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Posts Made By: Maurice Clark

September 6, 2007 09:31 PM Forum: N.A.S.A.

Iapetus

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

Just a heads up reminder that in 3 days Cassini makes its only close flyby of the zebra moon Iapetus. About 1500km distant!

Looking forward to some spectacular images of this most weird of moons!

Cheers,

Maurice

September 13, 2007 09:16 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Want $30 million?

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

Want an easy way to earn $30,000,000? Then just send a rover to the Moon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6993373.stm

Google has teamed up with the X-prize foundation to offer $30 million for private companies to send a rover to the moon.

Something different for the robotics club here at uni!!!! 8)

Cheers,

Maurice

September 21, 2007 04:55 PM Forum: Politics

Bush does it again!!!!

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

Only a short time after not knowing which country he was in and not knowing which international gathering he was attending, it would appear that president Bush believes that Saddam Hussein killed Nelson Mandela!!! 8O

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/22/2040473.htm

If this is really the best that you guys can come up with as a leader... then the rest must really be hopeless!!!!!!

Cheers,

Maurice

October 4, 2007 08:48 PM Forum: Politics

Interesting piece on Bush by the BBC

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

I came across this piece by Matt Frei of the BBC discussing President Bush and the changes that have occured in him since he became president.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7027166.stm

I would be interested in hearing comments from americans on this piece. What do you think about it and the opinions he raises?

Cheers,

Maurice

October 8, 2007 07:49 PM Forum: N.A.S.A.

LPL sets up lunar website

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

The Lunar and Planetary Institute has set up a website all about the Moon, from the earliest pre-Apollo days right through to future plans.

Looks like it could have good potential.

Cheers,

Maurice

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/

October 8, 2007 08:13 PM Forum: Politics

Hillary and science

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

For all that people here speak against Hillary Clinton, she has made a speech recently to the Carnegie Institution for Science that is worth reading by anyone who is interested in science and scientific research. I have included below a couple of excerpts that I found particularly interesting.

The unfortunate thing is that words are cheap. Still, I have not heard of any other leading candidate, from either party, making any meaningful commitments regarding science and space exploration. If nothing else, her speech may start some public debate on the topic in the election campaign which can only be good.

Full text of the speech is here: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=3570

There is a press release detailing her proposals here: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=3566

cheers,

Maurice

Secondly, I will end the politicization of scientific research that has marked the Bush Administration and restore a climate of scientific integrity and innovation. We will no longer place ideology ahead of evidence. I'll reverse President Bush's recent directive which expands the power of political appointees in agencies and reduces the role of experts. I'll stop political appointees from manipulating scientific conclusions in government publications and prevent the suppression of public statements by government scientists. We'll commit to a national assessment on climate change that goes above and beyond any requirement in the law. And I'll demand that all agencies prevent political pressure from affecting scientific research and the free and open exchange of ideas.

We've also seen a decline in American leadership in space exploration and science. A recent survey by the National Academy of Sciences found that "the nation's Earth observation satellite programs, once the envy of the world, are in disarray." The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been forced to delay the launch of important climate and weather-monitoring satellites. These technologies are critical tools to study climate change: measuring the rates of melting ice, temperature and humidity changes, sea level variations. Meanwhile, NASA's budget for earth sciences has been cut by 30 percent and NASA climate scientists have been muzzled. Last year, the Bush administration went so far as to remove the following phrase, and I quote, "to understand and protect the home planet," end quote, from NASA's mission statement. It's no wonder, the Bush administration has shown little interest in the earth sciences mission of NASA -- and a hostile approach toward the study of climate change.

October 15, 2007 09:16 PM Forum: N.A.S.A.

10th anniversary images posted!

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

In recognition of the 10th anniversary of the launching of the Cassini mission, a number of very cool images have been released on the Ciclops website.

http://ciclops.org/view_event.php?id=71

Great stuff Cassini team!!

Cheers,

Maurice

October 19, 2007 05:28 PM Forum: N.A.S.A.

Proposed new missions for ESA

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

Today ESA released a list of proposed missions for the 2015 - 2025 decade. There are some really interesting missions included. I hope that several of them get funded!!!!

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM1IQAMS7F_index_0.html

Cheers,

Maurice

October 22, 2007 01:53 PM Forum: N.A.S.A.

China's lunar mission

Posted By Maurice Clark
China is due to launch its latest space mission this week. It will be the Chang'e 1 mission to the Moon.

Press release is here: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.sina.com.cn%2Fc%2F2007-10-16%2F142514098172.shtml&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

Planetary Society weblog here: http://planetary.org/blog/article/00001195/

Some piccies of the booster and launch site here: http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/228927.htm

Japan has a mission orbiting the Moon now. China to launch this week. India to launch a Moon mission soon. LRO to go next year! Looks like lunar exploration is finally becoming vogue again!

Cheers,

Maurice

October 29, 2007 04:55 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Holmes from Maryland

Posted By Maurice Clark
Hi all,

The clouds finally cleared from Maryland on Saturday afternoon, so I was finally able to observe and photograph comet Holmes.

What an amazing sight!!!!! In some 40 years of observing comets, I have never seen anything like this. Observing with an 18", there was a small, off-centre pseudonucleus, a fairly bright condensation in the centre of the coma, and an extremely large and bright outer coma. This outer coma was not uniformly bright. The outer edge was distinctly brighter than the inner regions. with all of the light pollution and moonlight, there was no trace of the faint outer coma visible.

The photo below is a combination of images made with my 5" f/5 refractor and an SBIG ST-8XE and red, green and blue filters. 60, 30 second images with each filter.

Cheers,

Maurice

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