Saturn!

In working my way through the TED seminar archives, I'm going to continue to bring you those talks which exemplify the Code of the Science Patrol.

Carolyn Porco has flown to Saturn. She worked on the Cassini space probe which explored my future home and she was one of the first people to set sights on these amazing vistas of the methane seas of Titan, the mysterious polar plumes of Enceladus, and much more.

Invisible Choirs Arise Around Us

"Imagine that you could only hear sound from the middle three keys on a piano and were asked to name a song.... Being able to study a star, nebula, or galaxy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum gives us the big picture, providing clues to unravel the greatest mysteries ...."

When we look at the universe with our fleshy eyes, we are all mostly blind. Humans can only see a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum as light. The images from radio telescopes and other star-gazing devices are falsely colored to allow us to appreciate these as imagery. But what about people who cannot see in the visible spectrum at all?

In a new book, Touch the Invisible Sky, the wide swaths of the invisible electromagnetic spectrum are laid out before the reader as tactile images. The book was designed by an incredible educator named Noreen Grice, who has been bringing the wonders of astronomy to the blind for years. At the Bad Astronomy blog, Phil Plait has posted a video about Noreen and her work.

Space Probe Finds Four New Worlds

I tell you, when you see this headline on the front of your personal homepage, you know you are living in the future. That's how you know what it feels like to be Yanos Solong.
"Corot, a French-funded probe designed to detect worlds orbiting other stars, has found four such candidates in its first year of operation, its mission chiefs said here on Thursday..."

Story here.

This day in space:1964

Fourty-three years ago today marked the launch of Mariner 4, the first man made vessel to do a flyby of the planet Mars. Since then we have come a long way-we have 2 rovers on the surface and plans for manned flight to mars are in the works for as early as the next decade.
Mariner 4 orbited Mars for over 3 years-much longer than initially expected by nasa scientists. Below are some pictures taken from mariner 4 courtesy of nasa. Happy 43rd Mariner4!