Catching the Sky

Twenty years ago today, Challenger disintegrated into a fireball and took the lives of seven astronauts. I was 15 at the time and had not lived through any space program disaster: I have no memory at all of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee. Yet I can remember their names without looking them up, while no name sticks to me from Challenger (or Columbia ) except Christa McAuliffe. I do remember where I was. We were home from school, and my sister came away from the television to tell me that the space shuttle had exploded. Many hours were spent in front of the television that day, hearing the anchors speculate that the crew probably did not survive, and watching the fireball over and over again. I remember Columbia 's loss (above), three years ago this February 1, quite well -- but not necessarily better than the Challenger disaster. I walked into a grocery store on a Saturday morning, bought the NY Times, and looked up at a television playing the news. The anchor said that

Another shot from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, near Broadway and 116th street. At sunset.

Most of my pictures have to do with the sky, but I found this one worth keeping. That's me taking the photo -- and maybe a bird? I took it two days ago at sunset. The yellow-lit building at left is Riverside Church, on 116th Street. The main wall belongs to the Interchurch Center, a blockish sort of building sometimes known as "The God Box." My apologies to anyone who has been checking this blog and finding nothing new. I've been considering the idea of publishing more frequent and shorter posts. More soon.

This was the southern limb of the moon at 8:33 pm, earlier tonight, at a magnification of 180. The moon's face was 53% illuminated. The crater with the most conspicuous mountain right in its middle, about a quarter of the way down from the top of the photo and almost at the terminator, is Albategnius. Its description at Virtual Moon Atlas: Type: Walled plain Geological period: Nectarian (From -3.92 billions years to -3.85 billions years) Size: Dimension: 139x139Km / 82x82Mi Height: 0 Height/Wide ratio: 0.0287 Description: Damaged circular formation. Steep slopes riddled with craterlets. High walls ridden by many craters whose Klein to the West and Albategius B to the North. Large flat floor. White spot to the West. Central mountain. Depressions and craterlets. Observation: Interest : Exceptional formation Observation period: First Quarter or 6 days after Full Moon Minimal Instrument: 10x binoculars Position: Longitude: 4.1° East Latitude: 11.2° South Quadrant: South-East Area: Ptol