NASA's Diwali snap from space a fake !!!

Photo : PTI

So in reality, the big dots which are projected as fireworks are actually the big cities.  The dots can be seen on Pakistan and Bangladesh map also. NASA has also warned that the pictures circulating in the social media is not what it is meant.

Universe scale : Quantum particle to whole universe

This link explains beautifully the relative size of quantum particles to various nebulae in the universe and finally the Universe.

http://htwins.net/scale2/

Neil Armstrong : The Moon man fades away at 82

Neil Armstrong, the first man to set the foot on moon has passed away at the age of 82 years.

Goldilocks zone - favouring life

Goldilocks zone is one that is not too hot, not too cold, therefore where water, which is essential for life, does not freeze or boil.

An interesting law : Murphy's Law

"If anything can go wrong, it will"
Murphy's Law i s attributed to USAF Captain Edward Murphy, a research engineer at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949. Upon learning that a rocket sled test failed because a technician wired the sensors wrong, Murphy is reported to have exclaimed, "If there is any way to do it wrong, he'll do it." For some reason the phrase caught on and began evolving. The press got a hold of it when during a press conference the man who eventually rode the sled commented that the reason he survived is that everyone on the project paid close attention to "Murphy's Law." When asked to explain he used the form we're familiar with today.

Life on Saturn's Moon Enceladus

The Cassini-Huygens space probe is arguably one of the most important missions NASA ever sent out into the solar system, in terms of return benefits and information accuracy. The craft has thus far managed to discover new moons around Saturn, and to offer invaluable scientific data on interesting natural satellites such as Enceladus and Titan. Now, the spacecraft leads the way in the search for possible life on the planet, with its investigations on the mysterious gas and ice plumes that Enceladus is spewing into its atmosphere from its poles.

According to readings taken by Cassini, it may be that an entire Saturnine ring is made of salts emitted by the small moon. Enceladus is located at the very core of the planet's E Ring, in an area where the dust or ice density is the largest.Huge geysers on Enceladus may be fed by a saly sea below its surface. It has found a potentially life sustaining mix of organic chemicals in Enceladus plumes, ejected from a quartet of 120 km long fractures- known as tigerstripes aligned on the moon's south pole.

Far side of moon

We can see only one side of the moon. Soviet Union's LUNAR 3 sent the images of the far side of the moon for the first time...........

Looking for another Earth by KEPLER

Chandrayaana 1's sweet success

The 35-kg payload crash-landed on the lunar surface at around 2030 hrs IST 14th November 2009. The Moon Impact probe with tricolour painted on it has started sending its first signals to Chandrayaana-1.

End of phoenix

NASA officials on Monday declared an end to the nearly six-month mission at Mars' north pole, the first to touch and taste the water on an alien planet.
Phoenix sent its last message on Nov. 2 before a lack of power caused it to go to sleep permanently, it now appears.
The craft survived nearly three months longer than its expected 90-day mission but was finally done in by a combination of plunging temperatures with the approach of the Martian winter and the effects of an arctic dust storm that coated the lander's solar panels.

Chandrayaana 1 in lunars orbit

India's first unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar orbit today after ISRO scientists successfully carried out a highly complex and tricky manoeuvre crossing another historic milestone in the country's space programme.
ISRO scientists at the Mission Control Centre near here fired the spacecraft's liquid engine at 1651 hours for a duration of 817 seconds in a hit or miss Lunar Orbit Insertion(LOI) operation in the maiden moon mission, 18 days after it was launched from Sriharikota spaceport.

Hubbles new images

The newly installed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been beaming back spectacular images of our universe. Here is a stunning view of a colliding galaxy dubbed the "Tadpole" (UGC10214). Set against a rich tapestry of 6,000 galaxies, the Tadpole, with its long tail of stars, looks like a runaway pinwheel firework. Another picture depicts a spectacular collision between two spiral galaxies — dubbed "The Mice" — that presages what may happen to our own Milky Way several billion years from now when it collides with the neighboring galaxy in the constellation Andromeda. Looking closer to home, ACS imaged the "Cone Nebula," a craggy-looking mountaintop of cold gas and dust that is a cousin to Hubble's iconic "pillars of creation" in the Eagle Nebula, photographed in 1995. Peering into a celestial maternity ward called the Omega Nebula or M17, ACS revealed a watercolor fantasy-world of glowing gases, where stars and perhaps embryonic planetary systems are forming.

First photos captured by chandrayaana

Moon mission chandrayaana 1 animation

Here is the link
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ipBOotJDJ1k

Chandrayana 1 real capture

October 17th special sun rise???

Coming October 17, 2008 the sun will rise continuously for 36 hrs(1.5 days). During this time the US countries will be dark for 1.5 days.
It will convert 3 days into 2 big days. It will happen once in 2400 yrs. We're very lucky to see this.
Everybody is getting messages like this both in emails and in mobiles. Is it true? Well there is no genuine websites has confirmed. I could see this news on blogs forms.

Diameter of earth

The diameter of the earth at equator is 7,926 miles or 12,756 kilometers.

The diameter of the earth through poles is 7,901 miles or 12,715 kilometers.

Thus the earth is 25 miles or 41 km wider than it is tall, giving it a slight bulge at the equator. This shape is known as an ellipsoid or more properly, geoid (earth-like).

Vesta the only visible asteroid

Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt, it is bright enough to be seen without a microscope , it has a mean diameter of about 530 kilometres and an estimated mass of 9% of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807, and named after the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta.

What a comet can leave behind

140 million years ago a comat or an asteroid created this crater, Gosses Bluff in the Northen territory of Australia.

Solar eclipse : Today and the Future

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is
wholly or partially obscured. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses. Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon's umbra.
If the Moon's inner or umbral shadow sweeps across Earth's surface, then a total eclipse of the Sun is seen. The track of the Moon's umbral shadow across Earth is called the Path of Totality. It is typically 10,000 miles long but only about 100 miles wide. It covers less than 1% of Earth's entire surface area. In order to see the Sun become completely eclipsed by the Moon, you must be somewhere inside the narrow path of totality
The path of a total eclipse can cross any part of Earth. Even the North and South Poles get a total eclipse sooner or later. Just one total eclipse occurs each year or two. Since each total eclipse is only visible from a very narrow track, it is rare to see one from any single location. You'd have to wait an average of 375 years to see two total eclipses from one place. Of course, the interval between seeing two eclipses from one particular place can be shorter or longer.


The Future Time Table