Earthrise filmed during the Apollo 10 mission, 1969.

via KTS

I’ve seen a lot of spacey photos in my time. Enough so that I catch myself occasionally making a jaded sigh, saying “Oh neat, another shot of a spacecraft in front of the moon. Been there, done that.“ 

Then I punch myself in the arm and tell myself to shut up because these are pictures of SPACE. 

That’s what happened with Maximilian Teodorescu’s shot of the International Space Station against the face of the moon. At first I was minorly impressed, because it’s a very small thing traveling very fast, in front of a larger thing that is even farther away. But people take pictures of the ISS all the time. Big deal.

Then I realized that this one was taken during the day. At that point I lost my schnoodles. I’m betting a few of you will too.

(via Overthinking It)

via jtotheizzoe

Amateur Astronomy At its Best (related post) 

In last nights session this was also in our arsenal of equipment. However it was not used - What a beauty. Im sure some of you out there recognize this piece of history. Hasselblad 553 ELX. Based on the 500 EL/M, was also used on the shuttle missions. Twelve Hasselblads remain on the lunar surface.

via electricspacekoolaid

Apollo Spacecraft

via crookedindifference

Cheshire Moon by Chepar

via kenobi-wan-obi

Two days ago I reblogged this post about whales, whale song and conservation; however, I hadn’t time to view the videos as I’ve been preoccupied with my son this weekend.

On Friday (June 14), I picked my son up, took him to his final t-ball practice of the year and before we left the park, I spotted this little guy (below) crawling on a nearby tree. I still have yet to identify it, so any of you passionate entomologists out there, help me out! Apologies about the picture quality, the iPhone quality was the best I could provide with such a small creature. Landen and I were quite curious, so any help would be appreciated, folks.

Moving on…I took him home to change, then we went to the store to pick up drinks for his teammates for his final t-ball game on Saturday (June 15). While at the store, the car battery died and I had to have it jumpstarted in the parking lot by a grocery store employee. No biggie, but this was Landen’s first time witnessing this, so I explained to him how careful we must be and how the energy is exchanged between batteries. These unique educational moments are rewarding via science communicated on-the-fly in these random situations. It also helps to have such a curious son probing these adults for questions about how this works and what’s going on. It also opened up further conversation (there have been many) on vehicles, the unnecessary perpetuation of combustible engines, fossil fuels, vehicle batteries and unlimited energy via the sun.

SCIENCE.

We brought back some food and after I finished, I snuck out back to set up the telescope. We came back outside together, viewed Saturn, the Moon, discussed stellar distances and the length of time it takes for the photons of light to travel before being collected in our eyes. So…yeah, I talked about spacetime with my 6 year old son. This is how you parent. Haha. In all honesty, if he wasn’t interested, I wouldn’t discuss this stuff but the kid is smart and curious, what can I say? Lots. It’s spaaace!

The Moon on the evening of Saturday, June 15 via my iPhone (again, terrible picture quality but this is a raw story).

The Moon via Ted Roger Karson (Flickr). When I saw this, I had to include it in this post as it provides a much better depiction of what my son and I were gazing up at this evening. Thanks spacettf for posting this!

I forgot to mention: before venturing out back to the telescope, he wanted to catch a few fireflies, so he brought 2 of them inside and we placed them in a small container to observe them. Quick Fact: Did you know there are over 2,000 species of fireflies (lightning bugs) which are insects of the glowworm family? I intend on doing a full writeup on this because fireflies are unique to specific warm areas and I just happen to have grown up around them all of my life. I recently discovered they’re endangered, which inspires me to publish a post all about them and what we all can do to help. Stay tuned. For now, see the below factoids..

From National Geographic:

Everyone knows how fireflies got their name, but many people don’t know how the insects produce their signature glow. Fireflies have dedicated light organs that are located under their abdomens. The insects take in oxygen and, inside special cells, combine it with a substance called luciferin to produce light with almost no heat.

Firefly light is usually intermittent, and flashes in patterns that are unique to each species. Each blinking pattern is an optical signal that helps fireflies find potential mates. Scientists are not sure how the insects regulate this process to turn their lights on and off.

Firefly light may also serve as a defense mechanism that flashes a clear warning of the insect’s unappetizing taste. The fact that even larvae are luminescent lends support to this theory.

After packing up the telescope and venturing into the garage to put it away, he was bothered by the mosquitos, so I lit some incense, which led to a conversation about how we can extinguish the flame on the end of the incense wick by pushing the molecules in the space around us by a swift movement and thrusting of our hands or arms toward the flame.

“You mean there are molecules and atoms all around us right now?” (he wiggles around waving his arms…)

“Yes!” In between everything in this space we’re in right now!

(Pinches his fingers close together…)”So I’m holding one right now?”

I explain to him that they are extremely small, where only advanced microscopes can see and when he claps his hands, the sound that it emits is actually these molecules and atoms being forced away from each other very rapidly, generating this perturbation.

SCIENCE.

Then I rediscovered 3 childhood literary treasures: my Calvin and Hobbes books. This resulted in Landen curling up with me in my lap - it was nearly 11pm at this point - and reading through a bunch of the story strips….to this date, an unmatched moment of nostalgia in my life. As I read aloud, narrating the short stories as animated as I could, he was cracking up…it was….awesome.

The volumes I’ve had since elementary school (oh and I’ve read much more than this, these are just the ones I’ve personally owned):

Finally, if that weren’t enough for the evening, the post about whales and whale song…

We went inside, I pulled up my laptop and I remembered I wanted to share that post with him. As we watched the first video, he was speechless. I spoke softly about how sound vibrates and moves across distances like rippling waves in the water, becoming elongated and stretched the further they traveled, and how powerful a whale’s song must be to vibrate those divers’ chests upon their humpback whale encounter. Landen silently sat there, tired, but entranced by the beauty of these ancient creatures. As a child fascinated by dinosaurs, it was a beautiful thing to see.

We then proceeded onto the second video, equally amazing, as he was able to imagine the complexity and the sheer size of the blue whale in such a close encounter. As he sat there, taking all of this in, I tell him how big blue whales are…so big that he could actually swim through a blue whale’s veins. What a thought for a 6 year old’s brain…

He passed out as we neared the end of the second video of this vulnerable humpback whale rescued by passing conservationists, bringing tears to my eyes as I sat with him silently, both of us in awe of that footage. As the video came to a close, I peered over to view an exhausted and subtly snoring 6 year old. Special thanks to thekidshouldseethis for sharing that brilliant and emotional post.

Being a father has been the pinnacle of humility for me along my current 30 year journey through life thus far. When I woke up this morning, he, of course, said “Happy Father’s Day.”

My first words to him were of thanks, but to remind him that a predetermined calendar date throughout each year to celebrate fathers is hardly of significance to me as it may be to others; because each day I live and breathe I’m thankful for him and indescribably appreciative of the kind of perspective and true humility his presence has been to me; and my love for him doesn’t recognize society’s Hallmark-holidays.

The fortunate position I happen to be in - with a relatively healthy brain capable of educating another young mind - is a natural evolutionary achievement in itself. And with that, I pledge my unwavering allegiance, respect and adoration not to a state, flag, country, or planet; but to the stars and the universe for permitting such an experience as the life I live in this epoch of time. I love you, Landen.

Stay Curious. Carl Sagan | The Story of Everything (Video)

Treat your brain this weekend. Enjoy these space jams. These guys are pretty awesome and happen to live right next to my best bud in North Hollywood. If you haven’t heard about them, you will. My favorite band by far. This is their first mixtape with DJ Benzi. New album, aptly titled “Light Years” HERE.

Oh, and the above song is not on the album. It’s a unreleased single from Ted Wendler. If you dig this (and the links), I’ll publish a more formal write-up on them.

Have a stellar weekend, everyone. Ad astra.

NASA Goes ‘Green’: Next Spacecraft to Be Reusable

Since the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian rockets to launch its astronauts to space. But the United States plans to have its own homemade spacecraft again soon. Called the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, the new vehicle will be able to carry astronauts to Earth orbit, to the moon, asteroids, and eventually to Mars.

Though it looks similar to the gumdrop shape of the Apollo moon-bound capsules, the Orion spacecraft is a whole new machine. Unlike the old capsules, Orion — set to make its first test flight in 2017 — can be reused.

The Orion capsule consists of three basic sections: a crew module, a service module, and a launch abort system. A powerful new rocket, called the Space Launch System, will be used to launch Orion into space. It’s the crew module section, in particular, that can be recycled for multiple spaceflights.

Making a spacecraft reusable is not an easy feat. Since the Apollo 11 first moon landing mission, most manned spacecraft have achieved a safe return to Earth by landing in the ocean.

Though ocean landings are easier from an engineering standpoint — the descending capsule doesn’t need to slow down as much for a water impact, and there’s no need for airbags or other cushioning devices — ocean landings are also expensive, as the salt water often ruins the spacecraft’s electronics.

A refurbish-able Orion means the spacecraft will be cheaper to operate over the long term.

Lockheed Martin, NASA’s lead contractor on the Orion project, originally looked into enabling the craft’s crew module to set down on dry land by outfitting it with heavy drag parachutes, reverse thrusters, and airbags. But simulations revealed that the necessary equipment would add approximately 1,400 lbs (635 kilograms) of extra weight to the crew module, making the vessel far too heavy.

So for the first few flights, at least, Orion’s crew module will make water landings.

This poses a problem, as one of the ways Lockheed Martin is making Orion reusable is by placing the majority of its valuable electronics and computers in the crew capsule, the only part of Orion that returns to Earth. This design greatly reduces the amount of hardware and software that needs to be replaced for each flight, but it leaves the question — how to protect these valuable components from the corrosive effects of salt water?

Larry Price, Lockheed Martin’s Orion deputy program manager, explained that Orion’s design locates the majority of these electronics not only in the crew module, but within the pressurized section of the crew module in which the astronauts ride. This chamber is able to withstand the vacuum of space, and will also serve to keep out salty ocean water upon returning to Earth.

Equipment that has to be outside the pressurized section of the crew module, like exterior sensors or docking cameras, will be sealed to minimize damage from water as well as dust and micrometeors in space.

A major exception is the crew module’s heat shield, which is designed to be consumed as the vessel re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, thereby shielding the crew module from the heat of re-entry.

What’s more, all of the Orion’s component parts have been designed to be as generic as possible, so that between the craft’s first test flight in 2014 and its projected Mars voyage in the 2030s, the spacecraft can be upgraded as new technologies become available.

“If the vehicle’s designed to be viable for 30 years, you want to be able to upgrade these components when advances are made,” Price said, explaining that if one component is upgraded — or discontinued — the whole system won’t have to be redesigned.

While the crew module is designed to be almost entirely reusable, Orion’s service module is a different story.

For Orion’s first few flights, the service module will be detached just before the crew module re-enters the atmosphere, and is expected to burn up as it falls.

But further down the line, it may be possible to refurbish the service module as well. Price talked hypothetically about outfitting the service module with sensors so that it could stay in orbit as a satellite after detaching from the crew module. This way, it could be refilled with fuel for future missions in space. Then, future crew modules could be launched separately, to rendezvous with the service module outside the atmosphere.

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

What is a Moon tree?

Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the United States Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. On January 31, 1971 commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission.

While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the Command/Service Module, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon. Ed Cliff, who was the Chief of the Forest Service at the time, proposed an idea to Roosa. This lead to taking about 500 seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees.

via KTS

(via knowledgethroughscience)

Wernher von Braun | Rocket Pioneer

“I am convinced that before the year 2000 is over, the first child will have been born on the moon.” — Taped TV Interview, broadcast on WMAL Washington, Jan. 7, 1972

Well-known as the leader of the American rocket team, which sought the launch astronauts into space, Wernher von Braun initially designed rockets for his native country of Germany during World War II. What led him to the United States, and why was he able to provide the boost necessary for sending men to the moon?

Early life
Wernher von Braun was born in Wirsitz, Germany, on March 23, 1912. The son of a Prussian baron, von Braun was the second of three sons of an aristocratic family. Young von Braun took an interest in the science fiction of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, but it wasn’t until he read the writings of the father of German rocketry, Hermann Oberth, that he applied himself to physics and mathematics, subjects he had previously struggled with in school.

He enrolled at the Berlin Institute of Technology, where he would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. As a student, he joined the German Society for Space Travel, and worked with Oberth on liquid-fueled rocket tests. Von Braun went on to attend the University of Berlin, where he attained his doctorate in physics in 1934.

By that time, his group had successfully launched two rockets that reached heights of over 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers). When the German government forbade rocket tests, the only way for von Braun to continue working with rockets was through the military.

“There is just one thing I can promise you about the outer-space program: your tax dollar will go farther.” — Reader’s Digest, 1961

A military career
In the late 1930s, von Braun began working as the technical director at the rocket research station at Peenemunde, in northeastern Germany. Studying the rocket designs of the American father of rocketry, Robert Goddard, von Braun’s team developed the V-2 rocket.

He later recalled for a NASA history report that “[Goddard’s] rockets … may have been rather crude by present-day standards, but they blazed the trail and incorporated many features used in our most modern rockets and space vehicles.”

Able to reach speeds of more than 3,500 mph (5,633 kph), the 46-foot, 27,000-pound (14 meters, 12,250 kilograms) V-2 rocket could carry warheads 500 miles (805 km). First used in September 1944, more than 5,000 were aimed at Britain. Of these, only 1,100 arrived on target, but they killed almost 3,000 people and injured thousands more. D-Day allowed the Allies to capture the launch sites of the rockets, ending the bombardment.

In 1944, von Braun was arrested by his government on charges of delaying or sabotaging the weapons program. He was eventually released after convincing them that he had been putting his efforts into the further development of rockets as weapons.

At the close of WWII, von Braun and his rocket team, including his brother, surrendered to the U.S. Army.

Von Braun’s involvement with the Nazi party, and the atrocities that occurred in Germany, are still being debated. After his surrender, he issued several statements that his role in the National Socialist Party was undertaken only because to refuse would have ended his career.

Similarly, rocket-building facilities in Germany utilized concentration camp prisoners to assemble the weapons. Statements by von Braun indicate that he knew about the horrible conditions but felt any attempts to improve them would be futile, possibly putting himself in danger.

“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Changing sides
After coming to the United States, von Braun worked with the Army on the development of ballistic missiles. He became the technical director of the Army’s Ballistic Missile Agency in Alabama in 1952, where he aided in the production and launching of the Redstone, Juno, Jupiter-C, and Pershing rockets. The Redstone rocket eventually carried Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom into space for the first and second American suborbital flights.

In 1947, von Braun returned to Germany to marry Maria Luise von Quistorp, and to bring her and his parents back to America. The couple had three children. In 1955, von Braun became a U.S. citizen.

After the 1957 launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik, the first manmade object to enter space, von Braun and his team assembled and launched the first American satellite, Explorer 1, on Jan. 31, 1958.

In 1960, von Braun and his team left the employ of the Army to join the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Serving as director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, von Braun oversaw the development of the Saturn I, IB, and V. The Saturn V rocket lifted all of the Apollo lunar missions into space.

Von Braun served as NASA’s deputy associate administrator for planning from 1970 until he resigned in 1972. He served as vice president of the aerospace company, Fairchild Industries, and founded the National Space Institute, a private industry seeking to gain support and understanding of space industries.

Von Braun died on June 16, 1977, at the age of 65.

“I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution.”

via space.com

(Source: facebook.com)

Super Moon
— June 23, 2013

Be sure to look out for the Moon these next few months as it approaches Perigee, because the full moons during these times will appear exceptionally large. The Moon will be at its Perigee, or closest approach, in June 23 and it will reach full moon only a few minutes after it passes this point in its orbit.

These ‘super moons’ not only appear larger because they are physically closer but, combined with a full moon, the mind can play tricks on you to think they are much larger. This phenomena is called the Moon Illusion. Try to catch these full moons as they rise/set because the illusion works when there is an object in the foreground, like a tree, building or mountains.

Stargazing Events for 2013

The largest full moon this year is coming up!

And to clear some things up. Yes, the top image is exaggerated and the moon won’t be a menacing object in the sky on the 23rd. No, it’s not going to come out of nowhere and dominate the sky and create destructive tides, though the tides will be affected but it’s nothing to worry about. The moon will appear large as it approaches full moon and even next months full moon will still appear large, however it will be a few percents smaller. The best time to see it will be between the afternoon of the 22nd and before sunrise on the 23rd (it reaches full moon on the morning of the 23rd technically).

inb4 people on facebook being super pissed when the moon doesn’t look like the first picture.

via the-science-llama

(via abcstarstuff)

This is what happens when I actually have money to spend. Oh, and yes, Space Hop (1977) is as awesome and as fun as it looks. I recovered the books and this amazing vintage game at Retro Addicts, just a block or so away from me in York, PA, so a big thank you to them for keeping their items and treasures so well preserved!

Space Hop is a board game published by Teaching Concepts and designed by Helmut Wimmer, a resident artist at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. It is an educational game designed to teach children about the stars and planets. (Wiki)

Moon Radiation Findings Reduce Astronaut Health Risks

Space scientists from the Univ. of New Hampshire (UNH) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) report that data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show lighter materials like plastics provide effective shielding against the radiation hazards faced by astronauts during extended space travel. The finding could help reduce health risks to humans on future missions into deep space.

Aluminum has always been the primary material in spacecraft construction, but it provides relatively little protection against high-energy cosmic rays and can add so much mass to spacecraft that they become cost-prohibitive to launch.

The scientists have published their findings online in the American Geophysical Union journal Space Weather. The work is based on observations made by the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) on board the LRO spacecraft. Lead author of the paper is Cary Zeitlin of the SwRI Earth, Oceans, and Space Department at UNH. Co-author Nathan Schwadron of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space is the principal investigator for CRaTER.

Says Zeitlin, “This is the first study using observations from space to confirm what has been thought for some time—that plastics and other lightweight materials are pound-for-pound more effective for shielding against cosmic radiation than aluminum. Shielding can’t entirely solve the radiation exposure problem in deep space, but there are clear differences in effectiveness of different materials.”

The plastic-aluminum comparison was made in earlier ground-based tests using beams of heavy particles to simulate cosmic rays. “The shielding effectiveness of the plastic in space is very much in line with what we discovered from the beam experiments, so we’ve gained a lot of confidence in the conclusions we drew from that work,” says Zeitlin. “Anything with high hydrogen content, including water, would work well.”

The space-based results were a product of CRaTER’s ability to accurately gauge the radiation dose of cosmic rays after passing through a material known as “tissue-equivalent plastic,” which simulates human muscle tissue. Prior to CRaTER and recent measurements by the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars rover Curiosity, the effects of thick shielding on cosmic rays had only been simulated in computer models and in particle accelerators, with little observational data from deep space.

The CRaTER observations have validated the models and the ground-based measurements, meaning that lightweight shielding materials could safely be used for long missions, provided their structural properties can be made adequate to withstand the rigors of spaceflight.

Since LRO’s launch in 2009, the CRaTER instrument has been measuring energetic charged particles — particles that can travel at nearly the speed of light and may cause detrimental health effects — from galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events. Fortunately, Earth’s thick atmosphere and strong magnetic field provide adequate shielding against these dangerous high-energy particles.

via laboratoryequipment

There is no darkness (by Think North)

via thinknorth

(via crookedindifference)