Messenger Mercury Space Probe Enters Orbit

NASA's Messenger Probe finally entered stable orbit last night on its final journey to the Sun's closest planet.

It has taken almost seven years to reach its final destination performing flybys of Earth and Venus before carrying out three flybys of Mercury before final orbit insertion which occured 00:45 GMT early Friday morning of the 18th March.

Mariner 10 back in the 1970's was the only space probe to fly by the Planet but it was never designed to make orbit. Only about 60% of the planet was imaged at that time and so it fell to Messenger to complete the portrait.

Armed with a whole host of instruments NASA scientists are hoping to unlock Mercury's secrets and make new discoveries in what is considered one of the most challenging environments given the close vicinity of the planet to the Sun.

More details can be found on NASA's website.

Wonders of the Solar System - Book Review

Review Date: 16/03/2011

Companion to the highly popular television series which was first aired by the BBC back in 2010, Brian Cox takes us on a personal guided tour from the birth of the Solar System to the far reaches of the Sun's influence and what lies beyond.

The book is split into five main chapters which follows the episodes of the TV series; The Wonder (intro), Empire of the Sun, Order Out of Chaos, The Thin Blue Line, Dead or Alive and the final chapter Aliens. Topics include; Historical account of the motion of the planets, The life and death of the Sun, Saturn and its moons, craters on Mercury, the atmospshere of Venus, Jupiter and it's moons, Martian volcanoes and the search for life in the Solar System.

This is not your usual run-of-the-mill astronomy book but then again it was not your usual run-of-the-mill TV series. The planets were discussed from a very different angle and not in the usual order of distance from the Sun, which in my opinion makes it unique amongst books about the Solar System and a refreshing change.

What I also like about this book is that concepts are uniquely explained using real analogies here on Earth so it made them easier to understand. There are many images of Brian in various poses, doing things (like wearing solar glasses!) and with various pondering stares across landscapes. The TV series was shot in many exotic locations around the world so you could be forgiven to think that the book is Brian's personal travel photo album!

The few critiques I have about the book is that the style of graphics gives the book a retro 1980's feel... I wasn't too keen on the grey background for some of the images, black would have been much better. One or two of the images could have been more up to date (such as on page 49 where a false color image of the Solar Corona looks like it was taken by the USA Skylab space station from the early 1970's). However, for newbies to astronomy they would probably find the images satisfactory. There are also some technical errors which unfortunately reduces the quality of the publication.

A great addition to any library and an excellent companion to the TV series. Highly recommended. **** 

---

Wonders of the Universe - Stardust

Episode aired: Sunday 13th March
In the second episode of the series Brian cox explained how we were made from the deep interior of stars. A list of star-stuff known commonly as the periodic table of elements consists of 92 elements that we, the earth, solar system, galaxies and what we can see in the universe is made up of.

Brian used analogies such as when bubbles stick together and even the demolition of a building to explain how the basic elements hydrogen and helium were created at the very beginning of the Universe.
Elements up to iron are created inside stars as they near the end of their lives. The heavier elements such as Gold, Platinum and Zinc are created by stars that undergo cataclysmic explosions called supernova, forming the Earth and ultimately life.

Locations included India, Chile and America. Brian was even playing an old piano in a derelict western-style bar on the outskirts of a disused gold mine in California as he explained how much gold there is on Earth and why it is so rare.
Another really good episode.