I think I have a good pick for McCain’s VP. Maybe she could even be his science advisor.

And before everyone jumps all over me for being unfair, maybe you ought to read this first, or perhaps this. Ms. McCarthy, who I find can actually be quite funny and charming, knows nothing about science or the scientific method, and has made it clear that she is among the worst of the worst when it comes to promoting anecdotal data and antiscientific claims as truth.

Hat tip to Fark.

New evidence from the Cassini Saturn probe indicates that the planet’s moon Rhea may itself have rings!

First off, no pictures of the ring, sorry (that’s an artist’s conception above). If it exists, it’s very tenuous. Basically, Cassini is outfitted with a suite of instruments. One of them is the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument, which can detect charged particles around it. When Cassini passed by Rhea, the MII detected a sharp drop in electrons, as if it were being shielded by something. From an analysis of the data, it looks like rings fit the bill.

The important aspect of this is that the number of electrons dropped on both sides as it passed the moon. That really says "rings" to the scientists.

I’ll note that this is not confirmed yet, but the folks at Cassini seem pretty confident. It’s not impossible for a moon to have rings; an old impact could have ejected dust and gas into orbit around Rhea. The moon is 1500 km (950) miles across, so it’s fair-sized; smaller than our Moon but the second biggest of Saturn’s. It has enough gravity to hold on to a ring for a while.

The scientists have a podcast they put together to explain all this, which is thoughtful of them. The press release has more info, too.

The solar system is a surprising place. That’s one of the reasons I like it here.

If you think there is a better horror movie, ever, than The Thing, then you are wrong.

It is that simple.

And now, if you dare, you can get a Thing of your own.

Oh man. If any enterprising BABloggee has a spare few grand lying around… I would place that in front of my door, and really really hope a burglar drops by.

Tip o’ Kurt Russel’s cowboy hat to io9.

In a few days, the phenomenal Saturn probe Cassini will skim just barely over the surface of the icy moon Enceladus. This is the moon that has gigantic plumes of water ice billowing out into space, the origin of which is still being argued.

The spacecraft will blow past the moon on March 12, at 19:06 UT. It’ll pass just 50 kilometers (30 miles) over the southern hemisphere of Enceladus. Unfortunately, it won’t take any images at closest approach — screaming over the landscape at 9 miles per second isn’t going to get you much more than blurry pictures. But it’ll take plenty of images on the way in and out, and while it does so its other instruments will be busily taking data, helping Earthbound scientists figure out just what the heck that tiny moon is doing.

Cassini will also pass right through the ice plume (generally considered an E-ticket ride) and will hopefully return an analysis of its contents.

You can read all about this in amazing detail on the CICLOPS site. There are timelines, maps, schedules, everything you could possibly need to understand this close encounter. Actually, you should take a look at that page if only to see what incredibly detailed thinking has to go into making such a pass. It’s amazing.

I hate to think that US stupidity about shutting down science is spreading to the UK — or maybe it’s just endemic with governments — but the Times Online is reporting that Jordrell Bank, the venerable radio astronomy observatory, may get closed down. Why? Well, money, of course, but it’s pocket change, a couple of million pounds a year.

I wonder if governments like to shut down lots of small projects because it gives the appearance that they’re actually doing something. But let me ask you: you have a full hard drive, and on it is a 1 Gb movie you’ve already watched, and 1000 1Mb movies. Which is better and more time-effective to delete?

I will 100% absolutely guarantee that in the UK, there are better programs to shut down that cost a lot more money than Jordrell Bank does.

DaveP’s Astronomy blog has a lot more on this ridiculous situation.

So here I am, hosting my second Carnival of Space (the first one was over Thanksgiving in 2007). Weirdly, almost all the entries this week are Mars-related. Well, if they weren’t Mars-related, I made them Mars-related. I’m a professional writer, full of tricks. I have semicolons, and I know how to use them.

But first, I want to note that Mang’s Bat Page has created a search tool for the Carnival of Space! It’s experimental, and evidently created by a bat, so use it at your own risk.

And second, if you like these blog posts, then I suggest you bookmark them or put their feed into your reader. You might also check out their blogrolls, because a lot of these blogs do link to other interesting space-related blogs.

So. To Mars! And a wee bit beyond.

Update: three entries for this Carnival got trapped in my mail filter. One is a beautiful lunar eclipse sequence from APOD, another is about using polarized glasses to look at Venus during the daytime, c/o Astroblog, and a third is about regulations and the free market when it comes to space from SpaceCynic. My apologies to all for not getting these in sooner.

Stuart Atkinson at Cumbrian Skies takes a look at the ever-changing landscape of Mars, and relates why we all found the Martian avalanche so intriguing.

While you’re busy standing on Mars and avoiding landslides, you might want to heed Ian O’Neill who, on his blog Astroengine, posits an early-warning system for solar flares that might zap future Mars colonists.

That’ll be useful, since Colony Worlds speculates this week about radiation hazards on other planets.

To make matters worse, at Starts with a Bang, Ethan Siegel tells you why Mars colonies will go thirsty.

Of course, if you feel like taking your chances anyway, you might want to jump on board Nancy Atkinson’s view at Universe Today and take a one-way, one-person trip to the Red Planet.

Perhaps you don’t mind sailing your way to Mars. Next Big Future has just the solar sail material for you: a big ol’ sheet of carbon nanotubes.

A solar sail has to be built in space, and A Mars Odyssey makes the case the building the International Space Station has been good practice for building a ship to Mars.

But who will be the first people to Mars? Reading RLV and Space Transport News, it sounds possible that it may be someone from India, or a South Korean riding a methane engine.

After reading Music of the Spheres this week, I wonder if the first human to Mars will be a woman?

Note, as Emily at the Planetary Society did, that for the first time, we had an all-woman team driving the Mars rovers.

Maybe, on the way there, she’ll hear some Toscanini, which is what aliens from farther away can hear, according to Centauri Dreams.

They’ll have to be careful steering their ship. Visual Astronomy outlines the orbital anomalies that have been plaguing interplanetary spacecraft.

If our Mars-bound crew gets bored, then Out of the Cradle has an anime movie they can watch: Moonlight Mile: One Small Step.

And in a meta-carnival, New Frontiers has a wrap-up of some space news in A Day in Space.

One of these things is not like the other: Astroengine talks about haze seen by the WMAP mission that may be from dark matter.

And another of these things is not like the other, too: speaking of WMAP, yours truly wrote about some new findings from the five-year-old probe: the Universe is 2.746 billion times older than WMAP.