Hey Everyguys,

Look outside tonight because it's the full moon I was talking about.  It's a magical time, even if you're not superstitious enough to believe in things like werewolves and witchcraft.  And most of us aren't.  The point is the mystery of it; we don't know who or what is lurking out there.  We don't exactly know what function we all serve, floating around a gigantic ball of burning energy.  But on nights of the full moon, we remember that we are, and it gives us pause.

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator. - Mohandas Gandhi

Is That Even Legal?

That's what some people are wondering about New Mexico's legislation that February 18, 2010 was "Pluto is a Planet in New Mexico Day."  It honors the eightieth anniversary of the discovery of the dwarf planet Pluto.  I think we should hop on board too! =D?  What do you think?  Read my source here.

Say What?

According to Stephen Hawking and Yahoo! News, efforts have been made to contact potential extra-terrestrial life, and such lifeforms are statistically likely to exist.  To send a message of peace, "Across the Universe" by the Beatles was beamed into space.  This was a necessary precaution, as in recalling Columbus' "discovery" of America, we recall how wars were waged against the Native Americans there for ages, and the scenarios would be similar.  You can read the piece that made me feel gullible for even considering its apparent validity here, and Across the Universe can be heard, once again, in the music player gadget at the bottom of this page.

Consistency Conschmistency

I know I said I'd be covering Astronomy in Harry Potter for a while, but I was feeling uninspired.

Instead, I'm going to venture into the realm of Astrology.  Personally, I think it's mostly a bunch of hokum.  It reminds me of Divination in Harry Potter, actually (hey, hey--I did it--Harry Potter and Astronomy).  The horoscopes more often than not predict common occurrences that will probably happen to everyone every day, and they describe those with certain "astronomical signs" with very basic, general characteristics that are also relatively universal.

But it's still kind of fun to look at them.

As a Virgo, this is my forecast for the day:
You may have a hard time keeping up with the flow of activity today — but not because you’re disorganized! It’s just a bit much, though by the end of the day, you should have a better sense of what’s important.

Eh.  I am disorganized, actually, and I will probably have a better sense of something by the time I hit the sack, yes.  (By the way, if you're interested, I found the horoscope here.)

My thoughts headed this direction, though, because I caught a glimpse of our Daily Moon Phase on the right sidebar, and the full moon is creeping up on us again.  I checked the moon calendar, and it's this coming Thursday, in fact.  And weird things happen on the full moon.  More babies are born on that day of the month than on any other, usually--myself included.  This is said to have something to do with the tide and the gravitational pull and whatnot.  I dunno about that because... I was a C-section kid.  But some people also believe that people born on the full moon tend to be more free-spirited, and I like to think that about myself as well.  Was anybody else out there born under the full moon?  What do you make of all this?

*Virgo constellation

Good News and Bad News

The bad news is this: John Green interpreted the theme to be "mind-blowing things" instead of astronomy, so there'll be no more astronomy-themed video blogs from them this week....  But if you like covert birthday planning, go ahead and check it out anyway; Hank's turning thirty.

The good news is that Hubble would be an adorable name for a goldfish.

But also, I've found a couple of other old astronomy books, and I think I'll blog about Harry Potter-related constellations... because I love Harry Potter.  And there are a lot of them.

So, for today, Sirius is part of the dog-star constellation.  The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius is part of Canis Major.  This star was on the tongue of the dog, and Sirius itself wasn't particularly significant to the ancient Greeks, but its rising is connected with "the scorching heat of midsummer" (Condos)*.  And of course, Sirius Black was Harry Potter's godfather in the Harry Potter series.  Worthy of note is that his animagus form was actually, like Canis Major, a dog.

*Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans: A Sourcebook by Theony Condos

Yeah.... I don't really see it either.

Touchdoooown!

After a rain/fog delay, the space shuttle Discovery has safely returned home, marking the third-to-last of such missions.  The next one, originally scheduled for July, will probably be delayed, according to these guys.  The journey lasted fifteen days and crossed over six million miles to and from the International Space Center.  It should perhaps be noted that when I was searching for a detailed account of this story, I was bombarded with over six thousand news results alone.  This stuff isn't obsolete; (I was going to reference Season 1, Episode 3 of The Big Bang Theory here to explain how astronomy is more interesting than physics, but I can't seem to find the clip on YouTube).  (...But the transcript is here.)

This Just In

Here's a shout-out to Mrs. Sander for having the word "Mars" in her name.  I am jealous.

Marsha

Mars, ha!

Potential Astronomy Club T-Shirt Designs

We Come In Peace: with one of those adorable Toy Story three-eyed aliens
Make a Wish: with a shooting star
Shoot for the Moon: with a cool crescent moon and something dangling there or something like that
Starry Night: with some version of the Van Gogh painting on it
Out of this World: with Earth and somebody on top of it?
To Infinity and Beyond!: with Buzz Lightyear
Traversing the Galaxy on Intergalactic Travels to Mars: with an A Very Potter Musical Draco Malfoy animation
Take Us To Your Leader: with an alien of some sort, maybe Toy Story
Star-Crossed Wanderers: with Simba and Nala from Lion King

Or if you have a better idea, leave it below in the comments! =D

Total Mind-Blowing!

The Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green, are my favorite people in the whole YouTube.  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they come out with delightfully insightful and witty under-four-minute videos, sometimes in song form, and sometimes in cute baby form.  As it happens, the theme of this week seems to be--you guessed it--astronomy!  I... am stoked about it.  You know that I am stoked from my use of the word "stoked," which I believe normally ought to refer only to the verb involving fire.  Today's video covers the hugeness that is the universe and the galaxies of which it is composed, as well as the role of the Hubble telescope.  View it here, and let me know if you manage to glean anything from it that I've missed, which is probably plenty.

Remember the time I complained about the Pluto thing, and how it came outta nowhere?

I'm reading a book now.  Well, "reading."  I'm on page two, currently.  But it's called The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.  Before the whole deplanetization thing, I have to confess that I was pretty partial to Jupiter--it's just so giant and orange!--but now, I am rather severely attached to the little dwarf planet.  (I'm not poking fun; that's really what it's called these days.)  And after some skimming, I am convinced that it'll provide an entertaining reading experience.  It mentions my favorite Jonathan Coulton song, I'm Your Moon (which you can hear by typing in "Jonathan Coulton" and scrolling around a bit in the music-player gadget at the bottom of this page), as well as several others, and it contains several letters from angry Pluto-lovers young and old, all of which, as far as I've seen, are adorable.

Okay, more on that later.  Until next time, shoot for the stars! =]

Hubble 3D and the Embarrassing Blunders of Me

So, I was supposed to go see Hubble 3D, an IMAX experience, with the Astronomy Club two Saturday mornings ago, but my mental calendar leaves a little something to be desired, and my physical calendar doesn't have enough space for all my activities of late, anyway.  Also, I don't carry it on me.

Thusly, I missed said IMAX experience, but I may go later and then post a review.  The synopsis says it's a movie about the fascinating discoveries that have been made since our original landing on the moon in the summer of '69 and featuring footage from the Hubble telescope.  (Pictures from the telescope can be found at the bottom of this blog, by the way.) 

Now, that's that, and no harm done.  Pea soup?
(If you can tell me the movie that's referencing, I'll love you forever.)

Masters of the Universe

 

I've been reading some more, and this person believes the NASA program was responsible for making America sort of the "Master of the Universe," if you will.  The first moon landing was a great victory for America in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and it has been called America's finest hour.  Today, many seem to believe that America has fallen from its pedestal of universe mastery, but also that a return to the moon could restore her.  The article's criticism of Obama's alleged "No we can't" attitude seems a little harsh, however.  His acceptance speech was strewn with "Yes We Can"s.  Maybe that's supposed to be irony.  I don't really know!  That's the whole point.  I'm on a quest for the truth, here, and I need your opinions!  Go go go!

Speaking of Buzz Aldrin...

He was voted off of Dancing with the Stars, but it occurs to me now to wonder if there was a pun in there somewhere.  Celebrity stars and astronomical stars?  Watch his moon walks here and here!

On A Side Note....

TOY STORY 3!!!!! Coming June 18, 2010 to theaters near you.  Do you think Buzz Lightyear got his name from Buzz Aldrin?  Let me know!  Also, you can view the trailer here.  I don't think Buzz would be a fan of the budget cuts... if there are indeed budget cuts with which to be concerned.

Politics....

They confuse me.  After reading the article from the Associated Press (available here), I still don't really know what's going on with Obama's new goals for NASA.  Does he have any?  I was under the impression that the NASA program would be undergoing extreme budget cuts, which would cause many people involved to be laid off from their jobs, though admittedly, they can probably afford it at this point.  Yet the President says that he plans to "be around to see" our landing on Mars.  What do you think?

NASA: Out of This World (I am hilarious.)

It's great, because that has three possible meanings, and I mean all of them!!! 

1) NASA is literally not completely grounded on Earth.  Although, I guess space is still probably part of the world.  But I digress.

2) NASA is the most fascinating branch of science in existence.  It almost makes chemistry class worth it.  (No offense, Mr. North, but your class makes my head spin.)

3) NASA may be undergoing severe budget cuts that nearly erase it from this world.  And that's not cool!  NASA gave us GPS systems, without which I would be indelibly lost in a corn field several times over by now. 

So my goal with this blog is to keep up on the news surrounding the possibility of NASA cuts as well as any other developments NASA may see.  I'm finished with being caught offguard with crazy stories like, "Hey Abby, did you know Pluto's not a planet anymore?"  Nonsense!  Baloney!  Balderdash!  No!

To infinity, and BEYOND!