blog

Wow, butterflies in Space!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:35:20 +0100

Things were a little slow in space the last few week or so. Watching a chrysalis is a lot like watching paint dry :)

But today, one of the most amazing biological phenomena happened on the International Space Station. Beautiful butterflies eclosed from the chrysalis. The only word I can think of to describe this is: AWESOME!

The website shows you a progression of pictures that shows how the butterflies emerged.

And here is actual video of one of the butterflies floating/flying (?) in space.

Today Becky and I visited most of your classes - you are all doing a great job taking care of the Monarchs. Interesting observation: Class rooms on the north-side of the building (Huff and Maloney) have caterpillars that only now are pupating. Why do you think this may be? Overall, our caterpillars are not developing as fast as the ones in space. Why?

Greetings, M.

The space shuttle lands safely (Friday, Nov 26)

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:03:38 +0100

My family and I took a break from the usual Thanksgiving-weekend activities (which mostly involve sleep, food, relaxation and some more food) to watch the Space Shuttle's return to earth. It is still amazing to me that this "plane" that went into space is able to land back on earth.

The crew is happy to be back. Especially Nicole Stott, who had been at the ISS for a few months. This is what the pilot had to say: "After being asked if there were any memories that stood out, Pilot Barry E. Wilmore jokingly said, "I feel great (but) I had noticed that many of the buildings here are on a little bit of a teeter-totter that I didn't know before." Wilmore was referring to coming back to Earth's gravity after being weightless in space.

I wonder if they will miss the monarch caterpillars/pupae they left behind?

The pupae are still hanging out on the space station.

M

Amazing, the caterpillars in space pupated (Thursday, Nov 26)

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:59:23 +0100

Yesterday the caterpillars in space pupated. You can see the pictures here. The most recent pictures are first and then if you scroll back you can see in reverse how quickly they did it (a picture is taken every half an hour)

On earth, monarch caterpillars find a place to hang from. They attach to a branch or leaf while upside down and then start making their chrysalis (their body is in a j-shape).

It looks like the space caterpillars did a similar thing. They did not care about not being able to tell up from down. They found a surface to attach their back end to, then made the j-shape and made their chrysalis. They each did it on a different surface of their cage. Yeah, monarchs!

I expect that some of the caterpillars in your class will have pupated by the time you get back from Thanksgiving break.

That reminds me: Happy Thanksgiving!

M

Growing, growing, growing.... (Tuesday November 24th)

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:35:22 +0100

Caterpillars on earth and in space are growing very big. To see the latest pictures check out the picture gallery.

And on NPR (earth and sky) there was a nice interview with one of the scientists running our sister-program that sent Painted Lady Butterflies to space. The Painted Lady and Monarch habitats are right next to each other on the space station (see picture)

To listen to the interview click on this link:
http://www.earthsky.org/interviewpost/biodiversity/nancy-moreno-follows-butterflies-launched-into-space

Have a great day!

M

Sunday in Space: Relax and Celebrate (Sun Nov 22)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:43:56 +0100

I was getting a little worried. We had not seen any pictures of the caterpillars in space for a few days. I was wondering if they were behind those false alarms on the space-shuttle - maybe they were trying to trick NASA and pulled/pushed the alarm...probably not.

But today some new pictures of the caterpillars were posted, and the guys look HUGE.

Here is a picture of the one caterpillar I still have at my house (the ones in your classrooms may be bigger)

and one of the caterpillars in space.

Shuttle crew has been busy with 2 space walks, they will do one more tomorrow, so today they get to relax. And celebrate, because one of the austronauts, Space shuttle Atlantis Mission Specialist Randy Bresnik, is a new father. Little Abigail will have to wait on meeting her Dad until he returns to earth later this week.

Greetings, M.

Do you have a strict bedtime? As strict as the astronauts? (Nov 20)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:20:50 +0100

This interesting bit was posted as "the latest news" on the NASA website:

STS-129 Mission Specialists Mike Foreman and Randy Bresnik, set to perform the second spacewalk of the mission Saturday, are spending the night in the Quest airlock as part of the overnight “campout” procedure that helps purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams, preventing decompression sickness once they move out into the vacuum of space.
The International Space Station crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 6:58 p.m. EST, and the shuttle crew heads to bed a half hour later. Both crews are set to wake up Saturday at 3:28 a.m. The spacewalk is slated to begin at 8:18 a.m.

The astronauts have to go to bed at 6:58 PM (not 7 PM, but 6:58 PM) - and they have to wake up in the middle of the night. In addition it takes 5 hours to get ready for a walk outside :) and you even have to sleep in the mudroom before you can head out. Not an easy job, being an astronaut.

First Video of Caterpillars (Thursday Nov 19)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:35:03 +0100

If you want to see what caterpillars do all day when in space check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KCtPMFzlpM

If you were living in the International Space Station what would you do to amuse yourself?

M

All three caterpillars alive and well on the space station (Wed Nov 18)

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:05:48 +0100

Yep, all three caterpillars are thriving. You can see pictures of them here.

http://monarchwatch.smugmug.com/Monarchs-in-Space/Monarchs-on-the-Space-Station/10305636_wwEsm#717590325_TFsWE

They look very healthy despite having been in the dark for about 2 days (from launch of Atlantis until the shuttle docked with the ISS)

Nice Job!

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:06:14 +0100

Students from Mr. Huff's class did a very nice job explaining the experiment to a reporter from the WAND news. The video can be seen on their page once I figure out how to download it.

M

Leal's Monarch Project on TV (Tuesday November 17)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:13:36 +0100

Our project made it onto the WCIA news. Click here to get to the video: http://illinoishomepage.net/content/video/?cid=118161

Also, stay tuned tomorrow. That is when the shuttle will arrive at the ISS and deliver the caterpillars.