Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars. (NASA/Goddard/University of Colorado/Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics)
“The MAVEN mission has truly advanced our understanding of the Martian atmosphere and evolution. This dataset has had a tremendous impact on the field…Our science team is exceptionally proud of all of these amazing discoveries.”
–Comment by Shannon Curry, MAVEN’s principal investigator and a researcher at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, regarding the official end of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution’s (MAVEN) 11-year mission. NASA lost contact with the spacecraft last December. You can read more about MAVEN’s accomplishments over the years at this NASA site.
Image (Credit): View of Saturn provided by the Cassini spacecraft. (NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute, Mindaugas Macijauskas)
This week’s image of Saturn comes from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which orbited the planet for 13 years. Even after seeing so many images of Saturn, the spacecraft continued to surprise us with new and unique views.
Telescopic views of Saturn and its beautiful rings often make it the star of star parties. But this stunning view of the outer gas gaint planet’s rings and night side just isn’t possible from telescopes in the vicinity of planet Earth. Peering out from the inner Solar System they can only bring Saturn’s day side into view. In fact, this image of Saturn’s slender sunlit crescent with the planet’s night shadow cast across its broad and complex ring system was captured by the robot spacecraft Cassini. After a seven year long journey from planet Earth, Cassini called Saturn orbit home for 13 years (from 2004 – 2017) before it was directed to dive into the atmosphere of the gas giant on September 15, 2017. This magnificent mosaic is composed of frames recorded by Cassini’s wide-angle camera only two days before its grand final plunge. And Saturn’s night will not be seen again until another spaceship from Earth calls.
Image (Credit): NASA astronaut Ed White during the Gemini 4 mission on June 3, 1965. (NASA)
On this day in 1965, U.S astronaut Edward H. White became the first American to conduct a spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission. His 23 minute mission lasted from his exit from the capsule over the Pacific to his return while over the Gulf of Mexico. He used a maneuvering gun to push himself away from the capsule as well as to push himself back.
An Apollo 1 crew memorial is located at Arlington National Cemetery (shown below) with the inscription, “Ad Astra per Aspera,” which in Latin means, “A rough road leads to the stars.”
Image (Credit): The Apollo 1 crew memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. (Arlington National Cemetery)
Bill Maher has invited Dr. Tyson multiple times to his program, and it is always a fun show.
The interview covered a variety of topics, but one interesting discussion (following a discussion about anal probes) revolved around how Hollywood almost always portrays aliens as humanoid versus something completely different, such as the rock-like alien in the book and movie Project Hail Mary.
Dr. Tyson noted that most life on earth does not look human, even though all the life on our planet has DNA in common. For example, we share about 20 percent of our genes with a banana. Hence, there is every reason to believe that aliens from distant civilizations will look as different from us as humans are from a banana. It is certainly a different way to look at the galaxy (and the missed opportunities on Star Trek). Here is a clip with him expanding on this argument.
Check out the podcast if you want an entertaining diversion for a few minutes.
Note: If you are interested in the book itself as part of your summer reading, here is the jacket summary:
Take Me to Your Leader is the culmination of a lifetime of fascination, speculation, and the amassing of scientific data about the possibility of Aliens visiting Earth. Drawing on a wealth of depictions from history, literature, pop culture, and film, Tyson applies the universal laws of physics to make the case for what Aliens might look like, act like, how they might travel through the universe to reach us, and what they might think of us upon arrival. Should such an event occur, Tyson further offers useful etiquette tips for your first close encounter.
If you’ve ever wondered why there are so many UFO sightings, or whether Aliens might already be among us, Tyson offers an informed perspective that is both factual and fun. Take Me to Your Leader is a tantalizing exploration of what would be the most mind-blowing experience of your life—the book for anyone who has ever wondered: Are we alone?
Image (Credit): A exploding meteor off the coast of Massachusetts as captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Lightning Mapper on May 30, 2026. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
A meteor that created a sonic boom heard by thousands in Massachusetts and parts of the Northeast Saturday afternoon was larger than previously believed, NASA said Monday. Scientists now say the meteor was 5 feet in diameter, up from the initial thought of 3 feet, NASA said. “The meteor was about 5 feet (1.6 meters) in diameter with a mass of 5.6 metric tons and entered Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 42,000 mph,” NASA said Monday. Scientists believe it traveled through the atmosphere from northwest to southeast for 26 miles before breaking up at an altitude of 31 miles and producing a meteorite fall into Cape Cod Bay.
Astronomers have found some of the strongest evidence yet that stars can swallow their own planets. A new study, published in Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society, supports the long-held belief that young stars are capable of ‘eating’ nearby worlds as planetary systems form. Researchers from Keele University and the University of Exeter studied thousands of stars and found evidence that six different red dwarfs – the smallest, coolest, and most common type of star in the universe – had engulfed Earth-like rocky planets.
Our solar system has two ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, but there may have been a third. According to a new study published in the journal Icarus, this extra world might have triggered a violent planetary shuffling billions of years ago that could have disrupted some of Jupiter’s and Uranus’s moons and possibly led to the formation of others.
Our Awesome Universe 