Pic of the day - Omega Centauri

Hubble snapped this panoramic view of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars that live in the core of a giant star cluster!! this is one of the first images ever taken with the new Wide Field Camera that was installed aboard the telescope in may 2009. Big deal camera because it can take pictures in various different wave lengths... meaning details, color and clarity we've yet to see! Oh, I have an idea, lets bomb all of them!!

Mercury! Lets bomb it!!

Mercury, what a gem! Am I right?? Now, I’m not preaching about the fun poison causing mercury that you can get from old glass thermometers or the really dense Mercury you can ingest after slaughtering dolphins! I wish!! No, I’m talking about the big round thing near the sun. yeah, I know, your thinking Mercury, I aint no fan of WWF. Well good, you missed that trash wagon, but this my acquaintances is a planet. So in 2004… 2004!! We sent up a spacecraft known as the Messenger. And after five years The Messenger finished its third and final flyby of Mercury yesterday!! Its true! Not only did we send her a shout-out but we got pretty close to her face when we did it! Yep, the Messenger skimmed over the planet just 228 K above the surface. The latest images wont be available until tonight but there is a lot of talk about the detail and quality of the images, as well as their scientific value. The Messenger will be the first spacecraft to orbit the inner most planet in our solar system!! Check it, to get to Mercury and back, the messenger is having to follow a path that includes one flyby of Earth, two flyby’s of Venus, and three flyby’s of mercury. “Why should I give a shit?” you ask, well for one, this is the first new spacecraft data from mercury since the Mariner mission like 30 some years ago. Dos, the M-machine is designed unlike any other spacecraft because its gotta hold itself together in an extreme environment that’s incredibly close to the sun (which is hot). Additionally, Its only Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury that are terrestrial planets. Mercury is one with the oldest surface, it has the largest daily variations in surface temperature and it’s the least explored…. Still don’t care? Alright, lets put this into a language you’ll be at all interested in… um, well this mission is really exciting because in order to succeed we created the most powerful and capable camera every imagined by scientists (thus it’ll be in your phone by 2015) with the capability of surviving so close to the sun (your phone can be dropped kicked and perhaps burned to a crisp, all the while still remaining functional). Additionally, getting info on a planet so similar in make up to our own means we can begin to understand how our planet will evolve and survive the next million years. Plus, if Mercury isn’t your fav, at least this info will help us learn more about whatever globe you do like. The only two planets in our solar system that have a global internal magnetic field are mercury and Earth… by characterizing M’s magnetic field we can try to figure out why the inner planets have such huge differences in their magnetic history. Anyway - Messenger is also looking into some deep crater interiors near the planets poles, craters that are never kissed by the sunlight, meaning maybe, the planet closest to the sol, has ice… also known as frozen agua. So whatever, I know, mercury isn’t my particular fav either, BUT this is still some cool shit and I figure you might want to see some cool pics. The ones below are not from the most recent flyby, but their still pretty stellar... In conclusion, here is Mercury. Lets Bomb it!!!



This is a shot of the Matisse Crater... meaning less to you, but mighty powerful to old M.

Ultra Deep Field

I simply don't have very many words to describe the video below. Except to say that it is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I think I may have played it at least 23 times in the past month... err maybe more. I recommend it. it's amazing. Also, for those of you who love it as much as I do, you can now just come to my site to see it, and share it with everyone! So Enjoy!

Lets Bomb the Moon!!!

So here’s the plan; the LCROSS mission will blast its way into the moons surface, creating a crater 5k in diameter, to once and for all find an answer to the daunting question as to whether water exists on the moon. On Oct 9 an object with weight of an SUV traveling at 6,000 mph will crash into a crater near on of the moons poles. The impact will dislodge a plethora of material and create a plume that will be visible to even the most benign telescopes here on earth. Instruments on LCROSS will analyze the plume for water or compounds that contain water. According to one science person the LCROSS will also “reawaken the public to the adventure of space travel, supporting human exploration and scientific discovery.” So we want to know about water and we want to encourage the publics inner child to once again look toward the heaven in the hopes that one day, they too can slam a bomb into a local planet. The water on the moon question is so pivotal and profound that we already have an answer to it. The answer is um, yes. There is water on the moon. Real water.
So check it out, the announcement was made a few days ago, although the unofficial reports surfaced a few weeks ago. Scientists around the world agree, water is not only found on the moon but it is profoundly widespread and can be found along the moons equator (the hot part of most spherical shapes rockin around the big one). This blows away decades of belief that it would be impossible for water to exist on the moon. Even when there was evidence that water did exist on the moon, scientists tried to dismiss the idea. The rocks brought back by the astronauts during the Apollo missions were assumed to be contaminated once back on earth. The water residue on spacecrafts returning from space has always been deemed residue, which must have been picked within our hemisphere. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (kinda like a super incredible version of the satellite used for Google maps) has completely, 100% determined, that water can be found all over the moons surface. And not just water, but also hydroxyl, which is composed of one hydrogen and one oxygen. Now don’t let me deceive you, the Moon is still incredibly dry. There is only about a liter of water for every ton of soil. But what the hell, a month ago the scientists in India found water on the moons surface during the Chandrayaan-1 mission but they immediately dismissed the findings. To me, it seems like there has been a hell of a lot more evidence that water is indeed on the moon and all these asshole scientists have just been to stubborn to consider their initial assumption (made a million years ago I might add) has been wrong this entire time. Now tell me, what justification do we have to Bomb the moon this October? Scientists say they are interested in finding out whether water could be hiding within the craters of the moon near it’s poles, were lack of sunlight might prevent ice from evaporating. But we found water already!! And we found water in areas we thought would never, ever have it. So I figure, why cant they just assume there’s water in the area they thought was the only area that water could exist? The answer to this question is full of shit (at least the ones I’ve been reading). I get it, its cheap, failsafe, fun, interesting, and a 6 year olds wet dream. It’s also a bomb. A Bomb that will hit the moon with such a massive impact we will be able to see it from our back yards. Gross.

Here is an artists idea of what the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will look like when it is deployed for the LCROSS Mission Impact: