Anniversary of Sputnik

It’s the 53rd anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. It was on October 4th, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched something that inspired cold war terror. They didn’t realize what they had done at the time, but were so afraid of what would happen if it failed they didn’t bring attention to it in the Soviet Union. However,  here in the U.S. this event really opened the door on our fears of what the Soviets were capable of and spurred on the race to the moon. Also, have you ever heard of unobtainium? Engineers use this term for the material they designed in order to construct the skeletal backbone of the James Web Space Telescope, but you might remember it from a block buster movie this year. Don’t miss constellation Pegasus almost directly over head in the night sky. It very aptly resembles a baseball diamond. All this and more on this week’s Sky Talk.[audio: st20101004.mp3]