Posts Made By: K. Michael Malolepszy

"I felt like a bird": Austrian falls from England to France

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030731/ap_on_re_eu/france_channel_flight_3

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030731/wl_uk_afp/france_britain_birdman_030731124059

Anyone else catch him on the Today show this morning? Good pic of the setup this guy used at

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030731/168/4udff.html

I've long wondered how far horizontally you could get during a fall from high altitude...

Here's a list of helpful web sites about "Northern
Lights".

The first one I start with is, or course, spaceweather.com:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

While the first one after this has alot of info for
photographers, it does have some important info for
casual visual observers.

The ones that follow do have real time data and / or images.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

How to Find and Photograph Aurora Borealis (Northern
Lights):

http://www.venhaus1.com/photographaurora.html



Solar Terrestrial Activity Report:

http://www.dxlc.com/solar/

http://www.pfrr.alaska.edu/aurora/INDEX.HTM

Auroral Activity Extrapolated from NOAA POES:

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html

http://www.sel.noaa.gov/pmap/

Aurora Forecast page:

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/cgi-bin/predict.cgi

Latest WIC, SI13 and SI12 images

This page shows the latest FUV images which were
acquired and received by satellite tracking stations
in Alaska and CRL-Japan:

http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/image/latest_wic.html

Real Time ISTP/GGS Polar images from the Visible
Imaging Investigations (VII) and its Visible Imaging
System (VIS) can be found at:

http://www-pi.physics.uiowa.edu/www/vis/

Here's a list of helpful web sites about Northern
Lights. While the first one has alot of info for
photographers, it does have some important info for
casual visual observers, too. The ones that follow do
have real time data and / or images.

Many reports of auroral activity seen low towards the north from the St. louis, Missouri area. Some pics taken by a member of one of the local clubs even made it onto local news broadcast last night.

K. Michael Malolepszy
St. Louis Astronomical Society

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

How to Find and Photograph Aurora Borealis (Northern
Lights):

http://www.venhaus1.com/photographaurora.html

SpaceWeather!

http://www.spaceweather.com/

CANOPUS Real Time Auroral Oval

http://www.dan.sp-agency.ca/www/rtoval.htm

Solar Terrestrial Activity Report:

http://www.dxlc.com/solar/

http://www.pfrr.alaska.edu/aurora/INDEX.HTM

Auroral Activity Extrapolated from NOAA POES:

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html

http://www.sel.noaa.gov/pmap/

Aurora Forecast page:

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/cgi-bin/predict.cgi

Latest WIC, SI13 and SI12 images

This page shows the latest FUV images which were
acquired and received by satellite tracking stations
in Alaska and CRL-Japan:

http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/image/latest_wic.html

Real Time ISTP/GGS Polar images from the Visible
Imaging Investigations (VII) and its Visible Imaging
System (VIS) can be found at:

http://www-pi.physics.uiowa.edu/www/vis/

Good advice from kids

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?
You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff.
Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you
like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip
coming. --Alan, age 10

No person really decides before they Grow up who
they're going to marry. God decides it all way before,
and you get to find out later who you're stuck with.
--Kirsten, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the
person FOREVER by then. --Camille, age 10

No age is good to get married at. You Got to be a fool
to get married. --Freddie, age 6

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

You might have to guess, based on Whether they seem to
be yelling at the same kids. --Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Both don't want any more kids. --Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Dates are for having fun, and people should use them
to get to know each other. Even boys have something to
say if you listen long enough. --Lynnette, age 8

On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and
that usually gets them interested enough to go for a
second date. --Martin, age 10

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING
SOUR?
I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call
all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me
in all the dead columns. --Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
When they're rich. --Pam, age 7

The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't
want to mess with that. --Curt, age 7

The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you
should marry them and have kids with them. It's the
right thing to do. --Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
I don't know which is better, but I'll tell you one
thing. I'm never going to have sex with my wife. I
don't want to be all grossed out. --Theodore, age 8

It's better for girls to be single but not for boys.
Boys need someone to clean up after them. --Anita, age
9

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET
MARRIED?
There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't
there? --Kelvin, age 8

"And the #1 Favorite is........."

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she
looks like a truck. --Ricky, age 10

We're less than 8 hours away from landing MER-A
("Spirit") inside Gusev crater on Mars. A PBS NOVA
program about Mars will be broadcast on Sunday,
January 4:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mars/

Set your VCRs!

MER Web broadcast info at:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html

We're less than 8 hours away from landing MER-A
("Spirit") inside Gusev crater on Mars. A PBS NOVA
program about Mars will be broadcast on Sunday,
January 4:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mars/

Set your VCRs!

MER Web broadcast info at:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html

...and keep yer fingers crossed!

Mars: A Water World? Evidence Mounts, But Scientists Remain Tight-Lipped

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 01:00 pm ET
29 February 2004

PASADENA, California -- Evidence that suggests Mars was once a water-rich world is mounting as scientists scrutinize data from the Mars Exploration rover, Opportunity, busily at work in a small crater at Meridiani Planum. That information may well be leading to a biological bombshell of a finding that the red planet has been, and could well be now, an extraterrestrial home for life.

There is a palpable buzz here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California that something wonderful is about to happen in the exploration of Mars.

There is no doubt that the Opportunity Mars rover is relaying a mother lode of geological data. Using an array of tools carried by the golf cart-sized robot -- from spectrometers, a rock grinder, cameras and powerful microscopic imager -- scientists are carefully piecing together a compelling historical portrait of a wet and wild world.

Where Opportunity now roves, some scientists here suggest, could have been underneath a huge ocean or lake. But what has truly been uncovered by the robot at Meridiani Planum is under judicious and tight-lipped review.

Those findings and their implications are headed for a major press conference, rumored to occur early next week -- but given unanimity among rover scientists and agreement on how and who should unveil the dramatic findings. Turns out, even on Mars, a political and ego outcrop hangs over science.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_evidence_0402

Mars: A Water World? Evidence Mounts, But Scientists Remain Tight-Lipped

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 01:00 pm ET
29 February 2004

PASADENA, California -- Evidence that suggests Mars was once a water-rich world is mounting as scientists scrutinize data from the Mars Exploration rover, Opportunity, busily at work in a small crater at Meridiani Planum. That information may well be leading to a biological bombshell of a finding that the red planet has been, and could well be now, an extraterrestrial home for life.

There is a palpable buzz here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California that something wonderful is about to happen in the exploration of Mars.

There is no doubt that the Opportunity Mars rover is relaying a mother lode of geological data. Using an array of tools carried by the golf cart-sized robot -- from spectrometers, a rock grinder, cameras and powerful microscopic imager -- scientists are carefully piecing together a compelling historical portrait of a wet and wild world.

Where Opportunity now roves, some scientists here suggest, could have been underneath a huge ocean or lake. But what has truly been uncovered by the robot at Meridiani Planum is under judicious and tight-lipped review.

Those findings and their implications are headed for a major press conference, rumored to occur early next week -- but given unanimity among rover scientists and agreement on how and who should unveil the dramatic findings. Turns out, even on Mars, a political and ego outcrop hangs over science.


http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_evidence_040229.html

Mars: A Water World? Evidence Mounts, But Scientists Remain Tight-Lipped

By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 01:00 pm ET
29 February 2004

PASADENA, California -- Evidence that suggests Mars was once a water-rich world is mounting as scientists scrutinize data from the Mars Exploration rover, Opportunity, busily at work in a small crater at Meridiani Planum. That information may well be leading to a biological bombshell of a finding that the red planet has been, and could well be now, an extraterrestrial home for life.

There is a palpable buzz here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California that something wonderful is about to happen in the exploration of Mars.

There is no doubt that the Opportunity Mars rover is relaying a mother lode of geological data. Using an array of tools carried by the golf cart-sized robot -- from spectrometers, a rock grinder, cameras and powerful microscopic imager -- scientists are carefully piecing together a compelling historical portrait of a wet and wild world.

Where Opportunity now roves, some scientists here suggest, could have been underneath a huge ocean or lake. But what has truly been uncovered by the robot at Meridiani Planum is under judicious and tight-lipped review.

Those findings and their implications are headed for a major press conference, rumored to occur early next week -- but given unanimity among rover scientists and agreement on how and who should unveil the dramatic findings. Turns out, even on Mars, a political and ego outcrop hangs over science.


http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_evidence_040229.html

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/space/20040323/sc_space/nasatoannouncemajordiscoverybytheopportunitymarsroverat2pmet

NASA to Announce 'Major' Discovery by the Opportunity
Mars Rover at 2 p.m. ET

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer, SPACE.com

Update: First posted March 22

NASA (news - web sites) will announce a "major
scientific finding" from its Mars rover mission today
at 2 p.m. ET.

The announcement will be made at NASA Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. and carried live on NASA TV. An
article about the discovery will be posted to the
SPACE.com home page, also at 2 p.m. ET.

The last time NASA promised something like this
involving Mars, the result was the revelation that the
Opportunity rover's landing site had once been soaked
with water, providing the first evidence gleaned from
the surface for past liquid water on Mars.
A spokesperson for NASA told SPACE.com that the big
announcement would again involve a discovery by the
Opportunity rover and not its twin, Spirit.

The agency did not provide detail regarding the
science involved, and the spokesperson would not
elaborate.

Rover scientists have said they were eagerly pursuing
whether the water that once existed at the rover
landing site was groundwater or might have been a lake
or ocean. In fact, as of late last week they did not
agree on what the most recent evidence revealed.

Experts have said they might learn the answer to that
question with further investigation, but that they
were not certain the answer would become clear.

One of the scientists that will help present the
findings is Dave Rubin, a sedimentologist with the
U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites).

The rock outcropping studied in the shallow depression
at the landing site was formed long ago as layers of
sediment, scientists have said previously. But they've
not yet been able to say how long ago, or for how long
water was present.

The persistent presence of water is thought to be a
prerequisite for life, though the fact that there was
water does not mean there was biology. Biologists say
life could work its magic either above or below the
ground. But clearly the idea of a Martain lake would
capture more public fancy.

All signs point to something important in the
announcement, as NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe will
make opening remarks. He is typically not involved in
science announcements and did not participate in the
previous blockbuster presentation of Opportunity's
water discovery.

Other speakers include Cornell University professor
Steve Squyres, the principal investigator for the
overall rover mission, and John Grotzinger,
co-investigator for rover team from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (news - web sites). Rounding
out the presentation will be Jim Garvin, NASA lead
scientist for Mars and the Moon, and Ed Weiler, NASA's
associate administrator in the Office of Space
Science.