Open-Pit Mines Seen From Space People have become significant earth movers, outpacing all sources of natural erosion. More and more of our footprint can be seen from space in many forms, including cities, reservoirs, agriculture and deforestation. Among the most impressive human scars on the pl...
The UK's decision to shun human spaceflight was a mistake that needs to be changed, says Europe's International Space Station programme chief. But with Nasa on the verge of ending its shuttle programme and the Russian Soyuz capsules overbooked, it will not be easy to reverse course, warns Alan Thir...
Interactive space simulator created by Dan Dixon. It includes the solar system, the nearest 1000 stars, the local group of galaxies. The free version of Universe Sandbox lets you explore and discover any of the included simulations for as long as you want. Download (31.33mb, exe) [video=http://w...
The Kosmos 2217 Oko early-warning satellite in a Molniya orbit, that was launched on the 21st October, 1992, from the Plesetsk launch site, re-entered the Earths atmosphere on the 6th November, 2010 @ 01:39 GMT ±1 minute. Inclination: 61.82° Revolution Number: 13245 Predicted L...
Tropical Storm Tomas (AL21) is forecast to make landfall in St. Lucia probability for CAT 1 or above is 60% within 3 hours probability for TS is 95% within 3 hours St. Vincent and the Grenadines probability for CAT 1 or above is 60% within 3 hours probability for TS is 95% within 3 hours Barbados probabil...
E. Romas, D. Chestnov and A. Novichonok recovered comet P/2004 F3 on the 2nd November, 2010. The orbital elements of the comet indicate a perihelion passage on the 28th January, 2013, at a distance of 2.8 AU from the Sun, and a period of 8.08 years.
China has launched a weather forecasting satellite. The Fengyun-3B satellite was successfully launched atop a long March 4C launch vehicle from the Taiyuan Launch Centre in northern China's Shanxi Province, at 18:37 UT, 4th November, 2010. The Fengyun-3B (FY-3) is a 2nd generation polar orbit m...
Asteroid 9134 Encke makes its closest approach to the Earth (1.901 AU). 9134 Encke (4822 P-L) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on 24 September 1960 by Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld at Leiden University, on photographic plates from the Palomar Observatory. [url...
Title: The Kitchener Daylight Fireball of November 4, 1977 Authors: Griffin, A. A.; Halliday, I. A brilliant fireball was observed over southern Ontario at 14:38 EST on November 4, 1977. Two violent explosions were observed near a height of 22 km about 7 km south of the city of Kitchener and associat...
Title: Super-star clusters versus OB associations Authors: Carsten Weidner, Ian A. Bonnell, Hans Zinnecker Super Star Clusters (Mecl > 10^5 Msol) are the largest stellar nurseries in our local Universe, containing hundreds of thousands to millions of young stars within a few light years. Ma...
The Kosmos 1774 satellite that was launched on the 28th August, 1986, from the Plesetsk launch site, re-entered the Earths atmosphere on the 2nd November, 2010 @ 09:34 GMT ±4 hours. Inclination: 60.35° Revolution Number: 17747 Predicted Location: 58.3° S, 258.9° E TLE Data [pr...
WeatherWatch.co.nz is receiving reports of a large light streaking and exploding across the sky in the early hours of the morning. The fireball was witnessed at 1:45am. A visitor to WeatherWatch.co.nz described the object as "very fast" and was seen moving in a low trajectory west to ea...
Russia successfully launched and orbited a Meridian communications satellite of the Kosmos series overnight. A Soyuz-2a rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk launching site at 00:38 GMT and successfully placed the payload into the near-Earth orbit. A carrier rocket in the family of modernized S...
Several species from prehistoric times will be the stars of the show at an upcoming Civic Centre event. "Walking with Dinosaurs," a theatrical event based on the award-winning BBC Television series, will have a three-show run at the Peoria Civic Centre arena May 11 and 12. Show times are...