Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Technobabble

Auroras from Space

Some especially intense auroras resulting from solar flares associated with sunspot 930 were visible from outer space via an Air Force satellite. Here’s the story from SpaceWeather.com:

AURORAS FROM SPACE: How bright were the auroras of Dec. 14th? As bright as city lights and easily seen from space. A US Air Force DMSP satellite took this picture from orbit 830 km above the United States:

The bright arc stretching from Montana to Maine is the aurora Borealis. In many places it completely overwhelms the city lights below.

“The DMSP satellite has the ability to detect auroral light at night,” says Paul McCrone of the Air Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB in Nebraska. “These images are mosaics of various DMSP overflights on Dec. 12-13, Dec. 13-14, and Dec 14-15. The Dec. 14th image is quite striking.”

19 Dec 2006 by Rocket Science Technobabble

How the Chinese See Us

While browsing through the activity logs for the blog, I ran across a referring link that aroused my curiosity. When I followed the link, I found myself looking at our blog in Chinese! Apparently, Babel Fish, a service of AltaVista offers a universal web page translator.

It won’t translate words in images or Flash™ and it leaves unknown words as they were. Fun to try in a couple of different languages.

18 Dec 2006 by Blogosphere Culture Technobabble

Does Mars Leak Water?

NASA Scientists announced today that there is compelling evidence that liquid water flows on Mars: From NASA:

NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows in Brief Spurts on Mars

NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven years.

“These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, Washington.

Image right: A new gully deposit in a crater in the Centauri Montes Region. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Liquid water, as opposed to the water ice and water vapor known to exist at Mars, is considered necessary for life. The new findings heighten intrigue about the potential for microbial life on Mars. The Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor provided the new evidence of the deposits in images taken in 2004 and 2005.

“The shapes of these deposits are what you would expect to see if the material were carried by flowing water,” said Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. “They have finger-like branches at the downhill end and easily diverted around small obstacles.” Malin is principal investigator for the camera and lead author of a report about the findings published in the journal Science.

Continue reading…

06 Dec 2006 by Aerospace Rocket Science Technobabble

Cellphone Safety Law

We’ve blogged before about “Distracted Drivers” and offered humor in “Top 10 Reasons Why People Use a Wireless While Driving.” Now, Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a law to require the use of hands-free devices except for emergencies. That’s good, but it won’t take effect until next July.

From sacbee.com

Governor launches cell phone law

The law that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Friday banning motorists in California from holding cell phones while driving does not take effect until July 1, 2008, but the governor is urging drivers to begin complying now.

“You can use a cell phone, but use a headset or use a speaker system and you will be fine,” the governor said during a signing ceremony at a hotel in Oakland.

State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, predicted Senate Bill 1613 — the law he pushed through the Legislature after four unsuccessful attempts — will save lives by decreasing driving distractions.

Under the law, motorists will be required to use a headset, speaker phone, ear bud or other device that frees up both hands when they talk. Motorists who need to make emergency calls are exempted.

Violators will be fined $20 for the first infraction and $50 for subsequent violations.

18 Sep 2006 by California Culture Technobabble

Vacation Planner Addict

The Damsel and I have been planning a vacation. One of my co-workers recommended Google Earth® as a possible tool to help with the planning. So I tried it and now I can’t put the @!?*%$& thing aside.

Image: screenshot of approach to St. George UT

The graphics and virtual reality are extremely intriguing to a pilot who isn’t an active flyer these days. You can get your copy from Google Earth, but you have been warned.

Maybe I can get The Damsel to post one of her pretty photos while I futz around with this.

07 Jul 2006 by Cyberspace Technobabble Travel

Hubble Back in Operation

Since the James Webb Space Telescope is a ways off, I’m delighted to see the engineers get the Hubble Space Telescope back in operation.

From NASA:

NASA Issues Hubble Space Telescope Status Report

NASA engineers successfully activated the Advanced Camera for Surveys at 9:12 a.m. EDT Friday aboard the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope. Checkout was completed at 10:20 a.m. EDT with science observations scheduled to resume Sunday, July 2.

“This is the best possible news,” said Ed Ruitberg, deputy associate director for the Astrophysics Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. “We were confident we could work through the camera issue, and now we can get back to doing more incredible science with the camera.”

Engineers began uploading commands to the instrument Thursday, June 29, in an effort to restore operational status. A pre-programmed observing timeline for normal camera science operations will begin executing at approximately 8 p.m. EDT on July 2.

Engineers received indications on Monday, June 19, that power supply voltages were out of acceptable limits, causing the camera to stop functioning. The instrument was taken off line, so engineers could study the problem and determine the appropriate remedy. Hubble observations continued using other onboard science instruments.

The third-generation Hubble instrument consists of three electronic cameras, filters and dispersers that detect light from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. Astronauts installed the camera during a servicing mission in March 2002. It was developed jointly by Goddard, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo.; and the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore.

For information about the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

About the James Webb Space Telescope:

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST’s instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.

JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won’t fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open only once JWST is in outer space. JWST will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.

JWST will orbit the L2 Lagrange Point, in the vicinity of the WMAP probe we blogged about yesterday.

01 Jul 2006 by Astronomy Rocket Science Technobabble

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