Atlas V USSF-12 Launch Highlights | United Launch Alliance

Atlas V USSF-12 Launch Highlights | United Launch Alliance

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the USSF-12 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command lifted off on July 1, 2022, at 7:15 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Atlas V rocket uses Russian RD-180 engines.

First launched in 2002, the expendable Atlas V launcher was the centerpiece vehicle that helped cement ULA’s work on national security satellite missions and some of NASA’s biggest space exploration initiatives, including all of the agency’s robotic missions to Mars. To date ULA has launched 151 times with 100 percent mission success.

Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Duration: 1 minute, 19 seconds

Release Day: July 5, 2022

#NASA #Earth #Space #Satellites #USSF #USSF12 #SpaceForce #Military #ULA #AtlasV #Rocket #CapeCanaveral #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New NASA Spacesuits for Artemis: Moon Dust and Mobility | JSC

New NASA Spacesuits for Artemis: Moon Dust and Mobility | JSC

Exploration is dirty work! Advanced spacesuits will protect the first woman and person of color on the Moon from the harsh lunar environment. Lunar soil is not simple dust like what we have on Earth. It is irregular, sharp, and fine and it creates challenges for spacesuit engineers. Find out how NASA research and development are shaping spacesuits for the Artemis generation.

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/suitup

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: July 5, 2022

#NASA #Space #Earth #Moon #Apollo #Artemis #Spacesuits #xEVAS #EVA #Spacewalks #Moonwalks #AxiomSpace #CollinsAerospace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Engineering #Technology #UnitedStates #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

The Star Funnel: Sh2-126 | Mayall Telescope

The Star Funnel: Sh2-126 | Mayall Telescope

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Informally known as the 'star funnel', this dark nebula is yellowish in color because it is being illuminated by several bright stars nearby. The funnel is embedded in a larger nebula of warm hydrogen gas that is glowing red. The image was generated with observations in B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.

Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN Observatory)/National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)/National Science Foundation (NSF)/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Release Date: June 30, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebula #Sh2126 #Stars #Lacerta #Constellation #Mayall #WIYN #Cosmos #Universe #Observatory #Telescope #Optical #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #KittPeak #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Northern Lights Take Center Stage Over Central Alaska

Northern Lights Take Center Stage Over Central Alaska

John Chumak: "These are photos of auroras I captured while teaching my annual Aurora Workshop in Alaska earlier this year. After a two-year shutdown due to pandemic concerns, we finally received clearance to go north again. It was worth the wait! I have to say that these were some of the best auroras I’ve seen in 32-years of observing them."

Northern lights or auroras occur whenever the energized particles that makeup the solar wind interact with oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the Earth’s upper atmosphere (at least 50 miles or 80 km above the surface). The key is that the Sun has to be sufficiently active to generate solar wind streams that reach the Earth’s orbit.

Location: Chena Hot Springs, Alaska 

Coordinates: 65.0518, -146.0510

Learn more about aurora: 

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/aurora-news-stories/index.html

Image Credit: John Chumack

John's website: https://www.galacticimages.com

Caption Credit: Jim Foster & John Chumack

Image Capture Date: Late March 2022 

Release Date: July 4, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Sun #SolarSystem #SolarWind #Earth #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #Magnetosphere #Atmosphere #Science #Physics #Photography #Art #ChenaHotSprings #Alaska #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #EPOD

Mars: A Complex Geologic History of Aram Chaos | NASA MRO

Mars: A Complex Geologic History of Aram Chaos | NASA MRO

This 280-kilometer diameter crater center has experienced a long history of water activity. Within the crater is a heavily faulted and fractured terrain called Aram Chaos that consists of darker volcanic rocks that were disrupted as a result of water and/or magma withdrawal in the subsurface. 

Black and white images are 5 km across; enhanced color images are 1 km. For full images including scale bars, visit the source link.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is the second longest-lived spacecraft to orbit Mars, after 2001 Mars Odyssey. It has been studying the Red Planet since March 2006. The spacecraft collects and relays daily science and weather data. It also scouts for landing locations for Mars landers and serves as a critical relay station for science beamed back from the Red Planet.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on MRO, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.

Video Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)/University of Arizona

Narration: Tre Gibbs

Tre's website: www.tregibbs.com

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: June 29, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Geology #AramChaos #Volcanic #Water #MRO #Reconnaissance #Orbiter #Technology #Engineering #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

Mission Commander Eugene A. Cernan 

Apollo 17 - December 12, 1972

Mission Commander Alan Shepard 

Apollo 14 - February 5, 1971 

Mission Commander David R. Scott

Apollo 15 - August 1, 1971

Mission Commander John Young

Apollo 16 - April 1972

A close-up view of the U.S. flag

Taurus-Littrow landing site - Apollo 17

December 1972

Learn about NASA's Apollo Program—Apollo 7-17 (1968-1972):

https://history.nasa.gov/apollo.html

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-was-apollo-program-58.html

Through Artemis, NASA aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, heralding a new era for space exploration and utilization. The Artemis missions are increasingly complex endeavours that will lay the foundation for sustainable human and robotic exploration of Earth's only natural satellite, the Moon.

Learn about NASA's Artemis Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1

Read the Artemis Plan (74-page PDF Free Download): 

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/artemis_plan-20200921.pdf

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS)

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

NASA's Orion Spacecraft

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html

Image Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: 1971-1972

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Moon #Artemis #Apollo #History #IndependenceDay #4thOfJuly #UnitedStates #Apollo14 #Apollo15 #Apollo16 #Apollo17 #Astronauts #HumanSpaceflight #USA #STEM #Education

Hubble Spies a Galactic Gem: Galaxy CGCG 396-2

Hubble Spies a Galactic Gem: Galaxy CGCG 396-2

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observation has captured the galaxy CGCG 396-2, an unusual multi-armed galaxy merger which lies around 520 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion. 

This observation is a gem from the Galaxy Zoo project, a citizen science project in which hundreds of thousands of volunteers classified galaxies to help scientists solve a problem of astronomical proportions—how to sort through the vast amounts of data generated by robotic telescopes. Following a public vote, a selection of the most astronomically intriguing objects from the Galaxy Zoo were selected for follow-up observations with Hubble. CGCG 396-2 is one such object, and was captured in this image by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The Galaxy Zoo project originated when an astronomer was set an impossibly mind-numbing task; classifying more than 900,000 galaxies by eye. By making a web interface and inviting citizen scientists to contribute to the challenge, the Galaxy Zoo team was able to crowdsource the analysis, and within six months a legion of 100,000 volunteer citizen astronomers had contributed more than 40 million galaxy classifications.

Since its initial success, the Galaxy Zoo project and its successor projects have contributed to more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and led to a rich variety of intriguing astronomical discoveries above and beyond their initial goals. The success of the project also inspired more than 100 citizen science projects on the Zooniverse portal, ranging from analyzing data from the ESA Rosetta spacecraft's visit to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko to counting killer whales around remote Alaskan islands!

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel

Release Date: July 4, 2022

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #CGCG3962 #Orion #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #CitizenScience #GalaxyZoo #STEM #Education

Meteor Shower in the Chilean Desert

Meteor Shower in the Chilean Desert

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower, which peaked in early May this year, was captured in this stunning image by astrophotographer Petr Horálek. It was taken near San Pedro de Atacama, a Chilean town about 50 km away from the Chajnantor observatory site, where APEX and ALMA, astronomical facilities co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), are located. The Eta Aquariids meteors are caused by leftover debris from Halley’s comet and make up the bright, arrow-like darts of light in the photo. But don’t stop there: this image is literally full to the brim of astronomical phenomena. 

The luminous object towards the bottom of the sky is Venus. Above it, arranged in a satisfying line, are several planets in conjunction. Directly above Venus is Jupiter, followed by the bright red Mars, and then Saturn. Conjunctions such as this are rare, often occurring decades apart. The planets also trace the zodiacal light, the faint glow stretching like a pillar, up towards the bright stellar-dense center of the Milky Way, our home galaxy. 

Zodiacal light is often seen from dark sites like ESO observatories just after sunset, or before sunrise, and is the reflected sunlight from dust particles in the plane of the Solar System. The dust comes from asteroids, passing comets, and even from other inner Solar System planets, such as Mars. Here we see the zodiacal light paired with the red sunset over the mountains and volcanoes surrounding the Chajnantor site, a spectacular backdrop to this dreamy night sky.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Petr Horalek

Release Date: July 4, 2022

#ESO #Space #Astronomy #Earth #Planets #Venus #Jupiter #Mars #Saturn #Meteors #EtaAquariids #ZodiacalLight #Astrophotography #PetrHorálek #Astrophotographer #Chajnantor #Observatory #SanPedrodeAtacama #Chile #SouthAmerica #SolarSystem #MilkyWay #Galaxy #STEM #Education

Brilliant Color in the Black Sea | Suomi NPP & NOAA-20

Brilliant Color in the Black Sea | Suomi NPP & NOAA-20

As spring 2022 turned the page to summer, the Black Sea turned from dark to vivid. The artists are abundant phytoplankton, which can paint the water with color so brilliant it becomes visible from space.

The Black Sea is located between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Don. [Wikipedia]

The phytoplankton bloom is visible in this natural-color image acquired on June 20, 2022. The image blends data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite and the VIIRS on the Suomi NPP satellite to eliminate sunglint and the seam lines between satellite passes.

The turquoise swirls indicate the presence of phytoplankton tracing the flow of water currents and eddies. One type of phytoplankton commonly found in the Black Sea is coccolithophores—microscopic plankton that are plated with white calcium carbonate. When aggregated in large numbers, these reflective plates are easily visible from space and make the water appear bright, milky blue.

In most years, the colorful work of coccolithophores tends to show up in satellite images in May and peak in June. Just one month before the VIIRS sensors acquired the image, the Black Sea more closely resembled its name. For example, satellite images on May 20, 2022 show only a faint trace of milky blue water hugging the coastlines, while most of the sea appeared dark blue to black.

But a dark Black Sea does not mean that it was devoid of phytoplankton; on the contrary, diatoms were likely present. This type of phytoplankton is common in these waters during spring and can darken the water more than brightening it. Research focused on the northeast part of the sea suggests that the seasonal changes—from smaller species of diatoms earlier in spring to coccolithophores in late spring and summer—are related to changes in the type and amount of nutrients that are available.

Diatoms rapidly multiply in spring, when surface waters have abundant nitrogen and phosphorous. In late spring and early summer, when warmer temperatures and fewer storms leave the seawater more stratified, less nitrogen gets mixed into the surface waters—a condition in which coccolithophores are known to dominate. Later in the summer, larger species of diatoms usually show up. These phytoplankton take advantage of nutrients supplied by the occasional mixing that occurs as winds shift direction and storms pass by.

The seasonal shift in the dominant species of phytoplankton can have a rippling effect on the structure of the food web in the Black Sea. For example, coccolithophores provide fodder for species like Noctiluca scintillans (sea sparkle), while small diatoms feed pelagic fish and large diatoms feed jellyfish.

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). 

Caption Credit: Kathryn Hansen

Release Date: June 20, 2022

#NASA #Earth #Planet #Science #Satellite #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #Europe #BlackSea #Phytoplankton #NOAA #NOAA20 #SuomiNPP #VIIRS #GSFC #UnitedStates #Education #STEM

NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover: New June & July 2022 Images | JPL

NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover: New June & July 2022 Images | JPL

Mars 2020-sol477-Left NavCam

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/PipploIMP

Hogwallow Flats-Mars2020-sol474

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Thomas Appéré

Mars2020-SWC-sol482

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/PipploIMP

Mars2020-SWC-sol480

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/PipploIMP

Mars2020-SWC-sol480

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/PipploIMP

Mars2020-sol424-Hazcam

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars2020-sol484-LeftMastcam-Z

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

June 28, 2022 Perseverance Rover Update: Sometimes Things Get Complicated

"Perseverance has a big job to do while roving across Jezero and exploring the Delta Front, which is campaign #2 of the mission. One of the major goals of this mission (and campaign) is searching for evidence of past life, and we know from studying deltas on Earth that fine-grained clay-rich rocks in these environments are some of the best at preserving ancient biomarkers. Biomarkers, or “molecular fossils,” are complex organic molecules created by life and preserved in rock for up to billions of years for certain molecular classes."

"Towards this goal, Perseverance is drilling core samples that will eventually be returned to Earth where future scientists can analyze them in advanced laboratories, using instruments and techniques capable of identifying and extracting organics, then characterizing their molecular structures in detail. These analyses can help determine whether any organic molecules contained in Martian delta rocks are biomarkers or abiotic (non-biological) organics. Sample return is one of the most important strategies this mission is using to search for evidence of past life in Jezero!"

"Perseverance and the science and engineering teams are working together to pick the right rocks to core, using a suite of onboard instruments to understand mineralogy, elemental distributions, and detect whether organic molecules are present."

Source: Denise Buckner, Student Collaborator at University of Florida

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit mars.nasa.gov

Image Release Dates: June 23-July 1, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #Jezero #Crater #Perseverance #Rover #Robotics #Technology #Engineering #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #JourneyToMars #CitizenScience #STEM #Education

The Solar System's Planet Trails over the Forbidden City in Beijing

The Solar System's Planet Trails over the Forbidden City in Beijing 

Stars trail through a clear morning sky in this postcard from a rotating planet. This timelapse image is constructed from consecutive exposures made over nearly three hours with a camera fixed to a tripod beside the Forbidden City in Beijing, China on June 24, 2022. 

Arcing above the eastern horizon after the series of exposures began, a waning crescent Moon left the brightest streak and watery reflection. On that date the planets of the Solar System were also lined up along the ecliptic and left their own trails before sunrise. Saturn was first to rise on that morning and the ringed planet's trail starts close to the top right edge, almost out of the frame. Innermost planet Mercury rose only just before the Sun though. It left the shortest trail, visible against the twilight near the horizon at the far left. Uranus and Neptune are faint and hard to find, but mingled with the star trails the Solar System's planet trails are all labeled in the scene.

Image Credit & Copyright: Zheng Zhi

Zheng Zhi's website: https://500px.com/p/bbbean

Release Date: July 1, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Earth #Moon #Planets #SolarSystem #ForbiddenCity #Beijing #北京 #China #中国 #Asia #Astrophotographer #ZhengZhi #Astrophotography #Photography #Timelapse #Art #STEM #Education #APoD

United States Space Force-12 Mission Atlas V Launch | United Launch Alliance

United States Space Force-12 Mission Atlas V Launch | United Launch Alliance

A missile-warning satellite and another spacecraft were delivered to orbit to help the U.S. military improve its ability to track fast-moving threats. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the United States Space Force (USSF)-12 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command lifted off on July 1, 2022, at 7:15 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Atlas V rocket uses Russian RD-180 engines. 

First launched in 2002, the expendable Atlas V launcher was the centerpiece vehicle that helped cement ULA’s work on national security satellite missions and some of NASA’s biggest space exploration initiatives, including all of the agency’s robotic missions to Mars. To date ULA has launched 151 times with 100 percent mission success.

Image & Caption Credit: United Launch Alliance

Image Capture Date: July 1, 2022

#NASA #Earth #Space #Satellites #USSF #USSF12 #SpaceForce #Military #ULA #AtlasV #Rocket #CapeCanaveral #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Exploring Star and Planet Formation

Exploring Star and Planet Formation

This animation explores the stages in the formation of stars and planets. Within a large, dense cloud, thousands of protostars collapse due to gravity. The infalling material forms a disk around the protostar, with jets emitted perpendicular to the disk. Planets condense and build up within the disk, establishing a new solar system. The Webb Space Telescope’s infrared observations will peer into these dark clouds and dusty disks to examine this formation process with unprecedented clarity.

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, D.Player (STScI), F. Summers (STScI), J. DePasquale (STScI)

Duration: 1 minute, 40 seconds

Release Date: July 1, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Hubble #JWST #Space #Science #Earth #Stars #Nebulae #Protstars #Planets #Exoplanets #Galaxy #MilkyWay #SolarSystem #Astrophysics #STScI #UnitedStates #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Galactic Lily

Galactic Lily

The Fading Milky Way

Light pollution is a growing environmental problem that threatens to erase the night sky before its time. A recent study revealed that perhaps two-thirds of the world's population can no longer look upwards at night and see the Milky Way—a hazy swath of stars that on warm summer nights spans the sky from horizon to horizon.

The Milky Way is dimming, not because the end of the Universe is near, but rather as a result of light pollution: the inadvertent illumination of the atmosphere from street lights, outdoor advertising, homes, schools, airports and other sources. Every night billions of bulbs send their energy skyward where microscopic bits of matter—air molecules, airborne dust, and water vapor droplets—reflect much of the wasted light back to Earth. 

(Source: NASA)

Learn more:

International Dark-Sky Association

https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution

Globe at Night

https://www.globeatnight.org

Night Sky Network (NASA JPL)

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Technical details:

Sky: 3x8x40s ISO 3200

Foreground: single shot 10s ISO 2500

Nikon D800 full spectrum mod. Nikkor Ai 28mm @f/2,8

iPhone LED light

Credit: O'Fins

Image Date: June 15, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #MilkyWay #Stars #LightPollution #CitizenScience #Astrophotographer #Astrophotography #Skywatching #Cosmos #Universe #SolarSystem #Earth #Lily #Flower #STEM #Education

Sequoia Sky

Sequoia Sky

"Camping for the night at 9,000 feet in Sequoia National Forest . . ." 

Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundaries of the forest. 

Sequoia National Forest

https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/sequoia/home

The Fading Milky Way

Light pollution is a growing environmental problem that threatens to erase the night sky before its time. A recent study revealed that perhaps two-thirds of the world's population can no longer look upwards at night and see the Milky Way—a hazy swath of stars that on warm summer nights spans the sky from horizon to horizon.

The Milky Way is dimming, not because the end of the Universe is near, but rather as a result of light pollution: the inadvertent illumination of the atmosphere from street lights, outdoor advertising, homes, schools, airports and other sources. Every night billions of bulbs send their energy skyward where microscopic bits of matter—air molecules, airborne dust, and water vapor droplets—reflect much of the wasted light back to Earth. 

(Source: NASA)

Learn more:

International Dark-Sky Association

https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution

Globe at Night

https://www.globeatnight.org

Night Sky Network (NASA JPL)

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Technical details:

"(Panos and focus staked images are this year's new skills!) This turned out not too bad for a first go."

"This is a horizontal pano of three exposures in portrait orientation, processed in Lightroom and Photoshop."

Credit: Preston Dyches

Image Date: June 25, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #MilkyWay #Stars #LightPollution #CitizenScience #Astrophotographer #PrestonDyches #Astrophotography #Skywatching #Cosmos #Universe #SolarSystem #Earth #SequoiaNationalForest #Sequoia #Trees #SierraNevada #Mountains #California #STEM #Education

Launching a New Mission Around the Moon | This Week @NASA

Launching a New Mission Around the Moon | This Week @NASA

Week of July 1, 2022: Launching a new mission around the Moon, preparing the Space Launch System for its first flight, and undocking a resupply spacecraft from the space station . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA! 

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/capstone

Credit: NASA

Producer: Lacey Young

Editor: Shane Apple

Narration: Kevin Cabral

Music: Universal Production Music

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: July 1, 2022

#NASA #Space #Satellite #Artemis #Moon #CAPSTONE #CubeSat #RocketLab #PeterBeck #Rocket #Electron #Cislunar #Orbit #Technology #Engineering #Cygnus #Spacecraft #LunarGateway #Gateway #DeepSpace #Spaceflight #SolarSystem #Exploration #STEM #Education