Is the Sun Part of a Binary Star System? - Six Reasons to Consider

© Binary Research Institute Just what is the real cause behind the precession of the equinoxes and why did the ancients believe this cycle was so important? Walter Cruttenden asks this question in his latest book Lost Star of Myth and Time and comes to some provocative conclusions. To the layman, the precession of the equinoxes is the observed motion of the night sky shifting backwards by a small amount every year. Of course, the night sky continuously shifts throughout the year as the Earth orbits around the Sun, but if one were to take a fixed point in time (like the Vernal Equinox, for instance) and take a snapshot of the sky on that day every year, one would notice the sky slowly shifting backwards with each progressing year. Sir Isaac Newton was the first to put forth the idea that this precession is due to a wobbly motion of the Earth's axis, and few scientists have challenged this assumption since Newton's time. 1.) 2.) 4.) 5.) Time is a funny thing. 6.) What Does This All Mean?

Two Years on Mars: Here's What's Next for NASA's Curiosity Rover It's been two years since NASA's Curiosity rover made its nail-biting touchdown on Mars, and the six-wheeled, SUV-sized robot has found the hoped-for evidence that the Red Planet was once habitable for life as we know it. So ... mission accomplished? "For the entire Curiosity team, the big moment is yet to come," said science writer Marc Kaufman, the author of "Mars Up Close," a book about the $2.5 billion mission. That big moment has everything to do with the 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain that Curiosity is just now nearing — known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. Would that prove life existed on ancient Mars, or perhaps exists even today? Space.com contributor Rod Pyle, who tells the tale of the rover mission and the team behind it in a book titled "Curiosity," admits that NASA's latest Red Planet quest seems a bit schizophrenic at the two-year mark. "NASA keeps saying this is not a mission to look for life on Mars, but this is an astrobiology mission," he told NBC News.

Releases New Earthrise Simulation Video NASA has issued a new visualization of the events leading to one of the iconic photographs of the 20th Century – Earth rising over the moon captured by the crew of the Apollo 8 mission. To mark the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 8 "Earthrise" photograph, NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio has recreated this historic moment exactly as the astronauts saw it, using data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image Credit: NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio The photo known as Earthrise is the first color photograph of Earth taken by a person in lunar orbit. "Earthrise had a profound impact on our attitudes toward our home planet, quickly becoming an icon of the environmental movement," says Ernie Wright, project lead with the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The visualization clearly shows how Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman and crew members William A. Ernie Wright/NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio

Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) - Latest Position, Magnitude and Finder Chart - The Sky Live Object information Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) was discovered by V. Nevski and A. Novichonok on September 21 2012. ISON reached its perihelion on November 28 2013 and according to current data (early December 2013) it's nucleus went almost completely destroyed by the intense heat caused by the close approach to the Sun's surface. Please note. This finder chart shows an accurate view of the star field surrounding the comet, simulating a telesopic view. The chart covers an area of 45x30 arc minutes, which is roughly equivalent of full Moon's apparent size. Latest updates A high precision photographic sky map showing the position of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) in real time. Current close conjunctions List of bright objects (stars brighter than magnitude 9.0 and galaxies brighter than magmitude 14.0) close to Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) (less than 1.5 degrees): Astronomy databases This online sky chart is created using the following astronomy databases and services: About the data, and how to use it

This Rotating Moon Mosaic Is the Most Accurate You've Ever Seen Cassini spacecraft photographs Earth from 900 million miles away A photo by the Cassini spacecraft shows the rings of Saturn, with Earth a faint blue dot in the distance.NASA/JPL/Cassini/Guillermo Abramson A photo by the Cassini spacecraft shows the rings of Saturn, with Earth a faint blue dot in the distance.NASA/JPL/Cassini/Guillermo Abramson Carl Sagan once referred to the Earth as "where we make our stand." And when seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft from over 900 million miles away, that pale, blue dot he described suddenly makes sense. It's home -- but just one tiny speck barely visible in the infinite reach of space. One very important speck, that is: “Look again at that dot. High above the planet Saturn on Friday, Cassini took photographs of that pixel we live on, backlit by Saturn's rings. You’re not the only one. For the first time in the nine years the spacecraft had been in orbit, Earth’s inhabitants knew that their photos would be taken and came out to take part in “The Day that the Earth Smiled.”