Category Archives: News and Updates

News about Astronomy and Space Science. Find every news item and update here, in blog format. You can get these updates sent straight to your mailbox by subscribing here, or you can subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking the link.

What is a galaxy? Have your say

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You may remember the story of Pluto.  A few years back, as astronomers found more and more objects which blurred the line between planet, asteroid and other, it became apparent that the word “Planet” lacked a proper definition.  So, after two weeks debate at the IAU General Assembly in Prague, a definition was voted in by over 400 delegates which happened to exclude the ex-planet Pluto.  Now, as astronomers find more and more small galaxy-like objects, we find a similar problem with … Continue reading →

NanoSail-D is fully functional

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We reported a few days ago that NanoSail-D, feared dead after jamming in its launch pod, had suddenly popped free from FASTSAT.  The article concluded with an appeal from NASA to ham radio operators to assist in detecting its beacon, and recording the encoded status signals. A few days ago, John Boudreau (callsign VE8EV) managed to do exactly that and was the first person able to confirm that NanoSail-D was not only active, but had successfully deployed its sails.  You … Continue reading →

NanoSail-D might not be dead

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Artist concept of Nanosail-D. Is it alive? Credit: NASA Early in December last year, NASA’s experimental FASTSAT (Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite) microsatellite was launched into orbit from a private facility on Kodiak island in Alaska.  FASTSAT is built as a research platform, and has the ability to launch smaller nanosatellites.  One of these was NanoSail-D, intended to study the design and operation of solar sails in orbit and on 6 December, mission controllers triggered it’s ejection into space.  Although data … Continue reading →

There was no list!

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A little while back, I reported on a discussion between NASA and hollywood movie execs in which they discussed ways to promote science within films.  As part of those discussions, a list of movies was released which showed the ten best and worst science fiction films for realistic protrayal of science.  This seems to have irritated some of the people who were actually present at the meeting.  They argue that the original report was totally bogus, that quotes were fabricated by the reporter … Continue reading →

2010 hottest year on record

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Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) released figures yesterday showing that 2010 tied with 2005 as the hottest year on record since 1880.  This is despite the unusually cold temperatures across Europe and strong La Nina phenomenon.  The place of next hottest year is a tie between 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.  The global average temperature has been rising at an average rate of 0.20°C per decade. GISS collect weather data from more than 1000 meteorological … Continue reading →