SFA Newsletter
SFA
Physics, Astronomy and Engineering News
August 3, 2005

NASA News

Up Late? The astronauts wake up around 10pm and work until morning (CDT). Watch them on Cox Channel 2 or LIVE online via NASA TV
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?skipIntro=1

Movie: A seven minute ride on a shuttle solid rocket booster - from the ground, to separation, to parachutes, to splashdown.
Left:http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/shuttle/sts-114/114_SRB_LTwmv_56.asf
Right:http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/shuttle/sts-114/114_SRB_RTwmv_56.asf

Inspect the shuttle tiles (High Res)
http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/multimedia/fd3_gallery.html

Movie: Shuttle does a back flip
http://wm.nasa-global.speedera.net/wm.nasa-global/RTF/backflip.wmv

Movie: Shuttle chase-plane video
http://wm.nasa-global.speedera.net/wm.nasa-global/RTF/WB57.wmv

Movie: EVA Highlights
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/shuttle/sts-114/eva1.asf

Image: Space Station (just before shuttle docks)
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-114/hires/s114e5503.jpg

Images: External tank (as it falls away from the shuttle)
http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/multimedia/external_tank_images.html

Shuttle Landing: August 8th, 3:46am
http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/crew/index.html

3D Interactive Shuttle
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/space/0507/space.shuttle/frameset.exclude.html

The flight director for STS114 is Paul Hill who gave a PHY470 seminar at SFA in 2003:
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/social/social095.htm
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/paul_hill.html

Image: Space Station and Shuttle Transit the Sun
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050729.html

PowerPoint: Solid Rocket Boosters Recovered
STS-102Recovery.pps

Video: President Bush talks 'ta' the Astronauts
http://wm.nasa-global.speedera.net/wm.nasa-global/RTF/PresBush.wmv

Crater Lake on Mars

The image above was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft and shows a patch of water ice sitting on the floor of an unnamed crater near the Martian north pole. Click on the image for more information.

Beware of the Mars Hoax

Mars will not be as big as the full moon in August of 2005. :-(

There's a rumor going around. You might have heard it at a 4th of July BBQ or family get-together. More likely you've read it on the Internet.

The information in some of the chain-email quotes numbers from the close approach of Mars in 2003 *and* the size quoted is still a factor of 60 too big. There is going to be another close approach in 2005 but it will occur in October not August.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm?list11930

Sign up to be on the SFA Observatory Email List for more news.

Tsunami Detected at the SFA Observatory

Time of Earth Quake: Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:53 (UTC)
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/

Here's what our seismic readings were 2 days before the Tsunami:
http://heli.cr.usgs.gov/heli_F/NATX_BHZ_US.2004122400.gif
and here is the chart for the day of the Tsunami:
http://heli.cr.usgs.gov/heli_F/NATX_BHZ_US.2004122600.gif

(NATX=SFA Observatory Seismometer)

Verifying: Just to make sure that what we were seeing was not a result of cars, people or animals moving around the seismometer on that day of the Tsunami here are the traces for the same days in another state (Jewel Farm, WI):
http://heli.cr.usgs.gov/heli_F/JFWS_BHZ_US.2004122400.gif
http://heli.cr.usgs.gov/heli_F/JFWS_BHZ_US.2004122600.gif

Similar results were observed in other states as well. Can we estimate the speed of the seismic wave using the arrival time and the quake time?

Science News

SFA Stirling Engine Movies
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/courses/egr112/StirlingEngine/stirling.html

A Tenth Planet
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050801.html

Meteor Hits House
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050724.html

Nearby Supernova in M51
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050719.html

Glasses in Space: I've always heard that you can not be an astronaut if you wear glasses. I guess that's not true. (Astronaut Steve Robinson, STS114, July 2005)
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/123982main_fd4_s114e5591_lores.jpg

The Movie Physics Rating System (GP = Good Physics in general, etc.)
http://intuitor.com/moviephysics/

An interesting alternative to solar photovoltaic
http://pesn.com/2005/07/27/9600139_Fiber_Optics_Bring_Sun_Indoors/

Movie: Did you ever wonder what it would be like to pop a water balloon in space?
http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/balloon/blob.htm

Pole Discovers First Planet with Three Suns
http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=032000PF7DTS

Physics students awarded for an environmentally friendly, economical air conditioner
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2841984

Proof that the moon is made of cheese - just zoom in
http://moon.google.com

Satellite views of your home
http://maps.google.com

Grade Illusions
http://www.grand-illusions.com/

Virtual Yes Man (click on him for feedback)
http://www.passapage.com/yesman.html

"94% of life on Earth is aquatic."
"I am embarrassed to call our planet ‘Earth’. It’s an ocean planet."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/3757027/in/set-27718/

"...the most sophisticated autonomous robotics system ever devised..."
http://www.wpi.edu/News/Transformations/2002Winter/ibot.html

Image: Astra Satellite Group
http://www.spacew.com/gallery/image004586.html

Guilt Trip Forward?
http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~sivann/pub/swf/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf

Bridge Builder Game
http://www.bridgebuilder-game.com/

Disc Golf Online Game
http://www.miniclip.com/discgolf.htm

Congratulations

Eleanor Jane Gruebel Memorial Physics Scholarship - David Paul Hartmann
Brian Patrick Hanson Memorial Physics Scholarship - Sarah Melissa Pew
William H. Bailey Outstanding Physics Graduate Award - Daniel John Wilson
Sigma Pi Sigma Outstanding Physics Student Award - Kellie A. Fletcher

Employment and Scholarships

http://www.foundationalquestions.net/townes/ysc/youngscholcomp.asp
http://www.employmentlocal.com/
http://www.aps.org/educ/cswp/blewett/index.cfm
http://www.usaac.army.mil/cc/east/LTC/

MTS Global is looking to hire 2-3 people in the near future in the Houston area. Please see Dr. B or contact Joshua Arceneaux at (281)461-3700 (arceneaux@mtsglobalinc.com) if you are interested. Joshua Arceneaux is a 2001 SFA physics graduate. This is a great opportunity for a physics graduate or soon-to-be graduate. MTS Global is a product oriented company serving NASA, NASA Contractors, and International Partners.
http://www.mtsglobalinc.com/

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/

SFA Opportunities

Other Opportunities

Another Embarrassing Moment

Since few people read down this far I could write anything here right? Ok, I will include something but it will not be too shocking.

When you live in the same place for a long period of time you become familiar enough with it that you may feel you know every square inch of your home or apartment. With this on my mind I asked STS-114 Flight Director Paul Hill if there was someone that knows every square inch of the space shuttle. This was at his seminar at SFA. He dramatically paused for a moment, looked at me with a grin and answered: "The Flight Director".

Contributors

Thanks to Dave Deming, Kris Byboth, Nathan Ryan, Chris Pierce, Marco Meniero, Ryan Williams Robert Payne, Wally Boyd, Andy Flanagan, Jessi Souther, Barry Smith, Robin Marshall, Andy Wagers, Nathan Phetteplace, Larry Luther, Chris Dahl, Doreen E. Everett, Tommy Gober, James Teel, Brian Thomas, 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