Results tagged “space”

If the weather cooperates, it's going to be a good night for looking into the skies. "The annual Leonid Meteor Shower reaches its traditional peak between midnight at 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 17 as seen from the west coast," explained Anthony Cook at the Griffith Observatory's weekly Sky Report. "About one Leonid every two or three minutes is expected. The earth may pass through enhanced streams of particles during the following afternoon, possibly providing Asia with an even better show, and may make the shower worthwhile to watch again from here between midnight and 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the 18th."

Mojava-based Masten Space Systems yesterday won $1 million in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, funded by NASA "as an incentive to spur development of technology by space entrepreneurs," according to the AP. Teams this past weekend had to fly robotic robots that would rise 160-plus feet, travel in the air for at least 180 seconds, land on a rocky landing pad and then fly back to the starting point.

I can't tell you where or how I first learned of Damon Packard, but his experimental-nostalgic-acid-horror-collage Reflections of Evil melted my brain forever. Packard excels at melding "borrowed" footage from '70s TV, science fiction & God knows what else with his own paranoid fantasies for pure cinematic psychosis.

    

Here in Los Angeles, we often get satellite images showing smoke cover as wildfires burn across the Southland. But today was a day for Washington D.C. All those black little specks, or "ants" as CNN called them, are people.

">you should be able to see a "brilliant moving point of light" between 6:33 and 6:39 a.m. Enjoy, you early birds.

10 days after bad weather in Florida forced Space Shuttle Endeavour to land at Edwards Air Force Base northeast of Los Angeles, it took off this morning atop a modified 747 carrier on its first leg back to Kennedy Space Center. The cross-country trip costs $1.8 million.

Since Thanksgiving night, Jupiter and Venus have been in our skies for our viewing pleasure. Tonight will be the "most attractive," says Anthony Cook of the Griffith Observatory Sky Report. The two planets will appear close together--about the width of your finger when you stretch your arm out--with the moon 4 degrees--or about two finger widths--to the upper right. The planets will set around 7:40 p.m.

Once we heard (and felt) the twin sonic booms at 1:20 on the dot, hundreds of people went to Twitter to share their experience. Pet cats freaked out and hid, earthquake concerns worried some, car alarms went off and others enjoyed the short shaking as they welcomed back Space Shuttle Endeavour. Here's some of what was said:

As mentioned yesterday, there was a possibility that Space Shuttle Endeavour would land at Edwards Air Force Base, which is about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles (as a bird flies), instead of Florida due to bad weather. The Los Angeles Fire Department warns that you should anticipate twin 'sonic booms' between at 1:20-1:25 p.m. today. And Sciencedude Gary Robbins reports that "Edwards officials said this morning that Endeavour will enter the West Coast above the Oxnard area, or much further south than the earlier plan to have the shuttle glide in over greater Santa Barbara." To see the flight landing path, click here.

This is what 30,000 acres of land scorched by fire looks like, as seen by NASA's Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite. The Freeway Complex Fire (also called referred to as the Triangle Complex Fire), destroyed 187 homes earlier this month.

     

Here are the fires and smoke as seen on Sunday from a NASA satellite. The smoke, spread out through the region, is much worse than the smoke last month during the Sesnon and Marek Fires (see that satellite image here). As health officials warn, keep that in mind when you see and/or smell smoke.

And this is why smoke related air quality and public health advisories are being issued everyday as the fires continue.

"Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway of the The Phoenix mission. "We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground." So far, data shows that the snow vaporizes before it hits the ground, but earlier this year in another development, water ice was found on the planet. NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena is responsible for the mission's project management. LAist was there for the landing of the Mars Phoenix Lander.

Earlier today, our friends at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Univ. of Arizona confirmed that the Phoenix Mars Lander has found water ice on the surface of the red planet. The confirmation came yesterday after some further experiments on Martian soil located where the lander has made home for itself on the Martian arctic. Scientists were said to have popped open the champagne in celebration according to coverage of today's press conference on the matter. The official countdown 'til life is found has now officially started.

This just in from the Mars Phoenix Lander's Twitter at 5:15 p.m.: "Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" It was just two days ago that media outlets were reporting that there were no signs of water yet.

       

Within two hours of landing on planet Earth's neighbor, the Phoenix Mars Lander began sending images to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena on Sunday evening. The current temperatures on Mars is a frigid high of -22 degrees and a low of -112. To see photos from JPL on Sunday, LAist was there to cover it.

              

Early Sunday evening, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena did it. In a "picture perfect" landing, the Phoenix Mars Lander made it to the northern plains of Mars in the latest of attempts to explore and understand the red planet. This specific mission is to look for signs of habitability, whether present or past (see LAist's previous entry from the day of).

Update: "The Phoenix has landed, the Phoenix has landed. Welcome to the northern plains of Mars!" exclaimed EDL Communications Lead Richard Kornfeld. Another woman standing there watching was wow-ed: "That touchdown was phenomenal." It feels like being a room full of lottery winners -- everyone cheered, hugged and then someone broke out candy Mars Bars. The room's silence is now abuzz with chatter, some reporters are high-fiving, and cameramen are surrounding NASA experts for comments.

What the hell is up with air travel these days?

The Geminid Meteor showers are set to peak this week, especially on Thursday and Friday. Um, great date night, anybody? Astronomers studying the phenomenon, David Levy and Stephen Edberg, are terribly enthused: "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor.' Those guys are serious!!! "The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing...

Some tech tidbits that caught my eye this week. • Yahoo and Microsoft are getting cozy. Is there a marriage in the works? • Wally Schirra, pioneer astronaut and 5th man ever to go into space, died of a heart attack this week. He was 84. • Digg has a bad couple days. Is the honeymoon over? • Speaking of obscure digits that unlock encrypted HDDVDs, the guys who are fighting to protect their...

Photo by Stephanie Asher JPL has just uploaded some brand new software to NASA's robot explorers Opportunity and Freedom, a few million miles away on Mars. These little rovers have kicked around for four years, finding evidence of water, watching the formation of clouds and dust devils, and sending back some really stunning images. The new software will help the rovers move about on the surface, more accurately photograph atmospheric conditions, and give them...