Universe Sandbox | blog

We Landed on the Moon 41 Years Ago

Dan Dixon — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:06:12 +0000

Today marks the 41st anniversary of humanity landing on the moon. Let’s go back soon.

More information

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11_40/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

NASA Releases Free Video Game

Dan Dixon — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:02:36 +0000

NASA has just released a free multiplayer video game called Moonbase Alpha.

You play as an astronaut on the moon repairing damage to your base after an asteroid hits nearby. Moonbase Alpha showcases a small piece of a more comprehensive multiplayer astronaut game that’s in the works called Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond.

What do you think of the game? Let everyone know in the comments below.

Download for free via Steam

Learn more about Moonbase Alpah on the official NASA website

Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond

Visitors From All Over the World

Dan Dixon — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:55:23 +0000

I’m always amazed at how a single site on the internet is discovered by people all over the world.

Here is a world map of the last 1000 visitors to this site:

Our Sun is Amazing

Dan Dixon — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:01:22 +0000

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a brand new spacecraft launched in February, has began sending back the most amazing and highest quality images of the sun ever taken by humanity.

More amazing images and video
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/21apr_firstlight/

Official site of the spacecraft
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Wikipedia Article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Dynamics_Observatory

Our Earth is Constantly Bombarded

Dan Dixon — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:12:15 +0000

Space is constantly raining down about 100 tons of interplanetary material each day. Usually it’s just dust, but sometimes it’s in larger chunks that crashed into the State of Wisconsin (United States) last night (on April 14, 2010).

Nature & Math are Beautifully Intertwined

Dan Dixon — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:35:35 +0000

Our universe is amazing!

Our World is Warming

Dan Dixon — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:50:54 +0000

Scientific insight from the group (NASA) that uses science to successfully launch rockets shows that our world is warming.

This past year, 2009, and 2005 were the warmest years recorded since humanity started keeping track. This past decade, 2000-2009, was the warmest decade on record.

NASAs new website, A Warming World, is a wonderful collection of “articles, videos, data visualizations, space-based imagery and interactive visuals that provide unique NASA perspectives on this topic of global importance.”

http://climate.nasa.gov/warmingworld/

Despite the fact that it snows, our world is warming. The evidence is overwhelming.

Learning How To Make Software

Dan Dixon — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:30:56 +0000

My first experiences in computer programming were in QBasic, a simple DOS based version of BASIC. Qbasic has evolved into VB.NET and it’s sister C# and the development software Visual Studio. While an amazing tool set it just isn’t as simple as it once was. It would likely have overwhelmed me as a 7th grader.

Check out Microsoft’s Small Basic. It makes learning to program simple again, it has a built in turtle (for those that remember LOGO), and it’s free.

Earth’s Day Just Got Shorter

Dan Dixon — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:59:24 +0000

The major Chile earthquake a few days ago appears to have shortened the length of Earth’s day by 1.26 microseconds (1.26 × 10^-6 or 0.00000126 seconds) and moved its axis by about 8 cm (3 in).

How could this happen?

Have you ever spun around in a chair and noticed that moving your arms in or out changed your speed? When you put your arms out you rotate slower and pulling them in makes you spin faster. It would seem that the earthquake caused a notable chunk of Earth’s mass to move closer to the center which caused the spinning Earth to speed up.

Source: Discoblog & CNN

Predicting the Future

Dan Dixon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:11:41 +0000

Something made better in Universe Sandbox 2.

Universe Sandbox is software that simulates gravity, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe. Simulate a rouge star crashing through our solar system or two massive galaxies colliding. More Info