NASA’s DART spacecraft is about to slam into an asteroid

NASA’s DART spacecraft is about to slam into an asteroid

On Sept. 26, NASA will ram a spacecraft into an asteroid to test techniques that may eventually be needed to prevent a cataclysmic asteroid strike on Earth.
RELATED TOPICS: ROBOTIC SPACEFLIGHT | ASTEROIDS
DARTspacecraftimpact
DART approaches its target, asteroid Dimorphos, in this artist’s illustration. The spacecraft is on track to smash into the space rock on Monday, Sept. 26. NASA

Move over, Bruce Willis. Your asteroid-deflecting services — dramatically portrayed in Armageddon — are no longer needed. At least, we hope so.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft is set to impact the tiny asteroid Dimorphos on Monday (Sept. 26) at 7:14 P.M. EDT.

This has never been done before, and the results of DART will help humans learn how to prevent asteroids from slamming into the Earth, potentially causing local, regional, or even global devastation.

Such asteroid impacts are low-probability but high-risk events. Current estimates suggest that “while no known asteroid larger than 140 meters [460 feet] in size has a significant chance to hit Earth for the next 100 years, only about 40 percent of those asteroids have been found as of October 2021,” according to the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, which is managing the DART mission.

READ MORE from Astronomy Magazine’s web site.

Fanzine to share!

A bumper crop of zines arrived while I was away. Enjoy!

from Guy Lillian: Spartacus no. 59

New today at https://efanzines.com:

Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – September 2022

Ray Palm’s The Ray X X-rayer #167

Taral Wayne’s The Baloobius #9

Octothorpe #66, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line

Ethel the Aardvark #215 and archive issues 13, 185

Guy & Rosy Lillian’s 2004 archive trip report The Galactic Route

Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #19.5

David Grigg’s Through the Biblioscope #30


Bill

From  Leybl Botwinik in Israel, CyberCozen.

CCSeptember-2022-v01

This month’s roundup: • More Yiddish-related SF material dedicated to my dear departed father, David Botwinik (o”h – ע” ה ): o First 2 chapters of “Kamf-Nign” Yiddish SF short story by Leybl Botwinik (with English translation) • Book review: “More Zion’s Fiction” o Story #07: Dragon Control – by Rami Shalheveth o Story #08: The Word Farmers – by Lili Daie

From Garth Spencer, The Obdurate Eye

ObdurateEye19.5

NEW CORFLU UPDATES!!
VCON 2022 CANCELLED!!!
INTERSTELLAR FAN FUND PROPOSED!!!!

Local News ……. 1
Corflu Pangloss Updates …. 1
VCON: On Again Off Again .. 1
NASFiC 2023 in Winnipeg …. 2
Are These Persons Actually Missing? …… 2
LoCs ……………. 3
Dreaming Is an Art Form …….. 5
Complexity ……. 5
Anglic  7
Spoons ………….. 7
Fanzines Received ……… 8

The N3F sent us:

ORIGIN55September2022

FanAct202209

MT VOID 2237

MT VOID 2238

MT VOID 2239

MT VOID 2240

MT VOID 2241

TNFF202209

 

Post 8 of 8: Wrap-Up

This is our closing post of the afternoon.

10) THANK YOU!

We thank for their chief contributions to this afternoon’s e-meeting Joe Aspler, Keith Braithwaite, John Mansfield, and Cathy Palmer-Lister. We offer a nod of appreciation, as well, to all of our supporting players.

MonSFFA hopes you have enjoyed your time with us this afternoon, we thank you for dropping in, and we ask all of you to check in regularly here at www.MonSFFA.ca for additional content during this continuing pandemic, and for any updates as to when the club will be returning to regular, face-to-face meetings—soon, we hope!

Thank you for your interest and attention, and don’t forget to comment on today’s e-meeting!

11) DATE OF NEXT CLUB MEETING, AND SIGN-OFF

No booking of our intended downtown meeting room has yet been confirmed; function space rentals remain on pause and we continue to await word of facilities reopening.

And so, we bid a fond farewell to all until we meet again on Saturday, October 15, at 1:00PM. Whether that’ll be live in a physical meeting hall, or online again right here at www.MonSFFA.ca remains unknown at this time. We’ll let you know of any new developments on that front!

Stay well, everyone, and enjoy the waning days of summer!

Post 7 of 8: “What Are You Reading/Watching?”

This is Post 7 of 8.

9) “WHAT ARE YOU READING/WATCHING?”

On ZOOM at this moment, we’re asking “What are You Reading, or Watching?” Give us your quick book report, or your brief review of a film or TV show you’ve recently enjoyed!

For those not participating in our ZOOM chat, today, you may still contribute by submitting your concise book reports or movie and television-series reviews via this post’s “Leave a Comment” option. We welcome your input.

Post 6 of 8: Show-and-Tell

This is Post 6 of 8.

8) SHOW-AND-TELL

For those participating on ZOOM, today, we open the floor to any club members who have “fancraft” undertakings to showcase—sci-fi scale models, sculpture, SF/F woodworking or needlecraft, whatever genre-themed, hands-on project it may be that you are working on at present, or have recently completed. Tell us all about your endeavour, and share any photos you may have snapped of your work-in-progress, or of the finished piece.

Those not able to join our ZOOM chat for the show-and-tell may contribute nonetheless by using this post’s “Leave a Comment” feature to type in a quick description of any such project of theirs.

Post 5 of 8: Convention Reports

This is Post 5 of 8 today.

7) CONVENTION REPORTS: CHICON and NASFiC

We take this opportunity to present a report on the recent Chicon convention, which was this year’s Worldcon, and on next year’s NASFiC, which will be hosted by Winnipeg. This will mark the first time the NASFiC has been held outside of the U.S. A NASFiC is held whenever the Worldcon takes place in a locale other than North America; next year’s Worldcon is to be hosted by Chengdu, China.

Join our ZOOM chat to hear the latest! Simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM!

Post 4 of 8: The Break!

Get your Bheer & Chips!
It’s time for the break!

 

 

NEWS

BBQ in Maisonneuve Park: Sadly only 5 of us turned up to enjoy the really nice weather. The park was lovely, even if lacking a pond, and the washrooms in the chalet were clean. Keith brought the new propane BBQ. It was fast and efficient.

In Memoriam: We are grateful to Danny Sichel who arranged to have Maureen Whitelaw and Marc Durocher included in the ceremony at Chicon. Thanks also to Joe for sending the screen shots to our fb group.

 

Have you paid your dues? Please check with Joe! A lot of memberships are overdue!

DISPLAY

Brian Knapp sends us photos of Jiro Horikoshi’s bird plane which appears in the beginning of Hayao Miyazaki’ s anime “The Wind Rises”, also some screenshots from the film and the Paul Valery quote. Watch the YouTube clip.
https://youtu.be/RVsN5H4g5Qw

Click the thumbnails to view full size image.

Keith Braithwaite has sent us the photos of the preliminary work on a new stop motion project.

“The images show, first, the animation armature, then the creature sculpt over the armature, the creature itself, and finally, the creature textured, using aluminium foil, which I expect will reflect the light during the stop-motion process and create an interesting shining, crystaline or energy monster! Next step is to build the animation model, and try some photographic tests to see how it looks on screen.
Click the thumbnails to view full size image.

 RAFFLE PRIZES

Click the thumbnails to view full size image.

HG Wells: First Men in the Moon, cold cast resin, 5.25 inches long.

Game donated by Brian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fantasy_Trip

1982 – Prix Boréal 1982 – Prix Rosny-Aîné 1982 – Grand Prix de la science-fiction française From Sylvain’s collection

Toy train ornament, design by Keith Fenton, cut by CPL from 1/4 inch cherry, 9cm

Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold, hardcover, pages a bit yellowed, Sylvain’s legacy

Vernor Vinge: Tatja Grimm’s World, excellent condition. Cover by Tom Kidd

Alan Dean Foster and Eric Frank Russell: Design for Great-Day Good condition

Boris, series 1, from Sylvain’s legacy, box of 90 cards, each card described on the back

First of a duology by Ben Bova & A J Austin, dust jacket a bit scuffed, otherwise looks unread.

Post 2 of 8: eBay For Fun and Profit and Other Internet Sales Opportunities

eBay For Fun and Profit and Other Internet Sales Opportunities

This panel discussion gives an introduction to sales on eBay, including the trials and tribulations of finding material, how to price it, how to ship it, and how to deal with feedback. Yes, and the taxman may cometh as well.

eBay started as an auction site, but today, most sales are by fixed price. Why the change, and what is the advantage of one over the other.

Others are invited to contribute their experiences on eBay, on other internet sales sites, or on their own web sites.