Van Gogh from Space

In the style of Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night," massive congregations of greenish phytoplankton swirl in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea.



Phytoplankton are microscopic marine plants that form the first link in nearly all ocean food chains. Population explosions, or blooms, of phytoplankton, like the one shown here, occur when deep currents bring nutrients up to sunlit surface waters, fueling the growth and reproduction of these tiny plants. [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art24116/van-gogh-from-space.html

Picture of the Day - Crash of the Titans

NGC 520 ? also known as Arp 157 ? looks like a galaxy in the midst of exploding. In reality, it?s the exact opposite. Two enormous spiral galaxies are crashing into each other, melding and forming a new conglomerate.



This happens slowly, over millions of years ? the whole process started some 300 million years ago. The object, about 100 000 light-years across, is now in the middle stage of the merging process, as the two nuclei haven?t merged yet, but the two discs have. T [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art24119/picture-of-the-day-crash-of-the-titans.html

Lighter Duty Day for Expedition 26

Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly performed annual maintenance on the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) in the International Space Station?s Tranquility module Monday.

Kelly also participated in an experiment that tests whether drugs known as biophosphonates could serve as an additional countermeasure to fend off bone density loss in long-term space travelers.

Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri updated virus protection software on the station?s [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art24122/lighter-duty-day-for-expedition-26.html

Charlotte?s web interview

I did a short interview via email with The Charlotte Observer reporter T. DeLene Beeland which is now online. It covers the usual stuff about how the Universe will kill us all, and it’s brief enough to read in between sneaking in games of Angry Birds at work. It’s part of a Blog of the Week feature they have there; Ms. Beeland has a list of other science bloggers she’s interviewed, too, with quite a few familiar names!

Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/SEZc3wQJ2z4/

Picture of the Day - Looking into the Milky Way's Heart

The centre of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is again in the sights of ESO telescopes. This time it?s the turn of ISAAC, the VLT?s near- and mid-infrared spectrometer and camera.



From Chile?s Atacama Desert, site of the ESO observatories, the Milky Way offers magnificent views, particularly in the southern hemisphere winter, when the central region of our galaxy is most visible. However, the Galactic Centre itself, located about� 27 000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagit [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art24102/picture-of-the-day-looking-into-the-milky-way-s-heart.html

Arianespace gives a ?lift? to Intelsat 17 and HYLAS 1

Ariane Flight 198

The fifth Arianespace mission of 2010 orbited two telecommunications payloads today: one for an emerging new player in the broadband marketplace; and the other for a long-time customer that is the world?s leading provider of fixed satellite services.


Intelsat 17 was released first during today?s mission.� This 5,500-kg. spacecraft was built by Space Systems/Loral using its LS 1300 Omega satellite bus, and will deliver a wide range of communications services for Eur [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art24105/arianespace-gives-a-lift-to-intelsat-17-and-hylas-1.html

This Week On The Space Show

The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week:

1. Monday, November 29, 2010, 2-3:30 PM PST (22-23:30 GMT)
Rt. Reverend James Heiser comes to the program to discuss his new book, "Civilization and the New Frontier:� Reflections on Virtue and the Settlement of The New World." Rev. Heiser is a frequent speaker at Mars Society conferences. This book will be available at www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/books.



The Rt. Rev. Jam [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art24110/this-week-on-the-space-show.html