Saturday, April 13, 2024

U.S. Weather Satellites View Total Solar Eclipse | NOAA

U.S. Weather Satellites View Total Solar Eclipse NOAA

On April 8, 2024, the Moon moved directly between the Earth and Sun, completely blocking the Sun’s light and causing a total solar eclipse. During this event, the Moon’s shadow passed over parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada, and millions of people were treated to a celestial show where the sky darkened as if it were dawn or dusk throughout its path of totality.


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

Additional imagery courtesy of Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS)

Total Solar Eclipse Photo: NASA/Jordan Salkin

Partial Solar Eclipse Photo: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Annular Solar Eclipse Photo: NASA/Jim Spann

2024 Eclipse Fly around visualization: NASA/SVS

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: April 12, 2024


#NASA #NOAA #Space #Science #Satellite #Sun #Moon #SolarEclipse #SolarEclipse2024 #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #GOESEast #GOES16 #CIRA #Geocolor #Mexico #UnitedStates #Canada #NorthAmerica #CentralAmerica #SouthAmerica #AtlanticOcean #PacificOcean #Weather #Meteorology #RemoteSensing #EarthObservation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Following the Total Solar Eclipse Shadow | This Week @NASA

Following the Total Solar Eclipse Shadow | This Week @NASA 

Week of April 12, 2024: Following the shadow of the total solar eclipse, a NASA astronaut returns safely from the International Space Station, and our lunar-roving robot gets some new hardware . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!


Video Credit: NASA

Video Producer & Editor: Andre Valentine

Narrator: Emanuel Cooper

Release Date: April 13, 2024


#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #Earth #Moon #VIPER #Sun #SolarEclipses #SolarEclipse #SolarEclipse2024 #Astronauts #LoralOHara #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Friday, April 12, 2024

First Human in Space: Celebrating Yuri Gagarin's April 12, 1961 Spaceflight

First Human in Space: Celebrating Yuri Gagarin's April 12, 1961 Spaceflight

Yuri Gagarin is pictured here before his historic April 12, 1961 launch, with Kirill Moskalenko (Army Marshal of the Soviet Union) and head engineer Sergei Korolyov. Note: Yuri's helmet features the abbreviation CCCP, standing for the Central Committee of the Communist Party (CCCP) of the Soviet Union to identify his nationality. Korolyov was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s.

Schematic diagram of Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1 spacecraft

Vostok 3KA (1:3 scale model) A Vostok 3A spacecraft carried Yuri Gagarin and other Vostok cosmonauts of the Soviet Union into space during the early 1960s. 

(Source: Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum)

Headline in The Huntsville Times newspaper in the U.S. state of Alabama on April 12, 1961

U.S. President John F. Kennedy's Letter of Congratulations to Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), after Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 spaceflight. (Source: JFK Library)

Yuri Gagarin surrounded by a crowd of children, circa 1961.

A statue of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly in space, looms over the town square in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Gagarin, who died in an aircraft training accident in 1968, was launched into the history books from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in present-day Kazakhstan on April 12, 1961.
A close-up view of a commemorative plaque left on the Moon, August 1, 1971, at the Hadley-Apennine landing site in memory of 14 NASA astronauts and USSR cosmonauts. Their names were inscribed in alphabetical order on the plaque. The plaque was stuck in the lunar soil by NASA astronauts David R. Scott, commander, and James B. Irwin, lunar module pilot, during their Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA). The names on the plaque are Charles A. Bassett II, Pavel I. Belyayev, Roger B. Chaffee, Georgi Dobrovolsky, Theodore C. Freeman, Yuri A. Gagarin, Edward G. Givens Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, Vladimir Komarov, Viktor Patsayev, Elliot M. See Jr., Vladislav Volkov, Edward H. White II, and Clifton C. Williams Jr. The tiny, man-like object represents the figure of a fallen astronaut/cosmonaut.

“After flying around the Earth in a satellite ship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, we should preserve and multiply this beauty – not destroy it.”
—Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin

This is the 63rd Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's Flight! The International Day of Human Spaceflight and Cosmonautics Day in Russia celebrate the first human spaceflight carried out by Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (March 9, 1934–March 27, 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first human to journey into outer space. Traveling on his Vostok 1 spacecraft, Gagarin completed one orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes.

Following Earth re-entry and after ejecting from his space capsule at 7 km (23,000 ft) altitude. Gagarin landed using his own parachute. He and his spacecraft arrived 26 km southwest of Engels, in the Saratov region of present-day Russia at 51° North, 45° East.

Two schoolgirls witnessed the Vostok 1 capsule landing and described the scene: "It was a huge ball, about two or three meters high. It fell, then it bounced and then it fell again. There was a huge hole where it hit the first time."

A farmer and her daughter observe the strange scene of a figure in a bright orange suit with a large white helmet landing near them by parachute.

Gagarin later recalled, "When they saw me in my spacesuit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, 'Don't be afraid, I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!'"

Image Credits: NASA/JSC/Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum/JFK Library

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #History #HumanSpaceflight #YuriGagarin #ЮрийГагарин #Cosmonaut #Pilot #Russia #Россия #SovietUnion #USSR #CCCP #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #CosmonauticsDay #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education

NASA's Growing Garden | International Space Station

NASA's Growing Garden | International Space Station

Go on a journey to NASA’s space garden and marvel at plants scientists have grown on both the International Space Station and Earth.

Learn about the Vegetable Production System (Veggie):

go.nasa.gov/43GW10R (PDF)


Video Credit: ScienceAtNASA

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: April 11, 2024


#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #Earth #Astronauts #FreshFood #Vegetables #Veggie #SpaceLaboratory #SpaceResearch #Microgravity #Astronauts #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #JSC #UnitedStates #HD #Video

A Tour of the International Space Station with European Astronaut Andreas Mogensen

A Tour of the International Space Station with European Astronaut Andreas Mogensen

On the last day of his Huginn mission, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark takes us on a tour of the place he called home for 6 months—the International Space Station. From the beautiful views of cupola to the kitchen in Node 1 filled with food and friends and all the way to the science of Columbus, the space station is the work and living place for astronauts as they help push science forward.

For more about Andreas and his Huginn mission, visit the Huginn mission page: 

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Huginn

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.


Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 7 minutes, 37 seconds

Release Date: April 12, 2024


#NASA #Space #ISS #SpaceX #SpaceXCrew7 #Astronaut #ESA #AndreasMogensen #Engineer #Crew7Pilot #DragonSpacecraft #Huginn #Denmark #Danmark #Europe #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Above the Umbra | Week of April 12, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground: Above the Umbra | Week of April 12, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. The International Space Station soared into the Moon’s shadow during the solar eclipse on Monday afternoon, April 8, 2024. The Expedition 71 crew members had an opportunity to view the shadow at the end of their workday filled with cargo transfers, spacesuit maintenance, and microgravity research.

The windows on the cupola, the orbital outpost’s “window to the world,” were open and NASA Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps were inside photographing and videotaping the Moon’s shadow on Earth, or umbra, beneath them. They were orbiting 260 miles above southeastern Canada as the Moon’s umbra was moving from New York state into Newfoundland.

The space station experienced a totality of about 90% during its flyover period. Views of the solar eclipse itself, the Moon orbiting directly between the sun and the Earth, were only accessible through a pair of windows in the space station’s Roscosmos segment which may not have been accessible due to cargo constraints.

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.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates: 

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

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)

NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

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) Education


Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 4 minutes

Release Date: April 12, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #Earth #Moon #Sun #SolarEclipses #SolarEclipse #SolarEclipse2024 #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition70 #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Launch of Russia's New Angara-A5 Heavy Lift Rocket in Far East | Roscosmos

Launch of Russia's New Angara-A5 Heavy Lift Rocket in Far East Roscosmos

An Angara-A5 launch vehicle with an Orion upper stage was successfully launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia, on April 11, 2024, at 09:00 UTC (18:00 local time). This was the fourth test launch (Test flight No.4) for the Angara-A5 heavy lift launch vehicle—the most powerful version of the Angara rocket, and the first Angara-A5 launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East Amur Region close to China. Angara heavy lift class launch vehicles will support future Russian Moon missions.

The Angara rocket family is the first Russian space booster designed since the fall of the Soviet Union. Development originally began in the 1990s, and the first rocket was tested in 2014.

It is described as an ‘eco-rocket’ due to its use of kerosene and oxygen as fuel.

Video Credit: Roscosmos

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 5 minutes, 24 seconds

Release Date: April 11, 2024


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Роскосмос #Roscosmos #Russia #Россия #Earth #Moon #AngaraRocket #HeavyLiftLaunchVehicle #АнгараА5 #Орион #AngaraA5 #LunarSpacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #SpaceExploration #VostochnyCosmodrome #AmurRegion #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Wide-field View: Dragon’s Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO

Wide-field View: Dragon’s Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO


Thousands of stars fill the frame. Most of them are small dots in white, bluish or red, but four larger ones surrounded by blue halos appear on the left and right margins of the image. The background is dark, with hazy, reddish, cloud-like structures covering most of it. There is a bright reddish structure in the center of the image. It is approximately the size of the larger stars, shaped like an egg tilted to the right, and has a bright white star in its center.

This wide-field view, created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2, shows the rich star clouds in the constellation of Norma (the Carpenter’s Square) in our Milky Way galaxy. The beautiful nebula NGC 6164/6165, also known as the Dragon’s Egg, appears in the center of the image.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2

Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Release Date: April 4, 2024


#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC6164 #NGC6165 #Stars #StellarNursery #HD148937 #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #DSS2 #VLTSurveyTelescope #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Clash of Stars Solves Stellar Mystery in Binary Star System HD 148937 | ESO

Clash of Stars Solves Stellar Mystery in Binary Star System HD 148937 | ESO

Nine years’ worth of data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and other telescopes has revealed the mysterious past of an unusual pair of stars. The study reveals odd differences between these stars for a binary system—one of the stars appears younger and, unlike the other, is magnetic. The pair is also surrounded by a nebula hundreds of times younger than them. Astronomers believe this couple was originally a trio, in which two of the stars were much closer than the third and eventually clashed, violently merging into a younger, magnetic star. This event also released the nebula that now surrounds the stars. This video summarizes the discovery. 


Video Credits: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner
Editing: Angelos Tsaousis
Written by: Elena Reiriz Martínez, Louisa Spillman, Davor Curic
Footage and photos: ESO/Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser, Angelos Tsaousis, Babak Tafreshi, Mahdi Zamani, VPHAS+ team
Scientific consultants: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova
Acknowledgments: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit (CASU)
Release Date: April 4, 2024

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC6164 #NGC6165 #Stars #StellarNursery #HD148937 #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Art #Artist #3D #Animation #HD #Video

Artist's Animation: The Violent History of Stellar Pair HD 148937 | ESO

Artist's Animation: The Violent History of Stellar Pair HD 148937 | ESO

This animation shows the violent event that changed the fate of the stellar system HD 148937. Originally, the system had at least three stars, two of them close together and another one much more distant, until one day the two inner stars clashed and merged. This violent event created a new, larger and magnetic star, now in pair with the more distant one. The merger also released the materials that created the spectacular nebula now surrounding the stars.

While the animations of the merger event and the birth of the nebula are artist’s impressions, the view of the nebula at the end is based on a real image from the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal site.

In a new study using ESO data, astronomers have shown that the two stars are unusually different from each other—one appears much younger and, unlike the other, is magnetic. Moreover, the nebula is significantly younger than either star at its heart, and is made up of gases normally found deep within a star and not on the outside. These clues together helped solve the mystery of the HD 148937 system—there were most likely three stars in the system until two of them clashed and merged, creating a new, larger and magnetic star. This violent event also created the spectacular nebula that now surrounds the remaining stars. 


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser/VPHAS+ team Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit (CASU)

Duration: 32 seconds

Release Date: April 4, 2024

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC6164 #NGC6165 #Stars #StellarNursery #HD148937 #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Art #Artist #3D #Animation #HD #Video

Zooming into The Dragon's Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO

Zooming into The Dragon's Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO 


This zoom video transports us from a broad view of the Milky Way in the sky all the way to the cloudy nebula NGC 6164/6165 (also known as the Dragon’s Egg), home to the fascinating star system HD 148937 right at its center. Using nine years’ of data from the European Southern Observatory’s’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer and other telescopes, astronomers have inferred that this pair of stars used to be a trio, until two fatally merged into one younger, magnetic star, releasing the stunning nebula you see in this video.

Distance: 4,000 light years

Nebula NGC 6164/6165 surrounding the HD 148937 star system as seen in visible light. Most of the image is taken up by a cloud-like structure shaped like an egg, slightly tilted to the right. It is colored in shades of orange and pink, with certain areas brighter than others. In a gap at its center, a white sphere shines brightly, with white, blue and green rays coming out of it. Surrounding the cloud are stars of different sizes and colors over a dark background. 

In a new study using ESO data, astronomers have shown that the two stars are unusually different from each other—one appears much younger and, unlike the other, is magnetic. Moreover, the nebula is significantly younger than either star at its heart, and is made up of gases normally found deep within a star and not on the outside. These clues together helped solve the mystery of the HD 148937 system—there were most likely three stars in the system until two of them clashed and merged, creating a new, larger and magnetic star. This violent event also created the spectacular nebula that now surrounds the remaining stars. 


Credits: ESO/L. Calçada, N. Risinger, DSS, VPHAS+ team.

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: April 4, 2024


#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC6164 #NGC6165 #Stars #StellarNursery #HD148937 #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe HD #Video

3D View: The Dragon's Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO

3D View: The Dragon's Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO

This 3D animation of the beautiful nebula NGC 6164/6165, also known as the Dragon’s Egg, imagines what it might feel like to fly close to these swirling clouds of gas and dust and approach the star pair HD 148937 at its heart. This video is based on a real image from the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at ESO’s Paranal site, but the 3D view is not real—the location of the stars shown here is only indicative. 

Nebula NGC 6164/6165 surrounding the HD 148937 star system as seen in visible light. Most of the image is taken up by a cloud-like structure shaped like an egg, slightly tilted to the right. It is colored in shades of orange and pink, with certain areas brighter than others. In a gap at its center, a white sphere shines brightly, with white, blue and green rays coming out of it. Surrounding the cloud are stars of different sizes and colors over a dark background. Distance: 4,000 light years

This image, taken with the VLT Survey Telescope hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory, shows the beautiful nebula NGC 6164/6165, also known as the Dragon’s Egg. The nebula is a cloud of gas and dust surrounding a pair of stars called HD 148937. 

In a new study using ESO data, astronomers have shown that the two stars are unusually different from each other—one appears much younger and, unlike the other, is magnetic. Moreover, the nebula is significantly younger than either star at its heart, and is made up of gases normally found deep within a star and not on the outside. These clues together helped solve the mystery of the HD 148937 system—there were most likely three stars in the system until two of them clashed and merged, creating a new, larger and magnetic star. This violent event also created the spectacular nebula that now surrounds the remaining stars. 


Credits: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/M. Kornmesser, VPHAS+ team

Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit (CASU)

Duration: 16 seconds

Release Date: April 4, 2024


#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC6164 #NGC6165 #Stars #StellarNursery #HD148937 #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #3D #Animation #HD #Video

The Dragon's Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO

The Dragon's Egg Nebula & HD 148937 Binary Star System | ESO


Nebula NGC 6164/6165 surrounding the HD 148937 star system as seen in visible light. Most of the image is taken up by a cloud-like structure shaped like an egg, slightly tilted to the right. It is colored in shades of orange and pink, with certain areas brighter than others. In a gap at its center, a white sphere shines brightly, with white, blue and green rays coming out of it. Surrounding the cloud are stars of different sizes and colors over a dark background. Distance: 4,000 light years

This image, taken with the VLT Survey Telescope hosted at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory, shows the beautiful nebula NGC 6164/6165, also known as the Dragon’s Egg. The nebula is a cloud of gas and dust surrounding a pair of stars called HD 148937. 

In a new study using ESO data, astronomers have shown that the two stars are unusually different from each other—one appears much younger and, unlike the other, is magnetic. Moreover, the nebula is significantly younger than either star at its heart, and is made up of gases normally found deep within a star and not on the outside. These clues together helped solve the mystery of the HD 148937 system—there were most likely three stars in the system until two of them clashed and merged, creating a new, larger and magnetic star. This violent event also created the spectacular nebula that now surrounds the remaining stars. 


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/VPHAS+ team

Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit (CASU)

Release Date: April 11, 2024


#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC6164 #NGC6165 #Stars #StellarNursery #HD148937 #Norma #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VLTSurveyTelescope #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Artemis II Moon Mission: Orion Spacecraft Testing | NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Artemis II Moon Mission: Orion Spacecraft Testing | NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

On April 4, 2024, a team lifts the Artemis II Orion spacecraft into a vacuum chamber inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will undergo electromagnetic compatibility and interference testing.




The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission is photographed inside the Final Assembly and System Testing cell at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 15, 2024. 

NASA's Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II Moon Mission is undergoing altitude chamber testing at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This puts the spacecraft through conditions as close as possible to the environment it will experience in the vacuum of deep space.


Four astronauts will venture around the Moon in the Orion spacecraft on Artemis II. It will be the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis campaign.

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

Image Credit: NASA/Amanda Stevenson/Isaac Watson
Image Dates: March 15 & April 4, 2024

#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

The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons-Brooks

The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons-Brooks

How does a comet tail change? It depends on the comet. The ion tail of Comet 12P/Pons–Brooks has been changing markedly, as detailed in the featured image sequenced over nine days from March 6 to 14, 2024 (top to bottom). On particular days, the comet's ion tail was relatively long and complex, but not every day. Reasons for tail changes include the rate of ejection of material from the comet's nucleus, the strength and complexity of the passing solar wind, and the rotation rate of the comet. Over the course of a week, apparent changes even include a change of perspective from the Earth. In general, a comet's ion tail will point away from the Sun, as gas expelled is pushed out by the Sun's wind. 

12P/Pons–Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with an orbital period between 20 and 200 years. It is also one of the brightest known periodic comets, reaching an absolute visual magnitude ~5 in its approach to perihelion.

Comet Pons-Brooks was discovered at Marseilles Observatory in July 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons.

The greenish coma of this comet has become relatively easy to observe in small telescopes.


Image Credit & Copyright: Shengyu Li & Shaining

Image Dates: March 6-14, 2024

Release Date: April 8, 2024


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Earth #Comets #Comet #Comet12PPonsBrooks #Perihelion #Lacerta #Constellation #SolarSystem #Astrophotography #ShengyuLi #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #STEM #Education #APoD

Black Brant IX Sounding Rockets Fire for Solar Eclipse Science | NASA Wallops

Black Brant IX Sounding Rockets Fire for Solar Eclipse Science | NASA Wallops



NASA Engineer Cindy Fuentes Rosal waves goodbye to a Black Brant IX sounding rocket launching from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The rocket was part of a series of three launches for the Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission to study the disturbances in the electrified region of Earth’s atmosphere known as the ionosphere created when the Moon eclipses the Sun. The rockets launched before, during, and after peak local eclipse time on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Three Black Brant IX sounding rocket launches at Wallops are presented in the images here.

Black Brant IX sounding rockets are produced by Magellan Aerospace in Canada.

Learn more about the Wallops Flight Facility:

https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/


Image Credit: NASA/Garon Clark/Chris Pirner

Image Date: April 8, 2024


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Atmosphere #Moon #Sun #SolarEclipses #SolarEclipse #SolarEclipse2024 #TotalSolarEclipse #SoundingRockets #BlackBrantIX #APEP #NASAWallops #WFF #WallopsIsland #Virginia #UnitedStates #STEM #Education