In 2017, I crocheted myself a solar system costume. The headpiece is mounted on a bike helmet for stability (I got that tip from some folks who build showgirl costumes). The tunic is made from fine black linen yarn, very matte, very tedious, much like I imagine space is most of the time. The planets are made using an online sphere pattern generator, so that I could vary the sizes in a predictable way; they are strung on a fishing line with beads, and suspended from an elastic collar, also crocheted. They are also kept in place with a beaded "asteroid belt", located between Mars and Jupiter, of course. Photographed at Manhattan Beach Pier. All second-hand yarns, though I had to ask around for enough yellow to make the sun so large. #solarsystem#crochet#costume#planets#sun#astronomy#planetary#yesplutotoo
The LPI #Lunar Summer program is open again for grad students (from anywhere in the world) interested in lunar science and exploration.
I was part of this program back in 2009, which was a lot of fun, despite the fact that we watched Constellation get cancelled from under us. This should be a much better time to get into lunar exploration, and a rare opportunity for non-US students to get their foot into the NASA door.
The Andromeda Galaxy obvi gets all the attention for deep-sky objects in the #constellation#Andromeda (including in our most recent #podcast), but I also appreciate NGC 7662 aka Blue Snowball Nebula!
This planetary nebula is located ~2500 LY from earth!
From the Law & Political Economy blog. Today's must read:
"Fredric Jameson once noted that 'it is easier to imagine the end of the #world than the end of #capitalism.'
That’s the famous version. What Jameson wrote in context is, 'Someone once said that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. We can now revise that and witness the attempt to imagine capitalism by way of imagining the end of the world.'
#ClimateChange offers a vivid illustration of Jameson’s point. Through climate change, the end of the world as #humans have known it is now imaginable to an unprecedented degree. And capitalism, viewed through the lens of climate change, appears to some observers to be a terminal #planetary#disease."
The #Canadian 🇨🇦 #Minerals and #Metals Plan 📆 2019 : #SpaceMining refers to the use of raw materials from #asteroids or #planetary bodies. Early action from #Canada regarding mining new frontiers would demonstrate leadership, signal that Canada welcomes innovation and investment, and support the transfer of technology between sectors. The #SpaceSector is one of Canada’s most R&D intensive.
Mining in northern, remote, and isolated communities and in #space 🌌 face common challenges related to exploration, infrastructure development, and operating in harsh and remote environments. The minerals sector is taking advantage of #SpaceSolutions such as #robotics, remote sensing, and aerial and earth #observation technologies to create safer, cleaner and more efficient operations. https://natural-resources.canada.ca/sites/nrcan/files/CMMP/CMMP_The_Plan-EN.pdf
Was only able to sharpen it up a tiny bit more. Bad seeing conditions that evening but I'm happy with it since I wasn't even planning on doing any planetary astronomy/astrophotography this year.
@thomasfuchs
I'm a big fan of small telescopes and what can be done with them. What you've done with your Messier 16 photo is FANTASTIC.
I'm just not well set up for star photography, but I've done some #lunar and #planetary photography with small instruments.
The following photo of #jupiter was taken with an unmotorized #60mm refractor. The #yorick stacking software combined about 60 frames for the image. This was taken in 2010 when the SEB did one of its disappearing acts.