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Cats in space: A few words on felines and the space program

Cats. Cats in space. Even better right? I know. Anyway, cats have been helping the space program probably since before you were born. Since 1947 cats have been being studied by the air force to learn about reflexes in micro gravity. The techniques that astronauts use today to deal with weightlessness are derived from watching kittens in a near weightless environment.  Continue reading Cats in space: A few words on felines and the space program

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Closest Comet Approach in 250 Years as P/2016 BA14 Passes Earth Tuesday

March 22, 2016 at approximately 7:30 a.m. CDT comet P/2016 BA14 will buzz earth closer than any comet has in over 250 years. Clearing the way for it’s friend will be comet 252P/LINEAR on Monday, the morning before at around 7:14 a.m. CDT. You will need pro gear to see these so it’s not really an event for the amateur astronomer but a relevant event to our study of comets.  Continue reading Closest Comet Approach in 250 Years as P/2016 BA14 Passes Earth Tuesday

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Having fun creating shirt designs for GSP

Lately I’ve been having a lot of fun getting a bunch of t-shirt designs together for GetShirtsPrinted.com I’ve been resurrecting some old designs and creating all new ones. I’m very excited about the ability to do one offs that are quality with today’s DTG printers. I invite you to check out some of my prints below with some “how I did them” info and some obligatory general ramblings.  Continue reading Having fun creating shirt designs for GSP

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The five notes! That’s what everyone hears in their head when they think of 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Yes I’m comfortable speaking for all humanity… wouldn’t be the first time 😉 This movie is one of my all time favorites for so many reasons other than it’s another chance to play “spot Lance Henriksen” which you all know is one of my favorite pastimes.  Continue reading Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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That time things got heavy man!

Back in September of 2015 scientists detected  a pair of black holes that spun towards each other and combined into an even larger black hole, all taking place about 1.3 billion light years away. These black holes are around 30 times bigger than our own sun and I would assume this event is just what they were hoping for to help shed some light on a bunch of the mysteries surrounding things like gravity, time, space, dark matter, etc.  Continue reading That time things got heavy man!

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Humans Conspiring with Electric Space Fish

Alright this is weird shit. A picture has been floating around the intertubes that is a direct link to a NASA photograph from the Apollo 8 mission. Here’s the link and a local small version:

http://history.nasa.gov/ap08fj/photos/13-e/hr/as08-13-2380hr.jpg  Continue reading Humans Conspiring with Electric Space Fish

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Perseid meteor shower 2013!

Every year the Perseid meteor shower is one of the best. I’ve been either away from a good area or had clouds the last few times cosmic shows were “on”, so I am very pleased to say that tonight is totally clear and the moon has already set. Dark skies and no clouds makes a happy Roger.  Continue reading Perseid meteor shower 2013!

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The Leonids!

9:08 PM EST It’s that time of year again. November 17th is the peak of the annual Leonid meteor shower. This one is always good and for 2012 we’ve got dark skies. This year I’m still in Highland, NY, right across the Hudson river from Poukeepsie, so I’ll have a bit of light pollution. You can see the weird stuff in the skies post from a week ago or so to see what kind of night light I deal with. I’ll try to get a few pics tonight using the Panasonic GH2 of course and I’ll use the 20mm 2.5 pancake lens at about 40 seconds. I will update this post as the night goes on. Continue reading The Leonids!