Skywatch

[Locutus]

It does make you think. I'm a big fan of things that make you think.

We need more people like you who like things like that. 

[Bo D]

We need more people like you who like things like that. 

Thank you. But for all you guys know, I am one of those who has gone "insane trying to comprehend." 

[Henry Hawk]

Thank you. But for all you guys know, I am one of those who has gone "insane trying to comprehend." 

I think that would be me....

[Bo D]

This is just too cool!

http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/06/two-nasa-missions-join-images?et_cid=3319315&et_rid=41373174&location=top

[libby]

This is just too cool! 

http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/06/two-nasa-missions-join-images?et_cid=3319315&et_rid=41373174&location=top

    

[Locutus]

"Filigree apogee pedigree perigee!"



...or in this case, just perigee.   

[Bo D]

Colliding Galaxies




For a bigger image, click on the picture here ... http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/07/colliding-galaxy-pair-takes-flight?et_cid=3343965&et_rid=41373174&location=top

[libby]

"Filigree apogee pedigree perigee!"



...or in this case, just perigee.   

What a great picture!  I saw the moon the night after perigee. Just had to look out my bedroom window and there it was.

As for "Filigree apogee pedigree perigee," couldn't remember where I'd heard it so looked it up. Loved that movie and Angela Lansbury. 

[libby]

Colliding Galaxies




For a bigger image, click on the picture here ... http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2013/07/colliding-galaxy-pair-takes-flight?et_cid=3343965&et_rid=41373174&location=top

The largest galaxy looks exactly like an ethereal bird, deceptive in more ways than one when you stop and think that looking at something like that is looking into the past, far, far, far into the past, and thinking beyond that is ... 

[Palehorse]

We cannot see the skies for all the damned clouds and rain drenching us. 

[Locutus]

What a great picture!  I saw the moon the night after perigee. Just had to look out my bedroom window and there it was.

That picture was actually taken by a friend and posted on FaceBook.  It was taken in her yard in Elkins, WV.  Three days later, she left and moved to Savannah, GA.

As for "Filigree apogee pedigree perigee," couldn't remember where I'd heard it so looked it up. Loved that movie and Angela Lansbury. 

[Locutus]

This isn't really a Sky Watch topic, but it kind of relates.  I had a nice two hour long conversation with this gentleman yesterday.  Very, very interesting topics came up.  He was a former director of the Kennedy Space Center here in Florida, where he led Shuttle Discovery's return to flight (STS-114) after the Columbia disaster.  He's currently working with the Russians on rocket engine technologies, and I was fortunate enough to run across him as he is visiting family in Fort Lauderdale for the 4th.



http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/biographies/parsons.html

William W. (Bill) Parsons
Center Director
John F. Kennedy Space Center

William W. (Bill) Parsons is the ninth director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where he manages a team of approximately 2,100 NASA civil service employees and 15,000 contractor employees. Prior to this appointment, he served as Kennedy's deputy director and as the director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

In 1990, Parsons joined the NASA team at Kennedy as a launch site support manager in the Shuttle Operations Directorate. He also worked as an executive management intern, and later, as a shuttle flow director in the Shuttle Operations Directorate at Kennedy. In 1996, he became manager of the Space Station Hardware Integration Office at the center.

In 1997, he was assigned to Stennis Space Center as the chief of operations of the Propulsion Test Directorate. Parsons relocated to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to become the director of the Center Operations Directorate. He later served as the deputy director. In 2001, he returned to Stennis and served as director of the Center Operations and Support Directorate. His first stint as Stennis center director came in August 2002.

He was appointed as Space Shuttle Program manager in 2003 to lead the return-to-flight activities for the agency and played a major role in the success of the Discovery STS-114 mission. He then returned to Stennis to assume the duties of center director again and to lead hurricane recovery efforts at Stennis and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

Parsons has received numerous honors including the Presidential Rank Award (Meritorious Executive); NASA's Exceptional Service Medal and Distinguished Service Medal; the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement; and the Silver Snoopy, awarded by astronauts for outstanding performance in flight safety and mission success.

He holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Mississippi and a master's degree in engineering management from the University of Central Florida.

Parsons resides on Merritt Island, Fla., with his wife and two children.

[Locutus]

Just saw a red fireball going overhead traveling generally from ESE to WNW high in the sky.  It took less than 2 minutes to transit the sky end to end so it was definitely not an airplane.  It also was definitely a fireball because I had my binoculars handy and checked it out through them.   

[libby]

This isn't really a Sky Watch topic, but it kind of relates.  I had a nice two hour long conversation with this gentleman yesterday.  Very, very interesting topics came up.  He was a former director of the Kennedy Space Center here in Florida, where he led Shuttle Discovery's return to flight (STS-114) after the Columbia disaster.  He's currently working with the Russians on rocket engine technologies, and I was fortunate enough to run across him as he is visiting family in Fort Lauderdale for the 4th.



http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/biographies/parsons.html

William W. (Bill) Parsons
Center Director
John F. Kennedy Space Center

William W. (Bill) Parsons is the ninth director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where he manages a team of approximately 2,100 NASA civil service employees and 15,000 contractor employees. Prior to this appointment, he served as Kennedy's deputy director and as the director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

In 1990, Parsons joined the NASA team at Kennedy as a launch site support manager in the Shuttle Operations Directorate. He also worked as an executive management intern, and later, as a shuttle flow director in the Shuttle Operations Directorate at Kennedy. In 1996, he became manager of the Space Station Hardware Integration Office at the center.

In 1997, he was assigned to Stennis Space Center as the chief of operations of the Propulsion Test Directorate. Parsons relocated to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to become the director of the Center Operations Directorate. He later served as the deputy director. In 2001, he returned to Stennis and served as director of the Center Operations and Support Directorate. His first stint as Stennis center director came in August 2002.

He was appointed as Space Shuttle Program manager in 2003 to lead the return-to-flight activities for the agency and played a major role in the success of the Discovery STS-114 mission. He then returned to Stennis to assume the duties of center director again and to lead hurricane recovery efforts at Stennis and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

Parsons has received numerous honors including the Presidential Rank Award (Meritorious Executive); NASA's Exceptional Service Medal and Distinguished Service Medal; the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement; and the Silver Snoopy, awarded by astronauts for outstanding performance in flight safety and mission success.

He holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Mississippi and a master's degree in engineering management from the University of Central Florida.

Parsons resides on Merritt Island, Fla., with his wife and two children.

Interesting.

Just saw a red fireball going overhead traveling generally from ESE to WNW high in the sky.  It took less than 2 minutes to transit the sky end to end so it was definitely not an airplane.  It also was definitely a fireball because I had my binoculars handy and checked it out through them.   

Doggone. Wish I'd seen it. Lucky you.

[Palehorse]

Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud. Many of the filamentary structures visible in the above image are actually shock waves - fronts where fast moving material encounters slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located about 1500 light years away in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun. The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye just below and to the left of the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. The above image shows the nebula in three colors specifically emitted by hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur gas. The whole Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years. Credit & Copyright: César Blanco González

http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_galleryimg&task=imageofday&imageId=1507&pageNo=3&utm_content=bufferda5df&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

My favorite!