A star chart is a map of the night that enables you to locate stars, celestial bodies, other planets and different patters of stars called constellations. Star charts are very easy to use. The first thing that needs to be done is to find a dark place away from any source of light so that you can have a clear view of sky. After a small amount of time your eyes will get used to the darkness and will be able to spot stars clearly. You can also use a pair of binoculars to get into more details.

Star charts can be obtained from every better bookstore. Nowadays some websites, including lookatstars.com are also providing such charts. Now when using a star chart be sure that you have a correct map in accordance with your location and date. Generally star charts are different for Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Now when you made sure that the chart is fine for you just concentrate on the compass provided (most of the time at the right-bottom end) on the map. Now to start off you star-gazing activity, you need to rotate the star chart in such a way that the direction of the compass of the star chart direction appears along the bottom of the map when you face that particular direction.

After adjusting the compass, hold your map high above your head and the center of the map is the place directly over you head. Now check for all the constellations and celestial bodies the map provides you with and try to locate them. One golden rule of interpreting star charts is that the celestial body which is half way through the boundary and center of the map is bound to be located in between the center and horizon of space.

These star maps can also be used at locations up or down of up to 15° without any errors that lead to problems. When you are using the star chart for the first time you will also note the reversed direction in East and West directions on the compass, this is due to the fact that you are looking away from the Earth into the space as compared to other geographic maps where you look into the Earth from space. The difference in the area of observation causes the swap of directions. However North and South directions are the same.

The online availability of some charts makes them easy to obtain, but those maps may be only for educational purposes and may not be that exact. Surely star charts can change the altogether experience of star gazing and once you get used to it you can even locate stars, constellations and celestial bodies without it. But initially it will surely provide you with lots of information about heavenly bodies and constellations.

Google Sky is also known to provide its users with state of art technologies; one of them is the Sky-modality. Using Sky-modality you can select from a whooping 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies. Google sky uses approximately a million pictures coming through various researches and blends them together to create a perfect 3-D effect.

The World Wide Telescope was introduced by Microsoft recently to give Google Sky some competition. And to an extent it has been successful in doing so; the Microsoft World Wide Telescope has superior graphics and effects and gives a virtual feeling of traveling through the space. Word Wide Telescope takes a picture of a galaxy and later enables its users to zoom into it, creating a virtual reality of going through the space and while you are on your space cruise you can click on any star to see its information. The project is inspirational to both kids and adults, the kids can learn about space in a fun way while the older ones can get information easily.

The first feature that enables Microsoft World Wide Telescope to score over Google Sky is its interface. Microsoft World Wide Telescope has a very slick interface. The interface enables the user to switch over from places in space very easily. Secondly World Wide Telescope is capable of switching over databases very easily, which provides better graphics and effects over Google Sky. Google Sky has some limitations as it is an extension of Google Earth; it is not capable of handling poles. On the other hand, Microsoft World Wide Telescope is not built on axis of earth so it can provide perfect view of poles, in fact perfect view of any place for that matter.

However the above things do not mean that Microsoft World Wide Telescope is globally superior to Google Sky. Some of the features that make Google Sky better are that Microsoft World Wide Telescope runs only on the Microsoft Windows platform. That means no Mac OS X and no Linux. It has also been seen that Microsoft World Wide Telescope requires graphics cards and high end personal computers to enable smooth inflow of graphics.

One of the biggest accomplishments of Google Earth is that it is capable of running over all the three operating systems, i.e.  Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It is also capable of running over a large range of personal computers which do not have dedicated graphics cards owing to efficient design.

Google sky has many users; in fact there are over 350 million installation counts according to Google. It also provides its users to add content to its ever increasing database. Its features like planetary orrey, real-time horizon, lunar eclipse predictor, and other’s makes it favorite amongst people around the world. Whereas the recent launch of Microsoft World Wide Telescope is prone to face difficulties. The major difficulty can be to get users swap their preferences from Google Sky to Microsoft World Wide Telescope.

Google Sky is mainly powered by the images taken from the Hubble telescope whereas Microsoft World Wide Telescope includes a lot more than a few images from a single source; it is powered by images from NASA’s great fleet of space-borne telescopes and satellites. In addition to these, earth-bound observatories are also feeding Microsoft World Wide Telescope’s database for superior quality imaging. The World Wide Telescope offers more coverage of the universe and addition of rich data sets enables it to provide a more real virtual space travel. It also boasts of a superior user-friendly interface and unparalleled graphics.

The major setback of Google Sky is its poor styling and template design which dates back to 90’s, when it was launched. The frequent HTML popups can also be a big setback. Google Sky requires a minute check to apply new Aperture 2 photo management software, making it more suitable for 2D viewing, but if you are looking for seamless tour through the cosmos then Microsoft World Wide Telescope should be the right choice for you.

The World Wide Telescope is projected to get direct imaging from the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, partially owned by the owner of Microsoft, Bill Gates. The 8.4 meter telescope is to be built in Chile’s Atacama Desert by the year 2014. The telescope will have a 3-billion pixel digital camera to enable virtual surfing to new depths of space with billions of colored images every week.

In reply of this Google Sky has also joined MIT scientists who are designing a satellite based-observatory - The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which is expected to provide survey of entire space. Google is funding the powerful cameras that will be required to take images in this project.

The Microsoft World Wide Telescope was released as a tribute to Jim Gray, a Microsoft researcher who went missing off the California coast while he was researching to organize the large number of images and data being fed to the Microsoft World Wide Telescope.

Surely Microsoft World Wide Telescope can be a big risk to established customer-reputation of Google Sky as it has some unique features like enabling people to create their own space tours, superior graphics providing a great 3D effect, high level of detailing owing to weekly large updates of data and images, a user-interface interface, and last but the most important due to the Microsoft brand. It is a high time for Google to fasten its belt and give a good upgrade to Google Sky to upkeep its established reputation of providing an unparallel quality to compete with an all–geared Microsoft World Wide Telescope service.

WhiteKnightTwo launch vehicle for SpaceShipTwo heralds a new era in aerospace fuel efficiency, performance and versatility

Mojave Air and Spaceport, California

July 28^th 2008

Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceShipOne designer, Burt Rutan, today pulled back the hangar doors on the new WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft that will ferry SpaceShipTwo and thousands of private astronauts, science packages and payload on the first stage of the Virgin Galactic sub-orbital space experience.

The rollout represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactic’s quest to launch the world’s first private, environmentally benign, space access system for people, payload and science.

Christened “EVE” in honor of Sir Richard’s mother, who performed the official naming ceremony, WK2 is both visually remarkable and represents ground-breaking aerospace technology. It is the world’s largest all carbon composite aircraft and many of its component parts have been built using composite materials for the very first time. At 140 ft, the wing spar is the longest single carbon composite aviation component ever manufactured.

Driven by a demanding performance specification set by Virgin Galactic, WK2 has a unique heavy lift, high altitude capability and an open architecture driven design which provides for maximum versatility in the weight, mass and volume of its payload potential. It has the power, strength and maneuverability to provide for pre space-flight, positive G force and zero G astronaut training as well as a lift capability which is over 30% greater than that represented by a fully crewed SpaceShipTwo. The vehicle has a maximum altitude over 50,000 ft and its U.S. coast-to-coast range will allow the spaceship to be ferried on long duration flights.

An all carbon composite vehicle of this size represents a giant leap for a material technology that has already been identified as a key contributor to the increasingly urgent requirement by the commercial aviation sector for dramatically more fuel efficient aircraft. Powered by four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines, which are amongst the most powerful, economic and efficient available, WK2 is a mold breaker in carbon efficiency and the epitome of 21^st century aerospace design and technology.

The twin fuselage and central payload area configuration allow for easy access to WK2 and to the spaceship for passengers and crew; the design also aids operational efficiencies and turnaround times. WK2 will be able to support up to four daily space flights, is able to carry out both day and night time operations and is equipped with a package of highly advanced avionics.

Large numbers of VIP’s, media and more than 100 fully signed-up future Virgin Galactic astronauts flew into Mojave for the rollout onboard a new Airbus A320 aircraft specially chartered from Virgin America, the youngest and most efficient US domestic airline, which launched to great acclaim in 2007.

Rutan’s Scaled Composites facility has been strictly out of bounds whilst design and construction has been underway, but guests today were additionally given a tantalizing preview of SpaceShipTwo, clearly visible but heavily shrouded and well on its way to completion, in the smaller of Scaled’s two hangars awaiting its own rollout in 2009. This will be scheduled once WK2 is at the appropriate stage in its extensive test program, which has already begun with ground tests; it is expected to take its first flight in the fall of 2008. The flight test program will be comprehensive even before SpaceShipTwo is carried as a payload for the first time in 2009.

Commenting on the rollout, Burt Rutan, Founder of Scaled Composites said:

“WhiteKnightTwo represents the apogee of the application of carbon composites to aerospace and all of us at Scaled are tremendously excited at the capabilities of the Mothership for SpaceShipTwo. I believe the vehicle will be developed and sold for a variety of launch applications beyond the initial requirements of our launch customer, Virgin Galactic. We have set up a new business jointly with Virgin, The Spaceship Company (TSC), to develop these vehicles and we very much hope that its efficiency will herald a wake up call to the aerospace industry and the necessity of using new materials and technologies in the future. “

Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic added:

“As usual, Burt and the Scaled team have created a beauty and this is a very proud day for us all. The rollout of WhiteKnightTwo takes the Virgin Galactic vision to the next level and continues to provide tangible evidence that this most ambitious of projects is not only for real but is making tremendous progress towards our goal of safe commercial operation.

Virgin Galactic is central to our ambition at Virgin to become the world’s leading group in the operation of energy and environmentally efficient transportation, in the air, on the ground and in space. We arrived here this morning on an aircraft operated by Virgin America, who run the most fuel efficient commercial fleet in the US, to roll out what by most definitions, is the most energy efficient aircraft in history. We are naming it EVE after my Mother, Eve Branson but also because it represents a first and a new beginning, the chance for our ever growing group of future astronauts and other scientists and payload specialists to see our world in a completely new light. I for one can’t wait!”

For further information go to www.virgingalactic.com.

On the new NASAImages.org website, 21 archives are combined in one which will be integrated in the NASA website more and more seemless over time.

The new Image archive will contain historic and recent audio and video material and will be a huge supply of imaginery.

The site is not run directly by NASA but is a cooperation with the non-profit Internet Archive.

Source: Information World Review

The key scientific objectives of the GLAST mission are:

1. To understand the mechanisms of particle acceleration in AGNs, pulsars, and SNRs. This understanding is a key to solving the mysteries of the formation of jets, the extraction of rotational energy from spinning neutron stars, and the dynamics of shocks in SNRs.
2. Resolve the gamma-ray sky: unidentified sources and diffuse emission.Interstellar emission from the Milky Way and a large number of unidentified sources are prominent features of the gamma-ray sky.
3. Determine the high-energy behavior of gamma-ray bursts and transients. Variability has long been a powerful method to decipher the workings of objects in the Universe on all scales. Variability is a central feature of the gamma-ray sky.
4. Probe dark matter and early Universe. Observations of gamma-ray AGN serve to probe supermassive black holes through jet formation and evolution studies, and provide constraints on the star-formation rate at early epochs through photon-photon absorption over extragalactic distances. There are also the possibilities of observing monoenergetic gamma-ray “lines” above 30 GeV from supersymmetric dark matter interaction; detecting decays of relics from the very early Universe, such as cosmic strings or evaporating primordial black holes; or even using gamma-ray bursts to detect quantum gravity effects.

Video about GLAST:

Well, obviously there is no better source for that than NASA. Because this is so hugely popular, NASA has made a own site for that under the slightly cryptic name of : http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs/

Here you can find all sorts of images of our beautiful planet. And what is best, almost all material from NASA is public domain, that means you are allowed to use it for your own purposes as long as you state the source of the pictures.

Another excellent NASA source for pictures of earth and pictures of space exploration in genereal is

GRIN - GReat Images in Nasa

There you will find such treasures as this one and a lot more:

If you like space pictures, then the NASA astronomy picture of the day is definitly made for you…

And if you want to explore more pictures of our universe, have a look at the NASA image archive…

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