Galaxies

This is an awesome song on Youtube... because it involves astronomy AND is religious. Yay, Owl City!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPqqeTxz6Tc

Asteroid Glides By Earth... Uncomfortably Close

I was scrolling through Google News, like I usually do, and discovered an article posted today that said,
"Asteroid 2011MD, measuring about 10 to 50 yards, will be passing Earth on Monday at a distance close enough to have drawn the interest of scientists. This distance is approximately 30 times closer to Earth than the existing distance between the planet and the moon, which is approximately 240,000 miles." The article also says that even though the asteroid could possibly hit a satellite orbiting Earth, it's not big enough to survive the journey through Earth's atmosphere. Read the full article here -
http://www.christianpost.com/news/asteroid-to-glide-past-earth-30-times-closer-than-distance-to-moon-51577/

It's SUMMER!

Yay, the last day of school was June 11th! I recently went to the Rock Creek Nature Center/Planetarium and on July 2nd there's a program called "Exploring the Sky". I might be going! Woo-hoo, I love stargazing!

Cool Space Shuttle Experiment.

I was surfing the net when I came across this cool article... check it out...

"A University of Florida experiment sent baby squid into space aboard Monday's launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor. The experiment will test the effects of microgravity on bacteria in the squid, said Jamie Foster, a UF assistant professor of microbiology and cell science conducting the research."

Squid in space... cool, huh! Read the rest of the article here -

http://www.ocala.com/article/20110516/ARTICLES/110519797/-1/entertainment02?Title=Squid-pro-quo-UF-sending-squid-aboard-shuttle

March 2011 Auroras

"A powerful solar flare hurled into space when superhot gases erupted on the sun and caused a display of the aurora borealis for parts of the northern United States overnight. These geomagnetic storms are caused by particles that glow green in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum."

Here are some pictures of the March 2011 auroras.

EDIT: For some reason, the pictures aren't showing up. Sorry =(

These pictures are from - http://www.space.com/10905-spectacular-auroras-northern-lights-photos.html

New Galaxy Discovered!

The Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea has found a surprisingly young galaxy.

According to a media release, astronomers have uncovered one of the youngest galaxies in the distant universe, with stars that formed 13.5 billion years ago, a mere 200 million years after the big bang. The finding addresses questions about when the first galaxies arose, and how the early universe evolved.

See the full article here: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2011/04/13/suprisingly-young-galaxy-found-by-keck-nasa/comment-page-1/

I'm back!

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting in a while. I guess I've been really busy. I'll try to post more often.

Kuiper Belt

The Kuiper Belt is an area of space way out beyond Neptune and the other planets. It's like the Asteroid Belt, but A LOT BIGGER. It's at least... 20 times wider and maybe... even up to 200 times as massive! The asteroids in the Asteroid Belt are made of rock and metal and stuff like that, but the asteroids in the Kuiper Belt are made of frozen chemical elements such as water, ammonia, and methane. There are 3 dwarf planets that make their homes in the Kuiper Belt- Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake. Things in the Kuiper Belt are often called TNOs, or trans-Neptunian objects.

Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture. Saturn is a gas giant, along with Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. Saturn's density is only 1/8 of Earth's but, since it has a larger volume, its mass is a little more than 95 times Earth's mass. Saturn has 9 rings. These rings are mostly made up of ice and dust. The rings orbit the planet at speeds of up to 40,000 miles an hour. 62 known moons orbit the planet, but 53 are officially named. This number does not include the hundreds of 'moonlets' that orbit Saturn. The winds on Saturn's surface are faster than the winds on Jupiter. Saturn's wind speeds can reach 1,800 km/h.