Category Archives: Astronomy

Astronomy, Climatology and Meteorology, Electromagnetism, Engineering, Geoscience, History, Imaging, Physics, Science, Space, Technology, Top 10

The Other Grand Tour: 10 Stunning Space Stopovers

Leave a comment
Fomalhaut b
Image courtesy NASA/ESA.

Cosmos is back, and Neil deGrasse Tyson is tooling around the universe in Carl Sagan’s Ship of the Imagination. But suppose someone handed you the proverbial keys? Where in space and/or time would you go?

If you don’t have a ready answer, never fear. I’ve put together an itinerary that can’t fail, whether your tastes run to science or sightseeing. Sure, we might have to break a few physical laws and grow a few extra senses along the way but, hey, it’s not called the Ship of Literal Reality, is it? So hang your fuzzy planets from the rearview and strap in for a star-spanning tour, a jaunt from the local neighborhood to the unreachably distant (and disproportionately dangerous) corners of the universe, en route to…

10 Space Landmarks We’d Like to Visit

Astronomy, Computing, Consumer, Electromagnetism, Engineering, Health, Imaging, Internet, Physics, Science, Space, Technology

Laser Communications Gets a Zap(pa) from Moon Unit

Leave a comment
Photo by ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky. Unrelated to the NASA experiment but cool nonetheless.

Lasers rank among the most vital and widespread technologies in the industrialized world, but for years they were considered a solution looking for a problem. One possible application lay in communications: Lasers, being of higher frequency and energy than radio, held the potential to communicate more information per second.

Fast-forward to October 2013, when NASA pulled off one of the most impressive proofs-of-concept in history. That month, a spacecraft orbiting the moon sent data 239,000 miles to Earth via a pulsed laser beam at a download rate of 622 megabits per second (by comparison, high-speed consumer data plans are usually measured in the tens of megabits). Everyone from cryptographers to high-speed Wall Street traders sat up and took notice. Sound cool? Read on as I explain…

How Laser Communication Works

Astronomy, Culture, Science

Daydreams about night things (stars, that is)

Leave a comment
Orionid, Milky Way, Zodiac light, Venus
Photo by Brocken Inaglory

From antiquity to the present day, everyone from philosophers to scientists to spinners of yarns have claimed that stars can be seen during broad daylight, provided you look at them from the bottoms of mine shafts, tall chimneys, coal pits or cisterns. Folk tales have also described people spotting distant suns in light reflected in dark lake bottoms or deep wells.

Is there any truth to these tales, or are these well-wishers merely moonstruck?

Can You See Stars During the Daytime?

Anthropology, Astronomy, Biochemistry, Genetics, Health, How To, Psychology, Science, Space, Technology, Travel

Defining the “right stuff”

Leave a comment
Astronaut visor reflection
Photo courtesy NASA.

Space travel isn’t all glamor: Body odor and bad breath hang around; food and filth float; emotional pressure builds; weightlessness degrades bone and muscles; the body experiences higher radiation levels; and risks of kidney stones and eye problems mount.

Clearly, astronauts require a pioneering spirit, but near-future space colonists will need more than guts and gusto to thrive en route to, and on, other worlds. What constitutes an ideal astronaut candidate? Should we select space travelers based on genetic risk factors? Could we train colonists from childhood to be better adapted, mentally and physically, to life in space? And would we be willing to go to the extreme of changing what it means to be human?

How to Build a Better Space Explorer

Astronomy, Engineering, Geoscience, Physics, Science, Travel

The world’s best 7,900-mile shortcut

Leave a comment
That's a big hole.
Photo by Rajeev Nair.

From where you currently stand, the farthest you can travel on Earth is about 7,900 miles (12,700 kilometers) straight down. What’s more, were it not for some pesky geophysical realities such as crushing pressure, scorching heat and differential rotation spoiling your fun, you could get there in less than 45 minutes. All you need is a modest tunnel … right?

What would happen if I drilled a tunnel through the center of the Earth and jumped into it?