NASA has released more information about the two space telescopes the National Reconnaissance Office has donated to them.
NASA has released more information about the two space telescopes the National Reconnaissance Office has donated to them.
Year: 2012
Unless they can find a buyer the United Kingdom will close down its 3.8 meter infrared UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea in 2013.
Telescope for sale: Unless they can find a buyer the United Kingdom will close down its 3.8 meter infrared UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea in 2013.
This is a tragedy. A 3.8 meter telescope is no slouch and can do amazing research. The problem is that all the available money in ground-based astronomy is now being eaten up by the construction of giant telescopes in the 20 to 40 meter range.
What astronomy needs are some wealthy philanthropists who would like to buy these mid-sized telescopes, put their names on it, and finance their operation. This is how most big telescopes were made possible before World War II.
Orbital Sciences successfully launched NASA’s NuSTAR X-ray telescope this morning.
After a three month delay so that NASA could correct software issues, Orbital Sciences successfully launched NASA’s NuSTAR X-ray telescope this morning.
One of the window’s of the observation cupola on ISS has been hit by a micrometeorite and is now shuttered until engineers can evaluate the damage.
One of the windows of the observation cupola on ISS has been hit by a micrometeorite and is now shuttered until engineers can evaluate the damage.
Penn & Teller – Blast Off
An evening pause: See if you can spot how they do this magic trick, before they show you.
Construction of the world’s largest ground-based telescope has been approved by the European Southern Observatory.
Construction of the world’s largest ground-based telescope has been approved by the European Southern Observatory.
No one should get too excited about this announcement. They still need to raise 90% of their funds to build it, and to do so they have to get agreements from the four member countries of the European Southern Observatory. It will be years, probably at least a decade, before this 40-meter truly gigantic telescope sees the light.
On the way home
We are right now driving between Las Vegas and Hoover Dam, and should be home late tonight. Thus, I should be able to resume blogging sometime tomorrow. I will also write up a description of my experiences this past week and post it tomorrow.
Blondie – Dreaming & Heart Of Glass
An evening pause: Two songs, performed live October 5, 1979. Deborah Harry is of course amazing (despite her inserting a silly politically-correct anti-nuke message during the second song), but watch the other musicians, especially the drummer.
20,000 bottle rockets
An evening pause: What happens when you launch 20,000 bottle rockets in less than two minutes?
Caving in Nevada
I finally have an hour free here in Nevada.
For the past three days we have been intensely hiking up mountains over a vast area of Nevada. The goal has been to locate and map caves for the Forest Service in some of the most remote areas of the state. So far we have focused on mapping known caves, putting the possible discoveries aside for later work.
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Loudon Wainwright – One-man Guy
An evening pause:
Don McLean – American pie
An evening pause:
First day caving in Nevada
It is late and I have to up at 5 am to head to another cave tomorrow, so there is no time to give a detailed update of what happened today
However, here is a quick summary. Our goal was to find and map a rarely visited and difficult to find cave. After four miles of hiking and a lot of wandering across some pretty spectacular mountainsides, we failed to find the cave. However, we did locate two other small caves, which we surveyed, and then, on the way back to the vehicles, discovered a previously unknown cave of some size with significant formations. This was quite exciting, as the cave was clearly virgin, never seen by humans before.
We hope to return to explore and map it later in the week. Once again, I will get to go where no one has ever gone before!
Tomorrow will probably be as long a day as today, so I probably will not be able to post a more detailed report until Saturday. Stay tuned.
Making diamonds with only an acetylene torch.
An evening pause: Can you make diamonds using only an acetylene torch?
On the road
The image on the left will give you a good idea of what my day was like: Twelve hours of driving across Arizona and Nevada. Tomorrow the cave work begins.
Sammy Davis, Jr. – Mr. Bojangles
An evening pause: From an 1985 performance in Germany, only five years before his death. By this time, Davis was not only performing this song as a tribute to Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, he was performing it as a testament to his own life in entertainment.
Ray Bradbury has died.
R.I.P. Ray Bradbury has died.
Solar Dynamic Observatory successfully imaged Venus’s atmosphere during yesterday’s transit
Solar Dynamic Observatory successfully imaged Venus’s atmosphere during yesterday’s transit. Cool images too.
Off to Nevada
For the next seven days my daytime posting is going to be spotty, as I will be in some remote areas of Nevada working on an on-going Forest Service project to inventory and survey caves in an area in the northeastern area of the state. The project is mostly over, but as I have surveyed, sketched, and done the cartography for many eastern U.S. caves, the guy running the project asked if I would be interested in participating. Interested? I was thrilled.
Though we will be in a somewhat remote area, I still hope to post periodically during the week, not only about the usual topics but also about some of the caves we will have surveyed, some of which are rarely visited. I will also try to post some pictures of the spectacular country we expect to visit. (The photo on the right was provided to me by Tom Gilleland, who is running the project.) Stay tuned.
“I will kill Walker myself.”
Leftwing civility: “I will kill Walker myself.”
I wish this was the only person to say this, but no, it isn’t. The link gives a nice sampling of hate from Democrat/leftwing supporters. Another example here.