Extraterrestrials do exist , but don't try talking to them

World's leading scientist Stefen Hawkins says that extraterrestrials are out there and we humans should avoid them . We are all aware of the fact that aliens are one of the biggest mysteries of our Universe. He believes that aliens are not just in planets but also in stars or may be even they are floating in interplanetary space .His logic is that the Earth is not the only place where life has evolved and we need to find out that how the aliens look like.

He has published his documentary series where in one scene shows nerds of two- legged herbivores browsing on an alien cliff - face where they are picked off by flying , yellow lizard- like predators . Another shows glowing fluorescent aquatic animals forming vast shoals in the oceans thought to underlie the thick ice coating Europa , which is one of the moon of Jupiter.

Hawkins is using these scenes to lead us to serious thought that the aliens could be intelligent and can pose threat to human lives.

He says that aliens could just raid our planet for resources and then move on.

Acoording to him , " We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet . I imagine they might exist in massive ships , having used up all the resources from their home planet . Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads , looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach."

Hubble Space Telescope turns 20

Our Hubble Space Telescope is turning 20 this Saturday on 24th April.

To mark the anniversary enjoy these incredibly beautiful images taken by Hubble.

Spiral Galaxy M81 is located 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

Bubble Nebula also known as NGC 7635.

This is an image of the Butterfly Nebula, aka NGC 6302. It was created through the death of a bright, hot central star

This is the image of Mystic Mountain .The image shows a mountain of dust and gas rising in the Carina Nebula. The top of a three-light-year tall pillar of cool hydrogen is being worn away by the radiation of nearby stars, while stars within the pillar unleash jets of gas that stream from the peaks.



Hubble Space Telescope took advantage of a rare opportunity to record Saturn when its rings were edge-on, resulting in a unique movie featuring the nearly symmetrical light show at both of the giant planet's poles .

Happy Birthday to Hubble !

Great past of Ancient Chinese Astronomy

I was amazed to know that ancient Chinese invented the first planetarium and that too it was made by an emperor . The planetarium used to be a big enclosed place with stars and constellations on the inside. The person using the planetarium would sit in a chair that was hanging from the top of the enclosed dome. Here not to be mistaken we Ancient India and Astronomy too had a great past on ancient astronomy.

Ancient Chinese astrologers in year 2300 BC used to observe total solar eclipse to forecast the health and successes of the emperors and if they were unable to do the predictions correctly they used to be beheaded. They used to predict solar eclipse by analysing Moon's motion.
It is believed that astronomy used to be government's activity in ancient China. The astronomer used to track solar , lunar and other planetary motions and what these phenomenon meant to the ruling emperors.

Solar eclipses, infrequent and dramatic, were important enough to be recorded in chronicles and on "oracle" bones."Oracle" bones are pieces of animal bones and tortoise shells inscribed with astronomical observations, that were probably used for divinations.

Records of solar eclipses from the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) are found primarily in two official histories: the Han-shu and the Hou-han-shu. However there are no records of eclipses from the Ch-in dynasty which came just prior to the Han dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC).

Total solar eclipse were found in Ming Dynasty. Accurate eclipse can be used to determine the rate of Earth's rotation.

Lyrid meteor - Another meteor shower this April

I love to watch meteor shower , and my previous post describes about Leonid meteor shower .

Coming this week on 22nd April Lyrid meteor peaks . Lyrid meteor is named after its constellation from where it originates and it peaks on 22nd April a day after when the Moon will reach its first quarter phase.
Lyrid shower is producing meteors from 16th April to 25th April and will peak about 2o meteors per hour after midnight 22nd April. You can have a better view of meteor shower as the Moon will set before the meteor shower activity.

You can expect high meteor shower before the dawn. Since , last few decades viewers have found 60 meteor shower per hour.

If you want to view these meteor shower then go out with your friends and family in your lawn or terrace before midnight, face eastward, and look about halfway up. After midnight, looking overhead will probably net you the most meteors.

I have not been very lucky in watching these amazing meteor shower due to cloudy skies.
Do share your experiences , if any , regarding viewing of meteor shower.

GSLV failure - a set back for India's space program

There is a set back for India's space program , GSLV D-3 , the satellite launch vehicle showcasing its indigenous cryogenic technology , trailed off its designated course and went out of control shortly after lift-off from the spaceport on 15th April , 2010. India was having a great expectation from this launch as it would have become the sixth nation to successfully deploy the cryogenic technology joining US , Japan , China and France .
The rocket and its two payloads - satellites GSAT -4 and GAGAN - crashed into the Bay of Bengal after ISRO failed to receive any communication from the vehicle .
It took 17 years to develop cryogenic motors as US opposed import bids in 1992.
The powerful booster technology using super cooled liquid fluid is designed to put heavier satellites into high orbits about 36 ,000 km from Earth.
This was second time in six launches that a GSLV mission has failed.
ISRO Chairman Dr.K. Radhakrishnan said , " The mission objectives are not met fully. Everything was fine till the end of the second stage at around 293 secs . The cryogenic stage is supposed to fire almost half the velocity to give the thrust to inject the satellite in its geostationary arch. We are not sure if the engine ignited ."

Water everywhere on Mars and Moon

Yes water, water is everywhere on Moon and Mars.......Ice deposits at least 6 feet can be found in some small craters on the Moon it was reported by researchers on 12 th April 2010 as the studies showed evidence of water on Moon and Mars .
According to one of the recent studies ice has melted and re-frozen on Mars.
India's spacecraft Chandrayaan has found evidence of thick ice being deposited on some permanently shaded craters on the Moon. Researchers say that Moon has been constantly bombarded with water-bearing objects such as comets and meteorites and implanted with solar wind hydrogen over geological time and some of this material must have made its way into these cold, dark areas.
One of the study showed that 6-feet wide gully on Mars had become nearly 400 feet longer over 2 years and it can be best explain the melting of small amounts of water ice.
Photographs also show dark patches in gully as well as in some smaller new channels.
In September last year several teams reported clear evidence of water likely frozen on desert surfaces of both Moon and Mars and researchers have also seen snow in Mars.

Apollo 13 could have become a space tomb

We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Apollo 13 mission . As we know that Apollo 13 was the third Apollo mission which was supposed to land on the Moon but unfortuntely a mid oxygen tank rupture caused sufficient damage to force the landing to be aborted .

According to the new study if the NASA's rescue plan had not succeeded in bringing the capsule back to Earth in 1970 then sadly Apollo 13 would have got drifted on a never- ending journey billions of miles in space as a tomb, carrying frozen bodies of the crew members.

Computer simulations by a team of software experts in Philadelphia have shown that lunar gravity would have sent the spacecraft and its astronauts to a creamation in the Earth's atmosphere after only five weeks.

Has your HiWish come true ?

Has your HiWish come true ?
Yes, the first eight pics chosen by public and imaged as a part of the HiWish project using the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), has been released . It consists of collapsing volcanoes, boulder strewn plains and dune-filled valleys on the red planet.
Only 1% of Mars has been imaged by HiRISE and there is whole planet to be discovered. Near about 1000 suggestions have been received and you can still log in and add your suggestions.

First 8 images which have been imaged are of Samara valles which extends in total over 1,000 kilometres across the southern highlands

gently sloping towards Mars’ northern lowlands in Chryse Basin , thousands of boulders lining the rim of an ancient crater in the region Utopia Planitia ,


northern lowlands and the southern highland lobate debris apron in Deuteronilus Mensae is full of pure ice ,


Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System, a seven kilometre high cliff is crumbling underneath the weight of the volcano, bumpy, eroded terrain found on the floor of Palos Crater,



weathered by water erosion from a time long ago when the a river running in the 180-kilometre long valley Tinto Vallis breached the walls of Palos Crate ,dust concealed in a hill outside a 30-kilometre wide crater in Zephyria Tholus which is a hill which has uncertain origin ,


icy layers at Mar's north pole
and region filled with plateaus and mesas called Aureum Chaos reveals volcanic and sedimentary deposits stacked up in layers along cliff faces .



Enjoy these amazing pics of Mars !