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| CanDroid |
Seventeen pre-assembled and interchangeable parts allow users to create and change this cool-looking mechanical droid. CanDroid features spring loaded pinchers that grip thin or thick objects. He has powerful magnets in his robotic feet so he can scale vertical walls like refrigerators and filing cabinets. He also has a hinged jaw that opens and closes to devour loose change, nuts, bolts or anything else that looks appealing. Order your CanDroid now from from Countdown Creations!
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| What's Up This Week? Nov 1 - 7, 2004 |
| Nov 1, 2004 - Hello fellow stargazers and welcome to this week's edition of what's new and fun to do under the skies. For all of you who took the time to view last week's total lunar eclipse? Congratulations! This week's planetary actions will blow you away. On the 3rd, the real "Lord of the Rings" - Saturn - will accompany the Moon across the night. The solar system excitement continues as before local dawn on November 4th and 5th will be a superb visual pairing of Venus and Jupiter at less than one degree apart. The Southern Taurid meteor stream will be active and it has produced fantastic fireballs seen around the world! For those of you craving a bit of deep sky work? The time is right to do a little "Wild Duck" hunting. Here's what's up! (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: Cast |
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| China Announces Upcoming Spaceflight Plans |
| Nov 1, 2004 - China joined Russia and America in putting a human into space over a year ago, and they're getting ready to do it again. Officials from the China Aerospace Science and Technology (Cast) agency announced their upcoming plans to put more people into space next year. If all goes well, they'll launch two astronauts this time, and keep them in space for 5 days. Engineers are working to improve the Shenzhou spacecraft's performance, power generation, and environmental controls to support two astronauts. China is also planning on sending a robotic probe to orbit the Moon within 2 years, and another to land on it by 2010. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: University of Chicago |
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| Why Time Might Flow in One Direction |
| Nov 1, 2004 - Physicists have puzzled for more than a century about the nature of time. Why does it go in one direction? Time could go backwards, and physics formulas would still work properly. Researchers from the University of Chicago think they might have an answer: we live in a universe of ever increasing entropy. Instead of one Big Bang going off, and then the Universe expands and cools forever, small fluctuations in nearly empty space could set off new Big Bangs - the Universe would never reach equilibrium. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| NASA Announces May 2005 For Shuttle Flight |
| Nov 1, 2004 - Grounded since the Columbia disaster, the space shuttles are tentatively expected to return to flight as early as May 2005, according to NASA officials. The agency updated their launch schedule on Friday, targeted Discovery's launch window to be open from May 12 to June 3, 2005. The shuttles have a lot of work to do; current plans are calling for 28 more flights until 2010 to complete the construction of the International Space Station, after which the shuttles will be retired. (Full Story) |
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| Venus and Jupiter's Upcoming Conjunction |
| Oct 29, 2004 - As the Earth rushes to the point in its orbit known as the Winter Solstice, those in the Northern hemisphere see the days getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. This is good news for sky watchers, especially those willing to rise before dawn. This November offers a chance to witness a beautiful and somewhat rare sight, a close conjunction between the planets Venus and Jupiter. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI |
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| Detailed Image of Titan's Surface |
| Oct 29, 2004 - This image of Titan was taken when Cassini reached the closest point of its flyby on October 26. At this point, it was only 1,600 km (994 miles) above the surface of Titan. The brighter areas are thought to be rougher terrain on the surface, while the darker areas are probably smoother; the interconnected dark spots could be lakes. (Full Story) |
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| Share Your Eclipse Experience |
Oct 28, 2004 - Well, how did it go? Did you get a chance to see the eclipse from your part of the world? Did you share it with your friends and family, and maybe build a little astronomy enthusiasm in your loved ones? One eye on the sky and one eye on the game? Come to the forum and share your experiences from last night. I'll let you know how my night went. If you got pictures from last night, join the forum and post your photos into the Astrophotography forum and enjoy the "ooohs and ahhhs" from jealous rained out (or geographically challenged) forum members from around the world. Next eclipse is in 2007.
Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today |
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| Book Review: Space Tourism - Do You Want to Go? |
| Oct 28, 2004 - Today is only a short moment from the future. To get there from here, you can follow a preset path that leaves little margin or opportunity for error. Another route is to strike out on your own toward a destination that has few signposts showing the way. John Spencer and Karen Rugg are heading in a very new direction and in their book Space Tourism - Do You Want to Go?, they present a comprehensive, near term space industry focused entirely on space tourism. After all, the future is what you make of it. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: Max Planck Society |
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| Most Active Sun in 8,000 Years |
| Oct 28, 2004 - The Sun is more active today than it has been in 8,000 years, according to new research from the Max Planck Institute. Researchers discovered that a certain isotope of carbon, C-14, depends on the amount of cosmic rays that reach the Earth's surface. When solar activity is high, the Sun's magnetic field provides a shield against these cosmic rays, and when it's low, the Sun lets more cosmic rays reach the Earth. By measuring C-14 levels in dead trees which were buried in the ground, the scientists were able to build up a historic record of solar activity. Scientists have found that solar activity levels only slightly influence the Earth's climate and global temperature. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: Hubble |
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| Survivor Found From Tycho's Supernova |
| Oct 28, 2004 - Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have located what they think is the burned out star at the heart of Tycho's Supernova Remnant, which exploded in 1572. This discovery provides the first direct evidence that these kind of supernovae, called Type 1a, occur when a white dwarf consumes material from a binary companion until it reaches a certain point and explodes. They discovered the star, which is similar to our own Sun, because it's moving away from the explosion three times faster than other objects in the region - it was sling shotted away when its dancing partner vapourized. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI |
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| False Colour Image of Titan |
| Oct 27, 2004 - This image of Titan was taken yesterday during Cassini's 1,200 km (750 mile) flyby past its surface. It's actually a false colour image of the moon, built by merging together four images taken in different wavelengths of light. The red and green colours show areas revealed in infrared light, and the blue is ultraviolet wavelengths. Full colour visible light images are still in processing, and should be released later this week. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NRAO |
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| Cosmic Corkscrew |
| Oct 27, 2004 - Astrophysicists using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio observatory have revealed new details about a puzzling object called SS 433; a microquasar with bizarre corkscrew-shaped jets blasting out. SS 433 is probably a black hole or neutron star that's feeding on material from a normal companion star. Some of this material is consumed, but much of it is blasted back out at a quarter the speed of light. SS 433 wobbles like a child's top every 162 days, which causes the unusual corkscrew shape of the jets. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI |
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| Cassini Snaps Titan Close Up |
| Oct 27, 2004 - NASA's Cassini spacecraft swept past Titan on Tuesday, and returned the most detailed images ever taken of its surface - from an altitude of only 1,200 km (miles) above its surface. Previous attempts to see the moon's surface have been frustrating because of its thick atmosphere. Scientists still aren't sure what the various light and dark areas are; they could be solid landmasses surrounded by oceans of liquid ethane and methane. The spacecraft took more than 500 images, so they're going to take a while to completely transfer to Earth - better pictures should be revealed in the next few days. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: Chandra |
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| Dark Matter Halo Puzzles Astronomers |
| Oct 26, 2004 - Astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have discovered a huge halo of dark matter around an isolated elliptical galaxy; an object that shouldn't have such a halo, according to optical observations. The galaxy, NGC 4555, is unusual that it's a large elliptical galaxy which isn't part of a larger cluster of galaxies. It's surrounded by a cloud of gas, twice the size of the galaxy itself, that's been heated to 10-million-degrees Celsius. This gas could only get that hot if it was being constrained by a halo of dark matter ten times the mass of the stars in the galaxy. (Full Story) |
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| What's Happening on the Universe Today Forum? |
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Check out the Universe Today discussion forums and share your thoughts with other space enthusiasts. Here are a few interesting topics recently added:
Your Eclipse Experiences - I asked, you shared. Read other peoples' experiences of the eclipse.
Eclipse Pictures - And the pictures are amazing. Thanks everyone!
November Astrocalendar - Dave Mitsky's astrocalendar for November, 2004. Get out that telescope, and get to work!
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Copyright © 1999-2004 Universe Today, All rights reserved.
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