Space News

A Black Hole Is Shooting Gamma Rays At Earth

3:01 pm EST June 16th, 2011 | Science | 10 Comments

I effing repeat: A black hole. Is shooting gamma rays. At earth.

Astronomers think they’ve nailed down the source of a mysterious blast of gamma rays that reached Earth in late March and continues, at reduced levels, even today. The culprit looks like a black hole, 3.8 billion light-years away, that swallowed and ripped apart a wandering star.

On March 28, NASA’s Swift satellite first noted the outburst of invisible radiation, a gamma ray burst, one of the most powerful explosions in the universe. Such blasts, thought to result from the explosion of massive stars, are regularly detected and usually die away within minutes. But this one continues today, and in its first two days, the intensity of the outburst measured in some wavelengths not visible to the naked eye as bright as a hundred billion suns, scientists report in Thursday’s edition of the journal Science. That makes it one of the most intense cosmic explosions ever witnessed by astronomers.

This is the part where Bruce Willis and/or Will Smith arranges a crack team of experts to prepare for the impending alien invasion.

Topic: Space

Space Shuttle Discovery Ends Its Last Mission

1:19 pm EST March 9th, 2011 | Science | 7 Comments

Sad to see, yet, proud of what we as a nation can accomplish.

The shuttle Discovery braved the hellish fire of re-entry for the last time Wednesday and glided back to Earth to close out the space plane’s 39th and final voyage, an emotion-charged milestone marking the beginning of the end for America’s shuttle program.

Dropping through a partly cloudy sky, the commander, Steven W. Lindsey, and Col. Eric A. Boe of the Air Force guided Discovery through a sweeping left overhead turn, lined up on Runway 15 and floated to a picture-perfect touchdown at 11:57 a.m. Eastern time to wrap up an extended 13-day space station assembly mission.

As it coasted to a stop under a brilliant noon sun, Discovery’s odometer stood at some 5,750 orbits covering nearly 150 million miles during 39 flights spanning a full year in space — a record unrivaled in the history of manned rockets.

“And Houston, Discovery, for the final time, wheels stopped,” Mr. Lindsey radioed flight controllers in Houston.

NASA: Still the best.

Topic: NASA, Space

Challenger: 25 Years Ago Today

9:41 am EST January 28th, 2011 | History, Science | 19 Comments

I remember this like it was yesterday.

For a little 8 year old kid who was obsessed with space exploration this was a kick to the gut of epic proportions.

Credit to President Reagan for his great speech at the time:

Rest in peace, Ellison S. Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik, Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair.

Topic: Space

Sarah Palin And The “Race To Space” & OMG

8:40 am EST January 28th, 2011 | Conservative | 29 Comments

There is no other way to note this: This woman is an idiot. Not, mentally challenged, or just a little slow, but bone-ass stupid.

No wonder she’s such a star of the right.

Somehow the message this absolutely mental woman got from the “Sputnik moment” was that the Soviet Union spent a lot on the “race to space” and that led to their bankruptcy, so Obama is bad.

WHAT????

Topic: 2012 Election, Sarah Palin, Space

Obama Signs NASA Act = MARS, Bitches

1:06 am EST October 12th, 2010 | Science | Comments Off

That’s what I’m going to assume this does, facts be damned.

President Obama signed a major NASA act today (Oct. 11) that turns his vision for U.S. space exploration of asteroids and Mars into law.

The signing makes official a NASA authorization act that scraps the space agency’s previous moon-oriented goal and paves the way for a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025. A manned mission to Mars is envisioned for some time in the 2030s.

The bill also calls for a budget of $19 billion for NASA in 2011, adding one extra space shuttle flight before the fleet retires next year, and the extension of the International Space Station through at least 2020.

Topic: Mars, NASA, Space

NASA: Actually, Viking DID Find Organic Material On Mars

2:59 pm EST September 3rd, 2010 | Science | 7 Comments

We need to go.

Thirty-four years after NASA’s Viking missions to Mars sent back results interpreted to mean there was no organic material – and consequently no life – on the planet, new research has concluded that organic material was found after all.

The finding does not bring scientists closer to discovering life on Mars, researchers say, but it does open the door to a greater likelihood that life exists, or once existed, on the planet.

‘We can now say there is organic material on Mars, and that the Viking organics experiment that didn’t find any had most likely destroyed what was there during the testing,’ said Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Topic: Mars, Space

Seas Of Liquid Diamond On Neptune?

5:43 pm EST January 18th, 2010 | Uncategorized | 9 Comments

I claim Neptune, now.

Remote gas giant planets Neptune and Uranus could be covered in vast seas of liquid diamond, dotted with solid diamond chunks like icebergs. A new experiment revealed such oceans are plausible, and would explain some oddities about Neptune’s magnetic field.

Topic: Neptune, Space

SpaceShipTwo Unveiled By Virgin Galactic

8:21 pm EST December 7th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Want to go!

On Monday, Virgin Galactic took the cloak off SpaceShipTwo, which had been under secret development for two years. The company plans to sell suborbital space rides for $200,000 a ticket, offering passengers 2.5 -hour flights that include about five minutes of weightlessness.

‘We want this program to be a whole new beginning in a commercial era of space travel,’ said Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, who partnered with famed aviation designer Burt Rutan on the venture.

>> SpaceShipTwo unveiling gallery

Topic: Space