Personally, I have thought this should be the case for a while now. Since we keep finding Pluto-like bodies out there, it’s hard to see Pluto being more “important” than all these other (even though it may be a bit bigger).

So go rewrite your textbooks… how do you like “Noodles” replacing “Nine Pizzas”?

The eyes of many species perceive wavelengths different than the spectrum visible to the human eye. For example, many insects, such as bees, can see light in the ultraviolet, which is useful for finding nectar in flowers. For this reason, plant species whose life cycles are linked to insect pollination may owe their reproductive success to their appearance in ultraviolet light. Thus, the true color of flowers may be in the ultraviolet spectrum.

That’s an example of other creatures’ ability to “see” outside the typical visible spectrum, but it’s still really close. Now, Take a look at this image, and notice that there’s a pretty big hole at visible light. That means that that portion of the spectrum can get through the atmosphere better than most radiation, except for the huge hole around radio frequencies. That would suggest that creatures can see that portion of the spectrum, because that’s the portion that can get through from the heavens… or is it the other way around?

I’m sure this isn’t anything new to the world of science, but I’ve been wondering about this for a long time. I still don’t have all the info I’d like, but I’m no biologist/opto-whatever-ist. I’ll leave the evolution/creation debate for some other blog (or at least another day) and just mention that little connections like these fascinate me.

Mars was high in the East and very vibrant. Right next to Mars was the The Pleiades that I’ve always thought were stunning. Both of these are in Taurus, which I’ve never really noticed because it’s not one of the easier ones to pick out. So I decided to find it. Upon doing so I noticed that on one side of his head, there are two stars (turned out to be 77 and 78 Tau) that are so close that I could barely tell it was two with my naked eye.

The summer triangle was just about to disappear below the western horizon, and Orion, the most famous winter constellation, had just risen in the East, and I think I could make out part of Gemini (but they had Vaught-Hemingway’s lights on, so that part of the sky was flooded with light pollution) coming up. Cassiopeia was almost directly overhead.

It’s been a while since I’ve taken my telescope out, and this is the perfect time of year to hang out outside for long periods of time at night. I’m planning to do that tonight. If your skies are clear and unpolluted, step outside tonight and stand in awe of the universe

The new plan involves two seperate vehicles – one for cargo and one for crew. The advantages of this are that the crew vehicle can be smaller, cheaper, and safer and the cargo vehicle can have a much higher capacity (over four times higher).

They expect to be using the new vehicles to go to ISS as soon as 2010, which is good, because that’s when the shuttle is scheduled to retire.

So, this is great, right? Some new vehicles, some new goals. My only question is how come we did it in 8 years in the 60s, but now it’s gonna take 13? I mean, I respect the fact that good engineering takes time, but it seems like the length would decrease over time? Will NASA be beat to the punch by another space agency? Someone else?

Check out Heavens Above to see if Discovery and the ISS will be visible from your location. It looks like I’ll only have two chances toward the end of the mission, but that might change. I’m not sure whether an altitude boost of ISS is planned for this mission.

According to NASA current timeline and the assumption of a successful mission, this flight is a springboard to some exciting times for space travel including a new vehicle, a return to the moon and manned missions to Mars.

Regardless, NASA is set to launch. On one hand, I wish they would do everything in their power to ensure safety for the crew. After all, another disaster like Columbia would hurt the administration even worse than it already is. On the other hand, I know (and more importantly, the crew knows) that space travel is a risky business. The only way to really improve the “quality” of space travel is to do it. Without mistakes to learn from, we’ll never reach our full potential. Eileen Collins is the commander of the upcoming mission. In an interiew, she was asked about the risk involved. She responded

I am a huge believer in human exploration. Just think about the history of our country and the history of the world. People have flourished around this planet because I think we humans have something inside of us, a need to explore.
[snip]
To me, it is very important for humans to get off the planet and go do these things. Because I believe in this so much, I think that yes, there is risk in space travel, but I think that it’s safe enough that I’m willing to take the risk. I think it’s much, much safer than what our ancestors did in traveling across the Atlantic Ocean in an old ship. Frankly, I think they were crazy doing that, but, but they wanted to do that, and we need to carry on the human exploration of the universe that we live in. I’m honored to be part of that and I’m proud to be part of it. I want to be able to hand on that belief or enthusiasm that I have to the younger generation because I want us to continue to explore.

I think that’s great. Willing to step out, take a chance. Even if NASA took extra months or years (and money) to fulfill those recommendations, space flight is risky. But space flight is essential, at least for future space flight.

I’ll watch the launch on NASA-TV and probably some of the spacewalks and the landing. I’ll try to watch the shuttle docked with ISS as they soar overhead during the night. I’m excited… I should have gone into aeronautics.

This mission is expiremental, measuring the effects of sun light on such a craft. It won’t go far, just acheiving a higher orbit. But the measurements gathered will help researchers create solar sail powered vehicles that could eventually take us to other star systems.

After the the sails are deployed, the satellite should be clearly visible in the night sky. See Heavens Above for passings in your area.