Big Sunspot

Sunspots are spots of magnetic activity across the sun. Sunspot 1029 is making news because of its shear size. This is related to deep solar minimum because the Sun has not been experiencing any activity lately so this is a sign that the sunspot cycle could be restarting. Since there are very few sunspots this causes changes in weather. If your a stingy person about the weather then sunspots may be a big problem for you. If there are very few sunspots the weather will be colder if there are many the weather will be warmer.

This could effect many sports throughout the world such as ice hockey. If the weather got warmer no ponds or lakes would freeze over to play hockey on. If the weather got colder no one would want to go outside and play soccer or baseball. This also could effect crops and fishing buisnesses.

Website link and information
http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2010/about/index.php
Dr. James Thieman
Bryan Stepenson
No date given

International Year of Astronomy

2009 is identified as the International year of Astronomy because it commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo's invention of the telescope to research space. The project is to help citizens of Earth to realize how important astronomy and the discoveries from it are. It is endorsed by the United Nations and the International Council of Science. There are 135 countries involved from all around the world. The Galilean Nights Project is sidewalk observations of Jupiter and its moons.

I think its a good cause but with whats happening in the economy especially in the United States I don't think certain countries should be contributing money or participating with major issues still happening within their countries. This project should wait for the economy to stabilize before trying to set up because at the right time in the economy this project could get the right sponsors to make it very successful. So overall I think its a great idea just not the right time to do it.

Website Link and Information
http://www.astronomy2009.org/
No author or date given
Copyright 2009

The Great Worldwide Star Count

The star count is to raise awareness about how much light pollution is in the night sky. After October 23rd all the data of people who participated in the star count is counted up. It then shows and explains why certain areas can and cannot see certain stars and constellations. It shows that certain economical and geographic areas cant see some constellations because of the size of cities in the area or where they are located on Earth.

This Blog is kind of unusual but very interesting to see why some areas are so effected by light pollution. I think its an excellent idea to raise awareness about light pollution because as the population of the world grows more and more people will live in urban areas. Causing more light pollution and making it harder for people see the stars and constellations. So I hope this helps people to understand the effects of light pollution.


Site Link and Information below
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/10/peoplegreat-wor.html
Posted by Jason McManus.
October 20, 2009

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope had many repairs done to it, such as new cameras, instruments and maintenance gear. NASA completed the repairs and upgrades to the telescope, this will be the last trip to the Hubble Space Telescope since NASA is grounding its shuttle missions.

I found this blog very interesting because I had no idea bout NASA shutting down its shuttle program in 2010. It's kind of a weird thought for me to think of, no more shuttles launching into space. I've never really been interested in science until this year because all of my other teachers just taught out of the books which I hated. So this blog has got me interested into science again and taught me something really interesting.






Information found on link below
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090505-sts125-hubble-repair-faq.html
Article by Tariq Malik and Andrea Thompson
Posted May 5th, 2009