A graphic look at the huge mass of space junk out there.
To Fix the Giant Near-Tipping-Point Cloud of Space Trash Encircling the Earth, We May Need Space Harpoons
Every where we go we leave pollution and debris.
(via stufftoblowyourmind)
This is what it would look like if Jupiter was as close to Earth as the moon is.
They don’t call ‘em gas giants for nuthin’, y’all.
(via theweekmagazine)
What secrets of gravity have been uncovered in the last 50 years?
What goes up must come down — that’s gravity in a nutshell, or at least gravity as we most commonly encounter it on Earth. The force is a lot more complicated than that, however. It binds cosmic bodies to their orbits, forms galaxies and stars out of dust and even warps space-time.
Due to rapid scientific advancement, our scientific understanding of gravity has improved quite a bit over the last 50 years. For starters, scientists finally figured out why regions of Canada boast marginally less gravity than the rest of the world. Want to know more?
Earth, From Mars
Bad Astronomy Blog explains why this isn’t actually real (thanks @understandingtheuniverse for the link!).
What do you all think?
(via nedhepburn)
Did you know: Neptune takes 165 Earth years to get around the Sun. It appears blue because it is made of methane gas.
More on Neptune here…
Can scientists create a star on Earth?
It’s not just possible — it’s already been done. If you think of a star as a nuclear fusion machine, mankind has duplicated the nature of stars on Earth. But this revelation has qualifiers. The examples of fusion here on Earth are on a small scale and last for just a few seconds at most.
To understand how scientists can make a star, it’s necessary to learn what stars are made of and how fusion works.
"We’re going to get indications, not in real time, but as quickly as possible, and the reason we don’t have real time is that it takes about 14 minutes for the signal to get from Mars to Earth at the speed of light."
— John Grunsfeld of NASA
(Source: cbsnews.com)
![What will the Earth look like in 50,000 years?
First, Earth is a planet that spins on its axis as it revolves around the sun. These movements have certain implications for organisms trying to eke out an existence down on the planetary surface. For example, Earth not only rotates on its axis, it also wobbles like a spinning top. Astronomers call this precession, and it causes the axis to point to different parts of the sky in a 26,000-year cycle. Right now, the North Pole points to Polaris — the North Star. In 13,000 years, Vega will become the new North Star. In 50,000 years, Earth will have completed two precession cycles, which means we’ll be right where we are today, at least in terms of our view of the night sky.
More significant are the changes that occur because of aberrations in Earth’s orbit and tilt. Over a 97,000-year cycle, Earth’s orbit changes from a mostly circular shape to a somewhat elliptical shape. At the same time, the tilt of Earth’s axis shifts a few degrees, from 22.1 degrees at one extreme to 24.5 degrees at the other. The combined effect of these movements has a profound impact on how much solar energy reaches the planet. When the Earth’s position in space is just right, the planet experiences an ice age, a time when polar ice sheets grow thicker and cover more continental land mass. Historically, ice ages have lasted about 100,000 years, with warmer, interglacial periods lasting about 10,000 years in between. Earth is currently enjoying one of these interglacial periods, but will eventually enter another deep freeze. Many scientists think that the next ice age will reach its peak in about 80,000 years [source: Revkin]. So, in 50,000 years, the planet will likely be a much colder place, with ice sheets approaching areas as far south as New York City.
But what about global warming? We’ll get to that next. Keep reading…](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7znz6qU0j1rpdglno1_400.gif)
What will the Earth look like in 50,000 years?
First, Earth is a planet that spins on its axis as it revolves around the sun. These movements have certain implications for organisms trying to eke out an existence down on the planetary surface. For example, Earth not only rotates on its axis, it also wobbles like a spinning top. Astronomers call this precession, and it causes the axis to point to different parts of the sky in a 26,000-year cycle. Right now, the North Pole points to Polaris — the North Star. In 13,000 years, Vega will become the new North Star. In 50,000 years, Earth will have completed two precession cycles, which means we’ll be right where we are today, at least in terms of our view of the night sky.
More significant are the changes that occur because of aberrations in Earth’s orbit and tilt. Over a 97,000-year cycle, Earth’s orbit changes from a mostly circular shape to a somewhat elliptical shape. At the same time, the tilt of Earth’s axis shifts a few degrees, from 22.1 degrees at one extreme to 24.5 degrees at the other. The combined effect of these movements has a profound impact on how much solar energy reaches the planet. When the Earth’s position in space is just right, the planet experiences an ice age, a time when polar ice sheets grow thicker and cover more continental land mass. Historically, ice ages have lasted about 100,000 years, with warmer, interglacial periods lasting about 10,000 years in between. Earth is currently enjoying one of these interglacial periods, but will eventually enter another deep freeze. Many scientists think that the next ice age will reach its peak in about 80,000 years [source: Revkin]. So, in 50,000 years, the planet will likely be a much colder place, with ice sheets approaching areas as far south as New York City.
But what about global warming? We’ll get to that next. Keep reading…
You probably self-identify as an Earthling, right? What if we told you that a few seed-bearing meteorites from Mars may have changed that little fact? So, are we all Martians?
