The Purple Pinata
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Matters Astronomical and Astronautical, as in the Cassini spacecraft approach to Saturn.
NASA has just released the latest photograph taken of Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft (click on the photo inside the link to get a larger view). Cassini will be entering orbit around Saturn on July 1. Between now and then there should be some spectacular views of Saturn, its rings and its moons.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Matters Astronomical, and Astronautical as in the discovery of another large ice ball in the Kuiper Belt.
The discovery of another large ice ball in the Kuiper Belt (the belt beyond the orbit of Pluto from which some comets are thought to originate and return) has just been announced.
This brings to mind a speaker phone conversation our Pluto Mission design team at JPL had with Clyde Tombaugh (now deceased) in the mid-1990s. Tombaugh was the discoverer of the planet Pluto and so he naturally had some interest in our efforts to design a spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon Charon. (The Pluto mission has since been given to Southwest Research in San Antonio, while the JPL team members have turned their attention to sending a probe to Jupiter's moon Europa which has an ocean beneath its icy surface, possibly harboring life.)
What struck me as we each had a chance to speak with Tombaugh, was his continuing comment and interest in the ice balls beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt. Some small ice balls had been discovered, and indeed, since his death two large ones have now come to light.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Matters Political and Scandal, as in the breaking story of an infidelity scandal surrounding presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry.
Drudge has dredged up another scandal, this time swirling around presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry ("Do you know he served in Vietnam?" to quote Michael Medved.) World Net Daily also has a nice summary of the details gathered from Drudge and other sources, while Real Clear Politics has several links on this story.
