Diamond planet discovered

 

Astronomers have discovered a very dense planet consists largely of carbon, so dense, scientists assume that the carbon must be crystalline meaning it is a massive cosmic diamond.  The planet orbiting a neutron star is about 4,000 light years away. I guess, miners of the future will beat each other out whoever reaches this gem planet first.  Hmm, I wonder how many carat does it weigh. :)

 

An artist’s rendition of the recently discovered diamond planet.

Endeavour docked on ISS

 

A sight to behold. Endeavour’s last flight docked on the ISS. This view of shuttle Endeavour, taken by Italian astronaut Paulo Nespoli from aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule on May 23.

Canary Sky

A stunning time-lapse video of the night sky made by astrophotographer Daniel Lopez from Tenerife, Spain. The scenes were taken from Canary Islands where a spectacular view of the heavens, stars and clouds is found in various colors and shades. He titled this work as Canary Sky or El Cielo De Canarias.

According to Daniel, here are some of the  scenes you can find in the video:
- "The Cathedral" in the plain of Ucanca, night shot with the planet Jupiter across the scene.
- El Arbol de Piedra (Roque Cinchado) with a Tajinaste pointing to Polaris.
- Tajinastes "night", The Red Tajinaste, endemism Canario blooming in spring.
- The "hat" in the Teide. Formation of a cloud known as cap at the peak of Teide.
- "Waterfalls of clouds crossing the mountains and rivers of multicolored clouds.
- Sea of clouds crashing against the mountains as it did the sea.
- Large pool of water in the plain of Ucanca lenticular clouds where stars are reflected.
- Tajinastes night with the Milky Way taken out on the horizon with a dolly track.
- Video of the sun setting and a double green flash. "
- Pleiades and the Andromeda galaxy between rocks in the mines of San Jose.
- Scenes spectacular sunset in the Teide National Park with clouds and moving dolly.
- ArcoIris from the Teide National Park.
- Multicolor Halos around the moon.
- Clouds remain stationary hours at the site are changing their colors as the sunset


El Cielo de Canarias / Canary sky - Tenerife from Daniel López on Vimeo.

Endeavour’s launch as seen from Booster

A camera mounted on each of space shuttle Endeavour's solid rocket boosters capture the launch of the orbiter on STS-134 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on May 16, and documents the SRBs' separation and subsequent landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

 

 

Endeavour launch seen from cabin window

Passengers from an airplane had  the privilege of watching the last flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour both from their in-flight TVs and then outside their cabin windows.

Earth seen from space 4 billion miles away

Part of the first ever "family portrait" of the solar system taken by Voyager 1 in 1990, this image of Earth was captured from a distance of more than 4 billion miles. Pictured here as a dot only 0.12 pixels in size, the Earth is, as described by Voyager contributor Carl Sagan, "...a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish this pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." - www.space.com

If we could only realize that we are just tiny "bacterias" thriving in a tiny speck of dust floating in the vastness of space, we just might learn how to take care of this fragile planet and live amongst ourselves peacefully.

Astronauts drink water from recycled urine

HOUSTON – (AP) At the international space station, it was one small sip for man and a giant gulp of recycled urine for mankind.
Astronauts aboard the space station celebrated a space first on Wednesday by drinking water that had been recycled from their urine, sweat and water that condenses from exhaled air. They said "cheers," clicked drinking bags and toasted NASA workers on the ground who were sipping their own version of recycled drinking water.
"The taste is great," American astronaut Michael Barratt said. Then as Russian Gennady Padalka tried to catch little bubbles of the clear water floating in front of him, Barratt called the taste "worth chasing."
He said the water came with labels that said: "drink this when real water is over 200 miles away."
The urine recycling system is needed for astronaut outposts on the moon and Mars. It also will save NASA money because it won't have to ship up as much water to the station by space shuttle or cargo rockets.
It's also crucial as the space station is about to expand from three people living on board to six.
The recycling system had been brought up to the space station last November by space shuttle Endeavour, but it couldn't be used until samples were tested back on Earth and a stuck valve was fixed on Monday.
So when it came time to actually drink up, NASA made a big deal of it.

Smallest planet discovered outside Solar System

MADRID (AFP) - Spanish astronomers Wednesday announced the discovery of the smallest planet discovered to date outside the solar system, located 30 light years from earth.

The planet, "GJ 436T", was detected through a new technique which "will allow us to discover in less than 10 years the first planet resembling earth in terms of mass and orbit," said Ignasi Ribas of Spain's CSIC scientific research institute.

It was discovered by a team led by Ribas through its gravitational pull on other planets already discovered around the same star in the constellation of Leo.

Top Ten songs for astronauts

A 14-year-old Norwegian girl, Therese Miljeteig bested all other contestants for her playlist compilation of 10 songs to be played in the International Space Station (ISS). Her winning selection?

• Here Comes The Sun - Beatles
• Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra
• Rocket Man - Elton John
• Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes
• Imagine - John Lennon
• Flashdance - What A Feeling - Irene Cara
• Walk of Life - Dire Straits
• Fly - Celine Dion
• Rockin' All Over The World - Status Quo
• I Believe I Can Fly - R Kelly

The European Space Agency (ESA), recently launched a playlist competition for 10 best songs that will be used in the ISS for the astronauts.

Her grand prize is a visit to the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana to see the launch next year of the ESA's Automated Transport Vehicle. The space vehicle will be delivering cargos for the astronauts living in the ISS. The songs will be loaded to an Apple iPod and will be sent to the ISS aboard the ATV.

SpaceShipTwo, Unveiled

The ultimate tourist spot for the rich and famous is almost within reach. The new model of Spaceship Two has been unveiled by designer Burt Rutan and billionaire Richard Branson. The new spacecraft is planned to ferry passengers on suborbital joyrides. Also included in the presentation is WhiteKnightTwo, a 4-engine jet that will carry SpaceshipTwo in its midair launch. The passengers, as many as six, would get about 4.5 minutes of zero-gravity time as they could unbuckle themselves and experience weightlessness and an unparalleled view before gliding back to Earth.

"Breathtakingly beautiful," was Branson's assessment of the ship, which is now under construction at a hangar in the Mojave Desert and which may begin test flights as soon as this year.

WhiteKightTwo and SpaceShipTwo

Will Whitehorn, president of Branson's space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, insisted the project is on course. Construction on the White Knight Two is already more than 70 percent complete, he said. SpaceShipTwo is about 60 percent complete, and the company and Rutan's aerospace outfit, Scaled Composites, hope to begin test flights this summer.

About 200 prospective passengers from 30 countries have made reservations, shelling out $200,000 (U.S.) apiece. Many were in attendance for Wednesday's presentation.

The Flight Plan