In 1959, NASA, the US space agency, began a project to search for intelligent life in the depths of space. Subsequently, the project received the name SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence).
Soviet analogue of SETI
Soon similar work began to be carried out in the Soviet Union. Thus, in the first half of the 60s of the twentieth century, a program to detect signals from extraterrestrial civilizations was launched at the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute. Outstanding physicists, academicians and doctors of science took part in it: V.A. Ambartsumyan, Ya.B. Zeldovich, V.A. Kotelnikov, I.E. Tamm, S.E. Haykin. The program that became the Soviet version of SETI was called Project Au.
It developed against the backdrop of the events that our country was experiencing - from the launch of the first space satellites to the political upheavals of the late twentieth century. Nevertheless, a lot has been accomplished in 50 years. Several all-Union and international conferences and symposia were held with the participation of Nobel laureates: the Englishman F. Crick, the American J. Townes and the Russian V.L. Ginsburg. In parallel with the discussion of the problem of searching for “brothers in mind,” astrophysicists conducted observations of space, exploring more and more of its spaces.
“But you can’t treat extraterrestrial civilizations like that,” says Alexander Zaitsev, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Chief Researcher at the Moscow Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics. – If everyone in the Universe is looking for other people’s messages, but they don’t send anything themselves, then what’s the point of looking?
Therefore, Zaitsev sent three “letters” from the radar telescope in Yevpatoria - in 1999, 2001 and 2003. The “correspondence” contained both digital (texts) and analogue (music) international information and went to several solar-type stars. It will take more than 30 years for the message to reach its destination, but there is still a chance to get an answer in the 70s of this century.
Long before this, in 1962, the USSR “launched” three words into space: “Peace, Lenin, USSR,” and in 1974, an American signal flew from the radar telescope in Arecibo (Puerto Rico) into the depths of the Universe. The world never heard anything about the answers to these “epistles”.
The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Astronomical Institute compiled a list of the 100 star systems closest to Earth. Of these hundred, 58 could clearly be SETI objects.
“But all of this is an attempt to find a civilization similar to ours,” says Anatoly Cherepashchuk, director of the Astronomical Institute, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. – What if other civilizations are millions of years older than ours, and they communicate with each other using dark matter? What if it is the presence of dark matter and dark energy that explains the silence of the Universe?
I think that the efforts of astrophysicists and physicists today should be focused on unraveling the nature of dark matter and dark energy. And then we ourselves will be able to “twist” the fields, create tunnels in space-time, and send signals through them to other civilizations. Our messages will be delivered instantly, this is a fundamentally new connection that will allow us to explore the Galaxy and, finally, understand who we are.
"Product" of intelligent beings
According to Academician N.S. Kardashev, it is possible to encounter three types of civilizations in the Universe.
The first type is civilizations similar to the earth’s, the second type is those that have mastered the energy of their star, the third is those that have mastered the gigantic energy of the Galaxy. Representatives of the latter must be able to artificially create tunnels in space-time, analogues of the so-called “wormholes,” and move through them instantly, at speeds greater than the speed of light.
The academician believes that the existence of mirror worlds, built from particles mirror-symmetrical with respect to ordinary particles, is not excluded.
However, scientists have not yet received confirmation that there is extraterrestrial life in the solar system and in its immediate vicinity. In particular, Yuri Gnedin, deputy director of the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, spoke about this.
At the same time, he emphasizes that the search for alien intelligence through SETI projects will continue.
According to the astronomer, the program to detect extraterrestrial civilizations, uniting hundreds of researchers around the world, mainly relies on radio observation data.
Scientists are looking for signals of artificial origin. Such signals could be messages from aliens or even negotiations between them.
The task is not to understand the message.
The main thing is to receive a signal that will be reliably recognized as the “product” of intelligent beings.
And the head of the department of celestial mechanics of the Astronomical Institute, Konstantin Kholshevnikov, adds:
– A planet where a technological civilization exists must have powerful radio emission. It is the constancy of the signal that may be a symptom of its artificial origin. However, so far we have not found a single serious sign of intelligent life.
But extraterrestrial civilizations are capable of sending signals using ultraviolet waves or even X-rays, since alien “humanity” is probably fundamentally different from us, and therefore the methods of transmitting information are fundamentally different.
The answer is in 200 years?
Considering that it takes almost five years for light to travel to the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri, and from nine to 60 years to the rest of the “top ten” stars, communication with brothers in mind can drag on for centuries.
Light travels the entire plane of our Galaxy in 35 million years, which means it is quite possible that the civilization sending the signal has long disappeared.
“We are thus studying the evolution of the Galaxy over the last million years, like a historian who is exploring the history of some long-vanished people,” Kholshevnikov clarifies.
Terrestrial astronomers themselves regularly send messages into space, although they consider this activity almost useless. After all, if the nearest intelligent civilization lives at a distance of 100 light years from Earth, the answer will come only after 200 years.
One of the attempts to contact extraterrestrials was made in 2003, when a 70-meter transmitter at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Yevpatoria sent letters from 90 thousand residents of different countries into space.
It should be added that in 2003, the intention to significantly increase the intensity of SETI searches was announced. To achieve this, the project organizers launched a new program, the Allen Telescope Array - ATA (Allen Composite Telescope).
It received its name in honor of one of the founders of Microsoft Corporation, Paul Allen, who allocated 11 and a half million dollars from his own funds for ATA.
The program has an array of 350 parabolic satellite dishes, each about six meters in diameter. Moreover, the viewing area of a composite telescope exceeds the viewing area of a radio telescope, which would have a single antenna with a diameter of 100 meters.
The transition to using ATA allows us to survey about 100 thousand, or even up to a million star systems.
The search speed will increase approximately 100 times. As a result, the researchers believe, intelligent life beyond Earth could be discovered within the next 25 years.
“We don’t know what to look for...”
At the end of 2005, leading astrophysicists, biologists and humanists of Russia, who firmly believe that life in the Universe arose not only on Earth, held a conference at the Special Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Karachay-Cherkessia entitled “Astronomy Horizons: the search for extraterrestrial civilizations” .
– You cannot expect quick results in this area of science. We are taking only the first tentative steps here, understanding the problem,” says Lev Gindilis, one of the founders of SETI in Russia. – There are several programs for searching for extraterrestrial civilizations. Some scientists look for their traces through radio and optical telescopes, others themselves send messages to the most promising stars, and others send spacecraft with information about our planet into the depths of the Galaxy.
– The main problem is that we don’t know what to look for. Our radio telescope, one of the most powerful in the world, has received many signals, which we are not yet able to explain,” says Grigory Beskin, leading researcher at the SAO, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. – Perhaps their source is unknown natural phenomena, but it is possible that this is the result of the activity of another civilization. The age of the Universe is 15 billion years, the age of the Solar System is 4.5-5 billion. Most stars are much older than our Sun. And if there are civilizations somewhere, then it seems that they are much more “mature” than us. If they are also looking for contacts, they can use different methods that we have not yet matured to. We, earthlings, are “small”, almost undeveloped, we do not yet understand at what level we should look for reasonable signals,” the scientist sums up the situation.
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Ring in the mountains
It lies in the spurs of the Greater Caucasus Range, in the two rivers of Bolshoy Zelenchuk and Khusa. Huge, white. From a bird's eye view, it looks like a fragment of the mysterious “Nazca paintings” on the coast of Peru. And like those drawings left by an ancient civilization, it seems that this ring is a sign for aliens. Identical straight lines diverge radially from the center of the ring. From time to time, “ships” with metal square sails move along them. There is complete calm in the valley, but the sails are bent, a ray of the sun beats in them, as if not an earthly wind, but a cosmic wind fills them.
And so I stand in the middle of the ring and see it from the inside. All around is a wall of metal plates pressed almost tightly against each other, the height of a two-story house. Some of them face the sky. Suddenly, somewhere overhead, as if from the skies, a voice is heard, amplified many times over by a loudspeaker: “Attention! You can practice the following program on a flat one.” A minute passes, then another... In ringing silence, the thrown back edge of the metal ring slowly aligns itself and at the same time its other edge bends upward, towards the heavens.
The barely noticeable movement of the huge planes creates the impression that all this is not happening in reality, but in a fantastic dream. So one of the “ships” swayed and floated towards the center of the ring... it slides along the rails - these are the same radial straight lines emanating from the center of the ring. And the “solar sail” is the same metal plate as those that make up the ring.
All this is RATAN-600 - the world's largest ring radio telescope with a variable profile antenna, commissioned in 1974. RATAN is an abbreviation of the words Radio Telescope of the Academy of Sciences, the number 600 is the diameter of its ring mirror in meters. An incredible device, the size of a stadium stand, is located in a high mountain valley, almost a kilometer above sea level. The mountains framing the valley reliably protect RATAN from extraneous interference and atmospheric instability.
Second window
Exactly 80 years ago, in 1932, radio engineer Karl Jansky, while studying the source of radio interference, discovered an unknown noise. In his publications, he noted that “... the direction of arrival of the hissing interference changes gradually throughout the day, making a complete revolution in 24 hours.” In the course of his further experiments, Karl Jansky gradually came to the conclusion that the source of unknown interference was the noise of the sky - the radio emission of our Galaxy. And so, in the course of the fight against radio interference, the new science of radio astronomy was born.
The first diagram of the starry sky based on radio telescope data
The radio telescope has become a “second window” into the sky for people, allowing them to see many phenomena and objects that were previously inaccessible for observation with optical instruments. With its help, it was possible to “probe” our Galaxy and establish its spiral shape. Quasars (quasi-stellar radio sources) and pulsars were unexpectedly discovered. Radio astronomers have discovered the "relict radiation" - cosmic microwave radio emission from "nowhere" to "nowhere"; According to modern cosmological theories, we hear the echo of the Big Bang at the birth of the Universe.
There are no obstacles for radio astronomy in the form of clouds or bright daylight - radio rays make it possible to observe the “elusive” Mercury, which, due to its proximity to the Sun, is difficult to observe with conventional telescopes - the planet rises above the horizon only in the morning hours and disappears from the sky immediately after sunset . The sensitivity of radio telescopes is amazing - the energy received by all radio telescopes in the world over the 80 years of radio astronomy is not enough to heat a drop of water by a hundredth of a degree.
Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors
To examine the ring in detail, you have to walk hundreds of meters along mown grass past odorous haystacks. In general, RATAN is truly an amazing object: the familiar earthly world and messages from the distant depths of Space intersect here. And while scientists go about their cosmic affairs, among the gigantic parts of their instrument, the valley continues to live its normal life.
Receiver-feeder
We come close to the plates that make up the ring. There are 895 of them in total, each measuring 11.4 x 2 meters. There are wide gaps between the plates, and they themselves are not at all solid, but consist of smaller plates. Excuse me, the reader will grin, how is this carelessly assembled structure capable of picking up space signals? Take a look at the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope (USA, 1963) - this is a real antenna!
305 meter antenna of the Arecibo Observatory, o. Puerto Rico. The fixed antenna of the radio telescope is built on the site of a natural depression; only the feed unit, suspended on cables, moves. The only drawback is the limited field of view. Arecibo cannot observe objects below 20 degrees above the horizon
In fact, the “curved” RATAN antenna has enviable accuracy and is capable of finding the coordinates of celestial objects with an accuracy of one arcsecond. In the process of creating large radio telescopes, it became clear that the size of the mirrors cannot be increased indefinitely - the accuracy of their actual surface gradually decreases. Scientists and engineers were faced with an insurmountable technological problem until a proposal was made to divide the reflector mirror into individual elements and, using geodetic and radio methods, to create ideally smooth surfaces of any size from them.
RATAN-600 was created based on the developments of N.L. Kaidanovsky. The Soviet astronomer proposed an original design when, instead of building a solid round antenna, a ring of reflectors is used. The ring itself is the primary reflector; it is the first to collect the energy of cosmic radio signals. Taking a given part of the sky into the “sight”, the reflecting elements of each sector are aligned along a parabola, forming a reflective and focusing strip of the antenna, without disturbing the ideal smoothness of the ring reflector. Feeders are located at the focus of such a strip; they collect and record radio waves collected by a giant antenna. The ring-shaped shape of the antenna provides an overview of the entire visible part of the sky, and the presence of several feeds allows you to simultaneously observe several space objects.
I hope this diagram will allow readers to understand the ingenious, and at the same time so simple, principle of operation of the RATAN-600
Perhaps we will not bore the reader with a list of meager scientific characteristics like “limit on brightness temperature” or “limit on flux density.” We only note that the true diameter of the “ring” is 576 meters, and the effective antenna area is 3500 square meters. meters. The radio telescope is capable of receiving instantaneous spectra of celestial objects in the range (0.6÷30 GHz). Other information about RATAN can be easily found on the official website of the Russian Astrophysical Observatory http://w0.sao.ru/ratan/
Operation "Cold" or At the End of the Universe
At RATAN, for the first time, radio emissions from Jupiter’s large satellites, Io and Europa, were received, which are thousands of times weaker than the radiation of the giant planet. Distinguishing them is the same as hearing the breathing of a KAMAZ driver at the other end of the street through the roar of the engine.
For almost 40 years, the radio telescope has been continuously observing the Sun, studying the state of our star, determining the nature of its excitations, and has even learned to diagnose “solar disturbances.” Systematic studies of the Milky Way and extragalactic objects in deep space are being carried out.
On March 17, 1980, the RATAN scientific team began an experiment codenamed “Cold” with the goal of looking as deeply as possible into the Universe. The equipment was configured to receive extremely weak signals, the sensitivity of the radio telescope was ensured by ultra-low temperatures - the receivers were cooled by boiling helium vapor with a temperature of minus 260°C.
For 100 days, RATAN continuously looked at one point in the sky, as a result, due to the rotation of the Earth, in his field of vision there was not a point, but a narrow strip. Thousands of new objects were recorded, billions of light-years distant from us, including the instantaneous spectrum of the quasar OQ172, the most distant object in the Universe at that time. The density of distant objects in space was non-uniform - the further RATAN looked, the more and more the number of radio sources decreased. We can assume that somewhere they are not there at all - there must be an opaque impenetrable wall - the “edge” of the Universe. And who knows if physicists are joking when they draw a border fence near the quasar OQ-172?
The unique astronomical instrument RATAN-600, “listed in the Guinness Book of Records,” is now in the department of the Russian Astrophysical Observatory and continues to explore the Universe. 20% of RATAN's working time is allocated to international researchers, the rest of the time the radio telescope works at the request of Russian astronomers. We receive a lot of applications - the average competition is 1:3. The grandiose Soviet project was appreciated by scientists from all over the world.
November 28th, 2015 admin
The project to search for intelligent life in space began in 1959, which launched NASA. This department is responsible for the study of outer space and reports to the Vice President of the United States. The national administration receives information about space research in the form of images and videos using powerful telescopes. The program studying the search for the presence of civilization in outer space is called the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
Since time immemorial, humanity has been looking for similar civilizations in the world. Since antiquity, scientists have been convinced that other worlds exist, in which intelligent life is located. But there is no scientific basis in favor of this theory. One of the compelling reasons was the fact that the Earth is one of the planets of the company on which there is life, which implies the presence of living intelligence on other planets. To refute this theory, there is such a refutation as the rarity of the existence of life in the Galaxy. Many observers consider only the suitability of the star Earth for the existence of intelligence.
The combination of the words cosmic being evokes awe when viewing the starry space. Observing the stars, studying, and then encouraging humanity about another life in the space of the Galaxy, which was not successful. No other existence of mind has been found. Scientists, without losing hope, developed one strategy after another and looked for ways to solve this problem. So in 1961, Frank Drake, at a conference on astronomy, presented his famous Drake form, which was not successful because it had some inaccuracies and was applied to a narrow search. But it is worth noting that on the basis of this formula many provisions were developed that were more objective in their use.
The likelihood of finding an alien civilization increases over time, since the development of space technologies that deal with this problem does not stand still, and each time the probability of success increases. One step can change the direction of a given area, which will be decisive for the existence of life. Finding another civilization has painful implications for humanity. That is why attempts to establish contact with other inhabitants of the Universe do not stop.
Many professors come to the point of view that it is possible to establish contact with another civilization thanks to electromagnetic waves, since such a channel will be more natural and practical. The preference for this connection is due to its high distribution rate and low concentration in space. The main disadvantage of this direction is the lowest contact force and the presence of strong interference at large distances and space radiation.
In this regard, scientists came to the conclusion that the wavelength should be no more than 21 centimeters, which contributes to minimal energy loss, and the level of message delivery is higher.
Upon receipt, the response signal is modulated, that is, its power must change. It should be less simple in the beginning. After acceptance, two-way communication must be established, after which higher-level information exchange begins. The disadvantage is that the answer may be delayed by several tens or even hundreds of years.
But the uniqueness of such communication compensates for the slowness of the process itself.
By 1960, major radio surveillance had been carried out under project conditions. OZMA which was carried out using a radio telescope. After that, they developed expensive projects to establish communications with space, which did not receive funding, and therefore, only theories were created due to the lack of practice.
Space radio communications has many advantages, but do not forget about other types of communication. It is impossible to say with certainty which type will be more productive. These include optical communications (less used due to a weak radio signal), automatic umbrellas (less accessible in production, low speed and difficult to operate). In this direction, theories about the development of unearthly civilizations are also being developed. This is due to the fact that there is an unknown as regards the reaction to the incoming signal.
Scientists are considering two options for the development of the event: either the creatures will have a low level of intelligence development and the reaction to the radio signal will be negative, or civilization will have a higher intelligence. But one can only guess about this.
Radio astronomer Sebastian von Horner adheres to the theory that civilization develops up to a certain point, and has identified the reasons that limit the existence of life:
- Elimination of living beings;
- Elimination of highly developed creatures;
- Psychological or physiological degradation;
- Regression in the field of science and technology;
- Lack of the required amount of nutrition for progress;
- Unlimited amount of time to exist.
Horner also highlighted the fact that life on the planet will not cease to exist, and one civilization will be replaced by the next.
Along with American scientists, Soviet science did not stand still. Professors from astronomical institutes developed similar activities. In 1960, a project was founded on the basis of the Sternberg educational institution, which had the goal of detecting a signal from an unearthly civilization. This program was developed by outstanding astrophysicists Ambartsumyan V.A., Zeldovich Ya.B., Kotelnikov V.A., Tamm I.E., Khaikin S.E. and gave the name " Project Au».
During this period, the first space satellite was launched, conferences and symposiums were held on the topic of space and other civilizations.
Alexander Zaitsev, who has a doctorate in physical and mathematical sciences, believes that humanity has a consumerist attitude towards an unearthly civilization, since scientists do not send any signals, but only look for signs of existence. This is precisely what is associated with the sending of three radio signals, which took place in 1999, 2001 and 2003, and will last for more than 30 years.
In 1962, the Soviet Union launched a signal into space, which collided with an American message in 1974. Neither sign was successful.
Anatoly Cherepashchuk speaks of the likelihood that an unearthly civilization is older and communicates in other ways and it is worth considering such a type of communication as dark matter. It is precisely the lack of information about this fact that prevents scientists from contacting other creatures. It is thanks to dark matter that messages can be delivered instantly and the level of communication will increase.
Academician N.S. Kardashev believes that there are three types of civilization in the Universe:
- Similar to earthly civilization;
- Master the ability of their planet;
- They master the nutrition of the expanses of the Galaxy.
Third civilization , according to the scientist, can form artificial tunnels in time and space and move instantly at the speed of light. Kardashev is also a supporter theories about the mirror world, which are created from elements that, exactly the opposite, repeat ordinary particles.
Yuri Gnedin says that there is no evidence of the existence of unearthly life within solar system. The plan to search for another civilization continues to exist based on the facts of radio observation. The search continues for signs of artificial origin that were sent by another civilization.
Meanwhile, the task is not to understand the message, but to receive a signal confirming the existence of intelligent life.
An employee of the department of the Institute of Astronomy, K. Kholshevnikov, believes that a star that is equipped with technological capabilities can receive or transmit powerful radio emission. Frequent signal frequency is a sign of foreign origin. It is this signal that is missing and does not make it possible to detect foreign life.
Another way of transmitting a signal is ultraviolet waves and x-rays. This fact occurs due to the fundamental difference between alien creatures and human civilization and the way they communicate with each other.
It is worth remembering that the nearest planet Proxima Centauri, up to which the duration of the light flux reaches 5 years. In this regard, establishing contact may be delayed for several centuries. The galaxy is so large that it takes light 35 million years to travel across the entire plane. This fact may indicate that the message may have been sent, but did not reach its destination.
Scientists send signals to the Universe regularly, but they are considered useless thing. If you carry out calculations using as a unit of measurement 100 light years, it is at this distance that the nearest civilization is located, then the message will reach within 200 years.
The main problem of scientists is ignorance of the subject of their search. This indicates that professors, receiving information through a radio telescope, do not know how to decipher it.
Every day new real photos of Space appear on the website portal. Astronauts effortlessly capture majestic views of space and planets that appeal to millions of people.
Most often, high-quality photos of the Cosmos are provided by the NASA aerospace agency, making incredible views of stars, various phenomena in outer space and planets, including the Earth, freely available. Surely you have repeatedly seen photographs from the Hubble telescope, which allow you to see what was previously not accessible to the human eye.
Never-before-seen nebulae and distant galaxies, nascent stars cannot but surprise with their diversity, attracting the attention of romantics and ordinary people. Fabulous landscapes of gas clouds and star dust reveal mysterious phenomena.
the site offers its visitors the best photographs taken from an orbital telescope, which constantly reveals the secrets of the Cosmos. We are very lucky, as astronauts always surprise us with new real photos of Space.
Each year, the Hubble team releases an incredible photo to commemorate the anniversary of the space telescope's launch on April 24, 1990.
Many people believe that thanks to the Hubble telescope in orbit, we get high-quality images of distant objects in the Universe. The pictures are really very high quality and high resolution. But what the telescope produces are black and white photos. Where do all these mesmerizing colors come from then? Almost all this beauty appears as a result of processing photographs with a graphics editor. Moreover, this takes quite a lot of time.
Real photos of Space in high quality
Only a few are given the opportunity to go into space. So we should be grateful to NASA, astronauts and the European Space Agency for regularly delighting us with new images. Previously, we could only see something like this in Hollywood films. We present photos of objects outside the solar system: star clusters (globular and open clusters) and distant galaxies.
Real photos of Space from Earth
A telescope (astrograph) is used to photograph celestial objects. It is known that galaxies and nebulae have low brightness and require long exposures to photograph them.
And this is where the problems begin. Due to the rotation of the Earth around its axis, even with a slight increase in the telescope, the daily movement of the stars is noticeable, and if the device does not have a clock drive, then the stars will appear in the form of dashes in the photographs. However, not all so simple. Due to the inaccuracy of aligning the telescope to the celestial pole and errors in the clock drive, the stars, writing out a curve, slowly move across the field of view of the telescope, and point stars are not obtained in the photograph. In order to completely eliminate this effect, it is necessary to use guiding (an optical tube with a camera is placed on the top of the telescope, aimed at the guiding star). Such a tube is called a guide. Through the camera, the image is sent to a PC, where the image is analyzed. If a star moves in the guide’s field of view, the computer sends a signal to the telescope mount motors, thereby correcting its position. This is how you achieve pinpoint stars in the picture. Then a series of photographs are taken with a long shutter speed. But due to the thermal noise of the matrix, the photos are grainy and noisy. In addition, spots from dust particles on the matrix or optics may appear in the pictures. You can get rid of this effect using a caliber.
Real photos of the Earth from Space in high quality
The richness of the lights of night cities, the meanders of rivers, the harsh beauty of mountains, the mirrors of lakes looking from the depths of continents, the endless oceans and a huge number of sunrises and sunsets - all this is reflected in real photographs of the Earth taken from Space.
Enjoy a wonderful selection of photographs from the portal site taken from Space.
The biggest mystery for humanity is space. Outer space is represented to a greater extent by emptiness, and to a lesser extent by the presence of complex chemical elements and particles. Most of all there is hydrogen in space. Interstellar matter and electromagnetic radiation are also present. But outer space is not only cold and eternal darkness, it is an indescribable beauty and breathtaking place that surrounds our planet.
The portal site will show you the depths of outer space and all its beauty. We offer only reliable and useful information, and show unforgettable high-quality space photos taken by NASA astronauts. You will see for yourself the charm and incomprehensibility of the biggest mystery for humanity - space!
We have always been taught that everything has a beginning and an end. But that's not true! Space has no clear boundary. As you move away from the Earth, the atmosphere becomes rarefied and gradually gives way to outer space. It is not known exactly where the boundaries of space begin. There are a number of opinions from different scientists and astrophysicists, but no one has yet provided concrete facts. If the temperature had a constant structure, then the pressure would change according to the law - from 100 kPa at sea level to absolute zero. The International Aeronautical Station (IAS) established the altitude boundary between space and the atmosphere at 100 km. It was called the Karman line. The reason for marking this particular height was the fact: when pilots rise to this height, gravity ceases to influence the flying vehicle, and therefore it goes to “first cosmic speed,” that is, to the minimum speed for transition to a geocentric orbit.
American and Canadian astronomers measured the onset of exposure to cosmic particles and the limit of control of atmospheric winds. The result was recorded at the 118th kilometer, although NASA itself claims that the boundary of space is located at the 122nd kilometer. At this altitude, the shuttles switched from conventional maneuvering to aerodynamic maneuvering and, thus, “rested” on the atmosphere. During these studies, the astronauts kept a photographic record. On the website you can view these and other high-quality photos of space in detail.
Solar system. Photos of space in high quality
The solar system is represented by a number of planets and the brightest star, the sun. The space itself is called interplanetary space or vacuum. The vacuum of space is not absolute; it contains atoms and molecules. They were discovered using microwave spectroscopy. There are also gases, dust, plasma, various space debris and small meteors. All this can be seen in the photos taken by the astronauts. Producing a high-quality photo shoot in space is very simple. At space stations (for example, VRC) there are special “domes” - places with the maximum number of windows. Cameras are mounted in these places. The Hubble telescope and its more advanced analogues greatly helped in ground photography and space exploration. In the same way, it is possible to carry out astronomical observations at almost all waves of the electromagnetic spectrum.
In addition to telescopes and special instruments, you can photograph the depths of our solar system using high-quality cameras. It is thanks to space photographs that all humanity can appreciate the beauty and grandeur of outer space, and our portal “site” will demonstrate it clearly in the form of high-quality photos of space. For the first time, the DigitizedSky project photographed the Omega Nebula, which was discovered back in 1775 by J. F. Chezot. And when astronauts used a panchromatic context camera while exploring Mars, they were able to photograph strange bumps that were unknown to date. Similarly, the nebula NGC 6357, which is located in the constellation Scorpius, was captured from the European Observatory.
Or maybe you've heard about the famous photograph that showed traces of the former presence of water on Mars? More recently, the Mars Express spacecraft demonstrated the real colors of the planet. Channels, craters and a valley became visible, in which, most likely, liquid water was once present. And these are not all photographs depicting the solar system and the mysteries of space.
