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Charted: Extraterrestrial Driving Records
NASA has just released this cute chart depicting the various distances traveled by wheeled machines on other worlds (click to enlarge).
The comparison was put out in honor of the agency’s Opportunity rover, which has been on Mars since 2004, beating NASA’s previous distance record-holder, the Apollo 17 moon buggy. During its nine years of operations, Opportunity has roved 35.760 kilometers, edging out the Apollo astronaut’s 35.744-kilometer drive.
The champion for driving on another surface still goes to the Soviet Lunokhod 2 rover, which traveled 37 kilometers across the moon in 1973. Of course, Opportunity still has the *ahem* opportunity to overtake the international record holder since it’s continuing to rove around the rim of Endeavour crater on Mars. The little robot has been exploring that area since 2011 and has uncovered some of the most unambiguous evidence for water on ancient Mars. Though NASA’s celebrated Curiosity rover has only gone less than one kilometer since landing in August, it has nuclear batteries that could last 14 years at minimum — ample time to beat all competitors.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The winners and notable photos of the 4th International Earth and Sky Photo Contest, a program by The World at Night (TWAN) in collaboration with the Global Astronomy Month and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The contest theme is Dark Skies Importance. Similar to TWAN itself, the contest also aims to reclaim the natural beauty of starry sky and to help preserving the dark skies which are not yet dominated by artificial lights.
The images in this video are copyrighted by the photographers. Feel free to share the video (embedding or sharing the link) to promote the contest in non-commercial way. Permission is needed from TWAN (info@twanight.org) for any other use. The music is by sound artist Thomas Nordwest (thomasnordwest.com). Winner photos and more information on the contest page: twanight.org/contest
Happy Mother’s Day!
Here’s a great photo of UCLA’s Anna Fisher: the first mother in space.
Happy Mother’s Day! (If you forgot to get her something, you can buy her a chance to go to SPACE for $10 here: www.idreamofspace.com ) #truestory
(via ikenbot)
Mystery of Moon’s Magnetic Field Deepens
The moon generated a surprisingly intense magnetic field until at least 3.56 billion years ago, 160 million years longer than previously thought, a new study reports.
These findings could shed light not just on the magnetic field of the moon, which is now extremely weak, but on that of asteroids and other distant worlds, investigators added.
How the Hubble Space Telescope Works
Launched from space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope orbits at an altitude of about 350 miles (560 kilometers). The telescope is 43.5 feet (13.2 meters) long, weighs 24,500 pounds (11,110 kilograms) and cost $2.5 billion.
Hubble’s six cameras and sensors see visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. At the heart of Hubble is its 8-foot-diameter (2.4 meters) primary mirror. The Hubble telescope is named after the famed late astronomer Edwin Hubble, who has been lauded as the father of modern cosmology and determined the rate of the expansion of the universe….
read more at http://www.space.com/20765-hubble-space-telescope-infographic.html
Stardust (by PostPanic)
From Dutch designer and director Mischa Rozema comes Stardust — a breathtaking short film based on a combination of real NASA footage and science fiction imagery, celebrating the legacy of the Voyager 1 and inspired by Dutch graphic designer Arjan Groot, who passed away from cancer at the age of 39.
(via itsfullofstars)
What happens if you wring out a wet towel while floating in space? The water shouldn’t fall toward the floor because while orbiting the Earth, free falling objects will appear to float. But will the water fly out from the towel, or what? The answer may surprise you.
The want to leave our planet inspires everyone! Including David Windestål, who sent an RC plane to the edge of space and back - filming the flight!
