Welcome To The Blog
Is this Dr. Phil Plait’s Super Sekrit project? I am excited and can’t wait to see this show.
Big thanks to Friendly Atheist for posting the video to his site.
Bad Universe, Bad Universe
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when Phil Plait comes for you?
Another incredible image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Click me!
This image from LRO shows the spacecraft’s first look at the Apollo 12 landing site. The Intrepid lunar module descent stage, experiment package (ALSEP) and Surveyor 3 spacecraft are all visible. Astronaut footpaths are marked with unlabeled arrows. This image is 824 meters (about 900 yards) wide. The top of the image faces North. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
Read more about this image and the mission at LRO Apollo 12 page.
400 years ago today Galilei Galileo presented his newest invention, the telesocpe.
Galileo’s telescopeThe original design Galileo came up with in 1609 is commonly called a Galilean telescope. It uses a convex objective lens and a concave eyepiece lens. Galilean telescopes produce upright images.
Galileo’s best telescope magnified objects about 30 times. Because of flaws in its design, such as the shape of the lens and the narrow field of view, the images were blurry and distorted. Despite these flaws, the telescope was still good enough for Galileo to explore the sky. The Galilean telescope could view the phases of Venus, and was the first to see craters on the Moon and four moons orbiting Jupiter.
Info from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galilean_telescope#Galilean_telescope
I am currently reading The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and came across some good astronomy. Starting on page 77 of the book the author describes a total solar eclipse. It is a wonderful job of expalining the eclipse, why it happens, and the effects on the earth (shadows, etc…).
If you are a horror fan be sure to check out the book. If you are a science fan at least drop by your local book store and read pages 77-79.
It’s believed we are looking at an impact scar on Jupiter now. Caution said to consider the possibility of a storm on Jupiter but we are past that now.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17491-jupiter-sports-new-bruise-from-impact.html
Two impacts visible within my lifetime. It’s simply amazing to me.
Now for the scary part: We never saw this one coming. I’m sure the tabloids will fire up the scare tactics before long so let’s try to enjoy the science of it for now.
How incredible is it that this happened during the anniversary of Apollo 11?
For comparison to the last impact: http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/jupiter_worldbook.html
Bad Astronomy: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/20/yup-jupiter-got-served/
SpaceWeather.com: http://spaceweather.com/
More images: Jupiter impact: http://bit.ly/N4RMl http://bit.ly/dy7wU http://bit.ly/Uvfxp http://bit.ly/KVyHB http://bit.ly/14wmTL
