Month: April 2024

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 105 — Apoc-eclipse 2024!

NeRD

On Episode 105 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq talk with astronomer and meteorologist Joe Rao about the solar eclipse of 2024. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or in Barstow, you probably know all about the solar eclipse on Monday. Rod will be going to Austin, likely to be staring at ever-darkening clouds, and Tariq will be headed to the eclipse path in the Northeast. Where will you be? Rao tells us about the eclipse — what is it, where the moon’s shadow will cross Earth, how…

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Total solar eclipse 2024: Here’s the national weather forecast for April 8

NeRD

During the past week, the day-to-day weather outlook for the total solar eclipse on April 8 has been changing. Although modern numerical weather prediction systems are marvels of science and technology, forecasts made beyond a week in advance are subject to significant changes as new information is ingested into later simulations.  But now, as the days to totality have dwindled to a precious few, these forecasts are now showing increasing signs of converging, providing useful, consistent guidance for which broad areas along the path of totality have the best chance…

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NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara, Crewmates Return from Space Station

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Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara gives a thumbs up inside the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after she, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. O’Hara is returning to Earth after logging 204 days in space as a member of Expeditions 69-70 aboard the International Space Station and Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya return after having spent the last 14 days in space. NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara returned to Earth after a six-month…

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Southern Illinois will get its 2nd solar eclipse in a decade this year

NeRD

It’s already rare for a single location to experience a total solar eclipse — but for cities like Carbondale, Illinois, the odds have been ever in its favor. A lucky seven years ago, it was in part of the solar eclipse path of totality, and it will be this year as well. “To have two total solar eclipses in a decade is truly extraordinary and almost unheard of … we are beyond thrilled,” Sarah Vanvooren, co-chair of the Eclipse Steering Committee and director of Events and Outreach at Southern Illinois…

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This hellish exoplanet’s skies rain iron and create a rainbow-like effect

NeRD

There are many words that could be used to describe WASP-76b — hellish, scorching, turbulent, chaotic, and even violent. This is a planet outside the solar system that sits so close to its star it gets hot enough to vaporize lead. So, as you can imagine, until now, “glorious” wasn’t one of those words. This more positive descriptor was added to the list quite recently, as astronomers have detected hints of something called “glory” in the atmosphere of the ultra-hot Jupiter exoplanet. The glory effect, hinted at in data from…

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NASA Leadership Spotlights Space Sustainability at Space Symposium

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NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy gives keynote remarks during the 37th Space Symposium, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Associate Administrator Jim Free are scheduled to speak at the Space Foundation’s 39th Space Symposium from Tuesday, April 9 through Thursday, April 11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. During her keynote, “Responsible Exploration: Preserving the Cosmos for Tomorrow,” Melroy will discuss NASA’s integrated approach to foster the long-term sustainability of the space environment at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 9.…

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This solar eclipse simulator on SkySafari will guide you through the eclipse on April 8

NeRD

A new “eclipse simulator” on SkySafari allows you to anticipate what you’ll see when the moon blocks the sun in areas of North America on Monday (April 8). The SkySafari Eclipse Simulation Widget, which you can see below, includes the ability to “watch” an eclipse from any point on Earth. A shadow tracker will let you watch the moon’s shadow moving “across continents and oceans, a stunning reminder of the beauty and intricacy of our solar system,” developers wrote. The entry-level version of SkySafari 7, which features on our best…

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NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A six-person team of researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will travel to Fort Drum, N.Y., to study changes in the Sun’s radiation as it reaches Earth before, during, and after the total solar eclipse April 8. Weather sensors similar to what is used on daily weather balloons by the National Weather Service will be added to a specially modified Alta X Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) and flown to a maximum altitude of nearly two miles,…

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NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Fourteen undergraduate and graduate teams from across the country were selected as finalists to compete in one of NASA’s longest running student challenges — the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The competition fuels innovation and challenges undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Finalists will travel to Cocoa Beach, Florida next June to present their proposed concepts to a panel of NASA…

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Astronauts Protect Their Eyes with Eclipse Glasses

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NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, left, Frank Rubio, Warren Hoburg, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, right, pose for a photo wearing solar glasses, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Bowen, Hoburg, and Alneyadi spent 186 days aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 69; while Rubio set a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, spending 371 days in orbit on an extended mission spanning Expeditions 68 and 69.

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