A Quote by Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal of Great Britain



Telescopes are in some ways like time machines...
They reveal galaxies so far away that their light has taken billions of years to reach us. We in astronomy have an advantage in studying the universe, in that we can actually see the past. We owe our existence to stars, because they make the atoms of which we are formed. So if you are romantic you can say we are literally starstuff. If you're less romantic you can say we're the nuclear waste from the fuel that makes stars shine. We've made so many advances in our understanding. A few centuries ago, the pioneer navigators learnt the size and shape of our Earth, and the layout of the continents. We are now just learning the dimensions and ingredients of our entire cosmoc, and can at last make some sense of our cosmic habitat.



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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Tragic loss - in memory of Neil Armstrong!


In memory of a legend who passes away today. I decided to write this post for Neil Armstrong (82). For a man who is so famous, that his name is still studied, and will be studied in the future, by children all over the world. A man who in everybody's eyes is a hero and the frontier of space exploration, lived such a normal and simple life. Thought I should share some interesting facts about him (Courtesy:TOI)

1. After flying combat missions during the Korean War, he became a test pilot and joined Nasa's astronaut program in 1962. 

2. As he stepped on the moon's dusty surface, Armstrong said: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." obviously we all knew this about him from our good old text books.

3. Armstrong's pulse was measured at 150 beats per minute as he guided the lunar lander to the moon's surface, Nasa said. Asked about his experience on the moon, he told CBS: "It's an interesting place to be. I recommend it." 

4. In 2005 Armstrong was upset to learn that his barber had sold clippings of his hair to a collector for $3,000. The man who bought the hair refused to return it, saying he was adding it to his collection of locks from Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein and others. 

5. Despite his quiet nature, Armstrong once appeared in a television commercial for the US automaker Chrysler. He said he made the ad because of Chrysler's engineering history and his desire to help the company out of financial troubles.

I meant to upload this video (http://youtu.be/gkCxJ4hUhv8) on youtube for a very long time, but I lazy'ed it until today. Maybe it was meant to be for this day. I thought I should atleast do this much for a man who did so much for Mankind. RIP Neil Armstrong. You will be remembered.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

One crazy fact about Curiosity's landing on Mars!

Definitely a major milestone in Space exploration. Let me start here by congratulating NASA.

Just in case you did not know:
1. It takes 14 minutes for the signal from the Rover to reach Earth.
2. It takes approximately 7 minutes for the Rover to land on Mars after it touches the Mars atmosphere.

Here goes the crazy fact: By the time, we, on Earth, get the signal from the rover that it has touched the Mars atmosphere, the rover has already landed safely or got destructed somewhere!!

Everything was automatic, with no chance for course correction. With more than 500,000 lines of code and Zero margin of error... Absolutely phenomenal !!

Check out some cool videos on the NASA website:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=18895

Credits: www.nasa.gov