Archive for the “Space” Documentary

Space Debris

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The issue of space debris is something people can’t fail to talk about now since it has proven to be a problem. Some of the thing that man will stand to loss is the satellites which have used millions of money to build and maintain up there in the skies. Those space debris are estimated to have accumulated over the years following the many space missions that have take place in the past. People have already suggested a robot be sent to help in the cleaning of the space but the questions is how ? These are some of the dangers man has found himself in.

It is said the greatest expedition man ever took was making a trip to moon, form this point onward man conquered the skies. Perhaps one astronaut that is famous for making that daring trip to moon was Neil Armstrong who together with his colleague became the first people to ever set foot on the moon. Such space missions have been carried through out the world and the significance they have brought to man have been great. Unfortunately a problem has presented its self in the space threatening the space missions. That problem is the space debris. These are usually organic or inorganic object that hang on the orbit of the skies.

Since that first tour to the moon man which made man conquer the skies, man has used the space by posting satellites which have promoted the development of communication in our world today. The communication that we enjoy today could not have been had the satellites not been posted in the skies. These instruments are suspended in space and are believed to revolve around the axis of the earth. Unfortunately with the recent surveys that have been conducted in the skies reveal the existence of space debris is destroying these satellites and unless the problem is solved the world risks losing very important satellites that play a major role in our lives.

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Could Neptune and Pluto Ever Collide?

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On January 21, 1971, Pluto crossed Neptune’s orbit making Pluto the 8th planet from the Sun. On February 11, 1999, Pluto crossed back over Neptune’s orbit to regain its position as the 9th planet from the Sun. It will stay this way for over 200 years. A visual image of the two planets’ orbits can be seen here.

Neptune Planet Pluto Planet

Despite the “crossing of orbits” between the two planets, they will never collide with each other. This is due to two reasons. The first reason is due to their orbits being in resonance. This means that for every two orbits Neptune makes around the Sun, Pluto goes around three times. When Pluto is close to the crossing point, Neptune is somewhere entirely different on its orbit.

The second reason for no such collision is due to the fact that Pluto has a higher orbital plane than Neptune. According to NASA, Pluto will actually never come closer than two billion kilometers from Neptune.

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The Great Red Spot on Jupiter

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Great Red Spot on Jupiter

The Great Red Spot is a giant storm on Jupiter’s surface. It is similar to a hurricane but much larger in size. In fact, three earths could fit in the size of the Great Red Spot.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was first discovered in the 1600′s by astronomer Robert Hooke. The longevity of this storm is at least partially due to the fact that storm never goes over land. Similar to when hurricanes reach land, they lose steam, but the Great Red Spot never encounters land because Jupiter’s surface does not have any.

This CNN news article from earlier this year suggest the declining size of the Great Red Spot. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have discovered that the size of the storm has decreased 15% between 1996 and 2006.

Its possible that the storm will disappear someday. Glenn Orton of NASA says “the Great Red Spot may not always be the largest and strongest storm on Jupiter.” New storms are continually spawning and dying, but the Great Red Spot is still king.

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How Many Shooting Stars Happen Per Night?

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Shooting Star
We must start off by saying that a shooting star isn’t actually a star at all. The streaks of light that we see are actually caused by meteoroids entering our planet’s atmosphere. As the meteoroid passes through the atmosphere it burns up and produces a trail of light. As it burns, we call it a meteor and this is what we mistake “shooting stars” to be. If the meteor doesn’t completely burn up in the atmosphere, it hits Earth as a new name, a meteorite.

Shooting stars can be produced by particles as small as a grain of sand! This being said, there are millions of shooting stars everyday. They happen during daytime hours and nighttime hours alike. When you look up at the sky though, you can only see about .005 percent of the total area of the sky. Even with this limited viewing range, on a typical night expect to see a shooting star every ten minutes to fifteen minutes.

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