How on Earth? » The universe

The most admired pictures from the Hubble Telescope

Farida Mannan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:50:08 +0000

European Space Agency ESA

Farida Mannan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:38:28 +0000

European Space Agency captured the interest of our Year 6 class today .I have put on a link to their site which has lots of information about the work of the ESA along with some fun things for you to try. CLICK HERE or CLICK ON THE LOGO below.

Chasing Comets- The International Rosetta Mission

Farida Mannan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:52:35 +0000

Rosetta, the European Space Agency satellite has been on course to land on a comet in about four years time. Last night and tonight Rosetta passes very close to the Earth. Click here or on the picture to view some cool video animations of the satellite

Life on the Moon

Farida Mannan — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:15:49 +0000

Breaking News…Breaking News…..Breaking News..

Indias’s probe to the moon, Chandrayan, has discovered evidence of water in the lunar surface. Although the dust which covers the moon appears as a fine dry powder, it seems that there are water molecules locked away within its minerals.This means that in future if ever we were to go a nd actually try a live on the moon we could probably extract the water , a basic need for life.

Considering that the moon was actually formed from Earth along time ago, it’s only natural that we find water there! I wonder what else they will find there….gold, uranium and other very precious metals probably! I predict that a mining and drilling mission to the moon will be next. Watch this space…!

Space Exploration

Farida Mannan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:37:47 +0000

Go to the National Geographic Time LIne to see how space travel has evolved. Click Here.

Atlas of The Universe

Farida Mannan — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:29:44 +0000

This site is especially recommended by a Falcons Girl on the Hubble Telescope Post. I must say it’s an EXCELLENT find.
Well done for recommending it to How on Earth?, KoolkatFreak.

Click Here or on the picture to go onto Atlas Of the Universe

The Hubble Telescope

Farida Mannan — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:52:15 +0000

Year 5 have just begun their topic on Our Universe.

In recent years we have been very fortunate at obtaining images of galaxies and other space objects through the Hubble telescope.

CLICK HERE to look at some of these beautiful and exciting images.

If you would like to find out where the Hubble Telescope is right now, then CLICK HERE.

The Largest Full Moon for 15 Years!

Farida Mannan — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:31:31 +0000

If you watch out for the Moon tonight, you will see the largest FULL MOON for 15 years.
The Moon has a slightly oval orbit . Tonight the Moon will be at the closest point to the Earth at the same time as it reaches the FULL MOON phase in its 28 day lunar cycle. This means that , clouds permitting, it should be the brightest and the largest it has been for 15 years. There should also be some meteorites passing through.

I hope that you get a chance to witness this awe inspiring natural event! If it is cloudy, CLICK HERE to see how it should look!
If you want to find out more about the PHASES OF THE MOON, then CLICK HERE .

This National Geographic Video ( CLICK HERE) is an excellent source of information about the formation and facts regarding the moon.

A Black Hole at CERN ?

Farida Mannan — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:47:44 +0000

Picture courtesy of CERN

So many of you have mentioned the experiment at Cern to me that I thought it was worth another mention!

The scientists at Cern have been completing a very long circular tunnel ( LHC Large Hadron Collider) deep underground for the last few years. Finally, they completed it this year and then began to cool it using liquid nitrogen gas. They have managed to cool it to the lowest temperatures known anywhere on Earth.

This Wednesday, 10th September, they started the actual experiment: accelarating particles in the tunnel at very fast speeds. They are hoping that the particles will collide and smash each other up, releasing even smaller particles which they hope to detect.

There are some people very worried about the possibility of a Black Hole being formed under these extreme conditions which would absorb everything around it. This is what some of you are also worried about.

Well, these collisions are happening around us all the time, only we can’t detect the particles being released as they disperse or change far too quickly, before we can get our detectors out and run after them. So, basically, at Cern, the super brains have created these collisions in a closed space so that the particles can’t escape and are easier to detect.

Whether the released particles are detected or not is pure chance. They are hoping that by varying the conditions and trying different experiments we will be able to solve some of the mysteries regarding the creation of this Universe. Who knows, we might actually find more mysteries the deeper we go !

If you want to find out more, click here!

CERN

Farida Mannan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:45:31 +0000

Hi All,

If I have been quiet it is because I was visiting a place I learnt about when I was at school many moons ago. I went to CERN in Geneva where they are trying to solve the mysteries of the Universe. Some questions they are investigating include:

What exactly happened at the time of the BIG BANG?
Can we recreate the beginning of the UNIVERSE on a small scale?
Can we create a BLACK HOLE?
Can we find the GOD particle?

They have built a circular tunnel which runs about 100m underground . The radius of the circle is about 4.3 km; If the Falcons Girls was the centre then the edge of the circle would be at Hammersmith! Inside the tunnel are very powerful MAGNETS which surround a blue tube. In the blue tube the scientists will run two beams of very tiny particles, PROTONS. Each beam will travel in opposite directions, eventually travelling almost at the speed of light . The magnets ACCELERATE the particles and are also used to bend the beams slightly when required. The protons COLLIDE every so often releasing enormous amounts of energy. The whole tube has to be constantly cooled to about -270 degrees Celcius or it would get too hot and there would be a meltdown. Along various points of the tunnel there are DETECTORS which detect the collisions. All the information is sent off to COMPUTER FARMS: rows and rows of computers which analyse and store data from these experiments.
The scientists are trying to test their THEORIES abut the creation of our world. They are looking for EVIDENCE of particles which they have PREDICTED. It will take quite a few years to carry out all the experiments they need to do and to analyse the results. Their own computers can only cope with about 20% of the data so now they have created THE GRID. It is a network of computers set up at scientific research facilities all across the world. In London, Imperial College is very active in this research.

I am sure that you all know about WWW, the World Wide Web. This was created at CERN. Now you must look out for WWG the World Wide Grid, also created at CERN.

Has all this captured your imagination? If you want to find out more click here to go to the official CERN site.
All the best,

Farida Mannan