Pal Virag's Page

Poster

Feb 27

Pal Virag commented on Garland Coulson's blog post Russian Mars Probe in Trouble

"Yesterday a satellite tracking station in Perth, Australia, has finally been able to make contact with the troubled spacecraft. (Aside from the Mars probe's apparent faults on its own, the main problem is its low orbital altitude - meaning that…"

Nov 23, 2011

Pal Virag commented on Garland Coulson's blog post Neutrinos Break the Light Speed Barrier

"It is only a claim so far, as it has not been (independently) confirmed yet..."

Sep 29, 2011

Pal Virag posted a photo

Sun - Sept 09 2011 - Pal Virag

Sunspots (and faculae)

Sep 29, 2011

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Pal Virag commented on Chris Boar's photo

sunspots

"Very nice picture, Chris!"

Sep 23, 2011

Pal Virag posted a blog post

THE SKY IS FALLING!

The predicted uncontrolled re-entry of NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is expected to happen late tonight or early tomorrow. There is a very slim (but not zero!) chance that someone will hurt by the falling debris - but not in Nanaimo, as the defunct satellite passed over the vicinity of the city (just 10 degrees over the horizon) after 2 a.m. last night and not going to come back again. Now it seems that it may reenter over the United States - well, watch the skies over…See More

Sep 23, 2011

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Pal Virag's photo was featured

Sun - Full - 2011 Aug 04

Sunspots

Aug 5, 2011

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Pal Virag posted photos

Aug 4, 2011

Pal Virag's photo was featured

Groups of Sunpots on Aug 01 2011

Finally the Solar activity is picking up :)

Aug 1, 2011

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Pal Virag posted a photo

Groups of Sunpots on Aug 01 2011

Finally the Solar activity is picking up :)

Aug 1, 2011

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Pal Virag commented on Chris Lawson's blog post Space Canada Proposed Launch Site on Vancouver Island

"Yes, it would be great! (an amazing project the proposed science centre could be associated with as well :). However, as Gilbert has pointed out, pieces (e.g., first stages) do fall off the rockets (not to mention when a lift-off goes wrong, and the…"

Apr 29, 2011

Pal Virag posted a photo

Poster

May 14 2011 Astronomy Day

Apr 29, 2011

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Pal Virag posted a blog post

CANADARM2 WAS LAUNCHED 10 YEARS AGO

Another anniversary, another milestone (this time, an achievement that we Canadians should be proud of): The International Space Station's "construction crane", the new generation Canadarm (designed and built in Canada) was launched into space aboard the Endeavour Space Shuttle on the 19th of April, 2001. (To see this lift-off on site was really an uplifting experience for me.) The following days the robotic arm was installed to the Space Station by CSA Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who so became…See More

Apr 20, 2011

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Pal Virag posted a blog post

FIRST HUMAN WENT INTO SPACE 50 YEARS AGO

(Well, better later than never...) (Almost) exactly half a century ago, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, when he orbited Earth once aboard the Vostok(Dawn)-1 spacecraft on April 12, 1961. His heroic spaceflight, although lasting only 108 minutes, opened a new chapter in the history of the human race. …See More

Apr 18, 2011

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Pal Virag posted a blog post

FIRST EVER: SPACECRAFT BROUGHT HOME ASTEROID PARTICLES

The Japanese space agency [JAXA] has just announced that Japan's Hayabusa space probe - which touched down on asteroid 25143 Itokawa in 2005 and eventually came back to Earth - successfully collected asteroid dust. Even though the Japanese space mission had been plagued by serious problems, it turned out to be a huge success at the end. Although it was uncertain as to whether the spacecraft had been able to collect any samples at all, the containers of Hayabusa's lander - which landed in…See More

Nov 16, 2010

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Pal Virag commented on Randall (Randy) Krall's photo