Stunning images of space taken from a shed
Here’s a great story in the Telegraph about an amateur stargazer who tricked out his garden shed in the U.K. and surprised professional astronomers around the world with his top-notch images.
space
Floating spherical robots dance in space
I just had a major “the future has arrived” moment when I saw this video, taken aboard the ISS, of three spherical robots doing precision formation flying in zero-g. Note that the video embedded above is clearly time-lapsed–they’re not actually moving that fast. Here’s another video (with inevitable Strauss accompaniment) that shows two of the bots orbiting each other at actual speed. They maneuver using compressed carbon dioxide. It’s all part of MIT’s SPHERES project. [via BotJunkie]
Handmade telescope
I received the most special gift this Christmas. My husband, Chris, was holed up in our garage most nights since November, feverishly working on a secret project for me. He’s never attempted woodworking before, but tackled this project with absolute determination. I’m a huge space geek, and have been fascinated with the night sky almost […]
Marvelous night for a (Saturnalian) moon dance
From the International Space Fellowship website: To celebrate the holidays, the Cassini imaging team has created a video collection of “mutual events,” which occur when one moon passes in front of another, as seen from the spacecraft. Imaging scientists use mutual event observations to refine their understanding of the dynamics of Saturn’s moons. Digital image […]
AXM Paper Space Scale Models
Our own Rachel Hobson spotted this awesome collection of papercraft real-life spaceship models from AXM Paper Space Scale Models, which are freely available for download. [via CRAFT]
Eavesdropping on the moon, circa 1969
In July, 1969, a ham radio operator named Larry Baysinger, from Louisville, KY, used a 20-year old radio from an army tank and a homemade folded dipole antenna array to listen to the Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon. This page is an archive with the original newspaper piece, photos, PDFs of a couple of […]
Y-Wing bunk completes a scifi bedroom
If the kids aren’t keen on slumbering Empire-style consider this excellent example of Rebel-based bedding. Wow – hard to believe the home its installed in is up for sale! [via Gizmodo] More: Star Wars AT-AT loft bed
