A new multimillion-rand telescope in the Karoo will offer astronomers an unprecedented view of the stars. The MeerLICHT instrument in Sutherland will be specifically linked to the MeerKAT radio telescope array near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape. Unlike its bigger brother SALT (Southern African Large Telescope), the MeerLICHT is meant …
"The match was declared closed at the loss of one planet.' This could well have been the closing statement of anyone doing a running commentary on the proceedings of the 26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (iau). The meeting held at the Czech capital, Prague between August 14 …
In the first week of October 2006, Valencia in Spain will host the 57th meet of the International Astronautical Congress. On the meet's anvil will be legal issues related to space exploration, matters pertaining to international cooperation in remote sensing and the issue of government and private sector forays into …
Till 1999, India's space programme was focussed on application-driven projects. Sending satellites to space with an eye to immediate benefits. But that didn't mean that space scientists weren't nursing the desire to explore space from more of a pure science perspective. At an annual meeting of the Indian Academy of …
freshness sensor: Grocers, florists and even pharmacists may soon have a better way to monitor the quality of products they get from suppliers: a sensor that will tell when a product spoils. A team of University of Florida (in the US) engineering students has designed and built a prototype of …
On March 13, 1930, the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, usa, announced the discovery of the ninth planet of the Solar system, bringing an end to an exactly 150-year old search. On March 13, 1781, the German-born English astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822), more or less accidentally discovered Uranus using the biggest …
garlic safety: Researchers from UK's Liverpool John Moores University claim that a garlic supplement may reduce the risk of heart attacks in patients with coronary problems. Led by Khalid Rahman and Gordon Lowe, the scientists found aged garlic extract decreases the chances of formation of blood clots. The extract targets …
Further indication has been received about the existence of water on Mars, intensifying expectations of the possibility of finding life on the planet. The High Resolution Stereo Camera (hrsc) on board Mars Express, the European Space Agency (esa) probe exploring the planet, shows a giant patch of water ice nestled …
heady odour: US scientists have found how odours generate signals that eventually travel to the brain. As per the current knowledge, our sense of smell converts odours into brain signals, just as our vision converts light into brain signals. But the researchers at the Johns Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical …
a team of us astronomers has found a planet that most closely resembles the Earth from among the 150 discovered so far outside our solar system. About 7.5 times as massive as the Earth, the new planet, possibly rocky, is located just 15 light years away from us. It travels …
lake on mars: Claims that life exists on Mars were boosted when scientists recently declared they saw the remains of a frozen sea on the planet's surface and speculated the ice may hold preserved organisms. Planetary geologists led by John Murray of Britain's Open University said the evidence comes from …
farthest galaxies: The most distant cluster of galaxies yet has been revealed by astronomers to lie 9 billion light-years away. That beats the 8.5 billion light-years' distance of the previous record holder, says Christopher Mullis, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, US, who led the team. The new …
astronomers have found the most powerful explosion in the universe, which they say has been created by a supermassive black hole. The eruption was witnessed using the Chandra x -ray Observatory of the us National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The huge eruption is reported from the hot, x -ray emitting …
function illus() { var popurl="image/20050131/38-chart.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=600,height=400,scrollbars=yes") } After a 20-year lull, scientists are once again setting their sight on the moon. With past cruises to the moon throwing up new and perplexing questions rather than satisfactory answers, lunar scientists have an onerous task ahead. Among the questions to which they …
On the future of lunar exploration The future of lunar exploration is to witness a healthy competition, though a rat race cannot be ruled out completely. I think it should be more like an Olympic race where everyone gets the best from themselves. But it should not be a race …
On the future of lunar exploration The future of lunar exploration is to witness a healthy competition, though a rat race cannot be ruled out completely. I think it should be more like an Olympic race where everyone gets the best from themselves. But it should not be a race …
On changes in the manner space technology is evolving, and its effect on lunar explorations One of the major changes currently happening in lunar exploration is that space technology is no longer a prerogative of large organisations. It is being evolved at the level of individuals. Smart-I is a good …
Direct observations of sunspot numbers are available for the past four centuries, but longer time series are required, for example, for the identification of a possible solar influence on climate and for testing models of the solar dynamo. Here we report a reconstruction of the sunspot number covering the past …
