Saddle up for this week's Discovery Space Wrap Up, ladies and gents: Asteroid tsunamis aren't as bad as we thought, Kepler planet-hunting telescope sees first light, Scientists want to land on Ceres in the Asteroid Belt, and Colbert gets "treaded" by NASA:
In this week's Discovery Space Wrap Up:
Mars500 trial run begins (aka 6 guys stuck in a tube for 105 days), Hubble Space Telescope's winning image of Arp 274 taken, and last but not least some crazy fun Yuri's Night parties:
Few words can really describe Yuri's Night 2009, but the best is probably "awesome." Just look at this picture... how could this not be awesome?
Ok, some other words include "a little weird," "pretty nerdy" and "boatloads of fun." But you get the idea.
The normal-looking people in there are James Williams (video producer/Friday News Feedbag regular; right), Alex Esteves (sound guy; left) and I (center).
We all went to this year's Yuri's Night -- a worldwide celebration of putting people in space -- at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Our mission? To document what Yuri's Night is all about, and why people volunteer their time to make it happen. So stay tuned for that... in the meantime, here are some highlights:
And so on. Clearly we had a blast, but you can too! Not to be a promotional advertisement for Yuri's Night, but...
The celebrations have just begun and will continue through April 12. Note that you don't have to be complete nerds like James, Alex and I to have a ridiculous amount of fun and learn a thing or two about space history in the process.
More than 170 parties going down worldwide this week, and to find one all you need to do is navigate yourself to the front page of www.YurisNight.net. There, you'll get a map of where all of the events are.
Nothing close by? Do your town a favor and start one! There's still time... click here for details.
Photos: Dave Mosher, Discovery.com
I couldn't resist posting about this, even though I'm about a year behind the curve.
For one, I love Firefox too much. Two, supernova remnants are awesome:
Courtesy of TechFresh.net. That's V838 Monocerotis, by the way. On the left. Duh.
Oh, and speaking of supernovae get a load of Discover Magazine's star formation game. Amazing and ridiculously addictive.
My best score is 1128... $10 says you can beat it!
Photo: TechFresh.net
What's in store for this week's Discovery Space Wrap Up: NASA's earth-like planet-hunting Kepler Telescope launches, China's Chang'e 1 spacecraft bites the moon dust, Stephen Colbert wants his own space station node.
Also of note is that I am working on a grotesque beard to ward off single women -- enjoy:
I usually give following sports the cold-shoulder. Honestly, what's so great about tracking a bunch of people more muscular than you fighting to get a ball or puck into this hole or over that net, and getting paid millions of dollars per year for it? (No resentment on my part, clearly...)
My vice, however, is filling out those stupid "March Madness" college basketball brackets. Maybe it's the gambler in my blood, but it's gratifying.
Well luck has it that NASA Edge -- a show on NASA TV -- is hosting a "2009 Mission Madness" bracket! First heard about this in a Universe Today post by Nancy Atkinson, so thanks Nancy.
Click here for the link to fill out your own bracket.
Here's the deal:
Since I'm still waiting for my weekly wrap up video to upload to YouTube (Zzzz...), I figured I'd fill out my bracket for you, complete with sports-announcer-like highlights. I think there is a clear forerunner for the title, written in red:
And a close-up of the final show-down:
Photos: Dave Mosher
How could I not know about the web comic Abtruse Goose, which has been kicking since May 2008?
Seriously, look at this strip:
Some of you XKCD lovers may shun me for expanding my nerdy web comic horizons... but I say bah humbug to you!
Big thanks to Alan Boyle of MSNBC's Cosmic Log blog for introducing this to me.
Photo: Abtruse Goose
We writer types sometimes use a very unwelcome term, and I'd like to use it now:
Pack journalism.
Other variations: Herd journalism, "me-too" journalism.
Today, I'm using it to refer to the recent news about methane plumes discovered on Mars.
Thing is, we knew about this in October 2008. Nearly 3 months ago. Not to toot the horn of our very own blogger Ray Villard, but read it for yourself.
But back to pack journalism: What's the harm?
I'm not certain its damage physically measurable, but consider this: Seeing the same story written 1,000 different ways, yet saying the same boring thing (we don't know if there's life on Mars), in every media outlet from here to Timbuktu. That's a perfect recipe to whack a few confidence points off of the media scorecard. Ouch.
Thankfully here at Discovery Space, we're somewhat insulated from "the pack." We are not a news site -- but we do get behind it, blow it up and expand on the most interesting pieces. Take, for instance, our Wide Angle about life on Mars -- which we threw together after tabloids started publishing stories such as this, this and this.
Speaking of which... Er, really? NASA did not say there was past or present life on Mars.
Too late to stop the misinformation train, though -- people across the planet began freaking out about and wondering why this story is not in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, etc. etc. etc.
...enter pack journalism.
Because a few media outlets incorrectly report that we've found life on Mars, the unfortunate party begins. Every journalist and their mother is ordered to have a story about Martians filed a.s.a.p., setting off a feverish race to address claims of alien microbes when, really, the news is really just one incremental step in the search for life beyond Earth.
That said, I'm not knocking on the scientific findings here. They are very interesting and exciting. And I'm not knocking my colleagues, either -- there are some great pieces about this out there.
Yet NASA knows better than anybody that "alien" and "life" in the same sentence is a touchstone of interest for any human being -- so they'll drum up as much publicity as they can, when they can. Talk about stealing the spotlight: the space agency held their own TV press conference for what was a report in Science magazine.
Ok, so NASA isn't innocent when it comes to such publicity stunts, but I understand why they do it. To them, any widely-publicized advancement in the search for life could be that straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak, to get support -- public, political, financial and otherwise -- to explore the solar system *coughAllanHillsmeteoritecough*.
Is there a solution to these problems? I'm not sure there is, but I'm sure the planet would appreciate any ideas -- feel free to leave 'em in the comments section below.
P.S. Seeking a superior breakdown of how science news shapes up? Don't miss Charlie Petitt's blog, the Knight Science Journalism Tracker -- one of my personal favorites that deserves its spot in the "VIB" (Very Important Blogs) folder of my Google Reader account. Petitt has a great inventory of the "Martian methane bomb" in this post.
Photo: NASA/Wikimedia Commons/Dave Mosher
Let's face it. The economic recession hit us right where it hurts, leaving us all to gasp for air as we scramble to shove money under our mattresses.
While I'm lucky enough to have a job (thanks Discovery), it's stressful to watch the world crumble around me. In such dire straits, what is a worried Web producer to do?
Option #4 sounds good to me, too.
That's precisely what I did last night, in fact. I went to this great little place called the Potter's Wheel run by a woman named Sue.
Aside from crafting some much-needed soup bowls for my homestead on the potter's wheel, I plan to attempt some practical (and not-so-practical) space/astronomy/physics-themed art.
My "to-attempt list" thus far:
I think that's a good start, but I'm open to ideas -- leave your comments and/or drawings in the comments section at the end of this post.
Speaking of art... Whenever you see astounding images such as these:
...you can thank a space artist.
If you're super-interested in space art -- perhaps you make your own, or want to? -- here are a few good places to visit:
Photos, top to bottom: stock.xchng (nope, that's not me); NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
Today was a glorious Friday -- I'll keep the words to a minimum:
Dr Ian O'Neill produces Discovery Space for the Discovery Channel. He is a solar physicist, but loves to write about manned space exploration and exposing the myths behind bad science. He can also be found ranting about space on Astroengine.com.
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