Photos of the Day: Autograph Signings at The Grove in LA...

Today and yesterday, I drove down to The Grove near Beverly Hills to attend autograph signings (held in the Barnes & Noble bookstore there) by singer/actress Katharine McPhee and actress Leah Remini. McPhee (who was the Season 5 finalist of American Idol in 2006 and now appears in the CBS TV series Scorpion) promoted her new CD album Hysteria last night, while Remini (who was in the long-running CBS sitcom King of Queens and such films as the 2003 Will Ferrell comedy Old School) did signings for her new book Troublemaker a few hours ago. Personally speaking, my favorite pic from the last two days is the one that I took with Remini...even though I only said 'hi' to her when I finally walked up to her table. McPhee struck a brief conversation with me (she asked me where I was from; we're both born and raised in Los Angeles), but the fact that she's three inches taller than me (plus she had high heels on) kinda made me wish that she was sitting down when the photo below was taken. Oh well. All that matters is that I had the opportunity to meet these two awesome ladies in person and that I wish them the best of luck in future endeavors. Carry on!

(It Took 5 Extra Years, But...) Welcome To Venus, Akatsuki!

Go Miyazaki

Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki: Result of Attitude Control Engine Thrust Operation for Venus Orbit Insertion (Press Release)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed the attitude control engine thrust operation of the Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki for its Venus orbit insertion from 8:51 a.m. on December 7 (Japan Standard Time).

As a result of analyzing data transmitted from the orbiter, we confirmed that the thrust emission of the attitude control engine was conducted for about 20 minutes as scheduled.

The orbiter is now in good health. We are currently measuring and calculating its orbit after the operation. It will take a few days to estimate the orbit, thus we will announce the operation result once it is determined.

Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

****


Real-time simulation courtesy of Lizard-Tail.com

New Horizons Update: An Awesome New Hi-Res Pic of Pluto...

NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI

The Mountainous Shoreline of Sputnik Planum (Press Release)

In this highest-resolution image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, great blocks of Pluto’s water-ice crust appear jammed together in the informally named al-Idrisi mountains. Some mountain sides appear coated in dark material, while other sides are bright. Several sheer faces appear to show crustal layering, perhaps related to the layers seen in some of Pluto’s crater walls. Other materials appear crushed between the mountains, as if these great blocks of water ice, some standing as much as 1.5 miles high, were jostled back and forth. The mountains end abruptly at the shoreline of the informally named Sputnik Planum, where the soft, nitrogen-rich ices of the plain form a nearly level surface, broken only by the fine trace work of striking, cellular boundaries and the textured surface of the plain’s ices (which is possibly related to sunlight-driven ice sublimation). This view is about 50 miles wide. The top of the image is to Pluto’s northwest.

Source: NASA.Gov

****

Hayabusa2 Flies Past Earth on Its Way to Asteroid Ryugu...

JAXA

Hayabusa 2 Earth Swing-by (Press Release)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed an Earth swing-by operation of the Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa 2 on the night of December 3 (Thursday), 2015 (Japan Standard Time). The Hayabusa 2 flew closest to the Earth at 7:08 p.m. (JST) and passed over the Pacific Ocean around the Hawaiian islands at an altitude of about 3,090 kilometers (1,920 miles).

After its closest flight to the Earth, we have confirmed the good health of the Hayabusa 2 through operations supported by the NASA Deep Space Network stations.

The Hayabusa 2 project team is currently measuring and calculating the post-swing-by orbit. It will take about a week to confirm if the explorer entered the target orbit. We will report the result once it is determined.

Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Photos of the Day: Atari or Sega Genesis for the Price of $50...

A few weeks ago, I paid a visit to my local Walgreens store when I saw that it was selling vintage Atari and Sega Genesis game consoles...each for the really low price of $50! As if that wasn't cool enough, the Sega Genesis came with the game Sonic the Hedgehog, which I totally wanted to play when I was in 6th grade (that would be in 1991-'92). As it stands, I instead played Super Mario World, F-Zero, Star Fox and other awesome titles when my family had a Super Nintendo Entertainment System while I was in grade school. Yea— Back in the day... Would I play those games if I still had them today, you ask? Definitely! As it stands, I'll just live out my youth by playing the Star Wars: X-Wing game (which I originally played during my sophomore year in high school between 1995-'96) that I bought for my PC about a year ago. That is all.

So True...

Just thought I'd end November with this interesting meme that was posted on my Facebook news feed a few days ago. I could definitely relate to it...ever since January of 2011. Won't elaborate—but the amount of fun and memorable memories that I have of last decade is equated to the amount of memorably tumultuous experiences I've had over the past five years. It's true that a lot of cool things have happened to me since the start of this decade (finally being able to do the HALO jump in 2013, appearing on my favorite TV show The Big Bang Theory two months ago, etc...), but if I can go back to the feeling of contentment (not complacency, mind you) that I felt in December of 2010, I would. Happy Monday.

An End Of An Era Will Soon Be Upon Us...

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

Kobe Bryant just announced this evening that he will be retiring from the NBA at the end of this season. I'll wait till next Spring to start realizing the fact that a sports icon who devoted almost 20 years of his life and five championships to the city of Los Angeles will soon be departing from the Lakers...

Maybe now, the media will spend as much time talking about Michael Jordan's true heir as they do gushing about Stephen Curry and LeBron James. Those two definitely deserve to be recognized for their talents and accomplishments, but come next April [I'd say May, but the Lakers do not look like playoff material (that's an understatement) as of this entry], one of the greatest basketball players of all time will be playing his final game at STAPLES Center. I'm tryin' not to get emotional here...


Getty Images


Getty Images

Happy Thanksgiving Day, Everyone!

Or should I say, as an annual tradition— Happy Falsify-A-Peace-Treaty-Then-Slaughter-Your-Dinner-Guests-And-Steal-Their-Land-And-Eat-Until-Your-Sick Day!!! Of course, this seems a bit redundant considering these two memes I found online that speaks the truth about current world events... Carry on.

One Down, 17 More to Go...

NASA / Chris Gunn

NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Receives First Mirror Installation (Press Release)

NASA has successfully installed the first of 18 flight mirrors onto the James Webb Space Telescope, beginning a critical piece of the observatory’s construction.

In the clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland this week, the engineering team used a robot arm to lift and lower the hexagonal-shaped segment that measures just over 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) across and weighs approximately 88 pounds (40 kilograms). After being pieced together, the 18 primary mirror segments will work together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) mirror. The full installation is expected to be complete early next year.

“The James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier astronomical observatory of the next decade,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This first-mirror installation milestone symbolizes all the new and specialized technology that was developed to enable the observatory to study the first stars and galaxies, examine the formation stellar systems and planetary formation, provide answers to the evolution of our own solar system, and make the next big steps in the search for life beyond Earth on exoplanets.”

Several innovative technologies have been developed for the Webb Telescope, which is targeted for launch in 2018, and is the successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Webb will study every phase in the history of our universe, including the cosmos’ first luminous glows, the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, and the evolution of our own solar system.

The 18 separate segments unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium chosen for its thermal and mechanical properties at cryogenic temperatures. Each segment also has a thin gold coating chosen for its ability to reflect infrared light. The telescope’s biggest feature is a tennis court sized five-layer sunshield that attenuates heat from the sun more than a million times.

“After a tremendous amount of work by an incredibly dedicated team across the country, it is very exciting to start the primary mirror segment installation process" said Lee Feinberg, James Webb Space Telescope optical telescope element manager at Goddard. "This starts the final assembly phase of the telescope."

The mirrors must remain precisely aligned in space in order for Webb to successfully carry out science investigations. While operating at extraordinarily cold temperatures between minus 406 and minus 343 degrees Fahrenheit, the backplane must not move more than 38 nanometers, approximately one thousandth the diameter of a human hair.

"There have many significant achievements for Webb over the past year, but the installation of the first flight mirror is special," said Bill Ochs, James Webb Space Telescope project manager. "This installation not only represents another step towards the magnificent discoveries to come from Webb, but also the culmination of many years of effort by an outstanding dedicated team of engineers and scientists."

The mirrors were built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and lightweight mirror system. The installation of the mirrors onto the telescope structure is performed by Harris Corporation of Rochester, New York. Harris Corporation leads integration and testing for the telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. NASA works with the international science community to explore our solar system and beyond. We look to unravel mysteries that intrigue us all as we explore to answer big questions, like how did our solar system originate and change over time, and how did the universe begin and evolve, and what will be its destiny?

Source: NASA.Gov

****


NASA / Chris Gunn

Photo of the Day: Stare at This Image of Pluto at 4:20...

NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI

Psychedelic Pluto (Press Release - November 12)

New Horizons scientists made this false color image of Pluto using a technique called principal component analysis to highlight the many subtle color differences between Pluto's distinct regions. The image data were collected by the spacecraft’s Ralph/MVIC color camera on July 14 at 11:11 AM UTC, from a range of 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers). This image was presented by Will Grundy of the New Horizons’ surface composition team on Nov. 9 at the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in National Harbor, Maryland.

Source: NASA.Gov