Here is a video of the re-entry of the Soyuz rocket booster over Germany. This is definitely cool as you can clearly see chunks of the boosters body following along the meat of the stage, leaving their own trails from burning up during their re-entry into the atmosphere. Cool stuff!
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| NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowing on Mars |
| PASADENA, Calif. — Observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars. |
| "NASA's Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration." |
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The markings appear on slopes during late spring and summer fade in winter, then return the next spring. And the best explanation is briny water run-off due to melting. If true this will be the place to look for possible life for sure.
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Early Earth may have had two moons
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Collision with lost second satellite would explain Moon's asymmetry.
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| Earth once had two moons, which merged in a slow-motion collision that took several hours to complete, researchers propose in Nature today. |
| A previous collision with a smaller companion could explain why the Moon's two sides look so different.Martin Jutzi and Erik Asphaug |
| Both satellites would have formed from debris that was ejected when a Mars-size protoplanet smacked into Earth late in its formation period. Whereas traditional theory states that the infant Moon rapidly swept up any rivals or gravitationally ejected them into interstellar space, the new theory suggests that one body survived, parked in a gravitationally stable point in the Earth–Moon system. |
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This is a different theory than the one about a Mars size body striking the Earth early in its development which gave rise to the Moon. These researchers posit that our planet once had 2 moons and they joined to form one. Interesting indeed.
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Quiet black hole impulsively eats a star |
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WASHINGTON - A monster black hole shredded a Sun-like star, producing a strangely long-lasting flash of gamma rays that probably won’t be seen again in a million years, astronomers reported Thursday.
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That is definitely not the norm for gamma ray bursts, energetic blasts that typically flare up and end in a matter of seconds or milliseconds, often the sign of the death throes of a collapsing star.
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“This is truly different from any explosive event we have seen before,” said Joshua Bloom of the University of California-Berkeley, a co-author of research on the blast published in the journal Science.
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Initially spied on March 28 by NASA’s Swift spacecraft, which is trolling the universe for gamma ray bursts, this particular flash has lasted more than two months and is still going on, Bloom said in a telephone interview.
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A gamma ray blast that has lasted over 2 months and is still going strong. Good stuff. And talk about waking up with a vengeance.
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I am fundraising for JDRF. Please support me in helping to fund research into cures and treatments for type 1 diabetes by clicking the SUPPORT ME button.
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Juvenile diabetes is a terrible affliction. Please help find a cure.
Filed under General Astronomy by admin
