'The Meek Shall Inherit The Earth … The Rest Of Us Are Going To The Stars!'

David Reneke, one of Australia’s most well known and respected  astronomy educators and lecturers, has over 40 years experience in astronomy with links to some of the world’s leading astronomical institutions. David is the Editor for Australia’s Astro-Space News Magazine  and is now affiliated as a writer and publicist for the prestigious 'Australasian Science' magazine. David teaches astronomy at college level, is an invited speaker at astronomy conventions throughout Australia, a feature writer for major Australian newspapers, and is a science correspondent for ABC and commercial radio stations. In these weekly radio interviews David regularly appears on over 60 networked stations across Australia with all the latest news and on general astronomy and space discovery issues. David’s audience numbers around 3 million listeners weekly!

David has also been featured on Regional TV stations in NSW, Good Morning America, American MSNBC news, the BBC, Spanish television, Sky News here in Australia and several television documentaries on astronomy.  David is a very experienced astronomy and space presenter who has entertained and educated many tens of thousands of people with his engaging shows in venues all around Australia. He also produces a range of educational CD-ROMS on all matters associated with astronomy and space exploration for beginners. Since 2004, David has been touring most of the primary and secondary schools throughout NSW introducing a new interactive astronomy and space education program that he's developed called 'Astronomy Outreach'. 'Austar for Schools' and 'Discovery Science' sponsor David’s outreach program.

During January and February 2008 David toured the USA on assignment, meeting up with Sir Richard Branson in New York and witnessed the unveiling of Branson’s brand new concept spacecraft ‘Spaceship-2’ heralding in private space travel in Philadelphia. David also toured the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and was an invited guest to Buzz Aldrin’s home in Beverly Hills, California ,where he interviewed the second man to walk on the Moon. Throughout 2009 – 2010 David will be conducting a series of specialised astronomy/space talks interstate and overseas and heading a number of tours to New Zealand with Grand Pacific Tours Aust.

SPACE – 'The Final Frontier'

Space is indeed the final frontier. Even from the confines of our tiny planet, we have been able to discover much about our immediate neighborhood and thanks to technology, we have discovered mysteries that extend into the vastness beyond. Our technology has taken us to the moon and someday, perhaps, our technology will allow us to follow our imaginations to Mars and beyond. Through these pages we'll highlight some of the information we have discovered about space from planets to galaxies, from the sun to supernovae, from Apollo to ISS  - and a lot more in between . I really  hope you find this site informative. Just click on any of my "Space Sites" to check out the information we have researched, and  the things I'm into. If you like you can subscribe to my newsletter, comment on what you read here (be as critical as you like, but not nasty, OK?) or browse the many astronomy items on sale now and ones on the way.

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'Astro-Space News' is now accepting a limited number of advertisements and sponsors for this site. Please note that any ads posted on this site must be relevant to space and /or astronomy.  Got an idea? Let's talk . Note: This is an 'Authority Website' rated No.5 on Google. If you are interested in placing an ad anywhere on this site or are interested in sponsoring any part of it, please contact Dave at this email address: davereneke@gmail.com   

   ASTRO DAVE 'SOUNDS OFF' 

You know, I speak on 16 diferent radio stations each week and invariably questions are raised from the listening audience. Of the most asked are things like what's in the night sky, have we made 'contact' yet and why not and mundane stuff like "why don't you get a real job" and the like. Just kidding. But, the big one always surfaces, " Why are we (read the USA) spending money going into space when it should be used to help people here." Well, the fact of the matter, as I point out time and time again, is that it is helping people here.

There are about 1,000 things that are a direct spin-off of the space program that you use everyday, in one form or another. Like to watch a live tennis match overseas? Sure, well ya wouldn't be able to do it without a satellite. How about breaking news events? Yep, there goes another satellite. Hey, do you call people overseas? You guessed it, another satellite. Did you know they use miniature cameras to aid surgery by being able to go inside and expolore the human body… yep, all from the space program. Think about this next time the question comes up – for every $1 spent on the space program $7 is returned back to the economy. Good value huh?

  Stories We're Covering This Week 

What's This!! Is This NASA's Secret Space Shuttle?

The Pentagon took over the X-37 program in 2006 after NASA couldn't keep it alive. The Air Force has announced that this experimental spaceship that looks and acts like a miniature, unmanned space shuttle – riding the back of a rocket into space then returning to Earth to land in California – will launch for the first time this month.How long the mission will last, what it hopes to accomplish, and what, exactly, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is designed to do are all mysteries. At a time when more countries – and particularly China – are exploring the military uses of space.

 NASA extends space contract with Russia on ISS

NASA announced last week that it signed a contract with the Russian space agency to shuttle US astronauts to the orbiting International Space Station. The 335 million dollar contract extension is for the "transportation, rescue and related services" of US crew bound for the ISS in 2013, NASA said in a statement. The contract "covers comprehensive Soyuz support, including all necessary training and preparation for launch, crew rescue, and landing of a long-duration mission for six individual station crew members."US astronauts bound for the ISS will depart aboard four Soyuz missions in 2013, and will return to Earth aboard two Soyuz missions scheduled for 2013 and two in 2014.

Man ‘From The Future’ arrested at the LHC to prevent it from destroying the world

Eloi Cole, an oddly dressed young man was arrested yesteday at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, made bizarre claim that he was from the future. Cole claimed that he had travelled back in time to prevent the LHC from destroying the world. The LHC successfully collided particles at record force earlier this week, a milestone Mr Cole was attempting to disrupt it by stopping supplies of Mountain Dew to the experiment’s vending machines. He also claimed responsibility for the infamous baguette sabotage in November last year. Mr Cole was seized by Swiss police after CERN security guards spotted him rooting around in trash bins.

Late in 2009 year we witnessed the largest explosion ever recorded: a super giant star two hundred times bigger than the sun utterly obliterated by runaway thermonuclear reactions triggered by gamma ray-driven antimatter production. The resulting blast was visible for months because it unleashed a cloud of radioactive material over fifty times the size of our own star, giving off a nuclear fission glow visible from galaxies away. The hotter the core, the higher the energy of these gamma rays – but if they get too energetic, these gamma rays can begin pair production: creating an electron-positron matter-antimatter pair out of pure energy as they pass an atom.

Live volcanoes on Venus? Planet has long been thought dead

"The geological history of Venus has long been a mystery," said Sue Smrekar, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Previous spacecraft gave us hints of volcanic activity, but we didn't know how long ago that occurred. Now we have strong evidence right at the surface for recent eruptions." New observations reveal that volcanoes on Venus appeared to erupt between a few hundred years to 2.5 million years ago, which suggests the planet may still be geologically active, making Venus one of the few worlds in our solar system that has been volcanically active within the last 3 million years.

Poor Pluto the number of dwarf planets increases

New research from The Australian National University has further reduced the status of Pluto by suggesting there are many more dwarf planets in the Solar System than previously thought.  The ANU astronomers have just published results that would reclassify what it is to be a dwarf planet, increasing the number of Pluto’s fellow travellers by a factor of ten. The International Astronomical Union classifies objects in the Solar System into three groups: planets, dwarf planets, and small solar system bodies. In 2006, Pluto was demoted from planet to dwarf planet, leaving eight planets.

Spirit goes silent as Martian winter threatens survival

NASA may have heard the last from the immobilized Spirit rover for several months as the stranded robot endures the depths of winter on Mars, the space agency announced late last week. Spirit did not establish a radio link with an orbiting satellite as scheduled Tuesday, missing a once-per-week communications session with engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft circling the Red Planet has been used as a communications relay satellite linking Earth with the unmanned Martian outpost. 

 Australian lasers to track orbiting junk

 Australian scientists are trialling a new system that uses laser technology to track space junk orbiting the Earth. Earth orbiting debris poses a major threat to satellites and astronauts. Recently, both the International Space Station and the space shuttle were forced to manoeuvre out of the way of space junk that almost came too close for comfort. To better track the orbiting debris, Canberra-based EOS Space Systems is developing a new laser tracking system. Chief Executive Craig Smith says the new technology uses infrared lasers to target and track orbital debris, something not done before.

 How the stars got their names

Even if you’ve had only occasional contact with the world of astronomy and stargazing, you’ve heard or read of some of the names of the stars, and most of them don’t exactly roll gently off the tongue. There are several schemes for naming the stars. There’s even a company out there that will sell you the opportunity to name a star after yourself or a loved one. If you part with some cash to do that for yourself or someone special in your life, do it for the fun of it. Believe me, if you’re naming a star after your old Uncle Louie, no serious astronomer at any university or college will ever research the possibility of a solar system of planets orbiting Louie.

Houston we have 2 pieces of paper: Apollo 13 crew's space list up for sale

These scribbled-on papers may look like space gibberish but in fact record the remarkable decisions that saved the stricken Apollo 13 crew. Astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert marked the emergency checklists with critically important instructions after a blast crippled their craft – prompting the famous line "Houston, we have a problem." Their survival is one of the most celebrated triumphs of 20th-century space flight and was immortalised in hit movie Apollo 13. Now these extraordinary documents from 1970 – which show the drama unfolding step by step – are going under the hammer.

 Look at this – Neil Armstrong's original "One small step ……" notes

Bonham's Auction Space History sale. From the Apollo 11 lot is a flight plan sheet (shown above) signed and inscribed by Neil Armstrong, "One small step for a man – one giant leap for mankind." Given to John McLeaish, NASA press officer, by Neil Armstrong while both were in quarantine after the trip, this is particularly unusual as Armstrong has said he never wrote this phrase for anyone, and no other example has ever come to auction . Notice Armstrong's words - see the word " a man" written there?" 

    What are they loading onto this plane?   

What do you think this is? How good is your memory? See how you go as you try to identify this object. No prizes, just a lot of fun as we see who is our resident 'smartie'. I'll announce any winners in next week's issue. If you don't want to be identified that's OK, we'll hide your name but I would like a few guesses. Get the thinking cap on and email me at davereneke@gmail.com.  Go to the full size image and try to figure it out ou'll be amazed at the answer.

 PLUS..Much more inside!   

SKYWATCH ASTRONOMY EDUCATION’

A new South Australian owned and based company dedicated to encouraging children, educators and the general public to learn and appreciate the wonders of the universe. SKYWATCH brings our new MIRRORDOME, an inflatable travelling theatre and planetarium. SKYWATCH conducts astronomy viewing nights using the latest telescopes and viewing aids for all ages. Webpage: Skywatch

 Call  for further information about the store, or visit www.spacebooks.com.au or for a personable one on one exchange you can email Anne @  info@spacebooks.com.au   By the way, this is where I get all my stuff too! In partnership with scientists, professional and advanced astronomers and science writers from many countries, Northern Galactic and Southern Galactic International aims to gather together research and discoveries in the areas of optical and radio astronomy, astrophotography, planetary studies, and space atmospheric sciences as a service to the interested public.

Astronomy.FM , an amateur astronomy focused organization, has as its mission "to explore, enjoy, and promote astronomy and space science; to encourage and facilitate the growth of astronomy and to educate and inspire humanity to 'look skyward' and learn." Membership is free and without obligation.Everyone can listen to broadcasts using links at Astronomy.FM.  

  Astro Dave 'Live' On Radio 

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      LOOKING TO BUY A TELESCOPE?  

  Are you a beginner and just want a good telescope at a good price to get started in astronomy? Or do you just want to see a list of what's available in your price range? 

 Check out the new addition to this website. 'Telescopes For Beginners' .. it's designed to take the guesswork out of selecting a telescope that's right for you, or someone in your family… A guide for all ages. 

 We've looked at the entire range of scopes on the market and set them out in three levels and all in different price ranges to make it easier to choose:  

Beginner – Intermediate – Advanced.    

Email me now for advice or payment and delivery details davereneke@gmail.com   

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A TRULY AMAZING ASTRONOMY & SPACE SHOW?

Grab the family and come along to our

‘ASTRONOMY NIGHT’

At The 'Village Resort' 288 Hastings River Drive Port Macquarie NSW

EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT – Video 6.45pm – Show 7pm.

This is one of the most amazing space shows you will ever see!

FREE Star map and astronomy fact sheet -  ‘What’s in the Night Sky’ guide – Kids giveaways & space stickers – Fact sheets etc.

After the show you will have a chance, weather permitting, to peer through the telescope with viewings of the moon, stars and planets, and a laser guided tour of the night sky, DVD raffle, 6.45pm start & kids welcome.

Note: During the holidays enquire about our special kids astronomy show 'KidSpace'.

- Bookings and enquiries 0400 636 363 or email: davereneke@gmail.com   

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 'Astro Space News' – Contributions/suggestions always welcomed.

Your letters are alwaysencouraged and any questions you have can be forwarded by emailing Dave at  davereneke@gmail.com Enjoy your stay, enjoy the news and feel free to pass this on to any of your friends. Contact Details:  Phone/Fax (02) 6585 2260       Mobile: 0400 63 63 63 

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