Let’s get the Carnival started!

Here is a roundup of blog articles for #astrolovers from around the web this week:

At CosmosQuestX, they were advertising the annual Atlanta Star Party, which conveniently coincides with the eve of DragonCon at Emory University on August 28th. It will undoubtedly be an excellent time in Hotlanta so please check it out. CosmosQuestX also put a plug out for another run of Globe at Night from July 16-25, a program seeking to help monitor light pollution.

At about.com, space writer Carolyn Collins Petersen has a great account of the events leading up to, the context surrounding, and the legacy of the historic Apollo 11 landing on the Moon 45 years ago.

Carolyn also has another post on a separate topic on the TheSpacewriter’s Ramblings blog. In this write up, she discusses the odd shape of a comet recently released by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission.
Once you see a rubber ducky in space, it’s hard to un-see that.

The Meridian Journal (MJ) writes about some new results on the Martian gullies from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It turns out that some of these features may be tied to “dry ice” (frozen carbon dioxide) and
not liquid water . The MJ also covers the announcement from NASA for proposals for science instruments on a future mission to Europa, a world that intrigues many scientists and science enthusiasts.

The BrownSpaceMan also has coverage of NASA’s call for ideas for a mission to Europa one day down the line – and he outlines why Europa is, in his words, insanely cool!

The NextBigFuture has a post about Helion Energy’s Fusion Engine, a technology that promises to be a source of energy that is “capable of producing both on demand and baseload power at low cost and with minimal environmental impact”.

Finally, Everyday Spacer talks about going from the virtual to the physical by holding Everyday Space meet ups in Boston, MA, Providence, RI, and elsewhere in the future. They’ve even got a contest going to celebrate the get-togethers. Take a look!

Look for lots of stuff later in the week on Chandra’s 15th anniversary in space. Happy Carnival of Space!

-Megan Watzke & Kim Arcand, CXC