Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets | Tagged earth-like, exoplanet, exoplanets, kepler | Leave a reply

Comet ISON is getting closer

By Thomas Posted 23 Sep 2013 — 0 Comment ↓
Comet ISON (Hubble)

ESA’s space missions are getting ready to observe an icy visitor to the inner Solar System: Comet ISON, which might also be visible in the night sky later this year as a naked eye object. The comet was discovered in Continue reading →

Posted in Comets | Tagged comet, ison | Leave a reply

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  • Locke on Saturn’s moon: Iapetus
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  • The Observable Universe
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