Dandyfunk

Shuttle Launch

Back from Florida where I watched the liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-125 to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

I watched through binoculars, only taking a few quick pictures.
We watched from the NASA causeway, and as soon as the main engines ignited, the entire shuttle disappeared in a cloud of exhaust. Then when the solid rocket boosters ignited, you could see their flame through the clouds of exhaust, and seconds latter the shuttle cleared the tower and was off.
It was all over so quickly, after waiting in the hot sun for three hours.
Didn't see the boosters separate, but as the shuttle moved downrange, you could still see the bright light from the main engines.

What going on in the center of the galaxy?

Basically, a bunch of stars orbiting a supermassive black hole. Not as glamorous a Trantor, but still pretty cool.
You can see a computer simulation of the stars, and watch them as they orbit  here.
The movie was made from 16 years worth of data from ESO's Very Large Telescope.

Man with Jet pack crosses English Channel

Actually, a jet powered flying wing, not a jet pack like the Rocketeer.

See the video here.

Astronomy MOVIE of the day

Astronomy Picture of the Day yesterday had a cool movie up. See it here.

First Law Violation

An Australian man build a robot with total disregard for all three of Asimov's Laws of Robotics.
In fact, he built it specifically as a suicide machine to order to kill himself.
Read the story here.

Robots at work

Some robots get jobs in astronomy, like the Mars Global Surveyor.
Here's one of MGS's latest snapshots, a cool picture of earth and the moon as seen from Mars orbit.

Photo courtesy JPL, more photos here.

Not every robot is so lucky to have a cool job. Some robots don't have the academic background, and find earth-based jobs, most in the auto industry, and some in the security field, like this one:
Vigilante Robot fights drug dealers.

Celebrate pi day a new way

It's not just for geometricians anymore. This year, pi day (or 3-14, for those of you wondering what I'm talking about) is also Talk Like a Physicist Day.
It's also a nice day to celebrate birthdays, like Albert Einstein, Hank Ketcham (creator of Dennis the Menace), Diane Arbus and Kirby Puckett. See the full list here.

I always did have trouble remembering Eris

But not any more. Now I have a new mnemonic to help remember the names of the 8 planets and three dwarf planets (Ceres, Eris and the recently demoted Pluto), courtesy of the winner of the Nation Geographic Planetary Mnemonic contest, 10 year old Maryn Smith from Montana. She came up with My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.

Full story here.

APOD

I check out Astronomy Picture of the Day pretty much, well, every day. If you don't have the time, here's the best of the year: Astronomy Pictures of the Year 2007.

The Future is now

Although it's not as portable as the one Reverend Mother Mohiam carried in Dune,

the pain by nerve induction box has been produced. 

Read the story here.