Just had this retweeted by @JeriLRyan (7 of 9!), originally tweeted by @AstroWheels (shuttle astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock). This is how the NASA astronauts tweet when wearing a spacesuit:
(http://twitpic NULL.com/4a2b2g)
You’d have thought they had some clever device built into a glove. Nope – use tried and trusted technology or the harsh space environment will kill it.
Wow! The fog is just thick enough this afternoon to make a convenient solar filter. So you can see the current large sunspot 1147 with the naked eye – but be careful and don’t use any optical devices such as binoculars or a telescope.
Here’s a picture I took using the fog to dim the image. The sunspot is in the upper centre part of the solar disk and capable of producing a C-class solar flare, according to NASA Spaceweather.com (http://spaceweather NULL.com).
image courtesy of NASA
In the small hours of tomorrow morning, NASA’s LCROSS spacecraft will divide into two sections and crash into a dark lunar crater. The instrumentation probe will observe the impact of the booster section into the lunar surface and identify the materials excavated from deep under the regolith. Both impacts will be analyzed from the earth. NASA TV will be covering the event live and people with big telescopes will be able to watch it themselves.
There’s lots of detail on the LCROSS web site (http://lcross NULL.arc NULL.nasa NULL.gov/).
(http://en-gb NULL.facebook NULL.com/Ayesongs)