On Japan and Other Thoughts

26. March 2011 by RC Davison.

      I am still trying to comprehend the magnitude of the disaster that has afflicted Japan on the 11^th of March. My thoughts are with all of those that are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives and put them all back together again. It is at these times that all the trappings of modern society are worthless. One’s main concern is for family, friends, food and shelter.

 

     In an effort to help support the relief effort in Japan, I will donate all proceeds from sales of Orbital Maneuvers from now (March 26, 2011) until the summer solstice on June 21^st .  The more books sold, the more I’ll be able to contribute.

 

      I’m going to rant here. Be forewarned!

 

      When I watched the images coming out of Japan after the disaster, I could not shake the feeling that we should be more prepared. We, us, everyone on this planet. World wide for 2011 we will spend over two trillion dollars on defense. Defense of our sovereign lands from those who wish to attack us.

 

      We are missing the big picture here. What we can do to each other pales in comparison to what Mother Nature can throw at us. Look at what just happened in Japan. What about hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans and the Gulf coast. The earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004 and the earthquake in China in 2008. The list goes on. But, these are small events compared to some of the major events that have occurred in the past, from super-volcanoes erupting to asteroid impacts.

 

      Maybe we should start thinking more along the line of joining forces. After all, it is 2011, the 21^st century. Should we not be civilized by this point? We’ve had over 10,000 years of development and yet we are constantly focused on beating each other into submission. Be it for religious, political, ideological or territorial reasons.

 

      I know I’m being too idealistic here, but we should stop pointing missiles and guns at each other and divert those funds to developing the technology that will allow us to survive these inevitable natural disasters. We’ve got a handle on how to build earthquake resistant buildings, but they are not earthquake-proof. More importantly, our infrastructure is very vulnerable to many types of natural disasters.

 

     We know this stuff happens. It has happened in the past and will again in the future. Two trillion dollars will go a long way to developing technology to study the planet we live on and understand what triggers these events. If we can’t stop them, at least we should be able to predict them reliably, and design our homes, businesses, cities and nations to withstand their onslaught.

 

      Orbital Maneuvers is about multiple asteroid impacts on the United States. This is not beyond the realm of probability. It was scary researching this for the book, because it does not take a very big object to create global devastation. And, if not global, local devastation, which still can have global consequences. A small asteroid hitting the ocean is going to create tsunamis that could make the one that just hit Japan look like ripples on a pond.

 

      So, we have a choice. We can keep preying on each other, burning money and resources to build offensive and defensive systems, and ignore the fact that there is a force out there more powerful than anything we have in our arsenals, or we can realize that this is the only place we have to live, and if we are going to survive, we have to join forces in building a common defense for everyone.

 

      All the weapons, gadgets, toys and technology won’t mean a thing if Mother Nature reaches out and slaps you down. Just ask the people in Japan…

 

Till next time,

RC Davison

Posted in Orbital Maneuvers, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Take a Wild Ride on the Space Shuttle Discovery…

7. March 2011 by RC Davison.

     Well, actually, take a ride on the outside of Discovery on the solid rocket boosters (SRBs). NASA has 3 cameras on the SRBs: Forward (near the top of the SRB looking down); Intertank (near the top but facing the main fuel tank); Aft (near the bottom of the SRB looking up).

 

      The NASA video shows the launch from all three cameras on each booster. Each camera offers a unique perspective of the launch with the Intertank cameras providing the additional element of sound. It’s a wild ride anyway you look at it!

 

      Below is a list of key events on the video with their time-stamp if you don’t want to watch it real time. Some amazing footage to be sure!

 

 

STS-133 Launch SRB camera views:

 

SRB Left Forward Camera

• 2:25 - SRB separation

   

• 2:40 - Can see Discovery blazing on toward orbit

   

• 5:30 - SRB starts to settle down under its drogue chute

   

• 6:15 - Ocean surface detail can be seen

   

• 6:40 - SRB engine nozzle extension is jettisoned and impacts the water about 7 seconds later.

   

• 6:52 - The SRB hits the water

   

• 7:40 - The SRB floats vertically in the water

 

SRB Left Aft Camera

• 7:50 - The launch sequence repeats itself but with the camera view from the left SRB aft camera located near the bottom of the booster.

   

• 10:10 - Booster separation (The video is clearer on this camera.)

   

• 10:40 - Catch a glimpse of Discovery

   

• 14:40 - Spash down

 

SRB Left Intertank Camera (with sound)

• 14:45 - SRB left Intertank camera (Location looking at the ribbed side of the Main Fuel Tank). The video starts just before separation which occurs at:

   

• 15:17 - Note the separation engines in the nose cone pushing the right SRB away from the shuttle.

   

• 15:25 - Neat shot of right SRB as its engines sputter out

   

• (Interesting to hear the pops, clicks, hisses, moans and groans of the SRB as it descends.)

   

• 17:45 - You can see the exhaust trail from Discovery’s launch

   

• 18:00 - Catch a view of Discovery moving into orbit.

   

• 19:14 - Main chutes deploy at 19:23 as the reefing lines are cut opening to the first stage and at:

   

• 19:30 - Chutes fully deployed

   

• 19:45 - Impact on the surface

   

• 20:20 - Can see the SRB nose cone parachuting toward the ocean

   

SRB Right Forward Camera

• 20:32 - SRB Right Forward camera

   

• 22:58 - SRB separation

   

• 23:12 - Nice view of Discovery

   

• 25:00 - SRB engine nozzle extension is jettisoned

   

• 25:16 - Ocean impact

 

SRB Right Aft Camera

• 25:45 - SRB Right Aft camera

   

• 28:00 - SRB separation

   

• 28:38 - SRB Right Intertank from the point of main chutes deployed

   

• 28:46 - The chute reefing lines are cut and they open up more, slowing the booster

   

• 28:53 - The chutes are fully deployed.

   

• 29:09 - Splash down

  
  Hope you enjoyed the ride!!

  Till next time
  RC Davison
  

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Humans in Space | No Comments »

A Couple of Website Updates

27. February 2011 by RC Davison.

Hi,

I just added a couple of new items to the website:

On the Home page you will find a link to an audio clip promo that was done for the book by Norm Sherman, who runs the Sci-Fi audio podcast site - Drabblecast.org.  Norm did a great job with the promo, as he does with the podcasts he produces for his site and others - check him out!

On the Space Station page, near the bottom you will find an image of the space station which is a link to a great animation of the assembly of the International Space Station on the USA TODAY website.  After the animation runs you have the ability to click on the names of each module on the right side to see more information and animations.

Lastly, for anyone that may have registered to get emails of new blog postings and have not been receiving them, please check the email address you entered, as I have gotten a number  notifications kicked back because of bad addresses.

Thanks for your support and enjoy!

Till next time,

RC Davison

Posted in Orbital Maneuvers | No Comments »

Kepler - Expanding Our View of the Cosmos

24. February 2011 by RC Davison.

     Kepler’s been in the news lately, revealing some of its latest discoveries. At the time I’m writing this, Kepler has logged 1235 potential planets and 1879 eclipsing binary stars. Of the 1235 planetary candidates, 15 have been confirmed to be real planets. That may seem like a very small number, but it takes time to confirm these candidates with ground/space based telescopes. The number is sure to rise.

 

     As I was looking at the Kepler site, it struck me as to how small Kepler’s view is of the entire sky. It covers an area of about 105 square degrees. Now that’s a pretty large area when you consider that our full Moon spans about a half a degree, and has an area of about .2 square degrees. But, if you think about it from the point of view of the entire visible sky, which covers 41,253 square degrees (encompassing both the northern and southern hemispheres), Kepler is only sampling 0.25% of the sky! If Kepler’s sample of our galaxy is typical of the entire galaxy, then we could expect a minimum of about 500,000 planets in the galaxy with equivalent short period orbits.

 

      Remember that these planets pass between their stars and Kepler, so any star systems in which the planets rotate in a plane almost perpendicular to Kepler’s view would not be recorded. So, this rough number is even a smaller percentage of the potential total number of planets out there. Oh, and don’t forget about the moons that may orbit these planets (and others yet discovered) and could have atmospheres and environments conducive for life to form.

      Out of these potential candidates, 68 are known to be Earth-sized and 288 fit the category of “super-earth”-size ­-­ 2-5 times the size of the Earth. These are all rocky-type planets, verses the gas giants like Jupiter. Some of these are also in or near the habitable zones of the stars they orbit. This is a region where temperatures on the planets would allow water to exist in a liquid state, essential for most life as we know it on Earth.

      Almost two years of Kepler’s 3.5 year mission has passed, and it has documented 1235 planetary candidates. This means that these potential planets have passed in front of their parent stars at least 4 times in this two year period to provide reliable data to confirm that it’s a planet. In the next one-and-a-half years, more planets will be documented as they pass in front of their stars causing the star’s light to dim and allowing Kepler to record another transit. The longer Kepler looks at a star, the more planets it will see, because they are further from the star and have longer orbital periods.

 

      If Kepler were looking at our Sun, it would have already documented Mercury, because Mercury orbits the Sun every 88 days. (Actually it would have to be a much larger version of Mercury to be seen by Kepler.) Venus would also have been identified, with its orbital period of 224 days, three transits could have been recorded in two years. Earth could also be a likely candidate, but unconfirmed with two possible transits in the two year observation period. But, Kepler wouldn’t have anything more than possibly one transit for Mars and/or the other planets beyond it during this time period. With Jupiter’s orbital period of almost12 years, it would take 48 years for Kepler to gather enough data to confirm its existence.

      The cosmos is teaming with planets, I have no doubt. I also think that the cosmos is teaming with life, in some shape or form. Our own experience with extremophiles here on Earth should be a good indication that life will find a way. How advanced that life is, is open to debate. Time will tell.

     If you would like to participate in identifying potential planets from the data that Kepler has produced, take a look at the site: Planet Hunters. At the site you will go through some training and then will be able to identify transits that may indicate a planet passing in front of a star. A nice way to be able to participate in a profession astronomy project.

 

     As always, comments and discussions are welcome.

 

Till next time,

RC Davison

Posted in Cosmology | No Comments »

The Colors of the Universe

9. February 2011 by RC Davison.

     We are often so amazed by the colorful images we see of nebulae, galaxies and other deep space objects that we may sometimes forget that these colors are not the natural colors, or at least not the colors we would see if viewed directly by the naked eye.

 

      Part of the reason to color these objects so dramatically is to distinguish the different components of the object. That might be different elements or molecules, densities of matter or different energy levels, say from x-rays to infrared to gamma rays.

 

     It really all comes down to the energy of the photons that the CCDs (use to be photographic film) receive. Typically these images are in black and white and are obtained by passing the light from the object through filters, which allow only certain frequencies or energies of electromagnetic radiation to reach the detector. Below are three images of the Eagle Nebula taken (from left to right) in the green, red and deep red parts of the visible spectrum:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     You can see some subtle differences in the structure. Interesting, but not too exciting. But, if we assign colors to these filtered images so that the green light emitted by the doubly-ionized oxygen is blue, the red light from hydrogen is green and the deep red light from ionized sulfur is red. This helps to distinguish sulfur from hydrogen, which otherwise would both look red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     This is beginning to look a bit more interesting! Now, by blending these images into one we get the final product:

 

 

      These color choices show the bluish background of hydrogen and oxygen atoms surrounding the columns of dust and gas containing sulfur. Pretty to the eye and much more informative as to the components that make up the nebula.

 

      These images come from a NASA site “Behind the Pictures”. Check it out. It won’t take long to go through the different pages that talk about using color as a tool, filters and the shapes of the images. There are also many more examples of how this process is applied to learn more about these amazing celestial objects.

 

Till next time,

 

RC Davison

 

Posted in Astronomy | No Comments »

Learning From The Challenger and Columbia Disasters

26. January 2011 by RC Davison.

Friday, the 28^th of January is the 25th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Hard to believe it was that long ago. As I’ve been watching the recent developments with the shuttle Discovery (STS-133), with the series of delays due to faulty valves early on and then the discovery of numerous cracked stringers in the external fuel tank, it’s got me wondering if we are seeing a repeat of the same mentality that caused the disasters with Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.

 

The O-ring problem on the solid rocket boosters that doomed Challenger first occurred on STS-2, the second flight of the shuttle Columbia that occurred on November 12, 1981. The problem was looked at by Thiokol, the company that designed the boosters, and they did some testing at elevated stress levels that turned up nothing, so it was written off as an anomaly. But, for the 15 shuttle launches that occurred between 1984 and the Challenger accident, all but three showed O-ring damage. It had not caused a problem up to that point and this deviation was normalized as routine—until January 28, 1986. The Challenger crew paid the cost of that behavior with their lives.

 

The same normalization of deviations applied to the foam and ice coming off the large external fuel tank that frequently pelted the shuttles, damaging their delicate ceramic tiles that form the heat shield for the vehicle. Foam falls off all the time, but it never caused a problem, so it must be okay to keep launching. February 1, 2003 proved that to be wrong when Columbia (STS-107) reentered the atmosphere with a hole in a leading edge carbon-carbon panel of the left wing, which allowed super-hot gases to destroy the structural integrity of the wing and the break up of the shuttle. Another crew paid the ultimate price for NASA accepting the abnormal as normal.

 

Today we are looking at the final launch of Discovery sometime towards the end of February 2011, postponed from the initial launch date back in November 2010. Did we get lucky this time? Could these cracked stringers in the main fuel tank have caused a failure of the tank as the shuttle raced into orbit? Equally important; is this a problem that has been there all along and it’s been accepted as the norm? I don’t know. I do know that I’m glad they found it and that repairs are under way to fix the problem. Hopefully we will see another successful mission for Discovery at the end of February. With the end of the shuttle program looming ever closer, NASA needs to be even more vigilant to ensure that the final missions launch and land without any problems.

 

If you want a nitty-gritty view of NASA from the inside, check out Mike Mullane’s book Riding Rockets. It gives you a peak behind the golden curtain NASA puts up for the general public. Very interesting.

 

Till next time,

RC Davison

Posted in Humans in Space | No Comments »

The Orion Nebula

24. January 2011 by RC Davison.

     The European Southern Observatory has delivered one of the most beautiful images of the Orion Nebula that I’ve seen.

     Using their 2.2 meter telescope at the Silia Observatory in Chile, with a series of 5 different filters, the image is close to what one would observe with the naked eye.  But, one needs to remember that the CCDs can collect photons of light over time and build up an image that we humans would not be able to see with the physiology of our eyes.  We wouldn’t be able to see the delicate gossamer structure with the subtle color changes that the CCD can.  So enjoy this beautiful image on your computer!

Orion is riding high in the cold winter night sky and one can easily see the Orion Nebula just below the belt of Orion on the constellation’s left side, as can be seen below.

    Orion harbors many wonders, including the red supergiant Betelgeuse marking his upper right shoulder and Rigel, a blue supergiant that marks Orion’s left foot.  Betelgeuse is so large that if placed at the center of our Solar System it would extend beyond Mars and the asteroid belt!  Another jewel that lies within the constellation is the Horsehead nebula, located near the left-most star making up Orion’s belt.

     Next time you’re out and about at night, check out Orion, and if you have a pair of binoculars or a telescope available, take some time to check out the jewels that lie within the Orion constellation.

Till next time,

RC Davison

Posted in Astronomy | No Comments »

Audio Promo for ORBITAL MANEUVERS

19. January 2011 by RC Davison.

     Check out the audio promo for ORBITAL MANEUVERS at Drabblecast.org, a great Sci-Fi short story audio podcast site.  The host, Norm Sherman did a great job putting the promo together, along with the really neat feature short story (with adult themes), A Matter of Size by Robert Jeschonek.

If you’d like to give the book a try, the first 7 chapters are available at the ORBITAL MANEUVERS website.  If you want more, you can download the first half of the book in several different electronic formats free at Smashwords.com.

If you like Sci-Fi you will do yourself a big favor by checking out Drabblecast.org.  Norm puts on some really amazing short story productions by some very talented authors, with top-notch narration by Norm and other voice actors, music and special effects, it’s a very entertaining half hour.  His site won the  2010 Parsec Award for “Best Speculative Fiction Magazine” - a very well deserved honor.

Till next time,

RC Davison

Posted in Orbital Maneuvers | No Comments »

Many Faces of Andromeda

6. January 2011 by RC Davison.

     The Andromeda galaxy is one of my favorite galaxies, so the latest images from the European Space Agency (ESA) are a real treat.  Using the Hershel observatory to take Andromeda’s portrait in the infrared and the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory to capture the galaxy’s image in the high energy spectrum, ESA has produced a composite image that shows the star birthing and dying regions of the galaxy in the highest resolution to date.

      The top right image show the galaxy in the infrared as taken by Hershel.  This shows the regions of the galaxy where there are concentrations of dust that harbor the development and birth of stars.  The image at the lower right shows the regions hot with X-rays, which is indicative of gas being heated to extremely high temperatures from the shockwaves produced when stars meet their end as novas and supernovas. X-rays can also be generated as one star pulls material from another in a binary pair.  This gas is heated to high temperatures as it is accelerated in its fall to the parasite star.

     The image also shows a high concentration of X-rays at the center of the galaxy, which is to be expected because of the high density of stars there and the resident supermassive black hole that resides at the core of the galaxy. If you look closely at the X-ray image there appears to be a bubble surrounding the core of the galaxy.  Possibly a shockwave propagating outward from the core, indicating a more active period of the galaxy’s massive black hole. Be sure to check the links to see the all the detail in these great high-resolution images.

     Take a look at ESA’s website for more information on these new images of Andromeda.

Till next time,

RC Davison

 

 

Posted in galaxy | No Comments »

The Power of Infrared

5. January 2011 by RC Davison.

     The power of using infrared light to peer through the dust in the cosmos is clearly demonstrated in this stunning image of the Lagoon Nebula (M8) from the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) VISTA telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile.

     The top view shows a vast field of stars, many of which are cool red stars, but it is the hot young stars that radiate prodigiously in the ultraviolet that help the Lagoon nebula glow in the visible range as seen in the bottom view.

Here is a nice video that fades from visual to infrared views of the Lagoon nebula.

Check out some larger images and more information at ESO’s website…

Till next time,

RC Davison

facebook

Posted in Astronomy | No Comments »