Carnival of Space #63

Welcome to the 63rd carnival of space! For those that have never stopped by my corner of the web (as this is my first time hosting the carnival), thanks for stopping by.

It looks like the list of fun things is somewhat longer than normal this week! Must be a full moon...

Anyway, let's get started!

Over at a Babe in the Universe, L. Riofrio discusses the recent announcement concerning water on the moon.

At Cumbrian Sky, we hear about how the new Pheonix lander is stealing the glory from the plucky Opportunity rover while Wall*E dazzles audiences in theaters. Oh the humanity! Er... Robot-anity.

We get the recipe for a planet over at the Martian Chronicles. A little late for Fourth of July barbecues, but tasty none-the-less.

Astroblogger, Ian Musgrave, gives us his account of an occultation he observed, complete with pictures. Quite impressive for a camera simply held to the eyepiece.

Catholic Sensibity brings us the story of the discovery of new worlds and the difficulty of translating anagrams.

At the astroengine, we learn about how astronomers are working to make observations to confirm the idea that two black holes can recoil.

We also learn about a new technique of reducing the Casimir force by 30-40%.

Irene Klotz at Free Space discusses concerns at NASA about our partners in space for the ISS bringing along uninvited guests.

The question of how humans could potentially travel to and colonize new solar systems if we end up making our own inhospitable is answered at Stars With a Bang.

And speaking of going upwards and outwards, Out of the Cradle discusses the Lunar Challenge. Of course the trip isn't going to be a short one, so he also discusses some lunar literature.

Or if you want to be lazy and listen instead of reading, you can always pick up a podcast. Fortunately, the newest one is available from sky at night (warning, MP3 link. Click to stream. Right-Click > Save as to download).

But if podcasts aren't your bag, then try visiting Space Disco who writes about a children's contest to sing about the Mars lander.

Of course, this is all assuming we can even find somewhere to go. Centauri Dreams spills some cold water on our dreams, telling us planets may not be as likely to form in the first place around Centauri A.

Since my lease on my apartment is about to expire here, I've been concerned with how I'm going to get my junk a few miles down the road. What a trifling concern that is compared to getting it to even a new civilization even as close as the moon. Fortunately, at Colony Worlds, we hear about a Romanian team is looking to make small package delivery to the moon possible. I think I'll be sticking to U-haul for me though.

Meanwhile, we needn't always go elsewhere. It's always possible that space creatures could visit us.

These invaders would probably come in the form of creepy crawly little creatures because so many of them are so robust. At Twisted Physics, Jennifer Oulette tells us about some of these creatures on Earth.

But, if you don't like the idea of even having to go anywhere, Music of the Spheres tells us about an add-on for Orbiter that allows you to recreate the 2001: A Space Odyssey world.

Another alternative is just to sit back and read about how great explorations really work with other people. Far less sarlaacs and rakes that way.

At the Kentucky Space blog, we hear about students doing science! How absurd!

Pretty (noctilucent) clouds are the topic at visual astronomy.

Ever wonder what all those crazy astronomical acronyms mean? Simostronomy gives us the answer.

Interested in making pretty pictures from raw astronomical images? Then check out this post at Artsnova on using Photoshop to combine filtered images.

Adding more fuel to the fire on the naming kerfuffle, the CCSSC writes about yet another dwarf planet recently discovered. Yeah, astronomy's messy and confusing sometimes.

Another example of this confusing nature is NGC 6791, a cluster that has three different ages depending on what you're looking at.

At Altair IV, we get a view into the dungeon the blogger has been working in to sort historical space records with a view to his future and an open invitation. Additionally, he blogs about using lunar regolith as a propellant.

Whew! That was a lot of linking! Get to reading!

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