This Is Drivel

Tag: space geekery

  • spacewalk selfie

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    People have been taking selfies since the camera was invented. Astronauts are no more immune to the temptation to snap photos of themselves while they’re on the job than the rest of us are. Here’s astronaut Jessica Meir, who is currently orbiting her home planet aboard the International Space Station, as she snapped a photo Read.

  • Chicago day two

    We spent most of our second day in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry, but before that we had to find a place to get some breakfast, which I thought would be relatively easy because there is no shortage of places to eat in Chicago if you’re okay with waiting for an hour Read.

  • science twitter

    Science Twitter has been all kinds of fascinating these past few days! Just a few things I’ve learned: There’s a robot spacecraft known as Juno that’s been orbiting Jupiter for a little more than a year. It dives in for an up-close look-see to do it’s sciencey thing, then spins waaayyy far away to get Read.

  • Fare thee well, Dick Gordon

    A fair wind and following seas to you, Dick Gordon, and thank you. Command Module pilot Dick Gordon in his spacecraft (NASA photo) Read.

  • Pluto

    “So what do you think,” I asked My Darling B the other night, over the dinner table, “is Pluto a planet, or isn’t it?” I’ve tried many times to engage B on all kinds of different subjects that flip my space geek switch – the vastness of cosmology, the mind-blowing revelations of physics, the just Read.

  • Wanderers

    Very cool. Here’s a gallery of still shots and some background about the places – real places! – in the solar system that you’re looking at in the video. Read.

  • Rosetta

    After a corkscrew-crazy ten-year trip circling the solar system over and over to catch up with comet 67P C-G, the Rosetta spacecraft has finally entered orbit and sent back some fantastic photographs of the comet before sending a lander to its surface and, ultimately, staying with the comet as it makes its closest approach to Read.

  • footprint

    “We have been given eyes to see what the lightyear worlds cannot see of themselves,” Ray Bradbury wrote. “We have been given hands to touch the miraculous. We’ve been given hearts to know the incredible. Can we shrink back to bed in our funeral clothes?” Read.

  • tadpole

    I’ve been looking at this awesome photo all week: That’s the Tadpole Galaxy, a spiral galaxy that got one of its arms ripped off by another galaxy that passed a little too close by. Pretty mind-blowing, isn’t it? But what got me staring at this photo for a whole week was when I realized that Read.

  • Hayden Planetarium

    There’s an IQ test to get into the Hayden Planetarium but they don’t tell you about that when you buy your tickets. The planetarium itself looks like a huge sphere on stilts inside a glass box that is the Rose Center for Earth and Space. Wow. I would give up a kidney to work in Read.

photo of the author and the author's best friend