Posts

Showing posts from September, 2011

Water Vapour is supersaturated in Martian Atmosphere

Water Vapour is in Excess of Saturation in the Atmosphere of Mars,  reveals the results from the SPICAM spectrometer on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft. It measured the altitudinal profile of water vapour in the martian atmosphere..... Here is the published paper: "Evidence of Water Vapor in Excess of Saturation in the Atmosphere of Mars", by L. Maltagliati, F. Montmessin, A. Fedorova, O. Korablev, F. Forget, and J.-L. Bertaux, published in the 30 September 2011 issue of Science. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6051/1868.abstract Read a very good report here: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-supersaturation-martian-atmosphere.html

Faster than LIGHT ....? Questions Relativity...?

Image
Recently, a group of physicists have been working to measure the neutrinos generated from a particle accelerator at CERN. This group discovered neutrinos arriving faster than would have been expected and they appear to be traveling faster than the speed of light itself, but they draw no definitive conclusions.  CNGS – CERN neutrinos to Gran Sasso The CNGS project sends muon neutrinos from CERN to the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), 732 km away in Italy. A proton beam from the  Super Proton Synchrotron  at CERN is directed onto a graphite target Source:  http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/Research/CNGS-en.html (official website) Read the Press Release OPERA experiment reports anomaly in flight time of neutrinos from CERN to Gran Sasso http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2011/PR19.11E.html Here is the submitted paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.4897 Download PDF  http://arxiv.org/pdf/1109.4897v1 Physicists wary of junking light speed limit ye

Aurora & Forest Fire - as seen from Space

Image
I am sharing a beautiful video uploaded by NASA yesterday 26th Sep. in youtube. It was a real observation from the International Space Station on 17th of this month. First you see the beautiful 'Aurora Australis' and then you can see forest fires in land. If you look more keen, you can see also the air-glow too.... You can find more information here. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52287 http://t.co/gbfh7Zhk

World Space Week Resource Material in official WEBsite.

Image
                World Space Week  Resource Material prepared by our Team has been uploaded in the official WEBsite. here is it . http://www.vssc.gov.in:8080/ wsw2011/index.jsp http://www.vssc.gov.in:8080/ wsw2011/wswatschools.html Download PDF http://www.vssc.gov.in:8080/ wsw2011/downloads/WSW_2011_ Resourcematerial.pdf http://www.vssc.gov.in:8080/ wsw2011/downloads/WSW_ Handbook.pdf Materials for Media already sent...  ...... will be published/ relayed soon...! Celebrate the 'Golden jubilee of Human Space Flight'

Moon, Earth-Atmosphere as seen from Space

Image
click image Photographed by the Expedition 28 crew aboard the International Space Station, this image shows the moon, the Earth's only natural satellite, at center with the limb of Earth near the bottom transitioning into the orange-colored troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere ends abruptly at the tropopause, which appears in the image as the sharp boundary between the orange- and blue-colored atmosphere. The silvery-blue noctilucent clouds extend far above the Earth's troposphere. Image Credit: NASA http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2068.html

Seeing Equinoxes and Solstices from Space

Image
This is how Solstice and Equinox look like ....... ....... a wider perspective.... ......view from space. Equinox ------ Sun overhead equator ---- sunlight falls equally in both Hemispheres. Solstice  ------ Sun is overhead northern/ southernmost position ---- sunlight falls maximum in Summer Hemispheres. I have taken the selected days visible imagery from Meteosat and arranged them in a 2x2 matrix..... Image courtesy: Dundee Satellite Receiving Station. (Isn't it better and give real information than the long used Inspiration obtained from: Seeing Equinoxes and Solstices from Space http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52248

China getting ready to launch a space module

Image
China is launching a Space module this month.........  to initiate building its own space station...... By 2016 plans to put a laboratory into orbit...!! Space station set up by 2020. Read more: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-china-space-station-module.html

World Space Week Competitions

How about taking part in World Space Week Competitions....? Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre VSSC, the lead centre of ISRO coordinates World Space Week activities in Kerala to motivate students  and teachers. Many competitions for School children...... Mars Habitat design competition for College Students...! http://www.vssc.gov.in:8080/wsw2011/index.html http://www.vssc.gov.in:8080/wsw2011/essay.html http://www.vssc.gov.in:8080/wsw2011/mars_habitat_design.html SPACE QUIZ                   As part of the World Space Week celebrations, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram is organising a Space Quiz during first week of October 2011.                  Students of Class 10,11 and 12 can participate. Only one team is allowed to represent a school.                   Schools can send the details of the participants to the following address on or before September 25, 2011.  Convener World Space Week-2011 TTDG Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiru

Why should we travel to SPACE ....?

Why should humans go to Space ........?                                 Exploration is the inquisite nature of human mind, which has historically led to the discovery of new continents and development of new habitats. Looking back, without these discoveries and advances, living on Earth would have been completely different from what we see today. Rapid developments in human race, limitations in resources on Earth, and the potential threat from weapons of mass destruction necessitates that we will have to boldly go far beyond the Earth's boundaries if the human race has to continue for thousands of years forward. More importantly, space explorations hold the key to unravel the secrets behind the origin and evolution of life and environment surrounding us. These drive the quest for space exploration and colonization. Where else can earthlings colonize?                               Being close by and relatively easy to reach, our natural satellite 'Moon' comes as th

NASA Unveils Space Launch System

Image
NASA announced on 14 Sep 2011,development of the Space Launch System (SLS) -- an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will help take human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. The SLS rocket will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system.  Have a look at this animation and related links... A step closer to travel in space...!!! http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls1.html# http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/HD_downloads/HLV_Launch_anim.mov http://www.sciencenewsblog.com/blog/914111

Mars Habitat Design Competition

Image
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is conducting a   ‘Mars Habitat Design Competition’    for the college students of Kerala in connection with World Space Week celebrations from October 4 to 10,  Check this link for the official website http://www.vssc.gov.in/ http://www.vssc.gov.in/internet/compRepository/spaceweek/mars_habitat_design_competition.htm Take part in this interesting and creative competition ........ Let your   imagination   spread wings and fly to Mars..... and beyond..... Best Wishes 

Astronomical photography awards 2011

Image
Have a look at these Astronomical photography which won the awards recently...! Marvelous indeed...! click on the image to reach the Nature's website (slide show)with all those snaps.! courtesy: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110909/full/news.2011.529/slideshow/1.html?identifier=1

Oh No! A 6 Ton Satellite is falling back to earth....

A defunct Satellite ' The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS,  ' is falling back into earth... this month....!! Where will it's impact be...? Scientists say it's not likely to hit a populated place.... (statistics says so) Though most of its parts would burn away .... still about 150 kg may reach to ground!!!!! The satellite is so big, its plunge through the atmosphere will be visible -- if anyone is around to see it. WATCH  for it above your head..!! UPDATES official website http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html http://www.nasa.gov/rss/uars_update.xml Read more here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/09/us-space-debris-idUSTRE7805VY20110909

CAP Cloud ! Have you seen it before ......?

Image
Have a look at these CAP clouds seen in France...!            Beautiful! Guess how they form....! Guess the wind direction ...! and then check this link for the correct answer and explanation....! http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2011/09/cap-cloud-over-mt-blanc-france.html

India-Pak border @ Night

Image
See this magnificent image taken from the International Space Station few days back..... See the flood lit border line between India and Pak. U can also see the air glow (greenish) occuring in the ionosphere.... click on the image to zoom. Image courtesy: Nasa Earth Observatory You can read the full description in this link... http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52008

Solar System- 3D by NASA

Image
"Eyes on the Solar System" is a 3-D environment full of real NASA mission data. Explore the cosmos from your computer. Hop on an asteroid. Fly with NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft. See the entire solar system moving in real time. It's up to you. You control space and time. Here is the official link. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/index.html

Lasers can Trigger Rain formation...?

Scientists made a breakthrough! In their paper published in Nature Communications, they describe a method whereby a laser is used to create nitric acid particles in the air to which moisture will gravitate forming droplets. Thereby triggering the formation of Rain.  Field measurements suggest the mechanism of laser-assisted water condensation,  Nature Communications  2, Article number: 456 doi:10.1038/ncomms1462 Read this article review here http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-scientists-technique-lasers.html Read full length paper http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n8/full/ncomms1462.html