Sub-Orbital Space Flights & Satellite Exploration
Hubblecast 41: Hubble’s History Told by Hubble’s Scientists Hubble’s history of scientific breakthroughs has made us think afresh about our Universe. But behind the astronomical successes is a rollercoaster ride of scientific and technical challenges going back decades. The Hubblecast caught up with some of the key players in Hubble’s history, including an astronaut, a Nobel Prize winner and one of the scientists who diagnosed Hubble’s blurred vision in 1990. In this episode, narrated by veteran ESA scientist Bob Fosbury, they tell Hubble’s story through their personal experiences. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — Venice is just a few centimetres above sea level, about as far from space as you can get. But in 1609, Galileo Galilei brought this city a bit closer to the stars when he gave one of the very first demonstrations of his telescope. A few months after that, he discovered Jupiter’s moons, Io, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Four centuries later, another telescope is making history here, as scientists gather to discuss the latest results from Hubble. Hubble was launched in 1990. And that’s of course when its history of scientific discoveries starts. But Hubble’s history isn’t just about science and technology. Like Galileo’s story, it’s also one of politics, money … and extremely smart people doing very difficult things. Bob O’Dell: “I became the first project scientist for the …
Tags: Venice, Telescopes, HISTORY, Hubblecast
www.ted.com Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco shows images from the Cassini voyage to Saturn, focusing on its largest moon, Titan, and on frozen Enceladus, which seems to shoot jets of ice.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes — including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http
Tags: moons, talks, Saturn, science
Hubblecast Episode 40: Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) – Hubble’s New Miracle Camera In early 2009, a team of astronauts visited Hubble to repair the wear and tear of twenty years of operating in a hostile environment – and to install two new instruments, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, and Wide Field Camera 3 – better known as WFC3. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is a combined ultraviolet, visible and infrared camera that dramatically extends Hubble’s ability to image astronomical objects. With these new capabilities, Hubble is still pushing the boundaries of science after two decades in orbit. In episode 30 of the Hubblecast, we saw some of the very first pictures to come back from Wide Field Camera 3, Hubble’s newest and most advanced instrument. Today we’re going to look at some of the science behind these pictures. We’ll find out how this remarkable new camera is helping Hubble to see the invisible, look far back in time and spot objects further away from us than ever before. WFC3 was installed on Hubble in place of WFPC2, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which for many years had been the main workhorse instrument on Hubble. Not only do the two instruments have very similar names, and look virtually identical, the capabilities of WFC3 are also in some respects just a tweaked version of those of its predecessor — although with sharper pictures and more …
Tags: Particles, universe, Invisible, photography
Please join us on Facebook for the latest science news and videos: tinyurl.com ESOcast 20: Richest planetary system discovered – A new era in exoplanet science (Release date: 24 August 2010). Astronomers using ESO instruments have discovered a remarkable extrasolar planetary system that has some striking similarities to our own Solar System. At least five planets are orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180, and the regular pattern of their orbits is similar to that observed for our neighbouring planets. One of the new extrasolar worlds could be only 1.4 times the mass of the Earth, making it the least massive exoplanet ever found. This video podcast explains how these faraway planets were detected and exactly what we know about them. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — Astronomers using ESO’s world-leading HARPS instrument have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180. The researchers also believe the system has two other planets, one of which would have the lowest mass ever found, making the system similar to our own Solar System in terms of the number of planets. Furthermore, the scientists find that the location of the planets follows a regular pattern, as also seen in our own Solar System The team of astronomers used the HARPS spectrograph, attached to ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla, Chile. HARPS is an instrument with …
Tags: extrasolar, Planets, astronomy, exoplanets
• Science & Reason on Facebook: tinyurl.com • Secular Humanism on Facebook: tinyurl.com Hubblecast 38: Hubble in popular culture – Inspiring People With Awe For The Universe. When Hubble was launched in 1990, every astronomer knew it had an opportunity to make profound breakthroughs in science. A few realised its potential as a tool for inspiring people with awe for the Universe. But could anyone have predicted how deeply Hubble would become embedded in popular culture? — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — In many ways the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is is the world’s most sophisticated digital camera. Over the years, its photo album has featured many members of the cosmic family — ranging from baby stars to elderly galaxies. With all these amazing shots of space, it’s easy to forget that Hubble is a superstar here on Earth, too. Hubble, for many people, has become a byword for “science”. That’s why, this summer, we asked you to send us your favourite examples of how Hubble has been used, or abused, in the daily life of us earthlings. We liked some of your suggestions so much that we wanted to share them. Hubble snapped this glowing planetary nebula, NGC 2818, ejected by a dying star more than 10 000 light-years away. But this scientific picture has also inspired art and design — for example this striking electric guitar. The guitar isn’t the only example of how the world of music has …
Tags: universe, popular, hourglass, Camera
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Part 2/2 – Finding earth-like (extrasolar) planets. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST’s instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range. JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won’t fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once JWST is in outer space. JWST will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth. • www.jwst.nasa.gov The Universe: Another Earth HD- www.youtube.com ‘Earths are common,’ NASA scientist says- www.thestar.com CNN: Galaxy May be Full of ‘Earths,’ Alien life – www.cnn.com Earth-like Planet Discoveries on the Horizon (8/1/2010)- www.digitaljournal.com Earth’s Twin Planet Will Be Found By The End Of The Year, leading Astronomer says (26/1/2010)- www.dailymail.co.uk Looking for Alien Earths? Here they come- www.youtube.com The Search for …
Tags: the, OUTER, systems, Stephen
Please join us on Facebook for the latest science news and videos: tinyurl.com Hubble Space Telescope – 15 Years of Discovery (Episode 8): Birth And Death Of The Universe. In the 15 years that the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has orbited Earth, it has taken three-quarters of a million photographs of the cosmos. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — In many ways Hubble is the most successful scientific project in the World, and this event is not likely to go unnoticed. The European Space Agency, ESA, has decided to celebrate this anniversary with the production of a Hubble 15th Anniversary movie called “Hubble – 15 Years Of Discovery”. The movie covers all aspects of the Hubble Space Telescope project: a journey through the history, the trouble and the scientific successes of Hubble. This portrait of one of the biggest scientific projects of all time contains large amounts of previously unpublished footage in uncompromised quality. With the beautiful backdrop of Hubbles visual image treasures running as a red line through the movie, the light and dreaming style tells the most interesting stories about our fascinating Universe and about the change of vision that Hubble has brought us. — The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), named after Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953) who was one of the great pioneers of modern astronomy, is a collaboration between ESA and NASA. It is a long-term, space-based …
Tags: Supermassive, observatories, universe, systems
www.ted.com At TEDxNASA, planetary scientist Joel Levine shows some intriguing — and puzzling — new discoveries about Mars craters full of ice, traces of ancient oceans, and some compelling hints at the presence, at some time in the past, of life. He makes the case for going back to Mars to find out more.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the “Sixth Sense” wearable tech, and “Lost” producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at www.ted.com
Tags: Mars, Exploration, tedxnasa, tedtalks
Life Beyond Earth: Origin And Evolution Of Life In The Universe – Best Of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (Part 20). Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage”, which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history. A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel “Contact”, the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki’s film of the same name starring Jodie Foster. During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated sceptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method. • www.carlsagan.com ‘Our Place in the Cosmos’ (ft. Sagan, Dawkins, Kaku, Jastrow)- Symphony of Science- http Carl Sagan – We Are All Connected- www.youtube.com The Size of The Universe- www.youtube.com The Known Universe (Take A Journey through The Stars)- www.youtube.com What Are the Odds that- Aliens Exist? (Find Out)- www.youtube.com CNN:NASA Search For Earth Like Planets & Alien Life- www.youtube.com …
Tags: Astronomers, star, carbon, milky
Stephen Hawking gives a talk on why we should go into space at a meeting of the Planetary Society held in Cambridge, Britain, February 27, 2010. In attendance: Louis Friedman, Ann Druyan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jim Bell, Martin Rees and Bill Nye. Video shot by Eziko von Rautenkranz.
Tags: astronomy, travel, science, planetary