Saturn And Mars

I watched an episode of PBS' Nova recently titled, "Voyage to the Mystery Moon". It was the story of NASA's Cassini mission to explore Saturn and land on its enormous moon, Titan. Very cool show about a pretty fascinating project. I am definitely very interested in space and space exploration.

Well, that show led me to do a bit more research on the internets, and while there, I discovered that right now (at least where we live) you can look up in the western sky, just after sunset, and see Saturn and Mars really really close together. It's pretty cool. You should try it.

This article gives a bit more detail, but it's basically July 9-11 that the planets will appear to be close together in the sky.

So if it's a nice night where you are (and you're near where we are) get out and enjoy the view!

Interesting Articles: Space, The Web & Miracles

I found a couple articles that interested me in my news feed this morning...

One Small Step Toward a Mars Landing ... at Sea
Reid Stowe is a "professional adventurer" (what exactly is that?) who is 100 days into a 1000 day stay on a small boat in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. His goal is to help NASA prepare for what it will be like to have a very small group of people on a small vessel for close to three years. Interesting research project. He also has a website aptly named 1000 Days At Sea.


How Mark Zuckerberg Turned Facebook Into the Web's Hottest Platform
With my recent delve into the world of Facebook (finding and reconnecting with friends whom I have not had any contact with for over 20 years!) I noticed this headline, and found the article quite interesting. I had heard earlier that Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, had refused a $1 Billion purchase offer, but did not know the rest. Including the estimate that Facebook is now worth at least $5 Billion. Good job, Mark.

'Minor Miracle' For Everett
This is the best article, at least regarding the substance of its content. As you likely know, Buffalo Bills TE Kevin Everett suffered a life-threatening spinal injury on Sunday during the Bills/Broncos game. We were there. It was awful. Even worse was the report from the doctor who performed surgery the next day. (Watch Monday's press conference at BuffaloBills.com.) But last night, reports began surfacing that Everett was able to move his arms and legs, and doctors are actually optimistic that he will walk out of the hospital. That's just insane!

If it's true.

I would suggest guarded excitement as I am having trouble corroborating this story. There are no updates on BuffaloBills.com, which is extremely suspicious. I'll keep digging, but the linked article above does seem quite hopeful, and credits a few trustworthy sources. We shall see. From what I heard on Monday, even Kevin's survival is a "minor miracle".

More Kevin Everett Links:

• Send Kevin a Message of Support
  
• Shocked, Soaked, and Sad (from BuffaloBillsReview.com)
  
• Week One Overview: Some Highs, Too Many Lows (from BuffaloBillsReview.com)

Cool Lunar Eclipse

I was listening to the Science@NASA podcast last night and heard about an upcoming sky event your folks in the western US might be interested in knowing about. Actually, I guess it will be visible from most everywhere except Europe and Africa. But the Western US will have a fairly good view of the total lunar eclipse.

Here's what the NASA story says about the event:

The event begins 54 minutes past midnight PDT (0754 UT) on August 28th when the Moon enters Earth's shadow. At first, there's little change. The outskirts of Earth's shadow are as pale as the Moon itself; an onlooker might not even realize anything is happening. But as the Moon penetrates deeper, a startling metamorphosis occurs. Around 2:52 am PDT (0952 UT), the color of the Moon changes from moondust-gray to sunset-red. This is totality, and it lasts for 90 minutes.

So, if you're feeling like pulling a late night (or all nighter?) seems like a cool reason to do it! And we here on the eastern side of the country will see it too, it will just be cut short by the sun. Oh well. If I can be awake then, I'll be there!

Made It

Well, I made it. After finishing my book, then writing about it a bit here... I did another fun project, and then watched the movie World's Fastest Indian. Good movie.

Well, all of that took me up to about 4:30am. PERFECT for catching a sky full of meteors! :-)

I only saw maybe 6 or 7, but they were pretty cool. Unfortunately, there was a bit of cloud cover. But when there were holes, I saw some meteors! And, I did get a nice view of Mars, too.

Well, I suppose I should head to bed now... :-)

By George, You May Be Right!

Tonight as I listened to a podcast about black holes and the research some folks are doing surrounding the somewhat theoretical existence of such things, I thought, "What if we get to heaven and the guys who work so hard to figure out how stuff got started actually turn out to be more right than wrong? That'd surprise AIG a bit..."

I am certain that once things are no longer seen "through a glass dimly", many will be shocked at how things really are. Including me. And I really think it would be neat to find out that God in fact did somehow create these super enormous galaxies with black holes inside of them to somehow balance all that needed balancing in them.

And, regarding the billions of years... what if somehow God did take that long... but somehow also did it in a day? The Bible does reference God being unhindered by time (1000 years is like a day is like 1000 years). It's entirely possible that it is both things simultaneously. I still contend that we just can't know.

But I do love to see all the stuff we do figure out, or at least... sort of figure out. If you'd care to read the article, click the photo above. Pretty cool stuff. (The piranha thing is a bit strange, though...)

I Love The Sky!

I am simply captivated by the sky. I always have been. I love looking at the night sky the most, I'd say... but really anything that happens in the vast expanse is just mesmerizing to me. Various cloud formations, beautiful colors at sunset (not too many sunrises in the ol' memory banks...), and I do especially love the slightly transparent looking moon in the bright blue daytime sky.

Over the past couple weeks there have been some stunning sky-scapes. From the aforementioned dazzling sunsets, featuring a darkening blue sky splashed with orange and pink and purple fades that I would have a hard time duplicating in Photoshop, to some just astounding sun rays. When you have a clear sky except for one fantastically puffy, white cloud... which floats directly in front of the sun... and it's a hazy, humid day... you can get some phenomenal sun rays blasting out from every side of that cloud!


We also saw that rainbow! After a late evening shower, the sun came out again in full force and as the rain passed to the east, the sun setting in the west dazzled all around with a full rainbow that was as vibrant as any I have ever seen. The contrast against the dark blue/gray sky was incredible. I literally was transfixed upon it for the entire 25 minute highway trip home. It was probably a bit dangerous... I couldn't take my eyes off of it!

Then tonight, I took a bag of trash outside and happened to see the nearly full moon. (It's full tomorrow.) Spectacular! Super clear night... the moon was lighting up everything! I decided to try and snap a couple photos, and the above as well as the two below were the best of the bunch! It's pretty hard to get a good clear photo of the moon, I guess!!! I tried various shutter speeds, and the auto modes on the camera... finally got the best photo (I think) when I stood under the street light! Ha! Must have balanced the brightness of the moon somehow.

Well, I don't usually post so many photos, but... had to share these. Hope you enjoy them. Photos can not capture the grandeur of the real thing though.

I do love the sky. :-)

A Long Time Ago... In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Talk about fireworks... Wired News today posted this article about some 4th of July fireworks from what is now known as the Crab Nebula. But this was not a recent 4th of July... it was in the year 1054!!! Ha! Awesome.

We're hoping to catch some more modern fireworks tonight... if the rain lets up. Then off to visit family in Ohio for the weekend tomorrow!

Enjoy the article, and happy 4th of July!

From The Earth To The Moon

We just finished watching "From the Earth to the Moon", an HBO mini-series, and it was fantastic. The language was too much for our tiny kids (and, well, I didn't like it much either...) but the story form of this incredible time in history was very well done. It's 12 parts on 4 discs. And, it's great! :-) We highly recommend.

The one very cool thing I noticed was just how many people it took to make that happen. They did a great job of conveying that. From the 3 astronauts per mission each having vital, essential roles, to their fourth astronaut (Mission Control in Houston, which was a couple dozen MORE people who were each vital to the mission) ... it was all about team work. It could not have happened without all of those people.

And of course you can go beyond that... lots more people involved, including the companies who made the stuff that got us to the moon, and all of the people that worked together to make that happen.

It was just very obvious that even though only 24 men made the trip to the moon (so far), it was hundreds, maybe thousands? who made it possible. Life is not meant to be lived alone, and you certainly can't do super cool things like go hang out on the moon by yourself! It was a cool, vivid example of team work in action.

So, if foul language is offensive, perhaps you can borrow someone's TV Guardian... but it's an amazing reenactment of history. Incredible history. Add it to your Netflix queue today!

(A little side note. As you are probably aware, I am a big fan of space exploration. I really believe that NASA is getting ready to do this again. We don't have a "Cold War" to fuel public interest as much as in the 60s, but we are going to do some pretty amazing things in the next decade or two. In the coming decade, NASA plans to go back to the moon... and set up camp there. In the 2010s (and into the 20s) NASA is planning to send people to MARS. It could be much the same as July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong first put his boot on the moon. Stay tuned...)

Race To The Moon

Last night I watched an hour-long PBS special (via Netflix) called "Race To The Moon". It's certainly another recommended addition to your queue. The story is just incredible. How in the world did we pull that off in the sixties... and we're not going back till 2013 or so???

The video is about Apollo 8, the mission where 3 astronauts went to the moon, orbited 10 times, and returned safely home. The famous Apollo 11 was just 7 (or 9?) months later, when they went the remaining 69 miles to the lunar surface.

A pretty cool part of the trip to the moon was just before they were going to break orbit and head home, they read Genesis chapter one via live broadcast to ... the world, I think! The creation story probably sounded a LOT different from the moon. What a vantage point!

Someday... it would be neat to visit there.... but Jen says I have to wait until she dies. She doesn't want me going while she's still here... :-)

Anyway, regardless of whether I get to visit the moon or not, watching the story of those guys who DID... fascinating.

Add it to the queue today!