Monthly Archives: December 2013

Activism, Space films and videos

“Sepideh” – A film about a young Iranian women seeking to go to space

The documentary Sepideh (Break of Dawn) is about a young woman in Iran seeking to becom an astronaut : Iranian woman’s dreams about space travel take shape in Danish documentary – Payvand Iran News

Danish filmmaker Berit Madsen has directed a documentary about Sepideh Hushyar, a young Iranian woman who dares to plan for her future as an astronaut. The documentary entitled Sepideh (Break of Dawn) was screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) on Monday. It was filmed by Iranian cameraman Mohammadreza Jahanpanah.

Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American who dreamed of going to space as a youngster in Iran and did in fact find a way to go to space, appears in the film.

Asteroids & Comets, Astronomy, Events

The ISON story continues

The latest on comet ISON:

NASA Investigating the Life of Comet ISON

After several days of continued observations, scientists continue to work to determine and to understand the fate of Comet ISON: There’s no doubt that the comet shrank in size considerably as it rounded the sun and there’s no doubt that something made it out on the other side to shoot back into space. The question remains as to whether the bright spot seen moving away from the sun was simply debris, or whether a small nucleus of the original ball of ice was still there. Regardless, it is likely that it is now only dust.

Comet ISON comes in from the bottom right and moves out toward the upper right, getting fainter and fainter.
Comet ISON comes in from the bottom right and moves out toward the upper right, getting fainter and fainter, in this time-lapse image from the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The image of the sun at the center is from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/SDO/GSFC

Comet ISON, which began its journey from the Oort Cloud some 3 million years ago, made its closest approach to the sun on Nov. 28, 2013. The comet was visible in instruments on NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, and the joint European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, via images called coronagraphs. Coronagraphs block out the sun and a considerable distance around it, in order to better observe the dim structures in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona. As such, there was a period of several hours when the comet was obscured in these images, blocked from view along with the sun. During this period of time, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory could not see the comet, leading many scientists to surmise that the comet had disintegrated completely. However, something did reappear in SOHO and STEREO coronagraphs some time later – though it was significantly less bright.

http://youtu.be/kcROVqmF9SY
Comet ISON is shown approaching the sun and curving away from it in this movie containing imagery from both NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and the joint ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory from November 2013. ISON dims dramatically as it streams away from the sun.
Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/STEREO/GSFC

Whether that spot of light was merely a cloud of dust that once was a comet, or if it still had a nucleus – a small ball of its original, icy material – intact, is still unclear. It seems likely that as of Dec. 1, there was no nucleus left. By monitoring its changes in brightness over time, scientists can estimate whether there’s a nucleus or not, but our best chance at knowing for sure will be if the Hubble Space Telescope makes observations later in December 2013.

Regardless of its fate, Comet ISON did not disappoint researchers. Over the last year, observatories around the world and in space gathered one of the largest sets of comet observations of all time, which should provide fodder for study for years to come. The number of space-based, ground-based, and amateur observations were unprecedented, with twelve NASA space-based assets observing over the past year.

Related Links:

For more information on Comet ISON: www.nasa.gov/ison

To download recent ISON imagery: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/CometISON.html

Space Collecting

Auction of space and aviation postal collectibles

The Italian VACCARI site for postal collectibles is holding an auction on December 14th of aviation and space items:

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On sale the “Enea” Collection. Air Mail from Forerunners to Space.

The wonderful gathering of 182 lots starts from Ballons Montés and international flight forerunners, with world rarities, to arrive in Space and on the Moon with the most famous space letters, through a fine selection of Italian flights and an exceptional group of flight covers and triptychs to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the great Transatlantic Cruise organized by Italo Balbo for the Italian Air Force 10 years.

Apollo missions from no.11 to no.16.

Uncategorized

The Space Show this week – Dec.2.13

Here’s the schedule for The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, Dec. 2, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST): We welcome SCOTT LOWTHER, aerospace historian to the show regarding aerospace art and design work. Visit http://aerospaceprojectsreview.com and http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog.

2. Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST): We welcome back ROBERT (BOB) ZIMMERMAN for space news and updates. Also, Bob will go over some of his past Space Show predictions/comments and we can see how he did using hindsight as our guide. Visit his excellent blog, behindtheblack.com.

3. Friday, Dec. 6,, 2013, 9:30-11 AM PST (11:30- 1 PM CST, 12:30PM-2:00 PM EST): We welcome back DR. BRUCE CORDELL to discuss and update us with his Maslow Windows and what’s coming up for space development.

4. Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013, 12-1:30 PM PST (3-4:30 PM EST, 2-3:30 PM CST). We welcome back JIM LEWIS of Communications Concepts at the Cape. Jim will talk about animals in space per one of his recent documentaries.

See also:
/– The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
/– The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
/– The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.