Thai Alphabet Drawing by Grandpa John (77 years old), and Grandson Kai (4 years old), Part 1 (Thai alphabet from letter #1 to letter #11)
Organized by Grandma Ing
Technical Support by Mommy Mali, Daddy Jim and almost two months old brother Bodhi, started on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Grandpa John and Grandson Kai communicated via Face Time through iPad during the lock-down from the pandemic of COVID-19 (coronavirus)
Ing’s Comments:
There are 44 letters in Thai Alphabet. I divided into 4 parts, 11 characters in each group. John and Kai enjoyed drawing Thai characters using their imaginations in composing the letters. Mommy Mali was holding her new born 2 months old baby, Bodhi, to supervise Kai with his playful and loving drawing activity. I participated by taking pictures and video of the event. Daddy Jim entertained the troops by playing music with his loving of Guitar performance. We were all happy spending time in the evening after a full belly from the home-made meal. Hopefully, little bodhi heard our conversation of loving and laughing. We managed to turn the COVID – 19 locked down into a more useful and entertaining time.
For me, personally, I was so glad to see the Welshman, John, and our American grandson Kai, invent characters that are unique and special to me. As a Thai person it brought a sentimental reminder of my own native Thai language.
I hope that Thai people who view this Thai alphabet will smile because of the unique playfulness of the Thai characters created in John and Kai’s drawings. Each culture is unique, and when we come together, we can appreciate each other, bringing harmony and peace to families, communities and the world.
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Friday, May 27, 2022, 12:45 PM
History of Thai Alphabet and Sukhothai
Sukhothai is full of Historical sites that reflect the glorious civilisation of the former capital that remains for future generations to carry on preservation. Visitors can discover the grandeur of the Sukhothai Kingdom within the World Heritage-listed Archaeological sites like the Sukhothai Historical Park which is home to palaces and ancient religious sites with moats and ancient city walls surrounded. See the beauty of Phra Achana or the Speaking Buddha at Wat Si Chum, which is enshrined in the mondop with only four walls remaining, resulting in a strange and magical image. Pay respects to Wat Mahathat which has a stupa-shaped pagoda which is a unique art of the Sukhothai kingdom as well as other important temples of the province such as Wat Phra Prang and Wat Chang Lom. In addition to ancient sites, Sukhothai province also has interesting tourist activities, such as watching marigold Flowers in full bloom at Ban Pak Khwae Marigold Fields. Being close to nature and Lanna civilisation at Thung Saliam District. Be amazed by the chinaware which is a valuable handcraft Culture that has been passed down for a long time in Si Satchanalai. Dont’ miss the spectacular beauty of the Performance in the burning candle during the Loy Krathong festival.
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The Thai alphabet is derived from the Old Khmer script (Thai: ????????, akson khom), which is a southern Brahmic style of writing derived from the south Indian Pallava alphabet (Thai: ??????). According to tradition it was created in 1283 by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great (Thai: ????????????????????).[1] The earliest attestation of the Thai script is the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription dated to 1292, however some scholars question its authenticity.[2] The script was derived from a cursive form of the Old Khmer script of the time.[1] It modified and simplified some of the Old Khmer letters and introduced some new ones to accommodate Thai phonology. It also introduced tone marks. Thai is considered to be the first script in the world that invented tone markers to indicate distinctive tones, which are lacking in the Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic languages) and Indo-Aryan languages from which its script is derived. Although Chinese and other Sino-Tibetan languages have distinctive tones in their phonological system, no tone marker is found in their orthographies. Thus, tone markers are an innovation in the Thai language that later influenced other related Tai languages and some Tibeto-Burman languages on the Southeast Asian mainland.[2] Another addition were consonant clusters that were written horizontally and contiguously, rather than writing the second consonant below the first one.[2] Finally, the script wrote vowel marks on the main line, however this innovation fell out of use not long after.[1]
The Thai script (like all Indic scripts) uses a number of modifications to write Sanskrit and related languages (in particular, Pali). Pali is very closely related to Sanskrit and is the liturgical language of Thai Buddhism. In Thailand, Pali is written and studied using a slightly modified Thai script. The main difference is that each consonant is followed by an implied short a (??), not the ‘o’, or ‘?’ of Thai: this short a is never omitted in pronunciation, and if the vowel is not to be pronounced, then a specific symbol must be used, the pinthu?? (a solid dot under the consonant). This means that sara a (??) is never used when writing Pali, because it is always implied. For example, namo is written ????in Thai, but in Pali it is written as ???, because the ??is redundant. The Sanskrit word ‘mantra’ is written ?????in Thai (and therefore pronounced mon), but is written ??????in Sanskrit (and therefore pronounced mantra). When writing Pali, only 33 consonants and 12 vowels are used.
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Sukhothai, town and historical capital of a former kingdom of north-central Thailand. It is one of Thailand’s earliest and most important historical settlements. Originally a provincial town within the Angkor-based Khmer empire, Sukhothai in the 13th century gained its independence and became established as the capital of the first united and independent Tai state in what is now Thailand’s Chao Phraya River basin, or Central Plain. The kingdom’s third ruler, King Ramkhamhaeng (reigned c. 1279–c. 1298), extended Sukhothai’s hegemony north into what is now Laos, west to the Andaman Sea, and south onto the Malay Peninsula. The ancient town is reported to have had some 80,000 inhabitants. Its architectural development began under Ramkhamhaeng and reached its peak in the latter part of the 14th century, when most of Sukhothai’s monasteries were built. After 1351, when Ayutthaya was founded as the capital of a powerful rival Tai dynasty, Sukhothai’s imperial influence began to wane, and in 1438 the town was conquered and incorporated into the Ayutthaya kingdom. Sukhothai is thought to have been abandoned in the late 15th or early 16th century.
Buddhist sanctuary, 13th century, Sukhothai, Thailand.
Hermann Schlenker/Photo Researchers
In the 1970s the government of Thailand, with the help of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO), undertook the restoration of the ancient site of Sukhothai, which includes several temples (wats), reliquary monuments (chedis, orstupas), ornamental ponds, and statues of Buddha. The result, theSukhothai Historical Park, containing about 27 square miles (70 square km) of parkland and lying some 300 miles (450 km) north ofBangkok, was opened in the late 1980s. In 1991 Sukhothai was designated a UNESCOWorld Heritage site.
The modern city of Sukhothai lies on the Yom River about 8 miles (13 km) by road from the historical area, in a sparsely populated rice-growing region. It supports textile milling, woodworking and metalworking, fishing, and the manufacture of clothing and food products. Pop. (2000) 35,713.
The kingdom of Sukhothai, situated in the upper Chao Phraya basin, was founded in the mid-13th century when a local Tai ruler led a revolt against Khmer rule at an outpost of the Khmer empire. Under its first two rulers, Sukhothai remained only a small local power. However, its third ruler,Ramkhamhaeng(reigned c. 1279–98), extended Sukhothai power to the south as far as Nakhon Si Thammarat, to the west into present-day Myanmar, and to the northeast as far asLuang Prabangin modern Laos. Not all these territories were conquered by force; many became vassal or tributary states to Sukhothai based on kinship ties or personal loyalty, and they were linked to it in a loose confederation.
Ramkhamhaeng is renowned not only for extending the territory under Sukhothai control but also for leaving a remarkable stone inscription, considered by most scholars to contain the earliest example of writing in any Tai language. Written in 1292 and utilizing Khmer script adapted to the sounds and tones of Tai speech, it pictures theSukhothai kingdomas prosperous, active in trade, and benevolently governed by a paternal monarch. According to the inscription, the state taxed its citizens modestly, treated all subjects (including non-Tai) equally, and providedjusticefor all.
The Sukhothai period, from the mid-13th to the mid-15th century, is noted for its sculpture and pottery. Graceful bronze sculptures of the Buddha, especially those showing him in the walking position, are typical of the period. The celadon ware made at Sukhothai and nearbySawankhalokwas exported throughout Southeast Asia.
Sukhothai was not the only Tai state in Southeast Asia during this period. In the mid-13th century in what is today northern Thailand, a Tai ruler,Mangrai(reigned c. 1259–1317; from 1292 to 1317 in Chiang Mai), conquered the ancientMon kingdom of Haripunjayaand built a new capital at Chiang Mai. Under Mangrai and hissuccessors, Lan Na—with Chiang Mai as its capital—became not only powerful but also a centre for the spread of Theravada Buddhism to Tai peoples in what are now northeastern Myanmar, southern China, and northern Laos. Under Tilokaracha (reigned 1441–87), Lan Na became famous for its Buddhist scholarship and literature. During the 16th century Lan Na was conquered by the Burmese and incorporated into the Burman empire, where it would remain until the late 18th century.
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NASA, BBC News, Veritasium, Live Science, and Ocean Action News
May 15-16, 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse: Shadow View
Visualizations by Ernie Wright Released on March 24, 2022
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The Moon moves right to left, passing through the penumbra and umbra, leaving in its wake an eclipse diagram with the times at various stages of the eclipse.
Both movies and high-resolution still images are available for Eastern (above), Central, Mountain, and Pacific Daylight Time, as well as UTC. Also see the visibility map and Dial-a-Moon for this eclipse.
On May 16, 2022 (the night of May 15 in the Western Hemisphere), the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse, the first since May of 2021. This animation shows the changing appearance of the Moon as it travels into and out of the Earth’s shadow, along with times at various stages.
The penumbra is the part of the Earth’s shadow where the Sun is only partially covered by the Earth. The umbra is where the Sun is completely hidden. The Moon’s appearance isn’t affected much by the penumbra. The real action begins when the Moon starts to disappear as it enters the umbra at about 10:28 p.m. EDT on the 15th. An hour later, entirely within the umbra, the Moon is a ghostly copper color. Totality lasts for an hour and a half before the Moon begins to emerge from the central shadow. Throughout the eclipse, the Moon is moving throught the constellation Libra.
The total lunar eclipse of May 16, 2022 (the night of May 15 in the Western Hemisphere) occurs near perigee, making the Moon appear about 7% larger than average. This eclipse is ideally timed for viewing from most of the Western Hemisphere, including the Lower 48 of the United States. The total phase occurs near moonset in Africa and western Europe.
The sublunar point, the last line of the table above, is the point on the Earth’s surface where the Moon is directly overhead. It’s also the center of the hemisphere of the Earth where the eclipse is visible. The closer you are to that location, the higher the Moon will be in your sky. The eclipse percentage in the table is the fraction of the Moon covered by the Earth’s umbra, the part of its shadow in which the Sun is completely blocked. The part of the shadow in which the Sun is only partially blocked is called the penumbra.
The animations on this page run from 1:00:00 to 7:29:50 UTC, which is also the valid range of times for this Dial-a-Moon. The exposure setting of the virtual camera changes around totality in order to capture the wide dynamic range of the eclipse. The parts of the Moon outside the umbra during the partial phases are almost as bright as an ordinary full moon, making the obstructed parts appear nearly black. But during totality, our eyes adjust and reveal a range of hues painted on the Moon by all of Earth’s sunrises and sunsets.
All phases of a lunar eclipse are safe to view, both with your naked eye and an unfiltered telescope.
When the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth, a solar eclipse takes place. (NEVER look at the sun during any type of solar eclipse! Looking at the sun is dangerous. It can damage your eyes.)
Partial Lunar Eclipse
When only a part of the moon enters Earth’s shadow, the event is called a partial lunar eclipse. Image Credit: Brad Riza
Total Lunar Eclipse
A total lunar eclipse happens when the whole moon enters Earth’s shadow. Some sunlight still reaches the moon, but first it goes through Earth’s atmosphere. The atmosphere filters out most of the sun’s blue light, so the moon looks red.
In this time-lapsed image, the moon changes color as it moves through Earth’s shadow. Image Credit: Fred Espenak
Solar Eclipse Diagram
When the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth, a solar eclipse takes place. (NEVER look at the sun during any type of solar eclipse! Looking at the sun is dangerous. It can damage your eyes.)
Partial Solar Eclipse
A partial solar eclipse takes place when the sun, moon and Earth are not exactly lined up. (NEVER look at the sun during any type of solar eclipse! Looking at the sun is dangerous. It can damage your eyes.)
May 12, 2022
Total Solar Eclipse
For a total eclipse to take place, the sun, moon and Earth must be in a direct line. During a total solar eclipse, the moon blocks the sun’s glare, making the sun’s corona more visible. (NEVER look at the sun during any type of solar eclipse! Looking at the sun is dangerous. It can damage your eyes.) Image Credit: Steve Albers, Dennis DiCicco and Gary Emerson
Annular Eclipse
An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farthest from Earth. Because the moon is farther away from Earth, it seems smaller and does not block the entire view of the sun. (NEVER look at the sun during any type of solar eclipse! Looking at the sun is dangerous. It can damage your eyes.) Image Credit: Stefan Seip
Moon’s Shadow on Earth During Solar Eclipse
During a solar eclipse, the moon casts a large shadow onto Earth’s surface. Image Credit: Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Diagram of Umbra and Penumbra
During an eclipse, two shadows are cast. The first is called the umbra (UM bruh). This shadow gets smaller as it goes away from the sun. It is the dark center of the eclipse shadow. The second shadow is called the penumbra (pe NUM bruh). The penumbra gets larger as it goes away from the sun.
Go outside with NASA and watch the total lunar eclipse! On the evening of May 15, Earth will pass between the Sun and the Moon, blocking sunlight and casting a shadow on the lunar surface. Starting at 9:32 p.m. EDT (1:32 UTC on May 16), people with clear skies in the Americas, Europe, and parts of Africa will begin to see the Moon get bathed in the red glow of every sunrise and sunset refracted through Earth’s atmosphere. Totality will occur at 12:12 a.m. EDT on May 16 (4:12 UTC). Join NASA experts to learn about this incredible natural phenomenon, look through telescope views across the world, and hear about plans to return humans to the lunar surface with the Artemis program. Have questions? Ask them in our live chat. https://nasa.gov/moon
AXiOS AM & PM: Mike Allen <mike@axios.com> May 16, 2022
1,000 words
Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP
This combination of photos shows the moon in various stages of a total lunar eclipse during last night’s first blood moon of the year, as seen from Temple City, Calif.
The moon was bathedin reflected red and orange hues of Earth’s sunsets and sunrises for about 90 minutes — one of the longest totalities of the decade.
These photosshow the Moon last night during a full lunar eclipse (upper left) … and at various stages as it emerges from Earth’s shadow — as seen near Moscow, Idaho.
The orange results from the Moon passing into Earth’s shadow.
Earth from Orbit: NOAA Debuts First Imagery from GOES-18
On May 11, 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, shared the first images of the Western Hemisphere from its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-T (GOES-T). Later designated GOES-18, the satellite’s Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument recently captured stunning views of Earth.
The crew aboard the International Space Station has a window on Planet Earth. In this image an orbital sunrise beams across Earth’s horizon revealing silhouetted clouds above the South China Sea.
Every 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets.
Astronaut Victor Glover: Inspiring Washington Area Students
NASA astronaut Victor Glover fist pumps with 3-year-old Ezra Garrel at the conclusion of an educational event, Thursday, April 28, 2022, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Glover most recently served as pilot and second-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon, named Resilience, which landed after a long duration mission aboard the International Space Station, May 2, 2021. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA astronaut Victor Glover greets one of his youngest fans, 3-year-old Ezra Garrel, with a fist bump at the conclusion of an educational event for students in the Washington, DC area, Thursday, April 28, 2022, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Glover most recently served as pilot and second-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon, named Resilience. The long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station returned to Earth on May 2, 2021.
Two merging galaxies in the VV689 system — nicknamed the Angel Wing —feature in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In this view, the focus is placed on the system itself, allowing a closer look at it’s unique morphology.
This Hubble Space Telescope image features two merging galaxies in the VV-689 system, nicknamed the Angel Wing. Unlike chance alignments of galaxies, which only appear to overlap when viewed from our vantage point on Earth, the two galaxies in VV-689 are in the midst of a collision. The galactic interaction has left the VV-689 system almost completely symmetrical, giving the impression of a vast set of galactic wings.
“Zoo Gems,” interesting galaxies from the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project is a crowdsourced program and relies on hundreds of thousands of volunteers to classify galaxies and help astronomers wade through a deluge of data from robotic telescopes. In the process, volunteers discovered a gallery of weird and wonderful galaxy types, some not previously studied. A similar, project called Radio Galaxy Zoo: LOFAR is using the same crowdsourcing approach to locate supermassive black holes in distant galaxies.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel; Acknowledgment: J. Schmidt
Text Credit: ESA
We’re celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope‘s 32nd birthday with a stunning look at an unusual close-knit collection of five galaxies, called The Hickson Compact Group 40.
This eclectic galaxy grouping includes three spiral-shaped galaxies, an elliptical galaxy, and a lenticular (lens-like) galaxy. Somehow, these different galaxies crossed paths in their evolution to create an exceptionally crowded and eclectic galaxy sampler.
Black holes are hard to find. They have such strong gravity that light can’t escape them, so scientists must rely on clues from their surroundings to find them.
This image from 2001 is an artist’s impression of a black hole accretion disk. Around many black holes is an accretion disk of material emitting energy as it falls into the black hole.
Black Hole Image Makes History; NASA Telescopes Coordinated Observations
A black hole and its shadow have been captured in an image for the first time, a historic feat by an international network of radio telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). EHT is an international collaboration whose support in the U.S. includes the National Science Foundation.
Using the Event Horizon Telescope, scientists obtained an image of the black hole at the center of galaxy M87, outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon.
Credits: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al.
A black hole is an extremely dense object from which no light can escape. Anything that comes within a black hole’s “event horizon,” its point of no return, will be consumed, never to re-emerge, because of the black hole’s unimaginably strong gravity. By its very nature, a black hole cannot be seen, but the hot disk of material that encircles it shines bright. Against a bright backdrop, such as this disk, a black hole appears to cast a shadow.
The stunning new image shows the shadow of the supermassive black hole in the center of Messier 87 (M87), an elliptical galaxy some 55 million light-years from Earth. This black hole is 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun. Catching its shadow involved eight ground-based radio telescopes around the globe, operating together as if they were one telescope the size of our entire planet.
“This is an amazing accomplishment by the EHT team,” said Paul Hertz, director of the astrophysics division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Years ago, we thought we would have to build a very large space telescope to image a black hole. By getting radio telescopes around the world to work in concert like one instrument, the EHT team achieved this, decades ahead of time.”
To complement the EHT findings, several NASA spacecraft were part of a large effort, coordinated by the EHT’s Multiwavelength Working Group, to observe the black hole using different wavelengths of light. As part of this effort, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory space telescope missions, all attuned to different varieties of X-ray light, turned their gaze to the M87 black hole around the same time as the EHT in April 2017. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was also watching for changes in gamma-ray light from M87 during the EHT observations. If EHT observed changes in the structure of the black hole’s environment, data from these missions and other telescopes could be used to help figure out what was going on.
Chandra X-ray Observatory close-up of the core of the M87 galaxy.
Credits: NASA/CXC/Villanova University/J. Neilsen
While NASA observations did not directly trace out the historic image, astronomers used data from NASA’s Chandra and NuSTAR satellites to measure the X-ray brightness of M87’s jet. Scientists used this information to compare their models of the jet and disk around the black hole with the EHT observations. Other insights may come as researchers continue to pore over these data.
There are many remaining questions about black holes that the coordinated NASA observations may help answer. Mysteries linger about why particles get such a huge energy boost around black holes, forming dramatic jets that surge away from the poles of black holes at nearly the speed of light. When material falls into the black hole, where does the energy go?
“X-rays help us connect what’s happening to the particles near the event horizon with what we can measure with our telescopes,” said Joey Neilsen, an astronomer at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, who led the Chandra and NuSTAR analysis on behalf of the EHT’s Multiwavelength Working Group.
Chandra X-ray Observatory close-up of the core of the M87 galaxy.
Credits: NASA/CXC/Villanova University/J. Neilsen
NASA space telescopes have previously studied a jet extending more than 1,000 light-years away from the center of M87. The jet is made of particles traveling near the speed of light, shooting out at high energies from close to the event horizon. The EHT was designed in part to study the origin of this jet and others like it. A blob of matter in the jet called HST-1, discovered by Hubble astronomers in 1999, has undergone a mysterious cycle of brightening and dimming.
Chandra, NuSTAR, Swift and Fermi, as well as NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) experiment on the International Space Station, also looked at the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, called Sagittarius A*, in coordination with EHT.
Getting so many different telescopes on the ground and in space to all look toward the same celestial object is a huge undertaking in and of itself, scientists emphasize.
“Scheduling all of these coordinated observations was a really hard problem for both the EHT and the Chandra and NuSTAR mission planners,” Neilsen said. “They did really incredible work to get us the data that we have, and we’re exceedingly grateful.”
Neilsen and colleagues who were part of the coordinated observations will be working on dissecting the entire spectrum of light coming from the M87 black hole, all the way from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma rays. With so much data from EHT and other telescopes, scientists may have years of discoveries ahead.
Elizabeth Landau
NASA Headquarters, Washington
818-359-3241 elandau@jpl.nasa.gov
The first image of Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Source: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
Astronomers have captured the first image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Axios Science author Alison Snyder reports.
Why it matters: The “historic breakthrough” offers an unprecedented look at the extreme object driving the evolution of our galaxy.
· Astronomers imaged Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) using the Event Horizon Telescope.
Most galaxies are thought to have a supermassive black hole at their center.
· The false orange-yellow color in the image is the silhouette of the black hole created by matter teetering on its edge, or event horizon.
· Light can’t escape a black hole, but hot plasma swirling around it emits short radio waves that radio telescopes can pick up. In the image, the gas silhouettes the black hole itself.
Astronomers have captured the first ever image of the colossal black hole at the center of our galaxy, providing the first direct evidence of the cosmic giant’s existence.
Located 26,000 light-years away, Sagittarius A* is a gargantuan tear in space-time that is four million times the mass of our sun and 40 million miles (60 million kilometers) across. The image was captured by the Event Horizon telescope (EHT), a network of eight synchronized radio telescopes placed in various locations around the world.
A supermassive black hole that lives at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way, has been pictured for the very first time. Known as Sagittarius A*, the object is a staggering four-million times the mass of our Sun. For scale, the ring is roughly the size of Mercury’s orbit around our star. Fortunately, this monster is a long, long way away – some 26,000 light-years in the distance – so there’s no possibility of us ever coming to any danger. The BBC’s Science correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports. Please subscribe HERE http://bit.ly/1rbfUog#BBCNews
A Picture of the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
This is an image of the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Visit https://www.kiwico.com/veritasium30 to get 30% off your first month of any crate! ??? Image of Sgr A* from EHT collaboration Event Horizon Telescope collaboration: https://ve42.co/EHT Animations from The Relativistic Astrophysics group, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. Massive thanks to Prof. Luciano Rezzolla, Dr Christian Fromm and Dr Alejandro Cruz-Osorio. A huge thanks to Prof. Peter Tuthill and Dr Manisha Caleb for feedback on earlier versions of this video and helping explain VLBI. Great video by Thatcher Chamberlin about VLBI here – https://youtu.be/Y8rAHTvpJbk Animations and simulations with English text: L. R. Weih & L. Rezzolla (Goethe University Frankfurt) https://youtu.be/jvftAadCFRI Video of stars going around Sgr A* from European Southern Observatory https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso… Video zooming into the center of our galaxy from European Southern Observatory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXAU0… Video of observation of M87 courtesy of: C. M. Fromm, Y. Mizuno & L. Rezzolla (Goethe University Frankfurt) https://youtu.be/meOKmzhTcIY Video of observation of SgrA* courtesy of C. M. Fromm, Y. Mizuno & L. Rezzolla (Goethe University Frankfurt) Z. Younsi (University College London) https://youtu.be/VnsZj9RvhFU Video of telescopes in the array 2017: C. M. Fromm & L. Rezzolla (Goethe University Frankfurt) https://youtu.be/Ame7fzBuFnk Animations and simulations (no text): L. R. Weih & L. Rezzolla (Goethe University Frankfurt) https://youtu.be/XmvpKFSvB7A ??? Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Inconcision, Kelly Snook, TTST, Ross McCawley, Balkrishna Heroor, Chris LaClair, Avi Yashchin, John H. Austin, Jr., OnlineBookClub.org, Dmitry Kuzmichev, Matthew Gonzalez, Eric Sexton, john kiehl, Anton Ragin, Diffbot, Micah Mangione, MJP, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Dumky, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Michael Schneider, jim buckmaster, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Clayton Greenwell, Michael Krugman, Cy ‘kkm’ K’Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal ??? Written by Derek Muller Animation by Ivy Tello, Mike Radjabov, Maria Raykova Filmed by Petr Lebedev
You might love charred, broiled sirloin; crisp, oven-roasted veggies; or flaky, baked salmon, all of which generally require an oven. But when you are in a hurry or famished, you may turn to a faster cooking method, the hallmark of culinary convenience: the microwave.
The microwave has made it possible to nourish ourselves with cooked food in a matter of seconds. But how, exactly, does it work so much quicker than an oven?
A rare solar eclipse Saturday (April 30) stunned viewers across Antarctica, the southern tip of South America, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
While much of the event took place in remote areas, live cameras on Earth and satellites in space allowed people around the world to witness the moon blocking as much as 64% of the sun. The eclipse happened during a Black Moon, which is the second new moon in a single month.
On clear Martian nights, long, snake-like ribbons of light may streak through the sky for thousands of miles. It’s a pretty sight, according to new observations from the United Arab Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) — and it represents a strange new type of aurora never seen before on any planet.
Auroras — also known on Earth as the southern or northern lights — occur when charged particles from solar wind collide with molecules in a planet’s atmosphere. Several different types of auroras have been detected on Mars, including planet-wide “diffuse auroras,” which glow faintly through the entire Martian sky during intense solar storms, as well as patchy “discrete auroras,” which only glow above certain spots of Martian crust thought to contain magnetized minerals, according to EMM.
This new type of aurora — which EMM researchers dubbed a “sinuous discrete aurora” — seems to be a strange mishmash of the others, the researchers said.
The earliest documented case of an aurora, the fleeting but brilliantly colored lights that sometimes illuminate the night sky, dates to the early 10th century B.C., a new study on an ancient Chinese text reveals.
The text describes “five-colored light” witnessed in the northern part of the night sky toward the end of the reign of King Zh?o, the fourth king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. The exact dates of Zh?o’s reign aren’t known, but it’s likely that this “five-colored light” event happened in either 977 B.C. or 957 B.C., according to the study.
Kane Tanaka of Japan, who was the world’s oldest living person, has died at age 119, according to news reports.
Tanaka was born on Jan. 2, 1903 and died on April 19, according to CNN.
According to Guinness World Records, Tanaka became the world’s oldest living person on Jan. 30, 2019 at 116 years and 28 days old. She held the title for three years, until her death last week.
With the month of May comes Mother’s Day, a special time to celebrate all the wonderful moms out there. Did you know our ocean has some stand-out moms, too? Dive in with us and take a look at some of the hardest working moms in the sea.
Rose, Rhododendron, and John’s Sculpture in our garden, Spring May 2022
I enjoy studying and reading about technology, realizing that many thousands of educated people around the world are busy working on different kinds of experiments and research to advance their projects. This in return, will help human kind to progress, and hopefully, we will be able to appreciate one another and keep us together as a human race.
Hopefully, we will be able to live together without wars all over the world, and be able to focus our attention to prevent global warming.
We may then realize that we are the care-takers keeping the world healthy for ourselves, younger generations, and all creatures on earth that cohabitant with us on this planet.
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Saturday, May 21, 2022, 9:45 PM
My sister-in-law called me this evening to tell me that my mother has passed away today.
To my mother and mothers all
First tear drops for you carrying me for nine months
Second tear drop for your milk that nourished my start in life
Third tear drop for you holding my hands for my first walk
Forth tear drop I called Mommy for my first word
Fifth, sixth, seven and many more tear drops
Can never be enough for what you did for me
Even the liquid from my tears has run dry
But inside my tears are still pouring
Remembering what you did for me
We are far away just only physically
But my heart will always be with you
Longing for your touch
Giving you my last kiss and hug
That is physically denied
You are me as I am part of you
I will kiss and hug you as if you are here with me until I die
Ing’s digital artwork, May 2022
Ing’s poem for her mother translated into Thai.
“🙂 Have A Happy Mother’s Day Mother🙂”
Life Is Too Short for Fighting
My mother is laughing
But I am crying
Seeing her happy face
With her brother’s daughter
They are singing
Having a good time
My mother turns
Singing songs
From when she was young
She loves to laugh out loud
Mother I miss you
My heart is aching
I wish I were there with you again
Life is so fragile
And so short
She is gone
My recording of the event
Shows her laughing and happy again
Please do not fight!!
Enjoy each other
While we are still here in the flesh
Life will not last
The ending is coming so soon
Before we know it
Regretfully we say
We wish we can go back in time
Saying to ourselves
We would do more
Laugh more
And love more
But it is too late
She is gone
Mother, please laughs loader
Let me hear you once more
Syrians, Egyptians, Iraqis, and others, please do not fight or kill each other. Life is too short. It is better to spend your time being happy together for you to achieve happiness and have a meaningful life.
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Monday, October 14, 2013, 2:18
My mother visited her older brother’s daughter in Chiang Mai, Thailand, summer 2004
Ing’s digital artwork, May 2022
“🙂 Have A Happy Mother’s Day Mom🙂”
John’s mother came to visit us in the Summer of 1980. She passed away in 1994. We miss her visiting us. We would go every summer to visit Mom and John’s sister, Phyllis when Mom was still alive. I loved her roasted chicken and Welsh cakes.
The scene by the kitchen bay widow at John’s sister house in Swansea, Wales This scene is what Mom and John’s sister saw when they were sitting in the armchair and relaxing by the kitchen bay widow at John’s sister house in Swansea, Wales. I miss both of them. I wish they were here with us. Life is too short to fight and be unhappy with each other. We will be apart from each other one of these days, sooner or later. Please get along and be happy with each other.
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Monday, October 15, 2017, Swansea, Wales
Swansea Shore on Monday, October 9, 2017
“Swansea Bay: Harnessing the power of our tides
Did you know… the UK has the second highest tidal range in the world and the difference in the range at Swansea Bay is a massive 7-9 meters!
Dave Sagan, Project Manager
An iconic, world-first infrastructure project in South West Wales • Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant. • A tidal lagoon is a ‘U’ shaped breakwater, built out from the coast which has a bank of hydro turbines in it. Water fills up and empties the man-made lagoon as the tides rise and fall. We generate electricity on both the incoming and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day. • Due to the incredible tides on the West Coast of Britain, by keeping the turbine gates shut for just three hours, there is already a 14ft height difference in water between the inside and the outside of the lagoon. Power is then generated as the water rushes through 200ft long draft tubes, rotating the 23ft diameter hydro turbines. • The project was awarded a Development Consent Order in 2015 and is primed for construction. It will comprise 16 hydro turbines, a six-mile breakwater wall, generating electricity for 155,000 homes for the next 120 years. Its major delivery partners include Atkins, General Electric, Andritz Hydro, Laing O’Rourke and Alun Griffiths Ltd.” For more information please visit the following link: https://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/
Swansea Sky viewed at the backyard of John’s sister house, October 6, 2017 I am always longing for the Swansea Sky. It changes so fast from one color to the other or dark to light. My favorite sky is light pink to red orange which appears in the evening when the sun sets showing her appearance before leaving us to the night sky. This takes place around 6-7 pm. I was lucky to see it again on Friday, October 6, 2017. I viewed this beautiful red orange sky at the backyard of John’s sister house. Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, October 8, 2017
Vladimir Putin with his “real” mother, Maria Ivanovna Putina, as a boy. Wikimedia Commons
Happy Mother’s Day Maria Ivanovna Putina and All Russian Mothers
Top-Left: A woman cries outside houses damaged by a Russian airstrike, according to locals, in Gorenka, outside Kyiv yesterday. Photo: Vadim Ghirda/AP
Bottom-Right: A woman outside a maternity hospital that was shelled yesterday in Mariupol, Ukraine. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Bottom-Left: Aftermath of Mariupol Hospital after a Russian attack severely damaged the children’s hospital and maternity ward. Photo: Mariupol City Council via AP
Happy Mother’s Day Every Ukrainian Mothers
Mr. Putin, “PLEASE STOP THE WAR IN UKRAINE” May Peace, Love & Kindness be in your Heart always
A woman arrives at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland. Photo: Visar Kryeziu
Are this lady and baby doing any harm to you?
You destroyed her home, her community and her country
You killed her family, her friends, and her beloved country, Ukraine.
“PLEASE STOP THE WAR!!!”
Your young Russian men, are only teenagers, just starting their lives, were killed in thousands.
“PLEASE STOP THE WAR!!!”
Millions of Ukrainians are homeless, with no place to stay, no food to eat.
Once you told people that your mother had no food to eat and she fainted, people thought that she was dead.
But now you put the Ukrainian people in a worse situation than your mother.
“PLEASE STOP THE WAR!!!”
If you want your Ukraine brothers to be with you, you have to give them Peace, Love and Kindness
You said that Ukraine is the brother of Russia. You should not kill your brother, but that is what you are doing.
“PLEASE STOP THE WAR!!!”
You will never conquer Ukraine or the world. If you use nuclear weapons, it will be suicide, because you and all your Russia people will also die.
“PLEASE STOP THE WAR!!!”
If you want the world to respect and honor you, you need to use kindness and love, which in turn will bring peace.
Imagine that you stand proudly at the highest podium, with love, kindness and open arms, offering Peace to the world. This you can do though your wealth and power.
You will be honored as a man of Peace, Love and Kindness. For this you will be remembered and recorded in history forever.
“PLEASE STOP THE WAR IN UKRAINE!!!”
“What does Peace mean to you?”
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, March 13, 2022, 3:38 PM
For more information, please visit the following link:
Above Santa Barbara County, the Surface Biology and Geology High-Frequency Time Series, or SHIFT, campaign collects data to understand land and aquatic ecosystems. Read More
A research plane collecting spectral imaging data of vegetation on land and in the ocean as part of the SHIFT campaign flies just off the Central Coast of California near Point Conception and the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve in February. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Full Image Details
The SHIFT campaign uses a research plane carrying the AVIRIS-NG instrument to collect data on the function, health, and resilience of plant communities in the 640-square-mile (1,656-square-kilometer) area of Santa Barbara County and the nearby ocean shown in this annotated map. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Full Image Details
To assess how climate warming will change risks such as crop failures and wildfires, it’s necessary to look at how the risks are likely to interact. Read More
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter scouted this ridgeline near the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater because it is of interest to Perseverance rover scientists. Enlarged at right is a close-up of one of the ridgeline’s rocky outcrops. The image was captured on April 23, during the rotorcraft’s 27th flight.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
For more information, please visit the following link:
Eyeing some of the components that enabled the rover to get safely to the Martian surface could provide valuable insights for future missions. Read More
This image of Perseverance’s backshell and parachute was collected by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 26th flight on April 19, 2022.
This image of Perseverance’s backshell and supersonic parachute was captured by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 26th flight on Mars on April 19, 2022.
Parallel ice ridges, a common feature on Jupiter’s moon Europa, are found on Greenland’s ice sheet – and could bode well for Europa’s potential habitability. Read More
The surface geology of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is on display in this view made from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s.
A double ridge cutting across the surface of Europa is seen in this mosaic of two images taken by NASA’s Galileo during the spacecraft’s close flyby on Feb. 20, 1997. Analysis of a similar feature in Greenland suggests shallow liquid water may be ubiquitous across the Jovian moon’s icy shell.
An illustration shows our solar system (not to scale).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Among the missions are InSight, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Curiosity, all of which have been critical to expanding our understanding of the Red Planet. Read More
For more information, please visit the following link:
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Captures Video of Solar Eclipse on Mars
April 20, 2022
The Mastcam-Z camera recorded video of Phobos, one of the Red Planet’s two moons, to study how its orbit is changing over time.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, eclipsing the Sun. It’s the most zoomed-in, highest-frame-rate observation of a Phobos solar eclipse ever taken from the Martian surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI Full Image Details
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera system to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, eclipsing the Sun. It’s the most zoomed-in, highest frame-rate observation of a Phobos solar eclipse ever taken from the Martian surface. Several Mars rovers have observed Phobos crossing in front of the Sun over the past 18 years. Spirit and Opportunity made the first observations back in 2004; Curiosity in 2019 was the first to record video of the event. Each time these eclipses are observed, they allow scientists to measure subtle shifts in Phobos’ orbit over time. The moon’s tidal forces pull on the deep interior of the Red Planet, as well as its crust and mantle; studying how much Phobos shifts over time reveals something about how resistant the crust and mantle are, and thus what kinds of materials they’re made of. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Arrives at Delta for New Science Campaign
The expanse of Jezero Crater’s river delta is shown in this panorama of 64 stitched-together images taken by the Mastcam-Z system on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on April 11, 2022, the 406th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Full Image Details
This image of the parachute that helped deliver NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover to the Martian surface was taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument on April 6, 2022.
Listen closely to new sounds from Mars recorded by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, including puffs and pings from a rover tool, light Martian wind, the whirring of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, and laser zaps. Most of the sounds – best heard through headphones with the sound up – were recorded using the microphone belonging to Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument, mounted on the head of the rover’s mast. Other sounds, including the puffs and pings from the rover’s Gaseous Dust Removal Tool, or gDRT, blowing shavings off rock faces, were recorded by another microphone mounted on the chassis of the rover. A new study based on recordings made by the rover reveals that the speed of sound is slower on the Red Planet than on Earth and that, mostly, a deep silence prevails in the much thinner atmosphere. For more information on the study go to: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/what-so… For more about Perseverance go to mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ and nasa.gov/perseverance. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/LANL/CNES/IRAP
This illustration indicates the placement of Perseverance’s two microphones. The microphone on the mast is part of the SuperCam science instrument. The microphone on the side of the rover was intended to capture the sounds of entry, descent, and landing for public engagement.
Interim Director Larry James joined 22 executives in a commitment to significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups by 2030. Read More
Inclusion is a JPL core value.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Interim Director Larry James joined 22 executives in a commitment to significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups by 2030.
Twenty-three space industry executives, including Larry James, interim director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, gathered at the 37th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on April 5 to pledge their commitment to advancing diversity across the collective workforce in coming years.
The executives signed the “Space Workforce 2030” pledge, the first-ever space industry commitment of its kind to “significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups.” Each company will agree to annual reporting of data on diversity in our collective technical workforce, a regular cadence of exchanges of best practices, and work with universities to increase the number of diverse and underrepresented students graduating ready to join the space industry.
“We’re excited to be a part of this industry initiative and continuing to lead the way in growing our diverse and inclusive workforce,” said James. “We know that these qualities lead to stronger teams and innovative solutions – key things we need here at JPL as we tackle the toughest challenges in science and engineering.”
Cozette Hart, JPL’s director for human resources, is proud of JPL’s partnership in this effort.
“We’ve shared JPL DEI data in our annual report, so the unification and commitment of our industry to broaden this work is an extremely positive step for all of us,” said Hart.
Neela Rajendra, the Lab’s manager of diversity, equity, and inclusion, acknowledged the importance of being part of a cohort of other aerospace organizations where companies can identify trends and learn from each other.
“This is industry-specific and even more powerful,” she said. “There’s a recognition that if we can advance diversity, equity, and inclusion for the industry as a whole, we’ll all benefit from it.”
Collaboration also helps JPL refine its diversity focus areas as the Lab continues to develop its strategic plan, Rajendra added.
By signing the pledge, the companies vow to accomplish the following by 2030:
Significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups in our collective technical workforce.
Significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups who hold senior leadership positions in our collective technical workforce.
Work with universities to increase the percentages of women and students from underrepresented groups receiving aerospace engineering degrees to levels commensurate with overall engineering programs.
Sponsor K-12 programs that collectively reach over 5 million underrepresented students annually.
Meet twice a year at the working level to exchange best practices on strengthening diversity recruitment, STEM education outreach, and representation at leadership levels.
Seek like-minded leaders and organizations to join this effort.
“This effort links to the DEI recruitment efforts already in place at JPL,” shared Hart. “In partnership with these companies and our universities, colleges, and organizations such as Society of Women Engineers (SWE), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), etc., we will be implementing even more opportunities for current and potential employees in the future.”
“Essentially, we’re committing to continuing the focus on our talent pipeline and really supporting future employees,” said Rajendra. “It’s about ensuring that all students and future talent have the opportunity to join the technical fields in aerospace regardless of background, socioeconomic status, or self-identity.”
Find the full list of “Space Workforce 2030” signatories below:
Roy Azevedo, president of Raytheon Intelligence & Space
Payam Banazadeh, CEO at Capella Space
Peter Beck, CEO at Rocket Lab
Tory Bruno, CEO at United Launch Alliance
Jim Chilton, senior VP of Space & Launch at Boeing
Michael Colglazier, CEO at Virgin Galactic
Eileen Drake, CEO and president of AeroJet Rocketdyne
Tim Ellis, CEO at Relativity Space
John Gedmark, CEO at Astranis Space Technologies
Steve Isakowitz, CEO at The Aerospace Corporation
Larry James, acting director at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Daniel Jablonsky, CEO at Maxar Technologies
Dave Kaufman, president of Ball Aerospace
Chris Kemp, CEO at Astra
Robert Lightfoot, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space
Will Marshall, CEO at Planet
Dan Piemont, president of ABL Space Systems
Peter Platzer, CEO at Spire Global
John Serafini, CEO at HawkEye 360
Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX
Melanie Stricklan, CEO at Slingshot Aerospace
Amela Wilson, CEO at Nanoracks
Tom Wilson, president of Space Systems at Northrop Grumman
With help from a cryocooler, the Mid-Infrared Instrument has dropped down to just a few degrees above the lowest temperature matter can reach and is ready for calibration. Read More
In this illustration, the multilayered sunshield on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope stretches out beneath the observatory’s honeycomb mirror. The sunshield is the first step in cooling down Webb’s infrared instruments, but the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) requires additional help to reach its operating temperature.
Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez
STARS AND GALAXIES.
What’s Up – May 2022
April 29, 2022
What are some skywatching highlights in May 2022? May provides some great planet spotting, including a conjunction of Jupiter a conjunction of Jupiter and Mars.
What are some skywatching highlights in May 2022? May provides some great planet spotting, including a close conjunction of Jupiter and Mars. At mid-month, a total eclipse of the Moon should delight skywatchers across the Americas, Europe, and Africa. And all month long, the Coma star cluster (aka, the Coma Berenices star cluster, or Melotte 111) is a great target for binoculars in the evening.
What are some skywatching highlights in May 2022? May provides some great planet spotting, including a close conjunction of Jupiter and Mars. At mid-month, a total eclipse of the Moon should delight skywatchers across the Americas, Europe, and Africa. And all month long, the Coma star cluster (aka, the Coma Berenices star cluster, or Melotte 111) is a great target for binoculars in the evening. YouTube Full Description (i.e., “Show More”) 0:00 Intro 0:11 Planet-spotting opportunities 1:02 Lunar eclipse 2:27 The Coma star cluster 3:33 May Moon phases Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatch….
What’s Up for May? The planets of dusk and dawn, a lunar eclipse, and the Coma star cluster.
May begins and ends with a couple of great planet-spotting opportunities. On May 2nd, look to the west about 45 minutes after sunset to find Mercury about 10 degrees off the horizon, accompanied by a slim crescent moon. Just to the south of the Moon is brilliant red giant star Aldebaran, which should be roughly the same brightness as Mercury. (And by the way, this is the only chance to spot a naked-eye planet in the early evening until August.)
Then in the last week of May, you can watch each morning as Jupiter and Mars get increasingly close in the predawn sky. Their morning meetup culminates in a close conjunction that you can watch on the 28th through the 30th, where they’ll be separated by barely the width of the full moon. Should look incredible with binoculars, where you can also see Jupiter’s largest moons.
Skywatchers in the Western Hemisphere can look forward to a total lunar eclipse in mid-May. The event will be visible across the Americas, Europe, and Africa – basically anywhere the Moon is above the horizon at the time.
The visible part of the eclipse begins about 10:30pm U.S. Eastern time on May 15th, with totality starting an hour later and lasting for about an hour and a half. Those in the Eastern U.S. will see the eclipse start with the Moon well above the horizon. For the Central U.S., the eclipse starts about an hour and a half after dark, with the Moon relatively low in the sky. On the West coast of the U.S., the Moon rises with totality beginning or already underway, so you’ll want to find a clear view toward the southeast if viewing from there.
Now, lunar eclipses are the ones that are safe to look at directly with your eyes, binoculars, or a telescope (unlike solar eclipses).
The Moon takes on a dim, reddish hue during the period of totality. Even though the Moon is fully immersed in Earth’s shadow at that time, red wavelengths of sunlight filter through Earth’s atmosphere and fall onto the Moon’s surface. One way to think of this is that a total lunar eclipse shows us a projection of all the sunrises and sunsets happening on the planet at that moment.
So check your local details for this eclipse, and find lots more eclipse info from NASA at the address on your screen.
Finally in May, a really nice target for binoculars: the Coma star cluster. This loose, open star cluster displays 40 or 50 stars spread over a region of sky about three finger-widths wide. The brightest stars in the cluster form a distinctive Y shape, as seen here.
The Coma star cluster is located about 300 light years away, making it the second closest open cluster to Earth after the Hyades cluster in Taurus.
To find the Coma star cluster, look southward for the constellation Leo. It can be easiest to start from the Big Dipper, toward the north, and use the two “pointer stars” on the end which always point you toward Leo. Once you’ve identified Leo, the Coma star cluster is about 15 degrees to the east of the triangle of stars representing the lion’s hindquarters. It’s relatively easy to find with binoculars, even under light-polluted urban skies – as long as it’s clear out.
So here’s wishing you clear skies for finding the Coma star cluster and any other wonders you discover in the night sky in May.
Here are the phases of the Moon for May.
Stay up to date with all of NASA’s missions to explore the solar system and beyond at nasa.gov. I’m Preston Dyches from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.
Thai Alphabet Drawing by Grandpa John (77 years old), and Grandson Kai (4 years old), Part 1 (Thai alphabet from letter #1 to letter #11)
Ing’s Comments:
Ram Khamhaeng Inscription, the oldest inscription using proto-Thai script (Bangkok National Museum)
