Europe launcher puts Spanish, S.Korean satellites into orbit
Dec 31, 2010 Space
An Ariane 5 heavy rocket lifted off from Europe’s space base on French Guiana Wednesday and put into orbit the South Korean Koreasat 6 and Spanish Hispasat 1E telecommunications satellites.
Google Earth Engine Tracks Environmental Changes Worldwide [w/vid]
Dec 31, 2010 Space
Search engine giant, Google, has been making news again in December 2010. First, it unveiled Google eBooks and then, a week later at the COP16 talks in Cancun, the company announced Google Earth Engine. The new, free online technology tracks environmental changes worldwide by comparing sattellite images taken over the past 25 years from the LANDSAT satellite.
Manatees paddle to warm water to escape Fla. chill
Dec 31, 2010 Space
People aren’t the only ones in Florida who don’t like cold weather. Manatees – those giant aquatic mammals with the flat, paddle-shaped tails – are swimming out of the chilly Gulf of Mexico waters and into warmer springs and power plant discharge canals.
Food Allergies on the Rise in the U.S.
Dec 31, 2010 Space
Food allergies are more common today than ever, with the biggest offenders being peanuts, eggs, milk and shrimp.
The Year in Amazing Scientific Discoveries That Weren’t
Dec 31, 2010 Space
That we can even have this category has nothing to do with science “failing,” but with how science has been sucked into the 21st century information cycle. Call it the 24-hour-newsing of science. Maybe it has a little to do with science being awesome and normal people now being served science news on a more regular basis and how the popularization of science is outing religious fundamentalists/science deniers and how important science literacy is in
Researchers: Heat From Exhaust Could Be Harnessed For Improved MPG
Dec 31, 2010 Space
If you’ve ever crept along in gridlock and noticed the floor of your car getting a little warm, or ’seen’ all the heat energy escaping from a hot exhaust pipe on a cold day, you know that exhaust systems send a lot of heat right out the tailpipe—heat that could potentially be put to use. What…
How Humans Helped the Earth in 2010
Dec 31, 2010 Space
As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, what have we as a species done to help protect this planet we call home?
A Year in a Photo: The Sun’s Path
Dec 31, 2010 Space
Can a single picture sum up all of 2010? In a way, yes. Follow the sun’s path over the course of a year in analemmas past and present.
APOD: 2010 December 29 – Solstice Lunar Eclipse at Moonset
Dec 31, 2010 Space
Hugging the horizon, a dark red Moon greeted early morning skygazers in eastern Atlantic regions on December 21, as the total phase of 2010’s Solstice Lunar Eclipse began near moonset. This well composed image of the geocentric celestial event is a composite of multiple exposures following the progression of the eclipse from Tenerife, Canary Islands. Initially reflecting brightly on a sea of clouds and the ocean’s surface itself, the Moon sinks deeper into eclipse as it moves from left to right across the sky. Opposite the Sun, the Moon was immersed in the darkest part of Earth’s shadow as it approached the western horizon, just before sunrise came to Tenerife.
Russian space officials fired over failed launch
Dec 31, 2010 Space
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has fired two space officials over a failed rocket launch that resulted in the loss of three satellites.