Astronauts Get Two Christmases in Space
By Clara Moskowitz
December 24, 2009
– Space.com

Each year, the crew gets to choose when to hold their official holiday feast, during which they gather to share special delicacies beyond the scope of their normal daily rations.

Christmas comes twice to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station this year as the multi-nation crew celebrates the traditional Dec. 25 holiday as well as Russian Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7.

Current station commander Jeff Williams of NASA is leading a crew of five, including Russian cosmonauts Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, and American spaceflyer Timothy “T.J.” Creamer.

FOX News-Astronauts Get Two Christmases in Space

Celebrating Christmas twice on December 25 and January 7, the 12 Days of Christmas, which it should be celebrated as it is.

NASA reveals first-ever photo of liquid on another world
By Thom Patterson, CNN
December 18, 2009 9:26 p.m. EST

(CNN) — NASA scientists revealed Friday a first-of-its-kind image from space showing reflecting sunlight from a lake on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

It’s the first visual “smoking gun” evidence of liquid on the northern hemisphere of the moon, scientists said, and the first-ever photo from another world showing a “specular reflection” — which is reflection of light from an extremely smooth surface and in this case, a liquid one.

“This is the first time outside Earth we’ve seen specular reflection from another liquid from another body,” said Ralf Jaumann, a scientist analyzing data from the Cassini unmanned space probe.

CNN-NASA reveals first-ever photo of liquid on another world

Pretty cool. Life does exist in other worlds. They ask the same questions, “Are we alone?”.

Asteroid passes just 8,700miles from Earth – with only 15 hours warning
The Daily Mail
By Claire Bates
Last updated at 10:01 AM on 11th November 2009

Although no one noticed at the time, the Earth was almost hit by an asteroid last Friday.

The previously undiscovered asteroid came within 8,700 miles of Earth but astronomers noticed it only 15 hours before it made its closest approach.

Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away.

The Daily Mail-Asteroid passes just 8,700miles from Earth – with only 15 hours warning

Another close call.

Astronomers believe the object, called 2009 VA, would have almost completely burned up while entering Earth’s atmosphere, causing a brilliant fireball in the sky but no major damage to the surface.

Could of been another Tunguska Impact of 1908.

Happy 400th Birthday Galileo’s Telescope!

New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter
NASA
July 20, 2009

Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark “scar” had suddenly appeared on Jupiter, this morning between 3 and 9 a.m. PDT (6 a.m. and noon EDT) scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, gathered evidence indicating an impact.

New infrared images show the likely impact point was near the south polar region, with a visibly dark “scar” and bright upwelling particles in the upper atmosphere detected in near-infrared wavelengths, and a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.

NASA

I first saw this at an astronomy forum. An amateur astronomer first reported it. I am an amateur astronomer myself..

Cloudy Nights

An asteroid or comet crashed into Jupiter, almost 15 years to this day when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter. Hmmm, coincidence or not. It must be a common event for asteroids and comets to crash into Jupiter, which serves as a vacuum cleaner and protects Earth from doomsday events. Something like this happens every 100 years, but in this case 15 years. Interesting.

Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. He was the first man to do so and said these words:

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

Man has reached the Moon. Hopefully man will reach Mars and beyond.

Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin

Neil Armstrong climbing down onto the Moon.

The American flag on the Moon. USA!

Footprints left by the astronauts.

I came from a night of starwatching with my telescope. It was cold and it was like being in a gondola of a World War I zeppelin. Here are the objects I saw. The seeing was good and the magnitude limit was 3 to 3.5. I used a 8 inch Newtonian.

Mars-The Red Planet. Reddish-orange in color.
Saturn-The Ringed Planet. Spectacular as usual. Never fails to amaze me. I saw Titan, which has an atmosphere, likely what early Earth had.’
M35-Spectacular and bright.
NGC 2158-Fainter and more stars. Right next to M35.
M44-Who left the bees out out of their hives? A sight to behold.
M45-The Seven Sisters.
M67-Faint and reminds me of someone putting a pinch of flour on black paper.
Eskimo Nebula-The cold weather inspired me to see this object. Looks like a small out of focus star.

Objects I try to see.
M65 and M66-Galaxies in Leo. Could not see them due to light pollution. I have seen them in a dark sky location.

M=Messier
NGC=New General Catalog

All in all, a great night of starwatching before to set the clocks forward.

My first time I have taken out the telescope to starwatch after a busy semester of school and work. It was truly worth it because I did well in school. The dewpoint and humidity was low after a storm came by earlier in the morning. The sky was clear and seeing was good with little to no humidity. However, the Moon was bright, almost like if it was day time, so it made starwatching harder. If it was a Full Moon, forget it. However, I manage to see a few objects through my 8 inch Meade Starfinder telescope.

Moon-Really bright. So bright that I was blinded for a second. Got Moon blindness!
Mars-Saw some details including the polar ice caps, especially at 368x magnification.
Pleiades-Reminds me of a dipper and never ceases to amaze me.
Orion Nebula-Very easy to see in spite of the bright Moon. Spectacular as usual. I will have plenty of time to enjoy before it is no more and is another star cluster.
M34-Stumbled upon it and was easy to see.
Sirius-Shine like a crazy diamond!

M=Messier

Not bad for someone who has not starwatched in months. If it wasn’t for the Moon, I would of likely seen more objects. Hopefully, when there is a New Moon with clear skies and low dew points and humidity, I will starwatch again.