time-lapse solstice eclipse

My writing fu just seems stuck lately, what with planning for impending baby, some health issues, and .... well, I have no other excuses. But here's neat time-lapse video of last night's eclipse!

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

I have a bookmark file full of things to write about, and rather than go on hiatus, I think I'll toss them up as I'm able. I apologize.

- Mary

lunacy, really

According to Phil Plait, at least 90% of all murders happen within a week of either the new moon (like right this minute) or the full moon.

Amazing, really, when you think about it.

Photo by JPStanley

via Creative Commons search

on Flickr.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!

It's the moon! It's meteors!



Pretty much everyone knows that I have a broad definition of "geography," right? Usually, if I can see it from earth, or if what happens there is directly relevant to earth, I'll often decide it counts. For awhile, I pondered having a day a week set aside for related sciences, but I've mostly given that up. If I post them here, I'll find a way to make them geography-relevant.

But this trailer is about an event that involves people on the ground looking at things relatively close to us, including within our atmosphere, so I think it's all about geography. Check it out. It's a lot of fun.

Adventure for its own sake ... and for science

Neil Armstrong After Apollo 11 EVA.

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind. ~plaque left by Apollo 11

When I was a little girl, we would lie out in the back yard, or on the hood of the car, and stare at the moon, trying to see lunar landers. Mom never told us it was ridiculous for us to try to look, that we'd never see it. She never pretended she saw it, or tried to give us false hope. She just allowed it. She patiently listened as we came in to tell her our stories, sure we'd seen it. She ignored bedtimes, when Apollo missions were working. She made sure that we got to watch them on TV, every single time, every launch, every moon landing, every splashdown in the ocean at the end. It was part of the fabric of my childhood.

I hope we never stop adventuring for the sake of science ... for the sake of adventure, either. But for science.

This picture of Neil Armstrong after his first Apollo moonwalk, or EVA, on July 20, 1969, is one of my all-time favorite astronomy-related photos. Look at his face: It is glowing with rich delight.

(.... One small step for a man ....)

NASA's image of the day for today

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Originally uploaded by marymactavish.

(from NASA)

FOR SCIENCE! ... and for beauty

This looks so completely CGI I can hardly blame people for assuming it's not real:



Yes, this is on youtube, it might go down some day. Unlike NASA, the Japanese space agency JAXA retains rights to its images. But they don't seem to enforce that too hard.

I don't really expect I'll get to see the earth rise from the moon, I'm old enough now that I'll likely be dead before the general public gets to visit. But I'm still glad we're interested enough in pure science to explore it, and I'm glad there are people who record it on video and share it for us for the sake of beauty alone.

solar eclipse from the moon

This photo was taken from a craft orbiting the moon, while the earth was between the moon (or at least the orbiting craft) and the sun. http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=8229. WOW. People on earth would be seeing some degree of lunar eclipse, this says a penumbral eclipse. It's one thing to picture this, but it's gorgeous to see it.

http://www.kaguya.jaxa.jp/en/communication/com_information_e.htm#NEW_20090218A

(After I originally posted this, my husband pointed out a simple oversight on my part -- From the moon, this would be a solar eclipse, as the earth is occulting the sun. Were the people orbiting the moon seeing the moon's shadow on the earth, with the sun behind, that would be a terrestrial eclipse.)