More than half of humanity lives in or near a city, but only a tiny, privileged fraction of a percent have ever seen these engines of civilization from the scenic vacuum of space. Plenty of lucky satellites, however, have been busy for decades taking false-color pictures of urban areas, with pleasing results both aesthetic and scientific. In the guessing game after the jump, we let you figure out which metropolis is which. Who knows? It might even be yours.
Each year the Royal Observatory awards the best examples of astronomical photography in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Awards are given in six categories: Earth and Space, People and Space, Our Solar System, Deep Space, Young Astronomy Photographer, and Best Newcomer. All of this year’s winning photos are currently on display at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, UK until February 2011. Preview some of our favorites after the jump.
Last month, the Aetherius Society sent out a message suggesting that there was a correlation between earth’s deadly earthquakes and “NASA’s recent bombardment of the Moon.” Is there an actual connection between space exploration and natural disasters on Earth? NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab had this to say: “The answer is no, there is no plausible link between the two. There would be no significant change in the orbital dynamics between the Moon and Earth, so there would be no change in tidal stresses that might somehow influence stresses on faults and increase the occurrence of earthquakes.”
Apologies for the recent space overload. You can blame it on the fact that we spent most of our childhood sleeping in a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt from the Smithsonian Space Museum. That, and a lifelong obsession with space ice cream, ALF, and Tang. What you’re looking at above are possible evaporites near the Fan in Coprates region. Explore more non-life on Mars after the jump.
Touted by none other than Isaac Asimov as “nearest thing to an artist in residence from outer space,” illustrator Robert McCall visualized the mid-century age of space exploration. McCall, who died at age 90 at his home in Arizona, is best known for his work on the poster for Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as the six-story mural in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC. A motherlode of McCall images after the jump.
Samuel Arbesman, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, was recently rereading Carl Sagan’s Contact wherein the famous scientist alludes to some sort of “cosmic Grand Central Station.” Inspired by the concept, Arbesman decided to combine it with his longtime love of transit maps to create the image that you see above. In his own words,
“This map is an attempt to approach our galaxy with a bit more familiarity than usual and get people thinking about long-term possibilities in outer space. Hopefully it can provide as a useful shorthand for our place in the Milky Way, the ‘important’ sights, and make inconceivable distances a bit less daunting. And while convenient interstellar travel is nothing more than a murky dream, and might always be that way, there is power in creating tools for beginning to wrap our minds around the interconnections of our galactic neighborhood.”
Want to feel really tiny and insignificant? We’re Sol. Yep, that stop on the Orion line with no transfers. Is it sad that we’re trying to figure out where we’d find Pandora on here? [via Gizmodo]
Yesterday Virgin Galactic revealed Spaceshiptwo, the world’s first commercial spacecraft, which will start shipping tourists out into the final frontier for $200,000 a pop after testing. Three hundred people have already signed up and CEO Richard Branson — who spent an estimated $250 to 400 M on the venture — plans to be the first passenger. He calls it “the sexiest spaceship ever.”
If you’ve got the $20,000 down payment, you can make your own spaceflight reservation here now. Peep some additional images and an animation by Virgin Galactic showing what flying on board the SS2 will be like after the jump.
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, a spacewalking astronaut, lost her backpack-size tool bag in space yesterday while attempting to “clean and lube a gummed-up joint on a solar pane.”
It’s one of the largest items ever to be lost by a clumsy spacewalker, so it makes sense that we should try to get it back for Ms. Butterfingers before something disastrous happens and we have to call on Barf and Captain Lone Starr to bail us out.
What we’re wondering is:
Feel free to write in your nomination in the comments area if you don’t see their name here.
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