7/7 defcon: the atlantis event & awesome announcements

atlantis launch will be iconic event, the last of its kind*

full range of opinions & emotions surrounds last shuttle flight*
video: space shuttle atlantis' big-screen launch events & tributes*
nasa's dramatic rescue plan in case of shuttle emergency*
plans to strip mine the moon may soon be more than just sci-fi*
security grifters partner-up on sinister cyber-surveillance project*
army's $2.7b cloud computing system does not work*
hackers are everywhere. panic!*
hackers claim apple security breach*
hacker allegedly breaches florida voting database*
@foxnewspolitics twitter feed hacked; assassination hoax tweeted*
facebook's "awesome" announcement is... skype video chat*
one in three 'overwhelmed by technology'*
video: geocaching treasure hunt leads to uk bomb scare*

june 15, 2011 lunar eclipse best pix

This is what the internet age is all about! You can enjoy a lunar eclipse from nearly any vantage point on Earth! It's great! The present writer's favorites are a blood red image captured in Srinagar, Kashmir (pictured left) and a huge death-star like Moon over Belgrade, Serbia (pictured right)! You can view other great pix in a slideshow from IBTimes here. Universe Today provides other vantage points. The images are pure eye candy and the slideshow a must see!

defcon 6/16: solar threats, hack attacks & jet packs

solar threat: minutes to respond;
governments plan blackouts; elites prep contingency plans*
US/uk to cut power in preparation of massive solar storm*
magnetic levels ebb as scientists note missing sunspot activity*
mysterious 'structure' discovered on mars?*
audio satire: nasa finds evidence of humans on moon*
video: closely held 'area 51' secrets revealed in new book*
US faces legal challenge to internet-domain seizures*
obama anti-whistleblower case collapses*
ex-spy agency official strikes plea bargain*
US underwrites internet detour around censors*
pentagon ramps-up cyberwar plans*
notorious hacker group breaks into senate server*
imf breached by sophisticated hack attack*
'anonymous' attacks, shutters spanish police website*
hacker group claims credit for invading cia website*
video: lulzsec hackers inspire rap song*
video: personal jet packs to go on sale by end of 2011, says inventor*
audio satire: government says ignore throbbing love orb*

area 51 loses mystique for some after accusations of hoax

'area 51' touts jaw-dropping claim about ufo's
from bookbuzz: Just the term "Area 51" sets UFO theorists trembling with excitement. This week, a book titled Area 51 enters the list at No. 27. Author Annie Jacobsen interviewed 74 people including 32 who worked and lived at the secret Nevada military facility (which the U.S. government has never admitted exists). Area 51 covers the history of the Cold War, but the reason it's climbing the list faster than aliens swarming a spaceship? Jacobsen's jaw-dropping claim about a flying saucer which reportedly crashed in July 1947 in Roswell, N.M. The pilots weren't aliens but Russian or German children and teenagers who were surgically made to resemble the Martians in Orson Welles' 1938 The War of the Worlds radio broadcast, the book claims. Jacobsen says Stalin may have secretly collaborated with Nazi Josef Mengele in hopes of spreading panic in the U.S.

related: jfk worried moon mission a 'stunt,' new tapes show

3/31 defcon: morpheus, auroras, smartbombs & omg's!

secret space plane can't hide from amateur sleuths*
secret x-37b space plane caught on video by skywatchers*
nasa tracking 'a large object approaching the sun'*
video: will 'morpheus' be the first vehicle on the moon since apollo?*
video: stunningly beautiful time-lapse footage of aurora*
nsa said to focus its decrypting skills on nasdaq cyber attack*
australia pm julia gillard's computer hacked*
federal courts worry your smartphone might be a smartbomb*
facebook says no revolution for the palestinians*
omg! online abbreviations make it into oxford dictionary*

3/10 defcon: supermoon, double sun, mirage men

extreme 'supermoon' to take place next week*
mystery of two suns in chinese sky leaves scientists puzzled*
does the sun have jupiter-sized companion star in far reaches of solar system?*
persistent evidence of a jovian mass solar companion in the oort cloud*
'mirage men' book on paranoia, technology, psyops & ufo's*
giffords plans to attend husband's space shuttle launch*
US probes 'anonymous' hacker threat over wikileaks soldier*
manning's father condemns treatment of imprisoned son*
zuckerberg's dog, 'beast', gets facebook page*
google is america's british east india company*
video: new robot has incredibly realistic facial expressions*

moonrise as seen from iss

Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli takes pictures from the International Space Station (ISS) such as the spectacular distorted moonrise above. Nespoli posts his pix online for your viewing pleasure--pure eye candy!

cassini flies just 76km above rhea surface on jan. 11

It's an exciting time for Cassini imaging team scientists as the spacecraft drops to just 47 miles above the surface of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon, on January 11th!  "These will be by far the best images we've ever had of Rhea's surface - details down to just a few meters will become recognizable," said Thomas Roatsch, a team scientist at the German Aerospace Center Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin.  "New Images Indicate Tectonic Activity On Rhea ", a brief article at Space Daily, reveals sharp fractures on the Saturn moon's surface--an indication of tectonic activity.  Cassini will continue to chart the terrain of Saturn's moons until 2017.

transient lunar phenomena

The advent of Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLP) is a relatively recent development with the term first used in 1968.  There are professionals, who still doubt whether the brief changes in light, color and appearance of moon features are just optical illusions.  A common belief is the TLPs may be "last gasps" of geological activity coming from below the moon's surface, as presented in this National Geographic Article. Statistical evidence points to their reality and research is starting in earnest, for example, at this Columbia University website, Transient Lunar Phenomena Studies.  John Lear, an ex-CIA pilot and son of Lear jet founder Bill Lear, researches UFO phenomena and believes the "Blue Gem"(pictured) of the Aristarchus crater, a prominently observed TLP, is a nuclear fusion reactor.  You may suspend judgment before you take a look at his webpage, "Aristarchus Crater: Electric Blue Gem or Nuclear Fusion Reactor?"

international space station's moon transit

French Astrophotographer Theirry Legault captured image, at right, of International Space Station crossing the Moon (near center of picture).  Legault took this impressive shot on December 20th from Normandy, France just a few hours before the eclipse. Please view article and more pictures at Universe Today.

why the moon appears grey from earth

Cary Martynuik, a moon researcher with a part in movie, "Moon Rising", asks good questions about the Moon's appearance as seen from Earth. Martynuik contends our atmosphere and its light diffusion and scattering properties, only makes the moon appear colorless. Our eyes simply do not receive the color information before it's deflected? Is there color info not reaching the earth's surface? It's a good question! Here's a link to an eight minute video, "Why the Moon Appears Grey From Earth".

december 21, 2010: winter solstice and lunar eclipse

There is a nice treatment of upcoming lunar eclipse in the early am this Tuesday at WattsUpWithThat.com. The deepest coppery red coloring of the moon will occur in the early am hours of December 21, 2010, 3:17am EST, 12:17am PST. This will be the time when the moon is in deepest shadow. The eclipse will last about 72 minutes. It's the first coincidence of the winter solstice and lunar eclipse in over half a millenia! What is the occult significance?

life on saturn moon titan?

NASA has called for a 2pm press conference this Thursday, making reference to "astrobiology finding" and "search for extraterrestrial life". The Daily Galaxy article speculates a team working on a NASA funded program, may have found evidence of bacteria using arsenic for photosynthesis on Titan.

mission to dark side of moon by 2016?

Lockheed Martin engineers want to send astronauts into stationary orbit above the dark side of the Moon, according to recent article at www.dailymail.co.uk. The orbit attained with the combined gravity of the Earth and Moon at the second LaGrange point, making a stable synchronized orbit above the far side possible. This is the L-2 designation. They intend to use remote controlled rovers to probe the South Pole-Aitken basin. A second goal is deployment of a low-frequency radio telescope shielded from the Earth's radio noise. The six month mission would also measure the endurance of astronauts and equipment to space radiation as a warm up for a trip to Mars. The aerospace giant is selling its L-2 Farside Mission Orion (pdf) spacecraft as the right vehicle for the job. The mission could take place as early as 2016 with NASA's approval.

The South Pole-Aitken basin is one of the oldest, largest and deepest basins on the lunar surface. Scientists are interested in obtaining rock samples at the bottom of the basin in hopes of learning more about the moon's history and formation.

defcon 8/26: dirty tricks & moon rocks

realtime track of x-37b: US military’s top secret x-37b shuttle 'disappeared' for 2wks, changed orbit*
flashback: military launches x-37b*
secretive mini-shuttles, dirty tricks spy sats & more*
sweden pulls wikileaks warrant*
video: scientists hack into cars' computers & control brakes, engine*
flashback: austin hacker disables more than 100 cars remotely*
missing moon rock unveiled in colorado*

video: physicist kaku talks aliens on msnbc*

underground tunnel complexes found on the moon

from the register: Space boffins believe they may be on the verge of discovering a vast, hidden network of tunnels beneath the surface of the Moon. The tunnels aren't thought to be the work of long-extinct (or perhaps still surviving) intelligent moon aliens, perhaps driven to adopt a subterranean existence by a notional disappearing atmosphere aeons ago. Nor is any involvement by Tibetans, Elvis or others seeking a secluded dwelling far from prying human eyes suspected. Instead, top moonologists think that they may be on the track of "lava tubes" not dissimilar to those of Earth. A lava tube, unsurprisingly, is a tube in solid surrounding rock along which at some point liquid lava has flowed (or is still flowing, in some Earthly cases). When the lava cools and solidifies, there is often an open space left above its surface, forming a tunnel.

defcon 6/17: civilization, sun & a stunning interface

nasa: civilization will end in 2013 (possibly)*
what's wrong with the sun?*
video: electronic armageddon on national geographic jun19*
moon has a 100x more water than thought*
fcc eyes first step toward broadband regulation*
supreme court: police officer's texting not private*
video: underkoffler shows off 'minority report'-style computer interface*

defcon 4/29: global strike, space planes & electronic warfare

missing soviet nuclear electrocar found on the moon!*
lockmart supports nsa's 2010 cyber defense exercise*
ex-nsa official pleads not guilty to helping reporter*
air force launched secretive x-37b space plane:
'we don’t know when it’s coming back'*
US military launches top-secret robotic spacecraft*
launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon*
chavez accuses US plane of 'electronic warfare'*
pentagon's mach20 glider htv-2 disappears, whacking 'global strike' plans*
police seize gizmodo's computers in lost iphone probe*
students struggle to go without media for 24hrs*