Dwarf Planet to Plutoid. Promotion or Demotion?

Pluto, once considered a planet, then a dwarf planet has now been re-classified to a Plutoid. Is this a promotion or a demotion? Pluto Reclassified Poor little Pluto, swinging through space in its orbit around Sol, just past Neptune. Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has been considered a planet, just like the other eight planets in our solar system...

Celestial Navigation and the GPS Age

Ever wonder where the ideas for GPS came from? Ever wonder what you'd do without it? Celestial Navigation and the GPS Age Since the first humans wanted to travel, they had a need to know where they were going. By trial and error, they discovered that the sun could show them where North, South, East and West were located as they walked through strange...

Helium 3 - Tomorrow's Energy Source within Our Grasp

Is there a perfect fuel within our grasp? One University of Wisconsin prof. thinks so. And he's already making it! Helium 3 Suppose there was a new fuel source that was clean, safe and could provide all the power needed for the USA for a whole year if you just had 40 metric tons of it? That’s right just 40 metric tons. There is such a new fuel out there...

Asrtonomy Lessons for Homeschoolers

Many parents prefer to educate their children at home these days. But how can you teach astronomy if you aren't an astronomer? Astronomy Lessons for Homeschoolers Have you ever sat with a child and watched the night sky? Can you point out the planets, stars or constellations? Children are eager to learn and Homeschoolers are no exception. But what do...

NEO Mining Possibilities

Is mining in space a real possibility or just a science fiction plot? It's not only possible, but will soon be "business as usual!" NEO/NEA Mining When you hear the term “natural resources” the images that come to mind are the animal, vegetable and mineral things on Earth. Water, air and rocks are found abundantly on our native planet. Lately there...

Can We Establish a Station on Mars?

Is it possible? Could we build a station on Mars withing the next fifty years? Maybe! Article Since early astronomers found a tiny red speck in the night sky and named it Mars (for the god of war) people have envisioned what such a little red planet might be like. From Edgar Rice Burroughs to Carl Sagan (who was a Burroughs fan) both writers and scientists...

Hubble Space Telescope – The Universal Eye

What is it that moves at 8 km/second yet keeps an open eye for any happenings in the universe? Well it can be none other than the Hubble Space Telescope. Read on to get some interesting information about this amazing eye on the universe. Introduction We all like to shoot pictures of eye-catching scenarios and scientists are no exception to this rule...

Shuttle Atlantis to Hubble: What was once routine is now filled with risk.

Space Shuttle Atlantis will launch this fall on a service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers all over the world anticipate this mission, as it will rejuvenate the aging telescope—but it does not come without risk. The past and the present It is interesting how our perspective has changed since the last Hubble repair mission in 1999....

Black Holes : Exotic Strangers of Universe!

Black Holes are among the most exotic objects in the universe. A black hole is a region of space that has so much mass concentrated in it that there is no way for a nearby object, not even light, to escape its gravitational pull. So, are not they exotic? Gallery 1 Black Hole : What is it? A Black Hole is a highly dense region of space with an enormous...

What Caused the Tunguska Blast? 100 Years Later, Science Still Seeks Answers

New discoveries about the 100-year old mystery of the Tunguska blast. A Blast in the Wilderness One hundred years after something caused a massive aerial explosion in a remote and sparsely populated part of Siberia, the "Tunguska event," as it's known, continues to attract the attention of scientists around the globe. The cataclysm took place...