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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: A New American Space Plan by Travis Taylor.
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We’ve been saddled with an often schizophrenic space initiative. Programs are launched in one political administration only to get cancelled in another. Comprises build mushrooming projects, as the International Space Station is seen by some as a “camel which is a horse built by consensus.” All of this is occurring in an era of change, with ever-dwindling budgets across the board. This is our ying-yang moment of crisis and opportunity. If the author of this week’s review has his way, we’d finally lay out a true long term vision for manned and unmanned space travel…
A New American Space Plan by Travis S. Taylor out from Baen Books is a space travelers manifesto, a wakeup call for America that harkens back to our glory days when scientists, engineers (and yes, sometimes even politicians) dared to dream big. Taylor is the ringleader of the Rocket City Rednecks, a hit television series that pits engineers based around Huntsville, Alabama against some amazing challenges. We have to admit, living in a non-Cable TV/Internet only media land, we’ve yet to see the show, but A New American Space Plan has made us resolve to track it down. We’re in sore need of more “junkyard innovation!”
A New American Space Plan outlines the history of rocket science and contrasts then-and-now along with how other countries approach space travel. The thorny issue of “manned” versus “unmanned” travel is also breeched, always a hot topic in the space flight community. While Neil DeGrasse Tyson has pointed out that “they don’t name schools after robots,” Mary Roach also noted in Packing for Mars that “To an engineer, YOU are a problem.” Humans are needy water-bags that must be fed, oxygenated, entertained and demand a return ticket home.
But Taylor shows us how we could have and build an instant “shake and bake” Mars colony grass-roots style. This is listed out and inventoried in the book, right down to the duct tape and “extremophile enhanced kudzu” (a true southern idea!). To be certain, there are some non-trivial issues to be surmounted in terms of long-duration space flight. But rather than lamenting that things can’t be done, Taylor shows us how they can be done.
The sad thing is, (on our soap box now) we’ve become a risk-adverse society, while simultaneously willing to accept mediocrity and instead “pay the fine” rather than do things right the first time. Apollo 12 launched in a lightning storm; The Voyager spacecraft are still functioning after over 30 years in space. They were meant to work and were over-engineered for survival, versus the 90’s “faster, cheaper, better mantra.” The ironic thing is, we’re actually getting good at space travel now; computers are more powerful than ever, and most rockets don’t explode or splashdown half a world away shortly after launch. No new interplanetary missions left the Earth in 2012, and manned launches from the Florida Space Coast may not resume until 2015 at the earliest (read: more like 2020).
OK, we’re off our soap box now. Read A New American Space Plan to see what a revitalized space initiative could look like, or just to get excited about space again. And in the meantime, all of those space bucks will be spent, right back here on good ol’ planet Earth. Let’s take back our space program!