|
|
| Hubble Gazes at the Moon |
| Oct 19, 2005 - NASA has turned the Hubble Space Telescope at our closest neighbour to help scout out potential landing sites. In addition to being incredibly powerful, Hubble is sensitive to ultraviolet light, which is reflected off of surface materials on the lunar surface. This will allow scientists to identify areas abundant in titanium and iron oxides, which would provide oxygen and metals for future lunar bases. Hubble's resolution is still only 50-100 metres, so it can't reveal Apollo spacecraft still on the Moon. (Full Story) |
|
|
|
 |
| Mars on October 17–18, 2005, as recorded by Sky & Telescope assistant editor Sean Walker. Image credit: Sky and Telescope. Click to enlarge. |
|
| Mars Will Be Closest on October 29/30 |
| Oct 19, 2005 - Get your telescope ready, as the planet Mars is about to put on another fine show. The Red Planet has been getting closer, and will make its closest approach on October 29/30, 2005. Although it won't as close as two years ago, it takes a fairly powerful telescope to be able to tell the difference. Look to the eastern horizon after 8:0pm to see Mars, which will be climbing night after night during October. There's really nothing else that bright that you'd be able to confuse it with. (Full Story) |
|
|
|
|
|
| Where is Everybody? |
| Oct 19, 2005 - We live in a big galaxy with billions of stars. So, where is everybody? In his classic equation, Frank Drake developed a formula that could calculate the number of intelligent alien species in our galaxy - there should be many civilizations out there. But the Fermi Paradox says, if there are so many alien species, why haven't we met them? Steven Soter has written an article for Astrobiology Magazine that runs tries to get to the bottom of this contradiction. (Full Story) |
|
|
|
|
|
| Hurricane Wilma Becomes a Record Setting Cat 5 |
| Oct 19, 2005 - Just a few days ago, Wilma was a tropical storm, but now it has exploded into a Category 5 hurricane - with the lowest pressure ever recorded in an Atlantic storm. Wilma's pressure was measured early Wednesday at just 882 millibars, breaking the previous record of 888 set in 1988 by Hurricane Gilbert. Wilma is currently off the coast Mexico's Yucatan peninsula , but it's expected to take a sharp right turn and move up through the Florida panhandle on Saturday. (Full Story) |
|
|
|
|
