An Age of Magic

I’ll have two tickets to Mars please

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Believe it or not but scientists reckon we are just two years away from space tourism becoming a reality. A special rocket-powered plane that will allow tourists the chance to travel around space is currently in development and will start flights in two years - 2010.

Now granted, those keen enough to spend the £50,000 per ticket will only be able to fly 37 miles above the earth but it will fly at twice the speed of sound and will offer those onboard the viewing spectacular of a lifetime. Ordinary, albeit wealthy, people will be able to see the earth as people like Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have also done.

You have to admit it would be an amazing experience, but I am not too sure I would be brave enough to do it. I like the earth from this perspective - on the ground.

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Your last chance to see a REAL lunar eclipse - for 7 years

Here is your last chance to see one of natures most wondrous delights… a true lunar eclipse that will not re-occur for another seven years.

Night owls can catch one of the great spectacles of the night sky early tomorrow morning - the last “proper” total eclipse of the moon for seven years.  If the skies are clear, those who brave the cold will see the earth’s shadow take a “bite” out of the moon just after 1.40am.  At 3am, when the total eclipse gets under way, the moon will turn blood-red for 52 minutes as it passes completely into shadow.

 The shadow will then slowly retreat until partial eclipse ends at 5.09am.  Although lunar eclipses take place around twice a year, this will be the last time one will be visible from the whole of the UK until 2015.  A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, earth and moon form a straight line and the earth’s shadow falls on the moon.

It may not be as dramatic as a solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the sun, but it can be looked at directly with the naked eye, unlike with the precautions required to view a solar eclipse.  

Eclipse watchers are advised to stand away from street lights and use binoculars or a telescope-for an even more dramatic-view.  The moon will start to dim just after 12.40am as it passes through outer part of the earth shadow.  However, the true partial eclipse begins at 1.43am when a “bite” will appear on the edge of the full moon.

At 3am the earth’s shadow will cover it completely.  It should change colour because the only light to reach it has passed through the earth’s atmosphere, which scatters blue light, but allows red light to pass through unaffected.  This is the same effect that turns sunsets red and the sky blue

This is one of natures treats that should not be missed!

Popularity: 64% [?]

Marvellous Mercury

Dramatic new pictures have revealed the unseen side of Mercury in detailed images taken from a Nasa spacecraft orbiting the planet.Astronomers saw the “dark side” of Mercury for the very first time when the spacecraft flew within 125 miles of the planet’s surface and took 1,200 high resolution images.

The reason the solar system’s smallest planet is so elusive is due to its close proximity to the sun. The light from the sun makes Mercury difficult to see from Earth and when spacecrafts have flown close to the planet on previous occasions only one side has been bathed in sunlight while the other has been shrouded in darkness. 

The new pictures from the Messenger craft show features as small as six miles across on the planet which is 57 million miles away from Earth.

Among many new sights, the picture shows the full Caloris Basin, a huge impact basin more than 620 miles across that sits on the border between the known and previously unknown regions of the planet.  More unprecedented images of the tiny planet are expected as the spacecraft completes three flybys of Mercury before settling into orbit in March 2011. For so long we have viewed these magnificent astral neighbours of ours, to be able to see them in close up is just fantastic.

Popularity: 53% [?]