by Gordon | May 24, 2011 | Interstellar space
Stars are thermonuclear fireballs so massive that as the energy is being blasted out, the core is collapsing under its own gravitational weight. For millions or billions of years, the two forces are balanced in a fearsome equilibrium. Sirius, our brightest star, is in...
by Gordon | May 24, 2011 | Solar system
With an atmospheric pressure 90 times greater than that on Earth and a temperature of 450 degrees Celsius, any man who dared venture onto the surface of Venus would be squashed as flat as a beer mat and baked like a turkey. And don’t be fooled by the planet’s uplands...
by Gordon | May 24, 2011 | Solar system
A comet is a dirty snow ball of fused dust grains and frozen gases. On approaching the sun, it becomes hot and incandescent, the ice on the surface sublimates and the dust is released to form a glowing halo around the comet which is blown into a plume by solar...
by Gordon | May 24, 2011 | Culture and astronomy
It hit the screens in 2010 and now it’s in the heavens as the constellations of Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Cetus, Pegasus, Perseus and Medusa roll across the night sky. It all started with Cassiopeia, Queen of Ethiopia, who boasted that her beauty and that...
by Gordon | May 24, 2011 | Culture and astronomy
The first day of Ramadan (and every other Islamic month) begins at sunset on the day that the new crescent moon is first seen trailing the sun at sunset. In 2010, the first day of Ramadan in Egypt was declared on the evening of the 10th August. If you searched for the...
