Physical Science

NASA’s STEREO mission is a solar probe mission studying coronal mass ejections. The name, Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), is a contrived acronym, referring to the fact that the mission is actually being carried out by two spacecraft, one leading…
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How to View the Sun Safely The human eyes are amazing pieces of biology. They are able to process huge amounts of visual information. An interesting piece of information is that even if we touch them with our finger, a…
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In general, Earth might collide with one of three types of quite common space objects: meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Of the three, meteoroids are actually of the least concern if they are found to be in a collision course with…
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The term Clarke Belt is an alternative and now little-used term to refer to the range of geostationary and near-geostationary orbital bands lying above the Earth’s equator, in which a satellite can circle the Earth while remaining more or less…
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The planet Gliese 581c, located just 20 light-years from the solar system (in the constellation Libra) and for a time one of the smallest known extrasolar planets, has captured attention in recent years as one of the most likely candidates…
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Ever since I can remember I have been passionate about space, although I despised science at school. Perhaps it’s the English Literature student in me who is drawn to the romantic, the unobtainable beauty of the cosmos. Let’s start with…
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Most of us who peer through our telescopes at the vast and awe-inspiring beauty of our universe do so at night. This makes a lot of sense as you are viewing distant objects with faint traces of light. But a…
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There is only one Earth, one Homo sapiens, in all the cosmos after all, it is hard to believe that billions of evolutionary steps could be perfectly reproduced elsewhere. In that sense, our species is unique. But where does one…
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I am afraid when reviewing Eyepieces (and telescopes for that matter) it is necessary to go through the technical specs before going onto the fun part, which of course is what you can see! Televue is a company that is…
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Spacecraft is an inherently dangerous business: launching into orbit atop a massive explosive reaction, hurtling through orbit at tens of thousands of miles per hour protected from the vacuum of space and the heat of the Sun only by the…
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