http://www.mikiesoft.net Astronomy & Space Exploration Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:58:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en CyberCoder just sent me a link to this great new blog editor called ScribeFire. It only works with the Firefox browser, but it's a snap(in) to install and use. This is my first post with it. Now that I'm in south Texas, the night skies are amazingly ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/07/milky-way-galaxy.html NASA News Release: 08-136 May 31, 2008 Space shuttle Discovery and a seven-member crew has launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center to deliver and install a Japanese laboratory on the International Space Station. The mission, designated STS-124, is the second of three flights to launch components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/06/shuttle-discovery-delivers-japanese-laboratory-to-international-space-station.html JPL/NASA/University of Arizona News Release: 2008-090 May 30, 2008 Scientists have discovered what may be ice that was exposed when soil was blown away as NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars on Sunday May 25th.  The possible ice appears in an image the robotic arm camera took underneath the lander, near ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/06/nasas-phoenix-lander-robotic-arm-camera-sees-possible-ice.html JPL/NASA/University of Arizona News Release: 2008-083 for May 26, 2008 A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander's successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25th. The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/05/camera-on-mars-orbiter-snaps-phoenix-during-landing.html NASA has confirmed a signal from the Phoenix Lander that it has finally landed on the surface of Mars. (4:53 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday May 25, 2008) Phoenix Mars Mission http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu NASA Phoenix Mars Lander www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main "Mars is literally pulling on our spacecraft, and at the ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/05/phoenix-has-landed-on-mars.html It's just a few hours until NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander makes it's landing attempt on the planet Mars. It's headed for the Martian arctic, which is farther north than any other spacecraft has landed on the red planet. In fact, only five landings have been successful, out of ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/05/phoenix-mars-mission.html WorldWide Telescope is now available from Microsoft Research! What is WorldWide Telescope? It's software you can download from Microsoft Research that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope. Explore the universe; view deep space images from such observatories as NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/05/worldwide-telescope.html Sometimes you just have to catch up.  I've got a number of these NASA and JPL email newsletters to post, and they've all got some pretty interesting pictures. Mars Odyssey Themis Images from May 5-9, 2008: o Herschel Dunes (Released 05 May 2008) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080505a o Dunes (Released 06 May 2008) http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080506a o Dunes (Released 07 May ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/05/mars-odyssey-themis-images.html It's amazing how inaccurate stories can be circulated so fast on the web as valid news or buzz. The asteroid Apophis was originally reported on about three years ago, but just yesterday there were online rumors about the odds changing about it impacting the earth. I just got ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/04/nasa-news-release-on-asteroid-apophis.html Space Shuttle Discovery's next mission is scheduled for a May 31st launch. The STS-124 mission is the second of three flights to deliver components of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. With the increased pace of the shuttle program, it's harder to keep up ... http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/04/space-shuttle-nasa-news.html