On July 12 of this year, Neptune will complete its first transit around the sun since its discovery in 1846. A Neptunian year is 164 Earth years.
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
02 January 2011
09 November 2010
27 September 2010
Ambassador
The United Nations has appointed Earth’s ambassador should aliens touch down in the near future.
—Meet Mazlan Othman, the United Nations ambassador to extraterrestrials
02 September 2010
JFK to Lyndon Johnson
Do we have a chance of beating the Soviets by putting a laboratory in space, or by a trip around the moon, or by a rocket to go to the moon and back with a man. Is there any other space program which promises dramatic results in which we could win?
Letters of Note: Is there a space program which which we could win?
20 July 2009
Holy Shit, Man Walks on Fucking Moon
Holy Shit, Man Walks on Fucking Moon
Classic Onion front page from July 21, 1969.
15 July 2009
07 August 2008
25 June 2008
Sol 30
Earth’s summer solstice (the longest day of the year) was last Friday. Today is the Martian summer solstice. Mars has 668 Sols in its year, equivalent to 684 of Earth’s Days, but its moons don’t create separate seasons. New blog The Big Picture has some amazing landscapes of Mars, including a sunset, and a breathtaking view of Earth from there.
23 June 2008
Discovery of the Planet Vulcan
I took a class in college called Philosophy of Science. One of the things we studied was how scientific hypotheses can be based on foundations that may turn out to be flawed. Over time, even the simplest things we think we know from our observations of the world can be called into question as we discover new complexities. The story of the planets Neptune and Vulcan illustrate this beautifully.
The planet Neptune was officially discovered in 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle, but its existence had already been proven by Urbain Le Verrier. Scientists had noticed irregularities in the orbit of Uranus. Using their knowledge of physics, they were able to deduce that the planet’s orbit was been affected by the gravity of another object in the sky, which turned out to be Neptune. The math told them that the planet had to be there. All that was left was for someone to look for it. (Not that it was staring us in the face of course.)
Having predicted Neptune, Le Verrier then went on to examine the orbit of Mercury. Using the same calculations, he predicted the existence of another yet undiscovered planet which he named Vulcan. Vulcan, according to the calculations, was about one-seventh the size of Mercury and orbited between it and the Sun. Its existence would make Earth the fourth rock from the sun, not the third. Except that it doesn’t exist. The math all worked out, just as it had for Neptune, yet no planet was ever observed. Decades later, Albert Einstein’s theories demonstrated that our understanding of physics had been too simple. Relativity could describe the orbit of Mercury where the sciences of Newton and Kepler could not. The numbers had all added up, but the mathematical systems themselves turned out to be inadequate. Extrapolating on this idea, one comes to the humble conclusion that any idea whatsoever can be called into question if one can poke holes in the underlying assumptions on which the idea depends. No matter how solid you think your ground may be, some jerk like Einstein can always come along and pull the rug out from under you.
14 May 2008
Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens - Yahoo! News
The Vatican astronomer says that it’s okay to believe in alien life, as extraterrestrials would also be part of God’s plan.
01 May 2008
05 March 2008
The Earth and Moon as Seen From Mars
The Earth and Moon as seen from Mars. This makes is easy to see how far away the Moon is. Great shot.
30 March 2007
16 March 2007
Giant Pool of Water Ice at Mars' South Pole
Giant Pool of Water Ice at Mars’ South Pole
Holds enough water to cover the entire planet in 30 feet of water.
23 December 2006
...some stars and planets in scale
…some stars and planets in scale
See the size of lots of heavenly bodies.
08 December 2006
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