Solar Shade to Reverse Global Warming

The overwhelming scientific consensus predicts that human emissions of carbon dioxide will warm the planet over the coming decades and centuries. By how much and how quickly is still up for dispute, but most agree it’s time to take action. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the key, but what if it’s already too late, and the temperature tipping point has already been reached? Dr. Roger Angel from the University of Arizona takes a page from the book of C. Mongomery Burns and suggests a gigantic sunshade placed in space above the Earth might help keep us cool.
Continue reading “Solar Shade to Reverse Global Warming”

Contact Us

We really love to get your email messages. We really appreciate your kind words and feedback, so if you want to drop us an email, go ahead. We do get a mountain of email every day, and try to respond to all of it. But if you’re looking for an answer right away, there might be some other avenues you should try first.

If you have a question about space and astronomy
Drop by the Cosmoquest Forum and ask your question. There are thousands of astronomy enthusiasts there, including specialists in many disciplines. They’re super smart, and on the site all hours of the day. In fact, we’ve got a special section just for people to post their questions. Check it out.

If you want us to report your news
We’re always looking for news to report; however, we generally focus on stories that come from space agencies, science journals and university research groups. We honestly don’t have the science knowledge to properly review new research. If you’ve got a new discovery about the universe, or want to announce your findings, we suggest that you get it published through an accredited science journal first.

You can also post your ideas to the Against the Mainstream section of theĀ  forum and get feedback right away. You’ll get some great responses.

If you still think you’ve got something newsworthy to report, or think there’s a cool story we should cover, drop us an email at [email protected].

If you want permission to reprint Universe Today stories

All Universe Today articles fall under the Creative Commons by Attribution license, or CC BY. This means that you’re free to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon our work, even commercially, as long as you credit us for the original creation.

If you want to republish our work, just credit Universe Today as the source. If you know how, use the canonical tag in your source code so search engines know the original source of the work.

More importantly, please provide credit to the original writer of the article. In a time when news publications are laying off staff, it’s vital that journalists can show their credentials. If you hide their name when you repost their work, you steal their reputation and credibility.

Keep in mind that we don’t own the rights to any of the pictures in Universe Today. Some are public domain, others are used with permission or under license. If you want to use pictures, you’ll need to negotiate that specifically with the rights holders.

But you’re free to use our words.

If you still want to send us email…
… then we’d love to hear from you. Our email address is [email protected]. We can’t promise a reply, but we’ll definitely read it, and get back to you if we can.

Or physical mail to..

Thanks!

The Universe Today Team

Gassendi Crater on the Moon

ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft captured this image of crater Gassendi on the Moon. The spacecraft’s advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) captured the photograph on January 13 at a distance of 1220 km (760 miles) from the surface. Gassendi is an impact crater on the near side of the Moon, but it’s unusual because it seems to have large quantities of volcanic material on the crater floor.
Continue reading “Gassendi Crater on the Moon”

Radio Telescope Will Look Back to the Beginning

The Mileura Widefield Array – Low Frequency Demonstrator was awarded $4.9 million in funding from the National Science Foundation this week. A prototype of this radio telescope is being constructed in the Australian outback, away from radio interference. Once completed, the telescope will consist of 500 tiles – each of which contains 16 radio antennas. The observatory will look back to the earliest Universe, when there was only dark matter and primordial hydrogen. It should be able to see the first patches of higher density, as this gas pulled together to form the first stars and galaxies.
Continue reading “Radio Telescope Will Look Back to the Beginning”

Discovery Docks Safely with the Station

The space shuttle Discovery linked up with the International Space Station this morning after astronauts gave it a thorough inspection with the extended boom attached to the shuttle’s robotic arm. Just before docking, Commander Steve Lindsey piloted the shuttle into a back-flip, so that cameras on board the station could document any damage to its heat shield. So far, it looks like the shuttle made it into orbit unscathed, even though a few small pieces of foam were dislodged from the external fuel tank during launch.
Continue reading “Discovery Docks Safely with the Station”

Book Review: Solar System Observer’s Guide

Postage stamp collectors often concentrate on particular types or themes. Amateur astronomers do the same, as a wealth of viewing pleasure came be had from choosing a small set of what’s available in the sky. Peter Grego in his book Solar System Observer’s Guide provides a thorough and descriptive aid for those astronomers who want to concentrate on our own small region of the universe. In it, he shows planets and other nearby celestial objects can be demanding and rewarding in their own right.
Continue reading “Book Review: Solar System Observer’s Guide”

Secrets Revealed in Saturn’s Faintest Rings

New photos of Saturn’s E ring shows how it has a similar double-banded structure to Jupiter’s ring. Thanks to data gathered by Cassini, scientists now believe that the E ring particles originate from water geysers on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The double-banded appearance occurs because there are actually less particles at the ring plane than there are above and below it. Scientists believe the double structure is created by the trajectory of particles ejected from Enceladus, or through ongoing interactions between the moon and the ring.
Continue reading “Secrets Revealed in Saturn’s Faintest Rings”

Astrophoto: The Crescent Nebula by Nicolas Outters

Nothing lasts forever. Even the stars in space have a beginning and an end. The length of time that a star shines is based on the amount of material and energy it contains which is also referred to as its mass. Stars shine by changing its lightest material into something heavier. This initially begins by converting hydrogen into helium through a process called nuclear fusion. It also releases massive amounts of energy which we see as (sun or) star light. But every star has a finite amount of hydrogen and once it is depleted the star’s fate is based on the mass of what it still possesses.
Continue reading “Astrophoto: The Crescent Nebula by Nicolas Outters”

Sky Shade Could Reveal Planets

Space telescopes designed to observe distant planets need to be powerful, but they also need some method of blocking the light from the parent star, which completely washes out any dimmer objects orbiting it. A strategy from CU-Boulder professor Webster Cash would use a large, daisy-shaped space shield to block the light from the star. A space telescope trailing the shade by thousands of kilometres would then be able to see much fainter objects surrounding the star.
Continue reading “Sky Shade Could Reveal Planets”

Discovery Blasts Off

The space shuttle Discovery roared into orbit from Cape Canaveral today, after two days of delays. The first launch in nearly a year, STS-121 carried 7 astronauts on a mission to visit the International Space Station, delivering supplies and testing out safety procedures. Even though a small crack was discovered in Discovery’s external tank, NASA officials decided it didn’t pose a risk to the shuttle, and they approved the launch. The shuttle will dock up with the station on Thursday.
Continue reading “Discovery Blasts Off”