Latest shuttle launch to the ISS has been delayed.

What are the chances of being hit by a meteorite??!!

I'm very dubious that he was actually hit by the meteorite.

I've seen this story reported in a couple of places now, and apparantly the meteorite didn't just 'bury itself in the road' - it is reported to have blasted a crater in it.

If the blast was enough to leave a crater in a road, I dread to think what a direct hit would have done to human flesh and bone.

My money would be on a near-miss, with the blast knocking him off his feet - and a piece of debris from the blast causing the scar on his hand.

However - I wouldn't like to speculate on whether the shock has made him get the sequence of events slightly confused - or whether it's a case of deliberate embellishment.

He won't be just confused when Mars whacks him on the bonce in about 2 billion years

Sadly today's shuttle launch has been delayed again. Launch date is now July 11th.

University of Colorado team finds definitive evidence for ancient lake on Mars

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-uoc061709.php

A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has discovered the first definitive evidence of shorelines on Mars, an indication of a deep, ancient lake there and a finding with implications for the discovery of past life on the Red Planet.

Interesting idea.....

Follow Apollo 11 "as it happened" via Twitter.

Apparently you can now see the ISS in daylight.

I don't know if this has been mentioned (in this thread); there is a handy site to have bookmarked. It lets you find the times when the ISS, and the shuttle, can be seen from your location.

http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdat...United+Kingdom

There is a very large thread on the subject. See http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=635503

Launch seems to have been successful.

There has just been a new tweet. I think this is going to be quite an interesting thing.

LRO and LCROSS both have Twitter pages:

http://twitter.com/lro_nasa
http://twitter.com/LCROSS_NASA

Both operating normally

Amazing pictures of Saturn. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8113627.stm

Stunning.

Amazing HD video of the Japanese satellite just prior to impacting the moon.

Caroline Porco, head of NASA planetary imaging team for the Cassini, and I think Voyager missions, was interviewed by Jane Garvey on Woman's Hour this morning, Radio 4, 10am.

She asked her what Saturn "smelled like".

Fascinating story here.

"One Giant Leap" on BBC 2 right now.

NASA manager pitches a cheaper return-to-moon plan.

Here's a link to a video of it.

Can anyone tell me what the low, very bright (i'm assuming) planet is in the sky tonight - approx SE direction?

Jupiter

12:30 - 1am-ish it was south-east, very low.
I've been watching it through a telescope about half an hour ago.
As I'm typing this (4am-ish) it's shifted to pretty much due South, and about twice as high as it was at 1am
Still visible but sky is brightening fast.

If you get the chance to point binocs at it, you can see 4 of it's Moons in a straight line, either side of it - and you can follow their movements from night to night as they 'dance' around the planet.
Tomorrow night (Friday night) the moons,from left to right will be:-
Callisto, Europa, Io to the left of it, and Ganymede over to the right

Thanks for your info.

Just taken a look. Didn't think I'd see her tonight as we've had cloud all day, but the sky's very clear tonight. Alas, my binoculars aren't strong enough, although i think i can make out one of the moons.

I love this pic:

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/pla...ter_family.jpg


Have you ever been to the Keilder observatory?

Yep - at least half a dozen times
Including a coupla visits up to it while it was under construction.

I know Kielder very well - often go to the campsite near the castle - which is pretty much just down the hill from the observatory.
Usually take my own telescopes, and use them from the campsite - no light-pollution up there, so when the sky is clear, it's simply stunning. Excellent location for an observatory.
There's also two 'Star-Camp' events up there per year (Spring and Autumn), when the campsite is taken over for almost a week by amateur astronomers and their scopes - with talks and trade-stalls up at the castle - I rarely miss one of those