On Mar. 27, a planetary parade made up of Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus will march across the sky. At this particular time of the year, amateur astronomers are participating in the Messier Marathon. Originally conceived by the late comet hunter, Don Machholz, it takes place around the time of the new moon, and within a week or so of the Vernal Equinox. It is during this particular time of year, that all 110 of the various deep sky objects cataloged by the French astronomer, Charles Messier, come into…
Read MoreMonth: March 2023
A colossal ‘hole’ in the sun’s atmosphere could supercharge Earth’s auroras on March 24
A “hole” in the sun’s atmosphere may produce a dazzling light show on Earth in the coming days. A moderate aurora watch is in effect Friday (March 24) for higher latitudes of Earth due to a coronal hole, an opening in the sun‘s magnetic field, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (opens in new tab) (NOAA). When these holes open in the corona, the sun’s upper atmosphere, they allow an increased flow of the charged-particle stream known as the solar wind. In similar situations, coronal holes have…
Read MoreSpace Station Star Trail
Stars leave streaks of light in concentric circles in this Mar 16, 2012, view from the International Space Station.
Read MoreNASA Selects Repairs Operations Maintenance and Engineering Contractor
NASA has selected ASRC Federal Facilities Logistics, LLC, of Beltsville, Maryland for the Repairs, Operations, Maintenance and Engineering (ROME) contract.
Read MoreNew ‘Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’ trailer shows off breathtaking lightsaber combat (video)
Positive reverberations in the Force are mounting as the official launch date for “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” looms ever closer to its spring arrival for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. In anticipation of “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor‘s” newly-announced April 28, 2023 release, Respawn Entertainment, EA and Lucasfilm Games have unveiled fresh story details, a swashbuckling new trailer and key artwork for the long-awaited direct sequel to 2019’s “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.” “Survivor” was developed and produced by the talented crew at Respawn under the solid leadership of…
Read MoreBig asteroids hit Earth more frequently than thought, study suggests
A fresh asteroid-strike study is generating controversy among scientists, a report suggests. A NASA-funded study presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference last week suggests that big asteroids hit Earth more often than previously thought, based on satellite data. But not everyone agrees with the interpretation, according to the journal Science (opens in new tab), which says more fieldwork is needed to confirm the data. The study (opens in new tab) was led by James Garvin, chief scientist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and used high-resolution…
Read MoreDART mission reveals asteroid Dimorphos is dry as a bone
Six months after NASA slammed a spacecraft into an asteroid at high speed, scientists are beginning to gain a clearer picture of the mission’s target. Careful scrutiny of the debris from the impact of NASA’s DART mission into Dimorphos has not found any evidence for water-ice on the asteroid, nor the residue of thruster fuel from the spacecraft, new results from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) show. However, the data from the MUSE (Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer) (opens in new tab) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile does indicate…
Read MoreNASA Seeks Student Solutions for Managing Moon Landing Dust Cloud
As NASA and industry partners develop new human landing systems to transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back as part of Artemis, the agency is asking university students to investigate solutions to one particularly dusty aspect of landing spacecraft on the lunar surface.
Read MorePhoto Archivist and Photographer Aubrey Gemignani
“I think I’m always seeking out projects that help people feel seen. And maybe that’s why I got so into photography initially. I struggle with that myself — feeling seen. And so to help other people feel seen is definitely an interest of mine that I keep coming back to.” — Aubrey Gemignani, Photo Archivist/Photographer, Mori Associates
Read MoreLouisiana’s Rice Fields
This Feb 3, 2023, enhanced-color image from Landsat 9 highlights a green and blue patchwork pattern in flooded rice fields in southwestern Louisiana.
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