by Irma Arkus

Kubric-like camera work, with Earth’s surface practically never disappearing out of the field of vision, this so-called “NASA’s accidental art” video represents one of the most beautiful, interesting and haunting visages of Earth from the International Space Station.

The beginning is a bit rough, but the action starts at around 1:40.

by Irma Arkus

ScienceDaily reports on NASA’s reveal of its first, thermodynamic, naturally-powered vehicle, designed for underwater movement. The Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangrian Observer Thermal RECharging (SOLO-TREC) uses that same concept that most scoff as inefficient: it harvests ocean’s own water-current movements as well as temperature differentiations in order to create enough thermodynamic power for the module to self-propel.

The pilot project is extraordinarily promising, (especially since we know that Google is trying to map the ocean floor systems) in terms of creating better, cheaper and durable underwater probes.

Think about it? I would certainly like a few sent to Europa, a liquid-covered moon orbiting Jupiter during the upcoming Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) in 2020.

When Hubble detected the SCP 06F6 in February of 2006, the astrophysicists were stunned and reaching for explanations but had none.

The event, 200 days long, has shown an object that gradually brightened, and then continuously faded, and the only explanation for the behavior was that we’ve witnessed, for the very first time, a star consumed by a black hole.

However, the event is further complicated by the length of the star going supernova. Whereas regular stars take about 20 days to reach maximum brightness, the SCP 06F6 took more than a hundred days for the same process.

Upon closer examination, the spectrum analysis revealed a possibility of high levels of carbon. While carbon seems the most likely suspect, the analysts suspect that the matter burned up may be more complex as carbon is “not a perfet fit,” according to Kyle Barbary of the University of California, Berkeley, lead author of the 2008 paper on the object’s discovery. “No possibility suggested so far is conclusive,” he says.

Check out Babary’s paper available for download here. [SkyandTelescope.com]

by Irma Arkus

Or so Alan P. Boss says. The theoretical astrophysicist of Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, says that his latest research indicates a “crowded” universe, teeming with life.

Comparing the idea to Rodenberry’s concept of manifold of species, civilisations, Boss contends that his calculations indicate that “there may be 100 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way.”

Discussing abundance of water, recently confirmed on Mars, would imply that quite possibly, the universe as we know it is full of complex and wonderful life.

Recent research supports it too. At University of Edinburgh, recent computer models, calculated new estimates showing Milky Way to contain over 360 civilisations.

The question that many pose is why we haven’t detected life, or more importantly, intelligent life. The better question would be, however, why we haven’t looked further for one. According to Boss, the universe is so crowded that we’re bound to do so, one way or another, and his new book The Crowded Universe, explores the importance of the search and the find.

Boss is also working on Kepler: the first NASA’s mission to locate Earth-like planets. Launching on March 5th, the Kepler is to identify those planets that are close enough to sun to keep water in a liquid state, a pre-condition for development of life.
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and no I do mean Japanese lesbian comics, today, April 12, is the anniversary of the First manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin back in 1961. Google is celebrating with a graphic on their main search page and so should you.

Anniversary

Wiki Article on Yuri

This week in the Arizona desert, NASA will be testing a lunar rover called K-10, which features a Linux operating system. The rest of the command structure is based on an IBM Thinkpad, but it is interesting to see the use of an operating system which has triumphed the open source code movement finally getting its due from NASA. You can also watch the maneouvers performed by K-10 via an online webcam which I have posted.

Online Webcam

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