Born on 28th of December 1882
Died on 22nd of November 1944
Born 1882. Died 1944 - English astronomer.
Studied at Manchester and Cambridge. First book Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe (1914). Wrote series of scientific books for the layman. Eddington Medal instituted for outstanding work on theoretical astronomy. Knighted in 1930, received Order of Merit in 1938.
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Tharsis is a turn-based space strategy game. With dice. And cannibalism. It puts you in control of humanity’s first mission to Mars, just as it’s struck by a micrometeoroid storm. You must guide your crew through disasters, food shortages, and the unforgiving nature of space — all while maintaining your sanity amidst cryptic signals and warnings from Mars.
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The worksheet for this lab will be handed out when you come. These are the items you will need:
2. Clipboard or notebook and pencil
4. Audubon Field Guide (provided)
5. Lab telescope (8 inch Dobsonian-mounted reflector)
6. Low power eyepiece (about 25mm focal length)
7. High power eyepiece (about 12mm focal length)
Optional - binoculars, small flashlight, coffee
Be sure all your sketches are to scale. The circles on the lab handout will represent your field of view. Sketch a negative image using a pencil. Dark marks represent bright areas. Take turns finding the objects. Not everyone will be able to find all the objects easily, but it is important for everyone to get a chance.


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The purpose of this course is to enable students to develop and apply knowledge of the universe and compare the conditions, properties, and motions of bodies in space. Emphasis shall be placed on concepts basic to Earth, including materials, processes, history, and the environment.
This course introduces you to the composition and structure of the universe. Astronomy is the scientific study of the contents of the entire Universe. This course will provide the student with a study of the universe and the conditions, properties, and motions of bodies in space. The content includes, but is not limited to, historical astronomy, astronomical instruments, the celestial sphere, the solar system, the earth as a system in space, the earth/moon system, the sun as a star, and stars.
Materials needed for class:You will be completing all work online, however, you will be required to complete all readings and submit all assignments throughout the course.
A-100%-90%, B-89%-80%, C-79%-70%, D-69%-60%, F-Below 60%
Your final grade will be comprised of Exams, Quizzes, Activities and Projects that we will be completing throughout the course online.
In order to receive the best grade possible and to obtain all requirements for the course, please follow the steps listed below:
Quizzes:Quizzes will be given after each Lesson is completed. There is no time limit on completing each lesson, however, you cannot continue to the next lesson until you have completed the Quiz for that lesson. The quiz will cover concepts that were presented in that lesson.
1- Welcome To Astronomy
2- The Nature of Science
3- Astronomy’s Place in Science
4- Astronomy on Earth
5- Motion of the Planets
6- Waves and Electromagnetism
7- Observational Tools
8- Mid-Term Exam
9- The Universe
12- Solar Systems
14- Space Exploration
15- Final Exam
16- End of Course Survey


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A space elevator is a proposed type of space transportation system. The main component would be a cable (also called a tether) anchored to the surface and extending into space. The design would permit vehicles to travel along the cable from a planetary surface, such as the Earth’s, directly into space or orbit, without the use of large rockets. An Earth-based space elevator would consist of a cable with one end attached to the surface near the equator and the other end in space beyond geostationary orbit (35,786 km altitude). The competing forces of gravity, which is stronger at the lower end, and the outward/upward centrifugal force, which is stronger at the upper end, would result in the cable being held up, under tension, and stationary over a single position on Earth. With the tether deployed, climbers could repeatedly climb the tether to space by mechanical means, releasing their cargo to orbit. Climbers could also descend the tether to return cargo to the surface from orbit.
The concept of a tower reaching geosynchronous orbit was first published in 1895 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His proposal was for a free-standing tower reaching from the surface of Earth to the height of geostationary orbit. Like all buildings, Tsiolkovsky’s structure would be under compression, supporting its weight from below. Since 1959, most ideas for space elevators have focused on purely tensile structures, with the weight of the system held up from above by centrifugal forces. In the tensile concepts, a space tether reaches from a large mass (the counterweight) beyond geostationary orbit to the ground. This structure is held in tension between Earth and the counterweight like an upside-down plumb bob.
To construct a space elevator on Earth the cable material would need to be both stronger and lighter (have greater specific strength) than any known material. Development of new materials that meet the demanding specific strength requirement must happen before designs can progress beyond discussion stage. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been identified as possibly being able to meet the specific strength requirements for an Earth space elevator Other materials considered have been boron nitride nanotubes, and diamond nanothreads, which were first constructed in 2014.
The concept is applicable to other planets and celestial bodies. For locations in the solar system with weaker gravity than Earth’s (such as the Moon or Mars), the strength-to-density requirements for tether materials are not as problematic. Currently available materials (such as Kevlar) are strong and light enough that they could be used as the tether material for elevators there.
So, when do you think we will be taking elevator’s to our favourite planets?


Amazing Facts » Space and the Universe
Amazing Facts about Space and the Universe For Kids
Did you know that only happy people are allowed in space? It is because you cannot cry on space as your tears will never fall… Wait, there is more…
Did you know that there is a huge reservoir of water that is floating and orbiting in space, and which is the equivalent to about 140 trillion times all the water in the earth’s oceans and seas?
Did you know that in 1962, the United States blew up a Hydrogen Bomb in space that was close to hundred times stronger than the Atom Bomb they dropped in Hiroshima? Wonder what difference it made up there?
If you did not know the above realities, then read on for more such amazing facts on space that will interest kids, as well as adults. We are so caught up with stress and our busy lives, that we tend to forget the existence of something so beautiful, yet so mysterious.
Increase your kid’s knowledge about the sun, planets, moon, astronomy, the galaxy, Milky Way, galaxy and more. There is still so little known about outer space by modern science, but the little that we do know and understand, there are several extremely amazing things.
This information will capture the interest of the young minds immediately. GIven below are some fun and interesting facts about outer space. Check out these amazing facts that everyone should know about the ever so breathtaking universe, as there is very little we know about outer space, and the Milky Way.
So let us start with the basics…
If we were to reduce and visualize the Sun to the size of a beach ball in Space, then the largest planet Jupiter would be equivalent to the size of a golf ball, our planet earth would be as small as a pea. So, what would that make us?
Let us move on to some basic history…
Did you know that if you were able to squeeze time from the Big Bang until today into one single year then, how would history be?
Read on and don’t be shocked…
1 January - The Big Bang happened.
10 January -The day that the first star was born.
13 January - First small galaxy fell into shape.
15 March - The formation of the Milky Way formed.
31 August - The Sun in our solar system was born [this by real terms is around 4.5 billion years ago]. Then the Earth was born from the dust and gas orbiting the new Sun. Frequent collisions created a hot flaming ball. Despite the fact that the Earth was initially quite unstable, eventually on
21 September - Formation of life on earth [around3.5 billion years ago]
9 November - Early microbes were formed. They were breathing, moving, eating, and learned to multiply.
17 December – Living creatures moved from water to land.
28 December - Date of the first flower blooming.
30 December, 6:24 am - An asteroid that hit earth, wiped out the entire dinosaur species. If that had not happened, early man or Homo sapiens would have never survived on Earth [around 60 million years ago]. The universe slowly became livable for humans.
31 December 11:59:46 pm – The last 14 seconds is responsible for all the earth’s recorded history. We learned how to domesticate animals and agriculture. We also learnt to write, paint science, mathematics, astronomy and just about all the other activities we practice today.
A second ago, it was discovered that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. And, at the end of that second, man landed on the Moon.
Just about every person you have ever known or heard of, met, loved, had etc., lives or lived in these 14 seconds.
So how about that – Most of you kids were born just before we commenced reading the last paragraph.
Is it not obvious that we are just nothing in the Universe?
Remember that, and be amazed, and respect all things around you.
There are more amazing details on space, so check out this page often. Kids will be intrigued on how important and unique these facts are and that even some adults are unaware about it. We are sure that your kids will enjoy these amazing and awesome facts. This distinctive way of presentation will only help increase your child’s general awareness.
Visit us every week for more amusing facts. Enjoy and we welcome your feedback.


"Our number one goal is to treat our guests to a remarkable and
fulfilling stargazing experience that will be remembered with joy"
Our patio and gazebo are available for your comfort.
You are welcome to picnic before your star party.
We host events for our guests and provide views through our powerful telescopes.
Your star party will be a unique and memorable experience for your next celebration, birthday party, romantic date night, office team building event, or vacation outing with your children. During an evening of star gazing, we often view dozens of night sky objects, including planets, nebula, galaxies, stars and star clusters.
We also "draw" the outlines of the Constellations with laser pointers and share the Greek Mythology with you.
You will experience the beauty of the heavens while using our 10 inch and 12 inch reflector telescopes.
Our Star Party Guides are experienced Astronomers and are trained to quickly locate objects to view and enjoy. With 2 telescopes in operation there is very little time spent waiting, and we encourage each of our guests to take their time and enjoy the night sky.


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Mountain Bound Pottery: Ceramic Moon Phase Wall Hangings
Honor the moon with this moon phase wall decor. Wall decoration made of seven lunar phases made from our speckled clay. This wall hanging is left unglazed so you can diffuse your favorite essential oil on it. Each piece is linked together by ethically sourced leather cording.
20" l x 3" w
Due to the handmade nature, there may be pleasing variations and irregularities in color, size and shape.


TK Tip 1 – Be the Moon, not the Sun (click to hear the mp3 version)
This may sound simple, but it’s the first—and most important—step in being different from everyone else on the air.
Picture the Sun. It’s a big yellow ball of fire—the source of heat, light, and energy for our world. Now picture the Moon. It’s a dead, lifeless rock. All the Moon does is reflect the light of the Sun.
Almost every air talent I’ve ever met wants to be the Sun, and “beam out” to his listeners what he thinks they should hear.
BUT THAT’S NOT THE JOB.
Your job is to be the Moon, and simply reflect back to the listener what he or she already cares about—today—filtered through your experiences, observations, and opinions.
Once you realize this, show prep gets SO much easier. Choose what’s top of mind and relevant, then talk about it. Take your agenda out of the picture. If it doesn’t connect with the listener, it doesn’t matter.
Be the Moon. Let everyone else try to be the Sun.
– – – – – – –
Radio Talent Coach
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.


Published on 3 November, 2014
|IndigoVision’s BX HD PTZ dome cameras manage security at the Mars Mission control room in Bangalore
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently made the headlines with the success of the “Mangalyaan” Mars Orbit Spacecraft, the first space agency to do so on its first attempt.
ISRO are a long-time customer of IndigoVision, recently installing IndigoVision’s BX HD PTZ Dome Cameras to manage security at the Mars Mission control room in Bangalore.
Several Indian government and defence organisations have chosen IndigoVision’s solution, including Bharat Electronics and Hindustan Aeronautics.


What do we specialise in?
We investigate primordial universe models which can explain the origin of the primordial structure that seeded the observed large-scale structure of the Universe. In particular, we proposed a new quantum bouncing cosmology in which the big-bang singularity is replaced by a quantum big bounce. We develop many tools useful for this research such as quantisation methods, approximation methods for quantum dynamics or the Hamiltonian formalism for cosmological perturbations. We study the time problem in quantum theories of gravity. We examine classical and quantum gravity on surfaces with boundaries.
We study both theory and phenomenology of deformed spacetime symmetries. We investigate cosmological structure formation by methods extending beyond the standard perturbation theory i.e. by exact solutions of Einstein's equations, averaging methods and generalisations of the Lagrangian perturbation theory. Our aim is to fully understand the current and upcoming observations in the context of persistent tensions in the LambdaCDM model, unknown nature of dark energy and dark matter. We study cosmological models in extended theories of gravity and compare them with the available observational data.
ul. Pasteura 7,
tel. +48 22 273 28 02


For those of you who may not be entirely familiar with what an Equinox is. It is two moments in the year when the sun shines directly on the equator and where night and day are nearly exactly the same length – 12 hours – all over the world. This is the reason it’s called an “equinox,” derived from Latin, meaning “equal night” (depending on location).
The autumnal equinox occurs in September each year whilst the spring equinox happens in March. In the Northern Hemisphere, the date marks the end of Summer and signifies the beginning of Autumn! This year the autumnal equinox will occur on Tuesday 22nd of September at 2.30 pm. After the autumnal equinox, the sun is rising later and nightfall comes sooner.
Although the harvest moon is on October 1st this year, every 3 years to be precise, (most years it is in September) it is highly associated with the autumn equinox too! September 2nd is also a time for the corn moon to take place so get ready to look up at the night sky for an exceptionally bright moon to dazzle your horizons.
Did you know? Because the moon is particularly bright and rises early, in the past this allowed farmers to extend their working day so the name ‘harvest moon’ comes from when farmers harvested the last of their summer crops in the prolonged evening moonlight before winter came along.
TIME FOR CELEBRATION
What better way to celebrate this transitional time of year by marking the September equinox with a harvest festival? That time of the year when all the crops have been harvested, the Harvest Festival is a celebration of the food grown on the land!
The people of the British Isles have given thanks at Autumn harvest festivals since pagan times. Harvest festivals traditionally were held on the Sunday nearest the Harvest Moon.
Thanksgiving celebrations are both worldwide and very ancient. People celebrate this day by singing, praying and decorating our churches with baskets of fruit and food.
Early English settlers took the harvest festival tradition with them to America. These traditional festivals once celebrated around the equinox, formed the basis of American Thanksgiving, which they now celebrate in November.
Archaeologists believe a number of prehistoric sites were used by ancient people to track the position of the sun and predict equinoxes and solstices. Some of these sites include Stonehenge and Newgrange in the UK!
Each year on the 22nd / 23rd September Druids, Pagans, families, tourists and travellers gather at Stonehenge early in the morning to mark the Spring Equinox and to see the sunrise above the stones. It Is definitely a great spiritual experience!


Jupiter looks a bit different in ultraviolet light. To better interpret Jupiter’s cloud motions and to help NASA’s robotic Juno spacecraft understand the planetary context of the small fields that it sees, the Hubble Space Telescope is being directed to regularly image the entire Jovian giant.
The colors of Jupiter being monitored go beyond the normal human visual range to include both ultraviolet and infrared light. Featured from 2017, Jupiter appears different in near ultraviolet light, partly because the amount of sunlight reflected back is distinct, giving differing cloud heights and latitudes discrepant brightnesses.
In the near UV, Jupiter’s poles appear relatively dark, as does its Great Red Spot and a smaller (optically) white oval to the right. The String of Pearl storms farther to the right, however, are brightest in near ultraviolet, and so here appear (false-color) pink. Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede appears on the upper left.
Juno continues on its looping 53-day orbits around Jupiter, while Earth-orbiting Hubble is now recovering from the loss of a stabilizing gyroscope.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt
This colorful rendition of part of the constellation of Orion comes from red light emitted by hydrogen and sulfur (SII), and blue-green light emitted by oxygen (OIII).
Hues on the featured image were then digitally reassigned to be indicative of their elemental origins but also striking to the human eye. The breathtaking composite was painstakingly composed from hundreds of images which took nearly 200 hours to collect.
Pictured, Barnard’s Loop, across the image bottom, appears to cradle interstellar constructs including the intricate Orion Nebula seen just right of center. The Flame Nebula can also be quickly located, but it takes a careful eye to identify the slight indentation of the dark Horsehead Nebula. As to Orion’s flashiness a leading explanation for the origin of Barnard’s Loop is a supernova blast that occurred about two million years ago.
Image Credit & Copyright: David Lindemann
Cosmic dust clouds and energetic stars inhabit this telescopic vista, less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown.
The dust clouds effectively block light from more distant background stars in the Milky Way. But the striking complex of reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, and IC 4812 produce a characteristic color as blue light from the region’s hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust.
The dust also obscures from view stars still in the process of formation. At top right, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around variable star R Coronae Australis.
Near it, glowing arcs and loops shocked by outflows from embedded newborn stars are identified as Herbig-Haro objects. On the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree. That corresponds to almost 9 light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region.
Image Credit & Copyright: Josep Drudis


NASA Astronauts Inducted into Hall of Fame, Live May 19 on NASA Television
Two NASA astronauts, both with one-of-a-kind career credits, will be honored Friday, May 19, when they are inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. The ceremony will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website at 1 p.m. EDT.
Published May 15, 2017Read more from NASA
Environment and Due Diligence Update #
Environment and Due Diligence Update # 54084358:


Answered By: Adam St. Pierre Last Updated: Sep 21, 2015 Views: 20
We definitely do have books that focus on what NASA calls Near Earth Objects like asteroids. You may find these books that focus on asteroid impacts with Earth, fairly interesting. If you click on one of the titles, it will allow you to put any one of those fabulous books on hold and send it to a location of your choice. Or you can call us at 231-3750 to pull the books for you!
However if you're just looking for information about possible asteroid impacts then you may find NASA's Asteroid and Comet Impact site or their Near Earth Object program site fairly useful. The Near Earth Object program site has a fairly comprehensive table on Impact Risks of known asteroids (Impact Risk Table).


Working in harmony with the energy of the moon cycles sounds all very new age but in fact this practice has been observed for hundreds of years. Just like the moon effects the tides in earth's oceans, the gravitational effect can have an impact on us not least because the human body is around 70% water. Therefore, the phases of the moon represent the natural ebb and flow of life and harnessing the full and new moon energies in particular are known to be highly potent energetic portals.
A new moon is when the sun and the moon come into alignment and signifies new beginnings, planting the seeds for new ideas, setting your intentions and defining goals. A full moon is when the sun reflects its light onto the moon and luminates it in our night sky. There is a strong gravitational pull on earth at this time and the energy can be used to release yourself of anything that no longer serves you. This is a great time for cleansing your space of lower vibrations and feel renewed.
Both the new moon and the full moon phases offer an energetic portal that amplifies your intentions and effects of any mindful practice for manifestation. Try incorporating the dates of the new and/or full moon into your regular meditation and yoga practice and notice what experience you have.


10 Mysterious Facts About Mars
We’ve walked the moon, soared through space and even discovered planets similar to ours light-years away, but we are yet to unravel a mystery that lies closer to home – The Planet of Mars. Today we’re going to take a look at the top ten most mysterious facts about Mars.
10The Martian Dichotomy
While Earth also possesses a Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Mars has one that is slightly more baffling. The geological contract between the two is remarkably unusual; the Southern one displaying a more crusty appearance, and the Northern one much smoother. Scientists have no idea what causes this, but hope that one day they will find an answer.
9The Presence Of High Amounts Of Methane
Methane is one of the reasons life can exist here on Earth, but scientists are unsure if the same goes for Mars. Could the planet be home to alien methane-producing organisms? Only time will tell. Or maybe it won’t – but there’s no harm in researching.
Scientists recently discovered the presence of something called Phyllosilicates, which in laymen’s terms means a watery environment. Now, typically, where there’s water, there’s life. Could this be the case for Mars? The scientists will have to dig a bit deeper to find out!
Did you know that Mars has its own Moons? Two of them to be exact, and yes, we know they look a little like potatoes. Some suspect that this brother and sister duo was pulled into Mars’ atmosphere by its gravity, but only with hard evidence can we know for sure.
Mars’ poles are permanently covered in what looks like large chunks of ice, but is actually frozen carbon dioxide. Some of it dries during summertime, but it’s always there. This gives it the appearance of being lined with Gold – but if this were the case, we’re sure people would have made a plan to mine it a long time ago!
5Mars’ Grand Canyon
Mars has a grand canyon just like we do, expect this one is over 8km deep, meaning you wouldn’t wanna fall down there! It’s the largest canyon in the entire solar system, and keeps scientists on the hunt for an answer to how it initially formed.
While Mars may currently beat Antarctica with its freezing temperatures, scientists have collected strong evidence that it may have once been warm enough to produce life. If this is the case, what happened? An Ice Age? We may never know.
There’s more dust on Mars than under a bed that hasn’t been moved in fifty years, which gives way to the most epic dust storms in our solar system. While scientists believe they are initiated by the sun, they cannot justify why this would make them so incredibly intense.
Connecting back to the water mystery, NASA discovered clusters of long, dark and narrow lines on Mars’ surface. It could be normal geological formations, it could be streams – we simply don’t know, and unless someone takes up residency on this mysterious planet, we may never find out.
1Did Life On Earth Begin On Mars?
Modern day experiments have revealed that primitive microbes might have possessed the potential to survive a trip to Earth, meaning there’s a small chance that life on Mars existed thousands of years ago, and led to the development of life on Earth. Sound far-reaching? Maybe, maybe not. We guess only research will give us the answer we seek.
And that wraps up our top ten most mysterious facts about Mars. Have we forgotten to mention any? Be sure to share them with us in the comments section below. And as always, remember to like, share and subscribe.


This tutorial explains how to calculate topocentric RIGHT ASCENSION (R.A.) & DECLINATION for the Moon.
The JS simulation will also use these calculated coordinates to plot the Moon on the Celestial Sphere. The example code locates the observer at the Palomar Observatory. If desired, you can adjust the location in the SOURCE CODE.
This tutorial builds further upon the fourth tutorial in the series.
Therefore if you haven't followed the fourth tutorial yet for calculating the geocentric Epheremis for the Moon, we recommend you do that first:
TUTORIAL - EPHEMERIS MOON (GEOCENTRIC)
In order to calculate the geocentric parallax angle in SECTION II, we first need to understand how far the center of the Earth is located from the center of the Moon at any point in time.
Just like in the previous tutorial, we use Meeus' method of linear combination of fundamental arguments with the help of a table.
Once the sum of ∑r has been obtained, use the following formulate to calculate the distance Earth-Moon in kilometers:
△ = 385000.56 + (∑r / 1000) //Distance Earth-Moon given in kilometers
For more information on calculating the sum ∑r, please refer back to SECTION III of the last tutorial or see the source code for this tutorial located HERE.
II. CALCULATE MOON HORIZONTAL PARALLAX ANGLE
Peter Duffett-Smith states that the geocentric parallax angle is the angle between the Observer and the Earth's centre as seen by the Moon.
For additional information see the PARALLAX section in the GLOSSARY.
With the Earth-Moon distance △ calculated in SECTION I you can acquire the geocentric parallax π using the following formula (up to 1°):
sin π = 6378.14 / △
III. CALCULATE GREENWICH & LOCAL SIDEREAL TIME
For later caculations, we need to take the Julian input day (JD) and convert it to Greenwich mean Sidereal Time (GST). According to Peter Duffett-Smith, GST can be used for observations made for the Greenwich meridian. The Greenwich meridian is also known as "The Prime Meridian".
The Greenwich meridian is the arbitrary point chosen in the year 1884 at which the longitude on Earth is defined to be 0°. Meridians are the imaginary lines of longitude that run between the North and South Poles and encircle the earth. Greenwich is located in a neighborhood in Londen, UK.
Once we've acquired GST, we can use it to calculate Local Sidereal Time (LST) to adjust the time for the location of the observer (either West or East of the 0° meridian):
Convert Julian Day (JD) to Greenwich mean Sidereal Time (GST)
Convert Greenwich mean Sidereal Time (GST) to Local Sidereal Time (LST)
IV. CALCULATE GEOCENTRIC HOUR ANGE
Using the LST value from the previous section and the Moon's Geocentric Right Ascension (R.A.) from the last tutorial, we can now calculate the geocentric hour angle using the following formula (Meeus):
H = LST - Lunar Geocentric Right Ascension
V. CALCULATE CENTER EARTH-OBSERVER DISTANCE
Now we need to know the quantities p sin Φ' and p cos Φ'.
These can be calculated using the formula's shown below. Note that p is the distance from the center of the Earth to the observer,
Φ' is the geocentric latitude and Φ is the astronomical latitude.
u = atan (0.996647 * tan Φ)p sin Φ' = (0.996647 * sin u) + ((observer altitude / 6378140) * sin Φ)p cos Φ' = (cos u) + ((observer altitude / 6378140) * cos Φ)
VI. CALCULATE TOPOCENTRIC R.A. & DECLINATION
Finally we can combine all the work we've done so far and obtain the Topocentric RIGHT ASCENSION (R.A.) and DECLINATION.
Note that these formula's use the Moon's Geocentric Right Ascension (R.A.) and Declination from the last tutorial.
tan △RIGHT_ASCENSION = (-(p cos Φ') * sin π * sin H) / (cos GEO_DECLINATION - (p cos Φ') * sin π * cos H) TOPO_RIGHT ASCENSION = GEO_RIGHT_ASCENSION + △RIGHT_ASCENSIONtan TOPO_DECLINATION = ((sin GEO_DECLINATION - (p sin Φ') * sin π) * cos △RIGHT_ASCENSION) / (cos GEO_DECLINATION - (p cos Φ') * sin π * cos H)
VII. COMPLETE JS LUNAR EPHEMERIS SIMULATOR
The finished simulation on the right shows not only the calculated values for Topocentric RIGHT ASCENSION and DECLINATION for an observer located on Palomar Mountain, but also demonstrates how the Moon moves across the sky over time.


Each month, from March thru October, weather permitting, our club members bring their telescopes and their knowledge of telescopes and Astronomy to the Lynnwood Loop Park in Richland.
The date is scheduled for a Friday and/or Saturday night adjacent to a First Quarter Moon, so that the shadows cast on the Moon's surface will give depth to what you're seeing and also not be too bright to block out other interesting objects in deep space. If the sky conditions are bad for Friday, we will still set up on the next night, Saturday. Some telescopes are set up prior to sunset to show sunspots (safely). We are there until the last spectator leaves (usually around 10:00 pm). The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) are sometimes visible from the park, but usually don't appear until after 9:30.
Parking is available in a small parking lot adjacent to the tennis court/swimming pool complex. Please don't drive out onto the grass field as your lights will ruin everyone's night vision (and you might run over someone's telescope). Also, please do not bring white light flashlights, cover them with red cellophane if you must have a light. It doesn't get that dark in the park.
To reach the park from Richland, just take George Washington Way north toward Hanford until you reach Saint Street. Turn left on Saint Street and take the second right at Lynnwood Court. Take the first left at Lynnwood Loop. The park is on the right.
To reach the park from I-182, take exit #4 and the 240 Bypass Highway. Travel north 4.8 miles. Just after the intersection of Stevens, Jadwin, and 240, take the first right onto Saint Street ("St St" on the map). Once on Saint Street, take the first left at Newcomer and then the first right at Lynnwood Loop. The park is about a block down the street.
This event is sponsored by the Tri-City Astronomy Club and is FREE to the public. Schools are also invited to send their students & teachers (we'll give them extra credit, too). Anyone having problems with a new telescope, (or an old one, too) bring it along early and we'll try to help you with it.
A printable map is available here.


Day 2: The Arctic Circle tour
After an exciting first day in Fairbanks, I was ready for an action packed 2nd day. I booked two tours for the day, an Arctic Circle tour and an aurora viewing tour. The Arctic Circle tour offered both driving and flying tours to the Arctic Circle. I had chosen the flying tour since it took the least amount of time and was offered multiple times a day.
Flying to the Arctic Circle
It was a quick taxi ride from the hotel I stayed to the flight departure terminal, which was located beside the Fairbanks Airport. After a quick introduction, we boarded a small twin-engine plane that was capable of holding 8 passengers.
It was a clear and sunny day in Fairbanks, so I had a perfect view of the Alaska winter landscape during the flight. The snow covered rivers and evergreen forests formed pieces of artworks on a vast white canvas. The view of the white mountain ranges in the distance was simply breathtaking. Occasionally, we would see small herds of caribou walking along the sides of hills or in the forests.
Touring around Coldfoot
After a one-hour flight, we landed in Coldfoot, a tiny town in the Arctic Circle. There wasn’t an official airport, just a runway. A local guide picked us up and drove us around the area. She took us to see the Trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline and explained to us how Coldfoot was built due to the pipeline. We saw some cute sled dogs along the way and ended our tour in the town center, which had a cafeteria, a fuel station, and a USPS post office. Surprisingly, there was an inn for visitors as some people go there to see the aurora. The entire tour in Coldfoot was less than two hours, but that was more than enough time to see everything. Interestingly, it wasn’t as cold as I had imagined within the Arctic Circle (but yes it was cold if you stood outside for long), probably because I was wearing a lot of thick layers that day.
Preparing for the aurora viewing tour
If you had read my previous post, you would have known that I had trouble capturing good photos of the aurora due to the lack of a wide-angle lens and a tripod, so I went directly to rent the missing equipment after coming back from Coldfoot.
- I went to Alaska Camera for my equipment rental. They had a variety of camera equipment and knowledgeable staff providing you with information on how to take good aurora photos.
Aurora viewing tour
Shortly before 10pm, the aurora view tour driver picked me up from my hotel. I brought all my camera equipment ready to test out my newly learned skills. After a half-hour ride, we arrived at the aurora viewing lodge on a hilltop. The lodge was much better than I had imagined. It was equipped with heating, a clean restroom, and several seatings. They also had warm drinks and snacks for guests. It was definitely a comfortable environment for an aurora viewing experience.
After we settled, I set up my tripod and camera in anticipation of the appearance of aurora. Unfortunately, after a whole night of waiting, the aurora never became active:( I could only capture a very faint aurora in the sky using my camera. It was barely visible through naked eyes. However, I was able to practice my photo taking skills so that the photos appeared much better than the ones I took on the previous night. We eventually left the lodge knowing it would not get any better. Luckily, I had left the next night open, so I booked another aurora viewing tour with the same company.
Day 3: Denali air adventure
It was my last full day stay in Fairbanks. The very first tour I booked for the day was the Denali Air Adventure. The tour was a three hour flight around the famous Denali mountain, which is the highest mountain peak in North America. The Denali National Park surrounding the mountain peak is a beautiful summer destination if you love nature adventures.
The plane we took was similar to the one used for the Arctic Circle tour since it was offered by the same company. The pilot told us lots of information about the mountain and the national park throughout the flight. As we flew closer to the Denali mountain, I began to realize its enormous size. We circled around the mountain peak for about an hour to look at it from various angles.
- Make sure you use the restroom ahead of time as there is most likely no restroom available during the entire flight.
- Wear warm clothes and shoes because sitting on the plane can make you really cold, especially when you sit at the back or close to the exit.
- Eat some light breakfast before going on the tour. I felt quite lightheaded halfway through the flight as it was getting really cold and low-pressure (probably my blood sugar level was low, so it wouldn’t harm to bring a piece of energy bar on board).
Ice Art VIP Tour
Since the Denali Air Adventure only took 3 hours in the morning, I had plenty of free time in the afternoon, so I decided to go to an Ice Art tour in the city. The tour was to see all the ice sculptures created during the annual World Ice Art Championship. Teams from all over the world came to Fairbanks to compete in this multi-day ice sculpting competition. There were two categories of sculptures, single ice block and multi-ice blocks. All of the ice blocks used in creating the sculptures were carefully harvested from the area, so the ice sculptures looked crystal clear. The sizes and level of details in the sculptures were impressive. Some of them would have looked more beautiful when being lit up at night. However, I left early to prepare for my last chance of aurora viewing.
Last aurora viewing tour
The tour driver picked me up at the same time as the previous night. This time, we went to a lodge farther than the previous one. It was my last chance to view the aurora, so I really wished it would be a good show. Thankfully, when I stepped out of the van, I could already see a strong band of aurora in the sky. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen! Not only was it stronger than any of the aurora viewings from the two previous nights, it was also multi-colored. I could barely withhold my excitement. I immediately set up my camera equipment outside before stepping into the lodge.
The most beautiful display of aurora
As time passed, the aurora activity became stronger and stronger. I barely sat in the lodge throughout the night. As I was so busy enjoying the view and taking photos outside, I could hardly feel the cold (trust me, it was SUPER COLD). It was as if my long-awaited dream had finally come true. I got to see the aurora in its variety of shapes and colors throughout the night. I could even see it moving across the sky during its peak activity. Words couldn’t describe its phenomenal beauty, just take a look at the photos!
- Whenever you see vertical streaks, it is a good indicator that the aurora activity will get stronger soon, so have your camera ready.
- Leave your camera set up outside so you can go out to take photos quickly when needed.
I was lucky to experience a spectacular show of aurora on my very last night in Fairbanks. Every time I look at the aurora photos, I can still feel the level of excitement I was feeling at the time. Even though I have been visiting many beautiful places on earth, this will most likely always remain on my top three most memorable trips. If anyone asks me, I will say aurora viewing is definitely one of the must-do activities in a lifetime. If you do decide to go, remember to plan for multiple nights of aurora viewings to maximize your chance of seeing a strong and beautiful aurora. Good luck and have fun!


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Spaceports will transform the UK into a spacefaring nation
The Government has formally green-lighted Britain’s first spaceport. This means that a vertical launch site will be established in Sutherland, Scotland. The project will be supported by a UK Space Agency grant of some £30m in Industrial Strategy funds from the £50m UK space launch programme. Separately, three further projects shortlisted as potential horizontal launch sites – for future “spaceplanes” – in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall will receive an extra bit of funding (£2m) to help them develop their final bids.
The decision on the Sutherland spaceport caps an impressive UK space policy trajectory in that has already delivered the world’s “most modern” Space Industry Act earlier this year. The Act created the regulatory framework for what is expected to become a £3.8bn UK market in commercial spaceflight over the next decade – to say nothing of the wider boost this will give to the UK space sector and prospects for new international partnerships. From a purely British commercial perspective, it is truly pioneering stuff – although against the global landscape, the UK is only catching up in this field. (Countries ranging from France to Israel, India, Japan or South Korea and even Iran – not to mention space heavyweights like the US, Russia or China – all possess indigenous space launch capabilities.)
What makes this a notable – perhaps historic – moment for Britain is that it marks its transformation into a “spacefaring” nation, certainly in policy terms. The polar orbits accessible from the Scottish site may be of a somewhat limited use in practice, but gaining spacefaring status is of strategic significance nonetheless. It is a crucial step towards what might be called “autonomy” in space affairs, and an essential waypoint towards UK becoming a “Tier One” space power as well – as it should be. Spacefaring status entails the ability to independently build and launch craft into space. Britain has long been a world leader in building satellites; but for decades it has lacked the capability to place them in orbit after shutting down its short-lived rocket programme in the early 1970s. Now, we are officially joining the spacefaring club of the Second Space Age.
That being said, while sense of (policy) achievement and optimism is justified, symbolism should not be confused with the real thing: no commercial spacecraft has yet blasted off from these isles. Much of the Government’s plan for this space market sector hangs on moving quickly and beating other European countries to the first launch. The target date for this is 2020. But only about two weeks ago another company signed a deal to build a spaceport in Italy with local partners, with a view to launching commercial spaceflights (in the space tourism submarket) by the same date, 2020. Beyond Europe, competition is even stiffer, from India to Australia or New Zealand – which are making big strides in the space launch sector. In February last year, for example, an Indian rocket launched a whole constellation of 88 Planet Labs nanosatellites in one go. And this January a company successfully tested its low-cost launcher in New Zealand: its rocket engines are 3D-printed and the company is licenced to launch every 72 hours (prices start from a mere $100,000 per nanosatellite).
Britain’s spacefaring status is emerging as an extension of a commercial logic. In the case of many of the other spacefaring nations the journey started, on the contrary, from strategic (indeed military) imperatives, with commercial applications added on later. Britain arguably lacks that conceptual depth when it comes to thinking strategically about space. Therefore, as the UK develops its spaceflight ambitions, these will need to be paired with a more expansive, robust and disciplined perspective on some of the harsher power dynamics and astropolitics of outer space that stretch beyond mere commercial considerations.
The new spaceports will truly take us beyond the final strategic frontier: UK’s grand vision for space must rise to the occasion.


On 1 Sept. 2016, the SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 went up in a blaze of flames. This was a gruesome day that lost a lot of money for SpaceX, and the crash could have long term effects on many other entities such as the RAHS Satellite team.
During the 2017-18 school year, the RAHS Satellite team’s mission is to launch a 3D printed satellite into space, using a SpaceX rocket for their mission. Should this succeed, RAHS will be the first high school to send a satellite into space.
Satellite’s Team Program Manager Eli Mackley was not phased by the SpaceX accident.
“As our planned launch date is still a couple years out it is possible we will not be affected at all.” said Mackley.“If worse comes to worse we can launch with another company or even another nation.”
The Satellite Team has been planning to launch a satellite into space on a SpaceX rocket working with another company called Spaceflight Services.
“Spaceflight buys extra space on rocket launches,” said Mackley, “and sells out smaller chunks to small satellites.”
Currently the Sat team is testing a 3D printed plastic called PEEK. PEEK, the Polyether ether ketone, is a type of thermoplastic polymer used in engineering purposes.
“The purpose of the Phoenix Sat is to be a test bed for 3D printed plastics in space.” said Mackley
With more goals in mind, Satellite Team plans plans to finalize their components to monitor the satellite, finish the design, and write up a report for PEEK.
“Operational integration-ready SAURON board,[something that monitors the satellite], completed Phoenix Sat design [finished design], test results and go/no-go write up for PEEK chassis.” said Mackley
The SAURON board is very vital to the Satellite. SAURON is the board that will be able to monitoring chassis and reporting data.
“It will have strain sensors, temperature probes, cameras, and other things that will be able to monitor the 3D printed chassis.” said Mackley
The Satellite Team have to test the PEEK Chassis because of the affect space can have of the satellite. They must make sure the PEEK can withstand the effects of outer space, like temperature.
“We need to print a test model of the chassi out of PEEK, and take it too some companies in the local area that have testing apparatus, and make sure it works in space,” said Mackley. “So vibration, temperature, value, out gassing.”
The final goal is to have the whole design completed by the end of the year. Mackley and his team need to have everything complete , they need everything to be complete.
“Everything has to be ready and done on paper.” said Mackley
The Satellite Team meets two times in a week. There are leads and different teams working on different aspects for the sat team.
“Team leads take their teams through everything they want to get done that day,” said Mackley.“At the end of the meeting we will have a short 15 minute meeting for just myself and the team leads where we go over what was accomplished and plans for the next day.”
Mackley predicts that the team will accomplish their goals this year.
“The Satellite team is making very good progress this year.” said Mackley. “We are moving ahead with a clear schedule and are on track to complete it.”
Satellite Team set a huge goal for RAHS, as the school would be known as the first high school to send a Satellite into space.It is also a small step in pushing 3D printing plastics to space.


Unveiling the Cosmic Tapestry Exploring Stellar Structures
The evening sky has usually been a source of surprise and awe, fascinating human beings considering that the dawn of time. Amidst the extensive expanse of darkness, there exists a tapestry of stellar constructions waiting around to be unraveled. These constructions, forged by the forces of the universe, keep the secrets and techniques to the beginning and evolution of stars, providing us glimpses into the mysteries of our cosmos.
With breakthroughs in technological innovation and the relentless pursuit of expertise, astronomers have delved into the depths of the cosmos, deciphering the intricate styles and formations that adorn our evening sky. From wispy nebulae to magnificent star clusters, stellar buildings offer us glimpses into the enormous attractiveness and complexity of the universe.
At the coronary heart of these constructions lie stars, every single possessing its own unique characteristics and story. Big, fiery orbs of vitality, stars are born inside dense clouds of gasoline and dust, ignited by the gravitational pull of their personal mass. As they come to existence, stellar nurseries give start to clusters of stars, forming mesmerizing buildings that dot the cosmic landscape. By way of the examine of these buildings, astronomers seek to comprehend the problems that foster star development and the mechanisms by which stars evolve and eventually meet their spectacular demise.
Sign up for us on a journey via the cosmic tapestry as we navigate the depths of stellar constructions, exploring the wonders that lie over and above our terrestrial bounds. Put together to have your feeling of ponder ignited as we traverse through the birthplaces of stars and unravel the intricacies of colossal nebulae. With each other, enable us discover the celestial wonders that have captivated humanity for hundreds of years, as we uncover the secrets and techniques concealed within the material of the cosmos.
The Birth and Evolution of Stars
Stars, the luminous celestial bodies scattered during our expansive universe, are born from the intricate dance of cosmic forces. Via the ages, experts have sought to unravel the mysteries surrounding the start and evolution of these stellar structures. This relentless pursuit has led to impressive insights into the existence cycles of stars, revealing a charming tale of formation, transformation, and greatest destiny.
At the coronary heart of star formation lies interstellar clouds, vast reservoirs of gas and dust. Inside these cosmic warehouses, regions of increased density commence to arise, brought on by external elements this kind of as shockwaves from supernovae or the gravitational pull of nearby stars. As these dense pockets of make a difference collapse underneath their personal fat, a gravitational frenzy ensues, leading to the formation of protostars.
The journey in the direction of lifestyle as a principal sequence star commences for these protostars as they endure a approach acknowledged as accretion. As the protostar continues to collect mass, flares of energy begin to radiate, slowly rising in brightness. It is for the duration of this period that these nascent stars typically grow to be enveloped in a cocoon-like construction of fuel and dust, shielding them from direct check out. As time passes and gravitational equilibrium is reached, these protecting shrouds dissipate, revealing the beginning of a fully-shaped star.
The evolution of stars is a dynamic and at any time-shifting approach. When a star reaches the main sequence, it enters into a section of relative balance, exactly where strength is produced by means of the fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. This fusion releases an huge amount of vitality, counterbalancing the gravitational power trying to compress the star additional. The length of a star’s time on the principal sequence is established by its mass, with a lot more massive stars burning by way of their gas at a drastically faster charge.
As a star exhausts its provide of hydrogen, its dynamics get started to change. Smaller sized stars, this kind of as our personal Sunshine, increase into crimson giants, even though the much more substantial types explode into outstanding supernovae. In the course of these explosive functions, large aspects solid within the stellar main are scattered into the cosmos, enriching the encompassing space with the uncooked resources needed for the formation of new stars and planets.
In summary, the birth and evolution of stars exemplify the remarkable processes that condition the cosmos. From the gravitational collapse of interstellar clouds to the spectacular explosions of supernovae, each phase in the lifestyle of a star retains fascinating revelations. By delving into the intricate tapestry of stellar buildings, we embark on a journey of discovery that deepens our comprehension of the universe and our spot within it.
Kinds and Attributes of Stellar Constructions
Stellar Constructions appear in a variety of forms, every single with its personal special established of characteristics. In this segment, we will check out three distinct varieties of stellar buildings: star clusters, nebulae, and supernova remnants.
Star clusters are gatherings of stars that are held collectively by gravitational forces. They can be broadly labeled into two principal groups: open up clusters and globular clusters. Open up clusters, as the identify suggests, are loosely packed teams of stars that frequently include youthful and scorching stars. On the other hand, globular clusters are densely packed and generally consist of more mature stars. These magnificent constructions can contain thousands or even tens of millions of stars, making beautiful visible shows in the night sky. URA change of use
Nebulae, usually referred to as "celestial clouds," are extensive regions of fuel and dust found in interstellar area. They largely consist of hydrogen and helium, as effectively as traces of other aspects. Nebulae can be categorised into different varieties dependent on their composition and look. For illustration, emission nebulae, like the popular Orion Nebula, emit their possess light through ionized gases. On the other hand, reflection nebulae scatter and replicate the light-weight of close by stars, making wonderful luminous clouds.
Supernova remnants are the aftermath of an explosive celebration recognized as a supernova. When a huge star reaches the finish of its existence, it undergoes a catastrophic collapse and then explosively releases a remarkable volume of strength and make a difference into place. The remnants of this explosion sort intricate and intricate structures. These remnants perform a vital function in enriching the encompassing interstellar medium with heavy factors, which are essential building blocks for the formation of new stars and planetary methods.
By understanding the distinct kinds and traits of stellar buildings, we gain insight into the complexity and splendor of the cosmic tapestry. Each construction holds useful clues about the existence cycles of stars and the huge interconnectedness of the universe. Stay tuned as we delve further into the wonders of stellar constructions in the next section.
The Position of Stellar Constructions in the Universe
Stellar buildings enjoy a crucial part in shaping the grand tapestry of the universe. These celestial formations, composed of large clouds of gasoline and dust, offer the required elements for the beginning and evolution of stars. In the coronary heart of these buildings, gravitational forces orchestrate the mesmerizing dance of cosmic birth, where the turbulent interaction of strength provides forth the creation of new stellar wonders.
As these stellar buildings bear collapse, they give increase to the development of protostars. These fledgling celestial bodies act as celestial nurseries, nurturing the delivery of stars. By means of the procedure of accretion, the protostar gathers materials from its surroundings, growing in mass and density. This accumulation of mass triggers gravitational forces that push the fusion reactions in the core, igniting the star and illuminating the cosmic tapestry.
Additionally, stellar structures provide as the cradle for the development of stellar clusters. Clusters, composed of quite a few stars born from the same stellar nursery, exist in various dimensions and shapes throughout the universe. These concentrations of stars are bound jointly by their shared origins, generating amazing vistas of celestial brilliance. By way of these clusters, astronomers can unravel the strategies of stellar evolution, gaining insights into the life cycles and behaviors of these cosmic luminaries.
In conclusion, stellar constructions are the cornerstone of cosmic creation, delivering the raw materials and environments necessary for the start and development of stars. From the delivery of protostars to the formation of stellar clusters, these buildings shape the vivid tapestry of the universe, illuminating not only the vastness of room but also the intricate dance of celestial evolution.


At River Wild Kayaking we offer Night Tours on Fridays and Saturdays.
We will leave our launch around sunset, and travel through the mangroves on our way to a Pinellas Trial Bridge. Evening bats live in and under the bridge and our aim is to be able to watch them fly after dusk. While we paddle towards the bridge we will be able to witness our ecosystems change as the sun goes down. On the way back your guide will then help you navigate the stars. That's right! Our guides are not just wildlife experts, they love the night sky too.
To book please click on "Book Now", navigate to a Friday or Saturday and click on the 7:30pm tour. Night Time tours do not run in the summer months.


NASA astronaut floors Oman's TAISM students with space tales
Muscat: Students at The American International School in Muscat (TAISM) got a surprise visit on Sunday morning from NASA astronaut Steven Swanson, who inspired them with his stories from space.
The American astronaut has been on three missions in space, the most recent from March 25 to September 10 this year. Swanson, who has a PhD in Computer Science and joined NASA in 1987, hoped to encourage the students to pursue careers in sciences.
“I think it’s very important to visit students and tell them what we do and try to promote math and science and technology. I do think it’s very important for people to understand them and to try to get kids to go into our field of expertise,” Swanson told Times of Oman.
The students were curious about his experiences in space and pounded him with questions about daily life in space and some of the science behind space travel. The curious students’ questions included from how one goes to the bathroom and has a bath in space, what happens with the astronauts’ garbage, how to know if it’s day or night in space, and how fast the rockets and the International Space Station travel.
Swanson, who was dressed in his official NASA coveralls, took the time to explain all kinds of aspects of living in space, such as sleeping in a sleeping bag while floating, and seeing 16 sunsets and sunrises each day because of the speed they travel around the earth. He also mentioned a few personal things, such as his favourite space food, which is chicken in peanut sauce, and his favourite thing about being in space, floating.
“It really is fun. I tell the kids that all the time, but it really is true. Floating is something you never get tired of. It’s really fun to do and makes everything you do up there a really good time,” he said.
One of the other ways astronauts have been encouraging youth to consider following paths that lead to space has been through social media, including Tweeting from space and posting videos on YouTube, one of which he showed to the students.
“We are funded by taxpayers so I think it’s important to give back to those folks and also the younger generation uses social media much more than other forms of media, so we need to reach those kids, too,” Swanson said.
Speaking about his most recent mission, Swanson said he and the other astronauts were doing a number of science experiments, spending about four to five hours a day on them.
“Our main goal is science, so we have many different types of science that we do up there, from basic physics to doing science on our bodies where we’re the guinea pigs,” he said.
Swanson’s expertise is in control systems so much of his work focused on creating new algorithms for control systems on satellites. His work from space also involved working with students back on earth who learned to program small satellites.
“We also had a contest for high school and middle school kids where they could learn to programme these themselves and they had a competition to see what they could do with them, and we got to be part of that, which was really fun,” he explained.
While NASA is funded by tax dollars, Swanson said it’s also good to see private entrepreneurs looking at space exploration. He said currently it may be too expensive to be viable as a business, but perhaps, there could be room for joint efforts between the government and private sector to build up the industry.
He said it’s crucial to keep exploring space because it helps explain life here on earth and provides more information about the universe. It also brings a return on investment since so much learned in space or developed for space missions can be used on earth, too.
“There’s a lot of technology that is developed by NASA and they are turned into products in the marketplace which creates companies, which creates jobs, which creates taxes, so you get benefits from that. We also learn a bunch of fundamental new science out there and that helps everybody. In many ways we help the society itself,” Swanson explained.
Swanson was in Muscat as part of a region tour organised by OneTeam American 300 Envoy, a non-governmental organisation founded by Robi Powers that takes inspiring people from around the world to foster cross-cultural communication and dialogue. The tour also includes stops in Djibouti and the UAE.


Newton saw gravity as being the force between massive bodies. Einstein saw it as geometry that is determined by masses and energy. His theory of relativity predicted gravitational waves - oscillations in the curvature of space-time. The effects are very subtle but still carry energy. It was thought that the most likely way that we would detect gravitational waves would be through a binary star system. The two objects spin faster as they get closer together and hence produce more gravitational waves. The final few orbits before they finally crash into each other are at 100 hertz.
The first detectors were built around lots of little masses that would be effected by gravitational waves. The effect would be very small and gravitational waves are much more complicated than electromagnetic waves (10 different numbers are required to describe them) The detectors were 1km circumference and moved only 10-21m - that's a 1000th the diameter of a proton. In 1916, Einstein thought that they would be undetectable.
Then came the Michelson Interferometer Detector, which turned the masses into mirrors. The idea being that gravitational waves would cause a distortion and so the mirrors would oscillate. This was actually using some very non-relativistic ideas but it did win a Nobel prize even though it didn't actually detect gravitational waves (this was because they didn't have lasers at the time)
Then in 1972 Rai Weiss was asked to teach general relativity at MIT. He did this by learning it himself and managing to stay one week ahead of the students. While doing this he realised that it would be possible to build a gravitational wave detector using lasers. This was essentially the design for LIGO. Not only did he design the experiment but he correctly predicted most of the noise sources - the thing that could ruin the whole thing. LIGO features freely floating mirrors - masses suspended from wires in a quad pendulum, which was designed in Glasgow.
The experiment uses infra-red light (as an aside, humans have no blink response to IR, you'll be blind before you even realise) The whole thing is 4km long and features 8,000m3 of a vacuum system that costs a quarter of a million dollars to pump all of the air out of. The system is kept at 300oK and they have to be careful to supress harmonics and exclude any feedback. There are two sites, one in Washington and one in Livingston, Louisiana, which is built in a swamp.
On the 14th of September 2015, both detectors saw the same thing. When the signal was compared to the theoretical source for binary black holes, there was only Gaussian noise difference (ie the signal was almost identical to what the model predicted) In fact, the detection was a 5 sigma event, meaning that the scientists have a huge level of confidence in what they found. However, it was actually detected the day before the machines were due to be switched on! The second detection took place on boxing day 2015.
The binary black holes that collided were massive - one was 36 solar masses (36 times the mass of our sun) and the other was 29. The resultant single black hole that was left was 62 solar masses, that means that 3 solar masses were emitted in the form of gravitational waves. For a tenth of a second this collision outshone the rest of the observable universe combined. The event took place a billion light years away, so while these two black holes were colliding, multi-cellular life was just beginning here on Earth.
LIGO is being switched back on at the end of the year after some changes designed to make it more sensitive (they have made the lasers more powerful) They are hoping to see tens of events that create gravitational waves. A new experiment called GOTO is also going to be run in conjunction with LIGO. This is designed to look for optical evidence of events that create gravitational waves - it has a 40 square degree field of vision and is dedicated to follow LIGO triggers. While black holes colliding don't emit much light, it is thought that gamma ray bursts may happen when neutron stars collide.
Gravitational waves lose none of their information as they propagate. Does this mean that we could detect waves from the big bang itself? It's possible but highly unlikely due to there being too much background information so we probably won't detect those primordial waves. We also can't detect binary white dwarves even though there are more of them than binary black holes. This is because LIGO can't detect anything less than 10 hertz. However, we are still in a better place than we were in 1987. Supernovas happen in our galaxy approximately once every thirty years and when one occurred in 1987 every gravitational wave detector on Earth was switched off!
In the words of Dave Reitze, "we did it! We detected gravitational waves" We now have new instrument for us to explore the universe with. The next steps are to observe more events, continue to improve the sensitivity of LIGO and to build more detectors. Then to use GOTO to detect the optical counterpoint and eventually to launch a space-borne experiment (LISA) that can look for gravitational waves. This is due to go live in 2035. In the meantime, keep a lookout for Rai Weiss who is favourite to be given a Nobel prize this year.
SciBar returns to The Vat & Fiddle on Wednesday 26 October when Dr Quentin Hanley from Nottingham Trent University will talk about "A Naive Person's View of Chemical (and Other) Measurement"
SciBar Meetup Page


Every year, I make a calendar composed of the previous year's pictures and adventures. One of the really cool thing about Shutterfly is that they let you customize your calendar events. You can add birthdays, anniversaries-- really anything that you want to keep track of. So in the ones I make, we have the phases of the moon and the meteor shower schedule for the upcoming year.
For the last 3 years, at various times of the year, I take my little boys out to lay on the back of my car and we gaze up at the night sky. Sometimes, it's just to watch the moon rise. Sometimes, it's to name the constellations I recognize and tell them stories about them. And sometimes, it's to try to catch the meteor showers.
On Monday, at 8 at night, both of my boys dressed in their jammies and ready for bed, I had them bundle up in their winter clothes and grab a blanket, then we headed outside. In the 30 degree weather with 10 degree windchill, I laid a blanket down on the back of my car then put my kids up and joined them in the middle.
We lay in the crisp cold air staring at the sky and waiting for eyes to adjust.
I have to admit, I love taking these moments with my boys. We snuggle. We talk about their days. We talk about the moon and the stars, the planets and passing planes. We tell stories about where the passengers are headed and make up constellations of our own.
And then my children started pointing and 'oohing!' at the night sky. My 8 year old was the first to see a shooting star. Each of them saw 2 in the 15 minutes we lay there before it got too cold to stay. And being a school night, I wasn't going to bring them back out during the recommended time between 11 and midnight, so we headed in to our bedtime rituals of hugs and kisses and stories and songs before my boys dropped right off to sleep.
Now I have to admit, I didn't see a single one of the shooting stars that my boys did. So at 10, just before I got ready for bed, I grabbed a mink blanket and went to lay on the back of the car by myself.
I saw 7 in the fifteen minutes I was out there. I had several 'ooh!' moments of my own and briefly considered waking my boys up to look out the window when there were more, but decided they needed the rest more than seeing more shooting stars.
The reason I was only out there for fifteen minutes isn't because I was getting too cold. (lol) I was actually starting to fall asleep because I was nice and cozy in that blanket! But I figured sleeping on the back of the car in dropping temps was pretty far on the stupid scale so I hopped off and headed in (;
All in all, my boys very much enjoyed this December's Geminid Meteor Shower and we're looking forward to the lunar eclipse that will be happening on the 20th/21st (:


Andy Warhol's "Moonwalk (Pink)," features an astronaut in a pink space suit standing proudly
on the moon's surface beside an American flag in the artist's trademark style.
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY VERO BEACH MUSEUM OF ART)
By Amanda Hicks of TCPalm
People on the Treasure Coast will appreciate a new exhibit coming to the Vero Beach Museum of Art this month.
"Out of this World: The Art and Artists of NASA," a collection from the NASA Art Program, will be on display starting June 25.
Chief preparator Matthew Mangold and museum curator Jay Williams chose 71 pieces from more than 300 works of art at the Kennedy Space Center.
The museum staff expects the exhibition to be appealing to Floridians since the Kennedy Space Center has made it possible for many to experience launches first hand.
"I think it will be extremely well received," Williams said. "Most Floridians feel a sense of connection with NASA's space program, I believe. I know it's true for me. The exhibition will appeal to a wide range of ages."
The NASA Art Program started in 1963 when NASA administrator James Webb suggested artists help tell the story of the agency's adventures.
"Important events can be interpreted by artists to give a unique insight into significant aspects of our history-making advances into space," Webb said. "An artistic record of this nation's program of space exploration will have great value for future generations and may make a significant contribution to the history of American art."
The exhibit features different art work from 1963 when the program started to Elizabeth McGrath's wall sculpture "Moon Mission" created in 2008, representing astronaut Alan Sheperd's golf shots on the moon during the Apollo 14 expedition.
Williams said a lot of Floridians feel a sense of pride in NASA's space program.
"We all knew about Cape Canaveral as the place where the Space Race was taking shape," he said.
Several Florida artists who participated in the art program will have their work on display in the upcoming exhibition.
Martin Joseph Hoffman (1935-2013), a Florida native who lived the last years of his life in Vero Beach, will have his painting, "Launch Window" (1981), on display.
Samuel Ward, who lives and works in Sarasota and observed several shuttle launches in the 1980s, will have his painting, "Cathedral" (1985), on display which depicts the inside of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.The art will be displayed in the Museum's Holmes Gallery for three months and is supported by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts..
"The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to nurturing artists and the arts in communities across the country," said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. "Supporting projects from organizations like the Vero Beach Museum of Art represents a wise investment in Indian River County and the creative vitality of the nation."
IF YOU GO
What: "Out of this World: The Art and Artists of NASA"
When: June 25-Sept. 25; 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday
Admission: Off-season (Memorial Day to Labor Day), adults $6; seniors $5; students $5 with valid ID; children 17 and younger free; military free with valid ID. Season rates, adults $10, seniors $9
Stan Stokes' "Ascent of Atlantis" is a dramatic, highly realistic view of the shuttle orbiter, shown at the moment it is clearing the gantry, surrounded by billowing smoke and gases. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY VERO BEACH MUSEUM OF ART)
Glad to see the Vero Museum exposing the public to part of this important but mostly unknown collection.
I have been to Cape Canaveral many times and always visit the artwork from the collection that is displayed. The collection is undervalued by NASA in my opinion and not utilized nor displayed as it should be. A traveling show of the best of the collection, with published works, books, posters and educational material should be developed and shared with museums around the country.
Another idea I have is to finally get an artist up to the space station to work from that unique point of view! Maybe a plein air artist who could work while attached to the arm they use for space walks? Why not?!? A guy can dream... Glenn


Well this challenge was a pretty basic one :)
I had this picture from two winters ago, Christmas night to be exact, it was a very cold night in Whitehorse and the sky was amazing the way the clouds were randomly all over and the moon was huge. The way the trees showed up in the picture actually surprised me once I had it on the computer.
I love winter days when it is cold and clear out!! I haven’t been able to take many good moon shots in my life, I never have the patience, the right setting or my tripod…but I love this shot!!
Here is one other one that I love that I took off my porch last winter…
Happy Thursday folks :)


When: Wednesdays, Sept. 4 and 11 10:00 to noon (2 sessions)
Where: Wynyard Showground Hall
Presenter: Alan Wright
Reaching for the Stars is a 2-part mini-series. For many thousands of years, we humans have gazed up at the sky, pondering such questions as: how far away is the Moon? what powers the Sun? the nature of the stars, and why the planets move in such mysterious ways.
In the first talk, entitled “A brief history of Astronomy”, Alan takes us on a fascinating journey exploring the history of how we humans have viewed our Universe, and striven to understand it, over many thousands of years.
In the second talk, “A Brief History of Spaceflight”, we move on to explore the enthralling story of our attempts over the last century to leave planet Earth in order to discover the Universe at first hand, possibly as a place where we will find our future home.


License to Launch
Birk has made a new shiny rocket and just received his licence from the Bluesky Global Order (BGO) to launch anytime within the next $n$ days. He is, however, worried that the rocket will hit space junk on its way. In order minimize the risk of a collision, Birk has made a model of how many pieces of space junk there will be for each of the next $n$ days. He decided that he will launch his rocket on the day with the least space junk, and if there are multiple days with the same amount of space junk he of course wants to send his rocket up as early as possible.
Can you help Birk find out how many days he has to wait until he sends up his rocket?
On the first line there is a single integer $n$ ($1 \le n \le 100\, 000$) the number of days for which the launch license is valid. On the second line follows $n$ integers between $0$ and $10^9$ where the $i$’th integer is the amount of space junk on the $i$’th day. The first day is day $i=0$.
Output a single integer, the number of days Birk needs to wait before he launches his rocket.
|Sample Input 1||Sample Output 1|
5 3 4 1 7 2


- CLR Presents Mind Sets: Rebekah [CLR] :: Beatport
- Upcoming Events
- 9-11: The Mystery Plane; not so mysterious
- Get PDF DELTA OF VENUS- REVISITED
- Two Feet Back!
- DELTA VENUS;
- Money Meditations for Women: New Perspectives.
- Turkey (Creation of the Modern Middle East).
This is perhaps the main challenge - I will look at that under disadvantages. We need some way to get the water out of the concentrated sulfuric acid, by biological or chemical methods, or through use of solar energy.
CLR Presents Mind Sets: Rebekah [CLR] :: Beatport
Do that and you have all the ingredients to grow plants and trees apart from some trace elements. Ability to grow construction materials from the atmosphere for new habitats. Once you have water and trace elements you can grow trees.
As the colonies expand, much of the construction material would be wood and fabrics grown almost entirely from materials in the atmosphere of Venus. Wood and plastic are easily strong enough to construct the lightweight habitats needed for Venus via Buckminster Fuller domes, tensegrity structures, and so forth. The missing ingredients such as trace elements for plants, soil for them to grow in or machinery for hydroponics , etc can come from Earth initially, later by space mining. Easy to send materials to the Venus cloud tops similar to Earth re-entry, just aeroshells.
No need for retro rockets. Also there is no hard surface to impact on, so no risk of collision with the surface. Finally you would also inflate balloons with lifting gas as it slows down, so that your supplies level out at the right level to be easy to retrieve from the habitats.
One way or the other, it would be far easier to export materials to the cloud colonies than to the Moon or Mars. If time is of no concern, if you take the long view, then using gravity assists on the Interplanetary Super Highway you can send material to Venus from anywhere in the solar system. So would be easy to send ice for water for the habitats - you would send it to the colonies in aeroshells and with parachutes and so would have no need to worry about it getting ablated into the atmosphere. Materials are also available from the surface of Venus.
As the colonies become more independent, you can trawl the surface, much like trawling an ocean bed. You don't need to send complex sensitive machines down there. Instead you could fly down as far as is safe in airships - remote controlled probably from the habs for safety. Then these airships would deploy nets or grabs to the surface and collect boulders, or sand to bring up to the habitats.
Later on you could have mining operations directly on the surface.
To start with you could get ballast and useful materials from the surface by trawling in this way much as for an ocean bed on Earth. Many people assume that it must be harder to get to Venus than Mars - but actually - you can go there more often than for Mars. It also has a shorter transit time, five months, and there is less delta v needed for the Hohmann transfer also, so it requires less fuel, compared with Mars. You can travel to Venus on a minimum energy path every 1. Later on you could have a series of five cyclers to ferry passengers and freight between Earth and Venus.
Then when you get to Venus it is easy for your humans to get down to the cloud colonies. You need no extra fuel, only parachutes and deployable balloons, similarly to the supply of materials. So, it is really easy to get to the Venus cloud colonies for a one way trip, as easy as almost anywhere in the solar system though Moon is best for our very first colonies because it is so close to Earth in an emergency or for tourists and resupply and for short term visits.
It is not so easy to get back to Earth from Venus. We will look into that under disadvantages. Has a day of 4 Earth days in the upper atmosphere. That's because of super-rotation of the atmosphere which carries the entire atmosphere around Venus every 4 days. This is short enough to be reasonable for Earth life, if not quite the optimum of 24 hours. Same gravity as Earth more or less.
Is the only place in the inner solar system with close to Earth normal gravity already. It seems unlikely that Venus colonists would have any problems at all including normal births and upbringing of children, and Venusian colonists would be able to travel to Earth without problems to study or for recreation or whatever. This may not be such an enormous advantage - depending on future research. Humans may be able to withstand a fair amount of Coriolis force with no ill effects in rotating habs, making smaller rotating habs for artificial g possible.
It might be that we only need a few hours of Earth normal g a day e. This is all unknown territory at present, despite all our visits to the ISS and many trips to space, there has been almost no research into effects of low g on humans or practicality of rotating tethers or spaceships for generating gravity in space the long term experiments here simply can't be done on Earth.
But does simplify construction at least if you don't need to have internal spinning habs for artificial g. Protection from meteorites. Venus cloud colonies would have no micro-meteorites, a continual minor hazard for space habs. On Venus, as for Earth, these all burn up in the atmosphere long before they reach the colonies. The atmosphere also gives protection from larger meteorites too.
The Earth i s hit by meteorites with energy about 3 kilotons every 1. The same would be true of Venus but not Mars. If the habitat is seriously compromised, it will not explosively decompress like a space habitat.
Also, you won't get all the air rushing out of the habitat through even quite a small hole. Instead, as the pressure is the same inside the hab and outside, all that would happen after even quite a large hole is that the outside atmosphere of Venus would slowly diffuse into the habitat.go here
9-11: The Mystery Plane; not so mysterious
This would give plenty of time to repair any damage. Indeed for small holes, you might wait until you have a reasonable number of them before doing anything, schedule running repairs of smaller holes throughout the habitat. The outer envelopes could be quilt type construction, and internally compartmentalized to reduce effects of even major breach, e.
Protection from cosmic radiation and solar radiation - the radiation protection level is RP like Earth.
Get PDF DELTA OF VENUS- REVISITED
Something close to RP is probably essential if you stay in a colony long term. The levels of radiation you experience in a space walk on the Moon or in the ISS, etc can have serious health implications if you do them frequently, so in those places you would probably need to live in a habitat shielded by meters of regolith, and do most of the work via telerobotics anyway.
For interesting background on all this I recommend this spaceshow discussion: Classroom with Drs. John Jurist and Jim Logan, on radiation issues. Venus is one of the few places in the solar system outside of Earth that humans could live long term without any reason for concern about cosmic radiation or need to take special precautions or to limit the amount of EVA.
Another such place would be in the oceans of one of the Moons with sub-surface oceans which though has obvious planetary protection issues. In space habitats, shielded by tons of material, then you would be fine inside the habitat, so a large habitat such as a Stanford Torus would be fine. But you would still have to limit the amount of EVA outside of the habitat, to avoid exceeding whatever is determined to be your safe lifetime dose of exposure to the radiation.
First, you could do a Venus One project like Mars One. Live your life out there and rely on resupply from Earth. The Venus cloud colonies do have advantage of no need to build a launch pad. Instead, you can suspend your rocket before take off using a suitably large, probably toroidal hydrogen balloon. This might mean re-engineering the rocket, and needs engineering studies. Hydrogen is a slightly stronger lifting gas for Venus with denser CO 2 atmosphere - and of course no concerns at all of combustion.
Hydrogen has a density of 0. So a hydrogen balloon on Venus has lifting power of 1.


UNCG Planetarium Public Nights are back! Come join us and learn about the motions of astronomical objects in our wonderful planetarium. There will be time after the show to field questions by one of our Astronomy faculty! Free Admission! Click here to fill the form and reserve your seat!
Dr. Alicia Aarnio, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is one of the authors of a new article in Science Magazine, on “A triple-star system with a misaligned and warped circumstellar disk shaped by disk tearing.” Aarnio was part of a large collaboration of stellar object researchers who … Continued


Exhibition"La collection du Musée d'Art Contemporain de Gand. L'Arte Povera, l'art conceptuel et les mythologies individuelles en Europe" Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montréal 1983
"De verzameling van het MHK, Gent" RMS, Balen 1984
"Le plein vert" Cayeux-sur-Mer 1984
"Panamarenko. Arbeiten 1966-1985" Städtisches Bodensee Museum, Friedrichshafen 1985, nr. 25
"Panamarenko. Een overzicht 1965-1985" M HKA, Antwerp 1989, nr. 33
"Panamarenko" Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuyama, Kamakura 1992-93, nr. 28
"Panamarenko, de retrospectieve" KMSKB, Brussels 2006, exhib. cat., nr. 32 ill.
"Panamarenko Universum" M HKA, Antwerp 2014-15, exhib. cat., p. 122 ill.
Literature"Panamarenko. A Book by Hans Theys" Published by Frank Van Haecke & Isy Brachot 1992, nr. 79 ill.
"Panamarenko" Jon Thompson, Ludion 2001
"Real space travel stands or falls with rocket technology, because that is the only principle that works in space. In my opinion, in order to boost up space travel again, we must look into the already existing interplanetary forces of the universe. One of these forces in particular seems extremely interesting to me: the magnetic fields."
In preparation for the construction of a large interstellar magnetic spaceship, Panamarenko started his search in the mid-1970s for energy sources that were powerful enough to get a flying saucer out of the atmosphere and beyond the reach of gravity. An experiment from 1979 that he calls "Magnetic Fields" shows that an electromagnetic drive offers the greatest chance of success. In 1979 he built a first test set-up on a wooden table with capacitors and copper coils. To get to know the functioning of magnetic fields and other interplanetary forces, he delves deeper into ufology and electromagnetism, which ultimately results in the project 'Journey to the stars'. It's the name for a variety of flying and floating dishes he designs. He gradually develops space theories and bundles them as 'Toymodel of Space.
("Panamarenko Universum" M HKA, Antwerp 2014-15, exhibition catalogue p. 122)


Wresting the Secrets of the Skies - Making a School Telescope: A craftsman's account of a complex design process that led to a remarkable range of new technological understandings and new aesthetic experiences
AbstractEver since my son and I saw the moons of Jupiter through a ";home-made"; telescope, of lenses and cardboard tubes, eighteen or so years ago, the desire to see more of the solar system persisted with me.Sporadic forays to the library to read up on telescopes kept alive the urge· to make an instrument which my craftsman's knowledge told me would be a fascinating enterprise in new techniques. I was deterred for all those years by the immediate demands upon my time, and my other interests, and not least by having an hour or so with an enthusiast making a 6 inch Newtonian reflector. I realized the amount of work involved in making the parabolic mirror alone.
Somewhere in one of the works on telescope making I have read, it is said that a famous group of amateur telescope makers were so fascinated by the techniques involved in their hobby, that those techniques took precedence over the astronomical observations they did with their superb products. This thought has haunted me somewhat throughout my venture into telescope making which was determined, firstly, by sensing that"; it is later than you think";, and secondly, that the rings of Saturn will soon, astronomically speaking, be at their best for small telescopes. The maximum opening of rings is due in early 1980. So you still have time!
How to Cite
BARRAS, S.. Wresting the Secrets of the Skies - Making a School Telescope: A craftsman's account of a complex design process that led to a remarkable range of new technological understandings and new aesthetic experiences. Studies in Design Education Craft & Technology, [S.l.], v. 5, n. 2, aug. 2009. ISSN 0305 766. Available at: <https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/SDEC/article/view/723>. Date accessed: 05 june 2023.
© Trentham Books Ltd.


But it’s not over yet. Now we’ve found the Higgs boson, what’s next?
Lyn Evans, dubbed ‘Evans the Atom’ by the Welsh press, led the construction of the LHC. He was there to switch it on in 2008 and he was in Geneva last week to hear the results of its search.
He’s now working on designs for the next generation of atom-smashers as the International Committee for Future Accelerators considers sites in Japan, America, Russia and Western Europe.
William Trischuk – who reckons $10 million worth of diamonds is ‘dirt cheap’
New machines will have to cope with extreme heat and pressure. William is using diamonds to make new types of detectors for use in “extreme radiation conditions” in the LHC.
The search for dark matter – underground and out in space Now that the LHC has found the Higgs boson, scientists will use it to search directly for dark matter, as astrophysicists look into space to looks for evidence of its existence.
Mark Trodden – a self-described ‘particle cosmologist’
We know dark matter makes up the bulk of the universe, but we’re not sure why. We can’t see it, but we know it’s there. Understanding dark matter and dark energy will help us to understand gravity and the expansion of the universe.
Karen Gibson – who’s looking for dark matter in an abandoned gold mine
Karen’s putting a tank of freezing gas deep underground in an abandoned gold mine. She needs to block out all the background radiation and other particles so that she can recognise the signs of dark matter.
Press briefing details and background information We’re holding daily press briefings at 8am and 6pm.
All our press briefings are in Plenary 3, at the Melbourne Convention Centre, South Wharf. We are also hosting a media room upstairs for accredited media.
These press briefings and all of this week’s plenary sessions will be live-streamed at the conference press website if you can’t make it to the Melbourne Convention Centre. There’s no need to register for that – it will be freely available via the conference media website.
On the conference media website, http://press.highenergyphysicsmedia.com, we have: photos and videos of the Higgs announcement: abstracts and program timetables; background information; and copies of any press releases and briefing materials we put out.
And later this week, we’ll hear about: underground telescopes in Antarctica; charm quarks and charmonium; the possibility of multiple Higgs bosons; and leaders from CERN, Fermilab, KEK (Japan) and IHEP (China) will tell us what’s next – what we will be hearing about in two years, five years, ten years and beyond.
Media contact: Niall Byrne
+61 417 131 977


July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by the Apollo 11 crew. To celebrate this milestone, and take a look at some of the valuable lessons learned during the Apollo missions, Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden, Deputy Program Manager of the Gateway Program at NASA Lara Kearney, and former NASA Flight Director and former Director of the Johnson Space Center Gerry Griffin joined Bobak Ferdowsi, Fault Protection Lead at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for a conversation at SXSW 2019 looking back at the historic missions.
This SXSW Featured Session coincided with the 2019 SXSW Film Festival screening of Apollo 11. While much of the conversation features fascinating anecdotes about the early days of NASA and manned space travel, the panelists also tied those experiences to modern times at NASA – discussing technologies that have stood the test of time and the future goals of the organization.
“The good thing is physics has not changed in the last 50 years … I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in design reviews and thought, ‘Oh my God. These guys got it right 50 years ago.’ We would look at new ways of doing things, and at the end of the day physics is physics and bringing a spacecraft home going 20,000 MPH, there’s generally one shape that’s the happiest doing that.” – Lara Kearney, on the legacy of the science behind Apollo
Watch the entire Featured Session, Apollo 50: Celebrating the Past to Awaken the Future, as well as more SXSW 2019 videos from Featured Speakers and Keynotes on our YouTube channel.
Check out SXSW 2019 Photo Galleries from sessions, screenings, showcases, and more event highlights.
Apollo 50: Celebrating the Past to Awaken the Future Featured Session – Photo by JD Lewis
The post 50 Years Later: Reminiscing on Apollo Moon Landing [Video] appeared first on SXSW.


Chanel delivered an out-of-this-world fashion show at Paris Fashion Week, launching a double-C-branded rocket ship inside the Grand Palais. If this is the start of the new Space Age in fashion, we can also expect a time of social transformation.
#CHANELGroundControl #CHANELFallWinter #PFW A post shared by CHANEL (@chanelofficial) on Mar 7, 2017 at 8:12am PST
On the penultimate morning of Paris Fashion Week, French luxury fashion house Chanel launched a makeshift rocket at the end of its show. When the models finished traipsing round the Grand Palais, the 35-metre-tall rocket – emblazoned with the signature crossed Cs – flew ten metres towards the domed glass ceiling, to the soundtrack of Elton John’s Rocket Man.
Coincidentally, in February, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the discovery of a solar system containing a number of Earth-sized planets, with indications that they could have liquid water and could host life.
It seems as though fashionably and scientifically, we are entering another Space Age.
The last Space Age was in the 60s. Designers such as Pierre Cardin, Andre Courreges and Paco Rabanne were fascinated by the idea of space travel and worlds beyond our own. They experimented with new materials and futuristic, geometric designs while envisioning the fashion of a future life. Speaking about his collections, Cardin said: “The clothes I prefer were invented for a life that does not exist yet.” Meanwhile, Rabanne is the designer behind Jane Fonda’s daring galactic attire in the cult classic Barbarella (1968).
But more than the amazing fashion, the 60s is remembered as a time of social revolution. In 1964, for example, the Civil Rights Act was a landmark law in the United States that made it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their race, colour, religion, sex or national origin. And in 1967, the Sexual Offences Act was signed in the United Kingdom, partially decriminalising male homosexuality.
As society was transforming, revolting and evolving, fashion cast its eye towards the solar system and imagined a new life for us all, somewhere else in the stratosphere.
And perhaps that is what’s happening today.
Chanel wants to take us to a galaxy far, far away in a rocket ship. Dior has scattered signs of astronomy over its dresses. NASA has found potential new worlds for us to live on. We are looking to the stars and beyond for a utopian future.
Back on Earth, there is no denying that we are in a place of political and social unrest. Trump, Brexit, Le Pen, the trans movement, gay rights, women’s marches, equality, Black Lives Matter, He for She, This Girl Can…
There is still so much work we need to do, so much change we need to cause, so many more revolutions we have yet to ignite, before we all fly off in a fashion rocket ship. But at least we know we are heading to the stars.


HTV8 media briefing at Tanegashima Space Center
Last Updated: July 19, 2019
On July 19th, the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV8) “KOUNOTORI8” was unveiled to media at JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) along with the briefing of its upcoming mission. Many journalists gathered to take the opportunity to see the flight vehicle before launch with their eyes.
In the briefing of HTV8 “KOUNOTORI8” mission, explanations were given in the following: the mission overview, major cargo to the ISS, the current preparation status for launch, also technology new demonstrations for future missions.
- Hirohiko Uematsu, Director of HTV Technology Center, JAXA
HTV8 “KOUNOTORI8” will be launched from Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) after the final preparation phase for launch through the propellant loading, installation in the rocket fairing and integration with the H-IIB8 rocket.