Blood Vessels Around the World (WFOTD)
Posted By Ben Goulding, 10 March, 2010 | permalink
If you could take all of your blood vessels and lay them end-to-end, they would stretch approximately 60,000 miles (96,500 kilometers) – that’s two times around the world! It would take four average human’s blood vessels to stretch all the way to the moon though.
There’s a challenge for you!
Comments Off | Posted in: Health | Sci/Tech
Water is Found on the Moon
Posted By Ben Goulding, 24 September, 2009 | permalink
It’s the discovery that scientists had waited and hoped for, and it’s finally official – there IS water on the moon.
The Deep Impact observations of the Moon not only unequivocally confirm the presence of [water/hydroxyl] on the lunar surface, but also reveal that the entire lunar surface is hydrated during at least some portion of the lunar day.
Despite this however, the moon remains drier than any desert on Earth, with water only existing in very small quantities. One ton of the top layer of the lunar surface would hold about 32 ounces of water.
Now we’ve just got to find some gravity and an atmosphere, and we can start packing.
Comments Off | Posted in: Sci/Tech‘Moon Rock’ Given to Holland is Fake
Posted By Ben Goulding, 31 August, 2009 | permalink
A piece of moon rock given to the Dutch prime minister by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, from the Apollo 11 mission has turned out to be fake.
The ‘lunar rock’, which is held at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year. It had a value of over $500,000, however it is in fact petrified wood.
Comments Off | Posted in: Politics | Sci/TechXandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation, said the museum would continue to keep the stone as a curiosity.
“It’s a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered,” she said. “We can laugh about it.”
The rock was given to Willem Drees, a former Dutch leader, during a global tour by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin following their moon mission 50 years ago. Nasa gave moon rocks to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in 1969 and the 1970s.
Have You Ever Seen A Moonbow?
Posted By Ben Goulding, 10 August, 2009 | permalink
(Youtube Link)
“Have you ever seen a moonbow? Just as rainbows are lit by the Sun, moonbows are lit by the Moon. Since the Sun is so much brighter than the Moon, sunlit rainbows are much brighter and more commonly seen than moonbows.
The above movie captures not only a moonbow, but several rainbows, moving clouds, and the starry sky visible in 2009 February over Patagonia in Chile.
The slight movement of the rainbows is due to the changing sky position of the Sun. Since moonlight is itself reflected sunlight, the colors are nearly the same.
Both rainbows and moonbows are created by light being scattered inside small water droplets, typically from a nearby rainfall. The raindrops each act as miniature prisms, together creating the picturesque spectrum of colors seen.”
Comments Off | Posted in: Entertainment | Sci/TechHuge Price Tag For Moon Rock Book
Posted By Ben Goulding, 27 July, 2009 | permalink
A book released on the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing is to go on sale for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Only 12 copies of the special edition of MoonFire will come with a piece of Moon rock because of it’s scarcity.
The book is based on the accounts of Norman Mailer, the author and space enthusiast who died in 2007, with glossy photos of the landing, archives on Nasa and LIFE magazine and each copy signed by Buzz Aldrin.
1969 copies of the book are being produced in total – to represent the year of landing – with most available to buy online for around $1,000, but only 12 of them will come with pieces of Moon rock that crashed to Earth as meteorites.
Check out the Taschen website for more details.
Comments Off | Posted in: Entertainment | Sci/TechIf The Moon Landing Happened Today
Posted By Ben Goulding, 21 July, 2009 | permalink
On the 40th Anniversary of the moon landing, Slate V analyses how the media would cover the story if it happened today. From beaming astronauts into studios to following Twitter updates.
(Youtube Link)
How times have changed!
Comments Off | Posted in: Entertainment | Sci/Tech | TelevisionTotal Solar Eclipse 22 July 2009
Posted By Ben Goulding, 21 July, 2009 | permalink
On 22 July, a total solar eclipse will be able to be seen in India, a number of of the Japanese islands, Pacific Ocean and China.
The eclipse will start at dawn in the western division of India, move to the eastern division of India, cross to Mynamar and then move to the tiny islands of Japan & China. The eclipse will be the longest total eclipse this century, lasting 6 minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.
However, whilst scientist are flocking to Asia to see the eclipse, millions are planning to lock themselves indoors, giving in to superstitious myths about the phenomenon. What a shame.
Comments Off | Posted in: News | Sci/TechGo To The Moon With Google Earth
Posted By Ben Goulding, 21 July, 2009 | permalink
Google Earth is great for exploring the Earth at a click of a button, but now Google offers you the chance to land on the Moon and explore it with tours from Apollo astronauts. With rare TV footage of the Apollo missions, 3D models of landed spacecraft and 360-degree photos you should check it out.
(Youtube Video)
Advertise On The Moon
Posted By Ben Goulding, 21 July, 2009 | permalink
Advertisements are everywhere. From billboards to television and newspapers to hot air balloons. Every company wants maximum exposure so as many people as possible know about them. Well one company wants to take advertising one step further. They want to carve ads onto the moon!
The company proposes to use robots to graft adverts onto the moon’s surface. Take a look at the video.
(Youtube Link)
Moon Publicity is the company that has it eyes set on advertising on the moon. This is what they said:
New Shadow Shaping technology creates images on the moon that can be seen from Earth. Robots are used to create several small ridges in the lunar dust over large areas that capture shadows and shape them to form logos, domains names or memorials.
So what are your opinions on this? Who wants to see the moon covered in advertisements? Personally I like the plain old moon as it at the moment.
Comments Off | Posted in: Business | Sci/Tech10 Things You Didn’t Know About Apollo 11
Posted By Ben Goulding, 18 July, 2009 | permalink
Apollo 11 - Buzz Aldrin. Image: NASA
This month commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing – the first steps mankind took on the moon. An historic moment, but how much do you actually know about the moon landing? Here are ten facts you probably didn’t know about Apollo 11.
1. The Apollo’s Saturn rockets were packed with enough fuel to throw 100-pound shrapnel three miles, and NASA couldn’t rule out the possibility that they might explode on takeoff. NASA seated its VIP spectators three and a half miles from the launchpad.
2. The Apollo computers had less processing power than a cellphone.
3. Drinking water was a fuel-cell by-product, but Apollo 11’s hydrogen-gas filters didn’t work, making every drink bubbly. Urinating and defecating in zero gravity, meanwhile, had not been figured out; the latter was so troublesome that at least one astronaut spent his entire mission on an anti-diarrhea drug to avoid it.
4. When Apollo 11’s lunar lander, the Eagle, separated from the orbiter, the cabin wasn’t fully depressurized, resulting in a burst of gas equivalent to popping a champagne cork. It threw the module’s landing four miles off-target.
5. Pilot Neil Armstrong nearly ran out of fuel landing the Eagle, and many at mission control worried he might crash. Apollo engineer Milton Silveira, however, was relieved: His tests had shown that there was a small chance the exhaust could shoot back into the rocket as it landed and ignite the remaining propellant.
6. The “one small step for man” wasn’t actually that small. Armstrong set the ship down so gently that its shock absorbers didn’t compress. He had to hop 3.5 feet from the Eagle’s ladder to the surface.
7. When Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface, he had to make sure not to lock the Eagle’s door because there was no outer handle.
8. The toughest moonwalk task? Planting the flag. NASA’s studies suggested that the lunar soil was soft, but Armstrong and Aldrin found the surface to be a thin wisp of dust over hard rock. They managed to drive the flagpole a few inches into the ground and film it for broadcast, and then took care not to accidentally knock it over.
9. The flag was made by Sears, but NASA refused to acknowledge this because they didn’t want “another Tang.”
10. The inner bladder of the space suits—the airtight liner that keeps the astronaut’s body under Earth-like pressure—and the ship’s computer’s ROM chips were handmade by teams of “little old ladies.”
So now you know!
Comments Off | Posted in: Sci/Tech