Archive for November, 2008
And the holidays begin…
Posted by Danielle in Cards & Stationary on November 28, 2008
Today is Black Friday and the frantic pistol-start of the Christmas shopping season. HubbleSite released their holiday cards earlier this week — this is the third year they’ve offered them — and you can download beautifully-designed files, ready for the print shop… or your printer! Each year I swear I’m going to have some of these printed up, and when the time comes I can never afford it. Shown above and below are this year’s new designs; 21 others to choose from!
Green Crescent
Posted by Danielle in Perspectives on November 27, 2008
A farewell shot by Voyager 2, the above image of Uranus hails from January 25, 1986, at a range of 600,000 miles. (Here’s a bit more info for those so inclined.)
Astro-philatelics, part 41
Posted by Danielle in Currency & Postage on November 26, 2008
I went looking for Norwegian stamps because I was hoping for an aurora, and lookie, I found one! Released in 1991, these stamps feature satellite ERS-1 over Scandinavia, and a sounding rocket launch with aurora in the background.
Googie Tuesday, part 5
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on November 25, 2008
For sheer design and simplicity, this is one of the best neon signs I’ve seen — photo by Matt.
The original Space Pen
Posted by Danielle in Collectibles, Home & Office on November 24, 2008
The first “official” space item I had to have when I was interning at Johnson Space Center was a space pen. I bought the one above in 1999, and still use it on occasion, since it’s so darn compact. (I think I need a new cartridge though.) It does indeed write at any angle, underwater, etc etc etc. I picked out a few other neat ones I saw from the website, for your perusal and possible Christmas shopping inspiration:
It’s rainbow and awfully cool!
Neat grid pattern/texture on this one.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to really tell what the commemorative moon landing engraving looks like. But it’s probably cool.
Look back in
Posted by Danielle in Perspectives on November 21, 2008
This extraordinary image was taken in 1966 by Lunar Orbiter 1, and is the first image of the Earth from the Moon. The image was recently released at a higher quality than ever before, due to a restoration project twenty years in the making. (You can download the “small” high-res version here; small = over 3000 pixels wide.)
Below, a detail shot at near-full resolution, showing some of the textures captured way back when:
The Eagle Nebula
Posted by Danielle in Perspectives on November 20, 2008
This image appeared on APOD this summer. You’ve probably seen the Eagle Nebula before, as popularized through Hubble’s colorful detail shots of the “Pillars of Creation” formations.
Young star cluster M16 is surrounded by natal clouds of cosmic dust and glowing gas also known as The Eagle Nebula. This beautifully detailed image of the region includes fantastic shapes made famous in well-known Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex. Described as elephant trunks or Pillars of Creation, dense, dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but are gravitationally contracting to form stars. Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars. Extending from the upper left edge of the nebula is another dusty starforming column known as the Fairy of Eagle Nebula. M16 and the Eagle Nebula lie about 7,000 light-years away, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).
Astro-philatelics, part 40
Posted by Danielle in Currency & Postage on November 19, 2008
These interesting stamps from India are a 2000 release, featuring children’s artwork of space exploration.
Googie Tuesday, part 4
Posted by Danielle in Art & Architecture on November 18, 2008
A strange flying saucer in Phoenix, Arizona — photo by oybay.
Moon Dust Pen
Posted by Danielle in Collectibles on November 17, 2008
Sadly the Moon Dust Pen, Commemorative Collector’s Edition does not contain actual moon dust. It contains JSC-1A Lunar Soil Simulant, which is true fake moon dust, which while not quite as cool as true real moon dust, is still pretty cool.
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About Silver Rockets
This blog celebrates space exploration, human spaceflight and the heavens, through lots and lots ofimages.
My name is Danielle Signor, and I am a space cadet. STS-133 NASA Tweetup Attendee!
This is a blog, NOT A SHOP. Click the images for their source or purchase link, if available.
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