Astronomy

First habitable exoplanet →

Published April 17, 2014  ·  All posts on Apr 17

The first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star has been confirmed by observations with both the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory. The initial discovery, made by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, is one of a handful of smaller planets found by Kepler and verified using large ground-based telescopes. It also confirms that Earth-sized planets do exist in the habitable zone of other stars.

~ from, First potentially habitable Earth-sized planet confirmed: It may have liquid water

Mark you calendar: April 17, 2014. First confirmation of the existence of a HABITABLE planet… Temperature, gravity, rocky (like the Earth)… A. HABITABLE. PLANET. I got chills reading this.

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Belt of Venus →

Published December 18, 2013  ·  All posts on Dec 18

…what’s the belt of venus?

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Lowell Observatory Telescope →

Published December 2, 2013  ·  All posts on Dec 2

The telescope, inside the observatory dome, at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona.

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Lowell Observatory →

Published November 16, 2013  ·  All posts on Nov 16

Entrance to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona.

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NASA probe launching tonight 11:27pm eastern time →

Published September 6, 2013  ·  All posts on Sep 6

LADEEAt 11:27pm eastern tonight, NASA is launching a car-size probe named LADEE to the moon. They’re using a new launch facility at Wallops Island in Viriginia. About 85 million people on the east coast might be able to see it. Go outside at 11:20 and look towards Virginia… :)

For more details, see 85 Million Have A Shot At Seeing Tonight’s Moon Launch

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Easily retrievable asteroids? →

Published August 17, 2013  ·  All posts on Aug 17

For decades, science fiction writers and various space scientists have pointed out that asteroids offer a huge untapped source of valuable resources. Bringing just a small portion of this back to Earth could be a game changer for our planet.

~ from, «http://www.technologyreview.com/view/518046/new-class-of-easily-retrievable-asteroids-discovered/»

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How’s That Space Program Coming Along? →

Published February 13, 2013  ·  All posts on Feb 13

A rather large asteroid will be swinging by on Friday. If we were hit by a rock of this size, it would be a regional disaster; Destruction on the scale of a large city, with major regional earthquake and weather side effects.

Our home planet is due for a record setting space encounter on Friday (Feb. 15) of this week, when a space rock roughly half a football field wide skirts very close by Earth at break neck speed and well inside the plethora of hugely expensive communications and weather satellites that ring around us in geosynchronous orbit.

~ Universe Today

The B612 Foundation is working to build a space telescope specifically designed to locate and track asteroids that pose a threat to the Earth:

B612 Foundation

If you knew you could do something to literally save the world, would you? We have taken on the audacious mission of doing just that. Our goal is to hunt asteroids that could hit the Earth and potentially cause human devastation.

~ B612 Foundation, «http://b612foundation.org/why-is-asteroid-2012-da-14-important-to-monitor/»

and…

How long ago did we learn of DA14 and its impending close flyby of Earth? DA14 was discovered on February 13, 2012, just one year in advance of its close flyby of Earth. Had it been on a collision course with Earth on February 15, 2013, there would not have been enough time to prepare a mission to deflect it. While we would have been able to accurately predict its impact location on Earth, our only possible response would have been to evacuate the area and hope for the best.

~ B612 Foundation from, 45 meter Asteroid to Skirt Very Near Earth on Feb 15

slip:4uuime1.

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