Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Attack of the killer electrons!!!!

Well, killer to satellites. They make pretty sheets of light when they hit the atmosphere. Go here to read more. Enjoy!, and watch out?

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Cool NASA demonstration

of spacecraft communations and navigation for PC and MAC computers, available here. Too bad I primarily use Linux...

Monday, March 29, 2010

The lone giant

In general, it is believed that galaxies form hierarchically: small galaxies formed first, and then these merged into larger ones, which merge into larger ones, etc. As a result, all massive galaxies are expected to be found by lots of smaller ones. This is true for the Milky Way, and M31, and lots of other galaxies - but not ESO 306-17, it is all alone? Did all the small galaxies which would normally be around it merge into this one? Go here to find out. Interesting...

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Baby stars!

Aren't they so cute?

Go here to see the pretty pictures and read about the science.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

More water on the Moon

Since ice reflects radar (radio light waves) differently than solid rock, mapping the surface of something with radar (essentially shining radio waves at it and measuring the reflection) it is an effective way of finding water ice - and a little less destructive then smashing some big thing into the Moon and looking at the resultant dust plume. NASA built such a radar instrument for India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft called Mini-SAR instrument, which apparently for more than 40 small craters with water ice. Cool! Go here to read a nice summary of all the different pieces of evidence for water on the Moon.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Little Galaxies, Big Science

Read this article to learn how, by studying the smallest galaxies near the Milky Way, astronomers can figure out how stars formed in the early universe. The crux of the star is that the conditions in these galaxies isn't that different from what we believe existed at these early times, but that doesn't mean we understand how stars form in them.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The source of UItra High-Energy Cosmic Rays

While almost certainly astrophysical, where they come from seems to be a little more complicated than previously thought. Go here to learn more. Personally, this is what makes science fun for me at least.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A persistant Spirit...

Though it is now stationary, NASA still plans to put the scientific instruments on Spirit to good use. Go here to read what science it can still accomplish, assuming it doesn't freeze to death during the Martian winter. Keep your fingers crossed...

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Not just a gorgeous picture

... but it is that. Go here to see an optical image of one of the most active star forming regions in the Milky Way. Enjoy!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Hubble Movie

A new 3D IMAX Movie is coming out starring Hubble images (given that Hubble only takes 2D images of the sky, I'm more than a little curious how they add the 3D aspect), which sounds pretty cool. Go here for the details. Enjoy!