Hey! Doesn't the moon just suck? Wanna see it get punched in the face?



There. Take that, moon. Brightest impact explosion ever observed. The moon knows what it did.

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How Electric Spacecraft Could Fly NASA to Mars

I remember being pretty jazzed about ion engines. You know what TIE in TIE fighter stands for?

Twin Ion Engine.



You are going to watch that seven times in a row.

http://www.space.com/21199-space-electr ... gines.html

Now, electrical engines. They should be more efficient than chemical engines, by being more lighter and not needing liquid fuel.

In the long run, he said, nuclear-powered electric engines may prove among the best options for getting to Mars, but that technology isn't ready yet. Currently, the equipment to conduct nuclear fission is too massive, and requires hydrogen fuel, which is difficult to store for long periods, Carpenter said. A viable nuclear-powered spacecraft has not yet been flown.

Eh, these things take time. TIIIIIIIIIIIMMEEE!!!
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My God! You guys! A rogue planet is going to slam into the Earth!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm

Except it isn't. Ever.

Remember that? It was pretty funny. Well, the guys from the new Star Trek movie thought so, too.

http://www.space.com/21165-star-trek-ni ... lanet.html

"One thing I love about 'Star Trek' is working with so many contrasting environments," Chambliss said. "Nibiru is the antithesis of the Klingon planet and both are completely different from Earth."

But, here is a real thing...
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Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth This Month

http://www.space.com/21189-huge-asteroi ... 98qe2.html

This thing will come close, but not as close as the last one. This one is about 15 times the distance of the moon. But its big. 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers). It's still a good thing we have people finally starting to notice these things.
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Faster Than Light Speed?

http://www.space.com/21140-star-trek-wa ... sible.html

Green chicks may be in the future.
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Gany's Galaxy

Alright guys, Dwarf Planets!

First off, let me say that Neil deGrasse Tyson is a stone-cold badass.



Look at his space tie!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, some years ago, he was the recipient of hatemail from some extremely pissed off small children. This was all down to the "Pluto Controversy" in which scientists (including Tyson) decided that Pluto was not considered a regular old planet anymore, but the first in a new category of planets called the dwarf planets.





Basically, up until about 12 years ago, we didn't really have a super-specific definition of what actually qualifies a body to be called a planet. So some rules were decided upon, and poor old Pluto got bumped. The rules include that the planet must have "cleared its orbit" or at least be the dominant body in that orbit , and Pluto did not qualify for this one in particular. You see, what with all our new fancy telescopes, we were able to observe the area of our solar system in which Pluto resides. Astronomers always thought there was something a bit out of place with Pluto, as it has a very eccentric orbit and even crosses the orbit of Neptune, which as we know is a strict no-no when it comes to planets. It didn't really fit; we have the rocky terrestrial planets nearest the Sun, then the gas giants after that, and then..... teeny weeny icy rocky Pluto kind of hanging out at the back. (Pluto is only about 66% the size of our own Moon.)




Anyway, astronomers noticed that Pluto wasn't alone out there, and was in fact surrounded by a butt-load (that's the scientific unit for dwarf-planets) of little tiny planets just like Pluto in size, composition and eccentricity of orbit. So it was decided that a new category of celestial object be created for Pluto and it's companions - the dwarf planets! There are five fully recognised dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake, with four more that are "almost certainly" dwarf planets: Senda, Orcus, Quaoar, and 2007OR10 (they kind of dropped the ball naming that last one). It is estimated, though, that there could be up to 200 of these little guys out there by the Kuiper-belt, they are just extremely hard to see due to being so small.




Poor old Pluto isn't even the King of the Dwarf Planets, because Eris is actually a little bit more massive. Man, Pluto just can't catch a break. If you want to hear all about it I recommend watching this talk by Neil deGrasse Tyson on the subject, he was on the committee that decided the rules for planet qualification, and like I said - stone-cold badass.



Read more!
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/pro ... ject=Dwarf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_plan ... cteristics


P.S. It's okay guys, Neil and Pluto go way back, see?
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Here is a hip-hop song about Pluto...they're gonna steal his lunch money next.


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Share on Facebook and Twitter, in remembrance of Pluto. Never forget.