It’s been a flood, a flood I tell you! The last week has been a full-on space news week, especially with the landing of Phoenix on Mars on Sunday. But not only this, we’ve had news from all over the globe and it’s been hard to keep up. Over at the Universe Today we’ve been trying to give a good cross section of topics (with a heavy dose from Mars, naturally), and mine have been pretty eclectic. From Japanese space beer, stunning Very Large Telescope (VLT) images of the iconic Eta Carinae, cool space lasers, hot laboratory lasers and a crazy-spinning asteroid to name a few. It’s just a shame I didn’t have time to write more. So here they are, the last couple of days of articles I’ve written for the Universe Today…
- Temperature Conditions of a Supernova Recreated in UK Laboratory – At the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, scientists have managed to generate temperatures of 10 million Kelvin (that is hotter than the surface of the Sun) using a one petawatt laser. Now this is extreme physics…
- US Wants to Defend Satellites From Laser Attack – The US military are investigating a defence system for their satellites. It is hoped the new system will detect when a ground-based laser is fired and where it is fired from. Looks like another step in the direction of space militarization…
- Japanese Special Brew: Space Beer – A Japanese company hopes to brew 100 bottles of beer from barley grown on the International Space Station. Actually drinking beer in space may be a bit problematic though…
- Eta Carinae and the “Cosmic Cauldron” in Unprecedented Detail – New Images from the VLT – Stunning new images from the Very Large Telescope in Chile including a spectacular, high resolution picture of the awesome Eta Carinae.
- What is the Fastest Spinning Object in the Solar System? Near-Earth Asteroid 2008 HJ – The fastest spinning natural object is a near-Earth asteroid. Even more amazing than the discovery is the fact that asteroid 2008 HJ was found by a British amateur astronomer from the comfort of his home, using an internet connection to a 2 metre telescope in Australia…
astroengine.com 