Thursday, December 30, 2010

Total Lunar Eclipse 2010 Best Video Ever


Here is a high quality video by Bob Johnson of the winter solstice total lunar eclipse of 2010. This is by far one of the best videos I've found. Enjoy.


NASA's Terra Satellite Sees a Snow-Covered Ireland

The Mid-Atlantic and northeastern U.S. are not the only areas dealing with holiday snowfall. Ireland was recently swathed in white on December 22, 2010. When NASA's Terra satellite passed overhead, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a true-color image of the snow. The overnight arrival of 15 cm (6 in) of snow at the Dublin airport forced its closure. Combined with the closure of the City of Derry airport, travel became quite difficult.

MODIS images are created by the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The MODIS instrument flies onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.

Ireland enjoys a "temperate ocean climate" (Cfb) based on the Koopen climate classification system. Such climates normally enjoy cool, cloud-covered summers and mild winters. Ireland’s climate is also moderated by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, which flows off the western shore. Snow commonly falls only in the highest elevations; dustings may occur elsewhere a few times each year. Significant accumulations anywhere in the country are rare.

The winter of 2009-2010 was unusually cold and snowy. Called “The Big Freeze” by the British media, it brought widespread transportation problems, school closings, power failures and twenty five deaths. A low of -22.3°C (-8.1°F) was recorded on January 8, 2010, making it the coldest winter since 1978/79.

Although it has just begun, the winter of 2010-2011 threatens to be just as challenging. The earliest widespread snowfall since 1993 occurred on November 24, primarily affecting Great Britain and Scotland. Two days later snow began to cover Ireland, and the continuing severe weather has taken a toll. It has disrupted air, road and rail travel, closed schools and businesses, and caused power outages. Livestock and horses have had difficulty finding grass to eat, some relying on volunteer feeding efforts for survival. Local temperature records were broken, including a new record low for Northern Ireland of -18.7°C (-2°F) at Castlederg on December 23. As of that date, 20 deaths had been attributed to the winter weather and associated hazards.

Image: The Emerald Isle was swathed in white on December 22, 2010, when the MODIS instrument aboard the Terra satellite passed overhead, capturing this true-color image. Credit: NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team, Jeff Schmaltz

Source: Reprinted news release via NASA 

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Let It Snow! New Jersey Blizzard Time Lapse Video

Check out this awesome time lapse video of a blizzard that hit New Jersey recently. The video was created by Michael Black and he used a Canon DLSR on a tripod that was set to take one picture every 5 minutes.


December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

Click here for more awesome videos

Santa Has A Rocket Ship?

You don't really believe that Santa with his little reindeer's can deliver toys to all the children of the world overnight do you? Well, if you do, I have some bad news for you! Santa and his reindeer's are obsolete! Santa needs to step it up a notch to keep up with the world's growing population. That's why, this year, he ditched the reindeer's and tried out another way of doing things. A rocket ship! Sorry Rudolf, but your nose just ain't that bright anymore!


Via Jalopnik
Photo credit: Mukluk Land

Star Wars Coffee Beans: The Dark Side

Relax with a little essence of the Dark Side with a cup of Star Wars Dark Side Coffee for $14.99! Highly recommended by Darth Vader himself!

 Buy the coffee on amazon for $14.99

Monday, December 27, 2010

Video Chat In Real Holographic 3-D With Microsoft's Kinect [Video]

Oliver Kreylos is at it again, hacking the Kinect into a real holographic 3-D video chat system.

Watch the video below to see the holographic capabilities of his Kinect hack. I know it may not be a "true" hologram, but what he has going here is something special. It's truly amazing. The "sci fi" holographic dream is nearly a reality. The future looks promising!



Via Popsci

Further reading -- http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/Kinect/

Click here for more cool videos

Beautiful Futuristic Fireplace Integrates Books And Fire For Pure Hotness

There's nothing like reading your favorite novel by the fireside. The feeling a warmth, the sound of crackling flame, how can it get any better than that?
 
The Bio fireplace by Cosihome, combines books and fire for maximum hotness. Ouch, that's hot! Reading by the fireside just got a whole lot better!

The picture is of the Helios wall fireplace and it sells for $4,755. Pricey, but spicy!
 
 
 Via Bornrich

Robotic Mouse Finds Its Way Through A Maze In 5.5 Seconds [Video]

Have a hard time finding your way through huge mazes? Could you run through a maze in 5.5 seconds? I don't think so. When it comes to everything (so it seems), robots, of course, do it better.

Watch as this little robotic mouse things makes its way through a huge maze in 5.5 seconds. I guess it's part of some competition they play in Japan. Fun times.




Via Dvice

Click here for more sweet vids

Scientists Make Fuji The Dolphin An $83,000 Artificial Fin [Video]

Meet Fuji, the 37 year-old disabled dolphin. Several years ago, Fuji lost about 75% of her fin due to a very bad disease. Depressed and out of work, Fuji sought out any possible way to make a living.

Then In 2004, Bridgestone, the Japanese tire company, made her an artificial fin that gave her back her freedom. She can now perform tricks and stunts just like any other dolphin at her home in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. The fin cost about $83,000 and is made mostly out of silicone. She now has a great life and has been sporting the artificial fin for 6+ years without any problems.

Rock on, Fuji!



Via Singularityhub, Diagonaluk

When The Black Hole Was Born

Tel Aviv University astronomers identify the epoch of the first fast growth of black holes.

Most galaxies in the universe, including our own Milky Way, harbor super-massive black holes varying in mass from about one million to about 10 billion times the size of our sun. To find them, astronomers look for the enormous amount of radiation emitted by gas which falls into such objects during the times that the black holes are "active," i.e., accreting matter. This gas "infall" into massive black holes is believed to be the means by which black holes grow.

Now a team of astronomers from Tel Aviv University, including Prof. Hagai Hetzer and his research student Benny Trakhtenbrot, have determined that the era of first fast growth of the most massive black holes occurred when the universe was only about 1.2 billion years old ― not two to four billion years old, as was previously believed ― and they're growing at a very fast rate.

The results will be reported in a new paper soon to appear in Astrophysical Journal.

The oldest black holes are growing the fastest
The new research is based on observations with some of the largest ground-based telescopes in the world: "Gemini North" on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, and the "Very Large Telescope Array" on Cerro Paranal in Chile. The data obtained with the advanced instrumentation on these telescopes show that the black holes that were active when the universe was 1.2 billion years old are about ten times smaller than the most massive black holes that are seen at later times. However, they are growing much faster. The measured rate of growth allowed the researchers to estimate what happened to these objects at much earlier as well as much later times. The team found that the very first black holes, those that started the entire growth process when the universe was only several hundred million years old, had masses of only 100-1000 times the mass of the sun. Such black holes may be related to the very first stars in the universe. They also found that the subsequent growth period of the observed sources, after the first 1.2 billion years, lasted only 100-200 million years.

The team found that the very first black holes ― those that started growing when the universe was only several hundred million years old ― had masses of only 100-1000 times the mass of the sun. Such black holes may be related to the very first stars in the universe. They also found that the subsequent growth period of these black holes, after the first 1.2 billion years, lasted only 100-200 million years.

The new study is the culmination of a seven year-long project at Tel Aviv University designed to follow the evolution of the most massive black holes and compare them with the evolution of the galaxies in which such objects reside.

Source: Reprinted news release via American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Futuristic Bionic Ballerina Outfit Has Built-In LED Lights And Lazers [Video]

Looking for a futuristic outfit full of pure sexiness? Look no further as I have the perfect outfit for you! It's called the Bionic Ballerina by Zhantra. It features a beautiful, sexy, futuristic design that has LED lights built in and 17 lasers for added sexiness.

In the video is Milena, a ballerina that has been training in Russia since the age of five. Watch her dance around and show off this Bionic Ballerina outfit to its full potential.



Via Dvice

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Christmas Greetings From Gwar

Echo The Flying Robot Quadrotor Plays Jingle Bells On The Piano [Video]

Echo decided to get some creative juices flying and perform for us some Jingle Bells on his favorite keyboard.

Echo is a flying robot of the quadrotor kind. He has a solid black frame and 5 sexy sets of blades. Any fembots interested? He's single!

Echo was filmed at Flying Machines Arena in Switzerland by Sergei Lupashin, Markus Hehn, Angela Schöllig and Raffaello D'Andrea.



 Via Gawker


More cool videos:
In The Future There Is Sky Mowing
Beautiful Time Lapse Video Of The Stars Going Into The Night
In The Year 2525 Music Video
Michio Kaku On Transferring Human Consciousness Into Robots
Mars Movie: I'm Dreaming of a Blue Sunset
Christmas Greetings From Gwar

Saturday, December 25, 2010

I'm Dreaming Of A Weightless Christmas - Merry Christmas From The International Space Station

The crew on the International Space Station wishes everyone on the planet earth Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Aboard the ISS, Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman of NASA and Paolo Nespoli of the ESA.



Via NASAtelevision, Neatorama
Image credit: Nasa

More videos you should check out:
Beautiful Time Lapse Video Of The Stars Going Into The Night
In The Year 2525 Music Video
Michio Kaku On Transferring Human Consciousness Into Robots
Mars Movie: I'm Dreaming of a Blue Sunset
Christmas Greetings From Gwar

Friday, December 24, 2010

Beautiful Time Lapse Video Of The Stars Going Into The Night

This Star Trail Time Lapse video was taken on 5-6 January 2009 and made using 1262 single shots with 30 second exposures. Watch the universe showcase its beautiful art as the stars light up the heavens.




Via Nachtwolke

In The Year 2525 Music Video

In the Year 2525The video below is a modernized music video of one of my favorite songs In the year 2525 by Zager & Evans. In the year 2525, what will we find?

My favorite part:
"Now it's been 10,000 years, Man has cried a billion tears, 
For what, he never knew. Now man's reign is through. 
But through eternal night, The twinkling of starlight.
 So very far away, Maybe it's only yesterday."




Via frythegears and special thanks to Richard F Sterling for suggesting this!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Michio Kaku On Transferring Human Consciousness Into Robots [Video]

Here is a video of Michio Kaku discussing the idea to transfer human consciousness into robots. The concept could theoretically make us immortal, given that your consciousness is literally teleported to another location and not copied. However, we still need to answer the age old question:

What exactly is human consciousness?




Via BigThink

Check out Michio Kaku's latest book Physics of the Impossible.


Don't miss these:

Scientists Building Computers That Can Understand Human Emotions

Cambridge University professor, Peter Robinson and his team are developing computers that can read human emotions.

"We're building emotionally intelligent computers, ones that can read my mind and know how I feel," Professor Robinson says. "Computers are really good at understanding what someone is typing or even saying. But they need to understand not just what I'm saying, but how I'm saying it."

Here is a video documentary explaining the process:


I guess in the future there will be no need for human to human contact? If computers can read your emotions and behave in a way that simulates a human being; who needs friends? Hm, I can imagine this technology being used to replace psychologists in the far future, can't you?

Hehe, that would be funny. That is until the created turn on the creators and with there new found knowledge of the entire human psyche, what could stop them?

Source: Cambridge University

Holiday Pictures Of Saturn's Moon Rhea By NASA's Cassini Spacecraft

saturn's moon rhea
Newly released for the holidays, images of Saturn's second largest moon Rhea obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft show dramatic views of fractures cutting through craters on the moon's surface, revealing a history of tectonic rumbling. The images are among the highest-resolution views ever obtained of Rhea.

The images, captured on flybys on Nov. 21, 2009 and March 2, 2010, can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org.

"These recent, high-resolution Cassini images help us put Saturn's moon in the context of the moons' geological family tree," said Paul Helfenstein, Cassini imaging team associate, based at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. "Since NASA's Voyager mission visited Saturn, scientists have thought of Rhea and Dione as close cousins, with some differences in size and density. The new images show us they're more like fraternal twins, where the resemblance is more than skin deep. This probably comes from their nearness to each other in orbit."

Cassini scientists designed the March 2010 and November 2009 encounters in part to search for a ring thought to encircle the moon. During the March flyby, Cassini made its closest- approach to Rhea's surface so far, swooping within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the moon. Based on these observations, however, scientists have since discounted the possibility that Rhea might currently have a faint ring above its equator.

These flybys nonetheless yielded unique views of other features on the moon, including ones that are among the best ever obtained of the side of Rhea that always faces away from Saturn. Other views show a web of bright, "wispy" fractures resembling some that were first spotted on another part of Rhea by the two Voyager spacecraft in 1980 and 1981.

At that time, scientists thought the wispy markings on the trailing hemispheres – the sides of moons that face backward in the orbit around a planet – of Rhea and the neighboring moon Dione were possible cryovolcanic deposits, or the residue of icy material erupting. The low resolution of Voyager images prevented a closer inspection of these regions. Since July 2004, Cassini's imaging cameras have captured pictures the trailing hemispheres of both satellites several times at much higher resolution. The images have shown that the wispy markings are actually exposures of bright ice along the steep walls of long scarps, or lines of cliffs, that indicate tectonic activity produced the features rather than cryovolcanism.

Data collected by Cassini's imaging cameras in November 2009 showed the trailing hemisphere at unprecedented resolution. Scientists combined images taken about one hour apart to create a 3-D image of this terrain, revealing a set of closely spaced troughs that sometimes look linear and sometimes look sinuous. The 3-D image also shows uplifted blocks interspersed through the terrain that cut through older, densely cratered plains. While the densely cratered plains imply that Rhea has not experienced much internal activity since its early history that would have repaved the moon, these imaging data suggest that some regions have ruptured in response to tectonic stress more recently. Troughs and other fault topography cut through the two largest craters in the scene, which are not as scarred with smaller craters, indicating that these craters are comparatively young. In some places, material has moved downslope along the scarps and accumulated on the flatter floors.

A mosaic of the March flyby images shows bright, icy fractures cutting across the surface of the moon, sometimes at right angles to each other. A false-color view of the entire disk of the moon's Saturn-facing side reveals a slightly bluer area, likely related to different surface compositions or to different sizes and fine-scale textures of the grains making up the moon's icy soil.

The new images have also helped to enhance maps of Rhea, including the first cartographic atlas of features on the moon complete with names approved by the International Astronomical Union. Thanks to the recent mission extension, Cassini will continue to chart the terrain of this and other Saturnian moons with ever-improving resolution, especially for terrain at high northern latitudes, until 2017.

"The 11th of January 2011 will be especially exciting, when Cassini flies just 76 kilometers [47 miles] above the surface of Rhea," said Thomas Roatsch, a Cassini imaging team scientist based at the German Aerospace Center Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin. "These will be by far the best images we've ever had of Rhea's surface – details down to just a few meters will become recognizable."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

Image: Hemispheric color differences on Saturn's moon Rhea are apparent in this false-color view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. This image shows the side of the moon that always faces the planet. 
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
Source: Reprinted news release (with edits) via NASA

Mars Movie: I'm Dreaming of a Blue Sunset

A new Mars movie clip gives us a rover's-eye view of a bluish Martian sunset, while another clip shows the silhouette of the moon Phobos passing in front of the sun.

America's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, carefully guided by researchers with an artistic sense, has recorded images used in the simulated movies.

These holiday treats from the rover's panoramic camera, or Pancam, offer travel fans a view akin to standing on Mars and watching the sky.

"These visualizations of an alien sunset show what it must have looked like for Opportunity, in a way we rarely get to see, with motion," said rover science team member Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station. Dust particles make the Martian sky appear reddish and create a bluish glow around the sun.

Lemmon worked with Pancam Lead Scientist Jim Bell, of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., to plot the shots and make the moving-picture simulation from images taken several seconds apart in both sequences.

The sunset movie, combining exposures taken Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, 2010, through different camera filters, accelerates about 17 minutes of sunset into a 30-second simulation. One of the filters is specifically used to look at the sun. Two other filters used for these shots provide color information. The rover team has taken Pancam images of sunsets on several previous occasions, gaining scientifically valuable information about the variability of dust in the lower atmosphere. The new clip is the longest sunset movie from Mars ever produced, taking advantage of adequate solar energy currently available to Opportunity.

The two Martian moons are too small to fully cover the face of the sun, as seen from the surface of Mars, so these events -- called transits or partial eclipses -- look quite different from a solar eclipse seen on Earth. Bell and Lemmon chose a transit by Phobos shortly before the Mars sunset on Nov. 9, 2010, for a set of Pancam exposures taken four seconds apart and combined into the new, 30-second, eclipse movie. Scientifically, images years apart that show Phobos' exact position relative to the sun at an exact moment in time aid studies of slight changes in the moon's orbit. This, in turn, adds information about the interior of Mars.

The world has gained from these movies and from more than a quarter million other images from Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, since they landed on Mars in January 2004. Those gains go beyond the facts provided for science.

Bell said, "For nearly seven years now, we've been using the cameras on Spirit and Opportunity to help us experience Mars as if we were there, viewing these spectacular vistas for ourselves. Whether it's seeing glorious sunsets and eclipses like these, or the many different and lovely sandy and rocky landscapes that we've driven through over the years, we are all truly exploring Mars through the lenses of our hardy robotic emissaries.

"It reminds me of a favorite quote from French author Marcel Proust: 'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes,'" he added.


Embedded video from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology


NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about the mission, see http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .

Image: Movie from Mars - Phobos Passes in Front of Sun's Face, Nov. 9, 2010.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Texas A&M

Contract Marks New Generation for Deep Space Network

NASA has taken the next step toward a new generation of Deep Space Network antennas. A $40.7 million contract with General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, San Jose, Calif., covers implementation of two additional 34-meter (112-foot) antennas at Canberra, Australia. This is part of Phase I of a plan to eventually retire the network's aging 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) antennas.

The Deep Space Network (DSN) consists of three communications complexes: in Goldstone, Calif.; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. The 70-meter antennas are more than 40 years old and are showing signs of surface deterioration from constant use. Additional 34-meter antennas are being installed in Canberra in the first phase; subsequent phases will install additional 34-meter antennas in Goldstone and Madrid.

The 34-meter beam waveguide antennas are essential to keep communications flowing smoothly as NASA's fleet of spacecraft continues to expand. In addition, the waveguide design of the antennas provides easier access for maintenance and future upgrades, because sensitive electronics are housed in a below-the-ground pedestal equipment room, instead of in the center of the dish.

"As a result of several studies, it was determined that arrays of 34-meter beam waveguide antennas were the best solution to long-term continuation of DSN 70-meter capabilities," said Miguel Marina, who manages the 70-meter replacement task force at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The new antennas are critical communication resources for all current and future NASA missions."

NASA expects to complete the building of the first two 34-meter antennas in Canberra by 2016. They will be named Deep Space Stations 35 and 36. Deep Space Station 35 is due to be online in 2014, and Deep Space Station 36 is expected to follow in 2016.

In 1958, NASA established the Deep Space Network as a separately managed and operated communications facility to accommodate all deep space missions. This avoided the need for each flight project to acquire its own specialized space communications network. During the Apollo period (1967-1972), these stations supported America's missions to the moon, including the historic first manned landing. The Goldstone antenna, in particular, captured Neil Armstrong's words and sent them on to American television sets while the images came through another antenna.

The Deep Space Network is now sending commands to numerous robotic spacecraft, such as NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Saturn explorer Cassini and the two Voyager spacecraft, which are near the edge of the solar system.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Deep Space Network for NASA Headquarters, Washington. More information about the Deep Space Network is online at: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn . More information about NASA's Space Communications and Navigation program is at: https://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov

Image: The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of three complexes, which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. 
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech  

NASA's Next Mars Rover to Zap Rocks With Laser

scientists testing the chemcam
A rock-zapping laser instrument on NASA's next Mars rover has roots in a demonstration that Roger Wiens saw 13 years ago in a colleague's room at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on the rover Curiosity can hit rocks with a laser powerful enough to excite a pinhead-size spot into a glowing, ionized gas. ChemCam then observes the flash through a telescope and analyzes the spectrum of light to identify the chemical elements in the target.

That information about rocks or patches of soil up to about 7 meters (23 feet) away will help the rover team survey the rover's surroundings and choose which targets to drill into, or scoop up, for additional analysis by other instruments on Curiosity. With the 10 science instruments on the rover, the team will assess whether any environments in the landing area have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving evidence about whether life existed. In late 2011, NASA will launch Curiosity and the other parts of the flight system, delivering the rover to the surface of Mars in August 2012.

Wiens, a geochemist with the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, serves as ChemCam's principal investigator. An American and French team that he leads proposed the instrument during NASA's 2004 open competition for participation in the Mars Science Laboratory project, whose rover has since been named Curiosity.

In 1997, while working on an idea for using lasers to investigate the moon, Wiens visited a chemistry laboratory building where a colleague, Dave Cremers, had been experimenting with a different laser technique. Cremers set up a cigar-size laser powered by a little 9-volt radio battery and pointed at a rock across the room.

"The room was well used. Every flat surface was covered with instruments, lenses or optical mounts," Wiens recalls. "The filing cabinets looked like they had a bad case of acne. I found out later that they were used for laser target practice."

Cremers pressed a button. An invisible beam from the laser set off a flash on a rock across the room. The flash was ionized gas, or plasma, generated by the energy from the laser exciting atoms in the rock. A spectrometer pointed at the glowing plasma recorded the intensity of light at different wavelengths for determining the rock's atomic ingredients.

Researchers have used lasers for inducing plasmas for decades. What impressed Wiens in this demonstration was the capability to do it with such a low-voltage power source and compact hardware. Using this technology for a robot on another planet seemed feasible. From that point, more than a decade of international development and testing resulted in ChemCam being installed on Curiosity in September 2010.

The international collaboration came about in 2001 when Wiens introduced a former Los Alamos post-doctoral researcher, Sylvestre Maurice, to the project. The core technology of ChemCam, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, had been used for years in France as well as in America, but it was still unknown to space scientists there. "The technique is both flashy and very compelling scientifically, and the reviewers in France really liked that combination," Maurice said. A French team was formed, and work on a new laser began.

"The trick is very short bursts of the laser," Wiens said. "You really dump a lot of energy onto a small spot -- megawatts per square millimeter -- but just for a few nanoseconds."

The pinhead-size spot hit by ChemCam's laser gets as much power focused on it as a million light bulbs, for five one-billionths of a second. Light from the resulting flash comes back to ChemCam through the instrument's telescope, mounted beside the laser high on the rover's camera mast. The telescope directs the light down an optical fiber to three spectrometers inside the rover. The spectrometers record intensity at 6,144 different wavelengths of ultraviolet, visible and infrared light. Different chemical elements in the target emit light at different wavelengths.

If the rock has a coating of dust or a weathered rind, multiple shots from the laser can remove those layers to provide a clear shot to the rock's interior composition. "We can see what the progression of composition looks like as we get a little bit deeper with each shot," Wiens said.

Earlier Mars rover missions have lacked a way to identify some of the lighter elements, such as carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, lithium and boron, which can be clues to past environmental conditions in which the rock was formed or altered. After NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit examined an outcrop called "Comanche" in 2005, it took years of analyzing indirect evidence before the team could confidently infer the presence of carbon in the rock. A single observation with ChemCam could detect carbon directly.

ChemCam will be able to interrogate multiple targets the same day, gaining information for the rover team's careful selection of where to drill or scoop samples for laboratory investigations that will take multiple days per target. It can also check the composition of targets inaccessible to the rover's other instruments, such as rock faces beyond the reach of Curiosity's arm.

The instrument's telescope doubles as the optics for the camera part of ChemCam, which records images on a one-megapixel detector. The telescopic camera will show context of the spots hit with the laser and can also be used independently of the laser.

The French half of the ChemCam team, headed by Maurice and funded by France's national space agency, provided the instrument's laser and telescope. Maurice is a spectroscopy expert with the Centre d'Étude Spatiale des Rayonnements, in Toulouse, France. Los Alamos National Laboratory supplied the spectrometers and data processor inside the rover. The optical design of the spectrometers came from Ocean Optics, Dunedin, Fla.

The ChemCam team includes experts in mineralogy, geology, astrobiology and other fields, with some members also on other Curiosity instrument teams.

With the instrument now installed on Curiosity, testing continues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, is assembling the rover and other components of the Mars Science Laboratory flight system for launch from Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011.

Image: Researchers prepare for a test of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument that will fly on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL 

Source: Reprinted news release via NASA

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas Greetings From Gwar [Video]

Bloody Pit of HorrorCelebrate the Christmas cheer with the heavy metal band, Gwar! Watch as they spread the cheer with some Christmas songs from the soul. It's beginning to look a lot like a Gwar Christmas!

For those of you that don't know what Gwar is all about. They are a heavy metal band with a sci fi/fantasy/horror twist. Their latest album is the Bloody Pit of Horror.



Boy, they sure know how to sing Christmas carols the right way!

GWAR - Alien Decapitation T-ShirtGwar - T-shirts - BandLike Gwar? Check out these other goodies!
GWAR: Phallus in Wonderland
Gwar: Ultimate Video Gwarchive
GWAR Limited Edition 4-DVD Box Set
Gwar: Live From Antarctica

Celebrate Christmas At The Moon With Apollo 8

view of planet earth from the moon
Christmas Eve, 1968. As one of the most turbulent, tragic years in American history drew to a close, millions around the world were watching and listening as the Apollo 8 astronauts -- Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders -- became the first humans to orbit another world.

As their command module floated above the lunar surface, the astronauts beamed back images of the moon and Earth and took turns reading from the book of Genesis, closing with a wish for everyone "on the good Earth."




"We were told that on Christmas Eve we would have the largest audience that had ever listened to a human voice," recalled Borman during 40th anniversary celebrations in 2008. "And the only instructions that we got from NASA was to do something appropriate."

"The first ten verses of Genesis is the foundation of many of the world's religions, not just the Christian religion," added Lovell. "There are more people in other religions than the Christian religion around the world, and so this would be appropriate to that and so that's how it came to pass."

The mission was also famous for the iconic "Earthrise" image, snapped by Anders, which would give humankind a new perspective on their home planet. Anders has said that despite all the training and preparation for an exploration of the moon, the astronauts ended up discovering Earth.

The Apollo 8 astronauts got where they were that Christmas Eve because of a bold, improvisational call by NASA. With the clock ticking on President Kennedy's challenge to land on the moon by decade's end, delays with the lunar module were threatening to slow the Apollo program. So NASA decided to change mission plans and send the Apollo 8 crew all the way to the moon without a lunar module on the first manned flight of the massive Saturn V rocket.

The crew rocketed into orbit on December 21, and after circling the moon 10 times on Christmas Eve, it was time to come home. On Christmas morning, mission control waited anxiously for word that Apollo 8's engine burn to leave lunar orbit had worked. They soon got confirmation when Lovell radioed, "Roger, please be informed there is a Santa Claus."

The crew splashed down in the Pacific on December 27. A lunar landing was still months away, but for the first time ever, men from Earth had visited the moon and returned home safely.

Image: Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, during which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft.
Image Credit: NASA


Source: NASA 

Cassini Finishes Sleigh Ride By Saturn's Icy Moons

On the heels of a successful close flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is returning images of Enceladus and the nearby moon Dione.

Several pictures show Enceladus backlit, with the dark outline of the moon crowned by glowing jets from the south polar region. The images show several separate jets, or sets of jets, emanating from the fissures known as "tiger stripes." Scientists will use the images to pinpoint the jet source locations on the surface and learn more about their shape and variability.

The Enceladus flyby took Cassini within about 48 kilometers (30 miles) of the moon's northern hemisphere. Cassini's fields and particles instruments worked on searching for particles that may form a tenuous atmosphere around Enceladus. They also hope to learn whether those particles may be similar to the faint oxygen- and carbon-dioxide atmosphere detected recently around Rhea, another Saturnian moon. The scientists were particularly interested in the Enceladus environment away from the jets emanating from the south polar region. Scientists also hope this flyby will help them understand the rate of micrometeoroid bombardment in the Saturn system and get at the age of Saturn's main rings.

This flyby of Enceladus, the 13th in Cassini's mission, took a similar path to the last Enceladus flyby on Nov. 30.

About eight hours before the Enceladus flyby, Cassini also swung past Dione at a distance of about 100,000 kilometers (62,000 miles). During that flyby, the spacecraft snapped clear, intriguing images of the bright, fractured region known as the "wispy terrain." These features are tectonic ridges and faults formed by geologic activity on the moon sometime in the past. Scientists will now be able to measure the depth and extent of them more accurately.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.


Image: Raw image of Saturn's moon Enceladus was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 20, 2010. The spacecraft was approximately 158,000 kilometers (98,000 miles) away from Enceladus. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini .

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Discovery Of New Molecule Can Lead To More Efficient Rocket Fuel

Trinitramid -- that's the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. Credit: KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology Sweden
Trinitramid – that's the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. This fuel could be 20-30 percent more efficient in comparison with the best rocket fuels we have today. The discovery was made at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden.

"A rule of thumb is that for every ten-percent increase in efficiency for rocket fuel, the payload of the rocket can double. What's more, the molecule consists only of nitrogen and oxygen, which would make the rocket fuel environmentally friendly. This is more than can be said of today's solid rocket fuels, which entail the emission of the equivalent of 550 tons of concentrated hydrochloric acid for each launch of the space shuttle," says Tore Brinck, professor of physical chemistry at KTH.

Working with a research team at KTH, he discovered a new molecule in the nitrogen oxide group, which is not something that happens every day. It was while the scientists were studying the breakdown of another compound, using quantum chemistry computations, that they understood that the new molecule could be stable.

"As mentioned, what is specific to this molecule is that it contains only nitrogen and oxygen. Only eight such compounds were previously known, and most of them were discovered back in the 18th century. This is also clearly the largest of the nitrogen oxides. Its molecular formula is N(NO2)3, and the molecule is similar to a propeller in shape," says Tore Brinck.

The research team, consisting of Martin Rahm and Sergey Dvinshikh as well as Professor Istvan Furó , besides Tore Brinck, has now shown how the molecule can be produced and analyzed. The scientists have also managed to produce enough of the compound in a test tube for it to be detectable.

"It remains to be seen how stable the molecule is in a solid form," says Tore Brinck.

It was during work to find an alternative to today's solid rocket fuel that the researchers found the new molecule. The findings are now being published in the respected journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Source: Reprinted news release via Swedish Research Council

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The Universe's Most Massive Stars Can Form In Near Isolation, New Study Finds

Star 302. Credit: Joel Lamb
New observations by University of Michigan astronomers add weight to the theory that the most massive stars in the universe could form essentially anywhere, including in near isolation; they don't need a large stellar cluster nursery.

This is the most detailed observational study to date of massive stars that appear (from the ground) to be alone. The scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to zoom in on eight of these giants, which range from 20 to 150 times as massive as the Sun. The stars they looked at are in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that's one of the Milky Way's nearest neighbors.

Their results, published in the Dec. 20 edition of the Astrophysical Journal, show that five of the stars had no neighbors large enough for Hubble to discern. The remaining three appeared to be in tiny clusters of ten or fewer stars.

Doctoral student Joel Lamb and associate professor Sally Oey, both in the Department of Astronomy, explained the significance of their findings.

"My dad used to fish in a tiny pond on his grandma's farm," Lamb said. "One day he pulled out a giant largemouth bass. This was the biggest fish he's caught, and he's fished in a lot of big lakes. What we're looking at is analogous to this. We're asking: 'Can a small pond produce a giant fish? Does the size of the lake determine how big the fish is?' The lake in this case would be the cluster of stars.

"Our results show that you can, in fact, form big stars in small ponds."

The most massive stars direct the evolution of their galaxies. Their winds and radiation shape interstellar gas and promote the birth of new stars. Their violent supernovae explosions create all the heavy elements that are essential for life and the Earth. That's why astronomers want to understand how and where these giant stars form. There is currently a big debate about their origins, Oey said.

One theory is that the mass of a star depends on the size of the cluster in which it is born, and only a large star cluster could provide a dense enough source of gas and dust to bring about one of these massive stars. The opposing theory, and the one that this research supports, is that these monstrous stars can and do form more randomly across the universe---including in isolation and in very small clusters.

"Our findings don't support the scenario that the maximum mass of a star in a cluster has to correlate with the size of the cluster," Oey said.

The researchers acknowledge the possibility that all of the stars they studied might not still be located in the neighborhood they were born in. Two of the stars they examined are known to be runaways that have been kicked out of their birth clusters. But in several cases, the astronomers found wisps of leftover gas nearby, strengthening the possibility that the stars are still in the isolated places where they formed.

Source: Reprinted news release via University of Michigan

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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Pictures Of The 2010 Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

Bob Johnson from Blackholes and astrostuff took some great pictures of last night's lunar eclipse! Here they are for you to drool upon:

The beginnings of the darkest day in 372 years


Almost a total eclipse


Total lunar eclipse!



See also: 2010 Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse Time Lapse Video

2010 Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse Time Lapse Video

Did you get to see the 2010 winter solstice lunar eclipse? It was amazing! Here is an awesome video depicting the climax of the eclipse in glorious fashion. It was shot in Gainesville, Florida by William Castleman.



Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Via Laughingsquid

Richard Muller's New Book Could Make You An Instant Physicist

The Instant Physicist: An Illustrated GuideRichard Muller is a guy who thinks spouting fun physics facts will make you the life of the party. And his new book, "The Instant Physicist: An Illustrated Guide," may just convince you he's right.

Who knew, for example, that liquor, by law, must be radioactive? Or that you really can get your clothes whiter than white? Or that the earth is travelling through space at a million miles per hour?

These are some of the astonishing facts Muller, a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, explains with the help of witty cartoons by illustrator Joey Manfre.

"When I was a kid, I used to love 'Ripley's Believe it or Not,'" Muller said. The 2011 book's anecdotes are like Ripley's amazing tidbits, "but with a real explanation. I think this is a new approach to teaching physics. If you know ten-year-olds, giving them a copy of this book will begin to make them fascinated by science. But the book is equally liked by physics professors," he added.

The fun facts are mined from Muller's previous book, the 2008 bestseller "Physics for Future Presidents," which itself is a distillation of the lectures Muller gives in his introductory physics class of the same name. Muller credits his daughter with the inspiration for the book, after she commented that she liked best the surprising "sound bites" sprinkled throughout.

"Like the fact that alcohol is required by law to be radioactive – it's something so memorable that you never forget it," he said.

Muller proposed an illustrated book of sound bites to his publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, and then called upon a designer/illustrator friend, Manfre, to try his hand at some cartoons. The collaboration was ideal, Muller said, and Norton bought the idea.

"I think there is a lot of nourishment in the cartoons," Muller said. "Joey's cartoons are not only humorous and clever, but so creative. Each one is new and original and gives a freshness to the pages that I really love."

Muller's brief introduction promises that the book will not only help the reader "pass yourself off as a physicist at your next party (assuming you would want to)," but also win arguments with friends and relatives and win money on "crazy-sounding bets."

Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the HeadlinesMore seriously, he wants the book to serve a purpose similar to that of "Physics for Future Presidents," which has sold more than 60,000 copies. That is, he wants to teach the lay public in as painless a way as possible about the science and technology now changing their lives.

"Whether you are a world leader or just a voting citizen, you'll improve your judgment by knowing some key facts and numbers. And what better way to learn them than through humor?" he wrote in the book's introduction.

He claims to have many more anecdotes than the 65 in the book, but don't look for a sequel just yet. His next book is "Energy for Future Presidents."

"Physics is non-partisan, and I hope to take the politics out of the argument over global warming and focus on the science," he said. "If all we can do is lower the temperature of the debate over global warming, we will make a real contribution."

Source: Reprinted (with edits) news release via University of California - Berkeley

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Monday, December 20, 2010

Total Lunar Eclipse Will Be Live Streaming Via NASA!

(Mr. Eclipse/Fred Espenak)
Remember that tonight is the night! The night of the lunar eclipse! If you are feeling the anxiety of the possibility of bad weather hindering your view, you can hang out with NASA and thousands of others as they catch a glimpse of this special event via live streaming video on their website. So rest assured that NASA will save the day! Thanks NASA!

If you find that clouds are getting in your way of this magnificent event, watch the live streaming video of the lunar eclipse here - http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/lunar_eclipse.html

Tell your friends!


Update: Due to weather conditions many camera's are blocked by clouds. Don't fear because I found a cam where the skies are clear! Enjoy! Another cam that works can be found here http://www.wpbt2.org/stargazer/



While your waiting:
Subscribe to TimeHuman via RSS
Get TimeHuman in your Inbox
Become a fan on Facebook
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If the weather is good in your area and you get to catch some pictures, I'd love to post them! Send them to my email when they are ready.

Dreaming Of A White Christmas? Create Your Own Snow Crystals!

snow
With little more than a plastic soda bottle, some fishing line, a sponge, and dry ice, anyone can make it snow, make it snow, make it snow... one flake at a time.  --Read more on Physorg

"It is simple, inexpensive, and fun to grow your own snow crystals, using little more than some dry ice, a plastic Coke bottle, and some styrofoam cups.  This page describes how to set up this experiment, and what you can expect to see." Go here for a complete tutorial on the snow making process. Have fun!

An Answer To Green Energy Could Be In The Air

In Mark Moore's world, long nanotubes reach into the clouds, serving at once to tether a turbine-vehicle flying at 2,000 feet, or 10,000 feet, or 30,000 feet (610, 3,050 and 9,150 meters); and also to conduct the power that vehicle can harvest from the wind back to Earth.

Aloft might be a funnel-shaped blimp with a turbine at its back; or a balloon with vanes that rotate; a truss-braced wing; a parachute; a kite. Any and all of them are ideas being considered by nascent renewable energy industry that is flexing its imagination.

Moore, who works as an aerospace engineer, centering his focus on advance concepts in the Systems Analysis Branch at NASA's Langley Research Center, is using a $100,000 grant from the federal government to research what it will take to judge the value of any of those ideas.

"It's the first federally funded research effort to look at airborne wind capturing platforms," Moore said. "We're trying to create a level playing field of understanding, where all of the concepts and approaches can be compared -- what's similar about them? What's different about them, and how can you compare them?"

He likens the development of wind-borne energy to flight itself, adding that "this is like being back in 1903. Everybody's got a dog to show. Everybody's got a different way of doing it?"

But the Wright Brothers didn't have to deal with a crowded sky and the laws regulating it when they took off at Kitty Hawk. When they invented the airplane, they also created competition for airspace that makes creating air-borne power generation much more difficult.

"Airspace is a commodity," Moore said. "You have to be able to use airspace without disrupting it for other players. Smaller aircraft are still going to need to fly around. Larger airplanes, you can't expect them to fly around every wind turbine that has a two-mile radius as a protected flight zone."

It's another issue in considering air-borne power generation, which Moore hastens to say it not THE answer to clean energy but deserves consideration in a mix that includes solar power, ground-based wind turbines, algae and the other solutions both realistic and exotic that are being worked upon by scientists and engineers.

None have approached the cost of fossil fuel energy for thrift, but Moore argues that cost takes on a new dimension when all of its factors are considered, including the amount of land used in generating that power and its impact upon the atmosphere.

Tethers for airborne wind generation assets don't require a lot of ground space, nor are they labor intensive. And they don't pollute.

"They could stay up a year, then come down for a maintenance check and then go back up," Moore said. "Or they could be reeled in in case of a storm. Or one operator could watch over 100 of these."

Wind power is nothing new. Wind turbine farms have dotted the landscape for more than a generation. So why is this different?

"At 2,000 feet (610 m), there is two to three times the wind velocity compared to ground level," Moore said. "The power goes up with the cube of that wind velocity, so it's eight to 27 times the power production just by getting 2,000 feet (610 m) up, and the wind velocity is more consistent."

Send turbines farther aloft, into the 150 mph (240 kph) jet stream at 30,000 feet (9,150 m), and "instead of 500 watts per meter (for ground-based wind turbines), you're talking about 20,000, 40,000 watts per square meter," Moore said. "That's very high energy density and potentially lower cost wind energy because of the 50-plus fold increase in energy density."

So why isn't it being done? Or at least, why isn't it being researched more expansively?

One answer involves the vehicle to be flown. Another involves where to fly it.

"All you have right now are small companies doing the research, and all you can expect of them is to focus on one little piece," Moore said. "They have enough trouble just analyzing their concept without worrying about geography, about 'where should I mount these so that the wind is optimal?' "

The ultimate answer could be the federal government itself.

"In my mind, it's crazy that there isn't federal investment in this area, because the questions are just too great for small companies to answer," Moore said.

It's one of the reasons he has undertaken the wind-power study, which actually, he maintains, should be two studies. One involves the technology and geography. The other involves the interaction between those elements and other competitors for airspace.

That means dealing with current Federal Aviation Administration regulations and with those that might be necessary to accommodate an airspace that includes manned aircraft, the unmanned aircraft in the future, plus wind-borne energy turbines.

But first things first.

"It's important to understand the concept without regulatory constraints because it lets decision-makers and investors understand the topology of the solution space," Moore said. "We don't want to just look at the problem with regulatory blinders on, but we don't just look at it with no blinders on, either. We have to look at it both ways."

He offers another option that can help the FAA in its decision-making.

"Offshore deployment of these airborne systems probably makes the most sense in terms of both airspace and land use, because there is little to no demand for low altitude flight over oceans 12 miles (19 to 20 km) offshore," Moore said.

"Also, unlike ground-based turbines, there is almost no additional cost for airborne systems offshore because huge platforms are not required to support the structure or resist large tower bending moments.

"NASA Wallops could have an important role as an airborne wind testing center with access to offshore wind profiles in controlled airspace."

What all this has to do with NASA goes beyond the agency's commitment to help the nation with clean energy solutions. It also involves some of the core capabilities of the agency in aeronautics, composite materials and air space management.

"We've shown in the past that NASA's expertise can help broker and bring an understanding to the FAA as to how these technologies can map into constructive purposes," said Moore, who has met with wind power energy industry leaders, as well as officials from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Department of Energy in undergoing this project.

"They welcome this study because they've never dealt with flying systems and NASA has," Moore said. "You can't come up with advanced concepts until you understand the requirements well, and frankly, I don't think anybody understands the requirements well."

It's why he's undertaking the project: to bring a sense of what's going to be necessary to harvest power from the wind.

Source: Reprinted news release via NASA