tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56776732777897066662024-03-19T09:17:01.973+00:00Bob's BlogCompanion blog to my website - Bob the Alien's tour of the Solar System (www.bobthealien.co.uk)Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-90506792038666272772011-07-12T22:54:00.007+01:002011-07-12T23:07:39.352+01:00Happy Birthday Neptune!!!<div><div>It is one year since Neptune was discovered, so join me in wishing the solar system's most distant planet a happy first birthday!!! When I say "one year" I mean one year on Neptune. This is because Neptune has completed its first trip around the Sun since it was discovered in October 1846. </div><div> </div><div>Because Neptune is so far away from the Sun, it takes the planet almost 165 years to orbit the Sun. This means that a year on Neptune is 165 years long. On Earth, a year is 365 days, this being the length of time it takes for Earth to complete an orbit (it's actually 365 days and a quarter - an extra day is added every four years to catch up). Tuesday 12th July 2011 marks the date that Neptune will be in the same place in its orbit around the Sun as it was when it was first found all that time ago. </div><div> </div><div>Despite us knowing about Neptune for 165 years, we still know very little about the planet. We know it is likely to be made up of mostly frozen gasses, and that it is a stormy world with strong winds, but there is more that we don't know about Neptune than we do know. It has only been visited once, and that was by Voyager 2 which reached it in 1989. There are no plans to visit it again in the near future. Maybe things will be different by the time it completes its second orbit.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div></div>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-28013112543181850562010-02-09T20:14:00.003+00:002010-02-09T22:00:12.247+00:00Pluto still a planet in IllinoisBack in 2006, Pluto was at the centre of a scientific row. Was it a planet or not? It had always been recognised as one since its discovery in 1930, but had also always been the odd planet out. However, within the last decade or so, a number of other objects similar to Pluto had been found scattered about the Solar System in its distant depths. As Pluto was classified as a planet, it would mean that these newly-discovered objects should also become planets. But, it was feared that this would result in the Solar System containing tens, possibly hundreds, of insignificant planets. So rather than classifying them as planets, members of the International Astronomical Union decided at a meeting in 2006 they would be classify the new Pluto-like worlds as dwarf planets. This would also mean that Pluto would have to be reclassified as a dwarf planet, officially losing its status as a regular planet. It is now regarded as incorrect to call Pluto a planet and to state that the Solar System contains nine planets. That is, unless, you live in Illinois.....<br /><br />In February last year, the State of Illinois passed a <a href="http://ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=76&GA=96&DocTypeId=SR&DocNum=46&GAID=10&LegID=40752&SpecSess=&Session=">bill</a> to re-establish Pluto's "full planetary status" and to declare March 13th 2009 as Pluto day to mark the 79th anniversary of the date that its discovery was announced. The reason for Illinois' defiance of the IAU's ruling? Clyde Tombaugh, the man that discovered Pluto, was born in Streator, Illinois. And, while Pluto passes through the skies over Illinois, it must be a planet. The bill also states that Tombaugh is the only American ever to have discovered a planet. Maybe somebody should point out that many Americans <em>have</em> discovered many planets. Okay, so none of them orbit the Sun. Instead they orbit other stars. Illinois' bill has been met with mixed reactions. There are of course many people who don't want to accept Pluto's new status, including members of the <a href="http://www.plutoisaplanet.org/index.html">Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet</a>, who encourage supporters to email the IAU in disgust and throw Pluto Parties. Quite what you would do at a Pluto Party remains a mystery but they sound like they could be fun nevertheless! Supporters of Pluto being a planet, including the state of Illionois and the Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet, state that the decision to demote Pluto was made unfairly since only 5% of the total number of members of the IAU actually voted. Other people believe that Illinois' decision, which is more of a way of honouring Clyde Tombaugh rather than being a scientific protest, is silly as it does nothing more than confuse people. Even now, almost four years after the IAU's ruling, many people aren't sure of the true definition of Pluto or know how many objects are officially classed as planets in the Solar System.<br /><br />Personally I felt it was a shame that Pluto did get demoted but that is probably more to do with the fact that I'd always known it to be a planet rather than not agreeing with the way it became demoted. It was as if somebody had said to me, "You know all that stuff you were told about Pluto being the ninth planet in the Solar System. Well, it's all rubbish." It also made me realise that what we know about the universe is only what we think we know and that any discovery can change our understanding of it almost overnight. The reason we knew Pluto to be a planet was because we didn't know of other objects like it and despite its differences to the other planets, it was more similar to them than to other objects in the Solar System. It couldn't be a star, a moon, a comet, or an asteroid, so it had to be a planet. As soon as other objects were found similar to Pluto, they would need to be put into a group. I agree that grouping these objects into the same group as the rest of the planets could devalue the status of the word "planet" and could eventually lead to too many objects becoming planets, most of which would be quite small and insignificant. Creating a new group for these objects is logical. But it wouldn't be logical to not put Pluto into the group. And I really don't understand why people refuse to accept its new status - the dwarf planet definition was created to make it easier to understand the Solar System. Why oppose it?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/plutodown.htm">For more information about how Pluto was discovered and how it lost its planetary status, visit this page.</a>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-46456614924027227192009-10-18T00:09:00.003+01:002009-10-18T00:22:25.504+01:00Bob's spooky tourHas it really been four months since my last entry? Where did the summer go? The last few months have been fairly quiet development-wise for Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System. I've finally added a new page about the <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/voyager.htm">Voyager </a>mission and, er, I think that's about it. The website very nearly became a .com rather than remaining a .co.uk when the .com version of the website name came up for sale - in fact, I came within seconds of buying the new domain, changed my mind to look into it a little more, decided to look again at the options and found out that somebody over in America had gone and bought it. And what have they done with it since? Nothing! Humph! <div><div>Other than that, Bob's been getting ready for Halloween and given his website a spooky makeover. He's got his graphic designers to Halloweenify his site. The purples have gone green and his logo appears to have a few additions, and a few substutions. Everything should be back to normal for November though, and hopefully the cobwebs will have been removed!</div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BJ2MqmD8TinBRQFOhtZ-oUAbB2vI0SXVVPErBLckGACtXfJys6menQUzPbJfIEMMzoRY7-rSyCg-rP2o8HSa95INcSDtHVSx6C42AdoGPZiLOScJmQLhLh0JNFEaYfxa-3FJaDpQZ6U/s1600-h/titlehalloween.png"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 94px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393712909297936354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BJ2MqmD8TinBRQFOhtZ-oUAbB2vI0SXVVPErBLckGACtXfJys6menQUzPbJfIEMMzoRY7-rSyCg-rP2o8HSa95INcSDtHVSx6C42AdoGPZiLOScJmQLhLh0JNFEaYfxa-3FJaDpQZ6U/s400/titlehalloween.png" /></a></p><div> </div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxluZq8zSYxNo4cHfObMlv9ELAAs4Ckzw2Kz46pK-sCE5CsRvPJWy5sQTZ5-RhQX7BuDyRsyMOaDUDvkimBTGvfbQRLSybs5KSI46HLB0KmPGvA5JtqWCPaNM40U4XbQPyVaf8cGnkmyo/s1600-h/toppanel3.png"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 38px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393713159711889442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxluZq8zSYxNo4cHfObMlv9ELAAs4Ckzw2Kz46pK-sCE5CsRvPJWy5sQTZ5-RhQX7BuDyRsyMOaDUDvkimBTGvfbQRLSybs5KSI46HLB0KmPGvA5JtqWCPaNM40U4XbQPyVaf8cGnkmyo/s400/toppanel3.png" /></a></p><div> </div><div> </div><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div></div>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-59368792324220797352009-06-19T21:21:00.002+01:002009-06-19T22:04:58.968+01:00Moon Landings on BBC archiveOf all events that took place in the Twentieth Century, the Apollo Moon landings were quite possibly the most momentous. As we are now reaching forty years since Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon's surface, the Lunar landings are events that happened before many people on the planet were born. This may explain why more and more people simply believe that the Moon landings didn't happen and that the whole thing was actually faked. But, for the people of the 1960s, the mission to get to the Moon and back was very real.<br /><br />On the BBC website, there is a now a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/moonlandings/index.shtml">collection of television and radio programmes </a>which cover the Apollo Moon landings. As many of these programmes were originally broadcast before and around the time of the missions, they allow us to see for ourselves how real the events were for people at the time and their thoughts, hopes and concerns about the missions. The earliest item in the archive is an episode of The Sky at Night broadcast in 1960, just after the first man (Yuri Gagarin) had entered space. There are a further four episodes of The Sky At Night in the collection from 1961 (looking at the possibility of life on the Moon), 1969, 2006 and 2007. Also available are several news reports from the late 1960s, an episode of Panarama from 20th July 1969 which asks whether going to the Moon is a waste of money and a few more recent programmes looking back at the missions.<br /><br />This is a great opportunity to view and listen to rare broadcasts which tell the story of one of mankind's greatest leaps. As far as I'm aware, they are only available in the UK, but let me know if you know any different!<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/moonlandings/index.shtml">Go here to enter the BBC Archive - Moon Landings collection</a></div>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-86057179627446247392009-05-19T22:46:00.003+01:002009-05-19T23:25:52.511+01:00New pages and updatesIt's been a busy few weeks here at Bob the Alien towers. While astronauts are up in space fixing and improving the Hubble Space Telescope, I've been adding new stuff to my site. It's also been a record breaking period of time with the website breaking its record for the most number of visitors in one day when it received 1630 visitors on 13th May. So I would like to say a big thank you to all visitors who continue to support this site.<br /><br />As far as developments go, firstly I've made it easier to send me emails. Selecting the Email option from the top of each page will take you to a page containing a simple form. Fill it in, click on "send" and you're done! There's also a similar form for the Ask an Alien section, so you can send any queries you have about space within seconds, or minutes, or however long it takes to write out your question and press send.<br /><br />Other recent additions include "<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/plutodown.htm">The Rise and Fall of Pluto</a>", a page which tells the story of the discovery of Pluto, its recent demotion to dwarf planet and new status as Plutoid and a new page called "<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/astromodern.htm">Modern Astronomy</a>" which provides information about modern astronomy (believe it or not!). A profile of <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/hubble.htm">Edwin Hubble </a>has also been added to the Famous Astronomers section. Currently in development is a page about living in space, one about the future of space exploration and a page about space exploration. After completion, a new page about the lifecycle of stars will finally appear (the page was actually planned when the site was originally created back in 2000 and has always had a presence on the site despite containing no content!).<br /><br />So that's the plan for developments in the near future. Will update again soon!Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-38546556776293856492009-04-27T10:06:00.006+01:002009-04-27T12:29:38.501+01:00Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System - How do you solve a problem like Bob the Alien?Something that has been concerning me for sometime about Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System is the site's name. Sometimes I don't think it suits the website's content. Obviously the Solar System part of it is okay seeing as the site is about space, but the Bob the Alien bit of it it can be seen as a bit childish. This wasn't a problem when the site was being planned and initally developed, seeing as it was originally aimed at children in their last three years of primary school (aged 8-11). However, feedback from visitors suggests that the site's users are older than the original target audience, and as such, newer content has reflected this and is more in depth. I wouldn't say it's more complex, but it tends to go into more detail. A typical example can be seen by comparing one of the site's earliest pages (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/jupspot.htm">Jupiter's Great Red Spot</a>) with one of its more recent (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/jupiterjourney.htm">Journeys to Jupiter</a>). However, the information provided on the Journeys to Jupiter page, which may be useful for anybody wanting to know about Jupiter missions, is likely to get ignored by a lot of visitors simply because as soon as they see the website's name, they instantly think it's for children. Although children are of course the site's primary audience, I think that the amount of content on a page, such as Journeys to Jupiter, may put off that audience too. In other words, who is a page like Journeys to Jupiter aimed at? It may be too detailed for children but at the same time give the impression of being too "immature" for older readers. <div><br />I suppose part of the problem does stem back to the original planning of the site. As is explained elsewhere on the website (although I'm not too sure where - I know I deleted a load of old pages recently so may have got rid of it!), where was I? Oh, as explained elsewhere, the site was originally designed as an experiment. Back in the summer of 1999, when I was at University, the internet was becoming more and more important, and the role it would play in education would be vital. My "experiment" was to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the internet in education. It basically came down to the question 'Could computers replace teachers?' Originally I planned to evaluate a load of educational websites and find out what users liked and didn't like about them. However, that seemed too much like hard work, and I couldn't really find a site that suited the aims of my research, so I decided to design my own. I deliberately had to set quite a narrow audience age range, and experimented with different navigation techniques (images, texts, hyperlinks), different kinds of multimedia (graphics, photographs, animation and sound - which is why the site used to play music!) and based the design on the learning theories of the time. The Solar System was chosen as the subject matter primarily because it is a topic I enjoy and one which is sadly under-taught in schools, at least here in the UK. Also the circular nature of the Solar System suited the learning theories quite well since web-based learning was largely thought to be about the user forming their own path rather than being told where to go. Come to think of it, I think I mentioned all this in an earlier entry. Oh well, I shall continue anyway. When planning the site, I decided that it would be good for the site to resemble a spaceship console with a window in the middle of the screen with an image of what can be seen through the window, and information about the image next to/below the image. I then decided that, due to the age range, it would be good if the spaceship belongs to somebody else and the website visitor was a passenger on board the spaceship. I decided that the owner of the spaceship should be an alien and, as a temporary measure, decided to name that alien Bob. My next step was to design a logo for the site (think I had to have one ready as part of my project's proposal) so quickly put together one with the title "Bob the Alien's Tour of the Galaxy" never with the intention of actually using it on the site. And that was it. No more planning of the site was done until development began in early 2000 and since I hadn't really thought about alternative names for it, decided to use its proposed one and got on with putting it together based around the idea that the user was being taken on a tour by an alien. Due to time constraints, I changed it to a Solar System tour meaning that I could narrow the site's scope and only concentrate on the objects of the Solar System rather than the entire galaxy. Originally there was going to be one page about each of the planets, one about the Sun and one about the Moon. As development progressed though, it became obvious that there was too much about each object to squeeze onto one page, so I had to split each planet into sections which would go onto different pages. Broadly speaking for each planet, there would be an introductory page (usually just below the planet's main menu), a page about any of the planet's main features, a page about the planet's moons or its most famous moon and ten facts about each planet. As the site talked about the Sun, it became clear that a page also had to be written about stars and that too then had its own section. This then caused the need for a section about galaxies, although the two sections have since been combined. It was also important not to ignore the minor objects in the Solar System: asteroids, comets, etc, so these received pages. Some of the pages about planets mentioned space missions, so a section was created about space exploration. The site grew rapidly from its original design of 12 pages and, on completion, ended up with 96 pages. Throughout the expansion, it kept to its original aim of targetting children between the ages of 8 and 11. But this was not easy, and I found it sometimes prevented me from going into as much depth as I would have liked. After completing the site, I visited a school to see how pupils in my targeted age range used the site; this was to find out what they did and didn't like about it and to observe how they browsed it. However, because the site was also put onto the internet, it meant that anybody anywhere of any age could visit it. And it quickly became clear that, despite the site's design and targeted audience, it was getting visitors of all ages and one thing they wanted was more detailed information. </div><div><br />After finishing university, the site remained on the Internet and, although I didn't initially do much with it (I think realising that had to do 8 times as many pages as I originally planned put me off going anywhere near it!) I gradually returned and began expanding on information that was already there and began adding new pages. But, because I was no longer doing it as a project, I didn't have to keep to its original design aims of targetting a certain audience and so, as the site began to grow again slowly, newer content tended to be more detailed in response to what its actual audience wanted to know about. As the site has evolved over the years, it has got more and more away from its original audience. Sometimes it has probably gone a bit too far the other way. The<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/venusvisit.htm"> Visits to Venus </a>page is rediculously lengthy and detailed. The font has changed and has been reduced in size and the pages have been given a more mature look. But, its name has stayed the same! I suppose its audience isn't that much older than its original target audience (my research shows most visitors are between 10-15 years old) but I sometimes think that even some of them may find it a bit childish to be going on tour with Bob the Alien. Plus I'm not too sure how appealing younger visitors may find the site now that it seems to have grown up a bit. And I also think that there are potentially a lot of older visitors which would benefit from the information provided but are instead put off the site simply due to its title. I recently put a survey on the site which asked visitors what they think of the site. I was actually looking for comments from people who don't like it seeing as guestbook entries tend to be positive (apart from the ones from people who think it's funny just to fill them with swear words and nothing else!). Although the vast majority of comments are positive, there are some that comment that the title is too childish. One person noted that the site was too "kiddish" for him so won't visit it. </div><div><br />So the question is, what to do about it? Renaming the site is an option but could prove disastrous. The site is now fairly popular and, when I look into reports about how people get to it, find it is linked to by many educational sites, particularly schools. It is getting a good reputation based on how the site is now, so it may not be worth changing it. As well as having built up a history and reputation, changing the name would mean registering a new domain and then having to remove all references of Bob the Alien from the site. But could renaming it result it in becoming more popular? And what would I rename it to? Another option is to split its content. Basically, to have two pages for each topic instead of one. For example, one page I wrote a while back was about the Space Shuttle. Originally, the page was very detailed, going into the reasons for designing it, the different designs for it and so on. While writing it though, I noticed it went on forever, kind of like this blog entry, so rewrote it and cut most of the technical bits out. In the end, I was left with a page which, like the Journeys to Jupiter one, covers the subject matter well but probably doesn't have the right audience on this site. So, if I split the content, there could be a page which gives the simple information and a page which gives more detailed information. However, this would mean keeping the name of the site so probably doesn't resolve the problem. Another option would simply be to design a new site. Keep this site as it is. Remove the more in depth pages and put them onto a new site, and replace the detailed content on this site with simpler content. But that would be a lot of work, and I get the feeling that the less successful site would probably get neglected. Oh well, I shall ponder over my thoughts and make a decision. It'll probably be to not change anything, but who knows?!! And just in case you were wondering what it looked like when I mentioned it earlier, below is the original logo for Bob the Alien's Tour of the Galaxy. It doesn't look too much different from the logo that was eventually used. </div><div align="center"><br />Bob the Alien's Original Logo (before production of site)<br /></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmYXQsHV__ybAprx7A20PaKOmoV8tMR87Uh8O9JaD3v0tLpIJnnGBCkNCoUIRa1IRdy-O9OSZNP6cRm6lMwcvGFajr2w_nBLss58_2fGOQQuBjakMaV-Ll6Giv1qL4hd8ETLyd4Reqv0/s1600-h/logo+(2).gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329331028848445122" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 109px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmYXQsHV__ybAprx7A20PaKOmoV8tMR87Uh8O9JaD3v0tLpIJnnGBCkNCoUIRa1IRdy-O9OSZNP6cRm6lMwcvGFajr2w_nBLss58_2fGOQQuBjakMaV-Ll6Giv1qL4hd8ETLyd4Reqv0/s400/logo+(2).gif" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"><br />Bob the Alien's first logo</div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjIMQypk084cwxuhFxJmnu8jLP2yt-EkCpzV4vPVhhmWaTN0TwRG3aGr9oZ8sIJs1srUF4b7j5U54UEK0HcJ_FzN2vqXd8u6ifCzmhnJX-2rb4_cjhvtf8Etl7DQTThXMXzpFjABfeFM/s1600-h/logo.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329331409587251074" style="WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 92px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjIMQypk084cwxuhFxJmnu8jLP2yt-EkCpzV4vPVhhmWaTN0TwRG3aGr9oZ8sIJs1srUF4b7j5U54UEK0HcJ_FzN2vqXd8u6ifCzmhnJX-2rb4_cjhvtf8Etl7DQTThXMXzpFjABfeFM/s400/logo.gif" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div align="center"></div>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-68616606673747298082009-03-31T20:16:00.002+01:002009-03-31T20:36:06.616+01:00Spring updateIt's been a while since I last updated this blog but that doesn't mean Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System has been getting neglected. Towards the end of last year, I began to update the look of the website. Turned out that this was a more time-consuming exercise than I first thought but I've finally got the entire site looking new and fresh. If you see any old-style pages anywhere, let me know and I'll get them sorted.<br /><br />There have been a couple of new additions to the site. In the astronomy section, there is a section about <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/astronomers.htm">Famous Astronomers</a>. Every month, a new profile of an astronomer will be added to the site. The page launched (or relaunched - it's actually been half-complete on the site for about a year!) in March 2009 with a profile of <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/copernicus.htm">Nicholas Copernicus</a>, the astronomer often credited with being the founder of modern astronomy since he provided that best evidence that the Sun, and not Earth, is at the centre of the Solar System.<br /><br />Also added to the site is a page called <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/jupiterjourney.htm">Journeys to Jupiter</a>. This page describes the missions that have taken place to the Solar System's largest planet. A similar page about the <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/voyager.htm">Voyager </a>mission is currently in development and should be completed shortly. The Space Exploration section, which includes the Voyager mission page, is this section that is the least complete and, in the parts that are complete, out of date. Nothing appears in the <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/spaceliv.htm">Living in Space </a>section, and the page about<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/spacefut.htm"> future space missions </a>hasn't been updated since the site was launched in 2000. It currently shows "future" missions as being between 2001 and 2005!<br /><br />Other minor changes are more questions and answers added to the <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/askanalien.htm">Ask an Alien!</a> section, a section that has been mostly ignored since being added but is set to be greatly expanded. The main menu page has a slightly new logo (as does this blog) and the page about the <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/spacetele.htm">Hubble Space Telescope</a> has moved from the <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/explore.htm">Space Exploration</a> section to the <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/astronomy.htm">Astronomy </a>section.<br /><br />Now that the cosmetic update to the website is complete, it gives me more time to concentrate on the content. As well as completing the pages that have links on the site but no content and also adding more content to Ask an Alien!, the Space A-Z is also going to be improved and then, I'll be going through each of the other pages and updating the content of all of them! Looks like Bob the Alien is going to have a busy spring!Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-74177422255076748802009-01-15T10:16:00.002+00:002009-01-15T10:26:07.938+00:00Happy New Year!Ok, so it's slightly late, but welcome to 2009! Bob the Alien has been a busy alien over the Christmas and New Year period, beavering away at updating the look to his website. The planets, moon and Sun pages are all done now, but will be updating again soon with a slight colour change. Other sections have seen updates. The astronomy section, which is still in development, has received its new look and a new page too! (The Scientific Age of Astronomy). A page about famous astronomers is in development but is likely to be one of those pages which gets published as complete and added to over time. Space Exploration is next on the list to be revamped. At the moment, you'll probably find that going to some pages on the site takes you to on old style version of the page. Over the next month or so, this should all be sorted to add consistency to the entire website and make navigation easier. One thing I've noticed about the new look is how difficult it sometimes is to navigate the site through the old style pages. So I believe changing the look and making naviagtion easier is nothing but good news for the website and looking at visitor numbers, it looks like you think so too! Once the new look is complete, I'll be updating some of the older pages, and then I'll be looking at expanding sections!<br /><br />2009 is looking to be an exciting year for Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System!<br /><br />Bob the AlienBob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-31318791905240592472008-12-17T23:09:00.002+00:002008-12-17T23:15:54.779+00:00Site downAt the moment my website is currently unavailable. Don't worry though - it'll be back very very soon (hopefully by Friday 17th). There is a chance that it may go on and off sometimes over the next week or so seeing as it <em>may</em> be moving to a new host, but it definitely will be back. The new look to the site is still going well. Just about all of the pages about the planets are nearly updated with just Neptune and Pluto/Dwarf Planets to go. And then it'll be on with the rest of it!Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-1659212460251396982008-11-27T20:17:00.004+00:002008-11-27T21:39:54.176+00:00Bob's New(ish) Look!If you've ventured into the Mars section of this website, you may have noticed that it looks a bit different to the rest of the site. Over the next few weeks, I plan to give the site a fresh new look, seeing as, despite the addition of a number of pages and a few tweaks here and there over the years, it still looks quite similar to how it looked when it first appeared on the Internet nearly nine years ago. So, the black starry background has gone and has been replaced by purple. Lots and lots of purple. Perhaps a bit too much. Let me know if you think it is better or worse than before. What I want to do is make the site look better and become easier to navigate. What I don't want to do is put people off it, so email me or leave a comment on this blog to let me know what you think of the new look!<br /><br /><div><div>Apart from attempting to make the site look more attractive, the main aim of the redesign is to make the site easier to navigate. Earlier this year, I changed the control panel at the top of the page to include links to different parts of the site. But, although I thought it looked good, I still felt something was wrong with it. So, the top control panel has been slightly changed. It still allows quick access to the main destinations (the planets, sun and the Moon) and "feedback" links (email, guest book and this blog), but all other links have been moved into more logical categories which will now appear on the left of every page. At the bottom of each page is a bar containing additional "gadgets". Currently, there is one there to translate the page into other languages and a search box. The space there also allows for future additions (such as a place to download a printable version of the page, seeing as yellow writing on a purple background doesn't print too well!). This means that the main content will take up the main body of the page, with all navigation links around it. The way it is now designed means that it should be easier to browse the website either chronologically or randomly, allowing for different learning styles.</div><div><br />This website was originally designed as an educational project assessing the Internet as a learning resource; its design was based around an educational theory about concentric learning which had something to do with the learner following their own path around an educational resource and not being told what to do. This meant that they were not given a set place to start or to finish their educational journey, and they didn't have to read from beginning to end (like a book) to acquire the information they need. The circular nature of the Solar System was ideal for the project. Originally, the learner was going to be presented with a picture of the Solar System with the various destinations as clickable links. Where the user clicked first was up to them. It would be their interest that would guide them to their first destination and then to their next. After completion of my project, I decided to continue development and maintenance of the site. For years, it has used its concentric approach, which is ideal because the nature of the Internet means that most visitors to the site don't actually visit the home page of it. They usually get here from a link in a search engine, and go to a page which, if the site was designed to be read chronologically, would be somewhere in the middle of it. Once they've visited, they either get the information they want and leave, or continue to browse seemingly randomly. But, this method doesn't suit all visitors. Like I said, most people enter the site at any of the pages (for some reason, the ten facts about saturn page seems to be the most popular). Hopefully, they like what they see and decide that they want to more of it. But they may not want to just browse randomly. Instead they may want some kind of direction. I believe that with the new links on the left hand side, if they feel that they don't know where to go next, or what they may have missed out on already, they can go on to browse in a more orderly and logical way. </div><div><br />All of the pages in the Mars section have been given the new look. I'll probably play around with them a bit more over the next few days until I'm happy with the look, and then I'll begin the process of updating the rest of the site. If you want to see the new look now, go to <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/mars.htm">Mars </a>and have a browse. Or, have a look at the images below. Which ones do you prefer? The first and third images are the old pages, the second and fourth are the new ones.</div><p align="left"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273453707608392498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 358px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 269px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5wnTCuec3_OsQJxXikdh-K_Bj-cueQoXsoBmAHmeVAQVsjmIPPM1P_u1GFTgFgHvJE3cpO8M4lDqVkbGGE-daDhtjES1K4IogSUGyBARdHZO29V6rwndo5TnMBxJtpc4-zatAr02P7YQ/s400/marspage1old.png" border="0" /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02SP1okw0aqy5q3UizAM_dpbrTmRfN1SwKeGQCRqZk9UQicPH0T9jC23sKEiWJLl0_50ZxCS3qS340H4q0ZeqJyOPJH-ACwK_lY-VQkpAkzOBwHSrDS_CLgaWb5fjWd0ObydpwwbL5ls/s1600-h/marspage1new.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273454437698288674" style="WIDTH: 358px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 269px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02SP1okw0aqy5q3UizAM_dpbrTmRfN1SwKeGQCRqZk9UQicPH0T9jC23sKEiWJLl0_50ZxCS3qS340H4q0ZeqJyOPJH-ACwK_lY-VQkpAkzOBwHSrDS_CLgaWb5fjWd0ObydpwwbL5ls/s400/marspage1new.png" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIBCfvfuJQxteKpHQ47wUB-UMFcvircZ6LpqK1kZLgxMRo82c0djkDN1gNkYSfunaWfed2PEXQ7aojzppX60ljpnZhaKhnu6MQHphpfFIikeORAZcQ7k814IVJXYra9Iylrs316SGFyE/s1600-h/marspage2old.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273454443001118802" style="WIDTH: 358px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 269px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIBCfvfuJQxteKpHQ47wUB-UMFcvircZ6LpqK1kZLgxMRo82c0djkDN1gNkYSfunaWfed2PEXQ7aojzppX60ljpnZhaKhnu6MQHphpfFIikeORAZcQ7k814IVJXYra9Iylrs316SGFyE/s400/marspage2old.png" border="0" /></a></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkI8BAtAeKO_QWbqv85VzoFCW4Moypqmu3-b2hhiyjrHmOaPAA3WpKBn2HMgMkEHoR4azQHKdv2KpClIPqRzJnUmpb02o5mLw7pDs0ytNLSKDXeHXIsnkP4FDTrZXUzkMoUxRSRVI_Dek/s1600-h/marspage2new.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273454449412576786" style="WIDTH: 358px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 269px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkI8BAtAeKO_QWbqv85VzoFCW4Moypqmu3-b2hhiyjrHmOaPAA3WpKBn2HMgMkEHoR4azQHKdv2KpClIPqRzJnUmpb02o5mLw7pDs0ytNLSKDXeHXIsnkP4FDTrZXUzkMoUxRSRVI_Dek/s400/marspage2new.png" border="0" /></a></p><div><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj02SP1okw0aqy5q3UizAM_dpbrTmRfN1SwKeGQCRqZk9UQicPH0T9jC23sKEiWJLl0_50ZxCS3qS340H4q0ZeqJyOPJH-ACwK_lY-VQkpAkzOBwHSrDS_CLgaWb5fjWd0ObydpwwbL5ls/s1600-h/marspage1new.png"> </div><p align="left"></a> </p></div>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-47883370842596141032008-10-30T22:53:00.002+00:002008-10-30T22:55:57.079+00:00Ten Facts About...As I announced last weekend, this week sees the launch of a new website by the creator of Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System. Basically a spin-off of the Ten Facts About pages on this website, Ten Facts About... is a website of facts about a wide variety of subjects with ten new facts being added everyday. It's now ready to visit and can be accessed at <a href="http://www.tenfactsabout.co.uk/">www.tenfactsabout.co.uk</a> - today's facts are about Pumpkins! Happy Halloween!Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-59668998235678005732008-10-25T12:39:00.004+01:002008-10-25T13:00:56.318+01:00New website!Whoops! Not updated for a while again. This post is more of an advert for a new website I'm developing. Some of the most popular pages on Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System are the fact pages (the ones featuring ten or more facts about each of the planets). By far, they are the most visited pages every day, proving that visitors to my website want quick, straight to the point, information. More than likely, it's for a school project that requires you to find "ten facts about" a planet, and it's been left to the last minute! So, I thought I'd branch out a little and offer a website which provides ten facts about other subjects. The site, which will be called Ten Facts About... is fairly simple in its aims. Everyday, I will add ten facts about a subject. The subject matter can be anything (in the first month, I have facts ready for subjects such as pumpkins, the White House, Sonic the Hedgehog and Halley's Comet). The facts usually have some relevance to the day they get added. After publication, they will be put into a category so visitors can search for facts based on the date of publication or their category. The site will launch on 31st October 2008, and I will be back here on that day to provide the link to the site. Below is a screenshot of what a page from the website should look like. The example facts are temporary and will be replaced with the proper facts by launch.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261058751412585378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 208px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimv31AmPr_n2PlVJ4WszwddxxZ-D4rRRYMrSrBfyfGT2ixPpdv7vri9Z3TTTnE_HLlGVvO5aPjpIbXrp5AcqoaGtrBOBb3wf1ES8tMd_PWCvXeL1czzRcoMu2yrMB_NSZVNhnEcDEz8sw/s400/tenfactspreview.gif" border="0" /><br /><p>Anyway, that's my little advert out of the way. Although I will be doing that website, that doesn't mean I'm giving up with this one. Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System will still be updated and maintained, and is due to get a proper facelift early in 2009 seeing as it's hardly changed for the last eight years!</p><p>Bob</p>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-91060163446930023042008-09-23T10:43:00.002+01:002008-09-23T11:07:36.219+01:00Bob's back!Hi everybody. Feels like it's been a while since I updated. Then again, it has been a while. As I said in my previous post, summer is traditionally a very quiet time of year for my website, so I don't tend to update much of it. I have been working on a few things behind the scenes (mainly the forthcoming "On this Day" section) and have been playing around with graphics to make them look shiny, but not used the new shiny graphics yet. I added a few new pages: page two of <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/marsmiss2.htm">Missions to Mars</a> in the Mars section, and a page about <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/astroearly.htm">Early Astronomy </a>in the Astronomy section (which I've noticed doesn't have any links to apart from the front page - I'll have to fix that next time I redesign the main navigational panel!). Now that schools are back and visitor numbers tend to increase again, you should see more activity on the site.<br /><br />So, what's been happening in the world of space over the summer? Water has been confirmed to exist on Mars. The Phoenix lander analysed a sample of soil it had dug up and found out that one of the particles contained in it was water. Scientists at the time claimed that had "touched and tasted" water on Mars which is something of a bold claim seeing as they are sitting comfortably in their science labs on Earth, nowhere near the Martian water! And although they haven't found enough water to quench the thirst of any passing alien, the fact that water does still exist there confims for definite that the planet had a wet history, and greatly increases the chances of life having survived or still suviving there. Ooooh, exciting stuff!<br /><br />Other events included a space shuttle going to the International Space Station to fix the toilet. That happened in the early part of summer. So, an astronaut onboard the space station called NASA and said, "You know that space shuttle you're sending up to us. Well, can you send up a plumber too?" You can imagine the bill afterwards - "That'll be $40 parts and labour, $1,000,000 call-out fee." Talking of the space shuttle, NASA has announced that it's successor, Orion, won't be ready to fly until at least 2014. The fleet of existing space shuttle are due to be retured in 2010, which leaves a four year gap for manned space travel. Astronauts can hop onboard the Russian Soyuz rockets which also make regular journeys to and from the International Space Station, but there may be a chance that the retirement date of the space shuttle will be put back.<br /><br />Other news - objects like Pluto, which became known as Dwarf Planets a couple of years ago, may get reclassified as Plutoids. Ceres, an object in the asteroid belt, which also became classified as a Dwarf Planet at the same time as Pluto, may become an asteroid again, seeing as it doesn't really fit in with the Plutoid category. I'll wait until some official announcement before having to change my Pluto section again. Grrrrrr, grumble, grumble.<br /><br />Hmmmm, that's all I can think of for now, but I'll update again soon now that I'm back from my summer break (I didn't actually go anywhere, I just didn't do anything with my website!) .<br /><br />Bob the AlienBob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-42358050882334644332008-07-27T20:12:00.002+01:002008-07-27T20:21:22.571+01:00<blockquote>It's summer! The sun's out and school's finished for a few weeks. As usual, it's a very quiet time of the year for my website, so I don't tend to do much exploring of the Solar System during it and take it easy instead. I've added a couple of new pages: One page showing a map of the Moon and the landing sites of space probes and astronauts (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/moonmap.htm">www.bobthealien.co.uk/moonmap.htm</a>) and another comparing the Inner and Outer Planets (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/innerouter.htm">www.bobthealien.co.uk/innerouter.htm</a>). And that's about all that's new for now!</blockquote>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-27901264299754011052008-06-09T22:46:00.002+01:002008-06-09T22:51:14.432+01:00Quick updateLooks like this page is getting some visitors now seeing as my poll has gote some votes (unless it's one person voting 13 times!). Think I'll try to extend the days remaining to vote on it. I've just added my new control panel to most pages, meaning that this page is now easier to find, so it makes sense to add give future visitors a chance to vote on the poll. That's it for this entry though. I'll have a more in depth update later this week!<br /><br />BobBob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-68369012161328385702008-05-26T18:50:00.002+01:002008-05-26T20:36:01.879+01:00Phoenix on MarsIt's time for the third entry to my blog - not sure if anybody reads it (still nobody has voted in my little poll to the right - oh well!), but I thought I'd update it anyhow. I thought that today I'd write a little about the new space craft that NASA have sent to Mars.<br /><br />Phoenix was launched back in August 2007 to set off on its journey to the red planet. This journey has been largely trouble-free and uneventful (well, as trouble-free and uneventful as a trip of over 200 million miles can be, which I suppose is a good thing). It landed safely at its destination near the north polar region of Mars on 25th May 2008. Its suitcase was packed with several gadgets and gizmos which Phoenix (sounds more like an Gladiator than a space craft) will use to probe the soil of Mars. As is customary for all space tourists, Phoenix has also taken its camera to Mars and will be sending back regular snapshots of the view to the people of Earth. The main purpose of Phoenix, and probably of any space craft sent there, is to look for signs that Mars can and did (or even better, still does!) support life. It is now widely believed that Mars was once a wet planet. Its oceans have since dried up, but there is still hope that water is present beneath the surface of Mars. Phoenix will use its array of expensive scientific equipment to try to detect this water. If unsuccessful, it is programmed to do a rain dance to see if that helps. Or maybe not. The landing site of Phoenix is the most northerly of any probe to land on Mars. It is in a region known to contain water ice (the bit that looks like snow on pictures of Mars) and is thought to be a likely spot for life to be able to exist.<br /><br />Just in case there is life on Mars, and a passing alien happens to bump into Phoenix, scientists have very kindly provided Phoenix with a DVD to be given to any curious Martians, or future human visitors, as a gift. This action-packed DVD, with the highly original name The Phoenix DVD, should hopefully play on all Martian DVD players, providing the DVD is region-free. Contained on the DVD are various multimedia snippets related to the role Mars has played in art and literature in culture on Earth, including the text of H.G. Wells'<em> The War of the Worlds</em> and a copy of the radio broadcast of this story which terrified America. It's not known whether the Tom Cruise film of the story is also included on the DVD. Messages from people of Earth to Martians or any other visitors to Mars are also contained on the DVD, as are the names of a quarter of a million Earthlings. Taking a DVD to Mars isn't a new idea, as both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which are still roving Mars, also had DVDs with them. But, what will they take next on future missions to Mars??? Blu-ray or HD-DVD? And when will the first branch of Blockbuster open on Mars so Martians can rent out other Earthly masterpieces?<br /><br />Phoenix's primary mission is expected to last 90 Martian days (sols), which is just over 92 days on Earth. Scientists hope that it will go on to last into Martian winter, where up to three feet of carbon dioxide ice may form at the region of Phoenix's landing. Because of the intense cold on Mars during winter, Phoenix is not expected to make it through the whole season and is likely to give up at some point during winter. If only those scientists had thought to pack an extra pair of socks and a thermal vest! However, 1997's Pathfinder lander and its Sojourner rover lasted longer than expected, and Spirit and Opportunity, which both landed in January 2004 and were expected to last same 90 days as Phoenix, are still going strong(ish), so who knows, Phoenix may exceed expectations again.<br /><br />On this blog, I'll keep updating any developments and discoveries from the Phoenix mission and one day, when I get around to completing my Missions to Mars 2 page, it'll get a mention on there too!Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-45847340242094491252008-05-19T16:18:00.007+01:002008-05-19T16:49:34.908+01:002nd postThis is my second entry, seeing as I successfully managed to save my first one! I've played around with the colour scheme on this page - not sure whether I like it or not though but it's definitely more colourful than it was. I've also added a poll to find out how many people believe in aliens. I've had a poll asking the same question on my website since it was launched back in 2000, but at some point it stopped working and I haven't bothered to remove it (in fact, I may do that after I've done this). From what I remember, about 70% of people who completed it said they believed in the existence of aliens. Nobody appears to have voted on the poll on this page, which probably means that nobody has visited this page. So I'm probably talking to myself. In that case, I'll ask myself how I'm doing. "Hi Bob! How am I?" "Really? That's great to hear, I'm good too."<br /><br />Anyway, other than playing around with the colours on this page and putting on a poll, only for nobody to use it (!), I've also been busy updating my website. Over the last few years, more and more sections have been getting added to the site, such as a chronology of space exploration, Ask an Alien and, erm, I can't remember what else, but there are some other new sections that have been added anyway. However, the main control panel used for browsing the site at the top of most pages (the one below)<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6SC2eLZ9qBxvAqQpbY4bLySSrD-AzxS46HMG9HHiw3KFKcToylh4_v86LQruWaLNgW-3KGWCilfd_LJR4Shjf-oHSlXnAZ7VRi43mOgWf7I4dLjPNnLNQQad43QbV5BgXGdCn976GsRY/s1600-h/panel4.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202111607884278818" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6SC2eLZ9qBxvAqQpbY4bLySSrD-AzxS46HMG9HHiw3KFKcToylh4_v86LQruWaLNgW-3KGWCilfd_LJR4Shjf-oHSlXnAZ7VRi43mOgWf7I4dLjPNnLNQQad43QbV5BgXGdCn976GsRY/s320/panel4.gif" border="0" /></a></p><div align="left">hasn't been updated for a few years, so the only way of finding the new sections is from the main screen, which a lot of people don't go back to once they are on their tour of the solar system, meaning that nobody gets to visit these new sections which I spent weeks and weeks and weeks creating! Soooooo, I've created a brand new control panel and placed it on some pages to test it. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">It can be seen at the top of all of the pages in the Mars section (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/mars.htm">www.bobthealien.co.uk/mars.htm</a>) and some others too, and will gradually be on all pages, but if you can't be bothered to go there, here's what it looks like.</div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECoTvp7rbbqPLutaLdpnCPUYC7Rgoy0LBBxEk81yKwBQU9RnPNTqje2YQr8auhZ0pbIiLOKMRWccQ6eX7V-Hn_FZ2NAew5lOJybIZJ301_kS-CIdq3TOgl3Q2y5cYBJaLTbYzG3-TN08/s1600-h/newpanelmaster.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202112913554336834" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECoTvp7rbbqPLutaLdpnCPUYC7Rgoy0LBBxEk81yKwBQU9RnPNTqje2YQr8auhZ0pbIiLOKMRWccQ6eX7V-Hn_FZ2NAew5lOJybIZJ301_kS-CIdq3TOgl3Q2y5cYBJaLTbYzG3-TN08/s400/newpanelmaster.png" border="0" /></a></p><div align="left">Nice, isn't it? Well, I like it anyway. As well as designing a new control panel with new links, I've also been putting together some other new pages, which aren't yet completed but the test versions of the pages are on the site. There's a section about astronomy and astronomers (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/astronomy.htm">www.bobthealien.co.uk/astronomy.htm</a>) which I feel like I've been developing for years. The Space A-Z (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/atoza.htm">www.bobthealien.co.uk/atoza.htm</a>) is being expanded, so it now contains more than three words and has a page for each letter of the alphabet (suppose it's better than it being a Space A-B!), and I'm also putting together a section called On this Day in Space. Basically, you'll be able to pick any day of the year, and find out what space events happened on that day. The section is nowhere near finished yet, but you can see some test pages at <a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/otdap06.htm">www.bobthealien.co.uk/otdap06.htm</a> which lists events from April 6th. Pages up to April 12th are also available, but the rest of the year hasn't been uploaded yet.</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">So, that's an update on what's currently happening on my website. I'll be back soon!</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Bob the Alien</div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/">http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/</a> </div><br /><br /><p align="center"></p>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5677673277789706666.post-43040455468883469012008-05-15T22:21:00.003+01:002008-05-15T22:55:49.902+01:00Hello<div align="left">Hi! Welcome to Bob's Blog written by your favourite extra terrestrial, Bob the Alien! This will be replacing the Space News page on my website (<a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/news.htm">www.bobthealien.co.uk/news.htm</a>) which will be quite handy seeing as it never got updated anyway. So, any developments in the world of space exploration will now appear, and so will my thoughts about them. Any updates to my website will be added here too!<br /><br />This is the first time I've ever tried to write a blog (doing well so far, aren't I?), so I'm going to save this and have a look around to see what else you can do on this blogger thing!<br /></div><div align="left">Bob the Alien<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/">http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/</a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200723053547416594" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDCxqWiuxLXezUiE03BDnVGkJPsOR7Tju1xrAwd7mkkhPS0KdZiTVp1T0ImgutXYdIRahCeJXgxiDQNXHyphybmNTFh31kPET928BRBMK3uyOe_r89Og38QXjd5Uf1WQMvRtKVGGuIXs/s320/logo6.jpg" border="0" /></div>Bob the Alienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17492929878263106489noreply@blogger.com0