And Like the Phoenix, It is Reborn!

September 9th, 2009 9:46 AM by Phil Plait in Astronomy, Cool stuff, NASA, Pretty pictures

After a long and nervous wait for those of us stuck on Earth, the world’s most famous observatory is back on the job! Behold!

Woot!

That’s NGC 6217, a spiral galaxy as seen by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, a workhorse detector on Hubble that went on the fritz in January 2007. But when the STS-125 brought the Space Shuttle Atlantis to Hubble, it also carried two new cameras and the tools to fix two older, busted ones, including ACS. After a daring series of repairs and upgrades, Hubble is now back up to speed.

This ACS image is gorgeous. NGC 6217 is relatively close by, at a distance of roughly 80 million light years (note that some early press said it was 6 million light years away, which is incorrect.

The gas and stars in the middle form an exquisite rectangular bar across the core due to complicated gravitational interactions, and you can easily pick out huge numbers of glowing pink star forming areas, where stars are being born in prodigious quantities. And even from this vast distance — 800 quintillion kilometers (500 quintillion miles) — Hubble can still pick out individual stars in the spiral arms. These are the biggest, baddest, and brightest ones, the stars that will someday explode as monstrous supernovae… and you can rest assured astronomers will be using Hubble or its successors to observe them when they do.

But there’s more! Click here to read full post.

SOURCE: DiscoverMagazine.com

Photo credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

"The Start-Up Kit"

This was sent to me from my friend, Kirbi, who said it made her think of me (what a WONDERFUL compliment). I'm unsure of its source, but I dig it.

Source: unknown

Two Weeks!!!

Happy Earth Day!

My Earth Day began bright and early with a cup of coffee, the dogs, and my laptop. The sun was already saturating the house, and it was completely still. Bleary-eyed, I dove into the 10 or so email boxes, blogs, store fronts, and whatnots that occupy my every morning.

Cole and I had already made plans to cut out early and hit the zoo, so I was in a really great frame of mind. And then I checked my facebook page.

It is my sincerest and most regretful belief that some people are put on this Earth to buzz kill everything that is beautiful, progressive, and intelligent in our society. Their plight in life is to inflict their negativity and small-mindedness on those of us seeking true enlightenment and awareness. Inflict and infect is their mission.

So, one of these Buzz Killers posted a status today that said something like:

"So and so hates when people worship the created (Earth) and not the creator (God)."

My first reaction was a rather sardonic sneer in response to this person's need to define his hatred so specifically. This obviously is not a person who wants others thinking for themselves. Control. Control. Control.

My second thought was, "Goodness. I don't like 'hate' and 'God' in the same sentence."

Sends shivers down my spine. Hello, folks? Can you say Middle East? Hitler? Croatia? The Black List? What is with this mental genocide from a so-called God-lover? I think it's sad when one's religious, political, or otherwise strongly-held beliefs lead to hate in any form. It sickens and sometimes frightens me when God is used as a rationalization for calculated condensation of those who do not share similar beliefs on any public platform (and over something so positive!).

Okay, okay. He's just referring to Earth Day, but this type of attitude gets me all riled up, especially when aimed in direction of a NECESSARY, BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT, GLOBAL COMMUNITY EFFORT TO BETTER THE PLANET FOR ALL PEOPLE, OUR CHILDREN, AND FUTURE GENERATIONS OF HUMAN BEINGS, ANIMALS, AND PLANTS.

Sure, Earth Day has become just as commercialized as religion, but the intent of Earth Day is to bring awareness to the increasingly rapid decline of our HOME PLANET to which we contribute a great deal and to incite people to WAKE UP, TAKE IT SERIOUSLY, AND CONTRIBUTE.

A Little History of Earth Day from the Earth Day Network:

Earth Day -- April 22 -- each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, the birth of Mariah Carey, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years.

It was into such a world that the very first Earth Day was born.

Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda. " "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."

So, Mr. Buzz Killer, open the windows of your mind and let in a little fresh air. Study a little history and science (they really can co-exist with religion) and realize we're caring for this Planet and its inhabitants for you and your children and your grandchildren even if you're too narrow-minded to give a shit. You may have inflicted, but you have not infected.

Cole and I went on to have a FABULOUS Earth Day at the zoo and wondered at the marvels of Nature, the beauty around us, and enjoyed each other's company.

We had intelligent conversations about why we celebrate Earth Day, why our Planet and its inhabitants are a true miracle and should be cared for as such, and about how observing Earth Day provides a sense of Community in a shared global mission that enables activism on a level and with an impact otherwise unachievable.

I have no doubt the occasion of Earth Day provided similar such experiences for people around the world - um, us non-Buzz Killers that is - and I'd bet plenty of God-worshiping individuals included.

I'm proud to say my 11 year old is quite a Go-Greener himself. He JUST informed me we are turning all of the lights of for one minute at 8pm in observation. Heathens, I know!

BTW, Cole and I particularly loved the Red Pandas and the un-fenced Kangaroos who hung out with us on the path today! KC Zoo looks GREAT!

Inupiat Annual Spring Bowhead Hunt

Don't be Turned off by TV

Dressed warmly and mostly in white from the waste up (to be less visible while approaching bowhead on the water), these Inupiat (en-oo-pee-at) Eskimos await the perfect opportunity to strike a passing whale.

Inupiat Eskimos are the only people on Earth permitted by International Whaling Laws to hunt the once declining bowhead whale. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the bowhead whale were hunted by Yankee whalers to the brink of extinction. Only through strict regulations has the bowhead made a come-back.

Students take leave of school to be a part of the 50 teams of Inupiat hunters who head out onto the ice to hunt the bowhead in the Spring. "The sole purpose of hunting is to survive and feed our families," says an Inupiat hunter, "we can't plant gardens, so they go out."

NatGeo's television program, INSIDE, presented a beautifully done piece on the Inupiat whale hunters of Barrow, Alaska last week. Cole and I thoroughly enjoyed learning of the Inupiat's 6000 year (wow!) history in the region, were moved by the bowhead whales' importance in the lifestyle, spirituality, and health of the Native Inupiat Eskimos, and were saddened but realistic regarding the reports of the ever-shrinking Arctic Ice, which the Inupiat's utilize as a platform for their camps and as a launching grounds for their whalehunting expeditions.

If you have the chance, give it a watch (or ck out the link below)! You'll be amazed by how much you learn.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/inside/3479/Overview

Image courtesy Catherine Yrisarri / Hoggard Films