Wow. I haven’t blogged in a while but this caught my eye and I don’t see anyone has picked it up yet.
NASA says it has found wires which may have been deliberately cut on computers bound for the international space station.
Category Archives: In the News
Martian Astronomer Images Jupiter
What looks initially like a Hubble photo or an exceptional ground based image of Jupiter was indeed taken from Mars!
click for larger
Image courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
The martian astronomer responsible for this outstanding shot is actually not a native but a terran immigrant. The HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this picture on January 11th while calibrating camera’s pointing and color response.
Original images and further details can be found here: HiRISE | Jupiter As Seen from Mars
Just thought this was kinda “gee-whiz” interesting.
Night Launch
This past Saturday they had a night launch of the shuttle (Discovery STS-116). I was on my way off to work but I delayed 15 minutes to bring the video camera outside and catch it. There were some hazy clouds near the horizon that weren’t visible to me until illuminated by the launch. I’m about 150 miles from the space center as the crow flies, so any launch from there takes about 10-15 seconds to clear my horizon and come into view.
I’m sure you’ve all seen amateur video of small objects moving against the sky and mumbled to yourself “Why couldn’t this idiot keep the camera still and in focus?” Well, mostly-still wasn’t too hard but the focus? …Sheesh! I tried to keep some foreground objects in the frame but it didn’t help much. My next camcorder is going to have a manual focus option if such a thing exists!
Here’s the video from my front yard. Watch it HERE (5.7 MB).
You’ll need Apple – QuickTime to view this movie file.
For some really spectacular on-scene photos visit For the Birds: Night Launch
I have the next 4 nights in a row off so I hope to finally see first light on the new scope. Keep your fingers crossed.
NASA Remembers
“The world changed today. What I say or do is very minor compared to the significance of what happened to our country today when it was attacked.” So said Expedition 3 Commander Frank L. Culbertson, upon learning of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center.
This image is one of a series taken that day of metropolitan New York City by the International Space Station’s Expedition 3 crew that shows the smoke plume rising from the Manhattan.
Upon further reflection, Commander Culbertson said, “It’s horrible to see smoke pouring from wounds in your own country from such a fantastic vantage point. The dichotomy of being on a spacecraft dedicated to improving life on the earth and watching life being destroyed by such willful, terrible acts is jolting to the psyche, no matter who you are.”
Full resolution image available here.
Image and article credit: NASA