RIP:Frederick J. Doyle, photographic mapping specialist for NASA

I will have to admit that I knew very little about Frederick Doyle past the point of doing high resolution space/luna mapping for NASA / Apollo. As well as helping develop some very sophisticated and advanced spysat photographic equipment.

  From the Washington Post article  

• In 1969, Mr. Doyle became chairman of NASA’s Apollo Orbital Science Photographic Team, and he planned the camera systems and directed orbital science photography for Apollo lunar missions 13 through 17. 

• In 1971, Mr. Doyle received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for development of the Apollo orbital photographic system. He later directed photography projects on Mariner and Viking missions to Mars, Venus and Mercury

Mr Doyle died at 93 April 17th.

43 Years Ago Today (July 20th) A History Making Day

At 10:56 p.m. ET, on July 20, 1969 these history making words were spoken. "That’s one small step for a man — one giant leap for mankind." This put astronaut Neal Armstrong in the fore front of one of the most historic achievements of the 20th century and there would be little argument towards saying one of the most historic ever!

Xnewsman of course has to keep me on track, so he sent in this article from msn.com  that really brings back the excitement and awe of the moment. For my part this I was reading this Dvice article here which showed the stunning photograph which was the first that Neal took after jumping 3 feet to the surface. And this next one I had never seen before! I love Apollo 8's shot of the Earth from lunar orbit, but from the surface looking straight up the side of the LEM towards Earth! What a stunning photo! You have to check out the Dvice gallery I was looking at because they take a shot of the Luna accent module Eagle preparing to dock with the command module with the Earth in the background! Heart stopping it is so beautiful! Thanks for the update Xnewsman!

I know...Not BMU Material...Couldn't Resist

As a photographer for 40 years and a lover of the reflection, plus add that for many years a photo editor, well I know things can get out of hand and overlooked. But this beauty is beyond comprehension....Was this like the Disney Littlest Mermaid debacle? Just couldn't resist, I am weak....yada yada..come on...it's FUNNY... Unfortunate mistake?  possible...a pissed of photoshopper?  I'd buy that.

What do Meteors look like from Above?

Here is a photograph that is a once in a life time occurrence. From an article I read on Kim Komando's blog entry. Here, Astronaut Ron Garan aboard the International Space Station, shows us what a meteor looks like from space." Garan, captured this unique photograph during the Perseid meteor shower in August.

click the article title for an enlarged photo.

ISS in front of the Moon

Here is a very interesting shot from French photographer Thierry Legault. That tiny speck you see in front of the moon is the International Space Station. What makes this shot truly amazing is that the station is traveling nearly five miles a second relative to Earth. At that speed Legault had only 1/2 a second to get the shot. As you can see, he did so wonderfully!

If you haven't found it yet, the ISS is just just to the right and slightly below the centerline.

check out the Dvice article for a pass in front of the sun as well.

Guess what's going on here!

So again, I am reading my reader postings from the Make Magazine blog. I come to this cool photo from the Science Photo blog (and I start thinking...ummm why is this on Make...and then I began to suspect that their sensibilities may be similar to my own. )

So I study it...could it be coronal solar activity....sure does look like a flare.... could that be a cell wall? Is that some sort of weird microbial invasion of a living cell?

It seems that this photo is a thermogram. It depicts high temputure gas escaping under pressure.

How hot you ask? I suspect somewhere around a blistering 310 Kelvin I suspect.

Science is fun! If you can not make heads of tails from this photo, check out the article link below oh and please leave your conclusions as to the science in the comments.

Complete article...