NASA Engineer Shows YouTube “Best of the Best” Shuttle Videos

Matt Melis, a longtime NASA engineer, has take to the ‘Tube to show off what he calls “the best of the best” imagery from shuttle launches, including hi-definition video

Melis has been in the launch analysis game for quite some time. His 45-minute tribute to space shuttle launches is incredibly educational and a fascinating watch for fans of space programs.

You’ll get to hear NASA engineers explain every imaginable detail of a shuttle launch as footage from the ground and from the shuttles themselves show what goes into the first phase of a successful space mission. You’ll get to see launches for STS-114, STS-117, and STS-124 missions.

In short, if you’re really into space stuff, this YouTube video is the director’s commentary of your dreams.

“Photographic documentation of a space shuttle launch plays a critical role in the engineering analysis and evaluation process that takes place during each and every mission,” Melis writes on the YouTube video page.

“Motion and still images enable shuttle engineers to visually identify off-nominal events and conditions requiring corrective action to ensure mission safety and success… Rendered in the highest definition possible, this production is a tribute to the dozens of men and women of the shuttle imaging team and the 30 years of achievement of the Space Shuttle Program.”

Melis has been at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, for many years. He was part of the ballistics team that analyzed the Columbia launch accident, for example.
http://mashable.com/2010/12/11/nasa-youtube-shuttle-launch/

SalsaJ

SalsaJ is free, student-friendly software developed specifically for the EU-HOU project. SalsaJ is designed to be easy to install and use. It allows students to display, analyse, and explore real astronomical images and other data in the same way that professional astronomers do, making the same kind of discoveries that lead to true excitement about science. A number of exercises have developed complete with data to download and detailed instructions for use. The flexibility of the SalsaJ tool enables students and teachers to extend the exercises with their own observations.

SalsaJ is multi-platform and multi-lingual: SalsaJ has been translated into many languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Greek, Portuguese, Swedish, Northern Sami, Arabic, Chinese.

http://www.euhou.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=9

Dark Matter

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope received a boost from a cosmic magnifying glass to construct one of the sharpest maps of dark matter in the universe. They used Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys to chart the invisible matter in the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, located 2.2 billion light-years away. The cluster contains about 1,000 galaxies and trillions of stars. Dark matter is an invisible form of matter that accounts for most of the universe’s mass. Hubble cannot see the dark matter directly. Astronomers inferred its location by analyzing the effect of gravitational lensing, where light from galaxies behind Abell 1689 is distorted by intervening matter within the cluster.

Researchers used the observed positions of 135 lensed images of 42 background galaxies to calculate the location and amount of dark matter in the cluster. They superimposed a map of these inferred dark matter concentrations, tinted blue, on a Hubble image of the cluster. The new dark matter observations may yield new insights into the role of dark energy in the universe’s early formative years.

from:
http://eaae-astronomy.org/blog/?cat=49

The Best Meteor Shower Of The Year

There are several major meteor showers to enjoy every year at various times, with some more active than others. The 2010 Leonid meteor shower peaks the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 17.

If you’re viewing in dark conditions, the best viewing time will be after midnight, in the hours just before dawn. But don’t expect too much. While the annual shower has been spectacular in the past, this year’s 85% full moon will obstruct viewing for most backyard astronomers. At most, expect to see approximately 15 meteors per hour.

Whether you’re watching from a downtown area or the dark countryside, here are some tips to help you enjoy these celestial shows of shooting stars. Those streaks of light are really caused by tiny specks of comet-stuff hitting Earth’s atmosphere at very high speed and disintegrating in flashes of light.

Sky and telescope

Tuesday, November 16

This evening the Moon is to Jupiter's upper left.

The Leonid meteor shower should be at its best in the early hours of Wednesday and/or Thursday — after the Moon sets around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, and 4 a.m. Thursday morning. But the Leonids have been far from spectacular in these off-years. You might see 20 Leonids per hour, and 4 Taurids, from a dark, rural site.

In the Wednesday dawn, Venus is the closest it will get to fainter Spica: 3 3/4° below it.

Повече информация за периода 12-20 ноември на:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance

The Scale of the Universe

http://htwins.net/scale/

Carl Sagan Day - November 9

Today is Carl Sagan Day — a chance to remember the legacy of one of the greatest science promoters ever. Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences.