How About...meteors?

What's happening?

A little bit of panic and chaos was caused due to the meteor shower received by Chelyabinsk

How About...ESA TV?

ESA TV 

ESA tv Live  is here!! you may...

How About...our Sun Feb. 2. 13- Feb.12.13

Credits NASA, SOHO

How About...Printing in the Moon?

Seems like 3d-Printing is the new trend for next generation of Moon-walkers

"Industrial partners including renowned architects Foster + Partners have joined with ESA to test the feasibility of 3D printing using lunar soil." (ESA)

How About...Valentine's Asteroid?

THIS ASTEROID WILL NOT HIT EARTH

what's so amazing is how near its orbit will allow this asteroid to flyby.

I could write a thousand words, but I prefer to show you these awesome details brought to you by NASA:

How About...Stars' Fertility?

Stars seem to have a longer fertile life

Recent studies conducted by NASA and ESA scientists, with the help of Herschel space observatory, reveal that stars may have a longer fertile life than previously calculated.

How About...December 21 2012?

End of...?

The date is getting nearer and nearer, many people may star freaking out but, should we really be scared of that?

How About...Space Fossils

My first video in spanish, I hope you enjoy it .

Yes your read right, universe fossils. Most of you might have heard about the fact that the star upon which you just made a wish is dead. The reason why this fact is so true, is because even though a star died thousands of years ago, its light keeps traveling in space. Thanks to this phenomenon, we get to know more about the past. That’s why these remnants have been described as universe or space fossils.

Now what NASA scientists scientist Marco Ajello a postdoctoral researcher at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University in California and the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.and his investigation team have done, is measure the amount of space fossils. This means they have measured the exact amount of starlight that has ever existed since the universes origins.

This fossil starlight named by scientists as extragalactic background light (EBL) acts as a cosmic fog.

But how do they do it? Well Scientists used Fermi’s Large area telescope or LAT, to analyze the gamma rays from a 150 blazars, that means galaxies powered by blackholes, and found out energies of around 3 billion electron volts, that means at least 1 billion times the energy of visible light

Blazars are galaxies powered by supermassive blackholes which are fed from matter. When matter is swallowed by this supermassive blackhole, it collides with other particles causing gamma rays and many other rays from the light spectrum (i.e. x-rays ) to be ejected violently in opposite directions, just like this image below.

this is an artist's concept of a quasar, also part of the family of blazars

With these large amount of energy ejected as light (gamma rays) scientists can measure the amount of space fossils and know more about our origins. 

When scientist compare the gamma rays emitted from 150 different blazars and that that has been received they of course find some difference. The reason is because when gamma rays collide against these  "space fossils" or EBL, starlight "cosmic fog", transform into something else. 

image captured by the Fermi's Large Area Telescope. Green dots are blazars, orange line milky way. Image from NASA.

Yes, when gamma rays hit the EBL, they become electrons and its antimatter part called positrons. We no longer have gamma rays but, two different particles. Since not all the gamma rays hit againts cosmic fog, we still receive certain amount of them. 

Comparing these results and measurements scientists have been able to measure not only the amount of cosmic fossils or cosmic fog, but also space's density. 

What scientists have concluded is that the distance between two different stars is around 4,150 light-years.  For you to have a better idea of how much a light-year is you need to know first the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

The distance between the Earth and the Sun is 150 million km. This  distance is commonly known as an Astronomical Unit or AU. Now returning to the light-year, one light year equals 63,000 Astronomical Units. Can you imagine that?

For you to be able to travel only 1 light-year you would need to travel the distance between the sun and the Earth 63,000 times! now imagine 4,150 light years!

More investigations like this one could lead us to more precise data about our origins and the universe first stars that lit their light for the first time.

Thanks for reading.

I.

 

How About...Stars?

Herschel Telescope has changed what we know about new born galaxies.

Remember that previous article about Filaments, called Sonic Boom? (Well if you haven't read it yet, I'd recommend you to read it. ) Well, now Herschel brought us even better news about how galaxies form. 

How About...50 Years Ago in Space

Fifty years ago, an astronaut named Alan B. Shepard

became the first US man in space

May 5th, 1961 9:34 a.m. EST. Freedom 7 capsule. Barely 23 days before, Soviet Yuri Gagarin had became the first man in space, and now it was time for Alan Shepard to be the second but first US man in space.

How About...Sonic Boom!

Remember a previous post dealing with Herschel Telescope?

Well, if you haven´t read it yet here you can take a look to know more about what I am talking about, because believe me Herschel telescope is amazing.

And if you already read that previous article, I need to tell You something...remember that quote

"188 years later, Herschel still gazes at the skies." Well after reading this article, You might think I will need to re-phrase that quote for something like "188 years later, Herschel keeps surprising us."

How About...Poyekhali!

Poyekhali!

Vostok-1

This was the First word of the First Man in space: Yuri Gagarin, seconds before Lifting off!

How About...The Beginning?

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state, Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...The Earth began to cool, The autotrophs began to drool, Neanderthals developed tools, We built a wall (we built the pyramids), Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,

That all started with the Big Bang!

How About..Superfluidity

Super...what?

Chandra has been able to take a glimpse at a Neutron star and the results show that...

How About...Herschel

188 years later, Herschel still gazes at the skies.

A new combination of Newton’s and Herschel’s knowledge, helped scientists discover more secrets from our nearest (2.5 million light-years) spiral Galaxy: Andromeda (M31)

How About...IceCube and Neutrinos?

Antarctica's IceCube Neutrino Observatory ready to go at full capacity.

Would you like to have a cool glass of water with two maybe three IceCubes and a trillion of Neutrinos?

How About...Winter's Solstice Lunar Eclipse

A picture is worth a thousand words

Enjoy!

How About...A Supernova and a Blackhole

An animation by NASA
enjoy!

"This animation shows how a black hole may have formed in SN 1979C. The collapse of a massive star is shown, after it has exhausted its fuel. A flash of light from a shock breaking through the surface of the star is then shown, followed by a powerful supernova explosion. The view then zooms into the center of the explosion."

Credits: NASA/CXC/A.Hobart





I.

How About...Milky Way Bubbles

Newly discovered Bubbles amaze scientists

NASA scientists have discovered something amazing, something we have never seen before: two enormous bubble like figures coming out of the center of our galaxy (Milky Way)

How About...Curiosity Live Broadcast!

Here is Curiosity Mars Rover, live broadcast, at NASA's Clean Room.





Enjoy!


I.