Space and astronomy news
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Last time we wanted to hear your opinions on when humans will return to the Moon. Now I’d like to engage Universe Today readers in another opinionated debate.
When do you think humans will set foot on Mars for the first time? Will it be a specific country or an international team effort? Or do you think it’ll never happen?
I’d love to hear what you think. Just post your thoughts and ideas into the comments below.
We had a bit of a trembler here at Universe Today headquarters on Vancouver Island. According to the USGS, it was 6.4 magnitude, and the epicenter was located about 150 km from my house. It wasn’t the most severe earthquake I’ve felt, but there was no question… that was an earthquake.
Twitter user @OzoneVibe was good enough to pass along a link so I could report my experience for Science! The USGS provides a questionnaire for every earthquake so you can give your details about the shaking, any damage, etc. Here’s the one created for the Vancouver Island earthquake.
If you’re caught in an earthquake in the future, do a Google search for “did you feel it“. Then you can report your own experience and help geologists better understand earthquakes.
Now I’ve got to prepare for my kids coming home from school – they’ll hammer me with questions. I’m sure we’re going to be doing earth science late into the evening.
I’m venturing from my Canadian stronghold to the hotlanta for the next week to participate in DragonCon. I’m taking the whole family this time, and unleashing them on an unsuspecting crowd of sci-fi fans.
Here’s what I’m scheduled to be doing:
Uh… that’s it. For the rest of the time, I’ll be a rabid sci-fi fan, attending lots of cool stuff. But drop me an email at [email protected] if you want to hang out.
See you there… or not.
I love Kickstarter projects, and I love space. So here’s something that puts them both together: the Hubble Roadshow Kickstarter project. If they can raise $20,000, this group will tour the US in a custom RV showing the new documentary, Saving Hubble. They’ll organize telescopes, parties… even jugglers.
So if this sounds like a project worth backing, go ahead and kick them a few bucks. And then show up and celebrate Hubble when they pass through your town.
We mentioned this a couple of years ago, but I think it’s time for a reminder. There’s a great Twitter service called @twisst, which you can use to notify you when the International Space Station is going to be passing overhead in your region. It pulls your location from your profile, and then calculates good viewing times for you to see the station. All you have to do is follow the Twitter account.
Oh, and while you’re following Twitter accounts, don’t forget to follow the Universe Today Twitter feed.
P.S. Now I’m off to watch the station go overhead my house… thanks @twisst!
[/caption]Twitter users Kris McCall and Wayne Povey reminded me that it’s August 27th today. Don’t you know what that is? That’s the day all those stupid “Mars is going to look bigger than the Moon” hoax emails go around the internet. We’ll usually get deluged by emails from the recipients, and have to write up a big response explaining it… again… and again… and again.
But I just realized… I haven’t gotten a single email this year. I totally forgot to mention it in Universe Today.
So that’s it, I’m officially calling this hoax over. You hear me hoaxers and remailers? You’ve lost. People now understand that there’s no possible way that Mars can look bigger in the sky. Your ridiculous hoax is falling on deaf ears. It just took 8 years of non-stop debunking.
Skepticism has won this day.
Go ahead, take a second for your mind to empty of all the bad puns about the title of this story. Then, watch this great video from YouTuber Thunderf00t. It’s an amazing timelapse video of the night sky, including images of Uranus and its moons.
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We’re conducting a completely informal, unscientific, off-the-cuff survey of Universe Today readers. When do you think that humans will return to the Moon?
Just give us your responses in the comments. We’re thinking of pulling your answers together to try and wrangle the zeitgeist about human space exploration.
Hi everyone, Google+ has given me 150 invites I can use to hand out to people. You should be able to just click this link and sign up for the service if you want:
https://plus.google.com/_/notifications/ngemlink?path=%2F%3Fgpinv%3DJbarXukyHyg%3AjamdZlG8eVs
We’ve been having a lot of fun with Google+, including recording live episodes of Astronomy Cast, Universe Today hangouts, and more. So… join!
Let me know when the invites run out and I’ll try to get more.
Update: A reader gave me another 150 invites, so try these next.
P.S… don’t forget to add me to one of your circles. 🙂
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Photographer Gary Crabbe captured this beautiful image of the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California. Here’s what Gary had to say about the photograph:
I was working on a book project about California history and traveling between locations in Northern California. I’ve always been an armchair astronomy and cosmology buff, so when by chance I whizzed by the sign that said something like UC Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HRCO) at 55 MPH, I knew immediately what it was. I made a quick U-Turn and followed the signs to the entrance to the Observatory. I was delighted to see that the public was welcomed to take self-guided tours on limited daytime hours M-F, or by special arrangement.
I highly recommend you check out Gary’s website and see the rest of his beautiful photographs.