The Sky is Waiting.
Delta IV Launch
Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Extreme Old Moon
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
Sun
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
ISS with Fireworks
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Lunar Ecliplse Mosaic
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
Morning Shuttle Launch
Every rocket launch is unique, but twilight shuttle launches where by far the most impressive. The image pictured was of the April 5th, 2010 launch of Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center at dawn. The exhaust plume caught the rising Sun overhead just right, and numerous noctilucent clouds persisted right up until sunrise. Unfortunately, space shuttle launches are now relegated to the pages of history.
M42: The Orion Nebula
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
The Moon and Venus
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
Snow Moon
The Algonquin Indians had names for each of the seasonal Full Moons, many of which survive today. The Full Snow Moon pictured occurs in the month of December, when the first large winter storms coat the ground with snow. This Full Moon also tends to fall near the Winter Solstice, and thus rides high in the nightly sky opposite to the Sun on long winter nights.
Review: NASA’s Moonbase Alpha.
Game Logo. (Credit NASA).
It’s hard to weld in a spacesuit… This week, we take a look at Moonbase Alpha. No, this isn’t a resurrection of the 70’s TV series Space: 1999 re-imagined, but NASA’s new online interactive game. We’ve been playing it for a few weeks now since its release in early July. Just how does its authenticity, educational use, and just plain fun factor stack up?
Right off, I’ll admit that we’re not much for online gaming; I get beaten regularly by my computer at chess, mastered Age of Empires II on my Razor while sitting through endless streams of meetings, and wasted a mints worth of quarters playing Asteroids as a kid. That’s about the extent of my gaming expertise. The big old game called Life keeps us plenty engaged and busy… don’t expect to see any f- key tricks or game-speak babble here. But this is a science blog, and any and all things NASA certainly grab our attention.
The scenario set forth in Moonbase Alpha centers around a lunar base established in 2020 in Shackleton, a polar lunar crater. An asteroid strike has severely damaged the outpost, and your job as the astronaut grunt worker is to repair the system within time constraints. The asteroid strike scenario may be a bit farfetched, but not out of the realm of possibility and certainly not as out there as the Space: 1999 premise of having the Moon blown out of orbit. The game has different levels of the same scenario, and has options to play in a competitive (with time constraints) mode or free play. I would advise using free play mode the first few times around just to get a look at things. One astronaut can effectively repair the first level in the time allotted, but really interesting dynamics come into play when you puzzle through repair procedures with multiple astronauts.
The layout and the graphics are first rate, and I think the proper illumination angle for the Earth and lunar environment is a nice touch… but hey, that’s just the astronomer in me. I’d probably make a terrible astronaut, as I’d be too busy stargazing to get any actual work done. Kudos to those men and women that can focus on the task at hand amid all that revealed glory…
Moonbase Alpha is free, (our favorite price) and available for down load from Steam. It works pretty smoothly on our Toshiba laptop, although I find I have to shut down all other applications to avoid lockup. I’d like to see some other scenarios laid out, such as emergency evacuation, exploration, or construction, but perhaps these expanded settings will come in time. The game does allow for quick judgment and maintenance skills… sometimes, for example, we’ve found it easier to simply let a badly damaged relay blow, saving us time unhooking the power cables for replacement! You can also drive the rover and enter the command post, but you can’t interact with the beefed up LEMs (we tried). The command post option is good in multiplayer mode, as one astronaut can oversee and coordinate the recovery effort.
Do check out Moonbase Alpha if you always wanted to be an armchair astronaut, or are just looking for a new gaming challenge. It certainly is more cerebrally challenging than mindlessly blasting zombies, and more noble a cause than heisting automobiles. Not all of us get to be an astronaut, but we can still play one online!