Astronomy Question: The Asteroid Belt

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Asteroid 433 Eros, which is the first asteroid ever orbited by a spacecraft, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous – Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), in 1998. (NASA)

Multiple Choice: What is the average distance between the asteroids located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter?

A. 4,000 miles
B. 50,000 miles
C. 600,000 miles
D. 1.1 million miles

Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the “Astronomy Question Answer Sheet” page.

Pic of the Week: Jupiter’s Swirling Polar Region

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Jupiter’s north polar region. (Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Image processing by Brian Swift © CC BY)

This week’s image comes from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which captured these images of Jupiter’s north polar region. The spacecraft came within 6,800 miles of the clouds you see.

Launched in August 2011, the Juno spacecraft has been studying Jupiter since 2016 to better understand the origin and evolution of the planet.

You can learn more about the Juno mission here.

2024 Space Hightlights – Missions

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): An artist’s rendering of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft over Europa. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Another list worth highlighting at year-end covers all of the space missions from 2024. For example, this list from Freethink, “the top 10 space stories of 2024,” includes the launch of the Europa Clipper, China’s Chang’e 6 round-trip to the Moon, and a successful commercial launch to the Moon (Odysseus lunar lander).

Here are some other lists of missions from 2024:

Note: The Awesome-Universe list of top missions looking back in 2024 include:

Pic of the Week: Jupiter’s Changing Spot

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Jupiter’s Great Red Spot captured by the Hubble Space Telescope over a 90 day period. (NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC))

This week’s image is from the NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope. It captures one of the most identifiable objects in our solar system – Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

Here is a little more from the ESA Hubble site:

Using Hubble Space Telescope data spanning approximately 90 days (between December 2023 and March 2024) when the giant planet Jupiter was approximately 630 million to 820 million kilometres from the Sun, astronomers measured the Great Red Spot’s size, shape, brightness, colour, and vorticity over one full oscillation cycle. The data reveal that the Great Red Spot is not as stable as it might look. It was observed going through an oscillation in its elliptical shape, jiggling like a bowl of gelatin. The cause of the 90-day oscillation is unknown.

The Europa Clipper Mission Has Begun

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): View of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy second stage engine as it completes its burn after launching the Europa Clipper spacecraft. (NASA)

Earlier today, the Europa Clipper spacecraft was launched from Kennedy Space Center for its 2030 rendezvous with the Jovian moon Europa. It can then begin to analyze the moon’s salt water ocean and look for any signs of life.

The mission is expected to last for three years, maybe longer should the spacecraft prove to be durable and ready for more scientific work. After that, it will plummet down into the Jovian moon Ganymede.

Scientists believe Europa may contain more water than is found here on Earth. That is interesting in terms of what may lie below the surface in terms of potential life. It also offers mankind a priceless resource should we ever find ourselves living in that region.

Europa Clipper Project Scientist Robert Pappalardo stated:

We know of our Earth as an ocean world, but Europa is representative of a new class of ocean worlds, icy worlds in the distant outer solar system where saltwater oceans might exist under their icy surfaces…In fact, icy ocean worlds could be the most common habitat for life, not just in our solar system, but throughout the universe.

You can follow the status of the mission here.