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You're wrong, and it seems likely you're pretty stupid. You should at least get into the habit of posting AC.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/

• R, including several add-on packages (such as tseries, RODBC, coda, mcmcpack, gtkdevice, rgtk, rquantlib, qtl, dbi, rmysql), out-of-the box support for the powerful ESS modes for XEmacs as well as the Ggobi visualisation program;
• A complete teTeX, TeX, and LaTeX setup for scientific publishing, along with TeXmacs and LyX for wysiwyg editing;
• Perl and Python with loads of add-ons, plus ruby, tcl, Lua, and Scientific and Numeric Python;
• The Emacs and Vim editors, as well as Gnumeric, kate, Koffice, jed, joe, nedit and zile;
• Octave, with add-on packages octave-forge, octave-sp, octave-epstk, and matwrap;
• Computer-algebra systems Maxima, Pari/GP, GAP, GiNaC and YaCaS;
• the QuantLib quantitative finance library including its Python interface;
• GSL, the Gnu Scientific Library (GSL) including example binaries;
• The GNU compiler suite comprising gcc, g77, g++ compilers;
• the OpenDX, Plotmtv, and Mayavi data visualisation systems;
• it includes apcalc,aribas,autoclass,

Are you sure? I _might_ be wrong, but I am pretty sure I remember seeing a special about some North American Indians that did not live on the equator, which had a wall that pointed due east/west, and they mentioned that the sun would rise and set right along the line of the wall during the equinox (which they showed on camera).

In fact, take a look at March 20's Astronomy Picture of the Day, taken in Arizona.

sets and rises due east and due west (Not vis versa)

The sun sets in the west.

Go Deep Impact!

What the heck is an MPA? I think you mean that O'Keefe is an MBA.

No, MPA is correct -- "Master of Public Administration". It's what many undergraduate poli sci majors get when they grow up (if they are not seduced by the siren song of a JD).

From O'Keefe's bio:

Sean O'Keefe earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1977 from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and his Master of Public Administration degree in 1978 from The Maxwell School.

don't know what O'Keefe has to do with MPA

The Kepler planetary telescope has a 100 megapixel camera . I heard it might be triple before launch next year.

Hey, they Nasa is such a wonderful organisation. They did : a poem (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/artgallery/soto_po em.html/), some photo shoots with aerosmith (http://http//www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery /index.html) and so much more. What can you say, i guess now is the time for serious issues, like food on space stations, lol. Those who wonder at those who do wonder, while those who do, well, do. Unless, i do wonder?

How much does Hubble cost?

Initially Hubble cost $1.5 billion to build and put into orbit.

And though they differ in many respects, both a human and a robotic mission share similar price tags. The Aerospace Corporation and the US Government Accountability Office estimate that each type of mission would cost about $2 billion.

That wall ready a problem now....

--------- "There are nearly ten thousand man-made objects larger than a softball in Earth orbit. Of these, only seven percent are operational satellites. The remaining ninety-three percent consists of dead satellites, rocket fragments and debris." http://massivechange.com/article.php?story=2004102 420331275
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4402/ch2.htm/ -----

And they loose tracking of *ALL* of it due to Solar Flares...

----
Such disturbances last from minutes to hours, corresponding to the lifetime of the flare, and can result in what is known as short-wave-fadeout, in which radio signal strength can fade or drop out completely due to increased absorption. Amateur radio enthusiasts, search and rescue organisations, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, many military transmissions and other high-frequency radio communications are severely hampered by such events. Additionally, the increased occurrence of electron density irregularities along the ground-to-satellite transmission path results in the higher VHF and UHF frequencies experiencing unpredictable reflections and scattering (scintillation) of the signal phase strength resulting in transmission interference.
----------
http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~graham/Preprints/sunny/s unny-uk.txt/

---------

"Clutch my testes, bloody squirrel humpers!!" -Happy Noodle Boy

Speaking from memory, the average depth of ice over Greenland is approx 1km, and there are NO parts of the land mass that are not covered by ice. Incidentally those glaciers are melting about twice as fast as the models that the nay-sayers have been happily dismissing as wild dooom-mongering have predicted.

Same as today where the scientists are saying "It must be the humans!" because humans are Bad for the Earth(tm) when there is not near enough evidence to in any way conclusively state that.

I hate to feed the trolls, but...

It's well known, and not controversial, that CO2 traps heat.

It is well known, and not controversial, that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are increasing, thanks to us.

Arrhenius knew these things; he was the first to examine the impact of CO2 on global climate over 100 years ago.

Of course, there are a ton of other influences on global climate; the big question is what sort of negative feedback loops may exist, and how effective they might be at countering the forcing due to CO2 increases.

There is uncertainty because climate science is tough. You've got a combination of a ton of complicated physical, chemical, biological, etc., systems involved, and you can't do controlled experiments very easily (we're doing an interesting one now with CO2, but don't have a good control).

In addition to general warming, CO2 emissions pose other threats. There's the legitimate worry that warming will screw up oceanic circulation (this is the basic idea behind that movie that, um, took a little poetic license with the concept). Also, we're increasing atmospheric CO2 levels, so we're also increasing oceanic CO2 levels, and isn't it nice that CO2 + H2O => H2CO3 => H+ + HCO3-. That's right, we're acidifying the oceans, the effects of which aren't too well known.

You misunderstand. If humans are not the cause, then reducing pollution will not help. It will take other actions to help. I would be very upset if we spent time (who cares about money if you are dead) taking actions that let us die anyway.

Personally, I think humans are not the cause or they are insignificant. Assuming the Earth and Sol are static is not very scientific. When they become interstellar-safe (instead of thread-safe), then we can make conclusions that humans are the culprits.

Here is an interesting article discussing the controversy about the Sun's involvement in global warming: Under a Variable Sun

P.S. I would like pollution reduced because I dislike breathing it.

Most bulbs blow out at the time they are switched on. Therefore the bulb can well be dark at the before image. Of course if it is lit at the after image, there's something wrong.

Fortunately the before and after images are available (no, I didn't get the order wrong, someone else did :-)). AFAICS the lamp was dark in both cases.

Most bulbs blow out at the time they are switched on. Therefore the bulb can well be dark at the before image. Of course if it is lit at the after image, there's something wrong.

Fortunately the before and after images are available (no, I didn't get the order wrong, someone else did :-)). AFAICS the lamp was dark in both cases.

And you can see the Great Firewall smoking from space!

Like this?

News story

Here's a picture of damage caused by another meteor

The streak appears when the post blows up. Did anyone notice that post blow up or am I the only one to have look at more than just the streak?

The streak appears when the post blows up. Did anyone notice that post blow up or am I the only one to have look at more than just the streak?

The streak appears when the post blows up. Did anyone notice that post blow up or am I the only one to have look at more than just the streak?

They just updated the message in the APOD to suggest people participate here: [Note: This bulletin board is currently experiencing load problems. Please check back later, or participate in the discussion on Slashdot.org here.] Thank you, Slashdot, for enabling the eclectic brain trust of APOD readers!

The current APOD

Take a look at the way the clouds are moving - I've never seen clouds billowing inwards.
before
"the" picture
after

Take a look at the way the clouds are moving - I've never seen clouds billowing inwards.
before
"the" picture
after

Take a look at the way the clouds are moving - I've never seen clouds billowing inwards.
before
"the" picture
after

It's a solution to a *completely different and unrelated APOD*!

Your response makes you look *really* stupid, because the "solution" you just read has NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE MYSTERY PICTURE IN QUESTION. Worse, every single other response to the parent - most of which were BEFORE you - recognizes that (though I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there, since it took you some time to write your response). The "solution" is talking about a completely different and unrelated picture!

*Wow*.

Thanks for a good laugh though.

Umm... that's not the POTD that we are talking about, but rather another that he has posted. The pictures are not even close. Did you make it past the first sentence?

Troll or karma-whore? You decide.

Umm... that's not the POTD that we are talking about, but rather another that he has posted. The pictures are not even close. Did you make it past the first sentence?

Troll or karma-whore? You decide.

If you take a look at the large sized photograph and scan along the pier, you will see the cloud of smoke coming from the lamp right at the end of the "streak".

Hmmm, I wonder if the odds of developing a random smear on the lens at the exact moment a lamp bulb explodes are as close as a "freak astronomical event".

If you RTFA instead of just looking at TFP you can see the before and after images, the light pole doesn't look strange in any way on those other images.

If you RTFA instead of just looking at TFP you can see the before and after images, the light pole doesn't look strange in any way on those other images.

Your 'solution' is for a different, unrelated photo.

Read better. That's the solution to this APOD.

That's not the solution to this image. However, it is the solution to the APOD from September 13th which can be seen at: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040913.html

Nasa's worldwind (here on slashdot a while back) shows some mighty funny objects in the australian sky. Could well be the same things, whatever they are.

Except that camera was periodically taking pictures, and the picture right before and the picture right after don't show any problems on the lens.

Except that camera was periodically taking pictures, and the picture right before and the picture right after don't show any problems on the lens.

I've mentioned this company before, but I'm really hoping that t/Space will get a contract for the Vision for Space Exploration. t/Space is an exciting company which includes people like Burt Rutan (of Scaled Composites and SpaceShipOne), Elon Musk (of SpaceX), Red Whittaker (of the Red Team, which constructed an autonomous vehicle which competed in DARPA's Grand Challenge), and several of the new companies in the budding space industry.

According to their page: Our core mission requirement is to enable prompt, affordable, safe and sustainable lunar exploration and development by the largest possible number of Americans, both in person and via telepresence.

Under our approach, government incentives focus exclusively on top-level goals, with technology and operational choices left to the private sector. The government incentives will be matched to specific top-level needs, but the "invisible hand" of market forces will shape choices as they flow down multiple supplier chains. Incentives will be structured so that several companies in each major area have an opportunity to win this support. With this competitive industrial base, two major processes become possible:

* Market forces will continually launch new products that replace established goods and services (the "creative destruction" that Joseph Schumpeter [Austrian economist 1883-1950] identified as the key element of capitalism). Poorly performing systems will be killed off quickly via competition rather than via burdensome NASA reviews or Congressional intervention.
* Capability gap analyses will be performed by dozens and ultimately hundreds of companies on a continuous basis. As happens now in all competitive industries, the successful companies will be those who listen closely to their customers and accurately predict their future needs - in other words, capability gap analysis by multiple independent profit-seekers.

Commercial firms will create and own infrastructure that offers services that overlap in many cases. The overlaps found in a competitive private space economy will provide the resiliency now lacking in single-string solutions such as the Space Shuttle and Space Station, for which there are no ready alternatives. While functional overlaps are viewed as inefficiencies in centrally-planned systems, in a market-based system they drive costs lower (by reducing monopoly power and spurring innovation) and accelerate schedules (by eliminating single-point bottlenecks among suppliers and spurring competition).

If I understand correctly, tSpace's plan is to design an overall space architecture, and have companies compete for different components, whether they be launch vehicles, space station life support modules, or lunar landers. Many of these components will also be available commercially, keeping the price down and the reliability high.

I highly recommend reading through their presentation. The things they show in their are incredible. Here's a few of their points:

Safety results from design choices, not oversight
* Attempting to produce safety by inspection, quality control, documentation, meetings, etc., is ineffective and costly
* The right choices include a robust and resilient concept, vehicles with ample margins and reserves, and high flight rates using smaller vehicles
Flight history determines if a vehicle is "human rated"
* Requires hundreds of flights for statistical validity
* "Determination-by-analysis" is just an estimate
Cost is an object
* Expensive systems have too few units built to give resiliency to the architecture, and/or high operating costs lead to unsafe low flight rates.

the Constellation-X x-ray telescope, successor to Chandra: postponed indefinitely

the LISA gravitational wave antenna: postponed indefinitely

the Explorer program, which launches small, often university-designed missions like WMAP (cosmic microwave background), HETE (gamma-ray bursts), and SWIFT (just launched!). Funding for future missions is on hold.

Not to mention that the National Science Foundation just got a few-percent funding cut.

the Constellation-X x-ray telescope, successor to Chandra: postponed indefinitely

the LISA gravitational wave antenna: postponed indefinitely

the Explorer program, which launches small, often university-designed missions like WMAP (cosmic microwave background), HETE (gamma-ray bursts), and SWIFT (just launched!). Funding for future missions is on hold.

Not to mention that the National Science Foundation just got a few-percent funding cut.

Like Lake Vostok, Jupiter's moons Europa and Callisto may hold liquid water beneath a thick, icy crust. Lake Vostok may hold clues to whether life could survive in a dark extraterrestrial ocean, and may allow scientists to practice looking for it.

Imagine flight sims (or any vaguely GIS-related application, really, including WorldWind) that can take advantage of this... cool stuff.

Since you asked:
www.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/

You're probably thinking of Lake Vostok.

The best example of bacteria from earth surviving harsh conditions: bacteria on surveyor 3 survived almost three years on the moon before they were brought back by the crew of Apollo 12

so you've taken biology 101, you've read some sci-fi novels. it's very humorous that so many folks have taken an authoritative position on this. NASA has the best minds on the subject, probably in the world, and they take cross planetary contamination seriously.

the article that this thread is referencing does not say that infection is likely ... it says that 1) it is possible and 2) if it happend, it would be really bad. the fact that it is unlikely is not the point. there are lots of examples of things that we take precautions against not because they are statistically likely, but rather because of the dire consequences.

NASA has since stated that there is no evidence of life on the above mentioned meteor:

NASA said that after two years of study "a number of lines of evidence have gone away". Several different chemicals and molecular structures were exciting because they looked similar to byproducts of life on Earth. However, these chemicals and structures can also be created without life. Some are even present in deep space on comets, and scientists do not think that they came from Martian life anymore.

One of the main problems now is the lack of funds for such programs, esp for probes we send out of Earth. On the other hand, any probe returning from Mars will be heavily guaranteed - not just for safety reasons but for scientific ones as well.

BTW, the chances of Martian life surviving on Earth is going to be close to nil since the reducing atmosphere will oxidize anything that hasn't already had a few billion years evolutionary head start to protect themselves from it. [Yes, I know it won't be zero.] And Mars doesn't look like it had enough oxygen in it's atmosphere to effect evolution anytime in it's history.

Ciao

Here is a demo of PIV in operation http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/OptInstr/piv/pivdemo.h tm

It shows a group of people walking past the PIV system and getting blasted with lasers. I assume it thought they were all bad guys (or gals)....

Nasa should set standards for the work they want completed, and have it done in a safe manner