If you are planning to get a good seat for the total solar eclipse on April 8, you may want to consult the NASA Solar Eclipses map (shown above) to figure our where you want to be. Hint for 2024 – California is not the place to be.
The 2024 solar eclipse map (shown below) from Scientific American magazine might also be helpful. It clearly highlights the cities that will have the best show.
What kind of ambassador, you ask? Well, NASA is looking for what are called “Partner Eclipse Ambassadors.” Volunteers for this position will assist NASA as it prepares communities for the April 2024 solar eclipse.
NASA promises the following to support volunteer ambassadors:
You have plenty of time to prepare for this event, so check it out. You can get all of the details at this link.
This image of last week’s annular solar eclipse was captured by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) imager carried aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCVR), which is a joint venture between NASA, NOAA, and the U.S. Air Force.
NASA made this statement regarding the image:
An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun but is too far from Earth to completely obscure it. The Moon is at or near its farthest distance from Earth—known as its apogee—during an annular eclipse, making it look smaller in the sky. This leaves the Sun’s edges exposed in a red-orange ring, dubbed the “ring of fire.” A satellite caught an earthly view of the event, as the Moon’s shadow crossed North America.
NASA also provided a map showing those areas in the United States most impacted by the eclipse (shown below).
Here are some recent stories of interest.
—Southwest Research Institute: “New Findings Suggest Moon May Have Less Water Than Previously Thought“
A team recently calculated that most of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) are at most around 3.4 billion years old and can contain relatively young deposits of water ice. Water resources are considered key for sustainable exploration of the Moon and beyond, but these findings suggest that current estimates for cold-trapped ices are too high.
—Scientific American: “Massive Sun Outburst Smacks NASA Spacecraft“
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was built to withstand the ravages of the environment near our sun—and with good reason. The car-size spacecraft has now flown through a giant solar outburst of charged particles called a coronal mass ejection (CME). If that CME had it hit Earth instead, it may have caused vast, continent-wide blackouts, scientists say. Some of those searing particles whipped through space at about three million miles per hour.
—BGR: “NASA Successfully Generated Oxygen on Mars“
NASA’s Perseverance rover has done the unthinkable. Or, at least, a small device on the rover has. According to a tweet and article shared by NASA’s Perseverance team on Twitter, a device known only as MOXIE has proven that we can generate oxygen on Mars using the planet’s CO2-concentrated atmosphere. This tech is a huge boon, and the success of this story could help pave the way for future oxygen generation on the Red Planet, something that would make long-term exploration of the planet far more feasible.
Over the weekend, India launched another important space mission. The mission of the Aditya-L1 spacecraft is to spend four months studying the outer layers of the Sun.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is overseeing the mission, which will come to rest at the L1 Lagrange point from where it will observe the Sun.
For more details on the mission, check out the ISRO website where you can find details about the spacecraft’s objectives and scientific equipment.
This latest mission comes right after India’s successful landing on the Moon, showing all of us that it is not resting on its laurels. The country clearly wants to be in the forefront of the space and science race.
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