It’s official, Pluto is no longer a full-fledged planet. The new definition finalized by the International Astronomical Union today states that a planet in “a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun [or another star], (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes [...]
Tag Archives: space
Color Vision
March 22, 2006 – 12:29 pm
I’ve wondered for a long time about why “visible light” is where it is in the EM spectrum, and why it seems to be pretty consistant among life on Earth. For example, why aren’t there animals that can “see” EM radiation that is well outside the boundaries of our definition of visible light (about [...]
Autumn Sky
October 6, 2005 – 10:00 am
I was up (way too) late last night. Shortly after midnight, I stepped outside to let Ella in. It was a really beautiful and cool night, and the sky was very clear. So, I went inside, turned off all the lights (to let my eyes adjust), and fired up stellerium to see [...]
Space Race Drug Tests
September 19, 2005 – 3:57 pm
NASA just unveiled its plan to return to the moon by 2020. It involves vehicles and systems that look and act a lot like those used in the Apollo missions. Michael Griffin referred to it as “Apollo on Steroids.” But much of the technology is the same as that of the current [...]
Liftoff
July 26, 2005 – 10:51 am
STS-114 has lifted off. They will arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday morning, where they will stay until Friday, August 5. Astronauts Steve Robinson and Soichi Noguchi will perform three spacewalks during the mission, “testing repair techniques and servicing the International Space Station.” For a complete schedule see the Timeline [...]
STS-114
July 1, 2005 – 9:43 am
Space Shuttle Discovery is set to launch on July 13, on the first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster. The independant safety panel says that NASA has not yet met all of its recommendations, and that the 3 recommendations that haven’t been yet are the most fundamental, including the preventing the external fuel tank [...]
Cosmos 1: The First Solar Sail
June 20, 2005 – 12:22 pm
Tomorrow (2005-06-21), Cosmos 1 will be launched from a submarine in the Barents Sea. A few days after entering earth orbit at 825 km, Cosmos 1 will deploy its eight triangular solar sail blades that will eventually be turned toward the sun to start collecting energy.
This mission is expiremental, measuring the effects of sun [...]