tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30234261905484601752024-03-04T20:55:01.135-08:00Stargazing from a Backyard at 34.640159N92.608542WMy first memory at about One Year of age is of a view of the full moon through the window next to my crib. I remember standing up and holding onto the windowsill and marveling at the bright object in the sky. When I look at the sky, I feel absolutely ancient, like a Mayan or Babylonian astronomer. It still takes my breath away, and challenges me to believe in genetic/race memory.cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.comBlogger176125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-4085409873764634692012-03-31T16:52:00.001-07:002012-03-31T16:52:51.781-07:00Night Sky this Month--April 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Night Sky This Month (April 2012)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Learn more! Visit </span><a href="http://nightskyinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1333237912_0" style="color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">NightSkyInfo.com</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> (</span><a href="http://www.nightskyinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1333237912_1" style="color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">http://www.nightskyinfo.com</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">You are receiving this message because you visited us at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><a href="http://www.nightskyinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">http://www.nightskyinfo.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> and registered to receive our monthly</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">newsletter. If you feel you have received this issue in error, please</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">follow the instructions at the end of the page to unsubscribe.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Key Stars</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The stars of the Winter Triangle (Sirius, Betelgeuse and Procyon) are</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">low in the evening twilight throughout April. The Plough asterism, or</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Big Dipper, is best placed for observation this month, being overhead</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">at 10 P.M. local daylight time. Brilliant Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Spica (Alpha Virginis) are in the southeast. Regulus (Alpha Leonis)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">remains high in the southwest while Vega (Alpha Lyrae), one of the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">stars of the Summer Triangle, makes its appearance in the northeast.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Planets</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mercury</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mercury reaches its greatest elongation on the 18th, when it lies 27</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">degrees west of the Sun. Early risers may catch a brief view of the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">planet in the pre-dawn sky, about 30 minutes before sunrise and only 5</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">degrees above the eastern horizon. Binoculars could prove useful for</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">spotting it against the bright twilight.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Venus</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Venus, the dazzling Evening Star, outshines all the other stars and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">planets in the night sky and is in good view in the west as darkness</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">begins to fall. It begins the month only 1 degree below the Pleiades</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">star cluster and slowly moves eastward with each passing day. By April</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">30, the planet sits just 3 degrees south of second-magnitude Beta</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Tauri, also known as Elnath, El Nath, or Alnath.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mars</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">By mid-evening, as Venus and Jupiter set in the west, Mars stands</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">two-thirds of the way from the southeastern horizon to the zenith. It</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">spends the month floating 5 degrees or less from Regulus (Alpha</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Leonis), a slightly dimmer star with which it contrasts beautifully.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Through a telescope, the Red Planet's disk will appear no bigger than</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">12" across, still rather small even at high magnifications.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Jupiter</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">If you have a clear, flat horizon, look for Jupiter lying low in the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">west after sunset. This is your last chance to spot the planet during</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">the current apparition. By the end of the month, Jupiter will</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">disappear into the evening twilight and then slip behind the Sun at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">conjunction on May 13. Afterwards, in mid-June, Jupiter will emerge</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">from the dawn twilight and be visible in the morning sky before</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">sunrise.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Saturn</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Saturn rises at the end of evening twilight as April begins. It shines</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">high in the southeast, among the stars of Virgo the Maiden and close</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">to brilliant Spica, by midnight. The ringed planet reaches opposition</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">and peak visibility on the 15th, rising then around sunset. Opposition</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">is about when a superior planet attains its maximum apparent size and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">brightness.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Uranus</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Uranus is lost in the glow of sunrise and very difficult to spot. It</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">will return to view in mid-May, low in the morning sky.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Neptune</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Distant Neptune can be found among the background stars of Aquarius,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">low in the east before dawn's first light. The planet glows dimly at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">magnitude +7.9, much too faint to be viewed with the unaided eye,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">lying at a mean distance from the Sun of 2.8 billion miles.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pluto</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The dwarf planet Pluto lies in northern Sagittarius and is highest</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">above the southern horizon just before dawn. Search for it under a</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">dark, moonless sky. Pluto glows at magnitude +14, and as a result, it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">is a challenge to spot. An 8-inch telescope on a perfect night brings</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pluto to the edge of visibility. For a direct view, however, you will</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">want to use at least a 10-inch scope.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Bright Asteroids</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">6 Hebe</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The main-belt asteroid 6 Hebe lies within 1.5 degrees of Algieba</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">(Gamma Leonis), and tracks westwards until mid-month. Soon after this,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">it completes its retrograde loop and starts heading eastward. Glowing</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">at about 10th-magnitude, Hebe looks like an ordinary field star and is</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">highest above the southern horizon around 10 P.M. local daylight time.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Bright Comets</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">C/2009 P1 Garradd</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Comet Garradd has been observable in northern skies for over a year</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">now. Despite the fact that it is currently receding from both the Sun</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">and Earth, it still glows around 7th-magnitude and remains a nice</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">sight throughout binoculars and small telescopes. In early April,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Garradd slides through the background stars of the constellation Ursa</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Major, but by mid-month it passes the border into neighboring Lynx.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">For observers located at mid-northern latitudes comet Garradd is</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">circumpolar, meaning that it never sets and can be viewed all night.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Meteor Showers</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Lyrids</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">This year, astronomers predict that the shower will climb to a sharp</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">peak in the predawn hours of April 22. However, activity begins on</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 16 and continues until about the 25th. The radiant is located in</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">a region of the sky between the constellations Lyra and Hercules, and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">is overhead around 5 A.M. local daylight time. With New Moon arriving</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">on April 21, conditions could hardly be better.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Eta Aquarids</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Eta Aquarids first appear around April 19, and some can be seen</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">until May 28. The shower's peak occurs around May 5, when up to 20 or</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">30 meteors can be seen each hour from a dark-sky site. Throughout</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April, the shower's radiant is found in western Aquarius - close to</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Beta Aquarii - and moves daily a little to the northeast. The radiant</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">never gets very high in the sky before dawn, so your observing time is</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">limited.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sky Events</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 3 - Venus is 0.4 degree south of the Pleiades star cluster at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">8:18 A.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 6 - Full Moon at 2:19 P.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 7 - The Moon is 1.4 degrees south of Spica (Alpha Virginis) at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">1:24 A.M. EDT. The Moon is at perigee, the point in its orbit when it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">is nearest to Earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 13 - Last Quarter Moon at 5:50 A.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 15 - Saturn is at opposition, exactly opposite the Sun in the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">sky as seen from the Earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 18 - Mercury is at greatest western elongation, 27.5 degrees</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">west of the Sun in the morning sky.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 21 - New Moon at 2:18 A.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 22 - The Lyrid meteor shower is at peak activity. The Moon is at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">apogee, the point in its orbit when it is farthest from Earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 24 - The Moon is 6.3 degrees south of Venus at 9:21 P.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 28 - Astronomy Day! Established to promote astronomy to the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">general public.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">April 29 - First Quarter Moon at 4:58 A.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Learn more! Visit NightSkyInfo.com (</span><a href="http://www.nightskyinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">http://www.nightskyinfo.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">).</span></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-23054041501398182952012-03-26T20:40:00.002-07:002012-03-26T20:40:44.430-07:00Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Rise of the Taikonauts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Tikkun Daily:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="post-title single" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 680px;"><h2 style="color: #9f0500; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 23px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 630px;"><a href="http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2012/03/16/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-the-rise-of-the-taikonauts/" rel="bookmark" style="color: #9f0500; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;" title="Permanent Link to Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Rise of the Taikonauts"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Rise of the Taikonauts</a></h2><h3 style="color: #999999; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">by: <strong style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.22em;"><a href="http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/author/chisdamagid/" rel="author" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by Chisda Magid">Chisda Magid</a></strong> on March 16th, 2012 | <a href="http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2012/03/16/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-the-rise-of-the-taikonauts/#comments" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;" title="Comment on Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Rise of the Taikonauts">1 Comment »</a></h3></div><div class="post-content" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="wp-caption alignleft" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: left; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center; width: 266px;"><img alt="" class=" " height="187" src="http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p29/emperoryu/Historical%20Treats/000200809271940.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="256" /><div class="wp-caption-text" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;">First Chinese "Taikonaut" Spacewalk, September 2008. photobucket/emperoryu</div></div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In a recent appearance on The Daily Show, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayden_Planetarium" style="color: #9f0500; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;">Hayden Planetarium</a>in New York City and researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, offered an impassioned defense of the American space program. He argued that American public policy after the 1960s “no longer advanced a space frontier” – and no longer reaped the innumerable unintended technological and scientific advancements of space travel research. Ideally, policy makers would recognize the intrinsic value of inspiring young Americans to pursue scientific educations, but Tyson adds that these fields “are the foundations of tomorrows economies, and without it” America will be ill-equipped to compete internationally.</div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“If China wants to put a military base on the moon, we’re there in ten years.” -<em style="line-height: 1.22em;">Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Daily Show (2/29/2012)</em></div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span id="more-30215" style="line-height: 1.22em;"></span>Tyson’s sober article in the March issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, titled, “The Case for Space”, belies his optimistic interview. He writes that “only three motivations have led societies to spend… capital on ambitious, speculative projects: the celebration of a divine or royal power, the search for profit, and war.” In the American case it seems that war, or fear of war, has been the major motivator. The militaristic origins of America’s space program are undeniable. The space program was largely established in response to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1, which consisted of firing a hollowed ballistic missile head in to orbit. The implications were obvious to American policy makers and NASA was founded to counter the Soviet Union’s early advantage.</div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Tyson cites a <a href="http://big5.fmprc.gov.cn/gate/big5/in.china-embassy.org/eng/zgxw/t891454.htm" style="color: #9f0500; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;">Chinese policy paper</a> that describes the country’s ambitious five-year plan to develop its own space program, adding, “the country has an excellent track record of matching promises with achievements.” President Obama never cited Chinese progress in this area as a concern, but there are broader fears about its military. Tyson is cautiously optimistic that fears of a narrowing military advantage over China might produce another “Sputnik moment” for America, spurring a resurgence in national interest and funding for space travel research and development.</div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.” <em style="line-height: 1.22em;">-President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address (1/25/2011)</em></div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In his 2011 State of the Union Address President Obama endorsed the view that American superiority in space was the result of Cold War competition and that “<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/01/25/text-of-obamas-state-of-the-union-address/" style="color: #9f0500; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;">after investing in better research and education…we unleashed a wave innovation</a>.” Unlike the 1950s, the United States does not have a single global competitor, but is instead faced with disparate groups and organizations. Iran seems like an obvious contemporary substitute for the Soviet Union – there are fears of a “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/18/nuclear-iran-william-hague-cold-war_n_1286114.html" style="color: #9f0500; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;">cold war</a>” developing over the nuclear standoff – but the White House National Defense Strategy reflects a greater focus on Chinese rapid technological advances. Perhaps, that is the inspiration for Obama’s assertion that in order to “<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/01/25/text-of-obamas-state-of-the-union-address/" style="color: #9f0500; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;">strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people</a>” Americans must replicate the levels of research and development achieved at the height of the “space race.”</div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Perhaps President Obama should have mentioned Chinese advancements. Ideally, support for the space program would be for purely scientific and educational purposes, but fear – in this case, fear of diminishing military advantage over China – will likely be more effective in reigniting interest in the space program. The returns on these investments, intended and unintended, will be critical in the technologically driven economies of the twenty-first century. Whether driven by ego, profit or fear, America should consider the importance of a serious investment in our space program because of the increasingly technologically driven international economy. Perhaps, some domestic programs would suffer from a heightened investment in space exploration, but the space program should be considered one of the critical domestic programs that deserves additional federal funding.</div><div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-59769378362008802202012-03-25T20:54:00.002-07:002012-03-25T20:54:55.658-07:00Sky and Telescope: This Week's Sky at a Glance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="smHeader" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 13px;"><h1 style="color: #335599; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 1.7em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">This Week's Sky at a Glance</h1><h4 style="font-size: 1.1em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>Some daily events in the changing sky for March 23 – 30</i></h4><div class="author" style="color: #494949; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: normal;">by Alan M. MacRobert</div></div><hr style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; height: 1px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><div class="smBlurb" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 18px; padding-right: 117px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
<div class="floatImageRight" style="display: inline; float: right; margin-right: -117px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; width: 341px;"><div class="cMainImg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(82, 116, 174); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(82, 116, 174); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(82, 116, 174); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(82, 116, 174); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: left; margin-right: 5px; width: 341px; z-index: 99;"><img alt="Dusk view" border="0" height="580" src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/WebVic12_Mar25ev.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(82, 116, 174); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; z-index: 100;" title="Dusk view" width="341" /><div class="caption" style="background-color: #f6f6ed; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;">Watch the waxing crescent Moon march through its latest pairups with Jupiter and Venus. (These scenes are drawn for the middle of North America. European observers: move each Moon symbol a quarter of the way toward the one for the previous date. For clarity, the Moon is shown three times actual size.)</div><div class="caption" style="background-color: #f6f6ed; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 3px;"><i><a href="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/sky_digital_LP.html" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Sky & Telescope</a> diagram</i></div></div></div><b>Friday, March 23</b><br />
<br />
<li>Venus and Jupiter continue shining in the west during and after dusk this week, though ever farther apart. Venus is so bright that it's easy to spot before sunset if you have normally sharp vision. About a half hour after sunset this evening, look very far below Venus and Jupiter, and perhaps a little right, for the very thin, day-and-a-half-old crescent Moon as shown here.<br />
<b>Saturday, March 24</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent Moon now form a flattened triangle in the west as twilight fades. As darkness deepens, look above Venus for the Pleiades.<br />
<b>Sunday, March 25</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>The Moon hangs with Jupiter this evening, as shown here. Consider this a warmup for its pairing with brighter Venus tomorrow. It's also a <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/The-Moon-Visits-Jupiter-and-Venus-143689316.html" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">good opportunity to see Jupiter even before the Sun sets</a> — something that's possible but rarely done with the unaided eye.<br />
<b>Monday, March 26</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>The Moon and Venus, the two brightest celestial objects after the Sun, appear paired up in the west this evening. In reality Venus is 260 times farther away. It's at a distance of 6 light-minutes from Earth, compared to the Moon's distance of 1.3 light-seconds. Jupiter, looking on from below, is currently 48 light-minutes from Earth.<br />
Coincidentally, Venus is at its greatest elongation: 46° east of the Sun. That makes this the very best possible time to <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/The-Moon-Visits-Jupiter-and-Venus-143689316.html" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">spot Venus during daylight hours</a>.<br />
<b>Tuesday, March 27</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>As night comes on, look for the little Pleiades cluster to the lower right of the Moon and above Venus. Left of the Moon shines orange Aldebaran, with the stars of the Hyades around it.<br />
</li><br />
<li>Early Wednesday morning, along a path from New Mexico to central California, the 6.8-magnitude star 14 Virginis will be occulted low in the west-southwestern sky by the small asteroid 823 Sisigambis. The star should vanish for no more than 1.6 seconds within several minutes of 11:23 Universal Time.<a href="http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2012_03/0328_823_27512.htm" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Charts and details</a>.<br />
<b>Wednesday, March 28</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>If you observe with binoculars you're probably well acquainted with the big Beehive Cluster, M44 in Cancer, very high in the evening this month. But how about the smaller, fainter cluster M67 in the same vicinity? And have you tried to resolve Iota Cancri, a rather difficult binocular double star? See Gary Seronik's Binocular Highlight column and chart in the <a href="http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newtrack/st_201203/" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">March <i>Sky & Telescope</i></a>, page 45.<br />
</li><br />
<li>The eclipsing variable star Algol should be at minimum light, magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours centered on 9:00 p.m. EDT.<br />
<b>Thursday, March 29</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>This is the time of year when the dim Little Dipper juts to the right from Polaris (its handle-end) during evening hours. The much brighter Big Dipper curls over high above it, "dumping water" into it.<br />
</li><br />
<li>This is also the time of year when Orion, declining in the southwest after dark, displays his three-star Belt more or less horizontally.<br />
<b>Friday, March 30</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>First-quarter Moon (exact at 3:41 p.m. EDT). The Moon shines in the legs of Gemini, below Pollux and Castor and high above sinking Betelgeuse.<br />
<b>Saturday, March 31</b><br />
</li><br />
<li>The Moon shines high in the southwest this evening. It forms a gently curving line (as seen from North America) with Pollux and Castor to its upper right and Procyon below it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<hr style="background-color: #5274ae; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br />
<br />
<i><b>Want to become a better amateur astronomer? Learn your way around the constellations.</b> They're the key to locating everything fainter and deeper to hunt with binoculars or a telescope.<br />
For an easy-to-use constellation guide covering the whole evening sky, use the big monthly map in the center of each issue of <a href="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/sky_digital_LP.html" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Sky & Telescope</a>, the essential magazine of astronomy. Or download our free <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/basics/3308331.html?c=y&page=1" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Getting Started in Astronomy</a>booklet (which only has bimonthly maps).<br />
<b>Once you get a telescope,</b> to put it to good use you'll need a detailed, large-scale sky atlas (set of charts). The standards are the little <a href="http://www.shopatsky.com/product/Pocket-Sky-Atlas/sky-atlases" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Pocket Sky Atlas</a>, which shows stars to magnitude 7.6; the larger and deeper <a href="http://www.shopatsky.com/product/Sky-Atlas-2000-Deluxe-Unlaminated/sky-atlases" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Sky Atlas 2000.0</a>(stars to magnitude 8.5); and the even larger <a href="http://www.willbell.com/u2k/index.htm" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Uranometria 2000.0</a> (stars to magnitude 9.75). And read <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/visualobserving/3304221.html" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">how to use sky charts effectively</a>.<br />
You'll also want a good deep-sky guidebook, such as Sue French's <a href="http://www.shopatsky.com/product/deep-sky-wonders-sue-french-book/new-arrivals" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Deep-Sky Wonders</a> collection (which includes its own charts), <a href="http://www.shopatsky.com/product/Sky-Atlas-2000-Companion-2nd-Ed/books" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Sky Atlas 2000.0 Companion</a> by Strong and Sinnott, the bigger <a href="http://www.willbell.com/HANDBOOK/nitesky.htm" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Night Sky Observer's Guide</a> by Kepple and Sanner, or the classic if dated Burnham's Celestial Handbook.</i><i><b>Can a computerized telescope replace charts?</b> I don't think so — not for beginners, anyway, and especially not on mounts and tripods are less than top-quality mechanically (able to point with better than 0.2° repeatability). As Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer say in their <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448/" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">Backyard Astronomer's Guide</a>, "A full appreciation of the universe cannot come without developing the skills to find things in the sky and understanding how the sky works. This knowledge comes only by spending time under the stars with star maps in hand."</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<hr style="background-color: #5274ae; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>This Week's Planet Roundup</b></span><br />
<br />
.<br />
<b>Mercury</b> is hidden deep in the glow of sunrise.<br />
<b>Venus</b> and <b>Jupiter</b> are moving apart now but still form a spectacular pair in the western evening sky. They're 9° apart on March 23th and 14&@176; apart by the 30th. Venus is the brighter one, on top. It will stay about the same height at dusk well into April, but Jupiter is sinking ever lower. These are the two brightest celestial objects after the Sun and Moon, being magnitudes –4.5 and –2.1 right now, respectively.<br />
Venus is at greatest elongation this week (exact on March 26th). For skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes, this is Venus's highest showing in its 8-year cycle of apparitions.<br />
In a telescope Venus is now a bit less than half lit and 23 arcseconds tall. Jupiter shows a much lower surface brightness, being farther from the Sun, but its apparent diameter is somewhat larger: 32″ (though this is small for Jupiter).<br />
<b>Mars</b> (magnitude –0.9) shines bright fire-orange under the belly of Leo. Fainter Regulus is 6° or 7° to its upper right in early evening, and Gamma Leonis is farther above it.<br />
Mars was at opposition on March 3rd. Now it's fading and shrinking a bit as Earth pulls ahead of it along our faster, inside-track orbit around the Sun. But at least Mars is shining higher in the evening sky now, reaching a good altitude for telescopic observing at a convenient hour. It's highest in the south by around 11 p.m. daylight-saving time.<br />
In a telescope Mars is 13.0 arcseconds wide. It won't appear this big and close again until 2014. Notice the much shrunken little North Polar Cap; spring is giving way to summer in Mars's northern hemisphere. See our Mars map and observing guide in the <a href="http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newtrack/st_201204/" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window">April <i>Sky & Telescope</i></a>, page 50.<br />
<b>Saturn</b> (magnitude +0.3, in Virgo) rises in the east around the end of twilight and glows highest in the south around 2 a.m. Shining 6° to its right is Spica, about half as bright at magnitude +1.0 and bluer. In a telescope Saturn's rings are tilted 14° from our line of sight.<br />
<b>Uranus</b> and <b>Neptune</b> are hidden in the sunrise.<br />
.<br />
<br />
<hr style="background-color: #5274ae; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br />
<i>All descriptions that relate to your horizon — including the words up, down, right, and left — are written for the world's mid-northern latitudes. Descriptions that also depend on longitude (mainly Moon positions) are for North America. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) equals Universal Time (also known as UT, UTC, or GMT) minus 4 hours.</i><br />
<br />
<hr style="background-color: #5274ae; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br />
Like <i>This Week's Sky at a Glance?</i> Watch our new weekly <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/videos/skyweek" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;" target="new_window"><i><b>SkyWeek TV short</b></i></a>. It's also playing on PBS!<br />
<br />
<hr style="background-color: #5274ae; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" /><br />
<span>To be sure to get the current Sky at a Glance, bookmark this URL:<br />
<a href="http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance?1=1" style="color: #cc0000; text-decoration: none;">http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance?1=1</a></span><br />
<span></span><span>If pictures fail to load, refresh the page. If they still fail to load, change the 1 at the end of the URL to any other character and try again.</span></li><br />
</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-71448958303265860992012-03-25T20:45:00.002-07:002012-03-25T20:45:43.900-07:00Sky Watch: March 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From The Old Farmer's Almanac:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="grid-13 push-3 bread-title clear-block" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; left: 180px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: -50px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: -webkit-auto; top: -50px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 760px;"><h1 class="title" id="page-title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sky Watch: March 2012</h1></div><div class="column grid-13 push-3" id="main" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ffffcc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; left: 180px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline; width: 760px;"><div class="region" id="main-content" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="service-links-bottom" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="service-links" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; float: left; font-size: 10px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 400px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: 400px;"><ul class="links" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: left; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 0;"><li class="service-links-twitter-widget first" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; float: left; list-style-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/themes/almanac960/images/button-arrow-nav.png); list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 0;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button service-links-twitter-widget twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.1332442903.html#_=1332733437165&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com%2Fcontent%2Fsky-watch-march-2012&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com%2Fcontent%2Fsky-watch-march-2012&size=m&text=Sky%20Watch%3A%20March%202012&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com%2Fcontent%2Fsky-watch-march-2012&via=almanac" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 110px;" title="Twitter Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="service-links-google-plus-one" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; float: left; list-style-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/themes/almanac960/images/button-arrow-nav.png); list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 0;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1332733437265" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1332733437265" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com%2Fcontent%2Fsky-watch-march-2012&size=medium&count=true&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3DkSWpWgrEgyA.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!brN6X75-Zu-IDRYPeA%2Fd%3D1#id=I1_1332733437265&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com&rpctoken=135808610&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="service-links-facebook-like" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; float: left; list-style-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/themes/almanac960/images/button-arrow-nav.png); list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 0;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com%2Fcontent%2Fsky-watch-march-2012&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&action=like&colorscheme=light&width=100&height=21&font=&locale=" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; height: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 100px;"></iframe></li>
<li class="service-links-pinterest-widget last" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; float: left; list-style-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/themes/almanac960/images/button-arrow-nav.png); list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 0;"><iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://d3io1k5o0zdpqr.cloudfront.net/pinit.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com%2Fcontent%2Fsky-watch-march-2012&media=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.almanac.com%2Fsites%2Fnew.almanac.com%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Fpage_article%2Fimages%2Fmilkyway516.jpg&description=Sky+Watch%3A+March+2012&layout=horizontal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"></iframe></li>
</ul></div></div><div class="node " id="node-39941" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="article-body" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 400px;"><div id="service-container" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 154px; z-index: 1;"><div id="article-box" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eaeaea; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/themes/almanac960/images/bg-center-gateway.png); background-origin: initial; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 140px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 140px;"><div class="node clear-block" id="node-11389" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="image-content" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 9px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/image/sky-watch-0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" height="125" itemprop="image" src="http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/imagecache/page_thumbnail/images/milkyway516.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="" width="125" /></a><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 10px; margin-bottom: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: -100;">Our galaxy, the Milky Way. Credit: NASA</div></div></div></div><div id="article-link" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 154px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: static !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 154px; z-index: 1 !important;"><span class="print_html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="print-page" href="http://www.almanac.com/print/content/sky-watch-march-2012" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333366; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 64px;" title="Display a printer-friendly version of this page."><img alt="Print" class="print-icon print-icon-margin" height="16" src="http://www.almanac.com/sites/all/modules/print/icons/print_icon.gif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Print" width="16" />Print</a></span><span class="print_mail" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="print-mail" href="http://www.almanac.com/printmail/content/sky-watch-march-2012" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333366; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 65px;" title="Send this page by e-mail."><img alt="Email" class="print-icon print-icon-margin" height="16" src="http://www.almanac.com/sites/all/modules/print/icons/mail_icon.gif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Email" width="16" />Email</a></span><div class="comment_anchor" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(178, 178, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; cursor: pointer; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 2px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; width: 140px;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/content/sky-watch-march-2012#comments" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leave a comment</a></div><form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="http://www.almanac.com/content/sky-watch-march-2012" class="fivestar-widget" id="fivestar-form-node-39941" method="post" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 140px;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="fivestar-form-vote-39941 clear-block" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="fivestar-form-item fivestar-combo-text fivestar-average-stars fivestar-labels-hover fivestar-processed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="form-item" id="edit-vote-wrapper" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><label for="edit-vote" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Average:</label><select class="form-select" id="edit-vote-1" name="vote" style="display: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><option value="-">Select rating</option><option value="20">Poor</option><option value="40">Okay</option><option value="60">Good</option><option selected="selected" value="80">Great</option><option value="100">Awesome</option></select><div class="fivestar-widget clear-block fivestar-widget-5" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 140px;"><div class="star star-1 star-odd star-first on" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -999em; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/content/sky-watch-march-2012#20" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -16px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;" title="Poor">Poor</a></div><div class="star star-2 star-even on" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -999em; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/content/sky-watch-march-2012#40" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -16px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;" title="Okay">Okay</a></div><div class="star star-3 star-odd on" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -999em; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/content/sky-watch-march-2012#60" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -16px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;" title="Good">Good</a></div><div class="star star-4 star-even on" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -999em; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/content/sky-watch-march-2012#80" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -16px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 13px;" title="Great">Great</a></div><div class="star star-5 star-odd star-last" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-indent: -999em; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/content/sky-watch-march-2012#100" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/fivestar/basic/star.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 17px;" title="Awesome">Awesome</a></div></div><div class="description" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: right; font-size: 0.85em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="fivestar-summary fivestar-summary-combo fivestar-feedback-enabled" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="user-rating" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Your rating: <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">None</span></span><span class="average-rating" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Average: <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3.8</span></span> <span class="total-votes" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">11</span> votes)</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></form></div></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 400px;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here are the <strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">monthly sky watch</strong>highlights. Each month, we share the wonders of the universe to help you explore the night sky from your own backyard. (Note: Times listed below are ET.)</div><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">March 2012</h2><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by Bob Berman, as featured in<br />
<a href="http://www.almanac.com/store/almanacs" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The 2012 Old Farmer's Almanac</em></a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mercury is brightly visible the first week of the month, low in the west 40 minutes after the sunset. Mars, out all night, reaches opposition on the 3rd and comes closest to Earth on the 5th at magnitude -1.2. At 60 million miles distant, this poor opposition makes Martian details telescopically challenging. Dazzling Venus meets brilliant Jupiter between the 7th and the 18th above the sunset point. Venus’s greatest separation from the Sun is on the 27th. The Moon hovers below Saturn and the blue star Spica on the 10th, spectacularly sits to the right of Jupiter on the 25th and to the left of Venus on the 26th. The equinox arrives at 1:14 A.M. on the 20th to bring the earliest arrival of spring in 116 years.</div></div><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sky Map: March 2012</h2><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Courtesy of Jeff DeTray. Love astronomy? Visit his site at<a href="http://www.astronomyboy.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">AstronomyBoy.com</a></strong><br />
Sky map produced using Chris Marriott's <a href="http://www.skymap.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Skymap Pro</a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Astronomer <a href="http://www.astronomyboy.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Jeff DeTray</a> has created the printable <strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sky Map</strong>below to help you navigate the night sky. <strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This month's highlight: Dancing with the Planets!</strong></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stars may dance on television, but in the March sky, it is the planets <strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Venus</strong> and <strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jupiter</strong> who are partners in a nightly waltz. The pair stay close together, low in the west, for most of March. Jupiter remains pretty much in one place all month, while the position of Venus changes noticeably from night to night. If you venture out every few evenings during March you'll see Venus march steadily past Jupiter until she gradually moves up, up, and away by month's end.</div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Stately Jupiter </strong>is the largest planet in our solar system. How large? Let's compare it to our own Earth. By diameter, Jupiter at 88,865 miles is 11.2 times the size of Earth. By surface area, Jupiter is 122 times the size of the Earth. By mass, Jupiter is 318 times larger than Earth. Finally, by volume, Jupiter is a whopping 1,321 times larger than our home planet. That's right: It would take 1,321 Earths to fill up Jupiter! You might wonder how Jupiter can be 1,321 times the volume of Earth but with a mass that is only 318 times as great. The answer is that Jupiter is comprised largely of gases surrounding a small solid core, whereas our Earth is mostly solid with a dense molten core. Jupiter Trivia: Jupiter has rings, but compared to the renowned rings of Saturn, Jupiter's are dark and dim.</div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Venus </strong>is the goddess of love and beauty. As the brightest of all planets, she certainly deserves her name. Venus is often referred to as Earth's sister because the two planets are so similar in size and composition, with Venus just slightly the smaller of the two. Venus is so bright because she is both highly reflective and relatively close to us. The dense carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus reflects sunlight extremely well. At its nearest, Venus is closer to us than any other planet ever gets, a mere 25.5 million miles. The combination of reflectivity and proximity makes Venus dazzlingly bright. Venus Trivia: Venus displays phases, just like our Moon. With a small telescope or even large binoculars, you can see the phases quite clearly.</div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Both Jupiter and Venus have been visited by spacecraft from Earth. More than 20 spacecraft have been sent to Venus, starting with Mariner 2 in 1962. The Soviet Union's Venera 7 became the first space probe to land on another planet when it touched down on Venus in 1970. Jupiter is much more distant and therefore much more difficult for spacecraft to reach. The first to do so was Pioneer 10, which flew by the giant planet in 1970. The Galileo probe orbited Jupiter for eight years beginning in 1995.</div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jupiter and Venus aren't the only sights in March sky. Enjoy the bright stars of winter while you can, because they will soon dip below the horizon for the summer. Don't worry— they'll return in the autumn!</div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/skymap_march2012.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #027ac6; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Sky Map for March 2012: Click to View PDF</a></span></strong></span></strong></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/skymap_march2012.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333366; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/images/SkyMap_March2012.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; height: 219px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 400px;" /></a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Explore the sky night from your own backyard. A printable black and white map is provided below!</strong></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-top: 0.6em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/skymap_march2012_printable.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #027ac6; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/images/SkyMap_March2012_Printable-th.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 100px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 100px;" /></a><a href="http://www.almanac.com/sites/new.almanac.com/files/skymap_march2012_printable.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #027ac6; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Click for Printable Sky Map (PDF)</a><br />
Just click, print, and bring outside!</div></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-17018747848642254042012-03-16T14:44:00.002-07:002012-03-16T14:44:34.751-07:00NASA Presents a Deep Space Habitat Concept for Space Exploration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010317" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010316" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010315" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NASA Presents a Deep Space Habitat Concept for Space Exploration</h1><a href="http://contributor.yahoo.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Yahoo! Contributor Network" class="logo" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/.23PAFLrlpIheXZDQy4SdA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9MzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/associatedcontent/ycn_icon.png" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;"><div class="yom-art-author" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010771" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" style="display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"></div></div>By <span class="fn"><a href="http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/1659/mark_whittington.html" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Mark Whittington</a></span> | <span class="provider org">Yahoo! Contributor Network</span> – <abbr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-03-15T21:54:00Z">23 hrs ago</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod yom-free-html" id="YCN-Promo" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 3px; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px !important; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px !important; zoom: 1;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -13px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 630px;"><div style="background-color: #823a83; color: white; float: left; font-weight: bold; height: 43px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 17px; width: 175px;"><img alt="" src="http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/ysp-mod/yahoo-contributor-network.png" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="" /></div><div style="background-color: #823a83; color: white; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; height: 54px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 6px; text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 0px -1px 1px; width: 425px;">This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.<div style="height: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div>Do you have a story to tell? <a href="http://contributor.yahoo.com/join/yahoonews_lego_news_header" style="color: white;">Become a Yahoo! contributor</a></div><div style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(130, 58, 131); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; border-left-color: transparent; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 15px; border-right-color: transparent; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 15px; border-top-color: rgb(130, 58, 131); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 40px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 0px;"></div></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010858" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010857" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010816" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-googleplus ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13319342290822-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010866" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010865" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010864" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f2071e623c" name="f3a36e5ddc" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df2a42e9398%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff288ca012c%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 113px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1331934230071&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=NASA%20Presents%20a%20Deep%20Space%20Habitat%20Concept%20for%20Space%20Exploration%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html&text=NASA%20Presents%20a%20Deep%20Space%20Habitat%20Concept%20for%20Space%20Exploration%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934225010882" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">1</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-googleplus-module" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1331934231175" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1331934231175" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html&size=medium&count=true&annotation=bubble&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3DZw2vCKwOJG8.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!Fpfk5B9U9k6IcXVdRg%2Fd%3D1#id=I1_1331934231175&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com&rpctoken=164490038&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-presents-deep-space-habitat-concept-space-exploration-215400773.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010193" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010192" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010191" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010190" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="first" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010196" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331848822_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">NASA</span> has made <a href="http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Smitherman_3-14-12/Smitherman_3-14-12.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">a presentation</a> to the Future-In-Space Operations (FISO) study group of two <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331848822_2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Deep Space Habitat</span> concepts that would accommodate a crew of four astronauts on missions beyond <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331848822_3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">low Earth orbit</span>.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">One is configured for a 60-day mission, the other for a 500-day mission.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">What does the 60-day mission Deep Space Habitat look like?</b></div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010212" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331848822_7" style="cursor: pointer;">The Deep Space Habitat</span> is designed to accommodate a crew of four on a 60-day mission. It would consist of:</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010203" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- a utility tunnel to which an airlock and either a one-person flexcraft of a larger vehicle called the MMSEV or Multi-Mission <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331848822_4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Space Exploration Vehicle</span> would be attached</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010206" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- a hab module much like the one on <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331848822_5" style="cursor: pointer;">the International Space Station</span></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">- and a cryogenic propulsion stage.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010209" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The astronauts would ride an Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle from Earth and dock with <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331848822_8" style="cursor: pointer;">the Deep Space Habitat</span> and use it to return to <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331848822_6" style="cursor: pointer;">Earth</span> after the mission is completed.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010189" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331848822_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">DSH</span> would contain crew quarters, a science station, a galley, and what NASA calls a "Waste Hygiene Compartment."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The DSH could also be considered a space ship since it travels from low Earth orbit to a variety of destinations. In the 60 configuration, destinations would include the Earth-Moon L1 or <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/604644main_3-L2_Mission_11.15.2011.r1.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">L2</a> points or lunar orbit.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">What about the 500-day mission Deep Space Habitat?</b></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The DSH is extended to a 500-day mission with the addition of a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) that would store supplies for the crew of four for the longer duration mission. Such missions would include <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/25/nasa-plans-2025-manned-mission-to-asteroid/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">visits to a Near Earth asteroid</a> or a Mars orbital mission, possibly to visit one of the Martian moons. The hab module would have a much larger communications dish as well.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">How would the Deep Space Habitat be assembled?</b></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The parts of the Deep Space Habitat could be launched to the International Space Station by existing launch vehicles, such as the Delta IV, Atlas V, or Falcon 9, though the Space Launch System could also be used. The DSH would be assembled at the ISS, tested, and then sent on its way once the crew has boarded it. The DSH would presumably return to low Earth orbit after the completion of its mission and rendezvous with the ISS. The crew would use the Orion spacecraft to return to Earth. Then the DSH, presuming that it is reusable, would be refurbished for the next mission.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Could the DSH be used to facilitate surface mission on the moon or Mars?</b></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The NASA presentation contemplated using the DSH for missions that do not involve landing on a celestial body with a large gravity field. But attaching a landing module to the DSH might allow it to facilitate such a mission.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010347" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010356">Mark R. Whittington is the author of</i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Children-of-Apollo-ebook/dp/B0011FCUSS/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324904584&sr=1-1" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010353" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><i id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010352">Children of Apollo</i></a> <i>and</i> <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Moonwalker-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B002H9XSRY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324904649&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">The Last Moonwalker.</a></i> <i id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934225010346">He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.</i></div></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-1514338105848957032012-03-16T14:41:00.002-07:002012-03-16T14:41:32.999-07:00See How Earth's Moon Evolved in New NASA Videos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147291" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147290" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147289" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">See How Earth's Moon Evolved in New NASA Videos</h1><a href="http://www.space.com/" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147295" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="SPACE.com" class="logo" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147294" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qfl2ZpplfzKDI6Sit5t1iw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/space/space_logo_140.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;">By <span class="fn">Space.com, staff Space.com</span> | <span class="provider org">SPACE.com</span> – <abbr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-03-15T14:02:03Z">Thu, Mar 15, 2012</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod yom-art-related yom-art-lead" id="mediaarticleleadtemp" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; clear: none; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147304" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-width: 3px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147303" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="photo first last" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147302" style="color: #414141; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.45em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="media" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/moon-s-formation-photo-1331852352.html" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147301" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;"><img alt="This illustration from a new NASA video shows the still-molten moon just after its formation about 4.5 billion years ago. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center" class="" height="350" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147300" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/zj_y76gXpWlKPp2TIj_vKg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MzUwO2NyPTE7Y3c9NjMwO2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0zNTA7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/03/15/moon-jpg_225910.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="This illustration from a new NASA video shows the still-molten moon just after its formation about 4.5 billion years ago. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center" width="630" /><span class="action enlarge" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147306" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 5px -1542px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 630px;">View Photo</span></a><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147311" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This illustration from a new NASA video shows the still-molten moon just after its formation about 4.5 billion years ago. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center</div></li>
</ul></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934031147866" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934031147865" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934031147824" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-googleplus ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13319340341303-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_1_13319340311471332" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934031147874" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/see-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934031147873" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934031147872" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f2265caf6" name="f36614be58" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df7d8f70b%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff2c0d47f%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsee-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 113px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1331934036963&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsee-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsee-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=See%20How%20Earth's%20Moon%20Evolved%20in%20New%20NASA%20Videos%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsee-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsee-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html&text=See%20How%20Earth's%20Moon%20Evolved%20in%20New%20NASA%20Videos%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331934031147890" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">20</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-googleplus-module" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1331934038105" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1331934038105" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsee-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html&size=medium&count=true&annotation=bubble&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3DZw2vCKwOJG8.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!Fpfk5B9U9k6IcXVdRg%2Fd%3D1#id=I1_1331934038105&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com&rpctoken=590890990&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/see-earths-moon-evolved-nasa-videos-140012773.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147321" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147320" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147319" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147318" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="first" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147317" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Two new NASA videos use the latest close-up imagery of the moon from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to reveal Earth's natural satellite in a whole new light.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">One video zooms over the moon to reveal its most prominent features. Imagery from the spacecraft shows these lunar highlights in high-resolution detail, revealing deep craters, towering mountains, and even leftover equipment at the <a href="http://www.space.com/14874-apollo-11-landing-site-moon-photo.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">NASA's Apollo moon landing sites</a>.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This narrated "best-of" tour of the moon includes photos of Orientale Basin, Shackleton crater, South Pole-Aitken Basin, Tycho crater, Aristarchus Plateau, Mare Serenitatis, Compton-Belkovich volcano, Jackson crater and Tsiolkovsky crater.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The second video uses <a href="http://www.space.com/13666-moon-map-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photos</a> to animate the history of the moon from its formation around 4.5 billion years ago through today.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="yui-media yui-editorial-embed" style="height: 324px; width: 576px;"></span></div><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-center" id="ymh-player-swf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #cccccc; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; clear: both; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 576px;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="324" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147325" src="http://d.yimg.com/nl/ynews/blog/player.html#vid=28629815&browseCarouselUI=hide" width="576"></iframe><div class="legend" style="color: #414141; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong style="display: block; font-weight: bold;"></strong></div></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Both videos were created by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Md., in honor of the probe's 1,000th day in orbit. LRO was launched June 18, 2009, from Cape Canaveral, Fla.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The moon is thought to have been created when a large space rock slammed into Earth and broke off a chunk of our planet. This collision was so powerful it would have melted rock, leaving the moon a hot, liquid blob for its early years. As this molten magma melted over time, the lunar crust formed.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">[Related: <a href="http://yhoo.it/wmZyln" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How old is the moon?</a>]</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But the moon was soon disturbed again by another huge asteroid impact. Between 4.5 and 4.3 billion years ago, scientists think a giant object crashed into the moon's south pole and created the South Pole-Aitken Basin. This feature, still visible today, is one of the two largest known impact basins in the solar system.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">And that collision was not an isolated incident. The moon went through an early <a href="http://www.space.com/14700-moon-craters-asteroids-impact-lunar-cataclysm.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">period of bombardment</a> by many space rocks of varying sizes, though none were quite as gigantic as the rock responsible for the South Pole-Aitken Basin.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147365" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The video illustrates the effect of this action on the early moon. Because the moon's insides hadn't completely cooled by this point, magma would have seeped through the cracks on the moon's surface caused by these impacts.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147362" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Over time, this volcanic activity subsided as the moon further cooled and impacts became less frequent. The moon's current barren, seemingly unchanging face belies the volatility of its early life, though.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147357" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em>Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter </em><a href="http://twitter.com/spacedotcom" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><em>@Spacedotcom</em></a><em> and on </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spacecom/17610706465" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>.</em></div><ul id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147348" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/14908-moon-evolved-video-guided-tour.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">How the Moon Evolved - Video Guided Tour</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147352" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/12030-moon-photos-nasa-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter.html" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147351" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Latest Moon Photos from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331934031147347" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/12796-photos-apollo-moon-landing-sites-lro.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Photos: New Views of Apollo Moon Landing Sites</a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-45752021647582736462012-03-14T12:38:00.002-07:002012-03-14T12:38:27.922-07:00Cassini spacecraft glimpses new views of moon Rhea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">from the AP and Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022316" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022315" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022314" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="entry-title" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022313">Cassini spacecraft glimpses new views of moon Rhea</span></h1><a href="http://www.ap.org/" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022322" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Associated Press" class="logo" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022321" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/kjmVjizroQE0M3Nlej7hqQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/ap/ap_logo_106.png" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;"><span class="provider org"><span class="author source-org vcard"><span class="org fn">Associated Press</span></span></span> – <abbr class="updated" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-03-13T01:24:24Z">Mon, Mar 12, 2012</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod yom-art-related yom-art-lead" id="mediaarticleleadtemp" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; clear: none; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022311" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-width: 3px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022310" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="photo first last" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022309" style="color: #414141; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.45em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="media" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/saturn-s-moon-comes-into-sharper-focus-1331670683-slideshow/" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022308" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;"><img alt="Click image for more photos" class="" height="474" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022307" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/wxrrLU1m6vJzjoDzNGA2Zg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9NDEzO2NyPTE7Y3c9NTUwO2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD00NzQ7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/03/13/AP120310028515-jpg-203025-jpg_203656.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Click image for more photos" width="630" /><span class="action enlarge" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022327" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 5px -1542px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 630px;">View Photo</span></a><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Click image for more photos</div></li>
</ul></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221329" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221328" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_1_1331753835022828" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-googleplus ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13317538336031-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221358" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221334" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/cassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221333" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221332" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f113144f08" name="f1ea1fe138" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df7f6f7b9%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff92c37ae%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fcassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 113px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221357" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221356" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1331753848173&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fcassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fcassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=Cassini%20spacecraft%20glimpses%20new%20views%20of%20moon%20Rhea%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fcassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fcassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html&text=Cassini%20spacecraft%20glimpses%20new%20views%20of%20moon%20Rhea%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13317538350221350" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">2</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-googleplus-module" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1331753848815" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1331753848815" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fcassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html&size=medium&count=true&annotation=bubble&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3DzU1srx_WVKo.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!wJ3zzZyr7MyIPjLesA%2Fd%3D1#id=I1_1331753848815&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com&rpctoken=373503640&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/cassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022343" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-related yom-art-related-modal yom-art-related-carousel" id="mediaarticlerelatedcarouseltemp" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="hd" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h3 style="color: #161616; display: inline; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">RELATED CONTENT</h3></div><div class="bd" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-width: 3px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymg-nav-buttons" style="display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a class="yui-carousel-button yui-carousel-prev yom-button yui-carousel-first-button-disabled" href="http://news.yahoo.com/cassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f7f7f7; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 0% 0%, color-stop(0.39, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(247, 247, 247)), to(rgb(231, 231, 231))); background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-weight: bold; height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -2px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1.1em; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 25px;"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 9px -894px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: block; height: 22px; width: 25px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold; visibility: hidden;"></strong></span></a><a class="yui-carousel-button yui-carousel-next yom-button" href="http://news.yahoo.com/cassini-spacecraft-glimpses-views-moon-rhea-224034617.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, white 39%, rgb(247, 247, 247) 40%, rgb(231, 231, 231) 100%); background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: right; font-weight: bold; height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1.1em; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 25px; z-index: 2;"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 10px -744px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: block; height: 22px; width: 25px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold; visibility: hidden;"></strong></span></a><div class="dot" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 6px;"><span class="icon-led-on" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/base/images/map_1_ltr-355934.png); background-position: 0px -730px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; width: 8px;"> </span><span class="icon-led" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/base/images/map_1_ltr-355934.png); background-position: 0px -700px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; width: 8px;"> </span></div></div><ul style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="gallery first" style="color: #414141; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.45em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="media" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/saturn-s-moon-comes-into-sharper-focus-slideshow/" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;"><img alt="This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea. The camera was pointing toward Rhea from a distance of approximately 42,096 kilometers (26,157 miles). (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)" class="" height="190" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/CdViBlf6r22rG1Ljaa08Xw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTg1Nztjcj0xO2N3PTE4NTc7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTE5MDtxPTg1O3c9MTkw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/6caa3ba342f3bf07090f6a7067004d4c.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea. The camera was pointing toward Rhea from a distance of approximately 42,096 kilometers (26,157 miles). (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)" width="190" /><span class="action slideshow" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 5px -1590px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 27px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 190px;">View Gallery</span></a><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed …</div></li>
<li class="photo" style="color: #414141; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.45em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="media lightbox98ef70489a07c06f381753e93fb5464b" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/photo-made-march-10-2012-nasas-cassini-spacecraft-photo-004418600.html" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;"><img alt="This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea. The camera was pointing toward Rhea from a distance of approximately 42,096 kilometers (26,157 miles). (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)" class="lightbox98ef70489a07c06f381753e93fb5464b" height="190" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/CdViBlf6r22rG1Ljaa08Xw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTg1Nztjcj0xO2N3PTE4NTc7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTE5MDtxPTg1O3c9MTkw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/6caa3ba342f3bf07090f6a7067004d4c.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea. The camera was pointing toward Rhea from a distance of approximately 42,096 kilometers (26,157 miles). (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)" width="190" /><span class="action enlarge" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 5px -1542px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 190px;">Enlarge Photo</span></a><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed …</div></li>
<li class="hide photo last" style="color: #414141; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.45em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="media lightbox46effcd745eac9c304f3c7e0518fe2f5" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/photo-made-march-10-2012-nasas-cassini-spacecraft-photo-004418588.html" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;"><img alt="This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea. The camera was pointing toward Rhea from a distance of approximately 42,096 kilometers (26,157 miles). (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)" class="lightbox46effcd745eac9c304f3c7e0518fe2f5" height="195" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/u8GykpmbDD8h9luvEAjMIQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MzA2Njtjcj0xO2N3PTMwMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTE5NTtxPTg1O3c9MTkw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/03158d9b42f1bf07090f6a706700b7a2.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea. The camera was pointing toward Rhea from a distance of approximately 42,096 kilometers (26,157 miles). (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)" width="190" /><span class="action enlarge" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 5px -1542px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 190px;">Enlarge Photo</span></a><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This photo made March 10, 2012, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows a raw, unprocessed …</div></li>
</ul></div></div></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022342" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022341" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022340" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="entry-content" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022339" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="first" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1331753835022338" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">PASADENA, California (AP) — The pockmarked surface of Saturn's second-largest moon has come into sharper focus in new images released by NASA.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The space agency on Monday released the new views of the moon Rhea, which were captured by the international Cassini spacecraft during a recent flyby. One of its cameras spied two huge impact basins and other geologic features on Rhea's icy surface from 26,000 miles (41,841 kilometers) away last week.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Cassini, funded by NASA and the European and Italian space agencies, was launched in 1997. It reached Saturn in 2004 and has been studying the r</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-67772453699779236732012-03-13T22:36:00.002-07:002012-03-13T22:36:52.578-07:00March 13, 1781 Uranus discovered<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Human Events:<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850654" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><tbody id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850653" style="width: 620px;">
<tr id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850652"><td id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850651" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-right-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px;" width="13%"><div align="center"><img src="http://content.eaglepub.com/images/7451/031312DEhistory.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" /></div></td><td id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850666" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;" width="83%"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850665" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><tbody id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850664" style="width: 446px;">
<tr id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850663"><td id="yui_3_2_0_5_1331703154850662" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">March 13, 1781</span><br />
<em><br />
</em><div style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"><em>Uranus discovered</em></div><br />
The German-born English astronomer William Hershel discovers Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. Herschel's discovery of a new planet was the first to be made in modern times, and also the first to be made by use of a telescope.</td></tr>
</tbody></table></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-1099948716003764682012-03-12T21:21:00.002-07:002012-03-12T21:21:55.472-07:00A New Vision for NASA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From The New Atlantis:<br />
<br />
A New Vision for NASA<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="author" style="background-color: white; color: #012d6b; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/authors/adam-keiper" style="border-bottom: inherit; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;">Adam Keiper</a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="firstcap" style="color: navy; float: left; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 50pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 50pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: -3px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A</span>merica’s manned spaceflight program is in disarray. You can see it in the technology. The future of the shuttle fleet is unclear. The International Space Station, a shadow of what it was meant to be, begs for a purpose. Plans for new spacecraft are jumbled and uncertain.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">You can see it in the people. The achievements of the U.S. astronaut corps routinely go unnoticed. Critics of NASA have said the agency has a “broken culture.” The loss of the shuttle <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> further demoralized a program that was already suffering from sagging spirits and lagging schedules.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">And NASA isn’t just haunted by the ghosts of astronauts lost: the agency is forever haunted by its own former glory, by the memory of the flags and footprints on the Moon.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">We are now at a peculiar moment in humanity’s journey into space. America’s space shuttles sit cold and quiet, but China, a nation with a burning ambition for prestige and power, has just had its first successful manned space mission. Other countries, and many private companies, are eyeing new ways to exploit space. Yet the agency that won the Space Race is now in the third decade of the Space Malaise, with creaky technology and no long-term goals.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">To put America’s space program back on the path to greatness, we must first take a hard look at the causes of its stagnation and its failures, and then must give it a new purpose—one directed to exploration, discovery, and adventure.</div><span align="center" class="subhead" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia </em>and the Culture of NASA</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="tallcap" style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A</span>merica’s space agency is now forty-five years old. Created one year after the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite in 1957, NASA was soon charged by President Kennedy with the goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of 1969. Between July 20, 1969 and December 14, 1972, twelve Americans walked on the Moon—but after meeting that goal, NASA fumbled for direction. The final Apollo lunar landings were scrapped, although the program still had enough momentum to complete two spin-off projects: the Skylab space station and a test docking with a Soviet spacecraft.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">After Apollo’s anticlimax, public interest in spaceflight waned. Since then, NASA’s manned spaceflight program has, with a few exceptions, only obtruded on the national consciousness when things have gone wrong—most terribly in the accidents that destroyed <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em> and <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>. For the public and for policymakers, the focus in the months after both those accidents was on mourning the dead, investigating the causes, improving the safety of the space shuttle, and doctoring to NASA’s bureaucratic stiffness.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The official inquiry into the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em> accident revealed serious problems in the way NASA handled matters of safety. Now the Columbia Accident Investigation Board has concluded—quite damningly—that some of the same attitudes and behaviors that doomed <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em> crept back to doom <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>seventeen years later. Crept back—or never left.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">According to the board’s thorough final report, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> was destroyed because it “re-entered Earth’s atmosphere with a pre-existing breach” in the front of its left wing. The hole in the wing caused the crew no problems in space, but during the shuttle’s descent at more than twenty times the speed of sound, hot air—superheated to thousands of degrees by friction with the shuttle—entered the hole and began to disintegrate the wing. The shuttle’s automated control systems worked “furiously” to keep<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> on its planned flight profile, and performed so well that neither the crew nor ground control recognized the seriousness of the problem as the shuttle streaked lower and lower. Then, after shedding debris, the shuttle broke up over Texas, less than 1,000 seconds after re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Minutes ticked by and flight controllers “still had no indications of any serious problems.” As the expected tracking and communications signals failed to appear, it became clear to shuttle managers that there had been a major problem—finally confirmed by live TV coverage of the shuttle’s break-up.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">According to the board’s report, the crew died of “blunt force trauma and hypoxia” when the crew module broke up more than twenty miles above the ground. Pieces of the shuttle fell in eastern Texas and western Louisiana. In the weeks that followed, searchers found more than 84,000 pieces of<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> debris—including an intact flight data recorder—most of which were assembled in a hangar and used by investigators to determine the cause of the accident.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Relying on photographic evidence, sensor data, and information learned from the wreckage, the board found that the hole in the wing was caused by a piece of foam insulation which broke off from the area where <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> was attached to its external fuel tank—the rust-colored hulk that towers over the spaceward bound shuttle. The foam was jarred loose at 81.7 seconds into the launch. Less than two-tenths of a second later, it hit the wing. Although the foam was light—roughly the dimensions and weight of three rolls of household paper towel—it was moving at 545 miles per hour relative to the shuttle, so it had enough momentum to damage the thermal protection panels on the wing. In fact, when the investigators replicated the impact by firing foam projectiles into a mockup of the wing, they found that the foam could crack the wing’s thermal panels, or even punch a large hole in them.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The heartbreaking conclusion of the investigation board is that the crew of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> could perhaps have been saved. The damaged shuttle couldn’t have docked with, or even reached, the International Space Station, but by working around-the-clock for three weeks, another shuttle—<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Atlantis</em>, only a few weeks from its own launch—could have taken off with a crew prepped for a rendezvous and rescue spacewalk. (This would have been the first case when two shuttles were in space at the same time.) And even if no other shuttles were available for a rescue mission, the astronauts on <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> might at least have improved their chances of survival by using “onboard materials to rig a temporary fix” for the damaged wing, and then modifying their flight plan to make the re-entry less stressful for the crippled spacecraft.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Yet these options were never even raised, because the mission’s managers were convinced that the foam strike, which they knew about by the second day of the flight, didn’t endanger the shuttle. While many of the engineers working on the mission were worried about the impact—some even thought that the foam might have damaged the shuttle’s landing gear badly enough to require <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> to make a never-before-tried water landing—the mission’s managers weren’t receptive to the engineers’ concerns. The managers “displayed no interest in understanding” the foam problem, according to the investigation board, so the concerned engineers “found themselves in the unusual position of having to prove that the situation was <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">unsafe</em>—a reversal of the usual requirement to prove that a situation is<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">safe</em>.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In fact, the board found that on at least eight occasions the mission’s managers missed opportunities to determine the extent of the damage caused by the debris. They could have asked other government agencies to deliver satellite images of the shuttle. They could have asked the crew to download video footage of the launch, or even to attempt an inspection of the wing. Eight days into the flight, the mission’s managers did eventually get around to telling the crew about the foam strike—“not because they thought that it was worthy of the crew’s attention but because the crew might be asked about it in an upcoming media interview,” according to the board. The crew was told by e-mail that the foam hit caused “absolutely no concern for entry.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In NASA’s miserable handling of the foam question, “bureaucracy and process trumped thoroughness and reason,” according to the investigation board. The board’s report describes NASA’s “organizational culture” as seriously flawed: Dissent is stifled; management hierarchies are far too rigid; important information is watered down as it moves up the chain of command; and a “cultural fence... impairs open communication between mission managers and working engineers.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Worse still, many of the organizational flaws that brought down <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> were the same that were responsible for <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em>, “such as inadequate concern over deviations from expected performance, a silent safety program, and schedule pressure.” What’s more, “the board strongly believes that if these persistent, systemic flaws are not resolved, the scene is set for yet another accident.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The NASA responsible for the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em> and <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> accidents is a “less technically and organizationally capable organization than the Apollo-era NASA,” the report says. To get a taste of just how different NASA’s “organizational culture” was three decades ago, one need only read <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0425179877/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Failure Is Not an Option</strong></a></em>, the memoirs of Gene Kranz, the flight director for the Gemini and Apollo missions. Kranz writes of his tough young team working long and wearying hours, racing to identify and solve problems, always soliciting opinions from engineers and everyone else involved. His motto was, “Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">When asked recently by the Associated Press what he thought about the “culture” problem at NASA, Kranz emphasized the need for accountability: “Look, these people are professionals,” he said. “They’re being paid a professional wage. If they have a problem, I expect them to stand up and speak up. Period... We’ve got 19- and 20- and 21-year-olders over in Iraq right now who have to make daily decisions. It’s no ambiguity. I don’t think we should expect anything less of the people who are working in the space program. Daily decisions, no ambiguity.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But it seems that today’s NASA leadership has another approach to fixing the agency’s culture problems: “trying to make NASA’s shuttle program a warmer, fuzzier place,” according to the AP. “To these reformers, that means being super-sensitive about their words, their tone, their height, even the shape of their conference table.” Wayne Hale, the new deputy director of the shuttle program, says he is “stocking up on sociology books.” Here is his reply when asked why he doesn’t try to return to the management techniques that worked so well for NASA in the 1960s and 70s:</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">They were dealing with all white males, and there was a lot of in-your-face, militaristic almost [communication]... I’m still a student at this, but if you want to inhibit communication, that’s a good way to do it these days.</div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Hale and the other new officials in the shuttle program would do well to remember that the managers they replace, the ones who left after the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> accident, betrayed the trust of the astronauts and the entire country; as the accident investigation board report puts it, “some Space Shuttle Program managers failed to fulfill the implicit contract to do whatever is possible to ensure the safety of the crew.” Hopefully, Hale’s sociology books will instruct him on how to inculcate accountability among the managers and banish the complacency that brought down <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>. But there is good reason to be skeptical.</div><span align="center" class="subhead" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Shuttle: An Unmitigated Failure</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="tallcap" style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">O</span>ne reason some NASA managers were untroubled by the foam impact on <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> is because flying foam wasn’t a new phenomenon. <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> was the oldest shuttle of the fleet, and on its very first launch in 1981, it sustained so much damage from debris that more than 300 of its 30,000 thermal protection tiles had to be replaced. Of the 79 shuttle launches for which NASA has decent photographic imagery, 65 launches show evidence of foam shedding. Even in many of the cases where NASA doesn’t have launch images available, damage on the shuttles after their return to Earth indicates foam hits. Sometimes the foam damage was quite serious; the mission commander for one 1988 flight said his shuttle “looked like it had been blasted by a shotgun.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In seven known instances, including <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>’s final flight, the foam came off the external fuel tank from the top-left spot where the tank and the shuttle connect. Five of those seven incidents involved<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>. By the time of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>’s demise, shuttle managers didn’t think of foam as a big deal any more; they became “conditioned over time to not regard foam loss or debris as a safety-of-flight concern,” according to the investigation board. That foam hits were mostly harmless was taken for granted—so much so that even <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">after</em> the shuttle was lost, NASA’s managers wouldn’t accept that foam might have been at fault. “It just does not make sense to us that a piece of debris could be the root cause of the loss of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>,” said shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore four days after the accident. “There’s got to be another reason.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The sad truth is, even though the complexity of the space shuttle is a marvel of technical engineering, its design is fundamentally flawed. The shuttle is a bastardized version of a concept that doesn’t completely make sense, and it has never been able to do what it was intended to.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The shuttle was originally envisioned as one small part of man’s grand future in space. Going back at least to the early 1950s, space enthusiasts and rocket experts—including Wernher von Braun, the former Nazi rocket pioneer who became the genius behind America’s successful rocket program—envisioned an orbiting space station that could serve as the launching base for trips to the Moon, Mars, or beyond. Massive vessels for long-distance voyages would be assembled in space and would remain there, while smaller spacecraft would shuttle back and forth between the space station and Earth, carrying people and supplies.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For a half-century, some version of this integrated vision, with its logical progression and simple concinnity—shuttle to station, station to ship, and thence to the planets!—has remained in the background of America’s space aspirations, always coloring the long-term thinking of planners and policymakers, even when it’s not openly acknowledged. For a while, it seemed as though the enormously successful Apollo program would demolish this grand scheme by proving we could bypass the shuttle and space station, and just hurl astronauts straight to the Moon. But as the Apollo missions wound down, the vision of the space station resumed ascendancy.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NASA planners energetically went about drawing up budgets and programs, the boldest of which would launch a Mars expedition by 1981. Yet even if the nation could afford to embark on this grand adventure, there was no political support for it in the late 1960s and early 1970s (aside from a short-lived burst of Mars mania from Spiro Agnew). With the pressure of the Space Race over, and with other major domestic and international concerns dominating the political agenda, neither President Johnson nor President Nixon was willing to commit to a massive new space program.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">So the plans were whittled down. Mars was out of the picture. No more Moon missions. No space station. All that was left of the grand vision was the shuttle.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The years of political maneuvering, fighting, and painful compromises over the size, design, cost, and function of the space shuttle are deftly chronicled in <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1588340147/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Space Shuttle Decision, 1965-1972</strong></a></em> by T. A. Heppenheimer. In the end, the shuttle was supposed to “revolutionize transportation into near space, by routinizing it,” in President Nixon’s awkward phrase. Since most of the shuttle system was designed to be reusable, it was supposed to “take the astronomical costs out of astronautics,” Nixon said. The shuttle would serve both military and civilian projects—and would offer a cheaper alternative to satellite makers who would otherwise have to pay for disposable rockets to carry their satellites into space.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By all of those criteria, the space shuttle has been a failure. As the Columbia Accident Investigation Board points out, the shuttle “has never met any of its original requirements for reliability, cost, ease of turnaround, maintainability, or, regrettably, safety.” It cannot be launched quickly to respond to sudden needs, since it takes so long to refurbish after each flight. It’s no longer used to carry commercial or military payloads. And the shuttle certainly hasn’t “routinized” space. Far from it. Of the five shuttles America has launched into space, two have been lost. The shuttle fleet was supposedly going to make about 50 flights every year; in fact, the fleet has made only 113 flights in the last twenty-two years—and lost fourteen astronauts along the way.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Even the essence of the shuttle concept must be deemed a failure. The shuttle was supposed to make it cheaper to reach orbit, since most of the shuttle system is reusable. Unfortunately, the desire for cheap reusability is what dictated the shuttle’s dangerous design. The shuttle and its crew has to “sit right in the middle of all the turmoil of launch... the most vulnerable position possible in terms of engineering design and safety.” So says former NASA aerospace engineer Homer Hickam, the author of<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385333218/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Rocket Boys</strong></a></em> (a.k.a. <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">October Sky</em>). As Hickam sees it,</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">the space shuttle program may well be NASA’s Vietnam. A generation of engineers and managers have exhausted themselves trying to make it work and they just can’t... The truth is no amount of arm-waving and worrying about “culture” can fix a flawed design... Simply put, had that spaceplane been on top of the stack, the destruction of<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> would not have occurred because its wings would have been out of the line of fire. <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em> would probably not have happened, either. Had the spaceplane been above the explosion, it likely would have been able to punch out and glide back home.</div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Incidentally, the shuttle’s reusability hasn’t actually made reaching orbit any cheaper, since the shuttle remains expensive to launch and refurbish. Although it’s very difficult to calculate the cost, most estimates peg the price of each shuttle launch at around $450 million (a tenfold increase over what the planners hoped).</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The shuttles were originally intended to serve only ten or twelve years, but NASA now estimates that the fleet may have to last until 2020 or beyond. A “Shuttle Service Life Extension Program”—basically a series of planned upgrades—should make that longevity possible. But investments in shuttle upgrades, like investments in other areas of shuttle infrastructure, have been “mired by the uncertainty surrounding the shuttle program’s lifetime,” according to the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> accident investigators. If the shuttle is just going to be phased out anyway, or so the logic goes, what’s the sense in spending on upgrades?</div><span align="center" class="subhead" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Space Station: A Bottomless Pit</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="tallcap" style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I</span>n the 1960s, the Mercury spacecraft were designed with one goal in mind: putting a man in orbit. The purpose of the Apollo spacecraft was to make the Moon shot. But the space shuttle was designed with no clear objective. It was originally dreamed up, as Gregg Easterbrook wrote in an insightful and prescient 1980 <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Washington Monthly</em> article, as “a space truck to lug things back and forth to orbit. The craft itself would have no scientific function. It was assumed by [shuttle designers] that, once the shuttle was approved, somebody could devise some missions for it.” The shuttle concept may have made sense as part of the grand scheme for humanity’s spacefaring future—<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">shuttle, station, ship, and beyond!</em>—but without even a space station, as a 1988 <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Time</em> magazine article put it, NASA was “riding a splendid shuttle to nowhere.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Naturally, NASA did find things for the shuttle to do. Originally, the shuttles carried commercial satellites into space, but after the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em> accident, the Reagan administration ended that practice; to ease the schedule pressure on NASA, shuttles were forbidden from carrying commercial payloads except in extenuating circumstances. (As a result, since 1986 all those businesses wanting to send their satellites into space have had to find companies, frequently foreign, still using those supposedly outmoded disposable rockets.) The shuttles were used for classified military missions for a time, but those ended in 1992. Shuttles are still often used for science experiments; for launching or repairing NASA satellites and telescopes; and for educational programs.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Today, of course, the shuttle has a place to go: the International Space Station. With a pedigree that can be traced back to the same grand vision that inspired the space shuttle, the International Space Station is but a humble thing compared to some of the space stations, bases, and colonies imagined in the 1960s and 70s—but it’s much bigger than any previous space station actually built.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">America’s first space station was Skylab, launched in 1973, and staffed with a series of three three-man crews for less than a year. Skylab was made of hardware left over from the Apollo program; in fact, the station’s vast main body was converted from a Saturn V rocket—the same kind of giant rocket used to send astronauts to the Moon.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Meanwhile, starting in the early 1970s, the Soviets built and launched a whole series of “Salyut” space stations. The last two Salyuts had dozens of cosmonauts come aboard over a span of several years. These were succeeded by Mir, the Soviets’ biggest space station. Although we now remember Mir for the difficulties that plagued its final years—an out-of-control fire, a collision with a supply capsule, problems with power and with attitude control, and various other crises that made it sound like a zero-g death trap—it was actually quite successful during its long duration in space. It proved the value of modular space station design, with its main segment launched in 1986 and other pieces added throughout the next decade. And it proved that humans could endure very long periods of weightlessness—even in a hot, noisy, dirty, cramped tub filled with Russians.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There were countless aborted attempts to make an American space station after Skylab; some of these plans involved large crews and artificial gravity. Planning didn’t begin in earnest until 1984, when Ronald Reagan supported a station to be built “within a decade”—“Space Station Freedom,” as he came to call it. At first, NASA promised it could put a station in orbit by 1991 for just $8 billion. By 1987, the estimated cost had risen to $12 billion, even though the launch was delayed till the mid-1990s and the size of the station was reduced. By 1991, the estimated price had grown to $17 billion, even though the size had been reduced so drastically that critics took to calling the latest design “Space Station Fred” instead of “Freedom.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Foreign policy has always played a part in the plans for the space station. President Reagan hoped to involve many allies in the project, as a challenge to the Soviets. By 1993, however, with the Cold War over, the Clinton administration saw the space station as a way to build new ties with Moscow. Thus was born the International Space Station, intended to bring together the latest iteration of the American plan and Russia’s designs for a second Mir. (Today, more than a dozen other countries are also involved.) The first pieces were put into orbit five years ago, and there are now six major modules and several smaller components in place; more are on their way.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But the space station faces major problems. The total cost of the station is difficult to pinpoint, with estimates between $30 and $60 billion—and the cost has been going up by at least $1 billion every year. Russia’s contributions to the station have been delayed repeatedly, thanks to that government’s budget woes. In order to keep funding the U.S. work on the station, NASA has shifted money from other projects, sacrificing programs like a robotic mission to Pluto (the only planet in the solar system that remains unvisited). Even with such scrimping, the Bush administration has had to cancel several American contributions to the station, including the habitation module that would have allowed the station to house seven astronauts; without that module, the station can only house three astronauts for a sustained period. And in the wake of the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em> accident, the crew size has been reduced to just two astronauts who will have to spend most of their time keeping the station running. Certainly there is no way a crew of two can find the time to perform any but the most rudimentary science experiments.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Congress, with its eye on the nation’s pocketbook, has kept the pressure on the station. There have been “twenty-two attempts in Congress since 1991 to terminate” the space station, according to the Congressional Research Service. (They have all failed, of course, but some came close—including one bill that was defeated by a single vote in the House of Representatives.) Even some of the longtime supporters of the station, like Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, have found themselves frustrated by the slow pace of progress. As a speechwriter in the Reagan White House, Rohrabacher had drafted the 1984 radio speech in which Reagan explained his plans for the space station—yet by the late 1990s, Rohrabacher found himself “admitting that if NASA were to propose the space station today, I couldn’t support it knowing what I know now.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The station-related pressure from Congress and the White House took an enormous toll on NASA, according to the report of the accident investigation board. The space agency was basically “on probation”: NASA “had to prove it could meet schedules within cost” or it would face cutbacks. The agency set an aggressive schedule for launching the remaining U.S. contributions to the space station, and fixed a hard deadline of February 19, 2004, for launching the last core piece. NASA employees were given a screensaver that showed a clock counting down to that date, and the agency resorted to “what some employees termed ‘tricks’” to keep up the breakneck tempo. In order to stay on the timetable, many employees of the shuttle program had to work through the winter holidays of 2002-2003; even so, “by December 2002, every bit of padding in the schedule had disappeared.” All this just to meet a deadline that was essentially arbitrary.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This pressure doesn’t excuse, but may help explain, the safety lapse that doomed <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>: There was, it seemed, no time to pause for mistakes. “No one at NASA wants to be the one to stand up and say, ‘We can’t make that date,’” the report said. And even now, echoes of that attitude may remain. According to a <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Washington Post</em> article in late October, NASA’s most recent mission to the space station—launched aboard a Russian capsule because the American shuttles are still grounded—came “over the strenuous objections of mid-level scientists and physicians who warned that deteriorating medical equipment and air and water monitoring devices aboard the orbiting laboratory posed increasing safety risks for the crew.” One NASA physician quoted in the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Post</em> feared a replay of<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>: “We are going down the same path in taking risks with the space station crew for the same dysfunctional reasons.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Still, if the space station is in such bad shape—much costlier than planned, much later than planned, much smaller than planned—why shouldn’t we just cut our losses and abandon it now? Even those who have studied the matter closely seem uncertain. In a <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Weekly Standard</em> article in 2001, Charles Krauthammer wrote that we should stop “squandering” and “frittering away” our money on the space station; two years later, in the same publication, he said we should keep the station running, although “just enough to sustain it,” because “there’s too much already invested.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The latter view seems sensible. It is likely that the station’s core will be completed after the shuttle fleet starts flying again. And perhaps the station will resume expanding when the economic outlook turns rosier. Part of the station may someday be given over to private entities; in fact, the Russians and Europeans have been collaborating on designing a station module dedicated solely to commercial research. So we should stick with the space station, if only to keep our toehold in space—in case the action on the station picks up again. But the time has come to look further.</div><span align="center" class="subhead" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Still Lost in Space</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="tallcap" style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">T</span>he space station has reportedly been designed with a ten-year lifespan, but like the shuttle, it will probably have to stay in service much longer. Ten years seems awfully short, considering how long it took to get the beast up there. Frankly, there’s no reason why the space station should have any expiration date at all: since it is modular in design, station components can simply be replaced as they deteriorate or become obsolete.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">No one should be misled by the station’s modular design or the shuttle’s partial reusability into thinking that America’s manned space program has great foresight, or a commendable knack for efficiency and thrift. In fact, the U.S. has a long history of wastefulness in space; we have a habit of throwing away things still in good condition. Our first space station, for instance. Skylab was spacious and sturdy—our first “house in space,” one writer called it. When the third Skylab crew departed in 1974, they left packages of film and food by the entrance, in case another crew someday boarded the station. It still had plenty of water and oxygen aboard, too. NASA drew up plans to save Skylab, but those plans depended on the shuttle, which was far from ready for flight. Skylab’s orbit decayed badly in 1978 and it became clear that the station would fall to Earth if it had to wait for a still-nonexistent shuttle to save it. But instead of even attempting a rescue mission with one of its pre-shuttle systems, NASA chose to abandon Skylab. Spaceworthy resources costing billions of dollars crashed into Australia and the Indian Ocean in 1979. More than two decades elapsed before another American space station was open for business.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Something similar happened to Mir in the 1990s. When the Americans and Russians partnered to build the International Space Station, NASA coerced the Russians to abandon Mir in order to better concentrate their efforts on the joint project. A private company called MirCorp offered to make Mir profitable by turning it into “a platform for commercial activities such as in-orbit advertising, satellite construction and repair, recreation, and telecommunications services,” according to Edward Hudgins, editor of the Cato Institute book <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1930865198/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Space: The Free-Market Frontier</strong></a></em>. MirCorp also had plans to bring the first space tourists to Mir, and to tape a TV show on the station. But despite the appeals of MirCorp—and despite Mir’s role as a symbol of Russian achievement—Moscow caved to NASA’s demands. Mir was deorbited in 2001.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Probably the most appalling act of improvidence in the history of America’s space program was the decision to get rid of the Saturn V rocket. Many people believe that NASA cannot presently launch a mission to the Moon because we lost the technology we had in the 1960s “through bureaucratic incompetence,” as one UPI writer claimed in October. In fact, the reason we can’t go back to the Moon today is because we don’t have a rocket powerful enough. The Saturn V, the crowning achievement of Wernher von Braun’s rocketeers, was the most powerful rocket ever built. It had a perfect launch success record, and brought our Apollo astronauts to the Moon. But Senator William Proxmire, Democrat of Wisconsin, a lifelong critic of the space program, killed the Saturn V. Here’s how Gordon Cooper, one of the original seven astronauts, tells the story in his 2000 autobiography, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061098779/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Leap of Faith</strong></a></em>:</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Proxmire saw to it that the entire Saturn V production and assembly line was shut down in the early 1970s, requiring even the destruction of the machinery and tooling necessary to build the rocket... In his grief over the destruction of his biggest and best rocket, Wernher von Braun, who lobbied Congress hard for a reprieve, told me in one of our last conversations that he considered it among the stupidest things this country—which he dearly loved and I’d never before heard him criticize—had ever done. I agreed... Why would any forward-thinking nation actually <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">destroy</em> its own leading-edge technology?... I’m <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">still</em> angry about it and will be until my dying day.</div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Proxmire, who expected to save money by preventing NASA from getting any more Saturn V rockets, didn’t realize that the time would come when America would wish it still had the power of that giant for bringing the heaviest satellites into space. The most powerful American rocket in use today, Lockheed Martin’s Titan 4B, can’t even handle a <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">fifth</em> of the payload that the Saturn V could carry into orbit, let alone make a trip to the Moon.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">One other example of waste occurs every time the space shuttle blasts off. Just before the shuttle reaches orbit, its big external fuel tank is jettisoned to burn up in the atmosphere. Those tanks could almost certainly be brought to orbit, where they could be converted into floating labs or used as components for a space station. (Remember, America’s first space station, Skylab, was built out of an empty Saturn V.) This idea, which has garnered consistent interest from private companies since at least the 1980s, has largely gone ignored by NASA. So far, 112 external fuel tanks have been detruded from shuttles; if only a fraction of those had been kept in orbit, there’s no telling what uses American engineering ingenuity might have put them to.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">These examples demonstrate more than just waste; they point to the dismaying short-sightedness of our space program. When seen in the larger context of the shuttle and the space station, neither of which has come close to reaching the modest goals originally set for it, there is no way to escape the conclusion that America’s manned space program completely lacks a guiding vision.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This is a conclusion shared by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which found “a lack, over the past three decades, of any national mandate providing NASA a compelling mission requiring human presence in space.” This aimlessness is not a failure of technology; it is a failure of leadership. “We believe,” the board writes in its final report, “that the White House, Congress, and NASA should honor the memory of <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>’s crew by reflecting on the nation’s future in space and the role of new space transportation capabilities in enabling whatever space goals the nation chooses to pursue.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Not every country is stuck in a space policy limbo. In October 2003, China—the land where the rocket originated centuries ago—put a man into space for the first time. The capsule in which Yang Liwei circled the Earth was modeled after the Soyuz, the workhorse of Russia’s space program. Indeed, the Chinese received a great deal of Russian advice and assistance, particularly in the areas of technology and training.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Yang’s trip lasted more than twenty-one hours and took him on fourteen orbits around the Earth. The Soviet Union had accomplished such a flight by 1961, and the U.S. by 1962—years before Yang was even born. But even though we could do the same thing four decades ago, the Chinese spaceflight is no minor achievement: in fact, it’s a black eye to our manned space program. Most of the news stories about Yang’s flight cast it as a great success for China in a year in which the Americans had to freeze their unsafe space program. For a country vying to be seen as one of the world’s great powers, the flight was a perfectly-timed publicity coup. (The Chinese may have been following the example set by the Soviets in 1986: they sought to capitalize on the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em> accident by putting the first manned crew on Mir about two weeks later.)</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But more ominously, Yang’s flight is an indication that China <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">gets</em> space. Western intelligence experts have been suggesting for years that Beijing is making serious advances in military space, and now we see that the Chinese also understand the prestige that comes with space power. According to press reports, China now has its eyes set on the Moon: a robotic probe—no doubt timed to coincide with the Beijing Olympics—is expected in 2008, while a manned mission to the lunar surface could take place by 2020. Meanwhile, what goals does the U.S. have for its manned space program in the next two decades? Endless tinkering on the space station?</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In some ways, it’s easier for China to set glorious goals for its space program than it is for the United States to do so. For one thing, China isn’t already committed to spending billions of dollars on largely failed ideas like the space shuttle and space station. Also, China’s space program is run by the highly centralized People’s Liberation Army, which can think up long-range policies and stick to them. Our space program is civilian, and in our democratic system it isn’t easy to hold fast to plans that promise distant glory.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the United States, we don’t even have a central body to help steer space policy. Lou Dobbs, CNN’s financial guru and the founder of Space.com, wisely argues in his 2001 book <a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743452607/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Space: The Next Business Frontier</em></strong></a> that we should</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">create an external entity to ensure that NASA hits its marks. In other words, set goals and achieve them. There’s been a lot of talk about re-instituting a National Space Council, an advisory group last seen under the first Bush administration and eliminated by the Clinton White House. Practically speaking, we should ratchet up the NSC by also setting up a board of directors... [including] a National Space Adviser, key members of Congress, academics, former astronauts or NASA scientists, a retired aerospace executive or two.</div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">At the very least, such an institution could help NASA, Congress, and the White House in choosing which kinds of research are worth pursuing. NASA spent many years and billions of dollars researching next-generation space vehicles with which to replace the shuttle, but the agency has nothing to show for it. In the 1980s, there was something called the National Aerospace Plane. In the 1990s, there was the X-33 and the X-34. In 2000, NASA started the Space Launch Initiative. Each of these projects failed, in a pattern chronicled in the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s report: “Optimistic pronouncements about a revolutionary shuttle replacement, followed by insufficient government investment, and then program cancellation due to technical difficulties”—all in all, a “failure of national leadership.” It now appears as if the same pattern is being followed in the plans for the Orbital Space Plane, NASA’s latest planned shuttle replacement. An entire panel of witnesses facing a Senate committee in late October testified that NASA should halt the development of the Orbital Space Plane, and two powerful Representatives—the top Republican and Democrat on the House Science Committee—have complained that they don’t see “how the Orbital Space Plane fits into an overall vision for the human space flight program.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The fact of the matter is, there are far too many good ideas for NASA even to begin funding them all adequately, and the agency must encourage private investment in space. Small amounts of private money have already gone a long way in space: for example, a private foundation has set up a $10 million award that will go to anyone who can build a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to an altitude of 62 miles—that’s one definition of where space begins—and return safely to Earth, and then do the same thing within two weeks. This contest, known as the “X-Prize,” has attracted nineteen teams, and according to recent press reports, some of the competitors may make their first attempts at the prize in the next few months. If NASA’s shuttles remain grounded until late summer or fall of 2004, as expected, then the next American to enter space may do so on an X-Prize spacecraft.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The NASA shuttles will probably still be on the ground when the world’s first solar sail takes off, too. Just as a wind sail on the water transforms the power of air into movement, a solar sail in space would be pushed along by the minute pressure of photons of sunlight. Theoretically, such a vessel could accelerate to speeds much faster than today’s rocket-powered spacecraft. The first test version of a solar sail, completely privately funded, is supposed to enter space next year on a missile launched from a Russian nuclear submarine.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Many other space ideas—like the flyback boosters and “cyclers” championed by Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin—deserve attention, but NASA simply doesn’t have the money to give them the consideration they merit. There have been attempts to entice more commercial entities into the space arena, including a major space commercialization act in 1998, and another one introduced in the House of Representatives this October. But to really get U.S. industry interested in space, one approach might be this radical idea proposed recently by former Rep. Bob Walker, Republican of Pennsylvania:</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 50px; margin-right: 50px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">We should also look at tax holiday concepts. What if, instead of depending on the federal government to go back to the Moon [or presumably elsewhere], we created a way for businesses to see a great opportunity in traveling to the Moon. The opportunity is that if they get there and if they establish a permanent station on the Moon, the government will give them 25 or 30 years of tax-free treatment, not just for the facility on the Moon, but for the entire corporation. Now, all of a sudden, at Microsoft, General Motors, or some company that pays substantial taxes, people will be sitting in the boardroom asking, “How do we get there and get there cheap?”</div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Imagine the new Space Race such an offer would start, as it unleashes the creativity of companies that already excel at doing great things.</div><span align="center" class="subhead" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Why We Must Go</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="tallcap" style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">B</span>ut for any of these ideas to succeed, America needs to revitalize its manned spaceflight program. We need to go back to first principles: Why should we even bother going into space?</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Certainly some policymakers think we shouldn’t exert our energies on going to space, since there are so many problems here on Earth—problems like poverty, hunger, or racism—that we should solve before we reach for the heavens. This objection has been heard since the very earliest days of the American space program. Even at the precise moment the Space Race was to be won, just days before Apollo 11 was due to take off in July 1969 with the first men to walk on the Moon, a group of demonstrators from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference staged a protest at Cape Canaveral (complete with mules and the song “We Shall Overcome”) to demand that the government spend its money on food and medicine and housing for the poor. All that summer, newspapers quoted eminences ranging from Arnold Toynbee to Reinhold Niebuhr to Mark Van Doren, each of whom criticized the Moon missions for wasting resources that could be better spent closer to home. Three days before Apollo 11 left Earth, Kurt Vonnegut wrote in <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The New York Times Magazine</em> that the money spent on space should have been spent “on cleaning up our filthy colonies here on Earth” instead. In the 1970s, some members of Congress made the same argument, like then-Representative Ed Koch (later mayor of New York City), who said, “I just for the life of me can’t see voting for monies to find out whether or not there is some microbe on Mars, when in fact I know there are rats in the Harlem apartments.” The identical sentiment is still heard today: The government shouldn’t spend money on space, it should spend money fixing things here at home.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But this argument is doubly flawed. First, it reveals a misunderstanding of how the federal budget works. It simply isn’t true that every dollar given to NASA is a dollar that would instead go somewhere else in the federal budget; money can’t just be shifted from one government program to another: something is allocated to be in the budget or it’s cancelled. If NASA were eliminated entirely today, it wouldn’t make a penny of difference to federal spending on schools or healthcare or anything else.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Second, anyone who argues that government funds should be spent here on Earth instead of being wasted on projects in space misses the obvious fact that the money spent on space programs <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">is</em> used here on Earth. The money goes to companies that build rockets and robots and electronics; it goes to scientists, manufacturers, engineers, administrators, and astronauts; it employs people, feeds families, and cycles back into the economy.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">That said, many of the arguments in favor of sending humans into space are dubious. The notion that we should head out into space to harvest the resources of our solar system’s planets, moons, and asteroids wrongly assumes that we will be able to find a cost-effective way to get and ship the rare gases, ores, and other potentially valuable materials we might find there. We know neither what kind nor what quantity of resources we will find on these space objects. Developing space resources may someday be enormously lucrative, but at this stage it cannot be our main motivation for heading into space.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Some have argued that we should go into space because it’s good for our innovative economy: just look at all the household products that have been spun off from NASA’s four decades of space research. NASA is understandably proud of its record in this regard, and does its best to emphasize the progress in clothing, medicine, computers, optics, materials, and so forth, that has been spurred by the space program. But wonderful though they undoubtedly are, spin-offs cannot sensibly be the object of a manned spaceflight program; they are, at best, only an incidental benefit.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Space tourism is often put forward as a viable industry, although no one has yet convincingly made a case that explains the economics of how it would work. Two tourists have already been in space: American Dennis Tito in 2001 and South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002 each paid $20 million for a stay on the International Space Station. Some companies claim to have data that show that a vast percentage of the population would pay to go to space, and some studies have estimated that the market for space tourism might reach as high as $20 billion in the coming decades. But it just isn’t clear how space tourism will transition from the exploits of a few adventurous millionaires into an industry with any hope of making profits.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For decades, we have heard about the value of laboratory research in low-grav and no-grav: experiments with protein crystals could yield results helpful to many industries, and maybe someday we’ll be able to produce perfectly spherical ball bearings in space. There is reason to believe that certain areas of biotech research might also benefit from experiments in space. To the extent that all this is true—and even after years of space experiments on the shuttle and in the space station, it’s not obvious that this research has been put to much practical use—lab research can’t be the chief reason America’s national space agency goes into orbit. As much as possible, such research should be privately funded, privately controlled, and privately conducted, and NASA should pursue greater challenges.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The greatest of all challenges is the future of humanity, and scientists and science fiction writers have long said that we must go to space to ensure the survival of the species, and to seed other planets with human life. There is some wisdom in this outlook, but as extinction is not looming, it does not provide us with a sensible reason to go out to space now—although we unquestionably must learn to protect our fragile planet from stray asteroids and other threats from space.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Finally, there is the argument that we should head out into space for discovery, for adventure, and for glory; that we, as thinking, feeling beings, have a moral imperative to explore space; and that we, as the American superpower, have a weighty obligation to lead the way.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Some skeptics have said that there is no need to send humans out into space—no need to go back to the Moon, or to go to Mars, since we have robots that we can send in our stead. The leading proponent of the robo-research crowd is Robert Park, the University of Maryland physicist who has dedicated his life to debunking abuses of science. Park says that since humans on other worlds would have to wear bulky space suits, they would be cut off from the sounds, smells, and textures of their environment. Besides, he says, sending robots is cheaper and safer than sending humans. In his 2000 book <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195147103/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Voodoo Science</strong></a></em>, Park describes robots as “simply extensions of our frail human bodies”; they can turn the scientists into “virtual astronauts.” Sending humans to explore space gives no advantage—and in fact, as Park said in a TV interview, “if Queen Isabella could have sent a robot” instead of Christopher Columbus, “she would have, because it would have been a lot quicker and a lot cheaper. But she didn’t know how.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Park is correct that robots can be very useful research tools, but our human ability to react to and interact with our surroundings—to learn and discern and intuit—cannot be matched by mere robot explorers. For simple, repetitive, or deadly tasks, robotic exploration makes sense, and remotely controlled robots can be an invaluable aid to human exploration—a supplement, not a substitute, for a human presence. Robots can test soil samples and sniff the air and shoot pictures and report the results. But only humans, humans really in a place, have the hands and legs and quirky insights and unexplainable hunches of the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">explorer</em>.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">And also the <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">hero</em>. In the early days of the Mercury program, as Tom Wolfe describes in <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312427565/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Right Stuff</strong></a></em>, astronauts were considered “redundant.” They weren’t needed to pilot the Mercury space capsules, the reasoning went, so some critics thought of them as mere passengers, thoroughly unheroic. This attitude disappeared the moment Alan Shepard rocketed off the Earth. It then became clear that the push to space wasn’t just about machines or technological brilliance: it was about guts and glory, about the endurance of the human body and soul in the deadly void.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">That is why the greatest victories and most memorable achievements in NASA’s history have been<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">human</em>, not robotic. Yes, we all appreciate the pictures sent back from the Hubble telescope and our little robotic friends on Mars, but the inspirational stuff is in the human story, the adventure of space. We think of the Mercury missions: lobbing men in tiny capsules around the planet. We think of the Moon: the first step, the flags, the golf balls. We think of Apollo 13, and the three lucky men who survived that mission. We think of the rescues: Pete Conrad and his crew saving Skylab, the dramatic spacewalks to fix the blind Hubble. We think of John Glenn the young hero in space and John Glenn the senior citizen in space. We think of the joy of weightlessness, and we think of the pain of loss: Apollo 1, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Challenger</em>, <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Columbia</em>. Greatness and daring and hope and regret.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">That is why we must go to space: it is the human thing to do.</div><span align="center" class="subhead" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A Goal Worthy of America</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="tallcap" style="font-size: 18pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">T</span>he question remains: Where do we go from here? If we strive to do great things in space, where should we aim?</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">First, we must be rid of that grand failed vision—<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">shuttle, station, ship, and still on!</em>—which has too long held us in mortmain. It has cost us dearly in time, money, and lives.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">There are two obvious destinations for our next stop in space. The first is the Moon. No human has stepped on the Moon in three decades. We could put a giant telescope on the far side of the Moon, or we might assemble vast arrays of solar panels for collecting power, which could then be transmitted to Earth. There is reason to believe that we might profitably mine for rare gases in the dusty regolith. Or we could just build a Moon base, a permanent outpost on the lunar surface, a new home for humanity on our nearest neighbor in the sky.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Certainly we must go back to the Moon someday. When the Apollo 17 crew departed, they left a plaque behind saying, “Here man completed his first explorations of the Moon”; it would be unforgivable if we never went back at all, if that brief period of thirteen-hundred days between our first lunar footfall and our last were just an anomaly, a glory never to be repeated. No, man must go back to the Moon, and hopefully America will return before the Chinese arrive.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But there is still a greater option: Mars now.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Mars has a 24-hour day, like Earth. Mars has plenty of frozen water. It has a geologically active surface, and is therefore likely to have many kinds of ore. It has astonishing terrain, including a giant canyon much deeper and longer than our Grand Canyon. And, most important, Mars may once have had life, or some of its precursors.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A manned mission to the Red Planet has been an on-again, off-again part of America’s space strategy for decades. Because he was the youngest of the original Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper thought it was likely he would get to go on a Mars mission. From the 1950s through the 1980s, all of the Mars expeditions NASA considered were deemed too expensive. Then, on the twentieth anniversary of the first Moon landing, President George H. W. Bush made a grand proposal: a Space Exploration Initiative that would put an American on Mars within thirty years. As Bush put it in a later speech, “I believe that before Apollo celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its landing on the Moon, the American flag should be planted on Mars.” NASA sketched out a plan for Bush, a massive and uncreative plan—<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">shuttle, station, ships, then Mars!</em>—with a price tag of $450 billion. Bush balked, and the Space Exploration Initiative died an ignominious death.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But that bulky plan to reach Mars isn’t the only way to get there. Just as the Apollo missions bypassed the shuttle and space station, we could go directly to Mars using technology that exists today. Robert Zubrin, the engineer who developed the “Mars Direct” plan for NASA after the Space Exploration Initiative debacle, says we can “establish our first outpost on Mars within a decade, using well-demonstrated techniques of brass-tacks engineering backed up by our pioneer forebears’ common sense.” The experts who said the larger plan would cost $450 billion told Zubrin in 1994 that his plan would cost a ninth as much—and he now believes it could be done for less than $30 billion.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Zubrin’s plan starts with an unmanned spacecraft sent to Mars—an empty vehicle that will arrive on the planet’s surface and start making fuel for the trip back to Earth, using as ingredients hydrogen brought from Earth and the carbon dioxide that makes up 95 percent of the Martian atmosphere. Once that vehicle is fully gassed up, a crew of about four will set out from Earth for Mars on a six-month trip (a much shorter time in space than several cosmonauts and astronauts spent on Mir). On Mars, the astronauts will have more than 500 days to explore and study—on foot and with a long-distance rover—learning about the rocks and atmosphere, and searching for signs of life; such a prolonged mission would be of far greater scientific value than the short “flags and footprints” mission originally envisioned by NASA. The crew would then transfer into the original waiting return vehicle and head home.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Aware of the political difficulty involved in successfully selling a plan like his—and hoping to invalidate the criticism that his plan is unrealistically priced—Zubrin suggested in his 1996 book <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684835509/the-new-atlantis-20" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Case for Mars</strong></a></em>that the government take baby steps, offering monetary prizes for a series of probative advances on the path to a full Mars mission: $1 billion for the first company to bring a sample of Martian soil back to Earth; $2 billion for the first company to gently put a payload of 10 metric tons on the Martian surface; $3 billion for the first company to demonstrate a system that can put 50 metric tons onto a trajectory toward Mars, and so on. These bite-size advances, with payouts based on achievements instead of mere promises, could make a Mars mission palatable to a visionary government, even one facing big deficits and a war on terrorism.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Mars Direct plan has its critics, some of whom argue that the mission will be more complex, risky, and costly than Zubrin thinks. Others have suggested that we should not rush to Mars now because the future may bring developments that could help get us to Mars more safely and quickly. Going to Mars now could be akin to “beginning to dig a second Panama Canal using a gold teaspoon shortly before delivery of a steamshovel,” to borrow a phrase from one critic.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But without the goal of going to Mars, many of the technologies needed for such a trip may never develop. And even if, as some critics argue, Zubrin’s plan is technically defective, we can still fix those defects, if we set our minds to it. If we want to get to Mars, we don’t need to start with a perfect plan, we need to start with a clear vision—and the technology will follow.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For more than a year now, NASA and the White House have been holding a “national space policy review”—an attempt to hash out where we should go from here. There are rumors that the space review will culminate in a decision to go to Mars—perhaps with an initial announcement to be made by President Bush on December 17, 2003, in a speech at Kitty Hawk marking the centennial of the Wright brothers’ successful flight. It has been suggested that Bush might choose that impressive occasion to propose the establishment of a Moon base, or even to renew his father’s pledge to put humans on Mars by 2019.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This is a heartening prospect, since it seemed for a time as though the national space policy review would eventually release a study or report, one that would sit atop the piles of prestigious, if unread, space policy reports going back decades. We don’t need more preliminary studies. We need the urgency that comes from commitment to a real enterprise, not continuing debate about the ideal plan. We need a vision. We need a goal.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“The United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them,” President Kennedy said. “This country was conquered by those who moved forward, and so will space.” It’s time to move forward—to Mars.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div id="bylines" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><center style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><hr size="0" style="background-color: black; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 132px;" /></center><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class=" article_link" href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/authors/adam-keiper" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 255); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom: inherit; color: #012d6b; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;" title="Adam Keiper">Adam Keiper</a></strong> is managing editor of </em>The New Atlantis<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">. He can be reached at<a class=" article_link" href="mailto:akeiper@thenewatlantis.com" style="border-bottom: inherit; color: #012d6b; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;">akeiper@thenewatlantis.com</a>.</em></div></div><div id="citation" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div align="center" style="font-size: 10px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Adam Keiper, "A New Vision for NASA," <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The New Atlantis</em>, Number 3, Fall 2003, pp. 3-22.</div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-82494266855355342832012-03-12T19:58:00.002-07:002012-03-12T19:58:54.638-07:00Hefty Asteroid 2011 AG5's Threat to Earth Should Be Studied More, Scientists Say<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">from Space.com and Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361110" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361109" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361108" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Hefty Asteroid 2011 AG5's Threat to Earth Should Be Studied More, Scientists Say</h1><a href="http://www.space.com/" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361113" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="logo" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361112" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qfl2ZpplfzKDI6Sit5t1iw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/space/space_logo_140.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361121" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;">By <span class="fn" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361120"><a href="http://www.space.com/contact_author.php?a=VEdWdmJtRnlaQ0FnUkdGMmFXUXFibVYzYzNOd1lXTmxLalFxWVc5c0xtTnZiUT09" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Leonard David</a>, SPACE.com’s Space Insider Columnist<br />
<a href="http://space.com/" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361119" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Space.com</a> </span>| <span class="provider org">SPACE.com</span> – <abbr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-03-12T22:22:03Z">4 hrs ago</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331607474836309" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331607474836308" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331607474836269" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-googleplus ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13316074751277-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361126" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331607474836317" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/hefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331607474836316" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331607474836315" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f123c51834" name="f31bfe47dc" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df8996f4d8%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff14e83368c%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fhefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 113px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361125" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361124" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1331607482321&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fhefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fhefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=Hefty%20Asteroid%202011%20AG5's%20Threat%20to%20Earth%20Should%20Be%20Studied%20More%2C%20Scientists%20Say%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fhefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fhefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html&text=Hefty%20Asteroid%202011%20AG5's%20Threat%20to%20Earth%20Should%20Be%20Studied%20More%2C%20Scientists%20Say%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331607474836333" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">1</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-googleplus-module" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1331607483011" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1331607483011" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fhefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html&size=medium&count=true&annotation=bubble&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3Dvle5jbDDFig.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!wJ3zzZyr7MyIPjLesA%2Fd%3D1%2F#id=I1_1331607483011&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com&rpctoken=397630984&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/hefty-asteroid-2011-ag5s-threat-earth-studied-more-221005723.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836193" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836192" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836191" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836190" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="first" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836207" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A massive asteroid that may be on a collision course with <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331590924_5" style="cursor: pointer;">Earth</span> should be studied in more detail, according to a former Apollo astronaut who specializes in monitoring potentially hazardous space rocks.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836201" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Asteroid 2011 <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331590924_3" style="cursor: pointer;">AG5</span> has been the object of attention because scientists say it may swing close to our planet in the year 2040.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361127" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The big space rock is on <a href="http://www.space.com/13132-potentially-killer-asteroids-earth-nasa.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">NASA’s impact hazards list</a>, but more definitive tracking of the object is still needed, scientists say. In fact, some near-Earth object (NEO) experts say it’s time to start hammering out a plan in case the asteroid needs to be deflected.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836189" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Former Apollo astronaut <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331590924_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Russell Schweickart</span> is calling upon <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331590924_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">NASA</span> to undertake a detailed engineering and mission planning analysis of 2011 AG5.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836198" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In a March 3 open letter to NASA administrator <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331590924_6" style="cursor: pointer;">Charles Bolden</span>, <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331590924_2" style="cursor: pointer;">Schweickart</span> spotlighted what he sees as the potential deflection challenges posed by <a href="http://www.space.com/14683-big-asteroid-2011-ag5-threat-earth.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">asteroid 2011 AG5</a>, should the object happen to be headed for a so-called keyhole in 2023, setting up a possible impact with Earth in 2040. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12282-7-strangest-asteroids-solar-system-space-rocks.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">The 7 Strangest Asteroids in the Solar System</a>]</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Keyholes are small regions in space near Earth through which a passing NEO may be perturbed — due to gravitational forces — placing it onto a <a href="http://www.space.com/13008-dinosaur-killing-asteroid-mystery-nasa.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">path that would strike Earth</a>.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In this most recent communiqué, Schweickart questioned a view held by Bolden from an earlier exchange of letters between the two that a Deep Impact-like intercept of asteroid 2011 AG5 could be staged in enough time to derail a space rock from hitting Earth.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NASA’s <a href="http://www.space.com/9465-comet-hartley-2-visit-deep-impact-spacecraft.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Deep Impact probe</a> was purposely crashed into comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">A more daunting challenge</strong></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">While Deep Impact was a very successful mission, it is a poor analogy for the <a href="http://www.space.com/12781-space-missions-deflect-dangerous-asteroids-apophis.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">potential deflection challenges</a> presented by 2011 AG5, Schweickart noted. To depend on such an impact mission to justify waiting until after the next tracking opportunities — before doing any further engineering analysis — is ill advised, he said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Schweickart contends that a <a href="http://www.space.com/13164-killer-asteroids-deflection-humanity-cooperation.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">2011 AG5 deflection campaign</a> requires two missions, not one, as was used on Deep Impact. In addition, intercepting and impacting 2011 AG5 presents far more daunting challenges than was posed by comet Tempel 1.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361128" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In his open letter, Schweickart told Bolden that, "neither you nor I would have risked our lives without solid engineering having gone into our respective missions. In this instance again, there are potentially lives at stake, and I know you take that responsibility seriously, as do I." [<a href="http://www.space.com/11093-photos-asteroids-deep-space-rocks.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Photos: Asteroids in Deep Space</a>]</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361129" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"To be clear, what I am asking for is specific engineering and mission planning analysis to be performed now in order to insure that we fully understand the timeline requirements, in the unlikely event that AG5 should be headed for the 2023 keyhole," Schweickart wrote.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"We all realize it is highly likely that AG5 is not <a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1535-when-space-attacks-6-craziest-meteor-impacts-history.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">headed for an impact</a>. But we must also hedge against the possibility that this will not be the case by being prepared to act, and not find ourselves awkwardly beyond the point where deflection remains an option," Schweickart concluded in his open letter to the NASA chief.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">NASA's response</strong></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In response to the letter, Schweickart told SPACE.com that a NASA-organized teleconference was held on March 8 involving himself, as well as John Grunsfeld, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Jim Green, Director of Planetary Science, and Lindley Johnson, NEO Observations Program Executive.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"It was a very constructive discussion and as a result we will be getting together in the next few weeks to discuss the various issues and options which would apply to a variety of future scenarios regarding 2011 AG5," Schweickart said. "I’m looking forward to these substantive discussions and I commend John Grunsfeld and NASA for this positive response."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Schweickart's new letter to Bolden, "presents points we at NASA have considered in looking at the 2011 AG5 scenario," Lindley Johnson told SPACE.com.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836204" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"A big concern with any <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331590924_4" style="cursor: pointer;">mission analysis</span> is that they are only as good the initial input conditions. The results you obtain are always dependent on those conditions," he said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Johnson said that if 2011 AG5’s orbit model in hand now turns out to be a good representation of where the NEO will be in the future, then a mission analysis could be done now, and such work would be worthwhile. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12079-asteroids-5-reasons-explore-space-rocks.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">5 Reasons to Care About Asteroids</a>]</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But, if the asteroid’s orbit isn’t that well defined, then a mission analysis would need to be mostly re-done after a better orbit is ascertained, he said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"We are certain we will have a higher confidence model after observations are collected in another orbit of AG5," Johnson said, "and we are confident we will have more than sufficient time to do both the mission analysis and undertake any response still necessary after that observation opportunity."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"However, we will continue to study the AG5 situation, as we do continuously for all objects on the<a href="http://www.space.com/13129-killer-asteroids-wise.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">impact hazards list</a>," Johnson concluded.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Tools to monitor 2011 AG5</strong></div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331607474836212" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"There are logical reasons to start really planning to do something really soon … and analyzing AG5 really soon," said <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331590924_7" style="cursor: pointer;">Clark Chapman</span>, a noted specialist in asteroids and a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It has been generally thought that 2011 AG5 can't be observed again until September of 2013, Chapman told SPACE.com. "That’s not true. We can see it again in August of this year."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">What’s needed is one of the largest ground-based telescopes on Earth, or the <a href="http://www.space.com/10689-hubble-space-telescope-photos.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Hubble Space Telescope</a>, Chapman advised. Doing so wouldn’t be too easy, "but in all probability could be done."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For one, the asteroid is very faint and ground-based telescopes would need to slew toward the horizon in a really dark sky.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"Telescopes are sort of designed to look more or less up … rather than over," Chapman noted. In the case of the Hubble Space Telescope, caution is the rule as it would be necessary to point the scope 42 degrees away from the sun to observe 2011 AG5, "but exceptions have been made in the past."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Odds of an impact</strong></div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Still, whether using these tools to eye the asteroid will improve our understanding of the asteroid's track isn’t a given.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"We simply don’t know whether observations in August can make that much of a difference … but that's another arena in which studies should be done in the very near term," Chapman said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the meantime, more information about 2011 AG5 is needed, Chapman said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"We don’t know how big this thing is," he said. "And if it’s on the big side, it would be hard to move it away from the keyhole with only a few years planning. And if it’s really big, it’s hard to <a href="http://www.space.com/13515-asteroid-deflection-space-weapons.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">move it away from the Earth</a> if it goes through the keyhole."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Chapman stressed that the most probable result of more tracking of the asteroid is that the 2040 impact of Earth probability will drop to zero.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361153" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"I’m of the view that you can’t say, 'let’s just wait and the odds are likely to go to zero.' Yes, the odds are likely to go to zero…but suppose they don’t," Chapman said.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361152" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361151">Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of last year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.</em></div><ul id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361149" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/when-space-attacks-6-craziest-meteor-impacts-history-1788/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">When Space Attacks: The 6 Craziest Meteor Impacts</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361150" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/13129-killer-asteroids-wise.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Killer Asteroids: We're WISE to You Now!</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_6_13316074748361148" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/12950-photos-nasa-deep-space-exploration-vehicle-mars-asteroids.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Photos: NASA's Space Exploration Vehicle for Asteroids & Beyond</a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-3602687898331943922012-03-10T18:16:00.002-08:002012-03-10T18:16:26.292-08:00National Museum USAF to eceive Retired NASA Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><strong id="yui_3_2_0_5_13314302688671371" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; text-align: -webkit-auto;">From:</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> U.S. Department of Defense <govdelivery@subscriptions.dod.mil></govdelivery@subscriptions.dod.mil></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Date:</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> 03/09/2012</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Subject: </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">You are subscribed to Armed with Science for U.S. Department of Defense. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.</span><a href="" name="ri3961222" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span><div class="yiv193449898rss_item" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 2em; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><div class="yiv193449898rss_title" style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://science.dodlive.mil/2012/03/09/national-museum-usaf-to-eceive-retired-nasa-space-shuttle-crew-compartment-trainer/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;" target="_blank">National Museum USAF to eceive Retired NASA Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer</a></div><div class="yiv193449898rss_pub_date" style="color: #666666; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">03/09/2012 07:00 AM CST</div><br />
<div class="yiv193449898rss_description" style="margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By Rob Bardua A retired NASA space shuttle crew compartment trainer is expected to arrive this summer at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The CCT is a high-fidelity representation of the Space Shuttle Orbiter crew station that was used primarily for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations. It was in this trainer [...]</div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-36793950228088568182012-03-10T17:53:00.002-08:002012-03-10T17:53:09.237-08:00Rocket-propelled leadership: An interview with the director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From The Washington Post:<br />
<br />
<br />
<h1 property="dc.title" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.5em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Rocket-propelled leadership: An interview with the director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center</h1><div class="relative primary-slot padding-top img-border gallery-container photo-wrapper" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-10-best-places-to-work-in-federal-government/2011/11/16/gIQAABnbSN_gallery.html" style="color: black;"><img class="gallery-pic" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/11/17/National-Enterprise/Images/125449453.jpg" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" /></a><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-10-best-places-to-work-in-federal-government/2011/11/16/gIQAABnbSN_gallery.html" style="color: black;"></a></div><div class="gallery-caption border-bottom relative" href="/national/on-leadership/the-10-best-places-to-work-in-federal-government/2011/11/16/gIQAABnbSN_gallery.html" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/bkgds/gallery_call_to_action2.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 10px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><span class="gallery-credit" style="color: #b0b0b0; position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 1px;"></span><div class="caption padding-left border-left" style="border-left-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 35px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="gallery-link" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-10-best-places-to-work-in-federal-government/2011/11/16/gIQAABnbSN_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">View Photo Gallery —</strong> The Partnership for Public Service released the 2011 version of its annual “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” rankings on Nov. 16. Here are the 10 large agencies that employees rank at the top.</a></div></div><div class="module article-toolbar relative border-bottom padding-top-8 padding-bottom-8 margin-bottom-20 " style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 8px; position: relative;"><ul class="inline-list" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="text-size" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a class="text-size-control" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Smaller Text" class="text-size-control-smaller" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/icon-minus.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" /></a> <a class="text-size-control" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Larger Text" class="text-size-control-larger" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/icon-plus.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" /></a> <span style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: 5px;">Text Size</span></li>
<li class="print" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_print.html" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: -884px -811px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 22px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Print</a></li>
<li class="email" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a class="iframe-overlay" config="width=850&height=800" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_email.html" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: -884px -830px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 22px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">E-mail</a></li>
<li class="reprints" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpostreprints.com/" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: -884px -885px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Reprints</a></li>
</ul><div class="article-toolbar-ad" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 4px;"></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div><div class="module byline" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 property="dc.creator" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 17px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/tom-fox/2011/02/28/ABqWIIQ_page.html" rel="author" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Tom Fox</a>, <span class="timestamp updated processed" contenttype="article" datetitle="published" epochtime="1331312031000" pagetype="leaf" style="color: #6e6e6e;">Published: March 9</span></h3></div><div class="relative" id="article" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"><div id="article_body" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="article_body" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><article><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em><a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/about/history/personalities/scheuermann.html" style="color: black;">Patrick Scheuermann</a> is the director of NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, where he is responsible for implementing the space agency’s mission in the areas of rocket propulsion testing and applied science. He has been with NASA in various engineering and management capacities for 25 years. Scheuermann spoke with Tom Fox, who writes the Washington Post’s </em><a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ask-the-fedcoach/post/poor-performers--dealing-with-performance-issues-in-federal-government/2011/03/04/gIQAPD0NrL_blog.html" style="color: black;"><em>Federal Coach blog</em> </a><em>and is the director of the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Government Leadership.</em></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Is there a particular experience that’s helped shape your views on leadership?</strong></div></article></div><div class="module article-side-rail left clearfix padding-right margin-top-7 margin-right-15" id="article-side-rail" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;"><div class="module quick-comments border-top border-bottom padding-top padding-bottom margin-bottom-13 bkgd-grey-gradient flipboard-remove" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/bkgds/bkgd-grey-gradient.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 50% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><div class="heading heading4 left margin-right-12" style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-right: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_allComments.html#comments" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><span class="echo_container comment-number echo-counter count-bubble-number comment-vars processed echo-ui" data="guid=http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_story.html&streamid=" style="background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/echo2/twp_comments_assets.png?t=20120227113700) !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 24px !important; height: 38px !important; line-height: 32px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; vertical-align: top; width: 74px;">1</span></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="comment-count-label" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 18px !important; font-weight: bold !important; line-height: 0.8em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_allComments.html#comments" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Comments</a></div><div class="comment-info-more" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px;"><ul class="inline-list" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="float: left; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="icon right-arrow" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines#weighIn" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: 100% -137px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 21px; padding-top: 2px; text-decoration: none;">Weigh In</a></li>
<li class="last" style="float: left; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="icon right-arrow" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/interactivity/corrections/" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: 100% -137px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 21px; padding-top: 2px; text-decoration: none;">Corrections?</a></li>
</ul><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div><div class="shareWrap" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="network-news article left face-pile flipboard-remove" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 120px;"><div style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="left" style="float: left; margin-right: -1px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/rocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center/2012/03/09/gIQAlpjO1R_story.html?tid=sm_btn_fb" layout="button_count" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; position: relative;" width="130"><span style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="fcf7a8eec" name="f1d9ab02d8" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=41245586762&channel_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs-static.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df16c3e8a%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.washingtonpost.com%252Ff139003c5%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fon-leadership%2Frocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2FgIQAlpjO1R_story.html%3Ftid%3Dsm_btn_fb&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 130px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></span></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div><div class="left" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="tweet flipboard-remove " style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.1331069346.html#_=1331430736386&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fon-leadership%2Frocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2FgIQAlpjO1R_story.html&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fon-leadership%2Frocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2FgIQAlpjO1R_story.html%3Fwpisrc%3Dnl_headlines&size=m&text=Rocket-propelled%20leadership&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fon-leadership%2Frocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2FgIQAlpjO1R_story.html" style="height: 20px; width: 112px;" title="Twitter Tweet Button"></iframe></div></div><div class="left" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="personal-post" href="http://personalpost.washingtonpost.com/c?add_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fon-leadership%2Frocket-propelled-leadership-an-interview-with-the-director-of-nasas-stennis-space-center%2F2012%2F03%2F09%2FgIQAlpjO1R_story.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/personal-post.png?t=20120227113700); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -2px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -10000px; width: 65px;">Personal Post</a></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="article-video border-top border-top padding-top padding-bottom margin-bottom photo-wrapper" style="border-top-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px;"><div class="heading heading3 teaser" style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Gallery</div><div class="relative gallery-container" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/how-to-be-a-bad-boss/2012/03/08/gIQAW0i8zR_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="gallery-pic" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/03/09/National-Enterprise/Images/badboss22.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" /></a><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/how-to-be-a-bad-boss/2012/03/08/gIQAW0i8zR_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></a></div><div class="gallery-caption border-bottom relative" href="/national/on-leadership/how-to-be-a-bad-boss/2012/03/08/gIQAW0i8zR_gallery.html" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/bkgds/gallery_call_to_action2.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 10px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><span class="gallery-credit" style="color: #b0b0b0; position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 1px;"></span><div class="caption padding-left border-left" style="border-left-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-left: 35px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="gallery-link" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/how-to-be-a-bad-boss/2012/03/08/gIQAW0i8zR_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"> Washington Post readers respond to the article “How to completely, utterly destroy an employee’s work life,” and share their own “advice” for making employees miserable.</a></div></div></div><div class="article-video border-top padding-top padding-bottom margin-bottom photo-wrapper" style="border-top-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px;"><div class="heading heading3 teaser" style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Gallery</div><div class="relative gallery-container" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-best-leadership-books-of-2011/2011/12/16/gIQA3y3lyO_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="gallery-pic" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/12/16/Web-Resampled/2011-12-16/leadership%20books%20photo%20FB%20new--296x205.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" /></a><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-best-leadership-books-of-2011/2011/12/16/gIQA3y3lyO_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></a></div><div class="gallery-caption border-bottom relative" href="/national/on-leadership/the-best-leadership-books-of-2011/2011/12/16/gIQA3y3lyO_gallery.html" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/bkgds/gallery_call_to_action2.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 10px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><span class="gallery-credit" style="color: #b0b0b0; position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 1px;"></span><div class="caption padding-left border-left" style="border-left-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-left: 35px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="gallery-link" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/the-best-leadership-books-of-2011/2011/12/16/gIQA3y3lyO_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"> Leadership experts from Warren Bennis to Tom Peters share their picks of the best leadership books to hit shelves this year.</a></div></div></div><div class="left margin-right margin-bottom padding-top slug" id="slug_inline_bb" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/ads/clear-ad-horizontal.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 120px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px;"><div id="wpni_adi_inline_bb" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/wpni.national/on-leadership;sz=300x250;pos=inline_bb;poe=no;del=iframe;ajax=n;heavy=n;pageId=1000-3-3475975775;fromrss=n;rss=n;front=n;A=1;D=4;C=2;E=HCABF;S=7;S=245;B=11;B=59;B=99;B=110;VS=3;K=0;articleId=giqalpjo1r;page=article;rs=d70079;rs=j10538;rs=d70056;rs=j10465;rs=j10558;rs=d70675;rs=j10062;rs=j10511;rs=j10064;rs=j10072;rs=j10084;rs=j10119;rs=j10269;rs=j10284;rs=j10298;rs=j10314;rs=j10326;rs=j10330;rs=j10345;rs=j10368;rs=j10371;rs=j10375;rs=j10390;rs=j10399;rs=j10449;rs=j10451;rs=j10452;rs=j10453;rs=j10456;rs=j10463;u=o*_5bCS_5dv1_7c278CE60C8515BEB2_2d60000176603D8583_5bCE_5d;tile=3;ord=327443181071430460?" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></iframe></div></div></div><div class="article_body" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><article><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">My first assignment in the Senior Executive Service began the Monday before Hurricane Katrina hit. I was named the chief operating officer to the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. While I would never wish that assignment on anybody else in life, I will never forget the personal and professional lessons that I picked up in leading that facility. During the next two years, I witnessed the resilience of a workforce in which almost half of the employees lost everything they owned.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">What leadership lessons have you learned during your time at NASA?</strong></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As I began moving up the ranks to management and senior leadership positions at NASA, one of the most significant things I learned was the importance of listening. During the past ten years, it’s a skill I’ve really tried to hone, in part by just forcing myself to be quiet. What I’ve found is that a lot of the issues exist because of a misunderstanding or lack of communication. I understand that good communication between employees and their leaders is important. Everybody brings value to the table and has a perspective that should be appreciated.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">The Stennis Space Center has been remarkably successful motivating its employees. How do you inspire commitment and engagement?</strong></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">We’ve focused on developing a culture of collaboration. At our organization, new ideas and diversity of thought are highly encouraged. I believe that when employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and giving their feedback, they also feel a sense of empowerment and professional courtesy in the workplace. That snowballs into a culture where people ultimately say, “This is where I want to work.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As director, I’ve prioritized activities that allow us to come together, in and out of the workplace. For example, every year when we plan our retreats, I always schedule the next day as a service day. Last year, after our retreat in New Orleans, we, as a leadership team, spent time at the children’s hospital. We set up all of the NASA exhibits so that all of the kids could see how our robots work and what kind of space food our astronauts eat. I’m proud, not only because of the great job we do, but also because we don’t forget to give back. We never forget our attachment to the people.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">What is your biggest day-to-day challenge?</strong></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It’s no surprise, but the biggest challenge is a lack of resources. You can fill in the blank on what resources you’re talking about, be they physical assets or money or people. Things aren’t likely to get better any time soon, but the unique thing we understand is that we are an investment opportunity for NASA headquarters. What I keep trying to reiterate here is that we need to concentrate on efficiently and safely doing the job we’re doing. Then, we can rest assured that we’ll be rewarded when the agency makes its resource decisions. My philosophy has been and will continue to be, “Do the best we can with what we have.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Have you had any mentors or role models?</strong></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> Two people come to mind – one professional, one personal.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The first is Roy Estess, one of the former center directors here at NASA and one of the most respected statesmen in our agency. For whatever reason, he picked me out of the litter, along with a few other people, to sit on the side wall and listen to how decisions were made. This was during a time when I was still a test conductor. I didn’t quite understand why this guy was pulling me in. But I’m thankful he did. The ability to watch how he interacted with other people was truly impressive. To this day, his leadership style is one that I try to emulate, on a daily basis.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The other mentor I had – who, unfortunately, our family lost a couple of years ago – is my dad, Karl. The two of them, Mr. Estess and my dad, taught me that balance is so very important in leadership, between giving it your all at work and never forgetting you have a family.</div></article></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-41675699466218518372012-03-10T16:38:00.003-08:002012-03-10T16:38:59.557-08:00Skywatchers Catch Amazing Aurora Views After Solar Storm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Space.com and Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yui-carousel-nav" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571092" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 15px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 15px !important; text-align: right; zoom: 1;"><h2 class="ymg-carousel-header" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571091" style="float: left; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">EXPLORE RELATED CONTENT</h2><div class="ymg-carousel-nav-wrap" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; white-space: nowrap;"><div class="yui-carousel-pagination" style="color: #555555; display: inline; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">1 - 4 of 12</div><div class="ymg-nav-buttons" style="display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="yui-carousel-button yui-carousel-prev yom-button prevent-default ymg-nav-prev yui-carousel-first-button-disabled" disabled="true" href="http://news.yahoo.com/skywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html#previous" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f7f7f7; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 0% 0%, color-stop(0.39, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(247, 247, 247)), to(rgb(231, 231, 231))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #5d4370; cursor: default; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -2px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1.1em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 25px;"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 9px -894px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: block; height: 22px; width: 25px;"><strong style="visibility: hidden;"></strong></span></a><a class="yui-carousel-button yui-carousel-next yom-button prevent-default ymg-nav-next" href="http://news.yahoo.com/skywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html#next" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, white 39%, rgb(247, 247, 247) 40%, rgb(231, 231, 231) 100%); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1.1em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 25px; z-index: 2;"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 10px -744px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block; height: 22px; width: 25px;"><strong style="visibility: hidden;"></strong></span></a></div></div></div><div class="yui-carousel-content" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571089" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 640px;"><ol class="yui-carousel-element" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571088" style="height: 160px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left; width: 640px;"><li class="yui-carousel-item first-col yui-carousel-item-selected" id="yui-gen0" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: left; float: left; height: 160px; left: 0px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: 0px; width: 160px;" tabindex="0"><div class="item ymg-1b48aae6-a929-53cd-a5b6-fa36e1dc15c6" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571087" style="cursor: auto; height: 160px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 160px;"><div class="yibs-uuid-1b48aae6-a929-53cd-a5b6-fa36e1dc15c6 cbeacon" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571034" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a alt="Solar Storm's Northern Lights Show" class="media" href="http://news.yahoo.com/video/tech-15749651/solar-storm-s-northern-lights-show-27984506.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571036" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" title="Solar Storm's Northern Lights Show"><img alt="" class="center" height="113" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571086" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/.CKruSf8Am0Lj0OplF2MZg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTExMztweW9mZj0wO3E9ODU7dz0xNTA-/http://a.abcnews.com/images/Technology/ann_northern_lights_120125_wg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="" width="150" /><span class="action play" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571096" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 4px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 150px;">Play Video</span></a><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><a alt="Solar Storm's Northern Lights Show" class="ttl" href="http://news.yahoo.com/video/tech-15749651/solar-storm-s-northern-lights-show-27984506.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571041" style="color: #5d4370; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none;" title="Solar Storm's Northern Lights Show"><span class="term" style="font-weight: bold;">Solar Storm</span>'s Northern Lights Show</a></div><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><cite style="color: #6b6b6b; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal;">ABC News</cite></div></div></div></li>
<li class="yui-carousel-item" id="yui-gen1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 160px; left: 160px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: 0px; width: 160px;"><div class="item ymg-965fd617-609a-3d79-9aee-9fdafbb89aa1" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571100" style="cursor: auto; height: 160px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 160px;"><div class="yibs-uuid-965fd617-609a-3d79-9aee-9fdafbb89aa1 cbeacon" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571046" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a alt="The largest solar storm in five years sent a huge wave of radiation into earth's atmosphere creating a brilliant show of the aurora borealis near Yellowknife, North West Territories on Thursday ..." class="media" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/largest-solar-storm-five-years-sent-huge-wave-photo-183633635.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571048" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" title="The largest solar storm in five years sent a huge wave of radiation into earth's atmosphere creating a brilliant show of the aurora borealis near Yellowknife, North West Territories on Thursday ..."><img alt="" class="center" height="113" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571099" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/z01qZlQy9QN6JwjvPQtxcA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTExMztweW9mZj0wO3E9ODU7dz0xNTA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/cd0dace7f1fa6506090f6a7067002879.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="" width="150" /></a><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571102" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><a alt="The largest solar storm in five years sent a huge wave of radiation into earth's atmosphere creating a brilliant show of the aurora borealis near Yellowknife, North West Territories on Thursday ..." class="ttl" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/largest-solar-storm-five-years-sent-huge-wave-photo-183633635.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571053" style="color: #5d4370; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none;" title="The largest solar storm in five years sent a huge wave of radiation into earth's atmosphere creating a brilliant show of the aurora borealis near Yellowknife, North West Territories on Thursday ...">The largest <span class="term" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571101" style="font-weight: bold;">solar storm</span>in five years …</a></div><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"></div></div></div></li>
<li class="yui-carousel-item" id="yui-gen2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 160px; left: 320px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: 0px; width: 160px;"><div class="item ymg-c1d5d3fd-6256-32d8-870a-b2c3c2b86f6e" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571107" style="cursor: auto; height: 160px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 160px;"><div class="no-image yibs-uuid-c1d5d3fd-6256-32d8-870a-b2c3c2b86f6e cbeacon" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571058" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><a alt="Major Sun Storm May Supercharge Northern Lights This Week" class="ttl" href="http://news.yahoo.com/major-sun-storm-may-supercharge-northern-lights-week-000005156.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571060" style="color: #5d4370; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" title="Major Sun Storm May Supercharge Northern Lights This Week">Major Sun Storm May Supercharge Northern …</a></div><div class="cptn" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571115" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">A massive <span class="term" style="font-weight: bold;">solar storm</span>may spark an intense northern lights display for skywatcher … <a class="more" href="http://news.yahoo.com/major-sun-storm-may-supercharge-northern-lights-week-000005156.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571064" style="color: #5d4370; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: right; text-decoration: none;" title="Full Story »Major Sun Storm May Supercharge Northern Lights This Week">Full Story »<span class="more-desc" style="overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: -9999em; top: -9999em;">Major Sun Storm May Supercharge Northern Lights This Week</span></a></div><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><cite style="color: #6b6b6b; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal;">SPACE.com</cite></div></div></div></li>
<li class="yui-carousel-item" id="yui-gen3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; height: 160px; left: 480px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: 0px; width: 160px;"><div class="item ymg-07788289-8c1c-56bc-be68-8a469d187242" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571110" style="cursor: auto; height: 160px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 160px;"><div class="yibs-uuid-07788289-8c1c-56bc-be68-8a469d187242 cbeacon" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571069" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a alt="Raw Video: Solar storm fuels Northern Lights" class="media" href="http://news.yahoo.com/video/weather-15749664/raw-video-solar-storm-fuels-northern-lights-28564085.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571071" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" title="Raw Video: Solar storm fuels Northern Lights"><img alt="Raw Video: Solar storm fuels Northern Lights" class="center" height="113" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/JMq8GsphJ74Ty03rYCDGQQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTExMztweW9mZj0wO3E9ODU7dz0xNTA-/http://d.yimg.com/hn/p/i/bcst/AssociatedPress/apfree/20254/130788226.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Raw Video: Solar storm fuels Northern Lights" width="150" /><span class="action play" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 4px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 150px;">Play Video</span></a><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571111" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><a alt="Raw Video: Solar storm fuels Northern Lights" class="ttl" href="http://news.yahoo.com/video/weather-15749664/raw-video-solar-storm-fuels-northern-lights-28564085.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571076" style="color: #5d4370; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none;" title="">Raw Video: <span class="term" style="font-weight: bold;">Solar storm</span>fuels Northern …</a></div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571109" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><cite id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314263061571108" style="color: #6b6b6b; display: block; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal;">AP</cite></div></div></div></li>
</ol></div><br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740789" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740788" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740787" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Skywatchers Catch Amazing Aurora Views After Solar Storm</h1><a href="http://www.space.com/" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401087" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="logo" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401086" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qfl2ZpplfzKDI6Sit5t1iw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/space/space_logo_140.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;">By <span class="fn"><a href="http://www.space.com/contact_author.php?a=UTJ4aGNtRWdUVzl6YTI5M2FYUjZLbU50YjNOcmIzZHBkSG9xTVE9PQ==" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Clara Moskowitz</a>, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor<br />
<a href="http://space.com/" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Space.com</a> </span>| <span class="provider org">SPACE.com</span> – <abbr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-03-09T23:04:01Z">Fri, Mar 9, 2012</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740309" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740308" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740269" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-googleplus ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13314262489940-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401085" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401084" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740317" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/skywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740316" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740315" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f8731d788" name="f24f67f604" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df16e26a6a4%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff2039762a4%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fskywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 113px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1331426252812&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fskywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fskywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=Skywatchers%20Catch%20Amazing%20Aurora%20Views%20After%20Solar%20Storm%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fskywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fskywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html&text=Skywatchers%20Catch%20Amazing%20Aurora%20Views%20After%20Solar%20Storm%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3023426190548460175&postID=4167569946621851837" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331426246740333" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">1</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-googleplus-module" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1331426253587" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1331426253587" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fskywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html&size=medium&count=true&annotation=bubble&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3Dvle5jbDDFig.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!wJ3zzZyr7MyIPjLesA%2Fd%3D1%2F#id=I1_1331426253587&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com&rpctoken=230898563&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/skywatchers-catch-amazing-aurora-views-solar-storm-224602058.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740193" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740192" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740191" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740190" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="first" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740199" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Outbursts from the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331334245_4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">sun</span> over the past week are now paying dividends to skywatchers, who have been treated to amazing views of <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331334245_3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">auroras</span> recently.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740204" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The glowing auroras, also called the <a href="http://www.space.com/14823-sun-storms-northern-lights-auroras.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">northern and southern lights</a>, are caused when charged particles from the sun collide with Earth's magnetic field. These charged particles are in abundance lately in the wake of a series of super-charged <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331334245_5" style="cursor: pointer;">solar eruptions</span> that began on Tuesday (March 6).</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The sun released two <a href="http://www.space.com/14818-solar-flare-magnetic-storm-satellites.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">huge X-class solar flares</a> on Tuesday, followed by strong eruptions on Wednesday and Thursday.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401094" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">These tempests have fired off waves of plasma and particles called <a href="http://www.space.com/11506-space-weather-sunspots-solar-flares-coronal-mass-ejections.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">coronal mass ejections</a> that travel through space, sometimes hitting Earth and giving skywatchers a treat.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740189" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Astrophotographers <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331334245_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Imelda Joson</span> and <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331334245_6" style="cursor: pointer;">Edwin Aguirre</span> were flying from from Boston to Los Angeles Thursday night (March 8), and knew the chances of seeing auroras were high.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401095" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"At the gate we asked the airline agent to switch our seats to the right side of the plane so our cabin window would be facing north," Joson wrote in an email. "We first noticed the aurora's greenish glow along the horizon as the plane was approaching Wisconsin. The glow grew stronger and stronger, and by the time we were flying over Minnesota, the display reached its peak, exhibiting distinct structures such as bright rays, curtains and bands."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The two photographers managed to snap a number of great aurora shots, and even spread their enthusiasm to other passengers.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"We told a number of passengers as well as flight attendants about the aurora and they soon joined us in taking turns peering through the plane's small windows," Joson wrote. "Around this time, the captain also noticed the show outside and made an announcement over the P.A. system to alert the rest of the passengers and crew."</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331426246740196" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Observer Shawn Malone caught a view of the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331334245_2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">northern lights</span> over Lake Superior from Marquette, Mich., early Wednesday (March 7).</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"There will probably be some major activity in coming days — I'm definitely not used to the frequency of this activity!" Malone wrote in an email to SPACE.com. "Before 2010, I went 3+ years of not seeing the lights. This pick-up in activity is welcome indeed."</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401119" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">If you catch views of the auroras that you'd like to share with SPACE.com for a possible story or image gallery, please contact assistant managing editor Clara Moskowitz at cmoskowitz-at-space-dot-com.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em>You can follow SPACE.com assistant managing editor Clara Moskowitz on Twitter</em><a href="http://twitter.com/ClaraMoskowitz" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><em>@ClaraMoskowitz</em></a><em>. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter </em><a href="http://twitter.com/spacedotcom" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><em>@Spacedotcom</em></a><em>and on </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spacecom/17610706465" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>.</em></div><ul id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401113" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/14851-auroras-solar-storm-2012-photos.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Photos: Auroras Supercharged by March 2012 Solar Storm</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401115" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/14817-geomagnetic-storm-solar-flare-tempest-video.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401114" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Geomagnetic Storm Likely From Solar Flare Tempest | Video</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_6_13314262467401112" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/14812-solar-flares-sun-storms-gallery.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Photos: Huge Solar Flare Eruptions of 2012</a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-62182610248110005892012-03-10T00:42:00.001-08:002012-03-10T00:42:34.673-08:00Solar storm lights up northern skies<a href="http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/08/10613371-solar-storm-lights-up-northern-skies#.T1sT7jnAbTJ.blogger">Solar storm lights up northern skies</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-55923987383435450572012-03-09T22:56:00.000-08:002012-03-09T22:56:26.032-08:00Solar storm shakes Earth magnetic field<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841140" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841139" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841138" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="entry-title" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841137">Solar storm shakes Earth magnetic field</span></h1><a href="http://www.ap.org/" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841143" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="logo" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841142" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/kjmVjizroQE0M3Nlej7hqQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/ap/ap_logo_106.png" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;">By <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn">SETH BORENSTEIN</span></span> | <span class="provider org"><span class="source-org vcard"><span class="org fn">Associated Press</span></span></span> – <abbr class="updated" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-03-09T15:14:08Z">15 hrs ago</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362490884309" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362490884308" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362490884269" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-googleplus ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13313624928582-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841150" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362490884317" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/solar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362490884316" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362490884315" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="fc238b24" name="f348705aec" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df22896104%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff28d3b7d4c%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsolar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 116px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1331362495772&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsolar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsolar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=Solar%20storm%20shakes%20Earth%20magnetic%20field%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsolar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsolar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html&text=Solar%20storm%20shakes%20Earth%20magnetic%20field%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362490884333" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">26</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-googleplus-module" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1331362496895" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1331362496895" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsolar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html&size=medium&count=true&annotation=bubble&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3Dvle5jbDDFig.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!wJ3zzZyr7MyIPjLesA%2Fd%3D1%2F#id=I1_1331362496895&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com&rpctoken=300122428&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/solar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841125" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841124" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-related yom-art-related-modal yom-art-related-carousel" id="mediaarticlerelatedcarouseltemp" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="hd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841130" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h3 style="color: #161616; display: inline; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">RELATED CONTENT</h3></div><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841123" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-width: 3px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymg-nav-buttons" style="display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a class="yui-carousel-button yui-carousel-prev yom-button yui-carousel-first-button-disabled" href="http://news.yahoo.com/solar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f7f7f7; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 100%, 0% 0%, color-stop(0.39, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(247, 247, 247)), to(rgb(231, 231, 231))); background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: left; font-weight: bold; height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -2px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1.1em; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 25px;"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 9px -894px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: block; height: 22px; width: 25px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold; visibility: hidden;"></strong></span></a><a class="yui-carousel-button yui-carousel-next yom-button" href="http://news.yahoo.com/solar-storm-shakes-earth-magnetic-field-103655035.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, white 39%, rgb(247, 247, 247) 40%, rgb(231, 231, 231) 100%); background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(181, 181, 181); border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; float: right; font-weight: bold; height: 22px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1.1em; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 25px; z-index: 2;"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 10px -744px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; display: block; height: 22px; width: 25px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold; visibility: hidden;"></strong></span></a><div class="dot" style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 6px;"><span class="icon-led-on" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/base/images/map_1_ltr-355934.png); background-position: 0px -730px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; width: 8px;"> </span><span class="icon-led" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/base/images/map_1_ltr-355934.png); background-position: 0px -700px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 0px; width: 8px;"> </span></div></div><ul id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841122" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="photo first" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841121" style="color: #414141; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.45em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="media lightboxf74423ea54c2ef42c61c50bcfdb45641" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/handout-image-provided-nasa-shows-solar-flare-errupting-photo-013331654.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841120" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;"><img alt="This handout image provided by NASA shows a solar flare errupting at 7 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, and that is heading toward Earth. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening and the effects should start smacking Earth late Wednesday night, close to midnight EST. They say it is the biggest in five years and growing. (AP Photo/NASA)" class="lightboxf74423ea54c2ef42c61c50bcfdb45641" height="190" id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841119" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/o0SQcwDqfFcGoSy23OXaSA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTM1MDtjcj0xO2N3PTEzNTA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTE5MDtxPTg1O3c9MTkw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/a8e58a55d7164806090f6a706700837d.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="This handout image provided by NASA shows a solar flare errupting at 7 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, and that is heading toward Earth. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening and the effects should start smacking Earth late Wednesday night, close to midnight EST. They say it is the biggest in five years and growing. (AP Photo/NASA)" width="190" /><span class="action enlarge" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 5px -1542px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 190px;">Enlarge Photo</span></a><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This handout image provided by NASA shows a solar flare errupting at 7 p.m. EDT on …</div></li>
<li class="photo" style="color: #414141; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.45em; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><a class="media lightbox4173ab5bcd7faf632a80906b1779ab51" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/extreme-ultraviolet-wavelength-image-provided-nasa-shows-solar-photo-163259943.html" style="background-color: black; color: #5d4370; display: inline-block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 2px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;"><img alt="This extreme ultraviolet wavelength image provided by NASA shows a solar flare. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening and the effects should start smacking Earth late Wednesday night, close to midnight EST. They say it is the biggest in five years and growing. (AP Photo/NASA)" class="lightbox4173ab5bcd7faf632a80906b1779ab51" height="178" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/._AF0kLct0UsifVdFSjQfg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9OTQ5O2NyPTE7Y3c9MTAxNTtkeD0wO2R5PTA7Zmk9dWxjcm9wO2g9MTc4O3E9ODU7dz0xOTA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/5852d55dc0b24006090f6a7067003ae6.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="This extreme ultraviolet wavelength image provided by NASA shows a solar flare. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening and the effects should start smacking Earth late Wednesday night, close to midnight EST. They say it is the biggest in five years and growing. (AP Photo/NASA)" width="190" /><span class="action enlarge" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.699219); background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/themes/blue005790/images/map-theme_ltr-361061.png); background-position: 5px -1542px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-size: 12px; left: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 29px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; position: absolute; width: 190px;">Enlarge Photo</span></a><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">This extreme ultraviolet wavelength image provided by NASA shows a solar flare. An …</div></li>
</ul></div></div></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884193" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884192" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884191" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="entry-content" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884190" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="first" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884189" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">WASHINGTON (AP) — A <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331306352_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">solar storm</span> shook the Earth's magnetic field early Friday, but scientists said they had no reports of any problems with electrical systems.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884209" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">After reports Thursday of the storm fizzling out, a surge of activity prompted <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331306352_7" style="cursor: pointer;">space weather forecasters</span> to issue alerts about changes in the magnetic field.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884202" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"We really haven't had any reports from power system operators yet," <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331306352_4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Rob Steenburgh</span>, a <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331306352_8" style="cursor: pointer;">space weather forecaster</span> at the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331306352_6" style="cursor: pointer;">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</span>'s <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331306352_5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Space Weather Prediction Center</span> in Boulder, Colo., said early Friday. "But sometimes they don't come in until after the storm."</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841151" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">He said the storm reached a moderate level late Thursday, before going to a strong level early Friday. For most of Thursday, it was rated as minor.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841152" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Scientists say such storms don't pose a threat to people, just technology.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884199" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331306352_3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">space weather center</span>'s website says a storm rated as strong could force corrections to voltage systems and trigger false alarms on some protection devices, as well as increase drag on satellites and affect their orientation.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The forecasters weren't aware of any significant impact to electrical or technological systems, but said there was a two-hour blackout of high frequency radio communications — affecting mainly ham radio operations — stretching from eastern Africa to eastern Australia.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362490884196" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Steenburgh also said that there was another <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331306352_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">solar flare</span> late Thursday, similar to the one a few days ago that set off the current storm.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"Right now we're still analyzing when it will arrive" and how strong it could be, he said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The space weather center had reports of Northern Lights across Canada and dipping into the northern tier of U.S. states, Steenburgh said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">While some experts thought the threat from the solar storm passed by earlier Thursday, the space weather center maintained the storm's effects could continue through Friday morning.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The current storm, which started with a solar flare Tuesday evening, caused a stir Wednesday because forecasts were for a strong storm with the potential to knock electrical grids offline, mess with GPS and harm satellites. It even forced airlines to reroute a few flights on Thursday.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It was never seen as a threat to people, just technology, and teased skywatchers with the prospect of colorful Northern Lights dipping further south.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But when the storm finally arrived around 6 a.m. EST Thursday, after traveling at 2.7 million mph, it was more a magnetic breeze than a gale. The power stayed on. So did GPS and satellites. And the promise of auroras seemed to be more of a mirage.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Scientists initially figured the storm would be the worst since 2006, but now seems only as bad as ones a few months ago, said Joe Kunches, a scientist at the NOAA center. The strongest storm in recorded history was probably in 1859, he said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"It's not a terribly strong event. It's a very interesting event," Kunches said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Forecasters can predict the speed a solar storm travels and its strength, but the north-south orientation is the wild card. This time it was a northern orientation, which is "pretty benign," Kunches said. Southern would have caused the most damaging technological disruption and biggest auroras.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">On Thursday, North American utilities didn't report any problems, said Kimberly Mielcarek, spokeswoman for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a consortium of electricity grid operators. Her office didn't respond to a phone call early Friday.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Astronomers say the sun has been relatively quiet for some time. And this storm, forecast to be strong and ending up minor, still may seem fiercer because Earth has been lulled by several years of weak solar activity.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The storm is part of the sun's normal 11-year cycle, which is supposed to reach a peak next year. Storms as large as the latest one will probably happen several more times as the cycle ramps up to that peak, scientists said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The region of the sun that erupted can still send more blasts our way, Kunches said. Another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"This is a big sun spot group, particularly nasty," NASA's Hathaway said. "Things are really twisted up and mixed up. It keeps flaring."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Storms like this start with sun spots. First, there's an initial solar flare of subatomic particles that resembles a filament coming out of the sun. That part usually reaches Earth only minutes after the initial burst, bringing radio and radiation disturbances. Next is the coronal mass ejection, which looks like a growing bubble and takes a couple days to reach Earth.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. In 1989, a strong solar storm knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For North America, the good part of a solar storm — the one that creates more noticeable auroras or Northern Lights — was likely to peak Thursday evening. Auroras were likely to dip only as far south as the northern edges of the United States, Kunches said, but a full moon would make them harder to see.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841186" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Solar storms can bring additional radiation around the north and south poles — a risk that sometimes forces airlines to reroute flights. On Thursday, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines sent 11 flights to Asia on a more southern route rather than their more common path over the Arctic. Three American Airlines flights flew lower than normal over the northernmost parts of their routes to Japan and China.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841185" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">___</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">AP Business Writers Josh Freed and David Koenig contributed to this report.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">___</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841184" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Online:</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center: www.swpc.noaa.gov</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NASA on solar flare: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News030712-X1.5.html</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841183" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">____</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841182" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Follow Seth Borenstein at http://twitter.com/borenbears</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841182" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="This handout image provided by NASA shows a solar flare errupting at 7 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, and that is heading toward Earth. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening and the effects should start smacking Earth late Wednesday night, close to midnight EST. They say it is the biggest in five years and growing. (AP Photo/NASA)" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/1siSpOfkK8caab8_oXkhXg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD01MTI7cT04NTt3PTUxMg--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/a8e58a55d7164806090f6a706700837d.jpg" /> </div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841182" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_13313624908841182" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="This extreme ultraviolet wavelength image provided by NASA shows a solar flare. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said the sun erupted Tuesday evening and the effects should start smacking Earth late Wednesday night, close to midnight EST. They say it is the biggest in five years and growing. (AP Photo/NASA)" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/oJP4WiqnAedtC_FbVOMbMw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00Nzk7cT04NTt3PTUxMg--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/5852d55dc0b24006090f6a7067003ae6.jpg" /> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-43093951117270816902012-03-09T22:54:00.002-08:002012-03-09T22:54:42.229-08:00Biggest solar storm in years races toward Earth, could disrupt power grid, GPS and more<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369791" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369790" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369793" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="entry-title" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369792">Biggest solar storm in years races toward Earth, could disrupt power grid, GPS and more</span></h1><a href="http://www.ap.org/" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369796" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="logo" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369795" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/kjmVjizroQE0M3Nlej7hqQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/ap/ap_logo_106.png" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;">By <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn">Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press</span></span> | <span class="provider org"><span class="source-org vcard"><span class="org fn">Associated Press</span></span></span> – <abbr class="updated" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-03-08T08:21:16Z">Thu, Mar 8, 2012</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369309" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369308" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369269" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-googleplus ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13313624324091-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369804" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369803" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369317" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/biggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369316" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369315" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="fdc79202c" name="f2a40b6de4" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df33099db8c%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff338e9378c%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fbiggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 113px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1331362436712&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fbiggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fbiggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=Biggest%20solar%20storm%20in%20years%20races%20toward%20Earth%2C%20could%20disrupt%20power%20grid%2C%20GPS%20and%20more%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fbiggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fbiggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html&text=Biggest%20solar%20storm%20in%20years%20races%20toward%20Earth%2C%20could%20disrupt%20power%20grid%2C%20GPS%20and%20more%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369333" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">1</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-googleplus-module" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 2px; margin-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><div id="___plusone_0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" hspace="0" id="I1_1331362437340" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="I1_1331362437340" scrolling="no" src="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/fastbutton?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fbiggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html&size=medium&count=true&annotation=bubble&hl=en-US&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fgapi%2F__features__%2Frt%3Dj%2Fver%3Dvle5jbDDFig.en.%2Fsv%3D1%2Fam%3D!wJ3zzZyr7MyIPjLesA%2Fd%3D1%2F#id=I1_1331362437340&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com&rpctoken=127865370&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; height: 20px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: static; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 90px;" tabindex="0" title="+1" vspace="0" width="100%"></iframe></div></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/biggest-solar-storm-years-races-toward-earth-could-082116261.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369194" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369193" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369192" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369191" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="entry-content" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369190" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="first" id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369189" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">WASHINGTON - Earth's magnetic field is about to be shaken like a snow globe by the largest <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331194927_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">solar storm</span> in five years.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369789" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">After hurtling through space for a day and a half, a massive cloud of charged particles is due to arrive early Thursday and could disrupt utility grids, airline flights, satellite networks and GPS services, especially in northern areas. But the same blast could also paint colorful auroras farther from the poles than normal.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369197" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Scientists say the storm, which started with a massive <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331194927_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">solar flare</span> earlier in the week, is growing as it races outward from the sun, expanding like a giant soap bubble. When it strikes early Thursday, the particles will be moving at 4 million mph.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369203" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"It's hitting us right in the nose," said <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331194927_3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Joe Kunches</span>, a scientist for the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331194927_8" style="cursor: pointer;">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</span> in Boulder, Colo.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369200" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Astronomers say the sun has been relatively quiet for some time. And this storm, while strong, may seem fiercer because <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331194927_2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Earth</span> has been lulled by several years of weak solar activity.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369805" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The storm is part of the sun's normal 11-year cycle, which is supposed to reach peak storminess next year. Solar storms don't harm people, but they do disrupt technology. And during the last peak around 2002, experts learned that GPS was vulnerable to solar outbursts.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369212" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Because new technology has flourished since then, scientists could discover that some new systems are also at risk, said Jeffrey Hughes, director of the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1331194927_7" style="cursor: pointer;">Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling</span> at Boston University.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A decade ago, this type of solar storm happened a couple of times a year, Hughes said.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369206" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"This is a good-size event, but not the extreme type," said Bill Murtagh, program co-ordinator for the federal government's <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331194927_4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Space Weather Prediction Center</span>.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the most noticeable effects should arrive here between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. EST Thursday, according to forecasters at the space weather centre. The effects could linger through Friday morning.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Centre forecaster Rob Steenburgh said that as of 2:30 a.m. EST Thursday, there were no noticeable effects on Earth. But he said there were some indications from a satellite, which registered a slight rise in low energy particles.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The region of the sun that erupted can still send more blasts our way, Kunches said. He said another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth right after this.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_26_1331362431369209" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"This is a big sun spot group, particularly nasty," <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1331194927_6" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">NASA</span> solar physicist David Hathaway said. "Things are really twisted up and mixed up. It keeps flaring."</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Storms like this start with sun spots, Hathaway said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Then comes an initial solar flare of subatomic particles that resemble a filament coming out of the sun. That part already hit Earth only minutes after the initial burst, bringing radio and radiation disturbances.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">After that comes the coronal mass ejection, which looks like a growing bubble and takes a couple days to reach Earth. It's that ejection that could cause magnetic disruptions Thursday.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"It could give us a bit of a jolt," NASA solar physicist Alex Young said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The storm follows an earlier, weaker solar eruption that happened Sunday, Kunches said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For North America, the good part of a solar storm — the one that creates more noticeable auroras or Northern Lights — will peak Thursday evening. Auroras could dip as far south as the Great Lakes states or lower, Kunches said, but a full moon will make them harder to see.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Auroras are "probably the treat we get when the sun erupts," Kunches said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Still, the potential for problems is widespread. Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. This is an unusual situation, when all three types of solar storm disruptions are likely to be strong, Kunches said. That makes it the strongest overall since December 2006.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">That means "a whole host of things" could follow, he said.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">North American utilities are monitoring for abnormalities on their grids and have contingency plans, said Kimberly Mielcarek, spokeswoman for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a consortium of electricity grid operators.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In 1989, a strong solar storm knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Solar storms can also make global positioning systems less accurate and cause GPS outages.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The storm could trigger communication problems and additional radiation around the north and south poles — a risk that will probably force airlines to reroute flights. Some already have done so, Kunches said.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369828" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Satellites could be affected, too. NASA spokesman Rob Navias said the space agency isn't taking any extra precautions to protect astronauts on the International Space Station from added radiation.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369827" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">___</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Online:</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center: www.swpc.noaa.gov</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369826" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">NASA on solar flare: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News030712-X1.5.html</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369825" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">___</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_6_1331362431369824" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Follow Seth Borenstein at http://twitter.com/borenbears</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-64737039916388884972012-03-07T20:19:00.000-08:002012-03-07T20:19:04.680-08:00Solar blast could have earthly impact<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From MSNBC.com:<br />
<br />
<br />
<header style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><h1 class="gl_headline" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #354d7d; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; letter-spacing: -0.05em; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 83px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 717px;">Solar blast could have earthly impact</h1></header><div class="postBody" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-left: 83px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline; width: 717px;"><div class="postText" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="vine-p p-content_ArticleText clearfix" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 3692px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; zoom: 1;"><div class="articleText" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="inlinePhoto photo_landscape photo_align_block " data-contentid="10596988" id="vine-inlinePhoto__10596988" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; text-align: left !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 900px;"><img alt="" height="900" id="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120306-coslog-sun-845p.jpg" src="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120306-coslog-sun-845p.photoblog900.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="900" /><div class="photo_credit" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: inherit; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline; width: 900px !important;">NASA / LMSAL via SpaceWeather. com</div><div class="photo_credit_container" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #828282; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 900px !important;">This color-coded image combines observations made by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in several extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, highlighting a bright X-class flare toward the upper left of the sun's disk on March 6.</div></div></div><div class="byline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Alan Boyle</div><div class="inlineCode photo_align_left" data-contentid="10603488" id="vine-inlineCode__10603488" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 30px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/subscribe.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Falanboyle&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&colorscheme=light&font&height=30&appId=140059616086872" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; height: 30px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></iframe><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-follow-button" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/follow_button.1331069346.html#_=1331180267426&id=twitter-widget-10&lang=en&screen_name=b0yle&show_count=true&show_screen_name=false&size=m" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 160px;" title="Twitter Follow Button"></iframe></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;"><br clear="clear" /><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong>The sun unleashed one of the biggest flares ever seen during its current activity cycle late Tuesday — an X5.4-class outburst strong enough to trigger a <a href="http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/#RadioBlackouts" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">radio blackout</a>. The resulting geomagnetic storm could affect electrical grids, communication links, satellite navigation systems and airline schedules over the next couple of days.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">The outburst at 7:24 p.m. ET was followed about an hour later by an X1.3-class blast. Solar flares are rated on a letter-plus-number scale, with X being the most powerful category. Usually the numbers run from 1 to 9, but X-class flares can run higher. The highest reading recorded recently is an <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44092569/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/what-does-it-take-be-x-class-solar-flare/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">X28, observed in 2003</a>.</div><div class="vine-p vine_data_M2_LayoutPrinter vine_data_M2_FlexiblePrinter base_printer_widgets_AdBreak" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; float: right; height: 281px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: -175px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 660px;"><div class="adbreak" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 660px;"><div class="vine-p vine_data_M2_LayoutPrinter vine_data_M2_FlexiblePrinter base_printer_widgets_InsertAd" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="insertAd_Rectangle" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="newsvinemsn_adtype" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 250px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="adlabel" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: -23px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 660px;"><a class="mediakit" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31066137/media-kit/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Advertise</a> | <a class="adchoices" href="http://g.msn.com/AIPRIV/en-us" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">AdChoices</a></div><div class="" data-callback="pgNBCMSN1809575614" id="pgNBCMSN1809575614" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" id="dapIfM0" name="dapIfM0" scrolling="no" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300"></iframe></div></div></div><div class="insertAd_CAB3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="pulse360_adtype" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 250px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="" data-callback="pulse360_1208148094" id="pulse360_1208148094" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.polls.newsvine.com/_util/frames/pulse360?group=09F2ED30-3230-11E1-AD89-579DCA3AF435" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300"></iframe></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">Joe Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's <a href="http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Space Weather Prediction Center</a>, says the double blast made for a "Super Tuesday," in a different sense from the <a href="http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/06/10593271-romney-scores-narrow-super-tuesday-win-in-pivotal-ohio" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">political meaning</a>.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">The big question is, what effect will this solar activity have on Earth? The solar blasts threw off waves of electrically charged particles known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. Those waves are now speeding outward, and space-weather forecasters expect them to touch off strong geomagnetic storms when they interact with Earth's magnetic field late Wednesday and early Thursday.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">"The most northern states in the 'Lower 48' should have a chance to see the aurora," the prediction center <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/NOAA-NWS-Space-Weather-Prediction-Center/232532740131296" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">reported on Facebook</a>.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">Could something more serious happen? All this activity is already whipping up an S3 solar radiation storm. "Such a storm is mainly a nuisance to satellites, causing occasional reboots of onboard computers and adding noise to imaging systems,"<a href="http://www.spaceweather.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SpaceWeather.com's Tony Phillips said.</a></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">The coming geomagnetic storm is predicted to reach the G3 level, which could trigger alarms on electrical power systems and create intermittent problems for GPS navigation services. Some airline flights are likely to be rerouted so they don't fly so close to the poles, and problems could arise with communication systems in polar regions. That's the bad news. The good news is that NASA and NOAA have lots of resources in space to monitor solar activity, giving network operators more time to assess and prepare.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">Check out <a href="http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NOAA's chart of space weather scales</a> to learn more about what S3, G3 and the other storm desigations mean.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">Experts at the Space Weather Prediction Center say the storm generated by the X5.4-class flare is on a trajectory to deliver a glancing blow rather than a direct hit on Earth, but they caution that the sunspot region responsible for the flare, AR1429, "remains potent, and subsequent activity is certainly possible."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;">For now, chances are that the most noticeable effect for most people will be an upswing in the number of fantastic pictures of the northern lights. AR1429 has been acting up over the past few days, and SpaceWeather.com has been adding <a href="http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=03&year=2012" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">plenty of stunners</a> to its aurora gallery. If you get a nice snapshot, please consider sharing it with us via the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/cosmiclog" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Cosmic Log Facebook page</a> or msnbc.com's<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20205619/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/show-us-your-sky-highlights/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">FirstPerson in-box</a>.</div><div class="inlineVideo photo_align_block" data-contentid="10604055" id="vine-inlineVideo__10604055" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px !important; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; position: relative; text-align: left !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: inherit !important;"><iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="611" hspace="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39788177?launch=46660616&PG=MSVNA3&BTS=MSVNMB&height=611&width=900" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" thumbnail="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/120307/nn_05tco_solar_120307.thumb.jpg" videoid="" vspace="0" width="900"></iframe><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #828282; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 4px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 900px !important;">The solar storm could cause communication problems, affecting radio and satellite systems. NBC's Tom Costello reports.</div></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Update for 4:40 p.m. ET March 7: </strong><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News030712-X1.5.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center reports</a> that the coronal mass ejections sent out on Tuesday are projected to impact Earth and Mars as well as several interplanetary spacecraft, including NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the Messenger probe at Mercury and the sun-watching STEREO-B satellite. The NASA advisory also notes that the X5.4-class flare was the strongest solar outburst since an <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44076593/ns/technology_and_science-space/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">X6.9 blast on Aug. 9, 2011</a>. In that previous case, the resulting CME was not directed at Earth, and no ill effects were felt.</div><div class="inlineCode photo_align_right" data-contentid="10603477" id="vine-inlineCode__10603477" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 25px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><table style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><tbody style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F%23%21%2Fcosmiclog&width=292&height=62&colorscheme=light&show_faces=false&border_color&stream=false&header=true" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; height: 62px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 292px;"></iframe></td></tr>
<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-follow-button" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/follow_button.1331069346.html#_=1331180267430&id=twitter-widget-12&lang=en&screen_name=cosmiclog&show_count=true&show_screen_name=true&size=m" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 231px;" title="Twitter Follow Button"></iframe></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="vine-p vine_data_M2_LayoutPrinter vine_data_M2_FlexiblePrinter base_printer_widgets_AdBreak" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; float: right; height: 281px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: -175px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 660px;"><div class="adbreak" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 660px;"><div class="vine-p vine_data_M2_LayoutPrinter vine_data_M2_FlexiblePrinter base_printer_widgets_InsertAd" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="insertAd_Rectangle" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 25px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="newsvinemsn_adtype" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 250px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="adlabel" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #999999; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: -23px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 660px;"><a class="mediakit" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31066137/media-kit/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Advertise</a> | <a class="adchoices" href="http://g.msn.com/AIPRIV/en-us" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">AdChoices</a></div><div class="" data-callback="pgNBCMSN735320268" id="pgNBCMSN735320268" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" id="dapIfM1" name="dapIfM1" scrolling="no" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300"></iframe></div></div></div><div class="insertAd_CAB3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="pulse360_adtype" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 250px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="" data-callback="pulse360_714209262" id="pulse360_714209262" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="250" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.polls.newsvine.com/_util/frames/pulse360?group=09F2ED30-3230-11E1-AD89-579DCA3AF435" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300"></iframe></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Update for 5 p.m. ET March 7:</strong> A lot of commenters are talking about the<a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/06may_carringtonflare/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Carrington Event of 1859</a>, a solar storm that was so strong it frazzled telegraph wires. That was associated with what was surely an off-the-scale solar flare, much more powerful than the X28 referenced at the beginning of this item — so I've rephrased that reference accordingly.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">More about solar storms and auroras:</strong></div><ul style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/28/10533323-northern-lights-shine-through-a-crack?chromedomain=cosmiclog" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Northern lights shine through a crack</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10469940-rocket-flies-into-the-northern-lights?chromedomain=cosmiclog" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rocket flies into the northern lights</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/07/10344463-aurora-extravaganza-glows-in-space" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Aurora extravaganza glows in space</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10236870-planet-looks-back-at-northern-lights?chromedomain=cosmiclog" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Planet looks back at the northern lights</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38559204/ns/technology_and_science-picture_stories/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Slideshow: The best of the northern lights</a></li>
<li style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/09/7321198-northern-lights-caught-on-video?chromedomain=cosmiclog" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cosmic Log's auroral archive</a></li>
</ul><ul style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></ul><hr style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid;" /><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This item was first published at 12:30 a.m. ET March 7.</em></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the <a href="http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cosmic Log</a> community by "liking" the log's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/cosmiclog" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>, following <a href="http://twitter.com/b0yle" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">@b0yle on Twitter</a> or adding <a href="https://plus.google.com/b/110434060421817219096/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Cosmic Log's Google+ page</a> to your circle. You can also check out <a href="http://www.thecaseforpluto.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">"The Case for Pluto,"</a>my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.</em></div></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-43406687371096249152012-03-06T23:10:00.002-08:002012-03-06T23:10:50.515-08:00The Night Sky This Month (March 2012)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Night Sky This Month (March 2012)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Learn more! Visit NightSkyInfo.com (</span><a href="http://www.nightskyinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">http://www.nightskyinfo.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">You are receiving this message because you visited us at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><a href="http://www.nightskyinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">http://www.nightskyinfo.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> and registered to receive our monthly</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">newsletter. If you feel you have received this issue in error, please</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">follow the instructions at the end of the page to unsubscribe.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Key Stars</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The seven stars that make up the familiar shape of the Plough, or Big</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Dipper, are well placed for viewing in March. On the eastern horizon,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Spica (Alpha Virginis) and Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) are rising,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">heralding the approach of springtime. In the west, Taurus and Orion</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">are sinking towards the horizon by 10 P.M. local time. Castor (Alpha</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Geminorum) and Pollux (Beta Geminorum), the twin stars of Gemini, are</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">still well displayed, and Capella (Alpha Aurigae) shines high in the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">northwest.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Planets</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mercury</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation on March 5, when it lies</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">18 degrees east of the Sun and is visible about 30 minutes after</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">sundown, relatively near to the western horizon and far lower right</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">of bright Venus. The innermost planet disappears in the evening</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">twilight around mid-month, reaching inferior conjunction with the Sun</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">on the 21st.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Venus</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Shining brilliantly in the western sky soon after sunset, Venus will</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">immediately grab your attention. On March 1, the planet glows at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">magnitude -4.2 and does not set until around 9:30 P.M. local time. By</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">month's end, Venus remains visible until 11:30 P.M. local daylight</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">time and also shines brighter, at magnitude -4.4.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Mars</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March brings the Red Planet closer to Earth than at any time since</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">the winter of 2010. Mars reaches peak visibility March 3 when it lies</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">opposite the Sun in our sky and remains visible all night. It pokes</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">above the horizon during evening twilight, among the background stars</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">of Leo the Lion, and is high up in fine view in the east by 9 P.M.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">local daylight time.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Jupiter</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Jupiter glares in the west during evening, among the background stars</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">of Aries, an inconspicuous constellation of the zodiac located between</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. You will not need any help</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">spotting Jupiter; at magnitude -2.1 it is the second-brightest point</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">of light in the sky and stands out on any clear evening.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Saturn</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">This month, Saturn rises around 9 P.M. local daylight time and is 30</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">degrees high in the southeast soon after midnight. The ringed planet</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">resides among the background stars of Virgo the Maiden and remains</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">within about 5 degrees of the blue-white star Spica all month.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Through a telescope, Saturn sports an angular size of 18", while the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">rings span 41" and tilt 15 degrees to our line of sight.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Uranus</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Uranus is lost in the evening twilight, setting soon after the Sun.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">It will return to view in mid-May, low in the morning sky.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Neptune</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Neptune is too deep in the solar glare and cannot be observed until</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">early April, when it will reappear in the morning sky.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pluto</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pluto lies in northwestern Sagittarius and stands 30 degrees high in</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">the southeast shortly before dawn. The dwarf planet glows dimly at</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">magnitude +14, which means you will need an 8-inch telescope to have</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">a decent chance of spotting this glimmer of light.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Bright Asteroids</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">5 Astraea</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Asteroid 5 Astraea lies at the border between Leo and Virgo and</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">shines around 9th magnitude. As such, it is outside the range of most</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">binoculars, but locating it with a 4-inch telescope from your backyard</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">is straightforward.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">6 Hebe</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Magnitude +9.5 Hebe can be found east of Leo's Sickle asterism during</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March. It shares the eastern evening sky with Mars and Regulus (Alpha</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Leonis). </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Bright Comets</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">C/2009 P1 Garradd</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In early March, comet Garradd can be found in the constellation Ursa</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Minor, but by mid-month it passes the border into neighboring Ursa</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Major. According to recent reports, it should glow at 7th magnitude.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">For observers located at mid-northern latitudes comet Garradd is</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">circumpolar, meaning that it never sets and can be viewed all night.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">C/2012 C2 Bruenjes</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Comet Bruenjes is a new amateur discovery of February 12, by Fred</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Bruenjes of Warrensburg, Missouri, USA. It currently glows at 10th</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">magnitude and can be spotted with a 6-inch scope in the constellation</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pisces the Fishes. The comet keeps observable until mid-March,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">although it will be getting lower in the evening sky.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Meteor Showers</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Virginids</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Virginids are a vast complex of a dozen or so radiants that</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">become active in late January and persist until mid-April, without</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">reaching a definite peak. Meteors from this stream appear at a slow</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">speed (about 20 miles per second) from a large radiant that measures</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">15 degrees by 10 degrees in size. Throughout March, the radiant is</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">located in the northwestern part of Virgo and rises around 9 P.M.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">local daylight time.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sky Events</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 3 - Mars is at opposition, exactly opposite the Sun in the sky</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">as seen from the Earth.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 5 - Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 18.2 degrees</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">east of the Sun in the evening sky.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 8 - Full Moon at 4:39 A.M. EST.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 10 - The Moon is at perigee, the point in its orbit when it is</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">nearest to Earth. The Moon is 1.5 degrees south of Spica (Alpha</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Virginis) at 3:20 P.M. EST.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 11 - Daylight Saving Time begins in the United States at 2 A.M.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">local time.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 13 - Venus is 3 degrees north of Jupiter at 4:53 P.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 14 - Last Quarter Moon at 8:25 P.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 20 - The Vernal equinox occurs at 1:14 A.M. EDT, when the Sun</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">crosses the celestial equator heading north. This is the beginning of</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and fall in the Southern</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hemisphere.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 21 - Mercury is in inferior conjunction with the Sun.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 22 - New Moon at 9:37 A.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 24 - Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 25 - The Moon is 3.4 degrees north of Jupiter at 6:57 P.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 26 - The Moon is at apogee, the point in its orbit when it is</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">farthest from Earth. The Moon is 2.1 degrees south of Venus at 1:21</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">P.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 27 - Venus is at greatest eastern elongation, 46 degrees east</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">of the Sun in the evening sky. The Moon is 3.9 degrees south of the</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Pleiades at 3:56 A.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">March 30 - First Quarter Moon at 2:41 P.M. EDT.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Learn more! Visit NightSkyInfo.com (</span><a href="http://www.nightskyinfo.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">http://www.nightskyinfo.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">).</span></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-18899568382099327112012-03-06T15:25:00.002-08:002012-03-06T15:25:49.989-08:00NASA Watching Asteroid To Pass By Earth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Personal Liberty Digest:<br />
<br />
<br />
<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">NASA Watching Asteroid To Pass By Earth</h1><div class="date" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 590px;"><div style="padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">March 6, 2012 by <a href="http://personalliberty.com/author/samrolleypl/" rel="author" style="color: #2255aa; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by Sam Rolley">Sam Rolley</a> </div></div><div style="background-color: white; float: right; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 300px;"><img alt="NASA Watching Asteroid To Pass By Earth" src="http://personallibertycom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/rock35_image.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">NASA scientists are keeping an eye on a large asteroid that they believe could possibly smash into earth in February 2013.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Data shows the 60-meter asteroid (<a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2012da14.html" style="color: #2255aa; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">2012 DA14</a>), which was spotted by Spanish stargazers last February, will pass by Earth in 11 months. While the asteroid’s exact trajectory is unknown, the scientists believe that it will pass very close to the planet. There is a possibility that it could collide with earth, but further calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out how to avert possible disaster.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">According to <em><a href="http://rt.com/news/paint-asteroid-earth-nasa-767/" style="color: #2255aa; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RT</a></em><em>,</em> NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told students at Moscow’s University of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM):</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">“The Earth’s gravitational field will alter the asteroid’s path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is required to estimate the threat of collision. The asteroid may break into dozens of small pieces, or several large lumps may split from it and burn up in the atmosphere. The type of the asteroid and its mineral structure can be determined by spectral analysis. This will help predict its behavior in the atmosphere and what should be done to prevent the potential threat.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Scientists say that the energy released in the event of a collision would equate to the destructive power of a thermo-nuclear bomb.</div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-70415993716120626682012-03-04T22:12:00.000-08:002012-03-04T22:12:04.711-08:00Mars, moon cut in on Venus-Jupiter dance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From The Washington Post:<br />
<br />
<br />
<h1 property="dc.title" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.5em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Mars, moon cut in on Venus-Jupiter dance</h1><div class="relative primary-slot padding-top img-border photo-wrapper photo-wrapper" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><img alt="" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/the-buzz/201103/Images/20602484-005.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" /><div class="captionWrap caption" style="font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-height: 60px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 10px;"><div style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.4em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="photo-credit credit" style="color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-size: 1em; margin-right: 9px; text-align: right;">NASA -</span> Jupiter is one of the planets that will be visible to humans this March. In like a lamb, this month features a Venus-Jupiter heavenly duet, an interloping moon and a magnificent Mars.</div></div></div><div class="module article-toolbar relative border-bottom padding-top-8 padding-bottom-8 margin-bottom-20 margin-top border-top" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 8px; position: relative;"><ul class="inline-list" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="text-size" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a class="text-size-control" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Smaller Text" class="text-size-control-smaller" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/icon-minus.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" /></a> <a class="text-size-control" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Larger Text" class="text-size-control-larger" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/icon-plus.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" /></a> <span style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: 5px;">Text Size</span></li>
<li class="print" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_print.html" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: -884px -811px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 22px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Print</a></li>
<li class="email" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a class="iframe-overlay" config="width=850&height=800" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_email.html" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: -884px -830px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 22px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">E-mail</a></li>
<li class="reprints" style="border-right-color: rgb(222, 222, 222); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; float: left; height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpostreprints.com/" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: -884px -885px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: inline-block; min-height: 11px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Reprints</a></li>
</ul><div class="article-toolbar-ad" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 4px;"></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div><div class="module byline" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 property="dc.creator" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 17px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 17px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr., <span class="timestamp updated processed" contenttype="article" datetitle="published" epochtime="1330818396000" pagetype="leaf" style="color: #6e6e6e;">Published: March 3</span></h3></div><div class="relative" id="article" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; line-height: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"><div id="article_body" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="article_body" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><article><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In like a lamb, this month features a <strong style="font-weight: bold;">Venus-Jupiter</strong> heavenly duet, an interloping <strong style="font-weight: bold;">moon</strong>and a magnificent <strong style="font-weight: bold;">Mars</strong>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For the past few weeks, skygazers at dusk have been treated to cosmic candy – that is a very bright Venus (magnitude -4.3 now) and a bright Jupiter (magnitude -2.2) moving closer in the western sky. Late last month, the pair looked like the lit ends of a cheerleader’s baton, with Jupiter the higher object in the sky.</div></article></div><div class="module article-side-rail left clearfix padding-right margin-top-7 margin-right-15" id="article-side-rail" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;"><div class="module quick-comments border-top border-bottom padding-top padding-bottom margin-bottom-13 bkgd-grey-gradient flipboard-remove" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/bkgds/bkgd-grey-gradient.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 50% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><div class="heading heading4 left margin-right-12" style="color: #555555; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-right: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_allComments.html#comments" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><span class="echo_container comment-number echo-counter count-bubble-number comment-vars processed echo-ui" data="guid=http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_story.html&streamid=" style="background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/echo2/twp_comments_assets.png?t=20120227113700) !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 24px !important; height: 38px !important; line-height: 32px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; vertical-align: top; width: 74px;">2</span></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="comment-count-label" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 18px !important; font-weight: bold !important; line-height: 0.8em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_allComments.html#comments" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Comments</a></div><div class="comment-info-more" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px;"><ul class="inline-list" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="float: left; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="icon right-arrow" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines#weighIn" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: 100% -137px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 21px; padding-top: 2px; text-decoration: none;">Weigh In</a></li>
<li class="last" style="float: left; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="icon right-arrow" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/interactivity/corrections/" style="background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/monster-sprites/monster-sprite.gif?t=20120227113700); background-position: 100% -137px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 21px; padding-top: 2px; text-decoration: none;">Corrections?</a></li>
</ul><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div><div class="shareWrap" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="network-news article left face-pile flipboard-remove" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 120px;"><div style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="left" style="float: left; margin-right: -1px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance/2012/03/02/gIQAVSEPpR_story.html?tid=sm_btn_fb" layout="button_count" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; position: relative;" width="130"><span style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f19b40241" name="f2688cf77c" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=41245586762&channel_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs-static.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Dfa4544fa%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.washingtonpost.com%252Ff130d8d9a4%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fhealth-science%2Fmars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance%2F2012%2F03%2F02%2FgIQAVSEPpR_story.html%3Ftid%3Dsm_btn_fb&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 130px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></span></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div></div><div class="left" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="tweet flipboard-remove " style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.1330467312.html#_=1330927861152&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fhealth-science%2Fmars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance%2F2012%2F03%2F02%2FgIQAVSEPpR_story.html&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fhealth-science%2Fmars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance%2F2012%2F03%2F02%2FgIQAVSEPpR_story.html%3Fwpisrc%3Dnl_headlines&size=m&text=Mars%2C%20moon%20cut%20in%20on%20Venus-Jupiter%20dance&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fhealth-science%2Fmars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance%2F2012%2F03%2F02%2FgIQAVSEPpR_story.html" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter Tweet Button"></iframe></div></div><div class="left" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="personal-post" href="http://personalpost.washingtonpost.com/c?add_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational%2Fhealth-science%2Fmars-moon-cut-in-on-venus-jupiter-dance%2F2012%2F03%2F02%2FgIQAVSEPpR_story.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/icons/personal-post.png?t=20120227113700); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -2px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -10000px; width: 65px;">Personal Post</a></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div class="article-video border-top border-top padding-top padding-bottom margin-bottom photo-wrapper" style="border-top-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px;"><div class="heading heading3 teaser" style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Gallery</div><div class="relative gallery-container" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/images-from-space/2012/01/12/gIQAH8i3vP_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="gallery-pic" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/03/02/Health-Environment-Science/Advance/Images/2012-03-02T064546Z_01_LAB01_RTRIDSP_3_USA.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" /></a><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/images-from-space/2012/01/12/gIQAH8i3vP_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></a></div><div class="gallery-caption border-bottom relative" href="/national/health-science/images-from-space/2012/01/12/gIQAH8i3vP_gallery.html" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/bkgds/gallery_call_to_action2.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 10px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><span class="gallery-credit" style="color: #b0b0b0; position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 1px;"></span><div class="caption padding-left border-left" style="border-left-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3em; margin-left: 35px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="gallery-link" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/images-from-space/2012/01/12/gIQAH8i3vP_gallery.html" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"> Images of space: A new look at the Orion Nebula, a view from the international space station and more.</a></div></div></div><div class="left margin-right margin-bottom padding-top slug" id="slug_inline_bb" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://img.wpdigital.net/rw/sites/twpweb/img/ads/clear-ad-horizontal.png?t=20120227113700); background-position: 120px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px;"><div id="wpni_adi_inline_bb" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div id="ew1653996_bannerDiv" style="height: 250px; left: 0px; margin-bottom: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: auto; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; top: 0px; width: 300px; z-index: 10006;"><div id="ew_FlashDiv1653996" style="clip: rect(0px 600px 250px 300px); height: 250px; left: -300px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; visibility: visible; width: 600px; z-index: 10007;"><object align="middle" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0" height="250" id="ewad1653996" meta="ewad;1;300x250;http://t.mookie1.com/t/v1/clk?migAgencyId=412&migSource=adsrv2&migTrackDataExt=2939048;77019063;253290594;0&migTrackFmtExt=client;io;ad;crtv&migUnencodedDest=http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;253290594;77019063;l" style="left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"><embed id="ewembed1653996" src="http://cdn.eyewonder.com/100125/776355/1653996/Jaguar_Expandables_300x250_v8.swf" base="http://cdn.eyewonder.com/100125/776355/1653996/" wmode="transparent" quality="high" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="600" height="250" name="ewad1653996" flashvars="ewbase=http://cdn.eyewonder.com/100125/776355/1653996/&bwfile=bwtest.swf&creative=Jaguar_Expandables_300x250_v8.swf&vLength=76,73&bw=56,90,135,300,450,600&buf=5,4,3,2,2,2&flv=fl8_Jaguar MY12 - XF_XFR_LAUNCH FILM - 314x197,fl8_Jaguar MY12 - Jaguar XF Fullscreen - 1024x720&flvId=0&formatId=110&aInit=user&vInit=host&videoID=72757,72923&videoPath=fms2.eyewonder/video/&executionId=1653996&adId=169824&adMode=stream&trkUrl=http://cdn.eyewonder.com/100125/&siteID=195&swfVersion=9&browserEngine=webkit&browserEngineVersion=535&opSys=windows7&qaReportUUID=common&localConnectionUUID=1330927866872&uuid=1330927866872&offsetX=300&offsetY=0&guid=gdu65CaIMHt5FxkpGWCATh&clickTagPrepend=http%3A//ad.doubleclick.net/click%253Bh%253Dv8/3c2f/3/0/%252a/t%253B253203475%253B1-0%253B0%253B59598601%253B4307-300/250%253B46767515/46783978/1%253Bu%253Do%252A_5bCS_5dv1_7c278CE60C8515BEB2_2d60000176603D8583_5bCE_5d%253B%257Eokv%253D%253Bsz%253D300x250%253Bpos%253Dinline_bb%253Bpoe%253Dno%253Bdel%253Diframe%253Bajax%253Dn%253Bheavy%253Dn%253BpageId%253D1000-3-3298777465%253Bfromrss%253Dn%253Brss%253Dn%253Bfront%253Dn%253B%257Eaopt%253D2/0/ff/0%253B%257Esscs%253D%253f%5Bewclickthru%5D&streamServer=eyewond.fcod.llnwd.net&streamAppName=a119/o1&streamMode=0&usenewtracking=false&clickTag1=http%3A%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclick%253Bh%253Dv8%2F3c2f%2F3%2F0%2F%252a%2Ft%253B253203475%253B1-0%253B0%253B59598601%253B4307-300%2F250%253B46767515%2F46783978%2F1%253Bu%253Do%252A_5bCS_5dv1_7c278CE60C8515BEB2_2d60000176603D8583_5bCE_5d%253B%257Eokv%253D%253Bsz%253D300x250%253Bpos%253Dinline_bb%253Bpoe%253Dno%253Bdel%253Diframe%253Bajax%253Dn%253Bheavy%253Dn%253BpageId%253D1000-3-3298777465%253Bfromrss%253Dn%253Brss%253Dn%253Bfront%253Dn%253B%257Eaopt%253D2%2F0%2Fff%2F0%253B%257Esscs%253D%253fhttp%3A%2F%2Ft.mookie1.com%2Ft%2Fv1%2Fclk%3FmigAgencyId%3D412%26migSource%3Dadsrv2%26migTrackDataExt%3D2939048%3B77019063%3B253290594%3B0%26migTrackFmtExt%3Dclient%3Bio%3Bad%3Bcrtv%26migUnencodedDest%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B253290594%3B77019063%3Bl&PrivacyPolicy_ClickTag=http%3A%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclick%253Bh%253Dv8%2F3c2f%2F3%2F0%2F%252a%2Ft%253B253203475%253B1-0%253B0%253B59598601%253B4307-300%2F250%253B46767515%2F46783978%2F1%253Bu%253Do%252A_5bCS_5dv1_7c278CE60C8515BEB2_2d60000176603D8583_5bCE_5d%253B%257Eokv%253D%253Bsz%253D300x250%253Bpos%253Dinline_bb%253Bpoe%253Dno%253Bdel%253Diframe%253Bajax%253Dn%253Bheavy%253Dn%253BpageId%253D1000-3-3298777465%253Bfromrss%253Dn%253Brss%253Dn%253Bfront%253Dn%253B%257Eaopt%253D2%2F0%2Fff%2F0%253B%257Esscs%253D%253fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.jaguar.com%2Fus%2Fen%2Flegal%2Fprivacy_policy" align="middle" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; "></object></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article_body" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><article><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Now, these two planets get chummier. Watch the western sky at dusk every day for the next week, as Jupiter and Venus close their gap. By next Sunday, from our earthly perspective, the planets will be within 3 degrees of each other through Ides of March (March 15). The planets seem to pass one another in mid-month, as Venus climbs higher in the west and Jupiter becomes the lower planet in the sky.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The young, thin crescent moon climbs into the western sky March 23. You may be able to spot it at dusk March 24. This three-day-old moon snuggles up to Jupiter on March 25, and then dances a do-se-do with Venus on March 26.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Then the moon skitters off toward the east on March 27.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Mercury </strong>makes a cameo appearance between now and mid-March in the western sky. It’s almost a sub-plot under the main Jupiter-Venus drama. Observe closer to the horizon after dusk to find the fleet Mercury (zero magnitude, bright).</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As the sun drops in the west, watch the magnificent Mars ascend the east. On Monday, our reddish neighbor, at -1.2 magnitude reaches its closest point to <strong style="font-weight: bold;">Earth</strong>this year, when the planet will be about 63 million miles from us. <strong style="font-weight: bold;">Saturn </strong>(at zero magnitude, bright) rises around 10 p.m. now in the east.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">We will all be a wee bit sleepier as we lose an hour and officially turn our clocks ahead at 2 a.m. next Sunday, the start of daylight saving time, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. Thus, 2 a.m. becomes the new 3 a.m.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">While it might feel as though we’ve gone from one spring season into another, the Vernal Equinox, spring’s official start in the Northern Hemisphere, occurs March 20 at 1:14 a.m. EDT, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Down-to-Earth Events</strong></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 5 –</strong> “An X-Ray view of Black Holes,” a talk by astronomer Javier Garcia, at the open house at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. Afterward, scan the night sky, weather permitting. 8 p.m. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse/" style="color: black;">www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 10 –</strong> The Space Shuttle is the featured subject in the Super Science Saturdays series. Hands-on activities, with visitors immersed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Free admission. $15 parking. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.nasm.si.edu/" style="color: black;">www.nasm.si.edu/</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 10 –</strong> How do clouds of interstellar gas and dust transform into stars and planetary systems? Jennifer Wiseman of the Goddard Space Flight Center explains in her talk, “Protostellar Disks and Jets,” at the National Capital Astronomers meeting, University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://capitalastronomers.org/" style="color: black;">www.capitalastronomers. org</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 11 –</strong> “The Dawn of Exoearths,” a lecture by astronomer Raphael Perrino, at the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club meeting, Room 80, Enterprise Hall, George Mason University, Fairfax. 7 p.m. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.novac.com/" style="color: black;">www.novac.com</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 19 –</strong> Enjoy a program celebrating the Vernal Equinox, the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, at the Montgomery College Planetarium, Takoma Park. 7 p.m.<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/planet/" style="color: black;">www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/planet</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 20 –</strong> “Pulsars,” a lecture by Megan DeCesar, at the open house at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. Afterward, treat yourself to a night sky heavenly treat, weather permitting. 8 p.m. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse/" style="color: black;">www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 22 –</strong> “Big Bang for the Buck: Cosmology from WMAP,” a lecture by Charles Bennett, a physicist and astronomer from Johns Hopkins University. He explains the<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/" style="color: black;">Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe</a> (WMAP) space mission and how it mapped the remnant radiation from the Big Bang across the entire sky. Lockheed Martin Imax Theater, National Air and Space Museum, National Mall. 8 p.m. (Stargazing at the public observatory, adjacent to the museum, 8:30 – 10 p.m.) <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.nasm.si.edu/" style="color: black;">www.nasm.si.edu/</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 24 –</strong> “Family Day: Women in Aviation and Space,” at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Free admission. Parking $15. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.nasm.si.edu/" style="color: black;">www.nasm.si.edu/</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">●March 30 –</strong> Imagine a moon that spits plumes of ice and vapor. “Enceladus: Saturn’s Remarkable, Watery Moon,” an illustrated lecture by John Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute. Hosted by the Washington Philosophical Society. At the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, adjacent to the Cosmos Club, 2170 Florida Avenue NW. 8:15 p.m.<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.philsoc.org/" style="color: black;">www.philsoc.org</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Blaine P. Friedlander Jr. can be reached at PostSkyWatch@gmail.com.</div></article></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-38562270719062783882012-03-03T00:22:00.002-08:002012-03-03T00:22:32.757-08:00Massive Solar Storm Could Kill Grid By 2020<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From Personal Liberty Digest:<br />
<br />
<br />
<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Massive Solar Storm Could Kill Grid By 2020</h1><div class="date" style="background-color: white; float: left; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 590px;"><div style="padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">March 2, 2012 by <a href="http://personalliberty.com/author/samrolleypl/" rel="author" style="color: #2255aa; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by Sam Rolley">Sam Rolley</a> </div></div><div style="background-color: white; float: right; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 3px; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 300px;"><img alt="Massive Solar Storm Could Kill Grid By 2020" src="http://personallibertycom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/grid0301_image.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The number of American preppers appears to have grown in recent years. With shows such as “Doomsday Preppers” on major television networks, the prepper lifestyle has become a bit more mainstream. If one space physicist is correct, now may be a better time than ever.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">According to research published by Pete Riley, senior scientist at Predictive Science in San Diego, Calif., in <a href="http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011SW000734.shtml" style="color: #2255aa; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><em>Space Weather</em></a><em>, </em>there is about a one in eight chance that the Earth will be hit by a massive solar megastorm this decade. The event would likely fry electrical components and cause trillions of dollars in damage.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Solar flares are caused because the sun goes through an 11-year cycle of increased and decreased activity. During solar maximum, sunspots and enormous magnetic whirlwinds erupt from its surface. Sometimes, the flares burst outward from the sun, spewing a mass of charged particles out into space.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The biggest solar event ever to affect Earth, the Carrington Event, occurred in 1859. Astronomer Richard Carrington watched an enormous solar flare erupt from the sun’s surface, emitting a particle stream at the Earth traveling more than 4 million miles per hour. When the energy reached the Earth’s atmosphere, the particles generated the intense ghostly ribbons of light known as auroras.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana; font-size: 14px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">A 2008 report conducted by the National Research Council concluded that in today’s electronic world a similar event could spark: “disruption of the transportation, communication, banking, and finance systems, and government services; the breakdown of the distribution of potable water owing to pump failure; and the loss of perishable foods and medications because of lack of refrigeration.”</div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-85295040762782016382012-03-02T20:55:00.000-08:002012-03-02T20:55:31.717-08:00NASA worker's lawsuit charges discrimination over intelligent design<a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/nasa-workers-lawsuit-charges-discrimination-over-intelligent-design/#.T1GkOt3fTmY.blogger">NASA worker's lawsuit charges discrimination over intelligent design</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-34024623776145749592012-03-02T00:02:00.000-08:002012-03-02T00:02:22.073-08:00Asteroids planetary security | Homeland Security News Wire<a href="http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20120301-asteroid-2011-ag5-worries-to-be-justified-or-not-in-february-2023#.T1B-hCzETDc.blogger">Asteroids planetary security | Homeland Security News Wire</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-54991838634001980542012-02-29T14:43:00.002-08:002012-02-29T14:43:24.148-08:00Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson fills a leadership black hole<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">From The Washington Post:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div id="entryhead" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="timestamp" style="color: #828529; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Posted at 01:43 PM ET, 02/28/2012</span><h1 class="entry-title" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson fills a leadership black hole</h1><div class="blog-byline" style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/jena-mcgregor/2011/02/28/ABWXIIQ_page.html" rel="author" style="color: #0c4790;">Jena McGregor</a></div></div><div id="entrytext" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"></div><div class="relative primary-slot padding-top img-border gallery-container photo-wrapper" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/iconic-leadership-moments-in-presidential-history/2012/02/16/gIQAerpaIR_gallery.html" style="color: #0c4790;"><img align="bottom" border="0" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2009/07/17/National-Enterprise/Images/PHO-09Jul08-169580.jpg?uuid=r_nREeC4Qh2I6bSXKViLXw" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" width="454" /></a></div><div class="gallery-caption border-bottom relative caption padding-left border-left gallery-510" href="/national/on-leadership/iconic-leadership-moments-in-presidential-history/2012/02/16/gIQAerpaIR_gallery.html" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; background-image: url(http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/sites/twpweb/img/bkgds/gallery_call_to_action2.png); background-position: 10px 10px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="gallery-link" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/iconic-leadership-moments-in-presidential-history/2012/02/16/gIQAerpaIR_gallery.html" style="color: #0c4790; text-decoration: none;"><div style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; margin-left: 35px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><b>View Photo Gallery</b>: The best and the worst leadership moments of recent U.S. presidents.</div></a></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;">Quick: Name an astrophysicist. Any astrophysicist.</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;">Can’t do it? You’re surely not alone. But not only is there an astrophysicist whose name was among the 20 most-searched terms on Google Tuesday morning—he also has more than 300,000 Twitter followers. With a <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.amazon.com/Space-Chronicles-Facing-Ultimate-Frontier/dp/0393082105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330440148&sr=8-1" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">new book released Monday</a>, Neil deGrasse Tyson is making the rounds of The Daily Show, NPR, CBS Morning and the like. If he keeps getting attention at this pace, he may actually help to reinvigorate this country’s space program (which in 2012 will mark <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-01/popsci-qampa-neil-degrasse-tyson-politics-new-frontiers-and-science-evangelism" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">its first year</a> in three decades without launching a manned space vehicle) by giving it something it appears to be missing: An outspoken leader.</div><a href="" name="pagebreak" style="text-decoration: underline;"></a><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;">Tyson’s day job is the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York; he is also a renowned space expert who began giving lectures on astronomy at the ripe old age of 15. He hosts several science programs on television, has served on presidential astronomy commissions, and is a recipient of the <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Distinguished_Public_Service_Medal" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal</a>, the highest civilian honor given by the space program.</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;">What I find most interesting about all the interest in Tyson and his book is that it comes along at the very moment Newt Gingrich’s fall in the polls seemed to coincide almost directly with his talk of moon colonies and trips to Mars. Our reactions to the two may simply be that we trust the head of the Hayden Planetarium when he talks about a base on the moon—something Tyson says is no more ambitious than Kennedy’s goal of walking there 40 years ago—but question a GOP candidate who says it while standing on Florida’s “<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.npr.org/2012/01/26/145882817/-president-gingrich-promises-permanent-moon-base" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">space coast</a>,” thinking it sounds nutty, if not pandering.</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;">But it probably also has something to do with how Tyson talks about science and space exploration. He is not just a child prodigy with a lot of media appearances and a penchant for wearing celestial-themed ties and vests without a trace of irony. He is a gifted communicator who displays qualities of leadership that seem lacking in so many public officials. For one, he makes the reasons for space exploration accessible, putting its importance into simple and often humorous terms. “Venus has a runaway greenhouse effect—I kind of want to know what happened there,” he said in <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147351252/space-chronicles-why-exploring-space-still-matters" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">an NPR interview Monday</a>. “Mars once had running water—it’s bone dry today; something bad happened there as well. Asteroids have us in [their] sights. Dinosaurs didn’t have a space program, so they’re not here to talk about this problem. We are and we have the power to do something.”</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;">He also has a genuine passion and child-like fascination with what he does, and isn’t afraid to wrap the space program up in grand talk of bold adventure and big ideas. His enthusiasm is infectious—and credible—even for those who couldn’t care less about space and see it as a nice-to-have at a time of bloated deficits and economic pain. He thinks President Obama should be talking about upping NASA’s budget because “not only is it the grandest epic adventure a human being can undertake” but such an increase would “create a shift in the state of mind of people where they will say hey, ‘<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://video.msnbc.msn.com/martin-bashir/46546031/#46546031" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">we are dreaming about tomorrow again</a>.’ ”</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;">Finally, he’s not afraid of criticizing the president’s current approach to space exploration and funding, <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147351252/space-chronicles-why-exploring-space-still-matters" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">saying</a> that Obama’s “Sputnik moment” call for high-speed rail amounts to short-term thinking. “Is that how you’re going to use a new Sputnik moment? To do something you should have already had? Excuse me? Let’s use a Sputnik moment to do a Sputnik kind of thing.” In other words, he says things no NASA administrator could ever say, pushing for more funding with his enthusiasm, accessibility and credibility. Some have said Tyson is <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_10_55/ai_63735675/" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">filling the void of Carl Sagan</a>, who was a <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/conversation-with-neil-tyson.html" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">mentor</a> of Tyson’s in his early years. Whatever unofficial role he may have, Tyson shows the power of both outside voices and outside leaders when it comes to generating attention.</div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023426190548460175.post-27540199394829363522012-02-28T15:38:00.002-08:002012-02-28T15:38:13.793-08:00Sun Unleashes 5 Solar Eruptions in 2 Days<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">from Space.com and Yahoo News:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="yom-mod yom-art-hd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358320" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358319" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 class="headline" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358323" style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sun Unleashes 5 Solar Eruptions in 2 Days</h1><a href="http://www.space.com/" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358326" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="logo" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358325" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qfl2ZpplfzKDI6Sit5t1iw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/space/space_logo_140.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="" /></a><cite class="byline vcard" style="color: #7d7d7d; display: inline-block !important; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 2.2em; vertical-align: middle;">By <span class="fn">SPACE.com Staff<br />
<a href="http://space.com/" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Space.com</a> </span>| <span class="provider org">SPACE.com</span> – <abbr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" title="2012-02-27T23:14:03Z">Mon, Feb 27, 2012</abbr></cite></div></div><div class="yom-mod social-buttons" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1330472215358317" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 38px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; z-index: 1; zoom: 1;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1330472215358316" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yui3-widget yui3-ymsb" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1330472215358277" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(218, 218, 218); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="ymsb ymsb-mail ymsb-facebook ymsb-retweet ymsb-inshare ymsb-print yui3-ymsb-content" id="ymsb-13304722165834-1" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><ul style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li class="ymsb-module ymsb-mail-module lang-en-US " style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, color-stop(0.4, rgb(255, 255, 255)), color-stop(0.4, rgb(248, 248, 248)), to(rgb(230, 230, 230))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(182, 182, 182); border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-mail-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/mtf/panel/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -433px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Email"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px;">Email</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-facebook-module" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1330472215358322" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 2px; min-width: 89px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><fb:like action="recommend" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" colorscheme="light" font="arial" href="http://news.yahoo.com/sun-unleashes-5-solar-eruptions-2-days-231403774.html" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1330472215358321" layout="button_count" no_resize="false" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; margin-right: 10px; position: relative;" width="89"><span id="yui_3_3_0_6_1330472215358320" style="position: relative;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f34d8502b" name="f30291f828" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&api_key=194699337231859&channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fconnect%2Fxd_proxy.php%3Fversion%3D3%23cb%3Df2ee9d4f5%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.yahoo.com%252Ff3879e45a8%26relation%3Dparent.parent%26transport%3Dpostmessage&colorscheme=light&extended_social_context=false&font=arial&href=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsun-unleashes-5-solar-eruptions-2-days-231403774.html&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&no_resize=false&node_type=link&sdk=joey&show_faces=false&width=130" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 113px;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-retweet-module lang-en" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1330472221867&count=horizontal&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsun-unleashes-5-solar-eruptions-2-days-231403774.html&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsun-unleashes-5-solar-eruptions-2-days-231403774.html&related=YahooOddNew%2CYahoo&text=Sun%20Unleashes%205%20Solar%20Eruptions%20in%202%20Days%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsun-unleashes-5-solar-eruptions-2-days-231403774.html&via=YahooNews" style="height: 20px; width: 110px;" title="Twitter For Websites: Tweet Button"></iframe></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-inshare-module lang-en-US" style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 4px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-inshare-btn" data-target="popup" href="http://news.yahoo.com/_xhr/social/share/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fsun-unleashes-5-solar-eruptions-2-days-231403774.html&text=Sun%20Unleashes%205%20Solar%20Eruptions%20in%202%20Days%20-%20Yahoo!%20News&action=inshare" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: -65px -220px; color: #5d4370; cursor: pointer; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-decoration: none; width: 59px;" title="Share"></a><a class="ymsb-inshare-count count-enabled" href="" id="yui_3_3_0_6_1330472215358337" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 0px -390px; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; float: left; height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Share count"><span style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-position: 100% -390px; color: #2a7090; display: block; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -1px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit;">2</span></a></li>
<li class="ymsb-module ymsb-print-module lang-en-US " style="display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="ymsb-print-btn" href="http://news.yahoo.com/sun-unleashes-5-solar-eruptions-2-days-231403774.html" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sharing/images/msb-sprite-288697.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -450px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #5d4370; float: left; height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" title="Print"><span style="background-image: none; color: #0f4d8b; display: block; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 18px; padding-right: 3px; padding-top: 4px;">Print</span></a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div><div class="yog-wrap yom-art-bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358193" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="yog-col yog-5u" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 190px;"></div><div class="yog-col yog-11u" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358192" style="float: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="yom-mod yom-art-content " id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358191" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-left-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-right-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-color: rgb(52, 78, 127); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="bd" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358190" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 0;"><div class="first" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358189" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Things on the sun have certainly been heating up. Our closest star unleashed five <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330384444_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">solar eruptions</span> in only two days last week, producing extraordinary <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330384444_5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">northern lights</span> displays for lucky skywatchers over the weekend.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358199" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The <a href="http://www.space.com/14331-photos-strongest-solar-storm-sun-radiation.html" id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358330" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">solar storms flared up</a> between Feb. 23 and 24 and exploded from nearly all areas of the star, including the top, bottom, left and right sides of the solar disk as seen by space-based observatories, according to <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330384444_2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">NASA</span> scientists. In fact, four of these outbursts came within a single 24-hour period.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358196" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">One of the eruptions churned out an impressive magnetic filament in the early hours of Feb. 24. This triggered the first of two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that were blasted toward <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330384444_6" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Earth</span>. CMEs are massive eruptions of <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1330384444_8" style="cursor: pointer;">solar plasma</span> and charged particles that can produce potentially harmful<span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330384444_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">geomagnetic storms</span> when the they hit Earth's magnetic field lines.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358312" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Scientists closely monitor these events because the most powerful geomagnetic storms can disrupt satellites in orbit, cause communications interference, and damage other electronic infrastructure. But, one of the less harmful effects of geomagnetic storms is that they can amp up normal displays of Earth's auroras (also known as the northern and southern lights).</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Feb. 24 eruption was captured in a <a href="http://www.space.com/14676-parting-solar-seas-sun-spits-cme.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">video by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory</a>. The filament, which is visible in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength, shoots out from the sun, sending clouds of plasma into space.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358202" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Filaments are strands of darker, cooler solar material that hover above the surface of the sun by magnetic forces, <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1330384444_3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">NASA scientists</span> explained.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358209" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The CME from the Feb. 24 <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1330384444_7" style="cursor: pointer;">solar eruption</span> was weak, however, and did not set off a strong geomagnetic storm, NASA scientists said. After traveling through space, the CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT).</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358383" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">While the CME did not pack much of a punch, skywatchers at high latitudes were treated to <a href="http://www.space.com/14325-post-skywatching-photos-auroras-january-2012.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">stunning auroras</a> on Feb. 26. Beautiful celestial light shows were reported were reported in Scandinavia and elsewhere around the Arctic Circle, according to website Spaceweather.com.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358380" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358379">Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter </em><a href="http://twitter.com/spacedotcom" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><em>@Spacedotcom</em></a><em>and on </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spacecom/17610706465" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>.</em></div><ul id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358370" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358373" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/12581-stunning-photos-solar-storms-flares-sun-weather.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Stunning Photos of Solar Flares & Sun Storms</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358369" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/14636-photos-northern-lights-auroras-february-2012.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">Photos: Dazzling Northern Lights of February 2012</a></li>
<li id="yui_3_3_0_22_1330472215358376" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.space.com/12584-worst-solar-storms-sun-flares-history.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">The Sun's Wrath: Worst Solar Storms in History</a></li>
</ul></div></div></div></div></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0