Well, I know I’ve been very silent these last 11 days.
Truth is I have been so physically and mentally below-par after our intense 24 dates in the USA I just haven’t been able to get it together. It’s as if the body (and soul) complies through all the high demands, and then, given the chance to rest, just implodes.
Still, I’m just about ready to get back out there. I’ve been attempting to strike a balance … between total rest and enough exercise to keep the muscles fit enough to jump back in the ring in Korea and Japan. If I’d not touched the guitar in this break, my left hand finger ends would have gone soft and probably blistered in Korea in the humidity. But if I’d kept playing at the same intensity as on tour, those swollen finger joints would have stayed bad. As it is, I’m not bad. The worst casualties were probably my FEET ! They are still very messed up, but that won’t stop me running around in the Far East and Australia !
The most exciting thing that happened in Space in this period was the Rosetta probe, launched 10 long years ago, finally reaching its target … a tiny comet way out between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter … called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko !
We’re tending to call it the Rosetta Comet, in honour of the very clever people who have managed to put a satellite in orbit around it. Take a look at the video of what this amazing probe is seeing, from just a few miles away from the object, which turns out to be an intriguing unbalanced dumb-bell shape with a colossal hole at one end ! The comet itself is only just over a couple of miles across – and has a period of 6 years in its elliptical track around the Sun.
This is quite a feat !
Me and my pal Claudia Manzoni are obsessed with making stereo photographs of things like this …
A few weeks ago, while Rosetta was still thousands of miles away from its destination, the best stereo that could be assembled looked something like this …. in which the unequal dumb-bell shape can just be made out.
But a couple of days ago was the exciting moment of the arrival of Rosetta – and – what an amazing spectacle !
Claudia and I made this stereo from pictures published two days apart (with luckily similar orientation and illumination !) – and – lo and behold – there was enough difference in viewpoint to get a decent stereo. In fact, there was a little too much of a ‘baseline’ so we’ve slightly lessened the parallax using some careful stretching.
This is still quite taxing on the eyes … but we think it’s worth it ! We hope you agree ! Free-view it (Stereo and Freeview Notes ) or look at it using an OWL (preferably printed out)
To me, this is the most exciting Astro stereo of recent times. It was Claudia who seized the opportunity of combining the two shots. So all cred to her.
If you want to see a low-res movie of the comet … try this … it’s nice …
POPSCI.COM
08.06.2014 at 1:28 pm
Rosetta finally reaches rubber ducky comet
Well, we’re off (Queen and Adam Lambert) on the plane to Seoul tomorrow – so we’ll be making some new friends !
Take care, folks, and hopefully we’ll be doing this Queen +AL show a bit closer to home before too long !
Cheers !
Bri X
ROSETTA GUYS: Do you guys have an OWL stereoscope? If not, I’ll send you a couple! Thanks for great images – Brian May
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