Our Moon's appearance changes nightly. This time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle. As the Moon orbits the Earth, the half illuminated by the Sun first becomes increasingly visible, then decreasingly visible. The Moon always keeps the same face toward the Earth. The Moon's apparent size changes slightly, though, and a slight wobble called a libration is discernible as it progresses along its elliptical orbit. During the cycle, sunlight reflects from the Moon at different angles, and so illuminates different features differently. A full lunation takes about 29.5 days, just under a month (moon-th).
Iran on Friday successfully sent another domestically-made satellite, named 'Navid-e Elm-o Sana'at' (Promise of Science and Industry), into orbit.
The satellite was sent to space following a decree by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday morning via videoconference.
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Science, Research and Technology Kamran Daneshjou and Head of State Spatial Organization Hamid Fazeli attended the control panel for the launch of the satellite.
The satellite, completely designed and built by Iranian experts, blasted into orbit on the occasion of the 10-Day Dawn celebrations, marking the 33rd anniversary of the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Taipei, Feb.11 (CNA) The best observation opportunity for a comet that is approaching Earth will be Saturday until Feb. 24, when its visibility reaches its peak, according to the Taipei Astronomical Museum.
Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) will reach a magnitude of around 6 during the period, which means that anyone equipped with binoculars will be easily able tolocate it, assuming that the skies are clear of cloud, according to the museum.
Discovered in 2009 by an Australian observatory, Garradd will also pass close to globular star cluster M92, forming a rare celestial sight, the museum said.
In remarks at the announcement of the opening of a Vatican Exhibit showcasing photos, research tools and minerals from the Moon and Mars, Father Jose Gabriel Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory, re-confirmed the Church’s stance that the Big Bang and evolution are compatible with Catholic teachings.
“The Big Bang is not in contradiction with the faith,” he said. ”This beauty we see in some way leads us to the beauty of the creator. And also, because God has granted us intelligence and reason, we can find the logos, that rational explanation that exists in the universe that allows us to engage in science as well.”
Solar Tornadoes Dance Across Sun's Surface in NASA Video
A NASA spacecraft has captured an amazing video of solar twisters blowing across the surface of the sun.
The tornado-like eruptions of super-hot plasma were spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is constantly recording high-definition videos of the sun.
The sun tornado video shows swirling fountains of plasma creeping across the surface of the sun during a 30-hour period between Feb. 7 and 8. But unlike tornadoes on Earth, which are wind-driven phenomena, the sun's plasma tornadoes are shaped by the powerful magnetic field of our star.
"An active region rotating into view provides a bright backdrop to the gyrating streams of plasma," SDO mission scientists explained in a video description. "The particles are being pulled this way and that by competing magnetic forces. They are tracking along strands of magnetic field lines."
In the video, cooler plasma material appears as darker spots on a bright background. The SDO spacecraft recorded the video in the extreme ultraviolet range of the light spectrum, giving the movie an eerie yellow hue.
NASA released the new SDO video to mark the second anniversary of the spacecraft's mission, which launched on Feb. 11, 2010. The $850 million spacecraft is on a five-year mission to record high-definition videos of the sun to help astronomers better understand how changes in the sun's solar weather cycle can affect life on Earth. -Source
Dead Sea Scrolls Prophecy Confirmed by Hubble Telescope According to Author
The Dead Sea Scrolls have long been considered a source of great wonder and revelation for the faithful, and now an author is arguing in his new book that the Hubble telescope validates an ancient passage about the universe found in one of the scrolls.
The Hubble telescope, named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, observes the universe with ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared instruments. The Hubble was launched into orbit around the Earth in 1990 and still remains in operation, often capturing intense images of stars, constellations and distant galaxies. In a recent article, The Business Insider listed 10 things Hubble has discovered that science was previously unaware of.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, on the other hand, which were found in caves on the shores of the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956, represent 825 to 870 separate scrolls written mostly on animal skin. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and are divided into two categories – biblical and non-biblical, and contain prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel not found in the Bible. -Source
The Great Isaiah Scroll
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