Jesus the Vampire's Landing Spot

I have often thought about our place in the universe, with all its vastness, and this thinking led me long ago to surmise that we as a species are more than likely unimportant in the scheme of things. Even our solar system, our star Sol, and our galaxy seem rather mundane, considering the discoveries made in the past thirty years.  As a teenager I was mesmerized with science fiction shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Star Trek and the Invaders, and to a lesser degree, Lost in Space, or should I say the first season of the show. I had my own telescope and would gaze at the night sky, wondering what was out there, and even took time to fill in the blanks of the "Drake Equation", in a dubious attempt to guess how many relatively advanced civilizations there may be that could possibly communicate with us and vice versa. My best guess was perhaps three at most in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way at any given time in history, and concluded that the nearest possible c...

In the year 2016, Star Trek celebrated its 50th anniversary. I was, and still am, a fan of the original series, having grown up with while among hippies, stoners, and other counter-cultural types watching it during its reruns in the 70's. However, I still think it's amazing how a show that lasted barely three seasons and suffered from low ratings throughout its run would eventually spawn multiple knock-offs in the form of numerous TV shows and movies, a language (Klingonese), and what in many ways could be interpreted as a religion and a way of life. Oh yeah, and let's not forget BILLIONS of dollars in revenue. One cannot deny the cultural impact of Star Trek . In addition to providing social commentary in numerous episodes, countless engineers and technicians were inspired to become engineers and technicians by watching the show. Unlike most science fiction, it is a model of an ideal, non-dystopian future, where humanity evidently solved all of its chronic and...

DAVID MATTHEWS NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | FEB 11, 2020 | 5:12 PM

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EARTH'S MAGNETIC NORTH POLE IS ZOOMING TOWARD RUSSIA - IS COLLUSION BETWEEN TRUMP AND PUTIN TO BLAME?- This post was written by my second daughter. She hopes you will like it. By Wolf Jackal, Senior Correspondent, AP News 20 December 2019 (AP) The Earth's north magnetic pole has been steadily moving toward Russia in recent years, and as of this writing has sped up, prompting speculation among political analysts that collusion between President Donald Trump and Russian President/KGB agent Vladimir Putin may be to blame. Both men are known to envy Canada for having the North Magnetic pole on their soil, with Trump having remarked: "Why does Canada think they should have sole possession of such an important geographic location?" It is a matter of record that Trump wants Greenland too, after having tried to bribe and bully Denmark into selling the world's largest island to him, probably so he can use it to collude with Russians or perhaps even Eskimos. By h...

Here is the final Solar system video from Alex McColgan, owner of the YouTube channel Astrum. The star, or should I say planet, of this video, is the planet Earth, which is the home of the only known life in the universe, though I find it improbable that we are the only example of self-replicating biological machinery in the cosmos. Enough diatribe; here is the video; enjoy!

Here is another astronomy video from Alex McColgan, the owner of the YouTube channel Astrum.  The episode explores the fourth planet from the sun, Mars.  The average distance of Mars from the sun is 142 million miles (228 million km). It is the second smallest terrestrial planet, with a diameter of 4,212 miles (6,780 km). Mars' year is 687 Earth days, and a day on Mars is 24 hours 37 minutes. The average temperature on Mars is -80 F (-60 C) Temperatures on Mars can vary from 95 F (35 C) to -195F (-125 C). The Martian atmosphere is very thin and is 95% carbon dioxide, with a pressure equivalent to .08 pounds psi, or 610 kilopascals. I will be seeing if other videos are available on his YouTube channel in the coming days.

Here is another astronomy video from Alex McColgan, owner of the YouTube channel Astrum.  The episode explores the closest planet to the sun, Mercury.  The average distance of Mercury from the sun is 36 million miles (58 million km). It is the smallest terrestrial planet, with a diameter of 4,880 kilometers (3,032 miles). Mercury is more like the moon than a planet, as it has no atmosphere to moderate its temperature, which can vary from 800F (430C) on the dayside, to -280F (-174C) on the nightside. Mercury's year is 88 Earth days, and its day is 59 Earth days long, which illustrates a 3:2 orbital resonance. That means the Mercury completes three axial rotations for every two orbits it makes around the sun.

Another astronomy video from Alex McColgan, owner of the YouTube channel Astrum. The star of this video is not a star, but a planet called Neptune, the eighth planet from the sun. Its diameter is nearly identical to that of Uranus, at 30,600 miles (49,245 km), but at 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion km) from the sun, it is nearly twice as far as Uranus. The average temperature at the cloud tops of Neptune is -392 degrees Fahrenheit (-200 degrees Celsius). The winds on Neptune are the highest measured in the Solar System at 1,300 mph (2200 km/h).

Tonight's video explores the plant Saturn, a ringed gas giant with a diameter of 72,370 miles (116,400 km). It is the sixth planet from the sun, with an orbital distance of 891 million miles (1.4 billion km). As it is a gas giant, it has no real "surface", just an ever increasing atmospheric pressure that turns hydrogen gas into a supercritical fluid more like an ocean than anything else. Further down the hydrogen ocean, 96% of Saturn's atmosphere, becomes what is called metallic hydrogen, which is an electrical conductor.  The temperature at the cloud tops on Saturn average -188C (-300 Fahrenheit) but increase with depth. Here is a video giving the reader an overview of the ringed gas giant:

As the private space industry sends more nanosatellites into orbit, new data is shaping American farmland, Arctic shipping routes, and everything in between. Fast Company | Kim Lightbody Eye in the sky: A satellite from Planet captured a fire burning through one of the circular crop fields in the Toshka area of Egypt last year. Photo courtesy of Planet Space is a lot closer than it used to be. Companies like Planet and Spire are sending more satellites into orbit than ever before, providing an unprecedented near-real-time view of of every corner of the earth, from wheat fields in Egypt to glaciers in Antarctica . Here are five ways that companies are using this constant stream of data and images to bring more transparency and efficiency to different industries here on the ground. Agriculture A number of companies use satellite imagery to predict annual farm yields—mostly focusing on major crops like wheat, corn and soy—and ...

Well, here is is, the planet whose name has made kids snicker for years - Uranus. Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun, and is the coldest planet in the Solar System. Why? Who knows, it just is. Its distance from the sun is 1.78 billion miles from the sun (2.8 billion km), and its diameter is 31,518 miles (50,724 km). It is also the only planet known to rotate on its side, having an axial tilt of 97 degrees. Due to its distance from the sun, it takes 84 years to complete one orbit, and the length of a day on Uranus is 17 hours and 14 minutes. I have actually seen Uranus is a telescope that I had many years back, when I was a teenager; astronomy is one of my favorite of studies. Anyway - enjoy the video, a gentleman named Alex McColgan is the creator of the planet videos I have been posting. You can pay him a visit if you like - he is using these videos to educate people and make money for himself, which is not a bad idea!

If any place in the Solar System is HELL - it is Venus. The planet Venus is 67 million miles (102 million kilometers) from the star Sol (the sun), and has a revolution period of 225 Earth days. Its rotation period is retrograde, and is so slow that one complete rotation period takes 243 days, which makes its day longer than its year. At 867 degrees Fahrenheit (463 Celsius) at the surface, the temperature is hot enough to melt lead, tin, zinc, cadmium, bismuth and tellurium, along with lesser known metals like gallium, which melts at a little above room temperature. Venus is not a place conducive to life as we know it, with a surface pressure of 92 bar and an atmosphere of 95.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen and 1% trace gases such as argon.  Venus is similar in size to the Earth, with a diameter of 12,104 kilometers (7,521 miles) with a mass equivalent to 82% of the Earth. Here is a video of our "sister planet" Venus - or as I think of Venus: "Earth gone horribly...

I will be presenting videos and other science items like these, interspersed between movies and other articles by various authors on the Landing spot. Enjoy, and let me know if you are interested in other astronomy videos.