Science – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

“an unforgettable journey across the Red Planet.”

Pete Baker on October 28, 2013, 10:24 pm | Readers 30

Curiosity may have been on the surface of Mars for over a year, but ESA’s Mars Express has been in orbit around the Red Planet for almost a decade. It’s one of a number of ways Mars is being observed, up close and personal. And, like the Hi-RISE camera on Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express has some specialised instruments on-board for that purpose. Among them is the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The stunning 3D images in this video were taken by that camera. The video was released …

Time-lapse: Earth

Pete Baker on October 12, 2013, 2:58 pm | Readers 54

As the Guardian’s GrrlScientist says, “Wow. Just wow.” And, “Oh, I recommend “full screen” mode.” Indeed. Adds – If you watch closely you can see Ireland and the UK pass underneath at around 2mins 30secs in. Time-Lapse | Earth from Bruce W. Berry Jr on Vimeo. Video credits Music: “Manhatta” composed and performed by The Cinematic Orchestra. (All rights reserved to their respective owners.) Film clips collected and edited by Bruce Berry. Images courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis …

A year of Curiosity

Pete Baker on August 6, 2013, 4:33 pm | Readers 67

One year ago, after “seven minutes of terror“, Nasa’s Mars Science Laboratory, the 900kg rover Curiosity, landed safely on the Red Planet and was soon taking a look around. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems] Full image and caption here. This scene combines seven images from the telephoto-lens camera on the right side of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument on NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity. The component images were taken between 11:39 and 11:43 a.m., local solar time, on 343rd Martian day, or …

“There’s no place like home…”

Pete Baker on July 24, 2013, 3:48 pm | Readers 83

I didn’t ‘Wave at Saturn’ on 19 July when the Cassini probe, orbiting the gas giant, was taking a high-definition image of the view back home. I don’t think it encouraged a proper sense of perspective… But the resultant image is stunning. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute] It’s not the first time Cassini has looked home. Nor is it the only stunning image the probe has provided. But, as those involved pointed out “We can’t see individual continents or people in this …

Three Years of SDO Data – Narrated

Pete Baker on May 11, 2013, 10:08 pm | Readers 39

If you enjoyed the recent video from Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – “Three years in three minutes” – but would have liked more of an explanation of what was going on with our own local star… here it is again! This time, though, extended, and narrated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center heliophysicist Alex Young. [Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center] Pete Baker

“A major difference between the hurricanes is that the one on Saturn is much bigger…”

Pete Baker on May 1, 2013, 6:42 pm | Readers 33

As I mentioned previously, Saturn doesn’t get the love some of our other gas giants do. [All hail our friend and lord, Jupiter! Keeping Ogdy at bay… – Ed] Indeed… [new link] But, with the help of Cassini, Saturn does provide some wondrous images. In some of its first sunlit images of Saturn’s north pole, Cassini has looked inside the mysterious hexagon-shaped jet-stream noted here, and spied an enormous hurricane. In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane’s eye is about 1,250 miles …

Solar Dynamics Observatory: Three years in three minutes

Pete Baker on April 22, 2013, 9:56 pm | Readers 8

What it says on the tin. Three years after First Light, Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has released three stunning minutes of images compiled during its virtually unbroken coverage of the sun’s rise toward solar maximum. Enjoy! [Video from NasaExplorer on YouTube. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO] As they note in the associated text During the course of the video, the sun subtly increases and decreases in apparent size. This is because the distance between the SDO spacecraft and the …

Comet 2013 A1: Rendezvous with Mars…

Pete Baker on March 27, 2013, 8:46 pm | Readers 26

Here’s something to think about whilst waiting to see if Comet ISON will fizzle, or sizzle. The latest Science at Nasa video looks at the trajectory, and consequences for Mars missions, of Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring). Discovered as recently as 3 January this year, this Oort cloud object will pass “extraordinarily close” to the planet Mars on 19 October 2014 – an actual collision, although unlikely, has not been ruled out yet [1:2000]. It’s estimated that an impact of the ~1-3 km-wide Comet 2013 A1, travelling at around …

The ALMA Inauguration

Pete Baker on March 16, 2013, 7:05 pm | Readers 12

As the BBC reported on Wednesday, having opened its eyes in 2011, and with 57 of its 66 antennas now ready to receive data on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Atacama desert, Chile, the Atacama Large Millimetre/Sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) was officially inaugurated on March 13. Here’s the associated ESOcast 55: The ALMA Inauguration. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO). Editing: Martin Kornmesser and Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Javier Perez Barbuzano and Herbert Zodet. Narration: Sara Mendes …

“It was a meteor strike–the most powerful since the Tunguska event of 1908”

Pete Baker on February 27, 2013, 4:33 pm | Readers 92

ScienceAtNasa has a sobering video on the latest information about the visitation by the god Ogdy unexpected meteor strike in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia on 15 February. Video credit: ScienceAtNasa. From the accompanying ScienceAtNasa press release The Russian meteor’s infrasound signal was was the strongest ever detected by the CTBTO network. The furthest station to record the sub-audible sound was 15,000km away in Antarctica. Western Ontario Professor of Physics Peter Brown analyzed the data: “The asteroid was about 17 meters in diameter and weighed approximately …

“President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.”

Pete Baker on February 15, 2013, 5:36 pm | Readers 65

As I mentioned previously, asteroid 2012 DA14 is due to make its close encounter with Earth later this evening. Meanwhile, earlier today several hundred people in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia were injured during a visitation by the god Ogdy by debris caused by the unexpected appearance of a relatively large meteor. It’s reported that a crater 6m (20ft) wide has been found on the shore of a lake 1km outside Chebarkul, a town in the region – created by a fragment of the meteor. …

Pope Benedict XVI: “with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome”

Pete Baker on February 12, 2013, 10:57 pm | Readers 81

For anyone seriously concerned with his “legacy”, the surprise announcement by Pope Benedict XVI, of his intention to renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome “as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours”, deserves a more considered approach. For example, following on from his initial response, at the Telegraph Blogs Damian Thompson reproduces the Catholic Herald’s “10 reasons why Catholics should give thanks for the Pope’s ministry”. As Damian Thompson adds, I don’t expect non-Catholics, or even all Catholics, to agree with …

“Ireland has the potential to generate far more wind energy than we could consume domestically…”

Pete Baker on January 28, 2013, 8:28 pm | Readers 123

Apparently, Ireland is to become Britain’s off-shore wind farm… That seems to be the gist of the complaint from opponents to wind farms in the Irish Midlands, as reported in the Irish Times. Andrew Duncan, spokesman for the Lakelands Wind Information Group in Co Westmeath, said: “It seems to be an Irish solution to a British problem – politically, they don’t want turbines in the British countryside.” Last October, British energy minister John Hayes said his government would no longer have …

“comets are like cats: they have tails, and do whatever they want to do”

Pete Baker on January 1, 2013, 11:25 pm | Readers 112

In the BBC’s science news preview of 2013, reporter Jason Palmer highlights a couple of astronomical events worth keeping an eye out for. In mid-February we will get another reminder we live in a (potentially) violent cosmos – asteroid 2012 DA14 will make a harmless but attention-grabbing pass near the Earth, at a distance just a tenth that of the Moon. Exactly what happens then will determine how near the asteroid’s next pass will be, in 2026. (Don’t worry, signs are pretty …

Further Up Yonder

Pete Baker on December 21, 2012, 9:09 pm | Readers 56

Stunning views of the Earth accompany this seasonal message from the crew of the International Space Station. Pete Baker

“In Saturn’s Shadow” – redux

Pete Baker on December 18, 2012, 8:29 pm | Readers 71

Saturn doesn’t get the love some of our other gas giants do. [All hail our friend and lord, Jupiter! Keeping Ogdy at bay… – Ed] Indeed. But, with the help of Cassini, Saturn does provide some wondrous images. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute]. From the image’s associated text NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has delivered a glorious view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn’s shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. …

Titan’s Nile River Valley

Pete Baker on December 13, 2012, 2:52 pm | Readers 32

Fascinating image from Nasa’s Cassini probe at Saturn, where we’ve previously watched the weather on Titan. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI.] North is to the right in this view. From the JPLnews press release “Titan is the only place we’ve found besides Earth that has a liquid in continuous movement on its surface,” said Steve Wall, the radar deputy team lead, based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “This picture gives us a snapshot of a world in motion. Rain falls, …

Black Marble Earth

Pete Baker on December 7, 2012, 8:45 pm | Readers 68

As the BBC’s Spaceman, Jonathan Amos, notes This [above] spectacular night-time view of Earth is called Black Marble. It has been assembled from a series of cloud-free images acquired by one of the most capable satellites in the sky today – the Suomi spacecraft. Here is the associated, wondrous, video from Nasa Explorer This view of Earth at night is a cloud-free view from space as acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite (Suomi NPP). A joint program by NASA and …

“damn, what a sky…” – redux

Pete Baker on November 15, 2012, 8:17 pm | Readers 63

[Image credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky] Another stunning time-lapse video of the wondrous night sky above the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope [VLT] array on top of Cerro Paranal in Chile’s Atacama Desert. This time presented as ESO Cast 50: Chile Chill 1. [Marvel at the solar system in motion… – Ed] Or, indeed, the galaxy. Stay with it past a relatively slow start for the best images. Video via Eso Observatory. Video Credit: ESO. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi …

Ever had a #DigitalLunch: Why not take a leap into a new space?

Mick Fealty on October 15, 2012, 11:44 am | Readers 5

This week’s #DigitalLunch ‘jumps off’ from where on Herr Baumgartner’s sensational (in more ‘senses’ than one) leap into space lands… If you want to come along or just watch from your desktop (we don’t quite expect the 8 million Felix got, a few dozen would do us at this stage), you’ll be very welcome. I guess some of you are still scratching your head as to what this digital lunch thing is all about. It’s pretty straightforward. It is interactive …