Weekly Rundown

 ANTARCTICA GRANTS METEORITE SURPRISE

            Well, two I guess is a bit more accurate. What we have are a pair of meteorites that have two surprising grains of sand.  Now what gets interesting here is that it is speculated that they were formed in a single supernova that occurred billions of years ago. They may even be from the supernova that was the foundation for the formation of our own solar system.

            Each of the meteorites contains a single grain of silica, (the main ingredient of sand). The chemical signatures are identical, and they are so rare that it is suspected both came from the same supernova. These are the first grains ever found in what are called primitive meteorites, and are very distinctive because of the type of oxygen contained within the silica. As stated above, not going into all the scientific aspects this week, so head over to the article and check it out. It’s really cool to see how they figure it out, and a lot there to learn as well. 

http://www.space.com/20797-meteorite-supernova-solar-system.html?cmpid=514630

AND AGAIN WE JUNK IT UP

            Nope, not our planet this time. Instead, we are apparently secretly and unintentionally going xenophobic I guess about aliens finding us. There are more than 170 million pieces of space junk that are currently orbiting our planet. Like I said, we are trying to hide the bloody place I guess. 29,000 of these are larger than 4 inches, and pose serious threats to satellites and to the ISS as well. But at 17,000 MPH, something the size of a dime could be a real problem also I would think.

            But what we have is a massive meeting going on about this very problem. More than 300 representatives, from researchers to policymakers have gathered in Darmstadt Germany for a four day event at the 6^th European Conference on Space Debris. They will discuss the buildup of potentially harmful debris in orbit, and address possible ways to remove dead satellites and other pieces of errant space hardware. And roughly two thirds of these objects are from either a collision, or something blowing up. So basically they will probably discuss a lot, and still not have any answers for the problem. The reason I say this, is that it is going to take quite a few countries working together to solve this problem. I’ll make it easy for them. Build me a space type garbage scow, and I’ll change my name to Quark and do it myself. (Yes, that was a hilarious 70’s sci-fi Comedy for those too young to remember it).

http://www.space.com/20805-space-debris-european-conference.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

GALAXY GOES GREEN

            Nope, not the color. But the way in which it is performing. 6 billion LY’s from Earth, Galaxy SDSSJ1506+54, is what is being called the greenest galaxy ever found. It was discovered one day after Earth Day, which is also pretty cool. But here is why it is being called the greenest. Most galaxies use only a very small portion of of their available fuel to create stars. But in this galaxy it is rapidly using all of its gases to create stars. And also in this case, instead of stars being formed in knots in the spiral arms, it is collecting gas at the center, where stars are being born at a very fast rate.

            However, despite the galaxy seeming odd at this time, it is still being considered to be a normal galaxy caught in a short lived phase of its evolution. They predict that within a few tens of millions of years, it will probably have used up most of its gas, and will become a typical elliptical galaxy.

http://www.space.com/20795-distant-galaxy-green-star-formation.html

SHUTTLECRAFT GALILEO SAVED

            This is a good place to go from the science to a science/science fiction cut-over to the sci-fi part.

            Looks like the old girl is getting salvaged by a couple true to heart Trekkies. Adam Schneider and Alec Peters, are only a few weeks away from completing the complete restoration of the life sized Galileo from Star Trek.

            This has been tried before, but nothing ever came of it, and it ended up in storage here in Ohio for the last 20 years. They managed to get it at an auction in 2012.

            They feel it is important to save it, not just because of its importance in TV history, but because of its importance to our space agency. Seems like Star Trek shows up a lot with our space agency in one way or the other doesn’t it. Anyway, think about it for a second, and think back to what Galileo was called. Now think about what NASA built. The term space shuttle apparently originated right here with the Galileo according to Schneider. No one had used the term at NASA or anywhere else before it showed up in Star Trek in 1966. A must read article here for all of you. There is also a link within the article a few paragraphs down that will take you to a gallery, 12 shots I believe, of the restoration project itself. I’d personally love to be in on that restoration even more than restoring my own car.

http://www.space.com/20794-star-trek-shuttlecraft-galileo-restoration.html?cmpid=514630

 BAD NEWS FIRST

            For all the fans of Futurama out there, myself included of course, it’s been cancelled, AGAIN.  The last half of season 7 will air beginning on June 19^th and going to the end of the season, or series I guess is more accurate. Let’s hope it’s only for now. Matt Groening told Entertainment Weekly they would love to continue on with it as they have a lot more stories they still want to tell.

            Maybe they’ll get back, but if not, it was a fun run with them. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22277158

THOR LOOKS GOOD

            The teaser trailer is out, and I’ll link this for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet. But no frost giants this time. He’ll be facing the Dark Elves. They are the latest supervillian team basically to be introduced in the Marvel Universe. I think supervillian group is stretching a bit however, as they are a freaking army. Anyway, the leader of the Dark Elves is Malekith the Accursed who will be played by Christopher Eccleston, the first man to play The Doctor on the series regeneration back in 2005. Malekith is a creature that achieved his standing through deceit, and alliances with Loki. So for those of you that are fans like I am, especially of the Marvel universe, then what they say is right.  November 8^th just seemed to get a lot farther away. Enjoy the trailer.

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/thor-dark-world-teaser-unleashes-dark-elves-164615224.html

MORE BLOODY REMAKES

            Sorry, I just can’t call some things a reboot. Especially when they should have learned by now to leave the movies of the 80’s alone. But they just don’t seem to learn, do they.  So here we go, and there are two of them. The first is HIGHLANDER. At the moment it is rumored that Ryan Reynolds will be the new Highlander.

            And secondly, is Weird Science that is going to be remade as well. They say that the film will carve its own identity by being done as an edgier comedy along the type of 21 Jump Street, and The Hangover. The studio said that the rating for the movie in not certain at this time.

            You know what. I’m just going to shut up on this one. With the record so far of what has happened with remaking 80’s classics, I think my point is already made.

            The first link is to the Highlander article, and the second to Weird Science.

http://screenrant.com/ryan-reynolds-highlander-rob-182636/

http://www.deadline.com/2013/04/weird-science-remake-joel-silver-universal/

             

            Hope you enjoyed the rundown. See you all next week folks.