Moon comming close to Earth on March 19

The moon will look bigger, may be 16 per cent larger, on March 19 when the full moon will be closest to the earth in the last 18 years, offering a special treat for the skygazers.

Moon goes round the earth in an elliptic orbit and that makes it come closer to the blue planet, the closest point being termed as the perigee, M P Birla Planetarium Director, Mr D.P. Duari, said.

The average distance between the moon and the earth is around 3,84,440 km. “But at the perigee, the distance can be close to around 3,57,000 km,” he said.

“On March 19, in addition to being a full moon, it will also be at the perigee and the earth-moon distance will be around 3,56,577 km, which is the closest in the past 18 years,” he said.

“The last time moon was close to the earth on a full moon day was on March 8, 1993,” Mr Duari said.

Rubbishing speculations that the closeness of the moon will lead to severe storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and natural disasters, the planetarium director said, “Given the decrease in the distance, which is imperceptibly small, it is believed that there is nothing to fear about the moon coming closer.”

However, he quoted the scientists to say that there may be a marginal increase in tidal action, but was not dangerous for triggering a major natural calamity.

Sun Spitting Solar Particles - to Reach earth

The Sun erupted with one of the biggest prominences in years. This shot from the SOHO spacecraft on April 13, 2010 at 13:13 UT shows a Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun’s northeastern limb. The massive plasma-filled structure rose up and burst during a ~2 hour period around 0900 UT.

A typical coronal mass ejection can release 100 billion kilograms of solar material, and the speed of this material can approach 1000 km/second. In fact, solar flares and coronal mass ejections are the biggest explosions in the Solar System, approaching the power of one billion hydrogen bombs.

Solar Eclipse in India on Jan 15th

Annular solar eclipse is expected on January 15th 2010. Since we are nearing solar eclipse there are lots of news and anticipations are arising every where. Solar eclipse is nothing but the sun and moon coincide with each other and they both lie at the same line till certain point of time. Moon shadow is smaller when compared to sun that looks like moon shadow is inside the sun, which appears like a ‘Ring of fire’.

Common people can get the clear vision of ‘Ring of fire’ at Dhanushkodi near Rameshweram in Tamil Nadu, which is located at the southern tip of India. The people of this area are lucky enough to see the clear vision of 2010 solar eclipse. dhanushkodi people can watch it 10 minutes and 30 seconds duration. However, Delhi people are also partially lucky enough as they can also watch part of 2010 solar eclipse or ‘Rinf of fire’.

Agenda of solar eclipse in India:

The solar eclipse on January 15th 2010 will start around 11:16 am IST. Over the Indian Ocean the solar eclipse will last for eleven minutes and ten seconds and this will be the millennium’s (i.e. 2001 to 3000) longest solar eclipse. In India, the solar eclipse will last between 11 am and 13.15 pm. It will start from south part of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu then it moves towards Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. Right from Dhanushkodi the eclipse will precede its tour to Kerala and accomplish at Mizorem in northeast.

In Delhi, people can watch between 11.53 A.M and 15.11P.M. Delhi public people can watch this solar eclipse of 2010 at the Amateur Astronomers Association and Nehru Planetarium. However, it is advisable not to watch solar eclipse with direct eyes.

2010 Solar eclipse in other countries:

In Africa, Solar eclipse will begin at 10.44a.m that travels towards Chad, Central African Republic and continues its travel through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia and finally that will reach Indian Ocean.

In Asia, the central path of moon shadow passes through south India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.

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Luminous Blue Variables (LBV)

Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are a rare class of extremely massive stars that teeter on the very edge of being stable. The most famous of this class of stars is the well studied Eta Carinae. Like many other LBVs, Eta Carinae is shrouded in a nebula of its own making. The instability of the star causes it to throw off large amounts of mass even during its brief main sequence lifetime. What makes these stars so unstable is an open question which has been difficult to answer do the the paucity of known LBVs. Given that the initial mass function predicts that such massive stars should be rare, this is not surprising, but identifying these stars is often made even more difficult due to the reddening caused by their nebulae.

However, an international team working from Russia and South Africa proposes that the nebula itself may be able to help identify potential candidates of LBVs.

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10 Reasons ? the world doesn't End @ 2012

In the early days of computers, when hard drives weighed as much as a piece of furniture, a popular phrase was "Garbage-in, Garbage-out" (GIGO). It meant that computers would unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output.

REASONS:

• 1.Changes in the Sun's magnetic field will lead to powerful flares
• 2.The Earth's magnetic field will reverse
• 3.The Earth's rotation axis will tip
• 4.A grand alignment of Jupiter and Saturn will gravitationally perturb
• 5.The Sun will align with the galactic equator on the winter solstice.
• 6. The black hole in the galactic center will affect us
• 7.An asteroid will smash into Earth
• 8.The rogue planet Nibiru will swing by Earth
• 9.Supernovae or hypernovae will irradiate Earth.
• 10.A cloud of negative energy engulfs the solar system.

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History of exploration in the 20th Century

History of exploration in the 20th Century

The first steps into space were taken by German scientists during World War II while testing the V2 rocket which became the first human-made object in space. After the war, the Allies used German scientists and their captured rockets in programs for both military and civilian research. The first scientific exploration from space was the cosmic radiation experiment launched by the U.S. on a V2 rocket on May 10, 1946. The first images of Earth taken from space followed the same year while the first animal experiment saw fruit flies lifted into space in 1947, both also on modified V2s launched by Americans. These suborbital experiments only allowed a very short time in space which limited their usefulness.

First orbital flights

Sputnik 1, the first artificial satelliteorbited earth at 939 km (583 mi) to 215 km (134 mi) in 1957, and was soon followed by Sputnik 2. See First satellite by country (Replica Pictured)

The first successful orbital launch was of the Soviet unmanned Sputnik ("Satellite I") mission on October 4, 1957. The satellite weighed about 83 kg (184 pounds), and is believed to have orbited Earth at a height of about 250 km (150 miles). It had two radio transmitters (20 and 40 MHz), which emitted "beeps" that could be heard by radios around the globe. Analysis of the radio signals was used to gather information about the electron density of the ionosphere, while temperature and pressure data was encoded in the duration of radio beeps. The results indicated that the satellite was not punctured by a meteoroid. Sputnik 1 was launched by an R-7 rocket. It burned up upon re-entry on January 3, 1958.

This success led to an escalation of the American space program, which unsuccessfully attempted to launch Vanguard 1 into orbit two months later. On January 31, 1958, the U.S. successfully orbited Explorer 1 on a Juno rocket. In the meantime, the Soviet dog Laika became the first animal in orbit on November 3, 1957.

First human flights

The first known successful human spaceflight was Vostok 1 ("East 1"), carrying 27 year old Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961. The spacecraft completed one orbit around the globe, lasting about 1 hour and 48 minutes. Gagarin's flight resonated around the world; it was a demonstration of the advanced Soviet space program and it opened an entirely new era in space exploration: human spaceflight.

Yuri Gagarin, the first person to make an orbital flight of Earth

The U.S. first launched a person into space within a month of Vostok 1 with Alan Shepard's suborbital flight in Mercury-Redstone 3. Orbital flight was achieved by the United States when John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 orbited the Earth on February 20, 1962.

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, orbited the Earth 48 times aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963.

China first launched a person into space 42 years after the launch of Vostok 1, on October 15, 2003, with the flight of Yang Liwei aboard theShenzhou 5 (Spaceboat 5) spacecraft.

First planetary explorations

The first artificial object to reach another celestial body was Luna 2 in 1959.The first automatic landing on another celestial body was performed by Luna 9 in 1966. Luna 10 became the first artificial satellite of another celestial body.

The first manned landing on another celestial body was performed by Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969.

The first successful interplanetary flyby was the 1962 Mariner 2 flyby of Venus (closest approach 34,773 kilometers). Flybys for the other planets were first achieved in 1965 for Mars by Mariner 4, 1973 for Jupiter by Pioneer 10, 1974 for Mercury by Mariner 10, 1979 for Saturn by Pioneer 11, 1986 for Uranus by Voyager 2, and 1989 for Neptune by Voyager 2.

The first interplanetary surface mission to return at least limited surface data from another planet was the 1970 landing of Venera 7 on Venus which returned data to earth for 23 minutes. In 1971 the Mars 3 mission achieved the first soft landing on Mars returning data for almost 20 seconds. Later much longer duration surface missions were achieved, including over 6 years of Mars surface operation by Viking 1 from 1975 to 1982 and over 2 hours of transmission from the surface of Venus by Venera 13 in 1982 (the longest ever Soviet planetary surface mission).

Key people in early space exploration

The dream of stepping into the outer reaches of the Earth's atmosphere was driven by rocket technology. The German V2 was the first rocket to travel into space, overcoming the problems of thrust and material failure. During the final days of World War II this technology was obtained by both the Americans and Soviets as were its designers. The initial driving force for further development of the technology was a weapons race for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to be used as long-range carriers for fast nuclear weapon delivery, but in 1961 when USSR launched the first man into space, the U.S. declared itself to be in a "Space Race" with Russia.

By The End Of 2012

NASA says.................



God's Grace

NASA Crashes probes into Moon

Normally when we think of space probes, we imagine small satellites orbiting planets and moons, taking pictures and scientific measurements. Well, early Friday morning NASA watched two probes crash into the moon. On purpose.

Now, I know what you might be thinking, so no, NASA was not suddenly handed over to a bunch of pre-schoolers. Rather, scientists are investigating the presence of water (in the form of ice) under the surface of the Moon. The first of the two probes crashed into the Moon around 7:31 a.m., creating a dust cloud more than 6 miles high.

The second probe followed behind the first, taking pictures and measurements as it passed through the dust cloud. It then crashed into the surface about 4 minutes later with an impact about 1/3 the size of the first.

The results of the mission, called LCROSS (the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite), are intended to be the first step in planning a manned mission to the Moon by 2020.

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Yuri's nite

SPACE celebrations

Yuri's night is a celebration of humanitiy's achievements in space.Everyone can participate,so come and join us in celebrating the past-and our future-in outer space!

moon

Looney Moon orbit mystery solved

The Moon was pulled out of its circular orbit around Earth by the tug of gravity from Jupiter and Venus, a new study suggests.The research by Dr Matija Cuk of the University of British Columbia is published today in the journal Science.The idea that other planets can affect the Moon would seem far-fetched, since the gravity of those planets, at tens of millions of kilometres away, is miniscule.But Cuk has worked out the details of those times when the Moon's orbit and the orbits of Venus and Jupiter are in sync, and found that over the eons with repeated tugs, the two planets can have cumulative effects.These "resonance" effects have pulled the Moon out of its circular orbit and elongated it."This is the first time that anyone has shown that the Moon is affected by other planets in major ways," says Cuk. "It's a chaotic process," she says of the orbital happenings in the solar system. "Things perturb each other weakly, but when you get resonance, the perturbations keep adding up."A good way to visualise the process is to think of an adult pushing a child on a swing, explains another orbit investigator, Dr Doug Hamilton of the University of Maryland.If you stand behind the child and gently push at the right times and the child swings their legs in sync, they go higher and higher. But if you push from the side, in any direction with no rhythm, there is no cumulative effect, no swinging and you get a frustrated kid.Elongating a circular orbitWhat brought the Moon into sync with Jupiter and Venus, at different times, is nothing less than Earth's oceans. The constant tidal tug-of-war between the oceans and the Moon has caused the Moon to recede further from Earth and gradually increased the time it takes to complete an orbit. It also made the Moon's orbit more circular.But as the lengthening time period of a lunar orbit increased, it crossed into long episodes of resonance with Jupiter and then Venus. The tiny pushes upset the Moon's neat circular path, making it the elongated orbit we see today.The most visible result of this eccentric orbit, says Hamilton, is that during some solar eclipses the Moon is on the more distant part of its non-circular orbit and it doesn't quite cover the entire Sun - this is called an annular eclipse. At closer approaches, the Moon covers the Sun entirely during eclipses."This has been a mystery for a long time," says Hamilton of the Moon's eccentric orbit. "I think Cuk has got an excellent case."

ON MARS

First liquid water may have been spotted on Mars

NASA's Phoenix lander may have captured the first images of liquid water on Mars - droplets that apparently splashed onto the spacecraft's leg during landing, according to some members of the Phoenix team.
The controversial observation could be explained by the mission's previous discovery of perchlorate salts in the soil, since the salts can keep water liquid at sub-zero temperatures. Researchers say this antifreeze effect makes it possible for liquid water to be widespread just below the surface of Mars, but point out that even if it is there, it may be too salty to support life as we know it.
A few days after Phoenix landed on 25 May 2008, it sent back an image showing mysterious splotches of material attached to one of its legs. Strangely, the splotches grew in size over the next few weeks, and Phoenix scientists have been debating the origin of the objects ever since.
One intriguing possibility is that they were droplets of salty water that grew by absorbing water vapour from the atmosphere. Arguments for this idea are laid out in a study by Phoenix team member Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and co-authored by 21 other researchers, including the mission's chief scientist, Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson. The study (pdf) will be presented in March at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas.