2014年10月31日 星期五
Milky Way over Devils Tower
SpaceShipTwo Reactions
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/109M6zk
via IFTTT
And Today's Space Ambulance Chaser Award Goes To ...
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1ufhGcV
via IFTTT
Chang'e 5 test vehicle "Xiaofei" lands successfully
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1s1u8GS
via IFTTT
Statement from NASA Administrator on Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Mishap
October 31, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1qaQrZW
via IFTTT
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Destroyed in Accident
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1tpWb5q
via IFTTT
Virgin Galactic Experiences Serious Problem
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1pbHy7G
via IFTTT
The Art of Planetary Science
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1nWKi7V
via IFTTT
NASA Program Enhances Climate Resilience at Agency Facilities
October 31, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1wMXHzd
via IFTTT
Specular Spectacular
Happy Solarween!
Even the Sun is getting into the holiday spirit.
That image, taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Oct. 8, 2014, shows places on the Sun where magnetic activity is high. In the far ultraviolet, the intense energies tossed around by these ridiculously strong magnetic fields can be seen, in contrast to more sedate areas. And, happily, on that date the Sun wound up looking like a giant pumpkin.
A pumpkin big enough to have over 100 Earths across its face, and well over a million needed to fill it up. If you want terrifying, then a star is a pretty decent way to go.
But if you do want more cosmic Halloweeny goodness, then you should go to my gallery of spooky star stuff, which has some honestly really cool and creepy shots in it. The Skull Flower gets me every time. This one of a ghostly chase scene embedded in a nebula is pretty funny, too.
Happy Halloween!
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1xHQHUu
via IFTTT
2014年10月30日 星期四
A Spectre in the Eastern Veil
A (Difficult) Day in the Solar System
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1083tQS
via IFTTT
Looking at ORB-3 Antares Telemetry
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1zksbNe
via IFTTT
Beth Robinson Heads to ALPA
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1rXyvma
via IFTTT
LightSail Vibration Test Shakes Loose New Problems
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1wJOuZi
via IFTTT
Haven't I Seen That Spacecraft Before?
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1wJMRK5
via IFTTT
Are New Russian Engines a Good Thing for an American Rocket?
from NASA Watch http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/10/are-new-russian.html
via IFTTT
Are Old Engines Good For New Rockets?
from NASA Watch http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/10/are-old-engines.html
via IFTTT
Fifteen Years of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Hayabusa 2 nearly ready for launch: Photos from Tanegashima, and new artist's renderings
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1zj0FzS
via IFTTT
From the Moon to the Earth
Every now and again, a picture is returned from space that is so stunning it becomes an instant icon, a touchstone that defines what space travel is about.
The Chinese engineering lunar test mission Chang’e 5-T1 has sent home precisely such an image. It is stunning almost beyond words.
The Earth hangs like a white and blue bauble in the black of space, distant and heart-achingly beautiful. Much closer lies the Moon, gray and white and black, its more-unfamiliar far side facing the spacecraft as it rounds the world, preparing to head back to Earth. For just a fleeting moment I could have been convinced someone had added a photo of the planet Mercury here; the Moon’s obverse half is so strikingly different than the near side. The lack of dark maria (except for Mare Moscoviense to the upper left) makes the Moon look like every bit the alien world that it really is.
You can read more about this astonishing image, and see more like it, at the Planetary Society Blog.
As I gazed upon it, though, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it looked somehow familiar. Then it occurred to me: I have seen it before. I even remember the exact date: Sept. 13, 1999.
Life sometimes really does imitate art.
Tip o’ the commlink to Emily Lakdawalla.
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1rVpcDo
via IFTTT
2014年10月29日 星期三
The Antares Accident: Who's Rocket Was It?
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1wHfPdQ
via IFTTT
Iridescent Cloud Edge Over Colorado
Wallops Damage Report
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1p3GToC
via IFTTT
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Completes Initial Assessment after Orbital Launch Mishap
October 29, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1DyD9wm
via IFTTT
Asteroid Redirect Mission Critique
from NASA Watch http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/10/asteroid-redire-2.html
via IFTTT
Sunrise From the International Space Station
ORB-3 Loss: Business Aftershocks
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1FW2btf
via IFTTT
The Warm Glow of Mach 3
2014年10月28日 星期二
Retrograde Mars
NASA Statement Regarding Oct. 28 Orbital Sciences Corp. Launch Mishap
October 28, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1tfMPt9
via IFTTT
Antares Rocket Explodes Seconds after Liftoff
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1zGfvS3
via IFTTT
ORB-3 Antares Explodes Shortly After Launch
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1tHSKtD
via IFTTT
NASA Wallops Preparations on Track for Tonight’s Orbital Sciences Launch to International Space Station
October 28, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1tePTph
via IFTTT
NASA Seeks Proposals to Develop Capabilities for Deep Space Exploration, Journey to Mars
October 28, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1tGGFF6
via IFTTT
New Planetary Deep Drill Project
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1tFWrQu
via IFTTT
Chang'e 5 T1 rounds the lunar farside, returns lovely photo of Earth and the Moon together
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1zEQ5nS
via IFTTT
Here’s Looking at You: Spooky Shadow Gives Jupiter a Giant Eye
When Nixon Stopped Human Exploration
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1oUTlaa
via IFTTT
2014年10月27日 星期一
Plane, Clouds, Moon, Spots, Sun
A feast of comet features from Rosetta at Churyumov-Gerasimenko
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1zCbkGJ
via IFTTT
Wallops Launch Delayed By A Boat
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1wwLj7f
via IFTTT
Launch of Third Orbital Sciences Mission to Space Station Rescheduled; NASA TV Coverage Reset
October 27, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1rP3xMV
via IFTTT
NASA Awards Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Support Contract
October 27, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1DTOWHC
via IFTTT
NASA’S Chandra Observatory Identifies Impact of Cosmic Chaos on Star Birth
October 27, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1rMre8L
via IFTTT
Planetary Resources A3 Technology Demonstrator Spacecraft Set for Launch
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1zAsrsE
via IFTTT
Rosetta NAVCAM's Shades of Grey
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/12RQ2Xa
via IFTTT
Another Dragon Returns from Space
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1ty8jE0
via IFTTT
NASA Administrator to Visit Marshall Space Flight Center; Talks Space Station Oct. 28
October 27, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1xvUILy
via IFTTT
Orbital Antares Rocket at the Launch Pad
Routine Commercial ISS Resupply Continues
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/12RCOK9
via IFTTT
An Ionized Flower Blooms in Space
Oh, do I love me some young stars throwing their weight around! Behold what happens when they do:
This photo was taken by “amateur” astronomer Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn, using a 20 cm Astro-Tech RC telescope, and is a total of nearly nine hours of exposure through various filters.
What it shows is the famed Cocoon Nebula, also called IC 5146. What you’re seeing is actually a cluster of young stars called Collinder 470, which is roughly 2500 light years away. And I do mean young; the bright star in the center of the nebula is only about 100,000 years old. Compare that to the Sun’s 4,560,000,000 years, and you’ll understand why these stars are mere whippersnappers*.
Stars form from clouds of gas and dust, and there are both in plenty here. The dark dust is strewn everywhere in this picture; you can see it as gray or black diffuse clouds. Note that where it lies, swaths of stars appear red; dust scatters away or absorbs blue light, letting only red light through. Most of the stars you see glowing ruddily in the dust are literally in that dust, or behind it.
But the bloom of the rose in this photo is obviously the bright pink nebula itself. The star in the center, called BD+46°3474, is a hot, massive B-type star. It’s a beast, five times the diameter of the Sun, 15 times its mass, and a brutal 20,000 times as luminous. Replace the Sun with BD+46 and the Earth would be a smoking ruin.
The power of a star like this can profoundly affect its environment. In this case, the star is embedded in a molecular cloud, a huge, dense clump of cold material — in this case, several hundred times the mass of the Sun worth of material. BD+46 was near the edge of the cloud, and when the star was born, its fierce light and energy inflated the cloud, created a blister in the side, and then blew it out entirely. What’s left is a cavity carved out of the side of the dense cloud filled with much lower density gas. The hydrogen gas inside the cavity glows characteristically red/pink, lit up literally like a neon sign.
At first I thought this might be a Strömgren sphere: a lone gas cloud in space lit by a star within. The edge of such a sphere is defined by where the starlight gets too weak to make the gas glow. But those tend to have sharper edges than what we see here, and clearly the Cocoon has fuzzy edges. That implies the gas is interacting with denser material, which is what you expect from a blowout in the side of the cloud. In this sense, it’s much like the Orion nebula, though on a somewhat smaller scale.
Gorgeous, isn’t it? If you like it, you should check out more of Hepburn’s work. She’s quite gifted, and has an amazing array of photos on her site.
* Get off my galaxy! <shakes fist>
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1pPZKOM
via IFTTT
2014年10月26日 星期日
Too Close to a Black Hole
Antares Rocket at Sunrise
2014年10月25日 星期六
Sunspots and Solar Eclipse
Critical NASA Science Returns to Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft
October 25, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1toBtW6
via IFTTT
2014年10月24日 星期五
AR 2192: Giant on the Sun
NASA Hosts First Agency-wide Social Media Event for Orion’s First Flight Test
October 24, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1z5j17p
via IFTTT
NASA Media Accreditation Opens for Launch of Next SpaceX Station Resupply Mission
October 24, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1oD4FYn
via IFTTT
Surveyor Digitization Project Will Bring Thousands of Unseen Lunar Images to Light
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1twq6Kz
via IFTTT
NASA Seeks Ultra-lightweight Materials to Help Enable Journey to Mars
October 24, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1tslV2y
via IFTTT
NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly Shares Bullying Prevention Message Ahead of His One-Year Mission
October 24, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1wusDUB
via IFTTT
Problems With STEREO Behind Spacecraft
from NASA Watch http://nasawatch.com/archives/2014/10/problems-with-s.html
via IFTTT
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/23/14
October 24, 2014 at 12:42AM
from NASA http://ift.tt/12qP2t5
via IFTTT
Gallery: The Partial Solar Eclipse of October 2014
Yesterday was the last solar eclipse the US will see until August 2017. This was a partial eclipse, so the Sun wasn’t completely blocked by the Moon, but it was still a lot of fun. Judging by my Facebook and Twitter feeds, a lot of folks watched this eclipse and took pictures. I was out on my porch taking shots, too – well over a hundred, though only a few came out.
Some people had far better circumstances than I did, though. I asked for them to send me pictures, and I got a lot! Here are just a few of the ones I received… and I threw in one I took as well. You’ll see why.
All photos below used by permission.
Why not start things off with a classic? Craig Ruff took this shot in Table Mesa using a 10 cm telescope. The detail is great; you can see the brain-grindingly huge sunspot group AR 2192 looming in the middle of the Sun’s face as the Moon blocks a big chunk of solar real estate.
Edward Plumer got an unusual view using an H-alpha filter, which lets through light form warm hydrogen. This accentuates the twisted magnetic fields of the Sun, and you can see a huge filament lying across the Sun like a scar. Compare the visible light image on the left with what you can see using the filter, and you can understand why astronomers like to see things in as many different ways as possible.
Astronomer Alex Parker took this wonderful shot as Sun set behind the iconic Boulder Flatirons. He said it was a syzygy, an alignment of three objects: The Sun, the Moon, and the Earth itself blocking the Sun as it set.
Astronomer and friend Emily Lakdawalla knew that one part of her house creates a spectrum when sunlight hits it. Sure enough, when the Sun was in the right spot, it threw out this amazing multiple-colored eclipse rainbow. I like how each color is a complete (if somewhat distorted) image of the Sun. I used to work with spectra like this back in my Hubble days… though I never observed the Sun with it.
But I have to add Hubble did observe the Sun, exactly once.
For most of the US, the eclipse happened in the late afternoon, so the Sun set mid-eclipse for a lot of people. Bob Robinson caught it between clouds, illuminating the sky is a glorious red. I like how the foreground is silhouetted, including the tower on the left.
I asked for clever photos, ones you might not expect, and Jonathan Albright delivered: he used binoculars to project the Sun, and it was low enough that his shadow made a cameo in the photo as well.
Sometimes you just get lucky: Doyle Sliff was shooting photos of the eclipse when an airplane made an unexpected appearance. It’s about the same apparent size as the sunspot… but in reality the sunspot is well over ten million times bigger.
And why not: I’ll wrap this up with a shot I took myself. The beginning and end of the eclipse were clear here, but the long middle was cloudy. I waited patiently, then less patiently… and was rewarded when the clouds thinned a bit. I think they added a lot of drama to the picture, especially with the airplane contrail across the bottom. It goes to show you that astronomy (and photography, and especially the two together) is sometimes a waiting game. It’s worth trying, even when it seems like the odds are hopelessly stacked against you.
If there’s a life metaphor to take from that, well, feel free to find it. But patience is something we’ll all need to see the next eclipse around these parts. I’m very much looking forward to it… since it may very well be the very first total solar eclipse I’ll have ever seen.
I think I’ve been patient long enough.
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1wk4SSw
via IFTTT
2014年10月23日 星期四
Galaxies in Pegasus
GSA 2014: The puzzle of Gale crater's basaltic sedimentary rocks
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1ozswrQ
via IFTTT
Critique of OIG Review of SMD Mission Extension Process
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1sUNUX1
via IFTTT
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: COMET SIDING SPRING SEEN NEXT TO MARS
October 23, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1oxUogc
via IFTTT
OIG Report on KSC Commercial Space Activities
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1xdqEEk
via IFTTT
SpaceX Milestone - 100th Merlin 1D Engine Completed
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1uKq1Q2
via IFTTT
Our Solar System and Galaxy … Seen by an Astronaut
First off, let’s get this straight: If you use Twitter, you should be following space station astronaut Reid Wiseman. He posts amazing photos all the time, and your life will be the better for it.
For example, on Sept. 28, while orbiting over the Sahara Desert, he took this stunning photo:
If that doesn’t take your breath away, then please, give me a moment to explain what you’re seeing.
The sky is dominated by the glow of the Milky Way, the combined might of billions of stars, faded only by the terrible distances of interstellar space. Our galaxy is shaped like a great, flat disk, 100,000 light-years across, with a central spherical hub of stars swelling out from the middle. Wiseman was facing in this direction when he took this photograph, so the hub can be seen bulging out in the center.
The dark lanes, filigreed and branching away, are literally space dust, large grains of complex organic compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—essentially soot. They litter the galaxy, strewn across it as stars are born, and as they die. The dust is opaque, so it blocks the light of stars behind it. You are literally seeing the silhouette of smoke blown out from the life cycle of stars, scattered across a million billion kilometers.
You can see a few clusters of stars, looking like fuzzy puffs here and there. There are also thousands of stars in the photo, including the bright red supergiant Antares, the heart of Scorpius, just to the right of the center of the picture. You may note it looks blurred; to get the fainter Milky Way in the photo, Wiseman had to take a time exposure. During the exposure the space station moved eight kilometers every second around the Earth. The stars streak a bit during that time.
Closer to home, the bright red dot next to Antares is Mars. Yes, the planet, where we humans have currently more than a half-dozen robots flying or roving over the surface.
Below that is the eerily lit and ruddily colored edge of the Earth. The Sahara Desert makes its hue known. The thin red and green glowing arc above the Earth’s limb is called airglow, and is due to complicated chemical processes occurring about 100 km over the surface, as molecules release the energy they absorbed from the Sun during the day.
Note that well: You can see the curve of the ground, the horizon, in the photo, and just how thin our atmosphere is from this vantage point. It’s a narrow, delicate, fragile shell surrounding us, and yet it allows all life to exist.
And that basic truth is belied by the framework of this photo: The space station itself, modules and docked spacecraft pointing to the fact that we have managed to leave this Earth, if only for a short distance and small span of time.
It’s not easy, this exploration of space, but we can do it. We have the intelligence, the ability, the imagination needed to see where it will take us. All we need is the will. I think we have that too, when we are at our best.
So. If that photo didn’t take your breath away when you first saw it, please take a second look. The whole Universe, our entire future, is framed in that picture, taken by a man who happened to be in the very right place at the very right time.
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1vS7be1
via IFTTT
2014年10月22日 星期三
Major Problem With NWS Satellite Data Continues
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1wctkW2
via IFTTT
NASA Television Coverage Set for Orbital Resupply Mission to Space Station
October 22, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1ovgEap
via IFTTT
NASA Awards Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder for the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 Mission
October 22, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1tLLy0k
via IFTTT
Congress Has Questions for NASA
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1sQdAUR
via IFTTT
Sen. Coburn Is Very Confused About NASA's Budget
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1pBcWH3
via IFTTT
Herschel observations of Comet Siding Spring initiated by an amateur astronomer
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/10nQv2s
via IFTTT
NASA TV Broadcasts Space Station Cargo Ship Activities
October 22, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/ZGLzEz
via IFTTT
Monster Sunspot Will Make Thursday’s Eclipse That Much Cooler
Right now, a truly ginormous sunspot is turning its baleful eye toward Earth.
The spot, called Active Region 2192, is a bit hard to wrap your brain around: Its dark core is easily big enough to swallow the Earth whole without it even coming close to touching the sides, and the whole region is several times larger than that, easily more than 100,000 kilometers across. It’s the biggest sunspot we’ve seen this solar cycle (bigger than one I reported on in January that was also huge).
It’s feisty, too, having blown off a series of moderate M-class solar flares recently, and one that edged into X-class. We’re expecting more from it as well, so stay tuned to SpaceWeather.com, SpaceWeatherLive.com, and Realtime Flares on Twitter for up-to-the-moment news about any big eruptions. [Update (Oct. 22 at 15:00 UTC): Yup. AR 2192 blew off an X1.6 flare at 14:00 UTC today.]
When I saw pictures of it a couple of days ago, I knew it would be big enough to see without binoculars or a telescope. Using just my solar viewing glasses (which are rated safe to use to view the Sun; see here for more) I easily saw the sunspot with my own eyes as a black blemish near the Sun’s edge. Holy wow!
I decided to try my hand at getting a shot of it. Sacrificing a pair of solar glasses, I rigged up a small filter for my camera, went outside, and got this:
Not bad! You can see AR 2192, as well as a few other spots (including the small one near the Sun’s edge that is visible in the SDO picture at the top of this post).
Clouds started rolling in, but far from being discouraged I figured that might actually make for a dramatic scene. I was right:
Nifty. And good practice; I want to make sure I’m ready for the partial solar eclipse tomorrow.
Speaking of which, let me repeat my call: If you get good and clever shots of the eclipse, please let me know! I want to post a gallery of a half-dozen or so. Make sure you tell me where you took them, what equipment you used, and whether they’re also online (so I can link to you).
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/10nuels
via IFTTT
James Webb Space Telescope's Heart Survives Deep Freeze Test
2014年10月21日 星期二
Hacked Kepler Continues to Amaze
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1uCHlq2
via IFTTT
NASA Employees Really Like Working at NASA
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1w3TXMS
via IFTTT
NASA OIG Report on NASA Travel
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/10iBleX
via IFTTT
2014年10月20日 星期一
Comet Siding Spring Passes Mars
Ah, The Revolving Door in Washington
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/121pjHs
via IFTTT
When Good Rockets Go Bad: Orion's Launch Abort System
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1onaPvy
via IFTTT
Status update: All Mars missions fine after Siding Spring flyby
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1t5COks
via IFTTT
Collaboration Between OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa-2
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1wfMDva
via IFTTT
Extreme Ultraviolet Image of a Significant Solar Flare
Media Invited to Participate in Interactive Space Station Technology Forum
October 20, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1t42VHk
via IFTTT
NASA TV Coverage Set for U.S. Cargo Ship’s Departure from International Space Station
October 20, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1vVX9K8
via IFTTT
JSC Is Abandoning NASA History
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/10dOBkR
via IFTTT
Earth's Comet Hunting Blind Spot
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1wjCOv9
via IFTTT
2014年10月19日 星期日
Comet McNaught Over New Zealand
NASA's Mars Fleet Checks In
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1rULFiE
via IFTTT
2014年10月18日 星期六
Melotte 15 in the Heart
2014年10月17日 星期五
Messier 6 and Comet Siding Spring
Watching Siding Spring's encounter with Mars
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1yL6A0e
via IFTTT
NASA Partners with Leading Technology Innovators to Enable Future Exploration
October 17, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/11FhM0O
via IFTTT
Boeing Concludes Commercial Crew Space Act Agreement for CST-100/Atlas V
October 17, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1Djd3PO
via IFTTT
Curiosity update, sols 764-781: Work complete at Confidence Hills; puzzling arm issues
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1xZojhh
via IFTTT
New Commercial Rocket Descent Data May Help NASA with Future Mars Landings
October 17, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1qJeH5f
via IFTTT
Figuratively Shiny: A Firefly Video
Firefly went off the air over a decade ago now*, but even with the movie Serenity there’s been a Mal-shaped hole in the hearts of fans, including me.
Perhaps now that cavity can be filled in a little bit. The company Lootcrate, with producer and director Julian Higgins, has created a fan-made short video called “The Verse”, about a different crew in the same universe as that of the good ship Serenity. Here’s the thing: It’s really, really good. Seriously. If you’re a Browncoat, you need to watch this right now.
See? Told ya. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Given the time span since the series ended, a reunion show seems pretty unlikely. But I could get into this new crew, I think. And hey, did I spy Vic Mignogna, who plays Jim Kirk in Star Trek Continues , another fan-made production? That must’ve been on purpose.
It’s pretty amazing what dedicated and talented fans can do. And we’re seeing more and better web series all the time, too. This Internet thing may just have a future to it.
* You kids get off my ‘verse!
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/ZxLu62
via IFTTT
Literally Shiny: A Firefly Video
After living practically my whole life on the east coast, one of the things I didn’t count on when I moved west was the lack of fireflies. They were such a ubiquitous phenomenon, such a part of the environment, that it never occurred to me that they might not be everywhere in the States.
But they don’t live in California, where I lived for seven years, or in Colorado, which I’ve called home for the better part of a decade now. I miss them.
But it helps a lot to see this lovely time-lapse (kinda) video of fireflies, shot by Vincent Brady.
Nice. And he used a clever technique for some of the effects. A video is really just a series of still images played rapidly, fooling your brain in to seeing motion. Brady took thousands of still images and strung them together to make the video. For some, he let the frames fade in, linger, then fade out again. The end result is you see the light from the fireflies persist for a few seconds before dimming, with insects at all different distances creating a stop-motion-like dance.
Incidentally, the compound that generates the light is called luciferin (Lucifer was the mythological bringer of light), which is the same class of substrate used by dinoflagellates to glow. I spent an evening kayaking on a lake filled with such protists, and watching the blue sparks fly every time I put the oar in the water was magical.
Nature is amazing. It’s wonderful what happens if you take hydrogen, helium, and a splash of lithium, and let them mix for a few billion years.
Tip of the adenosine triphosphate to Boing Boing .
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1vmvY9P
via IFTTT
2014年10月16日 星期四
Rosetta's Selfie
White House Announces Dava Newman Nomination
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/ZGJNn6
via IFTTT
NASA Begins Sixth Year of Airborne Antarctic Ice Change Study
October 16, 2014
from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/october/nasa-begins-sixth-year-of-airborne-antarctic-ice-change-study-0
via IFTTT
NASA TV to Air Russian Spacewalk from International Space Station
October 16, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1rBjwNa
via IFTTT
NASA Spacecraft Provides New Information About Sun’s Atmosphere
October 16, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1vAz1gf
via IFTTT
NASA’s Hubble Finds Extremely Distant Galaxy through Cosmic Magnifying Glass
October 16, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/11vAVlw
via IFTTT
Ice to See You
The last place in the solar system you’d expect to find ice (except maybe on the Sun, duh) is Mercury. Rocky, barren, airless, and very, very hot, Mercury doesn’t sound like the ideal location for storing vast quantities of frozen water.
But in the 1990s evidence started coming in that perhaps Mercury was holding a surprise. At its north pole are deep craters, and because of their high latitude the low Sun never reaches the crater floors. They’re permanently dark, and because of that they’re very cold. Cold enough to hold on to any water that might have found its way there (presumably through water-bearing asteroid and comet impacts).
The first evidence was from radar observations; those craters were found to be very radar-reflective, which suggested ice, though other materials were possible. But over the years more clues arrived, and when the MESSENGER spacecraft began orbiting the tiny world, the idea of polar water got kick-started. Neutrons were reflected from the crater floors, which indicated the presence of hydrogen (water molecules have two hydrogen atoms each, and are very good at reflecting incoming neutrons). MESSENGER has an infrared laser altimeter on board (it uses timing of pulses of light to measure its height off the surface and get topological data), and the craters were again found to be very reflective, which is consistent with ice.
And now we have further, very striking data: Pictures taken of the floor of the crater Prokofiev* show that some of the surface itself is a bit brighter, a bit shinier, than surrounding material. Not only that, but the brighter regions correspond extremely well with what has been found before.
The picture here shows the data. The upper left (A) is from radar observations; the blue circle is the crater rim, the red region is where it’s permanently shadowed — the Sun never shines there — and the yellow is where the radar reflections were brighter than normal. The bottom left (B) shows where the laser altimeter found unusually bright material. On the right (C and D) are the images taken by MESSENGER’s visible light camera. They are the same area and have the same orientation, but were taken when the Sun was shining from different directions. The brighter landscape there is clearly visible on the right, and as you can see matches the other observations right on the nose.
The scientists found similar results in other craters even farther north on Mercury (Prokofiev is about 5° south of the north pole, and is 112 km (70 miles) across). The amount of ice estimated to be trapped in the floors of these craters is 10 billion to one trillion tons; a huge amount. As the paper points out, that’s about the volume of Lake Ontario.
Personally, I find this to be pretty convincing. It's not a 100% lock, but the evidence is getting to be pretty hard to deny.
The ice is likely to be young, too. Impacts, ultraviolet light breaking down the molecules, and other weathering could darken, bury, or eradicate the ice on a timescale of tens or hundreds of millions of years, so it’s likely this deposit hasn’t been around since the early solar system (astronomers define "young" differently than normal humans).
In practical terms, I have a hard time seeing us sending folks to Mercury, setting up a base at its poles, and taking long hot baths using native water any time soon. But this shows that even now, with our huge telescopes, advanced hardware, and robot probes peeking and poking into every corner of the solar system, there’s still a lot to learn about our neighborhood, and a whole lot of surprises waiting to be unwrapped.
We also have similar evidence of water at the Moon’s poles, too, buried under and mixed into the rock at the floors of eternally-darkened craters. I don’t have a hard time seeing us going there at all. There could be enough water on the Moon to support a colony for quite some time. That is something I would very dearly love to know more about.
* Craters on Mercury are named after artists: composers, painters, writers, and so on. Sergei Prokovief was a Russian romantic composer, and one of my favorites; his Fifth Symphony is an astonishing work. It pleases me that such an important discovery has been found in his namesake.
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1F4tuBd
via IFTTT
Sierra Nevada's CCtCap Scorched Earth Policy
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1rfg76Z
via IFTTT
Lockheed Martin Claims To Be in the Fusion Business Now
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1octUAA
via IFTTT
2014年10月15日 星期三
Mysterious Changing feature on Titan
As Deadlines Loom, LightSail Bends but Doesn't Break
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1De9z0W
via IFTTT
NASA Soil Moisture Mapper Arrives at Launch Site
October 15, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1veAqaA
via IFTTT
Finally! New Horizons has a second target
from Planetary Society Blog http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/10151024-finally-new-horizons-has-a-kbo.html
via IFTTT
NASA’s Hubble Telescope Finds Potential Kuiper Belt Targets for New Horizons Pluto Mission
October 15, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1pcj4Wa
via IFTTT
Evidence for Evolution, Stated Clearly
Here at BA Central, we’re* big supporters of evidence-based reality and using science as a way to collect and weigh that evidence.
The problem is that a lot of science isn’t well understood by the public for a large number of reasons; some folks blame the education system, which certainly has issues, though perhaps a much larger and more endemic problem is ideology, which gets into your brain and acts like a bouncer at a bar, only letting through ideas that are on a preconceived checklist.
Evolution is an obvious example. Despite being one of the fundamental bases for all of modern biology (along with things like molecular biology, genetics, and so on), it is routinely and falsely attacked by many. A lot of scientists and science communicators scratch their heads over that; what’s hard for us on this side of reality to understand is how anyone can ignore the vast mountains of evidence supporting evolution.
My friend Zach Weiner put his finger right on it, in my opinion, when he wrote this:
I think that’s it; the folks who don’t “believe” in evolution are the ones disseminating a weird, wrong, strawman version of it.
While there’s not a huge amount I can do about that, what I can do is try to make correct, easy-to-understand information about evolution available. I’ve done it before and it seemed to work out well.
So I’m pleased to send y’all to a great website called “Stated Clearly,” where artist and science communicator Jon Perry has created a series of wonderful videos where information about and evidence for evolution is, well, stated clearly.
The video “What Is the Evidence for Evolution?” is fantastic. It’s simple without being oversimplified, and it gives clear examples that can be followed easily even if you’re not all that familiar with the science.
That last part is critical, because, as Zach pointed out, the ones fighting tooth and nail against evolution are almost assuredly not that familiar with it. If they were, we wouldn’t be spending our time defending evolution. We’d be spending more money investigating it.
Perry has assembled quite a team to create these videos (including, I was pleased to see, Rosemary Mosco, a field naturalist, science communicator, and friend-of-a-friend). There are articles there as well expounding further on some of the themes.
The evidence video was sponsored wholly through Kickstarter, which is great, since it costs a fair bit to put together something like this. If you have any extra filthy lucre lying around, you should consider throwing it their way. They’ll have merchandise soon, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for that. I want a shirt of Darwin riding an Archaeopteryx.
Tip o’ the telomere to Raw Story.
* I’m
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1yDJNDs
via IFTTT
Field Report from Mars: Sol 3808 — October 10, 2014
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1EYi8Po
via IFTTT
Shana Dale Lands at FAA AST
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1qsXhK3
via IFTTT
Wiseman and Wilmore Spacewalk Preparations
2014年10月14日 星期二
Auroral Corona over Norway
Phobos over Mars
from Planetary Society Blog http://ift.tt/1tsb5vc
via IFTTT
NASA Mission Provides Its First Look at Martian Upper Atmosphere
October 14, 2014
from NASA http://ift.tt/1p9vWMA
via IFTTT
Printing Our Way Across The Solar System
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1sNqftd
via IFTTT
Why Sierra Nevada Did Not Win Any Commercial Crew Funds
from NASA Watch http://ift.tt/1sNf03R
via IFTTT
Self-Portrait 10 Miles from a Comet
Holy Periodic Comet Photos! Check. This. Out!
That is a self-portrait taken by the Philae landing craft onboard the Rosetta space probe, when they were just 16 km (10 miles) from the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. You can see the side of Rosetta on the left, and the solar panel that’s keeping it powered on the right.
And at the top is the comet itself, magnificent and moody in this high-contrast grayscale composite (two images were combined so that both the spacecraft and comet were exposed well). You can even see a jet emanating from the comet, a stream of gas blown out as ice is hit and warmed by sunlight. Stunning.
Rosetta is nosing closer to the comet, and will release the Philae lander in a few weeks. On Nov. 12, the probe will touch down on the surface of the comet, a milestone in our exploration of space. Judging from the quality of this picture, what we will see on that day will be jaw-dropping.
from Bad Astronomy http://ift.tt/1v8Lx59
via IFTTT