Yesterday, November 9 would have been Carl Sagan’s 76th birthday.    Sagan died in 1996 of myelodysplasia, at the age of 62.

Always the popularizer of science, Carl Sagan often spoke of how lucky we were to live in a modern age where we had such great knowledge of the universe. Of course, we don’t know everything, but our knowledge is ever expanding. We know more about the universe than we did last year, but we’ll know even more in the years to come.

Dr. Sagan knew well that knowledge would continue to expand long beyond his own years, but I wonder if even he would have been surprised to learn just how much we have learned in the past fourteen years. Fourteen years really is not that long a time. Sure, computers are faster and there have been a few economic and political realignments, but otherwise the world does not look that much different than it did in mid to late 1990’s.

And yet, when it comes to our understanding of the universe there have been some a number of discoveries that are nothing short of revolutionary, these discoveries have changed the way we look at things in the most fundamental ways, rewriting textbooks and completely obliterating old assumptions.

Here are just a few the most major things we’ve learned since 1996:

• Most galaxies, perhaps even all galaxies, are orbiting supermasive black holes, which are slowly consuming the matter of the galaxies.
• The universe is 13.75 ± 0.17 billion years old.   This is based on the measurements of the WMAP observatory, launched in 2001.   In 1996 it was known that the universe was about 12-14 billion years old, but it was not known with the precision it now is.   It turns out it was toward the far end of estimates made prior to WMAP.
• Dark matter is distributed in approximately the same pattern as “normal” matter.
• The number of galaxies in the universe is even greater than had been previously estimated – as demonstrated by the Hubble Ultra Deep Field observations of 2003.  The UDF also proved galaxy formation less than one billion years after the big bang.
• Extra-solar planets seem to be fairly common.   The first were discovered in the early 1990’s and even before that, they were assumed to exist, but now we have empirical evidence that planets of numerous sizes and orbits are found around at least hundreds of stars observed.
• Gamma ray bursts are generated by extremely large supernovas in distant galaxies.   Prior t0 1997, very little was known about the nature and sources of gamma ray bursts.
• The surface of mars is far more dynamic and changing than previously believed.   The measurements taken by the two mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity have resulted in more observational data on the surface characteristics and weather on mars than all previous missions combined, by several times.
• Additional moons have been discovered around Saturn.
• Direct measurements and analysis of the surface of Titan were made in 2004.   We now know for sure that it does indeed contain large amounts of water.
• There are additional planetary bodies in the outer solar system that are comparable in size to or larger than Pluto.  In fact, it seems Pluto is not all that unique as far as outer solar system objects go.
• The rate of expansion of the universe is not decreasing, but rather it is increasing.   Exactly why this is happening is a mystery but it implies the existence of some form of energy, dubbed “dark energy” which appears to make up the majority of the mass of the universe.

I am sure that there are others that readers can think of.    A number of deep space missions have taken place since Carl Sagan’s death.   Mars has been explored extensively by rovers an the Phoenix polar lander as well as orbiters.   Spacecraft have visited commits and asteroids, Saturn was surveyed by Cassini and a probe is now on its way to Pluto. Even the moon has been the subject a new round of probes.

The Voyager Spacecraft, which Carl Sagan was such a supporter of, the spacecraft which took the famous “Pale Blue Dot” photograph are still operating, decades after leaving earth. Their cameras have been powered down, as the spacecraft are now so far from the sun that there’s barely anything to see. Having left most of the solar system behind, the Voyagers continue into interstellar space, still returning valuable scientific data, as they are expected to for another ten years.

Tomorrow night, the 29th of August, the show “Bad Universe” will premier on the Discovery Channel at 10 o’clock eastern time.  If you don’t live in the eastern US, check your local listings.   The show looks pretty cool, and it stars my friend Phil Plait, (AKA The Bad Astronomer) who is a very active member of the skeptic community and has been debunking bad science for years.   It’s really huge that Phil would get a show like this on a major television network, and it’s definitely a great way for him to help spread skepticism and good science.

More videos from the show can be found here.

One nitpick: Phil can’t actually shoot rays of energy out of his eyes. If he could, I’m pretty sure I would have been zapped by now.

Alaska has more aircraft per capita than any other state in the US and most places in the world.   Small aircraft are a vital means of travel in the massive and largely unpopulated state, and it’s also one of the most dangerous places to fly.  While the relative risk is still fairly low, many lives have been lost in plane crashes in Alaska.

It seems that yet another one has been lost – that of former Senator Ted Stevens.   Stevens plane crashed on a remote mountainside killing Stevens.  The plane also carried NASA’s former chief administrator, Sean O’Keefe and his son.   O’Keefe and his son survived the crash and, at last report, both had sustained injuries that were thought to be non-life threatening.  Luckily for them, it seems rescuers got to the sight of the crash fairly quickly.

Via the Associated Press:

JUNEAU, Alaska — A float plane carrying former Sen. Ted Stevens and ex-NASA chief Sean O’Keefe crashed into a remote mountainside in Alaska, killing the longtime senator and four others, authorities said Tuesday. O’Keefe and his teenage son survived the crash with broken bones and other injuries, said former NASA spokesman Glenn Mahone. The O’Keefes spent Monday night on the mountain with several volunteers who discovered the wreckage and tended to the injured until rescuers arrived Tuesday morning.

Plane crash + NASA big shot + former senator =  conspiracy theories in 5…4…3…2…

Having returned from Las Vegas and The Amazing Meeting, an annual conference on skepticism hosted by the James Randi Educational Foundaton, I’ve been very eager to start posting about my experiences at the meeting.   Unfortunately, I’ve been fairly busy, as apparently going to Las Vegas for a week tends to result in a lot of work piling up.   In general, the meeting was attended by mainstream skeptics, who may not agree on everything but tended to agree on well proven things, like the fact that the US Apollo program did indeed send men to the moon and back.

This was not quite 100%, however, as at least one conspiracy-obsessed heckler did attend, and attempted repeatedly to heckle Phil Plait and Adam Savage.   Jarrah White is about as committed to the belief that the Apollo moon landings were faked as one can be.   He’s already produced (at last count) 393 Youtube videos on the subject – all of them absolutely stunning in their lack of technical and scientific knowledge.

I recognized White’s voice from the videos as soon as he got up to question Adam Savage. That snooty, nasal, sharp whine with an Australian accent was hard not to recognize, especially as I’ve seen plenty of his videos before. Apparently he came all the way from Australia to try to get up in the face of those who he considers the conspirators behind the faked moon landing

His behavior was about as strange as one might expect. I was concerned initially that he might try to rush the stage or do something else completely crazy – after all, Apollo conspiracy theorists have been known to physically threaten astronauts and do all manner of other crazy things. I alerted the staff and security to his background to be on the safe side, but luckily he didn’t try anything too violent.

Instead, he repeatedly insisted that he get a sit-down interview with Phil Plait. Phil was quite civil, and informed him that to get scheduled interview time he would need to register as press. The Amazing Meeting does not have very exclusive standards for who is given press status – bloggers and podcasters can easily get it. When he was asked for his information on this topic, he repeatedly made a scene about not wanting to reveal his background. I’m not sure how things worked out, but eventually he got a press pass and thus could get his interview. Unfortunately for him, Phil Plait decided to decline the request. After rudely interrupting Phil, who was trying to converse with others at the conference, the Little Dude from the Moon finally started yelling at Phil that he thought his answers were dishonest and he was a liar. Phil said something about how he didn’t believe he could say anything that would change the Little Dude’s mind and that if the Little Dude felt that way, he was not interested in sitting down for an interview.

I’m just glad that no punches were thrown. As he came from Australia, it seemed a reasonable concern that he would not want to make such a trip without getting in at least one dramatic moment or big confrontation. I did challenge him openly to a debate. He never responded to this. Surprised? In fact, I only saw him around on the first day of the three-day event. No word on whether he left early or went into hiding or what.
He has also already posted at least one video from the event:

It should be noted that Adam Savage is not an absolute expert on this topic. There is actually a greater context to this. Phil Plait may have been able to answer this, but Jarrah managed to burn that bridge a long time ago.

Debunking his ridiculous claim:

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From NASA’s confused, convoluted and underfunded Constellation program to the de-funding of it in favor of a non-existant plan, there has been little good news from the American space program.   There is one exception, however.   SpaceX has been making great progress in the design and testing of the Falcon 1 and 9 rockets.   The Falcon 9 is especially exciting.  It’s the first space launch vehicle to be developed 100% privately, the first completely new liquid-fueled rocket in decades and the first American rocket capable of completing a mission with an engine failure since the last Saturn-IB lifted off in 1975.

The Falcon-9 is designed to be human rated and is complete with the Dragon capsule, designed to carry cargo and eventually humans to Low Earth Orbit.   The rocket also can be configured as the Falcon-9 Heavy, which consists of three core boosters and is capable of lifting 28 metric tons to LEO, putting it ahead of the mighty Russian Proton rocket, the current most popular heavy lift ELV, and exceeding the capacity of all current ELV’s with the exception of the ultra-heavy configuration of the Atlas-V.

SpaceX also hopes to make the Falcon-9 considerably cheaper than other rockets.   The vehicle is intended to be partially reusable, with stages being retrieved after parachuting back to earth.  If the design meets projections, it may set a new standard for the economics of heavy lift vehicles and possibly help reestablish the United States as a major player in the commercial satellite launch business.

Today the first Falcon-9 lifted off and sent its payload, a test version of the Dragon capsule into low earth orbit!

First time trials of rockets are certainly not assured successes and SpaceX has spent some time testing the design on static test stands and dry runs for launch.    This flight is the culmination of years of development and an enormous step in making the Falcon-9 a cargo and human-carrying rocket we can rely on.

There’s a show on CBS and syndicated on TNT called “Cold Case.” I don’t generally watch it, but as I was flipping through the channels I happened to see the Apollo-11 landing and so I stopped briefly to view the segment, which turned out to be a depiction on the show “Cold Case.”

This is the opening sequence of the show, which in this episode is supposed to show a family watching the television broadcast back in 1969, but there’s a major error in the the sequence. Whichever editor put this together didn’t know or perhaps didn’t care.

Actually there is more than one major error in it. At least two glaring ones.

Can you tell what’s wrong here? And no, it’s not the footage being fake or being from another Apollo mission. That is real footage from Apollo-11.

I hope this does not make me a conspiracy theorist, because on this one, I think the government is hiding something and I disagree with those who have dismissed this as a non-event.

On December 9 1965, a fireball streaked across North America and was sited in the Great Lakes region of both the United States and Canada.   There’s no doubt that this happened, as it was seen by many and produced sonic booms which were recorded on seismometers.   It was also seen in Pennsylvania, where some reports indicated that debris or meteorites may have started grass fires (there were grass fires, but whether or not this caused them is unproven.)

In the town of Kecksburg PA, local residents reported that an object landed (or crashed) in a small wooded area.   It has been pointed out that it’s not uncommon for observers of a meteor or other falling object, such as a satellite, to mistakenly believe that it has landed somewhere it has not due to an illusion which occurs when the object crosses over the horizon.  If there are trees or some other obstruction in the foreground, it can appear that the object has landed in the area behind the obstruction.   This phenomena is fairly common and it’s certainly possible that this is what occurred in Kecksburg, although there is some evidence to the contrary.

The Pennsylvania State Police were called and arrived to search the area, and the local volunteer fire department was also on the scene.   The State Police initially stated that they were turning over the site to the US Military, implying that there was something significant in the area and beyond their experience of jurisdiction.   However, later an official statement was released stating “The Pennsylvania State Police have made a thorough search of the woods. We are convinced that there is nothing whatsoever in the woods.”

At this point, the official documentation ends.   While there’s no doubt that something was reported and that there was an official report, any information about an object in the woods that night comes only from eyewitnesses – who are, of course, notoriously unreliable.   There are, however, a few pieces of indirect documentation to the event.   A Journalist from a local newspaper filed a report stating that an object had been found and the military had secured the area.   The reporter Bob Gatty, was at the site at the time and his story indicates that he had verified these events and seen them himself.   Despite these reports and the fact that the State Police had clearly stated that they did summon the military, the official line is that the US military never went to the location that night.

There is no doubt that many people in the area believed something did crash at the site on that night, although this does not mean anything did.

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NOTE:  See the question mark on the end of the headline?   That means this is not reported as verified fact but rather as a possible event that is being reported
Reports have come in from Mexico describing an apparent meteorite strike that left a thirty meter crater in an area of the country about 100 miles northeast of Mexico city.  The impact is reported to have occurred yesterday evening at approximately 18:30 (6:30 PM).   This would have been around 00:30 GMT, assuming that the reported timing is correct.   Thus far there’s not a lot of information outside of the Mexican press, but based on a number of reports it does appear that there was some kind of event that did occur in the area of Pachuca, Hidalgo Mexico.

Reports include sightings of a flaming object streaking across the sky, but it should be noted that until independent verification and more data becomes available, it can’t be stated conclusively that it was indeed a meteorite.   It is possible that this could have been a piece of “space junk,” an aircraft accident or possibly even something as mundane as a propane tank exploding.  It would not be the first time that a terrestrial explosion as reported as a meteor strike.

Via Bad Astronomy:

There have been some reports of a possible meteorite in Mexico — here is one news report translated into English.

Reports are a bit sketchy right now, but apparently a bright flaming object was seen coming down about 100 miles northeast of Mexico City on Wednesday around 18:30 local time. There was a roar that was loud enough to shake buildings. Another news article is reporting a crater 30 meters in diameter was found.

At the moment this is all I know. It’s not clear if this was actually an impact event from a meteorite or some terrestrial event. In 2007 a small meteorite struck in Peru, causing a lot of confusion (with me at least!) over the source of the event; there was a lot of speculation before an actual meteorite impact was confirmed. Before that impact, it was not considered likely that a small meteorite could actually hit the ground fast enough to make a crater in the ten-meter size range (they slow down or break up high in the atmosphere), so the Peru event was a surprise. It’s still not completely understood how the meteoroid survived to hit the ground.

So it’s possible this Mexico event is a meteorite, but we don’t know yet. I’ll post more information as I find it.

Possible Seismic Confirmation???

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In one of the greatest  losses of information in human history, eclipsed only by the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, it seems that the original tapes containing recordings of the unconverted vide0 from the Apollo-11 mission have most likely been destroyed.   This probably occurred sometime in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s, although it has not been specifically confirmed that all copies were degaussed at the time, it is known that many tapes in the collection from the era were.

At this time, there remains a very slim chance that there may be some of the original M22 tapes, most likely the on-site duplicates, that may have escaped degaussing and are hidden away somewhere in the US, Guam or Australia.  Although, that seems at best, a very long shot.   More likely to have survived was at least one recording, a possibly two made at the Parkes observatory on a modified  Ampex VR-660 video tape recorder.   If this tape exists, it is most likely in the archives of either the US government or the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. However, thus far, efforts to locate these tapes has also proven fruitless.

There is, however, another potential source of at least some of the information lost during the scan conversion process, which could be of use in the efforts to restore the video recordings, or which at least could provide some additional record for posterity:  Still images.

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It’s amazing how hard conspiracy theorists will dig, looking for anything they can cling to as evidence of their pre-conceived notions.   Here’s a video which claims to prove the Apollo Program was a hoax because of the mention of “classified fiber optics” in the Westinghouse Lunar Television Camera manual.

Now the reality:

When Westinghouse was asked to design a television camera for the Apollo program, they faced a difficult technical problem.  In addition to having to transmit the images within a relatively narrow portion of the spacecraft’s bandwidth, they had to create a camera that would work in the extreme lighting conditions of the moon.   With no atmosphere to defuse light and provide some indirect illumination, the conditions could be extremely bright out in the open and extremely dark in shadows.  This required a camera with very high dynamic range, but at the same time, the camera had to be as simple and free of adjustment as possible.  Astronauts would be too busy with other things to adjust the settings on the television camera during operation.

These requirements exceeded commercial video cameras of the day, but it turned out Westinghouse did have a camera tube that would be perfect for the job.  The only problem is that the technology that would make this high dynamic range, automatically-adjusting camera possible was being used as part of a military project to develop low-light television cameras for remote surveillance and weapon guidance work.    As the Vietnam War increased in intensity, the US military was turning to advanced low-light optics to help locate the enemy in the dark.  Because of this, the technology was classified at the time.

Westinghouse was able to get permission to utilize this classified military technology in the lunar television camera.   Specifically, it was something called the “secondary electron conduction” tube, a specialized variety of vidcon tube that was the bleeding edge of military imaging technology of the day.   The classified system was more or less hidden in plain sight, as it was built into the lunar television camera but never really acknowledged to the public as being a classified system.   Of course, only a handfull of people would ever actually handle or use the television camera and even fewer would ever open it up to service it, so the secret was fairly safe.

As mentioned in the article “TV’s Longest Remote”:

Westinghouse supplied a lot of battle-hardened electronic gear to the Pentagon, including some small black and white television cameras for use on ships and helicopters. Westinghouse also had something that many companies didn’t at the time—a facility for fabricating custom integrated circuits solely for use by the company.

And to make the hand even more attractive, Westinghouse had created a very special television camera pickup tube; one that could run circles around conventional image orthicons and vidicons in terms of size, sensitivity, S/N and lag. This was the secondary electron conduction, or SEC, tube. It had an outstanding dynamic range and was so sensitive that, without stretching the truth too much, it could make pictures of the proverbial black cat in a coal bin at midnight.

And there was one other thing unique about this specialized television system – it used a “fiber optic face plate.”  Yes, a fiber optic-based optical adapter that channeled the light from the camera lens into the image sensing tube.    In 1969, the same year that the mission was launched, Westinghouse got permission to file for a public patent on the design.   The patent, which was granted in 1971 can be seen here.    Believe it or not, although the widespread use of optical fiber for high band width communications has only been widespread since the 1980’s, fiber optic technology has actually been around for much longer than that.

And there you have it.   A lot less to this whole  story than some might want to believe.

It just keeps getting lamer.