Comentariolus

nasasapod: Curiosity Drops In Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Univ....

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:03:21 -0400

Curiosity Drops In
Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Univ. of Arizona, HiRise-LPL

Explanation: Just as it captured the Phoenix lander parachuting to Mars in 2008, the HiRise camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) snapped this picture of the Curiosity rover’s spectacular descent toward its landing site on August 5 (PDT). The nearly 16 meter (51 foot) wide parachute and its payload are caught dropping through the thin martian atmosphere above plains just north of the sand dune field that that borders the 5 kilometer high Mt. Sharp in Gale Crater. The MRO spacecraft was about 340 kilometers away when the image was made. From MRO’s perspective the parachute is flying at an angle to the surface so the landing site itself does not appear below it. Dangling from tethers and still about 3 kilometers above Mars, Curiosity and its rocket powered sky crane have not yet been deployed.

nasasapod: A Wheel on Mars Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/Mars...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:25:57 -0400

nasasapod:

A Wheel on Mars
Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/Mars Science Laboratory

Explanation: A wheel attached to NASA’s Curiosity rover is firmly on the martian surface in this early picture from the Mars Science Laboratory mission, captured after a successful landing on August 5, 2012 at 10:32pm (PDT). Seen at the lower right of a Hazard Avoidance Camera fisheye wide-angle image, the rover’s left rear wheel is 50 centimeters (about 20 inches) in diameter. Part of a spring hinge for the camera’s dust cover is just visible in the right corner, while at the upper left is part of the rover’s RTG power source. Lookinginto the Sun across the rock stewn surface of Mars, distant hills on the right are the rim of Gale Crater, about 20 kilometers from the compact car-sized rover’s current resting place.

ffalseastronomy: Risen

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:15:42 -0400

ffalseastronomy:

Risen

rimages: The Astronomer (1668) - Johannes Vermeer

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:18:18 -0400

rimages:

The Astronomer (1668) - Johannes Vermeer

I don’t know, Carl, because there are people who...

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:10:10 -0400

I don’t know, Carl, because there are people who don’t have access to proper education, and when they do, their culture cultivated an intellectual ostracism for so long that they don’t know how to regulate information input properly.

"Cosmos” is a Greek word for the order of the universe. It is, in a way, the opposite of “Chaos.” It..."

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:05:39 -0400

““Cosmos” is a Greek word for the order of the universe. It is, in a way, the opposite of “Chaos.” It implies the deep interconnectedness of all things. It conveys awe for the intricate and subtle way in which the universe is put together.””

- Carl Sagan (via petit-philosophe)

"Others—for example Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein—considered God to be essentially the sum total..."

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:03:42 -0400

“Others—for example Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein—considered God to be essentially the sum total of the physical laws which describe the universe. I do not know of any compelling evidence for anthropomorphic patriarchs controlling human destiny from some hidden celestial vantage point, but it would be madness to deny the existence of physical laws.”

- Carl Sagan (via unbearablevastness)

Photo

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:01:12 -0400

Photo

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:52:02 -0400

sagansense: Space is expensive, space is dangerous, space is...

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:51:47 -0400

sagansense:

Space is expensive, space is dangerous, space is exciting, and space is awesome! Before I was born, we landed a man on the moon. This accomplishment launched an entire generation of scientists, engineers, and technological enthusiasts, at every educational level from high school to P.H.D. Since before I can remember, I was always enamored with space. I watched television
shows and movies like Star Trek, Star Wars, the Outer Limits, and Babylon 5. Whenever there was a new space show on TV, I was there to watch it succeed or fail.

Looking back, it feels like I had a claim to the “Space” section of my elementary school library. I was always renting the eyewitness space books and reading about the solar system. When news
broke while I was in third grade that there might be a “Planet X,” it was all the rage. We didn’t care about who was president or what the country’s economic woes were. We were hearing about engineering breakthroughs with the International Space Station, shuttle launches, and plans for NASA’s new space plane.

That was just the 1990s. I can’t begin to imagine what life was like for the kids in the 60s, growing up and watching us send a man to space for the first time, landing a man on the moon, and broadcasting video back to an eager earth, far away.

It is 2012. We have no space shuttle, no space plane, and no lift vehicle at all. We are left with virtually no manned space program. We have been reduced to hitching a ride with our former sworn enemy and still corrupt Russian government, to get to the International Space Station. Is this the mark of a great nation; a nation of innovators, pioneers, explorers, and dreamers? I don’t think so.

As a film maker I have taken on the task of exploring this problem, gathering the evidence, and showing the people that our space program is worth fighting for.

We want you to “Fight for Space” in your own way:

• Care about the environment and climate change? Venus is a great example of a runaway greenhouse effect that we need to study. Mars used to have running water and now has none.Why did this happen? Fight for Space.

• Do you have an American flag hanging from your porch? Do you fly it for national pride? We are a United States of Innovators, Pioneers, and Dreamers. We will not settle for second best in anything. Fight for Space.

• Economy getting you down? Maybe you lost your job or you have a friend who lost his or her job. You think tax breaks or government hand outs are going to save you? Think again. The fundamental disease is that this nation that we call home lacks ambition. The ambition to innovate and dream big, dreams has driven this country since day one. Fight for Space.

• Double NASA’s budget? Sounds like a great idea but the problem isn’t just money, it is a the lack of a goals that is holding us back. We believe in a stronger NASA budget, but it must be properly controlled to maximize it’s effect. Without a vision we will go nowhere.

Fight for Space.

Sincerely,

Paul Hildebrandt
Director

sagan-naut: Aldrin descending the LM ladder (Image Credit:...

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:49:40 -0400

sagan-naut:

Aldrin descending the LM ladder

(Image Credit: NASA)

sagan-naut: Aldrin’s boot print on the lunar surface (Image...

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:49:26 -0400

sagan-naut:

Aldrin’s boot print on the lunar surface

(Image Credit: NASA)

lsquare28: americanrepublic: Here Men From The Planet Earth...

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:45:58 -0400

lsquare28:

americanrepublic:

Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We Came in Peace For All Mankind.

Inscription on the plaque left on the surface of the Moon commemorating Apollo 11

When will we return?

Photo

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:40:32 -0400

expose-the-light: Light of the Night by Alexander Semenov

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:09:17 -0400

expose-the-light:

Light of the Night by Alexander Semenov

looking-at-the-universe: VDB 141 Nebula

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:05:12 -0400

looking-at-the-universe:

VDB 141 Nebula

galaxyshmalaxy: Orion

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:59:29 -0400

galaxyshmalaxy:

Orion

kerningthings: Food for thought. Sun & Earth.

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:58:56 -0400

kerningthings:

Food for thought. Sun & Earth.

Photo

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:58:17 -0400

leviathan8: Voyager 1: Neptune Great Dark Spot This...

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:57:54 -0400

leviathan8:

Voyager 1: Neptune Great Dark Spot

This photograph shows the last face on view of the Great Dark Spot that Voyager made. The image shows feathery white clouds that overlie the boundary of the dark and light blue regions. The pinwheel (spiral) structure of both the dark boundary and the white cirrus suggest a storm system rotating counterclockwise. Periodic small scale patterns in the white cloud, possibly waves, are short lived and do not persist from one Neptunian rotation to the next.

Image Credit:NASA/JPL