Millions of people witnessed as the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from a frigid Florida morning on January 28, 1986, carrying Christa McAuliffe – a teacher from New Hampshire chosen as America’s inaugural civilian astronaut. Although companies are creating technology to help clean up space debris, fragmentation remains an issue. Researchers study this phenomenon by […]
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Have you ever found yourself looking up on a sunny day and wondering why the sky appears blue? Turns out there’s an excellent explanation! The color of the sky is determined by how sunlight interacts with our atmosphere. Sunlight passes through air molecules, scattering in all directions with blue hues being more heavily dispersed than
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Engineers usually place decommissioned spacecraft into graveyard orbits to reduce the likelihood of colliding with active satellites or even other spacecraft. However, larger objects like space stations that don’t explode upon reentry are sent to a spacecraft cemetery located at Point Nemo in the Pacific Ocean. What is a spacecraft cemetery? Spacecraft cemeteries are designated
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Both Voyager spacecraft are outfitted with 10 science instruments, including two cameras capable of taking detailed images of planets and their rings, magnetic fields and the interaction between light as a wave and particles. Voyager 1 returned a haunting portrait of Earth in 1990 that Carl Sagan called “Pale Blue Dot.” Since then, its data
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Students can act out the life cycle of a plant. Start by having students curl themselves into tight balls as seeds. Under optimal conditions, seeds sprout and become seedlings, before developing into mature plants producing flowers and setting seeds which are dispersed through wind, water or animals, continuing the cycle. Seed Every plant begins life
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We currently possess 8,400 publicly available photos of the Moon, hundreds of hours of video footage, and mountains of scientific data pertaining to its formation and structure – plus 382 kilograms of Moon rock! On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin from Apollo 11 became humanity’s first steps on another world. Six
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President Kennedy pledged that by the end of this decade, one person would land on the moon through Apollo missions. This timeline charts their history. On 20 July, Armstrong and Aldrin prepared for their lunar landing by unhinging Eagle from Collins’ command module and docking it to their lunar module Eagle. Apollo 1 President John
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Heath McKenzie brings brilliant fun and entertainment to the science of light and colour, starting with his audience-pleasing WHY? question. His illustrations and humor will surely become firm favorites among children of all ages. Sky BLUE took an early advantage, when Kerr sent a pass to Raquel Rodriguez who deftly maneuvered past two Portland defenders
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The sky is actually an intricate mosaic of many colors depending on time of day and weather conditions, with blue being created by sunlight being scattered by particles in the atmosphere – shorter wavelengths like blue tending to be scattered more often than others such as violet. Air molecules scatter blue light, while larger particles
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