Those of you who were around on Tuesday when I fled the office because my grandfather went to the hospital, and then noticed I was gone much of the week, please know that he’s okay. They still aren’t sure what the chest pain was about, but it was not a heart attack, and he doesn’t have pneumonia, and he even passed his stress test with flying colors for a 94yo. He came over last night for our usual pizza and movie with his great granddaughters (and GBP and me). And we finished the Indiana Jones series. So now we need to find a new series…he’s caught up on Harry Potter, Marvel, except the more vulgar ones), We might start on LotR, though I’m not sure he has the stamina to watch an entire 3 hour film in one sitting.
We joke that we’re taking care of his pop culture quotient. He’s always been a big reader, but mostly histories etc. Now he’s read the entire Harry Potter series, which thrills all his grandkids and great grandkids.Â
Anyway, it was a scary week as they ran test after test and nothing showed up as the culprit, but we’ll take what we can get. Thanks again for all your well wishes and support.
Oh, I’ll have to look it up and have a listen. Thanks anon! (are you the same anon as this morning? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten 2 anons in one day). I’m so glad you enjoy my writing! Thanks so much for letting me know.
It’s Friday…which seems like a great excuse to take a look at some awesome images from space.
First, let’s start with our home planet: Earth.
This view of the entire sunlit side of Earth was taken from one million miles away…yes, one MILLION! Our EPIC camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory captured this image in July 2015 and the picture was generated by combining three separate images to create a photographic-quality image.
Next, let’s venture out 4,000 light-years from Earth.
This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, is not only stunning…but shows the colorful “last hurrah” of a star like our sun. This star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star’s remaining core. Our sun will eventually burn out and shroud itself with stellar debris…but not for another 5 billion years.
The material expelled by the star glows with different colors depending on its composition, its density and how close it is to the hot central star. Blue samples helium; blue-green oxygen, and red nitrogen and hydrogen.
Want to see some rocks on Mars?
Here’s an image of the layered geologic past of Mars revealed in stunning detail. This color image was returned by our Curiosity Mars rover, which is currently “roving” around the Red Planet, exploring the “Murray Buttes” region.
In this region, Curiosity is investigating how and when the habitable ancient conditions known from the mission’s earlier findings evolved into conditions drier and less favorable for life.
Did you know there are people currently living and working in space?
Right now, three people from three different countries are living and working 250 miles above Earth on the International Space Station. While there, they are performing important experiments that will help us back here on Earth, and with future exploration to deep space.
This image, taken by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins shows the stunning moonrise over Earth from the perspective of the space station.
Lastly, let’s venture over to someplace REALLY hot…our sun.
The sun is the center of our solar system, and makes up 99.8% of the mass of the entire solar system…so it’s pretty huge. Since the sun is a star, it does not have a solid surface, but is a ball of gas held together by its own gravity. The temperature at the sun’s core is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius)…so HOT!
This awesome visualization appears to show the sun spinning, as if stuck on a pinwheel. It is actually the spacecraft, SDO, that did the spinning though. Engineers instructed our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to roll 360 degrees on one axis, during this seven-hour maneuver, the spacecraft took an image every 12 seconds.
This maneuver happens twice a year to help SDO’s imager instrument to take precise measurements of the solar limb (the outer edge of the sun as seen by SDO).
Thanks for spacing out with us…you may now resume your Friday.Â
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space:Â http://nasa.tumblr.com
Oh what a very, VERY nice thing to wake up to. Thank you so much! It has been hard to be motivated to write lately (work is demanding, rl is demanding, people are sick, interest in Bleary seems to be waning) and this is just the jolt of encouragement I need to get back into it this weekend and try to finish the chapter. I’m so glad these boys bring you happiness. They are a fun little family to write, and I’ll be a bit sad when I finish their series and leave them behind (tho I’ll leave them in a good place, promise).Â
Thank you again. Honestly, your timing could not have been better. Never doubt the power of a few kind words on the internal life of a writer.
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