Voyager spacecraft are now in an area known as the heliosheath at the outer limits of our sun’s influence, carrying 11 scientific instruments with them for planet observations such as cameras and spectrometers. These travelers have already explored many of the outer planets, leaving behind Golden Records with each one to send a message from…
Planets that orbit stars similar to our own could host liquid water, making its discovery even more significant and helping scientists understand its composition in terms of rocks and materials. Most people believe Venus to be our nearest planet, but in actuality Mercury could actually be closer due to how astronomers calculate distance. Their position…
People generally know the sky is blue, yet few understand its fascinating science behind this optical effect. Color results from waves passing through an object being reflected, refracted or scattered back onto itself with some frequencies being absorbed while others pass right through. Lord Rayleigh first noted that atmospheric particles scatter blue light more strongly…
Every plant begins as a seed. With sunshine and air heat warming its environment, its potential germinates and blooms into an organism capable of growth. Reproducing through either asexual or sexual reproduction, flowers reproduce either through pollen grains reaching part of their carpel called the stigma in order to be fertilised and produce seed. Flowers…
NASA was determined to duplicate Neil Armstrong’s achievement on Apollo 11, so the crew of Apollo 12 under Commander Pete Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Al Bean would make another giant step for humanity. On November 14th 1969, Apollo 12 took flight from Cape Kennedy on board a Saturn V rocket. Following two orbits, they…
Designing a spacecraft involves balancing the needs of various systems, such as structural integrity, communication and life support systems. Furthermore, its design should accommodate different environmental conditions. Spacecraft designers must consider several environmental variables when creating spacecraft designs: steady acceleration; acoustic, random and sinusoidal vibrations; mechanical shock; and pressure profiles. This requires extensive analysis and…
Savannas are open grasslands characterized by scattered trees. These spaces provide habitat to herds of zebras, gazelles and giraffes – plant eaters which have developed unique skills to survive in their environment – such as gazelles running away from predators while giraffes use long necks to reach leaves high up in trees. Baobab Trees The…
Stepping on another planet was truly extraordinary; but how they got there was even more extraordinary. As Eagle entered lunar orbit, Armstrong fired the engine to initiate a powered descent toward its surface; however, after receiving a computer alarm message he began manually controlling his descent path in order to avoid landing in a rock-filled…
The sky’s vibrant blue hue results from scattering of sunlight by Earth’s atmosphere, mostly composed of nitrogen and oxygen molecules smaller than wavelengths of light; they scatter blue light more effectively. Violet and red wavelengths tend to scatter less, thus leaving blue wavelengths for our eyes. Rayleigh Scattering Lord Rayleigh discovered in the 1800s that…
