Latest and Greatest in Science and Astronomy
Drought Exposes Columbia Debris in Lake Nacogdoches
The state's worst drought since the 1950s has led to the recovery in East Texas of a large piece of debris from space shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated over there nearly a decade ago.
Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana in February 2003, after its heat shield failed during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.
NASA engineers identified the four-foot piece of spherical debris — which was filled with mud — as one of 18 tanks that held chilled oxygen and hydrogen used by the shuttle's electricity generating fuel cells.
NASA Going Green with Solar-Powered Jupiter Probe
NASA's upcoming mission to Jupiter can't get much greener than this: a solar-powered, windmill-shaped spacecraft. The robotic explorer Juno is set to become the most distant probe ever powered by the sun.
Juno is equipped with three tractor-trailer-size solar panels for its 2 billion-mile journey into the outer solar system. It will be launched Friday morning aboard an unmanned Atlas V rocket -- barely two weeks after NASA's final space shuttle flight.
August 2011 Night Sky Viewing
Mars – August, 2011
In August 2011, you will find Mars in the eastern predawn sky. Mars appears in Earth’s sky as respectably bright ruddy star
Saturn - August 3 - 4, 2011
The planet Saturn is in good view above the Moon. It looks like a bright golden star. The star Spica stands well to Saturn's left.
Perseid Meteor Shower – August 13, 2011
Arguable the most well-known meteor shower of the year, due to its high zhr, and the warm summer temperatures make for good, comfortable, all-night viewing.
Sagittarius - At the beginning of the month Sagittarius will be low on the south-south eastern horizon at 9:30PM MDT. It will be directly south at 11:00PM, and again directly south at 9:30PM on August 18. If all fails on August 9Sagittarius will be directly below a gibbous Moon in the evening. Sagittarius is a favorite constellation of many amateur astronomers because it contains a lot of easy to find interesting objects.
And Finally" according to Physics.org, Time Travel: Light speed results cast fresh doubts - Physicists have confirmed the ultimate speed limit for the packets of light called photons - making time travel even less likely than thought.
New Pluto Moon Spied by Hubble - Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have identified another moon around the dwarf planet Pluto.
It becomes the fourth object known to be circling the distant world after the long-recognised Charon and recently observed Nix and Hydra satellites.
Question: If Sagittarius, being a centaur (half human and half horse), was sick, would he see a doctor or a veterinarian?
23 comments:
It depends on which half of Sagittarius is sick. ;)
Amazing yet sad that those pieces of the shuttle were recovered.
It reminded me of how they found several new shipwrecks in the Mississippi River after an awful drought.
Hi Stephen .. interesting facts .. love the info about the stars to be seen .. I hope I can catch the Perseid Meteor shower ..
But the rubbish!! Still once up there - so much is shown to us .. I hope to make us aware to do more on earth ..
Thanks - great info - cheers Hilary
I agree with Sandra!! LOL!! Take care
x
I'll have to watch for that meteor shower!
Although I am not into "Space" travel and such I found this extremely interesting.
Thanks Stephen for a very valuable post.
Yvonne.
I agree with Sandra on the centaur issue...
As to time travel - it's best left to the Fae. They know how to get around those pesky physics issues.
It's great to go camping in the mountains in August, away from all the light pollution, and see the Perseid meteor shower. Very cool.
Sandra, good answer.
Slamdunk, I remember that. It was a treasure trove of history.
Hilary, good luck with that. I never realized until I read your blog last week.
Kitty, okay dokey.
Alex, nothing like a good meteor shower!
Yvonne, glad you enjoyed it.
Laura, are the Fae someone from your book?
LG, with all the city lights its hard to see what's going on up there at night.
Love Sandra's answer! :)
I'm impressed with the probe - that's very cool!
The finding of the Columbia debris brings back sad memories.
Thanks for your great blog, Stephen.
The centaur would probably have to see a veterinarian because there's always the chance that he'd run into someone who was allergic to horses at the doctor's office.
I'm still suffering the mental distress of being told Pluto isn't a planet at all. I hope it's not cloudy for the meteor shower. It rained last time.
OOH, a meteor shower! I like those. To answer your question with a question, are you trying tell me we can now get horse diseases?
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
interesting how it takes a drought to uncover a piece of history like that. :)
nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Hi, Steve,
Looks like August is filled with romantic, starry nights...
Jina
Katie O’Reilly Titanic blog
I wonder what other stuff is floating around up there ready to fall down here below.
Morgan Mandel
http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
Jemi, I agree. Very cool indeed!
Bob, it sure does. I remember when it happened. It was very sad.
Jeffrey, that makes sense to me.
Susan, so am I! Pluto has at least four moon. Sounds like a planet to me.
Jules, who doesn't like a good meteor shower?
nutschell, I always wonder what lies in the sands just beyond out coasts. Somewhere out there off the coast of the Carolina is at least one active nuclear or hydrogen bomb.
Jina, long time, no see. Great to see you again!
Morgan, there is so much space junk floating around up there. Eventually, something has to fall to earth.
That's us Sagittarians. We lay low and tend to be easy.
I so remember when the Columbia disintegrated. I was like time stopped as I stared at the TV.
I saw the meteor shower a few years ago it was fantastic!
The Jupiter ship is beautiful.
Weird memory: my husband and I had just arrived in Costa Rica to get married when the Columbia disaster happened. We spent our first few hours in Costa Rica waiting for our bus in a hotel lobby while watching the shuttle news unfold on the lobby TV.
Probably he'd go to see a centaur 'vet'. I always get confused about how Saggitarius, 'The Archer', is usually portrayed as a Centaur, but there's also a constellation Centaurus. Was Centaurus named later? I know that it's in the Southern sky, and that wasn't mapped in the same way as early as the north and the equatorial sky that can be seen by both hemispheres.
I'm sorry that you haven't posted anything for the Novel Films blogfest.
If you get a chance, check out a fellow writer's zombie story and help me make him wear an embarrassing shirt next year! It's the ultimate grudge match between social media and the zombies. Details are here:
http://kelworthfiles.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/prove-the-zombies-wrong-social-platforms-can-build-readership/
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