|
2005 In Science
The year 2005 in science and technology involved some significant events. Astronomy * January 5 – Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is identified by a team the Palomar Observatory in California from images taken on October 21, 2003 (discovery announced July 29, 2005). * February 23 – Astronomers announce the discovery of a galaxy, VIRGOHI21, that consists almost entirely of dark matter. * March 23 – Two independent teams report the observation of light from planets circling two different stars, using the Spitzer infrared space telescope. Both groups detect a during conjunction, when the planet is moving behind its sun's disk (occultation). * March 31 – Dwarf planet Makemake is discovered in the Kuiper belt (discovery announced July 29). * April 8 – Total solar eclipse. * May 18 – A second photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope confirms the discovery of two new moons of Pluto: Nix and Hydra. * July 20–27 – Controversy over the disco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for scientific reasoning is tens of thousands of years old. The earliest written records in the history of science come from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age and later by the efforts of Byzantine Greek scholars who brought Greek ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuiper Belt
The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies or remnants from when the Solar System formed. While many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as methane, ammonia, and water. The Kuiper belt is home to most of the objects that astronomers generally accept as dwarf planets: Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake. Some of the Solar System's moons, such as Neptune's Triton and Saturn's Phoebe, may have originated in the region. The Kuiper belt was named after Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper, although he did not predict its existence. In 1992, minor planet (15760) Albion was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxytocin
Oxytocin (Oxt or OT) is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide normally produced in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary. It plays a role in social bonding, reproduction, childbirth, and the period after childbirth. Oxytocin is released into the bloodstream as a hormone in response to sexual activity and during labour. It is also available in pharmaceutical form. In either form, oxytocin stimulates uterine contractions to speed up the process of childbirth. In its natural form, it also plays a role in bonding with the baby and milk production. Production and secretion of oxytocin is controlled by a positive feedback mechanism, where its initial release stimulates production and release of further oxytocin. For example, when oxytocin is released during a contraction of the uterus at the start of childbirth, this stimulates production and release of more oxytocin and an increase in the intensity and frequency of contractions. This process compounds in intensity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
25143 Itokawa
25143 Itokawa (provisional designation ) is a sub-kilometer near-Earth object of the Apollo group and a potentially hazardous asteroid. It was discovered by the LINEAR program in 1998 and later named after Japanese rocket engineer Hideo Itokawa. The peanut-shaped S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 12.1 hours and measures approximately in diameter. Due to its low density and high porosity, Itokawa is considered to be a rubble pile, consisting of numerous boulders of different sizes rather than of a single solid body. It was the first asteroid to be the target of a sample return mission, the Japanese space probe ''Hayabusa'', which collected more than 1500 regolith dust particles from the asteroid's surface in 2005. After its return to Earth in 2010, the mineralogy, petrography, chemistry, and isotope ratios of these particles have been studied in detail, providing insights into the evolution of the Solar System. Itokawa was the smallest asteroid to be photographed and vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Near-Earth Asteroid
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). If a NEO's orbit crosses the Earth's orbit, and the object is larger than across, it is considered a potentially hazardous object (PHO). Most known PHOs and NEOs are asteroids, but a small fraction are comets. There are over 30,503 known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and over a hundred known short-period near-Earth comets (NECs). A number of solar-orbiting meteoroids were large enough to be tracked in space before striking the Earth. It is now widely accepted that collisions in the past have had a significant role in shaping the geological and biological history of the Earth. Asteroids as small as in diameter can cause significant damage to the local environment and human populations. Larger asteroids penetrate the atmosphere to the surf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hayabusa
was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C for Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft C, was launched on 9 May 2003 and rendezvoused with Itokawa in mid-September 2005. After arriving at Itokawa, ''Hayabusa'' studied the asteroid's shape, spin, topography, color, composition, density, and history. In November 2005, it landed on the asteroid and collected samples in the form of tiny grains of asteroidal material, which were returned to Earth aboard the spacecraft on 13 June 2010. The spacecraft also carried a detachable minilander, ''MINERVA'', which failed to reach the surface. Mission firsts Other spacecraft, notably ''Galileo'' and ''NEAR Shoemaker'' (both launched by NASA), had visited asteroids before, but the ''Hayabusa'' mission was the first attempt to return an asteroid samp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robotic Spacecraft
A robotic spacecraft is an uncrewed spacecraft, usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to lower cost and lower risk factors. In addition, some planetary destinations such as Venus or the vicinity of Jupiter are too hostile for human survival, given current technology. Outer planets such as Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are too distant to reach with current crewed spacecraft technology, so telerobotic probes are the only way to explore them. Nearly all satellites, landers and rovers are robotic spacecraft. History The first robotic spacecraft was launched by the Soviet Union (USSR) on 22 July 1951, a suborbital flight carrying two dogs Dezik and Tsygan. Four other such flights were made through the fall of 1951. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was put into a Earth orbit by the USSR ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Eclipse Of October 3, 2005
An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on October 3, 2005, with a magnitude of 0.958. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an Annulus (mathematics), annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring only 4.8 days after apogee (September 28, 2005), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller. It was visible from a narrow corridor through the Iberian peninsula and Africa and Brazil. A Solar eclipse, partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haumea
Haumea (minor-planet designation 136108 Haumea) is a dwarf planet located trans-Neptunian object, beyond Neptune's orbit. It was discovered in 2004 by a team headed by Michael E. Brown, Mike Brown of Caltech at the Palomar Observatory in the United States and disputably also in 2005 by a team headed by José Luis Ortiz Moreno at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain, though the latter claim has been contested. On September 17, 2008, it was named after Haumea (mythology), Haumea, the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth, under the expectation by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that it would prove to be a dwarf planet. Nominal estimates make it the List of Solar System objects by size, third-largest known trans-Neptunian object, after Eris (dwarf planet), Eris and Pluto, though the uncertainty in best-fit modeling slightly overlaps with the larger size estimates for Makemake (dwarf planet), Makemake. (ESO 21 November 2012 press releaseDwarf Planet Makemake Lacks Atmosphere Haume ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Controversy Over The Discovery Of Haumea
was the first of the IAU-recognized dwarf planets to be discovered since Pluto in 1930. Its naming as a dwarf planet was delayed by several years due to controversy over who should receive credit for its discovery. A California Institute of Technology (Caltech) team headed by Michael E. Brown first noticed the object, but a Spain, Spanish team headed by José Luis Ortiz Moreno were the first to announce it, and so normally would receive credit. Brown accused the Spanish team of fraud, using Caltech observations without credit to make their discovery, while the Ortiz team accused the American team of political interference with the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The IAU officially recognized the Californian team's proposed name ''Haumea'' over the name proposed by the Spanish team, ''Ataecina'', in September 2008. Discovery and announcement On December 28, 2004, Mike Brown and his team discovered Haumea on images they had taken with the 1.3 m SMARTS Telescope from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydra (moon)
Hydra is a natural satellite of Pluto, with a diameter of approximately across its longest dimension. It is the second-largest moon of Pluto, being slightly larger than Nix. Hydra was discovered along with Nix by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope on 15 May 2005, and was named after the Hydra, the nine-headed underworld serpent in Greek mythology. By distance, Hydra is the fifth and outermost moon of Pluto, orbiting beyond Pluto's fourth moon Kerberos. Hydra has a highly reflective surface caused by the presence of water ice, similar to other Plutonian moons. Hydra's reflectivity is intermediate, in between those of Pluto and Charon. The ''New Horizons'' spacecraft imaged Pluto and its moons in July 2015 and returned multiple images of Hydra. Discovery Hydra was discovered by researchers of the Pluto Companion Search Team, consisting of Hal A. Weaver and many others involved in the ''New Horizons'' mission to Pluto, including Alan Stern and Marc W. Buie. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nix (moon)
Nix is a natural satellite of Pluto, with a diameter of across its longest dimension. It was discovered along with Pluto's outermost moon Hydra on 15 May 2005 by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope, and was named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night. Nix is the third moon of Pluto by distance, orbiting between the moons Styx and Kerberos. Nix was imaged along with Pluto and its other moons by the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft as it flew by the Pluto system in July 2015. Images from the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft reveal a large reddish area on Nix that is likely an impact crater. Discovery Nix was discovered by researchers of the Pluto Companion Search Team, using the Hubble Space Telescope. The ''New Horizons'' team had suspected that Pluto and its moon Charon might be accompanied with other moons, hence they used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for faint moons around Pluto in 2005. Since Nix's brightness is about 5,000 times fainter than Pluto, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_Itokawa.jpg "Click for more on -> 25143 Itokawa")
.svg "Click for more on -> Haumea")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Nix (moon)")