Broken Spirit
Published July 30, 2010From the MER Mission Site:
Spirit has been stuck in Martian soil since 2009, and spent the martian winter with it’s internal heaters off.
Mission scientists worry that Spirit may not recover from the cold.
If Spirit’s batteries do charge adequately, it may not be until at least October before any signals are sent from the trapped rover. The energy Spirit receives on it’s solar panels from the sun will peak around March 2011. If no signals are heard by then, it would pretty much end any chances of Spirit’s survival through the martian winter.
One cubic light year of BUTTER!
Published July 30, 2010From Wolfram Alpha
Nutritional Information for one cubic light year of Butter:
serving size 1 ly^3 (8.1×10^50 kg)
total calories:
5.83×10^54
fat calories
5.797×10^54
Responses to Jimmy Dean Ad
Published July 29, 2010I got some feedback on yesterday’s post.
I have this for a response:
My Very Eccentric Mother Just Served Us Nachos
The JWST passed a crucial mirror test!
Published July 29, 2010From the NASA press release:
Recently, six James Webb Space Telescope beryllium mirror segments completed a series of cryogenic tests at the X-ray & Cryogenic Facility at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
More information available here: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2010/10-094.html
Astronomy Question: Stars in the sky…
Published July 27, 2010Travis in New Jersey asks:
Why do the stars move so slowly in the sky even though our earth spins so fast?
EXCELLENT question Travis!
Simple to explain.
Notice when you are driving that things in the distance appear to move slowly, while road signs a few feet away zip by?
Same phenomenon.
Even though the earth is rotating quickly ( about 1600 km/h …) the closest celestial object (The Moon) is 384,000 km away. The closest star, Proxima Centauri is 3.97 × 10^13 km away!
If you want to experience the apparent motion of the stars across the sky, simply view one in a non-motorized telescope. The star will wander out of the field of view within a minute.
DA