Churchill Science

Everybody’s favorite ringed planet is in the news again!

Pretty amazing. It seems that everywhere we look in the solar system, there are things to surprise us. The speaker in this video is a little hard to understand, but he said something very interesting – that the salt in the water, plus other discoveries they made, mean that there are the right chemicals for possibly creating life. Forget life on other planets – we should be looking for life on other moons!

During yesterday’s launch, the space shuttle suffered some damage. Some foam tiles, which protect the shuttle from burning up when it enters Earth’s atmosphere, have fallen off or were scuffed. So far, as this news report says, NASA doesn’t know how much damage there is. There are also different options for fixing the damage if it turns out to be a big problem.

Try rubbing your hands together very fast – you can feel the heat building up. This is what happens when a flying object like a spaceship lands on a planet or moon with an atmosphere. The ship rubs against the air in the atmosphere and a LOT of heat is built up. This is because of a force called friction. It’s super-important to have a heat shield so that the ship won’t burn up. A few years ago, the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed because of damage to its heat shield.

From Ask an Astronomer…

The number to focus on is the 2nd one – the number of years. On Saturn, for example, I’m only about 1 year old!

Ever wondered how many Earths would add up to one Jupiter? How many Saturns would balance out one Sun? Find out with one of our favorite websites ever, the Planet Mass Comparison. Click one of the pictures below to try it yourself:

One Neptune = 9,501 Plutos!

14 Earths = 1 Uranus.

OK, OK, there’s actually no cosmic scale out in space weighing planets. This is actually measuring mass, which is a bit different than weight. Weight depends on where you’re standing. For example, you’d “weigh” a LOT more if you were on Jupiter or the Sun. (Not that you would survive long enough to get on a scale.) You even weigh a tiny bit less when you’re up in the mountains than you would at sea level. But you are the same size, with the same amount of “matter” inside your body, no matter where you are.

We were debating the other day why this planet might be on its side… what do you think?

Jupiter. What a monster…

Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active place in the solar system.

Top 5 Reasons Europa Rocks!

Aliens of the Deep and Mission to Europa – explains how it’s possible for life to exist away from the Sun’s energy. Could one of Jupiter’s moons also contain life?

A futuristic, fictional look at what exploration of Europa might look like.

Click here to learn more about NASA’s mission to the Hubble Space telescope. Includes step-by-step visuals about what the astronauts will do, information about how the telescope works, and video about the mission. Also, some of the best photos that Hubble has taken of our universe!

Brief video explaining the Hubble mission and introducing the astronauts…

Launch of the space shuttle to begin this mission…

Some of Hubble’s best work!

Want to explore Mars? You don’t need to build a multimillion dollar satellite or send a rover. Instead all you need is a web browser and Google Mars:

Click on the image to try!

Also, if you have the latest version of Google Earth on your computer, you can access Google Mars in 3D! Highly recommended!

This is an animated video showing the journey of the Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, to Mars.