Free Republic

It’s time for my monthly sunspot update. On Sunday NOAA posted its monthly update of the solar cycle, covering sunspot activity for February 2018. Below the fold is my annotated version of that graph.Sunspot activity in February continued the low activity seen in November, December, and January, with November 2017 still the most inactive month for sunspots since the middle of 2009. In fact, the low activity we are seeing now is somewhat comparable to the low activity seen during the ramp down to solar minimum in the first half of 2008.

"For everyone who knows something of the story of the space telescope and its travails, this book provides a fascinating look behind the scenes. An excellent contribution to the history of technology." --Robert P. Kirshner, author of The Extravagant Universe

The concept of what would become the Hubble Space Telescope was first envisioned after World War II, when astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists began a fifty year struggle to build the first space telescope capable of seeing beyond Earth's atmospheric veil. Robert Zimmerman, author of "The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It," takes us behind the scenes, explaining how some of Hubble's advocates sacrificed careers and family, and how others devoted their lives to the telescope only to have their hopes and reputations shattered when its...

A new analysis of the data obtained when the interstellar object Oumuamua flew through the solar system in October 2016 suggests that it is tumbling in a chaotic manner, and that the surface is spotty....Dr Fraser explains: “Our modelling of this body suggests the tumbling will last for many billions of years to hundreds of billions of years before internal stresses cause it to rotate normally again."

"...some HiRISE images taken in 2017 and early 2018 show slight blurring not seen earlier in the mission. The cause is under investigation. The percentage of full-resolution images with blurring peaked at 70 percent last October, at about the time when Mars was at the point in its orbit farthest from the Sun. The percentage has since declined to less than 20 percent. Even before the first blurred images were seen, observations with HiRISE commonly used a technique that covers more ground area at half the resolution. This still provides higher resolution than any other camera orbiting Mars — about...

Curiosity remains on Vera Rubin Ridge, though it has begun moving toward the point where it will move down off the ridge. Opportunity remains in Perseverance Valley, though it has finally taken the north fork down.

Students called 911 after a professor at Tarrant County College in Hurst, Texas, allegedly acted strangely and ranted about Islam, according to a KDFW-TV report. What happened? Daniel Mashburn, an adjunct professor at the TCC Northeast campus, arrived for his astronomy class 20 minutes late wearing a baseball cap, a toboggan hat, a scarf over his face, and black gloves, students told KDFW-TV. Mashburn turned off the classroom lights and began babbling about the Koran, the moon, and “the dark night,” according to students. At one point, Mashburn stood facing the classroom blackboard and was just talking to the board,...

The new year will be off to a celestial start with the appearance of a bigger and brighter supermoon — this time nicknamed the “wolf moon.” The supermoon is a nickname of its own, referring to a full moon that appears larger and more luminous due to its increased proximity to the Earth. The wolf moon, however, refers to the first full moon of the new year, which so happens to fall on New Year’s Day this time around, according to NASA. The second of a “supermoon trilogy” that began with a supermoon at this beginning of this month, the...

How did CO2 -- the elixir of life -- turn out to be the evil gas of 21st century? The special interest in CO2 began when a handful of scientists, backed by political elements, proposed their hypothesis -- one which suggested that CO2 emission from anthropogenic sources, such as coal-fired plants, is the primary reason for what they allege is a dangerous increase in earth’s temperature. Despite the lack of observational evidence, political institutions popularized this hypothesis through state-sponsored research programs. In order to sustain their claims, these climate alarmists designed climate computer models to manufacture friendly results that supported...

If you are a woman and dare to look within yourself, you are a Witch. You make your own rules. You are free and beautiful. You can be invisible or evident in how you choose to make your witch-self known. You can form your own Coven of sister Witches (thirteen is a cozy number for a group) and do your own actions . . . You are a Witch by saying aloud, “I am a Witch” three times, and thinking about that. You are a Witch by being female, untamed, angry, joyous, and immortal. In her article, Penny also cites...

President Donald Trump signed his administration's first space policy directive today (Dec. 11), which formally directs NASA to focus on returning humans to the moon.

As I climbed the narrow staircase of the gothic church tower in Nördlingen, Germany, the worn stone steps appeared to glimmer in the sunlight, bringing unexpected flashes of light to what should have been a dark, grey climb to the top. “That’s because the entire tower is made out of suevite stone, and enclosed in it are small diamonds,” Horst Lenner, the tower watchman, told me enthusiastically.

The fifth mirror for the GMT's 7 segment primary mirror is being cast at the Richard F. Caris Mirror Laboratory at the University of Arizona. In this image, a worker at the lab places the last piece of glass for mirror 5. Image: Giant Magellan Telescope Organization Astronomy, News, Observatories They Just Began Casting the Giant Magellan Telescope’s 5th Mirror. What a Monster Job. Article written: 7 Nov , 2017 by Evan Gough The fifth mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is now being cast, according to an announcement from the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization (GMTO), the body...

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This most recent false prophecy, David Meade Now it is David Meade, a professing Christian, who is predicting a world’s end and rightfully causing gaping mouths and eye rolls from people who are already skeptics of any sort of spirituality. Thank you, David. Regardless of the special meanings you may have applied to your false prophecy, you’ve given the world yet another opportunity to laugh at God, His Son and his precious word, the Bible. In a bizarre combination of numerology and astrology, stirred in with some of the Bible’s Book of Revelation, Mr Meade has calculated end of the...

People who believe in extraterrestrial life are sometimes referred to in a mocking manner. In the ‘X-Files’ TV-series Fox Mulder is often referred to as ‘Spooky,’ but according to a recent article, maybe he should be called ‘racist’– if Mulder believes that aliens built the pyramids in Africa. The Quartz Media article, “Outlandish theories that aliens built the pyramids are rooted in racism,” by Julien Benoit is critical of those who believe the pyramids or other ancient structures were built by aliens. Some may call this belief simply "odd," but Benoit just out and out labels it racist. From the article:...

The birth of Jesus Christ is the one of the most significant events in all of history and when we understand the truths regarding the true date of his birth it will thrill and inspire your heart. Tradition has made December 25th the birthday of Jesus. but the Bible clearly reveals he was not born on that day. It was not until the 4th century after Christ that December 25th began to be celebrated as the day of ChristÂ’s birth. It was the old pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice and the birth of the sun god and celebrated when...

The allocation of culpability for the violence that resulted in the tragic death of Heather Heyer at a protest/counter-protest rally in Charlottesville, VA by the media last week really should not have come as a surprise. In the case of Republicans, the news-cycle will consisted of the following phases: If the violence is perpetrated by a hate group(s) whose members are racists, anti-Semites, and white supremacists, first, implicitly tie the Republican Party and its leaders (or if it is President Trump, explicitly) to the offending hate group; secondly, insist he or she publicly renounce the group; third, if the Republican...

Whaddyathink? Any insights?