Yak

INTRODUCING JODIE WHITTAKER – THE THIRTEENTH DOCTOR

New star of BBC AMERICA’s hit series Doctor Who Announced Today

The BBC and BBC AMERICA today announced to the world that Jodie Whittaker will be the new Doctor Who. She will be the Thirteenth Time Lord and take over from Peter Capaldi who leaves the global hit show at Christmas.

New head writer and executive producer Chris Chibnall who takes over from Steven Moffat on the next series made the decision to cast the first ever woman in the iconic role.

Jodie Whittaker says: “I’m beyond excited to begin this epic journey - with Chris and with every Whovian on this planet. It’s more than an honor to play the Doctor. It means remembering everyone I used to be, while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: hope. I can’t wait.”

Chris Chibnall, New Head Writer and Executive Producer says: “After months of lists, conversations, auditions, recalls, and a lot of secret-keeping, we’re excited to welcome Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. I always knew I wanted the Thirteenth Doctor to be a woman and we’re thrilled to have secured our number one choice. Her audition for The Doctor simply blew us all away.  Jodie is an in-demand, funny, inspiring, super-smart force of nature and will bring loads of wit, strength and warmth to the role. The Thirteenth Doctor is on her way.”

Snail drinking a dew drop from an acorn head 

The NY Times has a truly fantastic series of interactive pieces on the #JunoMission

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Arrives At Jupiter - a look at the spacecraft, its mission, orbital path through the solar system and around the gas giant.

Jupiter and Its Moons - MUST-SEE in Google Chrome, trust us, it’s not often you get to just spin Jupiter like a toy.

What to Expect When Juno Gets to Jupiter - the mission in detail.

All Eyes (And Ears) on Jupiter - includes audio of the “bow shock” Juno experienced when it passed into Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

For the second time ever, a spacecraft has slipped into orbit around huge and mysterious Jupiter.

NASA’s robotic Juno probe began circling the solar system’s largest planet tonight (July 4), ending a nearly five-year journey through deep space and becoming the first spacecraft to enter Jupiter orbit since NASA’s Galileo mission did so in 1995.

The milestone came at 11:53 p.m. EDT tonight (0353 GMT Tuesday, July 5), after Juno fired its main engine in a crucial 35-minute burn that slowed the probe down enough to be captured by Jupiter’s powerful gravity. [Photos: NASA’s Juno Mission to Jupiter]

In the hours leading up to the engine burn, that same gravity had accelerated Juno to an estimated 165,000 mph (265,000 km/h) relative to Earth — faster than any human-made object has ever traveled, mission team members have said.

Tonight’s orbit-insertion burn, which Juno performed on autopilot, was a make-or-break maneuver: If anything had gone seriously wrong, Juno would have gone sailing right past Jupiter, and the science goals of the $1.1 billion mission — which including mapping the planet’s gravitational and magnetic fields and characterizing its composition and interior structure — would have gone unaccomplished.

So the jubilation that erupted at Juno mission control here at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) — shouts of joy, high-fiving and hugging among team members — made a lot of sense.

“Welcome to Jupiter!” a mission commentator announced just after the burn ended, eliciting a second round of cheers and then, a few moments later, a standing ovation.

“It feels great — this is phenomenal!” Geoff Yoder, acting Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said when the celebration died down.

How does a wood duckling lunge from the nest before they’ve learned to fly?