NASA’s longest-lived Mars robot is about to mark a new milestone on June 30: 100,000 trips around the Red Planet since launching 23 years ago. During that time, the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter has been mapping minerals and ice across the Martian surface, identifying landing sites for future missions, and relaying data to Earth from NASA’s rovers and landers. Scientists recently used the orbiter’s ca... More »
A ‘Small Explorer’ mission led by Caltech and managed by JPL in Pasadena called NuSTAR has reported observations that reveal the highest-energy light ever detected from Jupiter. The light, in the form of X-rays that only NuSTAR so far can detect, is also the highest-energy light ever detected from a solar system planet other than Earth. A paper in the journal Nature Astronomy reports the finding a... More »
A Pasadena resident who invented a novel device from which to hang piñatas during special occasions has made it to the semifinals of Home Shopping Network’s American Dreams, a business competition that discovers, mentors Latino entrepreneurs and fast-tracks their product launch on TV. Gerardo Lopez, a national radio DJ and program director who is also a station owner, was selected after a competit... More »
The Pasadena Public Safety Committee will hold a special meeting today to discuss budget proposals for the city’s Police Department and Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, with significant increases requested for both departments. The Police Department’s proposed budget of $121,420,884 represents a 9.3% increase from the previous fiscal year, with $111,285,954 coming from the Gene... More »
This full view of the giant asteroid Vesta was taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, as part of a rotation characterization sequence on July 24, 2011, at a distance of 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). A rotation characterization sequence helps the scientists and engineers by giving an initial overview of the character of the surface as Vesta rotated underneath the spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Calt... More »
Matthew Elliott is Caltech’s newest assistant professor of economics. Born in England, he earned his BA and MPhil from Oxford in 2002 and 2004. After receiving his PhD from Stanford in 2011, he spent a year at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before arriving in Pasadena this fall. Elliott’s research focuses on mathematically modeling different kinds of networks. For example, in ... More »
A pretrial hearing is scheduled Friday for a Los Angeles man charged with the 2019 stabbing death in downtown Pasadena of a supportive housing manager. Telly R. Johnson, 44, is set to appear at 8:30 a.m. in Department F of the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 E. Walnut St. Johnson faces murder charges in the death of Byron Young Nettles, 52, who was stabbed outside an apartment building on South Euclid Av... More »
Global dust storms on Mars could soon become more predictable — which would be a boon for future astronauts there — if the next one follows a pattern suggested by those in the past. A published prediction, based on this pattern, points to Mars experiencing a global dust storm in the next few months. “Mars will reach the midpoint of its current dust storm season on October 29th of this year. Based ... More »
Pasadena’s first two-way protected bike lane opens on September 9. I am excited about this milestone! But I also have concerns, and even a few regrets. First, a history lesson – why do we even have this protected bike lane? Former Councilmember Margaret McAustin should take some of the credit. She pointed out that there is no safe way to get from east to west across Pasadena. She also pointe... More »
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) California will present its Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities at a meeting of the Pasadena Senior Commission on Tuesday, May 13, 2 p.m. at the Jackie Robinson Community Center. Rachel Zaiden, Associate State Director for Advocacy and Community Engagement of the AARP, will do the presentation. According to preliminary information submi... More »
