Blogs / Discoblog

For those who haven’t kept up on their space news, space junk is a growing problem that people simply can’t figure out how to handle. With an estimated 18,000 pieces of junk floating around in space (and that’s only counting pieces larger than 4 inches), the risks of collisions and damage to satellites are constantly increasing.

Now, Stanford University scientists believe they have a solution—though it certainly has a long path to approval, let alone implementation. They have suggested that countries that don’t dispose of space waste properly should be fined, on the grounds that establishing a formal international framework will encourage responsible behavior provide incentives to clean up the royal space mess. Any funds collected could be used to compensate owners of satellites damaged by debris, or to research cheaper ways to de-orbit satellites (though we can also count on a little stimulus cash to help with that one).

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Brian May: Guitar virtuoso, renowned rock star, astronomy Ph.D.

In 1970, long before Queen toured stadiums playing anthems like “We Are the Champions” and “Another One Bites the Dust,” May began his doctoral work at Imperial College London. Now, after he returned to wrap up his doctoral thesis last year, May’s research is being published as a book.

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• Hail a taxi in Paris and you might find yourself on the back of a scooter.

• Scientists this week announced that water once graced the moon’s surface, but how did its seas get their names?

• Will cockroaches actually survive the apocalypse? Don’t count on it, though they’re certainly tough.

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Well, that was a short run.

In May, astronomers noticed that a third red spot had showed up on Jupiter near the famous Great Red Spot and Red Spot Junior, which itself had appeared just two years ago. The third spot—actually an earth-sized storm of swirling gases—had been white, but then showed up as being red in Hubble Space Telescope images.

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