First Aliens on the Moon: A Great Leap for Mankind

July 20, 2011

If there were Lunar Inhabitants since then, they would be celebrating today the 42nd Anniversary of the First Alien Visit from Planet Earth. There might be some Lunar Activist that would go to their streets, shouting with placards;

"Moon is for us, not for humans!"
"Humans are not allowed here!"
"Stop human invasion!"
"Fight for our rights... protect our territory!"


ooooooo CUT! ooooooo This is so dramatic! Let's shift to another perspective! ooooooo

For centuries, space travel was just a dream ever since the man started to look above and wonder how vast the universe is. Nations raced to outer space by sending space probes for a detailed study of the universe. The age of space exploration began on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launch the first artificial satellite - Sputnik I. It orbited the Earth in 90 minutes and stayed their for 6 months.

Luna 2 was the first successful space probe launched by USSR. It crashed on the moon on September 13, 1959. Since then, space probe have frequently visited every planet in the Solar System.

A dog named "Laika" was the first living creature in the outer space when USSR launched Sputnik 2 sometime in 1957. Laika spent a week in Earth's orbit.

Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, was the first manin space when he orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961.

July 16, 1969 when the 360-foot (110 meter) rocket, Saturn V launched Apollo 11 for the moon.

On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong stood on the Moon's surface while the third crew member Michael Collins stayed on the spacecraft Command Module (CM).

To date, it was 4 decades and two years ago when the man landed on the moon. The man has gone too far in his quest for answers to his questions - including his search for possible life forms in the universe. But the fact is, the life forms that they are searching for can only be seen on a very unique planet made by a great Creator - only on Planet Earth.

So what if man walked on the moon today?

J. Freigh

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dClpox7qinI
Image Source: panoramas.dk through Google Images


A repost from my old blogsite Jul 21, '09 4:51 AM for everyone
Tags: 1st step on the moon

A Look Into the Sky...

July 4, 2011 [4:00-7:00 PM]
Lecture on Astronomy

I've discovered my interest in astronomy since my Elementary Years of schooling. I can still recall some of our assigned task then. To convince you that I'm a little bit inclined with this field of science, let me enumerate some proofs. When I go the the bookstore, I always make time to browse some books on astronomy... My attention is easily caught by news on astronomy such as lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, alignment of planets, demotion of planet Pluto, addition of Ophiuchus as a zodiac sign and related news about comets and shooting stars.

Science Teachers together with Ma'am Norie and the two guest lecturers.

It was only a couple of days before the event when Ma'am Norie, our Department head, reminded our colleagues regarding the Lecture on Astronomy with Stargazing which was supposed to be intended for some junior students. We (some 4th year teachers) overheard the Activity and Sir Raul's attention was caught and inquire about it. Sir Raul proposed that the Activity is more suitable for senior students since it is all about astronomy and is related with physics. At that moment it was approved, and 3 sections from fourth year together with their science advisers were the proposed participants.

Ma'am Norie with Physics Teachers and Me (of course) in front of them, taking the photo hehehe...

'Lecture on Astronomy' was graced by the presence of our two guest Lecturers from respected institutions namely;

Dr. Rogel Mari Sese
Physics Division
Institute of Mathematical Science & Physics
University of the Philippines - Los Baños

together with,

Lordnico P. Mendoza
Astronomy Technology Student
Rizal Technological University

There were more than 100 participants from selected three senior sections; IV-44 students with their adviser Sir Raul, IV-1 students with their adviser Ma'am Ladines, and IV-3 students with there adviser... (trumpet).... (drums).... Sir Jaytee... The Activity was graced also by the presence of Ma'am Weng Reyes and Sir Richard. (Sir Richard was the one responsible for the backdrop design... take a second look at the backdrop above hehehe)

wow! attentive! may quiz siguro bukas...

Dr. Sese during his Lecture...

More than 100 senior students attended the Lecture

Lordnico Mendoza discussing about Constellations

Listening attentively to Dr. Sese's Lecture

Sir Richard preparing his lesson for tomorrow hehehe...

To give you an overview of the Lecture, here is the outline...

Outline of the Lecture

Open Forum...

Curiosity is one of the qualities of our youth - once you've aroused it, you'll surely capture their interest. I see myself to some of our attendees - full of curiosity, very interested & has so many questions to ask. The last part of the Activity was an open forum which somehow cater the need to urgently answer some queries of our participants besides the fact that the time is very limited.

 Stellarium

Due to cloudy sky that day, star gazing was not possible. But the Lecturers has a very interesting replacement to this activity. They introduced to us a software that is similar to Google Earth, this time its a 3D map of the sky. It's the stellarium.

Stellarium Software

Stellarium is a FREE open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go. It can also be configured in terms of location, date and time. That means that you can view the sky at a particular ground location you want, say for example, Manila. You can also view past events in the sky like the lunar eclipse last June 15, 2011 by just configuring the actual date and time of the event. This is highly recommended for Freshmen Teachers. A very ideal teaching tool for astronomy!!!

A Look into the Sky Using Stellarium

Stellarium is a FREE software and you can download it from stellarium.org (www.stellarium.org). A portable stellarium software is also available for download at (http://portableapps.com/apps/education/stellarium_portable).


J. Freigh

Ophiucus causes confusion

Astrology has been always commonly associated with astronomy, but they are actually not related with each other. The latter is a field of science but the former is not.

According to dictionary;

Astrology is the study of planets and human behavior: the study of the positions of the Moon, other planets and stars in the belief that their motions or movements affect human beings.

Astronomy is the scientific study of universe, especially of the motions, positions, sizes, composition, and behavior of heavenly bodies. These bodies are studied and interpreted from the radiation they emit and from data gathered by interplanetary probes.

Recently, the addition of the 13^th zodiac sign causes discomfort to astrology believers. Let’s try to look into the science aspect of the issue.

There are actually 88 constellations (star patterns or group of stars in a definite area of the sky) identified officially, most of which were named in the ancient times. Most of these had been recorded by Babylonian astronomers before 2000 BC. In 150 AD, Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer, described 48 star patterns, including the famous ones like Ursa Major (the Great Bear).

To an observer on Earth, the stars appear to be attached to the inside of a vast hollow globe which spins around the Earth from East to West once a day. Although this is not true, (since the Earth, and not the sky, is the one spinning) it is often useful for astronomers to pretend that this globe in the sky really does exist. This is called as the “celestial sphere” which is of great help to astronomers to plot the position of stars in the sky. During a year, the sun appears to take a particular path through this celestial sphere. This path marks the center of the band of sky known as the Zodiac. There are 12 divisions of the zodiac, each of one represented by a constellation. The Sun seems to stay for about a month in each constellation.

The addition of the 13^th zodiac was proposed as early as 1930. Based on the 1930 IAU constellation boundaries, suggestions that "there are really 13 astrological signs" because "the Sun is in the sign of Ophiuchus" between November 29 and December 17 have been published since at least the 1970s. In 1970, Stephen Schmidt in his Astrology 14 advocated a 14-sign zodiac, introducing Ophiuchus (December 6 to December 31) and Cetus (May 12 to June 6) as new signs. The idea was taken up by Walter Berg in his The 13 Signs of the Zodiac (1995), a suggestion that achieved some popularity in Japan (where Ophiuchus is known as snake messenger). 

The following are the "real" dates of astrological signs according to astronomers;

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
Pisces: March 11-April 18.
Aries: April 18-May 13.
Taurus: May 13-June 21.
Gemini: June 21-July 20.
Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.
Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.

On my personal perspective, we have nothing to worry about this thing. I believe that most of us, even astrologers themselves believe that human behaviour or fate is not dependent to the motions of these celestial bodies. We are the one making our own course; it is a God-given gift to all of us to have freewill. So don’t over react… it doesn’t changes anything.

Sources:

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Muirden, J (1993). Visual Factfinder Stars and Planets.

LiveScience.com

Wikipedia.com
starryskies.com (Image Source)