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New Hubble Images of Galaxy collisions

Many astronomical textbooks say that galaxies are stable objects, however, they do have a side of them that is dynamic.

There are times when galaxies collide and merge together, forming beautiful and astonishing views of new star births, spectacular shapes and much more. In honor of the Hubble's 18th launch anniversary, 59 images of colliding galaxies have been released to the public.
Long ago, when the expanding Universe was much smaller than it is today, mergers and collisions were far more common. However, now it is now harder to observe, because there are far less collisions.

Galaxies collide at an extremely slow rate, according to human standards. But when they do collide, it is a great sight to see.
Some of the new images can be found here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/hst_img_20080424.html

Chances of intelligent Extraterrestrial life

Humans have always wondered if extraterrestrial life was possible, and also the chances of intelligent extra terrestrial life. We already know that mere extraterrestrial life is quite likely due to the simple fact there is are huge amounts of planets out there that may have the potential for life, but not intelligent life.

The difference here is that life such as bacteria or single celled organisms who can only just survive cannot be classified as intelligent life. Humans are intelligent life because we can do much more than just survive. There is the principle of having fun and evolving to stages where we create technology and are able to communicate with effectiveness (to communicate beyond simple signals).

Actually, the "communicating with effectiveness" part may be a bit vague. Many people believe that other animals can communicate as well. However, what distinguishes our languages from their languages, is that they simply use signals to show primitive desires or something like telling others there is food around. We humans actually have words for such things as "technology", and can communicate about things other than just the basics needed for survival. Our communication has evolved to a point where the dominant linguistic, left brain side has taken control and we have mostly right handers in the world now (Left brain also controls the right hand and most parts of the body on the right).

To have reached this stage of intelligence, there have been many factors involved, that can only be attained after the previous has been attained. We only have about 1 billion years left to live - if nothing catastrophic happens - on Earth, compared to the 4 billion years since life on Earth started, not even including the the time it took before the 4 billions years to start unintelligent life. Not only must the conditions for life must exist on a planet, there must also be conditions to accommodate the growth of intelligent life. For intelligent life to begin, there must be evolution beyond simply survival. This is why the chances of intelligent life to exist out there to be lower than 0.01%.

This is based on proof from a new mathematical model developed by Prof Andrew Watson from the University of East Anglia.

Though the chances are small, it is still possible. Hopefully, before Earth becomes inhabitable due to the increasing heat coming from the Sun, humans will be able to colonize and move to other suitable planets.

New Site Changes

Just a note to all SpaceTopia Readers out there:

Over the past few weeks, there have been a lot of significant changes to the blog here at SpaceTopia. You may have noticed various changes such as the site layout, and other such things. As you know, SpaceTopia is still relatively new but we will continue to provide valuable information and breaking news in Space, Astronomy, Space Exploration, new discoveries and much more.

As SpaceTopia improves, we will strive to provide the best information available. However, we also appreciate any feedback that any of you have regarding SpaceTopia or any of our news articles.

You are free to give feedback by commenting in our articles, or emailing webmaster@spacetopia.tk. Valuable feedback is appreciated and we will do our very best to accommodate feedback. SpaceTopia cannot be great without your participation and feedback so please, if there's anything about SpaceTopia that you currently feel is lacking in anything or simply ineffective, feel free to contact us.
If you like our articles, you can help spread the word by pressing the convieniently located "digg" buttons that we have implemented. More ways of sharing may be coming soon.

Thank you for all your continued support!

Sun quakes from solar flares

This new discovery refers to the "solar flare" part of the quaking process.
Astronomers have already known that sound waves ripple through the Sun's plasma towards the interior and are able produce a five minute pattern which is called a starquake or five-minute oscillations.

Before this discovery, scientists previously thought that the oscillations of the sound waves were caused by the gas churning near the interior of the Sun. However, this recent discovery has shown them that, though the gas is a part of it, occasional solar flares cause more powerful oscillations.

The theory is similar to the way one might hear constant ringing in their ears after occasionally listening to REALLY loud music The key thing is that it is sudden and the power difference is large.
Astronomers have found that when there are increases in solar flares, there are also increases in the power of the quaking.

Large flares will shake up the sun and make it vibrate.
This process can also be observed on Earth, as, after large Earthquakes, there is a constant ringing of seismic waves for a few weeks.

Exactly how the solar flares are causing the quakes is still unclear. We only know that solar flares do correlate, but we still don't know why it happens. But this will definitely help us figure it out, as we will be able to observe the solar flares and the star quakes now.

More information about this discovery can probably be found in the May 1st issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters, which comes from data collected with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint venture between NASA and ESA.

Mercury will shine - Don't miss it

Soon, the planet Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, will be easily visible in our skies. How and when? We'll tell you that right now.
Mercury has always been a pretty hard to see planet due to its close vicinity to the Sun. But it looks quite beautiful when seen clearly. In the upcoming days, Mercury will be clearly visible to the naked eye, right on Earth.

In a few days' time, Mercury should be visible in the low west to northwest at dusk. On April 23, Wednesday night, 30 minutes after the sun sets, you will be able to see Mercury as the brightest object in the sky, at a magnitude of –1.6.
As long as there's no big gas cloud or some crazy fog in your area or anything blocking your view, Mercury will not be hard to see.

In the sky, Mercury will not be hard to recognize but for those of you who have never seen it before, it has a yellow to orange kind of light. The brightest time will be on April 23, but it'll also be pretty low in the sky. If you miss it the first time, don't worry. You have until May 14th to see it, but after that, it'll be fading really fast.
As time passes by, Mercury's light will become lower, but it will also climb higher in height in our sky.

If you've never seen Mercury before, you should really look at it this time. It's quite a nice view and doesn't happen often.

Underground Mars explored using radar sounder

There's been plenty of news before about a certain planet's surface or images of it. But now, we have explored the underground of Mars using a radar sounder.

The European Space Agency (ESA)'s new Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) has looked a record 3.7 km beneath Mars' surface. Using a radar sounder from another planet has never been done before, so there could have been problems. The signal could have been distorted too much to be useful enough. However, no big problems occurred, and the experiment was a success.

Now, because of the radar sounder, scientists and astronomers know exactly how much water is on Mars.
With this success scientists and astronomers are hoping to be able to use this technology on other places, such as Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Apparently, radar sounders are very good for scanning icy places.

There is much data to be gained from using these types of radars. Hopefully, they will help us greatly in the future.