Google Earth Feature (WAY cool)

Check out Google Earth's new "Street View" feature...

There are 1,000's of panoramic views, taken from steet level, all over the country. These images were created by a high-tech pan camera mounted on a vehicle. This particular view is of a close friend's house in the country. If you don't have Google Earth on your computer, download it! If you already have it, update it! This is very, very cool.......

Next Generation Space Flight

The next generation space flight program is called "Constellation". It is designed after the Apollo vehicles and the launch rockets are named Ares.
Ares 1-X is the test rocket for the crew vehicle. It was just rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center to launch pad 39B.

More information about the Constellation program can be found here.

Sunday Drive

I like to drive. That's one reason I drive a bus for a living. Even with all the city traffic and noise, smelly, obnoxious, barely tolerable people, and sitting for 8 hours a day, it's still the best gig I've ever had.

In fact, driving is very relaxing for me. Especially when I get the chance to hop in my car for a nice, peaceful drive up the river. Fall is a wonderful time to float through all the beautiful colors, listening to relaxing music.....(I hope you enjoy this as much as I did...)

Hurricane Rick

There hasn't been a whole lot in the news about hurricane Rick, but it is a catagory 5 monster storm off the west coast of southern Mexico. It's maximum sustained winds have been clocked at 175 mph. Fortunately, Rick has been staying out over the water, and looks to start weakening in the next few days.

Chaos

This weekend, a series of storm systems passed through western Washington from the Pacific Ocean. As the systems pass, the clouds push eastward, "piling up" against the Cascade Mountain Range.

This panoramic image shows one of the systems, after it has passed through, as it encounters the mountains and becomes chaotic and unstable, spawning thunderstorms in the mountains.

(Click on image for larger version)

Dinner Time

This year, Boone turned 11 and Sadie is 9. Over the years, we have developed some very special "bonding moments". This is one of those.....

(Please excuse the audio quality...this was shot with a Nikon Coolpix digital camera, and the audio capability isn't all that great)

Crashing The Moon

On Friday morning, Oct. 9 at 4:30 a.m., the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will crash into the Moon....on purpose. Scientists believe there is water ice hidden in at least one crater on the south pole of the Moon, where it never get sunlight. LCROSS's rocket stage will plunge into the lunar surface, inside Cabeus crater, sending up a plume of debris and (hopefully) water molecules. Four minutes later, the satellite itself will plunge toward the surface on a crash-course, passing through the plume and sending information back to Earth about it.
I'm hoping to be able to record the event from my location, using my 10" telescope and a high-resolution video camera.
If you don't have a medium-to-large telescope, NASA-TV is going to air the event LIVE from LCROSS, just before it crashes into the Moon!!!
Below, is an image of the Moon, showing the region where the impact will occur.....