What's happening in space (that's interesting)

Himawari-8 is a Japanese weather satellite.

Organic matter found on mars. Or formerly organic at least. Seems like a big deal.

I want to be excited about this, but seeing as methane is such an incredibly simple compound, abiotic generation seems more likely here than organic.

It’s buried deep in the article, but the compounds found included:

“The organic molecules and volatiles, comparable to samples of sedimentary rock rich in organics on Earth, included thiopene, methylthiophenes methanethiol and dimethylsulfide”

which are more complex than just plain old methane, and more likely to be of organic origin.

OK Dimethyl Sulfide is quite exciting since it’s an emission from phytoplankton, algae, and some bacteria here on Earth.

Silly mental exercice found at space.com

But I found the whole thing strangely evocative in its writing. That’d sure be some fascinating sights.

Crystal clear night tonight and the Moon looked amazing. Thin crescent with the shadowed still clearly visible and Venus blazing brightly right beside. Venus is the hottest one, I was quickly informed.

Perfect shot, if not for the chocolate stains…and the fact it’s from my shitty 5X.

Wow awesome pic!

Cool pic! And I just learned about the “happy moon” you get in the Southern Hemisphere while working on a memorial to a friend from NZ.

Meanwhile, the US President apparently announced, without consulting anyone or any desire from the military itself, that we’re creating a US Space Force, to be “separate but equal” (his choice of words) with the US Air Force. Oh, good, a space arms race. That worked out well for the USSR.

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is listening to paranormal radio/podcasts when I’m trying to fall asleep. I can only imagine the massive orgasm this is causing in that community, “The alienz r 4 realz! We were right!!! See??? DISCLOSURE!”

Oh, my… I hadn’t even thought about that. Art Bell is probably banging his head against a table in the sky right about now, wondering why he had to go join the ancient astronauts when he did. Noory, in the meantime, is likely licking his chops.

i find this heartbreakingly sad. I’ve been following Buzz on tweeter for years now, read his books, and watch his speeches and other activities. He’s always struck me as the type of octogenarian that really want to be.
Watching him from a far, I’ve seen no evidence of a slowing down. On the other hand, my experience with my parents and their friends, dementia can be very slow, process or the decline can happen in a matter of months.

If the WSJ article is correct, which I believe is sourced primarily from his lawyers, his children and long-time assistant are ripping him off, which is just awful. On the hand, his kids have been close to him in recent decades and one of the symptom of dementia is a paranoia. Either way a lawsuit with your children is just the most horrid way to spend the final years of such an amazing life.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/buzz-aldrin-fights-family-for-control-of-his-space-legacy-1529872576

Punch them all out, Buzz.

It must be pretty horrible to have your own kids clawing for your money and for control of you like that.

Buzz should just punch them all out and stop working for the Buzz Aldrin Foundation.

This is a good thing, since newer rockets are safer and more efficient, plus more environmentally friendly. But it’s still the end of an era.

Considering his reactions at Trump’s space meeting a year ago, I’d say he definitely had all his faculties then:

Every time I hear of the Angara booster I keep thinking of this:

an Angoran cat. They go to light the booster and it sizzles for a second then goes to sleep.

I’d forgotten about that. That’s priceless. I mean you’re Buzz Aldrin, you can totally get away with making faces at the crazy clueless president making word salad about space.

So, others still working to confirm it, but looks promising. Should help to advance our understanding of star system formation.

Too on the nose?