Happy Thanksgiving, America. – -Voyager2

Greeting from the edge of the solar system.
–Ben

Happy Thanksgiving, America. I am thankful for the entire solar system
behind me, and the cosmos ahead of me.

I am currently 13 hrs 05 mins 21 secs of light-travel time from Earth

http://twitter.com/Voyager2

Brian Marsden 1937-2010

RIP
–Ben

It has just been announced in a Central Bureau Electronic Telegram that Brian Marsden died this morning after contracting pneumonia on top of the leukemia he had been fighting this past year.

From Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams #2554:

“He will be remembered as contributing much to celestial mechanics and the dynamics and orbits of minor bodies of the solar system and as having an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of astronomy. He was a dedicated servant to the astronomical community for many decades, serving as Director of the
Central Bureau from 1968 to 2000 (and as Director Emeritus since then) and as Director of the Minor Planet Center from 1978 to 2006 (and as Director Emeritus since then). He also served extensively within Commissions 6 and 20 of the IAU over the years, being past President of both Commissions. And he was one of the most visible astronomers in the world over the years in terms of his generous availability to the news media on behalf of the astronomical community.”

Asteroid 1877 Marsden is named in his honor.

http://simostronomy.blogspot.com/2010/11/brian-g-marsden-1937-2010.html

For an excellent biography see the Minor Planet Center announcement .
http://www.minorplanetcenter.org/mpec/K10/K10W10.html

Slacker Mike Live on Astronomy.FM

I have been asked to appear on the Astronomy.FM Radio program Event Horizon this Friday to discuss the AAVSO, our upcoming centennial celebration, variable stars, citizen science and whatever else we can squeeze into 60 minutes. If you log in you can follow along in the chat room, ask us some questions and participate in the broadcast. I’ll see you there!

If you miss the live broadcast don’t worry, the program re-airs every four hours at 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00 and 22:00UT on Saturday. Who knows, we might even have Simochick stop by for a visit!

Cool blog by the Bad Astronomer.
–Ben

===================
Sunset on Mars

I know, it may not look like much, but think about what you’re seeing: a
sunset on another world. And those images were taken by a robotic probe
that took years to design and build, months to travel the hundreds of
millions of kilometers to get to Mars, a harrowing few minutes to descend
on a breath of fire through the thin air to land on the surface, and then
nearly seven years to travel the landscape long, long past its design
specifications.

All that, plus all the amazing science, exploration, and discovery done by
Opportunity and its sister rover Spirit… and yet, it’s sometimes the stark
beauty of simple things like this that remind us that we have, at least by
proxy, placed our feet on other worlds.

I know there are worries here on Earth. But when I see something like this,
I remember that the good we do, the awe we feel, and the inspiration we can
generate are mighty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQVMWqN-JlE

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/11/15/sunset-on-mars/

Mars rovers fans: have a look at these panoramas

If you can see these on a large screen monitor, Do.

I like “Husband Hill Summit”

The Bounce marks on “Mars Opportunity, Eagle Crater” are cool too.

–Ben

Mars rovers fans: have a look at these panoramas on Arounder:

The fullscreen views are epic!

http://mars.arounder.com/

Mars3D.com

Lots of cool new computer generated based on real data Mars flyover videos here:

–Ben
=======================================
Welcome to the new site!

Over the last few months NASA has been releasing extremely high resolution
elevation and image data for Mars collected by the HiRISE instrument. I
have modified the software that I wrote ten years ago to visualise the MOLA
data to use the new HiRISE data. The new data has allowed me to create
animations of Mars with incredible detail. You can see the results on my
youtube channel…

…There is no music in these videos so as to avoid copyright infringement.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MARS3DdotCOM

http://mars3d.com/

awesome animation of Jupiter’s clouds

cool Voyager 1 ‘enhanced’ video of Jupiter and the Great Red Spot.
–Ben

An awesome animation of Jupiter’s clouds

Ready to see something beautiful? Here’s a team effort by Björn Jónsson (who did the image processing) and Ian Regan (who tweened the animation) to create a really mesmerizing view of the motions of Jupiter’s clouds. Through the magic of image reprojection, Björn has held Jupiter and its Great Red Spot still for 16 Jupiter days while the planet’s belts, zones, and smaller storms swirl past…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHwkdcppsuo

http://planetary.org/blog/article/00002768/

EPOXI flyby loop

nice. Actual time lapse so you could see some rotation instead of zoom
would be nicer.

–Ben

EPOXI Mission
http://epoxi.umd.edu/3gallery/vid_20101104_approach.shtml

fwd: A Story of Saturn’s Rings…the Latest from Cassini

news and pics from Saturn & Cassini team.

I like the Tallest peaks pic.
…Cassini’s narrow angle camera captured a 1,200-kilometer-long (750-mile-long) section arcing along the outer edge of the B ring. Here, vertical structures tower as high as 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) above the plane of the rings — a significant deviation from the vertical thickness of the main A, B and C rings, which is generally only about 10 meters (about 30 feet)…

http://www.ciclops.org/view/6480/The_Tallest_Peaks

The rings are NOT totally flat.

=====================
Also be sure to vote today.

–Ben

November 1, 2010

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Some very good news….

Today, the Cassini Imaging Team is delighted to announce the publication of a study of Cassini images that finally offers answers to two long-standing questions in the study of Saturn’s rings … questions that were cardinal scientific goals for the Cassini mission.

We have found the cause of the strange behavior of one of the most dynamic regions in Saturn’s rings … the outer edge of Saturn’s most massive ring, the B ring. And the answer (hint: it’s acting like a spiral galaxy!) can apparently also explain the bewildering, chaotic and heretofore unexplained structures, from the very smallest to the very largest scale, throughout the densest portions of the rings. That’s no small feat.

And there is more!

To get the full scoop of results published today in the Astronomical Journal, go to …

http://ciclops.org

(Attached to this email is a press release that was issued earlier today announcing these results.)

Also, today, after more than a year’s hiatus, the Captain’s Log has been updated and is now a feature of the CICLOPS website that Alliance members can comment on if they wish.

Enjoy!

Carolyn Porco
Cassini Imaging Team Leader
Director, CICLOPS
Space Science Institute
Boulder, CO

http://ciclops.org

http://twitter.com/carolynporco

http://www.facebook.com/carolynporco