NASA’s Kepler telescope finds 26 new planets

NASA’s Kepler telescope finds 26 new planets | News | National Post.

This is immensely exciting!

From a synopsis of the article.

Kepler, NASA’s planet-hunting space telescope, has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said on Thursday.

The discoveries boost the list of confirmed planets outside the Earth’s solar system to 729, including 60 found by the Kepler team. The telescope, launched in space in March 2009, can detect slight but regular dips in the amount of light coming from stars. Scientists can then determine if the changes are caused by orbiting planets passing by, relative to Kepler’s view.

Kepler scientists have another 2,300 candidate planets awaiting additional confirmation. (Photos/illustrations by NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech; University of Toulouse; Reuters/AFP/Getty Images)

Related articles

• Kepler telescope finds 11 new planetary systems, one has five planets (slashgear.com)
• NASA’s Kepler mission finds 26 new planets (cbc.ca)
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• Kepler hits jackpot, discovers 26 new planets and 11 new star systems (inquisitr.com)
• Kepler Just Nearly Doubled Science’s Stock of Known Exoplanets [Space] (gizmodo.com)
• NASA’s Kepler Announces 11 Planetary Systems Hosting 26 Planets (physicsforme.wordpress.com)
• NASA’s Kepler Announces 11 New Planetary Systems (spacefellowship.com)
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Overt racism in rant

Time for Easter Beatings!.

Go to the above link to view the conversation.  It starts off with really uniformed, racist garbage.

It got me thinking about a conversation I had last night.  All the news we (meaning, here in this part of Canada) hear about are the drug cartels and the killings and things like that.  There is another side to the story.  Mexico isn’t a haven of blood thirsty cutthroats, anymore than the United States is.  I know people who live in Canada who think that way about the United States, and for a time, thanks to stereotyping, so did I.

The people I talked to about this last night, however, pointed to the fact that sometimes people who get into trouble in Mexico do so because they did something dumb.  They flipped somebody off, got drunk and started a fight, walked into the wrong section of town.  Which, when you think about it, is no different than anything in the area we (meaning those who live in West Central Saskatchewan) happen to live in.  Would you go down a dark alleyway at midnight on 20th Street in Saskatoon?  Probably not, because certain sections of 20th are pretty rough.  And while they aren’t necessarily tourist areas, if someone out of country happened to do such a thing, get attacked, and then return home, would have a negative story to tell.  Have this happen enough, and the negativity grows.

Same thing with Mexico.  While I have never been to Mexico, I’m sure there are very nice areas of the country, just as there are more than likely very bad areas of the country.  Probably no different than down in the States or up here in Canada.  Or any country, for that matter.

Part of that is a problem with the media, where we are only given one kind of view of a country.  For instance, a massive stereotype about the Middle East is it’s filled with camels, nomads, sand and oil.  The latter being often cited as the only good thing in the Middle East.  Obvious, Dubai must be this mythical place that really doesn’t exist in the Middle East (/sarcasm).  Most likely, a lot of those countries look at us in the same manner.

As far as ESL, I’ve known several people who have come to Canada who have taken English as a Second Language.  It is not, as the original rant in the link states, English “is” a Second Language.  It’s teach people English as “their” second language so they can communicate with people much easier.  Because, a lot of times those individuals who emigrate from other countries to Canada (or the States) will end up running a business, which means they will be creating jobs.

Now, I know there’s a lot more information that needs to be explored, but it’s something we have to actively do.  Bottom line, don’t spout off on a rant without knowing some important facts first.

Blue Marble

A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP, received by Reuters January 25, 2012. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed 'Suomi NPP' on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin.

Blue Marble: See what NASA calls the ‘most amazing high definition image of Earth’ | News | National Post.

I always find images like this extremely drool worthy (I know, maybe the poorest choice of words, but the photos are still amazing).  Hi definition photos of the planet Earth.  Click the picture for more.

How To Capture Awesome Auroras : The Picture Show : NPR

How To Capture Awesome Auroras : The Picture Show : NPR.

So beautiful and such a great article for photo buffs to take great pictures of the Northern Lights.

These bring back quite a few memories from when I was a kid.  We lived on a dairy farm, and had a good number of cattle.  During the winter it was always pitch black out with only the stars winking down at us.  And some of those mornings there was the most impressive display of lights.

I really miss seeing that sometimes.

2005's Southern Spectacular: A satellite took this image of the aurora australis (southern lights) in September 2005, after a solar flare sent plasma — an ionized gas of protons and electrons — flying toward Earth.

Rocket Fox: sneak peak for February

A little bit more from the workings of the first series of the Lupine star system.  The scene takes place at one of Vulpine’s oldest airfields, sort of like a World War II airfield in Britain.  The location in the story is near a village called Chattingham, and not far from the town of Warrenshire, home of the Royal Military College.  I picture it to look similar to the photo below, which is Seletar Camp.

Seletar Camp was a British airfield and camp. The airfield is still there but has been converted to a commercial airstrip. The buildings, once barracks and officers' quarters, are now used for aerospace related commerce and for residence.

The barracks themselves weren’t anything extravagant, but they did have a somewhat homey feel to them. There were the neatly laid out bunks where each cadet slept, along with enough room for a locker so a modest amount of personal items could be stored. A small area near the bunks had been cleared away to make room for a seating area, complete with a small wood burning stove so that the cadets could make tea should they wish it. As the four cadets walked into their barracks, luck should have it, tea was being served.

Natalie Bascombe, an older, heavy set Vulpine, with a charming smile and twinkling eyes, was pouring a few cups already for some of the newer cadets who would be attending full classes in the fall. She looked up as the four entered, cooing softly as she saw Senia.

“Now there’s a smart lass in uniform,” she said with a smile as she placed the tea pot back onto its trivet on the tea service. “A sharp look, Left-tenant. Remind me o’ me own uniform b’fore I joined the 103^rd.” Natalie wasn’t just a caretaker around the barracks, she was a veteran of the Great Lupine Land War of 3572, New Calendar, and she was an alumni of the Chattingham Airfield Academy. “Ah, but I do see a long face that go with it. C’mon now, all o’ ye sit down for a cup o’ tea. You’re just in time. Malcolm, get a couple more chairs, will ye?” she called out to one of the junior cadets who nodded and quickly retrieved a few extra chairs.

Related articles

• Rocket Fox: sneak peak (taholtorf.wordpress.com)
• Red Fox sneak peaks (taholtorf.wordpress.com)
• Science fiction adventure! (taholtorf.wordpress.com)

This has come up a lot, and it’s important to recognize it

Image via Wikipedia

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~Martin Luther King Jr.

There is a great deal of truth in that statement.  There is a similar quote, by Desmond Tutu, that goes like this.  ”If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

We can’t be silent about things that are put in place to hurt, harm, or destroy people that are part of our society.  Some say that getting rid of that section of society is morally just.  But isn’t that a slap in the face of morality?  By attempting to oppress the lives of people of colour, people with a different sexual orientation, people who do not identify as the gender they were born with, when doing that is that not in itself morally objectionable?

This talk of being “colour blind” or claiming “we all bleed red” is very nice to think of when we discuss matters of race or even alternative sexuality.  But starting a sentence with “I’m not racist but” can usually be continued with a summary of paragraphs of information by the original speaker as “I’m now going to say something completely racist”.  The same with those that say things like “I have gay friends” as though that’s supposed to give you a pass for saying something very homophobic.

We need to stop saying things like that and start listening.  Then, when we have enough information, enough facts that don’t use a broad brush against an entire population of people, whatever their skin colour, sexual orientation or even religion or lack thereof, then we can start to narrowing the gap that makes those people feel like second or third class citizens.  But it takes effort, and it’s not something that will just change over night.  When one unjust law is changed, it doesn’t mean we’ve completely won.  Because there is still a large group of oppressors out there who are working just as hard to ensure that any group that is not described as the “norm” will not have the same rights and freedoms as every single person on the planet.

An obsession with space

I’ve been a little obsessed lately.  Not in a bad way, but in a very good way.  The planning of the Rocket Fox series has helped, in a large way, stir my interest in something I hadn’t thought of in a long, long time.

I’m obsessed with space.

Some might think it’s that vast emptiness of nothing, but I see it more as the opportunity to explore.  That exploration either comes in the form of books or television series or movies.  Even video games and art.  Some of the greatest pieces of art come in the form of starscapes.

Some of those images are either composites of the Hubble telescope or images from the mind of an artist who has an idea of what some distant galaxy might look like.

Composite of images of the active galaxy Messier 82 from the three Great Observatories: Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. X-ray data recorded by Chandra appears here in blue, infrared light recorded by Spitzer appears in red. Hubble's observation of hydrogen emission appears in orange. Hubble's bluest observation appears in yellow-green. Photo: NASA, ESA, CXC, and JPL-Caltech

 

Firefox space red desktop wallpaper. Rather fitting, actually, for what I've been working on. Click the image to see a bunch more desktop wallpapers under the theme of space.

Of course, there’s also been a renewed interest in watching television again.  I’d grown really tired of television lately.  Nothing had really piqued my interest.  There was Battlestar Galactica, if only because I remember watching it as a kid, and I’ve been watching that a little bit.  But I’ve also been watching a lot of the different Star Trek series.  Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise.  Even a few of the movies, including the most recent one.

There has also been video games, two of which include Star Trek Online (it is amazing to pilot a starship through the far reaches of the galaxy and explore) and Bioware’s Mass Effect Series.  The soundtrack for the latter I find incredibly amazing, and it’s actually helped me with my own writing.  Especially with Rocket Fox.

Champions Online has been helpful as well, if only to add a piece to that science fiction aspect.  There is a hideout in the game that places your characters on a moon base which is well crafted and looks as though they’ll be adding to it in the near future.

Swift Fox at the entrance of the moon base hideout.

Rocket Fox, in action apprehending criminals.

This has also been giving me a little bit of hope.  Hope for the future.  Space exploration can be seen that way, because it’s the last great frontier of exploration.  What’s out there, exactly?  Well, we know what some of it looks like, but we don’t know everything about it.  It is interesting to note that some recent discoveries, whether technology or announcements by NASA, were sort of predicted by science fiction.

Data pads in Star Trek look at lot like Kindles, Nooks and iPads now.  A planet discovered by NASA’s Kepler Telescope looks similar to Earth like conditions, and is described in a way similar to a description of a planet in Douglas Adams‘ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

An artist's concept of Kepler-22b, a roughly Earth-size world orbiting within the habitable zone of a sun-like star 600 light years from Earth. Click the image for more details. Credit NASA.

So there’s hope.  Maybe one day, some one will set foot on a distant planet similar to Earth.  Until then, there’s always science fiction.

Related articles

• Here are 10,000 reasons to be excited about deep-space exploration [Rant] (io9.com)
• AAS Dispatch: Future NASA Telescope Could ‘Sniff’ Air of Alien Planets (space.com)
• Europe’s Orbiting Observatories Capture Stunning New Images of the “Pillars of Creation” (2012indyinfo.com)
• Hubble Telescope Reveals ‘Snow Angel’ in Space [VIDEO] (mashable.com)
• Astronomers share their galactic glories (photoblog.msnbc.msn.com)
• Oh, My Stars! (ginisnaturenews.com)
• NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record (chimalaya.org)
• The Hubble Space Telescope Discovers the Farthest-Away Galaxies Ever Seen (pcworld.com)
• Mystery of 400-year-old supernova explosion solved – msnbc.com (msnbc.msn.com)
• Hubble Solves Mystery on Source of Supernova in Nearby Galaxy (spacefellowship.com)
• NASA’s Hubble telescope detects supernova – CBC.ca (cbc.ca)
• Rare Ultra-blue Stars Found in Neighboring Galaxy’s Hub (spacefellowship.com)
• Future NASA Telescope Could ‘Sniff’ Air of Alien Planets (livescience.com)
• Hubble telescope finds hints of ‘building blocks of life’ on Pluto (telegraph.co.uk)
• Strange new ‘species’ of ultra-red galaxy discovered (eurekalert.org)
• Gallery: The Splendor of the Orion Nebula (revolutionizingawareness.com)
• Celestial ‘Snow Angel’ Dazzles in Hubble Telescope Photo (livescience.com)

Creativity with images

Needless to say, I’m not the greatest drawing talent in the world.  But, I can make decent layout designs using existing photos and images. Which is what I did for a Rocket Fox wallpaper idea I came up with.

Using stills from Star Trek Online and the screenshots of my character in Champions Online, along with the models of the Nighthawk ships I made in RayDream Studio 5.5 I have come up with this lovely wallpaper for a desktop.

Red Fox sneak peaks

Senia Felix, main character of Rocket Fox.

February is only a month away, and I’m still doing minor prep work for the new story arc in the Lupine Star System.  Book one of the three books (which ends with Swift Fox) will begin in a little over a week (a week and a day, to be absolutely accurate).

The tentative title is called Rocket Fox and the Flight of the Nighthawks.  I know, sort of pulled from the abandoned project Black Mask & Pale Rider Flight of the Skyhawks (not entirely abandoned, mind you).  This story arc will see Senia along with her comrades Clarfax Billings and Hardy Maynard (who’s gender has changed and will be changed in the second draft of Swift Fox) first graduating from the Royal Vulpine Academy and being assigned to the Main Authority, where they will serve as bounty hunters.  They will have the distinction of being the only bounty hunters in the Main Authority to be given a squadron designation, however.  This thanks to some pull Billings will have.

As mentioned, Maynard is getting a gender change.  “He” is becoming a “she”, and the reason why is a simple one.  Vulpinia is a matriarchal society, where the female is deemed just as important as the male.  I felt it would be a bit more in keeping with the society’s philosophy that there would be two females in a squadron of three, instead of the other way around, having two males in a squadron of three.  This story will also help flesh out Senia, Clarfax and Hardy a bit more, as I felt that they were rather bland in Swift Fox and the Pirates of the Jackai.

As well, the new story will have some quotes tossed in for flavour, some will feature the main characters, some will feature important to the main characters, others will feature characters to be met in future arcs.  Here is one that describes why ships are called ‘she’.

“There is a reason why, my daughter, we call ships ‘she’. From the grand old sailing vessels that charted the waters of Vulpinia to the space faring cargo cruisers that travel from Critainia to Canin and back again. We Vulpine have always held females in high regard. It’s why we call out to the Great Mother.

But ships are called ‘she’ because they are sturdy, protective and true.

They are sturdy because they have to withstand the rigors that are set before them. Whether that be the waters of the Red Fox Sea, or the treacherous lanes of the Wayfarer’s Run through the asteroid belt.

They are protective because they give us a home. A shield against the elements. They hold us close and they will always try to keep us from harm.

They are true because they will always give you the answer you need, even if it isn’t the answer you necessarily want.

I want you to remember that, my darling Crena. For one day, you will be captain of this ship. You will have to take care of her, just as she protects you. As she protects you, she protects the crew, just as you must protect the crew.

And that is why we call them ‘she’. They come in all shapes, all sizes, and serve all sorts of functions. And whether they are called the Barrow’s Revenge, the Lionid’s Pride or the Jackai Sifter, they are all beautiful.” ~Cedric Clarendale speaking to his daughter, Crena Clarendale, future captain of the Barrow’s Revenge, proposed intro for Rocket Fox and the Flight of the Nighthawks.

I may have other snippets of quotes from characters in the series in the coming days, I’ll have to see how things go and what characters speaks out the loudest.

For now, some space mood music.

Related articles

• Rocket Fox: sneak peak (taholtorf.wordpress.com)
• Science fiction adventure! (taholtorf.wordpress.com)
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The new arrangement

Or at least the new computer work area.  Here is the pictorial of my work this morning.  No pictures of the demolished cable modem.

The full view! This is what the new location looks like.

 

The new home for Sennie the Teddy bear. Leaning against a pile of Reader's Digest Condensed books.

All of my comic book related DVD movies (minus 300 which I should put up there) as well as my Hawkman action figure, several Hero Clix figures and the first Tomb Raider figure I bought.

 

The Hunger Games trilogy next to some of my graphic novels. Can you spot any familiar titles?

 

More graphic novels and comics. There's Captain Canuck, the collected first series, Maus I and II, Queen and Country I and II, and a few others.

 

Proof I need a new book shelf. Books are two rows deep.

And more proof I need a new bookshelf, as I have small piles on shelves in front of books. Also, the second Tomb Raider figure I purchased.