Free Republic

A commercial space company seeking to shine among the satellite launch industry has secretly sent its own "star" into orbit. Rocket Lab on Wednesday (Jan. 24) revealed to the world that "The Humanity Star" is circling Earth and is expected to become the brightest object in the night sky. Covered in 65 highly-reflective panels, the satellite is rapidly spinning, reflecting the sun's light back onto the planet, much in the same way that a disco ball casts light onto a dance floor. From the ground, the geodesic sphere-shaped satellite will appear as a bright, glinting star quickly traversing the night...

Nanoparticles of gold too small to be seen with the naked eye have been created in laboratories, but up until now, have never been seen in nature. The search for these natural but ‘invisible’ nanoparticles is important. If they can be proved to exist, the knowledge will help give us a deeper understanding of how gold can be transported and deposited by geological processes, and therefore help explorers to find new gold deposits in Australia.