Brilliant Daytime Fireball Streaks Over Canada, New York - Video

A brilliant fireball surprised some skywatchers Sunday (May 4) when it streaked across the daytime sky over Toronto in a celestial fireworks display caught on camera by lucky motorists.

A well-placed dashboard video camera captured the light of the bright meteor, which could be seen from parts of Canada and New York on May 4.

The daytime fireball video shows a clear view from a parked car with people chatting in the background.

The meteor comes streaking down from the top of the sky at about the 22-second mark, with a clear outburst of light occurring at about 24 seconds.

"There was a fireball that came down and burned up," one of the people recorded by David Narciso's dashcam said after the fireball streaked through the daylight sky.

"See that line of puff? There was, like, something on fire and then it just stopped."

The fireball is concurrent with, but may not be related to, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower set to peak tonight (May 5) and into the wee hours of tomorrow (May 6) morning.

The annual shower happens when Earth passes through debris left behind by Halley's Comet. This year, the meteors will probably appear low on the horizon

NASA - Space Shuttle Enterprise Moves to Intrepid

Atop a barge on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, the space shuttle Enterprise was towed on the Hudson River past the Statue of Liberty on its way to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will be permanently displayed.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise: Fly-by in Manhattan

The Space Shuttle Enterprise flies over the Hudson River in Manhattan

Flying People in New York City - YouTube

Three people were spotted flying around the skies of lower Manhattan last Friday, causing dropped jaws from onlookers.

But while it appeared to be flying "death eaters" of  the "Harry Potter" series, it actually turned out to be a clever piece of viral marketing for this week's upcoming film "Chronicle."

In an interview to yahoo! James Percelay, the co-founder of Thinkmodo said he and his partner Michael Krivicka were approached by 20th Century Fox, the studio behind "Chronicle," and they came out with a plan for the viral video.

Those aren't people in the air, but some very intricately designed radio-controlled airplanes. Percelay has not disclosed who exactly was piloting the planes in the video. He only said: "They are expert AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) members with amazing skills."

Space Suits: This Year's Look is Skinny

After saying goodbye to the space shuttle program, NASA decided to ditch its big, bulky space suits for something slimmer.

The new exhibit "Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration" at the American Museum of Natural History in New York showcases the next generation of spacesuit made from spandex, nylon and a new patented polymer.

The exhibit opens Saturday. The BioSuit uses elastic cords running though the clothing made of nylon-spandex, elastic or urethane-painted foam to cover the entire body.

The BioSuit also relies on mechanical pressure rather than pressurized gas to protect the astronaut. The patented polymer material in the space suit replaces the compressed air of older suits.

The space-age material is more lightweight and more maneuverable than traditional spacesuits, NASA officials said.

More importantly, a small tear in the suit would only affect one area and wouldn't cause a deadly decompression accident. The helmet would be the only part of the suit that would need to be pressurised.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed the BioSuit. Dava Newman, MIT professor of aeronautics and lead of the project, said the BioSuit was designed for astronauts working in planetary environments like those of the Moon or Mars where walking will be a key requirement.

"We really must design for greater mobility and enhanced human and robotic capability," Newman said. "It's a whole different ballgame when we go to the Moon or Mars, and we have to go back to walking and running or loping."

The MIT team has already made models of the suit that provide up to 30 kilopascals of pressure but they say it will take another 10 years of testing to produce a suit that could be used on actual space missions.

NASA Shuttle Enterprise: Controversial Site Plan for New York Museum

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York has a new plan for the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

Instead of a berth next to the aircraft carrier that houses the museum, it would go in a facility to be built in a parking lot across the street, surrounded by storage warehouses, a car wash and a strip club.

The museum does not own the lot, which is designated for manufacturing uses and would have to be re-zoned to house the shuttle.

This has prompted U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to write a letter urging NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to reconsider his decision on Enterprise.

"This report makes it evident that New York City was, and still is, woefully unprepared to house the Enterprise space shuttle," he wrote.

"This also raises further questions about the thoroughness of NASA's selection process and I urge NASA to revisit its decision to send the Enterprise to New York."

Brown made a pitch in his letter for a site in his state: the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton.

Americans mark 10th anniversary of September 11 attacks

Americans Sunday remembered the horror of September 11, 2001, and the nearly 3,000 people who died in the hijacked plane attacks as authorities worked to ensure the emotional 10th anniversary was peaceful.

Law enforcement authorities in New York and Washington were on high alert against what was described as a "credible but unconfirmed" threat of an al Qaeda plot to attack the United States again a decade after the toppling of the World Trade Center's twin towers by hijacked airliners.

Security was especially tight in Manhattan, where police set up vehicle checks on city streets as well as bridges and tunnels coming into the city.

President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, were scheduled to be among the dignitaries at the Ground Zero site in New York.

They were set to join victims' families to hear the reading of the names of those who died on September 11. Bells will toll across the city.

In the attacks, 19 men from the Islamic militant group al Qaeda hijacked airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

DC Earthquake: Powerful tremor shakes region - Capital Weather Gang - The Washington Post

U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed an earthquake struck central Virginia at 1:53 p.m 4 miles south southeast of Louisa, Virginia near Mineral, Va.

It has been felt throughout the D.C. metro region and over a large part of the eastern U.S. Initial indications are that it measured 5.9 on the Richter scale.

Minutes after the quake, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Marcia McNutt -- who watched objects falling from the shelves in her office -- cautioned that the shaking might not be over.

“What the concern is, of course, is that this is a foreshock. If it’s a foreshock, then the worse is yet to come.”
She said the energy from earthquakes on the East Coast does not attenuate as quickly as it does on the West Coast, and thus even a relatively modest tremor can shake a very broad.

“When something like this happen, everyone has to remember, more than half of the states in the U.S. are considered earthquake country.

something like this happens, remember what to do in the case of a seismic event. Duck, get under something sturdy like a desk or a doorway, get away from falling glass.

Make sure that you are not in the way of falling objects like pictures, bookshelves, books, anything that’s not firmly connected the wall.”


An earthquake also occurred in the D.C. metro region July 16, 2010. A 3.6 magnitude quake centered near Gaithersburg shook the area. Today’s 5.9 magnitude quake is 200 times bigger than that quake and more than 2800 times as powerful (USGS How Much Bigger Calculator).

CNN is reporting Virginia has recorded only 25 earthquakes since it became a state.

Experts say there are two active earthquake areas in Virginia: The one apparently responsible for Tuesday’s quake runs along the James River between Charlottesville and Richmond and is known as the Central Virginia Seismic Zone.

The other is an area centered in Giles County in southwest Virginia, which had a 5.8-magnitude quake more than a century ago.

The Virginia Tech Seismological Observatory(VTSO) offers the following on earthquake history in the central Virginia seismic zone:

Since at least 1774, people in central Virginia have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones. The largest damaging earthquake (magnitude 4.8) in the seismic zone occurred in 1875. Smaller earthquakes that cause little or no damage are felt each year or two.

It would appear today’s quake is the largest on record in that region. USGS said it was the strongest quake to hit the entire state since 1897.

VTSO adds the following:
A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

Early reports on the USGS website indicate that the quake, half a mile deep, was felt from New York City to Charlotte, N.C. and as far west as Cleveland. Twitter reports state the quake was felt as far away as Ottawa, Canada and Alabama.

Aftershock risk?
From Mike Blanpied, associate coordinator for the USGS earthquakes hazards program:

“Aftershocks could go on for days, weeks, or even months. They’re most likely to be felt under the next 3 or 4 days.”

“The rocks are old and cold and they carry the seismic energy very far. Even a magnitude 6 or less earthquake can be felt over a considerably large area, unlike California where the shaking is more concentrated,” Blanpied said.

Earthquake in Virginia, USA. Magnitude 5.9: Shakes Washington DC, NYC

An earthquake in Virginia rocked much of the East Coast Tuesday afternoon, with early reports of shaking being felt all the way from Charlotte, N.C., to New York City and Ohio.

The U.S.G.S. says that the quake had a magnitude of 5.9 and that its epicenter was 4 miles south of Mineral, Virginia, and 83 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

The federal agency had originally assigned the quake a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 in the immediate aftermath of the quake. The earthquake occurred roughly 0.6 miles below the earth's surface.

News of the earthquake quickly dominated Twitter, with users suggesting that they felt the quake up and down much of the Atlantic Coast and even as far away as Toronto.

Reuters reports that both the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol building were being evacuated shortly after the shaking started.

NASA Astronauts Spy on Beatiful Summer Day in NYC

All five boroughs of New York City — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island — and the clear skies above them can be seen in this image taken by NASA astronaut Ron Garan aboard the International Space Station on Sunday (July 31).

Astronauts and cosmonauts have a unique perspective of the Earth from their perch on the International Space Station, which orbits 220 miles (354 kilometers) above the planet. While they're circling high above the Earth, astronauts take advantage of the view and snap pictures to share with those of us back on the ground.

A 360-degree window called the Cupola was installed on the ISS in February 2010. It provides astronauts with seven windows from which to snap pictures of their home planet.

New York: 'Manhattanhenge'

The sun shines down 42nd Street in New York City during the biannual occurrence named 'Manhattanhenge', which was named by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

It occurs when the setting sun aligns itself with the east-west grid of streets in Manhattan, allowing the sun to shine down all streets at the same time

Picture: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features

Lightning Strikes Statue of Liberty

A lightning bolt appears to strike the Statue of Liberty. The moment was captured by New York photographer Jay Fine who spent the night braving the storm in Battery Park City, Manhattan, in a bid to get the perfect picture.

Jay spent nearly two hours poised with his camera and took more than 80 shots before striking lucky with this particular bolt of lightning at 8.45pm on September 22
Picture: JAY FINE / CATERS NEWS

New Spacesuit models - Final Frontier Design

A spacesuit model poses in a new private spacesuit developed by inventing team Ted Southern and Nikolay Moiseev of Final Frontier Design. The spacesuit was unveiled at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center in New York City on July 16, 2010. Full story


A new private spacesuit developed by inventors Ted Southern and Nikolay Moiseev of Final Frontier Design is pressurized on a table during its unveiling at the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center in New York City on July 16, 2010. Full story. Credit: Jeremy Hsu/SPACE.com

NASA's Webb Telescope Has 'Made It' to New York City!

NASA's Webb Telescope Has 'Made It' to New York City!

The James Webb Space Telescope has finally made the "big time" at least according to the old Frank Sinatra song "New York, New York."

The life-sized model of NASA's next generation space telescope is being set up in New York City's Battery Park for the 2010 World Science Festival, which runs June 1- June 6.

The opening ceremony will be held in front of the model on June 1.

As the song goes, "if (the Webb telescope) can make it there, it'll make it anywhere" and scientists are hoping that it will safely arrive in its orbit one million miles from Earth.

"The World Science Festival is a great opportunity for people to get a look at, and learn more about, the future of astronomy from space," said Eric Smith, NASA's Webb Program Scientist.

"The Webb telescope full scale model dramatically highlights how far the next generation of space telescopes will be from its predecessors. It’s unlike any telescope you’ve ever seen."

The James Webb Space Telescope is the next-generation premier space observatory, exploring deep space phenomena from distant galaxies to nearby planets and stars.

The telescope will give scientists clues about the formation of the universe and the evolution of our own solar system, from the first light after the Big Bang to the formation of star systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth.



For six days in June, New York City residents can get a free look at the full-scale model of the Webb telescope as it sits on display in Battery Park. The model viewing hours run from Tuesday, June 1 from 9:00 a.m. to Sunday, June 6 at 9:00 p.m. EDT.

The actual size model is highly detailed. It is constructed mainly of aluminum and steel, weighs 12,000 pounds, is approximately 80 feet long, 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall. It is as large as a tennis court.

The model requires 2 trucks to ship it and assembly takes a crew of 12 approximately four days. The model will be lit up from its base so that night-time viewers can take in all the details.

The full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope was built by the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, to provide a better understanding of the size, scale and complexity of this satellite.

Visitors will also be able to learn about what the Webb telescope is going to show scientists. They can play with interactive exhibits, watch videos about what the Webb will be exploring in the cosmos, and even ask a scientist about the telescope.