Hubble Space Telescope Being Deployed

In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope's 25th anniversary in space, this postcard was made out of a photograph taken by the crew of the STS-31 space shuttle mission on April 25, 1990. The Hubble Space Telescope was suspended above shuttle Discovery's cargo bay some 332 nautical miles or 615 kilometers above Earth. The Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, controlled from in-cabin by the astronaut crew members, held the huge telescope in this position during pre-deployment procedures, which included extension of solar array panels and antennae.

Image and caption source: NASA

Eagle Nebula Pillars

25 years ago on April 24, 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on mission STS-31 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on board. Fitting with a 2.4-meter or 7.9 feet mirror and instruments observing in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra, the telescope has since recorded some of the most detailed images ever, leading to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

The Eagle Nebula (NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux between 1745 and 1746. It contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions that became famous when NASA release a HST image "Pillars of Creation" in 1995, capturing three dusty pillars in the Eagle Nebula. HST recently took another photograph at the star-forming pillars with its newest camera, providing much greater details.

In celebration of HST’s 25th anniversary, 32 of the best HST images were competing against each other in a series of head-to-head competitions, with popular votes deciding the winner of each round. Ultimately, with over 17,000 votes the Eagle Nebula Pillars triumphed over all other competitors to become the winner of Hubble Mania 2015.

In this NASA released image that can be made into a 5"x7" postcard under NASA's copyright notice, three pillars of cold hydrogen gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula are shown as the birthplace of new stars, 6,500 light years away. The pillars are bathed in the blistering ultraviolet light from a grouping of young, massive stars located off the top of the image. Streamers of gas can be seen bleeding off the pillars as the intense radiation heats and evaporates it into space. Denser regions of the pillars are shadowing material beneath them from the powerful radiation.

I was fortunate for being able to witness the Space Shuttle Discovery's launch for the 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission STS-103 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 19, 1999. 

Daylight Saving Time Starts in 2015, But Not in Hawaii

Daylight Saving Time (DST) starts today at 2 a.m. on March 8, 2015 in most parts of the U.S. except in the states of Arizona and Hawaii, and the overseas territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. As clocks "spring forward" one hour, spring is in the air.

Hawaii is in the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone; Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HST) is equivalent to GMT/UTC - 10h Standard Time. When the United States enacted the Uniform Time Act in 1966, Hawaii opted out in 1967, mainly because there is not a large variation in daylight hours from summer to winter due to Hawaii's proximity to the Equator. The Territorial Legislature enacted a bill placing Hawaii on daylight saving time in 1933, but the law was repealed three weeks later. According to Wikepedia, during World War II between February 9, 1942 and September 30, 1945, Hawaiian Standard Time was advanced one hour to so-called "Hawaiian War Time." That was the only period when Hawaii was effectively placed on year-round daylight saving time.

Postcard US-3230216 from California shows a NASA image of the entire Hawaiian Island chain as seen from the Space Shuttle. Niihau and Kauai are in the foreground followed by Oahu, Molokai, Lanai and Maui, with the Big island in the distance. The curve of the Earth and the black of outer space can be seen on the top of the card.