Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village

LIMA (AFP) - Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

Full eclipse of the moon tonight. Are you going to see it. If so bundle-up and put on a pot of coffee.

The real action starts at

1:32 AM: Eastern time here in the U.S.
2:40 AM: Total Eclipse

3:53 AM: End of the full eclipse

5:01 AM: Bed time the action has ended

Have fun

Huge Triangle in the sky.

Starting tonight and continuing for the next couple of weeks there will be a rare chance to observe three of the brightest planets without a telescope . If you have clear skies, and a view to the west-northwest you will be able to Venus, Mars and Saturn together in a tight cluster. When and Where to Look

Unlike many of the stellar displays you won't need to stay up all night nor awake at 3am to enjoy it. About an hour to hour and a half after sunset is hen the planet trio will be in view. Any later and they will have dropped below the horizon and out of view.

Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in the sky using a standard yardstick called magnitude. The lower the number, the brighter the object, with the brightest stars in the sky categorized as either a zero or first magnitude.

So while Venus (dazzling at magnitude - 4.3) should be more than bright enough to see with the unaided eye in the fading twilight glow, Saturn (magnitude +1.1) and Mars (magnitude +1.4) will likely be a bit more difficult. Indeed, although Saturn and Mars are of first magnitude, they appear only about 1/150th as bright as Venus!

Personally, I would strongly suggest also using binoculars to scan the sky for the three planets, especially if it is still hazy like it has been the last few days.

The peek for this event will be tonight and tomorrow but they may still be seen for about two more weeks.

Hold your fist at arm's length. This will be about a 10-degree circle all three should appear well within that area. Look about a fist and 1/2 above the horizon at the begining lower as the time passes

Good luck

I was just reading about the re-usable space plane, conventional rockets and the Space Shuttle. It got me thinking. What will NASA do with the retired Shuttles?

There were never that many to begin with. Here is a list:

• OV-101 Enterprise; Test vehicle only, never meant for spaceflight. First free flight August 12, 1977, on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum outside Washington DC.

• OV-099 Challenger; Was actually NASA's second orbiter to be put into service, Columbia being the first. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L January 28, 1986, resulting in the death of all seven crew members.
  

• OV-102 Columbia; Launched on April 12, 1981 , the very first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1. It completed 27 flights before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th,STS-107. All seven crew members were killed.

• OV-103 Discovery; First flown August 30, 1984 , Discovery became the third operational orbiter, and is now the oldest orbiter in service. Discovery has flown 38 flights, more flights than any other orbiter in the fleet. The last one to date was completed on April 20, 2010. Discovery will replace Space Shuttle Enterprise in the Smithsonian, which will then be loaned to other museums.

• OV-104 Atlantis; The fourth operational shuttle launched from the Kennedy Space Center on October 3, 1985. In early 2008, NASA officials decided to keep Atlantis flying until 2010, the projected end of the shuttle program. This reversed a previous decision to retire Atlantis in 2008. It last flew in November 2009. Atlantis is now projected to fly at least one more mission.

• OV-105 Endeavour; Is the fifth and final spaceworthy shuttle to be built. It was constructed as a replacement for the Challenger. Endeavour first flew in May 7, 1992 on mission STS-49 and is scheduled for decommissioning in 2010. NASA expects to use Endeavour for the STS-134 mission, final shuttle mission. It is likely that Endeavour will then go to March Field Museum near Riverside, California.
  

The final retirement of the remaining Space Shuttle fleet, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour will be here soon. All three are expected to be placed on public display. And more than 20 museums currently vying for one. Insiders expect the winners to be Either the March Field museum, the Johnson Space Center in Houston; U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio; the Museum of Flight in Seattle; or the Intrepid Air & Space Museum in New York City.

Where ever the winning museums may be they will need deep pockets to cover expenses. Recently NASA set the price of its museum-bound space shuttles at $28.2 million. In addition the chosen museums will have to pay for ferrying the orbiters atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 aircraft from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to their destination. Then there is the price associated with the display, areas and parking. The clock is ticking. Museums need to raise funds and build the required indoor housing for the shuttles.

A little cheaper would have been acquiring the soviet Shuttle prototype "Buran". But Buran was destroyed in a hangar collapse on May 12, 2002 in Kazakhtan at the Baikonur Cosmodrome The collapse killed 7 workers and destroyed the orbiter. It had flown one time, UNMANNED back in 1988. Construction was started on four others but never completed. Interestingly a unmanned 1/8th scale of the Buran, the BOR-5 ("Kosmos") flew on several sub-orbital flights, and was offered for sale on E-Bay opening at $98,000. The auction failed to attract a bid high enough to merit what the seller wants for it and it was removed unsold.


NASA expects to have the Shuttle replacement craft, Orion ready to fly no later than 2014. Assuming it survives the budget cuts and the Obama administration flip-flops .

I wish I could claim this photo, but it's an official NASA photo of the shuttle Endeavour silhouetted against Earth's horizon. It was taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station just before Endeavour docked just after midnight on Feb. 10, 2010 during the STS-130 mission.

Squashed like a bug.

I was reading a couple days ago that a chunk of recently re-discovered space rock, previously discovered, lost and now has been rediscovered ( how does that happen ? ) turns out it may hit us one day. The rock chunk thought to be a burned out comet that now resembles an asteroid, last seen, in 1960 is considered "potentially hazardous"

And it is a seriously large chunk too. More than 500 feet across. Some day, over time, it's orbit will shift and could cause it to hit the our planet. The rock is too dim to be seen by the naked eye from Earth, at least right now.

But don't lose sleep over it or anything. It will not be anytime in the foreseeable future. So go back to sleep and enjoy the extra hours rest tonight.

Did Monday see especially tense to you?

While we were blissfully playing in the snow we came within a cosmic gnats breath of being squished by a giant rock. Mashed flat, totally unaware. SPLAT !!

Monday morning an asteroid about the size of 10-story building came speeding past the earth. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory the Asteroid named only "2009 DD45" came within 48,000 miles of hitting earth. That may sound like a huge distance until you remember that's less than one-fifth of the distance to the moon.


You think that sounds like an unlikely science fiction story. Well it's happened before. In June 1908 an asteroid roughly the same size ( about 150 feet in diameter ) exploded over Tunguska, Siberia. That blast was estimated to have been about 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb over Hiroshima. It destroyed over 800 square miles of forest and kicked a massive dust cloud into the air.

But don't worry it missed. However scientist predict it will pass even closer next time it flies by. They also insist their was no real danger. Hmmmm !

Is it just me or does the moon seem bigger?

If the rain moves out around here in time, or if it is clear where you are, step outside just about dark tonight and take a look. You’ll see the biggest and brightest moon in a long time. The biggest of the year.

Why?

We all learned in school that the moon circled the earth every month. Actually every 29.5 days if you are being picky. But the orbit is not perfectly round. Sometimes it moves in to become much closer. Right now it is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer than at its farthest. Closer objects look bigger and the moon reaches its perigee tonight.

How much bigger?

Tonight the lunar orbit makes it seem 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter. That’s noticeable.

Do you live near the Ocean or Sea? If so you’ll notice the tides are higher too. Remember tides are caused by the pull of the moon. So if you are asleep on the beach tonight you may awaken all wet from the perigean tides.

Check it out.

Stellar Meteor Shower Jan. 3


Button up your overcoat and get outside and see the show.

The Quadrantid meteor shower (pronounced KWA-dran-tid) is here once again. Peek time will occur in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 3 and should average one or two meteor sightings per minute in the hour or two prior to the break of dawn. This should be an excellent year. The moon should not be a factor at all this year because it will be setting around 11 p.m. local time on Friday, Jan. 2, leaving the rest of the night dark for meteor watching. Quadrantids are notoriously unpredictable, but if any year promises a fine display, this could be it.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour has landed safely in California. The weather in Florida prevented a Space Center landing. Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California was the second choice



These were taken on Sunday by a friend who lives and works at the base there.

Here are a few interesting facts:
STS-126 is actually the 155th shuttle flight overall. It was the 22nd flight of Endeavour STS-126 was launched on November the 11th. This was the 31st night launchThe shuttle landed on November 30th so the mission elapsed time was 18 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes, 34 seconds.

Endeavour carried a crew of seven into orbit and returned with seven, but exchanged one crew member with the International Space Station.

Next up is STS-119 expected to launch on February 12, 2009

Wanna spy on the Astronauts?

There will be a special treat for sky watchers this week. The International Space Station (ISS) should be visible this week in the skies. The best time to catch it is within the first 45 to 90 minutes after sunset. Or if you are an early riser ( bless your heart ) about the same amount of time before sunrise. It can be seen because the sun light is reflected off of it against a darkening sky It will be visible all night but those times are best because there will be fewer stars shining brightly to obscure the view. It should be easy to spot because it is one of the few "moving stars.” The ISS is by far the largest and most brilliant of all the man-made objects orbiting the Earth about once every 91 minutes. The Space Station is circling the Earth at an average altitude of 240 miles and at a speed of 18,000 mph, it can appear to move as fast as a high-flying jet airliner, taking four or five minutes to cross the sky.
The station is big more than four times as large as the historic Russian Mir space station It measures 356 feet across and 290 feet long, and has almost an acre of solar panels to provide electrical power.

Tonight is once again a full moon.

It’s going to be a clear night here at my home. So go outside and look at it. Does it seem unusually large? It's NOT! It’s an illusion.

Our minds have been tricked because tonight is the "solstice moon". Coming just two days before the beginning of summer is the reason. The moon and the sun are like a see-saw. In the summer (two days) the sun is at its highest and because of that the moon will be at it’s lowest. This horizon-hugging moon gives us a low, strong, long-lasting version of the illusion.

If you are doubtful try this. Go out at around 9pm and hold up your thumb. Note the relative size of the moon. Go out again around midnight try it again and compare the sizes. It doesn’t actually change.

Btw tonight’s moon is called — Full Strawberry Moon:

Named by Native American. Europeans called it the Rose Moon.

Did you know each full moon has a name?

Here is a listing of this years remaining full moon along with their dates.

May 19, 9:11 p.m. EDT — Full Flower Moon:
Named for the May Flowers
Since May’s full moon comes so late it appears to be smaller than most.
It appears to be 12.3 percent smaller than the full moon on Dec. 12^th

Jun. 18, 1:30 p.m. EDT — Full Strawberry Moon:
Named by Native American. Europeans called it the Rose Moon.

Jul. 18, 3:59 a.m. EDT — Full Buck Moon:
Named for the season when buck deer grow new antlers .

Aug. 16, 5:16 p.m. EDT — Full Sturgeon Moon:
Named for the when the fish of the Great Lakes are easiest to catch.

Sept. 15, 5:13 a.m. EDT — Full Harvest Moon:
Traditionally, this is the full moon that occurs closest to the Fall Equinox.
The Harvest Moon usually comes in at the peak of the harvest.
Farmers can work into the night by the light of this moon.

Oct. 14, 4:02 p.m. EDT — Full Hunters' Moon:
With the leaves falling, it is time to hunt for the thanksgiving banquet after the harvest.

Nov. 13, 1:17 a.m. EST — Full Beaver Moon:
Time to set beaver traps before the freeze.

Dec. 12, 11:37 a.m. EST — Full Cold Moon:
In this first real month the of the winters cold.

Don't forget the Eclipse tonight.

There will be a full moon on the night of February 20^th. What makes that special? Well there also will be a lunar eclipse that night. The moon will pass through the Earth's shadow and should be visible across all of the United States and Canada. Plus there is the added bonus views of nearby planet Saturn and the bright blue tinted star, Regulus.

UPDATE:

It's raining here at 10 pm so I guess I'll have to wait twenty-one more years for another chance to see an asteroid this close.


I am NOT complaining ..... We need the rain .

Tonight if you just can't sleep. And IF it is still clear, you might want to put on your robe and step out on your back porch and look up. In case you haven't already heard, we're getting an unusual visitor... no, it's not Aunt Mabel. It is Asteroid 2007 TU24. Which is making its closest Earth approach in more than 2,000 years. It not big by planetary standards but a rock of that size would create a major blast if it hit us. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office says there is no possibility of that within the foreseeable future. low-resolution radar images of asteroid 2007 TU24

2007 TU24 is somewhat asymmetrical in shape with a diameter of roughly 800 feet. Objects of this size don't come near Earth very often. The next one should be asteroid Apophis in 2029 and again in 2036. ( can't wait )

Asteroid 2007 TU24 ( the proper name ) will pass within 334,000 miles of Earth tonight around 3:33 am Eastern Time. That's close about one and half times the distance from the Earth to the
Moon. And IF the skies are still clear it should be visible through amateur telescopes or good binoculars.

Tonight's forecast, however is not good. At 3:30 it is expected to be scattered clouds at 2500 feet and overcast at 3500 feet with light rain showers and mist. But you never know the rain could hold off long enough.

If you read my blog you know I enjoy astronomy ..star gazing. What may prove the best meteor shower of the year will reach its peak on the night of Dec.13-14. Thursday and Friday nights.

The annual Geminid Meteor Shower:

It's been said that "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor."

The Geminids get their name from the constellation of Gemini, the Twins, because the meteors appear to emanate from a spot in the sky near the bright star Castor in Gemini.

The Geminid Meteors are usually the most spectacular of the annual showers, even surpassing the famous Perseids of August.

This year, the moon will cooperate as a crescent, in the south-southwest at dusk then setting around 8 p.m. That means that the sky will be dark and moonless. making for perfect viewing conditions.

Expect peak activity on Dec. 14 at 16:45 GMT. when rates will average 50-60 per hour. This year rates conceivably could exceed 120 per hour.


Look just above the east-northeast horizon right around twilight. You may see some early views. The best views will come around 2 a.m. as the constellation passes nearly overhead.

Bundle up and good luck!

They are back. Natures light show the famous Leonid Meteor Showers. This should prove to be a good year for viewing. The moon phase and weather and timing should be good. Peak activity should occur Nov. 17 around 11 p.m. EST. Around about 15 meteors per hour will be seen this year. A little less than average, but the conditions should help make that up.

Dress warmly. It is going to be cold outside.

Tomorrow morning there is another chance to view the Lunar Eclipse

It's not great viewing time but it is fairly good.

On Tuesday Morning very early the moon enters the Earth's full shadow, or umbra, at 4:51 a.m. EDT. It enters the total-eclipse phase at 5:32 EDT and the event ends after sunrise on the East coast.

Only in the West will the entire eclispe be viewable. It will be cut short in the east because of the sunrise,

Maybe we will get a few cloud breaks.