Archive for January, 2011
A sense of scale of the planets
by Tony on Jan.31, 2011, under outreach ideas
I love visualizations of the size of the planets. Here’s an interesting take, what some of the planets would look like from Earth if they were the same distance as our moon:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/31/5960635-get-a-sense-of-scale-for-planets
This visualization of relative planet and star size is still one of my favorites:
Ham’s flight, 50 years ago today
by Tony on Jan.31, 2011, under manned spaceflight
365 Days of Astronomy
by Tony on Jan.24, 2011, under astronomy, nasa, outreach ideas
Welcome 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast listeners. As promised here are the links mentioned in the January 25, 2011 podcast. For those not familiar with the podcast series, it’s a free podcast with a daily podcast 6-10 minutes long on an astronomy topic. My contribution to the series covers the wealth of resources available for educators to bring into their classrooms. Educators is broadly defined to cover both teachers in a classroom environment as well as informal educators like scout leaders, astronomy clubs doing outreach, or just amateur astronomers sharing their love of the night sky with the neighbors.
- NASA TV web feeds
- Educator Resource Centers (NASA)
- NASA Night Sky Network (JPL)
- Train Like an astronaut videos and other materials (NASA.gov)
- Non NASA resources mentioned in the podcast
- PDF file with more links
- podcast transcript
Paper models
by Tony on Jan.24, 2011, under outreach ideas
JPL has some great paper models that can be built by a variety of skill levels. Available planetary and asteroid exploration spacecraft are Galileo, Stardust, Cassini, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Odyssey, Mars Polar Lander, Mars Climate Orbiter, Genesis, Near as well as ad a Deep Space Network 34-Meter Tracking Antenna. I just retired my sagging Ares paper model, I’m going to try one of the Mars rovers I think
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/scalemodels/
The folks at the Space Telescope Science Institute also have a couple of versions of a Hubble Space Telescope model you can try:
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NASA Image of the Day
Curiosity at 'Cumberland'
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its front left Hazard-Avoidance Camera for this image of the rover's arm over the drilling target "Cumberland" during the 275th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (May 15, 2013). The rover team plans to use Curiosity's drill to collect a powdered sample from the interior of the rock for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is the mission's second rock-drilling target. The rover drove from its position beside the first drilling target, "John Klein," to its position beside Cumberland with drives of 121 inches (308 centimeters) on Sol 273 (May 13) and 26.6 inches (67.5 centimeters) on Sol 275. Curiosity's total odometry on Mars is now 2,385 feet (727 meters). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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