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| Asteroid 1998 QE2, 24 May, 5x120 second exposures stacked in ImageJ and MAX Z-project applied. R filter, iTelescope T9, | Animated GIF from the 5 frames |

New polar-topo maps of Saturn’s moon Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/JHUAPL/Cornell/Weizmann
Anybody know how accurate the splining is given the data sets available?
These polar maps show the first global, topographic mapping of Saturn’s moon Titan, using data from NASA’s Cassini mission. To create these maps, scientists employed a mathematical process called splining, which uses smooth curved surfaces to “join” the areas between grids of existing topography profiles obtained by Cassini’s radar instrument. The topography maps at bottom focus on the polar regions (north at left, south at right) in stereographic projection. The top maps show the 2-D radar data in gold and black, with topography data color-coded by elevation. The bottom images are from the new topography map, with contour lines added at 656 feet (200 meters) apart in elevation.
Visible are deep basins at 72 degrees south latitude and 20 degrees east longitude, and a wider basin at 68 degrees south latitude and 105 degrees east longitude.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and ASI, the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the US and several European countries.
On May 20, 2013, NASA and NOAA satellites observed the system that generated severe weather in the south central United States and spawned the Moore, Okla., tornado.
The tornado that struck Moore on the afternoon of Monday, May 20, was an F-4 tornado on the enhanced Fujita scale, according to the National Weather Service. F-4 tornadoes have sustained winds from 166 to 200 mph. This tornado
Two hungry young galaxies that collided 11 billion years ago are rapidly forming a massive galaxy about 10 times the size of the Milky Way, according to UC Irvine-led research published Wednesday in the journal Nature [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12184.html].
Capturing the creation of this type of large, short-lived star body is extremely rare - the equiv
Three NASA-built instruments that are integral components of the next in a series of U.S./European ocean altimetry satellites have arrived in France for integration with their spacecraft in preparation for a 2015 launch. Jason-3 will extend the two-decade series of satellites that are tracking global sea level changes and enabling more accurate weather, ocean and climate forecasts.
The thr
Russia's Bion-M1 biological research satellite, which recently carried rodents, microorganisms and plants on a month-long space flight, successfully accomplished its mission, an official said on Wednesday, despite the death of most of the animals on board.
"The spacecraft did not show any noticeable failures and has accomplished its program in full," said Vladimir Sychev, deputy director o
ESA has inaugurated a new hub that will strengthen Europe's contribution to the global hunt for asteroids and other hazardous natural objects that may strike Earth.
Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs, are asteroids or comets with sizes ranging from metres to tens of kilometres that orbit the Sun and whose orbits come close to that of Earth. There are over 600 000 asteroids known in our Solar S
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland."
Plans call for delivering portions of the sample in coming days to laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is only the second time that a sample has been collected from inside a rock on Mars.
The first was Curiosity's drilling at a targ
A Florida girl expelled from school after her science experiment exploded will be going to space camp with the help of a former NASA manager, officials said.
Kiera Wilmot, 16, was accused in April of igniting a chemical explosion at her high school, leading to her arrest and suspension from school, but authorities dropped criminal charges last week.
News of the incident reached 1
U.S. researchers say they've discovered what may be the world's largest methane seep on the ocean floor, where life thrives under extreme conditions.
A marine research expedition sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration located the seep deep in the western North Atlantic Ocean, far from the life-sustaining energy of
Ecuador's first satellite, launched last month, has collided with debris from an old Russian rocket but it is unclear if it has been damaged, officials say.
The Pegasus nanosatellite, designed and built in Ecuador, was launched into orbit April 25 by China.
The Joint Space Operations Center in the United States, which monitors all artificial Earth-orbiting objects, said there had
Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by N
Duke University engineers have developed a novel method for producing clean hydrogen, which could prove essential to weaning society off of fossil fuels and their environmental implications.
While hydrogen is ubiquitous in the environment, producing and collecting molecular hydrogen for transportation and industrial uses is expensive and complicated. Just as importantly, a byproduct of mos
In the tropics at heights more than 10 miles above the surface, the prevailing winds alternate between strong easterlies and strong westerlies roughly every other year. This slow heartbeat in the tropical upper atmosphere, referred to as the quasibiennial oscillation (QBO), impacts the winds and chemical composition of the global atmosphere and even the climate at Earth's surface.
The puls
Researchers at the Universities of Leeds and Chicago have uncovered an important mechanism behind the generation of astrophysical magnetic fields such as that of the Sun.
Scientists have known since the 18th Century that the Sun regularly oscillates between periods of high and low solar activity in an 11-year cycle, but have been unable to fully explain how this cycle is generated.
I
Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recently flipped an adapter - no easy feat when you're talking about 1,000 pounds of aluminum - furthering progress toward Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 in 2014 and providing early experience for Space Launch System (SLS) hardware ahead of the rocket's first flight in 2017. The flip is an important step in finishing the ma
Scientists say they've found bacteria growing in the Canadian arctic at temperatures below freezing, nearly as cold as the surface of Mars.
Growing at just 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest temperature ever reported for bacterial growth, the bacterium offers clues about some of the necessary preconditions for microbial life on other worlds, such as Saturn's moon Enceladus and Mars, wher 
The Hubble Space Telescope teams up with Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona to produce this stunning view of the well-known Ring Nebula.
Credit: NASA, ESA, C.R. Robert O’Dell, G.J. Ferland , W.J. Henney and M. Peimbert / Large Binocular Telescope David Thompson
Hubble and the Large Binocular Telescope teamed up to take a new and very close look at the well known planetary nebula M57 or The Ring Nebula.
It looks like the “Ring” is just a matter of perspective and it really is more like looking down a barrel.
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| Proposed Bigelow Moon Base |
Dance of the Planets: An Evening Under the Stars
FREE ADMISSION
Saturday, June 1, 2013
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Location
Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn, NY 11201
“Dance” under the stars and join professional and amateur astronomers for a free evening of urban stargazing. It’s an outdoor party beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and the twinkling canvas of the night sky, and a night to explore and discover the vast wonders of the cosmos. Bring your telescope if you have one, or use one of the dozens we’ll have on hand.
Enjoy conversations with leading astronomers and live music to celebrate the astronomical event “Dance of the Planets,” at this communal stargazing experience. The festivities will feature astronomy groups from around the Tri-State Area, family-friendly activities, twilight sailing of the Schooner Mystic Whaler, refreshments, local food trucks, and more.
Repost from: WorldScienceFestival.com.
The evening sky facing north-east in Darwin on May 22 at 19:00 pm ACST showing the waxing Moon just about to cover Spica (alpha Virginis). (similar views will be seen from other locations north of Bundaberg at a similar local time eg 20:05 AEST Cairns). The inset shows a telescopic view of the Moon at 19:00 ACST, with Spica about to go behind the Moon.
Sky on Wednesday May 23 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide at 21:00 local time in South Australia. The left inset shows a telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).
Evening sky looking west as seen from Adelaide at 17:45 pm local time on Thursday May 23. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local times indicated here. Click to embiggen.
The south-eastern horizon, around 9:00 pm local time in Australia. Can you see the Emu? Click to embiggen.
See the Emu now?What do I now have with a free Flickr account?
Starting on 5/20/2013, members with free accounts on Flickr will have:
- 1 Terabyte of space
- Upload and download in full original quality. Up to 200MB per image
- Ability to create “Collections”
- Post any of your photos or videos in up to 60 group pools
- Limitation of maximum image size available to others

SUBJ: IPS GEOMAGNETIC DISTURBANCE WARNING 13/07ISSUED AT 0300UT/18 MAY 2013
BY THE AUSTRALIAN SPACE FORECAST CENTRE.
Aurora could potentially be seen as far north as southern Victoria and Northern New Zealand.A full halo earthward directed CME was observed on 17-May. This may increase geomagnetic activity to Minor Storm levels, with periods at Major storm level from mid 19-May and into early 20-May. The magnitude of the storm will depend on the orientation of the magnetic field in the CME.
INCREASED GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY EXPECTED DUE TO CORONAL MASS EJECTION FROM 19-20 MAY 2013 ___________________________________________________________
GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY FORECAST
19 May: Minor Storm
20 May: Active to Minor Storm
As you can see, the issue starts with a sparky launch by Steve Jurvetson. There are a lot of articles in this issue. The lead article, by Peter Alway, is about Mexico's SCT-1. As you would expect, it includes one of his signature, dimensioned line drawings so you can make one of your own. And, at a tad less than 15" in diameter, a full-scale model is a possibility. There is coverage of the International Space University's student launch. The site: KSC's Launch Complex 39A. How awesome is that?!? I had never heard of this (or had forgotten), but it appears that the Northern Illinois Rocketry Association holds their own mini-convention, NIRCON. There is a project article on one rocketeer's quest to break 20k' on a K motor and another on the short life of a cow rocket (not the animal, just the spots). Worried about rocket safety? There's an nice article on the less discussed dangers. It includes things like flying EZ-ups, the weather, critters, etc. We also find out how to build a fin jig from you kid's LEGO set (or your own for that matter) and how to successfully fly Quest D5 motors. Finally, there is a review of a book on the atmosphere and one dad's perspective on being a BAR.