Comments for Starry Skies Network

Comment on April’s ‘Pink’ Full Moon As Seen From Space by russellkat2007

russellkat2007 — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:08:11 +0000

I have yet to see the picture. Would like to. sounds cool

Comment on PLUTO’S DWARF PLANET FAMILY COULD GET BIGGER by laurele

laurele — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:29:50 +0000

Adding more dwarf planets is in no way another demotion for Pluto. The reason is that in spite of the controversial IAU decision, dwarf planets are planets too. Dr. Alan Stern, who coined the term, intended it to refer to a subclass of planets large enough to be in hydrostatic equilibrium (pulled into a round shape by their own gravity) but not large enough to gravitationally dominate their orbits. He never intended dwarf planets to be designated as not planets at all. And he said he anticipates there being hundreds of these small planets in our solar system.

Only four percent of the IAU voted on this, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. Stern and like-minded scientists favor a broader planet definition that includes any non-self-luminous spheroidal body in orbit around a star. The spherical part is important because objects become spherical when they attain a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning they are large enough for their own gravity to pull them into a round shape. This is a characteristic of planets and not of shapeless asteroids and Kuiper Belt Objects. Pluto meets this criterion and is therefore a planet. Under this definition, our solar system has 13 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.

Comment on Keep exploring space by Jim Hillhouse

Jim Hillhouse — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:43:56 +0000

I really hope you’ll cover the interesting test results from the Sept. 10th 5-segment SRB test. Last week’s test of a 5-segment SRB produced data, as reported by Florida Today, that showed acoustic vibrations 8-10 times less than that estimated in the models for a 5-segment SRB. In fact, the resulting thrust oscillations due to acoustic vibrations in the test were small enough that there is now talk that thrust oscillation mitigation techniques may not be required for Ares I, removing from the table one of biggest technical challenges facing that program.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090912/NEWS02/909120309/1006/news01/First+Ares+test+sends+only+good+vibrations