Archives for August 2008
Virus infects space station!
Published on 31 Aug 2008 at 5:06 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under space station.
How’s that for a headline? I’ve been an avid science fiction fan since I was a child, and this sounds like the sort of thing that is perfect for a B grade movie. It is a pretty common plot in science fiction for some alien virus to run rampant killing people, turning them […]
Read ‘Virus infects space station!’
Martian Sunrise
Published on 30 Aug 2008 at 10:17 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Mars.
The Phoenix Lander is so far north on Mars that it is a little north of the Martian Arctic Circle. That means that in the peak of the summer, the Sun doesn’t set there. Conversely, it also means that the Sun doesn’t rise in the dead of winter. For a spacecraft that […]
Jupiter in the south
Published on 26 Aug 2008 at 5:38 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under skywatching.
Yesterday was the first day of the semester. It was clear last night, so I took my students out for a look at the sky. On the first clear night, I like to get them to learning stars and constellations. After all, that is one of the things that they all say […]
And, so it begins again …
Published on 25 Aug 2008 at 3:18 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under college teaching.
This summer has been frantic for me. I had a lot going on, with a full teaching load and several other projects. All that is over now.
Last week, we had a whole week to “prepare” for the fall semester. Actually, we spent the entire week going to meetings. We had meetings, meetings, and yet more […]
Read ‘And, so it begins again …’
The end of the summer term
Published on 15 Aug 2008 at 5:33 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under college teaching.
Well, I am now done with the summer term. I gave final exams last night, and grades were due today. I got the grades in, all the paperwork filled out, and now I am ready for a break! My regular readers will note that I’ve had very few entries here the last […]
Read ‘The end of the summer term’
100000 Orbits
Published on 11 Aug 2008 at 9:30 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under space telescopes.
As I start to write this, the orbit counter on Hubble Space Telescope’s HubbleSite reads 100001. That means that the Hubble has traveled 2.72 billion miles in the last 18 years that its been in orbit. Of course, it didn’t really go very far. It is only a few hundred kilometers above Earth’s surface at […]
