http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_200911109_apollo11.html

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered an extrasolar planet, for the first time using direct visible-light imaging. The strange world is far-flung from its parent star, is surrounded by a colossal belt of gas and dust, and may even have rings more impressive than Saturn’s.

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Credit:
- ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)
- Visual design & Editing: Martin Kornmesser
- Animations: Martin Kornmesser & Luis Calçada
- Web Hosting: Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ)
- Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen & Raquel Yumi Shida
- Written by: Lee Pullen & Lars Lindberg Christensen
- Host: Dr. J
- Narration: Bob Fosbury
- Cinematography: Peter Rixner
- Music: movetwo
- Footage and photos: A. Fujii, Digitized Sky Survey 2, NASA, ESA, and P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley). Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)
- Directed by: Lars Lindberg Christensen

Dr. J is a German astronomer at the ESO. His scientific interests are in cosmology, particularly on galaxy evolution and quasars. Dr. J’s real name is Joe Liske and he has a PhD in Astronomy.

Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre
Garching/Munich, Germany
• http://www.eso.org
• http://www.spacetelescope.org
• http://hubblesite.org
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Duration : 0:5:2

Technorati Tags: 22, Astro, astronomers, Astronomy, Bang, Big, black, Cast, clusters, Cobe, Cosmic, Dark, Deep, Directly, Energy, ESA, ESO, Exoplanet, Exoplanets, Field, Fomalhaut, galaxies, gamma, Hawking, HD, herschel, Holes, hubble, Hubblecast, Images, JPL, Kepler, Large, Light, mars, Matter, milky, Mission, moons, NASA, nebulae, Observes, Of, Orbiting, Physics, Planck, planet, planets, rays, Sagan, science, Shuttle, solar, space, Speed, Spitzer, stars, Station, Stellar, sun, supernova, system, telescope, Telescopes, Ultra, universe, Very, Videos, VLT, way

Since the Maya calendar and mythology are both based on the underlying astronomy, it can be very helpful to understand this Astronomy. This is fun and easy to do as long as we take it a little bit at a time. It won’t take us very long to lay out all the information yet you may find yourself pondering this subject more deeply for quite awhile. For me personally, the more I dug into this material, the more mind-blowing it all became. Perhaps you will have a similar experience.

- Thomas Razzeto

http://www.infinitelymystical.com
Mystical spirituality for personal and world peace

Duration : 0:9:43

Technorati Tags: 2012, age, Astronomy, calendar, maya, mayan, mysticism, new, science, spirituality

• Identifies celestial objects with the click of a button
  
• Locates over 6,000 stars, planets and constellations from built-in celestial database and provides scientific information for each object
  
• Provides comprehensive text and audio descriptions providing history, mythology and other entertaining information for the most popular objects
  
• Tonight’s Highlights: A customized list of the 20 best objects to view for your exact date, time and location anywhere in the world
  
• Constellation Lessons: if the star you identify or locate is part of a constellation like the Big Dipper, you can actually take a guided tour through all the stars in that constellation and even see an onscreen map of the constellation
  
• Built-in Field Guide Includes: Introduction to astronomy: a six part audio lesson on the origin and history of Astronomy, Glossary of Terms: text defining popular astronomy terms including planets, comets, galaxies and more, Great Astronomers: text bios on some of the world’s greatest astronomers including Galileo, Einstein and Copernicus, Man Made Space Objects: text description of some of the coolest objects man has sent into space including the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Shuttle, Comet Guide: text descriptions about history’s most famous comets including Halley’s Comet and Comet Hale-Bop
  
• SD card slot: for optional -Sky Tour- audio presentations that provide hours of entertainment on a variety of topics
  
• USB port: allows database to be updated with new objects as they are discovered, comets, etc.
  
• Simple enough for all ages: just turn it on and it’s ready to use
  
• Built-in Help Menu: includes a quick start instruction guide for using the SkyScout
  
• Bring it anywhere: compact and light design makes it easy to carry and durable construction makes it safe for rugged environments
  
• Backed by Celestron’s 2-year warranty

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What’s different about the moon tonight? It’s inside your room! Authentically detailed, Moon In My Room hangs on your wall and shines moonlight just like the real moon. Twelve different phase settings let you match what the real moon looks like outside tonight! Listen to the included audio CD to learn exciting facts about the moon and its unique relationship with planet Earth

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the reflecting telescope is commonly used in Astronomy because it is much easier to create a large convex mirror than to create the huge lenses that would be necessary to gather the light to see dim far-away objects

catadioptric telescopes use a combination of curved lenses and mirrors as objectives to collect light. they are good for all-around viewing because they have the attributes of both refractors and reflectors.

But astronomy is interesting. Go outside on a starry night and look with binoculars at Jupiter, the Moon or the Pleiades. You either get hooked or… well, there must be other interesting jobs too. If you like stuffy offices…

In this fourth episode of the Science@ESA vodcast series Rebecca Barnes will identify some of the key discoveries achieved with the famous Hubble Space Telescope, look at the concept of redshift, and meet a new telescope that will be used to uncover the early Universe.

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Named in 2002 in honour of NASA’s administrator during the Apollo programme, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mission is a collaborative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

JWST will address many of the outstanding issues of modern Astronomy related to the ‘Early Universe’ and is expected to yield scientific breakthroughs as did its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope. JWST will be a general-purpose observatory with a suite of astronomical infrared-sensitive instruments.

Compared to existing or planned observatories, JWST will have the unique advantage of combining superb image quality throughout a wide wavelength range, a wide field of view and unparalleled photon sensitivity due to its 6.5-metre diameter telescope primary mirror.

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=29

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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a planned infrared space observatory, the partial successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST will not be a complete successor, because it will not be sensitive to all of the light wavelengths that Hubble can see.

The main scientific goal is to observe the most distant objects in the universe, those beyond the reach of either ground based instruments or the Hubble. The JWST project is a NASA-led international collaboration with contributors in fifteen nations, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Originally called the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), it was renamed in 2002 after NASA’s second administrator, James E. Webb (1906-1992). Webb had headed NASA from the beginning of the Kennedy administration through the Johnson administration (1961-68), thus overseeing all the manned launches in the Mercury through Gemini programs, until just before the first manned Apollo flight.

Current plans call for the telescope to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket in June 2014, on a five-year mission (10 year goal). The JWST will reside in solar orbit near the Sun-Earth L2 point, which is on a line passing from the Sun to the Earth, but about 1.5 million km farther away from the Sun than is the Earth.

This position, which moves around the Sun in exact orbital synchrony with the Earth, will allow JWST to shield itself from infrared from both Sun and Earth, by using a single radiation shield positioned between the telescope and the Sun-Earth direction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope
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Duration : 0:6:42

Technorati Tags: agency, apollo, ariane, Astronomy, canadian, ESA, european, gemini, hubble, infrared, James, jwst, mercury, NASA, observatories, redshift, science, space, successor, Telescopes, universe, Webb

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BEST OF CARL SAGAN’S “COSMOS”:

1) 10 Years After: Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Reflect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTNfwfH0Jc
2) Lost Between Immensity And Eternity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVsDg6U0LU
3) The Realm Of The Galaxies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1axoV6HhWfI
4) Our Galaxy, The Milky Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOazBTHzRYA
5) Our Solar System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqjob-UVeo
6) Eratosthenes And The Round Earth Model:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en5UKtcNujI
7) The Library Of Alexandria:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVQs4B2jAW0
A Short History Of The Universe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2r0qOxJ6k
9) Artificial And Natural Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3uToVWZkWM
10) The Cosmic Year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFqbm_94nTM
11) Tree Of Life – 4 Billion Years Of Evolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0UECN4ndA
12) The Miracle Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOyojWeOYNA
13) DNA – The Common Basis Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmuvjSykf8
14) Abiogenesis The Origin Of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yet1xkAv_HY
15) Astronomy vs Astrology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImaQS9NJ0nI
16) Pictures In The Sky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwCAwc4bge4
17) Ancient Astronomy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-5dwJwau1Y
18) Triumph Of Modern Science Over Medieval Superstition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lfmRqT-B_c
19) The Mysterious Tonguska Event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irVof7adq4s

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Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage”, which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.

A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel “Contact”, the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki’s film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.

During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.

http://www.carlsagan.com
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Duration : 0:8:58

Technorati Tags: Albert, Ancient, Astronomer, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Atoms, Bang, Best, Big, black, Carl, Cosmos, Dark, Dilation, education, Educational, einstein, Energy, Episode, Evolution, galaxies, Galaxy, gravity, Hawking, Holes, Human, Lecture, Light, Matter, milky, Origin, Physics, planets, Quarks, Relativity, Sagan, Sagan's, science, Scientists, Series, SETI, solar, space, Speed, system, Theory, Time, universe, Videos, way