A different astronomy and space science
related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

Source:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100209.html

A different astronomy and space sciencerelated image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

Source:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100209.html

This is about a month old, but I saw it on the Astronomy Picture of the Day site today.  Pretty cool.  From the American Museum of Natural History.

(click for high-res)

Straight from Astronomy Picture of the Day: “Explanation: Believe it or not, this is the North Pole of Saturn. It is unclear how an unusual hexagonal cloud system that surrounds Saturn’s north pole was created, keeps its shape, or how long it will last. Originally discovered during the Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it elsewhere in the Solar System. Although its infrared glow was visible previously to the Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn, over the past year the mysterious hexagonal vortex became fully illuminated by sunlight for the first time during the Cassini’s visit. Since then, Cassini has imaged the rotating hexagon in visible light enough times to create a time-lapse movie. The pole center was not well imaged and has been excluded. This movie shows many unexpected cloud motions, such as waves emanating from the corners of the hexagon. Planetary scientists are sure to continue to study this most unusual cloud formation for quite some time.”

I  just have to share this beautiful Astronomy Picture of the Day (for January 2, 2010):

Isn’t that gorgeous? If you know me, you know I love the moon. I’ve tripped more than once staring up at it while walking, it’s beautiful, so peaceful, and it amazes me to think that the light shining off of it is sunlight. SUNLIGHT! Reflecting off of the moon! How cool is that? It’s the simple things in life…

I digress…not only is this just a beautiful picture, but it’s also unique because it’s a Blue Moon, which means there were 13 full moons this year (as opposed to 12), and this one just happened to fall on New Year’s Eve. What also makes this special is that it’s a partial lunar eclipse, you can see the Earth’s shadow on the right.

The Earth’s shadow during a full moon! I love it.

• Cassini Sends Back Images of Enceladus as Winter Nears…

• …and Two More Awesome Pictures of the Enceladus Flyby…

• Skeptical topic: Global Warming denier not even close on 2009 temperatures…

• Future particle accelerators: beyond the Large Hadron Collider…

• Tech: Smart Armor Learns More With Every Bullet…

• The Milky Way galaxy bulges with cannibalized corpses…

• Skeptical topic: “Climategate” and Other Nonsense…

• Mystery of the Solar Tsunami: Monster Waves on the Sun are Real…

• Hey Kirk, here’s yer crocoduck! Galloping, Dinosaur Eating Crocodiles Found in the Sahara…

• Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 25, 2009…

Wow.

Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro

The APOD article/explanation is here. (poppity) You can also get to the full-size photo from that link.

Nov 2nd around 6:30PM, I was driving home from work and saw this moon – a huge, orange harvest moon hanging over Lake Pontchartrain, the kind that just smacks you right in the eyes and takes your breath away. Tried to get a picture but it was too dark.

Ares 1-X Rocket Lifts Off (click for high-res)

Straight from Astronomy Picture of the Day: “Explanation: Last week, NASA test fired a new rocket. The Ares 1-X was the first non-shuttle rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center since the Saturn launched humans to Earth orbit and the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s. NASA is testing Ares as a prelude to replacing the aging space shuttle fleet. The tremendous thrust of the Ares 1-X can bring the massive rocket from a standing start to a vertical speed of over 100 kilometers per hour in under eight seconds. The test rocket launched last week was longer than a football field and covered with over 700 sensors to record data that will enable engineers to refine details of future Ares rockets. Pictured above, the Ares 1-X blasts into space while the top part of the rocket becomes engulfed in a shock collar of water droplets likely created by the sudden drop of air pressure.”

Hier die NASA Seite

 ”Since telescopes are therefore also time portals, observations of distant clusters can be used, for example, to investigate when and how these huge galaxy conglomerations formed. Previously, the redshift record* for a galaxy cluster was about 1.5, corresponding to about nine billion light years distant. Recently, using data including X-ray images from the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory, a new farthest cluster was identified. Shown above, JKCS041 is seen at redshift 1.9, corresponding to nearly one billion light years farther than the previous record holder.” – APOD

 *redshift is a way of measuring the age of objects that emit light, to put it too simply.  I do remember some things from Astronomy class.

Speaking of time portals and cool stuff, this has made for some interesting reading lately: Project Montauk. It has everything: cloaking, secret government conspiracies, portals, time travel, Men in Black, aliens, you name it. Not saying I believe it, but it’s interesting.

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way.

About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebula and is actually one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier’s famous 18th century catalog. Since the ga

Source:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091024.html

Link zur Originalquelle der NASA

Been in the Algarve for a week. Such joy to spend time with May and Wilfred. But we lost the camera on the way home, so there are no pictures.

Instead, here’s an image from the Astronomy Picture of the Day website.

It shows the remains of a star, likely to be the brightest supernova in recorded human history, that lit up Earth’s sky in 1006 AD. Because the distance to the supernova remnant is about 7,000 light-years, the explosion actually happened 7,000 years before the light reached Earth in 1006.

A breathtaking shot of the solar eclipse of August 2008, taking place over the Great Wall of China.

To stand on the ancient ramparts is a grand experience. To do so with a celestial event happening above would be simply surreal.

This dramatic skyscape was recorded during the August 2008 total solar eclipse. The Moon’s silhouette surrounded by a glistening solar corona hangs above the Jiayuguan Fort along the western edge of the Great Wall of China. Lined-up along the ecliptic plane, all the planets of the inner solar system, Mercury, Venus, Mars, (and Earth!) can also be seen along with Saturn and bright star Regulus, as the Moon’s shadow tracks across the landscape. Beyond the Moon’s shadow, outside the total eclipse track, sunlight still brightens the sky over mountains on the horizon 30 – 50 kilometers away. Much anticipated, the 2009 July 22nd total solar eclipse will again be visible from China. Planets and bright stars will briefly appear in darkened daytime skies, though a total eclipse won’t be seen from the Great Wall. Still, major cities and populated areas lie along the 2009 total eclipse track that begins in India and sweeps eastward across Asia and into the Pacific Ocean.

Astronomy Picture of the Day posted this in anticipation of the upcoming eclipse next Wednesday. The world is waiting with bated breath. We ourselves are packed and ready to fly up to China.

This will be some event. 4 more days, people. If you’re not in China, watch it LIVE on SunStopper.sg.

Crocker Chronicle: How Should Christians Respond to Harry Potter?

The movie, which opened Wednesday of this week, is once again stirring the debate of what Christians are to do with this literary and cinematic success. As one who has read all of the Potter books and seen each of the movies (although I … At the very minimum, we can look within popular films for themes of love, forgiveness, sin and redemption as a starting point for discussions with non-Christian friends. Lastly, we can vote with our wallets to support quality movies …

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying- Andy Dufresne, from The Shawshank Redemption …. Sin Nombre (Language – Spanish) (2009) – Movie Review. The quest for the American dream has led to the pot pourri of the international residency in the country. The journey to get out here varies, sometimes morphed legit in the name of higher education to an occupation, which includes me. The other is the neighbouring country for the United States, Mexico which then also being the …

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying- Andy Dufresne, from The Shawshank Redemption …. Sin Nombre (Language – Spanish) (2009) – Movie Review. The quest for the American dream has led to the pot pourri of the international residency in the country. The journey to get out here varies, sometimes morphed legit in the name of higher education to an occupation, which includes me. The other is the neighbouring country for the United States, Mexico which then also being the …

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying- Andy Dufresne, from The Shawshank Redemption …. Sin Nombre (Language – Spanish) (2009) – Movie Review. The quest for the American dream has led to the pot pourri of the international residency in the country. The journey to get out here varies, sometimes morphed legit in the name of higher education to an occupation, which includes me. The other is the neighbouring country for the United States, Mexico which then also being the …

The movie, which opened Wednesday of this week, is once again stirring the debate of what Christians are to do with this literary and cinematic success. As one who has read all of the Potter books and seen each of the movies (although I … At the very minimum, we can look within popular films for themes of love, forgiveness, sin and redemption as a starting point for discussions with non-Christian friends. Lastly, we can vote with our wallets to support quality movies …

Here’s a sequence shot of the June 21, 2001 eclipse, a total solar eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 1.0495, visible from a narrow corridor in the southern Atlantic Ocean and southern Africa, in this case, over Zimbabwe.

Starting at the upper left, this sequence of images follows the progress of the magnificent 21 June, 2001 solar eclipse in the clear skies over Bakasa, Zimbabwe. These pictures were recorded using a small reflecting telescope and digital camera with the approximate local time given above each frame. A simple pair of “eclipse spectacles” were mounted as a filter in front of the telescope mirror and removed during totality. In the early and late phases of this eclipse of the active Sun, sunspot groups can be seen lingering on the solar surface. During eclipse totality, pinkish prominences are visible at the solar limb along with details of the normally hidden solar corona. Seen from this location, the total eclipse phase lasted just under 3 1/2 minutes as the Moon’s shadow rushed across northern Zimbabwe at nearly 5,000 kilometers per hour.

Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day

Another rare sight of a rare sight. A solar eclipse seen from the ends of the earth, in Antarctica. It was taken by Fred Bruenjes (moonglow.net). The description that goes with this picture is as follows:

The Sun, the Moon, Antarctica, and two photographers all lined up in 2003 Antarctica during an unusual total eclipse of the Sun. Even given the extreme location, a group of enthusiastic eclipse chasers ventured near the bottom of the world to experience the surreal momentary disappearance of the Sun behind the Moon. One of the treasures collected was the above picture – a composite of four separate images digitally combined to realistically simulate how the adaptive human eye saw the eclipse. As the image was taken, both the Moon and the Sun peaked together over an Antarctic ridge. In the sudden darkness, the magnificent corona of the Sun became visible around the Moon. Quite by accident, another photographer was caught in one of the images checking his video camera. Visible to his left are an equipment bag and a collapsible chair.

Absolutely amazing.

Astronomy Picture of the Day is an excellent website that features a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe every day, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Google’s led me there more than once when I’m doing searches, so it must have quite a few fans out there (which means I’m not the only geek around). Some pictures are incredible. Do a search or go to the index and pick your favourite heavenly body: galaxies, nebulas, planets, and, of course, solar eclipses.

This solar eclipse occurred on November 23, 2003 and fell along a corridor in the Antarctic region, though the southern tip of South America and most of Australia caught a partial eclipse.

Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day

What is Solar System
The Sun, the planets around the Sun and the satellites around the planets are jointly called the Solar system.

The planets in the solar system move in a regulated path, why
Because of the gravitational force of attraction of the Sun

What is cosmic year
The revolution of the Solar system around the center of the Milky Way is called cosmic year. Time taken for one revolution is 250 million years.

What is the distance of Solar system from the center of the galaxy?
It is 30,000 to 33,000 light years.

From where was Solar system originated?
It was originate in a primitive Solar Nebula of a rotating disc of gas and dust

What is Van Allen Belt?
Van Allen Belt is a Zone of Ozone in the ionosphere

What is the importance of Van Allen Belt?
Van Allen Belt keeps away the ions and poison gases from outer space. The deflection of the ions by the Van Allen Belt is seen as auroras.

Who discovered the Van Allen Belt and When?
The American scientist Van Allen discovered it in Nov ember 1958

What is Parsec?
It is a measure of distance in the space, equivalent to 3,262 light years.

What is a geo-stationary satellite
It is a satellite that revolves round the earth at a suitable height with same velocity and in the same direction as earth does in its own axis.

What is Edwin Hubble’s theory?
The farther away a galaxy is, the faster it is receding from the earth.

(click for high-res)

Straight from Astronomy Picture of the Day: “Explanation: How can gas float above the Sun? Twisted magnetic fields arching from the solar surface can trap ionized gas, suspending it in huge looping structures. These majestic plasma arches are seen as prominences above the solar limb. In 1999 September, this dramatic and detailed image was recorded by the EIT experiment on board the space-based SOHO observatory in the light emitted by ionized Helium. It shows hot plasma escaping into space as a fiery prominence breaks free from magnetic confinement a hundred thousand kilometers above the Sun. These awesome events bear watching as they can affect communications and power systems over 100 million kilometers away on Planet Earth. Recently, our Sun has been unusually quiet.”

(click for high-res)

Straight from Astronomy Picture of the Day: “Explanation: Will Spirit be able to free itself from soft ground on Mars? The robotic Spirit rover currently rolling across Mars ran into unexpectedly soft ground last month while exploring the red planet. A worry is that the ground is so soft that Spirit won’t be able to free itself, will have to stay put and thereafter study what it can from its current position near an unusual martian land feature named Home Plate. Pictured above, the front left wheel appears to be primarily digging itself in when spun, while on the other side, the front right wheel no longer spins and is dragged by the five year old mechanical explorer. In the distance, rocks and rusty dirt fill the alien landscape in front of the distant Husband Hill. NASA continues to study the situation, and engineers and scientists have not yet run out of ideas of how to use Spirit’s six wheels. Far across Mars, Spirit’s twin Opportunity continues on its two year trek toward Endeavour crater.”