Chinese crew to launch this Tuesday
The crew of the Shenzhou 10 has been presented to the press today. From left to right: Zhang Xiaoguang, Nie Haisheng and Wang Yaping. Wang Yaping will be the second Chinese woman and first Chinese teacher in space. The launch is planned on 5:38 p.m. Beijing Time this Tuesday.
Check out this - blue! - Martian sunset
What explains the weird coloration - blue at the center, rosy pink at the edges - of this picture of a sunset? Well, first of all, it wasn’t snapped on this planet; it was taken by the Spirit Martian rover in 2005, at the Gusev crater. For the science behind the colors, read this excerpt by Robert Krulwich:
Sunshine, as you know, contains many different wavelengths of light. If you catch a beam of light in a prism (Newton did this) it breaks into a rainbow of colors — reds, violets, blues. When the sunshine on Mars hits the clouds of fine dust floating through the air, it also breaks into different colors. Martian dust is exactly the right size to absorb the blue wavelengths of light and scatter red wavelengths all over the sky. That’s why if you are standing on Mars and look away from the setting sun, most of the sky is rosy, pink, and various shades of red.
But now look straight at the setting sun. On Mars, the beams of light streaming toward you, having lost their red waves, show the wavelengths that haven’t scattered off. That remaining light is predominantly blue. So when you look straight at the sun on Mars, you see a haze of blue. Look away from the sun, and the light is red.
Click through for more.
any recs for good books about space/astronomy? not anything toooo technical but i’m pretty science literate.
Phil Plait has two really great books (Bad Astronomy and Death From the Skies). Brian Cox wrote Why Does E=mc2?, The Quantum Universe (both are less space-more science, but …)as well as the Wonders of the Universe/Solar System books (the dvds are AWESOME). Also, anything by Neil DeGrasse Tyson is bound to be good (and they’re remaking Cosmos with him). Also, Mary Roach’s book Packing For Mars is great (and I loved the audiobook), but certain chapters are not for the weak of stomach. I’m sure there are more, but those are ones that I’ve either read or am familiar with the authors/scientists.
“We Are Star Dust” - Symphony of Science (by melodysheep)
Yes, the universe is in us.
Felix Bumgartner is about to freefall faster than any human ever has
He’s already about a half hour into the ascent; he’s scheduled to jump around 1:45 pm EST. You should definitely check out the live stream here.
In case you haven’t been following the mission, Red Bull Stratos is an attempt to jump from a specially designed balloon from 120,000 feet above the Earth’s surface. In the course of returning to Earth, Felix will accelerate to speeds greater than Mach 1 - the speed of sound! If you’re interested, be sure to read more about the project.
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