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Right Size, Right Place…
…now we just need both together. European researchers have found a tiny exoplanet that’s only 1.9 times the size of Earth, and say that a neighboring planet discovered previously is in the prime zone for potential life. Gliese 581 e (the little one) is too close to its star for life as we know it,…
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It’s Come a Long Way, Baby
The USA Today site has an interesting Flash presentation illustrating the growth of the International Space Station from 1998 to the present. It includes a clickable timeline which highlights each chunk of the ISS and gives a bit of background on its purpose. Many of the popups also provide a 360-degree view of the equipment…
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This Sounds Like the Beginning of a Joke
Four Russians, a German and a Frenchman are all sealed inside a research facility…. Last Tuesday, six people entered a Habitrail-like series of living modules in a Moscow research lab, where they will spend the next 105 days exploring what a lengthy trip to Mars would be like. They’ll eat dehydrated food and breathe recycled…
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Send Your Name to Mars
Here’s an inexpensive and clever way to enhance interest in the space program: NASA is allowing individuals to send their names to Mars. Fill out the online form, and your name will be included on a microchip that will go to Mars in 2011 on the Mars Science Laboratory rover. You even get a nice…
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So Much for The Naked Orbital Chef
NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus has been spending the last four months learning to cook in zero-G. She’s been keeping a journal of her experiences, doing things like cooking chopped onions in leftover foil pouches and using duct tape to keep crumbs from floating away and clogging air vents. Her experiences to date have been “slow,…
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Google Mars
:::sigh::: Can we just declare the Google guys the Supreme Overlords of Earth and get it over with? The latest version of Google Earth includes the ability to explore Mars. With Mars in Google Earth, you can: Be the first human being to view images downloaded by NASA just hours ago, in the Live from…
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Saturn Has a New Moon
(Well, it’s new to us.) The formation of Saturn’s G ring appears to have finally been solved, with the discovery of yet another moon. Researchers think that meteorites whacking into the small moon break off the icy chunks that form one of Saturn’s more mysterious rings. Link
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Schroedinger’s Cross-Stitch
For the crafty amongst us, Etsy seller Larripin Labs (“Home of the Cross-Stitched Physicist”) sells, um, cross-stitched physicists. Patterns currently available are Richard Feynman, Erwin Schrodinger, and Michio Kaku. She says, “since cross stitch seems to be a mostly female pursuit, I hope to spark some interest in young women in math and science.” I…
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Mars Has a Water Cycle
At least, a little one. Scientists are still poring over data gathered from the Phoenix Mars Lander, but think they’ve found evidence that water vapor is collapsing into the Martian soil at night. The thin films of “unfrozen water” (not as free-flowing as water but more mobile than ice) are enough to allow some chemistry…
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Choose Hubble’s Next Target
As part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescopic observations, you get to decide where to point the Hubble next. Hubble’s Next Discovery – You Decide allows people across the world to vote online and select the next object modern astronomy’s most famous telescope will view. Six objects, which the Hubble has…