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POPSJust Missed: Nov. 7th Asteroid 30x Closer Than Moon It was the third-closest known (non-impacting) Earth approach on record for a cataloged asteroid. But before you turn to another Clipmark note: THIS WAS THE SECOND ONE THIS YEAR. The one in March 2009 was close too. Look at the stats on that one 8 months ago: Asteroid's Near Miss A Cosmic Close Call Heavenly Body Buzzes Earth; Comes Within 48,800 Miles The asteroid named 2009 DD45 was about 48,800 miles from Earth. That is just twice the height of some telecommunications satellites and about a fifth of the distance to the Moon. CNN video report on that one here. Real footage Video of 1972 asteroid in Canada here --which actually is seen trailing then "bouncing" off earth's atmosphere.
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POPS2009 Leonid Meteor Shower More from the article below: ""We're predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas, and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Our forecast is in good accord with independent theoretical work by other astronomers." "A remarkable feature of this year's shower is that Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of the planet Mars," notes Cooke. It's just a coincidence. This year, Mars happens to be passing by the Leonid radiant at the time of the shower. The Red Planet is almost twice as bright as a first magnitude star, so it makes an eye-catching companion for the Leonids"
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POPSJapan Plans Solar Station in Space The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype. JAXA says the transmission technology would be safe but concedes it would have to convince the public, which may harbour images of laser beams shooting down from the sky, roasting birds or slicing up aircraft in mid-air.
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POPSGravitee 2 Gravitee is back with a sequel in more gravity-space-golfing goodness! Launch your ball around the planet orbit’s and pass each test.
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POPSIs There Global Warming on Other Planets in the Solar System? Martian climate is primarily driven by dust and albedo and there is little empirical evidence that Mars is showing long term warming. Neptune's orbit is 164 years so current brightening is a seasonal response (Neptune's southern hemisphere is heading into summer). Triton's warming is due to the moon approaching an extreme southern summer, a season that occurs every few hundred years. Jupiter's storms are fueled by the planet's own internal heat (the sun's energy is 4% the level of solar energy at Earth). When several storms merge into one large storm (eg - Red Spot Jr), the planet loses its ability to mix heat, causing warming at the equator and cooling at the poles.
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POPSAsteroid collision threat further downgraded Some of you may have heard of the asteroid Apophis that is going to pass very close to the earth in 2029? The estimates were that Earth's gravity would nudge it enough that it would return a few years later and hit the Earth. Further orbital calculations have shown that the odds of this happening are even less likely than once thought.
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POPSCirque du Soleil Founder To Raise Global Awareness About Water Conservation Aboard Russian Rocket The former fire-eater and stilt-walker will orchestrate the show, called Moving Stars and Earth for Water, from the space station and blend artistic performances or "poetic readings" by celebrities in 14 cities around the world. Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, U2, Shakira, Quebec singer Garou, composer A.R. Rahman, Quebec biologist Jean Lemire, singer Peter Gabriel and Cirque performers are set to take part. Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=2046224#ixzz0SXhQFZSs
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POPSJupiter turned Comet into "Moon" for 12 years Between 2068 and 2986, comet 111P/Helin-Roman-Crockett is expected to be captured and complete six laps around Jupiter, the astronomers say. Earth Unlikely to Gain Extra Moon It's doubtful that our own planet would have the gravitational pulling power to add a temporary satellite to the night sky, Asher said. << Too bad.I wouldn't mind an extra moon... :-)
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POPSSept. 9, 1982: The First Private Rocket Launch More than a generation before the X Prize spurred billionaires to put up 10 times a $10 million purse to pursue scientific and technological achievements that have eluded even governments with limitless resources, this was a shot heard ’round the world. It was fired by people who weren’t out to invent anything — they just wanted to prove that you didn’t need a massive space program to power something into space.
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