Scientists are getting so desperate for the return of sunspots that they are now counting sunspecks. The one on the left is fading away, the one in the middle is a "dead pixel," an artifact of the SOHO spacecraft, and the two on the right are the latest candidates for sunspots. I’m wondering if the lack of activity will mean a cooler-than-usual summer. Well, I can dream, anyhow, as our daytime temps at the rancho climb steadily into the 90s.
Via Watts Up With That.
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Weather/Climate
Tagged SOHO, sunspecks, sunspots, Watts Up With That
And, above all, whatever you do, as Douglas Adams would say (did say, in fact): Don’t Panic.
Via Simply Jews.
Comments Off on Happy Belated Towel Day
Posted in Blogosphere, Library, Obituaries, Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Towel Day
The ole Hubble has imaged a lot of strange beasts since it was launched nineteen years ago. This is one of the strangest, part of a slide show collection at The Daily Beast and explained there.
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged Death Star Galaxy, Hubble Space Telescope, The Daily Beast
Watch the STS 125 Atlantis astronauts make the final visit to the Hubble Space Telescope live on NASA TV. It’s hard to overstate the beauty and scientific value of the Hubble’s nineteen years of discoveries.
Enjoy it while you can. As the Seablogger puts it "The remaining shuttles are soon to be retired, and no replacement is likely. I suspect much of the space program will be terminated as health care and other costs overwhelm the federal budget." That does seem likely, and that Barry will be content to grovel in the mud.
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged federal budget, health care costs, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA TV, seablogger, Space Shuttle Atlantis
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Texana
Tagged HET, McDonald Observatory
Or, rather, among Alaskans who live near Mt. Redoubt, the volcano that’s erupted nineteen times since March 22. It’s coated the countryside nearby in something very like moondust: "gritty, abrasive, electrostatically-charged," according to NASA, "giving Alaskans an unexpected taste of what it’s like to live on the Moon."
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Space
Tagged moondust and volcanic ash, Mt. Redoubt
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
