Reckless Reality |

Two space probes are to be sent to explore the Sun, in an attempt to get closer to the centre of the star than any previous mission.

The spacecraft will travel more than 70 million miles to one of the least hospitable regions of our solar system, where temperatures are hot enough to melt metal and intense radiation along with chaotic magnetic fields can tear manmade structures apart.

Scientists hope the missions will help them answer a long list of questions that still exist about the sun, including why its outer atmosphere is hotter than its surface, and what causes solar wind, sun spots and flares. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve already seen pictures of his eye … now we have the first image of the hand of God.

A ghostly blue cloud seems to form an outstretched thumb and fingers grasping a ball of fire.

The amazing image was taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory, which is orbiting 580km above the Earth.

It recalls pictures of the Helix planetary nebula, with its blue centre surrounded by white clouds which earned it the nickname “the eye of God”. Read the rest of this entry »

The Endeavor shuttle shot into space last week carrying loads of equipment for the International Space Station.

Among the new gadgets to be installed is a water recovery system that promises to recycle 93 percent of astronaut urine, sweat, exhaled water vapor, and other waste water back into drinkable water.

The whole apparatus cost about $250 million to develop, but that’s still cheaper than having to send periodic shuttles to the station to deliver fresh water.

Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is, what does it taste like? New York Times reporter John Schwartz took it upon himself to find out. Read the rest of this entry »

A new watch made from moon dust and original fragments of Apollo 11, is set to cost an astronomical £300,000 when goes on sale next summer.

The exclusive Moon Dust DNA timepiece has been built by Swiss watchmakers to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1969 moon landings.

The steel casing has been made from tiny components of Apollo 11 – the first manned space mission to land on the moon. And the face has been coated in dust from rocks taken from the surface of the moon.Little indentations have also been made on the dial to mimic moon craters.

A limited number of 1,969 of the concept watches have been made to commemorate the year Neil Armstrong first stepped on to the moon. Read the rest of this entry »

CALGARY — Prairie astronomers are investigating following last night’s excitement about a ball of fire observed shooting from the northern sky.

Alan Dyer, an astronomer with Calgary’s Telus World of Science, said sky-watchers will gather all the photographs and videos taken from various observation points to study the mysterious celestial show last night.

People who saw the huge flaming ball reported it possibly fell somewhere between Alberta and Saskatchewan.

About 5:30 p.m., a huge flash of light briefly turned the dark sky into daylight. Read the rest of this entry »

Astronauts aboard the international space station and the newly arrived shuttle Endeavour planned Monday to start unpacking a new toilet and a contraption that purifies urine and sweat into drinkable water at the orbiting outpost.

The main business of the day is unloading a cargo container nicknamed “Leonardo” from space shuttle Endeavour’s belly and attaching it to the international space station. Inside the 21-foot-long container is almost 15,000 pounds of equipment that will allow the space station to expand from three to six crew members next year.

“Things are going exceedingly well,” said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team. Read the rest of this entry »

After five months of a successful mission, the Phoenix Mars Lander has lost contact with Earth on Monday. The Phoenix Mars Lander is known for finding definite proof of water in Mars.

The end of communication was expected as the Martian winter would slowly freeze the probe, however the contact terminated after a storm stopped energy-providing sunlight from the spacecraft.

The lander arrived on Martian soil on May 25, and its last signal to Earth was transmitted on November 2. Scientist say that they would try to recover communication with the probe, but considered the $475 million project over.

“We are actually ceasing operations, declaring an end to operations at this point,” Barry Goldstein, Phoenix mission project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Read the rest of this entry »