Ever thought the scientific methods and reasoning behind the Big Bang theory should be something we know more about?

Today is being toted as a milestone for mankind and science as the first collision test, a successful run of a massive particle collider, took place just outside of Geneva.

Scientists first utilised the LHC – Large Hadron Collider, a 26 kilometre underground loop, and shot a particle beam around it – which for the first time completed the entire loop. Why is this significant in the Big Bang theory? It means the scientific world is verging on the chance to shoot two accelerated beam particles towards each other at 99.9% of the speed of light.

The smashing of the two particles will create hundred and thousands of new particles – and effectively replicate the effects of the Big Bang by recreating the much-theorised conditions of the universe after its formation.

Scientists believe that the Big Bang took place some 13 billion years ago, and happened with a dense object which could be as small as a coin, which created the planets and stars (and life as we commonly accept it).

If you were excited about last year’s lunar eclipse, you would have been equally thrilled at the prospect of a rare partial solar eclipse yesterday.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, causing our view of the Sun to be blocked. Yesterday’s spectacle was the first in three years – the next is scheduled in the astronomical calendar for November 14, 2012.

New Zealanders first saw the eclipse in the early evening, just before 6:00pm, when the Moon blocked nearly half the Sun. See what all the fuss was about in this stunning footage of the eclipse…

Post your comment at YouTube and find more information on space in our NZ astronomy category.

In my perambulations around the Web the other day I discovered a very geeky site, that I have since used quite a bit, called Galaxy Zoo.

Astronomers have taken over a million pictures of galaxies in space – and now they need to categorise them. Currently, the only way that we can categorise galaxies is by having a person look at a picture of a galaxy and then decide whether it’s an elliptical or spiral shape. It turns out that computers can’t really do this job very well at all, so what a group of astronomers have done is provide the Galaxy Zoo website, where anybody can categorise galaxies after a quick ten minute tutorial.

The thing about pictures of galaxies is that some of them are quite spectacular; hence the site can be quite addictive. It’s very cool to be part of a real astronomy science project too.

Find more fascinating astronomy facts in the NZS.com directory.

Image from Flickr.

This week I heard about the Dancefloorguru hip space tune ‘Moving To Mars.’ The music video is epic and the song rocks, so you absolutely have to check out the video below. The lads from Dancefloorguru are based in Dunedin and do gigs there and around Queenstown, but one day I think they could go INTERSTELLAR!



Post your comment at YouTube.Check out other talented New Zealand bands on NZS.com.

Ever heard of a fellow called Jack Parsons?

He was a dedicated occultist who co-founded America’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It has been reported that “before each rocket test launch, Parsons would invoke the god Pan.” The New Zealand relationship? Sir William Pickering of New Zealand is the most famous Director of JPL.

Wernher von Braun is widely recognised as the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in America, but he held Jack Parsons in high regard… “von Braun remarked that Parsons, and not he, should be regarded as the father of the American space program.”

In 1952, Jack Parsons died in an accidental explosion of fulminate of mercury at his home laboratory, but there is an interesting connection between Pan and Apollo. “Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill.” Of course, the US went on to name their most influential rocket program Apollo (originally meaning “the destroyer”). In addition, the new Orion (God of Hunting) capsule designed to carry people to the moon will be launched by the new series of rockets Ares (God of War).

Why has America gone for such provocative names for their rockets? Why didn’t they choose some nicer Gods like Eros, Aphrodite or Hestia? Why did they choose Greek Gods as a naming convention in the first place?

All in all, a series of interesting coincidences and I’m sure Jack Parsons will be smiling in his grave. There’s little wonder conspiracy theorists have a lot of fun in America!

On March 29^th, 2007, The European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement for the installation of a transportable telemetry station at Awarua. Southland is located on the launch trajectory of ESA’s Spaceport launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana. Located just south of Invercargill, the tracking station will be used to track the Ariane 5 launcher as it manoeuvres its payloads to the International Space Station.

After extensive preliminary analysis, the Awarua site was selected due to its excellent visibility of the Ariane 5’s trajectory. Civil works, road adaptation, concrete platform, power, telecommunications and fence construction started in January, 2007.

It’s superb to see Venture Southland take an active interest in pursuing space science projects. Robin McNeill from Venture Southland sums it up nicely in a Listener article quote:

“Most Kiwi kids feel that space science is something that happens overseas. But it’s happening here in Southland – that’s inspiring!”

We may be at the bottom of the world, but we’re on the aliens’ radar.

A mysterious, dome shaped object was spotted in the sky on April 28th, 2007, near Kaitaia in the Far North if New Zealand. Our buddies at UFO Focus New Zealand have taken a look at photographs of the as-yet-unidentified-flying-object and declared that the object seems to be a craft, a view backed up by an international expert. Dr Bruce Maccabee said the craft appeared to be of a circular shape, with a dome shaped top.

The lucky onlooker who captured the UFO photos watched the UFO for five minutes as it manoeuvred north, before eventually disappearing. Adding to the ‘mystery’ factor, there were no scheduled flights in the area at the time and the Carter Observatory has ruled out the possibility that it could be a meteorite or space junk.

While there’s no comment on whether the photos may be a hoax, the series of images would have required hours of work to pull off. Until further information comes to light, Northland’s unexplained flying object remains (officially) a UAP, or Unusual Aerial Phenomenon.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for other odd things in the sky…

Now, I’m not as certified space mad as our resident space cadet (you know who you are), but I do find space entirely fascinating, mysterious and enthralling. It’s the whole ‘unexplored expanse’ thing that gets me.

I still remember my dad (ever the adventurer) standing on the lawn with us in 1986 – I’d heaved my gumboots on to gaze skyward, neck aching, hoping to catch a glimpse of Haley’s Comet. To this day, I’m not sure I did actually see the comet (it might have been a smudgy star and it was a cloudy night), but it’s a great memory for what it’s worth. For those of you who share a curiosity about the universe, you’ll be rapt to hear that…

A lunar eclipse will be visible from New Zealand on August 28th!

A lunar eclipse is when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon. When this happens, the sun’s light can’t reach the moon’s surface and the moon enters the Earth’s shadow. Cool, eh? Keep your eyes skywards from around 8:51pm (the actual kick-off time is 7:52pm, but it won’t be visible until later) and stay tuned to the night sky between 9:52pm and 11:23pm, when the moon will be fully eclipsed. During this time, the moon will be a deep, coppery red, as the Earth’s atmosphere casts red light onto the moon’s surface. Take some time to ponder these lunar facts:

• Lunar eclipses can occur as many as three times in a year.
• If you were on the moon, the Earth would block the sun’s light and you’d see the dark Earth, ringed by light.
• Lunar eclipses last a maximum of 3 hours and 40 minutes, with a fully eclipsed time of 1 hour and 40 minutes.
• Lunar eclipses can be predicted using the Saros Cycle.
• Ancient civilizations feared eclipses and saw them as cosmic signs of famine and disease to come.
• Even today, some cultures are superstitious about eclipses (people in the Arctic turn over their utensils to prevent contamination and the Japanese cover their wells so they won’t be poisoned)

Oh, and Christopher Columbus predicted a lunar eclipse in 1504, to impress the native Jamaicans with his power and might, so why not play a trick on one of your more gullible friends? If you want to find out about other amazing things out there in space, visit our NZ astronomy category.

Kiwis in space? That’s the dream of space addict and entrepreneur, Mark Rocket, and the team at Rocket Lab.

As codirector, Rocket is right behind the developments of Rocket Lab, a private space company whose 5.5 metre sub-orbital rocket is due to be launched in September 2008. As well as this latest feather in his cap, Rocket is director and founder of NZS.com, and has a successful tourism directory and Web design company to his name.

Rocket Lab’s technical director, Peter Beck, has been hard at work developing rocket propulsion technology for more than a decade and yesterday unveiled Atea-01 (’atea’ means ’space’ in Te Reo Maori), a sub-orbital space rocket. Beck said the rocket “will be launched using systems designed to deliver high standards of environmental and public safety.” It will fly to a height of 150 kilometres and be available (at a going rate of between $50,000 and $100,000) for scientific testing and research into climate change, micro gravity and atmospheric conditions. Traveling at four times the speed of sound, the unmanned rocket will be powered by a specialised solid fuel, designed for minimal environmental impact.

What makes New Zealand such a great location for space technology development? Rocket says our clear air space and receptive regulatory environment make New Zealand the perfect location for space technology to flourish. Speaking this morning, Rocket is looking foward to a bright future. He has enjoyed “a superb response since Rocket Lab’s public launch yesterday” and is “very excited about the prospect of forming a space industry in New Zealand.”

Trevor Mallard, Minister of Economic Development, agrees. He has praised Rocket Lab’s creative vision and believes their innovative, low cost solutions will not only provide relatively affordable public access to space; they’ll also lead to the creation of an internationally respected sub-orbital space industry in New Zealand, with positive flow-on effects for our aviation and technology sectors. Mallard says Rocket Lab shows pioneering creativity, “leveraging off New Zealand’s unique geographical position and creating a specialist area of technical expertise.”

Stay tuned for further developments: Rocket claims space hotels, launch pads and space lines are all part of the private space industry’s current speedy development.

Now, of course, New Zealand hasn’t sent astronauts to the moon and we’ve never had a Kiwi astronaut. Actually, we’ve never sent anything into space from the Land of the Long White Cloud, BUT we do have some serious space connections.

One of my heroes is Wellingtonian, Sir William Pickering; he was the Director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1954 to 1976 and established himself as a senior NASA luminary. Pickering was extensively involved in America’s unmanned programme to explore the Solar System and appeared on the cover of TIME magazine twice. In my opinion, he’s right up there with Sir Ed but doesn’t get the same recognition. As an aside, I think New Zealanders generally don’t recognise our heroes enough (unless they play rugby), so it’s superb to see The New Zealand Edge site celebrate inspirational New Zealanders.

Many talented Kiwis have made significant contributions to space research:

• Frank Bateson, OBE, was instrumental in establishing the Mount John Observatory near Lake Tekapo and he founded the Variable Star Section (VSS) of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand. The VSS observed variable stars and collated reports on stars from both professional and amateur observers throughout the world.
• Professor John Hearnshaw is a Professor of Astronomy at Canterbury University who is internationally recognised for his research on extrasolar planets.
• Lester Waugh emigrated to Britain in 1974 and then went on to become an engineering manager in charge of designing the ExoMars Rover. For five years he had worked with a team on getting a small British spacecraft on to the surface of Mars. It got there, but unfortunately that was as far as things went, as nobody was able to contact ‘Beagle 2′ once it landed.
• Professor Beatrice Tinsley performed ground-breaking research on how galaxies change and evolve over time and became Professor of Astronomy at Yale University.
• Though not technically a New Zealander, former Cook Islands Prime Minister Sir Thomas Davis was a graduate of Otago University and later went on to serve as the Cook Islands’ High Commissioner to New Zealand. During his early career he became a Space Surgeon for NASA and researched the biological effects of humans in space.

Check out this interesting article on New Zealand astronomy which mentions many key New Zealand astronomers.

And what about future New Zealand space heroes? In the past, space has been dominated by a select few government funded agencies, but now we’re starting to see a vibrant private space industry developing internationally. New Zealanders will certainly have a part to play in this.

Whether our forefathers came from Hawaii, Taiwan, England or wherever – they were explorers. New Zealand is geographically located on the fringe, the edge of civilization; those early explorers and immigrants couldn’t go any further. With our psyche and spirit of endeavor, I believe this century will see New Zealanders play a significant role in the physical exploration of space. Exploration is genetically ingrained in our population and space is the next frontier.