Looking Up -
Looking Up -
When I was a kid, my parents bought me a pretty basic telescope. I’m sure it was only used less than fifty times. It was a pain to lug it outside and set up. The finder scope was always loose and impossible to align. Eventually, the telescope became part of my room decor.
It wasn’t all the telescope’s fault. I was naive and fell for the pretty pictures on the box showing me the universe. I thought I was going to set up in the backyard and find a comet in five minutes. I’d have my Doctorate by the end of the week...
Alas, the only thing I could line up was the Moon. I wasn’t patient enough to look for subtle differences from viewing to viewing. I was young, dumb, and bored. The telescope came out less often. Eventually, it quit getting brought outside at all.
Thirty five years later, a spark in me reignited. I found telescopes with red-dot finder scopes and computerized tracking. I now knew those incredible images on the old box required long exposures and specialized settings. I wanted to try again.
My new telescope has allowed me to see many aspects of the Moon I could never appreciate before. Also, with my camera mount, I can now see and photograph deep space objects. The joy I experienced on seeing my first nebula was overwhelming. I showed my wife my first picture like I was a schoolboy with an A+.
Now for the cool part... I get to share this with my daughter. At five years of age, she can identify the four major planets in the sky. I am jealous of the technology she’ll get to grow up with, but for now, we will use my telescope and maybe even find a comet.
More Posts from Jbrackettssa and Others
Welding is underway on the Artemis III Orion!
At NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, Lockheed Martin technicians welded together 3 cone-shaped panels on Orion’s crew module for the mission that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon.
go.nasa.gov/2YjUoVK
Had a fun time at Fernbank Science Center’s Space Day! #apollo6 #nasa #stemeducation #georgia #spaceflight (at Fernbank Science Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfPoHLaO6tG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
Being a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador has its perks. Not only do I get to talk to kids about space science, but I also get some cool mission shirts! The Perseverance Rover is currently collecting samples of Martian rock and soil. Soon, it will be dropping off some collection tubes at a point called Three Forks Sample Depot. In the near future, the Mars Sample Recovery Mission will pick up the Martian samples and bring them back to Earth for analysis. #explorepage #nasa #perseverance #mars2020 #lifeonmars #marssamplereturn #jpl https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck44siYuh2V/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
Bob and Doug head home from the ISS in a few days. I received my patch earlier today. Thanks to @kscartist . #launchamerica @nasa @spacex #spacex #spacexcrewdragon https://www.instagram.com/p/CDVSPNvH6pI/?igshid=1kow89xpptp3b
Another day, another lecture... ... and another 82 acronyms.
In a few hours, NASA is launching the DART Mission. The goal of this mission is to see if, and how much, a small impact probe can alter the course of a small asteroid. In addition to the impact probe, there is a cubesat with two cameras dubbed LUKE and LEIA. . . . . . @nasa @nasasolarsystem #solarsystemambassador #DART #DARTMission https://www.instagram.com/p/CWpGxGYMnmn/?utm_medium=tumblr
The Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle program, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011. The four reusable orbiters were launched vertically, like conventional rockets, and then landed horizontally on a runway. The program became politically untenable after Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 were lost. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft in history. It was designed to be launched vertically, then land horizontally on a runway. The Space Shuttle program was a major part of the United States' space exploration efforts. It began with the development of a space shuttle proposal in 1972, which was approved for production as part of an inter-agency program between NASA and the Department of Defense. The first test flight occurred in 1981 and its first operational flight was STS-5, which launched on November 11, 1982. After a series of delays due to both technical issues and external events like the 1986 Challenger Disaster and 2003 Columbia Accident, it flew on 135 missions from 1981 until its decommissioning in 2011; its final launch being STS-135 by Atlantis on July 8th 2010. In 2011, the United States' Space Shuttle was retired from service after 30 years of service. In the current era of spaceflight, the United States is planning for its next crewed spacecraft Orion and its primary launch vehicle SLS; their first flight is set for 2022 with no crew members onboard followed by a crewed flight in 2023. Orion has been under development since 2004. It was originally planned to be launched atop an Atlas V rocket but has since switched over to being launched by a new SLS rocket under development by NASA as part of its Space Launch System program. The first mission using this new vehicle will be Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) which will send astronauts on a lunar flyby mission before returning them safely back home again via parachute landing system similar to what occurred during the Apollo era. #explorepage #sts #spaceshuttle #nasa #columbia #challenger #discovery #atlantis #endeavour #kennedyspacecenter #stemeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/CfwYMqPuUMc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
PJ-25 Northern Circumpolar Cyclones : This is a processed image of cyclones near Jupiter’s North Pole. #nasa #juno #missionjuno @nasajuno @nasa @nasasolarsystem #jupiter https://www.instagram.com/p/B9I6M7CHwEe/?igshid=1nsqalaeb1idh
Send your name beyond the Moon on the Artemis 1 mission! https://www.nasa.gov/send-your-name-with-artemis/ #nasa #artemis #artemisprogram #space #spaceflight #orion #solarsystemambassadors https://www.instagram.com/p/Calx7rzu7bt/?utm_medium=tumblr
-
mloyasworld liked this · 5 years ago -
jbrackettssa reblogged this · 6 years ago
I host public outreach events about the science and research taking place everyday on the International Space Station. A favorite event of mine is called "Story Time From Space", where astronauts onboard the ISS read children's stories featuring space science and STEM topics. (Opinions are my own.)
187 posts