Astronomer Derrick Pitts Discusses "Super Earths"

The possibility of billions of super earth type planets in our own galaxy.



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Carl Sagan | "Wanderers"

From A Tribute to Carl Sagan:



"For all it's material advantages, the sedentery life has left us edgy, unfulfilled.
The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood..."

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Astronomy Beats Out Politics(Mostly) - Island Universe

Island Universe, Coma Cluster



ONLY 320 MILLION light years away!

NASA

My condolences to the family of Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens.

And RIP Patricia Neal...


Going to go play my Hunter(WoW).

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Astronomy Pic of the Day | Galaxies Collide

Not even a hint of a new job in today's emails. But there was this great image from NASA.























The Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light years from Earth, are shown in this composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope (gold), and the Spitzer Space Telescope (red).

The collision, which began more than 100 million years ago and is still occurring, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas in the galaxies. The most massive of these young stars have already sped through their evolution in a few million years and exploded as supernovas.

The X-ray image from Chandra shows huge clouds of hot, interstellar gas that have been injected with rich deposits of elements from supernova explosions. This enriched gas, which includes elements such as oxygen, iron, magnesium and silicon, will be incorporated into new generations of stars and planets. The bright, point-like sources in the image are produced by material falling onto black holes and neutron stars that are remnants of the massive stars. Some of these black holes may have masses that are almost one hundred times that of the Sun.

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Astronomy Pic of the Day - Trifid Nebula

Stars and dust in the Trifid Nebula



Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Trifid Nebula. Also known as M20, this photogenic nebula is visible with good binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The energetic processes of star formation create not only the colors but the chaos. The red-glowing gas results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar hydrogen gas. The dark dust filaments that lace M20 were created in the atmospheres of cool giant stars and in the debris from supernovae explosions...

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Astronomy Pic Of The Day - Blue Mars

Blue Like Mars - Evidence of ice. West-facing side of an impact crater, mid-latitudes Mars' northern hemisphere. From NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:



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Nasa scientists discover evidence That Alien Life Exists On Saturn's Moon Titan

Would you even need to say "alien life" if you're talking about life on another planet(or moon)?
Anyway, I'll bet they're wrong.

Titan: Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exists on Saturn's moon'













Titan: Artist's impression


But I hope they're right.

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Tire Tracks, Empty Planet

More from Mars. Martian Rover Opportunity's tire tracks traverse a vast Martian plain of dunes:



Last week Opportunity surpassed Viking 1 as the longest running mission on Mars, now extending well over six years. Landing in 2004 in Meridiani Planum, the robotic Opportunity has embarked on its longest and most dangerous trek yet, now aiming to reach large Endeavor Crater sometime next year.

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NASA: Phoenix Mars Lander Won't Be Phoning Home

Phoenix Mars Lander has ended operations after repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful. A new image transmitted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows signs of severe ice damage to the lander's solar panels.



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Astronomy Pic of the Day | Coma Cluster of Galaxies

Found here.


Click for higher resolution.
"Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured above is one of the densest clusters known - it contains thousands of galaxies. Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars..."


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Happy Birthday Hubble Telescope!

This amazing image of a stellar nursery is just one of hundreds of such photos taken by The Hubble Telescope since it's launch in 1990.



NASA's Starry-Eyed Hubble Telescope Celebrates 20 Years of Discovery

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Weekend Astronomy Pics| Titan and The Hubble Ultra-Deep

Saturday night's a good time for some classic space pics don't you think? Here's two of my favorites:
The Hubble "Ultra-Deep Field image" is one my top astronomy pics of all time. Millions of galaxies in a small slice of sky. The lights you see are galaxies with billions of stars in each. Many are easily recognizable as galaxies but many aren't, back into the infinite.




















And other worlds; The surface of Titan.



















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Astronomy Pic of the Day | Dust Clouds In Orion

And news of a job!
Logging on for just a moment.
I've been working a full time job. It's just office work, etc. at the local senior citizen's center, but it is full time so I'm now there a lot. My sparse posting lately may be even sparser at times now. This job will do while I continue to look for that good "dream" job:-) I've also been seriously looking into getting a Realtor's license while I look for the dream job. This day and time dream jobs are like lottery winners, few and far between.
Anyhoo I'll be on as much as I can, will keep up with the news and you do the same. It's ALMOST time for March Madness!
And how 'bout my sen. Jim Bunning(R, Asshat)? What a Dickcard, 'ey?

Here's my astronomy pic o' the day:


"..The same type of scattering that colors the daytime sky further enhances the blue color. M78 is about five light-years across and visible through a small telescope. M78 appears above only as it was 1600 years ago, however, because that is how long it takes light to go from there to here. M78 belongs to the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex that contains the Great Nebula in Orion and the Horsehead Nebula."

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Astronomy Pic of the Day | Prometheus From Cassini

The Cassini Spacecraft shot of Saturn's moon Prometheus last week.



More Here.

..Cassini got its closest look yet at Saturn's small moon Prometheus last week. Visible above in an unprocessed image from 36,000 kilometers(23,320+ miles) away, Prometheus' 100-km long surface was revealed to have an interesting system of bulges, ridges, and craters. These features, together with the moon's oblong shape and high reflectivity, are now being studied to help better understand the history of Prometheus and Saturn's rings. Prometheus is one of the few shepherd satellites known, as its gravity, along with its companion moon Pandora, confines many smaller ice chucks into Saturn's F Ring. Cassini's next major targeted flyby is of the moon Rhea on March 2.

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Video - Across The Known Universe, And Back Again

Would I take this trip? I'd love to try.
Even if I couldn't make it back, wouldn't it be just the greatest adventure?
I've always had this unquenched yearning and sadness for the stars.
I used to climb a mountain behind my home when young(er) and take in the gorgeous vista of the stars in their unobstructed glory. And wish...
From the American Museum of Natural History this is The Known Universe. Best to full screen it of course:


It would be good to get back to old Earth again. The cradle of humanity. As Carl Sagan famously called it, "a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam".

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Astronomy Pic of The Day | Art Or Planet, Deposits On Mars

Deposits of silica and iron sulfates in the Valles Marineris of Mars.



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From The Inner Sanctum - The Space Station in HiDef

Daughter Brittany and I are going down to the mountains tomorrow morning for the weekend. Through the trip she'll be watching DVD's, texting(till she runs out of signal) and listening to mp3's. Sometimes all at the same time.:-)
Going to throw up a post or so before bedtime.
Here's a little gem; In honor of the 10th anniversary of the International Space Station NASA is giving away a Calender with pics & information, here.

Here's a HiDef video of the station:



Very homey...You should watch it at the Youtube page.

He's Baaaack! With Astonomy Pics Of The Day!

I'm leaving for a trip down to the mountains in just a few minutes. It's a gorgeous day here..sunny and about 73deg(F). The tree foliage should be fantastics though it's a bit late. I'll be taking pictures, may post a few when I get back. Going by the old cemetery where my parents are buried down there and plant some potted perrenials. This is THE best time of year for that.
Anyway felt like making an appearance on the old Blog, it's sure not like the good ol' days when I was at a computer station at work all day and could post at will..Aah, the "days that are no more".
Before going here's a few latest favorite astronomy pics of the day, with link for description:

Galaxy Cluster JKCS041, at a distance of some 10.2 billion light years. So far away that you're observing it as it was was when the Universe was just one quarter of its current age.


Photo from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit which is basically "Stuck" in the sand on Mars right now. From what was originally going to be a 3 month mission Spirit has worked on Mars for more than 69 months. A lonely life for a little robot on Mars:


And what can you say about Stickney Crater other that Wow.. :


Gotta go! Have a GREAT weekend passerbys and surfers...

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Flying Through Galaxies | The Hubble Ultra Deep Field In 3D

A pretty good video which explains and then enhances using 3D imagery one of the most amazing photos ever made by humanity. The Hubble ultra deep field image




"We pointed the most powerful telescope ever built by human beings at absolutely nothing, for no other reason than because we were curious, and discovered that we occupy a very tiny place in the heavens"

Thanks BoingBoing.

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Hubble Pic | Huge Object Hits Jupiter

Wow..this would have been mass extinctions if it had been Earth instead of Jupiter.

-07/23/09

"This Hubble picture, taken on July 23, by the new Wide Field Camera 3, is the sharpest visible-light picture taken of the atmospheric debris from a comet or asteroid that collided with Jupiter on July 19. This is Hubble's first science observation following its repair and upgrade in May. The size of the impactor is estimated to be as large as several football fields."

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