Unbelievable...yet wonderfully familiar

"Al-Nitak, Al-Nilam, and Mintaka are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion, these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun. They lie about 1,500 light-years away, born of Orion's well-studied interstellar clouds."

To shoot the Moonen route to Mars

"Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA's latest mission to Mars sent 75 gigabits of data back to Earth from millions of miles away, including beautiful pictures of the Moon.

"On Sept. 8, 2005, the Moon - half bathed in the sun's glow and half draped in darkness - showed off all of its pocks and dimples for the probe's powerful HiRISE camera. The successful calibration bodes well for the capture of stunning and enlightening images at the Red Planet.

"The camera took the shot while at a distance of about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) from the Moon. The dark feature on the right is Mare Crisium. From that distance, the Moon would appear as a star-like point of light to the unaided eye.

"The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched on Aug. 12, 2005, is on course to reach Mars on March 10, 2006."

This is the Mars event that you ought to have read about in those forwarded emails.

"On Sunday, October 30, the Red Planet will be 69.4 million kilometers (43.1 million miles) from Earth -- a distance that in galactic terms is less than wafer-thin and will not be equalled until 2018...

"In the runup to Sunday, but also for much of November, Mars will appear as a big orangey-yellow 'star' in the east [it appears that way now, you'll notice], an object so bright that it should be visible in almost any conditions of light pollution, says the US publication Sky & Telescope.

"Weather permitting -- on Earth and also on Mars, where there are some worrying signs of an impending dust storm -- anyone with a modest telescope should be able to pick out some of the features that make Mars so special.

"According to the French magazine Ciel et Espace, anyone who invests in a small 60mm (two-inch) -diameter telescope, priced in many countries at around 150 euros (180 dollars), should be easily able to spot Syrtis Major, Mars' most recognisable characteristic.

"This vast region of cratered plateaux appears as a dark, roughly triangular-shaped tongue whose point heads towards Mars' North Pole. [We've seen that from the patio here in Ma'adi. It's small through the 3.5-inch lens I've got, but it's the surface of Mars, so what can you say?]

"Telescope users should also be able to make out Helas, a vast impact crater that is often covered by whitish mist and is sometimes mistaken for Mars' southern polar icecap.

"On August 27, 2003, Earth and Mars were a mere 55.76 million kms (34.65 million miles) apart, the closest in almost 60,000 years. This time, the planets are slight farther apart, but the viewing prospects are better than in 2003, says the Institute of Celestial Mechanics at the Paris Observatory.

"This is because, in 2003, Mars' course barely took it above the horizon for viewers in Earth's northern hemisphere, which meant the image was distorted by light passing through the atmosphere.

"Earth, the third planet from the Sun, takes 365 and a quarter days to go around its star. Mars, the fourth planet, takes 687 Earth Days. That means they come close every 26 months or so. But both planets take a slightly elliptical path around the Sun, and this factor determines precisely how close the flyby will be.

"The next time the planets will be closer than in 2003 will be in 2287."

Cairo, quickly

Some recent additions
to nmazca.com/cairo:

Interplanetary profile: Dione

"Orbiting Saturn within the tenuous E-ring, Dione possesses fine streaks that crosscut its surface. Parallel grooves splash across the terrain, which are interrupted by larger, asymmetrical bright fractures. Scientists believe the cracks and fractures were caused by tectonic activity."

You can follow this NASA link to find out more about Dione and the rest of the Cassini mission.

A propos of Cairo

China's completed space mission "will help to mobilize its people to rally around the Communist Party and work harder for the future of the country."

Man, who talks like that anymore? Well, I guess I have my answer. The next question is, "How many people believe it?"


The Shenzhou 6 capsule with astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng aboard landed by parachute at 4:32 a.m. local time in China's northern grasslands, a flight meant to boost Beijing's global stature and domestic support for its rulers.

Crews rushed to the site in helicopters and off-road vehicles. State television showed the astronauts climbing out of their kettle-shaped capsule with the help of two technicians and clambering down a ladder in the pre-dawn darkness.

They smiled, waved to the cheering ground crew, accepted bouquets of flowers and sat in metal chairs beside the capsule.

"I want to thank the people for their love and care. Thank you very much," Fei said.

Tang Xiangming, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, told a news conference that the next step for China's space program was to develop the ability for astronauts to work outside their capsule and to dock with other craft.

"Our estimate is that around 2007 we will be able to achieve extravehicular activity by our astronauts and they will walk in space," Tang said. He said the program also might recruit women in its next group of astronaut candidates.

Fei and Nie blasted off Wednesday from a base in China's desert northwest, almost exactly two years after the first Chinese manned space flight made this only the third country to send a human into orbit on its own, after Russia and the United States.

Charting the northern skyfrom North Africa

I downloaded HNSky awhile back. I was just using it a few minutes ago in order to track Mars and the Moon in Cairo's clear sky, while children play in the street and their parents watch the Ramadan soap operas or what seems to be an intense football match.

"'Hallo northern sky' or HNSKY is a planetarium program for Windows. Have a try. It is free with 26,000 deep-sky objects and all stars to magnitude 12... It displays all planets, the Moon, Sun, moons of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Neptune and a few hundred asteroids and comets... It will run under Windows 95 or later. An older version 1.62 will run under Windows 3.1."

"The mission 'glorifies the Communist Party and the motherland,'" he cuts and pastes with a sigh.

"Beijing attaches enormous national prestige to its space program, which is closely linked to the military. The project appeals to nationalist sentiment at a time of rising public frustration over endemic corruption and a widening rich-poor gap."

Cairo, continued

Before Cairo, there was Chicago.

And in Chicago, there is Shedd Aquarium.

Giza remix

Some alternate takes from the trip to the Giza pyramids, which can be seen alongside other images at nmazca.com/cairo.

An eclipse in Cairoand other business

Here are some of the photos
that I've taken during
my first week in Egypt.





Note: There are people standing
at the pyramid's base.

A little eclipse coverageto tide you over...

...until I can retrieve my photos
of the same event from Giza Plateau.







Be sure to check out these hydrogen-alpha eclipse photos by Sylvain Weiller and Stefan Seip, also. Salaam.

Oh, did I not mention that there will be an annular eclipse on Monday?

Yes indeed, there is. I found that out after I began to look at departure dates to Egypt. I've known about this event for a couple of years, but I hadn't kept it in mind because this eclipse was only going to be visible from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and I didn't plan on being here in October 2005.

Yet, here I am, rockin' it in Cairo. The eclipse is tomorrow, and I'll either position myself out in some public square with the telescope and filters, or I'll head out to Giza and try to frame some photos above the tops of the pyramids.

I think that the maximum eclipse above Cairo -- with about 65% of the Sun covered -- will take place around 12:45 p.m. I've got some calculatin' to do and some water and film to buy. So if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way...

Annular eclipse addendum

An annular solar eclipse will occur at 6:28 a.m. EDT on October 3, 2005. With the New Moon in Libra, we begin a month of partnership and balancing. The eclipse means changes in those areas, perhaps dramatic. This is a South Nodal Eclipse, which indicates letting go of the past. And a solar eclipse means that the sun is eclipsed, and the moon, or the unconscious, has free play, unencumbered by consciousness. Deep, long repressed urges can emerge. (The opposite will be the case at the North Nodal Eclipse in two weeks.)

Neptune, trine the eclipse, can create an easy pathway for any energy. It can also add to the delusions of the suddenly liberated unconscious and repressed forces. All images, e.g., TV, will be very powerful, as well as very instructive about unconscious motivations.

via Maya del Mar's Daykeeper Journal