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Stephen Hawking

“El futuro de la humanidad está en el espacio exterior”

Carl Sagan ¿quien habla en nombre de la tierra?

Stephen Hawking, entre otros muchos

El famoso astrofísico británico, Stephen Hawking, asegura que la humanidad podría extinguirse en pocos siglos, por lo que es necesario comenzar seriamente la exploración espacial. “Pienso que el futuro a largo plazo de la raza humana está en el espacio. Será difícil evitar una catástrofe en el planeta Tierra en los cien próximos años, sin hablar de los próximos mil años o los próximos millones de años”, dijo Hawking.

El físico teórico de la Universidad de Cambridge cree que la humanidad se extinguirá antes de que concluya este milenio a menos que se encuentre la manera de habitar en otros planetas.

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Documental: El Universo – Las Cosas Más Extrañas

En el Universo ocurren cosas bastante extrañas, aquí encontrarás algunas de ellas.

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Astrofisica news y documentales: La Conquista del Espacio

Noticias videos y dcumentales de Astrofisica.

Over the last 30 years, 192 Ariane rockets, including 48 Ariane 5s, have been launched from The Guyanese Space Centre of Kourou, also known as the Europe Space Port. The story does not stop here. New classes of rockets will be launched soon, among other projects. These are the themes on this edition of Space.

EuroNews

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Las hazañas de hubble

Una de las características del HST es la posibilidad de ser visitado por astronautas en las llamadas misiones de servicio (SM, por sus iniciales en inglés). Durante las misiones de servicio se pueden arreglar elementos estropeados, instalar nuevos instrumentos y elevar la órbita del telescopio. Hasta la fecha se han realizado 5 misiones de servicio (SM1, SM2, SM3A, SM3B y SM4). La última tuvo lugar en mayo de 2009 y en ella se produjo la mejora más drástica de la capacidad instrumental del HST, al instalarse dos nuevos instrumentos (WFC3 y COS), repararse otros dos (ACS y STIS) y mejorar otro más (FGS).

Hubble’s Universe: A Flash Of Brilliance

Hubble’s Universe Unfiltered 12 (Nov. 2009): A Flash Of Brilliance

In March 2002, the star V838 Monocerotis flared to 10,000 times its normal brightness. Hubble turned its gaze on the surprising star and captured a series of images of a “light echo.” As the light of the flash travels away from the star, it illuminates more and more of the usually invisible gas and dust around the star. The cause of this mysterious outburst is still unknown, though scientists have some theories.
* A light echo is light from a stellar explosion echoing off dust surrounding the star. V838 Monocerotis produced enough energy in a brief flash to illuminate surrounding dust, like a spelunker taking a flash picture of the walls of an undiscovered cavern. The star presumably ejected the illuminated dust shells in previous outbursts. Light from the latest outburst travels to the dust and then is reflected to Earth. Because of this indirect path, the light arrives at Earth months after light from the star that traveled directly toward Earth.

* Astronomers do not fully understand the star’s outburst. It was somewhat similar to that of a nova, a more common stellar outburst. A typical nova is a normal star that dumps hydrogen onto a compact white-dwarf companion star. The hydrogen piles up until it spontaneously explodes by nuclear fusion – like a titanic hydrogen bomb. This exposes a searing stellar core, which has a temperature of hundreds of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit.

By contrast, V838 Monocerotis did not expel its outer layers. Instead, it grew enormously in size. Its surface temperature dropped to temperatures that were not much hotter than a light bulb. This behavior of ballooning to an immense size, but not losing its outer layers, is very unusual and completely unlike an ordinary nova explosion.

The outburst may represent a transitory stage in a star’s evolution that is rarely seen. The star has some similarities to highly unstable aging stars called eruptive variables, which suddenly and unpredictably increase in brightness.

* The echoing of light through space is similar to the echoing of sound through air. As light from the stellar explosion continues to propagate outwards, different parts of the surrounding dust are illuminated, just as a sound echo bounces off of objects near the source, and later, objects further from the source. Eventually, when light from the back side of the nebula begins to arrive, the light echo will give the illusion of contracting, and finally it will disappear.

* V838 Mon is located about 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Monoceros, placing the star at the outer edge of our Milky Way galaxy.

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Mundos extraterretres Exobiologia

En exclusiva para toda la red, ianuaStella nos trae un documental interesantísimo sobre la naturaleza de exoplanetas, y como es costumbre de la más radiosa actualidad, del 2009 por National Geographic, y que gracias a los últimos descubrimientos, y los futuros que se tendrá con el telescopio Kepler, tendremos una idea aproximada que tipo de atmósfera y superficie y probablemente de vida albergan en esos exoplanetas extrasolares.

Here are some quick facts about the Kepler mission, scheduled to launch March 6, 2009:

- Kepler is the world’s first mission with the ability to find true Earth analogs — planets that orbit stars like our sun in the “habitable zone.”
The habitable zone is the region around a star where the temperature is just right for water — an essential ingredient for life as we know it — to pool on a planet’s surface.

- By the end of Kepler’s three-and-one-half-year mission, it will give us a good idea of how common or rare other Earths are in our Milky Way galaxy.
This will be an important step in answering the age-old question: Are we alone?

- Kepler detects planets by looking for periodic dips in the brightness of stars.
Some planets pass in front of their stars as seen from our point of view on Earth; when they do, they cause their stars to dim slightly, an event Kepler can see.

- Kepler has the largest camera ever launched into space, a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices, or CCDs, like those in everyday digital cameras.

- Kepler’s telescope is so powerful that, from its view up in space, it could detect one person in a small town turning off a porch light at night.

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is a global effort initiated by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.

Vision
Everyone should realise the impact of astronomy and other fundamental sciences on our daily lives, and understand how scientific knowledge can contribute to a more equitable and peaceful society. IYA2009 activities will take place locally, nationally, regionally and internationally. National Nodes have been formed in each country to prepare activities for 2009. These nodes will establish collaborations between professional and amateur astronomers, science centres and science communicators to prepare activities for 2009. Already now, 135 countries are involved and well over 140 are expected to participate eventually.

To help coordinate this huge global programme and to provide an important resource for the participating countries, the IAU has established a central Secretariat and an IYA2009 website (www.astronomy2009.org) as the principal IYA2009 resource for public, professionals and media alike.

IYA2009 National Nodes
IYA2009 is a global project, happening on a local level. Over 130 countries have committed themselves to supporting the Year in any way they can, and are fully embracing the ethos of bringing the Universe down to Earth.

As part of their efforts, participating countries have formed National Nodes. These are groups that coordinate IYA2009 activities for specific countries, and are the places to go to find out what is happening in your area, and when.

400 Years of the Telescope Project

http://www.400years.org

The 400 Years of the Telescope project is an exciting multimedia celebration of Galileo’s first telescopic observations of the cosmos, and the resulting journey of discovery for humanity

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