[NASA] Space Launch System Ascent Testing Advances Understanding of Cargo Configuration
Space Launch System Ascent Testing Advances Understanding of Cargo Configuration via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Z7cRUT
A Cosmic Rose: The Rosette Nebula in Monoceros
The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2237, is not the only cosmic cloud of gas and dust to evoke the imagery of flowers, but it is the most famous. At the edge of a large molecular cloud in Monoceros some 5,000 light years away, the petals of this cosmic rose are actually a stellar nursery. The lovely, symmetric shape is sculpted by the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot … Read More →
First Horizon Scale Image of a Black Hole
What does a black hole look like? To find out, radio telescopes from around the Earth coordinated observations of black holes with the largest known event horizons on the sky. Alone, black holes are just black, but these monster attractors are known to be surrounded by glowing gas. The first image was released yesterday and resolved the area around the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 on a … Read More →
[NASA] Launching Rockets to Study Auroras
NASA successfully launched the Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment or AZURE mission on April 5, 2019, from the Andøya Space Center in Norway. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2YYQmS9
Martian Moon Phobos Crosses the Sun
What’s that passing in front of the Sun? It looks like a moon, but it can’t be Earth’s Moon, because it isn’t round. It’s the Martian moon Phobos. The featured video was taken from the surface of Mars late last month by the Curiosity rover. Phobos, at 11.5 kilometers across, is 150 times smaller than Luna (our moon) in diameter, but also 50 times closer to its parent planet. In … Read More →
[NASA] David Saint-Jacques’ First Spacewalk
David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency completed the first spacewalk of his career on Monday, April 8, 2019. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Gfb2Ot
Moon Occults Saturn
Sometimes Saturn disappears. It doesn’t really go away, though, it just disappears from view when our Moon moves in front. Such a Saturnian eclipse was visible along a small swath of Earth — from Brazil to Sri Lanka — near the end of last month. The featured color image is a digital fusion of the clearest images captured by successive videos of the event taken in red, green, and blue, … Read More →
[NASA] 2019 Astronaut Hall of Fame Honorees
Astronauts Jim Buchli and Janet Kavandi are inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Class of 2019 during a ceremony on April 6, 2019. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2D489O6
AZURE Vapor Tracers over Norway
What’s happening in the sky? The atmosphere over northern Norway appeared quite strange for about 30 minutes last Friday when colorful clouds, dots, and plumes suddenly appeared. The colors were actually created by the NASA-funded Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment (AZURE) which dispersed gas tracers to probe winds in Earth’s upper atmosphere. AZURE’s tracers originated from two short-lived sounding rockets launched from the Andøya Space Center in Norway. The harmless … Read More →
ISS from Wallasey
After sunset on March 28, the International Space Station climbed above the western horizon, as seen from Wallasey, England at the mouth of the River Mersey. Still glinting in the sunlight some 400 kilometers above planet Earth, the fast moving ISS was followed by hand with a small backyard telescope and high frame rate digital camera. A total of 2500 frames were recorded during the 7 minute long visible ISS … Read More →