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Space Tourist Documentary to be shown at Sundance Film Festival

The Russian Space Agency has now sent a number of multi-millionaire space tourists to the International Space Station (ISS).

If NASA goes ahead with the retirement of its Space Shuttle, the Russians willl be extremely busy building new Soyuz capsules to ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS.

Until NASA can come up with a new way of transporting its space crew into orbit, Space Tourists will not be able to make reservations at the Hotel ISS, but instead their only option in the short term will be for a shorter stay at the Virgin Galactic Motel.

Read more: http://bit.ly/8onYEZ

Solar Eclipse opportunities for 2010

Will you be near one? unlikely for the total solar ecclipse opportunity unless you happen to have a Yacht in the South Pacific Ocean on December 21st 2010

Read more: http://bit.ly/6B39TT

Russia wants to build Asteroid Deflector Craft to protect Planet Earth

Apophis is a Near Earth Object (NEO) or in other words a potential planet wrecker worse than many Hiroshimas or Chenobyls, which apparently no space agency is currently tasked with preventing from hitting our planet.

NASA hasn't even been allocated a ring fenced budget for discovering and monitoring NEOs and instead the administration is left to figure out on its own how to fund the search and still maintain all of the other scientific and exploration programs it is mandated to carry out.

So the Russian Space Agency appears to be making the first bold move to propose a NEO mission to learn how to deflect the orbit of these menancing objects and stave off mass destruction, which may or may not come from Apophis.

Read more: http://bit.ly/6FqBuE

Venus Plunger or NEO/Lunar Polar Fetcher?

NASA has whittled down its next mission to another Solar System body to three potential candidates:

1) The Surface and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer or SAGE

2) The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer spacecraft or Osiris-Rex

3) Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return Mission, or Moonrise

Each proposed mission development team will recieve $3.3M to flesh out their proposals and one will be selected in 2011 for the budgeted $650M space mission scheduled to launch no later than 2018.

Personally I would like to see a new mission to Venus, since Moon and NEO are likely to receive scientific funding via the human spaceflight program if Augustine's Flexible Path set of missions is implemented by the Obama administration as an alternative to the current severely under funded Moon then Mars Constellation program.

Read more: http://bit.ly/4ySwTu

Flat bottomed valleys of the Uranus moon Ariel

In 1986 Voyager 2 took images of this Uranus satellite and it was found to exhibits flat profiled valleys which are characteristics of expanding surface crust when compared to similar geological features on Earth.

Due to it being the southern hemispheres summer during the Voyager 2 flyby only the bottom of Ariel could be imaged. However, later on it was discovered that due to sunlight reflected from Uranus's surface, some features of the northern hemisphere could be discerned with more analysis of the Voyager 2 data.

Read more: http://bit.ly/7h0oQ9

A change in opinion on the origins of Galactic Cosmic Rays

Galactic Cosmic Rays are defined as ones which have energies below 1x10^18 eV and they are made up of ions and electrons travelling close to the speed of light. In the past it was believed that Supernova remnants were the likely source of Galactic Cosmic Rays.

But now some scientists are doubting whether there is sufficient occurrences of Supernova within our own Milky Way Galaxy to account for the relentless bombardment from all directions and are turning to extragalactic regions which contain clusters of stars with the potential to go Supernova.

Read more: http://bit.ly/8a3voO

Partially Eclipsed Blue Moon for New Year's Eve

A Blue Moon in astronomical terms is where a Full Moon occurs twice within the same month.

On News Year Eve this Blue Moon will also appear slightly red in Eastern Longitudes due to a partial Eclipse, which means the Earth will come between the Sun and Moon blocking off some of the sunlight getting to the Moon, making it appear dimmer and slightly red.

Read more: http://bit.ly/7KgJwv

From Earth to the Edge of Space and Time and Back Again

From Earth to the Edge of Space and Time and Back Again http://j.mp/6dPeEs

Download the WISE Space mission 2 page PDF fact sheet

Mission overview for the Wide Angle Infrared Survey Explorer http://j.mp/8OuxEO

Watch WISE launch live via Spacevidcast or Spaceflight Now

The Wide-Angle Infrared Survey Explorer is scheduled to launch from the Vanderberg Air force Base in Pasadena, California today between 14:09hrs and 14:23hrs GMT/UTC.  WISE will look for dim objects that have yet to be discovered and map their location for further investigation by more analytical space missions in the future. http://j.mp/PUdak

Hard to imagine that there is a man-made object orbiting that oval speck to the right of the Moon

Image of the Moon up close alongside a distinct but distant Saturn and it's Rings which currently has the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around it. http://bit.ly/4oL6X2

Simulated Explanation for Norwegian Spiral Light Show

Animated simulation of the expected fuel/exhaust plume from a spiralling rocket http://bit.ly/73Ae5P

Red Dwarf Star found in the Great Bear

Ursa Major, the Great Bear, the Big Dipper, the Saucepan or whatever you would like to call it, just got a new star allocated to it, its invisible to our eyes so they will not have to change any constellation maps for which is one of the most recognisable objects in the night sky http://bit.ly/8XMzWt

Press bowled over by Virgin Galactic SS2 launch......almost literally!

Mojavewood Virgin Galactic SS2 event tent demolished by storm minutes after evacuation http://bit.ly/7RVLuS

Saturn's Flying Saucer shaped Moon Atlas

Dust deposits originating from Saturn's rings which have built up around Atlas' equatorial region gives it a distinct UFO appearance http://bit.ly/6n5qBm

Caught between a Neutron Star and a Black Hole

A new class of star has been predicted by Astrophysicists called an Electroweak Star http://bit.ly/7jMnJr

Mystery of Spiral in the Sky over Norway resolved

A combination of halos generated by the early morning sun rise and a failed missile launch from a Russian submarine appear to be the cause of the mysterious UFO over Norwegian skies http://bit.ly/4ptmeS

Strange Spiralling Light observed by many in Norway

Was it a tiny Black Hole, Worm Hole or a UFO? http://bit.ly/7vEOtL

Insight into the Man behind Virgin Galactic

Sir Richard Branson is no stranger to launching major new enterprises and Virgin Galactic is arguably the boldest of them all, which may turn out to be the one he is most remembered for http://bit.ly/82pcKu

Prospects for Mars Rover Spirit Escape are looking Bleak

Attempts to free Spirit will now be hampered further since another drive wheel appears to have failed.  This addition problem which reduces the available traction already compromised by a previous wheel failure earlier in the mission, will make it even more difficult to extricate the rover from its sand trap. http://bit.ly/52Drm2

Discovery Space News interviews Meteorwatch Organiser

Dr Ian O'Neil of Discovery Space News interviews Adrian West of the Newbury Astronomical Society about the upcoming Geminids Meteorwatch and his use of twitter to promote awareness of the event around the world http://bit.ly/6c6wHy

Change to Endeavour STS130 move date from Orbiter Processing Facility to the VAB

Due to an approaching storm, the move of Space Shuttle Endeavour from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) has been brought forward one day.  Endeavour's STS130 mission is currently scheduled to launch on the 4th February 2010 http://bit.ly/7SyOKz

Cassini spots Saturn hexagon cloud formation

Cassini spots Saturn hexagon cloud formation, not seen since the Voyager missions, only just revealed due to the commencement of northern springtime http://bit.ly/5i3LyF

What Drugs Are Our Astronauts On?

Certainly not the recreational ones it would appear http://bit.ly/6LPAqc

A much cooler Extrasolar Planet has been photographed

Positively tropical at a cool 326 degC and at a distance equivalent to Neptune's distance from the Sun, this Exoplanet is in its formation stage and the heat is generated from the gravitational crushing. http://bit.ly/7oxQZd

What would it look like to view Saturn like Rings here on Earth?

Fascinating imagining of what Rings would look like from various latitudes on the Earth's surface during night and day.

Similar to when the Moon is visible, such a large dominant Ring System omnipresent in the night sky (unless you're at the North or South Pole) would create a lot of light pollution due to Sun's illumination, so the trade off would be very poor star-gazing for astronomers. http://bit.ly/6kiHHv

Image Of Saturn System Moon Dione

Cassini discovered that the bright lines on Dione were fresh surface fractures rather than fresh volcanic flows which was suggested by the Voyager science team http://bit.ly/58QTR6

What is inside Asteroid Mathilde?

The internal structure of Mathilde has a density slightly greater than that of water, so what is making this asteroid so lightweight, is it large empty voids, porous rock or something else that is creating such a low overall density. http://bit.ly/7aIwB2

Making the case to go back to Europa

How the surface of Europa formed still remains a mystery despite it being a focus on the relativley recent Galileo mission to Jupiter. http://bit.ly/6DNqAb