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On Saturday, October 7, more than 1,700 of Rochester Regional Health’s friends and employees gathered at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center for the system’s signature celebration.
After shooting the train at I190 I headed north toward Holden where the line quickly takes on decidedly more rural and old time feel. The scene with an original ex B&M depot is one of the signatures on the line and even with the "wrong light" I was still pleased with the result.
A sucker for history, I'll never pass up a shot that includes classic "props" from a line's past.
And as for history, how about a little courtesy of the Holden Historical Society?
In 1869, the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad (BB&G) commenced construction of a railroad from Worcester (at Barber), through Holden, to Gardner. This 26-mile line, which cost 1.2 million dollars to build, opened in 1871. It was extended 10 miles to Winchendon in January, 1874 and later that same year the company leased the Monadnock Railroad north another 16 miles to Peterborough, New Hampshire. The BB&G thus attained a total length of 52 miles.
Beset by financial reversals, the Monadnock lease was surrendered to the Cheshire Railroad in 1880. The BB&G was leased itself to the Fitchburg Railroad in 1884. The following year it was merged into the Fitchburg and became that road's Worcester Division. In 1900 the Fitchburg was leased and soon thereafter merged into the Boston & Maine Railroad (B&M), becoming the B&M's Fitchburg Division. As a part of the B&M system's Fitchburg Division the line through Holden was referred to at different times by various names including the Worcester & Contoocook (N.H.) Branch, the Worcester & Hillsboro (N.H.) Branch, the Peterboro (N.H.) Branch, and finally after the line was severed north o f Gardner, as the Worcester Branch of the Fitchburg Division. At Worcester, the line joined the B&M Portland Division's "Worcester Main Line" at Barber.
The original 52-mile BB&G line through Holden remained under B&M control for 73 years. In 1974, the line was bought by the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W). The last B&M freight left Holden for Worcester in January 1974 and the P&W operated its first train over the line on February 2, 1974.
At various times, passenger stops existed at Chaffins, Dawson, Holden, Jefferson, and at North Woods. Holden and Jefferson were small country depots, while the others were flag stops with small shelters. Only two station structures remain: the Holden depot in its original location and the Jefferson depot which was moved in 1975 to a site next to the Wong Dynasty Chinese Restaurant on Reservoir Street.
In 1878 there were four round trip passenger trains between Worcester and Winchendon. This increased to six round trips at the turn of the century. Under B&M ownership, the old BB&G line became part of a rather unlikely through passenger route from Worcester to Concord, NH. This service ended after the floods of 1936 severed the line north of Peterboro. However, a round trip passenger local from Worcester to Peterboro would survive another 17 years, handling passengers and mail. In its last years, it acquired a certain degree of fame and became known as the "Peterboro Local" or the "Blueberry Special." By the early 1950s the B&M was hemorrhaging financially from passenger train losses and was given permission to discontinue this train. It made its last run, with extra coaches and much fanfare, on March 7, 1953. It had remained a steam train with an ancient wooden combine and one coach almost to the very end, at which time steam power had been taken off and a diesel locomotive substituted.
B&M operated through symbol freights Worcester to Mechanicville, NY (WM-1), and Mechanicville, NY, to Worcester (WM-2), as well as a local freight that switched customers between Worcester and Gardner. The through freights between Worcester and Mechanicville, NY, operated until about 1968. WM-1 would arrive punctually in Holden at 7:30 every evening, switch the small yard, and then depart for Gardner and points west. The eastbound WM-2 passed through in the small hours of the night. The local switcher out of Worcester worked during the day. By the end of B&M control, through service on the line had been discontinued and the Worcester switcher ventured out the line only to service customers as needed.
The line underwent a dramatic renaissance when the P&W commenced operations in 1974. The P&W rehabilitated the line and operates through freights from Providence, RI, and other southern New England points to Gardner, where traffic is interchanged with the B&M. Currently (2005), P&W runs about six trains each way through Holden weekly, hauling coal, lumber, scrap iron, paper goods, plastic resins and other commodities.
Currently there are no customers receiving or shipping by rail in Holden.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen at sunrise on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 1:20 p.m. EDT, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) released the first look at its newest state-of-the-art subway cars in production, the R211 class, which is planned for service on the subway system’s lettered routes and the Staten Island Railway.
The MTA Board approved the $1.4 billion contract award of 535 R211 cars to Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. in 2018 and the delivery of the first test cars is scheduled for later this year.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, May 19, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 launched at 6:54 p.m. ET, and will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Workers inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida, move the first half of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) payload fairing toward NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on Sept. 30, 2021. The payload fairing will encapsulate and protect the spacecraft during launch and ascent. Lucy is scheduled to launch no earlier than Saturday, Oct. 16, on a ULA Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center is managing the launch. Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one asteroid in the solar system’s main belt and seven Trojan asteroids. Additionally, Lucy’s path will circle back to Earth three times for gravity assists, making it the first spacecraft ever to return to the vicinity of Earth from the outer solar system. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Inside the Vertical Integration Facility near Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Centaur stage for NASA’s Lucy mission is lowered onto the Atlas V first stage on Sept. 16, 2021. Lucy is scheduled to launch no earlier than Saturday, Oct. 16, on a ULA Atlas V 401 rocket from Pad 41. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center is managing the launch. Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one asteroid in the solar system’s main belt and seven Trojan asteroids. Additionally, Lucy’s path will circle back to Earth three times for gravity assists, making it the first spacecraft ever to return to the vicinity of Earth from the outer solar system. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
What do you do when trash is piling up and there's nowhere to put it? You invent teleportation of course! Then you retrofit a fleet of municipal custodial vehicles to power miniaturized teleporters and send them on their way. The original vehicle had its nose lengthened to house the power cells and micro-reactor necessary to power the device, and the whole frame was reworked to bear the weight of the device. The result is a somewhat ungainly vehicle that is notoriously difficult to control.
Although the far-side output location for the teleporter is a closely guarded secret, the rumor-mill places it high above a barren lava plain on the third moon of one of the system's gas giants. Speaking of rumors, gossip and tall tales surround the trash teleporter. There are stories of city workers looking the other way or taking payoffs as organized crime syndicates dispose of evidence and "competition". Although the manufacturers insist that the portals are one-way, city workers insist they have seen "things" coming back through the gateway: from the odd grotesque hand reaching through, to the occasional swarm of flying creatures funneling out of the vortex. There's even whispers that the municipal garage is now inhabited by a shape-shifting beast that made its way through when the teleporter was left on overnight by a careless worker...
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Friday, March 1, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission launched at 2:49am ET on Saturday, March 2 and was the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen after being rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 6:54 p.m. ET on May 19, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft jettisons the heat shield as it lands at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Friday, March 1, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Station hall of metro station Avtovo on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line (Line 1), Avtovo district, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Some background information:
The Saint Petersburg Metro is the underground railway system of the city of Saint Petersburg. It has been open since 15th November 1955. Formerly known as the V.I. Lenin Order of Lenin Leningrad Metropoliten, the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world, maybe only excelled by the Moscow Metro. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is also one of the deepest metro systems in the world and the deepest by the average depth of all the stations. The system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, is located 86 metres below ground. Serving 2.1 million passengers daily (resp. 763.1 million passengers per year), the Saint Petersburg Metro is the 19th busiest metro system in the world.
Avtovo is a station on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro. Designed by architect Yevgenii Levinson, it opened as part of the first Leningrad Metro line on 15th November 1955. In 2014, the British newspaper "The Guardian" included it on its list of the twelve most beautiful metro stations in the world.
Avtovo's unique and highly ornate design features columns faced with ornamental glass manufactured at the Lomonosov factory. Although the original plan envisaged using glass on all of the columns in the station, white marble was substituted on some due to time constraints. This marble was supposed to be temporary, but it has never been replaced. The walls are faced with white marble and adorned on the north side by a row of ornamental ventilation grilles. At the end of the platform a mosaic by V.A. Voronetskiy and A.K. Sokolov commemorates the Leningrad Blockade (1941 to 1944) during the Second World War.
Unlike the other stations on the first line, Avtovo is a shallow-level station, located just 12 metres below ground level and constructed using the cut and cover method. It belongs to the shallow column class of underground stations. Avtovo has as its entrance vestibule a large Neoclassical building with a domed cupola, located on the east side of Prospekt Stachek.
In Saint Petersburg’s history, the question of building an underground transport system arose several times, the first time in 1820, when the idea was hatched to build an underground road in a tunnel. By the end of the 19th century, certain interested parties began discussing the possibility of opening the Russian Empire's first metropolitan railway system. Almost all pre-revolutionary designs featured the concept of an elevated metro system, similar to the Paris or Vienna metros. However, as was later discovered through the experience of operating open (ground-level) metro lines in the city, such schemes would likely have resulted in a poor metro service. Unfortunately, at the time, Russian engineers did not have sufficient expertise or technical resources for the construction of deep underground tunnels through the bedrock located far beneath St Petersburg. Hence, it was finally Moscow that got the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union in 1935.
In 1938 the question of building a metro for Saint Petersburg (by then renamed to Leningrad), resurfaced again. The initial project was designed by the Moscow institute 'Metrogiprotrans', but on 21st January 1941, "Construction Directorate № 5 of the People's Commissariat" was founded as a body to specifically oversee the design and construction of the Leningrad Metro. By April 1941, 34 shafts for the initial phase of construction had been finished. During the Second World War construction works were frozen due to severe lack of available funding, manpower and equipment. At this time, many of the metro construction workers were employed in the construction and repair of railheads and other objects vital to the besieged city.
In 1946 Lenmetroproyekt was created, to finish the construction of the metro first phase. A new version of the metro project, devised by specialists, identified two new solutions to the problems to be encountered during the metro construction. Firstly, stations were to be built at a level slightly raised above that of normal track so as to prevent drainage directly into them, whilst the average tunnel width was to be reduced from the 6 metres (20 feet) standard of the Moscow Metro to 5.5 metres (18 feet).
On 3rd September 1947, construction in the Leningrad subway began again and eight years later, on 7 October 1955, the electricity was turned on in the metro l. On 15th November 1955, the subway grand opening was held, with the first seven stations being put into public use. These stations later became part of the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line, connecting the Moscow Rail Terminal in the city centre with the Kirovsky industrial zone in the southwest. Subsequent development included lines under the Neva River in 1958, and the construction of the Vyborgsky Radius in the mid-1970s to reach the new housing developments in the north. In 1978, the line was extended past the city limits into the Leningrad Oblast.
By the time of the USSR's collapse, the Leningrad Metro comprised 54 stations and 94.2 kilometres (58.5 miles) of track. But development even continued in the modern, post-Soviet period. Today, the Saint Petersburg metro comprises five lines with altogether 69 stations and 118,6 kilometres (74 miles) of track. However, the present state is not meant to be the end of the story. Plans have been made to extend the Saint Petersburg Metro to nine lines with altogether 126 stations and 190 kilometres (118 miles) of track. But delays due to the difficult geology of the city's underground and to the insufficient funding have cut down these plans to 17 new stations and one new depot until 2025. At the same time, there are several short and mid-term projects on station upgrades, including escalator replacements and lighting upgrades.
On 3rd April 2017, a terrorist bombing caused an explosion on a train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologicheski Institut stations, on the Line 2. 14 people died and over 50 sustained injuries, while Russian president Vladimir Putin was in the city, when the attack happened. On the same day, Russia's National anti-terrorist unit defused another explosive device at Ploshchad Vosstaniya station.
Saint Petersburg (in Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг) is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with currently 5.3 million inhabitants, part of the Saint Petersburg agglomeration with a population of 6.2 million (2015). An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has a status of a federal city. Saint Petersburg is also the fourth-largest city in Europe, only excelled by Istanbul, London and Moscow. Other famous European cities like Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid are smaller. Furthermore, Saint Petersburg is the world’s northernmost megapolis and called "The Venice of the North", due to its many channels that traverse the city.
Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27th May 1703. On 1st September 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, on 26 January 1924 to Leningrad, and on 7 September 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. Between 1713 and 1728 and again between 1732 and 1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved to Moscow, which is located about 625 kilometres (388 miles) to the south-east.
Saint Petersburg is also the cultural capital of Russia. Today, the city is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture, history and culture. It has 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas and around 80 other cultural establishments. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world.
Every year the city hosts around 100 festivals and various competitions of art and culture, including more than 50 international ones. In 2017, the city was visited by 7.2 million tourists and it is expected that in the years ahead the number of tourists will still be on the rise. Furthermore, many foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg. The multinational Gazprom company has its headquarters in the newly erected Lakhta Center.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The uncrewed Orbital Flight Test launched at 6:36 a.m. EST and is Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Technicians with NASA's Exploration Ground Systems prepare to lower a mock-up, or pathfinder, of the Space Launch System's (SLS) center booster segment onto an aft pathfinder segment inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 14, 2020. Teams rehearsed stacking both pathfinder segments on top of the mobile launcher in High Bay 3 of the VAB in preparation for the Artemis I launch. Stacking of the actual SLS booster segments will occur later this year, when the rocket's core stage arrives at Kennedy. Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will test SLS and the Orion spacecraft as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, May 19, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 launched at 6:54 p.m. ET, and will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Ex. NVS # 126 from Schwerin arrived in Almaty in 2004 in the years of the system's slight revival after the 90s. As all other Schweriners, it contained a second cabless twin car. The latter was in service until 2006 and 1027 was the last of the operating multiple-units here. The head car was running through the next years until the arrival of ex-Berliners in 2013.
Shevchenko koshesi, Almaty, KZ
Made for Disty's architecture contest. A quick little entry and nothing fancy, but I wanted to make an entry of some kind and those treads jumped out at me as perfect for a bridge. Purple tiles because I have little System and purple is a great color anyway.
There's a fair bit of System with the studs, cheese, and tiles, but with all the pins inside holding it together I think the System's less than a quarter of the parts.
And a Merry Christmas everyone!
On April 30, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observed Comet ISON again. The comet is in the upper middle, showing the long tail. Various galaxies and stars appear behind it.
In this image, Hubble trained its telescope on the stars instead of following the comet. The result is that the comet appears fuzzier, but the stars and galaxies are more detailed and precise. These dimmer features don't pop out if the camera is moving, following along with ISON. To see them, you really need to dwell in one place until they emerge from the noise.Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA
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More details on Comet ISON:
Comet ISON began its trip from the Oort cloud region of our solar system and is now travelling toward the sun. The comet will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- 28 Nov 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun's surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet.
Catalogued as C/2012 S1, Comet ISON was first spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012. This is ISON's very first trip around the sun, which means it is still made of pristine matter from the earliest days of the solar system’s formation, its top layers never having been lost by a trip near the sun. Comet ISON is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago.
NASA has been using a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescope, in order to learn more about this time capsule from when the solar system first formed.
The journey along the way for such a sun-grazing comet can be dangerous. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether.
This collection of images show ISON throughout that journey, as scientists watched to see whether the comet would break up or remain intact.
The comet reaches its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- Nov. 28, 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun’s surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet.
ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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All three cars are lined up on Franklin Street at Cleveland Square for the opening ceremony of the El Paso Streetcar. 1506, the lead car, represents the previous system's 1970s paint scheme. November 9, 2018. © 2018 Peter Ehrlich
System's Hot Legs.
Plac Józefa Piłsudskiego, Warsaw, July 24th, 2009
Digital, Mark II, 24-70 Canon Zoom Lens, 21 MgPx
Small satellites, called CubeSats, are shown secured inside NASA’s Orion stage adapter at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 5, 2021. Technicians from Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs teams are working with developers of the shoebox-sized secondary payloads as they undergo final processing. The ring-shaped stage adapter will be connected to the Space Launch System’s Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, and the Orion spacecraft will be secured on top. The CubeSats will conduct a variety of science experiments and technology demonstrations that will expand our knowledge of the lunar surface during the Artemis I mission. NASA/Cory Huston
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen after being into a vertical position on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-1 mission, Feb. 28, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Demo-1 mission will be the first launch of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and space system designed for humans as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 2:49am launch on March 2, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
I discovered this lovely Victorian house earlier this week. I have since learned that it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The information below comes from the National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form.
npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/da02787d-5a69-4348-8f9d-b...
I have omitted the detailed descriptions of the building's elevations, windows, doors and roof. I've also cut tedious details about the pool house and the landscaping. It is worth noting, however, that in 1980, the house was served by a curved driveway that extended all the way to the front steps. It is no longer there and, in fact, there is no access to house from N. Willamette Boulevard.
I gather that high expectations that the house would be restored, which go back to the 1980s, have yet to be realized. The first thing I would do is repaint the house, because otherwise it's akin to a piece of fine furniture that's been left out to weather on the front yard.
Introduction
The John Mock House is one of Portland's best-preserved examples of Queen Anne/Victorian architecture. It is excellently situated above the Willamette River and was designed and built by unknown person or persons on the site of two previous Mock houses, the oldest dating from 1853.
The interior is superbly detailed and is substantially unaltered from its original state. The Mock House has been continuously associated with persons and events vital to the evolution of Portland's architectural, political and cultural heritage and deserves recognition by the National Register.
Biographical Information About Past Owners
1. John Mock's Parents
In 1833 Henry Arnold Mock and his wife, Maria Elizabeth Meyer, emigrated to America from Germany. Settling in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, five years later on October 4, 1838, Maria gave birth to the couple's only child, John. In Mechanicsburg, Henry engaged in several occupations including that of a sailor, farmer, and shoemaker. By 1844, he had saved enough money to move his family to Platte County, Missouri, and purchase a forty-acre farm. There the family settled and worked the land for eight years.
In the spring of 1852, lured into the westward migration, Henry Mock sold his farm, packed both his family and his most valued worldly possessions into a wagon, and began their journey across the Great Plains to Oregon. By this time, John was fourteen years old and a man by pioneer standards. He proved himself particularly adept in the handling of the family's four-yoke oxen wagon, often with two additional cows hitched up. In fact, John was so skillful at driving the team that all six original animals survived the Plains crossing.
In the late summer of 1852, the Mock family arrived in The Dalles, Oregon. There they sold two of their oxen, loaded the wagon on a river scow, and drifted down the Columbia River. John, however, stayed behind, and drove the remaining oxen and cows overland, where he met his parents at the Upper Cascades. Here they disembarked from the scow and proceeded further down the river by wagon to the Lower Cascades. At the Lower Cascades, Henry and Maria again boarded the scow, John drove the oxen and cows overland, and by early fall both groups arrived in Sandy, Oregon. In Sandy, the family reloaded the wagon and made their way to Portland, arriving in October 1852.
The Mock family's first three weeks in Portland were spent camping in Sullivan's Gulch. Turning their cattle loose in order to graze, the animals ran off during an unwatched moment. In the search that followed, the Mocks stumbled upon what is now St. John's, where they met Dr. Charles Staples, Portland's first practicing and properly educated physician.
Dr. Staples convinced the family to occupy a house on his property and weather the winter storms there. Henry, Maria, and John remained guests of Dr. Staples until the spring of 1853, when, with the advice of Dr. Staples, Henry Mock took up a donation land claim of 317 acres in the vicinity of what is now the University of Portland. That claim included what are today’s North Portland neighborhoods of University Park, Mock’s Crest and Mock’s Bottom. With the aid of neighbors, the Mock's built their first log cabin, which was the family home until 1874.
2. John Mock
During his first four years in Portland, John Mock cleared, worked, and helped further develop the family farm. Yet, by 1857 and at the age of eighteen, John left home for a career in mining and running a pack train. Taking advantage of his pioneer experiences, John was apparently successful as both a miner and "mule skinner."
However, after six years he returned to his Portland home, lived with his mother and father, and began again to work the farm.
In 1867, Maria Elizabeth Mock died. At this point, John purchased the farm from his aging and apparently disheartened father. Gathering his savings, Henry Arnold returned to his native Germany where he was promptly swindled out of his small fortune. He was thus forced to return to the U.S., where he lived with his son John until 1883, when he died at the age of ninety-one.
On August 4, 1874, John Mock married Mary M. Sunderland, originally of Iowa. John immediately began the construction of a new family cabin of hewn log. Finished in the same year, the cabin was much more spacious and thus able to house an ever growing family. Included were his wife, Mary; his father, Henry; his oldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth; hisonly son, John Benjamin; his second daughter, Lillie Catherine;and his last child, Margaret Alice.
Tragically, in 1889, the Mock family cabin burned down, along with virtually all of the family's possessions. As a result, John Mock initiated the construction of the house that still stands today, known as Mock's residence. Completed in 1894, John Mock lived there until 1918, when he died.
John Mock, as one of the founders of Portland, was originally well known for his pioneering efforts in raising livestock and mining in the local area. Later, as a City Councilman, he was instrumental in developing and initiating a street-railway system that reached out to the St. John's area. Moreover, John Mock donated large tracks of land to the city for the implementation of a street system which led to the development of a fine residentia lcommunity. Finally, near the end of his life, John Mock donated the land for the building of Columbia University, presently the University of Portland.
Both Mock's Crest, near the University, and Mock's Bottom, near Swan Island, are named for John Mock, acknowledging his contribution to Portland as one of its original pioneers and most active and concerned of citizens.
3. Owners After John Mock's Death
After John Mock's death, the present home was subsequently owned and occupied by his children and in-laws at various times: Margaret Alice Mock, the youngest child who remained single her entire life, and who was noted for the creation of a generous scholarship fund for graduating senior at Roosevelt High School; Lillie Catherine (Mock) Amos, the second daughter of John Mock, and wife of the well-known physician and famous prohibitionist Dr. William F. Amos; Mary Elizabeth (Mock) Yeon, the eldest Mock child and wife of John B. Yeon.
Mr. Yeon was a well-known Oregon logger, builder, real estate developer, and is considered the "father of the Columbia River Highway." John B. Yeon is the grandfather of the noted architect, John Yeon.
In the mid-1950's, the family sold the Mock home to Harold LaDuke, for which the LaDuke Terrace addition is named.
4. The Owners in 1980
The Mock House is now owned and occupied by Mr. Lewis E. Alexander, and his wife, Fern T. Alexander. Both are Native Americans and hail from Oklahoma.
Mr. Alexander is of the Creek-Seminole people and Mrs. Alexander is of Oto-Missouria origin. Presently, Mr. Alexander is the Executive Director of the Portland Urban Indian Council, Inc., providing a variety of social services for the local Native American population.
In the recent past, Mr. Alexander has served both the Schrunk and Goldschmidt administrations in the Mayor's Office. Between 1970 and 1972, he was Manpower Coordinator for the City of Portland, in which he served as the Mayor's staff advisor on all manpower and related programs. Further, he was Chairperson of the Mayor's Manpower Area Planning Council and was instrumental in codifying and developing a program of evaluating the City's Manpower planning problems. Mr. Alexander has remained active in Indian cultural affairs throughout his life.
Former President of New Mexico Council of AmericanIndians, and presently a member of several other regional and national Indian organizations, in 1974, he was selected the administrative coordinator for the "Native American's Earth" presentation at Expo '74 in Spokane, and was an active member of Expo '74's general manager's staff,
In 1968, Mrs. Alexander was named the American Indian of the Year and travelled to Washington, D.C. to receive the honor. During the administration of President Kennedy, she was appointed "counselor" to the Department of the Interior in regards to Indian affairs~a position Mrs. Alexander still remains active in today. Like her husband, she is very active in local, regional, and national Indian affairs and participates in several related organizations. Presently, Mrs. Alexander is the
Chairperson and the Director of Communications for the North American Indian Woman's Association of Oregon.
Description of the House
The interior of the Mock's Residence consists of a 1,500 square foot basement; a 2,000 square foot first floor a 1,900 square foot second floor; and an attic with 1,000 usable square feet. The basement is used as a laundry room and recreational area, whereas the attic, though largely unfinished, has one insulated room for storage purposes.
1. The First Floor
The first floor was originally designed to and presently serves as the family living area. Likewise, the second floor was designed expressly for individual sleeping and dressing rooms, and remains so today.
The entry hall allows access from the front porch through the main doors to the main hall-foyer. The entry is 6' x 5'6" and contains an inner pair of 8' high doors, with stained glass inserts, that separate it from the hall-foyer. The floor is surfaced in ceramic tile, and the doors and wainscoting are natural-finish hardwood panels. The main hall-foyer is irregular in shape, approximately 22' x 8'6" in size. The floors are fully carpeted and the ceiling is textured with a cut crystal chandelier. The walls are painted, yet all doors and the accompanying wood decor are of natural finish.
An open curved stairway leads to the second floor. The newel post and rails are carved hardwood and given a natural finish.
Between the entry hall and stairway is an 8' x 5'6" cloakroom. It has hanging space for clothing on both sides and a sit down storage bench. This walk-in cloakroom is fully carpeted and has a half rounded stained glass window facing the front yard.
To the left of the entry hall as one enters the hall-foyer, is the sitting room. Measuring 14' x 17', one enters the sitting room through a 5' x 8' pocket door from the hall-foyer. The room has a textured ceiling, painted walls, and a bowed front window stretching the full width of the room. The sitting room is fully carpeted.
The living room, originally the parlor and music room, is to the right of the hall-foyer and is entered through a pair of 5' x 8' pocketed doors. The room is irregular in shape, yet averages 29' x 14' in size. A high cased opening topped with fancy spindle work and a cut out lyre separates the south nine feet of the room. This section of the living room is lined with built-in bookcases, except for the window areas.
The fireplace at the north end of the room is surrounded by a natural finish oak mantle and side sections with a beveled edge plate glass mirror back. It has a ceramic tile face and an iron plate fire screen with adjustable vents. The ceiling is textured, the walls are painted, and the floor is carpeted.
One gains access to the dining room via a 4' x 8' high pocket door at the north end of the living room. The ceiling was hand-painted by New York artist Charles Ammann in 1930. The chandelier has eight branches and is of Victorian design. The fixture was originally gas fueled, but has since been converted to electricity. The fireplace, at the southern end of the room, is similar in styling to the one in the living room. It has a ceramic face and hearth, an iron plate fire screen, and a natural finish oak wood mantle. However, the side shelves have more spindle work and there is a smaller mirror. The northern wall has a scenic mural of the "Villa d'Este." Painted in moss green and blue, it was done by an unknown artist at an unknown date. The woodwork in the room is largely painted in satin enamel, excepting the spindle work, the doors, and the dado inserts. The remaining walls are likewise painted and the floor is carpeted. The dining room measures 19' x 14'.
The breakfast room, presently serving as an informal bar, opens off of the dining room through a high cased opening topped by fine wood spindle work. Facing the east, the room is walled by two full sides of glass windows taking full advantage of the sun during the first half of the day. The remaining two walls and ceiling are painted to compliment the dining room, and the floor is completely surfaced with ceramic tile. The breakfast room measures 6' x 10'.
At the north end of the hall-foyer is the center hall. Measuring 3' x 10', it has a dropped ceiling topped with a fancy wood spindle work. The floor is carpeted, the walls are painted, and the center hall leads one to the main floor bathroom and to the office.
The office is 10' x 8'6" and has a dropped ceiling. This room does not reflect the architectural period of the house as do the other rooms. The office has wainscote-height paneling and built-in cabinets shelves. The floor is carpeted.
The main floor bathroom measures 7'6" x 15'. It has a built-in vanity with a large mirror and double swag lights, the ceiling is original hand painted, and has a wall-hung water closet. The bathroom has been fitted by a modern toilet and 4'6"tub with an overhead shower.
The kitchen is a modern "U"-shaped design with several built-in appliances. One can enter the kitchen from the rear hall or from the pantry via the dining room. The kitchen is 12' x 16'6", it has a 9' kitchen bar with an eating shelf and a 7'6" nook with space for a small kitchen table. The room is well lighted and fully carpeted.
The pantry is located between the dining room and kitchen and has access to both. The walls are lined with upper and lower cabinets for storage, and there is an open counter space. The pantry is carpeted and opens up on to the back porch.
The rear stair is three feet wide and leads off the rear hallway to the second floor central hallway. Given a natural wood finish, it has one landing and winders that provide for a ninety-degree turn.
2. The Second Floor
The second floor consists of a main hallway, a small rear hall, a bathroom, a master bedroom, and five additional bedrooms. All the rooms on this floor have wood panel doors with transom lights above each.
The main hallway averages 8'6" x 12' and opens off the main stairway from the first floor hall-foyer. The hallway runs north and south and thus divides the second floor into east and west sections. At the southern end of the hallway is a stained glass insert door leading onto the front balcony. The hall carpet is the same as that of the main floor: a gold acrilan over a 70-ounce foam pad with a high/low tip sheared pattern.
The rear hall, located at the north end of the second floor, ranges from four to five feet in width. Carpeted, it leads to the rear stairway which, in turn, takes one down to the first floor, providing easy access to the pantry and kitchen.
The master bedroom is irregular in shape, yet average 24' x 14' in size. It has ivory colored wallpaper, ivory colored woodwork finish, and a pink wool carpet. Both windows in the room are boxed out. The east window is an Austrian shade with over drapes and valances in green and gold antique satin. The front corner windows have draw sheers, with a draw drapes valance. The front corner window seat is covered with green crushed velvet.
The master bedroom has its own bathroom, while the remaining five bedrooms share the hallway bathroom. The master bedroom bathroom is now a modern facility with tiled floor and walls. Entering through café doors, the bathroom contains a marble-top vanity, a 3' x 4'6" shower, and a hung water closet.
Within the entry-hall of the master bedroom are the original hall lights above a large framed mirror. Further centered in the sitting area hangs a Maria Theresa cut crystal chandelier.
The remaining five bedrooms range in size from as large as 18'6" x 10'6" to as small as 12' x 8'. Located on both sides of the main hall, they now serve as guest rooms for visiting friends and relatives.
The northeast bedroom has double closets- and an off-white acrylic carpet, and washable pink wallpaper; the southwest bedroom' has two windows with a view of the city, a connecting door with the west-center bedroom, the walls are painted, and retains its original carpet; the west-center bedroom, adjoining the southwest bedroom, has painted walls, a wool blue carpet, and a set of boxed out windows with stained glass; the northwest bedroom is painted and is floored with a green nylon carpet; the final bedroom also serves as a linen storage room. With its original carpet, this bedroom has an entire wall devoted to storage containing doors and drawers. Further, the room has a walk-in closet with drawers and shelves for more storage.
The hallway bathroom is for the occupants of the five subordinate bedrooms. Measuring 8'x9' in size, it is a completely new and modern facility excepting its original six foot long bathtub.
The upper-half story serves as an attic for the Mock House. It is basically unfinished except for one room with a 1,000 square foot area. Serving as a storage room, it is insulated, contains several storage cabinets, and usually remains locked.
Of further interest: In 1971, a four-ton Rheem central air-conditioning unit was installed. It serves the entire main floor, the master bedroom, and two more bedrooms on the second floor.
The system's installation was an amazing feat, in that first it could be installed at all in a structure such as Mock's Residence, and second; that it was accomplished without compromising the home's appearance.
npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/da02787d-5a69-4348-8f9d-b...
NASA astronaut and Crew Recovery Chief Shannon Walker, center, and other NASA and Boeing teams listen to Boeing Starliner Launch Conductor Louis Atchison as they prepare for the landing of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch on 6:54 p.m. ET on May 19, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Minnehaha Park
Beginning in 1885, the Minnesota State Legislature began acquiring the land around Minnehaha Falls to become the first Minnesota State Park, but in 1889 it was turned over to the city of Minneapolis for a city park. Park visitors could fish, swim, picnic, and visit the Longfellow Zoological Gardens. The park also featured a carnival, horse-racing and a campground through the 1930s.
Today, the park is part of the National Park System's Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. It is basically divided into two main portions; an upper section above the falls which is kept trimmed and maintained like many other city parks, and the lower section which is largely left in a natural state, with trails following the creek down to the Mississippi.
There are WPA-built stairways and retaining walls along the edges of the glen and creek bed. The park has picnic areas for large or small gatherings, a playground, and an off-leash dog park. A bike rental company operates at the falls in the summer months.
The Pergola Garden overlooks the falls and is a popular wedding location. There is a seafood restaurant and a bandstand at the park at the old picnic pavilion, both open in the summer. The park also boasts several historic buildings including the Minnehaha Depot (AKA "the Princess Depot") built in 1875, and sculptures including the Hiawatha sculpture mentioned above and a mask of Chief Little Crow who was murdered after the 1862 Dakota conflict. The location of the statue is in an area sacred to Native Americans.
If you ever get to the Minneapolis area, Minnehaha Park is a "must see" destination!
The above information was obtained and paraphrased from several online sources including WIkipedia, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis: The Complete Guide and the former AllExperts website.
Gare de Lyon 14/02/2019 12h20
Like if we were back in the 1980's and 1990's when the TGV colors were orange like here.
Set TGV 01, named ‘Patrick’, retires after 41 years of service. For this occasion, both power cars got back their original orange livery. Intermediate cars got back SNCF older blue-silver paint scheme, so TGV 01 now sports all three liveries it has had during its active career. It was Andy's idea to say "adieu" to this orange machine.
TGV 01 "Patrick"
An explosion of colors to say farewell to the first TGV Sud-Est high-speed train. Set TGV 01, named ‘Patrick’, retires after 41 years of service. For this occasion, both power cars got back their original orange livery. Intermediate cars got back SNCF older blue-silver paint scheme, so TGV 01 now sports all three liveries it has had during its active career.
The SNCF TGV Sud-Est or TGV-PSE was a French high speed TGV train built by Alstom and operated by SNCF, the French national railway company. It is a semi-permanently coupled electric multiple unit and was built for operation between Paris and the south-east of France.
The TGV Sud-Est fleet was built between 1978 and 1988 and operated the first TGV service from Paris to Lyon in 1981.
Originally the sets were built to run at 270 km/h (168 mph) but most were upgraded to 300 km/h (186 mph) during their mid-life refurbishment in preparation for the opening of the LGV Méditerranée. The few sets which still have a maximum speed of 270 km/h (168 mph) operate on routes which have a comparatively short distance on the lignes à grande vitesse, such as those to Switzerland via Dijon. SNCF did not consider it financially worthwhile to upgrade their speed for a marginal reduction in journey time.
In December 2019, all TGV Sud-Est sets were retired from service. In early 2020, a farewell service which included TGV01 (Nicknamed Patrick), the very first TGV train ever build. This train included all 3 liveries that were worn during it's service.
FACTS & FIGURES (SNCF TGV "Sud-Est")
In service: 1981-December 2019
Manufacturer: GEC-Alsthom
Number built: 111
Numbers preserved / scrapped: 7 / 107
Formation: 10 cars (2 power cars, 8 passenger cars)
Capacity: 350
Length: 200 meters
Speed: 300 km/h
Electric system(s): 25 kV 50 Hz AC 1500 V DC
Safety system(s): TVM 300/TVM 430
[ Source & More: Wikipedia - SNCF TGV Sud-Est ]
Boeing hazmat teams work around Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The Health District, also known as the Civic Center, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami, Florida. The Health District is bound roughly by Northwest 20th Street and 14th Avenue to the northwest, the Dolphin Expressway and the Miami River to the south and west, and the Midtown Interchange and I-95 to the east.
The Health District has the country's largest concentration of medical and research facilities after Houston. The neighborhood is composed primarily of hospitals, research institutes, clinics and government offices, and is the center of Miami's growing biotechnology and medical research industry. It is the home of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and the University of Miami's Life Science and Technology Park. The Health District is approximately five minutes north of downtown Miami via rapid transit on the Miami Metrorail.
The neighborhood has its roots as a health district with the opening of Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1915, with some of the original buildings, such as The Alamo still standing. Today, the Alamo serves an era museum of Jackson's history throughout the years. Jackson Memorial Hospital is the major public hospital of Miami, and Jackson's hospital in the Health District is the health system's primary hospital.
The Health District is the center of Miami's medical, research and biotechnology industries, and as such is home to many of the city's largest hospital systems. The largest is the public hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital, which also has two branch hospitals in northern and southern Miami-Dade County. Jackson has affiliations as teaching hospitals with the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine since 1952 and more recently with Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Other hospitals include: Miami VA Medical Center, University of Miami Hospital (formerly Cedars Medical Center), and Holtz Children's Hospital.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_District_(Miami)#/media/File:Miami_neighborhoodsmap.png
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
What we know for sure is that this is a very usual meteorite, made of creamy crystals, it’s an extraterrestrial pegmatite.
It is 98% enstatite... meaning it is almost monomineralic! Most pyroxenes on Earth have a mix of Fe and Mg in them so are darkly colored, but this one has essentially zero Fe in it, so comes as close to the Mg-rich enstatite composition as any pyroxene found in nature. Check out those smooth edges. Those are cleavages in this mineral which are separated by almost 90 degrees, a pegmatite texture.
A recent paper proposes that aubrites (a class of similar meteorites like this one), are samples of ancient Mercury, parts of its mantle that were blasted off in a massive collision, removing a third of its mass. Some of the material ended up in the asteroid belt, pushed by the intense solar winds or that epoch, forming the E-type asteroids. And like many other asteroids, various gravitational resonances with Jupiter eventually flung this material to Earth, a time capsule from the formative years of our solar system.
OK, so what supports this hypothesis? First, isotope analysis shows the aubrites left their parent body 4.563 billion years ago (20 million years before Earth formed). Our solar system is 4.567 billion years old.
We also know it was a crazy violent time back then. Entire planets were flung out of our solar system to drift away in cold, dead space. A planet the size of Mars smashed into Earth and ejected enough material to form our moon. Mercury came out of this rock fight looking very strange; it is very dense with a meager mantle compared to its heavy iron core. The aubrites might shed light on the formative years.
“They seem to match scientific models of conditions on the planet Mercury in earlier days of the solar system. We have often said that aubrites are very good analogues for Mercury.” — Dr. Camille Cartier, a planetary scientist at the University of Lorraine in France in the NYT. “Data from NASA’s Messenger spacecraft that orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015 supports similarities between Mercury’s composition and aubrites. ‘I think aubrites are the shallowest portions of the mantle of a large proto-Mercury,’ Dr. Cartier said. ‘This could resolve the origin of Mercury.’”
The BepiColombo mission is on its way to Mercury now and will try to test the hypothesis by measuring the planet’s nickel at the surface. If confirmatory, a meteoriticist colleague on FB summarized: “aubrites may suddenly be promoted from an oddity into some of the most remarkable meteorites ever collected — pieces of the solar system’s innermost world.”
Now, of the aubrites, this 2.4kg aubrite pegmatite is quite unique. It was found this year in Mali, and will be called Wad Alhath. It does not look like any other meteorite I have seen. It is almost entirely enstatite — a mineral common to the early stages of crystalline silicate formation in space. It’s one of the few silicate minerals observed outside the Solar System, particularly around evolved stars and planetary nebulae such as NGC 6302. Pegmatite is the crystal form, an orthorhombic and centrosymmtric cluster of crystals.
This aubrite has the highest concentration of enstatite (98%) and lowest iron (undetectable) of any aubrite. It makes for a beautiful enigma.
Here are some more technical details on the Mercury hypothesis from the scientific paper:
“Large proto-Mercury models match AuPB’s [Aubrite Parent Body, the place it came from] inferred characteristics: Aubrites share similar exotic mineralogies with Mercury’s lavas and are therefore regarded as potential analogues to Mercury’s crust.
A long-standing idea holds that proto-Mercury once possessed a larger silicate mantle that was removed by an early giant impact(s). N-body numerical simulations of solar system formation systematically predict bigger Mercury analogues, with 0.2 to 0.6 Earth masses. All these models are consistent with P recorded by Ni and Co Dmetal/silicate in the AuPB. Ni and Co abundances in aubrites support an AuPB with a mass of 0.3 to 0.8 Earth mass”
•E-type asteroids as the secondary aubrite parent body: “E-type asteroids are rubble pile asteroids with reflectance spectra and low densities consistent with an aubritic composition. They are located in the innermost belt, forming a large proportion of the Hungaria population, and encountered among the Apollo near-Earth asteroid group. Their orbits are consistent with the fall dates and the long cosmic ray exposure ages of aubrites, supporting the idea that they are the immediate source body of these meteorites. E-type asteroids represent a total mass of ~1.46*1018kg, which represents only a few ppm of the material that would be stripped out by a giant impact on a large proto-Mercury. The age of aubrites coincides with an early epoch during which the Sun’s wind, magnetic field strength and rotation rate each greatly exceeded their present-day value. We propose that following a giant impact, this early wind would have provided sufficient drag upon ejected debris to remove them from Mercury-crossing trajectories and generated a tailwind upon debris, propelling them to greater orbital radii”
• Implications for inner solar system early history: “In the scenario of a giant impact occurring onto a large proto-Mercury and sending some small debris up to the Hungaria region, it is likely that large amounts of ejected debris are gravitationally captured by the inner planets during their outward course. Up to 20% of escaped particles could collide with Venus, and about 5% with Earth. If proto-Mercury was 0.3 to 0.8 Earth masses and lost most of its mantle, that would potentially represent ~ 1% to 2.5% Earth mass of aubritic material accreting to the Earth.”
If so, we are not just "made of stars" but a bit of Mercury too.
Many of the larger icy moons of the Sol system's gas giants have interior oceans of liquid water, kept liquid through tidal heating caused by the interactions of the two gravity wells. The exoplanet Krysto, home of the famed ICEPLANET team 2002, was a true planet rather than a moon, but it did have a particularly large and close moon.
It took the Iceplaneteers some time to realize the potential of Krysto's subsurface ocean - the deeply hostile surface conditions combined with Blacktron factional conflicts meant that their limited resources were mostly put to other tasks - but after some time a mission was planned to melt a shaft through the thick icecap to the internal sea of Krysto.
The Aquarius Project, as it was called, centered initially around a large submarine, the Interior eXploration Vessel Aquarius, but there were other vehicles besides the IXV Aquarius. The Delphinus-1 was a rover used for exploring the subglacial seabed, though it did have a limited swimming ability. The rather large laser cannon proved necessary as there were a number of very large and rather dangerous creatures that called the interior ocean their home.
~~~
This has a little too much yellow and not enough white to really mesh well with my previous "Alt-Seatron" Aquarius Project creations, but I'm mostly pleased with the overall design. In order to mesh with but remain distinct from the Ice Planet factional colours, the intent is that the IP2002 colours are used on the surface, and for the Aquarius Project interior exploration stuff the blue is replaced by yellow and the trans neon orange by trans red.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 1:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 3, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
This "first light" image from ISERV shows the mouth of the Rio San Pablo in Veraguas, Panama, as it empties into the Gulf of Montijo. This wetland supports an important local fishery and provides habitat for many mammals and reptiles, as well as several species of nesting and wintering water birds. The image was captured Feb. 16.
About ISERV
From the Earth-facing window of the International Space Station's (ISS) Destiny module, nearly 95 percent of the planet's populated area is visible during the station's orbit. This unique vantage point provides the opportunity to take photos of Earth from space. With the installation and activation of the ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV), NASA will be able to provide even higher resolution images of Earth! The ISERV camera system's mission is to gain experience and expertise in automated data acquisition from the space station. ISERV is expected to provide useful images for disaster monitoring and assessment and environmental decision making.
Image credit: ISERV
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/servir/iserv_130325.html
View the ISERV Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157633316595189/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
“Meteorites are, by almost any measure, far more diverse than any rocks formed on Earth.”
This line from Appendix 1 of Greg Brennecka’s book Impact struck me. To illustrate the point, here is my newest addition to the collection, a rare carbonaceous Cba subgroup, with mysterious chondrules of metal.
More from Greg's 2022 book:
“Meteorites represent the origins of Earth and humanity… in the form of fossils that recorded the important events of our Solar System’s origins.”
“Meteorites are ancient and largely unchanged — certain types have never been melted since they formed over 4.5 billion years ago, and thus are excellent time capsules for the genesis of the Solar System. The most primitive types of meteorites are so pristine we essentially sample an unadulterated version of our parent molecular cloud from which the Solar System formed.”
-- Starting composition of the Sun and planets
-- Ancient clocks and thermometers, embedded in stone
-- “Diamonds older than the sun among the cosmic dust and galactic garbage”
-- Amino acids, DNA and RNA base pairs, and large amounts of water
-- “the texture and minerals present in many meteorites are essentially impossible to re-create on Earth.”
-- Paleomagnetism: the sun had an intense magnetic field in the early years
-- “Meteorites record a gradient in their isotopic compositions related to how far out from the sun they formed.”
Luna launch: “The moon exists because of a really, really big meteorite. When the Earth was a mere toddler, less than 150 million years after the birth of the Solar System, the impact flash-melted the entire surface of the Earth and large portions of its mantle. The impactor itself, a Mars size body that have been names Theia, was completely obliterated as it violently introduced itself to a fledgling Earth. The material that was ejected from this collision eventually coalesced into what we call the Moon, producing a brilliantly tidally locked, lower-density-than-Earth extra-large satellite for us to marvel at 4 billion+ years later.”
-- Sterilized Earth and reset the atmosphere to be rich in hydrogen, carbon monoxide and water (the source of our abundant water remains unknown; it may have come from Theia, liberated from the Earth’s mantle from Theia’s impact, or delivered by subsequent comets and water-rich meteorites. Or all three).
-- “Four billion years ago, Earth was spinning much faster and the Moon was much closer to us. These differences caused much larger tide fluctuations to happen more frequently: up to ~50m changes every five hours.”
-- “Ocean tides produce local differences on a repeated basis, which happens to be the perfect mechanism for concentrating organic material. Without the Moon and the tides it creates, this crucible for carbon concentration would barely exist.”
Dino-busting: “One moment there were creatures as big as 100 tons strutting their stuff around, and then, in a blink of geologic time, no living animal on Earth was larger than a basset hound.”
Ongoing nourishment: “Every day in our modern world, an average of more than 100 metric tons of meteoritic material is added to Earth.”
-- “Living things use only 21 amino acids to perform their daily functions, and many amino acids discovered in meteorites were previously unknown to exist. More than 80 types of amino acids have been identified in a single primitive metworite.”
-- “The realization that organic molecules exist at all in meteorites is mind-bending enough, but the fact that such a complex and highly diverse suite of molecules — including life-essential things like sugars, alcohols and amino acids— exist in abundance in many kinds of meteorites is almost incomprehensibly thought provoking.”
-- Other essential ingredients for our biology, like reactive phosphorous and soluble iron may have come from meteorites, as it is in “vanishingly short supply, particularly in places like the ocean, where organisms get a lot of the nutrients they require from seawater.”
-- “The well documented increased influx of extraterrestrial material around 450 million years ago caused a global increase of marine productivity (seeding the oceans with iron). If such a productivity bump was intense enough, it would have caused a significant drawdown of global CO2 levels, lowering global temperatures. As such, increased meteoritic delivery may have been the indirect cause of the most intense ice age of the last 500 million years, the Ordovician-Silurian extinction event, which wiped out ~85% of marine species at the time.”
Free Sample Return from Mars: Martian meteorites could not have been launched by volcanos on Mars, as some initially thought. The escape velocity is 11,000 MPH “so the only realistic way they got off Mars was from large impacts to the surface of the planet” — more meteorites, hitting Mars.
-- “It is only through the study of Martian meteorites that we can quantify the amount of water that was present in the past, and how much has been lost over time.”
-- We have 300 samples “from 4.1 billion years old to a scant 160 million years ago; in other words, for nearly the entirely of Mars’s history.”
-- No plate tectonics remixing and melting the surface
-- “With the recent space exploration interest success by private companies such as SpaceX, and the continued interest and accelerated collaboration between governmental space agencies, the possibility of returning samples from Mars is becoming ever more tangible” and they will be chosen rocks from chosen locations, like old lakebeds and riverbanks.
“Iron meteorites represent something we have no access to on Earth: planetary core material.”
“Pallasites are generally about 50% iron-nickel metal and about 50% of the mineral olivine. This cosmic combo can make pallasites very beautiful to look at: brilliant green olivine crystals encased in a shiny metal matrix make for an otherworldly appearance. Interestingly, it was the unique appearance (it can’t be made on Earth) of the first known pallasite that helped convince the scientific community that rocks could come from somewhere other than Earth.”
Many of the larger icy moons of the Sol system's gas giants have interior oceans of liquid water, kept liquid through tidal heating caused by the interactions of the two gravity wells. The exoplanet Krysto, home of the famed ICEPLANET team 2002, was a true planet rather than a moon, but it did have a particularly large and close moon.
It took the Iceplaneteers some time to realize the potential of Krysto's subsurface ocean - the deeply hostile surface conditions combined with Blacktron factional conflicts meant that their limited resources were mostly put to other tasks - but after some time a mission was planned to melt a shaft through the thick icecap to the internal sea of Krysto.
The Aquarius Project, as it was called, centered initially around a large submarine, the Interior eXploration Vessel Aquarius, but there were other vehicles besides the IXV Aquarius. The Delphinus-1 was a rover used for exploring the subglacial seabed, though it did have a limited swimming ability. The rather large laser cannon proved necessary as there were a number of very large and rather dangerous creatures that called the interior ocean their home.
~~~
This has a little too much yellow and not enough white to really mesh well with my previous "Alt-Seatron" Aquarius Project creations, but I'm mostly pleased with the overall design. In order to mesh with but remain distinct from the Ice Planet factional colours, the intent is that the IP2002 colours are used on the surface, and for the Aquarius Project interior exploration stuff the blue is replaced by yellow and the trans neon orange by trans red.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 1:20 p.m. EDT, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
When this uniquely beautiful meteorite surfaced in the Sahara last year, I jumped on it, buying the 1,857g stone before the isotope analyses confirmed that it was a meteorite at all. It was an enigmatic mystery, looking unlike any meteorite I had ever seen. Michael Farmer agreed, and when we sliced it in half, we found a treasure trove of green crystals (some 4cm long!) that must have formed in a planetary-sized body with very slow cooling of the crust over 100,000+ years. But which? Given the Earth-like preponderance of silicon dioxide crystals (58% by volume), some speculated that it might be the first meteorite knocked loose from the Earth itself, an emissary from its early formation.
But we now know it’s older still. It is an ancient survivor from the crust of a lost cousin planet that formed 23 million years before Earth itself! EC 002 was all over the science news this week, with some of the articles featuring photos of my stones. What a beautiful birthday-week surprise! (and here are all of my photos)
From New Scientist: 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite is the oldest volcanic rock ever found
"The oldest volcanic rock we have ever discovered may help us understand the building blocks of planets. The meteorite, which was discovered in the Sahara desert in 2020, dates from just 2 million years after the formation of the solar system – making it more than a million years older than the previous record-holder.
“I have been working on meteorites for more than 20 years now, and this is possibly the most fantastic new meteorite I have ever seen,” says Jean-Alix Barrat at the University of Western Brittany in France. When he and his colleagues analysed the meteorite, called Erg Chech 002 or EC 002, they found that it was unlike any other meteorite we have ever located.
It is a type of rock called andesite that, on Earth, is found mostly in subduction zones – areas where tectonic plates have collided and one has been pushed beneath the other – and rarely in meteorites. Most of the meteorites discovered on Earth are made of another kind of volcanic rock called basalt. Analysis of the chemical make-up of the new meteorite showed that it was once molten, and solidified nearly 4.6 billion years ago.
This means it was probably part of the crust of an ancient protoplanet that broke up early in the solar system’s past. No known asteroid looks like EC 002, which indicates that almost none of these relics still exist: nearly all of them have either crashed together to form planets or been smashed to bits.
“When you go close to the beginning of the solar system, it’s more and more complicated to get samples,” says Barrat. “We probably will not find another sample older than this one.”
The researchers’ analysis showed that it took the magma that makes up EC 002 at least 100,000 years to cool and solidify after it melted, which may indicate that it was unusually viscous. Further study of this artefact from the early solar system could help us understand how the planets, including Earth, formed."
LiveScience added: 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite belongs to Earth’s long-lost baby cousin
"When the scientists peered at distant cosmic objects' spectral "fingerprints" — wavelength patterns in the light they emit or reflect — and compared them to EC 002, they found no matches. Even after comparison with 10,000 objects in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database, EC 002 was "clearly distinguishable from all asteroid groups," the scientists reported. "No object with spectral characteristics similar to EC 002 has been identified to date."
Where are all the protoplanets with andesite crusts today? During our solar system's volatile period of planetary birth, most of these protoplanets likely didn't make it past infancy, according to the study. Either they were smashed to bits in collisions with other rocky bodies, or they were absorbed by bigger and more successful rocky planets, such as Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, leaving few traces behind to spawn meteorites such as EC 002.
"Remains of primordial andesitic crust are therefore not only rare in the meteorite record, but they are also rare today in the asteroid belt," the scientists wrote."
And here is the original paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: A 4,565-My-old andesite from an extinct chondritic protoplanet
The Space Launch System’s booster is seen a few hours ahead of the second and final qualification motor (QM-2) test, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah. During the Space Launch System flight the boosters will provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, the first step on NASA’s Journey to Mars. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The crew access arm is seen after being moved into position for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test mission, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Orbital Flight Test with be Starliner’s maiden mission to the International Space Station for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for a 6:36 a.m. EST launch on Dec. 20, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Lockheed XFV (sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Salmon", even though this was actually the name of one of its test pilots and not an official designation) was an American experimental tailsitter prototype aircraft built by Lockheed in the early 1950s to demonstrate the operation of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter for protecting convoys.
The Lockheed XFV originated as a result of a proposal issued by the U.S. Navy in 1948 for an aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aboard platforms mounted on the afterdecks of conventional ships. Both Convair and Lockheed competed for the contract, but in 1950 the requirement was revised with a call for a research aircraft capable of eventually evolving into a VTOL ship-based convoy escort fighter. On 19 April 1951, two prototypes were ordered from Lockheed under the designation XFO-1 (company designation was Model 081-40-01). Soon after the contract was awarded, the project designation changed to XFV-1 when the Navy's code for Lockheed was changed from O to V.
The XFV was powered by a 5,332 hp (3,976 kW) Allison YT40-A-6 turboprop engine, composed of two Allison T38 power sections driving three-bladed contra-rotating propellers via a common gearbox. The aircraft had no landing gear, just small castoring wheels at the tips of the tail surfaces which were a reflected cruciform v-tail (forming an x) that extended above and below the fuselage. The wings were diamond-shaped and relatively thin, with straight and sharp leading edges – somewhat foretelling the design of Lockheed’s Mach-2-capable F-104 Starfighter.
To begin flight testing, a temporary non-retractable undercarriage with long braced V-legs was attached to the fuselage, and fixed tail wheels attached to the lower pair of fins. In this form, the aircraft was trucked to Edwards AFB in November 1953 for ground testing and taxiing trials. During one of these tests, at a time when the aft section of the large spinner had not yet been fitted, Lockheed chief test pilot Herman "Fish" Salmon managed to taxi the aircraft past the liftoff speed, and the aircraft made a brief hop on 22 December 1953. The official first flight took place on 16 June 1954.
Full VTOL testing at Edwards AFB was delayed pending the availability of the 7,100 shp Allison T54, which was earmarked to replace the T40 and power eventual serial production aircraft. But the T54 faced severe development delays, esp. its gearbox. Another problem that arose with the new engine was that the propeller blade tips would reach supersonic speed and therefore compressibility problems.
After the brief unintentional hop, the prototype aircraft made a total of 32 flights. The XFV-1 was able to make a few transitions in flight from the conventional to the vertical flight mode and back, and had briefly held in hover at altitude, but the T40 output was simply not enough to ensure proper and secure VTOL operations. Performance remained limited by the confines of the flight test regime. Another issue that arose through the advancements of jet engine designs was the realization that the XFV's top speed would be eclipsed by contemporary fighters. Additionally, the purely manual handling of the aircraft esp. during landing was very demanding - the XFV could only be controlled by highly experienced pilots.
Both Navy and the Marines Corps were still interested in the concept, though, so that, in early 1955, the decision was made to build a limited pre-production series of the aircraft, the FV-2, for operational field tests and evaluation. The FV-2 was the proposed production version (Model 181-43-02), primarily conceived and optimized as a night/all-weather interceptor for point defense, and officially baptized “Solstice”. The FV-2 was powered by the T54-A-16 turboprop, which had eventually overcome its teething troubles and offered a combined power output equivalent of 7,500 shp (5,600 kW) from the propellers and the twin-engines’ residual thrust. Outwardly the different engine was recognizable through two separate circular exhausts which were introduced instead of the XFV’s single shallow ventral opening. The gearbox had been beefed up, too, with additional oil coolers in small ventral fairings behind the contraprops and the propeller blades were aerodynamically improved to better cope with the higher power output and rotation speed. Additionally, an automatic pitch control system was introduced to alleviate the pilot from the delicate control burdens during hover and flight mode transition.
Compared with the XFV, the FV-2 incorporated 150 lb (68 kg) of cockpit armor, along with a 1.5 in (38 mm) bullet-proof windscreen. A Sperry Corporation AN/APS-19 type radar was added in the fixed forward part of the nose spinner under an opaque perspex radome. The AN/APS-19 was primarily a target detection radar with only a limited tracking capability, and it had been introduced with the McDonnell F2H-2N. The radar had a theoretical maximum detection range of 60 km, but in real life air targets could only be detected at much shorter distances. At long ranges the radar was mainly used for navigation and to detect land masses or large ships.
Like the older AN/APS-6, the AN/APS-19 operated in a "Spiral Scan" search pattern. In a spiral scan the radar dish spins rapidly, scanning the area in front of the aircraft following a spiral path. As a result, however targets were not updated on every pass as the radar was pointing at a different angle on each pass. This also made the radar prone to ground clutter effects, which created "pulses" on the radar display. The AN/APS-19 was able to lock onto and track targets within a narrow cone, out to a maximum range of about 1 mile (1.5 km), but to do so the radar had to cease scanning.
The FV-2’s standard armament consisted of four Mk. 11 20 mm cannon fitted in pairs in the two detachable wingtip pods, with 250 rounds each, which fired outside of the wide propeller disc. Alternatively, forty-eight 2¾ in (70 mm) folding-fin rockets could be fitted in similar pods, which could be fired in salvoes against both air and ground targets. Instead of offensive armament, 200 US gal. (165 imp. gal./750 l) auxiliary tanks for ferry flights could be mounted onto the wing tips.
Until June 1956 a total of eleven FV-2s were built and delivered. With US Navy Air Development Squadron 8 (also known as VX-8) at NAS Atlantic City, a dedicated evaluation and maintenance unit for the FV-2 and the operations of VTOL aircraft in general was formed. VX-2 operated closely with its sister unit VX-3 (located at the same base) and operated the FV-2s alongside contemporary types like the Grumman F9F-8 Cougar, which at that time went through carrier-qualification aboard the USS Midway. The Cougars were soon joined by the new, supersonic F-8U-1 Crusaders, which arrived in December 1956. The advent of this supersonic navy jet type rendered the FV-2’s archaic technology and its performance more and more questionable, even though the VTOL concept’s potential and the institutions’ interest in it kept the test unit alive.
The FV-2s were in the following years put through a series of thorough field tests and frequently deployed to land bases all across the USA and abroad. Additionally, operational tests were also conducted on board of various ship types, ranging from carriers with wide flight decks to modified merchant ships with improvised landing platforms. The FV-2s also took part in US Navy and USMC maneuvers, and when not deployed elsewhere the training with new pilots at NAS Atlantic City continued.
During these tests, the demanding handling characteristics of the tailsitter concept in general and the FV-2 in specific were frequently confirmed. Once in flight, however, the FV-2 handled well and was a serious and agile dogfighter – but jet aircraft could easily avoid and outrun it.
Other operational problems soon became apparent, too: while the idea of a VTOL aircraft that was independent from runways or flight bases was highly attractive, the FV-2’s tailsitter concept required a complex and bulky maintenance infrastructure, with many ladders, working platforms and cranes. On the ground, the FV-2 could not move on its own and had to be pushed or towed. However, due to the aircraft’s high center of gravity it had to be handled with great care – two FV-2s were seriously damaged after they toppled over, one at NAS Atlantic City on the ground (it could be repaired and brought back into service), the other aboard a ship at heavy sea, where the aircraft totally got out of control on deck and fell into the sea as a total loss.
To make matters even worse, fundamental operational tasks like refueling, re-arming the aircraft between sorties or even just boarding it were a complicated and slow task, so that the aircraft’s theoretical conceptual benefits were countered by its cumbersome handling.
FV-2 operations furthermore revealed, despite the considerably increased power output of the T54 twin engine that more than compensated for the aircraft’s raised weight, only a marginal improvement of the aircraft’s performance; the FV-2 had simply reached the limits of propeller-driven aircraft. Just the rate of climb was markedly improved, and the extra power made the FV-2’s handling safer than the XFV’s, even though this advancement was only relative because the aircraft’s hazardous handling during transition and landing as well as other conceptual problems prevailed and could not be overcome. The FV-2’s range was also very limited, esp. when it did not carry the fuel tanks on the wing tips, so that the aircraft’s potential service spectrum remained very limited.
Six of the eleven FV-2s that were produced were lost in various accidents within only three years, five pilots were killed. The T54 engine remained unreliable, and the propeller control system which used 25 vacuum tubes was far from reliable, too. Due to the many problems, the FV-2s were grounded in 1959, and when VX-8 was disestablished on 1 March 1960, the whole project was cancelled and all remaining aircraft except for one airframe were scrapped. As of today, Bu.No. 53-3537 resides disassembled in storage at the National Museum of the United States Navy in the former Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., United States, where it waits for restoration and eventual public presentation.
As a historic side note, the FV-2’s detachable wing tip gun pods had a longer and more successful service life: they were the basis for the Mk.4 HIPEG (High Performance External Gun) gun pods. This weapon system’s main purpose became strafing ground targets, and it received a different attachment system for underwing hardpoints and a bigger ammunition supply (750 RPG instead of just 250 on the FV-2). Approximately 1.200 Mk. 4 twin gun pods were manufactured by Hughes Tool Company, later Hughes Helicopter, in Culver City, California. While the system was tested and certified for use on the A-4, the A-6, the A-7, the F-4, and the OV-10, it only saw extended use on the A-4, the F-4, and the OV-10, esp. in Vietnam where the Mk. 4 pod was used extensively for close air support missions.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length/Height: 36 ft 10.25 in (11.23 m)
Wingspan: 30 ft 10.1 in (9.4 m)
Wing area: 246 sq ft (22.85 m²)
Empty weight: 12,388 lb (5,624 kg)
Gross weight: 17,533 lb (7,960 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 18,159 lb (8,244 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Allison T54-A-16 turboprop with 7,500 shp (5,600 kW) output equivalent,
driving a 6 blade contra-rotating propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 585 mph (941 km/h, 509 kn
Cruise speed: 410 mph (660 km/h, 360 kn)
Range: 500 mi (800 km, 430 nmi) with internal fuel
800 mi (1,300 km, 700 nmi) with ferry wing tip tanks
Service ceiling: 46,800 ft (14,300 m)
Rate of climb: 12,750 ft/min (75.0 m/s)
Wing loading: 73.7 lb/sq ft (360 kg/m²)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (.79 in) Mk. 11 machine cannon with a total of 1.000 rounds, or
48× 2.75 in (70 mm) rockets in wingtip pods, or
a pair of 200 US gal. (165 imp. gal./750 l) auxiliary tanks on the wing tips
The kit and its assembly:
Another submission to the “Fifties” group build at whatifmodellers-com, and a really nice what-if aircraft that perfectly fits into the time frame. I had this Pegasus kit in The Stash™ for quite a while and the plan to build an operational USN or USMC aircraft from it in the typical all-dark-blue livery from the early Fifties, and the group build was a good occasion to realize it.
The Pegasus kit was released in 1992, the only other option to build the XFV in 1:72 is a Valom kit which, as a bonus, features the aircraft’s fixed landing gear that was used during flight trials. The Pegasus offering is technically simple and robust, but it is nothing for those who are faint at heart. The warning that the kit requires an experienced builder is not to be underestimated, because the IP kit from the UK comes with white metal parts and no visual instructions, just a verbal description of the building steps. The IP parts (including the canopy, which is one piece, quite thick but also clear) and the decals look good, though.
The IP parts feature flash and uneven seam lines, sprue attachment points are quite thick. The grey IP material had on my specimen different grades of hard-/brittleness, the white metal parts (some of the propeller blades) were bent and had to be re-aligned. No IP parts would fit well (there are no locator pins or other physical aids), the cockpit tub was a mess to assemble and fit into the fuselage. PSR on any seam all around the hull. But even though this sound horrible, the kit goes together relatively easy – thanks to its simplicity.
I made some mods and upgrades, though. One of them was an internal axis construction made from styrene tubes that allow the two propeller discs to move separately (OOB, you just stack and glue the discs onto each other into a rigid nose cone), while the propeller tip with its radome remained fixed – just as in real life. However, due to the parts’ size and resistance against each other, the props could not move as freely as originally intended.
Separate parts for the air intakes as well as the wings and tail surfaces could be mounted with less problems than expected, even though - again – PSR was necessary to hide the seams.
Painting and markings:
As already mentioned, the livery would be rather conservative, because I wanted the aircraft to carry the uniform USN scheme in all-over FS 35042 with white markings, which was dropped in 1955, though. The XFV or a potential serial production derivative would just fit into this time frame, and might have carried the classic all-blue livery for a couple of years more, especially when operated by an evaluation unit. Its unit, VX-8, is totally fictional, though.
The cockpit interior was painted in Humbrol 80 (simulating bright zinc chromate primer), and to have some contrasts I added small red highlights on the fin pod tips and the gun pods' anti-flutter winglets. For some more variety the radome became earth brown with some good weathering, simulating an opaque perspex hood, and I added white (actually a very light gray) checkerboard markings on the "propeller rings", a bit inspired by the spinner markings on German WWII fighters. Subtle, but it looks good and breaks the otherwise very simple livery.
Some post-panel-shading with a lighter blue was done all over the hull, the exhaust area and the gun ports were painted with iron (Revell 91) and treated with graphite for a more metallic shine.
Silver decal stripe material was used to create the CoroGuard leading edges and the fine lines at the flaps on wings and fins - much easier than trying to solve this with paint and brush...
The decals were puzzled together from various dark blue USN aircraft, including a F8F, F9F and F4U sheet. The "XH" code was created with single 1cm hwite letters, the different font is not obvious, thanks to the letter combination.
Finally, the model was sealed with semi-gloss acrylic varnish (still shiny, but not too bright), the radome and the exhaust area were painted with matt varnsh, though.
A cool result, despite the rather dubious kit base. The Pegasus kit is seriously something for experienced builders, but the result looks convincing. The blue USN livery suits the XFV/FV-2 very well, it looks much more elegant than in the original NMF - even though it would, in real life, probably have received the new Gull Gray/White scheme (introduced in late 1955, IIRC, my FV-2 might have been one of the last aircraft to be painted blue). However, the blue scheme IMHO points out the aircraft's highly aerodynamic teardrop shape, esp. the flight pics make the aircraft almost look elegant!
Northbound Ann Arbor Railroad freight train crossing the Chessie System's former Pere Marquette line at the depot in Clare, Michigan, on May 14, 1984. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2015, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund-03-08-12
Summary: A turnkey conception of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter and Energy as being the nuclear material contained in the nuclei of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria as illustrated by the above photo as a 'onion' of elements being pealed back in a reveal of the combustion cycles played out in a rolling thunderous flash-bang of wood, nails, and miscellaneous building materials being boiled by the reverse engine of the flames of the Sun shining back its light and thermal energy by means the powered illustration of the running of the gears of the Phase Transition sorting matter by means (Dark) Energy's bacterial born elements, coming again 'unglued' (quarks re-de-paired) in the combustion process that surrenders the atomic building blocks of same -- directly back over the long distance haul to comprise the essencial threads in the fabric of Hilbert space with all energy via material information ultimately being returning to said Sun and or Black Hole from which the quarks and atomic bits originally hail to complete the quark 'complimentary'* re-pairing by dint of being propelled by the combustion process of the resultant accretion disk/ 'dust devils'/twistor theory technologies as seen above 'in heat of night' of the fire storm that was the Burning of the Man in 2012.
As the lumber pile of the flaming Man was constructed by means the nuclear power of the bacterial processes by means so many atomic bonds forged from light and, dark energy which we see cycling back to its sources of the Sun/distant Star or other cosmic input to Earth in conjunction and propelled by a 'series of (quantum) tubes' which are the black hole we see above witnessed, and interpreted as the 'ashes to ashes and, dust to dust' of the atomic bonds are returned to sender of the respective Sun/Black hole from whence it came -- approximately driven in the nuclear manner of a salmon to swim home and spawn in the same (sweet) spot where it was born in the 'home stream', compelled by a singular guiding force and power of quark repair made possible; given the critical mass of atomic motivation as seems to be the case of the Salmon, as in most species is: the nuclear material of a chain reaction of Bacterial life as 'master and commander' of both the food and combustion chains by means of its growth function in conjunction with its role as the motor of infinite expanding, self powered Universe by the 20 something percent of the Universe the is Dark Matter and Energy captured and delivered as fuel from the Sun -- and in making the run to/fro do so compose the 'foam of space' as well as go to show how the speed of light is limited* as a function of the rate of expansion of the universe. That Dark Matter is the Nuclear Energy of the nucleus of bacterial life in the form of the 'three families' running of single celled life (and four types of quarks that in) producing the N20 gasses that enable all combustion in the process of making and breaking of the hydrogen and nitrogen bonds in a fractal math that both feeds back the energy in action reaction but goes forward in the process of growth, because there is no such thing as a vacuum. All space is busy doing the 'work' of going forward (expanding by means the biological 'economic activity' of the present), and (backward [against, and by means of the foam of space - in a quantum tunnel] to repair/restore (once paired) quarks, and re-power the sun by means of fresh helium and hydrogen bonds made new care of the Dark Energy of Bacteria and Life as we know it though the power of the food chain running against Black Hole technology in repair of quarks as seen above. The same re-paired quark power that 'run' the salmon's clockwork migration, back to a home stream from the ocean -- thus fueling the forests of the both the Atlantic and Pacific by means of the streams with their Nitrogen and making them greener, and brimming with more life, than the present moonscape we see in many parts of the West where the nitrogen cycle was altered by means of the linchpin of the nitrogen cycle coming off the axle of nature in the form big fish stopped spawning in large numbers when their runs came to a crawl.*
This line of logic leads me to surmise that the 'speed of light in a vacuum' arises from what is governed by the radiation contained in the 'foam of space' (comprised of the four flavors of quarks in repair of the past, explaining the power of the 'gas in the (proverbial) tank' of the present -- as Dark, Energetic and Organic so as to propel, expand, and provide for the future -- in the micro[wave radiation] and macro) gears which is my conception of the cogs of the expanding universal gearbox meshing in such cosmic perfection that there is a logical return of the energy that created the light factored into the equation to keep the lights on back on the home Star burning for the prescribed and observed Space Time and time again across the Universe -- thus providing enough data to perhaps resolving the Faint Young Star Paradox explaining how Stars are renewed over time and space via paradoxically Ross Perot's 'giant sucking sound' technology/meme of economic shrink to the south, explained on another level by Steven Hawking's Theory of Black Hole Radiation as illustrated above, by means of the past powering the present and the future at the rate of the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_constant ('giant suck' rate of -1) per the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_principle that both expands the Universe and binds matter together care of the physical gears of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass by means of the above mentioned phase transition.
If one follows 'the money' that feeds this economy, to and fro to get to the heart of what sets 'barnyard logic' to beating (as I did as a forward-reverse engineering check of my logic and facts in the macro and micro) so as to affirm my conclusion, that "dark energy and matter" is the gas of the compost heap as 'the fuel rods' of the microbiological 'breeder reactor', which accounts for the spinning of the wheels of the Nitrogen Cycle in and on a planet and solar system that predominates with that element, which in turn, keys the Carbon and Oxygen cycles by means the manufacture of the organic molecular bonds, that serve as vital cogs in the twin functions of the combustion and food chains that in time solve for X using particle physics, organic chemistry to see the possibility of the life of biology being able to supply the mechanical power to a world as key to a solar system that functioning as a quantum dynamic set of gears in a Galaxy in a expanding Universe which rate of inflation is our Gravity and does account for the standard lot of black holes, and Einstein Rings that are all organic in this model understood as the world we live to be part of a atomic forest of trees grown over space in time constructed of light as quarks in repair which constitutes the radiation which is measured as "The impedance of free space… approximately 376.7 ohms."^ which is the 'static frequency' of the "sea of time" as well the 'foam of space'; of quarks in complimentary repair of the past, while propelling the future forward at that Cosmological Constant.
I quote from the secondary source of: research, that confirms the raw math and inherent logic of this line of reasoning confirmed by the data stack drawn from the deep weeds of Wikipedia to back the raw math of my (abstract) thinking, that found and processed the following: " Nitrous oxide is emitted by bacteria in soils and oceans, and thus has been a part of Earth's atmosphere for millenia. ... Nitrous oxide reacts with ozone in the stratosphere. Nitrous oxide is the main naturally occurring regulator of stratospheric ozone. Nitrous oxide is a major greenhouse gas. Considered over a 100-year period, it has 310 times more impact per unit weight than carbon dioxide. Thus, despite its low concentration, nitrous oxide is the fourth largest contributor to these greenhouse gases. It ranks behind water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane. Control of nitrous oxide is part of efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. " - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide .
In nature, nitrogen is fixed by means the power of the family of bacteria know as en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazotroph
Therefore, Bacteria is vital cog in the gears of producing the biomass of any given hydrocarbon that burns in the above fire, at the party for a week in the Desert, and or runs the world economy.
Consequently to say that we as a species and to person are Bacteria powered and based is not too great a stretch in thinking from the micro to the macro of what I perceive are two Black Holes of the atomic remains of Burning Man 2012 comprised of non combustible Bacteria that are pumping N20 'laughing back' in a witches brewing tangle with non combusted VOC's aka en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound 's with the Dark Matter/Energy being the Bacteria that makes combustion possible on a atomic level to matter at what juncture on the CNO cycles where one family of Bacteria that binds en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrus_oxide to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon , add the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria to the Dark Matter list for its role in combustion at the atomic level, bring light to life as heat and the building blocks of the food chain where there is no waste whereby matter bound is form and released in Hydrogen bonds of demi-big bang being 'ripped' free and re broken to 'dribble out' and vent safely though a series of holes in the Earths ozone back up to the 'mother ship' of a Black Hole in the middle of the galaxy to be reprocessed into basic matter and new stars; imho, and according to my version of the General Unified Theory the remainder of the combusted Matter is spun off from the inferno in a Energy input = Energy output to/fro Earth over Space Time in visual form as a large pile of 'mass equivalence' goes 'up in smoke' c/o Bacteria* in concert with people and the Sun. There exists some tidy math for this light show to be sure; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twistor_Theory the math of which is 'light years' beyond me, but does suggest that the entire mass of the inferno factored in (as in all the elements in the blaze) which is better than a 'boards and nails' 'vision thing', that was my mistaken thinking up until I read the work of Witten, Penrose, and the late great; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_G._Wilson.
Further there is amazing math that goes direct to the rotation of this equation that I am just wrapping my head around (as it is circular) which is en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noether%27s_theorem
Please to get to know: Emmy Noether, as well Roger Penrose whose 'Twister Theory Edward Witten proposed uniting with string theory' (- wikipedia Twistor Theory) - which makes perfect sense to me, as illustrated above as a expression of matter seen on the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_matrix as a expression of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-theory whereby matter is 'sorted' out on the spot by the light of the fire, (by and,) for the long trip "HOME" *.
Notes on vortex mixing and propulsion as a kick start "reverse thrust" engineering drawn from recent research; processed and now; thought out loud so as to go with the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition in connecting the fairly bright dots of; "The large luminosity of quasars [which are] believed to be a result of gas being accreted by supermassive black holes. This process can convert about 10 percent of the mass of an object into energy as compared to around 0.5 percent for nuclear fusion processes." -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accretion_disc Furthermore, following the material science logic, intuition and links we find that: "Quasars are believed to be powered by accretion of material into supermassive black holes in the nuclei of distant galaxies, making these luminous versions of the general class of objects known as active galaxies. Since light cannot escape the super massive black holes that are at the centre of quasars, the escaping energy is actually generated outside the event horizon by gravitational stresses and immense friction on the incoming material.[6] Large central masses (106 to 109 Solar masses) have been measured in quasars using reverberation mapping. Several dozen nearby large galaxies, with no sign of a quasar nucleus, have been shown to contain a similar central black hole in their nuclei, so it is thought that all large galaxies have one, but only a small fraction emit powerful radiation and so are seen as quasars. The matter accreting onto the black hole is unlikely to fall directly in, but will have some angular momentum around the black hole that will cause the matter to collect in an accretion disc. Quasars may also be ignited or re-ignited from normal galaxies when infused with a fresh source of matter."[6][7][8] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasar. All very predictable but complicated at the same time, such that the reality agrees with the theory in every single instance, of thought experimentation -- I can conjure and as well very vividly illustrated above.
The roar of the above crowd (group mind-melding) in the foreground is also key to my conceptual thinking on the thinking about Dark Matter in the roll over notes over the crowd c/o the Scientific American and the dept. of 'go figure' and if you need drive thru metaphorical service to see these points as fast food for thought and or and or looking for 'the rest of the story' in my photo stream and adding subtext and 'roll over' notes to explain my Bacterial Dark Matter and Energy thoughts expressed as so much burgers, fuel, and fries for bacteriological fueled further thought ; www.flickr.com/photos/tremain_calm/8226556071/
That seeks in a ongoing random dynamic fixed focused attempt to comprehend the path of the energy of light from of Middle of Universe to the Outer, by means the 'mothership' of our fully functioning Cosmos propelled and geared by the micro to mesh with Cosmic regularity in the Macro as explained by this model by a going out on a limb of logic that is organic and understanding this process by which the metaphorical 'limb' grows, shrinks, and, burns to understand and be the first to complete the picture that explains the business of bending light that repairs quarks fueled by the past, thereby powering the present and hence expanding the Universe at the rate of the Cosmological constant by means Dark Matter and Energy expansion being organic does this thought seek to know itself by being pulled from then bounced off for 'dynamic balancing' by the 'group mind' so as to know itself better collectively by the checks and balancing power of trial by peer reviews frosty cold shoulder of skepticism of a autodidact polymath desert hermit researcher and landscaper being completely undaunted by the personal challenge of attempting to figuring the long list of Science Problems that hinge on the correct analysis of the identity and behavior of Dark Matter as Energy.
With these insight in hand and presented the rest of the problem solving is the applied research and analysis that is presented herein and below for the collective consideration.
End Notes, Nods, References, and, Further Reading;
* “His results were the first to prove that all life on earth was related.” Ergo, please 'get to know' the work of the late Carl Woese -- www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/science/carl-woese-dies-discov... and ponder and compute the organic chemical and Theoretical Physical, Climate, and Historical, implications of the above data points run through the right ringer that comprehends the implications of the math stemming from the following observations; “He put on the table a metric for determining evolutionary relatedness,” said Norman R. Pace, a microbiologist and biochemist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “His results were the first to prove that all life on earth was related.” Thus discovering the atomic basis for how 'we are all connected' E.g.; www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk
Further potential evidence of 'bugs' being the missing linkage in the'gearbox' puzzle where the reconciliation of the quantum dynamic and mechanic are also functions of organic dynamic process as the tree of life make the light that also blocks the road to the speed of light at a set rate by dint of quarks in repair that constitute the 'foam of space' which is the past powering the present and expanding the future once again as;
Scientists Unveil New ‘Tree of Life’
By CARL ZIMMER APRIL 11, 2016
www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol201648
* flic.kr/p/8zt3aQ -"The Speed of Lights Limits -- photo 'remix' by Dream 11"
*Burning Man 2011 'HOME' video by Stefan Spins : - ) E.g.
* www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/salmon-running-the-gaunt...
* See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr (interpretation of this idea at both the philosophic and physical underpinnings of this whole 'shebang' as being understood though his departed eyes, in 'light' of the this interpretation of Dark Matter to see the Light and Dark as being two sides of the same coin of the energetic relm, that makes up the foam of space, and expansion possible/vital to the Universe, Earths and, Solar System's functionality) "The notion of complementarity dominated his thinking on both science and philosophy." -- Wikipedia, Niels Borh.
Nod to and reference in passing to; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Wheeler and, the idea of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_foam .
Recognition here of his coining the term "Black Hole", which is used in the title of this essay.
^ Charles I. Whose debt I am in and thank here for explaining the significance of the fixed impedance of 'free space' as it pertains to my 'shot in the dark', as to why there is a "The impedance of free space of approximately 376.7 ohms."
Otherwise the famous 'particle wave' would not exist or stand, very well without this insight that also holds and makes, and distributes the light and water of the reason of the logic of this argument; which is not with myself.
Nor is there any argument that this is a work in progress that needs to see professional editing to stop the headaches it causes getting to and making the points it attempts by way of rambling all over the micro and macro Universe by way of wikipedia, which is a fantastic evolving resource; however not a primary source in a major Scientific Research Paper, which this perhaps could be if it had the resources to follow the standard form factor, which is one goal, coupled with a musical and motion picture version to follow as versions of form completely expressed.
* Dennis Overbye, Louis Alvarez, and Brian Greene by means the pages of the New York Times.
* Wired Magazine and David Gross
www.wired.com/2013/06/qa-david-gross-physics/
*** The matter of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymptotic_freedom --- which "was discovered and described in 1973 by Frank Wilczek and David Gross, and independently by David Politzer the same year. All three shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 2004."
My humble attempt has been to form a micro to macro full functional conception which Dr. Gross terms a 'line of reasoning' that is "logically consistent" so as to fit into a 'theoretical framework' and more or less solve the framework of nature over time and space in terms of expansion shrink combustion and spin by shooting a comprehensive scientific game that forms and runs the periodic table organically in "this game" - and in doing so share some sort of 'winning' articulated insight into the Grande Scheme of the macro to micro operating system of the Universe by means the Quantum Dynamic being reconciled with the Quantum Mechanic by means understood to be organic in nature and Universal.
The entire wired interview should be read, as it make sense of quarks of the larger picture that I am unable, - so cite -- as well this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gross entry on the 'tip of the spear' of thinking about such things, who has informed, directed, and shaped my reasoning by articulating clearly his views on this subject by means a illustrated lecture.
"Gross: Those of us in this game believe that it is possible to go pretty far out on a limb, if one is careful to be logically consistent within an existing theoretical framework. How far that method will succeed is an open question."
The big simple question is therefore:
does the above logic keep the checkbook of the nature of Nature in balance, and answer the basic set of questions regarding the Nature of light and matter.
Which might have a plausible trail in deep Space and Time by means the same 'line of logic' contained in these relevant points on the subject of Black Holes and Dark Matter as explained herein ; www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dark-side-of-bl... and, www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=single-cell-seq... the macro and micro to complete the puzzle of the organic nature of Dark Matter and Energy being the 'flip side' of the switch that is the power of light.
The self motivating mission of rising to take the bait so as to be the first 'fish' in this 'school' to meet the challenge of attempting to work the Big Science Problem Set to figure out the Unified Theory by means working the problem as if a huge cross word puzzle with the 'down' 'known with ontological certitude' as Scientific Fact - those wildly useful insights as answers and keys to leverage by means lateral thinking to fill in the 'across' information and thereby derive the fabric of nature by weaving data science intuition and experience to recursively random dynamically 'picture think' the the puzzle to completion by means having that as my fixed moving target so as to make completing the puzzle so -- then explaining it by pulling those same pieces of puzzle of reality that are part of a logical chain of logic that is completely informed by vetted information found and processed from the front to back of my mind at all times, so as to be "logically consistent" -- in a set of answers that provide solutions that advances and frames the macro micro perspective as a insight into my vocational and academic careers, so as to inform and direct my research to find answers where God does battle with the Devil in the details of the Natural World on Earth such the the fine grain detail can be sifted, discerned and made sense of in such a way that all computes at every level backwards and forwards in time, then my time has been well spent -- working the problem so as to connect the dots of the known with that of the what we seek to know by means of reading between the lines of logic as written clearly by Nature as I am reading them and attempting to write them for my own understanding and that of anyone else who is following this 'line of logic' as far as I can presently explain the workings which to my mind, power the expansion of the Universe while also atomically fueling the past by running the gears of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNO_cycle organically thus holding The Universe together, by means by the power of Hawking Radiation witnessed as the process of complimentary quarks in repair, forming the gears of the Universe running in the micro to the macro meshing for your consideration to produce a model of that can: -- produce the (re)power of Suns and in the process explain the mystery of the limit of the speed and curvature of light by means of understanding the atomic nature of the building blocks of the micro to macro Natural World that function to Operate the Universe in the past, present and future in a 'Quasi-steady state'.
The mechanisms for this function of light further identified and explained is the power of *XRAYS and GAMMA as being a method of combining storing and scattered matter -- as the last atoms -- over time and space as the yin/yang of the 'respective forces' as expressed and understood as the atomic energy of Gamma Rays - cycled balanced with the XRAY, as a series of inputs and outputs from Stars to solar systems in a process of quark repair that creates and 'fill the void' with matter and the arrow of time, by my logic which deduces from observation of the known and the need to fill cogs in the wheels of the Grand Scheme thereby showing myself and in the process others whose interests are in the world of the high energy theoretical physics how long lost pairs of quarks - split by Dark Energies random path through 'wondering' in the literal and proverbial/metaphorical/actual 'Desert' over time and space, are after a period of perceptual entropy, shot back to 'sender' aka the Sun = E = MC2 in a loop thus perhaps somehow resolving the Faint Young Star Paradox, with enough 'fuel' left over for growth though the conversion of the supply of Dark Matter to Dark Energy, before the process repeats; in another relatively 'Big Bang™' that is matter org. chart going through a periodic restructuring, to put it in corporate terms - for a long 'shot in the dark' in a attempt to 'bust' some 'fresh sod' regarding Dark Matter and Energy in the department of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology by understanding Dark Matter and Energy as being as organic in Nature and therefore understand the connection and explanation of this situation by this train of thought going deep into 'outer space; as it were to bring the matter of the Gamma cycle in the further focus; nyti.ms/18zdIlp Gamma Rays May Be Clue on Dark Matter
By DENNIS OVERBYE
MARCH 10, 2015
There is much math for the above and it is boggling my mind as to a happy conclusion.
Updated; with mild regularity for clarity, content is constant, if not expanding as additional evidence only strengthens this case of logical points as dots at last connected to form a clear picture of a working theoretical model as illustrated and functioning as reality as in the above instance in Quantum Mechanical Dynamic Space Time.
Chuckling at the first sentence, "firewall problem" in light of the above photo essay, being a 'wall of fire' explained a entropy in action of Black Hole feeding frenzy illustrated -- metaphorically ripening on the shelf of this internet address until the such time as it smells, and grows like and old Desert Sage.
The EPR Paradox is getting some study so perhaps having it parked here for the past few years is good for the 'line of logic' as it brings this matter into a reasonable "frame of reference" as it were; www.quantamagazine.org/wormhole-entanglement-and-the-fire...
"No one is sure yet whether ER = EPR will solve the firewall problem. John Preskill, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, reminded readers of Quantum Frontiers, the blog for Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, that sometimes physicists rely on their “sense of smell” to sniff out which theories have promise. “At first whiff,” he wrote, “ER = EPR may smell fresh and sweet, but it will have to ripen on the shelf for a while.”
Together with this set of insights that seem to be right on target as far as sorting matter by the above means; www.quantamagazine.org/20121221-alice-and-bob-meet-the-wa... as illustrated and explained above.
Note; no contradiction with this revised Hawking - Nature, expressed and recently published view of Black Holes as one where "Hawking's radical proposal is a much more benign “apparent horizon”, which only temporarily holds matter and energy prisoner before eventually releasing them, albeit in a more garbled form. ... “There is no escape from a black hole in classical theory, but quantum theory enables energy and information to escape.”" - www.nature.com/news/stephen-hawking-there-are-no-black-ho...
This holds with my above expressed cyclical expanding organic understanding of the Universe that includes micro and macro Black Holes reprocessing matter into so much fresh young 'Star power' in a semi or Quasi - Steady State Universe.
Final thoughts for 'Bonus Points': if the"Most Precise Snapshot of the Universe" www.sciencenews.org/article/most-precise-snapshot-univers... (Magazine issue: Vol. 186 No. 13, December 27, 2014), can be reconciled and correctly interpreted by means of the above point of view applied to the data so as to remove the mystery from this picture such that; "Planck may be able to rule out some theories about the nature of dark matter, which continues to evade direct detection."
Not in this interpretation, with the above explanation the micro to macro of Time and Space is becoming more focused in a expanding Universe perhaps, better understood, as more becomes known by research read and, comprehended - - because;
'Eureka
It’s Buggy Out There' nyti.ms/1MiMMGL
Edit -11/22/2018
Star Hawk Vx
Less than three lunar months after the mysterious disappearence of Unitron system's Star Hawk V test prototype, sightings were reported of a Galaxy Patrol fighter that bore a striking resemblance to the missing craft.
Galaxy Patrol Engineering and Weapons Division added upgraded proton fusion gravity drive engines designed for a much larger craft, making the Vx capable of achieving incredible speeds and distances. Unitron surveillance gear was scrapped in favor of twin triple-barrel plasma cannons and photon missile batteries.
The Vx also displays the Galaxy Patrol’s dark blue and orange livery and characteristic bling.
Unitron system representatives deny any link to their missing craft.
After an average star like the Sun finishes burning through the supply of hydrogen and helium fuel in its core, it swells up into a cool, red giant star. In a last gasp before death, it throws off the layers of gas in its outer atmosphere in a brief but beautiful cosmic display called a planetary nebula. This exposes the core of the dying star — a dense, hot ball of carbon and oxygen called a white dwarf, which is doomed to fade out completely over time. The white dwarf is so hot that it shines very brightly in ultraviolet light, which then causes the gaseous material expelled by the dying star to glow.
Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 captured this image of Caldwell 59, a planetary nebula also cataloged as NGC 3242. The ghostly image is part of a collection of Hubble observations made of planetary nebulae in the mid-1990s, which revealed never-before-seen details in these stellar shrouds and helped astronomers better understand the late evolutionary stages of average, mid-size stars.
Caldwell 59 is sometimes called the Ghost of Jupiter for its faint resemblance to our solar system’s ruling gas giant planet, though it is much larger and farther away. If we could travel at the speed of light, we could reach Jupiter in about 40 minutes, but traveling at the same speed to this nebula would take over 1,400 years.
Although the star that produced it lived for billions of years, Caldwell 59 only has a lifetime of about 10,000 years. As the white dwarf quickly cools and the ultraviolet light dwindles, the surrounding gas will cool and fade. The gas expelled from the dying star carries traces of newly minted carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere of the dying star. This material will drift outward through space until it is recycled and drawn in to the formation of a new star.
Caldwell 59 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1785. It is found in the Hydra constellation, and from the Northern Hemisphere it is best viewed during spring, although it remains low in the southern sky. It rises much higher in the sky during autumn from the Southern Hemisphere. This magnitude-7.8 cosmic sculpture appears similar in size to the planet Jupiter when seen in the night sky (another reason for its nickname), though through a large telescope it will look startlingly like an eye.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of Caldwell 59, see:
www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9738c3/
www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/fitsimages...
Credit: NASA, ESA, Bruce Balick and Jason Alexander (University of Washington), Arsen Hajian (U.S. Naval Observatory), Yervant Terzian (Cornell University), Mario Perinotto (University of Florence), Patrizio Patriarchi (Arcetri Observatory), and Reginald Dufour (Rice University); Processing by Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, May 19, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 launched at 6:54 p.m. ET, and will serve as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
This ISERV image shows the towering, snow-topped mountains and deeply carved valleys of the Chilean Andes. The Andes Mountains form one of the longest continuous mountain ranges in the world, extending along South America's western coast. The range is about 7,000 km (4,300 mi) long, passing through Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The Chilean Andes form most of the border between Chile and Argentina and include the highest section of the mountain range. The highest peak stands almost 6,962 m (22,841 ft) above sea level in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. The Chilean Andean system plays a strong role in Chile's weather, with the two sides the Andes exhibiting strong climatic differences.
About ISERV
From the Earth-facing window of the International Space Station's (ISS) Destiny module, nearly 95 percent of the planet's populated area is visible during the station's orbit. This unique vantage point provides the opportunity to take photos of Earth from space. With the installation and activation of the ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV), NASA will be able to provide even higher resolution images of Earth! The ISERV camera system's mission is to gain experience and expertise in automated data acquisition from the space station. ISERV is expected to provide useful images for disaster monitoring and assessment and environmental decision making.
Image credit: ISERV
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/servir/iserv_130325.html
View the ISERV Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157633316595189/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
The AAPRCO's Autumn Explorer is starting east on Vermont Rail System's Clarendon and Pittsford Railroad mainline having just swung off the Canadian Pacific mainline. They just crossed the main channel of the Champlain Canal and are now crossing an oxbow near where Mud Creek flows in as they approach the Williams Street crossing at MP A78.
The train left Albany-Rensselaer in the morning behind two Amtrak P42s as extra train 863 and traveled up CP's ex D&H Canadian main. At Whitehall they diverged on to CLP mainline, the former D&H Rutland branch (hence the milepost prefix of A for Albany as measured by that historic road). In Rutland the Amtrak power will be exchanged for red GP40-2 307 that will take the train south all the way to Hoosick Junction before returning to North Bennington to spend the night. The following day the train will travel north to Burlington where it will spend a few days.
The eight PVs on this year's trip listed in order are the: NYC 3, Promontory Point, Northern Sky, Northern Dreams, Dagny Taggart, San Marino, Wisconsin, and Chapel Hill.
Whitehall, New York
Sunday September 27, 2020
On Oct. 9, 2013, Hubble observed comet ISON once again, when it was inside the orbit of Mars, about 177 million miles from Earth. This image shows that the comet was still intact despite some predictions that the fragile icy nucleus might disintegrate closer to the sun. The comet will pass closest to the sun on Nov. 28, 2013.
If the nucleus had broke apart then Hubble would have likely seen evidence of multiple fragments. Moreover, the coma, or head, surrounding the comet's nucleus is symmetric and smooth. This would probably not be the case if clusters of smaller fragments were flying along.
This color composite image was assembled using two filters. The comet's coma appears cyan, a greenish-blue color due to gas, while the tail is reddish due to dust streaming off the nucleus. The tail forms as dust particles are pushed away from the nucleus by the pressure of sunlight.
Credit: NASA
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More details on Comet ISON:
Comet ISON began its trip from the Oort cloud region of our solar system and is now travelling toward the sun. The comet will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- 28 Nov 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun's surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet.
Catalogued as C/2012 S1, Comet ISON was first spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012. This is ISON's very first trip around the sun, which means it is still made of pristine matter from the earliest days of the solar system’s formation, its top layers never having been lost by a trip near the sun. Comet ISON is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago.
NASA has been using a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescope, in order to learn more about this time capsule from when the solar system first formed.
The journey along the way for such a sun-grazing comet can be dangerous. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether.
This collection of images show ISON throughout that journey, as scientists watched to see whether the comet would break up or remain intact.
The comet reaches its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day -- Nov. 28, 2013 -- skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun’s surface. If it comes around the sun without breaking up, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye, and from what we see now, ISON is predicted to be a particularly bright and beautiful comet.
ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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