[PIC GALLERY] Space

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PoorOldSpike

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What if the moon didn't exist?
Earth would spin much faster.
That's because the moon's gravity pulls on Earth's oceans. The pull of the moon, and ebb and flow of the tides, puts the brakes on Earth's daily rotation. Billions of years ago, the Earth spun around on its axis much faster. If we'd never had a moon to slow us down, we'd still have a 10-hour day.

Without the moon wind patterns would likely be stronger and longer lived.
Consider the giant planet Jupiter, which rotates in about ten hours. Hurricanes on Jupiter can be enormous and last for centuries. Wind patterns stretch across the entire planet, giving Jupiter the banded appearance you can see through a telescope.

A constant gale force wind on Earth would have affected life on Earth..
It is even possible that some life forms might not even exist under such conditions.

Without the moon, the Earth's axis would wobble like a top.
With the Moon, the axis wobbles a little bit but generally stays put. That keeps the seasons more or less the same for periods long enough for complex life forms to develop, adapt, and succeed.

moon-trees.jpg


http://starryskies.com/Artshtml/dln/1-01/no.moon.html
 
Both the sun and the moon are needed for life to exist on Earth. Everyone knows the role that the sun plays, but few know the importance of the moon. Note: The moon is shrinking (Oh my gosh) and scientists estimate that it has shrunk about 100 yards in diameter than it was about 1 billion years ago. More good news: The moon is moving away from Earth but very slowly. The current rate at which the Earth day is increasing is 0.0018 seconds/century. The semi-major axis of the lunar orbit is increasing by 3.8 centimeters/year according to laser ranging measurements made since the 1970's using the Apollo 'corner cube reflectors' deposited on the surface by the astronauts.

It is expected that in 15 billion years, the orbit will stabilize at 1.6 times its present size, and the Earth day will be 55 days long equal to the time it will take the Moon to orbit the Earth. Of course, in less than 7 billion years, the Sun will have evolved into a red giant star and engulfed the Earth-Moon system, thereby incinerating it! So don't worry, be happy!
 
"I think the long-term future of the human race in space. Be difficult to avoid a catastrophe on the planet Earth in a hundred years, let alone the next thousand years or the next million years, "

"The human race should not bet only on planet Earth"

"I see great dangers for the human race. On many occasions in the past, survival was difficult, has been more a matter of luck "

"The frequency of such threats will probably increase in future and need to be careful and best approach to overcome them successfully. I'm optimistic "

"If we can avoid a catastrophe in the next two centuries, our species will be saved only if we spread into space"

S. Hawking
 
'Alien' planet detected circling dying star

Astronomers claim to have discovered the first planet originating from outside our galaxy.


The Jupiter-like planet, they say, is part of a solar system which once belonged to a dwarf galaxy.



This dwarf galaxy was in turn devoured by our own galaxy, the Milky Way, according to a team writing in the academic journal Science.
The star, called HIP 13044, is nearing the end of its life and is 2000 light years from Earth.



The discovery was made using a telescope in Chile.


_50025153_eso1045a-2.jpg



Link - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11775803
 
"In 1972, an unusually bright meteor from space was witnessed bouncing off Earth's atmosphere, much like a skipping stone can bounce off of a calm lake. The impressive event lasted several seconds, was visible in daylight, and reportedly visible all the way from Utah, USA to Alberta, Canada. Pictured below, the fireball was photographed streaking above Teton mountains behind Jackson Lake, Wyoming, USA. It was possibly the size of a small truck, and would likely have created an impressive airburst were it to have struck Earth more directly"

earthgrazer1972.jpg
 

VIXIS- Captain Klaa, we have a target in sight. A probe of ancient origin.
KLAA- Difficult to hit?
VIXIS- Most difficult.
KLAA-Good
KLAA- All weapons to my control. Scope!
KLAA (after destroying Pioneer 10)- Shooting space garbage is no test of a warrior's mettle. I need a target that fires back.
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From net- PIONEER 10 SPACECRAFT SENDS LAST SIGNAL
"After more than 30 years, Pioneer's last, very weak signal was received on Jan. 22, 2003.
Pioneer 10 was launched March 2, 1972, on a three-stage Atlas-Centaur rocket. Pioneer 10 reached a speed of 32,400 mph needed for the flight to Jupiter, making it the fastest human-made object to leave the Earth; fast enough to pass the moon in 11 hours and to cross Mars' orbit, about 50 million miles away, in just 12 weeks.
The spacecraft was the first to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter.
Following its encounter with Jupiter, Pioneer 10 entered the outer regions of the solar system.
At last contact, Pioneer 10 was 7.6 billion miles from Earth, or 82 times the nominal distance between the Sun and the Earth.
As Earth's first emissary into space, it is carrying a gold plaque that describes what we look like, where we are, and the date when the mission began.
Pioneer 10 will continue to coast silently as a ghost ship into interstellar space, heading generally for the red star Aldebaran, which forms the eye of the constellation Taurus (The Bull). Aldebaran is about 68 light-years away.
It will take Pioneer 10 more than two million years to reach it."

The "Hi we are here" plaque on Pioneer 10-

pioneer_plaque.jpg
 
Derelict at Baikonur: The Buran (Blizzard) spacecraft was the only completed and operational space shuttle vehicle from the Soviet Buran program. The Buran completed one unmanned spaceflight in 1988 before the cancellation of the Soviet shuttle program in 1993
buran.jpg
 
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