Vertical Sundials at Prague Observatory

There is not usually much to see at an observatory during the day, but the Prague Observatory has these sundials outside.

Can you tell what time it was?

An analemma. This plots the position of the sun in the sky at the same time of the day for each day of the year.
Usually, an analemmatic sundial is horizontal and has a movable vertical gnomon, so I am not sure how this one works. 

26 March 2019 13:07:53

26 March 2019 13:08:01

26 March 2019 13:08:21

Center of Scientific Wonders, Budapest

Last Monday, we spent the day at the Center of Scientific Wonders in Budapest. We enjoyed a wide range of interactive science exhibits, the games and puzzles bar and an escape room. The space exhibit had a series of puzzles and challenges to complete. The cafe tables had multi-player games and puzzles embedded in them. We escaped from the Globetrotter room in about half of the 40 minutes time limit after solving geography puzzles to open locks and get more keys and clues. It was a lot of fun.

I built a leaning tower.

We looked at polarization. 

And ferrofluid.

And played with magnets.

A water vortex.

For more info visit the Center of Scientific Wonders' website: https://www.csopa.hu/en/

  

Watching the SpaceX launch live

Sometime in the 1980s I stayed up really late to watch one of the space shuttle launches live (possibly STS-61C. Due to weather or some other problem it was delayed and I missed seeing the launch.

Just now I watched the SpaceX launch live on Facebook!

Not only did CRS-8 Dragon mission successfully launch and deliver the Dragon spacecraft into space to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, but the Falcon 9 rocket returned to land upright on a barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

You can watch the replay of the launch video at https://www.facebook.com/NASA/videos/vb.54971236771/10154018106296772

Globe making

Earlier in the year I glued together a papercraft lunar globe from Canon Creative Park.

Recently I've been thinking about making my own earth globe, but after watching this video it doesn't look easy. The time and skill required is amazing.

[Spotted on http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/handcrafted-globes/]

If you are looking for a very simple sun or moon papercraft project, try this Pixelpapercraft Sun and Moon.

Tycho Brahe Planetarium

Did you know that Denmark has an amateur manned space programme?

On our summer trip to Denmark, we visited the Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen and saw a slightly damaged spacecraft capsule from the Copenhagen Suborbitals programme. 

The Tycho Brahe spacecraft was launched with the HEAT 1X rocket from a vessel in the Baltic Sea in June 2011. The capsule contained a crash-test dummy and launched successfully but veered off course and the flight was cut short. During the flight the parachutes tore, causing the spacecraft to crash land in the sea at about 200 km/h.

The flight from the astronaut's perspective.

Data from the flight has been used to improve the programme and so despite this setback the missions are continuing. The recovered craft is on display in the planetarium along with many other exhibits about space exploration. 

My son created his version of a spacecraft ready for launch at the planetarium.

The complex contains an huge screen for 3D and IMAX movies. We saw a 3D movie about the journey to the planets and a Jean-Michel Cousteau film - The Marvelous Ocean.

Geological Museum, Copenhagen

On our recent trip to Denmark, we visited the Geological Museum in Copenhagen.

Along with displays on geology, highlights for us included a collection of meterorites and a collection of minerals that change color under ultravoilet light.

A fascinating exhibit is the "All things strange and beautiful", original objects from Museum Wormianum and The Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. In the early years of the 17th Century, physician, Ole Worm created one of the first museums in the world with his collection of natural specimens from around the world.

Space Camper

My daughter went to Space Camp Turkey a few weeks ago for a three day school trip.

"It was pretty fun - very fun indeed".

She learnt a lot of stuff about space including the Mercury astronauts, the Gemini program, the Apollo missions, space shuttles and mission control.

She went on some simulators.

She also built and flew a model rocket and in one evening session she saw Jupiter and four moons through the telescope.

Best science museum visit yet: Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, Paris

In July we spent 10 nights in Paris and visited many of the touristic sites as well as sites that our science loving kids would enjoy. The Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (City of Science and Industry) was so amazing and so big that we spent two full days there.

Full of interactive exhibits on: Mathematics, Sounds, Space Travel, Communication, Genetics, Light, Images, Energy, Design and Innovation, Transportation, the Universe as well as temporary exhibits: Economics, Futurotextiles, Housing for tomorrow, and Leonaro da Vinci's projects, designs and machines; the Cité des Sciences is the largest science museum in Europe and France's fifth most popular museum.

All of the exhibits were top quality. Almost all were in multiple languages (including Braille). The depth of science was amazing - nothing was dumbed down and with so many exhibits there was something for everyone. I was impressed by the use of four synchronized projectors on a hanging sphere in an Earthwatch: the satellite revolution exhibit that gave a realistic impression of the revolving and changing world while the story of the exhibit was being told.

Our children enjoyed the 5-12 years activity area which featured a TV studio, an ant colony, communication, fun with water and a factory - they produced their own robot cut personalized cardboard boxes.

Outside, we visited the Argonaute submarine that hunted submarines in the 1950s and watched a 3D movie about dragons at the Geode hemispherical cinema.

Futurotextiles was closed and being packed up on our second visit. We didn't have time to see the Multimedia Library or the Planetarium and the Aquarium was under renovation. Perhaps next time!

Music that is out of this world

Commander Chris Hadfield recently returned from 6 months aboard the International Space Station. An astronaut and guitarist, just before returning to earth, he made this amazing music video with his version of David Bowie's Space Oddity:

Chris also explains some of the challenges in playing a guitar in space:


And here is Jewel in the Night, an original Christmas carol written by Chris and recorded on the space station:

Visionary projects

Engineer and entrepreneur, Elon Musk is building electric cars, ubiquitous solar and reuseable rockets. See more in this engaging video.

Space camper

My son went with his class to Space Camp Turkey for 3 days last week. He had an amazing time with a shuttle simulation, the 1/6 gravity machine, multi-axis trainer, manned maneuvering unit and Zero-G wall.

Universe Sandbox

I stumbled upon this amazing universe simulator software the other day - Universe Sandbox. Some especially cool features include 3D viewing and fictional orbits like the Death Star around Endor.

Final shuttle launch today

In just under 4 hours the Final Mission of the Space Shuttle STS-135 will launch. You can follow it live on the Nasa website.

As a child, I remember waiting up really, really late to watch one of the first shuttle launches (STS-2) only to have it delayed.

Balloon to space and back

Enjoy this video of a flight to the edge of space with a homemade spacecraft.
Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.
As seen on Geek.com

Sci-fi airshow

An awesome preservation and promotion of the historic Sci-Fi/fantasy film/TV vehicles. Take the guided tour if you can't wait until it comes to your local spaceport.




Shuttle/ Viper

See more at http://www.scifiairshow.com/

Did you know New Zealand has a space program?

Rocket Lab is a commercial rocket company in NZ, delivering small payloads into space and to suborbital heights for scientific research and experiments. Solar physics, micro-gravity, climate change measurements and launching ashes into space for memorials are just some of the applications of these small, efficient, low-cost rockets. The research from the program has developed several innovative technologies including environmentally-benign fuels.

Rocket launch - NZ blasts into space

Rocket Lab : Ātea-1 Suborbital Rocket Launch

More on Rocket Lab Ltd - Innovative access to space

Chromoscope - different ways to look at the universe

Joining together datasets from several all-sky projects, this tool lets you see what is out there in different wavelengths.
Chromoscope - View the Universe in different wavelengths

NPrize - the race to launch a tiny satellite with a tiny budget

Several teams are registered to design and launch a tiny satellite (between 9.99 and 19.99 grams) higher than 99Km and orbit the earth 9 times for less than £999.

There are a couple of prizes. £9999.99 for single-spend-to-orbit and £9999.99 for doing it with a reusable vehicle (entrants can exceed the £999 budget, but per-launch cost remains within budget).

The Official Site for the N-Prize