Showing posts with label lunar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lunar. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Blu-Ray > HD-DVD! In Other News... debris!

I find it amusing that HD DVD is now dead... and being compared to Sony's Betamax. :-P Engadget offers the Top 10 Things To Do With Your Now Defunct HD DVD Player.


In news related to my previous post about the Lunar Eclipse [TONIGHT!], there might be some debris... Apparently the US picked tonight as the night to shoot down a defunct spy satellite. Perhaps debris and such will be visible from the West Coast and... parts of Canada? I'm not there, so I don't know.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

While We're Talking About The Moon...

Strand is an amazing place. Many of you know the joy I encountered back in November(ish) when I found an long-out-of-print book called "Let's Speak Rusyn" for $1, thus making Strand one of my favorite places on earth. Well, today I had another adventure in Strand! I found a few cool books, but one in particular needed to be shared. It's called "The Space Tourist's Handbook". Here is an agenda laid out within this amazing book:

Sample Moon Visit Itinerary
Days 1-3 - Travel to the moon.
Days 4-5 - Arrival. Welcome glass of Moon Punch. Acclimation to low gravity. Meet and greet Moon-based support staff ("Moonies"). Short, brisk walk on lunar surface.
Day 6 - Longer Moon walk. Rock sample collecting.
Day 7 - Free day. Send email using Moon computers. Take photographs of the Moon base. Enjoy a buffet dinner with other astronauts. Indulge in savory Moon pies.
Day 8 - Daylong hike to "highlands" and other major craters.
Day 9 - Prepare for departure. Pack souvenirs. Email your photos. Visit clinic for preflight enema.
Day 10 - Departure. Return to Earth.

This is just plain silliness. And I enjoy it.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Lunar Eclipse Time!

Everyone knows eclipses are cool. Therefore everyone should be excited for next Wednesday night! There will be a total lunar eclipse on Feb 20, 2008, and it will be visible [barring crappy weather] from our own backyards in the Lehigh Valley! NASA is awesome and has an article or two telling you all about it, including a photo diagramming the timeline.

Totality begins at 10:01pm EST, and ends at 10:51, with 10:26 being the mid point of the eclipse.

I plan on trying to find a place with not too much ambient light so I can check it out, perhaps bring my telescope, and maybe try to get a cool photo or two. This is the last lunar eclipse [at least visible in North America] until 2010.

So who wants to check it out with me?!