Science is Cool: Asteroid to Buzz Earth on Friday

Could the Mayans have been off by a few months? The asteroid that is going to buzz by the Earth on Friday is as long as a football field, and will pass much closer by than the moon does. It could even potentially take out a satellite. Which would be cool. Let's just hope our scientists are very, very accurate with their predictions. "Off by a hair" is a pretty big deal when you're dealing with things of this scale!

Image from source, Space.com

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Asteroid 2012 DA14's Friday Flyby: A Stargazer's Guide

Scientists and amateur observers alike are eagerly awaiting Friday's historic flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14, which will zoom inside Earth's ring of geosynchronous satellites. . .

Read more at: Space.com

Science is Cool: We're About to Get Buzzed by an Asteroid

Closer to us than the moon is! Maybe it'll take out the FOX "News" satellite.


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Asteroid 2005 YU55 To Narrowly Miss Earth

Image from Huffington Post

An asteroid a quarter-mile-wide will, astronomically speaking, narrowly miss Earth next week.
And while it is the closest an asteroid this size has come to the home planet since 1976, there's no need to call Bruce Willis ... yet. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Science is Cool: Why Everyone is Looking at Uranus

Image from source, Huffington Post

C'mon. Could I pass up that headline, really?

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Uranus Bright Spot Intrigues Scientists, Leads Astronomers To Ignored Region

Uranus rarely gets any love. The typically ignored planet, recently highlighted for orbiting the sun on its side, has just gained itself some atypical attention, according to Universe Today. It seems astronomers have detected that an enormous bright spot may be an unprecedented eruption of methane ice high in the atmosphere. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Are Humans the Hoarders of the Universe?

Image from source, AOL News

Well look at that picture. Disgusting. We really are pigs, aren't we?  I thought a garbage patch in the Pacific twice the size of Texas was bad enough.  But it looks like we're junking up the whole neighborhood.  We're the Pig Pen of planets.  Something tells me if there is intelligent life somewhere out in space, it doesn't think we are.

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Junkyard Circling the Earth Is Growing, Scientists Say


Imagine half a million marbles circling Earth -- a sort of celestial obstacle course for the International Space Station, shuttles and satellites.


That's the increasingly problematic issue of orbital debris. The objects can be as big as a defunct satellite, but -- traveling at speeds of 17,500 miles an hour or more -- even a paint flake can put a chink in a space shuttle window, as happened on one mission. . .

Read more at: AOL News

Science is Cool: Clearest Image of Jupiter Ever

Image from source, National Geographic

I said earlier that I was uninspired about blogging tonight. Then I found this shot. I mean, how cool is this? Yeah, I'm a science nerd, but it's nice to post something that has nothing to do with the current state of the economy, or the Presidential campaigns. enjoy.

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NEW JUPITER IMAGE: Sharpest View Ever From Earth

Jupiter looks sharp in the crispest whole-planet picture of the planet ever shot from Earth.
Captured using a new computer-assisted process and a 27-foot (8.2-meter) telescope in Chile, the result is sharp enough to show features as small as 180 miles (300 kilometers) across. . .

Read more at: National Geographic

Science is Cool: Water on Mars!

Image from source, MSNBC

Now if they'd only find some Martians!

[Excerpt]

The Phoenix spacecraft has tasted Martian water for the first time, scientists reported Thursday.

By melting icy soil in one of its lab instruments, the robot confirmed the presence of frozen water lurking below the Martian permafrost. Until now, evidence of ice in Mars' north pole region has been largely circumstantial. . .

Read more (with video) at: MSNBC

Thanks once again to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link.

Science is Cool: Does Earth Have a Twin?

Image from source, Space.com

This story was brought to my attention by Stupid Monkey Planet, who knows my affinity for space stories, and the tantalizing prospect that there may be intelligent life somewhere in the universe. Notice I don't include humans as "intelligent life." That's on purpose. As is the Mokey's moniker.

Anyway, I hope on this other Earth, my doppelgänger is a little thinner and doesn't have a double-chin. Oh, and lots and lots of money. And a President Gore! So many wishes. . .

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Astronomers on Verge of Finding Earth's Twin

Planet hunters say it's just a matter of time before they lasso Earth's twin, which almost surely is hiding somewhere in our star-studded galaxy.

Momentum is building: Just last week, astronomers announced they had discovered three super-Earths. . .

Read more at: Science.com

Science is Cool: Mars Probe on the Ground

Image from source, SFGate

The landing of the Mars Probe on the red planet didn't have the "gee-whiz" impact of the 1969 moon landing, but it's very exciting to science geeks like myself. The probe is on a quest to determine if life ever existed on Mars. Anyone who ever read comic books or watched atomic age movies on basic cable in the 70s is hoping YES! It will also be very amusing to see--should life be discovered--how the major religions rationalize it. Where did the life go? They'll probably say there was a rapture. . .

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Mars probe on the ground, now it's time for the dirty work

Only a day after the spacecraft Phoenix landed so brilliantly on an icy, pebble-strewn patch of the northern plains of Mars, scientists prepared today to start their three-month search for signs that life-giving water and chemicals were once abundant on the planet long, long ago. . .

Read more at: SFGate

Science Is Cool: We Are Insignificant

Don't believe me? Check this out:



Found at: Voenix Rising, who says:

"And you expect me to believe that some old guy with a long white beard sitting on a golden throne somewhere really gives a rat’s ass about what I—or for that matter, anyone else—do with our genitals?"

Science is Cool: Ocean on Saturn's Moon, Titan?

Image from source, Live Science

I love cool science stories. Mostly, because with our dumbed-down society and our ridiculous political side shows, it's nice to know that there are humans using their brains on this world. New discoveries about our solar system have always interested me, though I was bummed when Pluto got downgraded.

This story (brought to my attention by Stupid Monkey Planet) tells us about all sorts of new discoveries about Saturn's moon, Titan, including the fact that it might have an ocean hospitable to life.

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Evidence for Ocean Found at Saturn's Moon Titan

An ocean seasoned with the chemical ingredients of life may lie hidden beneath the icy surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

The evidence? The entire surface of Titan appears to be sliding around, scientists say, like cheese over tomato sauce on a slice of pizza. . .

Read more at: Live Science

Science is Cool: A New Planet in Our Solar System?

Image from source, Bad Astronomy

Well, thank goodness. We've always been told there were nine planets. And then poor little Pluto got downgraded. Well we may be back up to nine. And the Jeopardy! question will again be safe to answer.

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Is there another planet in the solar system?

Could there be another planet lurking in the dark, frigid outskirts of the solar system?
This isn’t as silly as it seems at first. No, I’m not talking Nibiru or any of that other nonsense (and it is nonsense), I’m talking about an actual planet, Earth-sized or so, that could be orbiting the Sun well beyond Neptune. . .

Read more at: Bad Astronomy

Science is Cool: More From Planet Mercury

Photo from source, AOL News

More pictures are coming back from planet Mercury, and they're showing scientists a view of the planet they didn't quite expect. I know a lot of people find the space program to be a waste of money, but I'm glad we still have it. I just eat this stuff up.

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Mercury Photos Surprise Astronomers

The first pictures from the unseen side of Mercury reveal the wrinkles of a shrinking, aging planet with scars from volcanic eruptions and a birthmark shaped like a spider. . .

Read more at: AOL News

Science is Cool: Images of Mercury

Image from source, AOL News

Sorry, I just get all geeky for this stuff. Hope you like it too.

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Scientists are sifting through their first new views of the planet Mercury in more than three decades thanks to images beamed home by NASA's MESSENGER probe. . .

Read more (and see more photos) at:

AOL News