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| Image credit: Scaled Composites |
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| Image credit: CFHT |
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| Wallpaper: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope 25th Anniversary |
| Sep 29, 2004 - Here's a 1024x768 desktop wallpaper from a deep field image taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to celebrate its 25th anniversary. This part is actually just a fraction of the full image that contains more than half a million galaxies in just a one-degree square field of the sky. Once one of the larger telescopes in the world, the 3.6-metre instrument has been updated regularly with state of the art technology including adaptive optics and a 340 mega pixel digital camera. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ASRC Aerospace |
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| NASA Pushes the Limits with New Awards |
| Sep 29, 2004 - NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts has selected 12 proposals for further study as part of its goal of finding revolutionary ideas that could help the agency's plans for human space exploration. Proposals selected as part of Phase 1 will receive $75,000 for a six-month study. Those selected for Phase 2 will have two years and $400,000 to further develop their concept. Some of the Phase 1 winners include an infrared observatory on the Moon, lunar space elevators, electrostatic radiation shields and a plasma propulsion system. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESO |
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| Toutatis Safely Passes the Earth |
| Sep 29, 2004 - As predicted, Asteroid Toutatis made its closest approach to the Earth today, passing a mere 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) away from our planet - 4 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. The 4.6 km (2.9 mile) long asteroid hasn't made an approach this close since 1353. Since it was first discovered in 1989, Toutatis has been closely studied by astronomers because it has an orbit that brings it close to the Earth every 4 years. Unfortunately, it's still too dim to see with the unaided eye, but skilled amateur astronomers with telescopes watching the southern skies have spotted it. Toutatis won't get this close again until 2562. (Full Story) |
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