Blizzards, Solar Flares, Volcanoes, and more...

Hello All!
Are you enjoying your break so far? How about all of the snow that we got!!! We got SO much snow! I am sure that you guys enjoyed going outside and sledding, making snowmen, having snowball fights, etc! Enjoy it while you can, it is not often that we get this much snow!
Speaking of our blizzard, check out this photo taken from NASA's Aqua Satellite. This photo shows all of the snow. I found this picture on NASA's website (www.nasa.gov).

You can see the snow from space! Well, with over 20 inches of snow, you would think that it could be seen from space! What a neat picture...I thought I would share it with you guys. I have checked the weather for the next week, and it does not look like there is any more snow in the near future. Looks like rain on Christmas...we should still have some snow left over though, so it looks like we will have a white Christmas!

View the ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) is making another series of flybys over our area. Below are the times listed for Kensington. If you want to find the times for another location, visit the Satellite Tracker website (http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys). Remember, the lower the number for the magnitude, the brighter the object appears to be!
Wednesday, December 23: 6:35:30am-6:37:47am NNW, 54 degrees (max elevation), -3.5 magnitude
Thursday, December 24: 6:57:15am-6:59:25am WNW, 38 degrees (max elevation), -2.8 magnitude
Friday, December 25: 5:46:42am-5:48:58am NNE, 50 degrees (max elevation), -3.3 magnitude
Saturday, December 26: 6:08:02am-6:10:14am W, 42 degrees (max elevation), -3.0 magnitude
I know it is early in the morning, but if you happen to be up early, and the sky is clear, take advantage of the opportunity to view the ISS. Make sure to wave to the astronauts! :)
If you go to the Satellite Tracker website, you can see that there are other visible satellites (sometimes including a space hotel room...no joke! No one is actually in there though, it is just a model).

Mount Mayon Erupting
A volcano in the Philippines is currently under extreme watch, as it is likely to erupt at any time. Mount Mayon is a stratovolcano (or composite volcano)...what does that mean 7th and 8th graders? How is it formed? What types of eruptions are generally associated with this type of volcano? Right now, we are currently keeping an eye on Mount Mayon. Many people who live near the volcano have had to be evacuated until it is safe for them to return to their homes. What kinds of warning signs do you think scientists are seeing? Think about what we learned in class. Below is a link to a news video about the volcano. I have tried to attach it, but can not seem to get it to correctly attach.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/volcano-threatens-to-erupt-17256392
Below is a photo taken from a NASA satellite image. Can you spot the volcano?

The above photo of Mount Mayon and the information about the expected eruption was taken from Yahoo! News (www.news.yahoo.com)

Oil Spill
According to the Associated Press (AP), there has been an oil spill in Alaska. Apparently, the spill has been caused by a leak or break in a pipeline. It is still being investigated as to the actual cause of the spill, so more on that when it becomes available. What do you think can happen as a result of an oil spill? What impact does it have? Who do you think is responsible for such oil spills? If the pipeline broke, is someone responsible for that? If not, who should be responsible for the cost of the clean-up? We will keep an eye on what becomes of this oil spill. The information from this news story was taken from the Associated Press (www.ap.org)

Solar Flares and Sunspots
Although we may have been really cold here, but the sun has been on fire (literally!). The sun has been producing sunspots and solar flares, which now belong to the Solar Cycle 24. Remember, the sun is on an 11 year cycle. Recently, we were in a deep solar minimum (very low solar activity), and now we are beginning to come out of our solar minimum and move towards solar maximum (in a few years). We will keep an eye on the solar activity, but if you want to look yourself, spaceweather.com has great up to date information on solar activity. Remember, spaceweather.com is a really, really good website...i strongly recommend it!
SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) has taken the following picture of the sun. All of the circled items are either sunspots and solar flares. The below photo was taken from spaceweather.com.



Ok, well that is all for now. I hope you all enjoy the snow! Have a very blessed Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year! Enjoy the break, and make sure to relax! See you all in 2 weeks!

Keep an eye to the sky!
Ms. T

One before we break...

Hello all,

Although we may have been disappointed by the amount of clouds in the sky that so rudely interrupted our star party, others were not. Astronomers have estimated about 200+ meteors per hour in the right conditions! The meteor shower peaks on the mornings of December 13 and 14 (early morning...about 3 or 4 am), and if you are lucky enough to be checking out the sky at that time, then you would have seen a great show! Because of the phase of the moon, the sky was very dark, allowing for more meteors to be shown! Below are some pictures taken from spaceweather.com of the Geminids...enjoy!




WISE update
On Monday, December 14, the WISE spacecraft will be launching from a NASA base in California. It is scheduled to launch a little after 9:00am (9:09am with a 14 minute window) on Monday morning, so we will look out for that. Maybe we can watch the launch in class! Remember that WISE is using infrared rays to scan the universe. We will see what may come of that!

Colliding Galaxies
I found a picture on NASA's website of colliding galaxies that I thought you might like to see.
Below is a photo taken from NASA's website (www.nasa.gov)


Hubble Does it Again!
The Hubble Space Telescope still continues to amaze us with its beautiful, amazing images! Hubble has recently taken a picture of the deepest part of the universe yet! Below is the image...all of those tiny dots are galaxies! Even the ones that look like a speck of dust on your computer screen! This image was taken from Yahoo! News (www.news.yahoo.com)


OK, well that is all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe break and a blessed Christmas! See you in school!

Astronomy club- sorry that we had cloudy skies! :( We will reschedule, I promise!

Keep an eye to the sky,
Ms. Trotta

Some updates...Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello all,
Sorry it has been a while since I have posted on here. I guess it was a little too hard to update every week like I had planned! I will try to do more updating as I get some more time. Since we have been pretty busy at school these past few weeks, it has been hard to get the proper amount of time to work on this blog. ANYWAY, lets get right into the updates!!!

First of all...Astronomy Club, don't forget about our star watching party in a couple of weeks. If you forgot when it is, let me know and I can fill you in.

WE HAVE LIFTOFF (STS-129, Space Shuttle Atlantis)
The launch of STS-129, Space Shuttle Atlantis, to the ISS was a success! They launched last week and have been updating the ISS with three spacewalks! They are scheduled to undock from the ISS on Wednesday. They are scheduled to undock early Wednesday morning. Atlantis is slated to return back on Friday. God Speed, Atlantis! Below are two pictures from the STS-129 launch last week.

3...2...1...0...and lift off....




The above images as well as information regarding STS-129 and the ISS has been taken from NASA at http://www.nasa.gov

ISS Flybys

In school, I told some of you about the ISS flybys. Tonight's flyby was with Atlantis docked with the ISS. Unfortunately, it was way too cloudy to see it. Below are the times for Kensington for the next few days. If you are not going to be in Kensington, then you can go to the website (listed below) and type in your zip code to find your local times.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009: 6:18:11pm-6:20:32pm WNW 70 degrees (max elevation) -3.8 magnitude
Thursday, November 26, 2009: 5:05:26pm-5:07:35pm NNW 32 degrees (max elevation) -2.4 magnitude
Friday, November 27, 2009: 5:27:20pm-5:29:42pm WNW 75 degrees (max elevation) -3.9 magnitude

Those are the times/info as listed for Kensington on the Simple Satellite Tracker from Spaceweather
For this information, as well as additional information of flybys (including flybys in your area), go to the Simple Satellite Tracker Website at http://spaceweather.com/flybys/

What's that by the moon??

These past few nights, you may have seen a very bright object next to the moon. That is not a star, it is Jupiter. Jupiter will again appear close to the moon in December (Dec. 20 and 21). It will actually appear closer than this past week's viewings. So keep an eye out for that. Below is a picture taken of this beautiful conjunction.


The above picture/info was taken from Spaceweaher.com. For more images and more information, please visit Spaceweather at http://www.spaceweather.com

BE WISE AND LOOK TO THE SKIES...

NASA is preparing to launch a new object into space. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is perched on its rocket and ready to blast off into the sky. WISE is scheduled to lift off on December 9, 2009 on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. WISE has a very important job to do. It will be used to scan the sky in a special part of the electromagnetic spectrum (infrared). We will keep and eye on this and look at any images that WISE might find for us!! Good Luck, WISE!
Information on WISE is taken from NASA's website. For additional information on WISE and other NASA missions, visit NASA at http://www.nasa.gov

GEMINIDS!!!!
Get ready to view a spectacular light show! No, not Christmas lights...METEORS! Grab your hat, gloves, and some hot chocolate, and head outside late on Saturday, Dec. 12 or early (in the am) Sunday, Dec. 13 to view the Geminid Meteor Shower. This is one of the best meteor showers!! At the right time, and with proper viewing conditions, you could see up to 100+ meteors per hour!!! Remember a meteor is a piece of space debris (usually a rock or dust) that is burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. The friction of the object against the atmosphere releases energy in the form of heat/light, which allows us to see a streak of light across the sky. Meteors are often referred to as shooting stars, although stars are not actually falling. You do not need binoculars or any special equipment to view these meteors...maybe just a chair, and a warm blanket! The best viewing time will be about 2-3am on Sunday morning. You will want to look towards the constellation Gemini (the twins); this will be where most of the meteors appear to be originating from. Often times, the moon plays a factor in how well we are able to see meteors. Because of its brightness, it often inhibits the number of meteors we can see. However, this year we are in luck! The phase of the moon is close to the new moon phase, which means that the moon will not play a major factor in viewing meteors!!! So mark your calenders, this year's shower seems like it is going to be a great show!!! Below is a sky map (taken from www.astronomy.com)


NEW SPECIES discovered

Scientists have discovered many new species that live really deep down (below 656 feet)! They estimate that there are thousands of species which have not yet been discovered. Below are a few pictures of some new species! Keep in mind, since there is no sunlight this deep down, many organisms have to produce their own light. This is something called bioluminesence.







The above three pictures and the info about new species was taken from Yahoo! News (www.news.yahoo.com)



Don't forget, GOOGLE Earth is free to download and you can have access to Google moon, Google sky, and Google mars as well!
Ok, well I hope you are now well-informed with updates!
Have a happy, safe, and blessed Thanksgiving...see you all on Tuesday!

Keep and eye to the sky...

Ms. T

Much Needed Update!

Hello all! I am SO sorry that it has taken me so long to update this blog! I have been extremely busy these last few weeks!
Let's take a look at all of the things that need updating...

First of all, today was the peak of the Orionid Meteor Shower. If you wake up early (best: before dawn-4/5am) and look towards the constellation Orion, you will be able to see as many as 35 meteors per hour!! What are meteors???? What is a meteor shower???? When the Earth passes through a spot on its orbit that contains material left over from a comet or other celestial object a lot of debris enters the Earth's atmosphere. This debris burns up, due to friction, and produces "shooting stars" or meteors. Below are some pictures taken from www.spaceweather.com



New Rocket Test Flight!
NASA is going to be testing the Ares 1-X rocket which will be used in the new Constellation Program. The Constellation Program will be returning man to the moon with the goal of creating a lunar base and the eventual goal of gaining knowledge of sending man to Mars. Below is a beautiful photo (from www.nasa.gov) of the Ares 1-X rocket on the launch pad (launch pad 39B). The picture shows the Ares 1-X on the launch pad (with spotlights!) and the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).


The rocket is scheduled to test launch on Thursday, Oct. 27 between 8am and noon. Maybe we can watch it in class!
Information regarding the Ares 1-x rocket and the image were taken from www.NASA.gov

The federal government is considering taking the humpback whale off of the endangered list. There has been some recent data showing that this species of whale is making a comeback! We will try to keep an eye on this! Good for the whales! For any information on endangered or threatened species, check out the World Wildlife Fund (www.wwf.org)

The Nov. 12 STS-129 Space Shuttle Atlantis scheduled launch to the ISS (International Space Station) has been pushed back 5 days to allow extra time for test fights. The new targeted date/time for the launch is Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 2:28pm. Unfortunately, the Astronomy Club can't have a launch party, since the launch will take place during school, but we will see what we can do! We will try to watch the launch in class. Maybe we can have a launch party that day, during school!!! We will definitely keep an eye on this launch. For more information regarding NASA missions, visit the NASA web page at www.nasa.gov

As I said previously, NASA will soon be retiring its fleet of 3 active space shuttles (Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour). Last weekend, I was at the National Air and Space Museum and I overheard one of the workers say that they A&S Museum will most likely be getting the space shuttle Discovery! Can't wait to see that! We will have to take a trip!

NEW PLANETS!
European astronomers have discovered 32 new planets!!!! These planets, however, are located outside of our solar system. Apparently, some of these new planets are much larger that Earth, some are even larger that Jupiter!!!
This information was taken from Yahoo! News.

That is all that I have for now...must go grade some papers!

Remember to look out for the Orionid Meteor Shower!!!!

Next Astronomy Club meeting is 11/10/09


Keep an eye to the sky,
Ms. T

Floods, Satellites, volcanoes...

Hello all,
Hopefully you are having a good week so far! Just a few more updates that you should probably be aware of.

First, hopefully you all will be able to check out the International Space Station flybys coming up soon. Check the previous blog post for details and times of the flybys for Kensington. If you don't live in Kensington, then there is a link to spaceweather's satellite tracker to get your local times. With your unaided eye, the ISS will basically look like a bright moving star-it is pretty cool to know that you are looking at the ISS!!!

If you have been watching the news, I am sure that you know about the floods in the southern United States. The people of Georgia have been dealing with major flooding over the past few days. What can you do to keep yourself safe during a flood? You should try to get to higher ground and NEVER try to go out into the flood waters. The waters may not look dangerous, but they certainly could be. Make sure to keep the people of Georgia in your prayers, as they are going to have a lot of things to deal with, like injuries and property damage.

India has launched 7 satellites into Earth's orbit on Wednesday (6 of the 7 satellites were from other countries). One of India's satellites has the goal of tracking ocean patterns. Why do you think India would want to track ocean patterns? Think about where they are located and what impact oceans might have on them. This launch was very successful for India because last year, they sent a probe to the moon, however, lost communication with it and had to abort the mission.

*information regarding the Indian satellites was taken from Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090923/sc_afp/indiaspace)

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be on a volcano watch? Well, look no further, the USGS has you covered! If you have never checked out the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website, you really should (www.usgs.gov). The USGS studies many things, but earthquakes and volcanoes are two of the biggest items they focus on. If you search the website, you can look at real-time earthquakes. Go on the site. What do you notice about where these earthquakes are located?
One other cool item on this website is the "Volcano Hazards Program" page. In the northwest United States, there is a major volcanic range (the Cascades)...this is where Mount St. Helen's and other major volcanoes are located. Anyway, you can actually get information on these volcanoes (as well as other volcanoes in the US and the world). You can see US volcano alerts and real-time webcams of different volcanoes in the US. You can view volcanoes in Alaska, Hawaii, as well as in the Cascade region. Check it out if you have time.
Below is a picture of Mount Redoubt in Alaska.


*information about USGS was taken from the USGS website (www.usgs.gov) The photo of Mount Redoubt was taken from the USGS Alaskan Volcano Observatory site (www.avo.alaska.edu)

What? Water on the Moon??
Space.com is reporting that based on information of lunar satellites, that the moon is believed to have trace amounts of water on it. Not much is being said about this right now, but we will keep an eye on this and see what NASA has to say about it. On October 9, NASA's LCROSS satellite will crash into a lunar crater to possibly detect water. The Hubble Space Telescope as well as many ground based telescopes will be watching this event, so we will keep an eye out for some pictures.
Below is a picture of the LCROSS satellite as it launched on an Atlas rocket in June of 2009.


Check out NASA's website to see an impact countdown clock for the LCROSS-Lunar impact!

*information regarding water on the Moon was taken from www.space.com
*photo of LCROSS Was taken from www.nasa.gov


Keep checking back for more science related news!
See you in school!
Ms. T

A few Updates...Astronomy Club and more...

Hello all-

Next week, we will be having the first Astronomy Club meeting! It will be held in my classroom until about 4 (details will go home later this week).
It seems as though we have a lot of updates for you!
Today (September 22) is the Equinox! This means it is the official start of fall (for the northern hemisphere)! What else does this mean? Does anyone remember? There are 2 days through out the whole year called an "equinox". This means that there is 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. Pretty soon, the days will start to get shorter as we plow ahead into these winter months. Hopefully many snow days will accompany them!
There have been recent spottings of sunspots on the sun. If you remember, the sunspot is an area of cooler gasses than the surrounding gasses. The sun is on an 11 year cycle, and right now we are at the beginning of the end of what is known as "solar minimum". An increase in solar activity (sunspots/solar flares/prominences) could mean that we are climbing towards "solar maximum". 7th graders-hopefully you know this since your test is on Thursday!!
Below is a photo taken from spaceweather.com. The original picture is from SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory).


Get ready for more ISS flyby's.
The International Space Station is making its rounds yet again, and you will be able to view it in the next few days. Here are the times for Kensington! For information regarding your area (not Kensington) check www.spaceweather.com/flybys

Thursday, September 24, 2009: 7:56:36pm-7:58:50pm NNW with a max elevation of 38 degrees and a magnitude of -2.8

Friday, September 25, 2009: 8:20:55pm-8:23:14pm WNW with a max elevation of 55 degrees and a magnitude of -3.5

Saturday, September 26, 2009: 7:10:12pm-7:12:26pm NNW with a max elevation of 40 degrees and a magnitude of -2.9

Sunday, September 27, 2009: 7:34:30pm-7:36:48pm WNW with a max elevation of 52 degrees and a magnitude of -3.4

*remember the lower the magnitude number, the brighter the object appears to be

Scientists recently tried to see if they could recreate noctilucent clouds, and they launched a vehicle from Virginia to test it out. Looks like they were able to do it! Check out the picture below.


Noctilucent clouds are clouds that generally form from water/ice at high altitudes. They can usually be seen in summer months if you are lucky to see them. For the past few years, however, they have seemed to be a more common occurrence.

Welcome Home Discovery!
The Space Shuttle Discovery returned from its long journey to the International Space Station. Because of weather, Discovery had to land in California and hitch a ride on the back of a modified 747 back to its home at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Below is a picture of its landing and its "piggy back" ride.





Next major launch?
NASA will be test launching the Ares 1-x in October (Oct. 27). This will be a part of major preparations for NASA's Constellation program which will ultimately land on the Moon and look to possibly landing on Mars.
The next STS launch to the ISS is slated to be November 12 at 4:04pm. This will be Space Shuttle Atlantis. We will keep an eye on this mission as it get closer.

Farewell Space Shuttle
NASA has announced that the final Space Shuttle mission will be next September with Discovery. NASA plans to retire its fleet of space shuttles as it moves to develop rockets to send man back to the Moon and eventually to Mars. There are 6 remaining space shuttle missions. What about going back to the ISS? NASA is planning on possibly building a "replacement" rocket, but there is no official word. More news on this as it becomes available. The Space Shuttles have been flying since 1982!

The information regarding the sunspots, including the picture of the sun was taken from www.spaceweather.com The original photo of the sun was from SOHO.
The information regarding the ISS flyby's was taken from www.spaceweather.com/flybys
The information regarding the noctilucent clouds, including the picture, was taken from www.spaceweather.com The original photo was taken by J. Blackwell
The photos of Space Shuttle Discovery were taken from www.nasa.gov
Information regarding NASA's mission launch schedule was taken from www.nasa.gov
Information regarding the farewell to space shuttles was taken from Yahoo! News

Well, those are all the updates that I have right now...more will come later.
Stay tuned for the Astronomy Club!
See you in school,
Ms. T

Hello class... I hope you have enjoyed your week back to school. We are so lucky that we have Monday off, and will have another short week! I hope that you are all enjoying your nice long weekend. Last post, I told you that the STS-128 (Space Shuttle Discovery) was getting ready to launch. Hopefully you were able to see the launch, but if not, it's ok, you can watch it here. Here is a video from NASATV, which was posted on YouTube:


Space Shuttle Discovery is attached to the International Space Station, and through out the week, the ISS (with Discovery attached) will be makeing some flybys. Here are the times for Kensington.

Sunday, September 6 8:26:58pm-8:29:01pm SSW with a max elevation of 29 degrees and a magnitude of -2.2

Monday, September 7 8:51:19pm-8:53:41pm WSW with a max elevation of 68 degrees and a magnitude of -3.8

Tuesday, September 8 7:41:12pm-7:43:18pm SSW with a max elevation of 31 degrees and a magnitude of -2.3

Wednesday, September 9 8:05:36pm-8:07:57pm WSW with a max elevation of 63 degrees and a magnitude of -3.7

Remember the lower the magnitude (apparent magnitude) the brighter the object appears to be. This will be a great sight for you to check out, especially with a telescope! I will try to remind you about this in school on Tuesday. All information regarding the flybys was taken from Spaceweather's Satellite Tracker (http://spaceweather.com/flybys/flybys.php?zip=20895)

I was on Spaceweather.com today and found this AWESOME picture of the moon shining through an Old Faithful eruption.



This photo was taken from www.spaceweather.com however, the original photo was taken by professor Jimmy Westlake of Colorado Mountain College.

On Wednesday, there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in West Java, Indonesia. This quake did trigger a small tsunami, however the tsunami did not cause any harm or damage. The earthquake, however, caused a lot of harm and damage.

(information regarding the Indonesia earthquake was taken from Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090902/wl_afp/indonesiaquake)

Also, on Wednesday, heavy rainfall produced major flooding in West Africa (Burkina Faso). The flooding has destroyed many homes and buildings.

(information regarding the Burkina Faso flood was taken from Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090903/wl_nm/us_africa_flooding)

I am not sure if you have seen the news about the wildfires in California. Firefighters have been working very hard to control wildfires near Los Angeles. They have finally been able to contain part of them, however the fires continue to burn. This has caused harm to people and wildlife in and around the area.

(information regarding the California wildfires was taken from Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090905/ap_on_re_us/us_wildfires_200 )

Please remember to keep the people of Indonesia, West Africa, and California in your prayers.

Finally, next week in school, we will be talking about the Astronomy Club. I will be holding sign-ups, and we will be brainstorming some fun ideas!

See you in school,
Ms. T

Ring in the New (School) Year...

Hello all! As the summer comes to a close and you get your backpacks, pencils, pens, and folders ready to go to school, just remember that you are going to have a great school year! I am so excited for science this year, and have a lot of new, fun ideas planned for you! One thing, which I will talk to you guys about once school starts, is the Astronomy Club! I am SO excited to share all kinds of fun and interesting aspects of the world of astronomy with you all (maybe we can even have a star party or two...). Not going to join the club, but still love space? No worries...we will, again, be keeping track of upcoming NASA missions, updates, and of course shuttle launches!

Speaking of shuttle launches...the STS-128 mission (space shuttle Discovery) is slated to launch at 1:36 am on Tuesday. I know it is early (or late...depending on how you look at it), but if you are, by chance up, make sure to check it out! Discovery will be taking its crew of 7 astronauts to the International Space Station. We will keep an eye on this launch...hopefully there will be clear skies in Florida!


Unfortunately, I was away and did not get a chance to tell you about the Perseids meteor shower. I hope you knew about it, or stumbled upon it, and were able to see it. I heard it was a bit cloudy, but it was still a wonderful sight! Some people, myself included, even saw a fireball! What a great thing to see! Remember meteor showers occur when the Earth travels through a spot where an object (usually a comet) has left many particles behind. When these particles enter the Earth's atmosphere, they burn up due to friction. They look like streaks, or "shooting stars", but what you are actually seeing is burning pieces of dust and debris left over from an celestial object. In case you missed it, here are a few pictures, although they cannot do the Perseids justice!




*all information on STS-128 was taken from www.nasa.gov
*the photo of the STS-128 crew was taken from www.nasa.gov
*the photos of the Perseid Meteor shower were both taken from www.spaceweather.com

Keep checking back here...who knows what you will find....


See you in school,
Ms. T

We Have Liftoff!

Wednesday (7/15), at 6:03 pm, the STS-127 mission (Space Shuttle Endeavour) began it's mission! Endeavour is on its way to the International Space Station to deliver parts to complete the Japanese Laboratory aboard the ISS. This laboratory will be used by astronauts living on the ISS to preform many experiments in space. Below is a link to a video of Endeavour's liftoff on Wednesday. The video was taken from You Tube, however the original version of the video was from NASA TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DNljVcs6Dc


Below is a photo of Endeavour lifting off. This photo was taken from NASA's website.

Endeavour Pushed Back Again!

Just an update...the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station has been postponed again due to bad weather and lightening. Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch Wednesday (July 15) at 6:03 pm. Wednesday's weather looks better, with only a 40% chance of a "no-go launch". Check your listings, as well as the NASA website for updates regarding the shuttle launch. Remember to check it out on Wednesday!!!

Space Shuttle Endeavour

Hello class!

I hope you all are enjoying your summer...just a little over a month until school starts up again!
First of all, the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-127) launch has been delayed yet again because of bad weather. The Shuttle was originally supposed to lift off a few days ago, but is now scheduled for Monday. Lift off is slated to be at 6:51 pm on Monday (July 13). Don't forget to watch the launch! You will be able to watch it on the NASA channel (check you listings for the channel). If you don't have the NASA channel, you can watch it on NASA's website (http://www.nasa.gov/). To do this, go to the NASA site and click on NASA TV (Live)...it is about half way down the page. During this mission, the STS-127 crew will travel to the ISS to deliver a part that will be used in completing a laboratory to conduct many different experiments in space. Below is a photo of the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the storm. Good thing the launch pad has a protective structure!

The above information about STS-127 was taken from NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/). The photo of Space Shuttle Endeavour was taken from http://www.spaceweather.com/ however the original image was taken by Gene Blevins of the LA Daily News.

Also, on July 20, 2009, we will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the surface of the moon. Remember, that Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. If you remember from what we studied in class, President Kennedy challenged America to land a man on the moon. Kennedy really believed in the space program, so much so that they named the Kennedy Space Center after him! If you are ever in the Orlando, FL area, you should go!

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." President Kennedy, May 25, 1961.

President Kennedy believed that we, as a nation, would be able to do this. He knew it would be difficult, but he knew we could do it. Kennedy continued to speak of this goal...

" But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." President Kennedy, September 12, 1962.

In class, we talked about the space program. We talked about the space race (between the US and the Soviet Union), we talked about the Mercury Program, the Gemini Program, and the Apollo Program. All of these missions, leading up to Apollo 11, played an important role in the US landing on the moon. On July 20, 1969, three men (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins) changed the world forever. Since that great day in American, and world, history, there have only been 6 Apollo Missions that landed on the moon, each with 2 astronauts walking on the lunar surface (Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17). Those 12 astronauts were the ONLY men to EVER walk on the moon. No one else has ever come close. That says a lot about our country and our space program. I hope that you all will take a minute on July 20 and remember that one small step that changed the world. We will talk about this great day when we come back to school, but in the meantime, when you look up at the moon, just think of the 6 American flags up there, and think of all the men and women who made it possible.

Below are some pictures taken from http://www.nasa.gov/ dealing with the Apollo 11 mission. All of the pictures were taken from http://www.nasa.gov/

Astronomy Club Anyone?

Hi class,

Hopefully you are all enjoying your summer break! I have been doing some thinking and thought it would be really cool if we had an astronomy club! We could meet maybe once or twice a month after school and talk about new developments in astronomy, make astronomy related crafts, and even go outside to obseve the sun, moon, stars, and more! I will think more about it and see if we could have this club. I think it will be a lot of fun!

A few things in the world of astronomy to update you on...

1. The ISS will be having a series of flyby's that you can see. I have posted the times for HR. This flyby information has been taken form Spaceweather.com's satellite tracker ( http://spaceweather.com/flybys/flybys.php?zip=20895 )

July 6: 4:42:26 am - 4:44:37 am, NNW, 33 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -2.4

July 6: 10:42:58 pm - 10:45:20 pm, WSW, 51 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.4

July 7: 5:06:46 am - 5:09:09 am, WNW, 71 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.9

July 7: 9:32:20 pm - 9:34:39 pm, SSW, 43 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.0

July 8: 3:56:11 am - 3:58:23 am, NNW, 34 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -2.5

July 8: 9:56:41 pm - 9:59:03 pm, WSW, 48 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.3

July 9: 4:20:28 am - 4:22:51 am, WNW, 67 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.8

July 9: 8:46:22 pm - 8:48:30 pm, SSW, 45 degrees (max. elevation), magnitude: -3.1

July 10: 9:10:19 pm - 9:12:40 pm, WSW, 46 degrees (max. elevation), mangitude: -3.2

Remember, the lower the magnitude, the brighter the object is (this is aparent magnitude, which means it is how bright it appears to be to you, from Earth).

Again, all of this information regarding the times of the flyby has been taken from SpaceWeather's Satellite tracker-refer to the website above for more information.

2. The LRO has taken some great pictures of the lunar surface. NASA has released some of the pictures that the LRO has taken. I have posted two of those pictures on here for you to see.

These two above photos were taken from NASA's website (http://www.nasa.gov/) The full link to the photos and the article that they go with is: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_20090702_a.html

Remember to check out both the NASA website and SpaceWeather to keep up with updates!

One other item I would like to bring to your attention is that Australia has recently set money aside to help preserve/improve the water in the Great Barrier Reef. If you remember when we talked about biomes, we talked briefly about the GBR. It is part of the Neritic Zone in warm, tropical regions. When we talked about rocks/minerals, we talked about coral reefs and described the different types! What type of reef is the Great Barrier Reef? Do you remember? Below is a picture of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The above pictures were taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef

All of the information regarding Australia and the GBR were takend from http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090702/sc_afp/australiasciencecoralenvironment;_ylt=At3JRRxr6lLz2Idu3ECzLndpl88F

Enjoy your summer. Happy 4th of July! Don't forget to view the ISS!

Ms. Trotta

Hello!

Hello, future scientists! I have created this website to allow you to be updated with various items in the field of science. Of course, you know how I am with updates dealing with space, natural disasters, etc...anything involving science in the "real world". Since you all are so interested, we can sometimes get carried away with everything, so I have decided to make this blog in order to let you come at your own time to see updates, cool pictures and videos, websites, and more.
Our first topic that I would like to share with you is about the volcanic eruption in Russia. On June 12, 2009, Sarychev Peak in Russia erupted after being dormant for 20 years! As the volcano was erupting, the International Space Station was flying over that area of the world. Fortunately for us, the astronauts snapped a picture! Here is a picture (taken from http://www.nasa.gov/) of a bird's eye view of Sarychev Peak erupting.

Also, on June 18, 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) left the Kennedy Space Center and headed for the moon! Both LRO and LCROSS are well on their way to provide us with great information about the moon, allowing us to move along with our plans to land on the moon again in the future!

*information regarding Sarychev Peak, LRO, and LCROSS was obtained from both http://www.nasa.gov/ and http://www.spaceweather.com/

Stay tuned, future scientists...there is a whole world out there to discover!