Carnival of Space!

September 26, 2008

I did my part to be a good citizen this week by showing up for jury duty -- which is also why this week's Carnival of Space is up a few hours later than usual. But all the excellent submissions certainly provided great reading material (via my trusty iPhone, as laptops were not allowed) during an otherwise very dull eight hours. I'm sure everyone else will enjoy sampling these choice offerings, too:

Universe Today has a terrific post about Christa McAuliffe's educational legacy in the wake of the Challenger disaster: long-lost files of her in-space lesson plans, plus video footage of all the prep work.

The Martian Chronicles sheds some light on the effect of lower gravity on martian volcanoes, while Astroengine reports on recent activity in the sunspot cycle.

CCSSC Astronomy Blog introduces the latest addition to the dwarf planet family, although the question of who discovered the trans-Neptunian object remains a topic of heated debate.

Hail to the plucky little rovers that could! Cumbrian Sky and Meridiani Journal express their admiration for Opportunity -- NASA's own Energizer Bunny -- as the rover begins the long journey to Endeavor Crater. Meanwhile, Collect Space points out an historic moment, when two space shuttles stood on each of NASA's two launch pads last Saturday.

Irene Klotz of Free Space gives up on trying to be serious about space science and the presidential election, offering a "low-information" pop quiz to help any remaining undecided voters.

A Babe in the Universe digs up some interesting history: a supersonic transport planned in the 1960s capable of cruising at altitudes of 64,000 feet -- above 95% of the Earth's atmosphere, and so high that "passengers would see a black sky and stars at midday." Naturally it was cancelled... Speaking of cancelled, Mang's Bat Page reports that the David Dunlop Observatory is now closed, although outreach astronomy programs will continue near the original site.

Next Big Future has the latest 4-1-1 on solar electric sails, while 21st Century Waves reports on why NASA should drop aeronautics entirely and focus on colonizing Mars and the moon.  Orbital Hub has some tips for scouting the moon for safe landing sites and potential resources.

Potentia Tenebras Repellendi thinks it might also be helpful for colonization purposes to "set up a concurrent base on a Near-Earth Object," like an asteroid. Colony Worlds weighs in, too, with a proposal for using inexpensive green technology to create instant roads on the moon and Mars using local soil -- rather than trying to import materials and labor from Earth. And Starts With a Bang ponders the age-old question: is there life elsewhere in the universe?

Centauri Dreams explores the question of a "galactic habitable zone," in light of "recent work that suggests stays move far from where they were formed in the galaxy."

The Bad Astronomer tells us all about the most distant gamma ray burst ever detected: NASA's Swift telescope picked up light from a dying star that traveled 12.8 billion light years to reach us. And a very good thing, too: a gamma ray burst within a few thousand light yers of earth would pretty much fry our pretty blue planet.

Meanwhile, Dave Mosher at Space Disco creates his own Armageddon scenario using a handy online "Impact Calculator." (Spoiler alert: Bruce Willis does not save the day. Colonies on Mars are starting to sound rather appealing now, aren't they?)

Forget those boring dinosaurs and trilobites: Lab Lemming eulogizes the forgotten extinction of nuclides, which he says are vital to understanding our solar system.

Simostronomy offers tales of animals he's run into in the dark while making astronomical observations. (The story of the skunk had me snickering out loud in the jury room, much to the bailiff's annoyance. I was always a fan of Pepe le Pew.)

Finally, Amanda Bauer offers a nifty video presentation of the relative sizes of planets and stars.

Photo: NASA's Swift Telescope. Source: NASA, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Comments

[Redplanet]

Link to Universe Today article on Christa McAuliffe isn't working. Should be:
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/09/25/teacher-astronauts-legacy-uncovered-22-yearss-after-challenger-disaster/

[Irene]

Nice write-up. Thanks.

[gaetano marano - ghostNASA.com]

.

I think that the Hubble Servicing Mission 4 is TOO dangerous then it should NOT fly

as explained here: http://www.ghostnasa.com/

.

[Bjoern]

Nice collection! :-)

However, there are some typos in the links:
1)In the link "NASA should drop aeronautics", the "a" is missing in "21centurywaves".
2) In the link "ponders the age-old question", the "t" is missing in "startswithabang".
3)The link "Meridiani Journal" is not working, and I can't figure out why...

[Jennifer Ouellette]

OKay, all the broken links should now be fixed. It took me FOREVER to figure out the problem with the Meridiani Journal -- probably because a new error got introduced with every attempted fix. But it's working now! Thanks to all for pointing out non-working links.