1/10th scale Saturn V launch

This is the largest Model rocket launch in a Farmers field. It landed back on its base here.

Rep. Dingell on Cap and Trade

Mimas: The Death Star Moon

From Mail Online of Cassini's photographs of Saturn.

Happy Earth Day!

Shuttles together on pads one last time

From Flame Trench here the images all were captured by award-winning Florida Today photographer Michael R. Brown.

Colbert Named for ISS Treadmill

From Reuters here:

Astronaut Sunita L. Williams, appearing on "The Colbert Report" on cable TV network Comedy Central, said NASA will name the new module Tranquility, instead of Colbert as he and his fans demanded after winning an online poll conducted by NASA.

But the U.S. space agency did make one concession. It said it will make a new Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) -- a fancy way of saying "exercise treadmill" -- a key fixture in the space station.

"Your name will be in space in a very important place," Williams assured Colbert on his TV show. "Everyday somebody will have to jump on the COLBERT," she said.

Meet the STS-125 Crew

Clean Air caused Ice Cap Melting

NASA research shows that eliminating aerosols and acid rain has caused the Ice Cap Melting:

New research from NASA suggests that the Arctic warming trend seen in recent decades has indeed resulted from human activities: but not, as is widely assumed at present, those leading to carbon dioxide emissions. Rather, Arctic warming has been caused in large part by laws introduced to improve air quality and fight acid rain.

Dr Drew Shindell of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies has led a new study which indicates that much of the general upward trend in temperatures since the 1970s - particularly in the Arctic - may have resulted from changes in levels of solid "aerosol" particles in the atmosphere, rather than elevated CO2. Arctic temperatures are of particular concern to those worried about the effects of global warming, as a melting of the ice cap could lead to disastrous rises in sea level - of a sort which might burst the Thames Barrier and flood London, for instance.

North Korean Launch (via AP)

Stick to Bad Astronomy

I wish Bad Astronomy would stick to Bad Astronomy. I know it is a science blog run by Discover Magazine and written by Phil Plait but talking about social or political issues is not Science or Astronomy. I'm talking about the recent ruling in Iowa about same sex marriage. Here is Phil's comments:

Iowa?

Awesome.

And perfectly correct. I’d add "of course", but some folks don’t get it. But it really is simple. We have two choices, legally: allow any consenting adults to be legally married, or allow none. This is because there’s a difference between being married legally — in the eyes of the law — and being married religiously. If your established religion hates teh ghey, then (besides that being your loss) don’t allow them to marry within that religion. But the State has no legal right to tell people to be married or not. So if it allows consenting oppositely-polarized heterosexual couples to be married and exact benefits from it, then they cannot consistently bar any two consenting adults, heterosexual or otherwise.

I want to say so much more but I'm keeping my blog just focused on Space and related subjects. What is important to me on this blog is I don't give a hoot what sexual preference one has.( Or wants to marry his pet dog for that matter.) We are all humans and all I want to talk about is space, Astronomy and space program policies.

I have a personal Blog where I do talk about social and political issues there.

I like you Phil very much and respect your Bad Astronomy. But please stick to the subject of Astronomy and leave the social engineering to the other blogs. Please!

North Korea Launches Missile

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.
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Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (North Korean time) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came minutes after the launch.

The South Koreans called it "reckless," the Americans "provocative," and Japan said it strongly protested the launch.

The launch was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

We know it was a multi-stage but did not get high enough to launch a satellite. And not a threat to have Japan fire the Aegas or Missile Shield to go off. Just a rattling of the saber of Kim Il-Jong.