The CBC reports that scientists using the new Spitzer Space Telescope (you know, the one that is capable of nailing three hookers a day) have discovered naturally-occurring fullerenes in the dust of planetary nebulae. They theorize that the buckyballs may be responsible for light absorption in space, and that the particles may be very common in space, whereas here on Earth fullerenes are the product of laboratories.
In 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong slowly made his way down the ladder of his lunar landing craft then took a breathtaking leap to place the very first human footprint on the surface of another world. Billions of people sat transfixed in front of television sets all over the world waiting for him to speak. His words, so very carefully chosen in advance, instantly became a fixture of human history forever:
“That was one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”
Yesterday, the communications software aboard the International Space Station was upgraded to provide direct access to the Internet. Astronaut T. J. Creamer took advantage of the technological advance to secure his own place in human history by posting the first unaided Tweet from outer space:
Centuries from now, the future slaps its collective forehead.
This story in USA Today reports that astronomers have identified a solar system in the star system Epsilon Eridani which contains at least three Jupiter-sized planets and could potentially host life on one due to its similarity to Earth.
These days astronomers are finding signs of planets all over the damn place, now that they know how to pick out exactly the right wobble in a star’s spectroscopic data. As of 2006, they were up to 260 observed planets, with more being identified all the time. What has everybody tweaked this time, though, is that Epsilon Eridani is the star system where the Planet Vulcan is located in the Star Trek Universe.
Y’know, guys, I’m having a hard enough time not being totally discouraged about the new Star Trek Movie after seeing this picture of the bridge of the Enterprise, and now you want me to believe that Vulcan is a gas giant in a nearby solar system for reals? I have to draw the line on this “series reboot” stuff somewhere!
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