Earth from Space Station, Your face in space, Tides and particle accelerators

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Nostromics Newsletter

Nostromics science gifts product news, educational resources & science tidbits

Nostromics Newsletter, 16 June 2010 - You are welcome to share this mail

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View Earth from an International Space Station window

One of the most vivid experiences of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) is the breathtaking view of Earth flowing below due to the station's orbital motion. The Windows on Earth web site provides a real-time computer generated view of Earth as seen from ISS.

Visit Windows on Earth and click "ISS Orbital" at the top to start the simulation. The main display section shows the computer generated view of Earth you would get right now if you looked outside a circular window on the US Destiny laboratory. The view, which is based on satellite images, changes in real time as the space station orbits around the world. The current position of ISS is marked by a dot with a larger concentric circle along the green orbital path.

If you see green rectangular markers in the main display section, click them to see actual photos of the corresponding areas taken by ISS astronauts. Click the "Scale Bar" checkbox in the lower left "VIEWER OPTIONS" box to get a ruler for measuring sizes of details on the surface. Click "Music" to enjoy our beautiful planet with ambient music in the background.

This great site, and a related museum exhibition, were created for the October 2008 mission to ISS of space tourist and videogame developer Richard Garriot. Be sure to check the simple instructions ("How to Navigate" link at the top) to get the most out of Windows on Earth.

Fly your face in space with the last Shuttle missions

The Atlantis Over Andes Mouse Pad in the Space section of Nostromics Store features a beautiful photo of Space Shuttle Atlantis, with the snow-capped Andes Mountains seen in the background. It was taken in May 2010 when the spacecraft was approaching the International Space Station for the STS-132 mission. It was the final mission of Atlantis, one of the 3 Shuttle fleet orbiters besides Discovery and Endeavour.

Started in 1981, the Shuttle program is scheduled to end in late 2010 and only two missions are remaining: STS-133 with Discovery, which will be launched no earlier than September 2010, and STS-134 with Endeavour in November 2010. To give the public the opportunity of taking part to these historical last missions, NASA will let you fly your face into space on STS-133 or STS-134.

Visit the Face in Space site, click "Participate", accept the terms of use and fill the online form. Provide your name and country in the form, select the Shuttle mission you are interested in and optionally upload a JPEG or GIF image file with your photo. For best results, use a square photo with your face near the center. After clicking "Submit", be sure to print the confirmation page titled "You Are Go For Launch!", or save the confirmation number and flight information.

After the selected mission ends with the Shuttle landing, go back to the Face in Space site. By entering the confirmation number, you will get a printable participation certificate. The certificate will most likely include an image with your face visible through the Shuttle commander's seat window.

Be sure to spread the word and forward this newsletter to friends, let them join you in space for this unique opportunity!

More science gifts and products at Nostromics Store.

Tides and particle accelerators

Are particle accelerators lunatic? Do particle physics experiments depend on the phase of the Moon? The Jargon File, the main source of computer lore and hacker culture, tells an interesting story involving the Moon and LEP.

LEP, the Large Electron-Positron Collider, was a large, powerful particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva operated until 2000. The LEP circular tunnel where particle beams are accelerated, later adapted for the currently in use and better known LHC accelerator, has a circumference of 27 km.

According to the Jargon File, LEP engineers were puzzled by experimental errors depending on the position of the Moon. It turned out that the errors were caused by deformations of the Earth by the passage of the Moon in its monthly lunar phase cycle. Indeed, in tides lunar gravity acts not only on water bodies, but also on solid land masses. Crustal deformations caused by Earth tides can be as large as over 50 cm.

Particle physics experiments, such as the ones using giant accelerators at CERN, must therefore take into account and correct for terrestrial tides.

-- Paolo Amoroso & Mauro Arpino (Nostromics), science educators - Milan, Italy

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Copyright (C) 2010 by Paolo Amoroso and Mauro Arpino