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
If you want incredible astronomy news straight from the source, this is it my friends:
It's AstronomyCast's live video feed -- complete with chatroom -- of the American Astronomical Society's 213th annual meeting.
In case you haven't heard, the Great Planet Debate is going down this week in Laurel, Maryland at Johns Hopkins University. It's at their Applied Physics Laboratory, which is just about smack-dab between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD.
A ton of planetary scientists should be there to wrestle with the definition of a planet, among other geeky matters, but at the center is a Thursday night throw-down between Tyson and Sykes.
Not good ol' Mike Tys
on, but Neil DeGrasse Tyson -- a major popularizer of science and an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, here in New York City.
Sykes = Mark Sykes, director for the Planetary Society Institute, whom I've chatted with a few times. (Here's one of our conversations on the Dawn mission to the Asteroid Belt.)
As you can tell from the photo at left, they look really mean. At any rate, the whole point of this post:
I might be there I won't be there -- but will you? Discovery Space blogger and Hubble Space Telescope guy "Cosmic" Ray Villard will definitely be ringside to bring you the minute-by-minute shenanigans, so be sure to say "hi" to him, if not to both of us.
***IMPORTANT! CALLING ALL PLUTO PROTESTERS!*** If you're going to be protesting about Pluto (for or against it being a planet), please, please, please let me know right away. I would love to chat with you about doing something special!
You can drop me a line in the comments of this post, or if you'd like e-mail me at DiscoverySpace@Discovery.com.
Photos: NASA/Planetary Society Institute
The posts are coming in for the 62nd Carnival of Space, and tomorrow you'll be able to find the spacey extravaganza right here!
I've been brooding for weeks about how to top Sam Wise's "film noir" Carnival of Space (#38) in January, but that might be too ambitious of a goal. We'll see what happens after ingesting copious amounts of coffee.
If you have any late-night submissions for this ringmaster-for-a-day, do let me know at DiscoverySpace@discovery.com or via other methods.
P.S. My apologies for the creepy clown... Carnivals remind me of them a lot.
Creepy clown photo: NASA
As the producer for Discovery Space, I'm willing to risk death by spam e-mail to make myself as accessible as possible to you, a.k.a. the reader person.
Why? I think this site should belong to you as much as it belongs to anyone else. That might sound strange, but I mean it.
Know of any spacey events, shows, parties, gatherings or other happenings? Or maybe you have some ideas you're just dying to share? Whatever is picking your brain, in the name of space please do give me a shout!
You can do it the old-fashioned way by shooting an e-mail over to DiscoverySpace@discovery.com.
Or, to follow Irene Klotz' lead over at the Free Space blog, you can find me on Twitter as Disco_Dave. I'll give you the latest updates on the site as well as chronicle my adventures in spaceland, real-time.
And if Twitter doesn't make you tweet with joy, I'm a few other places, too; Facebook, LinkedIn, and Second Life as a spacesuit-toting dork called SpaceDisco Landar, to name a few. I'm also on AOL Instant Messenger as DaveOnEarth once in a lunar eclipse.
So, don't be shy! You now have an open invitation to make Discovery Space your space. And stalk me.
Dave Mosher is not one for grand entrances and yakking ears off, so let's roll through this real quick:
With this blog, we'll try and get the skinny on what's happening in this big party called the universe by going places - physically, digitally and otherwise. What the heck does that mean? Showing up at space parties, events, meetings, and conferences, but also online meet-ups. And when expense (or billions of light-years in distance) limits us, we'll take brain-based trips to some of the most happening places in space.
But what's a party without people? Boring, that's what it is! So jump in and leave your thoughts, suggestions, ideas, hopes, dreams, and occasional dose of criticism.
Thanks, and welcome to the party!
P.S. Speaking of parties, Phoenix is having quite a ball on Mars! Our 6,700-pound robotic friend will soon eat up its first Martian sample by dumping it into an oven on its back. How's (potentially) icy red dirt for an hors d'œuvre?
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.
Recent Comments