Having enough to fuel a large combustion reaction would require an incredibly large tank to contain it, the opposite of what is needed for an aerodynamically designed launch vehicle. Hydrogen, the fuel for the main engines, is the lightest element and usually exists in gas form. Boosters that require continuous cooling, which causes rockets to … Read more
Crescent gibbous means that it visually widens from day to day, culminating in a full Moon. Crescent gibbous is an intermediate phase of the Moon that begins just after the first quarter, when the illumination is 50%. This is the “Crescent” phase, when the Moon’s illumination grows and covers more than half of the “Gibbous” … Read more
Whether you use a telescope, binoculars or the naked eye, cold, windless nights offer the best observing conditions. Scope Nights works in a similar way to Clear Sky Charts, but collects data from the U. Satellite images are useful for showing current atmospheric conditions, both in visual and infrared light, and how they may evolve … Read more
Your primary goal is to capture exceptional images of the vast starry sky and divine celestial objects; the rest is up to your needs. Our guide can help you find the right telescope, but you also need a good star tracker to go with it. Almost all sky trackers have a built-in illuminated polar finder … Read more
The Big Bang is one of the most fascinating things about our entire universe. In fact, when you sit down and think about it, it can be a little overwhelming! Although however fascinating it may seem, astronomers and scientists believe it to me the most viable way that our universe as we know it formed. … Read more
If you’re just getting started in your astronomy exploration, then a good set of binoculars might be exactly what you need. Whilst many think that you need a super powerful telescope to have any success with astronomy, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In some cases, a decent set of astronomy binoculars might actually … Read more
Because we first went to the moon so many years ago, it’s often forgotten about, with much of the focus over the next decade being on venturing out to Mars (this is what the media portrays at least, with SpaceX and Blue Origin making up much of the news). Though the truth is that we’ll … Read more
The Sun is by far the largest object in our solar system. And as the center of it, most objects revolve around the Sun. This means that all of the planets, including our planet Earth, revolve slowly around the Sun. It’s also thought that the planets spin because of the gravitational pull of the Sun … Read more
The weather on our planet has seemingly changed in recent years, with more and more calls from people wanting us to move towards a greener and more sustainable planet. And with climate change and global warming being on pretty much everyone’s agenda over the past decade, it only makes sense that people question our planet’s … Read more
The core of the Sun is actually relatively small compared to the rest of it, as there’s a lot of swirling gases that surround the core that still make up part of the Sun. We’ve actually been within a few million miles of the Sun without our spacecraft being burnt up into smithereens. The Parker … Read more
Generally, the further that you go away from the Sun, the colder each planet gets. This is the case for most of the planets, but there’s one big exception to that; Venus. Even though Venus is further away from the Sun than the planet Mercury, it’s actually hotter than the smaller planet. But why is … Read more
As the closest planet to us, people often wonder just how close Venus is. The truth is that in reality and in comparison to what we know on Earth, it’s still a very long way away. But in space terms, it’s actually pretty close; Venus is the brightest planet in our sky for a reason, … Read more
Many people assume that the planets get bigger and bigger the further they are from the Sun. Whilst it is true that the planets that are closer to the Sun (the terrestrial planets) are generally much smaller than those further out (the Jovian planets), it doesn’t always work that way. So with this being said, … Read more
Throughout the years, every planet has been depicted as a different color to what it truly is. Jupiter is often seen as red, and Saturn is often shown as being purple in comics and magazines. Another planet you’ve probably seen in a range of different colors in Venus, which I’ve seen represented by the colors … Read more
NASA says they’re going to make their way to Mars within the next decade (after re-visiting the moon again first), and Elon Musk has set his eyes on making the trip even sooner than that. One of the main reasons why Mars looks like a likely next target for most astronomers is that it’s within … Read more
The atmosphere of a planet can vary a lot, and it can make a massive difference to the weather on the planet. Take Venus for example; it’s the hottest planet in the solar system solely because it has a very thick atmosphere that retains all of the that it receives from the Sun. Mercury, in … Read more
Mars is often touted as the only possible alternative planet for humans to live on, and for the most part, this is definitely true. The potential sources of water and similar geographical landscapes suggest that Mars is actually pretty similar to Earth in a lot of ways. However, one of the biggest obstacles and differences … Read more
As one of the closest planets to us, Mars is often compared to Earth in many different ways, and it’s the only planet where humans could realistically even have a chance of living. Go in one direction and we’d roast away being too close to the Sun and getting caught up in the blazing atmosphere … Read more
We all know that Jupiter is the largest of the 8 planets in our solar system, but most people aren’t aware of just how far it would be for us to travel there. We’re constantly talking about going to Mars, and Jupiter is just the next planet along from there, right? Well, whilst it is … Read more
When it comes to the biggest planets, there’s none out there that can match Jupiter for scale. And although the further you go out from the Sun the colder the planets are on the outside, their inner core is extremely hot. This is definitely true for Jupiter, which we know it’s primarily made up of … Read more
