Space and astronomy news
For his next big plan for the private space industry, Richard Branson is thinking up new ways to excite affluent space tourists: flying them into the biggest lightshow on Earth, the Aurora Borealis. Although the New Mexico Virgin Galactic Spaceport isn’t scheduled for completion until 2010, the British entrepreneur is already planning his next project …
Continue reading “Branson Wants to Fly Space Tourists into the Northern Lights”
People as a group don’t get credit for making great advances. Individuals are the ones who rise above the background noise of humanity, and their suggestions or offerings provide a new thrust for our civilization. Edison brought ready energy to peoples’ houses; the Wright brothers brought ready transport across vast distances. Michael Belfiore in his …
For your photo today, it’s another image of Mars nearing its closest point to the Earth. This one was captured by Efrain Morales Riviera in the forum. Astronomy in the UK is in deep trouble. The Science & Technology Facilities Council has had their budget slashed by £80 million. Find out more and help out …
Here’s your space photo for the day. It’s an image of galaxy NGC 253, captured by Strongmanmike. This is just one of a series of new images released by Mike. I briefly mentioned that one of the latest batch of astronauts headed to the International Space Station is Malaysia’s Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. As a Muslim, …
Today’s astrophoto was captured by RickJ. It’s VdB152, a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. Around the Bad Astronomy/Universe Today forums, we call it the “Star Eating Leech”. First up, Astroprof reviews a device that can help you measure just how light polluted your skies are. Discover Magazine has a great interview with SpaceShipOne designer …
Today’s image was taken by Jamesabrown. It’s a solar pillar, when the Sun’s rays bounce of water vapour in the atmosphere. They’re rare and cool to see. Mercury is a hard planet to spot. It’s only visible around sunset or sunrise, and either sets quickly or fades into the brightening Sun. There’s going to be …
Somebody pinch me, because I still can’t believe this is going forward. The world’s first commercial spaceport took the next step today, releasing new plans and illustrations to the public today. With a building that looks like the Millennium Falcon with wings, the spaceport, and its main tenant, Virgin Galactic, are taking this whole “space …
The carnival is back in town. Once again, I’m happy to host all manner of space blogs with the Carnival of Space. This gives you a chance to see how there’s a great big Universe of space writing out there. It’s a big group this week. On the 38th anniversary of the first Moon landing, …
Today’s astrophoto is brought to you by stargazer_7000. It’s an image of M27 taken with a 9″ telescope. Darker Matter has a fascinating story about the potential development of generation spaceships that humans could use to colonize other stars. This isn’t a space story, it’s an energy/environment story, but I really enjoyed it. Rolling Stone …
Scientists have reported the first conclusive evidence of water vapour in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet. Before we load up the spaceships to search for life, however, consider the fact that this planet, HD 189733b, is larger than Jupiter, and orbits its parent star in just 2.2 days. That’s hot hot water. The discovery …
Continue reading “Water Vapour Discovered in an Extrasolar Planet”