Amazing Facts Archives - Page 46 of 79

‘Sailing’ satellites of the future could provide early warning of dangerous space weather

16Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

‘Sailing’ satellites of the future could provide early warning of dangerous space weather

NEW ORLEANS — Solar sails that allow satellites to glide on the light from the sun could soon become a reality.The technology would allow scientists to provide earlier warnings of space weather events such as geomagnetic storms, which have the potential to disrupt technological systems on Earth."A lot of us have experienced sailing; it's exactly like that," Irfan Azeem, division chief of the Research to Operations and Project Planning Division at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Space Weather Observations, told Space.com in an interview here at the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) annual meeting in January. "Now, instead of using the air, we're actually using the photons, the light that is emitted by the sun, to sail our satellites.""This is a very ...

See the zodiacal light in dark skies beginning around now

16Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

See the zodiacal light in dark skies beginning around now

Enjoy this short video by Marcy Curran on the zodiacal light around the March equinox. We hope you enjoy it! Zodiacal light around March equinox The moon has waned now and left the evening sky dark for seeing the zodiacal light! This eerie cone of light can be found in the west, just as evening twilight draws to a close. Or, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, look for it in the east, before twilight begins at dawn. We on the northern half of the globe have our best chance to see it in a moon-free sky starting now. The light is easiest to see (for all of Earth) around the March equinox. So watch for it now through May whenever you’ve got a moon-free sky. The zodiacal light looks like a hazy pyramid of light, extending up from your horizon. We in the north call it the false dusk. In the S...

15Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

The best sci-fi TV shows of the 1950s

Early television in the 1950s was a freewheeling frontier of both live and taped offerings mostly dominated by comedies, game shows, kids programs, and westerns like "I Love Lucy," "The $64,000 Question," "Leave it To Beaver," "The Mickey Mouse Club," "The Honeymooners," and "Gunsmoke."But while post-war America's interest in outer space and science fiction blossomed as the decade ran its course seeing the Soviet Union launch Sputnik, the world's first satellite, in 1957 and igniting the Space Race, a wealth of science fiction offerings had already sprouted up on television to satisfy stargazers' curiosity and imagination about future space travel, intergalactic villains, and exotic technologies.As more shows aired, families would flock to their living rooms to eat meals on wobbly aluminum...

Tom Hanks’ ‘The Moonwalkers’ makes US premiere at Space Center Houston

15Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

Tom Hanks’ ‘The Moonwalkers’ makes US premiere at Space Center Houston

It is not unusual to see a Saturn V launch while viewing a film at Space Center Houston. Never before, though, has that spectacle stretched beyond the center's five-story-tall screen to fill the theater's walls and extend out onto the floor.That is what happens now with the premiere of "The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks."Marking not only its debut at the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, but also its first time being shown in the United States, "The Moonwalkers" is a 50-minute-long immersive experience that envelops viewers in NASA's historic Apollo moon landings, as well the agency's current plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface after more than 50 years.The bright orange, red and white thrust from a thundering Saturn V rocket launch fills Space Center Houst...

Construction of Roman Continues With the Addition of its Sunshade

15Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

Construction of Roman Continues With the Addition of its Sunshade

NASA continues to progress with the development of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST), the next-generation observatory with a target launch date of 2027. As the direct successor to the venerable Hubble Space Telescope, Roman will build on the successes of Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, the “mother of the Hubble,” the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have a panoramic field of view 200 times greater than Hubble’s infrared view, enabling the first wide-field maps of the Universe. Combined with observations by the ESA’s Euclid mission, these maps will help astronomers resolve the mystery of Dark Matter and cosmic expansion. The development process reached another milestone as the mission team at NASA’s Goddard Spac...

White Dwarfs Could Be More Habitable Than We Thought

15Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

White Dwarfs Could Be More Habitable Than We Thought

White dwarfs are the remnants of once brilliant main sequence stars like our Sun. They’re extremely dense and no longer perform any fusion. The light they radiate is from remnant heat only. Astronomers have doubted that white dwarfs could host habitable planets, partly because of the tumultuous path they follow to become white dwarfs, but new research suggests otherwise. White dwarfs are so small that their habitable zones would be equally as small. Their habitable zones could range from only 0.0005 to 0.02 AU from the star. At that range, any planets would be tidally locked. One side of the planet could suffer from the runaway greenhouse effect, while the other could be frigid. Another problem concerns the existence of any white dwarf planets themselves. There are indications ...

15Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

How sonification turns data into sound

Modern astronomical observatories send us an enormous amount of data, which is generally examined and shared in the form of images. But what if the myriad forms of information we receive from space could be converted into sounds that inspire, entertain, educate, and enlighten? And what if, more than that, these soundscapes could offer access to the visually impaired and aid in new cosmic discoveries? Welcome to the field of astronomical sonification. Sonification simply refers to the conversion of data into audible sound. Initially, I wondered if I would be able to find enough content to write an article on the topic. Instead, I found volumes on how this field is changing the landscape of human understanding and discovered that the auditory dimension of data offers a powerful perspe...

Dramatically Decreasing the Time it Takes to Measure Asteroid Distances

14Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

Dramatically Decreasing the Time it Takes to Measure Asteroid Distances

We all know that asteroids are out there, that some of them come dangerously close to Earth, and that they’ve struck Earth before with catastrophic consequences. The recent discovery of asteroid 2024 YR4 reminds us of the persistent threat that asteroids present. There’s an organized effort to find dangerous space rocks and determine how far away they are and where their orbits will take them. A team of scientists has developed a method that will help us more quickly determine an asteroid’s distance, a critical part of determining its orbit. Our asteroid concern is centred on NEOs or Near-Earth Objects. These are asteroids whose closest approach to the Sun is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). (A small number of NEOs are comets.) There are more than 37,000 NEOs, and while pot...

How Sen’s 4K live cameras on the ISS offer a new perspective from space (op-ed)

14Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

How Sen’s 4K live cameras on the ISS offer a new perspective from space (op-ed)

24/7 Live 4K video of Earth and space: Livestream of Earth by Sen’s 4K video cameras on the ISS - YouTube Watch On Charles Black is Founder and CEO of Sen.Looking at our planet from space gives you a different view of life on Earth, one which has the power to change the way we think and the way we act.Seeing Earth from space has largely been the preserve of a few hundred astronauts — around 700 humans have seen Earth from space in the six decades since Yuri Gagarin's historic first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961. The precise emotions and sentiments experienced when viewing the planet from above are individual and various, but the overall effect is invariable — a deeply profound change in perception about our world and life on Earth.A view from Sen's new 24/7 livestream from the...

7 romantic sci-fi movies to cuddle up with on Valentine’s Day

14Feb

By Muhammad MirzaNo Comments

Amazing Facts

7 romantic sci-fi movies to cuddle up with on Valentine’s Day

Science fiction fans are an incredibly passionate bunch and just like everyone else, we love to celebrate Valentine's Day with starry-eyed appreciation and gratitude towards our friends and loved ones with flowers, chocolates, and over-priced greeting cards to mark the amorous occasion.To help celebrate Cupid's favorite holiday, we've compiled a sweet collection of some of the most love-struck sci-fi movies ever concocted by the dream makers in Hollywood. From alien seductions and monstrous road trips to time-hopping interludes and existential odysseys, we're sure you’ll discover something to ignite imaginations and inflame your Valentine's Day desires.So settle in and let's unwrap these 7 sci-fi romances perfect for this day devoted to love, whether pairing up for date night with your swe...