weekend starview: cassini at saturn

Weekend starview continues with Cassini Mission by Chris Abbas. An excellent two minute video of footage captured by Cassini space probe. Nancy Atkinson and her Universe Today article are thanked for the link. It's a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing video!

5/19 defcon: blockage, bills, threats & storms

obama doj tries to block unclassified info from nsa leaker trial*
new yorker mag sheds new light on nsa's warrantless wiretapping & data mining*
senate bill requires warrant for email, cloud content*
senate bill makes illegal internet streaming a felony*
bill clinton: create internet agency*
US secret service questions 13yr-old over facebook 'threat'*
twitter feed @omgfacts lawsuit underscores power of a tweet*
prolific 'spokesman' for 'anonymous' leaves hacker group*
dhs's top cybersecurity official resigns*
giant storm revealed on saturn*
video: scientists discover habitable earth-like planet*

china declares first contact!

National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) of China announced Thursday, "...first verified transmission from an alien civilization," according to story at The Daily Galaxy. "China's leading astrobiologist, Dr. Xi Chang, a graduate of MIT, told Xinhua [News] that "the signal repeats itself continuously in 2 minute long sequences and appears to be the four bases of the genetic code...". China's NRAO reports, "...monitoring signals from a previously unknown 'dark' satellite in orbit around Saturn for the past 90 days". Is this the alien psyop? The foundation is already in place for the deception as reported in previous blog entries, "earth must prepare for close encounter with aliens" and "is establishment preparing to unveil aliens?". Everything has suddenly taken a turn towards the strange for Earth inhabitants!

[editor's note: yes, this is an april fools hoax]

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.

mystery hexagon of saturn

In 1979, as Voyager 1 passed by Saturn, the satellite returned pictures of a hexagon on Saturn's North Pole.  The Cassini spacecraft confirmed, in 2006, the hexagon is still there! A brief You Tube video, "The Mystery Hexagon of Saturn" provides a fascinating look in less than two minutes. Discovery News provides a brief article and video, "Saturn's North Pole Hexagon Mystery Solved?", where a hexagon is achieved in laboratory conditions, supporting the notion this is indeed a natural phenomenon.

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.