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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
The Algonquin Indians had names for each of the seasonal Full Moons, many of which survive today. The Full Snow Moon pictured occurs in the month of December, when the first large winter storms coat the ground with snow. This Full Moon also tends to fall near the Winter Solstice, and thus rides high in the nightly sky opposite to the Sun on long winter nights.
Every rocket launch is unique, but twilight shuttle launches where by far the most impressive. The image pictured was of the April 5th, 2010 launch of Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center at dawn. The exhaust plume caught the rising Sun overhead just right, and numerous noctilucent clouds persisted right up until sunrise. Unfortunately, space shuttle launches are now relegated to the pages of history.
Review: The Creative Fire by Brenda Cooper.
On sale in November!
Just last week, some amazing news in the fast-paced world of exoplanet discoveries was announced… Alpha Centauri, the nearest stellar system to ours at 4.4 light years distant, harbors a planet. Our neighbor has long been a setting for science fiction drama, from the recently reviewed novel Alpha Centauri by the same name, to the goal of the Robinson Family in Lost in Space, to the office where the Vogons had the plans for the Earth’s destruction on file in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Almost immediately, folks began calculating how long it would take to reach the closest known exoplanet with present technology. Not that you’d want to live on Alpha Centauri Bb; it’s a blistering “hot-Earth” orbiting its host star in only 3.2 days.
Would building an interstellar ark be feasible to traverse such enormous distances? This week’s review, The Creative Fire: Book One of Ruby’s Song by Brenda Cooper looks at one such micro-verse. Out next month courtesy of Pyr Books, The Creative Fire is a fascinating tale of an often overlooked facet of the multi-generational ark concept; how would societies evolve in such a space-borne worldlet? Would they share the same dreams and goals as their ancestors?
We enter this far-flung world through the adventures of Ruby Martin, a “Gray” in a heavily stratified social hierarchy who becomes the flashpoint of a revolution. Think of Ruby as a sort of Katniss Everdeen caught up in an interstellar version of Pan-Em from the Hunger Games. It is interesting that “class warfare” seems to be an increasingly recurring theme in science fiction as of late. Perhaps as an underlying resentment in modern society?
But Ruby’s world is both at once familiar and unimaginable to our own. We thought it fascinating that to the Grays working under the heel of the supervisory Reds and the overseeing Blues, the world of the Creative Fire (the name of the vessel) is the entirety of the universe, a society that imagines very little beyond its hull. As Ruby moves up through the echelons of Red & Blue society, she learns of the history of the vessel, its ancient departure from the mythical world of Adiamo, and tales of attempted revolutions past. Ruby becomes the “cause de célèbre” both for her singing prowess and her symbol as a leader of the resistance. The series will be a fascinating one to watch unfold, as it tackles a timeless theme in an interesting context. Perhaps comparisons to Katniss and Joan of Arc are inevitable, but the tale also parallels the true to life story of Evita Peron. How will a journey of thousands of years shape us as a civilization? What is the ultimate fate of the society aboard the Creative Fire and what is its ultimate destination? This will be an intriguing saga to watch unfurl!
Next week; is that brass refractor in the attic worth anything? We take a look at telescopes of yore from a collector’s perspective with Classic Telescopes by Neil English!