8 November 2010
Could Rockets Cause Global Warming?
A few weeks ago, on the same day as the runway dedication at New Mexico’s “Spaceport America“, the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters published a paper suggesting that soot from commercial rocket launches could cause significant climate change. Based on the results of climate modeling, the authors found that 1000 launches per year would have the same influence as all of the subsonic air traffic in the world combined. Talk …
7 November 2010
Mars Science Laboratory Instruments: APXS
A long time ago, I started doing a series of posts about the instruments on Mars Science Laboratory, but I only got through the cameras before I got distracted by something shiny on the internet and forgot to finish the series. So, let’s remedy that, starting with APXS. APXS stands for alpha particle x-ray spectrometer, meaning that this instrument bombards its target with helium nuclei (alpha particles) and x-rays, causing …
4 November 2010
First EPOXI Images!
The flyby of Hartley 2 was a success and the first images are coming down! Check them out at the EPOXI site. In the highest-res images so far you can see that the comet has a distinct peanut-like shape and is very smooth around the narrow point.
Comet Flyby Today!
Today we get to see a new comet! Ok, so the comet is actually quite old, and we’ve known about it since 1986, but this will be the first time we see the surface. The EPOXI mission will be swinging by the comet Hartley 2 in about an hour and a half, snapping high-resolution pictures and collecting other information all the way. If you haven’t heard of the EPOXI mission …
2 November 2010
Vote
If you’re an eligible US citizen, please go and exercise your right to vote today! Don’t know where to vote? The internets can help you! just use this handy Google maps tool. A bit of searching on the internet, especially your local newspapers, can yield plenty of good information such as interviews with candidates so you can make an informed decision.
1 November 2010
Planets Like Grains of Sand
The other day I came across a press release announcing that nearly one in four sun-like stars could have planets as small as Earth. That’s pretty awesome! But I though it was especially interesting how they came up with this number. Current technology can’t quite see an Earth-sized planet around a sun-like star, so how do you count things that you can’t see? Well, you count everything else and then extrapolate.
28 October 2010
Bradbury on Martian Moonrise
A friend of mine sent me this Ray Bradbury quote: A few years back, one dreadful boy ran up to me and said, “Mr. Bradbury?” “Yes?” I said. “That book of yours, The Martian Chronicles?” he said. “Yes,” I said. “On page 92 where you have the moons of Mars rising in the east?” “Yeah,” I said. “Nah,” he said. So I hit him. I’ll be damned if I’ll be …
27 October 2010
Martian Chronicles 2.0
Hello and welcome to the new incarnation of the Martian Chronicles blog! I’m really excited and honored to be part of the shiny new AGU blogosphere. If you’re a new reader, let me take a moment and let you know what to expect here at Martian Chronicles. I write about a lot of different things because I’m interested in a lot of different things. As you might have guessed, Mars …
24 October 2010
The Tubes of Mars
Last week was my birthday, and I unexpectedly got a gift in the mail from my cousin. We don’t normally exchange birthday gifts, but she came across a t-shirt called “Tubes of Mars” and just had to buy it for me. Apparently, this line of shirts is capitalizing on various wacky conspiracy theories and they decided to use one of my favorites, the “glass tubes on Mars” idea.
