Monday, June 30, 2014
Bumblebee in Hollywood...
Just thought I'd share these photos that I took of a full-scale Bumblebee statue that is currently on display at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. (I worked at the studio earlier today.) This statue, which is actually a movie prop that was used in the 2007 Transformers movie (in that scene where Sector 7 agents capture the Autobot in a sewage channel and transport him to the Hoover Dam), was placed in front of the famous Bronson Gate at Paramount to promote Transformers: Age of Extinction...which was released in theaters nationwide just three days ago (click here to read my review of the film). To see additional images that I took of Bumblebee, click here.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Random Pics from the OC...
Just thought I'd share these photos that I took when I recently drove down to Orange County during a day off from work. For those of you who aren't sports fans, Honda Center is the home of the Anaheim Ducks (the 2007 Stanley Cup champion), Angel Stadium of Anaheim is, of course, home to the Dodgers (and by that, I mean the L.A. Angels of Anaheim... Thanks, Arte Moreno), and the last photo is of a Metro bus station that is being constructed a few blocks down from Angel Stadium. The design of this station is pretty cool; you'd have to see it in person (after it opens) to appreciate the architecture. Oh, and the movie theater shown above is located a few blocks down from Honda Center. I usually go there to watch select blockbuster films such as Transformers. Speaking of which, I think I'll watch the newest installment, Age of Extinction, at this cinema sometime next week. Not in XD though... I'd rather just pay matinee price.
Labels:
Anaheim Ducks,
Back in the Day,
Dodgers,
Photos of the Day,
Transformers
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Cassini Update: Marking an Anniversary...
NASA / JPL - Caltech
Cassini Celebrates 10 Years Exploring Saturn (Press Release)
It has been a decade since a robotic traveler from Earth first soared over rings of ice and fired its engine to fall forever into the embrace of Saturn. On June 30, the Cassini mission will celebrate 10 years of exploring the planet, its rings and moons.
The Cassini spacecraft, carrying the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, arrived in the Saturn system on June 30, 2004, for a four-year primary mission. Since 2008, NASA has granted the mission three extensions, allowing scientists an unprecedented opportunity to observe seasonal changes as the planet and its retinue completed one-third of their nearly 30-year-long trek around the sun.
"Having a healthy, long-lived spacecraft at Saturn has afforded us a precious opportunity," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "By having a decade there with Cassini, we have been privileged to witness never-before-seen events that are changing our understanding of how planetary systems form and what conditions might lead to habitats for life."
After 10 years at Saturn, the stalwart spacecraft has beamed back to Earth hundreds of gigabytes of scientific data, enabling the publication of more than 3,000 scientific reports. Representing just a sampling, 10 of Cassini's top accomplishments and discoveries are:
-- The Huygens probe makes first landing on a moon in the outer solar system (Titan)
-- Discovery of active, icy plumes on the Saturnian moon Enceladus
-- Saturn's rings revealed as active and dynamic -- a laboratory for how planets form
-- Titan revealed as an Earth-like world with rain, rivers, lakes and seas
-- Studies of Saturn's great northern storm of 2010-2011
-- Studies reveal radio-wave patterns are not tied to Saturn's interior rotation, as previously thought
-- Vertical structures in the rings imaged for the first time
-- Study of prebiotic chemistry on Titan
-- Mystery of the dual, bright-dark surface of the moon Iapetus solved
-- First complete view of the north polar hexagon and discovery of giant hurricanes at both of Saturn's poles
"It's incredibly difficult to sum up 10 extraordinary years of discovery in a short list, but it's an interesting exercise to think about what the mission will be best remembered for many years in the future," Spilker said.
Further details about each of these top-10 discoveries are available at:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/10thannivdiscoveries/
In celebration of the 10th anniversary, members of the Cassini team selected some of their favorite images for a gallery, describing in their own words what makes the images special to them. The gallery is available at:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/10thannivimages/
While Cassini was originally approved for a four-year study of the Saturn system, the project's engineers and scientists had high hopes that the mission might carry on longer, and designed the system for endurance. The spacecraft has been remarkably trouble-free, and from an engineering standpoint, the main limiting factor for Cassini's lifetime now is how much propellant is left in its tanks. The mission owes a great deal of its longevity to skillful and efficient piloting by the mission's navigation and operations teams.
"Our team has done a fantastic job optimizing trajectories to save propellant, and we've learned to operate the spacecraft to get the most out of it that we possibly can," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL. "We're proud to celebrate a decade of exploring Saturn, and we look forward to many discoveries still to come."
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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NASA / JPL - Caltech
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Just Reminiscing, Yo...
Today marks one year since Nancy and I worked on a gig in downtown Los Angeles—with us exchanging phone numbers towards the end of that long day. It took about a year (heh), but we finally used text messages and phone calls for their correct purpose (somewhat) by hanging out and going hiking (and getting beverages at Asian tea & coffee shops near my house... Yes, this is the first time I've mentioned that info here) as well as booking work together a few months ago. Don't know when we'll go hiking again, since Nancy started taking summer classes yesterday, but hopefully the wait won't be too long.
Anyways, just thought I'd also share this random pic that I found online. What does it have to do with this entry, you ask? Well, click on the first link at the top of this post and you'll find out. Then again, don't...since I'll start looking like a fiend, hah.
Anyways, just thought I'd also share this random pic that I found online. What does it have to do with this entry, you ask? Well, click on the first link at the top of this post and you'll find out. Then again, don't...since I'll start looking like a fiend, hah.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Marking a Milestone on the Red Planet...
NASA / JPL - Caltech / MSSS
NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover Marks First Martian Year with Mission Successes (Press Release)
NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover will complete a Martian year -- 687 Earth days -- on June 24, having accomplished the mission's main goal of determining whether Mars once offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.
One of Curiosity's first major findings after landing on the Red Planet in August 2012 was an ancient riverbed at its landing site. Nearby, at an area known as Yellowknife Bay, the mission met its main goal of determining whether the Martian Gale Crater ever was habitable for simple life forms. The answer, a historic "yes," came from two mudstone slabs that the rover sampled with its drill. Analysis of these samples revealed the site was once a lakebed with mild water, the essential elemental ingredients for life, and a type of chemical energy source used by some microbes on Earth. If Mars had living organisms, this would have been a good home for them.
Other important findings during the first Martian year include:
-- Assessing natural radiation levels both during the flight to Mars and on the Martian surface provides guidance for designing the protection needed for human missions to Mars.
-- Measurements of heavy-versus-light variants of elements in the Martian atmosphere indicate that much of Mars' early atmosphere disappeared by processes favoring loss of lighter atoms, such as from the top of the atmosphere. Other measurements found that the atmosphere holds very little, if any, methane, a gas that can be produced biologically.
-- The first determinations of the age of a rock on Mars and how long a rock has been exposed to harmful radiation provide prospects for learning when water flowed and for assessing degradation rates of organic compounds in rocks and soils.
Curiosity paused in driving this spring to drill and collect a sample from a sandstone site called Windjana. The rover currently is carrying some of the rock-powder sample collected at the site for follow-up analysis.
"Windjana has more magnetite than previous samples we've analyzed," said David Blake, principal investigator for Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. "A key question is whether this magnetite is a component of the original basalt or resulted from later processes, such as would happen in water-soaked basaltic sediments. The answer is important to our understanding of habitability and the nature of the early-Mars environment."
Preliminary indications are that the rock contains a more diverse mix of clay minerals than was found in the mission's only previously drilled rocks, the mudstone targets at Yellowknife Bay. Windjana also contains an unexpectedly high amount of the mineral orthoclase, This is a potassium-rich feldspar that is one of the most abundant minerals in Earth's crust that had never before been definitively detected on Mars.
This finding implies that some rocks on the Gale Crater rim, from which the Windjana sandstones are thought to have been derived, may have experienced complex geological processing, such as multiple episodes of melting.
"It's too early for conclusions, but we expect the results to help us connect what we learned at Yellowknife Bay to what we'll learn at Mount Sharp," said John Grotzinger, Curiosity Project Scientist at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "Windjana is still within an area where a river flowed. We see signs of a complex history of interaction between water and rock."
Curiosity departed Windjana in mid-May and is advancing westward. It has covered about nine-tenths of a mile (1.5 kilometers) in 23 driving days and brought the mission's odometer tally up to 4.9 miles (7.9 kilometers).
Since wheel damage prompted a slow-down in driving late in 2013, the mission team has adjusted routes and driving methods to reduce the rate of damage.
For example, the mission team revised the planned route to future destinations on the lower slope of an area called Mount Sharp, where scientists expect geological layering will yield answers about ancient environments. Before Curiosity landed, scientists anticipated that the rover would need to reach Mount Sharp to meet the goal of determining whether the ancient environment was favorable for life. They found an answer much closer to the landing site. The findings so far have raised the bar for the work ahead. At Mount Sharp, the mission team will seek evidence not only of habitability, but also of how environments evolved and what conditions favored preservation of clues to whether life existed there.
The entry gate to the mountain is a gap in a band of dunes edging the mountain's northern flank that is approximately 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers) ahead of the rover's current location. The new path will take Curiosity across sandy patches as well as rockier ground. Terrain mapping with use of imaging from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enables the charting of safer, though longer, routes.
The team expects it will need to continually adapt to the threats posed by the terrain to the rover's wheels but does not expect this will be a determining factor in the length of Curiosity's operational life.
"We are getting in some long drives using what we have learned," said Jim Erickson, Curiosity Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "When you're exploring another planet, you expect surprises. The sharp, embedded rocks were a bad surprise. Yellowknife Bay was a good surprise."
JPL manages NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, and built the project's Curiosity rover.
Source: NASA.Gov
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NASA / JPL - Caltech / Univ. of Arizona / USGS
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Life Beyond Pluto: Finding A KBO For New Horizons To Explore...
JHUAPL / SwRI
NASA Hubble to Begin Search Beyond Pluto for a New Horizons Mission Target (Press Release - June 16)
After careful consideration and analysis, the Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee has recommended using Hubble to search for an object the Pluto-bound NASA New Horizons mission could visit after its flyby of Pluto in July 2015.
The planned search will involve targeting a small area of sky in search of a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) for the outbound spacecraft to visit. The Kuiper Belt is a vast debris field of icy bodies left over from the solar system's formation 4.6 billion years ago. A KBO has never been seen up close because the belt is so far from the sun, stretching out to a distance of 5 billion miles into a never-before-visited frontier of the solar system.
"I am pleased that our science peer-review process arrived at a consensus as to how to effectively use Hubble's unique capabilities to support the science goals of the New Horizons mission," said Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland.
Fully carrying out the KBO search is contingent on the results from a pilot observation using Hubble data.
The space telescope will scan an area of sky in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius to try and identify any objects orbiting within the Kuiper Belt. To discriminate between a foreground KBO and the clutter of background stars in Sagittarius, the telescope will turn at the predicted rate that KBOs are moving against the background stars. In the resulting images, the stars will be streaked, but any KBOs should appear as pinpoint objects.
If the test observation identifies at least two KBOs of a specified brightness it will demonstrate statistically that Hubble has a chance of finding an appropriate KBO for New Horizons to visit. At that point, an additional allotment of observing time will continue the search across a field of view roughly the angular size of the full moon.
Astronomers around the world apply for observing time on the Hubble Space Telescope. Competition for time on the telescope is extremely intense and the requested observing time significantly exceeds the observing time available in a given year. Proposals must address significant astronomical questions that can only be addressed with Hubble's unique capabilities, and are beyond the capabilities of ground-based telescopes. The proposals are peer reviewed annually by an expert committee, which looks for the best possible science that can be conducted by Hubble and recommends to the Space Telescope Science Institute director a balanced program of small, medium, and large investigations.
Though Hubble is powerful enough to see galaxies near the horizon of the universe, finding a KBO is a challenging needle-in-haystack search. A typical KBO along the New Horizons trajectory may be no larger than Manhattan Island and as black as charcoal.
Even before the launch of New Horizons in 2006, Hubble has provided consistent support for this edge-of-the-solar system mission. Hubble was used to discover four small moons orbiting Pluto and its binary companion object Charon, providing new targets to enhance the mission’s scientific return. And Hubble has provided the most sensitive search yet for potentially hazardous dust rings around the Pluto. Hubble also has made a detailed map of the dwarf planet's surface, which astronomers are using to plan New Horizon's close-up reconnaissance photos.
In addition to Pluto exploration, recent Hubble solar system observations have discovered a new satellite around Neptune, probed the magnetospheres of the gas-giant planets, found circumstantial evidence for oceans on Europa, and uncovered several bizarre cases of asteroids disintegrating before our eyes. Hubble has supported numerous NASA Mars missions by monitoring the Red Planet's seasonal atmospheric changes. Hubble has made complementary observations in support of the Dawn asteroid mission, and comet flybys. In July 1994, Hubble documented the never-before-seen string of comet collisions with Jupiter that resulted from the tidal breakup of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
"The planned search for a suitable target for New Horizons further demonstrates how Hubble is effectively being used to support humankind's initial reconnaissance of the solar system," said Mountain. "Likewise, it is also a preview of how the powerful capabilities of the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will further bolster planetary science. We are excited by the potential of both observatories for ongoing solar system exploration and discovery."
Source: NASA.Gov
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NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Photos of the Day...
Earlier today, Nancy and I went hiking at a trail in the city of Tustin...which is located in Orange County, California. As these pics show, this is probably the best-looking locale that Nancy and I have went to since we started hiking together late last month. I'm sure that there are scores of other picturesque locations in the O.C. to hike at, and I hope that Nancy and I will soon visit those places as well. And after that, we can explore sites in San Diego, Pacific Palisades and Yosemite National Park in the future. Of course— I probably shouldn't get too ahead of myself here, hah.
Monday, June 16, 2014
The L.A. Kings' Victory Parade...
Earlier today, I drove down to STAPLES Center to attend the parade for the newly-crowned Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. When you include all of the victory celebrations that I've been to in downtown Los Angeles since 2000 (when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant won their very first title together after the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers in that year's NBA Finals), I've been to seven parades at or near STAPLES Center (the 2009 championship was celebrated at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum near USC and the 2010 title was held near USC's own Galen Center—which is only a few miles away from STAPLES Center). 2000-2002 for the Shaq/Kobe-era Lakers, 2009 and 2010 for the Kobe/Pau Gasol-era Lake Show, and 2012 and this year's parade for the Dustin Brown-led Stanley Cup champion. Truly, STAPLES Center is the Arena of Champions (the L.A. Sparks won two WNBA titles last decade)...moreso if the title-less Clippers are ever evicted from this stadium. Just sayin'... That is all.
LINK: Photos I took at the Los Angeles Kings' 2014 championship parade
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Photo of the Day
I've just updated my SoCal Sports Wall of Fame with the Los Angeles Times' special sports page commemorating the L.A. Kings' new Stanley Cup title. I have no more space on my wall (at least this part of my wall), so I had to remove the L.A. Times front page section that featured the Anaheim Ducks' 2007 Stanley Cup win in order to make room for the Kings' article. Hey— When the day comes that the Ducks return to the Stanley Cup and win their second championship, then I'll ponder about whether or not I should make space on another wall in my bedroom for Anaheim's accomplishment. Until then, Go Kings Go!
Friday, June 13, 2014
The L.A. Kings: The 2014 Stanley Cup Champions!
Two titles in three years! Can't wait to attend the Los Angeles Kings' championship parade at STAPLES Center next Monday... It starts at 12 noon.
NHL
NHL
Sunday, June 08, 2014
IKAROS Update...
JAXA
IKAROS Wakes Up From Hibernation Mode for Third Time (Press Release - June 4)
The IKAROS seemed to wake up from its hibernation mode in mid-April, and JAXA searched for it based on its attitude and orbit prediction to receive its radio waves. On May 22 (Thu.), we successfully found the IKAROS, which is flying at a distance of about 230 million kilometers (143 million miles) from the Earth. We will continue to receive data from the IKAROS until mid-June to confirm its condition and analyze the information.
The IKAROS, launched in May 2010, completed its mission, and is now revolving around the sun about every 10 months. Power generation is insufficient for seven months out of 10 so the IKAROS goes into hibernation mode for this period by shutting down instruments. For the remaining three months, the IKAROS is awake with enough power so that we can receive data from it.
Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Friday, June 06, 2014
70 Years Ago, Today...
This day marks seven decades since D-Day occurred at the shores of Normandy, France, in World War II. While Memorial Day was less than two weeks ago, today is another occasion to honor the brave soldiers who lost their lives in this pivotal battle against (Nazi) tyranny. Dramatic language aside, I'll probably mark this historical moment by popping in my DVD of Steven Spielberg's WWII epic Saving Private Ryan later...
On another note, I went hiking with Nancy again early this morning. Even though we went to the same trail that we visited on Memorial Day, here are photos that I took during today's excursion. And yes, I'm planning to take pictures of the trails every time we go hiking together. And no, I'm not gonna post images of Nancy herself unless we ever become a couple. Carry on.
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Meme of the Day...
Image courtesy of 9GAG Fan Page - Facebook.com
Personally speaking, I would've used a screenshot of WALL-E from the movie WALL-E for this meme...seeing as how he has sadder eyes than Stitch (from the film Lilo & Stitch, FYI), and WALL-E has been alone on Earth for hundreds of years before EVE came along. But that's just me.
Monday, June 02, 2014
Kepler Update...
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics / David Aguilar
Astronomers Confounded By Massive Rocky World (Press Release)
Astronomers have discovered a rocky planet that weighs 17 times as much as Earth and is more than twice as large in size. This discovery has planet formation theorists challenged to explain how such a world could have formed.
“We were very surprised when we realized what we had found,” says astronomer Xavier Dumusque of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), who led the analysis using data originally collected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
Kepler-10c, as it had been named, had a previously measured size of 2.3 times larger than Earth but its mass was not known until now. The team used the HARPS-North instrument on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo in the Canary Islands to conduct follow-up observations to obtain a mass measurement of the rocky behemoth.
Worlds such as this were not thought possible to exist. The enormous gravitational force of such a massive body would accrete a gas envelope during formation, ballooning the planet to a gas giant the size of Neptune or even Jupiter. However, this planet is thought to be solid, composed primarily of rock.
"Just when you think you've got it all figured out, nature gives you a huge surprise – in this case, literally," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "Isn't science marvelous?"
Kepler-10c orbits a sun-like star every 45 days, making it too hot to sustain life as we know it. It is located about 560 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco. The system also hosts Kepler-10b, the first rocky planet discovered in the Kepler data.
The finding was presented today at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Boston. Read more about the discovery in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics press release.
NASA’s Ames Research Center manages Kepler's ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, managed the Kepler mission's development.
Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and is funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.
Source: NASA.Gov
Sunday, June 01, 2014
Next Stop: The Stanley Cup Finals!
Gooooo Kings! I would've preferred if Dustin Brown and company closed out the series in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals last Wednesday, but this will obviously do. It's been only two years since the Los Angeles Kings played in June, whereas 20 years have passed since the New York Rangers last hoisted the Stanley Cup trophy. Let the team with the recent championship experience win it all.
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