Biker, Happy Joan of Arc Day!
- Thread starter Goatboy
- Start date
On this day in 1575 - beastly Spanish troops conquer Oudewater, almost all the inhabitants died.
The town was granted city rights in 1265 by Hendrik van Vianden, the bishop of Utrecht. Oudewater took place in the First Free Statescouncil in Dordrecht on July 19, 1572, Oudewater was one of the twelve cities taking part in the first free convention of the States-General in Dordrecht. This was a meeting that laid down the origin of the State of the Netherlands, as we know it now, under the leadership of the House of Orange. This happened at the beginning of the 80 year war (15681648) when the Netherlands were still part of the Spanish Empire. After a siege of several months, Oudewater was conquered by the Spanish on August 7, 1575, and most of its inhabitants were killed, including the family of famous Oudewater native and Protestant theologian, Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609).
In the 16th and 17th century, Oudewater was an important producer of rope. In the surrounding area, hemp was cultivated. There still is a rope manufacturing plant and a rope museum in the town. And we all know the Dutch are handy with a hemp plant.
Birthdays
1876 - Mata Hari, [Margaretha G Zelle], dancer/courtesan/spy (WW I)
1884 - Billie Burke [Mary William Ethelbert Appleton], Washington, DC, American actress ( The Good Fairy in The Wizard of Oz.)
1903 - Louis Leakey, Kabete Kenya, anthropologist (1964 Richard Hooper Medal), (d. 1972)
1958 - Bruce Dickinson, heavy metal rocker (Iron Maiden-Run to Hills)
1975 - Charlize Theron, Transvaal, South Africa, actress (The Cider House Rules, Monster)
Deaths
1855 - Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (b. 1802)
1957 - Oliver Hardy, comedian of Laurel & Hardy, dies at 65
[video=youtube;t_LXd66-zKU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_LXd66-zKU[/video]
Picking dad up mid morning, done finale kit check, just cloths to pack and load car. the hard part 
Sea food on the cards, wee shop before we get going for the basics, then off to Kinlochleven
Bob
Sea food on the cards, wee shop before we get going for the basics, then off to Kinlochleven
Bob
I guess that was there version of switch the comp off then switch it back on again .Your spacey one for today talk about flying by the seat of your pants
[video=youtube;eWQIryll8y8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWQIryll8y8[/video]
43 years ago today, on November 14, 1969, Apollo 12 successfully launched to the Moon. But it wasnt without a little drama. The weather that day at Cape Canaveral in Florida was overcast with light rain and winds, but at 11:22 am EST, the spacecraft, carrying astronauts Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, and Alan Bean, blasted off into the clouds. Thirty-seven seconds into launch, all hell broke loose.
What the hell was that? asked Gordon. Twenty seconds of confusion ensued, and then another disturbance occurred.
Okay, we just lost the platform gang, reported Conrad, I dont know what happened here. We had everything in the world drop out.
The crew and Mission Control didnt know what had happened, and only later determined the Saturn V rocket had been struck by lighting twice.
Were it not for flight controller John Aaron, the mission might have been aborted. Aaron may be remembered more for being instrumental in helping to save Apollo 13, but the part he played in Apollo 12 was just as crucial.
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/98484/this-day-in-space-history-apollo-12-and-sce-to-aux/#ixzz2bG2oSaSb
When he saw the unusual telemetry readings from Apollo 12, he remembered a flight simulation that took place about a year earlier, where similar telemetry showed up. He recalled this simulated anomaly concerned an obscure system called Signal Conditioning Equipment (SCE), and remembered normal readings were restored by putting the SCE on its auxiliary setting, which meant that it would run even under low-voltage conditions.
So when he quickly called out the recommendation, Flight, try SCE to AUX, most of his mission control colleagues had no idea what he was talking about. Both the flight director and the CapCom asked him to repeat the recommendation. Pete Conrads response to the order was, What the hell is that?
Fortunately Alan Bean was familiar with the location of the SCE switch inside the capsule, and flipped it to auxiliary. Telemetry was immediately restored, allowing the mission to continue.
This was just one instance that earned Aaron the compliment of being called a steely-eyed missile man, the absolute highest of NASA compliments. And even today among us geeks the phrase SCE to AUX used to describe a situation where one narrowly averts a catastrophe by coming up with an ingenious plan.
Lightning bolt during the launch of Apollo 12. Credit: NASAAfter all the systems and telemetry had been restored, Conrad wondered if they had been struck by lightning, and it later was confirmed. Conrad remarked, Think we need to do a little more all-weather testing.
In February of 1970, the Apollo 12 incident report about the lightning strikes concluded that atmospheric electrical hazards needed to be considered in greater depth for future Apollo flights.
According to the report, the lightning was most likely triggered by an electrical conduction path created by the spacecraft and its exhaust plume as it entered into the electric field of the weather system above. The possibility that lightning could strike a launch vehicle had not previously been considered.
The reports suggested corrective actions included actions to minimize the probability of a lightning discharge by avoiding flight operations into conditions, which may contain high electrical fields. It also provided the following launch restrictions, that later would be expanded upon for the space shuttle program:No launch when flight will go through cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) cloud formation. In addition, no launch if flight will be within 5 miles of thunderstorms cloud or 3 miles of associated anvil.Ten minutes after the second lightning strike, when operations returned to normal and Apollo 12 was heading towards the Moon, Conrad said, Well, Ill tell you one thing. This is a first-class ride, Houston.
Do not launch through cold-front of squall-line clouds which extend above 10,000 feet.
Do not launch through middle cloud layers 6,000 feet or greater in depth where the freeze level is in the clouds.
Do not launch through cumulus clouds with tops at 10,000 feet or higher.
Over the next ten days, the crew of Apollo 12 would go to the Moon and back. The lunar module performed a mostly automatic landing at the Ocean of Storms, a first at the time. They inspected and retrieved parts of the 1967 Surveyor 3 spacecraft, brought back lunar rocks, and set up experiments to measure various aspects of the Moon. The three astronauts safely returned home, splashing down on November 24, 1969.
You can download a 4 minute audioclip of the Apollo 12 launch here (via NASA)
The lead video is taken from the documentary Failure Is Not An Option.
Image: John Aaron on console in Mission Control. Credit: NASA
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/98484/this-day-in-space-history-apollo-12-and-sce-to-aux/#ixzz2bG33Itm0
Bob
Hmm, big orange sweet mussels, razor clams, langoustines Yip time to hit the rd.
Hopefully check in later , or not
Bob
Have a good one hope your Dad catches you something.Hmm, big orange sweet mussels, razor clams, langoustines Yip time to hit the rd.
Hopefully check in later , or not
Bob
Don't worry about me...
I'll just be ronery...
[video=youtube;UEaKX9YYHiQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ[/video]
Biker, Happy Metallic Cartridge DayOn this day in 1854- Smith & Wesson patents metal bullet cartridges.
Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world. They are also used by sport shooters and have been featured in numerous Hollywood movies, Smith & Wesson has been known for the many types of ammunition it has introduced over the years, and many cartridges bear the company's name.
In 1852 partners Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson formed a company to produce a lever-action pistol that was later nicknamed the Volcanic pistol. The company became known as the "Volcanic Repeating Arms Company"; financial difficulties caused it to come into the majority ownership of investor Oliver Winchester, who renamed the company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Previously, in the late 1840s, Daniel Wesson's brother Edwin, of Hartford, Connecticut, had manufactured revolvers under the name of Wesson & Leavitt. After Edwin Wesson's death, that firm continued under the supervision of Thomas Warner.
In 1856 the partners left the Volcanic Company to begin a new company and to manufacture a newly designed revolver-and-cartridge combination which would become known as the Smith & Wesson Model 1. The success of Model 1 was due to a combination of new innovations, the bored-through cylinder and the self-contained metallic cartridge. A gunsmith by the name of Rollin White had patented his invention (patent #12,648, 3 April 1855) on bored-through revolver cylinders. Smith & Wesson negotiated with Rollin White for assignment of the patent, agreeing to pay him a 25-cent royalty on every pistol sold. In return, White agreed to pay any legal fees associated with the defence of his patent against any infringements. For more than one decade Smith & Wesson was the sole manufacturer of this technological improvement. However, the success did not come without a fight. Other manufacturers quickly developed unique metallic cartridges and cylinders designed to circumvent White's patent. White took these manufacturers to court, where he eventually won in 1862; however, full implementation of the ruling did not take effect until 1865. The timing of the founding of this new company proved quite opportune for the partners, since the onset of the American Civil War five years later produced a great demand for Smith & Wesson's products, specifically the Smith & Wesson Model 2.
In 1867, Smith & Wesson began a global sales campaign that introduced the company's revolvers and ammunition to new markets, such as Russia, and established the company as one of the world's premier makers of firearms. The Smith & Wesson Model 3 eventually became known as the "Russian Model" and was a favourite of US lawman Wyatt Earp. The US Army adopted the Model 3 as the "Schofield" and used it throughout the Indian Wars of the West.
BIRTHDAYS
1879 - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary, peasant leader
1900 - Josephine Holt Bay, 1st woman to head a firm on NY stock exchange
1930 - Terry Nation, writer (Dr Who, Blake 7)
1937 - Dustin Hoffman, LA, actor (Graduate, Tootsie, Kramer vs Kramer)
DEATHS
1902 - Jean Y Y Tissot, French painter
1968 - Orovida Camille Pissarro, British painter and etcher
1969 - Sharon Tate, murdered by the Manson family
1991 - Brad Davis, actor (Sybil, Midnight Express), dies of AIDS at 41
1991 - James B Irwin, Col USAF/astronaut (Apollo 15), dies at 61
1996 - Nevill Francis Mott, physicist, dies at 90
2007 - Joybubbles, A notable phone phreak. (b. 1949)
[video=youtube;vVZm7I1CTBs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVZm7I1CTBs[/video]
Space History.
Well with everyone being away either at the MOOT, Camping up North or swaggering around historical Spain, I'd better do the SPACE section today - though why as they've all b******d off leaving no-one to read it, I don't know, here's me - brain the size of a planet and this pain in my diodes all down my left side, not even an electronic sausage left...
STS-28 was the 30th NASA Space Shuttle mission, the fourth shuttle mission dedicated to United States Department of Defence purposes, and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched on 8 August 1989 and travelled 2.1 million miles during 81 orbits of the Earth, before landing on runway 17 of Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 13 August. STS-28 was also Columbia's first flight since January 1986, when it had flown STS-61-C, the mission directly preceding the Challenger disaster of STS-51-L. The mission details of STS-28 are classified, but the payload is widely believed to have been the first SDS-2 communications satellite. The altitude of the mission is classified, but must have been between 220 kilometres (140 mi) and 380 kilometres (240 mi), based on the distance travelled and the number of orbits.
Lift-off of STS-28.
Well with everyone being away either at the MOOT, Camping up North or swaggering around historical Spain, I'd better do the SPACE section today - though why as they've all b******d off leaving no-one to read it, I don't know, here's me - brain the size of a planet and this pain in my diodes all down my left side, not even an electronic sausage left...
STS-28 was the 30th NASA Space Shuttle mission, the fourth shuttle mission dedicated to United States Department of Defence purposes, and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched on 8 August 1989 and travelled 2.1 million miles during 81 orbits of the Earth, before landing on runway 17 of Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 13 August. STS-28 was also Columbia's first flight since January 1986, when it had flown STS-61-C, the mission directly preceding the Challenger disaster of STS-51-L. The mission details of STS-28 are classified, but the payload is widely believed to have been the first SDS-2 communications satellite. The altitude of the mission is classified, but must have been between 220 kilometres (140 mi) and 380 kilometres (240 mi), based on the distance travelled and the number of orbits.
Lift-off of STS-28.
Sorry couldn't get online till now
so one for tomorrow the 9th just a couple hours early
The Mission of Luna 24
Luna 24 was the last of the Soviet Union's major lunar exploration missions. Its goal was similar to Luna 16 and other predecessors in that it was designed to obtain a core sample from the surface. The difference between Luna 24 and those that had gone before was that its sample was to be 2.5 metres below the surface with the corresponding engineering challenge of fitting a long core of soil and rock into the small sample-return vehicle.
This drawing is one of many with a space exploration theme created by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. It depicts Luna 24 on the Moon's surface. The twin rails of the drill mechanism can be seen at the right front of the lander.
The system worked by having the drill motor travelling on this pair of rails while the long drill bit (seen between the lower sections of rail) penetrated the Moon. As the core sample was retracted, another mechanism ensured that it slid away into a flexible tube. The tube was then was coiled tightly before being transferred to the return capsule.
The wedge-shaped protective shield next to the capsule keeps the drill head and the spiral packing device away from direct solar heating while in the rest position. Too much thermal expansion or contraction could have resulted in Luna 24 being unable to pack away the sample. In the event it succeeded.
On the left is the tightly-coiled soil sample, still in the protective tubing into which it was inserted while on the Moon. It was wound like a spiral spring in order to create a cylinder that could be loaded into the return capsule. the return capsule itself was similar to that of Luna 16 with the same rocket engine and fuel tank layout to get the capsule back to Earth.
Luna 24 Statistics:
Launch Vehicle: Proton (four stage version)
Launching Technique: Low orbit around Earth, translunar trajectory, then lunar orbit followed by landing
Mass: 1,900 kilogrammes (approx) on lunar surface
Length: 2.3 metres)
Maximum Diameter: 3.3 metres (including landing legs)
so one for tomorrow the 9th just a couple hours early
The Mission of Luna 24
Luna 24 was the last of the Soviet Union's major lunar exploration missions. Its goal was similar to Luna 16 and other predecessors in that it was designed to obtain a core sample from the surface. The difference between Luna 24 and those that had gone before was that its sample was to be 2.5 metres below the surface with the corresponding engineering challenge of fitting a long core of soil and rock into the small sample-return vehicle.
The system worked by having the drill motor travelling on this pair of rails while the long drill bit (seen between the lower sections of rail) penetrated the Moon. As the core sample was retracted, another mechanism ensured that it slid away into a flexible tube. The tube was then was coiled tightly before being transferred to the return capsule.
The wedge-shaped protective shield next to the capsule keeps the drill head and the spiral packing device away from direct solar heating while in the rest position. Too much thermal expansion or contraction could have resulted in Luna 24 being unable to pack away the sample. In the event it succeeded.
Luna 24 Statistics:
Launch Vehicle: Proton (four stage version)
Launching Technique: Low orbit around Earth, translunar trajectory, then lunar orbit followed by landing
Mass: 1,900 kilogrammes (approx) on lunar surface
Length: 2.3 metres)
Maximum Diameter: 3.3 metres (including landing legs)
| Date | Time (UTC) | Event |
| 1976 Aug 9 | 15:04 | Luna 24 (E-8-5M-412) launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome by four-stage Proton rocket into 183 x 246 kilometre orbit around the Earth at 51.5 degrees inclination - its mission is to enter orbit around the Moon, then land and return a soil sample to Earth |
| 1976 Aug 9 | 16:14 | Final stage of Luna 24 launching rocket fired to place it into a trajectory towards the Moon |
| 1976 Aug 11 | Luna 24 rocket engine is used to correct its trajectory towards the Moon | |
| 1976 Aug 13 | 23:11 | Luna 24 fires its rocket engine and enters a 115 kilometre circular orbit around the Moon at 120 degrees inclination |
| 1976 Aug 16 | Luna 24 rocket engine is used to adjust its orbit around the Moon | |
| 1976 Aug 17 | After firing its onboard rocket engine, Luna 24 orbit around the Moon is now 12 x 120 kilometres at 120 degrees inclination | |
| 1976 Aug 18 | 06:30 | Luna 24 fires its rocket engine and begins its descent towards a landing on the Moon surface |
| 1976 Aug 18 | 06:36 | Luna 24 lands on the Moon at 12.75 degrees north, 62.20 degrees east in the Mare Crisium, a few hundred metres from Luna 23 |
| 1976 Aug 18 | Luna 24 uses a long, hollow drill to collect a 1.6 metre core sample of the lunar surface - it weighs 170 grammes - it is coiled as it is deposited inside the return craft | |
| 1976 Aug 19 | 05:25 | Luna 24 return stage fires its rocket motor and begins its journey back to Earth |
| 1976 Aug 22 | 17:55 | Luna 24 re-entry capsule touches down 200 kilometres south-east of Surgut |
| 1976 Aug 24 | The Soviet Union reports that it is still maintaining communication with Luna 24 on the Moon - this is the last formal announcement in the Soviet Luna programme |
Biker Happy Walden Day!
Today in 1854 - Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden".
Walden (first published as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is an American book written by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. First published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. The book compresses the time into a single calendar year and uses passages of four seasons to symbolize human development.
By immersing himself in nature, Thoreau hoped to gain a more objective understanding of society through personal introspection. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. As Thoreau made clear in his book, his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, about two miles (3 km) from his family home. This last fact is often overlooked by his devotees as they like to portray him as a true man of nature rather than a weekend warrior.
Also in 1907 - The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in Southern England.
Birthdays.
1648 - Johann Michael Bach, Arnstadt Germany, composer (In Dulci Jubilo), (d. 1694)
1809 - William Barret Travis, commander at Battle of the Alamo
1888 - Hans Oster, German major general/spy/July 20th plotter
1927 - Robert Shaw, England, actor (Deep, Jaws, Sting, Black Sunday)
1930 - Betty Boop, animation
1963 - Whitney Houston, singer (One Moment in Time, Bodyguard), (d. 2012)
Deaths
1888 - Charles Cros, French mathematician/chemist/poet, dies at 45
1888 - Isaac Strauss, composer, dies at 82
1967 - Joe Orton, English actor/playwright (Leaf, Murdered), dies at 34
1995 - Jerry Garcia, rock vocalist (Grateful Dead), dies at 53
2006 - James van Allen, American physicist (b. 1914)
2006 - Philip E. High, science fiction author (b. 1914)
[video=youtube;vFpjhqG2fXw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFpjhqG2fXw[/video]
Today in 1854 - Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden".
Walden (first published as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is an American book written by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. First published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. The book compresses the time into a single calendar year and uses passages of four seasons to symbolize human development.
By immersing himself in nature, Thoreau hoped to gain a more objective understanding of society through personal introspection. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. As Thoreau made clear in his book, his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, about two miles (3 km) from his family home. This last fact is often overlooked by his devotees as they like to portray him as a true man of nature rather than a weekend warrior.
Also in 1907 - The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in Southern England.
Birthdays.
1648 - Johann Michael Bach, Arnstadt Germany, composer (In Dulci Jubilo), (d. 1694)
1809 - William Barret Travis, commander at Battle of the Alamo
1888 - Hans Oster, German major general/spy/July 20th plotter
1927 - Robert Shaw, England, actor (Deep, Jaws, Sting, Black Sunday)
1930 - Betty Boop, animation
1963 - Whitney Houston, singer (One Moment in Time, Bodyguard), (d. 2012)
Deaths
1888 - Charles Cros, French mathematician/chemist/poet, dies at 45
1888 - Isaac Strauss, composer, dies at 82
1967 - Joe Orton, English actor/playwright (Leaf, Murdered), dies at 34
1995 - Jerry Garcia, rock vocalist (Grateful Dead), dies at 53
2006 - James van Allen, American physicist (b. 1914)
2006 - Philip E. High, science fiction author (b. 1914)
[video=youtube;vFpjhqG2fXw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFpjhqG2fXw[/video]
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in order to keep the home fires burning whilst all this MOOT madness goes on I've decided to treat us to another little musical interlude from our pith helmeted tonsil exerciser Professor Elemental.
[video=youtube;FkF_XpA5P48]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkF_XpA5P48[/video]
[video=youtube;FkF_XpA5P48]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkF_XpA5P48[/video]
Ok a spacey one again a few hours early just to keep Goat boy out of mischief.
1990: Magellan starts mapping Venus
The Magellan spacecraft has arrived at the planet Venus after an epic 15-month journey from Earth. The craft arrived just after 1730 BST (1630 GMT). Soon after, controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California instructed it to fire its solid-rocket motor for 83 seconds to slow it down into a long, looping orbit around Venus.
They then faced an agonising 30-minute wait while the craft went out of communication behind the planet.
Only when it emerged from the shadow of Venus was it clear that the manoeuvre - one of the most critical of the mission - had been successful.
Uninhabitable
The craft will spend several years making a pass over the planet every eight Earth months - just one day on Venus.
The result will be a detailed map of the planet described by Nasa as a "hell-hole". Scientists hope it will help answer the question of how our nearest neighbour, and the planet most like Earth, ended up uninhabitable.
Previous probes sent to Venus have revealed an environment as unlike that on Earth as it is possible to imagine.
The atmosphere on Venus is almost entirely made up of carbon dioxide. The yellowish clouds which shroud the planet's surface are partly sulphuric acid, and temperatures at the surface are hot enough to melt lead.
"In some ways Venus is very Earthlike, in others it is totally bizarre," said Jim Garvin, of Nasa. "We want to find out why."
Greenhouse effect
Magellan can see surface details as small as 300 ft (91.5 meters) in diameter.
One of the questions scientists will be seeking to answer is whether Venus reached its surface temperatures of 480 degrees C as a result of global warming.
The findings could give an insight into how the greenhouse effect might develop on Earth.
Magellan was built on a shoestring budget and is made up of a combination of materials from other space projects. The radio dish comes from Voyager, and the central control system from the Galileo project.
The recycling of equipment from one project to the next is a growing trend in space exploration in an era of ever-tighter budgets.
Nasa has gone seriously over budget overhauling the space shuttles since the Challenger disaster in 1986. Magellan itself is Nasa's first attempt to explore deep space for 11 years.
Bob
- 1990 Space Magellan Space Craft Arrives At The Planet Venus
1990: Magellan starts mapping Venus
The Magellan spacecraft has arrived at the planet Venus after an epic 15-month journey from Earth. The craft arrived just after 1730 BST (1630 GMT). Soon after, controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California instructed it to fire its solid-rocket motor for 83 seconds to slow it down into a long, looping orbit around Venus.
They then faced an agonising 30-minute wait while the craft went out of communication behind the planet.
Only when it emerged from the shadow of Venus was it clear that the manoeuvre - one of the most critical of the mission - had been successful.
Uninhabitable
The craft will spend several years making a pass over the planet every eight Earth months - just one day on Venus.
The result will be a detailed map of the planet described by Nasa as a "hell-hole". Scientists hope it will help answer the question of how our nearest neighbour, and the planet most like Earth, ended up uninhabitable.
Previous probes sent to Venus have revealed an environment as unlike that on Earth as it is possible to imagine.
The atmosphere on Venus is almost entirely made up of carbon dioxide. The yellowish clouds which shroud the planet's surface are partly sulphuric acid, and temperatures at the surface are hot enough to melt lead.
"In some ways Venus is very Earthlike, in others it is totally bizarre," said Jim Garvin, of Nasa. "We want to find out why."
Greenhouse effect
Magellan can see surface details as small as 300 ft (91.5 meters) in diameter.
One of the questions scientists will be seeking to answer is whether Venus reached its surface temperatures of 480 degrees C as a result of global warming.
The findings could give an insight into how the greenhouse effect might develop on Earth.
Magellan was built on a shoestring budget and is made up of a combination of materials from other space projects. The radio dish comes from Voyager, and the central control system from the Galileo project.
The recycling of equipment from one project to the next is a growing trend in space exploration in an era of ever-tighter budgets.
Nasa has gone seriously over budget overhauling the space shuttles since the Challenger disaster in 1986. Magellan itself is Nasa's first attempt to explore deep space for 11 years.
Bob
Biker, Happy Battle of Maldon Day.
The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Aethelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion. The battle ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat. After the battle Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and the aldermen of the south-western provinces advised King Aethelred to buy off the Vikings rather than continue the armed struggle. The result was a payment of 10,000 Roman pounds (3,300 kg) of silver, the first example of Danegeld in England.
One manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said a Norwegian, Olaf Tryggvason, led the Viking forces, estimated to have been between 2,000 and 4,000 fighting men. A source from the 12th century, Liber Eliensis, written by the monks at Ely, suggests that Byrhtnoth had only a few men to command: "he was neither shaken by the small number of his men, nor fearful of the multitude of the enemy". Not all sources indicate such a disparity in numbers.
'The Battle of Maldon' is the name conventionally given to a surviving 325-line fragment of Old English poetry. Linguistic study has led to the conjecture that initially the complete poem was transmitted orally, then in a lost manuscript in the East Saxon dialect and now survives as a fragment in the West Saxon form, possibly that of a scribe active at the Monastery of Worcester late in the 11th century. Fortuitously this was early attached to a very notable manuscript, Asser's Life of King Alfred, which undoubtedly assisted its survival. The manuscript, by now detached, was burned in the Cotton library fire at Ashburnham House in 1731. The keeper of the collection, John Elphinstone (or his assistant, David Casley), had transcribed the 325 lines of the poem in 1724, but the front and back pages were already missing from the manuscript (possibly around 50 lines each): an earlier catalogue described it as fragmentum capite et calce mutilatum ("mutilated at head and heel"). As a result, vital clues about the purpose of the poem and perhaps its date have been lost.
BRITHNOTH'S DYING WORDS
Yet then this word did speak
The old warrior; cheered on his men
Ordered to go forward - his good brethren.
No longer could he firmly on his feet stand.
He looked up to heaven........
"I thank Thee, Lord of all peoples
For all those joys that I on earth have known.
Now, my Maker mild - I have most need
That thou to my ghost should grant good.
That my soul to Thee may journey,
Into thy kingdom - O lord of the Angels,
May pass with peace - I do desire of Thee
That the hell-fiends may not hurt it."
Then hewed at him those heathen men
And at both those men that stood him beside,
Aelfnoth and Wulfmeer - both fell;
Then beside their liege - their lives they yielded.
Birthdays
1909 - Leo Fender, Anaheim California, rocker (Fender guitars)
1960 - Antonio Banderas, Malaga Spain, actor (Phila, Evita, Mambo Kings)
1969 - Earl of Iveagh, Nice chap, I helped to train him in the forestry side of estate management.
1971 - Justin Theroux, American actor
Deaths
1918 - Erich Lowenhardt, Germany flying ace of World War I (b. 1897)
1973 - Douglas Kennedy, actor (Lone Ranger & Lost City of Gold), dies at 57
2008 - Isaac Hayes, American musician and actor (b. 1942)
[video=youtube;L2cHkMwzOiM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2cHkMwzOiM[/video]
The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Aethelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion. The battle ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat. After the battle Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and the aldermen of the south-western provinces advised King Aethelred to buy off the Vikings rather than continue the armed struggle. The result was a payment of 10,000 Roman pounds (3,300 kg) of silver, the first example of Danegeld in England.
One manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said a Norwegian, Olaf Tryggvason, led the Viking forces, estimated to have been between 2,000 and 4,000 fighting men. A source from the 12th century, Liber Eliensis, written by the monks at Ely, suggests that Byrhtnoth had only a few men to command: "he was neither shaken by the small number of his men, nor fearful of the multitude of the enemy". Not all sources indicate such a disparity in numbers.
'The Battle of Maldon' is the name conventionally given to a surviving 325-line fragment of Old English poetry. Linguistic study has led to the conjecture that initially the complete poem was transmitted orally, then in a lost manuscript in the East Saxon dialect and now survives as a fragment in the West Saxon form, possibly that of a scribe active at the Monastery of Worcester late in the 11th century. Fortuitously this was early attached to a very notable manuscript, Asser's Life of King Alfred, which undoubtedly assisted its survival. The manuscript, by now detached, was burned in the Cotton library fire at Ashburnham House in 1731. The keeper of the collection, John Elphinstone (or his assistant, David Casley), had transcribed the 325 lines of the poem in 1724, but the front and back pages were already missing from the manuscript (possibly around 50 lines each): an earlier catalogue described it as fragmentum capite et calce mutilatum ("mutilated at head and heel"). As a result, vital clues about the purpose of the poem and perhaps its date have been lost.
BRITHNOTH'S DYING WORDS
Yet then this word did speak
The old warrior; cheered on his men
Ordered to go forward - his good brethren.
No longer could he firmly on his feet stand.
He looked up to heaven........
"I thank Thee, Lord of all peoples
For all those joys that I on earth have known.
Now, my Maker mild - I have most need
That thou to my ghost should grant good.
That my soul to Thee may journey,
Into thy kingdom - O lord of the Angels,
May pass with peace - I do desire of Thee
That the hell-fiends may not hurt it."
Then hewed at him those heathen men
And at both those men that stood him beside,
Aelfnoth and Wulfmeer - both fell;
Then beside their liege - their lives they yielded.
Birthdays
1909 - Leo Fender, Anaheim California, rocker (Fender guitars)
1960 - Antonio Banderas, Malaga Spain, actor (Phila, Evita, Mambo Kings)
1969 - Earl of Iveagh, Nice chap, I helped to train him in the forestry side of estate management.
1971 - Justin Theroux, American actor
Deaths
1918 - Erich Lowenhardt, Germany flying ace of World War I (b. 1897)
1973 - Douglas Kennedy, actor (Lone Ranger & Lost City of Gold), dies at 57
2008 - Isaac Hayes, American musician and actor (b. 1942)
[video=youtube;L2cHkMwzOiM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2cHkMwzOiM[/video]
World 1999 World Total Eclipse Of The Sun 11th August 1999 : The total eclipse of the sun is seen around beginning in the Atlantic, a few hundred miles east of Boston, and seen throughout Europe, Asia, The Middle East, below is a small image of the path of the eclipse
. The event drew viewers to the eclipse's path across Europe - from Cornwall, England, then across the contient from France to Romania - and then into Turkey and western Asia. "Totality is longest where we'll be observing it," said Mitzi Adams, a solar physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center noted in an interview last week. Adams worked with an observing team assembled by Dr. Jay Pasachoff of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. "The centerline almost goes directly through Rimnicu-Vilcea where we'll be based. It's not quite in Transylvania, but I believe you can see the Transylvania Mountains (now called the Carpathian Mountains) from there."
From their vantage point, they got 2 minutes, 23 seconds of the rarest solar observing time.
In an age of advanced orbital telescopes, eclipses are still valued by scientists because they give the clearest views of the sun's tenuous corona. Although the moon's orbit carries it in between the Earth and Sun every month, conditions are right for a total eclipse only about every 19 months. Then the bright central disk of the sun is blocked out and the corona becomes visible for several seconds to a few minutes, depending on the observer's position along the eclipse path and other factors.
"Pasachoff is a well-known eclipse chaser," Adams explained. But he does it for a reason. "One of the unique things about his expedition is he's bringing a number of undergraduate students who will assist him in his work. He will be making measurements to look for oscillations in the corona."
Further, Pasachoff's team joined with Dr. Magdalena Stavinschi, director of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy of Science to take high resolution images of the solar corona. The work also was supported by the coronagraphs aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) which orbits with the Earth. SOHO has a continual view of the sun, but its coronagraphs still cannot see the innermost corona. SOHO's views will complement the images collected by Pasachoff's team. By a long-distance phone call she described the scene as the moon gradually "ate" the sun.
"People are now making lots of noise, whistling and clapping and in the distance we can hear some drums," she said. Some of the excitement probably was relief that they would get to see the eclipse. The day opened with rain that eventually cleared.
Earlier, as the she noted that people could feel the temperature dropping as less sunlight arrived.
"If it wasn't for my knowledge of eclipses, this would give me pause," she said. "We're getting into the sliver phase [as the moon covers more than half the sun and only a narrowing crescent is left]. Can you hear the crowds?"
The area took on a dim, bluish cast as the sunlight faded and the only light came from the corona and from the sky in surrounding areas where the eclipse was only partial. Parking lot lights came on at a fast food restaurant when it became dark enough to trip photosensors.
Below: An image from the European METEOSAT 7 weather satellite at 1200 UT (high noon in Greenwich, England) shows the eclipse shadow over the Middle East about an hour after passing over Romania (in the upper left quadrant of the picture). Credit: European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
"This looks really weird," she continued as her own voice became excited. "You can tell something is going on. We're getting close, we're getting very, very close."
While giving a running commentary, Adams was also taking photographs of the sun to support Pasachoff's studies of the corona.
Finally, at 2:04 local time (11:04 UT), the sun was completely blocked and the crowd could be heard shouting and applauding.
Adams noted that a large prominence - a flame like tongue of hot, dense gas rising through the corona - could be seen on the sun's western limb, and a somewhat smaller one was on the eastern limb. Although prominences and other bright events can be seen with conventional solar telescopes, the solar disk has to be blocked out so scientists can see how the prominences or other features interact with the tenuous corona.
"Oh, it's over already?" Adams exclaimed as the moon continued its march and the sun was again in sliver phase, this time expanding and passing so much light that the corona again is lost in the glare.
The astronomers and eclipse fans (some are both) are now packing their gear for the trip home and to the photolab to get their pictures developed. Then, for the astronomers, the real work begins as they dig through the details of the images they got in 2-1/2 minutes of totality.
Pasachoff reported that "the sky was fabulously clear" and the scientific crew of 12 Williams College faculty and students "had complete and total success" in their observations of the total solar eclipse.
"From our site in Rimnicu Vilcea, Romania," reported Pasachoff in an announcement by Williams College, "we viewed the two and a half minutes of totality in a completely clear sky. We have already played back data from our hard drives, and we can see that we have fabulous scientific data. It should keep my students and me busy for years."
bob
. The event drew viewers to the eclipse's path across Europe - from Cornwall, England, then across the contient from France to Romania - and then into Turkey and western Asia. "Totality is longest where we'll be observing it," said Mitzi Adams, a solar physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center noted in an interview last week. Adams worked with an observing team assembled by Dr. Jay Pasachoff of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. "The centerline almost goes directly through Rimnicu-Vilcea where we'll be based. It's not quite in Transylvania, but I believe you can see the Transylvania Mountains (now called the Carpathian Mountains) from there."From their vantage point, they got 2 minutes, 23 seconds of the rarest solar observing time.
In an age of advanced orbital telescopes, eclipses are still valued by scientists because they give the clearest views of the sun's tenuous corona. Although the moon's orbit carries it in between the Earth and Sun every month, conditions are right for a total eclipse only about every 19 months. Then the bright central disk of the sun is blocked out and the corona becomes visible for several seconds to a few minutes, depending on the observer's position along the eclipse path and other factors.
"Pasachoff is a well-known eclipse chaser," Adams explained. But he does it for a reason. "One of the unique things about his expedition is he's bringing a number of undergraduate students who will assist him in his work. He will be making measurements to look for oscillations in the corona."
Educators! Please visitThursday's Classroom for lesson plans and activities related to the August 11, 1999 total solar eclipse. |
"People are now making lots of noise, whistling and clapping and in the distance we can hear some drums," she said. Some of the excitement probably was relief that they would get to see the eclipse. The day opened with rain that eventually cleared.
Earlier, as the she noted that people could feel the temperature dropping as less sunlight arrived.
"If it wasn't for my knowledge of eclipses, this would give me pause," she said. "We're getting into the sliver phase [as the moon covers more than half the sun and only a narrowing crescent is left]. Can you hear the crowds?"
The area took on a dim, bluish cast as the sunlight faded and the only light came from the corona and from the sky in surrounding areas where the eclipse was only partial. Parking lot lights came on at a fast food restaurant when it became dark enough to trip photosensors.
Below: An image from the European METEOSAT 7 weather satellite at 1200 UT (high noon in Greenwich, England) shows the eclipse shadow over the Middle East about an hour after passing over Romania (in the upper left quadrant of the picture). Credit: European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
While giving a running commentary, Adams was also taking photographs of the sun to support Pasachoff's studies of the corona.
Finally, at 2:04 local time (11:04 UT), the sun was completely blocked and the crowd could be heard shouting and applauding.
Adams noted that a large prominence - a flame like tongue of hot, dense gas rising through the corona - could be seen on the sun's western limb, and a somewhat smaller one was on the eastern limb. Although prominences and other bright events can be seen with conventional solar telescopes, the solar disk has to be blocked out so scientists can see how the prominences or other features interact with the tenuous corona.
"Oh, it's over already?" Adams exclaimed as the moon continued its march and the sun was again in sliver phase, this time expanding and passing so much light that the corona again is lost in the glare.
The astronomers and eclipse fans (some are both) are now packing their gear for the trip home and to the photolab to get their pictures developed. Then, for the astronomers, the real work begins as they dig through the details of the images they got in 2-1/2 minutes of totality.
Pasachoff reported that "the sky was fabulously clear" and the scientific crew of 12 Williams College faculty and students "had complete and total success" in their observations of the total solar eclipse.
"From our site in Rimnicu Vilcea, Romania," reported Pasachoff in an announcement by Williams College, "we viewed the two and a half minutes of totality in a completely clear sky. We have already played back data from our hard drives, and we can see that we have fabulous scientific data. It should keep my students and me busy for years."
bob
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Biker, Happy Battle of Artemisium Day.
480 BC - Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Artemisium - Persian naval victory over the Greeks in an engagement fought near promontory on the north coast of Euboea. Greek fleet holds its own against the Persians in three days of fighting but withdraws upon news of the defeat at Thermopylae.
The Battle of Artemisium, or Artemision was a series of naval engagements over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. The battle took place simultaneously with the more famous land battle at Thermopylae, off the coast of Euboea and was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and others, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. Xerxes had amassed a huge army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian general Themistocles proposed that the Allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae and simultaneously block the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium. An Allied naval force of 271 triremes was thus dispatched to await the arrival of the Persians.
Approaching Artemisium towards the end of summer, the Persian navy was caught in a gale off the coast of Magnesia and lost around a third of their 1200 ships. After arriving at Artemisium, the Persians sent a detachment of 200 ships around the coast of Euboea in an attempt to trap the Greeks, but these were caught in another storm and shipwrecked. The main action of the battle took place after two days of smaller engagements. The two sides fought all day, with roughly equal losses; however the smaller Allied fleet could not afford the losses.
After the engagement, the Allies received news of the defeat of the Allied army at Thermopylae. Since their strategy required both Thermopylae and Artemisium to be held, and given their losses, the Allies decided to withdraw to Salamis. The Persians overran Boeotia and captured the now-evacuated Athens. However, seeking a decisive victory over the Allied fleet, the Persians were later defeated at the Battle of Salamis in late 480 BC. Fearing being trapped in Europe, Xerxes withdrew with much of his army to Asia, leaving Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece. The following year, however, saw an Allied army decisively defeat the Persians at the Battle of Plataea, thereby ending the Persian invasion.
Birthdays.
1900 - Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (d. 1994)
1917 - Dik Browne, cartoonist (Hi & Lois, Hagar the Horrible)
1926 - Johnny Van Derrick, jazz violinist
1937 - Allegra Kent, US actress (Addams Family)
1952 - Bob Mothersbaugh, AKA Bob 1, American Musician (DEVO)
1953 - Hulk Hogan, [Terry Bollea], WWF heavyweight champion (1984-89)
1981 - Sandi Thom, Scottish born singer
1983 - Chris Hemsworth, Australian Actor THOR
Deaths.
480 BC - Leonidas, King of Sparta (b. circa 540 BC)
1919 - Andrew Carnegie, US steel industrialist/philanthropist, dies at 83
1939 - Jean Bugatti, Italian automobile designer (b. 1909)
1942 - Richard Heinrich Stein, composer, dies at 60
1949 - Karl Weigl, composer, dies at 68
1951 - Ebbe Hamerik, composer, dies at 52
1952 - Riccardo Martin, composer, dies at 77
1994 - Peter Cushing, actor (Star Wars, Dr Who), dies of cancer at 81
[video=youtube;KYebtAQP3Ns]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYebtAQP3Ns[/video]
480 BC - Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Artemisium - Persian naval victory over the Greeks in an engagement fought near promontory on the north coast of Euboea. Greek fleet holds its own against the Persians in three days of fighting but withdraws upon news of the defeat at Thermopylae.
The Battle of Artemisium, or Artemision was a series of naval engagements over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. The battle took place simultaneously with the more famous land battle at Thermopylae, off the coast of Euboea and was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and others, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. Xerxes had amassed a huge army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian general Themistocles proposed that the Allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae and simultaneously block the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium. An Allied naval force of 271 triremes was thus dispatched to await the arrival of the Persians.
Approaching Artemisium towards the end of summer, the Persian navy was caught in a gale off the coast of Magnesia and lost around a third of their 1200 ships. After arriving at Artemisium, the Persians sent a detachment of 200 ships around the coast of Euboea in an attempt to trap the Greeks, but these were caught in another storm and shipwrecked. The main action of the battle took place after two days of smaller engagements. The two sides fought all day, with roughly equal losses; however the smaller Allied fleet could not afford the losses.
After the engagement, the Allies received news of the defeat of the Allied army at Thermopylae. Since their strategy required both Thermopylae and Artemisium to be held, and given their losses, the Allies decided to withdraw to Salamis. The Persians overran Boeotia and captured the now-evacuated Athens. However, seeking a decisive victory over the Allied fleet, the Persians were later defeated at the Battle of Salamis in late 480 BC. Fearing being trapped in Europe, Xerxes withdrew with much of his army to Asia, leaving Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece. The following year, however, saw an Allied army decisively defeat the Persians at the Battle of Plataea, thereby ending the Persian invasion.
Birthdays.
1900 - Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (d. 1994)
1917 - Dik Browne, cartoonist (Hi & Lois, Hagar the Horrible)
1926 - Johnny Van Derrick, jazz violinist
1937 - Allegra Kent, US actress (Addams Family)
1952 - Bob Mothersbaugh, AKA Bob 1, American Musician (DEVO)
1953 - Hulk Hogan, [Terry Bollea], WWF heavyweight champion (1984-89)
1981 - Sandi Thom, Scottish born singer
1983 - Chris Hemsworth, Australian Actor THOR
Deaths.
480 BC - Leonidas, King of Sparta (b. circa 540 BC)
1919 - Andrew Carnegie, US steel industrialist/philanthropist, dies at 83
1939 - Jean Bugatti, Italian automobile designer (b. 1909)
1942 - Richard Heinrich Stein, composer, dies at 60
1949 - Karl Weigl, composer, dies at 68
1951 - Ebbe Hamerik, composer, dies at 52
1952 - Riccardo Martin, composer, dies at 77
1994 - Peter Cushing, actor (Star Wars, Dr Who), dies of cancer at 81
[video=youtube;KYebtAQP3Ns]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYebtAQP3Ns[/video]
