Urban Astronomer hosts the latest Carnival of Space.
Monthly Archives: August 2017
Videos: Cassini and the wonders of Saturn + An overview of the Voyager mission
A video of highlights of the many discoveries and marvelous images made by the Cassini mission to the Saturn system:
Checkout the Cassini: The Grand Finale: Cassini’s ‘Inside-Out’ Rings Movie:
A talk by Alan Cummings, Senior Research Scientist at Caltech and Voyager team member since 1973, about the two Voyager spacecraft and their travels out into interstellar space:
From the caption:
In 1977, NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft embarked on an incredible journey to the outer planets and beyond. After delivering stunning images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the probes sailed on to study the boundary of our heliosphere, the bubble that encompasses our sun, planets and solar wind. Voyager 1 crossed that frontier in August 2012, becoming the first human-made object in interstellar space, while Voyager 2 is expected to enter the space between the stars in the coming years. This live public talk at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, revisits highlights of the last 40 years and discuss what may lie ahead for the intrepid Voyagers.
Kickstarter: Commemorative pin for Apollo 11 to hold lunar meteorite “moon dust”
Check out the Kickstarter for The World’s First Enamel Pin Made With Authentic MOON DUST by B. Smith & Co
Our vision for “Projects of Earth” is to develop an affordable high quality commemorative enamel pin and handcrafted meteorite pen set featuring authentic moon dust, celebrating the upcoming 50th anniversary of mankind’s greatest technological achievement: putting a man on the moon.
This soft enamel pin will be made using only the highest quality components available. No cheap zinc alloys, imitation platings, or butterfly clutches… Our production samples are just in and they are absolutely beautiful!
Style: Soft enamel lapel pin
Size: 1.5″ x 1.25″ (38 mm x 35 mm)
Material: Die struck solid brass, Nickel plating in Gold or Silver
Enamel: 8 pantone colors, hand painted
Back side: Die struck texture with deluxe brass clutch
Weight: approximately 0.5 oz.
Optional upgrade: Moon Dust, including display box and etched stainless steel certificate of authenticity card
B.Smith & CO. previously developed The METEORITE Pen.
The Moon dust comes via a meteorite identified as originating on the Moon:
Both the pin and the pen have optional MOON DUST upgrades, making them among the most unique and special items you will ever own.
Our moon dust comes from the legendary Lunar Meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 5000. NWA 5000 was discovered in Southern Morocco in 2007 and with a near perfect 24.8 out of 25 rating it is, to date, the largest and finest lunar highlands specimen in existence. We’ve acquired our supply directly from NWA 5000’s original owner and it is of course guaranteed 100% authentic. Lunar meteorite is considered to be one of the rarest materials in the entire world, far more rare than gold, platinum, or diamond.
This ultra-fine “moon dust” was produced as the main mass of the meteorite was sliced using a special sterilized diamond blade saw, preventing the introduction of any terrestrial contaminants. It is in fact so pure that this exact dust is used by Washington University in St. Louis as their laboratory calibration sample.
Videos: Hurricane Harvey as seen from space
Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report for Aug.25.2017
The latest Space to Ground video report from NASA on activities related to the International Space Station :
A couple more of the fun “SpeedyTime” short videos about various aspects of the station and living there:
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