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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.
Book Review: Hearts of Smoke and Steam
I had a very difficult time putting down Hearts of Smoke and Steam, Book 2 in the Society of Steam and sequel to The Falling Machine. The Paragons were not in such a great state at the end of The Falling Machine, and Lord Eschaton and his Children were making strides. Tom, The Automaton, was undone, and Sarah Stanton had had a falling out with her father, the Paragon known as The Industrialist.
The beginning of this book finds Sarah living on her own without the comforts she’d known her whole life; the greatly diminished Paragons are interviewing to expand their ranks; the Children of Eschaton are also growing in force; and our story is just waiting to unfold.
There is a struggle between good and evil in the beings of fortified steam (The Paragons) and fortified smoke (Lord Eschaton). The Paragon team takes a whipping, but does regain a valuable ally. The Children of Eschaton don’t win the day, but they cause some serious mayhem. The clockwork heart of Tom the Automaton is at the heart of the struggle. Sarah has it; Lord Eschaton wants it.
In the early chapters, Sarah meets a Paragon enthusiast in an incident on a ferry. Emilio Armando helps Sarah in a epic battle against the Child of Eschaton known as Bomb Lance. The excitement of that battle, which starts on the ferry, has Sarah and Emilio traveling up anchor lines to the great blimp from where the attack is housed, and ends with the two crash landing the remains of the vehicle into the junkyard owned and inhabited by Emilio and his sister Viola, is a tenor carried throughout the book.
The cliffhanger ending and the mysterious protagonist known as Anubis call the reader to the next installment of the The Society of Steam as surely as a dinner bell calls family to meals. One must respond, salivating en route. This is a great read. Because the reader is now fully comfortable with the steampunk heroes and villains, I believe it’s an even better read than the first.
I applaud Andrew P. Mayer and his creation of superheroes and supervillains whose abilities are the result of science and mechanics. It makes them more plausible, in my mind, and even more possible. As in real life, it is the nature and experiences of the people using the applications that decides if they’re steampunk alter egos will work for good or evil. Also, as in real life, evil can be turned to a better way of living, and good can be made to step over the line to the dark side.