Awesomeness Round-Up – 8/29/2011
- By Faith Tucker
- August 29, 2011
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It’s been a rough week for the Mid-Atlantic region with the 1-2 punch of an earthquake and a hurricane rattling our region. Goddard got a good shake last Tuesday when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake prompted the center to close for the day. And over the weekend Hurricane Irene passed nearby, … Continue Reading →
A Sight for Sore (Spaceflight) Eyes
- By Faith Tucker
- August 26, 2011
- 1 Comment
Preserving the extraordinary moments of history for progeny is all well and good, but so often it’s exactly the unexpected nature of such moments that renders them so priceless – like the spontaneous kiss of a soldier safely returned from World War II or a casual lunch shared while sitting … Continue Reading →
Weekly Awesomeness Round-up – 8/22/2011
- By Faith Tucker
- August 22, 2011
- 2 Comments
Hubble won our hearts by producing breathtaking images of galactic collisions, clusters of stars and supernova remnants (among many other things). Now the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s next generation successor, is planning to once more furnish an unprecedented look into the Universe around us. Take a look at this … Continue Reading →
Extraterrestrial Fun from Home
- By Faith Tucker
- August 19, 2011
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We here at Blueshift do our best to cover all things astrophysics, which we rather loosely define as ‘anything and everything outside the Solar System.’ Considering that the Universe just happens to be an absolutely enormous place filled with innumerable galaxies, each containing billions of stars, planets and other objects, … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 8/16/2011
- By Faith Tucker
- August 16, 2011
- 1 Comment
The Goddard Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory released some exciting news about the age-old question of origin of the chemical components necessary for life. According to Dr. Michael Callahan of Goddard, “People have been discovering components of DNA in meteorites since the 1960’s, but researchers were unsure whether they were really created … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-Up – 8/8/2011
- By Faith Tucker
- August 9, 2011
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NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed new images that show some Martian slopes that change over the course of the Martian seasons. The scientists involved in the project think that best explanation for these seasonal changes would be the flow of salty water, much like our oceans. I wonder what … Continue Reading →
Sunsets, Scattering, and Similes
- By Faith Tucker
- July 22, 2011
- 4 Comments
There are two sides to every coin. And there are (at least) two ways to describe any natural phenomenon. Take a sunset, for example. A physicist may describe a sunset as the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun undergoing Rayleigh scattering as it passes through the atmosphere low on the horizon, … Continue Reading →
STS-135: All Systems Go!
- By Faith Tucker
- July 12, 2011
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As the launch countdown rapidly approached zero, STS-135 Commander Christopher Ferguson addressed Launch Director Mike Leinbach: “Thanks to you and your team, Mike, until the very end you all made it look easy. The shuttle will always be a reflection of what a nation can do when it dares to … Continue Reading →
Awesomeness Round-up – 7/11/11
- By Faith Tucker
- July 11, 2011
- 1 Comment
[Sara’s note: You might notice that this week’s awesomeness round-up (which covers two whole weeks of news – that’s a lot of awesomeness in one place!) is missing one of the most awesome things that happened – the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Fear not, that will get its own … Continue Reading →
Special Space Shuttle Awesomeness Round-Up
- By Faith Tucker
- July 8, 2011
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The time has come to say goodbye to Space Shuttle. The program has faithfully served NASA, our country and the international community for 30 long years, and now it’s time for an era to come to a close. The final Shuttle launch occurred mere minutes ago, down at Kennedy Space … Continue Reading →
