New Years Eve Wed Dec 31 2014

It snowed late yesterday afternoon and evening but it was worth it this morning:

This was the view from our bedroom/balcony - I did go outside but it was and still is cold: -9C with winds up to 50kmh  --

Nevertheless, my running friends will be out at this time doing their New Years Eve "thing" as we have done together in the past 40 years:

OK? I did it!

I took 79 photos - just think how many words I could have written! Here is 1 for new era Inuit:

And do not forget, Baby, it's cold outside. Maybe he has a package of frozen fish fingers for tonight?
Personally my thoughts tend to combine memories of summer, past and future with these images:

I wanted to climb the willow above.
And finally, a very old tradition is to wish everyone a "good slide" into the new year - or guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr. I did that this morning, 150m into my "run"

Hope everyone arrives safely, every time, everywhere, and in good health. And for Scottish ancestors:
The basic Scottish Gaelic equivalent is slàinte mhath to which the normal response is do dheagh shlàinte "your good health". wob

The Eagle has landed

On Christmas Day:

Vicki took the next 3 with a larger zoom:

We think the eagle was feeding as opposed to admiring itself or trying to get at a dead orc left over from "The Hobbits"

Family Christmas, modestly

Some Impressions from Thursday.

Only the people have changed

Christmas Day - Orillia Scarborough

We had a visitor on Christmas Day.

Philae trajectories

Philae's Wild Ride Across Comet 67P: The Only Trajectory That Makes Sense

I will try to show real and model images of TD1,  TD2, and where this video shows TD3 at a later date.
I did not want to lose this link in my "den". TD = Touch Down

And the 1:4 model

Amd an Iris instead of Osiris:

Ice fishermen and turkeys

It is mild today as it was yesterday and I heard that the there is approx 6cm thick ice on the lake but that it is not uniform. Vicki just called out that there are turkeys seeking shelter from the rain/liquid air when what to my wondering eyes should appear but 4 fishermen - no woman would do such a thing, would they?

                                                  And the last word I leave to Maxim:

                                                             Darwinian selection?

some images of Philae - old and recent

a piddling 1½ miles off the predicted splashdown point


I saw the above remark following the Orion test-flight and thought again about the incredible landing of Philae. In the summer, landing site "J" was selected on the smaller lobe of 67P C-G and the field was narrowed down to an ellipse of approx 1 X 1 km square.

This image is from the NavCam on Sep 21:

From September 15:

Look closely at the white boulder:

Above is Wednesday November 12. For comparison, without the "+":
(from Oct 17)

Can you see where I marked the landing?

And so: where is it?
(from Dec 7 NavCam)

I am afraid that this is getting big. However, I want to show you the harpoons

And where they are located under Philae:

And now let us put the pieces together:

And the initial touch down was within 40m of the target selected back in September. And Orion could only do within 3Km?
Philae probably had a measure of luck that the harpoons did not fire - the surface of 67P is much harder than anticipated so a recoil might have been expected. If the retrothruster had cut in Philae might have been a pancake. We may have to wait for a few months to see whether Philae can continue. However, when I asked in 2012 if the lifetime were of the order of 40 hours I was told that if Philae worked 40 hours "they" would be happy. Scientists being scientists - if you give them 40, they will want 40 more. And let us not forget Rosetta with 11 experiments running - planned for at least another 12 months. Much to be thankful for, much to anticipate. wob