Killing Titan by Greg Bear My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is the sequel to War Dogs. Like the The Forge of God series by Bear, the second book has a very different focus and tone from the first book in the series, and I think that might be a bit off-putting to […]
Read more "Book Review: Killing Titan by Greg Bear"This book got a lot of mixed reviews. Whether or not people liked it usually depended on where they came from when they read it. I think this will give me an opportunity to talk about a couple of related subjects that have broader implications than the book, if you’ll indulge me. For those who […]
Read more "Book Review: War Dogs by Greg Bear"By Brendon Specktor When the universe’s largest stars run out of fuel and die, they explode in technicolor tsunamis of gas and dust that can stretch on into space for dozens of light-years. To see the full array of cosmic colors left behind by a star gone supernova, you generally need some pretty sophisticated telescopes […]
Read more "Soar Through the Heart of a Neutron Star"By Mindy Weisberger The Hubble Space Telescope recently spied new evidence of a peculiar molecule: wiggly buckyballs, which have intrigued astrophysicists since they were discovered in space nearly a decade ago. Dubbed Buckminsterfullerene, these supersize molecules are made of 60 carbon atoms linked together in pentagons and hexagons to form a hollow sphere. The shape of these structures […]
Read more "Hubble Spots Giant “Buckyballs” Jiggling Like Jello in Space"By Michelle Starr Science Alert Writer You’ve heard of hot Jupiters. You’ve heard of mini-Neptunes. You’ve heard of super-Earths. But have you heard of Eyeball Planets? Yep – planetary scientists think there might be a type of exoplanet out there that looks disturbingly like a giant eyeball. Just sitting there. Staring. But it’s actually not as weird […]
Read more "Eyeball Planets"ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst has captured the launch of the Russian Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft. He filmed the craft leaving the Earth’s atmosphere while on board the International Space Station. Posting on Twitter he wrote: “This is real. How a spaceship leaves our planet, seen from ISS.”
See the video on BBC’s website.
Read more "Astronaut on ISS Captures Spacecraft Launch Footage"Please do yourself a favour and watch this video. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful and awe-inspiring! Thanks! – Diane
European Space Agency release
Since the very first module Zarya launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 20 November 1998, the International Space Station has delivered a whole new perspective on this planet we call home. Join us as we celebrate 20 years of international collaboration and research for the benefit of Earth with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst’s longest time lapse yet.
In just under 15 minutes, this clip takes you from Tunisia across Beijing and through Australia in two trips around the world. You can follow the Station’s location using the map at the top right hand-side of the screen alongside annotations on the photos themselves.
This timelapse comprises approximately 21,375 images of Earth all captured by Alexander from the International Space Station and shown 12.5 times faster than actual speed.
Read the full article (and watch the video) at Phys.org.
Read more "Longest Continual Time Lapse from Space (Video)"