Why Rudolph really does have a red nose...

Happy Christmas!! 

It's no wonder Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is the most famous member of Santa's reindeers - on top of being a skilled flyer, as his name suggests, his nose glows bright red. This unusual variation on the normal reindeer is said to have all kinds of benefits, the most important of which being to guide Santa's sleigh. So, even if the weather is bad, Santa is cleared for flight, thanks to the brightness of Rudolph's nose.

Scientists at Lund University in Sweden have been using thermal imaging cameras to study the physiology (the workings) of animals, they have found that Rudolph's red nose may have actually been based on fact. They discovered that animals noses glow bright orange when viewed with an infrared light, which is sensitive to heat. Scientists say that this is because they have 25% more blood vessels compared to human noses. This helps to keep their noses warm and sensitive as they rummage through the snow for food beneath. Extra blood flow to their noses and lips can cause a red flush that is visible with our own eyes, hence "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer"

This is a infrared image of a Reindeer.

 

Why do stars twinkle?

We've all heard the nursery rhyme, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" but how do stars twinkle? Just before it reaches your eyes, the starlight that has crossed the cosmos has to travel through a few hundred kilometres of the earth's turbulent atmosphere. As the air moves around the light is refracted, or bent causing the apparent position of the star to 'wobble' slightly. This is why astronomers go to such effort and costs to put their telescopes in orbit, to avoid distortion because of the Earth's atmosphere.

This is a image of the Crab Nebula (M1) taken from Earth

 

The Latest Moon Landing

Recently, China has hit the headlines for the most recent moon landing for decades. They successfully managed to land the moon rover, called the "Jade Rabbit" on Sunday last week. The rover was named the "Jade Rabbit" after an ancient Chinese myth. Some of the youngest lava flows on the Moon are within reach of a leading US lunar scientist.

Officials in charge of the project have said that five of the eight pieces of scientific equipment on the moon currently have begun their observations. The observations could unlock key pieces of information into both the history of Earth and the Moon.