Category Archives: Science

SETI

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, is now more than fifty years old. In 1959, the Cornell physicists Giuseppi Cocconi and Philip Morrison published an article in the journal Nature proposing the idea that it might be possible to use … Continue reading →

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Apollo 13

Posted on April 14, 2013 by

On the night of April 13, 1970–43 years ago today–the words “Houston, we’ve had a problem” were uttered when an oxygen tank in the Service Module of the moon bound Apollo 13 exploded. The Lunar Module pilot of that mission, … Continue reading →

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Dawn

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

Early in the evening of September 27, 2007, a Delta II blasted off from Space Launch Complex 17B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. On board was Dawn, an enormous unmanned spaceship designed to visit two asteroids: Vesta,and Ceres. … Continue reading →

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Antarctica

Posted on March 23, 2013 by

Two organizations raced to get to their destination, stretching the available technology to achieve their goals. Only one could get there first. National pride and personal pride were at stake. But we’re not talking about a race to the moon. … Continue reading →

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Life As We Don’t Know It

Posted on March 16, 2013 by

“The Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.” So said J.B.S. Haldane in Possible Worlds and Other Papers in 1927. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the astronomer Percival Lowell mesmerized the … Continue reading →

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Planet Pi

Posted on March 15, 2013 by

If you click on the infographic it will give you a much larger version. Source: JPL Send to Kindle

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Moon and Jupiter

Posted on March 14, 2013 by

Tonight we attempted to see the comet PanSTARRS again; but we had prayer meeting tonight and by the time we got outside the comet had set. But, I had my telescope with me (a Meade 3 1/2 inch Maksutov–Cassegrain with … Continue reading →

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Comets and Other Stuff

Posted on March 13, 2013 by

I finally got to see the comet PanSTARRS tonight, together with my wife and Kathy Newman, who took several excellent pictures of it. We watched it from our church; it was dark there and we had a clear view of … Continue reading →

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Asteroids

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

The small 150 foot diameter asteroid with the designation 2012 DA14 became newsworthy when it was determined that it would slip by the Earth just beneath our geosynchronous communication satellites on February 15, 2013. But then, coincidentally on the same … Continue reading →

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Comets!

Posted on March 9, 2013 by

Starting tonight, Comet PanSTARRS is visible for those of us who live north of the equator. Here is a helpful chart: Source Sky and Telescope. Something to look forward to is Comet ISON, which will become visible in December: Source … Continue reading →

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