WWII code 'may never be cracked' Experts at intelligence agency GCHQ have asked for help in de-coding a message found attached to a pigeon leg, thought to date back to WWII. The dead bird was found in a chimney in Surrey a few weeks ago. Read more...
The 330 - 730 metre wide asteroid 2000 WL63 will make a close pass (69.0 lunar distances, 0.1772 AU), travelling at 10.35 km/second, to the Earth-Moon system on the 26th December, 2012 @ 16:20 UT ±00:01. See more The Lunar Distance (LD), the distance between Earth and the Moon, equals 384,401 km, (o...
Christian tradition states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea (now Palestine). This is about ten kilometres, south of Jerusalem. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was built by Constantine the Great, circa 330 CE. It is believed by many Christians and Muslims to have been built ov...
Michael Phillip Anderson (December 25, 1959 - February 1, 2003) was a United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut, who was killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the craft disintegrated after reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Read more
A magnitude 14.7 Type Ia supernova, 2012hr, was discovered by P. Marples (BOSS) on the 16th December, 2012, in the spiral galaxy ESO 121- G 026 in the constellation Pictor. The supernova is located 2.3" west and 93.6" north from the center of the galaxy. The galaxy has also hosted supe...
The Antoniadi scale is a system used by amateur astronomers to categorise the weather conditions when viewing the stars at night. The scale is on a 5 point system, with one being the best seeing conditions and 5 being worst. The actual definitions are as follows: I. Perfect seeing, without a quiver...
Orbital elements:
2012 YQ3 Earth MOID = 0.1548 AU
Epoch 2012 Sept. 30.0 TT = JDT 2456200.5 MPC
M 332.65792 (2000.0) P Q
n 0.21035213 Peri. 47.39105 -0.77905766 -0.61043306
a 2.8000865 Node 94.48175 +0.52502288 -0.75984714
e 0.6061737 Incl. 8.24518 +0.34266622 -0.22361532
P 4.69 H 22.1 G 0...
Orbital elements:
2012 YP3 Earth MOID = 0.0666 AU
Epoch 2012 Sept. 30.0 TT = JDT 2456200.5 MPC
M 311.53630 (2000.0) P Q
n 0.53572419 Peri. 5.59122 -0.12174371 -0.99179686
a 1.5014419 Node 91.40580 +0.90914062 -0.12717465
e 0.3013520 Incl. 2.23317 +0.39829865 -0.01286820
P 1.84 H 25.7 G 0....
2012: The Modern Alchemist Dr Peter Wothers unpicks the chemistry of the world around us, looking at air, water and earth - three of the original ancient Greek 'elements' that tantalised alchemists for centuries. Read more
The 420 - 940 metre wide asteroid 2001 LL5 will make a close pass (61.1 lunar distances, 0.1571 AU), travelling at 8.75 km/second, to the Earth-Moon system on the 24th December, 2012 @ 05:05 UT ±00:01. See moreThe Lunar Distance (LD), the distance between Earth and the Moon, equals 384,401 km, (or 0....
Twas the Night Before Christmas(A Visit from St. Nicholas)by Clement Clarke MooreTwas the night before Christmas, when all through the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.The children...
The eyepiece uses two separate ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements of different glass types in its optical system to provide exceptional colour fidelity (with astonishingly low levels of chromatic aberration) so that the true colour differences between binary star pairs and planetary...
James Prescott Joule FRS (24 December 1818 - 11 October 1889) was an English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the theory of conservation of energy, which led to the development of the...
William Hayward Pickering ONZ KBE (24 December 1910 - 15 March 2004) was a New Zealand born rocket scientist who headed Pasadena, California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for 22 years, retiring in 1976. He was a senior NASA luminary and pioneered the exploration of space. Read more
Ariane 1 is the first version of the Ariane launcher family. Ariane 1 was designed primarily to put two telecommunications satellites at a time into orbit, thus reducing costs. The first launch was on 24 December 1979, and was successful. Read more
