Wallpaper Wednesday

23 05 2012

Dragon Fire. Image Credit: NASA/Alan Ault

You know how to tell you’re getting old? If you wake up at 3 a.m., realize a Falcon 9 rocket will be going up in 44 minutes, but don’t reach for the iPhone next to the bed because you’re too tired to watch a livestream of the launch, you might as well check yourself into the old folks home ’cause life is all downhill from there.

In my defense, I did stay up all night to watch SpaceX’s first launch attempt at 04:55 a.m. EDT on May 19, 2012. The launch scrubbed at T-0.5 because of a high combustion pressure reading (faulty check valve) on Engine 5. Lift off didn’t happen and I instantly fell asleep. Because the launch window was only one second long, SpaceX was forced to wait until May 22, 2012 for the next attempt. Remind me never to get involved in an operation that depends on a one-second launch window. That’s insane, really.

Today’s wallpaper shows the successful SpaceX launch from LC-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 03:44 EDT yesterday (Tuesday, May 22, 2012). If you’re lucky and don’t need much sleep, you may be able to catch a glimpse of the Dragon capsule orbiting together with the International Space Station. Just pop over to the Heavens Above site, configure it for your current location, and follow the SpaceX/Dragon and ISS links in the “Satellites” category. The site will provide you with everything you need to know for a successful observation of an ISS/Dragon pass over: date, time, altitude-azimuth, and magnitude. We’re setting an alarm for tomorrow’s 03:59:59 EDT pass, when the Dragon capsule and the ISS will be only one degree apart.

Click on the image above to download standard sizes of wallpaper.

ETA: As Danny Sussman (@TheSuss) points out, if the times on Heavens Above seem wrong (the site isn’t recognizing Daylight Saving Time for my current location, for some reason), you can bring up flyover times on the NASA app if you have an iPhone or Android. NASA updated the iPhone version earlier this week. The update stalled out on my phone for a frighteningly long time, but once it went through, all was good and accurate.


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Categories : Instruments, NASA, SpaceX, Wallpaper

Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory

16 05 2012

26m Radio Telescope, Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory, Tasmania, Australia

Because you can never have too many radio telescopes, today’s wallpaper features the Hobart 26m antenna at Mount Pleasant Observatory.

Click on the image to go to the download page. Once on the download page, click the button “Give me the matching wallpaper” and follow the provided directions.


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Categories : Instruments, Observatories, Telescopes, Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

2 05 2012

This wallpaper represents my feelings at the beginning of the semester:

This wallpaper represents my feelings at the end of the semester:

We’ll return to our regular Observatories & Instruments programming next week.


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Categories : Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

25 04 2012

Shuttle Discovery is Demated. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

What a beautiful photograph.

I’m buried up to my ears in end-of-the-semester grading right now. I’ve been feeling so pressed for time that I almost broke the only rule I set for myself when I created this site last year: never post about my own research. It’s precisely days like these that tempt me to dig into my own photo archives: a stack of papers to grade with more on the way, final exams just around the corner, two conference paper proposals due next week, and so on. But the moment I start talking about my own research is the moment this site because more of a chore and less of a pleasure, so even though it would be easier to upload something from my hard drive, I took some time to look at the latest NASA releases instead. It’s better for you and me both this way, trust me.

The photo above shows Space Shuttle Discovery suspended from a crane boom, shortly after it was lifted off the back of the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) that carried it to Dulles International last week. In composition, the shot resembles the one Bill Ingalls took of Atlantis on the launch pad last July. He certainly knows how to take advantage of reflective surfaces.

As always, click on the image to download the wallpaper.


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Categories : Discovery, NASA, Space Shuttle, Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

11 04 2012

Very Large Array (VLA)

I’m not sure who took this beautiful photo of Antenna 6 of the Very Large Array (VLA), so I can’t credit them. I can, however, tell you to click on the image to download it. I can also direct you to an aerial view of the VLA acquired by the Earth Observatory so you can get some idea of the scale of the array. No. 6 might be the most photographed antenna in the array since it’s on the path of the 1/4-mile self-guided walking tour. The VLA Visitors Center welcomes visitors between 8:30 a.m. and sunset daily. Can’t get there in person? Watch a video of it produced by the VLA Education Officer Judy Stanley and Kate Theisen (saves you $0.25 on the brochure, I guess).

The VLA has been in the process of upgrading to the EVLA for some time now—the project is supposed to finish later this year. Along with new functionality comes a new name: NRAO announced earlier this year that the radio telescope will now be known as the Karl G. Jansky VLA, named for founder of radio astronomy. In 1932, Jansky was the first to detect the radio waves coming from the center of our galaxy, so it seems appropriate to attach his name to one of the longer-lived instruments produced by his discovery.


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Categories : Telescopes, Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

4 04 2012

Apollo 11 Preparations

Last week I found myself involved in a conversation with someone who believes that NASA faked the lunar landing. This was a first for me and I’m afraid I fumbled my evidence because…really…faked? I have to say the faith this person has in NASA and the U.S. Government is rather endearing—I certainly don’t believe either bureaucracy is capable of sustaining such a large-scale deception for decade after decade. Juggling an archive of evidence twenty miles deep just to sustain a Cold War lie is beyond their abilities, trust me.

In honor of conspiracy theories everywhere, enjoy today’s wallpaper. It shows the Apollo 11 Command/Service Module (CSM) being mated to the Saturn V Lunar Module Adapter in preparation for the trip to the Moon (click on image above to download).


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Categories : Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

28 03 2012

Very Large Array. Photo credit: Tom Coates

Today’s wallpaper selection is a bit different. Instead of directing you to one download, I’m giving you a link to several, including the above image. Check out kuriositas’ 10 Spectacular Radio Telescopes Around the World for some beautiful photos. Afterward, come back and place your bets—which one is my favorite?


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Categories : Telescopes, Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

21 03 2012

ESO Astronomical Site Monitor at Cerro Armazones in October 2009. Image credit: ESO/G. Lombardi

All that’s missing from this image of the Cerro Armazones Site Monitor is an Imperial AT-AT Walker.

Click on the image to download the wallpaper (the links to wallpaper are in the right sidebar).


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Categories : Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

14 03 2012

Sonnenborgh Observatory, Utrecht, Netherlands

I hope the summer weather that arrived in Illinois this week is only temporary, as I’m not ready for the end of winter. This image of Sonnenborgh Observatory, the oldest domed observatory in the world, makes me sigh. I wish I could go to the ice rink instead of  my office.

Click on the image to go to the download page.


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Categories : Observatories, Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

7 03 2012

Sunset view of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. Photo credit: ESO/R. Hook

Today’s wallpaper is a follow-up to last week’s, which was an introduction to the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, Canary Islands. I can think of nothing I need more right now than a vacation on a sunny island with a collapsed caldera, a host of endemic species, and a large group of telescopes.

Click on the image and scroll down for links to the wallpaper (right sidebar).


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Categories : Observatories, Wallpaper

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Observatories and Instruments