“Aspect of an eclipse of the Sun by the Earth, as it would appear as seen from the Moon.” Illustrated by James Nasmyth, 1874.
Crater Plato on the Moon, a photo of a plaster model built by engineer-inventor-astronomer James Nasmyth after making lunar observations through a telescope. Published in The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite, 1874. Via @lindahall.
Eclipse fever is breaking out among space fans of all ages as Monday, August 21 approaches. That’s when a total solar eclipse will be visible from the continental U.S. for the first time in nearly 40 years, and librarians across the country are holding special programs to educate their patrons about this awe-inspiring sight.
I read this as “How Libraries Are Preventing the Eclipse” and was very impressed with us for a second there.
We’re all out of eclipse glasses to hand out, but we do have some viewing programs planned and have a limited number of glasses for those. You should come view the eclipse with us! 98% obscuration!
cobbcat.org/eclipse
Frederick Douglass, c. 1879, (National Archives Identifier 558770)
By John P. Blair | National Archives History Office
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass, arguably America’s most accomplished African American civil rights leader of the 19th century.
As we recognize the contributions of African Americans during Black History Month, we are reminded that on June 26, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison appointed Douglass to serve as the Minister Resident and Consul General of the United States to Haiti.
Douglass, the abolitionist, author, journalist, and social reformer, was born into slavery with the name Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey around the year 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland. He chose the name Douglass following his first marriage and residence at New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Read more, including President Harrison’s nomination of Frederick Douglass to be Minister Resident and Consul General of Haiti over at the Pieces of History blog.
Last space shuttle External Tank arrives at California Science Center.
ET-94 paraded its way through the Los Angeles suburbs today, May 21, as it journeyed to its final home at the California Science Center.
The last surviving flight-worthy space shuttle external tank, ET-94 left the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans April 12, where it has been since it was fabricated in the early 2000′s. It traversed the Panama Canal April 25-27, and arrived at Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles last Wednesday, May 19, after a 36-day sea voyage.
Leaving Marina Del Rey at 12:01am PDT with a New Orleans jazz band, the tank encountered more obstacles than expected during its 15.5 mile trek through the city, arriving at the CSC at 7:13pm PDT.
Towed through the streets of Inglewood, the last time space hardware shut down traffic was in October 2012, when space shuttle Endeavour was towed from Los Angeles International Airport to the CSC.
P/c: LA Times, California Science Center.
Woah.
Someone’s excited for the National Bison Legacy Act! The recently signed legislation declares the American Bison as the national mammal.
This image was published in Birds and Nature as part of an article on the decimation of bison in the few short decades in the middle of the 19th century.
Emma Morano of Italy is now the last living person in the 19th century — after American supercentenarian Susannah Mushatt Jones, who had been the world’s oldest person, died on Thursday evening. Emma Morano was born on November 29, 1899 in what was then the Kingdom of Italy. (📷: ALESSANDRO GRASSANI) #old #oldestperson #fact #instafact #factoftheday #age #health #oldage #cool #emmamorano #facts
Palmyra, Syria, late 19th century, photographed by the Maison Bonfils studio of Beirut. (Library of Congress)
September 19, 2012 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour and NASA’s 747 shuttle carrier soar over the “Uptown” section of Houston, Texas, on a journey to Los Angeles where the orbiter is going into retirement at the California Science Center.
(NASA)
Engineer John Slaughter in a computer lab at the astronautics division of General Dynamics, circa 1960. Dr. Slaughter went on to become the first African-American director of the National Science Foundation and president of Occidental College.
