Liftoff at NASA’s 16th Annual Student Launch Challenge

On 19/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

One of dozens of high-powered rockets lifts off on April 16, 2016, during NASA’s 16th annual Student Launch challenge, held near Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama from April 13-16. Nearly 50 middle and high school, college and university teams from 22 states competed in the challenge. via NASA http://ift.tt/1Sqtl1r

Y Marks the Spot

On 18/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

A sinuous feature snakes northward from Enceladus’ south pole like a giant tentacle. via NASA http://ift.tt/1TeVHMe

I am reading again.

On 17/04/2016 By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations

I have been in a reading slump for months, first I thought it was because of I was too focused on the edits, and that was partially true, but a big part of it was health related, but I know the signs now, and I have taken steps to avoid it ( read: set a google reminder one time every quarter).I hadn’t realised how much I had missed reading, until yesterday. My soul feels almost parched with the lack of a reading binge. So here is a few of the books on my TBR list ( note: my TBR is much longer, since my favorite authors keep on writing new books. Yay!):

Ancillary Justice by Ann Lucky

Seeing red by Patty Jansen

Magic and Manners by CE Murphy

Broken by Susan Jane Bigelow

Zero Sum games by SL Huang

Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole

Yes, there is a theme: A lot of Science Fiction, which is because I want to read something that isn’t fantasy and romance for awhile. 🙂 ( Hush, I know Radio Silence is romance but it is also really good. You should read it.) Anyway. I am off to read lots of books now.

Early Ice Breakup of Beaufort Sea Due to Early Warm Temperatures

On 15/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

This image of early ice breakup of the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, was taken by the Suomi NPP satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument infrared channel, at around 1148 UTC on April 13, 2016. via NASA http://ift.tt/1Vq8z5q

April 14, 1981, Landing of First Space Shuttle Mission

On 14/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

The rear wheels of the space shuttle orbiter Columbia touched down on Rogers dry lake at Edwards Air Force Base, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (then Dryden), California, to successfully complete a stay in space of more than two days. Astronauts John W. Young, STS-1 commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, were aboard the vehicle. via NASA http://ift.tt/1TTGD8R

Night Image of Chicago

On 13/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

Expedition 47 Commander Tim Kopra of NASA captured this brightly lit night image of the city of Chicago on April 5, 2016, from the International Space Station. Kopra (@astro_tim) wrote, “#Goodnight #Chicago from @Space_Station. #CitiesFromSpace” via NASA http://ift.tt/1VVgFSw

T-38C Passes in Front of the Sun at Supersonic Speed

On 12/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

An Air Force Test Pilot School T-38C passes in front of the sun at a supersonic speed, creating shockwaves that are caught photographically for research. NASA is using a modern version of schlieren imagery to visualize supersonic flow phenomena with full-scale aircraft in flight. The results will help engineers design a quiet supersonic transport. via NASA http://ift.tt/1YrJhlF

The Great Divide

On 11/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

It’s difficult to get a sense of scale when viewing Saturn’s rings, but the Cassini Division (seen here between the bright B ring and dimmer A ring) is almost as wide as the planet Mercury. via NASA http://ift.tt/1ROQuvB

Changes

On 10/04/201610/04/2016 By MikaelaIn Writing

I have been coveting Kit Rocha‘s sidebars for a long time, especially the ones on her book pages, so yesterday I asked Bree Bridges on twitter, which plugins she used. She told me she used Advanced Custom fields and PHP to create templates. The moment she said PHP, I knew that was she was doing to wouldn’t work for me, since I know no coding at all . Something that was confirmed when I began to google. What google told me, though, was that there was ways that I could achieve what I wanted.

I installed Themify Basic, since I wanted their builder plugin. This is the first time I have installed a theme because they had a backend feature.

I begun with merging the book page and the Portal Universe page, since I had decided I liked it better that way. Then I replaced the coming soon page with a box in the sidebar, with information about which box is next. This was the easy part.

The hard part is to overhaul the book pages, but that will take some time. Though I finished overhauling Exile’s book page, and I am really happy with it. The other books will have to wait until later.

Busy Traffic at the International Space Station

On 08/04/2016 By MikaelaIn NASA Image of the Day

Expedition 47 Flight Engineer Tim Peake of ESA took this photograph on April 6, 2016, as the International Space Station flew over Madagascar, showing three of the five spacecraft docked to the station. The station crew awaits the scheduled launch today, April 8, of the third resupply vehicle in three weeks: a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. via NASA http://ift.tt/1SEPqqq