Why are there so many moonquakes? A recent reanalysis of seismometers left on the moon by the Apollo moon landings has revealed a surprising number of moonquakes occurring within 30 kilometers of the surface. In fact, 28 moonquakes were detected in data recorded between 1972 and 1977. These moonquakes were not only strong enough to move furniture but the stiff rock of the moon continued vibrating for many minutes, significantly longer than the soft rock earthquakes on Earth. The cause of the moonquakes remains unknown, with one hypothesis holding that landslides in craters cause the vibrations. Regardless of the source, future moon buildings need to be built to withstand the frequent shakings. Pictured above in 1969, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands besides a recently deployed lunar seismometer, looking back toward the lunar landing module.

So we went on an adventure yesterday and tried to get lost in CT, but that only works for like 10 minutes before you come across something you recognize.  Anyways, we found this tree called the 'Pinchot Sycamore' and it is reportedly the biggest tree in Connecticut.  Says so right on the plaque.  It was 23 feet, 7 inches in circumference.  I thought it was pretty cool because it is a tree, so it could fall down any day and a new tree would be the biggest.  Anyways, here are some pictures from our adventure.

Can you see me standing in front of it?  Its huge!

'Ere's me again!

This is the Farmington River...

...and a bridge.

...and Talcot Mountain!

That is all. 

So I got caught out today.  Well, it was nothing bad, but I feel kind of weird that somebody noticed it.  One of the girls in the marketing department asked me why I always walk with my arm bent, "you know, like Bob Dole".  She was totally right on too because it is pretty much exactly the way you always see Bob Dole.  Stiff arm bent at a 90 degree angle with something resembling a loose fist.  I thought it was weird she noticed.  (I do it because my arm doesn't hang completely straight because of the elbow plate and it feels funny when it is extended). 

Has anybody ever pointed out one of your idiosycracys? 

Eta Carinae may be about to explode. But no one knows when - it may be next year, it may be one million years from now. Eta Carinae's mass - about 100 times greater than our Sun - makes it an excellent candidate for a full blown supernova. Historical records do show that about 150 years ago Eta Carinae underwent an unusual outburst that made it one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. Eta Carinae, in the Keyhole Nebula, is the only star currently thought to emit natural LASER light. This image, taken in 1996, resulted from sophisticated image-processing procedures designed to bring out new details in the unusual nebula that surrounds this rogue star. Now clearly visible are two distinct lobes, a hot central region, and strange radial streaks. The lobes are filled with lanes of gas and dust which absorb the blue and ultraviolet light emitted near the center. The streaks remain unexplained. Will these clues tell us how the nebula was formed? Will they better indicate when Eta Carinae will explode?

So I was surfing around the internet aimlessly (apparently) and I found something that will provide me with hours upon hours of entertainment!  Mork paper-dolls!  This is truly a fantastic day for anyone who loves Mork or paper-dolls.  Me?  I like both.

http://hemsidor.torget.se/users/s/swes/mork/paper.htm

Not all roses are red of course, but they can still be very pretty. Likewise, the beautiful Rosette Nebula and other star forming regions are often shown in astronomical images with a predominately red hue - in part because the dominant emission in the nebula is from hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen's strongest optical emission line, known as H-alpha, is in the red region of the spectrum, but the beauty of an emission nebula need not be appreciated in red light alone. Other atoms in the nebula are also excited by energetic starlight and produce narrow emission lines as well. In this gorgeous view of the Rosette's central regions, narrow band images are combined to show emission from sulfur atoms in red, hydrogen in blue, and oxygen in green. In fact, the scheme of mapping these narrow atomic emission lines into broader colors is adopted in many Hubble images of stellar nurseries. This image spans about 50 light-years in the constellation Monoceros, at the 3,000 light-year estimated distance of the Rosette Nebula.

The Universe is expanding gradually now. But its initial expansion was almost impossibly rapid as it likely grew from quantum scale fluctuations in a trillionth of a second. In fact, this cosmological scenario, known as Inflation, is now reported to be further quantified by an analysis of three years of data from the WMAP spacecraft. WMAP's instruments detect the cosmic microwave background radiation - the afterglow light from the early Universe. WMAP's amazing success in exploring the first trillionth of a second and favoring specific inflationary scenarios lies in its ability to make unprecedented, precise measurements of the properties of the microwave background. The subtle properties are distilled from conditions in the early Universe and related to its first moments of existence. Schematically, this diagram traces the 13.7 billion year (plus a trillionth of a second ...) history of the Universe from the quantum scale to the formation of stars, galaxies, planets, and WMAP.

Wow, slow day in here today.  So, eh...yeah.  I bet you want to hear about sunshine and farts but I want to talk about the papacy during the renaissance.  How do you like them apples?  Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out!  During the Italian renaissance (not to be confused with the Northern renaissance, which coincided with the more famous Italian version but started a little later) the papacy was one hell of a messed up organization.  Don't believe me?  Google 'Ballet of the Chestnuts'.  Read it.  Keep in mind this is the friggin' Pope we're talking about.  The 'ballet' is only one of many atrocities attributed to this creep.  It really brings Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation into perspective.  Alright, enough with the history.  I had a steak yesterday and it wasn't very good.  What the hell is with the lump of cheese they put on top of it?  That's just gross.  At least I think it was cheese. 

Some images of Saturn appear surreal. Earlier this year, the robot spacecraft Cassini now orbiting Saturn took this surreal image of the gas giant Saturn, its majestic rings, and its enigmatic world Enceladus all in one frame. Enceladus, recently found to emit jets of ice from possible underground seas, appears white as its surface is covered with relatively clean water-ice. Below Enceladus are the rings of Saturn, seen nearly edge on. Compared to Enceladus, Saturn's rings show their comparatively high density of dirt with their golden-brown color in this natural color image. The planet Saturn, in the background, appears relatively featureless with the exception of thin ring shadows visible on the upper left. The terminator between night and day is seen vertically across the face of distant world.

Are "super-Earths" common around other star systems? Quite possibly. Unexpected evidence for this came to light recently when a planet orbiting a distant star gravitationally magnified the light of an even more distant star. Assuming the planet's parent star is normal red dwarf, the brightening is best explained if the planet is about 13 times the mass of the Earth and orbiting at the distance of the asteroid belt in our own Solar System. Given the small number of objects observed and similar determinations already obtained for other star systems, these super-Earths might be relatively common. Astronomers speculate that the planet might have grown into a Jupiter-sized planet if its star system had more gas. Since the planet was not observed directly, significant uncertainty remains in its defining attributes, and future research will be aimed at better understanding this intriguing system. The above drawing gives an artist's depiction of what a super-Earth orbiting a distant red dwarf star might look like, complete with a hypothetical moon.

I thought this website was sorta morbidly interesting.  It contains a list of people who got the death penalty and what they ordered for their last meal.  Some of these guys seem, well, nuts.  :)  The got served!

http://www.deadmaneating.com

A well-known asterism in northern skies, The Big Dipper is easy to recognize even when viewed upside down. Part of the larger constellation of Ursa Major, the bright dipper stars above are named (left to right along the dipper) Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Joe D, Alioth, Mizar/Alcor, and Alkaid. Of course, stars in any given constellation are unlikely to be physically related. But surprisingly, most of the big dipper stars do seem to be headed in the same direction as they plough through space, a property they share with other stars spread out over an even larger area across the sky. Their measured common motion suggests that they all belong to a loose, nearby star cluster, thought to be on average only about 75 light-years away and up to 30 light-years across. The cluster is more properly known as the Ursa Major Moving Group.