Friday, October 31, 2014
Specular Spectacular
This near-infrared, color mosaic from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the sun glinting off of Titan's north polar seas. While Cassini has captured, separately, views of the polar seas (see PIA17470) and the sun glinting off of them (see PIA12481 and PIA18433) in the past, this is the first time both have been seen together in the same view. The sunglint, also called a specular reflection, is the bright area near the 11 o'clock position at upper left. This mirror-like reflection, known as the specular point, is in the south of Titan's largest sea, Kraken Mare, just north of an island archipelago separating two separate parts of the sea. This particular sunglint was so bright as to saturate the detector of Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument, which captures the view. It is also the sunglint seen with the highest observation elevation so far -- the sun was a full 40 degrees above the horizon as seen from Kraken Mare at this time -- much higher than the 22 degrees seen in PIA18433. Because it was so bright, this glint was visible through the haze at much lower wavelengths than before, down to 1.3 microns. The southern portion of Kraken Mare (the area surrounding the specular feature toward upper left) displays a "bathtub ring" -- a bright margin of evaporate deposits -- which indicates that the sea was larger at some point in the past and has become smaller due to evaporation. The deposits are material left behind after the methane & ethane liquid evaporates, somewhat akin to the saline crust on a salt flat. The highest resolution data from this flyby -- the area seen immediately to the right of the sunglint -- cover the labyrinth of channels that connect Kraken Mare to another large sea, Ligeia Mare. Ligeia Mare itself is partially covered in its northern reaches by a bright, arrow-shaped complex of clouds. The clouds are made of liquid methane droplets, and could be actively refilling the lakes with rainfall. The view was acquired during Cassini's August 21, 2014, flyby of Titan, also referred to as "T104" by the Cassini team. The view contains real color information, although it is not the natural color the human eye would see. Here, red in the image corresponds to 5.0 microns, green to 2.0 microns, and blue to 1.3 microns. These wavelengths correspond to atmospheric windows through which Titan's surface is visible. The unaided human eye would see nothing but haze, as in PIA12528. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The VIMS team is based at the University of Arizona in Tucson. More information about Cassini is available at http://ift.tt/ZjpQgB and http://ift.tt/Jcddhk. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho via NASA http://ift.tt/1s0kCnh
So, I said this on facebook...
Saw this on a blog I read.. posting it. No reason. No reason at all.. just a post. No one read anything into this at all. It doesnt pertain to anyone I know. It's just a post... ====== SORTA – Stamp Out Reply to All. Reply to All is Neanderthal. I got this one from Tim Sanders. Tim says Replying to All is a sure sign that you are over 30. It’s a terrible habit. Tim points to research that shows that only 10% of reply to all message are used properly. My experience shows this is true. Research shows that upwards of 2% of the bandwidth checks written every month by companies across the world are spent on poorly used Reply to All messages. That is pathetic. If you are replying to someone to say “Thanks” or “awesome” or “great news” or “way to go” or something like that, do not use Reply All…ever. Please. If there are 6 people on an email and only 3 need a reply, take off the other 3. If a reply is addressed to a specific person (especially in the case of emails like “That’s great news Jim, thanks for sharing.”), do not – ever – choose Reply to All. Seriously, I get 5-10 emails every day like this. Two things inevitably happen. First, I get annoyed. Yes, I have a delete button and I know how to use it, but it’s still annoying to have to glance at an utterly irrelevant email. Second, I create a rule to filter out messages with that subject line after a while. Who knows, I might miss a worthwhile email at some point. ====== Once again.. just a post...
by David MacDougall Beach
October 31, 2014 at 02:14AM
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October 31, 2014 at 02:14AM
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Thursday, October 30, 2014
Fifteen Years of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
This Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the Hydra A galaxy cluster was taken on Oct. 30, 1999, with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) in an observation that lasted about six hours. Hydra A is a galaxy cluster that is 840 million light years from Earth. The cluster gets its name from the strong radio source, Hydra A, that originates in a galaxy near the center of the cluster. Optical observations show a few hundred galaxies in the cluster. Chandra X-ray observations reveal a large cloud of hot gas that extends throughout the cluster. The gas cloud is several million light years across and has a temperature of about 40 million degrees in the outer parts decreasing to about 35 million degrees in the inner region. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched into space fifteen years ago aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. Since its deployment on July 23, 1999, Chandra has helped revolutionize our understanding of the universe through its unrivaled X-ray vision. Chandra, one of NASA's current "Great Observatories," along with the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, is specially designed to detect X-ray emission from hot and energetic regions of the universe. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO via NASA http://ift.tt/1DCG9ru
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Sunrise From the International Space Station
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman posted this image of a sunrise, captured from the International Space Station, to social media on Oct. 29, 2014. Wiseman wrote, "Not every day is easy. Today was a tough one." Wiseman was referring to the loss on Oct. 28 of the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft, moments after launch at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Cygnus spacecraft was filled with about 5,000 pounds of supplies slated for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The station crew is in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies. Image Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman via NASA http://ift.tt/1rAyUKd
The Warm Glow of Mach 3
The Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center is celebrating 50 years. It sprang into existence during the era of the X-15 rocket plane and the YF-12 and SR-71 Blackbirds, and was dedicated to testing the latest in high-speed flight. In this image from 1971, the YF-12 forebody's radiant heating system is being tested at the Flight Loads Laboratory under conditions experienced at Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, over 2,000 miles an hour. Eventually the entire airframe was tested in the lab, always with the goal to collect data, validate parts and reduce risk to the aircraft and the pilots who flew them. Image credit: NASA Read More About the Flight Loads Laboratory Anniversary Read About Modern Aeronautics Testing in the Flight Loads Laboratory via NASA http://ift.tt/1zJyN90
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Here’s Looking at You: Spooky Shadow Gives Jupiter a Giant Eye
This trick that the planet is looking back at you is actually a Hubble treat: An eerie, close-up view of Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. Hubble was monitoring changes in Jupiter’s immense Great Red Spot (GRS) storm on April 21, 2014, when the shadow of the Jovian moon, Ganymede, swept across the center of the storm. This gave the giant planet the uncanny appearance of having a pupil in the center of a 10,000 mile-diameter “eye.” For a moment, Jupiter “stared” back at Hubble like a one-eyed giant Cyclops. Click on the image to view Jupiter from a distance. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) Caption: Ray Villard, Space Science Telescope Institute Acknowledgment: C. Go and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) via NASA http://ift.tt/1323kAq
Monday, October 27, 2014
Orbital Antares Rocket at the Launch Pad
The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 5,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-3 mission is Orbital Sciences' third contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 27 at 6:45 p.m. EDT. > Latest: Orbital Launch Blog Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky via NASA http://ift.tt/1zzRTyz
Sunday, October 26, 2014
So, I said this on facebook...
occupational hazard: I've spent the Halloween season at one of my venues playing a skeleton harassing the audience .Currently making a mental note to not welcome our concert audience by saying, "Hello, you pathetic meat sacks"...I am sleep deprived. It could happen... come to the concert and check it out yourself...
by David MacDougall Beach
October 26, 2014 at 12:13PM
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October 26, 2014 at 12:13PM
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Antares Rocket at Sunrise
The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A during sunrise, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 5,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-3 mission is Orbital Sciences' third contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 27 at 6:45 p.m. EDT.Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky via NASA http://ift.tt/1zw8Auu
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
So, I said this on twitter....
hey...dear twitter..I miss you but work is nuts...can we talk again in November?
— David Beach (@thedavidbeach) October 25, 2014
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October 24, 2014 at 09:49PM
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Wednesday, October 22, 2014
So, I said this on twitter....
an awesome catawba memory via timehop.. http://t.co/SYPZgsgKpy http://pic.twitter.com/54FZRfOSHS
— David Beach (@thedavidbeach) October 22, 2014
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October 22, 2014 at 11:06AM
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An awesome Catawba memory via timehop..Thank you..
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an awesome catawba memory via timehop..
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James Webb Space Telescope's Heart Survives Deep Freeze Test
After 116 days of being subjected to extremely frigid temperatures like that in space, the heart of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) and its sensitive instruments, emerged unscathed from the thermal vacuum chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Webb telescope's images will reveal the first galaxies forming 13.5 billion years ago. The telescope will also pierce through interstellar dust clouds to capture stars and planets forming in our own galaxy. At the telescope's final destination in space, one million miles away from Earth, it will operate at incredibly cold temperatures of -387 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Kelvin. This is 260 degrees Fahrenheit colder than any place on the Earth’s surface has ever been. To create temperatures that cold on Earth, the team uses the massive thermal vacuum chamber at Goddard called the Space Environment Simulator, or SES, that duplicates the vacuum and extreme temperatures of space. This 40-foot-tall, 27-foot-diameter cylindrical chamber eliminates the tiniest trace of air with vacuum pumps and uses liquid nitrogen and even colder liquid helium to drop the temperature simulating the space environment. The James Webb Space Telescope is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. > More: NASA Webb's Heart Survives Deep Freeze Test Image Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn via NASA http://www.nasa.gov/content/james-webb-space-telescopes-heart-survives-deep-freeze-test
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
So, I said this on facebook...
My social media sites are all abuzz with Renee Zellweger and her change. Ummm... may I be the first to suggest that she has actually passed away and been replaced by a robot? The same company that replaced Paul McCartney... You heard it here first
by David MacDougall Beach
October 21, 2014 at 05:39PM
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October 21, 2014 at 05:39PM
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Monday, October 20, 2014
Extreme Ultraviolet Image of a Significant Solar Flare
The sun emitted a significant solar flare on Oct. 19, 2014, peaking at 1:01 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is always observing the sun, captured this image of the event in extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 131 Angstroms – a wavelength that can see the intense heat of a flare and that is typically colorized in teal. This flare is classified as an X1.1-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 flare is twice as intense as an X1, and an X3 is three times as intense. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. > More: NASA's SDO Observes an X-class Solar Flare Image Credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory via NASA http://ift.tt/1rXNFXo
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
So, I said this on facebook...
ya know if this weren't legit, I would swear we were looking at a Stephen King Plot... Frontier jet reportedly made 5 flights before being taken out of service in Ebola incident Los Angeles Times | October 15, 2014 | 12:41 PM The Frontier Airlines jet that carried a Dallas healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola made five additional flights after her trip before it was taken out of service, a flight-monitoring website reported today.
by David MacDougall Beach
October 15, 2014 at 01:44PM
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October 15, 2014 at 01:44PM
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Wiseman and Wilmore Spacewalk Preparations
Flight Engineers Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore spent most of the day on Tuesday, Oct. 14 completing preparations for their 6 ½-hour Oct. 15 spacewalk. The two astronauts set up their spacesuits and tools in the equipment lock of the Quest airlock. Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, who is coordinating spacewalk activities from inside the station, joined Wiseman and Wilmore for a review of spacewalk procedures. During today’s spacewalk, the astronauts will venture out to the starboard truss of the station to remove and replace a power regulator known as a sequential shunt unit, which failed back in mid-May. The two spacewalkers also will move TV and camera equipment in preparation for the relocation of the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module to accommodate the installation of new docking adapters for future commercial crew vehicles. This photo was taken on Oct. 1, 2014. Image Credit: NASA via NASA http://ift.tt/1rbUjJo
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Stuck on the Rings
Like a drop of dew hanging on a leaf, Tethys appears to be stuck to the A and F rings from this perspective. Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across), like the ring particles, is composed primarily of ice. The gap in the A ring through which Tethys is visible is the Keeler gap, which is kept clear by the small moon Daphnis (not visible here). This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Tethys. North on Tethys is up and rotated 43 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 14, 2014. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 22 degrees. Image scale is 7 miles (11 kilometers) per pixel. 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 mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://ift.tt/ZjpQgB and http://ift.tt/Jcddhk . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via NASA http://ift.tt/11j90Fx
Monday, October 13, 2014
So, I said this on facebook...
really???? Goodbye, Columbus. Hello, 'Indigenous People's Day' Seattle marks its first-ever 'Indigenous People's Day' on Monday after its city council voted unanimously this summer to toss Columbus Day overboard. The streets are expected to be filled with citizens from the Native Nations — Lummi, Nooksack, Tulalip, Sauk-Suiattle, Swinomish, Puyallup, Colville and dozens of other Washington tribes that call the Seattle-area home. Not everybody is happy about the change. Some Italian-American Seattlites felt the change comes at the expense of what to many was Italian Heritage Day.
by David MacDougall Beach
October 13, 2014 at 09:43AM
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October 13, 2014 at 09:43AM
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Friday, October 10, 2014
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Super Typhoon Vongfong in the Philippine Sea
On Oct. 9, 2014 at 04:25 UTC (12:25 a.m. EDT), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this view of Super Typhoon Vongfong in the Philippine Sea. > Two NASA Satellites Get Data on Category 5 Super Typhoon Vongfong Image Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team via NASA http://ift.tt/1skPG4Z
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
So, I said this on twitter....
Looking forward to this-- Join this FREE course w/ me before it closes http://t.co/bbAdk3Kh0z http://ift.tt/10QhqE0 via @noahkagan
— David Beach (@thedavidbeach) October 8, 2014
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October 08, 2014 at 09:42AM
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Astronaut Reid Wiseman on the First Spacewalk of Expedition 41
On Oct. 7, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (pictured here) and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst completed the first of three spacewalks for the Expedition 41 crew aboard the International Space Station. The spacewalkers worked outside the space station's Quest airlock for 6 hours and 13 minutes, relocating a failed cooling pump to external stowage and installing gear that provides back up power to external robotics equipment. Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA operated the Canadian robotic arm, maneuvered Gerst during the course of the spacewalk and served as the spacewalk coordinator. A second U.S. spacewalk is set for Oct. 15. Wilmore will don a U.S. spacesuit and follow Wiseman outside the Quest airlock for a 6-1/2 hour excursion. Gerst will serve as the spacewalk choreographer. The goal of the excursion is to replace a failed voltage regulator component on the starboard truss of the station. They will also move external camera equipment in advance of a major reconfiguration of station modules next year for the arrival of new docking adapters for commercial crew vehicles. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Alexander Gerst via NASA http://ift.tt/1sePzrB
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
So, I said this on facebook...
Yeah, I know. I don't really follow sports. I just don't. Yes, i enjoy watching professional wrestling and my rationale for that is quite logical. I dont see why either of those facts are hard for some to grasp. I can juggle five balls. I don't judge those who can't. ... well... not too much....
by David MacDougall Beach
October 07, 2014 at 01:12AM
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October 07, 2014 at 01:12AM
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Monday, October 6, 2014
Launch Abort System Installed for Orion Flight Test
The launch abort system for the Orion Flight Test is lowered by crane for installation on the Orion spacecraft inside the Launch Abort System Facility, or LASF, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The completed crew and service modules will be tested and verified together with the launch abort system. Orion will remain inside the LASF until mid-November, when the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch in December atop the Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system. Image Credit: NASA/Cory Huston via NASA http://ift.tt/Z9buVl
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Saturday, October 4, 2014
So, I said this on twitter....
Had hoped to be in bed by now but orphan black came on TV. Curse you @BBCAmerica
— David Beach (@thedavidbeach) October 4, 2014
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October 04, 2014 at 04:22AM
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Friday, October 3, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
James Webb Space Telescope Sunshield Test Unfolds Seamlessly
A major test of the sunshield for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was conducted recently by Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California. For the first time, the five sunshield test layers were unfolded and separated; unveiling important insights for the engineers and technicians as to how the deployment will take place when the telescope launches into space. “These tests are critical and allow us to see how our modeling works and learn about any modifications we may need to make in our design as we move into sunshield flight production,” said Jim Flynn, Webb sunshield manager. The three-day test took place in July, taking seven engineers and six technicians about 20 hours to complete. On orbit, the sunshield will take several days to unfold. “Tests on the ground are a little bit tricky because we have to account for gravity,” says Flynn. “Webb won’t face those same challenges in space. To overcome challenges on the ground, our technicians came up with the idea to rest the layers on a structure of metal beams covered by plastic.” The tennis court-sized sunshield, which is the largest part of the observatory, will be folded up around the Webb telescope’s mirrors and instruments during launch. As the telescope travels to its orbit one million miles from Earth, it will receive a command to unfold and separate the sunshield's five layers into their precisely stacked arrangement with its kite-like shape. The sunshield separates the observatory into a warm, sun-facing side (reaching temperatures close to 400 degrees Farenheit), and a cold side (185 degrees below zero) where the sunlight is blocked from interfering with the sensitive telescope instruments. It provides the instruments with an effective sun protection factor, or SPF, of one million. The sunshield’s membrane layers, each as thin as a human hair, are made of Kapton, a tough, high-performance plastic coated with a reflective metal. On orbit, the observatory will be pointed so that the sun, Earth and moon are always on one side, with the sunshield acting as an umbrella to shade the telescope mirrors and instruments from the warmer spacecraft electronics and the sun. Northrop Grumman subcontractor NeXolve is currently manufacturing the flight sunshield layers at their facilities in Huntsville, Ala. The five flight layers will be delivered to Northrop Grumman in 2016, when extensive testing will continue, followed by integration with the entire observatory. Image Credit: Northrop Grumman/Alex Evers via NASA http://ift.tt/1oEmDUN
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
So, I said this on twitter....
so..when musicians strike.. can you say the have a score to settle?
http://t.co/Vhh4sf90n7?
— David Beach (@thedavidbeach) October 2, 2014
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October 01, 2014 at 07:39PM
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