Click to access and enlarge PDF version of map showing visibility of 2012 transit of Venus. Courtesy of Fred Espenak (NASA GSFC), who provides additional transit of Venus data from NASA.
copyright nasa
History-Science-Interesting
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully berthed with the International Space Station this morning after a long overnight approach including several unplanned maneuvers. The crew at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, concluded a long night of flight demonstrations and troubleshooting by watching astronaut Don Pettit control the station’s robotic arm and grapple the Dragon at 6:56 a.m. PDT.
ISS Welcomes SpaceX Dragon — First Private Spacecraft at Station | Autopia | Wired.com.
SpaceX Falcon9 launch
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to begin a demonstration flight. Credit: NASA TV
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered into space and delivered a Dragon cargo capsule into orbit May 22, 2012. The launch began an ambitious mission to show that the company is ready to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.
SpaceX launches Falcon 9/Dragon on historic mission – Astronomy Magazine.
Barred Owl
Photo by Maslowski Wildlife Productions.
The classic “eight hooter,” the barred owl lives in old forests and woods along rivers, swamps, and lakes. The nest is typically in a deep hollow in a dead tree but is sometimes in old crow or hawk nests. It feeds on small mammals and invertebrates, frequently sharing a territory with red-shouldered hawks. The call, perhaps the most famous among North American owls, consists of eight sharp hoots, almost always written as who-cooks-for-you who-cooks-for-you-alllll, the last note slurred and dropping. They also give a variety of clucks, whistles, barks, and bill snapping noises, especially when an observer is near the nest. Rarely seen, it is sometimes heard calling during the day in spring. The most frequent daytime call is the last note of the common vocalization, the hoo-alll, given once or twice. Barred owls are more common than most people think but their dependence on old forests and riparian habitat makes them vulnerable.
I’ve heard this owl over in the Greenway, heard the call during the day lately and there are red shouldered hawks there as well. Older forest with lots of dead trees, many with holes that could be used as nests.
Barred Owl :: Bird Identification Guide :: Bird Watcher’s Digest.
The scientific term for the Super Moon is “perigee moon.” The perigee moon occurs when the moon’s elliptical orbit is closest to the earth. During the night of May 5-6, the full moon reached perigee and it should have appeared 14% bigger and 30% brighter (than a full moon at apogee, farthest away).
The supermoon of March 19, 2011 (right), compared to an average moon of December 20, 2010 (left). Will you be able to notice with your eye alone that tonight’s full moon is bigger or brighter than usual? Astronomers say no, but it’ll be fun to stand outside under tonight’s full moon and know the moon is closer than it has been since March 19, 2011. Image Credit: Marco Langbroek, the Netherlands, via Wikimedia Commons.
At perigee, the moon lies only 356,955 kilometers (221,802 miles) away. Later this month, on May 19, the moon will swing out to apogee – its farthest point for the month – at 406,448 kilometers (252,555 miles) distant.
Even the proximity of full moon with perigee in today’s moon isn’t all that rare. The extra-close moon in all of these years – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 – finds the full moon taking place within an hour or so of lunar perigee. More often than not, the closest perigee of the year comes on the day that the full moon and perigee coincide.
How often does the full moon coincide with perigee? Closest full moons recur in cycles of 14 lunar (synodic) months, because 14 lunar months almost exactly equal 15 returns to perigee. A lunar month refers to the time period between successive full moons, a mean period of 29.53059 days. An anomalistic month refers to successive returns to perigee, a period of 27.55455 days. Hence:
14 x 29.53059 days = 413.428 days
15 x 27.55455 days = 413.318 days
This time period is equal to about 1 year, 1 month, and 18 days. The full moon and perigee will realign again on June 23, 2013, because the 14th full moon after today’s full moon will fall on that date.
Moon closest to Earth
| Year | Date | Distance |
| 2011 | March 19 | 356,575 km |
| 2012 | May 6 | 356,955 km |
| 2013 | June 23 | 356,991 km |
| 2014 | August 10 | 356,896 km |
| 2015 | September 28 | 356,877 km |
Looking further into the future, the perigee full moon on November 14, 2016 (356,509 km) will even be closer than the one on March 19, 2011 (356,575 km). The perigee full moon will come closer than 356,500 kilometers for the first time in the 21st century on November 25, 2034 (356,446 km). The closest moon of the 21st century will fall on December 6, 2052 (356,421 km).
Just finished this audiobook, gives you something to think about. Also, I read that back in 2007 they said it was going to be made into a movie, along with Enders Game also by Card. Enders Game is suppose to be out in 2013 but Hidden Empire (sequel to Empire) is possibly going to be the movie that is made and will tell the story of both books.
The book follows U.S. Army Major Reuben Malich and U.S. Army Captain Bartholomew Coleman, both former Special Forces officers, as America falls into a civil war after the assassinations of both the American President and Vice President. A radical leftist army calling itself the Progressive Restoration takes over New York City and declares itself the rightful government of the United States.
when I finished the book, Scott Card, talked about people on both political sides (left, right) only condemn the fanatics on the other side, not the ones on theirs. Basically stating that if everyone were more moderate, accepted each other and didn’t feel that another’s opinion and feelings are harmfull to their feelings that things would be a lot better, I tend to agree.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The USS Salt Lake City, a fast-attack nuclear submarine, has been deactivated by the Navy.
The deactivation ceremony was held on Wednesday at Naval Base Point Loma, Calif., the home port for the sub that spent 21 years patrolling the globe.
About a dozen members of the 716 Club — a Salt Lake City group named for the boat’s number — and Salt Lake City Councilman Carlton Christensen made the trip to submarine base on Point Loma for the ceremony.
They joined dignitaries, guests and the 140 all-male crew in watching the Salt Lake City’s commissioning pennant, ensign and jack hauled down for the last time.
Later this fall, the submarine will make a final journey under the North Pole ice cap to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire, where it will have another formal decommissioning ceremony before being dismantled.
Some interesting molecular jewelry, my favorites based on how much I like the particular things made of the molecules depicted, Alcohol and Caffeine. The model is quite beautiful as well.
Caffeine and Alcohol
Effects of drugs on spider webs, well actually the spiders making the webs
The newfound comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). Image courtesy Henry Hsieh, PS1
via National Geographic New Comet Found; May Be Visible From Earth in 2013.
Maybe you’ve seen Vi Hart’s cool video about SpongeBob’s house. Go watch it, I’ll wait…
pretty dumb things – 13 ways of looking at an abortion
Thirty-nine years ago, the decision known as the Supreme Court handed down the decision known as Roe v. Wade, giving American women the legal right to abortion.
Saw this today and realized I should write about this. I’ve not had any abortions myself but I have been responsible for the fact that two women in my life have.
In College I was dating a gal- TH in my Sophomore year and she became pregnant, I was quite naive and that’s no excuse but she was only the second girl I had ever had sex with and I’m guessing she wasn’t on the pill. Found out later that we were just winging it and she was using the rhytumn method which is really not very reliable. I took her to the clinic and picked her up afterwards, I remember the price was about $200-300 dollars and it was done @ the local Planned Parenthood clinic, no one was picketing or anything at the time in 1980 or so.
The second time was about 4 years later, first year out of college I think or maybe second. AS was my first girlfriend out of school, had my own apartment and interestingly enough we didn’t really live together at all. I don’t really remember sleeping over a lot either. She had had several abortions herself since she didn’t want me to see the form she filled out with how many she had in the past. Interestingly, I found out later that she adopted when she got married, not sure if that had anything to do with the abortions or if she just DIDN’T want to deliver a baby through her vagina. Either way wouldn’t matter to me.
If I had married either of these women my life would be a LOT different than it is now, not sure if it’s better or worse.
via pretty dumb things.
I’ve been wanting to do this so I figured I would take a stab at it.
measuring my macro setup magnification ratio
So, this shows about 30/64 = 0.469’s of an inch across the sensor, or 0.469 * 25.4 = 11.91 or 12mm
The D700 sensor is 36 x 23.9 mm. so the ratio of 36mm : 12mm is ===== 3:1 or 3X magnification
This is using my 150mm Sigma lens with a Sigma 2x converter and a 36mm Kenko extension tube. I could get more with the 60mm Nikon Macro if I still had one.
this pleasantly frustrating statistics question was recently seen on a chalkboard somewhere:
via astropixie.
Scientists at CERN, the world’s largest physics lab, announced a startling finding yesterday that would be enough to make Albert Einstein roll over in his grave: Subatomic particles, called neutrinos, have been found to be traveling faster than the speed of light.
Einstein
CERN scientists are now asking others to verify the measurements before claiming the discovery to be true.
“The feeling that most people have is this can’t be right, this can’t be real,” said James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN.
Rob Plunkett, a scientist at Fermilab, one of only two labs in the world that can try to replicate CERN’s results, says he’s keeping an open mind, but “it’s dangerous to lay odds against Einstein. Einstein has been tested repeatedly over and over again.”
Post science writer Joel Achenbach says that he’s sticking with Einstein, at least for now, because:
Einstein’s theory… isn’t based primarily on measurements.
Einstein’s theory emerged from thought experiments. It was a deep insight into the nature of the universe. Subsequent experiments for more than a century have verified that he was right.
For the new finding to carry a lot of weight, it would need more than an instrumental measurement. It would need a theoretical foundation. Otherwise you have something that is enigmatic rather than revolutionary.
When CERN clocked the neutrino beam, it was traveling 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists put the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds, making the difference significant.
If the results are confirmed, they won’t change how we live or how the universe behaves. But it will shake the very foundation of what we believe.
via Neutrinos may have traveled faster than the speed of light – BlogPost – The Washington Post.
OK, it’s 9/11 again, the 10th Anniversary. And that’s all I’m really going to say about it.
Here’s a way to kill a few minutes at work.  This not-so-little infographic was made by Michigan State Professor Phillip Howard outlines who owns beer.  Dotted lines define partial ownership or distribution.  P.S. It’s a huge graphic. Click here for full size image. You might want to save and view.  Happy reading.  [DraftMag]
via [INFOGRAPHIC] Who Owns Beer? | Beer Street Journal.
A Very cute Mathematician Vi Hart, http://vihart.com, yeah cute and a nerd, I want one.
