This first photo is a picture I took of a huge bear paw print we saw the night before last. We thought we smelled the musky smell of a bear two or three times, too, but we just kept on hiking. Notice the nickle we used for reference.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Dune Hikes
This past month was so busy, that I've only had a chance to hike once or twice a week -- until recently. While I was in the Whitefish Point area last weekend, I jump started getting back on my healthy lifestyle by joining a friend and completing a four-hour, mostly by head lamp hike. It was a different perspective hiking in the dark, but I enjoyed it. Since then, it has been back to the dunes in Grand Marais. Here are some shots taken this week, including a couple of photos of some awesome fungi.
This first photo is a picture I took of a huge bear paw print we saw the night before last. We thought we smelled the musky smell of a bear two or three times, too, but we just kept on hiking. Notice the nickle we used for reference.
This first photo is a picture I took of a huge bear paw print we saw the night before last. We thought we smelled the musky smell of a bear two or three times, too, but we just kept on hiking. Notice the nickle we used for reference.
Happy 25th Birthday Discovery!
Only six more space shuttle launches to the end of the program that commenced launching in April 1981. Watching the space shuttle and the orbiting space station together this next week is a real possibility with clear weather conidtions. Check your location for viewing here. This video is a high-speed sample.
scenes from mauna kea
i have one more night left on the top of mauna kea for this observing run with UKIRT, so i thought i'd share some photos from the week.
across the cinder cone valley from where our telescope is located, sits the suburu telescope (left), the kecks (center), then NASA's infrared telescope facility (IRTF):
on UKIRT's side of the cinder cone are (L to R) the canada france hawaii telescope (CFHT), the gemini-north observatory, and the university of hawaii's 88-inch telescope.
UKIRT pointing towards the zenith inside its dome:
UKIRT's 3.8 meter diameter primary mirror.
inside the control room.
a quirk of high altitude - inflated potato chip bags!
air pressure lowers as you go higher and higher in altitude. the pressure is still high inside the sealed bag, so the air inside pushes out as usual, but feels no resistance from the low-pressure air outside. so the bag puffs up! (this is also why its a good idea to put any bottled liquids in bags when flying!)
using the night vision goggles you can even more clearly see the gemini telescope's AO laser shooting up to the sky!
here's a view of the UKIRT telescope, the milky way galaxy (a bit saturated), and glowing lava!
i never get tired of the views of this 14000 ft mountain and its shadow in the distance.
and some fun with panoramas. the scope on the left is UKIRT.
lake waiau on mauna kea is the 7th highest lake in the US at 13000 ft. its a short, but exhausting walk from the summit to get there.
more photos here!
across the cinder cone valley from where our telescope is located, sits the suburu telescope (left), the kecks (center), then NASA's infrared telescope facility (IRTF):
on UKIRT's side of the cinder cone are (L to R) the canada france hawaii telescope (CFHT), the gemini-north observatory, and the university of hawaii's 88-inch telescope.
UKIRT pointing towards the zenith inside its dome:
UKIRT's 3.8 meter diameter primary mirror.
inside the control room.
a quirk of high altitude - inflated potato chip bags!
air pressure lowers as you go higher and higher in altitude. the pressure is still high inside the sealed bag, so the air inside pushes out as usual, but feels no resistance from the low-pressure air outside. so the bag puffs up! (this is also why its a good idea to put any bottled liquids in bags when flying!)
using the night vision goggles you can even more clearly see the gemini telescope's AO laser shooting up to the sky!
here's a view of the UKIRT telescope, the milky way galaxy (a bit saturated), and glowing lava!
i never get tired of the views of this 14000 ft mountain and its shadow in the distance.
and some fun with panoramas. the scope on the left is UKIRT.
lake waiau on mauna kea is the 7th highest lake in the US at 13000 ft. its a short, but exhausting walk from the summit to get there.
more photos here!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Poll: Many Want Space Cooperation with The People's Republic of China
"Should the People's Republic of China be included in international human space access efforts?"
The Chinese are poised to launch a mini-space station and another manned spacecraft in late 2010 and 2011 following the now planned retirement of the American space shuttle fleet. That leaves many within space policy circles questioning whether or not the time in right to pursue a more active and transparent cooperation between the United States human spaceflight community and China's human spaceflight program in the coming years.
Fifty percent (50%) of the respondents said "yes" that the People's Republic of China should be included in international human space access efforts while twenty-one percent (21%) said "no" and that the Asia nation is unworthy of cooperation in international space endeavors. Twenty-eight percent (28%) said "maybe" to cooperation but were uncertain as to the level of cooperation because of possible space technology transfer issues.
Bottom line: Over three-quarters of what should be deemed as the "informed" poll respondents believe some measure of human space flight cooperation with the People's Republic of China should be American national (or international partner) space policy. The question really comes down now to what degree and exactly how to proceed.
This Blogger will have much more to say on this topic in the days and weeks ahead - UPDATE HERE.
sand drawing - reflections of WWII
Kseniya Simonova is a ukrainian sand artist who recently won "ukraine's got talent." she interprets germany's invasion and occupation of the ukraine during WWII. beautiful and haunting...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
A Single Virtual Biz Card For All Your Social Profiles
Are You In Need Of An Embeddable Virtual Business Card With All Your Social Profiles Linked To It? If Yes, Then This Post Will Help You To Get One.Retaggr Could Be A Very Useful Service For Those Who Need A Virtual Biz Card To Share With Friends, Embed To Website/ Blog, Add As An Email Signature, Etc..
You Could Add Almost Every Social Network To Your Virtual Card By Default. And You Could Share It As An Indexed Biz Card Or As A Life Stream.
{my virtual biz card}
alsoread: Make A Twitter Business Card
the big bang briefly
this little 2 minute video features the easily-understandable physicist janna levin.
you can read a bit more discussion about the big bang from the astronomist.
or watch more of janna levin during her appearance on the colbert report.
The Big Bang Briefly 1 from Keith Olwell on Vimeo.
you can read a bit more discussion about the big bang from the astronomist.
or watch more of janna levin during her appearance on the colbert report.
UKIRT - from 100 hours of astronomy
this video, created as part of the 100 hours of astronomy project for the international year of astronomy, describes the UKIRT telescope - where i'm spending my week.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
twinkle twinkle little stars
while sitting inside the control room of a telescope, we are isolated from seeing exactly what's happening with the weather outside, except for when we venture out into the cold to check the sky. i like to go out and check fairly often, acclimate my eyes to the darkness, see the stars... but its cold and conditions can change rapidly enough, that its necessary to have weather monitoring devices working all the time (if possible!).
inside UKIRT's control room, there is a screen showing the realtime view from an all-sky camera! the image below shows that view... you can see the telescope on the left side and the milky way galaxy streaming across the sky!
the green plus sign is where our telescope is pointing and the little yellow crosshairs show the position of a companion telescope. at the upper left, above the white telescope, you can see a fainter silver dome with a big line shooting out of it! that is the laser used by the gemini telescope adaptive optics system. the laser is clearly visible when i go outside, and i think its great fun to watch it change positions!
so what are adaptive optics and why do we shoot lasers into the sky??
because photons of light from distant stars get shaken up as they pass thru the earth's atmosphere, causing them to "twinkle" to our eyes. the more the photons get shaken up, the bigger and "fuzzier" objects appear in a telescopic image (this is the major advantage of putting telescopes in space). if we can somehow determine the turbulence in the atmosphere as the photons pass thru it, we can correct for it and get sharper images of the stars!
adaptive optics is a fascinating technique that has recently come in to use by several major telescopes around the world to improve the image sharpness. to correct for atmospheric distortions, you use a specific guide star, a quick computer to measure how the star "twinkles", and a special deformable mirror that sits inside the optical path of the telescope.
the computer measures the changing light coming from the guide star every millisecond or less, then rapidly sends signals to adjust the shape of the special mirror in order to immediately correct for the "twinkle." if there is no natural guide star bright enough to use in the part of the sky that you happen to be observing, you can create an artificial guide star with a laser! a "laser guide star" it's called.
here's a nice example of how impressively the use of adaptive optics can improve image quality!
pretty amazing difference, no? adaptive optics systems are incredibly complicated to develop and produce, so not all telescopes use them, but they become more important as telescope mirror sizes increase.
now to go check the sky....
inside UKIRT's control room, there is a screen showing the realtime view from an all-sky camera! the image below shows that view... you can see the telescope on the left side and the milky way galaxy streaming across the sky!
the green plus sign is where our telescope is pointing and the little yellow crosshairs show the position of a companion telescope. at the upper left, above the white telescope, you can see a fainter silver dome with a big line shooting out of it! that is the laser used by the gemini telescope adaptive optics system. the laser is clearly visible when i go outside, and i think its great fun to watch it change positions!
so what are adaptive optics and why do we shoot lasers into the sky??
because photons of light from distant stars get shaken up as they pass thru the earth's atmosphere, causing them to "twinkle" to our eyes. the more the photons get shaken up, the bigger and "fuzzier" objects appear in a telescopic image (this is the major advantage of putting telescopes in space). if we can somehow determine the turbulence in the atmosphere as the photons pass thru it, we can correct for it and get sharper images of the stars!
adaptive optics is a fascinating technique that has recently come in to use by several major telescopes around the world to improve the image sharpness. to correct for atmospheric distortions, you use a specific guide star, a quick computer to measure how the star "twinkles", and a special deformable mirror that sits inside the optical path of the telescope.
the computer measures the changing light coming from the guide star every millisecond or less, then rapidly sends signals to adjust the shape of the special mirror in order to immediately correct for the "twinkle." if there is no natural guide star bright enough to use in the part of the sky that you happen to be observing, you can create an artificial guide star with a laser! a "laser guide star" it's called.
here's a nice example of how impressively the use of adaptive optics can improve image quality!
pretty amazing difference, no? adaptive optics systems are incredibly complicated to develop and produce, so not all telescopes use them, but they become more important as telescope mirror sizes increase.
now to go check the sky....
Twenty-One Lunar Proposals Underway
With twenty-one lunar proposals now underway for the Decadal Survey, the Moon will have a niche within the NASA science exploration efforts on such matters as South Pole-Aitken Basin, Lunar Dusty Exosphere, Lunar Helium-3 Fusion Resource Distribution, Origins of Lunar Remanent Crustal Magnetism and several more. Discovery Launch Friday: Stay Tuned
Space Shuttle Discovery may launch Friday with two launch opportunities in the making. Here is more from NASA on the mission status. The Discovery launch, mission events at the International Space Station, and landing of the space shuttle will be webcast on NASA-TV. Discovery may spend its 25th birthday in-orbit.height difference - star wars
here's a great, relaxed photo of most of our favorite star wars characters!
from left to right: Harrison Ford (Han Solo), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker). Undated. link
from left to right: Harrison Ford (Han Solo), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker). Undated. link
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Can You Guess The Logo?
Here Is A Nice Game To Test How Well Are You Observing The Popular Logos Which You See Almost Everyday.
You Can Play The Game On GuessTheLogo.Com Website.
* Web Logos 1
* Web Logos 2
* Tv Logos
* Car Logos
alsoread: Browse Tweets On Games
Shipwreck Museum
Last weekend I was fortunate to have been asked to teach the agate class at the Shipwreck Museum located on Whitefish Point. The weather was a bit windy, but the rain held off on Saturday. On Friday, they let me set up a small booth on the porch of their gift shop. The rain did not hold off that day. Thus, when the tourists took refuge on the covered porch, I was at the right place at the right time with my booth.
Although Grand Marais does quite well with tourism, we do not compare to Whitefish Point. I couldn't believe how busy it was, even with the bad weather. Of course, it was Blueberry Festival 11 miles down the road in Paradise. That may have contributed to the busy tourist traffic on Whitefish Point.
Below are some pictures taken at Whitefish Point, including one of my booth and a couple from the agate class.
A shot from the microscope part of the agate class.
Several ore freighters passed by during the day.
Some of the class participants looking for rock specimens in the field trip portion of the class.
Various shots of the buildings/displays at the shipwreck museum.
A makeshift memorial for victims from the Edmund Fitzgerald tragic sinking on November 10, 1975.
More shots of the museum grounds.
My booth on the gift shop porch.
Although Grand Marais does quite well with tourism, we do not compare to Whitefish Point. I couldn't believe how busy it was, even with the bad weather. Of course, it was Blueberry Festival 11 miles down the road in Paradise. That may have contributed to the busy tourist traffic on Whitefish Point.
Below are some pictures taken at Whitefish Point, including one of my booth and a couple from the agate class.
A shot from the microscope part of the agate class.
Several ore freighters passed by during the day.
Some of the class participants looking for rock specimens in the field trip portion of the class.
Various shots of the buildings/displays at the shipwreck museum.
A makeshift memorial for victims from the Edmund Fitzgerald tragic sinking on November 10, 1975.
More shots of the museum grounds.
My booth on the gift shop porch.
square root of minus one = i
super cute!
i love that they advertise this shirt in pink, although she's not going to get anywhere here counting with her fingers!!
i love that they advertise this shirt in pink, although she's not going to get anywhere here counting with her fingers!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Launch Scub Two for Discvery at the Cape
"We have scrubbed [the Discovery space shuttle launch] for the evening, officially at 5:52 p.m. Eastern," said launch commentator Allard Beutel. "The last half an hour or so, a problem cropped up with a fill-and-drain valve in the bottom part of the shuttle, the aft part of the shuttle, related to the liquid hydrogen. This particular valve ... gave indications it did not close when it was commanded to." And, so was the word from the Kennedy Space Center launch pad. A rescheduled launch time and date have yet to be announced. Whitefish Point Cranberry Farm
Last week and weekend were busy as usual. I presented my power point presentation on Wednesday at the Whitefish Township library in Paradise, MI. I took Thursday off, which is the first day off I've had in quite some time. After checking in with the Shipwreck Museum (I had a booth there on Friday and taught agate classes on Saturday), I decided to check out the cranberry farm on Whitefish Point. It has been operated by the same family since 1876! I spoke with the current owner. He says they harvest 180,000 pounds of cranberries each fall!
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the genus Vaccinium subgenus Oxycoccos, or in some treatments, in the distinct genus Oxycoccos. They are found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to 6 feet long and 2 to 8 inches in height. They have slender, wiry stems that are not thickly woody and have small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. They are pollinated by domestic honey bees. The fruit is an epigynous berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant; it is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe. It is edible, with an acidic taste that can overwhelm its sweetness.
Cranberries are a major commercial crop in certain American states and Canadian provinces. Most cranberries are processed into products such as juice, sauce, and sweetened dried cranberries (e.g. Craisins), with the remainder sold fresh to consumers. Cranberry sauce is regarded an indispensable part of traditional American and Canadian Thanksgiving menus and European winter festivals.
Since the early 21st century within the global functional food industry, there has been a rapidly growing recognition of cranberries for their consumer product popularity, nutrient content and antioxidant qualities, giving them commercial status as a "superfruit".
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the genus Vaccinium subgenus Oxycoccos, or in some treatments, in the distinct genus Oxycoccos. They are found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to 6 feet long and 2 to 8 inches in height. They have slender, wiry stems that are not thickly woody and have small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. They are pollinated by domestic honey bees. The fruit is an epigynous berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant; it is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe. It is edible, with an acidic taste that can overwhelm its sweetness.
Cranberries are a major commercial crop in certain American states and Canadian provinces. Most cranberries are processed into products such as juice, sauce, and sweetened dried cranberries (e.g. Craisins), with the remainder sold fresh to consumers. Cranberry sauce is regarded an indispensable part of traditional American and Canadian Thanksgiving menus and European winter festivals.
Since the early 21st century within the global functional food industry, there has been a rapidly growing recognition of cranberries for their consumer product popularity, nutrient content and antioxidant qualities, giving them commercial status as a "superfruit".
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