Learning: It's What's Cool

This week has been non-stop learning.

I have learned the difference between a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and a Solar Flare. Most people think they're the same thing, but they're not.

I have learned an awful lot about something called Spectroscopy. Astronomers use spectroscopy to study the chemical makeup of distant stars and planetary bodies, and it's not as difficult as you might think.

I have learned why more than 12 different wavelengths of solar light are observed from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and how to interpret what I'm seeing (though I have not yet memorized this). By the way, the video embedded here is from a channel called A171. This channel is especially good at showing coronal loops - the arcs extending off of the Sun where plasma moves along magnetic field lines. The brightest spots seen here are locations where the magnetic field near the surface is exceptionally strong. It's also self-updating, so it pretty much shows you the past two days of activity.

(Reader's note: Firefox thinks this video is a security problem. It's not. Next to the "HTTP" in the URL, you might have to disable protection on this page to see the video. It's worth it.)


For more data go to http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/

By the way, folks, that is not what the sun looks like to the naked eye. If you could look at the sun with the naked eye (which you shouldn't... because it will become a blind eye), it would look like this:

 

The Sun gives off light, and light is white. The sun is not red, orange, or yellow. It is white.

I have learned that, when I don't watch much TV (and have a full hour for lunch), I can absolutely destroy books. I'm on my third book of the summer. I'm reading Failure Is Not An Option by Gene Kranz, one of the original NASA flight controllers. You might remember seeing him in the movie Apollo 13, played by Ed Harris.

I learned that Gene Kranz didn't start out as the stoic, controlled, in-charge person he ultimately became at NASA. He grew into that role slowly over the course of the Mercury and Gemini programs, under the guidance of other individuals within NASA. Something for me to keep in mind for the future.

I learned I enjoy reading about historic spacecraft and aircraft, then going upstairs to see the historic spacecraft and aircraft I just read about. One of the chapters in Kranz's book is about John Glenn's Friendship 7 mission, and some emergency troubleshooting they had to do when a sensor detected the heat shield had come lose. Long story short, they decided to re-enter with the re-entry rocket pack (retro-pack) still attached, instead of cutting it lose like they normally would. I wondered if there would be any visible charring patterns to the spacecraft because of the retro-pack.

So, I went upstairs to look. (There was nothing out of the ordinary).

My next book will be about the Wright Brothers. I had lunch with the author on Monday.

I learned that, if you want to get something done, sometimes you have to come to DC. Elon Musk, the president of SpaceX, unveiled two weeks ago the Dragon V2, their design for a manned space vehicle they hope will win a NASA contract to take astronauts to Earth orbit and the ISS.

Since he figured Congress is making many of the decisions about the manned space program, he decided to bring the Dragon V2 to DC, and let any congressmen or senators climb aboard a "real 21st century spacecraft." I don't know how many did, but I just had to go check it out and get a photo of the future.

This weekend, I won't be exploring DC. I'll be headed back to Iowa for one of my best friend's weddings.

Shameless plug: Next weekend, I'm leaving DC again. My sister is running for Miss Wisconsin. Basically, if she raises enough money for charity, she's automatically in the top 10. Anyone with a dollar or two to spare should visit this page to vote for her: http://www.misswisconsin.com/vote/

'till next time!