• Space Exploration

    Rover Spotted On The Moon

    The Russian Lunar rover Lunokhod 2 was recently spotted on the Moon’s surface. As shown in the photo below, the black arrow indicates where the tracks begin, while the white one shows the resting place of the rover. The arrows were placed by Phil Stooke, geography professor at University of Western Ontario. Richard Garriott, a successful video game developer and one of fewer than 10 private citizens to travel into space is the current owner of Lunokhod 2. He acquired it for over $68,500 when it was listed for sale in 1993 Sotheby’s auction. After seeing those findings, he mentioned plans to go see the rover from lunar orbit, or…

  • Astronomy

    Astronomy Picture of the Week – M27 Or Dumbbell Nebula

    This greenish nebula was discovered by Charles Messier, a French astronomer of the 18th century. Originally he did not know what the object was, except that it was neither a star nor a comet. Now we know that it is a planetary nebula. It was formed by the explosion of a sun-like star (nova). It is officially designated as Messier 27 (M27, or NGC 6853), while it is commonly known as the Dumbbell Nebula. This beautiful nebula is located over 1,200 light-years away in the Vulpecula constellation. Image Credits: ESO, the European Southern Observatory.

  • Astronomy

    Astronomy Picture of the Week – Nebula NGC 7009

    This odd greenish nebula, called NGC 7009 or the Saturn Nebula, is the result of a star similar to our sun going nova. Since then, a bright new star was born from the gases of its predecessor. It can be seen in the center of the nebula, inside the bluish sphere of gas. The nebula is located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius. The picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image Credits: NASA and Hubble Space Telescope

  • Astronomy

    Astronomy Picture of the Week – The Rings of Saturn

    This picture of Saturn’s rings in its natural colors has been taken by the Cassini probe from an angle impossible to get from Earth. We can see a huge gap in Saturn’s rings. This is caused by the planet obscuring the Sun’s light. Since the rings do not emit light on their own, a lack of sunlight would mean no reflected light, and thus they would remain dark. The rings are also projecting a shade on the planet near the equator for similar reasons, except here the roles are reversed. Saturn’s Rings by Cassini. Image credits: NASA/ESA

  • Space Exploration

    Inflatable Space Stations

    NASA is considering the use of inflatable modules for the International Space Station (ISS). This idea has been proposed as early as in the 1960s, but it has never been put to use in space until Bigelow Aerospace took over the idea and developed two working prototypes and tested them in space.

  • Meteorite from Mars with biological fossils in it
    Astronomy

    Possibilities for Life on Mars

    An article was recently published by Scientific American, a very reputable science magazine, stating that evidence was found that life existed on Mars and was brought to Earth on a meteorite. The meteorite in question is called "Allan Hills 84001". It was blasted from Mars by a huge meteorite impact 16 million years ago and crashed on Earth 13,000 years ago.