spaceship to mars

gene vincent sings spaceship to mars in 1962!

carl sagan on childhood

in honor of his birthday, i'd like to share a quote from carl sagan:

“As soon as I was old enough, my parents gave me my first library card. I think the library was on 85th Street, an alien land. Immediately, I asked the librarian for something on stars. She returned with a picture book displaying portraits of men and women with names like Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. I complained, and for some reason then obscure to me, she smiled and found another book — the right kind of book. I opened it breathlessly and read until I found it. The book said something astonishing, a very big thought. It said that the stars were suns, only very far away. The Sun was a star, but close up.”

from “the backbone of night,” cosmos.

more quality quotes at skeptic.

catbert

dilbert

IYA posters redesigned

the whole set by simon page is great!

mittenwald, germany

mittenwald is a gorgeous little town in the alps of southern germany. it's known for the murals painted on the buildings and its history of people making quality violins.












i'll take the high road and you take the low road....






mmm... apple strudel.

carl sagan day

today is carl sagan day, with a celebration being held at broward college in southern florida for what would have been carl's 75th birthday.

carl sagan was an astronomer, but most well-known to the public as an incredible science communicator. i meet professional astronomers all the time who claim him to be a major influence in their decision to go into science, including myself.

he has written some very influential books, shared amazing perspective as to our place in the universe on our pale blue dot, he and partner ann druyan created the memorable cosmos tv series, and a recent youtube video featuring carl sagan, a glorious dawn, has proven to be very popular!

here is carl with the dalai lama in 1991.


i'm actually working on another piece about carl sagan, and i'd like to hear your thoughts. what influence has he had for you, if any? what memories do you associate with him? if you are a young person, do you know who he is? how did you hear about him?

space day aftermath

space day at the castle was loads of fun last saturday! my mom came from the US for the event and has been here all week - hence a lack of posting! here's a photo of us at the event in our costumes! more soon....


ps. no, i'm not dressed as ronald mcdonald!

when accuracy kills romance

this cartoon from saturday morning breakfast cereal reminded a reader of me. haha!!


there are certain times when people say things inaccurately and i *have* to say something about the correct information. but sometimes, i have to recognize when to keep my mouth shut ;)

ps. its not a meteorite until it actually lands on the surface of the earth!

dark arts of halloween

stephan balleux



deviant art



eric joyner



Alessandro Baldasseroni





mattias inks

sixty symbols - kelvin

kelvin is a unit of a temperature scale that describes an absolute zero temperature!

carnival of space #126

enjoy this week's carnival of space which is now up at the gish bar times!

confusion as a function of information

indexed

the fall

i found this image here with no information attached. all i keep thinking is holy shit!?!

space day and moon watch

we're hosting a space day and moon watch event at the nottingham castle in honor of the international year of astronomy 2009.


i've never organized an event as large as this and its been an interesting exercise in administrative business dealings. i've been in complete control of planning everything: instigating, organizing, scheduling, justifying and seeking funding, allocating, etc... overall, it has been fun, but exhausting! i'm extremely grateful to all those around the community who have volunteered their time and resources to help organize!

since the event takes place on halloween, we're having a costume contest and i finally have mine together! i'll let you guess what it is when i take pictures at the event!!

maybe the best part of the event is that my mom is coming all the way from the US to enjoy the day and visit for a while! cant wait to see her and spend time together - i hope she wears a costume ;)

a literate octopus

found from the animalarium by artist Franco Matticchio.

saturn's newly discovered ring

in this installment of the new sixty symbols, we discuss saturn's new ring, my favorite image of saturn ever, and why saturn's moon, mimas, is my favorite moon in the solar system!

thats a lot of planets!

using a 3.6-metre telescope in the chilean mountains, a team has discovered 32 new exoplanets! thats a lot of new planets orbiting around other stars to declare at one time, and it brings the total number of planets known to 403!

i imagine more and more planets will be announced in the relatively near future as the kelper telescope sends data back to scientists on earth to analyze!

meanwhile back at home.... you might notice that big bright "star" glaring in evening sky? thats the planet jupiter for us to enjoy, as this sketch by ryo tomo reminds us.

salzburg, austria

salzburg is where the sound of music was filmed. i was surprised to realize that most austrians and germans only know of this film because people from all over the world (probably dominated by native english speakers), want to visit the city because of the movie! its a gorgeous place, and also the birthplace of mozart!

the fortress on the hill in the distance...


















we finally headed up to the fortress...










in the marionette museum...