Notes and such from "Lives of the Planets - A Natural History of the Solar System" by Richard Corfield
"Stonehenge is a Stone Age supercomputer" which "was built over a fifteen hundred year period from about 3100 BC to 1500 BC". It "helped Neolithic peoples keep pace with the turning of the seasons ... and predicting the occurance of crucial astronomical events such as eclipses."
"Mariner 2 was launched on August 27, 1962, and ... became the first spacecraft to successfully fly by another planet; it sped past Venus on December 14, 1962."
On October 22, 1975 the Soviet "Venera 9 had become the first spacecraft to place a satellite in permanent orbit around another planet."
"In 1969, Venera 5 and 6 were also successful atmospheric probes, and in 1970, Venera 7 became the first Earth-built spacecraft to land on the surface of another planet."
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has landed a small spacecraft named Hayabusa on the surface of the astroid Itokawa. The launch was on May 9, 2003 and Hayabusa arrived at Itokawa in September of 2005.{After this book was written samples were returned to Earth in 2010.}
The American Pioneer 10 was launched on March 2, 1972; and within 18 minutes achieved a "staggering" 32,000 mph. By December 3, 1973 "Jupiter's massive gravity had accelerated Pioneer 10 to 82,000 mph.
Voyagers 1 and 2 were launched in September and August of 1977 and arrived near Jupiter in March and July of 1979. Voyager 2 arrived in Uranian space on January 24, 1986 and then reached Neptune on August 25, 1989. On the same day "Voyager 2 had passed the last of Neptune's moons and was dropping out of the bottom of the solar system to begin its eternal fall into the vastnesses of space between the stars. In slightly less than 300,000 years, it will make its first approach to another star - the hot, bright furnace of Sirius."
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Experimental Blog # 123
Notes and such from "Space Chronicles" - Facing the Ultimate Frontier by Neil deGrasse Tyson and edited by Avis Lang
The author, Neil deGrasse Tyson, points out that both he and NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, were "born" in the same year, 1958.
Among many interesting facts in this book are:
Hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen are the 5 most common elements in the universe and, except for helium, which is not chemically reactive, the other 4 are also the most common elements of life, including people. So, we indeed are very much a natural product of the universe.
The Earth now has hundreds of communication satellites and 12 space telescopes. Hubble, which was launched in 1990, is the most well known, and, hopefully, will soon be replaced by the even more powerful James Webb Space Telescope.
The International Space Station is located in a low Earth orbit about 225 miles above the Earth.
In most cases it is "vastly cheaper to send robots" into space than people; usually about a fiftieth of the cost.
There are 5 "Lagrangian points" around the Earth-Moon system "where the gravity of Earth, the gravity of the Moon, and the centrifugal forces of the rotating system all balance."
There are also 5 such points around the Earth-Sun system, and it is planned that the James Webb Space Telescope will be placed in one of them.
There are thousands of asteroids gathered at 2 of the Lagrangian points in the Sun-Jupiter system, and there is other "space junk" in the Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon systems as well.
However, "On Friday the 13th, April 2029, an asteroid large enough to fill the Rose Bowl as though it were an egg cup will fly so close to Earth that it will dip below the altitude of our communications satellites. ... If the trajectory of Apophis{the asteroid} at close approach passes within a narrow range of altitudes called the "keyhole," then the influence of Earth's gravity on its orbit will guarantee that seven years later, in 2036, on its next trip around, the asteroid will hit Earth directly, likely slamming into the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. ... If Apophis misses the keyhole in 2029, we will have nothing to worry about in 2036."
The author, Neil deGrasse Tyson, points out that both he and NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, were "born" in the same year, 1958.
Among many interesting facts in this book are:
Hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen are the 5 most common elements in the universe and, except for helium, which is not chemically reactive, the other 4 are also the most common elements of life, including people. So, we indeed are very much a natural product of the universe.
The Earth now has hundreds of communication satellites and 12 space telescopes. Hubble, which was launched in 1990, is the most well known, and, hopefully, will soon be replaced by the even more powerful James Webb Space Telescope.
The International Space Station is located in a low Earth orbit about 225 miles above the Earth.
In most cases it is "vastly cheaper to send robots" into space than people; usually about a fiftieth of the cost.
There are 5 "Lagrangian points" around the Earth-Moon system "where the gravity of Earth, the gravity of the Moon, and the centrifugal forces of the rotating system all balance."
There are also 5 such points around the Earth-Sun system, and it is planned that the James Webb Space Telescope will be placed in one of them.
There are thousands of asteroids gathered at 2 of the Lagrangian points in the Sun-Jupiter system, and there is other "space junk" in the Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon systems as well.
However, "On Friday the 13th, April 2029, an asteroid large enough to fill the Rose Bowl as though it were an egg cup will fly so close to Earth that it will dip below the altitude of our communications satellites. ... If the trajectory of Apophis{the asteroid} at close approach passes within a narrow range of altitudes called the "keyhole," then the influence of Earth's gravity on its orbit will guarantee that seven years later, in 2036, on its next trip around, the asteroid will hit Earth directly, likely slamming into the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. ... If Apophis misses the keyhole in 2029, we will have nothing to worry about in 2036."
Friday, July 20, 2012
Experimental Blog #122
Quotes and Notes from "Heaven's Touch" - From Killer Stars to the Seeds of Life, How We Are Connected to the Universe by James B. Kaler
"Among the most amazing discoveries of modern astronomy is that even our day-to-day affairs are in fact subject to the vageries of distant planets and stars."
Photons have no mass; "they are the only particles that do not." So, only they can travel at the speed of light, where everything else would have infinite mass, which is impossible.
The most distant thing the unaided human eye can see is the Andromeda Galaxy, two and a half million light-years away.
The Earth's communications and high-orbit research satelites might be 22,250 or more miles from the center of the Earth, and are beyond the Earth's magnetic protection; and their sensitive electronics must sometimes be turned off to prevent hundreds of millions of dollars of damage from solar particle bombardment.
Kepler's and Newton's laws and equations apparently provide the basis to determine the masses of everything in the universe.
There are millions, maybe billions, of asteroids. Most of them are the size of large rocks, but there might be a million or more that are larger than 50 miles in diameter.
"Nearly 100 meteorites have been identified as coming from the Moon." "We find Martian meteorites as well, about three dozen known."
In 2006, the "Stardust" spacecraft, which was launched in 1999, brought back samples from "Comet Wild 2". In 2005 the "Deep Impact" spacecraft visited "Comet Temple 1".
"the gift of water was given to us by the accretion of hoards of leftover comets that hit us, each sent inward by the outer planets...."
Almost all of the three light elements, boron, lithium, and beryllium, are the products of cosmic ray collisions with carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen; and so is carbon 14, at least until the atom bomb testing of the 1940s and 1950s.
The author includes an all-sky map of the Cosmic Background Radiation, which was released a half million years after the Big Bang, and says it is the oldest thing that we know. Apparently, whatever precedes is theory.
"Among the most amazing discoveries of modern astronomy is that even our day-to-day affairs are in fact subject to the vageries of distant planets and stars."
Photons have no mass; "they are the only particles that do not." So, only they can travel at the speed of light, where everything else would have infinite mass, which is impossible.
The most distant thing the unaided human eye can see is the Andromeda Galaxy, two and a half million light-years away.
The Earth's communications and high-orbit research satelites might be 22,250 or more miles from the center of the Earth, and are beyond the Earth's magnetic protection; and their sensitive electronics must sometimes be turned off to prevent hundreds of millions of dollars of damage from solar particle bombardment.
Kepler's and Newton's laws and equations apparently provide the basis to determine the masses of everything in the universe.
There are millions, maybe billions, of asteroids. Most of them are the size of large rocks, but there might be a million or more that are larger than 50 miles in diameter.
"Nearly 100 meteorites have been identified as coming from the Moon." "We find Martian meteorites as well, about three dozen known."
In 2006, the "Stardust" spacecraft, which was launched in 1999, brought back samples from "Comet Wild 2". In 2005 the "Deep Impact" spacecraft visited "Comet Temple 1".
"the gift of water was given to us by the accretion of hoards of leftover comets that hit us, each sent inward by the outer planets...."
Almost all of the three light elements, boron, lithium, and beryllium, are the products of cosmic ray collisions with carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen; and so is carbon 14, at least until the atom bomb testing of the 1940s and 1950s.
The author includes an all-sky map of the Cosmic Background Radiation, which was released a half million years after the Big Bang, and says it is the oldest thing that we know. Apparently, whatever precedes is theory.
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