ZERO-G Flight

What if I told you that we can experience the Zero Gravity here in planet Earth, would you believe it? Well, it’s a pretty awesome thing to think. And if it’s true and you have the money or the courage to experience it, would you try it?

For some people, the major attractive of going to the space is probably the zero gravity experience. And that´s because we´ve spent all our lives stick to the ground. All this excitement is due to the fact that we can actually hover in the middle air.

But, we all must know that Zero Gravity experience can be found in our planet. It´s kind of expensive, but some people say it worth it. The experience has been exciting most of the rich people in the globe. Today, $4.950 (tax included) is the price for a single passenger. Felix Rappaport, recently paid this flight, he said “You could talk about this for the next 10 years”… We can see it totally worth it.

The one in charge of weightless flights across USA and some gravity research is the Zero Gravity Corporation. The company was founded by Peter Diamandis, he was a NASA astronaut.  He  has had  the  dream  to  give  all  the  people  in  the  world,  the  awesome experience of a zero gravity flight. So, he created the company and he became true lots of dreams in the world. Even Stephen Hawkings, one of the greatest minds in our century, have tried this experience. He said “The zero-G part was wonderful and the higher-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come!” once he ended the flight. Peter Diamandis said “We had a wonderful time. It was incredible, far beyond our expectations”. He can see we can have lots of fun per flight.

This company is located in Las Vegas, Diamandis says that “The reason we are here in Las Vegas is because of that market”. Also said that “People come here… Wanting to do the most amazing things they can”.

Nowadays, the company has been doing investigations and training for NASA´s astronaut recruits. You think that if you wanted to be an astronaut, it would be easy? You were wrong… Some special equipment is needed by astronauts, and special training, so astronauts needs tons of experience in zero gravity flights. Lots of things needs to be ignored by astronauts while flying into outer space. For example: vertigo and nauseas are the most common “diseases” that this guys might suffer in each flight.

So, if I ask you how the Zero-G Corp makes it possible, would you be able to answer me? Well, if don’t, here is how the Zero­G Corp. can make it possible.  I´ll divide it in two parts: where the Zero­G Corp do it, and how they do it.

To answer the first part we must have a look to their planes. They own and operate some Boeing 727­227F Advance planes. I show you a picture of the plane right here.

And to answer the second part of the question, we just have to see how the planes flight. They don’t go to the space (that would be imposible), they just made some parabolic arcs and some up and down maneuvers. The air pressure in the plane´s cabin and the speed of the flight, make possible the zero gravity experience.

So, we have seen how the Zero­G Corp. makes it possible… Would you try it? 

First Evidence of Comet Striking Earth

For many years it was thought that if a comet stroked the planet, it would cause an imminent destruction of the Earth.  Against all thoughts, the first evidence of a comet striking Earth has been claimed to be found by scientists. After a series of analyses, the researchers determined that a mysterious black pebbled discovered years ago in the Egyptian desert was a piece of a comet nucleus. The pebble was named ‘Hypatia’ in honor of the ancient female mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. Jan Kramers, the study lead author, said it was a typical scientific euphoria when other opinions were eliminated and what it must be came to the realization.

Diamonds, which are produced from carbon material, are formed deep in the Earth. They require high pressure. Scientists said that when the comet impacted the Earth, the shock produced a high level of pressure which produced a diamond-like material.

It is thought that the impact occurred about 28 million years ago over Egypt. When the comet exploded, it produced levels of heat as of 3 630 degrees. It’s said that it also produced huge amounts of yellow silica glass across the Sahara Desert (around 6 000 square kilometers).

As a curious fact, a famous jewel from the pharaoh Tutankhamen was claimed to have a piece of the silica glass.  If Tutankhamen had a piece of the comet, it would be reasonable that he had more than one jewel made of the precious glass. But for the moment just one has been found.

Comets have been certainly striking the Earth many times over the planet’s long history. Besides from the Hypatia pebble, tiny dust particles in the upper atmosphere and carbon-rich dust in Antarctic ice are known as the rest of the cometary materials on Earth.

What’s a comet? A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, heats up and begins to produce gas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are an effect of solar radiation and the solar wind on the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei range from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across and are composed of loose collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles. If the comet is sufficiently bright, it may be seen from the Earth without the aid of a telescope. Also if its brightness is too low, it couldn’t, eventually, be seen with any special instrument.

NASA and the European Space Agency have been spending billions of dollars collecting micrograms of comet material and bringing them back to Earth. Comets are thought to be among the most primitive bodies left over from the solar system creation. NASA said a fundamental goal of cometary investigations was to understand their origin and nature in order to explore how they link with Earth and the role they cover in the universe.

As a conclusion, Kramer said the project was meant to establish a base for further research on comets and the universe itself. He plans to continue working on the subject and expects new people to be added to the crew.

• Do you think comets could cause severe damages to our planet?
• Have you ever seen a comet? When?
• Do you know any astronomic research on your country? If so, what is it about?

*Answer via comment.

Source: Space.com

The Earth's Moon

The Earth's moon is an interesting object to study, its beautiful face when is full in the sky provokes that many people love it. As the Earth, the moon rotate on its axis, and it takes it 27.3 days, and that same time to orbit the Earth. We see the moon because of reflected sunlight, but we see always the same face of the moon. 

 

The Earth's Moon

Formation

In the universe, many planets have moons, in this case, Some scientist said that the Earth's moon had been formed because of a beat that something had given to the Earth, and it had torn a piece of the Earth away.

Regarding on its atmosphere, it is very thin, so a footprint there can keep intact for centuries, and also because of this, heat is not held near of the moon, so there is a variety of temperatures. On the sunny side of the moon the temperature can reach 133° Celsius and on the dark side it gets as cold as -152° Celsius.

Tidal Effects

The moon is the natural satellite of Earth, which provokes some interesting effects. For example, the gravity of the moon pulls at the Earth, causing tides, that’s to say, causing rises and falls in sea levels. Tides occur also in the atmosphere and lakes, but to a much smaller extend.The rotation of the Earth also is affect by the gravity’s moon, because it is slowing the Earth’s rotation, and this effect makes that the day’s length increases by 2.3 milliseconds per century.

The moon’s gravity was a key to making Earth a livable planet by moderating the degree of wobble in Earth’s axial tilt, which led that Earth had a stable climate over billions of years. So, the experts said that the moon’s gravity was an important factor to people could live in the Earth.

The moon's endless dance

Lunar eclipse

 

 Eclipses

When Earth, the moon and the sun are in a straight line or nearly, an eclipse occurs. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth gets directly or almost between the sun and the moon, so the Earth’s shadow falls on the moon, but it only occurs during a full moon. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets directly or almost between Earth and the sun, so the moon’s shadow falls on Earth, but it only occurs during a new moon.

Seasons

Seasons depend on the tilt of the planet’s axis, the tilt of the Earth’s axis is 23.5 degrees, but the tilt of the moon’s axis is 1.5 degrees, so that means that moon virtually doesn’t have seasons. So, because of this, some areas of the moon always are lit by sunlight, but the other areas are always covered in shadow.

Discussion Questions

1- Do you know another theory about how did the Earth's moon form?

2- What other effects do you think the gravity of the moon has on the Earth?

3- Which is your favorite type of eclipse, the solar eclipse or the lunar eclipse?

Bibliography

Charles Q. Choi (2013, June 21). Earth's Moon: Formation, Composition and Orbit. Space. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/55-earths-moon-formation-composition-and-orbit.html