Humanity has been admiring, studying, following, and musing about stars since the dawn our of existence. When you wish upon a star, it may be bewildering to imagine just how far away that star truly is. We know that the closest star to our planet is the Sun, but what about beyond that? The closest star beyond our sun, called Proxima Centauri, is an astonishing 4.3 light-years away! To put that into perspective, it would take 165,000 years with current rocket propulsion technology to reach it. The 25.6 trillion mile distance is 276,000 times the space between Earth and the Sun.
Continue reading “44 Closest Stars and How They Compare to Our Sun (infographic)”Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space now the first woman to reach the deepest point of the ocean
Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space on October 11, 1984, now also becomes the first woman to reach the deepest point of the ocean, the Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Mariana Trench. She also became only the eighth person ever to reach the Challenger Deep.
Continue reading “Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space now the first woman to reach the deepest point of the ocean”Human spaceflight is a risk worth taking, says ESA head
On 12 April, the International Day of Human Space Flight commemorates the first human – Yuri Gagarin – travelling to space in 1961, and the inaugural Space Shuttle mission on the same day in 1981.
Since Gagarin, humans have flown to space hundreds of times, including six missions to the moon, and have maintained a permanent space presence onboard the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) since November 2000.
But now new challenges are on the horizon, including returning to the moon and possibly going to Mars. We spoke to the head of ESA about why humans should go to space, the value of robotic exploration, and what role Europe has to play in the future.
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
Continue reading “Human spaceflight is a risk worth taking, says ESA head”Akashinga “The Brave Ones” Trailer
Akashinga: The Brave Ones tells the real story of Akashinga, the all-female anti-poaching unit in Zimbabwe that is revolutionizing the way animals (particularly elephants) are protected and communities are empowered.
The movie is executive produced by the well-known Canadian filmmaker and environmentalist James Cameron and directed by Maria Wilhelm, the Executive Director of the Avatar Alliance Foundation and President & COO of CAMERON Companies.
Continue reading “Akashinga “The Brave Ones” Trailer”No, we are not heading into an ice age any time soon
This article is originally published on The Conversation with the title of “Climate explained: why we won’t be heading into an ice age any time soon” under a Creative Commons license.
James Renwick, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington
Continue reading “No, we are not heading into an ice age any time soon”SpaceX Crew Dragon arrives at the ISS
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule arrives at the International Space Station (ISS) following up a historic liftoff with an equally smooth docking. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule (named Endeavour by the crew) docked automatically to the ISS, no assistance needed.
Continue reading “SpaceX Crew Dragon arrives at the ISS”How to land the Space Shuttle… from space? Amazing video
How did I miss this for years? In this brilliant video below, software engineer Bret Copeland explains how to land the space shuttle… from space!
Continue reading “How to land the Space Shuttle… from space? Amazing video”9 Lesser-known global warming facts
Whether you believe it or not, the fact of the matter is, the world is experiencing climate change. In the past two decades alone, we’ve experienced evitable climate change if we just prepared and took the signs seriously when they first materialized. The increasing industrialization of the world drives demands like no other, which in turn, is the result of the increasing population. This alone is a major precedent of climate change.
Continue reading “9 Lesser-known global warming facts”Planet Nine might not exist, many astronomers now think
This article is originally published on The Conversation with the title of “Why astronomers now doubt there is an undiscovered 9th planet in our solar system”.
Samantha Lawler, University of Regina
Planet Nine is a theoretical, undiscovered giant planet in the mysterious far reaches of our solar system.
The presence of Planet Nine has been hypothesized to explain everything from the tilt of the sun’s spin axis to the apparent clustering in the orbits of small, icy asteroids beyond Neptune.
But does Planet Nine actually exist?
Continue reading “Planet Nine might not exist, many astronomers now think”Please use crewed, not manned
The American science communicator Emily Calandrelli (also known as The Space Gal, @TheSpaceGal on Twitter) published a very funny video on her Twitter account, which can be titled as “please use crewed”. To explain her cause, Calandrelli used the popular “Joey, the famous ‘Friends’ character being taught French” meme, where Phoebe hopelessly tries to teach Joey French.
Continue reading “Please use crewed, not manned”