Slashdot Mirror

Stephen Lau writes "ScienceDaily has an article talking about the new NASA maps that reveal the geography of the North American continent in amazing detail. One of the maps provides strong evidence of a 112 mile wide, 3000 foot deep impact crater which they believe was the comet/asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs and more than 70% of Earth's living species 65 million years ago."

Roland Piquepaille writes "We all know about the current controversies associated with the ozone layer or the global warming phenomenon. Now, the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) is warning us that atmospheric changes or El Niño events can affect the Earth's rotation. During El Niño years, for example, the rotation of the Earth may slow ever so slightly because of stronger winds, increasing the length of a day by a fraction of a millisecond. David A. Salstein, an atmospheric scientist from Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., led a recent study about this possible effect. Salstein looked at meteorological and astronomical measurements from different sources and found they were in good agreement. Check this column for a synthesis. For technical explanations, images and animations, please read this NASA paper, Changes in the Earth's rotation are in the wind."

robsimmon writes "Given all the NASA bashing lately (and the tendency of Slashdot contributors to assume NASA does nothing but Human Spaceflight and Space Science) here's a recent NASA success story: NASA's Newest Maps Reveal a Continent's Grandeur and a Secret. Granted, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission did fly on the Endeavour, but it was an Earth Science mission. Interesting signature of the Chicxulub impact crater, which was not visible in previous topographic maps."

robsimmon writes "Given all the NASA bashing lately (and the tendency of Slashdot contributors to assume NASA does nothing but Human Spaceflight and Space Science) here's a recent NASA success story: NASA's Newest Maps Reveal a Continent's Grandeur and a Secret. Granted, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission did fly on the Endeavour, but it was an Earth Science mission. Interesting signature of the Chicxulub impact crater, which was not visible in previous topographic maps."

mikef2501 writes "Science Daily News reports that results from three years of radio tracking by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft indicate that the core of Mars may not be geologically dead after all -- it may still contain at least partially molten iron (original news release found here)."

azpenguin writes "While we discuss the acheivements of the now-silent Pioneer 10, Congress has apporved funding for the "New Horizons" mission to send a probe to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Space.com has the story here. NASA had actually fought the idea, but Congress approved the money anyway. Wonder if in 12 years (when the probe is supposed to reach Pluto) the public will be as fascinated with the pictures coming back as much as with the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft." In related news, dalewj writes "Seems the team at JPL will discontinue operations on the Galileo Space probe to Jupiter after extended the mission three times. Galileo has been in space since 1989 and has some amazing findings and pictures available on the JPL website. Truly NASA and JPL's best effort to date."

azpenguin writes "While we discuss the acheivements of the now-silent Pioneer 10, Congress has apporved funding for the "New Horizons" mission to send a probe to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Space.com has the story here. NASA had actually fought the idea, but Congress approved the money anyway. Wonder if in 12 years (when the probe is supposed to reach Pluto) the public will be as fascinated with the pictures coming back as much as with the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft." In related news, dalewj writes "Seems the team at JPL will discontinue operations on the Galileo Space probe to Jupiter after extended the mission three times. Galileo has been in space since 1989 and has some amazing findings and pictures available on the JPL website. Truly NASA and JPL's best effort to date."

kjeldor writes "According to this NASA article, an experiment conducted on water in space shows that a metal loop dipped into water can sustain a thin membrane of water (just like soap bubbles) in diameters up to 4 or 5 inches without breaking. This surface can be moved around, painted on, etc. without breaking. Apparently, with the absence of gravity's pull to break the intermolecular forces, water has the ability to hold together into a membrane in an unconventional manner. This may lead to some interesting future projects."

Soft writes "Another Energizer Bunny has finally given out: Pioneer 10's generators have decayed to the point that DSN can no longer detect the probe's signals. It was the first spacecraft to penetrate the asteroid belt (1972) and fly by Jupiter (1973). So long and thanks for all the pic's..."

Soft writes "Another Energizer Bunny has finally given out: Pioneer 10's generators have decayed to the point that DSN can no longer detect the probe's signals. It was the first spacecraft to penetrate the asteroid belt (1972) and fly by Jupiter (1973). So long and thanks for all the pic's..."

An anonymous reader writes "During a large solar coronal mass ejection, this week's NEAT Comet crossing, gave some spectacular film footage. While no comet with such a small nucleus has ever survived that kind of close solar approach (one-fourth of Mercury's orbit) without fragmenting, this one did-- and is now outward bound on its 370 century roundtrip. These new comet discoveries have filled the log files of the now 70 big robotic telescope projects, most of which are being connected to the internet. The largest ($3 M) research-class one for public use--the Hawaiian Faulkes Project--will see first light in 45 days."

Chris Gondek writes "The Sydney Morning Herald has an article on how NASA has released a high-quality image of the coldest place found in the universe. Five thousand light years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, the nebula, a gas cloud formed from a dying star, has a temperature of minus 272 degrees. It is only one degree warmer than absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature, when atoms cease to vibrate and radiate no heat whatsoever. This radiation is the remnant of the Big Bang, the explosion which forged the universe in trillion-degree temperatures. More than 11 billion years later, this heat has cooled to minus 270 degrees, but is still detectable."

Peter_Pork writes "New images sent back by NASA's Mars Odyssey have prompted an interesting theory about Martian gullies, as reported today by Washington Post and New Scientist. Odyssey's images show snow accumulations near the gullies, suggesting that the gullies were formed by melted snow. Scientists have developed a new weather model based on 100,000-year cycles in which snow first accumulates in highlands and it is then melted by the action of the sun. Liquid water, protected from evaporation by a superficial layer of snow, would carve the gullies in a few thousand years. This idea gives further hope to the search of life forms in Mars, since liquid water is suitable for sustaining life. Upcoming landings (three in the next two years) should shed more light on the question, but they will most likely not land in the rocky areas where this phenomenon occurs."

Gregus writes "Though mentioned or discussed in previous /. articles, many folks (myself included) presumed that the promises of Star Bridge Systems were hype or a hoax. Well the good folks at NASA Langley Research Center have been making significant progress with this thing. They have more info and videos on their site, beyond the press release and pictures posted here last year. So it's certainly not just hype (though $26M for the latest model is a bit beyond the $1,000 PC target)."

Gregus writes "Though mentioned or discussed in previous /. articles, many folks (myself included) presumed that the promises of Star Bridge Systems were hype or a hoax. Well the good folks at NASA Langley Research Center have been making significant progress with this thing. They have more info and videos on their site, beyond the press release and pictures posted here last year. So it's certainly not just hype (though $26M for the latest model is a bit beyond the $1,000 PC target)."

Gregus writes "Though mentioned or discussed in previous /. articles, many folks (myself included) presumed that the promises of Star Bridge Systems were hype or a hoax. Well the good folks at NASA Langley Research Center have been making significant progress with this thing. They have more info and videos on their site, beyond the press release and pictures posted here last year. So it's certainly not just hype (though $26M for the latest model is a bit beyond the $1,000 PC target)."

riptalon writes "The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a NASA Explorer mission has announced the first results based on a year of observations from the L2 Lagrangian point. MAP carries two back-to-back microwave telescopes to study variations in the cosmic microwave background, to much greater accuracy than the COBE satellite. The excruciating details of the results on the age, geometry and composition of the universe can be found in this paper. Executive summary: 13.7 billion years old, flat, 4.4% baryons, 22% dark matter and 73% dark energy."

riptalon writes "The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a NASA Explorer mission has announced the first results based on a year of observations from the L2 Lagrangian point. MAP carries two back-to-back microwave telescopes to study variations in the cosmic microwave background, to much greater accuracy than the COBE satellite. The excruciating details of the results on the age, geometry and composition of the universe can be found in this paper. Executive summary: 13.7 billion years old, flat, 4.4% baryons, 22% dark matter and 73% dark energy."

riptalon writes "The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a NASA Explorer mission has announced the first results based on a year of observations from the L2 Lagrangian point. MAP carries two back-to-back microwave telescopes to study variations in the cosmic microwave background, to much greater accuracy than the COBE satellite. The excruciating details of the results on the age, geometry and composition of the universe can be found in this paper. Executive summary: 13.7 billion years old, flat, 4.4% baryons, 22% dark matter and 73% dark energy."

riptalon writes "The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a NASA Explorer mission has announced the first results based on a year of observations from the L2 Lagrangian point. MAP carries two back-to-back microwave telescopes to study variations in the cosmic microwave background, to much greater accuracy than the COBE satellite. The excruciating details of the results on the age, geometry and composition of the universe can be found in this paper. Executive summary: 13.7 billion years old, flat, 4.4% baryons, 22% dark matter and 73% dark energy."

Chris Gondek writes "The Sydney Morning Herald has a story here about how NASA is expected to announce this week that it has proved the existence of "dark energy," a cosmic force that counteracts gravity and will keep the universe expanding forever. The announcement will effectively demolish the theory that life will be wiped out in a "big crunch" when the universe collapses, and should end decades of academic dispute. Scientists ranging from Stephen Hawking, the Cambridge University physicist, to Albert Einstein, have argued that the universe eventually will stop expanding and then implode under the force of gravity, destroying all life. The Chicago Sun Times has also got some info."

Lovejoy asks: "I have done extensive reading since the Columbia tragedy about what's next for human space exploration. Most of the punditry agrees that extending the shuttle program for many more years is a bad idea. So what are the practical alternatives? I've seen ideas for new spacecraft, a carbon nanotube space elevator, among other things. What are the best ideas you've seen? Will the best idea win, or the one with the most pork barrel contracts? Does space travel/exploration have to be THIS expensive? What are the best short term/long term solutions?"

Since Congress has been steadily cutting back on support for NASA, Nick suggests this idea: "I'm sure there are many taxpayers out there like me that would love to see NASA's budget doubled. The problem is there isn't enough support to get congress to increase the budget by that amount, and I really don't want people to pay that don't care to. I propose an opt-in, one-time contribution box added to tax returns. I would require that my money be used only to advance the space program with either a shuttle replacement, an extra crew compartment for the space station, or a launch vehicle for a manned trip to Mars. Would you support a bill that would allow taxpayers to voluntarily contribute money to NASA? Are you ready to put your coin where your Dreams are?"

Slashback tonight with more on SBC's claim to own patents covering basic Web navigation techniques, an eyebrow-raising look at Slammer's spread, bad news for Ogg streams from the BBC, and more. Read on for the details. Update: 02/04 00:13 GMT by T : And late-breaking good news from SDF regarding its Public Access UNIX System.

FedEx should take notes. nweaver writes "We have completed our preliminary analysis of the Sapphire/Slammer SQL worm. This worm required roughly 10 minutes to spread worldwide, scanning at a peak rate of over 55 million IP addresses per second, making it by far the fastest worm to date and nearly two orders of magnitude faster than Code Red. It infected at least 75,000 victims and possibly considerably more. The remarkable speed was due to the use of a bandwidth-limited scanner. There were also two bugs in the random number generator. Copies of our analysis are available from CAIDA, Silicon Defense, and UC Berkeley."

"Sir, this patent application needs to filled out in ink. Not Crayon." We recently posted that the company SBC was calling in the chips on patents it holds which the company claim cover certain types of navigation links found on many web pages. Dan Gillmor writes "Noticed the link to Cringley's piece. Well, I did ask readers for prior art and got quite a bit, some of which I've posted..."

Speaking of SBC, theodp writes "The SBC Intellectual Property folks are back in the news, this time for donating a $7.3 million virus screening patent to the University of Texas. While patent donations are one of the latest twists on corporate philanthropy, the practice has aroused the curiosity of the IRS as a possible tax avoidance scheme."

I wonder how much they'd feel justified in writing off if they donated their web patent portfolio to the FSF.

Can we call this an on-again, off-again relationship? Albanach writes "It seems the BBC who had pioneered Ogg Vorbis broadcasting on a serious scale have abandoned Ogg indefinitely. They say other work commitments make Ogg support no longer a priority. Their statement can be read here"

What, and let all my pigeons escape? FedeTXF writes "We already love pop-up blocking in Mozilla and some other related browsers, now Blogzilla is reporting a great trick to get rid of embedded ads (banners and iframes) using plain CCS and the always amazing Mozilla flexibility and openness. Go check this page if you are anxious to see how to set it up."

Did you have your video camera trained on Columbia? Finally, Child of Apollo writes ""For anyone who has recorded video or taken photos that they believe may be of aid in the investigation of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, NASA has established a special location on the Web where Internet users may upload their media files to be reviewed by NASA." Although sad news all around, thanks to pleasant for the link."

Here's the late-breaker. fonixmunkee writes "looks like SDF will return soon. a message stating that they negotiated a new contract graced the single page in the "members area" of the temporary www.lonestar.org, but did not cite who specifically with. a few different ideas were tossed around for hosting, so only time will tell with who. i also just today got an e-mail from the Washington State Attorney General's Office that offered a small ray (read: none) of hope for assistance with SDF's run-in with NWLink. (NWLink breached SDF's contract.) hope all is well soon." This is good news, especially so soon after SDF got the rug yanked from under them.

Thanks to all the readers who have sent links related to today's shuttle disaster. An Associated Press story carried on Salon says that an independent board (with members from the Air Force, Navy, Transportation Department and other federal agencies) has been appointed to investigate the disaster. CNN is carrying official statement from President Bush. Rediff.com has an article on the life of Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla. borisonanovitch points to "more info on the science aboard Columbia and links to other NASA research." fabel reminds us "Most of the media is focusing on the slight damage that ocurred at takeoff (that NASA discounted at the time) but STS-107 was *delayed* for 6 months (original launch date 19 Jul 2003) Update: 02/01 23:51 GMT by T : [Note, should read "2002."] because of cracks in the propellant feed lines to the 3 main engines. A defect that could have caused catastrophic failure. Did the fix work or not?"

MagnetarJones writes "Cruising through the inner Solar System, new Comet Kudo-Fujikawa reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, yesterday, January 29. Passing within 28.4 million kilometers of the Sun, this comet came much closer than innermost planet Mercury. The space-based SOHO observatory captured these views of the comet as it neared perihelion by using a coronograph's occulting disk to block the overwhelming sunlight. Though fading on its outbound journey, Kudo-Fujikawa should soon be visible to southern hemisphere comet-watchers in February's evening skies."

MagnetarJones writes "Cruising through the inner Solar System, new Comet Kudo-Fujikawa reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, yesterday, January 29. Passing within 28.4 million kilometers of the Sun, this comet came much closer than innermost planet Mercury. The space-based SOHO observatory captured these views of the comet as it neared perihelion by using a coronograph's occulting disk to block the overwhelming sunlight. Though fading on its outbound journey, Kudo-Fujikawa should soon be visible to southern hemisphere comet-watchers in February's evening skies."

MagnetarJones writes "Cruising through the inner Solar System, new Comet Kudo-Fujikawa reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, yesterday, January 29. Passing within 28.4 million kilometers of the Sun, this comet came much closer than innermost planet Mercury. The space-based SOHO observatory captured these views of the comet as it neared perihelion by using a coronograph's occulting disk to block the overwhelming sunlight. Though fading on its outbound journey, Kudo-Fujikawa should soon be visible to southern hemisphere comet-watchers in February's evening skies."

neiljt writes "BBC News have a piece on NASA experiments to use IP for space missions. The article is a little low-tech, but more details available from NASA (OMNI). Is this the first Red Hat in space?" It's worth pointing out as well that Debian made the ride nearly six years ago. Still, great news.

Slashback tonight brings you updates on Red Hat's EOL timetable, NASA's tutorial on creating your very own spooky UFO images, the status (back up!) of the PCI Vendor and Device lists, and more -- read on below for the details.

With a baby and some makeup you can add in some aliens. Docrobot writes "NASA is obviously tired of the recent fanatical conspiracy claims dealing with 'faked' Apollo Moon Landings, the 'Face on Mars,' and most recently EuroSeti's claim that enhanced SOHO satellite images show UFOs.

NASA debunks EuroSeti's resent image enhanced SOHO satellite UFO photos covered by us here with this snappy and smug how-to article entitled: How to Make Your Own UFO.

It looks like Euroseti should to go back to the drawing board, or up their meds..."

At least use a security envelope next time. mpawlo writes "As reported by Greplaw, Reuters will not be prosecuted due to the alleged hack of Intentia's web server. Intentia did not clearly state that the information was secret, nor did Intentia try protecting it. Intentia stated that the report would be available at a certain time, and you only had to slightly change the URL from the report of the previous quarter in order to obtain the current report. Hence, the prosecutor will not initiate proceedings against Reuters or any of its reporters."

(Here is Slashdot's previous story on this affair.)

A happy turn in the PCI list saga. DieNadel writes "I've received an email today from PCI-SIG regarding the End of the Free PCI Device List, that says:

'Dear PCI Community,

The PCI Vendor and Device Lists located at http://www.yourvote.com/pci/ have been restored. The PCI-SIG recognizes the value of Jim Boemler's Web site and our officers have worked with him to restore it.

We are committed to working with Jim and the rest of the community to ensure this service is not interrupted in the future.

Thank you for your continued support of our technologies. We will keep you informed with any other updates.

Best Regards,

Tony Pierce
PCI-SIG Chairman.'

I think it's a nice move from PCI-SIG!"

Making money with Free software, explained. Yesterday, we posted a link to an article explaining Red Hat's new EOL schedule for various versions of its operating system. Red Hat's decision drew a lot of flak in the comments attached to that story; not that it won't again, but over on NewsForge, Red Hat's Jeremy Hogan has a reaction-to-the-reaction (not just on Slashdot) which the new EOL schedule drew.

Nick Lightfoot writes "As seen on /. several days ago, Euroseti is holding a conference to show off it's collection of pictures of 'UFOs' taken by SOHO cameras. SOHO has released a response page to show how a cosmic ray or other similar ccd artifact could be mistaken for a UFO, especially after the image has been enhanced. After watching Euroseti's video featuring some of the images, I was able to identify one of the 'UFO' images as a comet, and several others looked like they were just planets. Hopefully they will release some images on the web soon so I taking take a closer look at them without having to buy their £15 cd."

DeAshcroft writes "The Project Starshine page has the announcement that Starshine 3 reentered the atmosphere at 0540 hours UTC, Jan 21. They are asking anyone who saw the reentry to send their observations (and pictures). Starshine 3 carried 1500 mirrors, polished by students at 1000 schools in 30 countries, and came down about two years ahead of schedule because the sun has been making trouble. Starshine 4 and 5 are waiting for space on a shuttle (ahem), mid-2004 at the earliest."

Guppy06 writes "The Houston Chronicle reports that, seventeen years after the Challenger disaster, NASA is pushing forward its Teacher in Space program again. Christa McAuliffe's original back-up, Barbara Morgan from Idaho, is scheduled to go up this November. NASA intends to recruit more teachers in the future. Between this and rumored Mars missions, it seems new NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is keeping himself busy."

FeloniousPunk writes "According to this article in the UK Guardian, NASA intends to send a manned mission to Mars by 2010, using nuclear propulsion. President Bush may announce this project, called Project Prometheus, at the State of the Union address." Here's good background and context; for technical background, I recommend Zubrin or Stern. The JPL will be involved in developing the nuclear propulsion tech, intended to cut the interplanetary trip from six months to two. Apparently the theory is that this proposal won't get shot down like the last Mars proposal because the shorter mission will save money. Here's hoping public response has progressed beyond "oh no! did he say nuclear?!" In related news, jkcity writes: "according to this article by the BBC, the Chinese plan to have a man in space by October 2003."

drama writes "From the Press Release: 'Two years of collaboration between Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., and NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have led to the development of a non-toxic, easily handled fuel made from a substance similar to what is used in common candles. The by-products of combustion of the new fuel are carbon dioxide and water; unlike conventional rocket fuel that produces aluminum oxide and acidic gasses, such as hydrogen chloride.' Or for pictures and more info, visit the site."

drama writes "From the Press Release: 'Two years of collaboration between Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., and NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have led to the development of a non-toxic, easily handled fuel made from a substance similar to what is used in common candles. The by-products of combustion of the new fuel are carbon dioxide and water; unlike conventional rocket fuel that produces aluminum oxide and acidic gasses, such as hydrogen chloride.' Or for pictures and more info, visit the site."

Mike Parsons writes "CNN is reporting an interesting story on Australian spiders that will travel to space for a scientific experiment. Here is a quote: Eight spiders from Australia will make a trip to outer space to help the U.S. space agency test the effects of zero gravity. It's not the first time arachnids have been sent into space. In 1973, NASA sent Arabella, a common cross spider in the United States, into orbit on the Skylab space station."

Stormbringer_X1 writes "This image holds many first. Called an analemma (a figure 8 loop), it is a multiple exposure of the sun, where one observes the sun at the same time of day, over the period of a year. The patience and dedication to pull this off are emphasized by the fact that there are so few in existence (7 total including the first in 1979). It is the first analemma imaged in a single calendar year, the first on the southern meridian, and the first in Greece. The author has other images from 2002 that will be available soon. So stay tuned. Here is an image from NASA archives"

gilgsn writes "Planenews.com just received a news release from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center about a breakthrough in fuel cell technology for solar powered aircrafts and how they used internet technology to broadcast data and HDTV video from the stratosphere above the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Their Helios Prototype could now fly through the night. I am sure that besides public communications, this will interest the military for their drones.."

leighklotz writes "I saw an ad for this in Science News and visited the site: http://www.arnierosner.com offers CCD-based telescopes that you control, from his mountaintop in Arizona. $50 for an hour's tiem gets you started. Too bad I hadn't read this last week when Saturn's rings were at their peak." I bet this gives some entrepreneurial ideas ...

Ashran writes "The Nasa DS1 site has the blurb: 'With highly successful primary, extended, and hyperextended missions behind it, the Deep Space 1 mission is over. The spacecraft continues to function, but engineers held a bittersweet retirement party for the veteran explorer today. The guest of honor was, of course, unable to attend because of travel commitments.'"

Irishman writes "NASA has heard from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft for the first time since March. Unfortunately, it is too faint to get scientific data from the craft. CNN has the story here. Considering that the craft is twice the distance from the Sun as Pluto is and that it has spent 30 years subjected to space, this is amazing! Now if only computer manufacturers could make equipment even remotely this sturdy."

Anonymous Coward writes "Ever since comet Hale-Bopp I have been waiting for a new, bright(as in visible to the naked eye), comet. It seems that my wait may have come to an end. Recently discovered comet C/2002 X5 can currently be seen by northern sky watchers through a telescope. It is predicted that it will brighten considerably (magnitude -3) in late January. Let's hope it lives up to expectations. Spaceweather.com has the whole story."

Honeydipper Dan writes "December 14 marks the 30th anniversary of the last man on the Moon . I haven't noticed any hoopla about this. Perhaps this event raises the subtext of why we haven't been back a little more than the first Moon landing's 30th anniversary did over 3 years ago. The Apollo 17 mission was a great success, however, and deserves to be remembered. It marked the first (and last) time a geologist was on the surface of the Moon. Meanwhile, NASA is commemorating the Wright brothers' flight of December 17, 1903, getting ready for next year's Centennial of Flight."

MichaelH writes "The good folks at JPL along with the Royal Observatory of Belgium have an explanation for the recent changes in Earth's magnetic field: the melting of sub-polar glaciers causing a mass shift towards the equator. Starting in 1997, a noticeable change in Earth's gravitational field was observed; Earth was beginning to develop a 'bulging waistline.' Sounds like it's time for a diet with fewer greenhouse gases...."

MichaelH writes "The good folks at JPL along with the Royal Observatory of Belgium have an explanation for the recent changes in Earth's magnetic field: the melting of sub-polar glaciers causing a mass shift towards the equator. Starting in 1997, a noticeable change in Earth's gravitational field was observed; Earth was beginning to develop a 'bulging waistline.' Sounds like it's time for a diet with fewer greenhouse gases...."

bravehamster writes "There's a new exhibit at the Library of Congress displaying images taken of earth by the Landsat satellites. The exhibit displays satellite photos that have an intrinsic aesthetic quality, showing the beauty of Earth as seen from really far away. There's an article about it on MSNBC here, and don't forget to check out those fjords!"

bravehamster writes "There's a new exhibit at the Library of Congress displaying images taken of earth by the Landsat satellites. The exhibit displays satellite photos that have an intrinsic aesthetic quality, showing the beauty of Earth as seen from really far away. There's an article about it on MSNBC here, and don't forget to check out those fjords!"

ke4roh writes "Sailors, Africans, and Aussies will observe a total solar eclipse on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The International Space Station will only fly through a partial eclipse area, but they'll have a fantastic view of the dark spot on the Earth below. Mir cosmonauts photographed a similar view on August 11, 1999. It looks pretty weird if you ask me. See pictures and read more in NASA's report."

Koyaanisqatsi writes "NASA researchers are learning more about the human brain by studying how astronauts regain their balance upon returning from space. Back home, an astronaut's brain no longer knows how to interpret what the senses tell it. The brain has to adapt to a zero gravity environment in space, then readjust back on Earth. The transition may bring on motion sickness. Ever wonder how your brain would react? (Full Story). Same article is also available via streaming audio or as a downloadable mp3 file."

Koyaanisqatsi writes "NASA researchers are learning more about the human brain by studying how astronauts regain their balance upon returning from space. Back home, an astronaut's brain no longer knows how to interpret what the senses tell it. The brain has to adapt to a zero gravity environment in space, then readjust back on Earth. The transition may bring on motion sickness. Ever wonder how your brain would react? (Full Story). Same article is also available via streaming audio or as a downloadable mp3 file."