Chad’s News

The video in the linked article is from the International Space Station, and shows the stabilizing effect of gyroscopes. The demonstration is done in zero-gravity, and the “gyroscopes” are portable CD players.

Link: http://www.neatorama.com/…

This article is one of the more readable explanations that I’ve seen of how universes are created. It’s short and concise, yet manages to cover topics from quantum multiverses to what may exist outside of our universe.

Link: http://www.time.com/…
(via digg)

The linked video is a bit long, but definitely worth watching. Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson discusses the mechanics of being sucked into a black hole (spaghettification), as well as the possibility of the asteroid 99942 Apophis hitting Earth (and killing a lot of things in the process). Tyson also appeared on The Daily Show, where he covered some of the same topics.

Link: http://fora.tv/…

This theory contends that the interior of the universe is simply a replication of the information on its outer surface. And since the 3-D (okay, 4-D but let’s keep this simple) interior can hold much more data than the 2-D surface, the internal information has a granularity, sort of like what happens when you expand a bitmap image. It sounds pretty bizarre, but there are mathematical and experimental results that may back it up. The “blurring” threshold is believed to be about 10^-16 meters, which is measurable by existing equipment.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/…
(via NAACAL)

Back in 1961, astronaut Gus Grissom took two rolls of dimes into orbit on the Liberty Bell 7 spaceflight. Upon returning to Earth, Grissom’s capsule sank in deep ocean waters and he was forced to leave the coins behind. The capsule was retrieved in 1999, and the dimes now reside in a space museum.

Link: http://www.associatedcontent.com/…
(via New Scientist)

The linked article covers several theories on the astronomical basis of the Star of Bethlehem. The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter was just recently announced and is my favorite, especially since the period between the major conjunctions was 9 months.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

The ultimate gift for the geek in your life.

Link: http://dsc.discovery.com/…
(via Bureau 42)

Here’s a beautiful picture of the Milky Way, taken from Utah.

Link: http://www.brightnightgallery.com/…
(via The Presurfer)

The US space shuttles have self-destruct systems that can be activated from the ground during the first two minutes of flight. I guess this makes sense—if the shuttle were to unexpectedly divert its course and crash in a heavily populated area, mass death and destruction would ensue. Better to destroy the shuttle and its crew. The linked article has a picture of the actual self-destruct console.

Link: http://www.popularmechanics.com/…
(via digg)

In an update to this Chad’s News post, here is the video of the astronaut throwing the boomerang while inside the international space station.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/…
(via digg)

In an update to this Chad’s News article, it turns out that, yes, a boomerang does work in zero gravity. Although the boomerang he used is not your standard bent piece of wood.

Link #1: http://www.news.com.au/…

Link #2: http://www.newscientist.com/…

This is an interesting week for space events. On Wednesday night there will be a total Lunar eclipse. And the US military is planning to shoot down a defective spy satellite, possibly as early as Wednesday.

Update: The missile strike was successful.