The Snake Nebula in Ophiuchus | Kitt Peak National Observatory

The Snake Nebula in Ophiuchus | Kitt Peak National Observatory

What slithers here? The Snake Nebula is a small S-shaped dust lane that snakes out in front of the Milky Way star clouds from the north-north-west edge of the bowl of the Pipe Nebula (the name for the rump and hind legs of the Dark Horse Nebula). The very dark spot to the lower left of the Snake is Barnard 68 (the Ink Spot). Also known as Barnard 72, the Snake Nebula is a series of dark absorption clouds, about 5 light-years across, made up of molecular gas and interstellar dust. Interstellar dust grains—composed predominantly of carbon—absorb visible starlight and reradiate much of it in the infrared. This absorption causes stars behind the clouds to be obscured from view, hence the appearance of starless voids on the sky. Molecular clouds like the Snake Nebula are places where new stars are likely to form. The Snake Nebula, lies about 650 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer), 1.5° north-northeast of Theta Ophiuchi. It is part of the much larger Dark Horse Nebula and spans the angular width of a full moon.

Barnard 72 (B72) is one of the 182 dark nebulae cataloged in the early 20th century by the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard. Unlike bright emission nebulae and star clusters, Barnard’s nebulae are interstellar dark clouds of obscuring gas and dust. Their shapes are visible in cosmic silhouette only because they lie in the foreground along the line of sight to rich star fields and glowing stellar nurseries near the plane of our Galaxy. Many of Barnard’s dark nebulae are themselves likely sites of future star formation.

This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.

Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Tom McQuillan/Adam Block

Release Date: June 13, 2014

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #SnakeNebula #Barnard72 #Barnard68 #InkSpot #Ophiuchus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #KPNO #Arizona #UnitedStates #Astronomer #EdwardEmersonBarnard #History #STEM #Education

Young Blue Stars of Nebula IC 4605 in Scorpius | Schulman Telescope

Young Blue Stars of Nebula IC 4605 in Scorpius | Schulman Telescope

This view of the reflection nebula IC 4605 and of young blue stars was acquired by the Schulman Telescope at the University of Arizona's Mount Lemmon SkyCenter. The large blue star in the foreground is called 22 Scorpii. It is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B3 V. It is ten million years old and has a high rate of spin with a projected rotational velocity of 169 km/s. The star has about six times the mass of the Sun and is radiating 335 times the Sun's luminosity from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 19,600 Kelvin. This star is embedded in, or adjacent to, the diffuse nebulous cloud IC 4605 located in the western regions of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.

Distance: ~400 light years

Image Details:

Optics: Schulman 32-inch RCOS Telescope

Camera: SBIG STX16803

The 0.81 m (32 in) Schulman Telescope is a Ritchey-Chrétien reflector built by RC Optical Systems and installed in 2010. It is operated by the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter and is Arizona's largest dedicated public observatory. The Schulman Telescope was designed from inception for remote control over the Internet by amateur and professional astrophotographers worldwide. It is currently the world's largest telescope dedicated for this purpose.

Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Caption Acknowledgements: UA/Wikipedia

Image Date: May 1, 2015

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #IC4605 #ReflectionNebula #Star #22Scorpii #Scorpius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Russian Cosmonauts Sergey & Dmitri on Spacewalk | International Space Station

Russian Cosmonauts Sergey & Dmitri on Spacewalk | International Space Station

Russian Cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin & Sergey Prokopyev during a spacewalk. The European robotic arm extends from the Nauka science module to which the Prichal module and the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship are attached.

    

Roscosmos cosmonaut & Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sergey Prokopyev is pictured in his Orlan spacesuit during a six-hour and 35-minute spacewalk. Sergey Prokopyev is the current commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 69.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin of Russia concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 5:19 p.m. EDT on Aug. 9, 2023, after 6 hours and 35 minutes.

Prokopyev and Petelin attached three debris shields to the Rassvet module and tested the sturdiness of a work platform affixed to the end of the European robotic arm attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.

This was the eighth spacewalk in Prokopyev’s career, and the sixth for Petelin. It was the tenth spacewalk at the station in 2023 and the 267th spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (August 2023)

Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev

Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the  International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Capture Date: August 9, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #ISS #EVA #Spacewalk #Cosmonauts #DmitriPetelin #SergeyProkopyev #AndreyFedyaev #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #EuropeanRoboticArm #ERA #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #Europe #UnitedStates #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition69 #STEM #Education

Planet Venus: Japan's Venus Climate Orbiter Views | JAXA

Planet Venus: Japan's Venus Climate Orbiter Views | JAXA

Venus - June 7, 2022

Venus - Jan. 4, 2022

Venus - Jan. 4, 2022

Venus - May 5, 2023

Venus - April 3, 2023

Venus - May 27, 2022

"Venus has long been referred to as Earth’s sister planet not only because its size and distance from the sun are similar to those of the Earth, but also because its formation is considered to like that of the Earth at the birth of the solar system." 

"However, Venus is actually very different from the Earth. It is veiled in high-temperature carbon dioxide and thick sulfuric-acid clouds. Moreover, above the surface of Venus, violent winds reach over 400 kilometers per hour. Venus’ whole atmosphere is rotating much faster than the surface below at the altitude of the cloud top (70 km), a unique situation called superrotation. Its mechanisms are still largely unclear."

"Clarification of the causes for such an environment will provide us with clues to understand the Earth better, especially to help understand climate change on Earth. Therefore, Venus is a very important subject for exploration in order to learn about the Earth’s environment."

Akatsuki (あかつき, 暁, "Dawn"), also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, is a Japanese (JAXA) spacecraft tasked to study the atmosphere of Venus. By using five different cameras, working at several wavelengths, Akatsuki is studying the stratification of the atmosphere, atmospheric dynamics, and cloud physics. It was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on May 20, 2010.

Image Credits: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS/DARTS

Caption Credits: JAXA, Wikipedia

Image Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Dates: Jan., 4 2022 - May 5, 2023

#NASA #JAXA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Venus #Atmosphere #Meteorology #Weather #Clouds #Ultraviolet #VenusClimateOrbiter #VCO #Akatsuki #あかつき #PlanetC #Spacecraft #Japan #日本  #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #KevinGill #CitizenScience #STEM #Education

Russia Launches Luna-25 South Pole Lander: First Moon Mission in 47 Years

Russia Launches Luna-25 South Pole Lander: First Moon Mission in 47 Years

Russia launched an uncrewed spacecraft, called Luna-25, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, designed to land on the south pole of the Moon—the country's first attempt since 1976. Russia seeks to become the first nation to make a soft landing on the moon’s icy south pole. Luna-25 took off from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country’s southeast at 2:11 a.m. local time, according to Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos. The Vostochny Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport in the Amur Oblast of the Russian Far East. It is an alternative to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

It will take just over five days for the Luna-25 spacecraft to travel to the Moon’s vicinity, Roscosmos said. Then it will spend several days orbiting before attempting a soft landing on the lunar surface, north of the Boguslawsky crater, on Aug. 21, 2023, the agency said. Boguslawsky is a lunar impact crater that is located near the Moon's southern lunar limb.

This timetable pits Russia in a race with  India, which launched a similar mission—the Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander—last month and is aiming to soft-land by Aug. 23. “We hope to be first,” Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov reportedly said at the launch.

Borisov, director general of Roscosmos, hailed Friday’s launch as a “new page” for Russian space exploration. “All the results of the research will be transferred to Earth,” he said on state television. “We are interested in the presence of water, as well as many other experiments related to the study of the soil, the site.” He noted that the mission is bound to face some “obstacles” along the way.

Video Credit: Roscosmos/RT

Acknowledgement: ShanghaiEye魔都眼

Caption Credit: The Washington Post

Duration: 1 minute, 12 seconds

Release Date: Aug. 11, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Роскосмос #Roscosmos #Russia #Россия #Earth #Moon #SoyuzRocket #Luna25 #MoonLander #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Artemis II Astronauts Check Out Their Ride to the Moon | This Week @NASA

Artemis II Astronauts Check Out Their Ride to the Moon | This Week @NASA

The Artemis II astronauts check out their ride to the Moon, practicing post-splashdown recovery operations for Artemis II, and the Webb Space Telescope checks out a record-breaking star . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

The Artemis II crew—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—visited the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Aug. 8, 2023. The crew module is undergoing acoustic testing ahead of integration with the European Service Module. Artemis II is the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term lunar presence for science and exploration under Artemis. 

Artemis II will be NASA’s first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon to verify today’s capabilities for humans to explore deep space and pave the way for long-term exploration and science on the lunar surface.

Artemis II will launch no earlier than December 2024.

Learn more about the Artemis II Mission:

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

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer, Video Editor & Narrator: Andre Valentine

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: August 11, 2023

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #KSC #NASAKennedy #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

World's Largest Telescope Dome Takes Shape | ESO's Extremely Large Telescope

World's Largest Telescope Dome Takes Shape | ESO's Extremely Large Telescope

The dome of the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is beginning to take shape. This is the largest telescope dome ever built. The structure is about 88 meters in diameter and nearly 80 meters high, giving the dome a footprint roughly equivalent to that of a football field. The giant ELT dome will house the telescope and its interior structure, providing protection from the extreme environment of Chile's Atacama Desert.

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will have a 39-meter mirror (almost half the length of a football pitch) and will thus be by far the biggest telescope in the world to observe in the visible and the near-infrared (there are larger radio telescopes). The current largest optical telescopes have diameters of up to ten meters, and the ELT's diameter will thus be four times greater. This diameter was chosen because it is the minimum diameter needed to achieve some of the driving science cases. For example, the ELT will be able to image rocky exoplanets and to characterise their atmospheres, while the existing ESO Very Large Telecope (VLT) can only indirectly detect such Earth-like planets. Moreover, the ELT will be able to directly measure the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe. Adaptive optics systems are fully incorporated into the design of the telescope to compensate for the fuzziness in the stellar images introduced by atmospheric turbulence. The ELT will have more than 5,000 actuators that can change the shape of its mirrors a thousand times per second.

Altitude: 3046 meters

Planned year of technical first light: 2027

Learn more about ESO’s ELT at: https://elt.eso.org 

Video Credits: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis

Editing: Angelos Tsaousis

Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida

Written by: Bárbara Ferreira

Consultants: M. Wallner, R. Tamai

Footage and photos: ESO, G. Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com), L. Calcada, A. Tsaouis, J. Porte, M. Nadjar, I. Casas del Valle

Acknowledgement: CIMOLAI

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: Aug. 11, 2023

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #ExtremelyLargeTelescope #ELT #Nebulae #Stars #Exoplanets #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #CerroArmazones #AtacamaDesert #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Expedition 69 Astronaut Frank Rubio Talks with ABC’s Good Morning America

Expedition 69 Astronaut Frank Rubio Talks with ABC’s Good Morning America

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio of NASA discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview August 11, 2023, with ABC’s “Good Morning America”. Rubio is in the midst of a record breaking long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars. When Rubio returns to Earth on September 27 he will have spent a total of 371 days in space—the longest single spaceflight by a US astronaut.

NASA Astronaut Frank Rubio Official NASA Biography

https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/frank-rubio

https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/frank-rubio/biography

Follow Expedition 69 updates here:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (March 2023)

Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev

Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 19 minutes

Release Date: Aug. 11, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #Science #Astronauts #Astronaut #FrankRubio #LongDurationMission #WoodyHoburg #HumanSpaceflight #UAE #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #UNOOSA #InternationalCooperation #UnitedStates #Expedition69 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NOAA Releases Updated 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook

NOAA Releases Updated 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook

Due to current ocean and atmospheric conditions, such as record-warm sea surface temperatures, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center—a division of the National Weather Service—has increased their prediction for the ongoing 2023 Atlantic hurricane season to an “above normal” level of activity from a “near normal” level with their most recent update. 

The outlook now includes a 70% chance of 14-21 named storms, of which 6-11 could become hurricanes, and 2-5 could become major hurricanes. The updated outlook also states that current conditions are likely to counterbalance the usually limiting atmospheric conditions associated with the ongoing El Niño event.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a Washington, D.C.–based scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce, a United States federal government department. The agency is charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the U.S. exclusive economic zone.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)

NOAA GOES weather satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. They circle the Earth in a geosynchronous orbit, which means they orbit the equatorial plane of the Earth at a speed matching the Earth's rotation. This allows them to hover continuously over one position on the surface. The geosynchronous plane is about 35,800 km (22,300 miles) above the Earth, high enough to allow the satellites a full-disc view of the Earth.

Because GOES satellites stay above a fixed spot on the surface, they provide a constant vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" for severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms, and hurricanes. When these conditions develop the GOES satellites are able to monitor storm development and track their movements. GOES satellite imagery is also used to estimate rainfall during the thunderstorms and hurricanes for flash flood warnings, as well as estimates snowfall accumulations and overall extent of snow cover.

Such data help meteorologists issue winter storm warnings and spring snow melt advisories. Satellite sensors also detect ice fields and map the movements of sea and lake ice.

Credits: NOAA, NASA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)

Duration: 2 minutes, 16 seconds

Release Date: Aug. 11, 2023

#NASA #NOAA #NWS #Space #Science #Satellite #GOESEast #GOES16 #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #UnitedStates #Canada #NorthAmerica #Mexico #AtlanticOcean #Hurricanes #Storms #ElNiño #Weather #Meteorology #RemoteSensing #EarthObservation #LockheedMartin #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: "Your Package Has Arrived" | Week of Aug. 11, 2023

NASA's Space to Ground: "Your Package Has Arrived" | Week of Aug. 11, 2023

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft docking at the International Space Station was completed on Friday, August 4, 2023. Cygnus, carrying over 8,200 pounds of cargo and science experiments, launched atop the company’s Antares rocket at 8:31 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. At 5:52 a.m., Aug. 4, NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg, along with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio as backup, captured Cygnus using the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (August 2023)

Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev

Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the  International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 2 minutes, 50 seconds

Release Date: Aug. 10, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #ISS #NorthropGrumman #CygnusSpacecraft #CRS19 #Astronauts #StephenBowen #FrankRubio #WoodyHoburg #SultanAlneyadi #UAE #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceLaboratory #Expedition69 #STEM #Education  

Devastation in Maui: Hawaii’s Second-largest Island | Landsat 8 Earth Satellite

Devastation in Maui: Hawaii’s Second-largest Island | Landsat 8 Earth Satellite

A fast-moving wildfire has devastated the historic town of Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii’s second-largest island. This infrared image shows the signature of the fire at 10:25 p.m. local time on August 8, 2023, as observed by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite. Much of Lahaina, a town with a resident population of nearly 13,000 people, appeared to be on fire at the time of the image. Another large fire burned northwest of Kihei.

The image was composed from OLI observations of shortwave infrared light (band 6). Infrared observations are useful for distinguishing the locations of active fires, shown here in yellow. The shortwave infrared data were overlaid on a natural-color mosaic image based on Landsat 8 observations for added geographic detail.

The fires occurred during a period of strong winds and dry conditions in Maui. Between August 7-9, 2023, the island experienced peak gusts that ranged from 45 to 67 miles (72 to 107 kilometers) per hour, according to the National Weather Service. The presence of a strong high-pressure area to north of the island and Hurricane Dora to the south may have helped fuel the winds. An analysis by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that the southwestern part of the island was in the midst of moderate to severe drought at the time of the fires.

Maui County has reported damage to hundreds of structures, with widespread damage in the Lahaina harbor area. On August 9, authorities were continuing to conduct search and rescue operations.

NASA’s Earth Applied Sciences Disasters program area has been activated in support of the fires in Hawaii. As new information becomes available, the team will be posting maps and data products on its open-access mapping portal.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

Caption Credit: Adam Voiland

Release Date: Aug. 11, 2023

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Science #Planet #Earth #Hawaii #Maui #Lahaina #LandsatProgram #Landsat8 #OLI #USGS #Weather #Meteorology #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Climate #Environment #GreenhouseGases #GHG #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Orbital Night over Italy | International Space Station

Orbital Night over Italy | International Space Station

City lights glow in Italy as the International Space Station orbited 260 miles above during orbital nighttime. Light can be seen reflecting off the station's solar panels in the upper left corner of this image.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (August 2023)

Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev

Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the  International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: July 24, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Planet #Earth #Italy #Night #Italia #Europe #ISS #Astronauts #StephenBowen #FrankRubio #WoodyHoburg #SultanAlneyadi #UAE #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective #Expedition69 #STEM #Education

The Lights of Mecca: Islam's Holiest City in Saudi Arabia | International Space Station

The Lights of Mecca: Islam's Holiest City in Saudi Arabia | International Space Station

The city lights of Mecca, Islam's holiest city in the desert valley of western Saudi Arabia, are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above. Mecca is the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah.

Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. It is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and of supporting their family during their absence from home.

United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center is making history as the first astronaut from the Arab world to spend six months on the International Space Station as part of a long-duration human spaceflight mission.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the  International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: July 26, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #Mecca #Night #SaudiArabia #Islam #Muslims #Religion #Hajj #Astronauts #Astronaut #SultanAlneyadi #UAE #UAESA #MBRSC #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #Technology #Russia #Роскосмос #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #UnitedStates #Expedition69 #STEM #Education #مكة # حَجّ #قِبْلَة

How Do You Test the Legs of NASA's Heaviest Mars Spacecraft? | NASA/JPL

How Do You Test the Legs of NASA's Heaviest Mars Spacecraft? | NASA/JPL

As part of a NASA-European Space Agency campaign to return rock and soil samples from Mars to Earth, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are designing a lander which will be the heaviest spacecraft ever to touch down on the Red Planet. Engineers are dropping prototype lander legs and footpads to measure how they absorb the shock of hitting Martian ground. One test involves a model that is roughly one-third the size of the spacecraft’s final design. Meanwhile, in a sandbox, a full-size foot pad is being dropped into simulated Martian soil.

Mars Sample Return will revolutionize our understanding of Mars by returning scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instrumentation around the world.

For more information on the testing, visit https://go.nasa.gov/3s7ML7n

For more information on Mars Sample Return, visit mars.nasa.gov/msr/ 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Duration: 1 minute, 48 seconds

Release Date: Aug. 10, 2023

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #Mars2020 #PerseveranceRover #JezeroCrater #LanderTesting #MarsSampleReturn #MSR #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #Europe #MoonToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Celebrating the Success of Virgin Galactic’s Second Commercial Spaceflight

Celebrating the Success of Virgin Galactic’s Second Commercial Spaceflight

Galactic 02—Virgin Galactic’s second commercial spaceflight—was launched from Spaceport America, New Mexico, on August 10, 2023, with VSS Unity being released from VMS Eve at 15:17 UTC (09:17 local time). VSS Unity, the second SpaceShipTwo, transported three private passengers: Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia (Ana) Mayers; as well as Beth Moses (Chief Astronaut Instructor), CJ Sturckow (Pilot)  and Kelly Latimer (Pilot). VMS Eve was piloted by Nicola Pecile and Mike Masucci.

Keisha Schahaff and Ana Mayers have become the first mother-daughter duo to reach the edge of space, travelling on a Virgin Galactic rocket plane. 

Both wear the flags of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign island country in the West Indies. It lies at the conjuncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles.

Credit: Illustration, images & video footage courtesy of Virgin Galactic

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 6 minutes

Release Date: Aug. 10, 2023

#NASA #Space #Earth #CommercialSpaceflight #VirginGalactic #VSSUnity #Galactic02 #SpaceShipTwoVehicle #SuborbitalFlight #JonGoodwin #KeishaSchahaff #AnastatiaMayers #Antigua #Barbuda #BethMoses #CJSturckow #KellyLatimer #VMSEve #SpaceportAmerica #NewMexico #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Our Solar System: Confirmed Interstellar Object Paths | NOIRLab

Our Solar System: Confirmed Interstellar Object Paths | NOIRLab

This video shows the paths through our Solar System of two confirmed interstellar objects—'Oumuamua (formally known as 1I/2017 U1), discovered in 2017, and the comet 2I/Borisov, discovered in 2019. The paths of these objects are markedly different than the orbits of objects in our Solar System, making them easy to differentiate as interstellar objects. Rubin Observatory and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will provide data that enables scientists to identify many interstellar objects early in the survey.

Credit: Rubin Observatory/National Science Foundation (NSF)/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)/J. Pinto

Duration: 36 seconds

Release Date: Aug. 4, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #SolarSystem #InterstellarObjects #Oumuamua #1I2017U1 #Comet2IBorisov #Cosmos #Universe #RubinObservatory #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #CerroPachón #Chile #ESO #Europe #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video