Tag: Earth

The Moon Casts a Shadow

NeRD

On October 14, 2023, the Moon aligned with the Sun and Earth to produce an annular solar eclipse. The spectacle bathed millions of Americans in a lunar shadow as the Moon blocked the Sun’s rays. The above image was acquired during the eclipse by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera imager aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory, a joint NASA, NOAA, and U.S. Air Force satellite. NASA NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) captured the lunar shadow during the Oct. 14 annular solar eclipse. The…

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Seeing Baja California Sur From Space

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NASA The crew of the International Space Station saw this view of the north coast of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur as the space station orbited 258 miles above on Oct. 14, 2023. In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets. The station’s orbital path takes it over 90 percent of the Earth’s population, with astronauts taking millions of images of the planet below. See more photos of our planet here. Image credit: NASA

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Future Mars astronauts may chomp on Earth’s tiniest flowering plant to survive

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The smallest flowering plant on Earth could have a huge role to play in humanity’s exploration of space. Watermeal, or Wolffia, is found floating on the surfaces of lakes and ponds in Asia, gathering in pinhead-sized clumps on our planet. When carried to space, watermeal could provide both food and oxygen for astronauts.  As humanity prepares for the next era of human-crewed space exploration, which will focus on longer missions and sojourns to the moon’s surface (and even Mars’), sustainability is key. That means a small sort of foodstuff that…

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China discovers never-before-seen ore containing a highly valuable rare earth element

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Scientists in China have unearthed a never-before-seen type of ore that contains a rare earth element sought after for its superconductive properties.  The ore, dubbed niobobaotite, is made of niobium, barium, titanium, iron and chloride, the South China Morning Post reported.  It’s the niobium that is causing excitement: This light-gray metal is currently used mostly in the production of steel, which it strengthens without adding significant weight. Niobium is also used in making other alloys (materials made of mixes of metals) and can be found in particle accelerators and other…

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What are different types of clouds and how do they form?

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Clouds are such a regular part of daily life in most places on the planet that it’s quite easy to forget about them — unless they’re about to rain on you or ruin your perfectly planned astrophotography shot! But clouds are crucially linked to temperature regulation on Earth, reflecting some of the sun’s energy to keep us cool and trapping some to keep us warm, according to NASA. Plus, clouds can be an indication of the weather that’s on the way. Related: Mars’ clouds are strangely Earth-like, despite wildly different…

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NASA’s Global Science Hackathon Attracts Thousands of Participants

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NASA More than 50,000 participants have registered for the 2023 NASA Space Apps Challenge Saturday, Oct. 7, to Sunday, Oct. 8, which is the largest annual worldwide hackathon. During the two-day event, participants form teams and use software development, engineering, art, storytelling, science, and other skills to solve science-related challenges written by NASA personnel. Teams can be in-person at local events held around the world, or participate virtually. This year’s theme celebrates the benefits and successes created through sharing open data: Explore Open Science Together. “NASA has a 60-year legacy…

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New York City is sinking — and it’s not just because of the flooding

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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…

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NASA Announces Launch Services for Pair of Space Weather Satellites

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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…

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Autumnal equinox 2023 brings fall to the Northern Hemisphere this weekend

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When is the first day of fall in 2023?  A carefully worded answer is that on Saturday (Sept. 23), at 2:50 a.m. EDT (0650 GMT), autumn begins astronomically in the Northern Hemisphere, and spring starts in the Southern. The sun is currently migrating south, having spent the previous six months shining directly on the northern half of our planet.  So, at the official start time of autumn, the sun would appear directly overhead from a ship in the Laccadive Sea, positioned on the equator, 170 miles (275 kilometers) northeast of…

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