It wasn’t long after the discovery of exo-solar planets that scientists sent up spacecraft to look for them. The Kepler Space Telescope (KST) was NASA’s first planet finder, which has been exceeding expectations since 2009. It likely won’t get to continue on that road, as it is nearing the end of it’s life. At the same time, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is just starting to open it’s eyes. Today we say goodbye to one great planet hunter and hello to another. KST is part of NASA’s early 2000s spacecraft approvals that saw relatively inexpensive missions pushed forward...
Mars is a planet wide desert with underground and polar cap water, but it’s general arid environment and occasional wind give rise to dusty weather events such as tornado-like dust devils and local dust storms. Every so often, one of these little dust storms expands and becomes a planet wide phenomena, and in early June this is exactly what happened. So what does it mean for our rovers and orbiters? Global dust storms are a recurring phenomenon on Mars, and happen regularly about the planet regardless of season. Every 3-4 Martian years (6-8 Earth years) one of these smaller storms...
A direct consequence of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and an observational way to prove it, is gravitational lensing. It requires a powerful gravitational source to work, such as a galaxy or cluster of galaxies. It works in a similar way to a lens of glass, where rays of light are bent toward a single source, increasing the brightness. In this case, instead of glass, the bending of the rays is due to the curvature of space. Light rays coming from the source would otherwise miss Earth, but instead are bent toward us when there is a massive object in front of it. It’s...
On the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy, its two major satellites can be seen, the large and small clouds of Magellan. Both considered irregular galaxies, they are more like swarms of stars, similar to gnats here on Earth. But even though they lack structure, they are still alive. The large magellanic cloud contains the single largest active star forming region in the entire local group of galaxies. This is the Tarantula Nebula. In the core of the tarantula, huge supernova shockwaves blast gas and dust, triggering star formation while forming dense filaments away from the center. Along the entire...
Some days at work, when I am in the Space hall at the Ontario Science Center, I take a close look at the golf-ball-sized Moon rock we have on display. I think about how this rock was brought back on an Apollo mission over 40 years ago, how it had been an untouched part of the Moon for Billions of years before this, and how it has taught us so much about how the Moon, and subsequently the Earth, formed. But now it’s time for a new generation of Moon rocks to be analyzed, and China is in the nation...
After watching the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explode shortly after launch back in June, two things were going through my head. “How will they handle this disaster?” and “When will they return to flight?” The first question was answered in the weeks that followed as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported that the most likely cause of the accident was a failure in a second stage strut that held a high pressure helium tank in place. The second question could be answered this evening when the first Falcon 9 launch in six months takes place at Cape Canaveral. The last time a...
If you wanted to look at weather and climate patterns on the Earth, you would put a satellite in orbit and watch the planet for a long time, looking for changes in the cloud layers and measuring wind speeds, etc. It isn’t a stretch to think that we could do the same for another planet, especially since most of the planets in the solar system have atmospheres. Jupiter, being the largest and heaviest planet, also has immense wind speeds and beautiful vortex features, some of which are larger than the Earth. But in order to understand these features, we have...
Nothing like a rocket launch in the early morning to inspire and wake you up. The 4 Million Newtons of thrust and a weight of over 500 tons gives a nice blast of power to your morning that coffee never could. I am talking about the Atlas V rocket that launched on September 2nd, carrying a US Navy communications satellite up into orbit. There is a lot happening in this medium exposure photo. The rocket blasts off in a bright flash, then climbs into the atmosphere, where its exhaust plume becomes a noctilucent cloud, illuminated by the Sun that hasn’t...
A bright fireball appeared in the sky over Hawaii a couple of days ago. It appeared to break into several pieces and burn up in the atmosphere. Naturally one would expect it to be a meteor, but if you take a look at the video below, it sticks around a little bit too long for that. Aside from the over-the-top reaction of those watching, it’s not as exciting and quick as a meteor. In fact, most meteors can move through the sky at up to 70 km/s, enough to burn up quickly and leave a bright flash in their wake....
Not one person’s mom, but specifically an entire nation’s. India’s Mars Orbiter Mission is lovingly known as MOM and has been sending back science data that has put India on the Space Exploration Map, if there ever was one. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the ambitious but cost-effective MOM Orbiter on November 5th, 2013. With a bill of only 73 Million dollars, its the most cost-effective Mars mission ever, yet its sending back lovely images and science data that is worth every penny, at least to a biased spaceflight enthusiast such as myself. Whatever you feel about the...
