Tuesday, September 26, 2017
“We made the decision to to use nature to help us to get us to our destination,” said Heather Enos, deputy principal investigator of the OSIRIX REx mission. “What that means is we actually used the earth’s gravity in order to propel us onto our destination into the orbital plane necessary to match our target, Bennu."
While it was nearby, the OSIRIS REx team used the opportunity to recalibrate the spacecraft’s instruments, including the MapCam camera. MapCam captured this image on Sept. 22, from a vantage point 170,000 kilometers (or 106,000 miles) away from the earth. It's largely of the Pacific Ocean, but you can see Australia in the lower left and Baja California in the upper right.
Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of the UA-led NASA mission, said the photo represents one of his favorite new angles of the earth.
"What if we were an alien species and we sent a flyby spacecraft to the earth and they took this picture?" he asked "It really looks like it is an ocean world... It is a nice reminder of how beautiful and important the oceans are, and our planet is."
The black marks at the top of the photo—the OSIRIS REx team calls them "icicles"—are the result of a camera designed to take pictures of a very dark (darker than coal) asteroid trying to take pictures of a very bright earth.
"[This] meant we had to take the images as fast as possible, and as a result of that very fast data acquisition rate, there [were a few] readout issues," Lauretta said.
Lauretta described Friday and Saturday as the second most exciting days of the mission so far—besides, of course, the day of the launch. The team spent Friday evening huddled around their monitors and waiting for the images to arrive. When one of the team members finally pulled it up, a mad scramble ensued to get the image up on the big screen, and the whole team was left in awe.
"It felt like I was actually in space and I was looking at that image," Lauretta said. "Because OSIRIS REx is us. We built it, and we own it and we really feel like it's a projection of ourselves that's out there exploring the solar system."
Follow OSIRIS REx on Twitter or Instagram, and see the OSIRIS REx website to learn more about the mission.
Tags: bennu , osiris rex , space exploration , asteroids , gravity assist , earth , space
Monday, August 28, 2017
The climb up Tumamoc hill has historically been closed to the public from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in order to help preserve resources and, presumably, to prevent the trail from turning into a waterfall of sweat from people attempting the hike in the middle of the day.
Until now! Starting Sept. 5, the UA will be extending public access hours from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. for a solid 18 hours of available hiking time a day. Fencing will be installed at the top to mark the end of the trail and to continue preserving surrounding areas.
In addition, a new app, the Tumamoc Tour, will soon be available in both English and Spanish and for both iOS and Android devices. Narrators David Yetman and Alberto Burquez (English and Spanish, respectively) will tell the story of Tumamoc Hill and its place in the Sonoran Desert. Accompanied by the music of Calexico and Gabriel Naim Amor, the app’s six sections and 16 YouTube video will help listeners understand the significance of the reserve and the research, education and preservation missions it is a part of.
Tags: Tumamoc Hill , hiking , sweaty , Tumamoc Tour , David Yetman , Alberto Burquez , Sonoran Desert , Calexico , Gabriel Naim Amor , UA , University of ARizona
Thursday, August 24, 2017
¡Cultura!
Día de los Muertos Opening Reception. Tohono Chul’s next exhibit honors and remembers the dead in a celebration that is full of color and joy. Pieces by local artists will be displayed until the exhibit ends on Nov. 8, and artists whose work is on display will be present at the opening night reception. 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24. 7366 Paseo del Norte. Free.Closing Reception and Sewing Circle. Bordando por la Paz y la Memoria is a group made of citizens from Mexico and other cities abroad who embroider the names of victims of Mexico’s War Against Drug Trafficking onto white handkerchiefs. These stitched stories are a beautiful and sobering visualization of the suffering real people face in the reality of war. Handkerchiefs will be displayed in the café area, and, while supplies last, materials for visitors to embroider their own tributes and testimonies will be provided. 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27. Joel D. Valdez Main Library 101 N. Stone Ave. Free.
Museums
Space Night 2017. Sleepovers at friends’ houses are fun, but are they educational? Are there opportunities to use state-of-the-art telescopes? Are there real meteorites available to be touched? We didn’t think so. The Children’s Museum Tucson will be showing sleepover guests how to get a party started with pizza, pajamas, binoculars, thermal cameras, and even meteorite-touching ops. Families are welcome to pitch tents in designated areas in the museum and in the main courtyard, for that highly sought after “pitch-a-tent-in-the-living-room-or-backyard-but-still-be-surrounded-by-fascinating-artifacts-and-unique-educational-opportunites” feel that many a sleepover party host has strived for and not attained. 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26 to Sunday, Aug. 27. Children's Museum Tucson 200 South Sixth Ave. $50, $45 for museum members.Tags: Dia de los Muertos , Tohono Chul , Bordando por la Paz y la Memoria , Joel. D. Valdez Main Library , handkerchiefs , Pima County Public Library , Space Night 2017 , Children’s Museum Tucson , Sensory Safari by Flashlight , International Wildlife Museum , 3D Printing , Oro Valley Public Library , 3D printing , fuuuuutuuuuure , Foraging Walkabout , John Slattery , foraging , Chinese Calligraphy , A-Long’s Kung Fu Academy , wax on wax off , Indoor Tin-smithing Demo and Craft Activity , Presidio Museum , blacksmiths , blacksmithing , luminary lanterns , William Turner , Composition in the Field , Digital Photo Academy , Reid Park Zoo , photography class , Angel’s Place for Girls Grand Opening , Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona , STEM , rock climbing , just girly things , Bookmans Midtown Block Party , potato salad , barbecue , Silly Tassie , Stories that Soar , The Loft , Free Family Fun Day , bowling , Vantage Bowling Centers , Fall Youth Bowling program , Sixth Annual EFF Spelling Bee at the Rialto Theatre , spelling bee , Curtis Mccrory , Rialto Theater , privilege , privlege , privledge , Akeelah and the Bee , Nintzel and the Bee , Friends Trivia Night , Ross , Rachel , Phoebe , Joey , Chandler , Monica , Gunther , Janice , Crooked Tooth Brewing Company , smelly cat , smelly cat , what are they feeding you , smelly cat , smelly cat , it’s not your fault , Old Folk’s Home Bing , bingo , adrenaline , Kappa’s Bar and Sandwich Place , Pablo Sandoval , Pueblo Lighting Women’s Rugby , The Riveters , 401 Comedy School , Comedy School Showcase , Tucson Improv Movement , Loft Cinema Movie Poster Sale , Andrei Tarkovsky , 2001: A Space Odyssey , cinephile , movie posters , Bench & Brew , do you even lift , The Nerd Gym , animals , dogs , Pets , Gene Hall , Margot Huntington , Marcy Miranda Janes , Contreras Art Gallery , Dog Days of Summer , DockDogs , Old Tucson , dogs , Pelican , Club Congress , worthwhile Metallica , Illinois , strangely aggressive pop , post-punk , Trail of the Dead , Pink Martini , Rufus Wainwright , Centennial Hall , classical , jazz , big-band pop
Friday, May 5, 2017
Zona Politics airs at 6:30 p.m. tonight on the Creative Tucson Network, Channel 20 on Cox Cable and Channel 74 on Comcast Cable. The show repeats on both channels on Sunday morning at 9:30.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
In certain instances, music facilitates healing. Such is the case for 13-year-old Trey Vincent.
Trey’s life was filled with music even before his autism diagnosis at age two. Right around the time Trey’s mother, Marthajane Vincent, began noticing her son’s atypical development, she also observed his natural inclination toward music.
Trey did not make eye contact, became stiff when comforted, remained nonverbal and ignored others speaking to him. But he paid attention to The Wiggles and Baby Einstein videos.
“One thing we hit on that he really engaged with was music,” Marthajane said. “He would clap his hands and do normal baby things while listening.”
Entering neurologic music therapy as a toddler strengthened Trey’s social functioning and cognitive skills, according to Marthajane. In Trey’s program, the music therapist’s guitar playing gave the children something to interact around. Through peer modeling, Trey learned how to pick up on social cues. While playing the percussion in music therapy, Trey worked on crossing the midline. By following certain rhythms and instructions, Trey developed his motor skills and improved his left-right brain connections. Music therapy can help individuals across the autism spectrum.
Tags: music , music therapy , autism , healing , Arizona
Monday, March 6, 2017
The importance of bees to our ecosystems and to the development of food we eat is no secret, but the preservation of the insects gained an increase in support recently since six species of yellow-faced bees joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species List. The Southern Arizona Work Space will be hosting a class, The Basics of Beekeeping, on Saturday, March 11 from 1-3 p.m. to teach people the craft of beekeeping or what to do if they find a swarm or hive in their own backyards. Admission is $20. As a sweet incentive, there will also be a honey tasting.
Beekeeping may be becoming a lost art—and an important one too. If anyone needs more convincing of why saving honey bees is important, check out these fun facts according to RVC Outdoor Destinations:
-Their tiny wings can flap up to 200 times a second, allowing them to buzz around up to 15 mph.
- Much like
- Bees can recognize a human face. So yes, they can actually see your terrified expression as you run away squealing.
If you still need encouragement to push aside your fears, just look up #savethebees on Twitter and read what much funnier people have to say about the issue.
Tags: bees , save the bees , honey bees , endangered species , Do This! , events , Southern Arizona Work Space , workshop , class , honey , beekeeping , hive
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Brujeria is a frighteningly punchy all-star death metal/grindcore combo that passes itself off as a murderous, truly evil drug cartel, one into Satan worship and Donald Trump. (Brujeria is Spanish for “witchcraft.”) Yes, they’re lampooning the form, but the music absolutely holds up as some of the heaviest shit ever recorded this side of Scandinavia. So let’s not confuse such skull-splitting din with lightweights like Spinal Tap or Gwar, OK?
It’s no surprise members of Carcass, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and Napalm Death fill out the lineup. They’ve been together in one form or another since 1989 and their long-awaited fourth album, Pocho Aztlan, dropped a few months back.
Catch them with The Casualties, Piñata Protest, Flying Donkey Punch, Maldad, and Napalm Strike. at 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 13 at The Rock, 136 N. Park Ave. You can buy tickets for $23 a piece or enter to win a pair of tickets from us. Just fill out the form below and keep checking your email—we'll be in touch with winners around noon the day of the show.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Sensing Gains Ahead Under Trump, the Kochs Court Minorities. The Koch Brothers have begun a well-funded, new nonprofit business association, Fueling U.S. Forward, which is spreading the fossil fuels gospel to minority communities — almost literally, by funding gospel concerts where Hosannas are sung in praise of God, Coal, Oil and Natural Gas.
Arizona Corporation Commission urged to fix solar net metering 'grandfathering' issue. The ACC slashed the compensation rooftop solar owners will receive for excess energy generation that makes its way onto the grid. The ACC is being asked to improve one small part of a very bad decision by amending the grandfathering rules so people who submit their energy interconnection applications before the deadline will receive the current net metering compensation, as well as people who have their interconnections completed by the deadline. [Note: On Tuesday the ACC amended the rules to include those who submit applications before the deadline.]
China Aims to Spend at Least $360 Billion on Renewable Energy by 2020. China is funding a huge push to add renewables to its energy grid, both to lower its ridiculously high pollution levels and to try and dominate the world's growing renewable energy markets.
To sum up: U.S. cities have less pollution than they had decades ago and far less pollution than China's smog-choked cities, but courtesy of the expected pro-fossil-fuels, anti-regulation push from the Trump administration, we may slide backwards while China pushes forward. The Brave New Trump Era could harm our environment and our health while it slows our technological advances in the renewable energy arena and loses us potential business worldwide.
The headline for a fourth story from a few days ago reads, Arizona still a force in solar power, despite other states' gains. It's about our growing solar energy sector, which is second in the nation to California. Apparently, we're OK with private businesses setting up vast solar power arrays so they can make lots of money off our abundant sunshine, but we're not so OK with encouraging individual homeowners to fill unused space on their rooftops with solar panels by giving them fair compensation for the energy they produce. Corporate and home solar both reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but home solar can also reduce corporate profits, and that's just not the Arizona way.
Tags: Fossil fuels , Renewable energy , China , Arizona Corporation Commission
Monday, December 12, 2016
The UA is renowned worldwide for its efforts in space exploration—with involvement in multiple satellite launches, observatories, and projects with NASA, the school is a crucial arm of space exploration in the United States.
However, it comes at a cost.
“We had a little over $600 million in research expenditures, which placed us thirty-third in the country,” said Timothy Swindle, the director and department head at the Lunar and Planetary Lab, speaking of the last fiscal year.
$120 million of that fell under astronomy, as classified by the National Science Foundation.
As far as physical sciences go—physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, and planetary sciences—the UA ranked third in funding, Swindle said, totaling almost $165 million.
In terms of spending, the University of California Berkeley, which was second to Arizona in astronomy funding, spent “a little more than half of what UA did,” Swindle said. “The nation’s universities as a whole spent $567 million.”
Of that total, more than twenty percent was spent at the UA.
“There are only two schools, that being Cal Tech and Johns Hopkins, that spent more on physical sciences total than we did on this category that NSF calls astronomy,” he said.
The UA, however, still spends more than any Ivy League school on astronomy, making it a major hotbed for the science. But those tens of millions of dollars must come from somewhere.
“Certainly, all the money for the space program projects comes from NASA,” said Buell Jannuzi, head of the department of Astronomy at the UA. Christine Hoekenga, a social media lead for the OSIRIS-REx mission said the mission cost $805 million, every penny of which came from NASA. The total did not include the rocket the spacecraft was launched on.
However, with the number of critical space exploration efforts the UA is involved in, the money is being spent wisely.
Much of the astronomy department’s efforts involve mirror telescopes, which are located on Mount Graham and Mount Hopkins. The UA is involved in the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, scheduled to be completed in 2025.
Being built at Chile's Las Campanas Observatory the project aims to answer several critical questions about the universe, such as how the first galaxies formed, what materials make up the universe, and ultimately, what the fate of the universe may be, according to the Giant Magellan Telescope website.
The construction of the telescope involves planning and cooperation with many other universities around the world, Jannuzi said. “We’re partnered with many other groups, including the University of Chicago, Harvard, the Carnegie Institution in Washington… in the partnership to build the Giant Magellan Telescope,” he said.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Sustainability scholars from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and Mexico will meet with UA researchers and Tucson community members to talk about climate change and the earth's environment.
According to UANews, conference organizers are expecting 230 community members to attend the conference including international dignitaries, students and faculty. This is a free, all-ages event and space is limited. Online registration is now closed but attendees are encourages to register in-person the day of the conference.
For more information click here.
Tags: food , thirsty , water , dry , arid , place , global , warming , global warming , climate change , Tucson stuff
