National Space Centre Online - EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE

EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE

How big is the universe? Could there be other universes? How will the universe end? There are no limits to mankind’s quest for universal truth…

According to astronomers, the Universe is still expanding with no centre or edge. It certainly makes our tiny planet look very small indeed!

STELLARIUM

The Solar System is made up of the Sun (our only star), the planets, their moons, asteroids and comets. If you look up at the night sky and see all the stars shining brightly, you’ll never be able to count them all, although you can view 525 of them in our Stellarium!

HUBBLE

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile.

SPACE BUGS

In the 19th century, many astronomers were convinced that the Moon was inhabited by intelligent aliens. We now know that this isn’t true: the Moon has no atmosphere to sustain life. Even so, the Apollo astronauts were quarantined after their trips to the Moon – just in case they had picked up any space bugs.

THE X-FILES!

Shortly after the Roswell alien autopsy film went public the Fortean Times magazine received some pictures of what appeared to be of the film being made – therefore showing it to be a fake. The story was run in the magazine and a short time after an anonymous parcel arrived containing this head!!