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Pic of the Week: Stunning Auroras
This week’s image is from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Year in Images 2022 collection and shows a view from the International Space Station (ISS). Here is the description of the image from the ESA: Aurorae observed by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station for her Minerva Mission. She shared these images…
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A Day in Astronomy: Birth of Astronomer Johannes Kepler
It was on December 27, 1571 that German astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer Johannes Kepler was born in the Free Imperial City of Weil der Stadt. He is best remembered for his laws of planetary motion, though he had many discoveries, including: The first to formulate eyeglass designing for nearsightedness and farsightedness; The first to explain the principles of how a telescope…
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Looking to Experience Mars? It is Possible Today
The Mars Society is looking for volunteers who want to experience what it would be like to live on Mars. Don’t worry, you do not need to spend months traveling to get there, but you can experience the cold and isolation of the Red Planet while never leaving the Blue Planet. The Mars Society is…
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Passengers on the “Uncrewed” Orion
Much has been discussed about the test dummies used on the Orion capsule during the recent Artemis I mission. And stories abound about the snoopy doll (show below) being the “zero-gravity” indicator on the Orion. But have you heard about the four Danish passengers on the capsule? The Danish company Lego had four toy astronauts…
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Why Attack a Telescope?
A recent Phyls.org article, “Chile’s ALMA Observatory Resumes Work After Cyberattack,” discusses a recent hacking incident at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The telescope was offline for about two months after the attack. The ALMA telescope in northern Chile is a key asset in the search for early galaxies with…
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Where is This? December 24, 2022 Quiz
Take a look at the image above. Can you determine where this image originated? Take a guess and then check your answer by going to the menu and selecting the “Where is This?” The Answer Sheet page.
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The Space Station Needs a New Life Raft
Fortunately, we now know the source of the leak in the extra Soyuz Crew Return Vehicle attached to the International Space Station (ISS). However, we do not know the cause of this radiator coolant leak, which creates risk should the capsule be used early next year to bring two cosmonauts and an astronaut back to…
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Pic of the Week: A Wreath Just in Time for Christmas
This week’s image is from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is a face-on view of wreath-like spiral galaxy NGC 7469, which is about 220 million light-years from Earth. Here is a little more from the European Space Agency on the image: While NGC 7469 is one of the best studied AGNs in the…
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Space Mission: The End of InSight Mars Lander
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is no longer able to contact the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars lander, which has been hard at work on the Red Planet for the past four years detecting more than 1,300 marsquakes. However, the accumulation of dust on the lander’s solar panels has…
