Archive for July, 2009
Landing Spam
Posted by Danielle in News & Happenings, Picspam on July 31, 2009
My mug
Posted by Danielle in Home & Office on July 30, 2009
Yesterday my good friend Etherbrian was at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center; upon my expressing mild envy at his location, he sent me this picture of coffee mugs bearing my name. I was so delighted that I (literally) leapt from my chair, grabbed my camera and ran to the kitchen to photograph *my* mug, circa 1994:
*sniff* This was my very, very first coffee mug. I bought it while there for Space Academy Level II, just before my junior year of high school. Which I suppose gives you a fair ballpark estimate of my age, oh well. That was a memorable eight days, and I’ve always treasured my mug. (The new ones are pretty too!)
A New Transit
Solar Transit of ISS/Shuttle, July 26, 2009. Photos by Thierry Legault (astrophoto.fr)
Another fantastic solar transit image by Thierry Legault, taken on July 26. (Hat tip to OnOrbit; found via Twitter.)
Kibo Kibo
Posted by Danielle in News & Happenings, Picspam on July 27, 2009
The crew of STS-127 has been busily installing Kibo, the Japanese module of the ISS, as seen above and below:
This image shows the Japanese Experiment Module – Exposed Facility as it looks from inside Kibo. The Japanese Experiment Module, or JEM, called Kibo — which means “hope” in Japanese — is Japan’s first human space facility and enhances the unique research capabilities of the International Space Station. Experiments in Kibo focus on space medicine, biology, Earth observations, material production, biotechnology and communications research. Kibo experiments and systems are operated from the Mission Control Room at the Space Station Operations Facility, or SSOF, at Tsukuba Space Center in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, just north of Tokyo.
Splashdown-spam
Posted by Danielle in Picspam, Special Events on July 24, 2009
40 years ago today, this happened. [points up] Which led to exciting times for the astronauts… [points down]
Well, the point was, not only did we land on the moon in 1969, the astronauts lived to tell about it, and in fact came back here:
…which really, is quite remarkable.
I’ve always liked Google’s logo designs for special events, and for the 40th on Monday, they had this up, which I find admirably subtle:
Stellar Eskimo
And now for something completely NOT Apollo 11: an Eskimo Pie Sky (Object). Pretty cool, really. ICY cool. Chill. (I’ll stop now.)
In 1787, astronomer William Herschel discovered the Eskimo Nebula. From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person’s head surrounded by a parka hood. In 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged the Eskimo Nebula. From space, the nebula displays gas clouds so complex they are not fully understood. The Eskimo Nebula is clearly a planetary nebula, and the gas seen above composed the outer layers of a Sun-like star only 10,000 years ago. The inner filaments visible above are being ejected by strong wind of particles from the central star. The outer disk contains unusual light-year long orange filaments. The Eskimo Nebula spans about 1/3 of a light year and lies in our Milky Way Galaxy, about 3,000 light years distant, toward the constellation of the Twins (Gemini).
Returning
Posted by Danielle in Picspam, Special Events on July 22, 2009
This picture was actually taken 40 years ago *yesterday*…. but who’s counting? Not me.
After the most famous voyage of modern times, it was time to go home. After proving that humanity has the ability to go beyond the confines of planet Earth, the first humans to walk on another world — Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin — flew the ascent stage of their Lunar Module back to meet Michael Collins in the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module. Pictured above on 1969 July 21, the ascending spaceship was captured by Collins making its approach, with the Moon below, and Earth far in the distance.
LRO Images Apollo
Posted by Danielle in News & Happenings, Picspam on July 21, 2009
Last month the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) launched and made its way to the Moon, and some of the first images it sent back are these delightful shots of the Apollo landing sites. Shown here is the Apollo 14 landing site; below you can see (in an enlarged view) where the astronauts walked to place their instruments. Which I think is pretty darned incredible. Go here to see the rest!
Long Way From Home
Posted by Danielle in Picspam, Special Events on July 17, 2009
40 years ago today, astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were on their way to the Moon.
AS11-36-5355 (17 July 1969) — Most of Africa and portions of Europe and Asia can be seen in this spectacular photograph taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft during its trans-lunar coast toward the moon. Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, onboard was already 98,000 nautical miles from Earth when this picture was made. While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Collins remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) “Columbia” in lunar orbit.
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