Here is an amazing optical illusion. If you stare at this image for a while you can see a giraffe. Don't give up. It sometimes takes as long as 20 seconds.
The World Year of Physics (WYP 2005) is a worldwide celebration of physics and its importance in our everyday lives. The year 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s “miraculous year” in which he published three important papers describing ideas that have since influenced all of modern physics. This year provides the opportunity to celebrate Einstein, his great ideas, and his influence on life in the 21st century.
These missions to Mars are amazing engineering accomplishments. The following video takes you from launch to landing. It's not science fiction. It's incredible with so many things that could have gone wrong along the way...they end up making a hole in one. [Video]
Can anything go wrong with this mission? Of course it can. One of the front wheels of Spirit is "aging" and apparently not rolling. Solution? Drive backwards!
The rover team has since fixed the wheel problem and the rover is back to normal operation and returning many amazing images from Mars.
The Spirit rover continues to travel across Mars at this moment looking for signs of water. It has travel more than 2.3 miles since landing. The Opportunity rover has found its heat shield this week some distance away from the landing site.
For more information check out the Mars Exploration Rover Website.
Contributors' Links
More news from newsletter recipients
SFA Physics Alumni Update
John D Revell, who received a degree in physics from SFA now lives in Georgetown, TX.
He also received a BS from U.T. in Mechanical Engineering and is employed at Dell Computer in Austin, Texas.
Job Opportunity
"We are a professional recruiting firm in search of a Design Engineer/Scientist
for a start-up company in Florida. The company is looking for a scientist
with a physics or materials science background with experience in X-Ray diffraction methods.
Interested, qualified individuals should e-mail resume as a Word document attachment to
info@marketriteinc.com."
Roaches in Nacogdoches - Crossword Puzzle by SFA Alum Robert Barbee
http://texbarbee.tripod.com/crossword/roaches.html
Make you own Crossword Puzzle
http://www.greeneclipsesoftware.com/
Online Petition For a National Referendum To Save The Hubble Space Telescope
http://www.nationalreferendum.org/Hubblepet.html
What does your phone number spell?
http://www.phonespell.org/
"We've landed on the moon!" - Titan Landscape 2005
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050117.html
Recreating Huygens' descent profile - Animation
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM5YW71Y3E_index_1.html#subhead1
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html
Scientists Create Petrified Wood in Days
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050125/ap_on_sc/petrified_wood_3
Sony's New Web Cam?
http://www.thestatenislandboys.com/All_da_Crap_is_here/Sony%20Pic%20Taking.swf
Tech Job Opportunities
http://yoh.com/
Christmas Party Pictures 2004
http://observe.phy.sfasu.edu/~ast305/Fletcher/Christmas%20Party%202004/
If You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule
http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/news/list.cfm?NID=2467
Can A 'Distant' Quasar Lie Within A Nearby Galaxy?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050111115201.htm
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program
http://www.physics.unlv.edu/reu/
Graduate Program: University of Arkansas Department of Physics
http://www.uark.edu/depts/physics/graduate/
ACTIVITY BASED PHYSICS FACULTY INSTITUTES
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sokoloff/abpi.htm
SOME POINTERS ON THE USE OF LASER POINTERS
http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/article_1429_1.asp
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6775100/
Red Cross Donations
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
Saturn, all night long
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/12jan_saturn.htm?list1065276
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (SURF)
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/home/education/surf/index.html
Summer 2005 Opportunities for Undergraduate Students for Training in Biostatistics
http://www.stat.ncsu.edu/sibs/sibs2005.pdf
Brown Dwarf in the Making
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1391_1.asp
URANUS WEATHER PICKS UP
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1390_1.asp
The Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy expects to host a
"Research Experiences for Undergraduates" program sponsored by the National
Science Foundation in the summer of 2005.
http://astro.fit.edu/sara-reu/reu_appl_submit.html
http://www.astro.fit.edu/sara-reu/
Fogbows, Halos, and other Cool Atmospheric Phenomena
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/fogbow.htm
Awesome Physics Study Guides and Solved Problems
http://www.sparknotes.com/physics/
We learn 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see and 95% of what we teach. Consider teaching labs for our department or teaching at the high school or college level in your future. For more info see your professors and http://www.aapt.org/
Thanks to Barry Smith, Justin Fenley, Ken Price, Robert Barbee, Walter Trikosko, and others for the links and information above. Feel free to send any interesting links that you find. This email message is sent to students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the department. If you would like to be removed from the emailing list or are getting multiple copies of these newsletters, then feel free to reply to this message with your request.
Clear skies,
Dan Bruton
astro@sfasu.edu