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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.
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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.
Friday Review: The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi by Mark Hodder
On sale this month!
One of our all-time favorite Steampunk series is back in action this month.� In a sub-genre that cries out for a flagship franchise, Mark Hodder�s Burton & Swinburne series more than answers the call. Fans of this site and Mr. Hodder�s work will remember our review of the first three novels in the series, The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack, The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, and Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon, all out from Pyr Books. Also worth checking out from Mr. Hodder and reviewed at this site was the recent A Red Sun Also Rises. This week, we look at the fourth book in the series out this month, The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi.
We love how the alternate timeline of the Burton and Swinburne series mirrors our own. Every novel by Mr. Hodder has sent us to Wikipedia and beyond, reading up and learning of fascinating but little known events of 19th century history. Good steampunk and alternate timeline fiction gives us a context, a reason for all those high-powered Gatling guns, brass-dialed Victorian age computers and metallic butlers. Hodder does this in spades, along with a meticulous attention to actual historic detail.
In this fourth (and hopefully, not final!) installment of the saga, Sir Richard Burton and Algernon Swinburne must confront and uncover the secret to the dead mystical entity of Abdu El Yezdi, who has been tinkering with key points in the timeline hoping to avert the ultimate conflagration that will engulf the European continent early in the 20th century. Real-life historic figures are presented in this alternate timeline world, such as Isambard Brunel & Benjamin Disraeli as well as 19th century occultist Aleister Crowley. �Mention is made of the Great Irish Potato Famine (brought on by genetic tinkering in the book) and the U.S. Civil War as well as the Carrington Super Flare event of 1859 which sparked aurorae seen as far south as the Caribbean.
Hodder�s Burton & Swinburne tales are one of the most meticulously detailed steampunk worlds, right down to its brass buttons and corsets. One could go right from the 1990 classic movie Mountains of the Moon and envision the altered timeline set about by the events that first unfold in The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack in the first novel. And speaking of which, we�d definitely recommend starting the series off right and reading the books in order!
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack won the 2011 Philip K. Dick award, and the series has kept up the fast paced steam-punk action and quality world-building ever since. The series definitely raises the bar, and there are lots of other places to take the concept. What are an alternate world Edison and H.G. Wells up to? What would Nikolai Tesla unleash with available steam punk tech? This has been a thoroughly entertaining and illuminating series� as amazing as the real life adventures of Sir Richard Burton himself!
Next Week: We look at the true but untold tale of the secret beginning of the Space Race and the invention of hydyne with Rocket Girl!
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