Pluto, formerly known as a planet
As far as I'm concerned, Pluto deserves at least honorary recognition as a planet. After all, Pluto even has its own Sailor Scout, and that's reason enough for me. Anyway, since 2011, two new moons have been discovered orbiting Pluto, and because the public will always love the underdog, you now have the opportunity to help name those moons. Courtesy of the SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, you can vote on your favorite names, taken from Greek and Roman mythology.
Is this the coolest duvet cover ever? That was a rhetorical question. You should probably buy these, because they feature a real astronaut uniform from the Space Expo Museum in Holland. You'll also find out exactly how cool you look in an astronaut's uniform. Hurry up, because your dreams are about to get out of this world. Not to mention, it might be a good idea to get some protective space gear in all of our bedrooms, what with the very recent meteor explosion that did some damage in Russia, and the asteroid that just buzzed past Earth.
Time is a pretty precious resources, especially when we're talking about space. In space, 30 seconds without a spacesuit will wreak havoc on your body, and I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure you'd eventually blow up? No one is completely sure, because NASA's not about to test out that theory. So it's pretty important that astronauts are able to get into their space suits as quickly as humanly possible. Enter the Z-1 space suit, NASA's newest extraterrestrial ensemble, which allows astronauts instantly to slide into the suit, and enter into another planet.
In celebration of a space program which refuses to quit in the face of absurd Mayan prophecy (in the words of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, "The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it"), we bring you the lighter side of space (meta joke!) in this high fashion photo shoot with real-life Russian cosmonauts, photographed by Arthur Elgort.
Michael Benson is a multimedia artist and journalist with a passion for space. His most recent book, Planetfall is his love letter to our Solar System.
Filmmaker Chris Abbas writes: "I truly enjoy outer space. It's absolutely amazing that we now have the ability to send instruments out into the void of the universe to observe all sorts of interesting things. Asteroids! Moons! Planets! Dark matter! This is the perfect opportunity for a Carl Sagan quote:
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
The footage in this little film was captured by the hardworking men and women at NASA with the Cassini Imaging Science System. If you're interested in learning more about Cassini and the on-going Cassini Solstice Mission, check it out at NASA's website: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/index.cfm"
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