‘Latest News’ Archives
Martian Rovers – Hoping for high Spirits on Monday
If you have ever engineered something, or written software you know that even with a super effort there are things that you just cannot foresee. Usually however you can recall/patch or re-release. Not so when you send a mission to another planet. The standard needs to be exceptionally high, there is still some software control, but there are [...]
Milky Way in a 360-degree panorama from the ESO
There may be a tendency to think that all the cool pictures come from NASA, but here is one that caught my eye today from the ESO (European Southern Observatory in Chile) home to the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory. This is an image of the Milky Way in a 360-degree panorama of [...]
NASA release amazing image of Milky Way
To celebrate the international year of astronomy NASA have released a stunning image of the Milky Way combining images from Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra telescope. Here is the link to NASA so you can view how it was made and if you want to download a hi-res version. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/28/image/b/ Enjoy!
LRO takes image of Apollo 11 landing site
This a recently released image of the Apollo 11 landing site where Neil Armstrong made his famous leap for mankind. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is in its 50 km mapping orbit, so this is the highest resolution image taken so far (about 50 centimeters per pixel) . You can see the reflections of the lander and other equipment near the landing [...]
Focusing on the Moon – taking pictures with a telescope
So how do you take pictures with a telescope? Here is a quick tutorial based on taking a picture recently. 1. I have a Meade LXD 75 which is a 6inch reflector telescope. For normal viewing light is captured in the mirror and reflected back to the eye piece. You need to focus the image using the two large silver dials on the side which moves [...]
US and Europe to join forces on Mars missions. About time!
Today the BBC reported a signing of "letters of intent" between the European Space Agency (ESA) and US. One of the main aims behind the agreement is to work towards getting soil and rock samples back from Mars in our search for life. We should expect to see joint missions to Mars with the ESA sending an orbiter, with surface rovers to follow. This [...]
Mars in Detail – lots of Hi-Res images of the Red Planet
Here are 35 pictures collected which show Mars in amazing detail. All pictures were taken using the HiRISE camera aboard the Martian Renaissance Orbiter (MRO). Enjoy! 35 Images available from here -->> MARS IMAGES But here is a taster....
Celestron Sky Scout
As a very intermittent observer (ie time challenged / lazy) ,I find identifying and locating celestial objects hard going. I would love a Heads Up Display that could identify whatever object I happened to be looking at and could also tell me how to find specific objects by following my gaze and giving simple instructions ('up a bit', 'left', [...]
Chase Plane records Ares 1-X flight in hi-def video
There is still lots of debate regarding the future of the Ares Rocket and the Ares 1-Y (the next test) may already be scrapped. But if you missed this video from a chase plane which recorded the rocket flight including the separation and splashdown here is a chance to catch up.
Nightsky.ie Picture of the Week: 7th Nov 2009
Each week I post my favourite image from the news feeds I read. When I first saw this image I didn't know it was our Sun. It is an image taken in a specific colour of light emitted by Hydrogen which is then inverted to get the blue colour. I'll leave the rest of the explanation to the original post, but the image itself is visually impressive. [...]
Space Junk puts the ISS on high alert
There is a lot of junk in the Earths orbit, mostly we put it there! The problem is that there is so much of it, and its hard to track it all. Moving at high speeds small pieces of metal (and one tool box) can do a lot of damage to satellite or to the International Space Station. The alarm was raised when a 5cm long piece of debris was found [...]
Destination Mars? Not yet! Here is why
What exactly makes it so hard to get a manned mission to Mars? Is it even possible right now? Getting to Mars raises lots of issues, not to mention getting back. Recent articles about plasma rockets reducing the travel time to 90 or even 39 days from the usual 210 are exciting, but don't think we are close to a manned trip because we have [...]