Balls Out In Space

NASA budget likely to be held flat, limiting it to near-earth activities

 From the Houston Chronicle

Far from getting the $3 billion more each year that experts suggest NASA needs for meaningful human spaceflight, President Barack Obama is expected to offer little new money to the space agency when his budget is released Monday.

Although there's no official word from the White House or NASA, space policy analysts and legislators say it's likely the space agency's budget will remain “flat” for the coming year, potentially leaving humans stuck in near-Earth orbit for the foreseeable future.

“If that happens NASA may have to get out of the human spaceflight business, because the money just isn't going to be there,” said Brett Silcox, an associate director with the National Space Society, a leading space advocacy group. 

Sale on space shuttles until 2/19/2010

From the New York Times

NASA has slashed the price of the 1970s-era spaceships to $28.8 million apiece from $42 million.

With the exception of the Enterprise prototype (which may or may not be sold) they are high mileage, but very well maintained. Some signs of "wear and tear" should be expected.

These are rare limited editions, so if you want one, you'd best buy it now.

 

Whew! That was close!

From Andrew Hough, The Telegraph

A mystery space object, believed to be an asteroid, is set to pass has passed close by the earth, Nasa has said, as astronomers attempt [to] determine its origins.

The object, called 2010 AL30, is set to pass passed within 76,000 miles (122,000km) of the Earth, or just a third of the distance out to the moon, around lunchtime on Wednesday [1247 GMT, 0745 EST].

Measuring between 33 to 50 feet (10 to 15 meters) wide, experts say it is too small to cause any damage to the earth.

Experts say professional astronomers will be able to see it shining with a brightness of a 14th-magnitude star similar to that of Pluto in the constellations of Orion, Taurus, and Pisces.

h/t Doc Al on Facebook

Projecting compact camera

This little Nikon will take a 12.1 mp image  AND project it onto a flat surface. It has a 5X wide-angle lens.

It came out last August, so you can probably get it cheaper now.

 

Blue moon and partial lunar eclipse

A awesome view of our tag-along neighbor.

The Astronomy Photo of the Day from Goodard's Astrophysics Science Divsion.

 

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 ended with a Blue Moon and a partial lunar eclipse, as the second Full Moon of December grazed the Earth's shadow on December 31st. The New Year's Eve Blue Moon eclipse was visible throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and parts of Alaska, captured in this two exposure composite in cloudy skies over Saint Bonnet de Mure, France. Playing across the Moon's southern reaches, the edge of Earth's umbra, or dark central shadow, appears on the right side along with the prominent ray crater Tycho. At maximum eclipse, the umbra covered only about 8 percent of the diameter of the lunar disk.