Death Ribbon

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is of a few wisps from the Veil Nebula, in and around the constellation of Cygnus. It is a remarkably difficult object to see under our increasingly bright suburban and urban skies, but it marks a "bubble" of expanding gas from a star that went supernova.

Long Gaps. Brief Bursts.

I had been hoping to be getting back to more regular blog postings once power was restored after Sandy, but things have not turned out that way. This is due to a combination of craziness at work (increased demands on a decreased workforce are leading to just plain fatigue and low morale) and the fact that my past few weekends (and one weekday when I was "off") have been filled with helping people in my state affected by Sandy.

So, long silences filled with short bursts of "catching up" until "normal" becomes a state of being again.

Sandfalls on Mars

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a shot taken by the MRO, currently doing amazing job in orbit around Mars. The spring Sun melts carbon dioxide ice, causing sand to fall and expose darker interior grains. This results is a strange-looking set of images such as this.

New Diamond in a Spiral

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 1365, a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Fornax. If you look closely at the upper right/center around the central core, you'll see a set of brackets showing a recently-discovered supernova in that galaxy.

Dense Field of View

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a wonderful combination of dark nebula, bright nebula and dense starfields: the regions around the so-called Pipe Nebula.

The Long Trail

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful shot of a single Leonid meteor trail. This one stretches practically from horizon to horizon!

Bad Luck = Good Sight

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is another shot of the recent solar eclipse. Bad luck in the form of clouds led to a good sighting of another eclipse phenomena: shadow bands.

Ring

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Moon with a halo around it. The halo is caused by ice crystals in high thin clouds (from the ground it sometimes looks as if there are no clouds at all). Snow coming?

The Space Review

In the current issue of The Space Review, a few items caught my eye: Jeff Foust looks at the grim budget outlook for the planetary exploration programs (and how history may guide). Vidvuds Beldavs and Jeffrey Sommers look at similar themes: how to escape the downward spiral and get to real economic growth again. Jeff Foust reviews Caleb Scharf's recent non-fiction work, Gravity's Engines.

Skyfall

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Leonid meteor shower over Monument Valley.

An Archway of Diamonds

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a combined series of images from the Hubble Space Telescope showing one of the most massive stars known plus a vast star-forming region. (For some reason this reminds me of images from 1980's shows such as Buck Rogers.)

Shine On

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a shot of the solar eclipse, this time in the partly-cloudy skies over Queensland, Australia.

Your Hat's On Fire

Excellent in-depth look at one of my favorite books, Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep.

Time Passages

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the recent solar eclipse, from partial phase as the Sun cleared the horizon, to totality and back to normal. Fantastic sequence!

Darkness Falls from the Sky

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the eclipse in Queensland. Beautiful shot of Bailey's Beads!

Timepulse

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day compresses life, the universe and everything into one minute. It really all did start with a big bang!

Quilting Bee

One of the odder entries in the Astronomy Picture of the Day series: a eclipse quilt.

Composite

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful composite of ground and sky.

The Space Review

In the current issue of The Space Review, we have: Jeff Foust looks at the rumblings in the press about NASA's plans to return to the Moon...sort of. Is the L1 "Gateway" an actual plan or speculation based on old plans? Michael Listner (Part 01) looks at space debris (all together now: Send up the Toybox!). Alan Stern and Geoff Marcy look at Uwingu, Kickstarter (as it were) for science (a better name is needed, folks). And Jeff Foust reviews Gary Westfahl's The Spacesuit Film (who can identify the image used on the cover?).

Bailey's Beads and Rings

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a new depiction of Bailey's Beads. Horizontally compressed image of all the beads from a eclipse in 2008 creates art.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 660, a galaxy in the constellation of Pisces. The odd shape may have been caused by a "collision" (merger or passing through by another galaxy) or other close encounter.

The Heart of the Heart

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows emission nebula Melotte 15. This structure lies in the larger nebula known as The Heart Nebula (IC 1805).

On Reading

We who pride ourselves in reading much and widely forget that the printed page serves us in a similar fashion as the drug serves an addict. After a short time away from it we grow agitated and begin to pine, by which time anything will do: a bus timetable, a telephone directory, an operating manual for a washing machine. "They say that life’s the thing," said Logan Pearsall Smith, a littérateur of distinction but now almost forgotten, "but I prefer reading." For how many of us—avid readers, that is—has the printed page been a means of avoidance of the sheer messiness, the intractability, of life, to no other purpose than the avoidance itself? It is for us what the telenovela is for the inhabitant of the Latin American barrio, a distraction and a consolation. We gorge on the printed page to distract ourselves from ourselves: the great business of Doctor Johnson’s life, according to Boswell and Johnson himself. Or we read to establish a sense of superiority, or at least to ward off a sense of inferiority: "What, you
haven’t read Ulysses?"

Once, staying overnight at an airport hotel in Los Angeles, I found myself without a book. How this happened I can no longer recall; it was most unusual, for by far the most useful lesson that life has taught me, and one that I almost always heed, is never to go anywhere without a book. (In Africa, I have found that reading a book is an excellent way of overcoming officials’ obstructionism. They obstruct in order to extract a bribe to remove the obstruction; but once they see you settled down for the long term, as it were, with a fat book, Moby-Dick, say, they eventually recognize defeat. Indeed, I owe it to African officialdom that I have read Moby Dick; I might otherwise never have got through it.)

(Anthony Daniels, The Digital Challenge: I: Loss & Gain, Or The Fate of the Book )

The Tail of the Tadpole

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is of Arp 188, popularly known as The Tadpole's Tail. Galaxies interact and create beauty.

Sandy

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the reason I've been posting these retroactively. Hurrican Sandy. If you look closely, you can see my house.

Stillsuit

Interesting bit on reading Dune at the age of 13. Good to see the kids are still reading the old stuff, these days.

Jinx

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day puts me in mind of the science fictional locale of Jinx (Larry Niven's Known Space tales). The universe is stranger than we can imagine: that's Methone, right here in our own solar system. Another great image from Saturn's tiniest "moon", the Cassini orbiter.

Addendum: January 1975 Analog cover. See what I mean?

Where Was Moses When the Lights Went Out?

Kewpie doll to the first that correctly links that to a movie I'm thinking of.

Hurricane Sandy came to call last week. We lost power at around 1900 hours on Monday and did not get it back until around 1200 hours Saturday. And we're fortunate: a few trees down, our fence probably will need to be replaced, I had to bail out the sump hole in order to keep the basement from being flooded (40 gallons of water, initially every 30 minutes, eventually slowing to every 3 hours, all day and night). Many are still without power, many have lost everything they owned.

So, this might be a good time to contribute to a charity that will help those who were affected!

Blog was knocked out by loss of power, internet, and all those other hallmarks of civilization. I'll start posting APOD and more again, soon, going retroactively. Stay tuned.

Dione

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful shot (courtesty of the still-operating Cassini orbiter, long may it function!) of Saturn's heavily-cratered icy moon Dione.

UFO!

Well, maybe not. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows some amazing clouds.

There's a Bad Moon on the Rise

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the "Hunter's Moon" rising over the Alps. Hmmm...full Moon in October. Europe. Where wolf? There wolf!

At the Bottom of a Hole

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a peek at what we can't see directly: the black hole that resides at the center of the Milky Way.

Toil, Toil...

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a reflection nebula, IC 2118 (but more commonly known by the nickname of Witch Head Nebula!) casts spells near Rigel in the great constellation of Orion.

Ansible!

Another month, another Ansible. Rejoice and be glad!

Paul Krugman, introducing the Folio Society edition of the Foundation trilogy, has an Atwood Moment: 'Maybe the first thing to say about "Foundation" is that it's not exactly science fiction – not really. Yes, it's set in the future, there's interstellar travel, people shoot each other with blasters instead of pistols and so on. But these are superficial details, playing a fairly minor part in the story.' [PDF] [KMacL]

As Others See Us. Coverage of the new Red Dwarf X offers a hauntingly nostalgic sense of déjà revu: 'The show has an obsessive fan base, which stereotype would suggest is mainly men in their thirties and forties with a penchant for sci-fi and gaming – see how I'm subtly avoiding the provocative words "nerd", "geek" or "unsuccessful with women" here?' (Michael Hogan, The Telegraph, 4 October) [MPJ]

Galactic Ghost

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is very appropriate for the holiday. Faint clouds have a ghostly appearance; VdB 152 in the constellation of Cepheus. Who you gonna call?

Tiny Bubbles

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows planetary nebula PK 164 +31.1 (in other words, the Perek & Kohoutek catalog entry number 164, followed by additional information), found in the constellation of Lynx (the Wildcat). Tiny bubble? Only on the scale of the universe at large!

Nebula of the Arachnid Overlords

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day would be a perfect setting for a classic space opera by Jack Williamson. NGC 6537, The Red Spider Planetary Nebula (with amazing structure and detail in its layers).

Rock of Doom

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a view of Phobos, one of the "hurtling moons of Barsoom" (Mars). Take a good look, it'll only be around for another 100 million odd years.

Layers Within Layers

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows emission layers around a short-lived (and brightly burning) O-type star within NGC 6164. Take a look, because it'll only be around for a few more million years!

We're Going to Need a Bigger Pot

Holy flipping blue claws! That's some crab!

Reflections Of

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a nice shot of a "reflection nebula" (as well as some other nice features), vdB1. I think they found a good first entry for this catalog!

A Basement of Non-Euclidian Geometry

The creeping horror...as reported to the housing association.

Medusa

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is of Abell 21, more commonly known as The Medusa Nebula, an old (and distorted) planetary nebula in the constellation of Gemini.

Send Up the Toy Box!

More debris in orbit. It's getting thick up there.

The Black Dog Runs at Night

I could really use some coffee about now.

High Orbit

A ring-like space habitat with a central pool inhabited by supercomputer-operating dolphins? Write me that story!

Second Breakfast?

When you hear about Christopher Tolkien's distaste of movies made from the works of his father, I bet stuff like this is the major reason for the distaste.

Star Clouds

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a wide view of M31 (our neighboring galaxy in Andromeda) and it's neighbor NGC 206, a region of young (blue) stars.

Some of Their Favorites

Reading through The Miscellaneous Writings of Clark Ashton Smith, I found a note in the biographical sketch by Donald Sidney-Fryer which mentioned that both Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft noted their favorite weird stories in a fanzine one month apart. How many of these have you read?

Clark Ashton Smith: The Yellow Sign (Robert W. Chambers); The House of Sounds (M.P. Shiel; The Willows (Algernon Blackwood) A View from a Hill (M.R. James); The Death of Halpin Frayser (Ambrose Bierce); The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe); The Masque of the Red Death (Edgar Allan Poe); The Novel of the White Powder (Arthur Machen); The Call of Cthulhu (H.P. Lovecraft); The Colour Out of Space (H.P. Lovecraft).

H.P. Lovecraft: The Novel of the Black Seal (Arthur Machen); The White People (Arthur Machen); Count Magnus (M.R. James); The Moon Pool (A. Merritt) (novelette version).

Sidney-Fryer says of Lovecraft's choices "Six of them duplicate Smith's choices, with only four titles different." The four listed above are the "different" but he does not list the "sames". Will have to do some searching!

I'll also have to cross-check this with the titles/authors mentioned in Lovecraft's essay Supernatural Horror in Literature (online versions here and here).

Partly Cloudy

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day will have you wondering if your eyes are seeing things. No, just some clouds. Some clouds!

Saladin's Shorts

Saladin Ahmed; Engraved on the Eye (Ridan Publications; 2012; cover art, not indicated)

I can't recall exactly where I came across Saladin Ahmed. Facebook? Twitter? His own website? In any case, the description of his first novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon interested me (and has been reviewed here), so I sought out what he had published already. Alas, not much came up, a few short stories, scattered in online magazines and podcasts, but what I read interested me.

This self-published book (eBook only) gathers all of Saladin's short works under one cover. You have two stories set in the same universe as Throne (Where Virtue Lives and Judgment of Swords and Souls), fun in the Old West with a twist or three (Mister Hadj's Sunset Ride), generally twisted humor (General Akmed's Revenge?, Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions, Iron Eyes and the Watered Down World), straight-up dystopian apocalyptic cyberpunk (The Faithful Soldier, Prompted) and straight-up fantasy/horror (Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Iameela).

All polished and interesting and with some nice stylistic or plot twists. All showing a level of sophistication and skill higher than most first-time novelists. Would that he typed faster!

Several of these I had read in my previous searches. Doctor Diable Goes Through the Motions was completely new and is a gem. Supervillains trapped in endless Power Point presentations and having their souls sucked away by endless board meetings. And I want to see a novel set in the universe of Iron Eyes and the Watered Down World. Fritz Leiber and Robert E. Howard are sitting in Valhalla, jealous. Oh, so jealous.

Great stuff here. Get thee to your favorite online eBook retailer and buy!

Made up of: Introduction; Author's Note; Where Virtue Live; Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Iameela; Judgment of Swords and Souls; Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions; General Akmed's Revenge?; Mister Hadj's Sunset Ride; The Faithful Soldier, Prompted; Iron Eyes and the Watered Down World.

Counts as ten (10) entries in 2012: The Year in Shorts.

Boneyard

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a sad sight.

Astronomical Sketch of the Day

While working on a presentation about amateur astronomy for my daughter's Earth Science class (eight periods, I can feel my SAN slipping away now!), I came across a lovely sight dedicated to the art of astronomical sketching. Sketching not only is a great way of recording your observations (at a relatively low cost compared to any photographic outfit), but sketching an object helps you to observe it better.

The sketches on this site are by "amateurs". Wow. I have a long way to go.

Knight Moves

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33), a dark nebula in the constellation of Orion. I've found this one to be one of the hardest to spot, needing special filters and a dark sky. I've only been sure of spotting it on one occasion.

Zodiac

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a nice nearly all-sky shot of the Milky Way and zodiacal light. Neither are seen anymore from my backyard, thanks to light pollution!

Mergers and Acquisitions

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 2623 in the constellation of Cancer. NGC 2623, also known as Arp 243, is actually a pair of galaxies in the process of merging.

Close Up: New Worlds

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a depiction of our "newest" neighbor (it has been there all along, we just didn't know it!).

Curtains and Streams

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a wonderful shot from Yellowstone National Park showing the erupting White Dome Geyser coupled with a curtain-like showing of the Aurora.

Mode of Operation

"Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pond and that is the test of generals. It can only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought practicing the stroke so often that at the crisis it is as natural as a reflex."

(T.E. Lawrence)

Starwolf

Posted previously...but given what I've seen so far this "season", this is the television show I'd much rather see than anything currently playing.

I Really Ought To Keep Better Notes

He showered, and for once climbed very early into bed, feeling that he must have nightmares. About strange sounds in the winds, over the mysterious thickets of Mars. Or about some blackened, dried-out body of a sentient being, sixty million years dead, floating free in the Asteroid Belt. A few had been found. Some were in museums

.

(From...maybe The Planet Strappers by Raymond Z. Gallun? I need to keep better notes.)

Spiral Path

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an odd looking one. The star R Sculptoris was recently examined using the recently built ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array). It was found to be surrounded by gas and dust moving out from the star in a spiral pattern. What is causing this?

Being Negative

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a very different look at a familiar thing. The Sun, inverted, against an inverted starfield. The solar image shows a lot of "surface" detail that we cannot normally see.

Deep Time

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a new version of a "classic", the latest generation in the "deep field" shots of the Hubble Space Telescope. From the Deep Field to the Ultra Deep Field to the (now) Extreme Deep Field.

The Stars, Like Dust

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful shot of the area in Pegasus: galaxies embedded in an area of cosmic dust.

Wide Swath

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful shot of three degrees (six times the width of the full Moon) of the sky towards the center of the Milky Way. Most astronomical instruments only cover a smaller portion of the sky, so a vista like this must be built up over many images. Producing stunning shots, such as this, is secondary for this instrument (Pan-STARRS), it is designed for "wide angle viewing" to hunt for potentially dangerous asteroids.

A Different View

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us aurora. So what, you say, we've seen many such pictures this "season". Not so much from this point of view!

Combat Jump

CSM Basil L. Plumley has passed away after a brief stay in hospice, out of complications due to colon cancer. I wrote a bit about him here, in 2008. Hopefully he is sharing drinks with other members of his unit who went first to clear the way.

More here. A photo of then Sgt. Major Plumley at LZ X-Ray.

And we can't forget another mention of this song. Social interactions, old school. More social interactions, old school. Look at those service stripes!

Background information. You might want to look up the genesis of the "username" behind the video. Extensive webiste. Full (?) trailer.

Wheel of Time

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a shot of star trails over a lighthouse located at Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA). Dizzying!

Twisted Bubble

Yesterday we had one result of a star near the end of it's time on the main sequence, today we have a less symmetrical result. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows supernova remnant Simeis 147 in the constellations of Taurus and Auriga. Very faint (too faint for me!) and covering the span of six full moons in the evening sky (!).

Better Than Cinema

"I come in peace, I didn't bring artillery. But I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I'll kill you all."

(General James Mattis)

Bobble

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a nice shot of the planetary nebula Abell 39. Bobble, not bubble, as it makes me think of the statis fields in the Vernor Vinge tales.

Don't. Blink.

No, no angels here, weeping or otherwise. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day will have yo wondering about what you are seeing.

First Nebula

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful shot of M42, the Great Nebula of Orion. This is something I visit every time I see it in the night sky and is the first nebula I remember looking at (with a very shaky, over-priced and under-powered "department store" telescope).

Warp Speed to Mars!

Well, maybe not. But it tickled the fanboi to read "dilithium crystals" in this article about a potential rocket system.

Truth

"It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men." Thucydides

Reflections Of

Aurora and a "falling star" are featured in today's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Eye in the Sky

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula, the remains of a stellar explosion.

Goats Over Greenland

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a "goat" in the sky; one of many fantastic shapes generated during an aurora. "Mouseover" the picture to see the constellations.

Cool, Clear Water

Well, maybe not quite yet! But today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows that MSL Curiosity appears to have hit a "hole in one" with signs that it has found the remains of a streambed.

The Next Celestial Wonder?

Many amateur astronomers are straining their instruments towards today's Astronomy Picture of the Day and wondering if the next "comet of the century" is on the move.

Cleanup in Universe Aisle Six

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxies in collison (or merging): NGC 6745 is actually two galaxies currently as one rather misshapen mass.

Iris

The incomparable Tony Halles (we are not worthy to carry his filter case) provides today's Astronomy Picture of the Day with this beautiful image of NGC 7023, The Iris Nebula.

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

I seem to be perpetually behind on listening to podcasts, even at sites where I contribute to the podcasts, so it wasn't until this morning that I started to listen to Patrick Hester's excellent interview with one of my favorite writers, Jay Lake.

And, then I shut it off as it seemed more important to actually be able to see the fricking road that I was driving on than crying from emotional reaction to this very brutally honest discussion.

Both my father and father-in-law died after very long and protracted illnesses. Both of these overlapped the other, with my father dying first, then around a year later, my father-in-law dying. Along that timeframe we had the birth of my daughter, 09/11, a loss of a job of fourteen plus years, unemployment for a year, part-time work for several years, full-time employment at a fraction of what I had previously made, sacking of over 50% of the people I work with, illness of my mother-in-law and associated events in trying to move her, and more.

My father did not die of cancer, but of conditions related to dementia and Parkinson's Disease. My father-in-law did die of cancer, he had cancer upon cancer upon cancer which lead to other problems which lead to long-term secondary illness which lead to dementia which lead to heart failure...

The cost—financial but also—often overlooked—personal to a family is tremendous. I drove thousands of miles to visit my parent's to try and help out. I drove hundreds of miles on errands for my in-laws, including trying to get my father-in-law to the doctor or to chemotherapy. The illnesses exhausted me (I can't imagine how it was for my mother or mother-in-law) and frayed relations with family members both in terms of my siblings and my siblings-in-law (the fact that only one sibling-in-law, and that by marriage to a brother-in-law bothered to call or send a card on my father's death irks me to this day; I can understand that they were dealing with their own problems with my father-in-law, etc., but somehow I managed being hip-deep in two parental illnesses to function, sigh).

I can't imagine what Jay is going through. Or his child. I pray that they both have the strength to carry on.

I'll eventually listen to the podcast, but right now, it is too much. As with anything vaguely related to 09/11, or certain stories written by David Drake and set in the Hammer's Slammers sequence, or even the pillory scene with Jack Aubrey in the Patrick O'Brian tales...this just hits too close to home, hits too much of an emotional chord.

Cancer sucks. Parkinson's sucks. Arthritis sucks. Illness sucks.

The Empty Square

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows what is (to the naked eye) a pretty empty part of the night sky: the "great square" of the constellation Pegasus. With sufficient light-gathering ability...things look different!

Stars and Smoke

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the stars of Corona Australis and very smoke-like nebular clouds.

The Horror of It All

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a perfectly good working spacecraft, about one-quarter to one-half through its expected useful life, being sent into retirement.

What the heck is wrong with us?

Dried Fruits

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a closeup taken by MER Opportunity (you know, one of the other rovers on Mars) of blueberries...the rocky "fruit" that was first found by it and MER Spirit when they first touched down on Mars. These are not like the earlier spheres, so we have found a new process at work on Mars.

Celestial Pencil

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us NGC 2736, more commonly known as the Pencil Nebula. Supernova shockwaves!

Circles

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day continues the fling into Fall with views of the Sun over one location from the solstice to the equinox to the solstice!

Another Analemma

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us another analemma, this time a complete cycle!

The Unquiet Sky

Astonishing shot in today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. We've had quite the active star recently!

Analemma

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a analemma (a series of images of our Sun, tracing its course over a year or part of a year) from a sequence of sunrise shots. Look carefully at the upper solar images for a visit by a planetary body.

Viva Las Vesta!

No dusky natives, no waving palms, but possibly a future oasis in space. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us the place where Asimov once stranded his character's and the setting of a thousand other science fiction tales: the asteroid (minor planet) Vesta, as the asteroid explorer Dawn departs on the way to asteroid Ceres.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

The tavern keeper looked at the girl who was re-lacing her bodice. He shrugged sympathetically. "The English, yes? Mad. All mad. Heretics. Mad." He made the sign of the cross to defend himself from the heathen evil. "Like all soliders," the tavern keeper said. "Just mad."

(Bernard Cornwall, Sharpe's Rifles)

Say, "Cheese"!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us that tourists are the same...no matter where they are.

Our Quiet Sun

Like yesterday's entry, today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is something that you will have a hard time believing is reality: our "quiet" Sun.

Op Art

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Saturn, the rings and Tethys. There are some things you see that just make your mind wonder if it can be real.

Ring Sketch

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful rendering of Messier 57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra. Despite the spread of more and more advanced means of imaging (equipment, software) at lower and lower prices, amateur astronomer's are still encouraged to take up sketching as it helps to train the eye to observe fine detail.

One of These Things is Just Like the Other

Hard to believe on first glance that today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is showing two of the same thing. Yes, that almost star-like object is a galaxy (Messier Object 60), as is the more obvious spiral to the side (NGC 4647). Ellipticals are odd ducks, many of the so-called Arp objects, catalogued by astronomer Halton Arp as sites of interesting goings on.

Beyond that, take a look at the image. How many other galaxies can you spot? The constellation of Virgo is an absolute swarm of galaxies and a great "hunting ground" for amateur astronomers.

Cocoon Through Wide Eyes

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a wide shot of one of the more interesting places in the night sky (at least for us Northern Hemisphere types) to hunt through: the area around the Cocoon Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. Note the "dark nebula", the red filaments and the eye-popping Cocoon Nebula itself.

(Other interesting places? For me, the whole area around Scorpius and Saggitarius. The Orion nebula. Taurus. Any sweep along the path of the Milky Way.)

Snaphots into the Light

I was doing pretty good avoiding coverage and messages until I saw this. Now tears are running down my checks as the memories come back strongly.

Beehives and Archway

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the arch of our home galaxy, The Milky Way, hanging above the Bungle Bungles, beehive-like structures in western Australia.

Loop

And here we are again. An anniversary that I would really absolutely freaking like to forget.

Impact?

Reports are starting to trickle in that Jupiter may have been hit by an object, presumably a comet such as Shoemaker-Levy Nine. As it rises in early morning skies, I'm sure amateurs (and professionals, if they can hijack the observing time!) are focusing to see if the impact scar can be seen in the atmosphere.

Rolling

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a view of MSL Curiosity's explorations of Mars. Just starting the journey!

Whispy Horse

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the fantastic detail around one object that I've found very (very!) difficult to detect with my crappy, light-polluted skies: the "Horsehead" nebula in Orion.

Passing the Edge

At what point do the Voyager probes (still ticking!) go from being "in" the Solar System" to being "in" interstellar space? Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day gives us one clue.

Ooorah

Ever taken a class on motivational speaking? Ever gotten one from your employer? I'll bet it wasn't even a tenth as motivating as this one.

Who's Up for Seafood?

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows IC 4628, the "Prawn Nebula". Praaaawwwwnnnsss...

Skyglow Redux

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day visits skyglow again, this time over the skies of Italy.

Luminous

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows not auroras...but skyglow. Faint bands of green appear over the skies of German. "Mouse over" the picture to get a constellation guide.

Long-Term Outlook

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows paths of hurricanes from 1851 to the present. Notice anything odd?

Sisters

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Pleides Star Cluster, Messier Object 45, in the constellation Taurus (the "spot" on the bull's "shoulder").

Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,
Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.

(Locksley Hall; Alfred, Lord Tennyson)

And the Hugo Goes To...

SF Signal wins for best fanzine...site...thing! And John DeNardo mentions all of us!

Holy frack...by six degrees of Kevin Bacon, "I" won a Hugo!

Alas, I am not watching any more of the ceremony because UStream took down the stream when clips of nominated television shows were shown...with permission of their creators...violating DMCA according to UStream's bots.

How stupid is that?

Addendum: Ustream said they were looking into the situation...as things wound up (too fracking late!). Here's how I voted. Here are the results (via Tor Dot Com).

Night Flight to Radiation

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the recent night launch of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes satellite pair.

Once In A...

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a blue moon. No, not colored blue, but just an indication of supposed rarity.

Halo View of Cat Eye

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a different view of the Cat's Eye Nebula than the one we had earlier in the week.

To Touch Another Sphere

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a panoramic shot (recently created, no panoramic cameras on Apollo 11!) from Tranquility Base.

Changing of the Guard

Stanley Schmidt achieved the goal of exceeding John W. Campbell, Jr.'s length of tenure at ASF. He is now retiring.

Lightning and Sprite

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a view downwards from the International Space Station. The camera managed to catch the flash of "ordinary" lightning as well as the elusive Red Sprite!

Rho Ophiuchi

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the star fields and nebular clouds of the region around Rho Ophiuchi. This beautiful image is not from a space-based platform, but is a ground-based image (showing how far optics, instrumentation and computer power have come over the past few decades).

While this is not the setting of Jack Williamson's classic Humanoids tales, his use of "rhodomagnetism" and "rhodium" plus the world "Wing IV" always coupled that in my mind with this nebula. It would be a great backdrop to nighttime shots of a film project based on the stories!

Sharp View

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Aeolis Mons (popularly known as "Mount Sharp") in Gale Crater on Mars.

No Zelazny, Alas

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day always puts me in mind of Roger Zelazny.

Neil Armstrong

The first man who stepped onto the Moon has passed away. We stopped building the Saturn V, threw away the Apollo infrastructure. We built the Shuttle and threw it away. We've had several iterations of replacements and they seem to go nowhere and probably will be thrown away. NASA is directionless.

Such a sad day in so, so, many ways.

Addendum (items will be added as I find them, if they are unique and interesting): Neil, Neil and Neal.

Shuffling

No posting this week, will try to catch up and back date. I've been painting, moving furniture, mowing, cleaning, steam cleaning rugs and lot more. Some vacation.

The Bombing of Albrechtsberg Castle

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows an (apparent) impending collison between a ground-based castle and a space-based object. In reality, not so much, but it is a lovely night shot.

Conjunction Lapse

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the conjunction (lots of them this week!) between our Moon and the planet Venus. Look at all the thrice-be-damned light pollution!

Streaks

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a time-elapse "streak" picture showing the conjuntion between Mars, Saturn and Spica. The colors of the three celestial bodies are clearly marked in this shot.

Near and Far

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows clouds at the edge of "space".

Twisted Pairs

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video about DNA. Will this code be found on other worlds or do other means of carrying information across deep time exist?

Brain Pickings

Brain Pickings looks at Mars and the Mind of Man, a book that grew out of a seminar upon the arrival at Mars of the hard-working Mariner 9 (the probe that probably launched a thousand science fiction stories, including the Mars "trilogy" by Kim Stanley Robinson). Great book. Wish the conference had been videotaped and filmed and still available.

Cup 'o Noodles

I, for one, welcome our robotic noodle-slicing overlords.

Filaments

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows cloud-like filaments stretching across Old Sol.

Observations

This evening's walk with Miss Mocha yielded several bats fluttering overhead, two rainbows and another sight of crepuscular rays above the clouds hiding the setting sun. This has been a summer of such sights.

Gravity at Work

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 72, a beautiful example of a globular cluster in the constellation of Aquarius. Globulars are among my favorite things to view with my telescope or even a good pair of binoculars. The strange thing about globulars (to me) is where you can find the most in the night sky: among constellations such as Sagittarius and Scorpius, towards the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. Why strange? Globulars are rare (having been consumed by their larger neighbor) and orbit outside the galaxy, so it is strange that it is easier to spot them looking towards the center, rather than out from the center (in the Milky Way's attic of the constellations on the opposite part of the sky from the two named above).

Richard Feynman once said in response to a picture of Messier 2, another globular cluster:

"He who cannot see gravity at work here has no soul."

Self-Portrait

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a self-portrait of MSL Curiosity. I've got a number of things to post about the rover (but that'll have to wait for a quieter day!).

1 in 3,000

One of the three thousand stories behind MSL Curiosity. Great stuff.

Bear Claw in the Sky

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 6888, The Crescent Nebula. I'm thinking more like bear claws, wich are way better than bagels.

Short-Term Memory

A different look at MSL Curiosity.

We're NASA and We Know It

I think those seven minutes of terror are starting to get to those folks at JPL.

Chiller Theater

A man wakes up to the ultimate horror! Looks like something M. Night Shama-rama-ding-dong would do!

To Your Health!

As if my wife or I needed an excuse: is dark chocolate good for you?

Year's Best

The entire run of The Year's Best edited by Gardner Dozois are making it into eBook format. These books are indispensible guides to the field, not only thanks to their selection of stories but due to the amazing work that Dozois puts into his opening essay. Can't wait to get all the ones I don't yet have and to replace the paper copies I do have (several square feet of shelf space cleared!).

Harry Harrison

And the wheel of life draws to a close over another great one, Harry Harrison. Not of the Golden Age, but the age that followed. I enjoyed many of his books: Captive Universe, the various Deathworld tales, the Stainless Steel Rat stories and more. My brush with him was a brief attempt to purchase (for publication) a SF-RPG that originally had been developed by FASA based on his Deathworld tales.

Obituary by Christopher Priest here. Some of his books as free eBooks here.

Addendum: Harry Harrison on the film version Make Room! Make Room! A roundup of tributes from the Tor Dot Com site.

The Great Wall of Mars

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a "color-corrected" image of what MSL Curiosity is viewing these days (one of the links will lead to the correct color image).

It's Only Tuesday?

I have only one thing to say to that revelation.

Administrivia Trivia

If you'd like to contact me, please e-mail me at Godel Escher Bach at g mail dot com.

Our review policy. Our review policy, enhanced. Our comments posting policy.

That is all.

Hey, Mars!

What's that blue-ish bump on your surface in Gale Crater?

Forgotten Battles

While the general public has let this incident fade from its collective memory, historians are just starting to study the epic battle of Green vs. Tan.

Radiant Source

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a fall of Perseids with a Milky Way backdrop.

KISS

Excellent advice to the author from Neil Gaiman. The shorter, the better.

Founding Father

The latest from the highly-recommended (by me) podcast The Agony Column is an interview with James Blaylock. Hear about Charles Fort, PKD, secret societies, steampunk, the madness rays of the KGB, a high school literature class I wish I had had and much more! And more Blaylock in an intriguing review of one of his latest works. Smaller note on the site here as well.

Addendum: Once you get through the Blaylock interview, you might want to listen to the interview with his friend and occasional collaborator, Tim Powers.

Starflight

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video: what would it be like to fly through the universe?

Collision Course

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a very slow traffic accident. NGC 4038 and NGC 4039...merge...

First Color

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is of MSL Curiosity's first color panorama of its new neighborhood. More to come!

Dresden Codak

New episode is up! If you haven't been reading these, scroll back through the archives and do so!

Hoaxes and Mistakes

It's amazing the number of mistakes or hoaxes you can find on the internet. For example, a number of people posted this panoramic view of Mars saying that it was from MSL Curiosity. Close, but no cigar: the solar panels are a dead giveaway (MSL Curiosity is nuclear powered). This panorama is from Opportunity and was taken over a period of time from 2011 to 2012.

Another picture started circulating today and has been debunked by the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait. No, this isn't a stunning view of Jupiter, Earth and Venus from the skies of Mars. This is a view generated in a planetarium program.

State of Decay

When the Phobos-Grunt probe failed (for the second time) initial reports out of Russia blamed many things...including allegations that somehow the United States had remotely cyber-attacked the probe.

The reality is probably a bit sadder: how is corruption destroying Russia's proud aerospace industry?

Incoming!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a Perseid meteor...below the ISS!

Psssttt...Hey Buddy...

...got a spare $1,500.00 you can give me?

From Terror to Might

The now-famous Seven Minutes of Terror video continues to morph, now into Dare Mighty Things. With even more actual footage included!

The Meaning of Planets

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the meanderings of Mars over time across the night sky. "Mouse over" the image for constellation outlines.

Curious Update

Lots going on Mars even though Curiosity is still being checked out and set up! Will thos folks in Curiosity's Mission Control ever stop partying? For example, how about a view of the local area? The landing thrusters exposed bedrock! (And I wonder why so much of the surface above the bedrock is flat and uniform in appearance: did something erode or move away the boulders we've seen at the other landing sites?) Before and after views of the landing site: watch carefully and you'll see bits and pieces from the landing sequence appear. A closer view, here, shows the appearance of the ballast used in the landing. Similar image here (we sure are messing up the neighborhood!).

Another Dip

It would have been better if he had accidentally set himself on fire.

Video Combo

JPL has taken the video from landing night plus the animation of MSL Curiosity landing (made ahead of the landing) and combined them. Hopefully the next step will add in the downward "still sequential video" that has yet to be beamed down. Fantastic stuff.

It's Away!

Fantastic shot of MSL Curiosity's heat shield dropping away.

Addendum: Sequential still video of the same action.

The Shallow End of the Gene Pool

Some parental types are too stupid for even words.

Mars is a Place

I think it was Kim Stanley Robinson who used the phrase from the title of this posting in Red Mars. With orbiters like Mariner and Viking, landers like Viking, Pathfinder/Sojourner, Phoenix, Spirit, Opportunity and now Curiosity, Mars is becoming "a place" more and more everyday.

Stuff like this makes it absolutely a "place".

Landing Shot

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is something that should make your jaw drop. If it does not, ask yourself: is there no poetry in your soul? A spaceship descends to the surface of another planet. The picture is taken by another spaceship in orbit around that planet. It is not our planet.

Beautiful Views

Let's see. How about a view of MSL Curiosity and various components? A view of the MSL's neighborhood (click on it! click on it!)?

Amazing stuff.

Space Command

O.K., what the? Maybe a reboot of classic Space Command? Looks almost Gerry Anderson-ish!

Ground Color

Yesterday's press conference on Curiosity showed some color stills (and a ersatz "movie") during the landing but now we have the first color image from the ground!

Bernard Lovell

Another loss for the astronomical community, another childhood hero gone. Sir Bernard Lovell, founder of the Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory has passed away. Jodrell was featured in several of my favorite books of those formative reading years and I often thought that Bernard Quatermass was modeled after Lovell.

The Space Review

In the current issue of The Space Review we have several items of interest: Jeff Foust looks at the (successful) landing of MSL Curiosity. Jeff Foust comes back with a look at the recent round of Commercial Crew "wins". Dwayne A. Day looks at recently declassified documents on our orbiting national assets. Finally, Michael Listner looks at the legal problems of space debris. Send up the Toybox!

Wheels Up!

Actually, wheels down! Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day celebrates the successful landing of MSL Curiosity in Gale Crater on Mars.

Snapshot Into the Light

I thought it was pretty amazing when they started sticking video cameras onto manned and unmanned vehicles and you could see shots of the shuttle from the viewpoint of the SRB, or an Atlas V boosting New Horizons to Pluto and so forth. Not satisfied with that, we have a shot of one vehicle landing on another planet (taken by another vehicle orbiting that planet) and a short video showing that vehicle landing (more to come as images are transmitted down).

Wow.

MPOD: February 11, 2002

Several great new images from the MGS today: an astounding view of layers at the northern polar cap; fresh crater rays in the Tharsis region; a spiral cloud (!) at Arisa Mons; signs of change at the southern polar cap; living (or viewing) in stereo with outcrops at Iani Chaos.

Nocturnal

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video (at some point they might have to change it to be the "Astronomy Image of the Day!) of the night skies from that "other" hemisphere.

A Couple of Curiosities

What to expect in terms of initial pictures from Curiosity (alas, the pictures being taken during the actual landing won't be available until August 6). And, the Seven Minutes of Terror video is now an infographic!

Canty

Beautiful artwork for the audiobook version of Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword. The artist, Thomas Canty, worked on my favorite covers for Michael Moorcock's Elric series (and more).

Tick-Tock

The latest version of the Mars24 app is up! I first installed this waaaaayyyy back with Pathfinder/Sojourner!

Extended Warranty

Eight-and-a-half years into its 90-day mission, MER Opportunity is going to take a break for a bit while Curiosity makes its grand entrance.

Glad to see NASA didn't do the silly thing of shutting down Opportunity due to funding!

"If the reason we've got to stand down is because another wonderful vehicle is about to land on Mars, I'm okay with that," chuckled Squyres. "We're just wishing the best for MSL. This is a fantastic mission. It's their time. It's going to be a very exciting night when we land and years of excitement after that."

"Everybody's okay with this," agreed Arvidson. "We're in this business of Mars exploration for the long haul. It's a program not just a mission."

IC Nebula

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows emission nebula IC 1396 in Cepheus. A beautiful (subtle and very large) nebula.

Tiny Bubbles

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 7635, The Bubble Nebula, in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It almost looks like a living thing in this image!

Iron Man

Our long national nightmare is over! The Iron Kingdoms RPG is finally on the way. What will this do for those "collectible prices" on the old supplements?

Crash and burn their paper empire, hopefully.

Very Crazy

I've heard several times now that as crazy as the method for getting Curiosity down to Mars is, it is the "least crazy" method. Nobody details what the other schemes are, alas.

How crazy is the landing going to be? Take a look!

Excellent video, NASA, one of your best in terms of the people you got to speak on it!

Dare Mighty Things is the tagline at the end of the video. My fingers are crossed.

Bee-Ware!

Ah, nature. You never know what might crop up.

Treasure Trove

A whole big pile of photos of fans, fan personalities, conventions and more! Another massive archive here (early WorldCons!!!)! Some pictures from 1980 here. And, a final gallery here!

Are geeks a new thing? Oh, heck no.

Say "Hi" to Ernesto!

Welcome, Ernesto! Will you be as much fun as Irene or Katia? I hope not.

The Edge of Night

Probably forgotten by many, we've actually got a vehicle headed to Pluto, Charon and beyond. In the latest issue of the New Horizons news, you can now "fly" the probe through the Kuiper Belt! And, hey, while you're at it, how about a little "citizen science" to help the mission out?

Fungi! Fungi from the Abyss!

Salon picks up on the "amateur" effort to film H.P. Lovecraft's The Fungi from Yuggoth. From the same folks who brought us the amazingly fantastic silent Call of Cthulhu. Buy. Watch. Weep that Hollywood (think the failed effort on At the Mountains of Madness) can't do a tenth as well.

Sing a Song of Ice and Fire

So what do you read while waiting for the next book/next season in the George R. R. Martin epic? Here's one suggestion (and not one I think I would have made to a very general audience!).

Birthplace

Nothing to see here. Move along. Just a little star birthing. Stop being a Peeping Tom.

Put a Little Dick There

Reading the comments and reviews of the remake of Total Recall it is clearer (now more than ever) that most of the people who watch movies "based" on PKD and remakes of movies "based" on PKD have never actually read anything by PKD.

100K+

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is Messier Object 05, a globular cluster in areas between Libra and Serpens.

John Keegan

Historian John Keegan has passed away. He was the first historian that I noticed getting a wide reading while I was in the Army and National Guard, I recall, for example, my First Sergeant reading The Mask of Command while we were doing tank gunnery. I've enjoyed all of his books, but most especially that title, The Face of Battle and Six Armies in Normandy (probably the first book I read about D-Day beyond my childhood favorite, The Longest Day). He made history interesting for me again, especially military history, after college when I was less interested in non-fiction than I had been before college.

Thank you, John.

Field

Dem's a lot of sparklies.

The Tides of Europa

NASA has selected a number of items for study...including a submarine probe for Europa!

Trails

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows star trails. We've seen these before, but this one is unique: it is taken at the south pole, over twenty-four hours!

Ansible!

Another month rolls around and another issue of Ansible rolls out!

THE DEAD PAST. 70 Years Ago, the world war had a chilling side-effect: 'Doc Smith's new [Lensman] book was slowed down for a while for he has gone to work for a big munitions firm as a Chemical Engineer, and since his work for the past twenty years or so has been Cereal Chemistry, and he had to do a little "boning up" on his explosives at first. But he expected to get at it soon the last time I saw him. so perhaps he is already working again in his spare time.' (E. Everett Evans, Futurian War Digest 22, August 1942) A critical insight from the same piece: 'Doc really writes TWO stories in ONE; the "bang-bang" story for the casual reader, and the deeply-plotted, carefully worked out psychological story for the deeper reader and thinker.'

Desert Skies

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful shot of landscapes and starscapes in Monument Valley.

Who Knew?

Harlan Ellison collects painted minis? Who knew? Is he also a gamer?

The Next Dick?

Who could be Hollowood's next Philip K. Dick? I'll point out that (a) Hollowood has not been very kind to the actual texts of PKD's work; (b) several of these folks have had long (fruitless) relationships with Hollowood already!

Another 15 Picoseconds of Fame

Hey, joy, I'm named specifically by the loon behind Season of the Red Wolf. Along with luminaries such as Lavie Tidhar, John Scalzi, Tobias Buckell and Mary Robinette Kowal.

It's an honor, as they say, just to be nominated.

Landing Sequence Started

Next week, God willing and the creek don't rise, we'll see another rover landing on Mars. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows you what the landing will be like.

The Space Review

The current issue of The Space Review has several items of interest, especially given the impending landing on Mars! Adrian Brown has a nice overview of the Mars Exploration Program. Jeff Foust wonders about commercial space's "Netscape moment" (do we really need one?). Dwayne A. Day looks at one reason why the contentious space shuttle site selection process might have had good reasons for skipping Houston. And, bringing it back to Mars, Jeff Foust reviews a new book, Rod Pyle's Destination Mars.

Silent Moons Go By

Another great shot from the Saturn system of moons. Glad we keep funding a functional spaceship instead of doing some stupid like "saving money" by shutting it down.

The Crowded Sky

Some asteroid orbits plotted. Hey, what are all those dots on the background? Oh...a sampling of asteroids. DUCK!

The Quiet Earth (02)

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is another shot of our quiet, gentle, never-changing home planet.

Hot Cluster

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a young (energetic) cluster of newly-emerging stars in the region of 30 Doradus.

Trails

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows planetary and stellar trails above the skies of Germany.

Living in Stereo

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a stereo pair of telescopes to detect Cherenkov radiation. I didn't know ground-based scopes could do that!

Tulip and Swan

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is the complex area known as Sh-101 in Cygnus. Amazing detail in those stellar nurseries!

Lakeglow

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is another astonishing show of our own planet. While the active Sun is playing "old Harry" with radio reception, it is generating some amazing views.

Vortex

It looks like both Saturn and its moon Titan share something: strange atmospheric structures at their poles! Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows us what lurks at the south pole of Titan.

Flickers

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a amazing short video showing lighting (filmed at over 7K images/second)!

Icon

If you've only seen one image from the Hubble Space Telescope, today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is probably it. The Pillars of Creation.

LM

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day will send you searching for those red/blue anaglyph glasses you have around.

Yes, boys and girls, once upon a time we sent humans to another sphere.

When Worlds Collide

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a "collision" between our Moon and Jupiter and its moons.

Dishing the Lineup

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is another view of the planetary and stellar lineup in our morning skies. Now with more technology!

White Eye

What is on the other side of today's Astronomy Picture of the Day? It appears that a crater on Mars may have happened above a cave system...and that the impact broke through the cave. A possible look into the inside of the planet? Are the caves of Mars an abode or life or a source of water?

Merger Proposal

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a computer-generated video showing galaxy formation. The dancing atoms!

Amazing how much this looks like the "ink spot" portions of the Star Gate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey!

New Moon

Hey, look! Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows "dwarf planet" Pluto's newest moon!

New Orion

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an astonishingly detailed view of one of my favorite winter viewing objects. WOW. Just what I need during all this endless summer heat!

Spots Up Close

I'm not sure if the sunspots in today's Astronomy Picture of the Day are the same group as those imaged in the setting Sun a few days ago or not, but it is a nice look at how complex this "mottling" can be.

Merger

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the power of today's opitcal instruments. Images of Messier 101, the last "official" entry in the famous catalog, are merged. By using different light frequencies, a whole new understanding of the makeup of the galaxy appears.

Patterns

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows patterns in the sky and patterns in the rock. Which patterns will last longer?

Good Eats

Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose (writing); Langdon Foss (art); Jose Villarrubia and Dave Stewart (colorists); Todd Klein (letters): Get Jiro! (DC Comics; 2012; ISBN 978-1-4012-2897-9).

In the not-to-distant-but-somewhat-unspecified future, food and foodies have come to dominate the world, or at least Los Angeles. In the battleground drawn by the corporate mega-giants (personified by Bob) and a loose-and-shifting alliance of back-to-nature, sustainable-and-local, communists-and-socialists and even survivalists (personified by Rose) steps in Jiro, a highly-skilled sushi chef with amazing skills in presentation, flavor...and knifework.

Anthony Bourdain first came to my attention with Kitchen Confidential. It's a vastly amusing book about life in the restaurant industry (I had a few years, summer work, and then have revisited a couple of times between figuring out what to do with MRE's in the Army and a large number of volunteer hours in a kitchen for charity work, so the book really interested me). He went on to write some fiction, a lot of non-fiction and to start in a number of very funny and very intelligent and well-written shows such as A Cook's Tour and No Reservations (recently ended, alas).

Get Jiro! is his first graphic novel effort, set in a world where food rules. Bourdain manages to be funny, be bloody, but to be educational (not only do we learn the proper way to eat sushi, but the best way to separate an attacker's lower limb from his upper limb, without damaging the bone in the arm). I detect hints of any number of samurai and gangster films/television shows in here, as well as (to me) things like Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (oddly enough, this is the second graphic novel I've learned of in a week that is related to food).

Will Jiro survive the machinations of Rose and Bob to get him on their sides? Will small independent restaurants and suppliers survive? Will people learn not to ask for the California Roll? Get thee to the bookstore and grab a copy before supplies run out. Fun stuff, great art and writing, highly recommended.

Shoggoths Tear My Flesh

Howdy! Yep, despite rumors (rumours) to the contrary, I ain't dead yet. Just exhausted. Without saying too much, perhaps we let too many people go too fast at a certain establishment and perhaps coupled with a certain lack of direction and leadership (and the development of new operating procedures and policies)...exhaustion.

But I'll try to get back here, fill in the missing APOD's, put up a few reviews, post a few links. And maybe blog my way back to regularity and sanity.

Ciao!

Lineup (02)

Remember this? Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a more recent view of the lineup in our night sky.

Ia! The Cute! It Burns!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a tad strange.

Tourist Snap

No matter who the tourist, no matter what the location or subject, we'll get some vacation shots. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a sample of what the still-running (90 day journey scheduled...several years mission extensions running!) MER Opportunity saw during it's "winter vacation".

The Quiet Earth

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows our quiet planet.

Deflectors Up, Captain!

The old joke goes that the dinosaurs are extinct because they did not have a space program. What could we do if a rock has Earth's name on it? Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows one possible spaceborne solution.

Wilderness

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a scattering of galaxies in the wilderness of our universe.

Edgeworks

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a view of edge-on galaxy NGC 4565. How many other galaxies can you spot in the field of view?

Setting Sun

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a beautiful shot of the setting Sun, bespeckled with spots. Let's not forget the foreground as well!

Saturn Space and Beyond the Infinite

This is how 2001: A Space Odyssey should have looked if special effects technology had existed to make the rings. If you cannot look at today's Astronomy Picture of the Day and feel a stirring in your soul...

Clingstone

Not big enough for a world-dominating evil genius, but maybe a regional evil genius?

Some media articles here, here and here.

Not Quite Stubby

Anybody want to build me a fleet of these?

The Devil's in the Details

If there's a Prometheus Vault book like my Alien Vault book, I'll buy it just to see all the little details (such as outlined in this article). But the movie seems such a mess overall, the beautiful details didn't seem to fit. Was there really a half-hour-plus of scenes removed?

I guess I'll need to wait for the super-deluxe-fanboi edition to see if it holds up on restoration.

Pictorial Arts

Some amazing stuff on this blog!

Take a look at this example, for instance.

Aperture Envy

Some people are just not happy with a backyard scope, oh no!

Annic Nova!

Classic Traveller art from Winchell Chung!

Reading List

A list of the books mentioned in Among Others by Jo Walton. How many have you read?

Ansible!

Rejoice! Rejoice! You really have no choice!

Number 300 in a series.

As Others See GRRM. Here's how to say you like Game of Thrones without being overly uncool: 'To anyone who wasn't Hobbit-friendly previously, this genre – fantasy medieval – is as sexy as pubic dandruff. Viewers like me, non-Dr Who types, vehement Hobbit-knockers, fell for Game of Thrones sheerly by accident and then fretted for their identity ever after. No sane person intends to go down a path where Saturdays are spent changing from jeans to a Dothraki pelt-skin costume in the back of a Ford Focus in a Milton Keynes conference centre car-park before meeting their friend Nige (him of the egg-box dragon costume and blow-torch mouth o' fire effect) but cosplay has to start somewhere. Game of Thrones, and its ilk, have made fancy-dress fools of wiser folk than us.' (Grace Dent, Independent, 2 June) [MPJ]

Youch.

Zooming

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is not a picture but a short video clip. Fast travel through the universe!

Ghost Shells

No, not anime. Astronomy. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the ghostly shells surrounding the very strange galaxy known as Centaurus A.

Lineup

Today's Atrononomy Picture of the Day shows our morning sky. Even without a telescope you can see other worlds!

Dark Skies

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is of the dusty region of the Aquila Rift. Darkness falls from the sky.

Hidden Treasure

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Alpha Centauri, one of the stars closest to our home system. Look at the treasures hidden in the glare! (Alas, so far, no planets have been found hidden in the glare, Wunderland or others.)

Of Mist and Grass and Sand

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Simeis 188, towards the galactic center. An amazing collection of stars and gas and dust.

What's the o'Clock?

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a very odd sundial.

Who's Who?

SF author pseudonyms. Who do you read that is somebody else? Multiple somebodies?

I wonder if I've ever read the same author under two names and decided Author A was good and Author B was not!

The Starry Way

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Milky Way over Piton de l'Eau on Reunion Island.

Short Round

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the exploration of Shorty Crater during the Apollo 17 mission. Yes, boys and girls, once we sent humans to other spheres.

Culture

Interesting talk with Ian (M. mode) Banks about his work and his favorite game. Which game it is amuses me to no end.

Not Sandwiches

Steampunky real and fictional submarines.

Mis(History

The astronauts didn't eat on Apollo? Apollo missions to the Moon? What about a 14 day Gemini mission? Fact check in aisle one, cleanup!

Everyday Carry

I can't imagine this being allowed on a plane these days. And, as a friend wondered, do you need the ability to write underwater in order to jot notes on a fish?

Wordage

To Knoll (verb).

All Around the World

Space agencies around the world. Who knew?

John Carter

I watched John Carter last night. I had gotten to the point where John Carter and Sola realize that Deja Thoris is leading them towards Helium when my wife and daughter came home, so I went back to the beginning and the three of us watched it from the start.

Odd to say that despite having been married more than 25 years, my wife kept saying (with the trailer, with the movie in the theater, and then when I told her I was watching the DVD) "I don't know what that is." Failure of marriage or failure of marketing?

The three of us enjoyed it. They had no problems following the movie or accepting a Mars with air, beings, etc. Woola was the hit, but so were the Tharks.

As for me: Several years ago I waited with anticipation the release of Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on another set of favorites, the works of Patrick O'Brian. I thought it was going to be one or the other of the two books in the series (as titled). What I saw was a mash-up of elements of many of those books.

Many fans were (initially) disappointed. I saw the wisdom of not literally translating the series book-by-book on the screen, but doing a synthesis of the books (it would have been even better if they had made three movies instead of just one, as they could have taken plot elements that are repeated over the series and made three good stories from them).

I think this is the approach that John Carter took. Did it work? I'm not sure, but I liked it enough to watch it again. And, I'll revisit it in time to see how it "grew".

You can do a complete translation of a book to the screen. The Lord of the Rings films did this, but even it took compromises (dropping Tom Bombadil, shuffling elements of The Two Towers and The Return of the King around to make the two storylines match better chronologically).

You can half-ass it. See either version of Dune, any film involving Stephen King (almost all), Philip K. Dick or Robert A. Heinlein (other than Destination Moon). "Hey, we have this property! It'll sell hotcakes! Just throw something on the screen!"

You can try to do it in a new/different medium (John Carter as a book vs. John Carter as a boardgame vs. John Carter as a comic). It may work. it may not.

Time will tell.

A Disturbance in the Force

I'm always amused when the mainstream media decides to do an in-depth well-researched story about genre fiction.

First Dean

Happy (belated) birthday to the first Dean of Science Fiction, Murray Leinster!

Color Rocks

Amazing false-color image of Mars.

Artemis

A starship bridge simulator! Another view here.

Memories of the Future

Douglas Trumbull shares memories from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

LOLA

Fun with data from spacecraft and a free program for ordinary folk.

Solar Bottle

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the so-called "green flash", but from northern climes. I was once informed that the only way to see the green flash was to observe the setting sun through the bottom of a bottle of beer.