Starry Eyed

 Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Muzerolle (STScI), E. Furlan (NOAO and Caltech), K. Flaherty (University of Arizona/Steward Observatory), Z. Balog (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy), and R. Gutermuth (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

REAL WORLD: We've only been taking our astrobiology course for two weeks now, but it's already paying dividends. For example, it's rewarding to realize how much better we understand some of the science articles we come across on a daily basis. Like yesterday, a NASA news release let us know that the Hubble and Spitzer observatories have both seen a binary protostar with an interesting strobe light effect. 

Not all that long ago, 'protostar' wasn't in CJ and Annabelle's vocabulary. Now, not only have they heard the word, they could tell you what one is and how it's formed. 

What makes the object (named LRLL 54361) so interesting, is that every 25.34 days (yes, exactly), it emits a burst of light.  Astronomers think the burst of light is material being dumped onto the growing protostars.

And today we came across a story with the headline "Life found deep below Antarctic ice" from Science News. That's a topic we were learning about just yesterday in the "Life in Extreme Environments" lecture. The kids were super excited when I showed them the story.

Turns out just a couple of weeks ago, a U.S. research team drilled down 800 meters below the ice surface of a subglacial lake in West Antarctica  In their three 10-liter samples retrieved from Lake Whilans, they found a treasure trove of cells containing DNA. It's the first evidence of life in a subglacial lake in West Antarctica, and it's believed the microbes they retrieved have been sealed off below the ice for at least 100,000 years. Neat-o!

This afternoon we finished listening to the rest of this week's lectures and took our quizzes. I was a little wary, as the subject matter covered was full of new vocab and ideas and lots of dates. Happily, we each got 19 on the first try and 20/20 on the re-do. Phew. Next week, we're going to be studying about Mars, apparently. I'm hoping our past Mars studies help us on this unit.

CARR-TOON: We discovered a great TED-Ed animation featuring astronaut Jerry Carr. 

Carr trained during the Apollo era, and when the program was canceled, he thought his changes at spaceflight might have been dashed, as well. However, he was tapped to be a commander of Skylab. Overall, Carr spent over 2000 hours in space, orbiting the Earth over 1,000 times. 

Carr is an engaging storyteller. We found that our for ourselves when we met him last September at The Museum of Flight. 

Here's the 5-minute video. It's worth a watch.


POPPING TAGS: Today between computer programming, Bollywood and acting classes, we went thrift shopping. Good day. I got the boots I'll need for our planned trip to the snow zone on Sunday, Annabelle got a couple bags of My Little Ponies and CJ scored a new to him "Ripley's Believe It or Not" book, which he loves. 

Of course, we couldn't help but sing Macklemore's (#1 in the nation!) song "Thrift Shop" as we made our rounds. Such a catchy tune and love that a hip hop artist is glorifying how smart it is to hit up Goodwill and how stupid it is to wear a $50 t-shirt. 
Here's the original and profanity laced version of the song. (You have been warned! Super not suitable for work.) 
I should also tell you that we have been to every thrift show pictured in the video (Macklemore's from Seattle).

 If you prefer the radio version, here's a nice alternative - him performing it on Ellen.