Earth and Sky Observatory in New Zealand sits at a height of 1029 meters (3375 feet) above sea level atop Mount John. Flanked by the township of Lake Tekapo, the observatory has one of the clearest astronomical views in New Zealand, taking a look at galaxies and a night sky that is only available from the southern hemisphere.
A man made object has exited the boundaries of our solar system for the very first time. NASA says the 36 year old Voyager 1 spacecraft is now out of our solar system, and at a distance of 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun. There have been several claims over the past year of Voyager having left the solar system, but this one is official.
Starry Light is a handcrafted lamp with the hemispherical shade carved into a pattern so it projects the images of constellations and stars to its background. The lamp features constellations from the Northern Hemisphere’s equinoxes and solstices, although the creators do accept custom builds so you could get one built specifically for your location.
German firm ZA Architects has come up with a concept idea for the colonization of Mars. Since the first step to building a colony there is to have habitable areas, or at least shelters, the concept suggests that such shelters or caves be built underground. The idea is to send minimal resources from Earth, except solar powered robotic machines that would then get to work building hexagonal shaped structures on the red planet.
Back in the ’60s and ’70s, space exploration was kicking all kinds of ass. In those decades, humans would set foot on the moon within just 65 years of humans learning to fly airplanes. Of course, the space industry and the world at large was abuzz with action. The drawing table saw a lot of work as space shuttles were required, and these renderings show what developed into the space shuttles we know today.
Carl Sagan made quite a show with Cosmos in the ’80s. Well, it’s a bold new world now, and the old show needs a reboot, and who better than Neil deGrasse Tyson to do that. Checkout the first trailer for Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey, while awaiting the show’s official release in 2014.
Humans have often looked into the sky and seen Saturn, but never have we known what our Earth would look from the vantage point of that planet. Well, now we do. As usual, it’s the pale blue dot in the sky. Saturn is 900 million miles from Earth, and the Cassini spacecraft has been hanging out with the beautiful ringed planet for a while now.
Planetary Anatomy takes a surrealistic look at the celestial bodies in our solar system. Apparently, if you crack them well enough, the insides take on quite an appearance, which in our mind looks quite similar to fruits. Well, that explains Galactus.
Design student Shea Draney spent a good amount of time coming up with this concept watch. Taking some inspiration from space and astronomy, the designer worked the visualization to suit his ideas. The face of the watch is intended to represent a black hole, while the number rings represent an entirely different idea from astronomy in the shape of orbits.
If you’re rich enough, you can buy all the luxuries and expensive materials that can be on offer. Even so, it is not often that one gets to have an audience with something that represents a milestone in human achievement. What I’m talking of here, is steel taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the first ever successful manned flight to moon.