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Space: The Final Frontier. Exploring space developments and theorizing about how humans fit into the universe.
MAVEN Spacecraft Makes Evasive Maneuver to Avoid Impact With Mars' Moon Phobos
Mars is a busy place these days, with multiple rovers and orbiters exploring the planet. Out of the several spacecraft currently in orbit, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) is a fairly recent addition, having been at Mars for just over two years now. Usually, things are pretty routine, but this week the spacecraft had to make an unplanned evasive maneuver - to avoid a collision with one of Mars' two small moons, Phobos!
By Paul Scott Anderson7 years ago in Futurism
Could the TRAPPIST-1 Planetary System Be Home to Alien Life?
The discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 generated a lot of excitement last week. Earth-sized planets have been found before, among the thousands of exoplanets discovered so far by astronomers, but this is the first time that so many have been detected in one planetary system. As of now, astronomers are limited in how much they can learn about these new worlds, but the James Webb Space Telescope, the upcoming successor to Hubble due to launch in 2018, will be able to gather more data and analyze whatever atmospheres these planets have, perhaps bringing us closer to finding another habitable world.
By Paul Scott Anderson7 years ago in Futurism
Mirror Cube
Since 2020, the Year of vision, we have been told that the universe is infinitely large but, as I said in my last post, (see Kaleidoscope Part 1) the universe is actually very small. Tiny. It’s vastness is a beautiful illusion created with smoke and mirrors. Whether this is designed to make us feel insignificant is up to you. Since I revealed my Tiny Universe Theory (T.U.T) to the world, on President’s Day, 2025, I’ve been feeling nervous…anxious… paranoid, I suppose. Worrying that I may have made myself a target for the forces that want us to keep believing that we are just an insignificant speck in an enormous universe that surpasses all understanding. There's a new President in the White House and, perhaps, there's a spy in the sky watching me from the Government block right now, I don’t know. I’m sure I see circles among the clouds in the sky when I'm out walking my dog, Robbo. If my social media accounts are shut down they will claim that I was the victim of a 'Bear' hacker.
By Ian Richardson7 years ago in Futurism
The Open Road Calls to Us
The news of the discovery of a solar system with possibly several exoplanets within the habitable-zone was just announced. For many of us in the scientific community that study biology, chemistry, astrobiology, etc, this is Wonderland. Thoughts and questions are added and manipulated in our brains like ingredients of a gourmet stew. And we are ready to eat.
By Nickolas Rudolph7 years ago in Futurism
Three Potential New Earths Found in a Planetary System of Seven
Astronomers have discovered what is undoubtedly one of the most exciting exoplanet systems of recent years; seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting a red dwarf star only 40 light years away. What makes this find extraordinary is that all seven may have oceans of liquid water and three may even harbor life itself.
By Richard J. Bartlett7 years ago in Futurism
Star Formation on Filaments in Molecular Cloud RCW106
The image above comes from ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, an ESA mission with participation from NASA. It was obtained as part of Herschel's Hi-GAL key-project, which imaged the entire plane of the Milky Way in five different infrared bands.
By Susan Fourtané7 years ago in Futurism
Five Experiments That Show Your Universe Is Weird, Really Weird
We take our reality just like we take our tax preparers: solid and dependable, with an aversion to surprises. Experiments during the last few years, however, seem to indicate that our reality is less like a nerdy accountant buried in piles of 1040 forms and more like the half naked, fully drunk performance artist who thrives on not just surprising, but shocking the ever-loving crap out of us.
By Matt Swayne7 years ago in Futurism