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Chris Knight's avatar

At least 600 pieces of spaceborne shrapnel are now plaguing the sky, no thanks to an unprecedented collision between two satellites in low-Earth orbit.

Early yesterday, 790 kilometers (490 miles) above Siberia, an inoperative Russian satellite called Cosmos 2251 smashed into Iridium33, a communications satellite. Ground radar is now tracking the hundreds of resulting bits of debris, hoping that none of it will smash into any other satellites or the International Space Station.

When asked which satellite was at fault, NASA scientist Nicholas Johnson said, “they ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don’t have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what’s coming in your direction.”

The good news, if there is any, is that Iridium Satellite LLC still has 64 satellites in unusually low orbit, relaying calls between special satellite phones (the U.S. Department of ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

A few days ago during a spacewalk at the International Space Station, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper accidentally lost her bag of tools and it went floating away.

But don’t worry: Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario found it last night! He was in his backyard with his satellite-observing gear, which was also armed with a good video camera. And Fetter not only spotted Stefanyshyn-Piper’s bag as it scooted past the star eta Pisces, he filmed it too…

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Chris Knight's avatar

“WOLVERINES!”

(Look, somebody had to say it… 🙂

In a very wonky case of mistaken identity, Google News has been reporting that the Russian Army is invading Georgia… as in, Georgia in the southeastern United States! The mix-up stems from the trouble going on with Russia and Georgia, the country in the Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian.

Don’t worry folks. Even if the Russians take Savannah, there’ll be hell to pay when they get to Athens. GO DAWGS!...

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Chris Knight's avatar

That’s one helluva carbon footprint …

Near the small town of Darvaz in Uzbekistan is a place that the locals call “The Door to Hell”. Thirty-five years ago some geologists were drilling for natural gas there and hit upon a cavern. Poisonous gas was detected down in the hole, so the excavators ignited it in the hopes that it would “burn off” and clear out the air so that they could explore further.

It’s been burning ever since, non-stop, for more than three decades.

Mash down here for more photos and one scary video clip of “The Door to Hell”.

EDIT 2:28 pm 03/30/2008: Someone noted in the comments that Darvaz is actually located in Turkmenistan, not Uzbekistan. So I stand corrected. But in my own defense, I just took the original website at its word that this was Uzbekistan 🙂...

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