These images are just astounding . . .

April 21, 2010: Warning, the images you are about to see could take your breath away.

At a press conference today in Washington DC, researchers unveiled “First Light” images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a space telescope designed to study the sun.

“SDO is working beautifully,” reports project scientist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. “This is even better than we could have dreamed.”

Launched on February 11th from Cape Canaveral, the observatory has spent the past two months moving into a geosynchronous orbit and activating its instruments. As soon as SDO’s telescope doors opened, the spacecraft began beaming back scenes so beautiful and puzzlingly complex that even seasoned observers were stunned.

Be sure to click on the image above to view full-size and then go to the SDO Website.

Ramirez’ latest excellent cartoon . . .

I have been waiting several days for this iris to open. It was finally open this morning. I waited for the clouds to clear off a bit before getting this sunlit image.

This is my first yellow iris and it sure is beautiful. There are several more getting ready to open.

Click on the image to enlarge.

For several months, we have been talking about ways to relocate to Arizona as soon as possible. Up to this point, it has been all talk. Over the weekend we decided to take some action by heading to Arizona (very soon) to shop for a home there.

I went on line to see currently available homes in the area where we are most likely to settle. I am pleasantly surprised to see how affordable homes are over there. I worked out the numbers and I do believe we can be in a position to shop, make an offer and get into a home this year - maybe this summer.

Our California house is quite large - four bedrooms, three baths, large family room, two stories - space we used to need when we were raising a family. Now, in retirement, it’s just overkill. We figure to get into a single story, two or three bedroom with a two car garage and space to store the RV.

The one in the picture above came from one of the real estate websites. It’s an example of the class of home and Santa Fe styling we both like a lot.

I just picked this nice heirloom tomato from our garden today. I took this photo of it while is was still on the vine. Click on the image to enlarge.

This will probably wind up in a tomato on rye sandwich later this week.

The Apollo-13 astronauts safely returned to Earth on April 17, 1970. Today commemorates the 41st anniversary of the dramatic conclusion to what must have been the most tedious and frightening events in space exploration history.

NASA launched Apollo-13 to be the third manned landing on the Moon. Two days into the mission, an oxygen tank on board the command module exploded, causing the end of the planned mission and initiated a dramatic space rescue effort, both back on Earth and on board the spacecraft.

The flight was commanded by James A. Lovell, with John L. “Jack” Swigert command module pilot, and Fred W. Haise lunar module pilot. The three astronauts and the Apollo-13 ground crew pieced together a rescue plan. Despite limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17, and the mission was termed a “successful failure”.

During the early 1990’s (I don’t remember the exact date), the Management Club at the company where I worked, invited Fred Haise to speak at one of our dinner meetings. He brought along a slide show and much anecdotal history of the Apollo-13 events. Haise recounted his time as an adviser to Bill Paxton, who played the role of Haise in the Apollo-13 film. Needless to say, the movie strayed from the business-like conduct of the astronauts in favor of dramatics, but the story line went more-or-less like the actual events, according to Haise.

After the presentation, I stepped to the podium (along with most everyone else there) and shook the hand of a real space hero.

Damsel wondered out loud why the media and liberals are AFRAID of the tea party movement. She answered her own question - they are AFRAID of the truth being told about them.

The Patriot Post offered the following cartoon as well as an interesting photo-shop of the “Democratic Health Care Surprise.” Check it out.

For several weeks now, these bright California Poppies have been growing in our garden. This is the state flower of California. They and grow in gardens, planters and in the wild. Click on the image below to see the large version.

I was in the garden today and the light seemed just right to get this nice photo of the red and yellow freesia that I recently bought at the garden shop. I love freesias and have grown them in several colors. Click on the image to enlarge.

It’s true, but not on a global scale . . .

Increases in local temperature averages are due, in large part, to URBANIZATION. For those of us who bother to seek out actual scientific studies, we can clearly see that Urban Heat Islands are the cause of localized increases in temperature. Consider this study from the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change:

The Urban Heat Island of Mexicali, Mexico

Urban Heat Island Effect - Click on the image to enlarge

Background

Mexicali City borders the United States at the northern end of Mexico’s Baja California. It is an urban settlement that had its beginnings in the first decade of the 20th century. At that point in time it had an area of approximately 4 km2; but by 1980 it covered an area of a little over 40 km2, and by 2005 it covered something in excess of 140 km2.

What was done

Working with daily records of maximum and minimum temperature from six weather stations “in Mexicali City and its surroundings” covering the period 1950-2000, and with “a climatic network of rural and urban weather stations in Mexicali and its valley and the Imperial Valley, California” over the “contemporary period (2000-2005),” the authors characterized the spatial and temporal development of the city’s urban heat island over the latter half of the 20th century and the first five years of the 21st century.

What was learned

Garcia Cueto et al. state that Mexicali City “changed from being a cold island (1960-1980) to a heat island with a maximum intensity of 2.3°C in the year 2000, when it was compared with rural weather stations of Imperial, California,” noting that “the replacement of irrigated agricultural land by urban landscapes, anthropogenic activity and population growth, appear to be the major factors responsible for the observed changes.” And from the “more updated information (2000-2005),” they found that “the greatest intensity of the urban heat island was in winter with a value of 5.7°C, and the lowest intensity in autumn with 5.0°C.”

What it means

The results of this study clearly demonstrate that population growth and the clustering of people in cities can lead to localized warming (in areas where temperatures are routinely measured) that is both more rapid and much greater (by as much as an order of magnitude, in fact) than what climate alarmists typically attempt to characterize as the “unprecedented” warming of the 20th century. And that population-growth-induced warming — spread across the world — has likely contributed, in large part, to what they wrongly construe to be CO2-induced global warming.

Simply said, CO₂ is NOT a dangerous gas.