This post is in direct response to a Tweet that I received this morning. The Tweet was in response to a graphic showing relative contributions to Earth's radiative (heating or cooling) system. In that well-understood chart within the climate science community (this link), greenhouse gases are shown to be the dominant radiative forcing mechanism for Earth's climate system. The aforementioned Tweet seems to suggests that the sun's influence is undervalued or that climate scientists mysteriously misunderstand its role. It was worth cutting short my morning workout to debunk this common misconception.
The sun is the vital energy source for our planet's weather and climate system. Without it, things would be very different around here. The sun is hot. We see it and feel its heat. For many people, they understand the concept of sitting next to a fire or heater. The warmth that they feel likely informs their interpretation of how the Earth is warmed by the sun. However, there is far more to the story.
The Greenhouse Effect is very important for earthlings. As Colorado State University Professor Scott Denning says, "we survive night" because of it. What is the Greenhouse Effect? It is an analogy used to describe how the Earth's surface is heated due to certain things being present in the atmosphere like greenhouse gases, water vapor, aerosols, and clouds. The atmosphere behaves like a very interesting filter. The sun sends energy to Earth at different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thankfully for us, much of the harmful ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the stratospheric ozone layer. Also thankfully for us, visible light passes through much of the atmosphere. As shortwave energy (visible light and shortwave infrared) reaches the surface of the Earth, it is absorbed.
At this point, we are only halfway through the story. Like almost everything on the planet with a measurable temperature, the Earth's surface emits longwave infrared (heat) energy back to the atmosphere (graphic above). As an example of this radiative process, there are mornings in which some much heat is radiated away from Earth that the surface cools to the dewpoint temperature. The dewpoint temperature is the point at which the air becomes saturated. When this happens, you might notice fog or dew on the ground.
What happens to the longwave energy emitted from the surface? Some of it escapes to space, but a significant portion is absorbed by Greenhouse gases or clouds. It doesn't stop there, however. The gases or clouds emit heat back to the surface or into the atmosphere. This emitted radiation adds to the surface warming from sunlight. This is the Greenhouse Effect in a nutshell. According to the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Glossary of Meteorology, "as a result of the greenhouse effect, Earth’s annual mean surface temperature of 15°C is 33°C higher than an equally reflective planet in Earth’s orbit with no atmosphere." Venus and Mars have very carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. However, Mars is relatively cold and has frozen surface because its atmosphere is so thin, and there is little water vapor or methane (also Greenhouse gases). Venus, on the other hand, has roughly 154,000 times the carbon dioxide of Earth's atmosphere and a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead, according to NASA.
The AMS Glossary also makes a point that I routinely share with my students at the University of Georgia:
The term “greenhouse effect“ is something of a misnomer in this context. It is used as an analogy to the trapping of heat by the glass panes of a greenhouse, which let sunlight in. In the atmosphere, however, heat is trapped radiatively, while in an actual greenhouse, heat is mechanically prevented from escaping (via convection) by the glass enclosure.
These processes are very complex, and there is much more to the story than I have written here. I hope this clarifies that "yes" the sun is vital to Earth, but "no" it is not the only part of Earth's "heating-cooling" system. The energy that the Earth receives from the sun varies, and one of the most significant reasons is the 11-year sunspot cycle. According to a NASA website,
The total solar irradiance (TSI), improperly called “solar constant” until a few years ago, has been found to change about 0.1% in an 11-year solar sunspot activity. The current most accurate TSI values from the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) on NASA’s Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment ( SORCE ) is 1360.8 ± 0.5 Watts per meter squared during the 2008 solar minimum as compared to previous estimates of 1365.4 ± 1.3 W/m2 established in the 1990s.
However, these slight changes to the solar constant are not the major driver of temperature trends that we are now observing in the climate system. I hope this information cleared up any misconceptions and brightened your day.


Control of Periodic Variations in Saturn’s Magnetosphere By Compressional Waves
Friday, 19 December 2014
Many of the periodic variations observed in Saturn’s magnetosphere can be linked directly to the presence of a rotating pattern of field-aligned currents that link the northern and southern ionospheres with each other and with the magnetosphere. Such a current system is incorporated in a magnetohydrodynamic simulation that has previously been shown to reproduce many of the observed periodic properties of the system (Jia et al., 2012; Jia and Kivelson, 2012). Here the simulation is used to investigate a range of phenomena that can be attributed to the effects of compressional waves launched from the rotating current sources. The compressional waves are found to drive the flapping of the plasma sheet and the expansion and contraction of the magnetopause in each rotation period. Because the compressional perturbations weaken as they rotate from morning to evening around the day side of the magnetosphere, the boundary develops a strong morning-evening asymmetry. A fit to the shape is provided that may be useful in further investigation of magnetopause properties, but there is already evidence of the proposed asymmetry in the Cassini observations of Clarke et al. .


A full "Buck" Moon makes an appearance on Tuesday night, July 19. Native Americans call the July moon a "Buck Moon" because it is the time of the year when a buck deer gains a pair of new, fuzzy antlers.
At 6:57 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday night, the moon will reach its technical fullness prior to becoming visible in the eastern sky. The moon will still be full as it rises in New York at 8:03 p.m., in Washington at 8:12 p.m. and in Cleveland at 8:37 p.m. Residents in Los Angeles can also view the Full Buck Moon at 7:52 p.m. Pacific time while folks in Chicago can witness the event at 8:02 p.m. Central time.
On Wednesday evening, July 20, folks can still enjoy the sights of an almost full Buck Moon just in case Tuesday evening becomes particularly cloudy.
The moon in July is also called the Full Thunder Moon because of the frequent thunderstorms during this month. A third name — Hay Moon — is also given to the moon for the month of July because it signals the time when farmers are working hard to get their hay safely inside barns in anticipation of the thunderstorms during the month.
Based on the Farmers' Almanac, the monthly full moon has many names. The full moon in January is called the "Full Wolf Moon" because during the deep snows and freezing cold in the midwinter, packs of wolves would howl hungrily just outside the Indian villages. It is also called "Moon After Yule" or "Old Moon."
February's full moon is given the name "Full Snow Moon" because this is the time of the year when snowfalls are usually the heaviest. It is sometimes called "Full Hunger Moon" because this is also the time when some tribes find it difficult to hunt for food, hence the hunger.
The full moon in March is called the "Full Worm Moon" because at this time, the ground starts to soften and earthworms start to reappear. This phenomenon then invites the robins' return. Other names include "Full Crown Moon" because the crows' cawing is taken as the sign of winter's end; "Full Crust Moon" because of the crusted snow covers; and "Full Sap Moon" because it marks the time when maple trees start to tap.
April's full moon is called "Full Pink Moon" as it marks the budding of wild ground phlox, which is one of spring's earliest widespread flora and is colored a beautiful shade of pink. Other names include "Full Sprouting Grass Moon," "Egg Moon" and the "Full Fish Moon."
The full moon in May is called the "Full Flower Moon" which highlights the abundance of flowers during the month. Other names include "Milk Moon" and "Full Corn Planting Moon." June's full moon is called the "Full Strawberry Moon" because it signals the time to gather ripe fruits among the Algonquin tribes. In Europe, tribes call it the "Full Moon" and the "Honey Moon."
August's full moon is called the "Full Sturgeon Moon" because the sturgeons in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain and other areas are easily caught. Other names include "Grain Moon," "Green Corn Moon" and "Full Red Moon." The full moon in September is called the "Full Harvest Moon" as it signals the harvest time for chief staples among Indian communities such as corn, squash, beans, wild rice and pumpkin.
October's is called the "Full Hunter's Moon" as it signals the time to hunt while November's is called the "Full Beaver Moon" because it marks the time to set beaver traps, ensuring the supply of warm winter furs. Others call it the "Frosty Moon." Lastly, the full moon in December is called the "Long Night Moon" describing the long midwinter nights as well as the moon's extended time above the horizon. It is also called the "Moon Before Yule."


LightSail 2 Just Deployed Its Sails in Space, And Its a Glorious Moment For Science
- Eco News
- August 4, 2019
LightSail 2 has successfully deployed its solar sails. Shortly after 12:00 pm PST (19:00 UTC) The Planetary Society tweeted that the sails were deployed, and that the spacecraft was sailing with sunlight.


1909 Penny on Mars?
Believe it or not but a 1909 VDB Penny has been on a mars rover collecting dust for over 6 years. A red cent...on the red planet. That's a first for the numismatic community.
NASA's rover Curiosity has been roaming around on Mars collecting data and photos since 2012. It's mission was to collect data for a total of 687 earth days, or 1 year on Mars. Part of the calibration system used to focus and fine tune the cameras includes one 1909 VDB Lincoln Cent. In the photos attached the penny has been exposed to more than 6 earth years worth of martian dust, freezing temperatures, solar radiation, and more.
A Martian Penny Worth Millions?
I just hope that one day Elon Musk or NASA find a way to recover the penny, and bring it back to earth. Can you imagine that auction? For sure the Penny would sell for a cool million or more. It's the first interplanetary piece of currency in the history of the human race. I don't think you can even put a price tag on that. It’s sale would likely beat that of the 1943 Copper and 1943 D Copper Pennies.


Windows 8 astronomy apps are really cool for those passionate about anything related to space, planets and anything astronomy-related. SkyORB is an awesome Windows 8 astronomy app that has recently been updated with even more features.
If you have been following Wind8Apps, then you probably know that in the past we have featured some other cool Windows 8 astronomy apps, such as Star Chart for Windows 8, SkyMap, and Lunar Phases. SkyORB is another interesting astronomy app that has recently received some new features in the Windows Store. The app comes with a 3D star map, 3D planetarium, ephemeris with notifications, search engine, sun clock, point to sky, weather, and many other features.
Explore the Universe from your Windows 8 tablet
SkyORB features many functions as a 3D real-time representation of the planets position around the sun, warn the user when a phenomenon is occurs as a full moon, a planet really visible, which is worth the observation. The app also features an interactive 3D visualization of the stellar neighbourhood, including over 100000 nearby stars, and 3D visualization of the Milky Way.
The app is available as a free download (follow the link at the end), but to be able to enjoy all its features, you can choose to upgrade to the premium version which costs $3.49. SkyORB is updated with comets and satellites positions, and even with weather forecast for the location that you have chosen to share with it so it can aggregate relevant data. For those who don’t know, an ephemeris
gives the positions of naturally occurring astronomical objects as well as artificial satellites in the sky at a given time or times
and the ephemeris included with this app comes with the next 60 days astronomy events, as well as the peak day of meteors showers, date of planet elongation and opposition. The app has full Windows 8.1 support, so you can use any live tile size you want, and it will get updated with relevant information. The app comes with plenty other features:
- Day/night terminator display on world map
- Powerful universal search engine
- Moon phases with dates, including rise and set times
- Simulate the sky from any place in the world and even from other planet like Mars
- Move fast forward and backward in time
Besides the above mentioned features, the app has been enhanced for Direct3D 11 and it also comes with Windows 8 integration with Charm bar search and notifications. As for the latest update that it has received, the developer has improved the local view rendering, navigation on touch, rendering of the horizon, the night and day worldmap display, and the ability to show sub-lunar and sub-solar points has been added. Also, planets culmination charts in world map view option is now available. The app is now also faster and more stable on Windows RT devices and Windows 8 tablets.
Still having issues? Fix them with this tool:
If the advices above haven't solved your issue, your PC may experience deeper Windows problems. We recommend downloading this PC Repair tool (rated Great on TrustPilot.com) to easily address them. After installation, simply click the Start Scan button and then press on Repair All.


Silent Sky, by Lauren Gunderson, tells the story of Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1922) an American astronomer who worked at Harvard College Observatory reviewing data about the skies. Together with her female colleagues, known as “computers,” they developed scientific information regarding the size of the universe and the scope and position of the stars. The group worked in a male-dominated field where women’s ideas were often not taken seriously. Even denied access to a telescope, Henrietta and her colleagues nevertheless developed ideas which redefined our understanding of the universe and made ground-breaking discoveries which resonate today in the field of astronomy.
Lauren Gunderson is the most produced playwright in America since 2015. Other of her plays produced at The Stagecrafters include The Revolutionists and Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.
Nov. 24, 25 @ 8pm, 26 @ 2pm
Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 2 @ 8pm, 3 @ 2pm
Dec. 7, 8, 9 @ 8pm, 10 @2pm
For tickets: www.thestagecrafters.org
For reservations 215 247 9913
Tickets $26.00 online (+$1.00 processing fee) $30.00 at the door


How do cosmic rays occur?
How do cosmic rays occur?
Cosmic radiation is produced when primary photons and α particles from outside the solar system interact with components of the earth’s atmosphere. A second source of cosmic radiation is the release of charged particles from the sun, which become significant during periods of solar flare (‘sun storm’).
What term is commonly used for a cascade of particles created by the interaction of a primary cosmic ray with the Earth’s atmosphere?
Secondary cosmic rays The interaction produces a cascade of lighter particles, a so-called air shower secondary radiation that rains down, including x-rays, protons, alpha particles, pions, muons, electrons, neutrinos, and neutrons.
What can stop cosmic rays?
The Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic shield protect us from cosmic radiation. Earth’s magnetic shield protects us from the cosmic radiation and is strongest at the equator and weakest near the poles. The magnetic shield diverts most of the radiation around the earth.
Do space suits protect against radiation?
Space suits provide protection from the UV rays, but they provide limited protection from particle radiation and gamma and x ray. If particles have enough energy they simply pass through the space suit. So EVAs are planned during low solar activity or they try to make the EVA short.
Can cosmic rays give you superpowers?
To acquire superpowers, you would need a place steeped in high-energy radiation. Such a source lurks 600 to 12,000 miles outside Earth in the Van Allen radiation belt, where the planet’s magnetic field traps radioactive particles, like gamma rays created by solar wind or cosmic rays from other galaxies.
Are cosmic rays and gamma rays the same?
Cosmic rays are charged particles or atomic nuclei moving at relativistic speeds. Gamma rays formed in this manner are about an order of magnitude less energetic than their cosmic-ray parents, which means that those cosmic rays reached energies far in excess of one peta-electronvolt (1015 eV).
Which term is commonly used for the break in the cosmic ray energy spectrum around an energy of 1019 eV?
There is an additional, somewhat less distinct feature at an energy of about 1019 eV, termed the ankle. Characteristics of this high-energy feature will be discussed later. 9.2 Propagation and origin The most commonly used toy model for galactic cosmic rays is called the ”leaky box” model.
How can humans survive in space?
The vacuum of space will pull the air from your body. Without air in your lungs, blood will stop sending oxygen to your brain. You’ll pass out after about 15 seconds. 90 seconds after exposure, you’ll die from asphyxiation.
How do astronauts stay safe in space?
Space suits and the Space Station have special shielding that helps to protect astronauts from harmful radiation. Astronauts have to exercise almost 2 hours a day on special exercise equipment to make their muscles work and stay healthy for their return to Earth.


The ultraviolet extinction curve of intraclump dust in Taurus (TMC-1): Constraints on the 2175 Å bump absorber
Ultraviolet extinction curves for three early-type stars that sample dust in the Taurus dark cloud in the vicinity of TMC-1 are analyzed to examine the contribution of internal (intraclump) dust to the total line-of-sight extinction. One of our selected targets samples only dust in the "diffuse-screen" component of the cloud, where the dust grains lack ice mantles and have optical properties similar to average "diffuse- ISM" dust. Comparison with data for more heavily reddened stars that also sample dust within TMC-1 (where grains are mantled) allows us to determine the intraclump extinction. Our principal result is that the 2175 Å "extinction bump" is extremely weak or absent inside the clump. The feature present in the observed extinction curves appears to arise almost entirely in the diffuse screen. This dramatic reduction in bump amplitude in the high-density environment is consistent with the prediction of the graphite model that the feature is suppressed by hydrogenation. Amplitude reduction is accompanied by a more subtle change in the profile of the bump, specifically, an increase in width. Comparison of Taurus and other clouds strongly suggests that the increase in width results from accumulation of surface coatings on the carrier grains rather than from particle clustering.


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High resolution astrophotography of planets and the Moon with powerful telescopes and planetary cameras is simpler with the EAGLE. In order to record the best pictures with telescopes, planetary cameras (usually USB 3.0) are used and are connected to a control computer where a special software allows recording a video. A special processing software allows you to extract only the best and sharper images, stack them and apply contrast filters to improve the visibility of planets and Moon details.
Astrophotography automation softwares control all the devices that compose the telescope (camera, electronic focuser, motorized filter wheel, mount, autoguide, etc.) and automate images capture of deep-sky objects (such as galaxies, nebulae or star clusters). This way they maximize the recording time and do not require the operator to stay in front of the computer during the several hours of capture required in astrophotography. In this video, Filippo explains features of astrophotography automation software and shows that they are perfect for use with the EAGLE control unit.
Does light pollution affect astrophotography? Is it possible to photograph galaxies, nebulae or star clusters with our telescope also from the backyard with light pollution but using narrowband filters? Discover the result of our test comparing the image of a nebula recorded with the same telescope and the same exposition time but from a place with low light pollution and from an area near the city center.


Two neutrinos arrive at Earth from SN 1987A. The observed energies of the neutrinos measured on Earth ranged from 8 - 41 MeV. If the distance L = 168000 light-years, and the observed spread in arrival times of the neutrinos was 12 seconds, what is the upper bound on the neutrino mass placed by SN 1987A? Give your answer in eV/c2.
delta(t) = (L/c)[1+(m2c4/2E2)]
(Answer should probably be around 20 eV/c2 )


Sun Diver Mega sits on the launch pad. The mission: A careful survey of the Sun's surface. Kerbal scientists had expected the sun to be essentially an oblate spheroid, but reports from close flybys indicate that the surface may have a more detailed topography.
The lift vehicle is overkill, but will help take care of some of the delta v. Estimated delta v to our target orbit is 40 km/s.
Even with nuclear rockets, the mass at Kerbin's orbital radius would need to be 60 times the final mass of the probe in the target orbit. Ion engines are a must.
Here, the fairing has just been released and the solar panels extended
The probe. 42 Xenon tanks arrayed in seven groups, six of which will be ejected in pairs as we go. One ion engine to keep things light, but that's going to make for a very long mission.
Almost two days into the mission, we've got a very elliptical polar orbit. The apoapsis is set to 300,000 km -- better to establish a higher-than-expected circular orbit than to run out of fuel going for the target altitude of 100,000 km.
On our way to the sun
The first set of tanks is ejected.
The orbit shrinks more...
and more... Almost 30 days into the mission now.
Another set of tanks is ejected
Down to the last of our fuel now. With a circular orbit at 300,000 km altitude established, the probe descends further.
With 1400 units of Xenon gas remaining, the probe achieves a circular polar orbit about the Sun at an altitude of 100,000 km.
Time to gather some data. The Logomatic is activated and set to a sample density of 0.2 degrees.
The answer is obtained more quickly than expected. With the probe in orbit around the Sun for 50 days, a preliminary data check is done. The Sun does not have a surface with a varied topography. In fact, the Sun does not have a surface at all.
... Or rather, the sun does not have a surface that the probe's terrain instruments can detect. Further study is planned, including potential analysis of the position of features such as sunspots using data from the probe's cameras.


[amsat-bb] Re: Space Track Beta Web site
David A Johnson
dave at g4dpz.me.uk
Thu Jun 7 15:46:29 PDT 2012
They are using RESTful APIs for web services so that should make life a
lot easier for those of us
writing apps and other services.
On 07/06/12 14:22, Steve Daniels wrote:
> Space Track are beta testing a new website. It includes an API for element
> look under the docs section
> Steve Daniels
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
More information about the AMSAT-BB


by Staff Writers
Moscow (UPI) Aug 22, 2012
Europe's ATV-3 unmanned supply spacecraft has raised the International Space Station's orbit to about 261 miles, a mission control spokesman said Wednesday.
The successful orbital readjustment follows a failed attempt Aug. 15 when the ATV-3's engines shut down prematurely because of an increase in temperature on one of the units, leaving the ISS short of its intended orbital height, RIA Novosti reported.
The orbit adjustment Wednesday was done in two stages, with the ATV-3 engines firing for 348 seconds to lift the orbit to 257 miles followed by another burn four hours later that brought the space station to its final altitude.
The maneuver was to prepare for the return to earth of Russia's Soyuz TMA-04M manned spacecraft on Sept. 17 and the docking of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the ISS on Oct. 15.
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After zipping hundreds of millions of miles through space, the Mars rover Perseverance is just minutes away from attempting to land on the red planet in what has been described as one of the most daring robotic maneuvers in NASA’s history.
The car-size rover, which launched in July 2020, is aiming to touch down on Mars on Thursday at around 3:55 p.m. ET. If successful, Perseverance will become NASA’s fifth rover to land on the red planet and will kick off the agency’s most ambitious mission yet to examine whether life ever existed on Mars.
“Perseverance is attempting to answer one of the biggest questions in the history of humanity: Is there life elsewhere in the solar system?” said Chris Carberry, co-founder and CEO of Explore Mars, a nonprofit organization that advocates for human exploration of the planet. “If people can’t get excited about this mission, I don’t know what’s wrong with them.”
Carberry said the mission could reveal tantalizing new details about Mars’ history and geology. But first, Perseverance has to stick its landing. And that will be no small feat.
Like its predecessor, Curiosity, the Perseverance rover’s descent to the Martian surface has been dubbed the “seven minutes of terror.” This is because a complex sequence of programmed events must occur at precise times in order for the landing to be successful. And because of limits with deep-space communication, engineers in NASA’s mission control may not be able to follow along in real time.
“Once it enters Mars’ atmosphere, the entire spacecraft is pretty much acting autonomously,” said Janet Ivey, president of Explore Mars. “You can’t send a message from Earth to divert it from landing on a hill or near a big rock. It’s a nail-biter for sure.”
Only around half of all previous attempts to land a spacecraft on Mars have succeeded, according to NASA, and Perseverance’s planned touchdown is particularly risky.
Once the rover enters Mars’ atmosphere, it will be traveling at roughly 12,000 miles per hour, according to NASA. A parachute will then be deployed and shortly before touchdown a “jetpack” will fire a series of retrorockets to slow the spacecraft. An intricate sky-crane — similar to the one used during the Curiosity rover’s landing — will then lower the rover to the Martian surface.
During the nerve-racking entry and descent phase, friction from Mars’ atmosphere will also subject the spacecraft to temperatures of more than 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, mission managers have said.
The rover is aiming to settle in Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide basin just north of the Martian equator that scientists think was once home to an ancient river delta. If Mars once supported life billions of years ago, it’s thought that Jezero Crater could be the best place to look for potential fossilized clues in the region’s sediments and mineral deposits.
But Jezero’s landscape is also characterized by large boulder fields, sand dunes and cliffs that make a landing unpredictable and challenging.
“No Mars landing is guaranteed, but we have been preparing a decade to put this rover’s wheels down on the surface of Mars and get to work,” Jennifer Trosper, deputy project manager for the Perseverance mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement.
If successful, the Perseverance mission could be the start of a new era of Mars exploration, according to Robert Zubrin, author of “The Case for Mars” and founder of The Mars Society, a nonprofit organization that aims to advance human missions to the red planet.
“Perseverance could conceivably find fossilized microbial life,” Zubrin said. “If we could drill, find these microfossils, bring them up and subject them to all kinds of examination, we would find out the truth about life in the universe. That is powerful stuff.”
The mission will also lay the groundwork for future human missions to the red planet.
The rover is outfitted with a suite of seven tools to study the planet’s geology and past climate. In addition to high-powered cameras, Perseverance is equipped with a drill and robotic arm to collect samples, an instrument to examine the chemical composition of rocks and sediments, a tool to measure weather on Mars and an experiment to test if oxygen can be produced from Mars’ carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere.
The rover is also carrying a helicopter, known as Ingenuity, that mission controllers will use to attempt the first controlled flights on another planet. The 4-pound drone is designed to fly around and scout out nearby areas in and around Jezero Crater.
The Perseverance mission is part of a broader NASA initiative with the European Space Agency that aims to collect samples of rocks and sediment from Mars and return them to Earth.
NASA and the European Space Agency are not the only ones with their sights set on Mars. Earlier this month, separate space probes from the United Arab Emirates and China successfully entered into orbit around Mars, making them just the fifth and sixth nations to do so.


When we see patterns in the atmosphere from space, they tend to be in the clouds of powerful storms. These all have roughly the same form: they look like a spiral galaxy with arms spinning out from the core.
But meteorologists have detected other organizational principles at work. Like, take the fascinating image above. It shows .... well, I wasn't sure exactly what it showed. A meteorologist's blog post described them as "convectively-generated mesospheric airglow waves," but that did not quite explain how they worked or what they were.
So I got in touch with Steven Miller, senior research scientist and deputy director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University. Miller and his colleagues discovered these concentric rings while working with the newish satellite Suomi satellite's next-generation low-light sensor. (They published a paper on the discovery in PNAS.)
Miller told me I was looking at glowing ripples in the atmosphere itself!
"These are literally 'ripples of glowing atmosphere' whose structure is the result of a train of gravity waves that is passing through a thin layer of the atmosphere that produces a very faint veil of light called 'nightglow,'" he said. "These are not clouds (although they were forced by the thunderstorms below), and they do not occur in the troposphere, where our 'weather' is. They are much higher up—at the interface between the mesosphere and the thermosphere—about 90 km [55 miles] above the surface! The glow is revealing important dynamics of our atmosphere that would otherwise be completely invisible to us."
Satellites carry imaging equipment that can see light far outside the human visual range. So I figured that these ripples would not be visible to a person. It turns out, though: they are! Nightglow shines, in part, in the spectrum our eyes work in. While the light is strongest in the infrared we can't see, it is present in the range that we can: violet (380 nanometer) to deep red (740 nanometer).
"And we do have some sensitivity to it—in fact, the nightglow is a source of background light in the nighttime sky that explains why on the darkest of nights and far away from surface lights you can still see the silhouette of your hand held up against the blackness of space," Miller said.
But, sadly, "for the most part, this light is simply too faint for us to notice," Miller said. "However, there is indeed enough overlap with human eye's response to permit detection of the strongest nightglow features with dark-adjusted human vision on a moonless night. There have been cases when the waves can be discerned by the naked eye, but this is rare."
Imagine being out somewhere in Texas, way out beyond where the cities' light pollution reaches, on a moonless night. A thunderstorm arrives. You dismount and take cover. When it passes, you look up, and it's like there's a faintly glowing bullseye in the sky. No wonder people used to believe in magic.
OK, ending cowboy fantasy. Back to nightglow waves.
The next step in understanding what's going on here is to understand why a layer of our atmosphere glows. Reactions in the atmosphere can release excess energy. For example, UV light can break down oxygen molecules, which then recombine to form new molecules. Sometimes, the energy release of the reaction releases a photon of light. The general term for the phenomenon is "airglow" and the process that creates it is chemiluminescence.
Sit back for a minute and appreciate this: our planet glows.
"The exact processes vary between the day (dayglow), terminator (twilight glow), and the night (nightglow—which we are seeing here), but the basic idea is that chemical species react with each other to form other species, and sometimes the result is an amount of 'leftover energy' that must be dissipated," Miller explained.
"Lower in the atmosphere, where there are lots of molecules, this energy can be dissipated kinetically through collisions with other molecules. At very high altitudes where the atmosphere is very thin, the preferred mechanism is the release of a photon of light. But if you get too high up, there just aren't enough light-emitting reactions taking place to produce an appreciable amount of light. There is a kind of sweet spot in the atmosphere where there are enough reactions taking place to produce appreciable (detectable) light, but not so many that the dissipation is going to be predominately via molecules running into each other."
That sweet spot is about 85 to 95 kilometers, or roughly 52-59 miles, up. And that layer is, of course, where the Texas bullseye shows up.
The process that created it, however, began much lower in the atmosphere, with a thunderstorm that blew across the southwestern tip of Texas in the wee hours of the morning on April 4.
In a thunderstorm like this, there is a very strong convective current moving upward: the updraft. As water vapor condenses and the resulting droplets freeze into ice, the thunderstorm releases heat into the air.
"This dramatically warmed air strengthens the updraft further and as this buoyant air accelerates and eventually impacts against the 'lid' of the troposphere," Miller said.
Imagine tossing a stone into water: what we're seeing here is the remnant of the collision of a storm and the tropopause (the "lid"), around 12-15 km above the surface.
In that kind of impact, Miller said, "a whole spectrum (many different amplitudes, many different wavelengths) of upward-moving waves are formed, carrying energy to the upper atmosphere." Most of them break up before they reach the airglow sweetspot, but some of them don't. And as those "pass through [the] critical layer of the atmosphere where nightglow occurs, the layer is perturbed ... and the structure of the wave is revealed."
It's important to understand that these kinds of waves happen all the time, all over the world, "not just by thunderstorms but by many other processes, including air flowing over the mountains, strong changes in wind speed associated with the jet stream, etc."
And that's what makes this research more than a quirky exercise in planetary lightshows. It's not just that there are these previously hidden features of the atmosphere that we can now see, but that they are significant features of the way the earth's global circulatory system works. If we want to model weather and the climate, scientists need to understand the interactions between the lower levels of the atmosphere we're familiar with and the more mysterious upper reaches.
"Models that attempt to predict weather and climate must account for the full circulation of the atmosphere, since circulations happening in the upper atmosphere can feed back down to influence our near-surface weather at a variety of space and time scales," Miller said. "Right now, these models have little information on what is going on with the upper atmospheric waves—they must make simple assumptions that are likely not capturing the true processes. This limits the skill of prediction."
But, of course, until the Suomi satellite launched, it was difficult to study those interactions.
The bullseye, then, isn't only the remnant of a storm's encounter with the outer atmosphere, but a target for climate scientists, too. As we seek to explain the planetary changes that we've unintentionally set in motion, this is one areas of dynamism that bears further scrutiny.
This week, Miller watched for nightglow through the satellite's eyes as the Earth moved between the sun and the moon, causing a lunar eclipse. That allowed him, he said, "to catch a glimpse of some nightglow waves, which was kind of neat. These hidden signals in the darkness."
Via Jayson Prentice


For the ham radio guys (and gals)
Link to article
SuitSat Status 4 February
Paraphrasing Mark Twain....the demise of SuitSat-1 is highly exaggerated!!
It is now nearly 24 hours since the successful deployment of the SuitSat-1 experiment. These past 24 hours have been a wild ride of emotions...tremendous highs...deep lows when people reported no signals and said SuitSat-1 was dead and now....some optimism.
It is absolutely clear that SuitSat-1 is alive. It was successfully turned on by the ISS crew prior to deploy and the timing, micro-controller functions and audio appear to be operating nominally. The prime issue appears to be an extremely weak signal.
I have heard several recordings and have monitored two passes today. When the signal is above the noise level, you can clearly hear partials of the student voices, the station ID and the SSTV signal. One of the complicating factors in reception is the very deep fades that occur due to the spin of SuitSat.
Based on the information we know thus far, one can narrow down the issue to the antenna, the feedline, the transmitter output power and/or any of the connections in between. Through your help, we would like to narrow down the issue further and also gather some internal telemetry from the Suit.
If the transmitter is running at full power, we would expect the Suit to end operations in the next few days to a week. If it is not, then it will operate much longer. Since we do not know how long this experiment will last, we ask for those with powerful receive stations to listen for Suitsat---especially during direct overhead passes when the Suit is closest to your area. If you can record these passes and send the audio to us, it would be most appreciated. We will continue to be optimistic that this issue will right itself before the batteries are depleted. So please KEEP LISTENING!
Based on what we have learned, we would like to provide the following guidelines to save you time and facilitate gathering information:
1) You need as high a gain antenna as possible with mast mounted pre-amps. An arrow is the minimal set...it provides very brief snipets of the communications. HTs and scanners won't cut it.
2) I would not waste your time on passes below 40 degrees elevation. SuitSat is too far from your station to receive a reliable signal. We have found that closest approach provides several seconds of SuitSat communication with 22 element yagis.
3) The "gold" we are looking for right now is the telemetry information and how long the vehicle stays operational. So if you hear any of the telemetry, please let us know.
We are also working to get the voice repeater set up on ISS to downlink SuitSat audio on 437.80 in the event that the ISS Kenwood radio can receive the SuitSat transmissions. The repeater may be operational as early as mid-day Sunday. Please do NOT transmit on 145.99, voice or packet, until we have confirmed that SuitSat is no longer transmitting. These transmissions interfere with our ability to hear SuitSat.
While the transmission part of the SuitSat experiment has not been stellar, SuitSat-1 has been tremendously successful in several areas. Some of these successes include:
- We have captured the imagination of students and the general public worldwide through this unique experiment.
- The media attention to the SuitSat project represents one of the biggest ever for amateur radio.
- We have had well over 2 million internet hits on http://www.suitsat.org today.
- Our student's creative artwork, signatures and voices have been carried in space and are on-board the spacesuit---the students are now space travelers as the Suit rotates and orbits the Earth.
- Carried in the spacesuit CD are pictures of Roy Neal, K6DUE, and Thomas Kieselbach, DL2MDE, two of our colleagues who have contributed to the ARISS program and have since passed away.
- We successfully deployed an amateur radio satellite in a Spacesuit from the ISS, demonstrating to the space agencies that this can be safely done.
- This ARISS international team was able to fabricate, test and deliver a safe ham radio system to the ISS team 3 weeks after the international space agencies agreed to allow SuitSat to happen. This was a tremendous feat in of itself.
SuitSat-1/Radioskaf is a space pioneering effort. Pioneering efforts are challenging. Risk is high. But the future payoff is tremendous. As you have seen, we have not had total success. But we have captured the imagination of the students and the general public. And we have already learned a lot from this activity. This will help us and others grow from this experience.
Keep your spirits up and let's continue to be optimistic. And please keep monitoring!!
73, Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
ARISS International Chairman
AMSAT-NA VP for Human Spaceflight Programs
NASA site on SuitSat
Using a simple police scanner or ham radio, you can listen to a disembodied spacesuit circling Earth.
January 26, 2006: One of the strangest satellites in the history of the space age is about to go into orbit. Launch date: Feb. 3rd. That's when astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) will hurl an empty spacesuit overboard.
The spacesuit is the satellite -- "SuitSat" for short.
"SuitSat is a Russian brainstorm," explains Frank Bauer of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Some of our Russian partners in the ISS program, mainly a group led by Sergey Samburov, had an idea: Maybe we can turn old spacesuits into useful satellites." SuitSat is a first test of that idea.
Right: ISS astronaut Mike Finke spacewalks in a Russian Orlan spacesuit in 2004. SuitSat will have no one inside. [More]
"We've equipped a Russian Orlan spacesuit with three batteries, a radio transmitter, and internal sensors to measure temperature and battery power," says Bauer. "As SuitSat circles Earth, it will transmit its condition to the ground."
Unlike a normal spacewalk, with a human inside the suit, SuitSat's temperature controls will be turned off to conserve power. The suit, arms and legs akimbo, possibly spinning, will be exposed to the fierce rays of the sun with no way to regulate its internal temperature.
"Will the suit overheat? How long will the batteries last? Can we get a clear transmission if the suit tumbles?" wonders Bauer. These are some of the questions SuitSat will answer, laying the groundwork for SuitSats of the future.
SuitSat can be heard by anyone on the ground. "All you need is an antenna (the bigger the better) and a radio receiver that you can tune to 145.990 MHz FM," says Bauer. "A police band scanner or a hand-talkie ham radio would work just fine." He encourages students, scouts, teachers and ham radio operators to tune in.
For years, Bauer and colleagues at Goddard have been connecting kids on Earth with astronauts on the ISS through the ARISS program (Amateur Radio on International Space Station). "There's a ham rig on the ISS, and the astronauts love talking to students when they pass over schools," Bauer explains. ARISS is co-sponsoring SuitSat along with the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Russian Space Agency and NASA.
Right: Tune your FM radio to 145.990 MHz.
When will SuitSat orbit over your home town?
Use Science@NASA's J-Pass utility to find out. The online program will ask for your zip code—that's all. Then it will tell you when the ISS is going to orbit over your area. (Be sure to click the "options" button and select "all passes.") Because the ISS and SuitSat share similar orbits, predictions for one will serve for the other. Observers in the United States will find that SuitSat passes overhead once or twice a day—usually between midnight and 4 o'clock in the morning. At that time of day, SuitSat and the ISS will be in Earth's shadow and, thus, too dark to see with the naked eye. You'll need a radio to detect them.
"Point your antenna to the sky during the 5-to-10 minute flyby," advises Bauer, and this is what you'll hear:
SuitSat transmits for 30 seconds, pauses for 30 seconds, and then repeats. "This is SuitSat-1, RS0RS," the transmission begins, followed by a prerecorded greeting in five languages. The greeting contains "special words" in English, French, Japanese, Russian, German and Spanish for students to record and decipher. (Awards will be given to students who do this. Scroll to the "more information" area at the end of this story for details.)
Next comes telemetry: temperature, battery power, mission elapsed time. "The telemetry is stated in plain language—in English," says Bauer. Everyone will be privy to SuitSat's condition. Bauer adds, "Suitsat 'talks' using a voice synthesizer. It's pretty amazing."
The transmission ends with a Slow Scan TV picture. Of what? "We're not telling," laughs Bauer. "It's a mystery picture." (More awards will be given to students who figure out what it is.)
Right: In a laboratory at Goddard, SuitSat bends over to display its antenna and control box. [More]
Students and teachers who want to try this, but have no clue how to begin, should contact their local ham radio club. There are thousands of them around the country. Click here to find a club near you. "Hams are notoriously outgoing; most would be delighted to help students tune in to SuitSat," believes Bauer.
Bauer expects SuitSat's batteries to last 2 to 4 days. "Although longer is possible," he allows. After that, SuitSat will begin a slow silent spiral into Earth's atmosphere. Weeks or months later, no one knows exactly when, it will become a brilliant fireball over some part of Earth—a fitting end for a trailblazer.


This weekend brings with it our Full Moon in Pisces, which is also our final Eclipse of 2016.
Full Moons (when the Sun and Moon oppose one another in the sky) tend to illuminate our unconscious behaviours and this can be especially strong when the Full Moon is also an eclipse (like this one).
What’s coming up for you this week?
The Need for Compassion and Release
Pisces is a sign associated with letting go and surrender and this message is amplified with this eclipse being a South Node eclipse – what do you need to relinquish?
The build up to any Full Moon can see an increase in energy, but with sensitive Pisces; sign of compassion, finality and oneness in the hot seat and with this being a lunar eclipse, which can intensify our emotions, don’t be surprised if you’re feeling tired, overwhelmed or even exhausted.
View original post 820 more words


Southwestern’s large research-quality reflecting telescope was donated to the Physics Department by Max Allen, a local engineer and builder who was also an amateur astronomer. This instrument is used by faculty and students for research, and programs of general interest to the public are conducted each month during the academic year.
Public Night, Saturday, April 25, 2015, 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM CDT.
Sunset 8:05 PM CDT. Astronomical twilight ends 9:31 PM CDT. Lunar Phase: 43% waxing crescent, above the horizon for the entire event.
On hand to guide viewing will be S.U. Physics Department faculty and talented observers from the Williamson County Astronomy Club. Regular Fountainwood Viewing Nights are always FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
The Observatory is located on the northeast side of campus adjacent to the Rockwell Baseball Field.
For weather-related updates call the Fountainwood Observatory Hotline at 512/ 863-1242.
SPRING 2015 OBSERVATORY EVENTS
Sun and Moon data from the USNO website.
Yoga Under the Stars Fundraiser Event, 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
Public Night, Sunday, March 1, 2015, 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM CST.
Public Night, Saturday, January 24, 2015, 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM CST.
Best of Austin
The Austin Chronicle gave the Fountainwood Observatory a Best of Austin Award. Read what they said about the observatory’s public viewing nights here.


The first of each Jewish month—the celebration of the new moon, its slender crescent barely visible in the night sky—is a day historically associated with women’s renewal and celebration.
In recent decades, Rosh Chodesh has become an occasion for Jewish women to gather for learning, ritual, and spiritual exploration, and to mark life passages. Rosh Chodesh groups, meeting monthly, offer a women’s space in time. (Some men’s gatherings have begun as well, sometimes associated with kiddush levanah, celebrating the coming full moon.)
Photo from istockphoto.com


Exploration Phase of NASA's Galileo Mission Comes to End
The NASA spacecraft Galileo makes a final flyby of Jupiter's moon Amalthea as the probe ends the science-gathering portion of a 13-year mission.
Copyright 2002 NPR
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Designed by Elizabeth Hartman for Robert Kauffman, Planetarium includes a galaxy of suns, moons, and stars that are waiting to be a part of your next project. Planetarium is perfect for a variety of quilt projects, including my Robots, Star Systems, and Cats in Space patterns.
Contains 42 x 5 inch squares in co-ordinating colours. Some prints may be duplicated. 100% cotton
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FloripaSat is a group located on UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) at Florianópolis - Brazil. We capacitate students in complete space missions and do researches that pushes the community foward.
27/08/2018 - 09:10
The group FloripaSat opens new selective process on Marketing, Verification and Hardware and Software Development.
29/07/2018 - 09:57
We were part of CubeDesign 2018 CubeSat contest and we finished in 2º!


Electric Universe / Astrophysics
Dr. Donald Scott described his investigation of the inherent properties of Birkeland currents and subsequent discovery that they produce unexpectedly far-reaching magnetic fields in cosmic space. These fields collect matter and compress it into concentric hollow cylinders. They also produce a long-range attractive force on other such currents. Without involving mathematics, Scott describes the results of his analysis of the magnetic structures that are produced by, and that surround, Birkeland Currents. This work and its results gives new insight into the understanding of the electrical properties of space.
Dr. Scott earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He earned a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts, and was a member of the faculty of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst from 1959 until his retirement in 1998. During that time he was the recipient of several good-teaching awards and authored numerous scientific papers and chapters. In 1987, the McGraw-Hill Book Company published his 730-page textbook, An Introduction To Circuit Analysis -- A Systems Approach. In addition, Dr. Scott published the classic, Electric Sky (2006), 256 pages of compelling material on the Electric Universe and plasma cosmology.
Dr. Scott's paper: http://electric-cosmos.org/BirkelandF...


Visions of the Future: The Official Stephen Hawking Wall Calendar 2022
A dazzling marriage of science and art.
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.” —Stephen Hawking
In celebration of what would have been Stephen Hawking's 80th birthday, Visions of the Future pairs Stephen Hawking’s quotes with breathtaking images of the universe captured by the European Space Agency. Fascinating phenomena: light disappearing into a black hole is accompanied by “It is said that fact is sometimes stranger than fiction. And nowhere is that more true than in the case of black holes.” Existential truths: “We each exist but for a short time. And in that time explore but a small part of the whole universe.” And calls to action: “Climate change is one of the great dangers we face and it’s one we can prevent,” paired with an image of Earth as seen from space. It’s an exquisite gift for students, scientists, or anyone fascinated by the cosmos.


|1||In terms of event rates the current best estimates for neutron-star–binary merger rates, based on the known population of neutron-star–binary systems, gives a 95% confidence interval between 1 – 1000 × 10–6 per year per Milky Way Equivalent Galaxy (MWEG), where MWEG is equivalent to a volume that contains a blue light luminosity with (MWEG was used in the S1 and S2 LIGO search, but was then changed to the unit, where is given as 1010 times the blue-light luminosity of the sun, although there is only a 10% difference between the two), [3, 196, 197], with a peak in the distribution at 100 × 10–6 per year per MWEG – or 0.02 per year for initial LIGO at design sensitivity. The expected rate of black-hole binary systems, or black-hole–neutron-star systems is far harder to infer as none have been observed, but estimates can be made on the population for a wide variety of models and give a 95% confidence range of 0.05 – 100 × 10–6 per year per MWEG and 0.01 – 30 × 10–6 per year per MWEG respectively [3, 248, 249, 39]. As an example of how to convert from rates to event numbers, cumulative blue-light luminosities with respect to distance from the Earth in Mpcs, and the horizon distances of the LIGO detectors from S2 through to S4, can be seen in Figure 3 of .|
|2||The result published in  give an upper limit value of , but this is for a Hubble constant of 100 km s–1 Mpc–1, so for consistency with later results it has been converted to use a Hubble constant of 72 km s–1 Mpc–1 as in .|
|3||There is currently a plan that has been approved by the LIGO Laboratory and the NSF to potentially construct one of the Hanford detectors at a site in Australia , although this is reliant on construction and running costs being provided by the Australian government. Such an observatory in the southern hemisphere would greatly improve sky localisation of any transient sources and enhance electromagnetic follow-up observations (e.g., ).|
Living Rev. Relativity 14, (2011), 5
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.


FLAVORHEAD Beach Towel 006
• 52% cotton, 48% polyester
• Fabric weight: 10.6 oz/y² (360 g/m²)
• Printed on one side only (white on non-printed side)
• direct to garment print
about the art- This is a pattern made from an original acrylic screenprint painting from 2011. It combines found images and hand drawn elements. Part of the found images are from The Voyager Golden Records which are two phonograph records that were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form who may find them.


Mercury can be grouped together with Earth as another tectonically active planet in our Solar System, according to a study that used images captured by the MESSENGER space probe.
Observations using the Hubble Space Telescope may have revealed surprising activity in Europa's subsurface ocean, causing water vapour to erupt from its surface.
A study has calculated that Pluto could be hosting an ocean below its surface with a salt content similar to the Dead Sea on Earth.
Astronomers have been able to discover an exoplanet orbiting two suns by observing how its mass warps spacetime.
Astronomers believe they may have solved the mystery behind a huge, bright cloud of gas found 11.5 billion lightyears away.
New discoveries of ancient lakes and valleys on the Red Planet are helping scientists uncover the story of water on Mars, and whether microbial life could once have existed.
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have been able to observe a key stage in the evolution of a star in real time.
Quasars are thought to be some of the first light sources to have formed in the Universe, but finding ancient specimens to study is a tricky task. A team of astronomers has found a batch of specimens that nearly doubles the amount of ancient quasars that we know of.
A globular cluster 19,000 lightyears away could be a relic from the early days of the Milky Way, according to new analysis of Hubble Space Telescope data.
Thursday 8 September 2016 marks 50 years to the day that audiences sat down to watch the first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. Science writer Paul Cockburn explores how 19th century astronomers once believed that a planet called Vulcan genuinely existed in orbit around our own Sun.
Dwarf planet Ceres' mountain Ahuna Mons could be an ice volcano, according to analysis of data collected by the Dawn spacecraft.
NASA's Juno spacecraft has sent images back to Earth following its first close encounter with Jupiter.
A new study has found that the first stars were soley responsible for the reionistation of atoms in the cosmos, leading to the development of the Universe as we know it today, and that they formed much later than thought.
A galaxy cluster has been found that is not only the most distant from Earth yet observed, but which has been caught just as it is going through an intense period of star formation.
A search for missing matter in the Milky Way has revealed the Galaxy went through a fierce burst of actvity six million years ago.
The exact nature of the elusive substance known as dark matter remains a mystery, but observations of massive cosmic structures may hold the key. The latest discovery is a galaxy that consists almost entirely of dark matter.
The search for exoplanets continues in the hope of finding a rocky, habitable planet like our own. The latest discovery is a rocky planet orbiting the closest star outside of our Solar System.
Astronomers have spotted a young, massive star still in its early ages of formation, offering a rare glimpse into an important stage in the formation of massive stars.
A spectroscopic method used by geologists on Earth could help NASA's new Mars rover look for signs of life on the Red Planet.


SOLAR SYSTEM MOON 17,5 GRAMM 500 FRANCS CFS SILVER COIN CAMEROON 2023
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Unveiling the Solar System Moon Coin: A Masterpiece
Among Mennica Polska's remarkable creations, the Solar System MoonCoin stands out as a true work of art. Weighing 17,5 grams and featuring a denomination of 500 francs, this silver coin showcases the moon, one of the celestial bodies that have fascinated humanity for centuries. Crafted in 2023, this coin captures the beauty and allure of the moon with exceptional detail and precision.
Exploring the Significance of the Solar System Moon Coin
The Solar System Księżyc Coin holds immense historical and numismatic significance. As a limited edition piece, it represents a rare opportunity for collectors to own a tangible piece of celestial wonder. The coin's intricate design and flawless craftsmanship make it a prized possession, sought after by numismatists and space enthusiasts alike.
Mennica Polska's Commitment to Excellence
Mennica Polska's dedication to excellence is evident in every aspect of the Solar System Moon Coin's creation. From the initial concept to the final product, the company employs a meticulous process to ensure unparalleled quality. Their team of skilled artisans and technicians work tirelessly to bring each detail of the coin to life, resulting in a masterpiece that surpasses expectations.
Investing in the Solar System Moon Coin
For avid collectors and investors, the Solar System Moon Coin offers a unique opportunity to acquire a valuable asset. With its limited mintage and captivating design, this coin is not only a symbol of aesthetic beauty but also a potential investment that may appreciate in value over time. Its rarity and desirability make it a sought-after item within the numismatic community.


Dog Days of Summer
I am sure we have all heard or used the term “Dogs Days of Summer” before. KMG even has a LinkedIn Campaign right now, called the Dog Days of Summer, featuring some of our Corporate Team’s four legged furry friends. So, I got to thinking…what does that really mean? Dog Days?
History of the Phrase “Dog Days”
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, in North America the “Dog Days” of summer are the 40 days between July 3 to August 11. Traditionally referring to a period of particularly hot and humid weather. This is soon after the Summer Solstice in late June, which also indicates that the worst summer heat will soon set in. And all along, I just thought it was the name of the Summer festival at our local winery.
This period of sweltering weather coincides with the year’s astronomical rising of the star Sirius, the Dog Star. Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Majori, the “Greater Dog.” Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, if you don’t count our own Sun. Sirius can be seen from every place on Earth. Under the right conditions, it can even be seen with the naked eye during the day.
Many people think that the North Star is the brightest star, but in fact it ranks 50th. The North star is pointed directly at the Earth’s axis, and during the course of the night, it does not rise or set, but remains in the same spot all year while the other stars circle around it. The North Star is the anchor of the sky. So not the brightest, but certainly the most important!
How to Find Sirius
You can look for Sirius quite low in the east-southeast in early twilight. First, find Orion, the unmistakable constellation that looks like a giant bow tie. And follow Orion’s belt to the left until you hit something. This is Sirius.
Sirius is so bright that if you’re at all familiar with how it looks, you could only mistake it for a planet, however, none of the planets display the blue-white shine of Sirius.
So as you enjoy the Dog Days of Summer, let your eyes wander the horizon looking for Sirius. Also, take a peek at our Dog Days of Summer posts on Linked In! Happy star gazing!


Context. A large portion of stars is found to be part of binary or higher-order multiple systems. The ubiquity of planets found around single stars raises the question of whether and how planets in binary systems form. Protoplanetary disks are the birthplaces of planets, and characterizing them is crucial in order to understand the planet formation process.
Aims: Our goal is to characterize the morphology of the GG Tau A disk, one of the largest and most massive circumbinary disks. We also aim to trace evidence for binary-disk interactions.
Methods: We obtained observations in polarized scattered light of GG Tau A using the SPHERE/IRDIS instrument in the H-band filter. We analyzed the observed disk morphology and substructures. We ran 2D hydrodynamical models to simulate the evolution of the circumbinary ring over the lifetime of the disk.
Results: The disk and also the cavity and the inner region are highly structured, with several shadowed regions, spiral structures, and streamer-like filaments. Some of these are detected here for the first time. The streamer-like filaments appear to connect the outer ring with the northern arc. Their azimuthal spacing suggests that they may be generated through periodic perturbations by the binary, which tear off material from the inner edge of the outer disk once during each orbit. By comparing observations to hydrodynamical simulations, we find that the main features, in particular, the gap size, but also the spiral and streamer filaments, can be qualitatively explained by the gravitational interactions of a binary with a semimajor axis of ~35 au on an orbit coplanar with the circumbinary ring.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- July 2020
- stars: individual: GG Tau A;
- protoplanetary disks;
- methods: observational;
- methods: numerical;
- techniques: high angular resolution;
- techniques: polarimetric;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- Accepted for publication in A&


Blue, red, and white NASA logos scattered across a light grey background. 3,2,1, BLAST OFF! Head to space with NASA in this far-out space collection! NASA logos and patches, astronauts, and the beauty of space will have you shooting for the stars!
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INDIANAPOLIS — Did you see some strange lights in the sky Thursday night over central Indiana?
No, it wasn't a UFO.
The line of bright objects was actually Space X's Starlink satellites.
Space X launched the satellites Thursday afternoon. It brings internet access to rural places across the globe.
The satellites are especially bright right now as they reach its final orbits.
No, that wasn't a string of UFOs you saw in the sky Thursday night! :flying_saucer: That was the Starlink satellites! They are responsible for bringing high-speed internet to different parts of the planet.— WRTV Indianapolis (@wrtv) April 22, 2022
(🎥: Taylor Ruhnow) pic.twitter.com/pfztP4mxpj


More Space - Page 13
How the powerful Webb telescope will peer 13 billion years back in time
Through it, we can observe the birth of the first stars and galaxies to form after the Big Bang.
A spacecraft ‘touched’ the sun. Here’s how it survived.
This NASA probe became a trailblazer without burning up.
Dramatic NASA video shows James Webb telescope's extremely ambitious space maneuver
The "most complex sequence of deployments ever attempted in a single space mission."
NASA shared some extraordinary new sights and sounds from Jupiter orbit
Now you can hear what the moon Ganymede sounds like.
Stunning views of the James Webb telescope before it's blasted into space
It'll observe far-off cosmic objects other telescopes can't see
SpaceX doctor finally gets his shot to be a NASA astronaut
The physician with the dragon tattoo.
NASA's tough spacecraft dives into the sun's atmosphere, captures wild footage
An unprecedented journey.
NASA's Perseverance rover beamed back postcard-worthy views of Mars
Insta-worthy views of the Martian wastes.
8 extraordinary space moments that made headlines in 2021
Capt. Kirk boldly goes into space for real, NASA flies a drone on Mars, and more.
NASA's deep space satellite captures the dark shadow of an eclipse on Earth
An eerie dark blotch.
NASA filmed a magical, eerie eclipse in Antarctica. You can watch it.
It's a rare, wondrous event.
Mars satellite captures wild image of an ancient Martian crater
Peer into extraterrestrial geology.
NASA wants to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon — Future Blink
Trust us, it's not a sci-fi movie plot.
NASA successfully launches mission to slam into an asteroid
We're off to give it a little nudge.
Space travel’s surprising impact upon humanity
Discover how space-travel-inspired innovations can make a world of difference.
By Mashable BrandX and Polestar
Eerie Martian sunset captured by NASA's Perseverance rover
It's an unusual twilight, even for Mars.
Blown-up satellite pieces circling Earth shown in scientist's unsettling simulation
"It wasn't a good outcome. It was never going to be a good outcome."
SpaceX's latest Starlink launch looks like a sci-fi fantasy
You may not be able to get Starlink yet, but you can still see some pretty rocket pictures.
There's an asteroid following Earth, and it may be from the moon
Something's different about this space rock.
Why NASA just ground a circle into this Martian rock
Scientists might find important clues inside.
NASA astronauts grow first ever peppers in space – Future Blink
Space tacos, anyone?
Stephen Colbert boldly jokes about SpaceX capsule's broken toilet
In space, no-one can help you pee.
Come for Elon Musk, best not miss: The problem with 'Muskism'
One podcast takes aim at a legit phenomenon — "X capitalism" — but only makes the Tesla and SpaceX CEO look more sympathetic.
By Chris Taylor


The Vostok was built in 1960, and under the name Vostok 1K, flew in six unmanned test missions prior to 1961. Resembling some sort of metallic insect, the Vostok was roughly 4.4m tall and 2.3m wide. The Vostok 3KA could hold a single cosmonaut and was built to survive 10 days in space.
Gagarin’s trip was, of course, secret and accounts of the flight didn’t surface for quite some time after the fact. But after the initial trip on this day in 1961, the Vostok 3KA flew in seven more missions, five of which were manned. For it’s final flight, which was part of the Vostok 6 mission, the 3KA flew cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova up into orbit to test the effect of space on the female body.
The Vostok 3KA may have lacked the long lifespan of the Soyuz, and the glamour of the Apollo missions, but it holds the very important distinction of being the first craft to carry man into space. [Braeunig and Astronautix via Wikipedia]


A privately constructed rocket blasted off
Friday on a cargo run to the International Space Station (ISS),
lifting off without a hitch from a launch pad in Cape Canaveral,
On its third flight to the ISS, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was topped by a Dragon 9 capsule, holding some 1050 kilograms of supplies and scientific experiments. It is due to dock with the station on Saturday.
"SpaceX continues the US mission to resupply the International Space Station from US soil," a NASA official said as the white rocket lifted into the air atop its nine Merlin engines.
It will stay at the station until March 25, when it will carry some 2,000 kilograms of cargo back to earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.
The first demonstration flight took place in May, while an October mission marked the first of 12 planned resupply missions to the station under a 1.6-billion-dollar contract between SpaceX and NASA.
SpaceX is a private company established by Elon Musk, the founder of electronic payments firm PayPal and electric car company Tesla.
SpaceX's rockets are meant to play a vital role in resupplying the ISS following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet last year. Another company, Orbital Science Corp, has a separate NASA contract to begin deliveries to the space station later this year.
Cargo can also be delivered to the space station on Russian, Japanese and European transports, but only SpaceX currently has the capability to bring cargo back down.
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SourceAs of May 6, 2016, Juno is approximately 450 million miles (724 million kilometers) from Earth. The one-way radio signal travel time between Earth and Juno is currently about 40 minutes.
Juno is traveling at a velocity of approximately 60,000 miles per hour (about 26.9 kilometers per second) relative to Earth, 15,000 miles per hour (about 6.7 kilometers per second) relative to the Sun, and 13,000 miles per hour (about 6 kilometers per second) relative to Jupiter. Juno has now travelled 1.74 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers, or 18.73 AU) since launch, and has another 19 million miles to go (31 million kilometers, or 0.20 AU) before entering orbit around Jupiter.
Juno will arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016, at 8:35 p.m.


So far today:
-read in fits file of Andrew's DR7 spectroscopic sample
-put into fits binary table
-picked out some arbitrary values for plate, fiver, and mjd
-used getspec.pro to pull out corresponding spectra from sdss
-used readsloanspec.pro to return wavelength and flux information
Voila, my first spectra plot!
(plate = 53789, mjd = 2212, fiber = 356)
Then I looked at a relatively flat section, in order to calculate its velocity
Also learned that putting $ before my commands allows me to go back to my directory/files from within idl. Very useful trick.
So next up is to write a program that connects the spectra to templates. Dylan helped me out and downloaded the templates for me. First off, I need to figure out which templates correspond to which star spectra. To do this, I need to use a chi-squared fit. From there, I'll need to use the spline function in order to shift the template and star's spectra so that the wavelength values for each occupy the same bin number. From there I can start to connect the spectra to templates with the xcorl procedure.
Notes to self:
where x is star wavelength, y is star flux, t is template flux --> should return adjusted wavelength so in same bin?
result = xcorl, star, temp, range
(-->not sure about how to use adjusted wavelength in the xcorl procedure; I think the input is should be adjusted flux, and that spline returns adjusted wavelength, which would make the spline procedure useless for xcorl.....so I definitely need to check that out)
Not quite sure about what function will make the best fit graph using a chi-squared distribution. From what I can gather, I can use the curvefit command, but definitely need to discuss with Andrew.
On another note, I also created a document that will serve as a reference list for all the codes/procedures I make. Last summer I learned the hard way that two months of coding adds up to a lot of files that you forget the purpose of. Hopefully this will help avoid this.
I couldn't have done any of this without help from Bertie, Saurav, and Dylan (and Andrew, of course)! It's great to have such wonderful resources.
things to do tomorrow morning:
-look at red part of m dwarfs (larger than 7000 A), pick a section that is relatively flat, calculate mean value --> from this, divide both template and spectra by this, and compare using where command
-look at .rv in sdss spectra -- calculate velocity change and compare to see if it is the same (Andrew's catalog says v = 18.3088?)


A stunning display of shooting stars is set to light up the winter sky today and tomorrow – Tuesday – as Earth collides with the Geminid meteors.
The brightest will appear as yellowish streaks that appear to radiate from the constellation of Gemini.
Although the shower’s peak occurs at around 11am tomorrow it may be possible to catch the shooting stars during dark periods any time up to Wednesday morning.
By 2am tomorrow the ‘radiant’ – or point of origin of the meteors – will be almost overhead in the UK.
The first quarter moon will have set by that time offering the prospect of a good view, weather permitting.
The Geminids consist of tiny particles ranging in size from a grain of sand to a pea shed by 3200 Phaethon, an object thought to be an extinct comet.
As the Earth crosses their path they hit the atmosphere at around 22 miles per second and burn up.
A dramatic ‘fireball’ with a green trail that shot across Britain last Wednesday may have been an unusually large Geminid meteor arriving early.
Robin Scagell, vice-president of the Society for Popular Astronomy: ‘The Geminids are certainly going to be one of the major shows of the year, and there’s a good chance it will be a fine display.
‘The forecast is for up to 120 meteors per hour, but that’s under perfect conditions.’
Most meteors originate from icy comets, but 3200 Phaethon behaves more like a rocky asteroid.
Mr Scagell compared the object with a dirt-filled ‘snowman’ in space.
‘You have a chunk of ice that eventually gets clogged up, a bit like the way all the dust and grit accumulates when you make a snowman,’ he said. ‘My feeling is that it was a comet and over a period of time it has lost most of its cometary characteristics.’
Over the centuries, debris from 3200 Phaethon has left a river of rubble hundreds of millions of miles long.
Earth’s orbit carries it through the stream of particles every year in the middle of December.
A spokesman for the Royal Astronomical Society said: ‘As with most astronomical events, the best place to see meteors is at dark sites away from the light pollution of towns and cities.
‘In good weather, rural sites such as Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park in Scotland are potentially excellent locations to see the Geminid shower.’
A planned meteor watch will take place at the park tonight and tomorrow.
Galloway Forest has one of the darkest skies in Europe. Britain’s first Dark Sky Park was established there in November last year.
The Geminids will also feature in Meteorwatch, a Twitter event that allows observers under clear skies to share images and videos.


SG Home Slideshow
COSGC Robotics Challenge at the Great Sand Dunes National Park
ALL-STAR Student built 3U CubeSat at delivery
Students prior to the ELaNa I launch of Hermes 1U CubeSat
The Annual COSGC Space Research Symposium
Gerardo is a sophmore in aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU). He currently serves at the student project manager for the COlorado Undergraduate Retention in Science and Engineering program. Gerardo transferred to CU from Community College of Aurora, where he engaged with the CCA Space Grant program in an engineering design course in which he and his team designed, built, and launched a high altitude balloon payload. At CU Space Grant he also works on the PropSat cubesat mission. Gerardo plans to complete graduate study and hopes to work for NASA or in industry, specifically on innovative propulsion methods.


Nano satellite helps students train for space scienceUpdated: 2013-12-16 15:55
In South Africa,young engineers are being encouraged to push the boundaries of space science through nano satellite technology. It's a cost effective way for students to get a feeling of working with technology in an actual space environment.
At a Cape Town university students have built Africa's first nano satellite,which will be used to monitor the effect of the sun in space. It will also be used as a platform, for students from other universities across the continent to train for a future in the space industry.
First it was the successful Square kilometer array bid,the largest radio telescope to built in the world,then the SuperDARN radar which will monitor space weather from Antarctica, now South Africa’s next space adventure,lies with an object smaller than a football.
This is a nano satellite, it's prototype of a version that was recently launched and currently orbits the earth,its main aim is to monitor the effect of the sun in the upper atmosphere.
Building satellites undoubtedly costs billions but the cubesat is a far more affordable way of giving students to peak their interest in space.
Prof. Robert Van Zyl, Director of French S. African Institute of Technology, said, "ZACUBE is South Africa’s first cubesat, now cubesats are meant to get universities and students involved in space technology,the technology threshold and the cost threshold and the launch cost is greatly reduced with nano satellites so you can really expose a bigger number go youngsters and attract them to get real hands on experience in space technology, now that is very important for South Africa and Africa."
While ZACUBE 1 was designed and built by engineering students in Cape Town, universities from across Africa will get the opportunity to benefit from its services.
The students are being prepared for a future in the space industry, so their skill as engineers were tested when they were asked to developed the entire satellite in 18 months.
Francois Visser, Chief Engineer of ZACUBE 1, said, "From the very beginning we defined a mission that all the students could work on,many students took part they developed a lot of the subsystems that we used later on in the satellite that was actually launched,so these students developed prototypes like the radio the software,the computers,the power systems and so forth that would be used in later missions."
The success of ZACUBE 1, doesn't stop with its successful launch because a second more advanced version is already being developed and while space remains a new frontier for the continent, its new explorers are already pushing new frontiers.


How Super was the Supermoon?
Written by Pats Papers | Sunday, 20 March 2011 12:58 AM
When I looked out my window tonight all I saw was a regular-looking full moon. After tweeting that I was underwhelmed with how “super” the moon was, I got a couple of replies with photos far superior to mine. Maybe the moon was “super” after all.
The “super perigree moon” meant that the moon tonight was supposed to be bigger (and closer to earth) than any full moon since 1993. My photo is above.
Then @stacygratz tweeted back with this shot from Brooklyn:
And earlier, NASA posted this one from Washington DC.
Tickets are on sale now for my final trivia event of the year at Bell House.
My thanks to the Village Voice for honoring me as New York’s “Best TV News Anchor”
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The eShel, an off-the-shelf, fiber-fed echelle spectrograph (R ≈ 10,000), was installed on the 1 m telescope at the Wise observatory in Israel. We report the installation of the multi-order spectrograph, and describe our pipeline to extract stellar radial velocity from the obtained spectra. We also introduce a new algorithm-UNICOR, to remove radial-velocity systematics that can appear in some of the observed orders. We show that the system performance is close to the photon-noise limit for exposures with more than 107 counts, with a precision that can get better than 200 m s-1 for F-K stars, for which the eShel spectral response is optimal. This makes the eShel at Wise a useful tool for studying spectroscopic binaries brighter than mV=11. We demonstrate this capability with orbital solutions of two binaries from projects being performed at Wise.
|Journal||Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific|
|State||Published - 1 Jun 2017|
- Binaries: spectroscopic - instrumentation: spectrographs - techniques: radial velocities Online material: color figures


SpaceX launched Turkmenistan's first telecom satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Monday, after taking a chance on some touch-and-go weather in Florida.
The launch of the TurkmenÄlem 52E spacecraft came just 13 days after SpaceX used a different Falcon 9 to send a Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station.
Monday's launch, like the earlier one, unfolded at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida — but there were a couple of differences. First, because it wasn't a launch to the space station, SpaceX didn't have to hit a launch time to the second. The weather was too cloudy for liftoff at the scheduled time of 6:14 p.m. ET, but cleared up enough for launch at a revised T-minus-zero of 7:03 p.m.
The second difference is that TurkmenÄlem 52E is destined to go into geosynchronous orbit, to provide telecommunication services to Europe, Central Asia and Africa in cooperation with Monaco-based Space Systems International and Luxembourg-based SES.
The orbital requirements ruled out an attempt to bring the first-stage booster back down for a controlled landing on an oceangoing platform — as was attempted spectacularly but not completely successfully after the Dragon launch. Instead, the first stage dropped away after it did its work and burned up in the atmosphere.
- SpaceX Launches Dragon, Then Rocket Hits the Deck
- So Close! Watch Falcon 9 Rocket Land on a Ship
- On-the-Deck Video Shows SpaceX's Landing Try