Tom and I have been posting a riddle every Saturday since early November, and it’s been a lot of fun for us.  The “prize” has always been to pick a research topic for the following Monday’s post, and we’ve sure had some interesting subjects come up.  We decided to add something extra to the whole riddle concept, so we’re introducing a “Bonus Riddle”.  Everybody who has solved a previous riddle will be eligible to participate in the bonus riddle.

The Universe - Season 4 DVD Collection

The prize for solving the bonus riddle will be the season 4 complete DVD set of “The Universe”.  This is a special edition, 4-DVD set containing 12 episodes (plus never-aired segments) from A&E Home Video.  This video collection was only released 02/23/10, is over 10 hours total running time, and includes features on comets and meteors.

I bet I got your attention with that, didn’t I!

Okay, here’s how it’ll work:

• Tom and I will post the Bonus Riddle at noon CDT, March 15th.  That’s Monday…  the Ides of March (sounds ominous, doesn’t it?). You’ll have two more chances to solve a riddle to become eligible to participate; the one on March 6th, and the one on March 13th.  Good luck on those.

• Guesses will be by email to Tom or Marian.
• You will have 24 hours to submit your guesses; from noon CDT March 15th until noon CDT March 16th.
• You get three guesses.
• Comments will be closed on the Bonus Riddle until after the submission deadline.
• The winner will be the first person to submit the correct answer.  If nobody solves the riddle by noon CDT March 16th, it will be opened for everybody to give it a shot.
• Tom will have the final say in any controversy.

This is going to be SO much fun!  We’ll be reminding you of the Bonus Riddle as the date approaches, so nobody gets bushwhacked.  Also, Tom and I both will be contributing clues to this riddle.  We’re planning on making the Bonus Riddle a regular event, and hopefully we’ll always be able to offer a prize as nice as this one.

UPDATE:  SOLVED at 1:37 CDT

I have some exciting news about the weekly riddles, and I’ll be getting that out either later this evening or tomorrow.  In the interim, here’s one to make you think a little.

Today’s riddle answer is an object.

It is thought of as one “thing”, although it is composed of many.

It was known to ancient man.

Beham, (Hans) Sebald (1500-1550) Hercules Slaying the Hydra 1545

It is well represented in literature.

We associate this object with the summer months.

Not generally considered an important “player” to the Greeks, this object has gained interest in modern times.

Of its type, this object is the “dimmest”.

What do you think?  Ready to tackle the riddle?  I’m in the comment section, so give it a go.

Sorry, Trudy!

Hide and Seek with Janus. Click for larger. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

The folks at Cassini almost got me – almost. I saw this image as a thumbnail and was thinking “gee that’s Janus, seems awful big?”. A second look and the little moon stood out pretty easily against the larger moon Rhea and behind the rings.

I especially like this particular look at the rings.  You need to see the image larger to appreciate it fully, give the image above a click.

You can see the image and caption in their original context at the NASA page and here’s some excerpts:

The small moon Janus is almost hidden between the planet’s rings and the larger moon Rhea.
The northern part of Janus can be seen peeking above the rings in this image of a “mutual event” in which Janus (179 kilometers, or 111 miles across) moved past Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). Mutual event observations such as this one, in which one moon passes close to or in front of another, help scientists refine their understanding of the orbits of Saturn’s moons.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Janus and about 3.1 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Rhea. Rhea is a slightly overexposed in this image.
This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.

The last test of the FSM-17

ATK Launch Systems conducted the last test of the FSM-17.  The FSM-17 is the flight support motor for the space shuttle.

This, the 52nd test conducted for NASA by ATK was the last test of the motor that has seen 129 shuttle flights.  The tests report data over 258 channels looking at 43 design parameters.

Four more shuttle flights to go.

Meanwhile:  Space X has a Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon qualification spacecraft sitting on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in preparation for static firing to collect data from sensors on and around the vehicle prior to an actual launch.

I don’t want to give anybody the wrong impression so I am going to state right up front I am a fan of and wholeheartedly support private space flight and private space flight initiatives.

My whole issue goes to where this whole country is heading.  The leaders are making everything a “crises” when it really isn’t, just to bully their own objectives though, no matter how poorly thought out.  As far as human space flight goes, oh give it to the private industry.  Give what to them?  Sure the private space industry IS going to get there and I am glad of it, but at the moment they are no where near the level that NASA has achieved and I’m sorry, they are going to be a while getting there.  Shutting down human spaceflight in the meantime is just plain nonsense.  Come on people, sure WHEN the private industry is able then YES by all means do it, but not before.

The same sort of thing is going on in this state:  OMG, we got to get rid of a nuclear power plant.  Fine what are you going to replace it with?  Nothing that’s what, some pipe dream of renewable energy is the mantra.  Sure we can do it but we aren’t ready to do it yet.  When we are, fine shut the plant, but not until.  Keep in mind the very ones that are screaming for renewable energy sing a different tune when the windmills go up, oh yeah, NIMBY.  So they talk the talk and play the bully card but when push comes to shove things are different story.

Yep, instead of thinking things through let’s throw the baby out with the bath water and then try and blame somebody else when things don’t go well.  Common sense seems to be dead in American politics, no I mean pretty much completely.   Pity.

Here’s a quick snapshot looking at my observatory. In the foreground you can see a generator and one of my bbq grills (yeah, I have a couple and am getting ready to build a chicken cooker, party sized  YAY!) anyway, you can kind of get sense of what’s been going on today.

At 5pm we had 17 inches and it contained 1.5 inches of water so you know it was heavy.

Between this snow and the boiler that blew up downstairs, it’s been a bit crazy.
We will get the snow all cleaned up in the morning and will wait for the next storm tomorrow night.

Light pollution map. I snarfed it from Urban Ecoist

It’s almost time for the 5th Annual Globe at Night project.  Five years already!!  If you have not participated in this past oh, you just have to give it a go.  Super simple, you need only to follow some easy steps and you too can contribute to map light pollution.  Basically you go out and look up at the sky.  There is two week window so you have a good chance at clear skies.

I am really looking forward to this, last year I could see a difference from the year before.  The Globe at Night folks do such a great job at this too.  You can go the GAN site and get all the information you need including star charts (don’t worry it’s EASY) and they even have a Family Activity Packet.  If you are a teacher at ANY LEVEL you can make a great class project out of this and yes instructions for doing so are on the site too.

I am giving you plenty of heads up and I hope to put a banner for the side bar to remind you.  Last year there were over 15,000 observations, so let’s try and get that number up if we can.

PLEASE TRY AND PARTICIPATE IN THIS GREAT PROJECT!!!

Here’s the scoop:

The 5th Annual Globe at Night Campaign: 3-16 March 2010

What: The Globe at Night Campaign
When: 8pm to 10pm local time, March 3-16, 2010
Where: Everywhere
Who: You! (Everyone!)
How: See http://www.globeatnight.org

Why:
With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced the wonderment of pristinely dark skies and maybe never will. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a concern on many fronts: safety, energy conservation, cost, health and effects on wildlife, as well as our ability to view the stars. Even though light pollution is a serious and growing global concern, it is one of the easiest environmental problems you can address on local levels.

Globe at Night is an annual 2-week campaign in March that helps to address the light pollution issue locally as well as globally. This year the campaign is March 3-16, 2010. You are invited along with everyone all over the world to record the brightness of your night sky by matching its appearance toward the constellation Orion with star maps of progressively fainter stars found at http://www.globeatnight.org/observe_magnitude.html. You then submit your measurements on-line at http://www.globeatnight.org/report.html with your date, time and location. A few weeks later, organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide. Over the last four 2-week Globe at Night campaigns, volunteers from over 100 nations have contributed 35,000 measurements.

To learn the five easy steps to participate in the Globe at Night program, see the Globe at Night website at http://www.globeatnight.org. You can listen to our 10-minute audio podcast on light pollution and Globe at Night at http://365daysofastronomy.org/2010/02/03/february-3rd-the-globe-at-night-campaign-our-light-or-starlight/

For activities that have children explore what light pollution is, what its effects are on wildlife and how to prepare for participating in the Globe at Night campaign, see the new activities at http://www.darkskiesawareness.org/DarkSkiesRangers.

Monitoring our environment will allow us as citizen-scientists to identify and preserve the dark sky oases in cities and locate areas where light pollution is increasing. All it takes is a few minutes during the March 2010 campaign to measure sky brightness and contribute those observations on-line. Help us exceed the 15,000 observations contributed last year. Your measurements will make a world of difference.