Even closer

The angle on Vesta is a little different in this one, though it's still the wrinkly-looking south polar terrain.

Those wrinkles are definitely different from the Phobos or Lutetia grooves. What they are exactly, I don't think anyone knows. Presumably some consequence of what happens when a big asteroid nearly gets blown apart.

(By the way, the leading theory is that this impact was what created the HED meteorites, which are responsible for about 5% of all meteorite falls on Earth. That's a lot of Vesta. More precisely, the impact created a whole family of smaller asteroids, some of which later got pieces chipped off in other impacts which were the HED meteorites.)

Pioneer anomaly probably not new physics

A nice bit of data archaeology nears conclusion, suggesting that the anomalous deceleration of the Pioneer spacecraft probably comes from RTG thermal radiation reflected off the radio dish. It's the way I'd have bet.

Review: Untamed, Canobie Lake Park

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Review: Dragon Kiddie Coaster, Canobie Lake Park

WHOO

In a bit more detail: another fun day at Canobie Lake

On the last perfect day before the heat wave, Sam and Jorie went back to Canobie Lake Park. Unfortunately, it was a Thursday and I had to work. Today, the heat wave broke—it was low eighties and sunny, an absolutely flawless day—and we all went back there. And I finally got to ride the two roller coasters there that I hadn't ridden yet: the Dragon kiddie coaster (with Jorie), and the park's brand-new star attraction, Untamed.

Aside from coaster-riding, we spent some time in the Castaway Island water area, but Jorie was really apprehensive about spending any time in a spot where she might get water squirted at her or dumped on her, and she certainly wasn't going on any of the waterslides (I've never been keen on them either). So I tailed her around the margins of the area while Sam got some watersliding in.

It seems like every time we go, there's a different ride Jorie gets obsessed with riding repeatedly. This time, it was a surrealistic kiddie ride called the Autobahn, just a rotating disc under a shady tent with a bizarre random assortment of rideable objects bolted to it: motorcycles, dune buggies, Moon buggies, a tractor, horses, a stagecoach, some things I can only describe as a cross between a jetski and an inline roller skate, a sort of pickup truck with a roof-mounted death ray controlled from seats in the bed, and, as the crowning accessory to any self-respecting autobahn, a fairly detailed rotating Apollo LEM in the center, with its descent-stage engine bell decorated in a suspiciously Dalek-like motif. My guess is that this was originally some kind of space-themed ride whose vehicles got gradually replaced with any damn thing they could get their hands on, but this is only a hypothesis.

Toward the end, she also rode the kiddie bumper cars for the very first time; at age 4, this was the first time Jorie has ever been in full control of a powered vehicle with both steering wheel and pedal, and, while she spent a lot of time repeatedly whirling in a tight circle and slamming into the wall, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

( More about the roller coasters )