The summer of 2023 has been a treat for full moon fans. Since July, we’ve seen four supermoons in a row, including the rare Super Blue Moon Moon of August and this weekend, the final supermoon of the year, the Harvest Moon of September, gave skywatchers the final lunar thrill of the season. When the moon is at or near its perigee, the closest point in its orbit with Earth, it can appear as much as 30% brighter and 14% larger in the sky, though it’s typically hard to spot…
Read MoreMonth: September 2023
Lasers cut through star trails in beautiful photo from the European Southern Observatory
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) shared a beautiful new image of stars trailing across the night sky. It was taken at the ESO’s Paranal Observatory, located in the Chilean Atacama Desert. The observatory is home to the Very Large Telescope (VLT), which consists of four Unit Telescopes and four smaller, movable Auxiliary Telescopes, like the one in the foreground of the image on the right. Astronomers used a long exposure technique in which the night sky is photographed over several hours, capturing the movements of stars as they travel overhead.…
Read MoreCelebrate ‘Star Wars Rebels’ 10th anniversary with Marvel Comics
It’s difficult to fathom that it’s been nearly a decade since “Star Wars Rebels” first blasted onto Disney XD’s animation lineup with its charismatic, rag-tag crew of the Ghost on Oct. 3, 2014. Created by Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Carrie Beck, the fun “Star Wars” series was set between the events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” and “Star Wars: A New Hope.” “Star Wars Rebels” aired for a total of four seasons encompassing 75 episodes total before it finally ended its popular run in 2018. 2024 will…
Read MoreNew York City is sinking — and it’s not just because of the flooding
While the ground may feel stable under your feet, it’s always moving ever so slightly — not just horizontally with the movement of tectonic plates, but also vertically. And New York City, in particular, is sinking. (No, it’s not because of all the recent flooding that has seen commuters swimming on the streets of the West Village and cars stuck indefinitely on the Franklin D. Roosevelt highway). Between 2016 and 2023, researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) used a space-based method known as interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to 3D-map the…
Read MoreDiscovery Alert: The Planet that Shouldn’t Be There
3 min read Discovery Alert: The Planet that Shouldn’t Be There Artist’s rendering of planet 8 Ursae Minoris b – also known as “Halla” – amid the field of debris after a violent merger of two stars. The planet might have survived the merger, but also might be an entirely new planet formed from the debris. W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko By Pat Brennan NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program The discovery: A large planet is somehow orbiting a star that should have destroyed it. Key facts: Planet 8 Ursae Minoris b orbits a…
Read MoreNASA Selects Four Small Explorer Mission Concept Studies
NASA logo Credits: NASA NASA has selected four small explorer missions to conduct concept studies. These studies aim to expand knowledge of the dynamics of the Sun and related phenomena, such as coronal mass ejections, aurora, and solar wind to better understand the Sun-Earth connection. Any missions selected to move forward after the concept studies are conducted will join the current heliophysics mission fleet, which not only provides deeper insight into the mechanics of our universe, but also offers critical information to help protect astronauts, satellites, and communications signals, and…
Read MoreNASA Invites Media to Upcoming SpaceX Resupply Launch to Space Station
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon capsule atop is raised to the vertical position on June 2, 2021, at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for the company’s 22nd Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA to the International Space Station. SpaceX Media accreditation is open for SpaceX’s 29th commercial resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket is targeted no earlier than Wednesday, Nov. 1, from Launch Complex…
Read MoreNASA Announces Launch Services for Pair of Space Weather Satellites
NASA logo Credit: NASA NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, and its Falcon 9 rocket to provide the launch service for the agency’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission, a pair of small satellites that will study space weather and how the Sun’s energy affects Earth’s magnetic environment, or magnetosphere TRACERS will be an important addition to NASA’s heliophysics fleet and aims to answer long-standing questions critical to understanding the Sun-Earth system. The spinning satellites will study how solar wind, the continuous stream of ionized particles…
Read MoreHonoring Hispanic Heritage Month: Patriot Construction Supports NASA Ames Research Center
In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the NASA Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) is highlighting the contributions made by Hispanic-owned businesses to NASA’s mission. Through collaborative efforts, Patriot Construction, Inc. has played a pivotal role in the enhancement and maintenance of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. They have worked on the N244 Seismic Risk Reduction, Restore Reliability of Main Switchboard for Agency Telecom Gateway N254, Historic Preservation of Building 025 Phase 2 of 2, and the N258 Hyperwall Room Remodeling. This outdoor display of the Unitary Plan…
Read MoreNASA’s New Horizons to Continue Exploring Outer Solar System
3 min read NASA’s New Horizons to Continue Exploring Outer Solar System NASA has announced an updated plan to continue New Horizons’ mission of exploration of the outer solar system. Beginning in fiscal year 2025, New Horizons will focus on gathering unique heliophysics data, which can be readily obtained during an extended, low-activity mode of operations. While the science community is not currently aware of any reachable Kuiper Belt object, this new path allows for the possibility of using the spacecraft for a future close flyby of such an object,…
Read More