Life Is Everywhere

Orbiting

1RXS J160929.1-210524 and planet-Gemini Observatory
The researchers used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to glimpse the planet and its star, , which lies about 500 light-years from Earth.

James Web Space Telescope in 2013
This telescope will be in orbit 1,000,000 miles from earth. That is called the second Lagrange point. This telescope will have a sun shield to protect it from damage, and to reduce light scattering on it's imaging. It will primarily do infrared images, but will do some visible spectrum observations as well. It is scheduled to be launched by NASA in 2013.

What's That? A New Camera?

Picture taken with cell phone cam 12/8/o8
I went out to get brackets for a curtain rod at WallMart, and got a camera instead! The Olympus still is good after 13 years, but with the scratch on the lens, it was limited to certain shots. In case you wonder, I have taken over 3,000 pictures with the Olympus 540Z, and it still is good for a lot more.
We will see what this Panasonic DMC-LZ8 can do when I take it out for a spin tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a test shot...

Same lighting as above, but with LUMIX.
I will play around some more with attempting to upload 8.1 MP images directly, but for now I can use the "Grab" application to copy them from the screen as I view them in iPhoto.

Oh yeah, I was worried at first that the camera would not work on my Mac, because the instructions for hooking it to the computer had pages and pages of stuff you had to do to get it working on Windows. I finally found the instructions for the Mac that said, just plug it in, and everything will work. I did and it does.

The Really Good Part
This camera, with all the bells, whistles, movie, and starlight modes, cost me less than what I would have spent this month smoking cigarettes!

Life's Ingredients Abound in Milky Way

The Milky Way

Maria Beltran, with the University of Barcelona's Department of Astronomy, found glycolaldehyde, an eight-atomed entity -- two carbon, two oxygen, four hydrogen -- more commonly known as sugar, in a dense star-forming region of the Milky Way where conditions are ripe for planetary systems.

Glycolaldehyde easily combines with a three-carbon sugar to produce ribose, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, which carry genetic information for all life, as we know it.

Here in Redding

Down by the river with, "new camera", Phil. 12/9/08
I took the new camera out for a spin today. I went to some of my regular photo locations to find out just what the differences are between the Olympus D540Z and the Panasonic DMC-LZ8.

I can crop this small, without too much degradation.

Mount Shasta 12/9/08

The moon this afternoon
I look forward to pointing at the moon and stars with this new camera, it has a special mode just for starry nights.

Lassen Peak 12/9/08

For those of you who wonder how I quit smoking, I can tell you it was easy. It only took a year to put all the right pieces together at the right time, and presto! I woke up one morning, a non-smoker.

Mind, spirit, higher power, and circumstances met at exactly the right point in time, and created a solution. I added a bit of knowledge, plus a pinch of experience, and the need to smoke vanished.

There was a moment or two of discomfort in the first few days, but I didn't light up. I know that to do so, is to be "hooked" all over again.

I am finding a lot more time in my day, and the energy to use it.

I have uncovered my gourmet taste buds. (Light roast coffee's have flavor, too.)

I now have an extra hand.

My life is astonishingly cleaner.

Did I mention that my new camera does video, too?
I will post one as soon as I learn how to do it.
(Probably just plug it into the Mac!)

Stay tuned for more exciting features in Phil's Place.

Today's Appropriate Song;
Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette

Prophets come and go, but Love is eternal.