Liz Landau https://www.lizlandau.com Come to the nerd side...We have Pi. Mon, 23 Apr 2018 00:06:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 The First No-ELF https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/23/the-first-no-elf/ https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/23/the-first-no-elf/#respond Mon, 23 Apr 2018 00:06:50 +0000 http://www.lizlandau.com/?p=218 Original: “The First Noel” – traditional Christmas carol
Parody lyrics: Elizabeth Landau
Notes: ELF stands for Enceladus Life Finder, a proposed mission to Saturn’s moon Enceladus

The probe called ELF would have flown to a moon
That we think could have sings of life in its plume
To Enceladus we had hoped to return
But another spacecraft will be how we learn

No ELF, no ELF, NASA said no to ELF
It’s a mission idea we’ll put back on the shelf
No ELF, no ELF
JPL has no ELF
We have all the Mars rovers, but no ELF

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TRAPPIST-Wonderful Worlds https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/23/trappist-wonderful-worlds/ https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/23/trappist-wonderful-worlds/#respond Mon, 23 Apr 2018 00:01:00 +0000 http://www.lizlandau.com/?p=211 Original: “What a Wonderful World” by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss
Parody lyrics: Elizabeth Landau


I see spacecraft launch, they’re flying so far

Someday they’ll go to a nearby star

And I’ll see for myself

TRAPPIST-wonderful worlds


I’ll see seven globes

With orbits so tight

Each one might be

Half in day and half in night

But I’ll see for myself

TRAPPIST-wonderful worlds

So far we’ve looked with Spitzer, Hubble

TRAPPIST and K2

We’ll find out even more when we deploy James W.

These planets must be rocky

Cause of their density

If you like Earth, you’ll love TRAPPIST-1e

I’ll see orange skies

With the red dwarf’s glow

Maybe there’s ocean, maybe there’s snow

But I’ll see for myself

TRAPPIST-wonderful worlds

And we’ll see for ourselves

TRAPPIST-wonderful worlds

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The Saturn System https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/22/the-saturn-system/ https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/22/the-saturn-system/#respond Sun, 22 Apr 2018 23:56:49 +0000 http://www.lizlandau.com/?p=206 Original: “The Schuyler Sisters” from “Hamilton: An American Musical” by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Parody lyrics: Elizabeth Landau


SATURN: There’s nothing Earth folks love more
Than going beyond the moon to explore
They send a bunch of robots into space
And hope they can uncover a whole new place
Take that Cassini, it’s off at Saturn
Uh, oh, but little does it know
That the moons called
Peggy, Enceladus, Dione
Orbit with excitement for the Grand Finale


ALL: Work, work,
ENCELADUS: Enceladus!
ALL: Work, work,
DIONE : Dione!
PEGGY: …and Peggy
ALL: The Saturn System!
ENCELADUS: Enceladus!
PEGGY: Peggy
DIONE: Dione
ALL: WORK!


ALL: Saturn’s rings aren’t solid objects
They’re made from clumps of ice
Pioneer saw them first
Voyager flew by twice


But, look around, look around
Cassini’s gonna do three hundred flybys
of Saturn… work!


It’s funny how all the moons are different
But we’ve all got appeal
Enceladus has hydrogen
And now we know it’s real
Look around, look around
DIONE: Enceladus, remind me where we’re orbiting
SATURN: she’s orbiting me
ENCELADUS: Dione, we’re orbiting at 10 AU
ALL: we’re orbiting at 10 AU, we’re orbiting at 10 AU
Whoa whoa, whoa whoa, WORK!

SATURN: Woo!
There’s nothing like satellites of Saturn
Balls of ice and rock making circles in a pattern
Excuse me Titan, this may sound profane
But your surface stinks like a gas called methane
There’s Iapetus, Hyperion, Calypso, oh man,
Atlas, Pandora, Tethys and Pan!
DIONE: Saturn’s so beastly!
SATURN: Ah, but I’m a mystery! Here’s some extra pages for your history!


ENCELADUS: I’ve been reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan
A little bit of Niels Bohr from Copenhagen
You want a revolution, I want a revelation
So listen to my declaration:
ALL:
We hold this truth to be self-evident:
No planets are created equal
Trina: And when I meet the head of NASA
Imma compel HER to include a Cassini sequel
All: WORK


DIONE: Look around, look around how lucky we are to be alive right now
ALL: Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now
History is happening with Cassini
And we just happen to be
On the greatest mission ever flown!
On the greatest mission ever flown!

DIONE: Look around, look
around the revolution’s happening at Saturn
ENCELADUS: I’ve been reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan
A little bit of Niels Bohr from Copenhagen
You want a revolution, I want a revelation
So listen to my declaration:


ALL:
We hold this truth to be self-evident:
No planets are created equal
Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now
History is happening with Cassini
And we just happen to be
On the greatest mission ever flown!
On the greatest mission ever flown!

All: Work, Work
Enceladus: Enceladus!
All: Work, Work
Dione: Dione!
Peggy: …and Peggy
ALL: The Saturn System!
We’re orbiting at 10 AU
Saturn: Hey, hey, hey Optional (quietly work, work)
All: On the greatest mission
On the greatest mission
Saturn: Ever floooooooown
On the greatest mission ever flown!

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You’ll Be Back (To Saturn) https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/22/youll-be-back-to-saturn/ https://www.lizlandau.com/2018/04/22/youll-be-back-to-saturn/#respond Sun, 22 Apr 2018 23:49:56 +0000 http://www.lizlandau.com/?p=197 Original song: “You’ll Be Back” by Lin-Manuel Miranda – from “Hamilton – An American Musical”
Parody lyrics: Elizabeth Landau



They say

Cassini burned up and there’s no more spacecraft on the way

Is that true?

I wasn’t aware that was something that NASA would do

I’m perplexed

I thought that we made an arrangement with your Pioneer

If so, what’s next?

There’s no other mission to Saturn for like 20 years…



You’ll be back, you’ll be keen

To construct a Titan submarine

Or a Titan drone.

Awesome, wow!

Do you have a clue what happens now?



Budgets rise, budgets fall

We have seen each other through it all

And when push comes to shove

You could send a CubeSat battalion

To remind me of your love



Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da

Da da dat dat da ya da!

Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da

Da da dat dat da…



You say your fuel was draining and you couldn’t go on

You’ll be the one complaining since Cassini’s gone

And no, don’t change the subject

Cuz I’m your favorite subject

Your dissertation subject

Your grant proposal subject

Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever…


You’ll be back like before

You will plan an even grander tour

Of our heliosphere

And the planets that you hold so dear



But if not, you’ll go mad

‘Cuz you threw away this thing we had

And when push comes to shove

I will melt your favorite spacecraft

To remind you of my love



Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da

Da da dat dat da ya da!

Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da

Da da dat

Everybody!

Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da

Da da dat dat da ya da!

Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da

Da da dat dat da ya da!

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Hi, I’m Liz https://www.lizlandau.com/2017/03/24/hello-world/ https://www.lizlandau.com/2017/03/24/hello-world/#comments Fri, 24 Mar 2017 23:27:20 +0000 http://www.lizlandau.com/?p=1 Science. Journalism. Good stories. Explore my site to find out more about me and my work!

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