“Across the Universe” Day for NASA and Beatles Fans
NASA will use its Deep Space Network to transmit a song across the universe. And fittingly, the song is “Across the Universe” by the Beatles. On Feb. 4 at 7 pm EST, the song will be beamed towards the North Star, Polaris, located 431 light years away from Earth, and will travel across the universe at 186,000 miles per second. Former Beatle Paul McCartney thinks this is a great idea. "Send my love to the aliens,” he said in a message to NASA. If there are any beings near Polaris, they’ll hear the song in about 431 years.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day NASA
Astronomy Picture of the Day Archives
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CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: Geometry has never been so lovely. On Monday morning, Feb. 4th, Venus, Jupiter and the slender crescent Moon will arrange themselves as an exquisite celestial triangle, compact and scalene. Set your alarm for dawn and look southeast for a wonderful view: sky map.
This morning John Baxter of New Concord, Ohio, photographed the Moon en route to Jupiter and Venus:
"It was a nice way to begin Super Bowl Sunday," he says.
more images: from Kambiz Khaleghi of Mashhad, Iran; from Carl Blesch of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; from John A Modricker of Cape Cod Canal-Sagamore, Maine; from Yagiz Ozgur Turkkan of Bahcesehir, Istanbul, Turkey; from Ari Koutsouradis of Westminster, Maryland;
3D BONUS: Grab your 3D glasses. Tom Wagner has prepared a red-blue anaglyph of Venus and Jupiter gathered together over Waterloo, Iowa, on Feb 1st: image. "I found this arrangement of Venus and Jupiter especially beautiful and wanted to capture the moment in 3D." No 3D glasses? Click here and cross your eyes.
WINGS OF ICARUS: Yesterday in the Netherlands, Emiel Veldhuis looked through his Personal Solar Telescope and saw "the wings of Icarus!" Such was the appearance of two magnetic filaments spreading from the core of sunspot 982:
From www.spaceweather.com
"In Greek mythology, Icarus took flight on homemade wings made of feather and wax, but he flew too close to the Sun," says Veldhuis. "The wax melted and Icarus crashed in the sea. Now the wings have returned; will he never learn?"
These Icarian filaments "extend over a third of the sun's visible surface," report observers John Stetson and B. Turner of South Portland, Maine. The feathery structures dwarf Earth itself, and because they do not rely on wax for their integrity, they are sure to last another day. If you have a solar telescope, take a look!
more images: from Francisco A. Rodriguez Ramirez of Observatorio Montaña Cabreja, Gran Canaria - Canary Islands; from Franck Charlier of Marines, Val d'Oise - France; from Joel Bavais of Anvaing, Belgium; from Matthias Juergens of Gnevsdorf, Germany; from Michael Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from John Boyd of Santa Barbara, CA;
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6 comments on NASA will use its Deep Space Network to transmit Beatles Song..“Across the Universe”
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You just reminded me of a question I asked my kids, I asked them 'What does N.A.S.A stand for: My oldest thought about it and replied: 'Never A Straight Answer!!! Laughed so hard!
Brilliant, pretty sharp child!
Icarus' wings-and the celestial delights-wonderful. Never a straight answer! Super.
Good stuff!
Glad you left a message. Enjoy this day.