News (Page 895)

Why Are Planets Round? The Solar System is a beautiful thing to behold. Between its four terrestrial planets, four gas giants, multiple minor planets composed of ice and rock, and countless moons and smaller objects, there is simply no shortage of things to study and be captivated by. Add to that our Sun, an Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper Belt, and many comets, and you’ve got enough to keep your busy for the rest of your life. But why exactly is it that the larger bodies in the Solar System are round? Whether we are talking about moon like Titan, or the largest planet in theRead More →

How Fast is Mach One? Within the realm of physics, there are certain barriers that human beings have come to recognize. The most well-known is the speed of light, the maximum speed at which all conventional matter and all forms of information in the Universe can travel. This is a barrier that humanity may never be able to push past, mainly because doing so violate one of the most fundamental laws of physics – Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. But what about the speed of sound? This is another barrier in physics, but one which humanity has been able to break (several times over inRead More →

We’re About to Get Our Closest Look at Jupiter’s Great Red Spot When the Juno mission reached Jupiter on July 5th, 2016, it became the second mission in history to establish orbit around the Solar System’s largest planet. And in the course of it conducting its many orbits, it has revealed some interesting things about Jupiter. This has included information about its atmosphere, meteorological phenomena, gravity, and its powerful magnetic fields. And today – on Monday, July 10th at 7:06 p.m. PDT (11:06 p.m. EDT) – just days after the probe celebrated its first year of orbiting the planet, the Juno mission passed directly overRead More →

SpaceX Dragon Returns Science Cargo to Earth, Falcon 9 Delivers Massive ‘Epic’ Intelsat Comsat to Orbit – Photo/Video Galley SpaceX Falcon 9 blasts off with Intelsat 35e – 4th next gen ‘Epic’ TV and mobile broadband comsat for Intelsat – on July 5, 2017 at 7:38 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – July has begun with SpaceX maintaining a blistering pace of blasting rockets and spaceships flying to space and returning to Earth for a host of multipronged missions furthering NASA science both on the International Space Station (ISS) andRead More →

How Long is a Day on the Moon? The Moon has been around since the earliest days of the Solar System. To human beings, there has never been a time when we couldn’t look up in the night sky and either see the Moon hanging there, or know that it would be back the very next night (i.e. a New Moon). And thanks to the development of modern astronomy and space exploration, our understanding of the Moon has grown immensely. For instance, we know that the Moon formed early in Earth’s history, and that it may have played an important role in the development ofRead More →

Messier 50 – the NGC 2323 Open Star Cluster Welcome back to Messier Monday! We continue our tribute to our dear friend, Tammy Plotner, by looking at the open star cluster of Messier 50. Enjoy! In the 18th century, while searching the night sky for comets, French astronomer Charles Messier kept noting the presence of fixed, diffuse objects in the night sky. In time, he would come to compile a list of approximately 100 of these objects, with the purpose of making sure that astronomers did not mistake them for comets. However, this list – known as the Messier Catalog – would go on toRead More →

VP Pence Vows Return to the Moon, Boots on Mars during KSC Visit Vice President Mike Pence (holding Orion model) receives up close tour of NASA’s Orion EM-1 deep space crew capsule (at right) being manufactured for 1st integrated flight with NASA’s SLS megarocket in 2019; with briefing from KSC Director/astronaut Robert D. Cabana during his July 6, tour of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center – along with acting NASA Administrator Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr., Senator Marco Rubio and Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at KSC. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Vice President Mike Pence,Read More →

Gaia Finds Six Stars Zipping out of the Milky Way In 2013, the European Space Agency launched the Gaia spacecraft. As the successor to the Hipparcos mission, this space observatory has spent the past three and a half years gathering data on the cosmos. Before it retires sometime next year (though the mission could be extended), this information will be used to construct the largest and most precise 3D astronomical map ever created. In the course of surveying the cosmos, Gaia has also revealed some very interesting things along the way. For example, after examining the Gaia catalog with a specially-designed artificial neural network, aRead More →

The Corvus Constellation Welcome to another edition of Constellation Friday! Today, in honor of the late and great Tammy Plotner, we take a look at the “Raven” – the Corvus constellation. Enjoy! In the 2nd century CE, Greek-Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus (aka. Ptolemy) compiled a list of all the then-known 48 constellations. This treatise, known as the Almagest, would be used by medieval European and Islamic scholars for over a thousand years to come, effectively becoming astrological and astronomical canon until the early Modern Age. One of these constellation was the Corvus constellation, a southern constellation whose name in Latin means “Raven”. Bordered by theRead More →

Titan’s Lakes are Nice and Calm. The Perfect Spot for a Landing Ever since the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens lander provided us with the first detailed glimpse of Saturn’s moon Titan, scientists have been eager to mount new missions to this mysterious moon. Between its hydrocarbon lakes, its surface dunes, its incredibly dense atmosphere, and the possibility of it having an interior ocean, there is no shortage of things that are worthy of research. The only question is, what form would this mission take (i.e. aerial drone, submarine, balloon, lander) and where should it set down? According to a new study led by theRead More →

New Horizons Team Already Finding Surprises on Next Flyby Target While the New Horizons spacecraft was heading to Pluto, scientists from the mission used Hubble and other telescopes to try and find out more about the environment their spacecraft would be flying through. No one wanted New Horizons to run into unexpected dust or debris. And now, as New Horizons prepares to fly past its next target, the Kuiper Belt Object known as 2014 MU69, mission scientists are using every tool at their disposal to examine this object and the surrounding region. The flyby will take place on January 1, 2019. They’ve already uncovered someRead More →

SpaceX Falcon 9 Dazzles Delivering ‘Epic’ Intelsat DTH TV Comsat to Orbit for America’s SpaceX Falcon 9 blasts off with Intelsat 35e – 4th next gen ‘Epic’ comsat for Intelsat – on July 5, 2017 at 7:37 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The third time proved to be the charm as SpaceX kept up a torrid 2017 launch pace and successfully ignited another Falcon 9 rocket late Wednesday, July 5, from the Florida Space Coast and delivered a powerful and heavy weight commercial TV to orbit that will serveRead More →

Did you Know There are X-rays Coming from Pluto? That’s Strange, What’s Causing it? Once held to be the outermost planet of the Solar System, Pluto‘s designation was changed by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, owing to the discovery of many new Kuiper Belt Objects that were comparable in size. In spite of this, Pluto remains a source of fascination and a focal point of much scientific interest. And even after the historic flyby conducted by the New Horizons probe in July of 2015, many mysteries remain. What’s more, ongoing analysis of the NH data has revealed new mysteries. For instance, a recent studyRead More →

I Wonder if it has Room Service? Here’s the Space Hotel that Won a Recent NASA Competition Looking to the future of space exploration, there really is no question that it will involve a growing human presence in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This will include not only successors to the International Space Station, but most likely commercial habitats and facilities. These will not only allow for ventures like space tourism, but will also facilitate missions that take us back to the Moon, to Mars, and even beyond. With this purpose in mind, an interdisciplinary team of MIT graduate students designed a space habitat known asRead More →

How Does Mercury Compare to Earth? Mercury was appropriately named after the Roman messenger of the Gods. This is owed to the fact that its apparent motion in the night sky was faster than that of any of the other planets. As astronomers learned more about this “messenger planet”, they came to understand that its motion was due to its close orbit to the Sun, which causes it to complete a single orbit every 88 days. Mercury’s proximity to the Sun is merely one of its defining characteristics. Compared to the other planets of the Solar System, it experiences severe temperature variations, going from veryRead More →

Messier 49 – the NGC 4472 Elliptical Galaxy Welcome back to Messier Monday! In our ongoing tribute to the great Tammy Plotner, we take a look at Orion’s Nebula’s “little brother”, the De Marian’s Nebula! During the 18th century, famed French astronomer Charles Messier noted the presence of several “nebulous objects” in the night sky. Having originally mistaken them for comets, he began compiling a list of them so that others would not make the same mistake he did. In time, this list (known as the Messier Catalog) would come to include 100 of the most fabulous objects in the night sky. One of theseRead More →

How Far Does Light Travel in a Year? The Universe is an extremely big place. As astronomers looked farther into space over the centuries, and deeper into the past, they came to understand just how small and insignificant our planet and our species seem by comparison. At the same time, ongoing investigations into electromagnetism and distant stars led scientists to deduce what the the speed of light is – and that it is the fastest speed obtainable. As such, astronomers have taken to using the the distance light travels within a single year (aka. a light year) to measure distances on the interstellar and intergalacticRead More →

SpaceX Targeting 3rd launch in 10 Days with ‘Epic’ Intelsat Comsat on July 3 – Watch Live Never used SpaceX Falcon 9 is seen rising to launch position and now stands erect and poised for Intelsat 35e liftoff on July 3, 2017 at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Spectacular 4th of July fireworks are coming tonight, July 3, to the Florida Space Coast courtesy of SpaceX and Intelsat with the planned near dusk launch of the commercial Epic 35e next-generation high throughput satellite to geostationary orbit for copious customers in the Americas,Read More →