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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.
Review: Masterminds by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
On sale now…
Never let it be said that we don’t get around to each and every review book sent to us… eventually. Such is the case with this week’s featured review, Masterminds by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, out from WMG Publishing. A Retrieval Artist novel and the final climatic installment of the Anniversary Day saga, Masterminds brings the action-packed saga to its thrilling conclusion. Fans of this saga and this space will recall our reviews of Blowback, A Murder of Clones, Search & Recovery, The Peyti Crisis, Vigilantes and Starbase Human.
Masterminds brings all of the plot threads of the saga together. The Alliance may have survived the initial Anniversary Day attacks and the Peyti Crisis, but now it faces something even more sinister. Enter Moon security Chief Noelle DeRicci, who must piece together the puzzle of the past, only to come face to face with a final crisis. Retrieval Artist Miles Flint also makes a shocking discovery of the hidden connections from his own daughter’s past of a man with clues to the original bombings. The Masterminds and their motives for their attack on Armstrong Station on Earth’s Moon may finally be revealed, but is it too late to prevent a final decimating strike?
Meanwhile, a custodian makes a discovery far below the surface of the Moon on a routine inspection of the dome, a finding that, while hard for anyone to believe, may have dire implications as well.
Rusch does a great job weaving in action, mystery and political intrigue of galactic proportions in the Anniversary Day saga. We thoroughly enjoyed the series overall, and found that, like a good meal, it’s a series of books that is worth savoring a little at a time.
Word of note on this review: we actually received this one as a hard copy review some years ago, before perusing the nomadic lifestyle full time. These days, only .pdf and e-books can find us on the road, and that’s mainly what we request from publishers for review. When we placed all of our worldly belongings in our Florida storage unit a few years back, we discovered a handful of as yet unreviewed hard copy books remained. (Kids: in the olden days, �books� were processed plant-flesh with ink stamped on them). We made a resolution to read, review and then release these final copies to the wild over time. Masterminds is the last of that era.
Post- post script: Finally, we’d like to mention that, due to a secret squirrel project, we’re throttling Astroguyz down to one post a month, on the first Friday of the month. These gems will continue to be musings, interesting tidbits, reviews and all the other Astroguyz stuff you’ve come to know and love. Hey, we just passed the 10 year mark for this blog earlier this year. Back in 2007, we all had Blackberries, no one was on social media yet, and blogging was still a �new thing.� Gigs have come and gone for us, though this space has always been a handy place to put those ideas out that just didn’t fit the mold anywhere else.
More to come!