The New Curiosity Shop has just launched a new kind of course. A mix between a science course and a history course, The Story Of Apollo will take learners back to the cold war era to examine the cultural factors and the engineering that made possible the US moon missions and the eventual landing of …
 To celebrate the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the worldâs first Dark Sky Discovery Sites were unveiled yesterday at Newbattle Abbey College in Dalkeith in Scotland. The grounds of the college are particularly well suited, providing a site sheltered from the light pollution of Edinburgh, but still being close enough to be easily reached by the local …
Worldâs first Dark Sky Discovery Sites announced in Scotland Read More »
Government ministers have called for science teachers to work harder to attract pupils to science. It appears that Scotland is no longer the leader in science education that it used to be, falling behind countries like Kazakhstan, Slovenia and Armenia. The biggest gap in cool science is in the crucial earlier years, from primary school …
On Tuesday, two satellites, Kosmos 2251 and Iridium 33, collided in the sky above Siberia. Experts are watching the debris cloud as it expands, trying to keep track of each piece dangerous to space navigation. Spaceweather.com is broadcasting a live audio feed of the radar tracking signals as the pieces of satellite pass over the …
NASA has announced the names of the researchers who will start the Lunar Science Institute. The seven scientists will head research teams in a number of areas of lunar science, all directed towards making the best use of future lunar exploration. While the engineering work on a new manned spacecraft system is under review, possibly …
Cloisters 22, the latest edition of our magazine is out now. It’s our Christmas edition, with lots more to get your brain teeth into, while your dentures tackle another mince pie. If you want to make any comments please add them to this post. Have a jolly old Christmas, and a romping New Year. We’re …
Spacecraft watchers have found a new object to track as it orbits the Earth. Edward Light saw an orbiting tool bag using 10×50 binoculars as it sailed over his backyard in Lakewood, New Jersey, after sunset on November 22nd. The toolbag had been dropped during a spacewalk by shuttle astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and has proved …
Solar physicists are happily tracking a new group of sunspots called Active Region 1008. This is something of a relief as the Sun has exhibited a long period of inactivity recently.
REMEMBER: never look at the Sun directly and especially never look at it through any kind of optical instrument. For tips on safe solar observing see the Spacepod site or take a course with the NCS Astronomy Department.
Warnings were buzzing around the Internet yesterday that Asteriod 2008 TC3 was on a collision course with the Earth. The 3m asteriod was predicted to hit in Northern Sudan around 3.46am (BST) this morning. Meteorologist Jacob Kuiper issued a warning to Air France KLM that some of its aircraft may be in the vicinity when …
Well, we’ve just had a solar eclipse, so the lunar eclipse can’t be far away and, right enough, it’s due tomorrow night. Let’s hope there’s a break in the rain tomorrow night so that UK observers can see it.
