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This particular DVD is going to hold information on the ideas of Mars that people had since the 19th century which could be in the form of poetry, essays, arts and so on. The DVD contains information belonging to twenty cultures and nations, and it is supposed to survive for many hundreds of years so that it would be received by the future generations when humans would finally land on Mars one day.
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The main objectives of the Phoenix mission are to study about water ice on Mars and uncover clues of the history of the near surface ice which would provide information on inhabiting life on Mars some day in the future. Launching in August 2007, Phoenix will land on Mars in May 2008.
This is in fact the second attempt made by the Planetary Society to send a 'message in a bottle' to space. The first attempt became a failure when Russia's Mars 96 spacecraft which was supposed to carry 'visions of Mars', failed shortly after launch.Now, here comes the exciting part of this programme.
Everyone in the world is invited to be part of this, and you children too can add your name, your classmates' names, your friends' names etc. to the archival disk.Doesn't that sound thrilling? You just have to visit the Planetary Society's website at http://planetary.org/phoenixdvd to fly your name to Mars. But, make sure that you do so before the deadline, which falls on February 1, 2007.
An International Year of Astronomy declared
Since Galileo Galilei first turned his telescope towards the sky in 1609, and started making many amazing discoveries, space exploration has evolved so much through the development in science and technology. This rapid progress has made the interest of the public towards astronomy drift away, although it is considered as the oldest science in history.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has come up with a solution in order to increase public interest in the subject, by declaring an International Year of Astronomy; it is to be 2009. The International Astronomical Union, founded in 1909, is the international organisation which comprises almost 10,000 distinguished astronomers from all over the globe.
The IAU is coordinating the Year of Astronomy and they are still in the planning stage of the events to be conducted. One of the main objectives they are hoping to fulfil is to enable the general public to interact with world class astronomers, so that there will be a lot of important information shared with keen children like you as well.
There is an idea to give the experience of astronomy to everybody through events held in planetariums and local observatories which may begin with looking through a telescope and span towards more advanced stuff. Therefore, be prepared to experience some great happenings in 2009, the International Year of Astronomy.
The largest ever 3D Map of the galaxies
Imagine the first day you studied the map of Sri Lanka. It must have been quite an experience for you back then.
Now, if you really want to go into extremes in maps, an international team of astronomers from America, Australia and Britain have got the ultimate challenge for you. They have constructed the largest ever 3D map of galaxies of the universe and their motions.This particular map shows the local cosmos which span over a distance of 600 million light years! We are all quite familiar with the stars in the universe.
But, we do not know much about the 'dark matter' and 'dark energy' in space which are believed to account for about 96 per cent of the mass of the universe.
This map provides clues on these aspects too, and this map is believed to provide a lot of vital information which could be used to compare the theories on the formation of the structure of the universe as well.
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