Wednesday Matinee

MATH, SAFECO STYLE: Today was the Seattle Mariners' first weekday matinee of the season, so of course we were there.

We took the bus down to meet Christian, whose car was already in the Sodo neighborhood, because that's where he works.

We caught the bus at the top of our hill. That gave the kids a chance to get some scenic play park time in before we boarded.

The game was a good one - a pitching duel for the most part, until Alex Liddi broke a 1-0 game open with a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth. My oh my, that was awesome! The Ms hung on to win it, 5-3. Good times!

TALK WITH THE ANIMALS: While we piddled away our whole afternoon at Safeco Field, I can say with certainty that we packed more science into this morning than many kids probably get in a week.

We started our schoolin' today with a DVD from Disney's "The Science of Imagineering" series. This episode was "Animal Adaptations: Communication."

We learned about the communication of dolphins, elephants, naked mole rats, meerkats and more.

Though each title in the series does definitely have its 'visit Disneyland/world' angle, they really are chock full o' interesting science information. As the show's host explained, Disney "Imagineers" study wild animals to create environments, activities and educational programs at Disney destinations.

One of the gems we learned today: Naked mole rats method of identifying other family members is, shall we say, unique - and odoriferous! They live in underground tunnels and chambers, and they roll around in their own feces in their family's toilet chamber to mark themselves. Altogether now: ewwwwwwww. But hey, it works for them.

MR. GOLDEN SUN: After the Imagineering DVD, we decided to finally watch a DVD we picked up at Husky Fest a few weeks back. It was all about NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory,

The SDO satellite was launched a couple of years ago with a goal of taking a closer look at our Sun, which is the source of all space weather. Not only does space weather affects our lives on Earth, but the Earth itself, and everything outside its atmosphere (astronauts and satellites out in space and even the other planets).

With SDO, scientists hope to learn where the Sun's energy comes from, how the inside of the Sun works, and how energy is stored and released in the Sun's atmosphere.

Check out this photo, taken by SDO June 7, 2011. It shows an eruption of solar material that mushroomed  up and dramatically crashed back down to the sun's surface.

Credit: NASA/SDO and the AIA science team
On April 21 of this year, SDO marked its second anniversary. We watched a video with highlights of some of the amazing events witnessed in SDO's second year.

We also watch a video of highights from SDO's first year.

It's definitely worth noting, SDO has a mascot, Camilla the Rubber Chicken.

Credit: NASA/SDO

I've met her/it (at the Mars Science Laboratory launch). She has a Facebook fan page, and she's a Facebook friend. Camilla is a very clever, engaging tool for teaching kids of all ages (and adults, too!) about our sun.

An adventurous rubber chicken, recently Camilla took a balloon ride to the stratosphere to study solar radiation in the upper atmosphere caused by a solar storm. We watched a video (comprised of five separate videos) showing the balloon launch, its apex, the balloon popping and landing. The kids loved it (and so did I)! It definitely makes us want to take our own ride to the stratosphere.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: This morning at 10, we connected with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for a live Webcast about the upcoming Transit of Venus - an event where the planet Venus passes in front of the sun and is visible from Earth. It won't happen again until the year 2117. 

The Webcast we watched featured astronomer Louis Mayo and other guests. They shared information on the scientific significance of the transit as well as education resources for teachers and students.

More information on the event is here: http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/about/about.php

SELF PORTRAIT: While Curiosity is getting all the Martian rover buzz lately, Opportunity continues to work on the Red Planet.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

Today, via an email, I learned about this spectacular photo (above), where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in a view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars.

The photo was taken on March 9th, Opportunity's 2,888th day on Martian soil. Gorgeous!

Fun fact from NASA: "Opportunity has been studying the western rim of Endeavour Crater since arriving there in August 2011. This crater spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter, or about the same area as the city of Seattle."