Moon Musings

A stunning anniversary just passed, and it's been on my mind all weekend.

On December 19, 1972, upon the splashdown return of Apollo 17, there were 12 men on planet Earth who knew what it was like to walk on the surface of our Moon. This fact remained true for true for 18 years and 7 months.

Then, in August 1991, James Irwin (Apollo 15) died of a heart attack at age 61.

In 1998, Alan Shepard (Apollo 14) died of leukemia at age 74.

In 1999, Pete Conrad (Apollo 12) was killed in a motorcycle crash at age 69.

In 2012, Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11) died of heart failure at age 82.

Today, there are 8 men left who remember traveling to and working on the moon.

• Buzz Aldrin turns 85 years old in January.
• Ed Mitchell and John Young are also both 84. 
• Alan Bean and David Scott are both 82. 
• Gene Cernan is 80.
• Jack Schmitt and Charles Duke are both 79.
  

In less than one year, every single man who walked on the Moon will be an octogenarian.

Even if the youngest of them make it in to their 90s or to 100, will they see another Moon mission? Or perhaps, as has been hot news this year, BEYOND the moon? Will they watch astronauts who are American or Chinese? Male or female? Who will be President in that era? Will it be just as inspiring to the world?

Some think we could pull off a Moon mission or beyond by 2020, though with how administrations roll, it will be more like 2025.

• At that point, Buzz Aldrin would be 95. 
• Ed Mitchell and John Young would both be 94. 
• Alan Bean and David Scott would both be 93. 
• Gene Cernan would be 91. 
• Jack Schmitt would be 90. 
• Charles Duke would be 89. 

I wonder, will they make it? Statistically, we can expect to lose a few more of their tiny club before we see a return to the lunar surface, given that even the best ideas are still in the planning stages. Anything could suffer cancellation again, in favor of Mars, Asteroids, or on the altar of war, depression or unforseen disaster.

So, when we go back, if we go back, will anyone alive personally remember what it was like to go the Moon?

Something to ponder.

FREE 2015 "Year In Space" Calendar

Readers and Tweeters! Some lucky SpaceTwit is going to win a stunningly gorgeous 2015 Year In Space Calender, hot off Starry Messenger Press, published in cooperation with The Planetary Society.

And when I say SpaceTwit, I mean that in the nicest possible way. Because all you have to do to enter the contest is tweet about the new calendar to spread the word.

Designer Steve Cariddi created this large-format 2015 Year In Space Calendar to appeal to space enthusiasts of all ages, and the introduction was written by everyone's favorite Science Guy, Bill Nye!

This beautiful creation has his stamp of approval, and it's not difficult to see why. I got my hot little hands on it, and have been absorbed for hours. The photography is stunning, and every square centimeter is packed with colorful collages, planets, astronauts, space crafts, and profiles of famous scientists. The calendar grids feature moon phases, sky-gazing guides, space exploration milestones throughout history and fun space facts.

TO ENTER THE TWEETSTORM

Circulate any of the tweets below, or create your own tweet with the calendar link, and CC: back to my account so I know to enter your Twit-handle in the drawing.

Win a FREE Year In Space 2015 calendar w/fabulous space photographs! http://bit.ly/1F5EBsG Intro by Bill Nye @TheScienceGuy cc @pillownaut

Win a FREE Year In Space 2015 Calendar http://bit.ly/1F5EBsG Created by @YearInSpace & @exploreplanets the Planetary Society cc @pillownaut

EVERYONE who tweets will also get a re-tweet from me from somewhere in their recent stream, and an inclusion in my next #FF round for your Klouting pleasure! Next Monday morning (December 8, 2014), we will choose a winner at random and notify everyone.

Click to see Calendar Pages!

And Get This: you get a special discount for being a Pillow Astronaut Reader and Tweeter! Of course, only one person can win the free prize, so when the rest of you purchase multiples for your kids for Christmas, and I know you will, check out the discount grid, alongside FREE U.S. shipping and lowered international shipping.

Check in the box for the Internet Discount, which ranges from 22% to 39%, depending on quantity ordered; then in the comment section, let them know Pillownaut sent you!

If you do not have a Twitter account, feel free to share this article to Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, or Tumblr!  Then, leave me a comment here on this blog post to let me know! Anyone who shares is entered. :)

Wild Black Yonder

Arthur Darris of Chicago, IL emailed me with the following question; upon discussion over the past couple days, he said I could use our [slightly paraphrased] conversation as a blog post. Regarding the mention of Radio Telescope technology on my last Trivia Series, Arthur asks:

There is something I have wondered about as we search for radio signals from space hoping to pick up signs of life. Why radio? Is it because that is what we use? I thought I read that our own signals aren't reaching deep space as once thought... don't they degrade as they travel? Maybe ETs don't want to interfere with our natural development so they ensure we do NOT detect them. Maybe they communicate in ways we cannot detect yet? But I never hear anyone say this when they talk about SETI. If we learned how to travel beyond our solar system, wouldn't we also need a faster way to communicate?

That tiny rainbow band is all humans can see!

Why radio waves? That is a long and monumental answer, packed with delightfully nerdy details, but the short version is: because radio waves are THERE.

Radio waves are everywhere. They are "universal" in the literal sense of the word! Truly, humans did not invent and emit them to keep up with Top 40 Hits. ;)

Electromagnetic radiation transports energy at the speed of light. Radio waves are just one form; other forms include visible light [to human eyes], X-rays, infrared, microwaves, etc.  Electromagnetic radiation is widely detected, easily received, can be easily generated artificially, and lasts across vast distances… even through massive dust clouds.

Use of the radio spectrum is regulated by
governments through frequency allocation

Any other techie planet will discover those waves, as we did, and they'll find that tons of things in the cosmos emit all sorts of waves.

Once the wave  properties are examined, any scientific observers would notice oscillation, which determines frequencies. The downside is the enormous spectrum of possible frequencies; they won't know ours, and we won't know theirs. And yes, they degrade over distance, since they are forms of energy. Everything degrades over time and distance.

So hey, let's point a big dish at the sky to collect radiation in high concentrations and amplify frequencies! Or how about a whole pack of dishes? The more dishes you have working together to provide focus, the more accurately faraway sources of various signals can be pinpointed and examined for location, distance, motion, etc. Hence, arrays.

Same Galaxy, Different Wavelengths

I had a college professor who was very down on arraying, or as he called it "desperately listening to invisibility" LOL, but I don't think it's so far-fetched. Neither does SETI, and hopefully SETI will survive. We could get lucky. In fact, many scientists believe that radio signals will be our ultimate communication, and not space travel . Our chances of finding other civilizations via Star Trekian propulsion is not currently possible, given time and distances between possible habitable planets – even if we detect them from a vast distance.

Interestingly, according to one sample, 1 in 5 people believe aliens already live among us... disguised! I tend to think of this as the "badly informed by Hollywood" tinfoil hat crowd, but who knows – the joke may one day be all on us skeptics.

If you know what this is... you're old.

Sorry. I meant that to be brief. Or maybe it was. I nut-shelled. But you can also find huge amounts of interesting data if you Google "Radio Astronomy."

Telescopin' Trivia

Peak Meteor Shower time! Hope everyone is enjoying the Leonids! And what better time to appreciate our telescopes-- which often translates into coveting a newer, better, bigger one.

Conventional history records that German-born Hans Lippershey invented the telescope in 1608, but legend has it that the device was actually invented years earlier by children playing with lenses in his shop where he created eye-spectacles. Other stories say his apprentice first hit upon the idea of doubling refracting lenses. Nonetheless, Lunar Crater Lippershey is named after him, and not the help.

Coastal merchants were the first competitive consumers of early telescopes, using them to spot approaching trade ships; certainly sailors also found them handy when scanning for land masses -- but Galileo Galilei was the first to use one for astronomy. Turning the telescope heavenward, he found the Galilean moons, noted the phases of planet Venus and also analyzed and described sun spots.


Most of the world's largest optical telescopes (listed by aperture) are now built in remote areas, or atop remote peaks, so as to operational in clean, thin air.

For over 70 years, the largest telescope in the world was located at Birr Castle in Ireland. The 40-ton reflecting telescope with a 3-ton mirror, built by the Earl of Rosse in 1845, was nicknamed the “Leviathan of Parsonstown”. Suspended between two giant stone walls, the telescope offered views of Jupiter and one was later used to observe nebulae.

Leviathan

Today, the largest telescope in the world is the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain).

From 1993 (when fitted with corrective lenses after deployment) to the present, the Hubble Space Telescope has been the source of more than 25% of all published astronomy research papers. Funny how you never hear anyone gripe anymore that it was 7 years late and over-budget.


Radio Telescopes that pick up celestial radio waves instead of light, being all the modern rage, now number over 100 and span the globe. Singular dishes and arrays can be found in both Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Antarctica. There have even been two in space!

The majority of professional astronomers don't even look through eye-pieces anymore. Telescopes are largely operated remotely with computers! Even casual computer users can access robotic observatories from home now. Want to try an internet-based telescope? Go to Seeing In The Dark at Cornell University's Astronomy Department.

Happy Carl Sagan Day 2014!

Happy, happy Sixth Annual Carl Sagan Day!

This year's theme is,unshockingly, "COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey," and once again, Florida's Broward College has planned awesome lectures, planetarium shows, children's activities, educator workshops, COSMOS episodes, telescope instruction, and star-gazing.  The celebration includes a fundraiser dinner to honor what would have been Sagan's 80th birthday.

Most folks recognize Carl from COSMOS in the 1980s, the most widely watched program in PBS history! No surprise, the reboot this past year with Neil deGasse Tyson was also incredibly popular! I've blogged numerous times about my idolization of his highly-quotable written material, my great love for his part in the Voyager Golden Records and their longevity, and last year, I was so pleased to visit a major bucket list item, the Carl Sagan Planet Walk scale solar system!

Carl taught at Cornell and Harvard universities, and worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Other titles included technology officer of the Icarus planetary research journal, Planetary Science Chair at the Astronomical Society, Astronomy Chairman at the Advancement of Science Association, and Co-Founder of the Planetary Society, the Earth's largest space-interest group.

Carl Sagan passed away in December 1996 at the age of 62, and was buried in New York (Lakeview Cemetery, Ithaca) right beside his parents.

An astronomer, philosopher, professor and NASA consultant, Carl Sagan won 30 public awards, published over 600 scientific articles and authored or co-authored 20 books. I’ll never weary of recommending Pale Blue Dot to anyone who will listen!  The unmanned Mars Pathfinder spacecraft was renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station in 1997. Asteroid 2709 Sagan is also named in his honor.

Sagan was instrumental in the early Mariner missions to Venus, determined landing sites on Mars for the Viking Lander probes, and also assembled the first physical messages sent into space.  He was instrumental in establishing the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence(SETI), urging the use of radio telescopes to detect signals from other intelligent life. Along with Frank Drake, he also composed the Arecibo message, beamed once into space in 1974.

He's one of those people who makes you scratch your head and think, "What the heck have I been DOING with my time?!"

Carl had the ability to make space "knowable" to audiences of all ages. He was known for popularizing  science in a way that inspired people to understand both our insignificance in the larger universe, but also, paradoxically, the absolutely precious nature of our enormously unlikely existence.

Follow me on Twitter today for #TriviaThursday, all day today, which is all about Carl Sagan's life, works, activism, and scientific accomplisments!  Speaking for space geeks everywhere... thanks a billion, Carl.

Free COSMOS and FIREFLY Shirts Giveaway!

7/17
CONTEST HAS CONCLUDED AND WINNERS HAVE BEEN CONTACTED.
THANKS TO ALL THE AWESOME BROWNCOATS WHO PARTICIPATED! 

Browncoats! Spacetweeps!  To celebrate the Cosmos television series DVD release, GeekChicTees is offering free shirts to lucky winners who help us sing the gospel of Carl Sagan's science series remake, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson! 

Click to Order COSMOS

All original and new COSMOS episodes are now available on DVD and Blu-Ray from National Geographic. And since Captain Mal's Wisdom always helps us get the word out to space cadets of all stripes, we're also giving away one free Firefly shirt!

 The contest will run for one week, today through next Thursday (July 10th - 17th).

Click to enter T-shirt Giveaway!

At the end, we will let the [slightly confused]cat pick two names at random (SRSLY!).  he winners, upon sending clothing size and address confidentially, get to pick their favorite products from the GeekChic Tees catalogue!

To enter the contest for either free T-shirt, pop over to our Rafflecopter Giveaway Page and choose ways to enter on Twitter and Facebook.

Or, make up one of your own tweets, but be sure to include, AT MINIMUM: the link to the contest, both Twitter handles, the hashtag #COSMOS.

Click on picture to enter contest!

If you are not on Twitter or Facebook, you can also share this page to Tumblr, Pinterest, and/or Google+ and comment on this blog post to say you have done so. We'll be watching all new messages!

Enter as many times as you like, on as many platforms as you like. We'll go check them out! Every follow, share, and tweet counts as an entry

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: Midnight PST, July 16th!
Winner will be announced on the morning of July 17, 2014.
 

Pillownaut Hiatus

With my heartfelt love and thanks to all of my wonderful long time readers, I'm sorry to announce Pillow Astronaut is being put on hiatus while I contend with some elderly family members with medical issues.

I hope you will remain a follower until I am able to resume writing again!
I hope you will keep me in your favorites or your feed.
I hope to return, soon!

~ Heather

The Henrietta Telescope

I wish I could stop finding stories about amazing women who made incredible discoveries, only to find certain men took credit for their work and dismissively assigned them to obscurity, until an era where people were comfortable (though still not entirely happy) about giving women proper credit.

While I do love getting to the truth of these stories, I just wish there weren't so many of them.

Silent Sky - Theatreworks, Mountain View performance

This past weekend, NASA Kepler scientist Natalie Batalha spoke at the "Leading Ladies" program for Theatreworks in Mountain View, discussing the roles of women in science history, the precious few in astronomy fields, and how far we have come in encouraging girls to trust their obvious abilities in STEM areas -- before society trains them to believe they "shouldn't" have any.

Following her spirited presentation was a performance of "Silent Sky" by Lauren Gunderson, a powerful play based on the life of Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921). I cried for the beauty and wonder of science at the end. (I think the last time I cried in a theatre, Spock had just died at the end of Star Trek II.)

After earning her bachelor's at Radcliffe, Henrietta Leavitt was one of the early women "computers" hired by Harvard, to document stars. With the largest "Great Refractor" telescope of the day, Edward C. Pickering captured star fields on glass photographic plates, which were then turned over to the women for measurements and exhaustive, meticulous records.

The so-called "Pickering's Harem" in the 1890s.
In reality? ASTRONOMERS.

Enduring indignities of being called "Pickering's Harem" or simply being denied use of telescopes to sit in the "girl's area" to work on men's research projects instead of their own, Henrietta and her co-workers nonetheless made their share of crucial contributions and discoveries.

Three characters are craftily brought to life against the historical backdrop of turn-of-the-century astronomical technology, Einstein's famed 1905 publishing of special relativity, and the first ringing telephone:

Williamina Fleming catalogued more than 10,000 stars, and her discoveries included 10 novae, 59 nebulae (including the famed Horsehead Nebula), 310 variable stars, and White Dwarfs.

Annie Jump Cannon catalogued 230,000+ stars, designed the stellar classification system in the Draper catalog (still used today!), and remains the only single female to win the Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.

Henrietta Leavitt, holding at arm's length all the pressures to be married and bear children instead of earn a living, was known for staying up all hours to study the finer points of the Magellanic Cloud, comparing the brightness of 2,000+ stars.  Resulting from this work, Henrietta's most prominent triumph was discovering a relationship between the period and luminosity of classical Cepheid stars (published in 1908, and again with further evidence in 1912).

Her discovery would change all of astronomy.

These women were paid less than the Harvard secretaries of the era, and a mere fraction of what the male astronomers made.

Annie Cannon and Henrietta Leavitt
Harvard College Observatory (HCO), 1918

The enduring friendship of all the women through the years came alive on stage, with some poetic license, but artfully illustrating both their blatant and subtle struggles in the male-dominated workplace, at a time when women were also aiming at the right to vote.  The humorous highlight of the play for me was when a suffragette capitalized on a line callback about bloomers by passing that fashion entirely, and being bold enough to wear (gasp!) PANTS. 

Today, Leavitt's accomplishments can hardly be over-stated, and the message of the play was clear: no amount of gender bias can quell natural passion and curiosity. They will shine through. Natalie Batalha's words rang in my ears again and again through this riveting theatrical portrayal of women who had paved the way for us: "The spirit of exploration has no gender."

Leavitt's discovery, now simply referred to as the "Period-Luminosity Relation," would prove repeatedly to be the foundation for our modern understanding of cosmological distances.

Silent Sky - Credit to Theatreworks

Edwin Hubble acknowledged his use of Henrietta Leavitt's work, though in his own paper, credited not the woman who had actually done all the precision work, but one of the advisers at Harvard (who insisted "his interpretation" of Leavitt's discovery was more important than her decades of actual findings). And of course, you'll notice whose house is a National Historic Landmark and who has a namesake space telescope.  Hint: Not Henrietta Leavitt.

Hubble later claimed Leavitt indeed deserved a Nobel Prize, and she may very well have received one, had she not perished from cancer before this could be accomplished. Of her own 35 academic papers, most were published posthumously.  And while Henrietta does have Asteroid 5383 named for her, I think it's time for an observatory named after a woman astronomer.

Also, Lauren Gunderson deserves a comet.

All NASA Twitter Feeds

I occasionally check the NASA Connect pages for new things... and my, what an explosion over the past year! However, their list is slightly out-of-date. Truly, they need someone like me to curate this for them -- alas, no one has made me QUEEN yet.

I was one of those folks who didn't quite understand Twitter when I signed up to Tweet, but over time have seen the fascination with micro-blogging in the 140-character culture. So! If you're interested in keeping up with NASA facilities and missions, here is the full spate of NASA Twitter feeds... along with the current snapshot of followers:

@AsteroidWatch
JPL's Near Earth Objects (Pasadena, CA) - 1,128,870

@AstrobiologyNAI
NASA Astrobiology Institute (ARC) - 881,650

@AstroRobonaut
Humanoid Robot in orbit (ISS) - 63,320

@CassiniSaturn
Saturn Solar System Studies (JPL) - 341,111

@Commercial_Crew
Official Commercial Crew Program (KSC) - 18,329

@ChandraXray
Chandra Observatory (MSFC) - 49,950

@DESERT_RATS
Desert Analog Projects - 45,018

@EarthVitalSigns
Eyes On The Earth (JPL) - 91,314

@HMP
NASA / CSA collaborative Haughton Mars Project (Devon Island, Arctic) - 1,022

@HubbleDaily
Daily Photographs from Hubble Space Telescope (1 of 3 Hubble Accounts) - 11,542

@HubbleTelescope
Hubblesite News for the Hubble Space Telescope (1 of 3 Hubble Accounts) - 25, 465

@InnovateDotNASA
Technology Crowd-sourcing (HQ) - 348

@ISS_Research
International Space Station (ISS) - 77,032

@J2XEngine
J2X Rocket Engine (MSFC) - 2,053

@JPL_Technology
Office of the Chief Technologist (Pasadena, CA) - 555

@KSCLibrary
Kennedy Space Center Research Materials (Cape Canaveral, FL) - 555

@LCROSS_NASA
Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Ames) - 26,775

@LRO_NASA
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (Greenbelt, MD) - 117,904

@MarsCuriosity
Curiosity Rover (JPL / KSC) - 1,472,670

@MarsPhoenix
Phoenix Mars Lander on red planet polar region (JPL) - 221,063

@MarsRovers
Spirit and Opportunity (JPL) - 221,063

@MAVEN2Mars
Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission - 24,090

@MESSENGER2011
MErcury Surface Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission - 35,326

@MorpheusLander
Planetary Lander Prototype (Autonomous Landing) - 7,420

 @NASA
News From NASA - 5,780,540
I love that this has nearly 6 million now!

@NASA360
Production Team and TV Show - 33,165

@NASAAmes
Ames Research Center (Mountain View, CA) - 86,782

@NASABeAMartian
Exploration games for planet Mars (JPL) - 3,511

@NASAblueshift
Blogs and podcasts (GSFC) - 36,547

@NASAcio
Office of the Chief Information Officer - 4,742

@NASAData
Public NASA datasets catalog - 1,746

@NASADryden
Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, CA) - 72,761
   *Note this center has recently been renamed to NASA Armstrong

@NASAedu
NASA Education Resources (HQ) - 23,057

@NASAFermi
Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope - 25,810

@NASAGISS
Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GSFC New York) - 1,187

@NASAglenn
Glenn Research Center (Cleveland, OH) - 4,447

@NASAGlory
Glory Mission Energy Balance - 6,303

@NASAGoddard
Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD) - 135,623

@NASAhistory
History of NASA (Washington DC) - 129,621

@NASAHumanHealth
Human Health and Performance Center - 1,546

@NASAHurricane
Hurricane / Cyclone Watch (Greenbelt, MD) - 302,735

@NASAIVV
Independent Verification and Validation Facility (Fairmon, WV) - 155

@NASAJPL
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA) - 562,383

@NASAJPL_Edu
Resources for Teachers/Students + Internship opportunities (Pasadena, CA) - 30,872

@NASAJuno
Jupiter Mission (JPL) - 46,877

@NASAKennedy
Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral, FL) - 595,040

@NASAKepler
Kepler Mission (Ames) - 329,468

@NASALADEE
Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer lunar mission (Ames) - 37,730

@NASALaserComm
Laser Communication (LLCD & LCRD) Demonstration Missions (GFRC) - 701

@NASAMightyEagle
Robotic Lander Prototype (MSFC) - 720

@NASANPP
Suomi NPP Polar orbiting satellite (GSFC) - 7,455

@NASANuStar
Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (CalTech) - 7,320

@NASAOIG
Office of the Inspector General (Washington D.C.) - 735

@NASAPeople
NASA workers and outreach to participants of NASA projects - 3,113

@NASAPrize
Centennial Challenge (Washington D.C.) - 329,468

@NASASCaN
Space Communications and Navigation (JPL) -295

@NASAScienceCast
Short videos of science topics and missions -5,014

@NASASocial
Live-tweeted mission events at NASA socials (formerly "Tweetups") -110,102

@NASASolarSystem
Planetary Science Division -14,590

@nasaspaceplace
Space Place for elementary school students (JPL) -8,909

@NASASpinoff
NASA-Derived Technologies on Earth -34,178

@NASAspitzer
Spitzer Space Telescope, the infrared Great Observatory -24,444

@NASAStennis
Stennis Space Center (Michoud, MS) - 34,905

@NASASwift
Study of gamma ray bursts, X-ray, ultraviolet, afterglows - 2,803

@NASATechBriefs
Engineering solutions for design and manufacturing - 10,897

@NASATechPartner
Public & private technology partnerships and collaborations (Moffett Field, CA)- 151

@NASAVoyager
Voyager I and II Spacecrafts - 70,642

@NASAWavelength
Science Mission Directorate educational materials (HQ) - 1,048

@NASAWebbTelescp
James Webb Telescope (Greenbelt, MD) - 107,150

@NASAWhatonEarth
Earth science news team (Greenbelt, MD) - 7,403


@NASAXrocks
NASA X Television Show (Hampton, VA) - 1,97607,150

@NASA_Airborne
Airborne Science Program - 7,989

@NASA_APPEL
Academy of Program / Project & Engineering Leadership (Washington, DC) - 14,201

@NASA_ARES
Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate (JSC) - 28

@NASA_Astronauts
Updates on astronaut activities - 232,330

@NASA_Dawn
Ion propulsion craft on mission to Asteroids (Vesta/Ceres) - 21,299

@NASA_eClips
NASA Educational Short Films - 8,211
... Ha, get it? ECLIPS? ;) Nice.

@NASA_Edge
Production Team and TV Show - 48,895

@NASAenvcomm
NASA Environmental Management -3,572

@NASA_EO
Earth Observatory (Greenbelt, MD) - 115,050

@NASA_es
NASA en español; News from NASA in Spanish - 72,685

@NASA_GESDISC
Goddard Earth Sciences Data (GSFC) - 4,232

@NASA_Giovanni
Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization & Analysis Infrastructure (GSFC) - 1,224

@NASA_Hubble
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) (1 of 3 Hubble Accounts) - 52,287

@NASA_ICE
ICESat: Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite - 36,820

@NASA_Johnson
Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX) - 192,700

@NASA_LandSat
Earth Satellite Missions managed by NASA and USGS (Greenbelt, MD) - 16,185

@NASA_Langley
Langley Research Center (Hampton, VA) - 93,526

@NASA_Lunar
Moon science (Ames) - 52,374

@NASA_LSP
Launch Services Program (KSC) - 25,217

@NASA_Marshall
Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, AL) - 59,270

@NASA_MMS
Magnetospheric Multi-Scale mission (GSFC) - 3,874

@NASA_NAS
Advanced Supercomputing Division (Moffet Field, CA) - 800

@NASA_NEEMO
NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (Atlantic Ocean!) - 14,924

@NASA_NSSC
Shared Services Center at Stennis (Michoud, MS) - 3,895

@NASA_OOREOS
Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses nanosatellite (Ames) - 2,620

@NASA_Orion
Deep Space Human Exploration Spacecraft / Capsule - 62,057

@NASA_Rain
GPM / TRMM Precipitation Measurement missions (GFSC) - 5,185

@NASA_SatServ
Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (Greenbelt, MD) - 4,122

@NASA_SDO
Solar Dynamics Observatory (Greenbelt, MD) - 15,752


@NASA_SLS
Space Launch System heavy launch vehicle (Huntsville, AL) - 264

@NASA_SMAP
Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission (JPL and GSFC) - 264

@NASA_SpaceGrant
National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program - 205

@NASA_Supercomp
Supercomputers and scientific discoveries - 4,785

@NASA_STI
Scientific and Technical Information - 17,460
 
@NASA_Technology
Space technology at NASA (Washington D.C.) - 214,092

@NASA_TV
NASA Television Programming Schedule - 5,277

@NASA_Wallops
Wallops Flight Facility (Wallops Island, VA) - 57,495

@openNASA
Transparent Communication for the space agency (Washington D.C.) - 2,297

@PlanetQuest
Exoplanet Exploration Program (JPL) - 37,214

@scijinks
Global Weather Patterns (JPL) - 4,490

@SOFIAtelescope
NASA Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy - 26,674

@VanAllenProbes
Mission to Earth's radiation belts - 3,365

@WISE_Mission
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission / NEOWISE asteroid hunter - 22,360

@WomenNASA
STEM outreach for young women students - 6,718

Wow, 115 Twitter accounts, and still adding more!

Interestingly, the only NASA feeds with more followers than the administrative accounts of the centers are the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover and Asteroid Watch! It would seem the two largest human interests are: exploring and keeping up with what might be smashing into Earth.

The feed that has showed the most explosive growth over the past two years? NASA Voyager, screaming from under 800 in 2010 to over 70 thousand today!

Note, the above list does not include individual astronauts, as many have left NASA over the years, of course. For a full list of all tweeting current and former astronauts from various agencies, see the master list and forum at CollectSpace.

Space Unites also compiled a wonderful list of all the main Twitter accounts of all the Space Agencies Worldwide.

Seeking Space Zen

Around this time each year, since Barack Obama took office, I have written about his promises regarding the space agency. I'm skipping it this year. Moreover, I took a break from blogging altogether this past month. The writing on the Social Media wall is that blogs may wane in favor of visually richer, mobile-friendly platforms, particularly for people who want quick news and information.

So why this "opinion piece," when I generally write so few essays?? Call it therapy.

Here's why NASA is important and needs proper funding [Skip!]
Here's why NASA is important and needs proper funding [Skip!]
Here's why NASA is important and needs proper funding [Skip!]

I'm tired. I'm jaded. I'm disillusioned.

I'm weary of preaching to the choir of other space nerds who already love what I love, understand what I understand, and appreciate what I appreciate. I love my job, and I love trying to reach out to new people. I love having conversations where I can help educate others about technology spinoffs from space missions, or how much their lifestyle depends on the hardware orbiting our planet, put there by rockets.

Sure, I've run into plenty of people who suffer from the "Why Do We Waste Money In Space When We Have Problems On Earth" delusions, I've always found this occupational hazard to be a thrill, and it's particularly satisfying to turn someone around into a NASA-supporting convert if possible. It happens with individuals more often than you'd think -- so why can't we convince CONGRESS?

This year, I had no inclination or energy to beat an essentially deceased equine. I should have started blogging again about a week ago, but feared that anything I wrote would be so depressing as to crash everyone's holiday buzz. I chose instead to concentrate on new social media platforms that may prove to have better outreach value, but continued to feel guilty that I was harboring a "dirty little secret," and not speaking about my true feelings.

I finally decided, that for all the time I spend being a cheerleader, it would be disingenuous not to provide the other side of how we space advocates feel sometimes. The fact of the matter is, sometimes hoping for something that never happens just plain sucks.

Of NASA's original 7 astronauts, only 1 is still alive today, with no clear hope that humanity is indeed on its way to Mars. Of NASA's 12 Moon-Walkers, 4 have died, and 40+ years have passed with no trips back to the lunar surface.

Yeah. Kinda feels like that.

We're always, always afraid of budget cuts. We're always afraid of layoffs. We're always up against legislators who have no background in science. We're always losing resources for science in a society that depends  upon science. We're always surrounded by "lowest bidder" mentality. We're always up against a population who have only a meager understanding of why efforts in space are crucial -- for education, government, daily life, and for remaining at the forefront of Earth's leadership pyramid.

There are no new space promises. President Obama indeed has a great track record in doing what he says he will do, and I'm forever grateful he came through with an additional Shuttle mission before thousands of jobs were lost from that program, the extension of the International Space Station, and support for commercial space endeavours -- but the fact remains that we seem to lose ground, year after year.

It's always one step forward and two steps back.

Many people dislike Americans being ferried to the ISS via Soyuz, compliments of the dependable Russian space agency, who make up for in reliable methodology what they lack in funds. I am actually pleased to see this collaboration between nations, because I think we need to begin behaving like an EARTH, and not a collection of boundary-conscious cults. I'm far more concerned that NASA announced the END to this collaboration, with no long-term plan for a viable heavy launch vehicle even on the drafting board!

Common sense gets lost in the cacophony of Duck Dynasty-ish mindset that consistently caters to the lowest common denominator of a culture that actually expects to remain globally prevalent and dominant -- even while they tear down their own infrastructure, along with the most intelligent individuals trying to keep it on forward tracks.

It cut me to the molten core to see Dave Scott and Alan Bean stride casually through a hotel resort last year at a conference, where no one recognized them. Had Justin Bieber or Kim Kardashian swept through,it would have been a madhouse -- but for the men who risked their lives in the name of science? Not a public peep.

Where is the respect for the people who have forwarded humanity's progress and dreams in the most prevalent terms? Among all the skepticism, where is the recognition for the agency that gave us so many technological leaps in agriculture, communications, GPS, computing, safety, medicine, water filtration, weather forecasting, climate monitoring, oceanography, planetary science, heliophysics and green aviation?

Honestly, there is nothing more disturbing that the people who use the internet to whine about how government research yields nothing, while engaging in a medium invented by government research, dependent on government technology, launched by government-funded rockets.

TODAY, January 20th, Buzz Aldrin turns 84 years old.
He walked on the lunar surface when he was 39.

I know the malaise will pass. I know the other "spacetweeps" in my chosen social community will inspire me with their own posts, pins, tweets, and essays about exciting developments in new missions and exuberant engagement with launches, comet sightings, eclipses, and astronaut autographs.

We're all very excited about Space X and Orbital Sciences, the companies with bold (but realistic) plans about supplying the space station. We're dubiously unconvinced but hopeful for the even-bolder companies with lofty goals about reaching Mars without government backing.Will they live up to their hype? Time will tell.

I've never kicked off a new year so late, or quite so glumly. Let's hope as 2014 progresses, we all have more to be excited about on the space horizon.