Shenzhou-18 Crew Prepares for Earth Return | China Space Station

Shenzhou-18 Crew Prepares for Earth Return | China Space Station

The Shenzhou-18 crew aboard China's orbiting Tiangong space station is preparing for their return mission while wrapping up remaining experiments. The three astronauts, Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, were sent into space for a six-month mission in April this year. Their return will take place after completing a handover with the Shenzhou-19 members at the space station.

Over the past week, the astronauts continued to carry out experiments in space material science, microgravity fluid physics and combustion science. They replaced the plug-in burner of a combustion cabinet gas experiment and samples from a fluid physics experiment cabinet as planned.

In addition, the crew members completed experimental tasks related to the study of astronaut psychological and behavioral ability.

In terms of emergency decision-making research, they used test software to complete basic cognitive ability tests, risk cognition tests, decision-style tests, and comprehensive decision-making tasks. The ground staff used the test results to carefully evaluate the astronauts' in-orbit emergency decision-making ability and to measure influential  factors, such as in-orbit time, emotional states, and workload on the test results for emergency decision-making abilities.

In terms of in-orbit emotion recognition and evaluation research, the ground staff evaluated the emotional state of the astronauts through questionnaires, color preference tests, and emotional picture tests. They also explored the impact of medium- and long-term flight on the emotional state of astronauts.

Furthermore, the Shenzhou-18 crew conducted rendezvous and docking training. 

The astronauts used the metacognitive training system to complete image recognition and operation testing under different initial conditions, confirming the overall accuracy and reliability of their operational skills.

In preparation for the return, the crew completed in-orbit data cleaning and transmission to ground stations, material inventory and sorting, equipment status checking, and they gathered items for return.

As for regular medical examinations, the astronauts had basic physical checks, ambulatory electrocardiographic blood pressure monitoring, 12-lead Electrocardiogram tests, plus non-invasive cardiac function and ultrasound examinations.

While keeping up physical exercise, the astronauts used microgravity physiological protective equipment, including acupoint stimulation clothing and bone loss countermeasure instruments to reduce the health impacts of their long-duration mission in a microgravity environment.

Shenzhou-18 Crew:

Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)

Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)

Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)

Video Credit: CCTV

Duration: 1 minute, 52 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 27, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号#Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LongDurationSpaceflight #LiCong #LiGuangsu #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Spiral Galaxy NGC 4414: Revisiting an Old Beauty | Hubble Space Telescope

Spiral Galaxy NGC 4414: Revisiting an Old Beauty | Hubble Space Telescope

This image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope shows an unbarred spiral galaxy located roughly 51 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices.

The image features Hubble data from 1995 and 1999 that was captured as part of the telescope’s primary missions to determine the distance between galaxies. This was achieved as part of an ongoing research effort to study Cepheid variable stars. Cepheids are a special type of variable star with very stable and predictable brightness variations. The period of these variations depends on physical properties of the stars, such as their mass and true brightness. This means that astronomers, just by looking at the variability of their light, can determine the Cepheids' physical nature. This then can be used very effectively to determine their distance. This is why cosmologists call Cepheids 'standard candles'.

Astronomers have used Hubble to observe Cepheids, like those that reside in NGC 4414, with extraordinary results. The Cepheids have then been used as stepping-stones to make distance measurements for supernovae that can provide a measure for the scale of the Universe. Today, we know the age of the Universe to a much higher precision than before, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope—around 13.7 billion years.

Image Description: A large spiral galaxy is seen tilted diagonally. The arms of the galaxy’s disc are speckled with glowing patches; some are blue in color, others are pink, showing gas illuminated by new stars. A faint glow surrounds the galaxy, which lies on a dark, nearly empty background. The galaxy's center glows in white.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, O. Graur, S. W. Jha, A. Filippenko 

Release Date: October 28, 2024

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC4414 #SpiralGalaxy #BarredSpiral #Stars #CepheidVariables #ComaBerenices #Constellation #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Journey to The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 | ESO

Journey to The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 | ESO

This zoom video starts with a wide view of the central parts of the Milky Way galaxy and slowly closes in on the globular star cluster NGC 6752 in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). The final detailed image of the cluster is from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Studies of this cluster by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have unexpectedly revealed that many of the stars do not undergo mass-loss at the end of their lives.

NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter.

Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.

Credit: ESO/Nick Risinger/Steve Crouch

Duration: 36 seconds

Release Date: May 29, 2013

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #NGC6752 #GlobularCluster #GlobularClusters #GreatPeacockGlobular #Pavo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #WFI #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Pan of The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 | ESO

Pan of The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 | ESO

This video provides a close look at an image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It shows the globular star cluster NGC 6752 about 13,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). Studies of this cluster using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have unexpectedly revealed that many of the stars do not undergo mass-loss at the end of their lives.

NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter.

Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Caption Credit: ESO/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Duration: 56 seconds

Release Date: May 29, 2013

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #NGC6752 #GlobularCluster #GlobularClusters #GreatPeacockGlobular #Pavo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #WFI #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 (Wide-field view)

The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752 (Wide-field view)

This image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile shows the globular star cluster NGC 6752 about 13,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). Studies of this cluster using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have unexpectedly revealed that many of the stars do not undergo mass-loss at the end of their lives.

NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter. 

Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Caption Credit: ESO/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Release Date: May 29, 2013

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #NGC6752 #GlobularCluster #GlobularClusters #GreatPeacockGlobular #Pavo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #MPGESOTelescope #WFI #LaSillaObservatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752

The Great Peacock Globular Star Cluster: NGC 6752

About 13,000 light-years away toward the southern constellation Pavo, the globular star cluster NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752 follows clusters Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22 as the fourth brightest globular star clusters in planet Earth's night sky. It holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere about 100 light-years in diameter. 

Telescopic explorations of NGC 6752 have found that a remarkable fraction of the stars near the cluster's core are multiple star systems. They also reveal the presence of blue straggle stars. These stars appear to be too young and massive to exist in a cluster whose stars are all expected to be at least twice as old as the Sun. The blue stragglers are thought to be formed by star mergers and collisions in the dense stellar environment at the cluster's core.

This sharp color composite also features the cluster's ancient red giant stars in yellowish hues. 

Note: The bright, spiky blue star about 8 o'clock from the cluster center is a foreground star along the line-of-sight to NGC 6752

Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco, Aygen Erkaslan

Massimo's website: 

https://www.astrobin.com/users/massimo.difusco/

Aygen's website: 

https://www.astrobin.com/users/a.erkaslan/

Article Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Release Date: Oct. 25, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarCluster #NGC6752 #GlobularCluster #GreatPeacockGlobular #Pavo #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #Astrophotographers #MassimoDiFusco #AygenErkaslan #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

Astronaut Don Pettit's Water Ice Wafer 'Space Art' | International Space Station

Astronaut Don Pettit's Water Ice Wafer 'Space Art' | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit: "Science, or should I say Nature, has a way of presenting surprising beauty if one is willing to look."

"Science and Art, or Art and Science; related subjects where it really doesn’t matter which comes first. So I have access to a freezer kept at -95 degrees centigrade (-140 F). What would you do with such a freezer in space?"

"I decided to grow thin wafers of water ice for no more reason than I’m in space and I can. Plus, I wanted to see how the freezing front behaves in 0g (without gravitational buoyancy, how does the freezing front push the tiny bubbles around). Here is one frame from a whole series. I photographed the ice . . . between crossed polarizers where I used a white (blank) laptop display as the illuminator/polarizer in conjunction with an analyzer (polarizing filter) I strategically packed in my bag of personal effects."

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams

Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov

NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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)

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Don Pettit

Release Date: Oct. 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Astronauts #DonPettit #MicrogravityExperiments #WaterIceWafers #WaterIceScience #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMission #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #Florida #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #Art #Nature #STEM #Education

Mars Images: October 2024 | NASA Mars Perseverance Rover

Mars Images: October 2024 | NASA Mars Perseverance Rover

Mars 2020 - sol 1303

Mars 2020 - sol 1309

Mars 2020 - sol 1306

    Mars 2020 - sol 1307

Mars 2020 - sol 1308

Mars 2020 - sol 1309

Support FriendsofNASA.org

Celebrating 3+ Years on Mars

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 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 Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Dates: Oct. 20-26 , 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #KevinGill #STEM #Education

Astronaut Don Pettit's "Water Science" Experiments | International Space Station

Astronaut Don Pettit's "Water Science" Experiments | International Space Station

Space science is fun! NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit can be seen with spheres of water containing food coloring and creating a "planet Jupiter-like" effect in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. Don also plays with antacid pills and water!

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams

Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov

NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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)

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

Release Date: Oct. 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Astronauts #DonPettit #MicrogravityExperiments #WaterScience #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMission #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #Florida #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Polaris Dawn Mission Tribute

Polaris Dawn Mission Tribute

On Tuesday, September 10, 2024, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched the Polaris Dawn mission to orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Polaris Dawn became the first crew to perform the first-ever spacewalk from Dragon, to travel the farthest (1,408 km) within Earth’s orbit since the completion of the Apollo program in 1972, and to test Starlink laser-based communications aboard Dragon. 

Additionally, the crew conducted approximately 36 experiments designed to better life on Earth and on future long-duration spaceflights. Polaris Dawn also "inspired the world with a global music moment before safely returning to Earth" on Sunday, September 15, 2024.

This was the first human spaceflight for Mission Pilot Kidd Poteet, Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis, and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon. Mission Commander Jared Isaacman previously flew to space as commander of Inspiration4. This has also been the first time two SpaceX employees have been part of a human spaceflight crew, providing valuable insight to future missions on the road to making life multiplanetary.

Learn more about the Polaris Program:

https://polarisprogram.com

Video Credit: Polaris Program

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: Oct. 26, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #PolarisDawn #CrewDragonSpacecraft #EVA #Spacewalks #Spacesuits #SpaceTechnology #Starlink #Astronauts #JaredIsaacman #ScottPoteet #SarahGillis #AnnaMenon #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #KSC #LaunchPad39A #MerrittIsland #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Rise of India's Private Space Firms | Bloomberg

The Rise of India's Private Space Firms | Bloomberg

Journalist Haslinda Amin "reveals the burgeoning role of India's private space firms and their recent advances. Through interviews with leaders and innovators, learn how they are pushing the boundaries of space."

Bloomberg's “Momentum” takes you on "a journey to the frontiers of innovation, uncovering the groundbreaking ideas and inspiring people shaping our future. Join Haslinda Amin as she explores the leading-edge and the invaluable lessons it offers our rapidly evolving world."

Video Credit: Bloomberg

Duration: 24 minutes

Release Date: Oct. 17, 2024  

#NASA #Space #Satellites #CommercialSpace #Rockets #LEO #Earth #India #BhāratGaṇarājya #ISRO #Moon #Mars #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #AdditiveManufacturing #Startups #Entrepreneurs #Investment #Aerospace #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #History #Bloomberg #HD #Video

Launch Preparations for Shenzhou-19 Crewed Mission | China Space Station

Launch Preparations for Shenzhou-19 Crewed Mission | China Space Station

With just a few days to go before the liftoff of the Shenzhou-19 crewed spacecraft, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday conducted a comprehensive drill, involving all launch systems and units, to test their readiness for the upcoming mission.

Before that, the combination of the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft and its carrier rocket had been transferred to the launch area on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

Covering all the ground operation units, the drill simulated the entire launch process, ranging from functional checks of the launch tower, the carrier rocket and the spaceship, to flight preparations, rocket blastoff and rocket-spacecraft separation.

The three Shenzhou-19 crew members, whose names are yet to be revealed, also participated in the drill. They completed equipment checks and finished the key flight procedures in cooperation with ground personnel.

The drill also included medical examinations of the Shenzhou-19 crew, as well as a simulation of the send-off ceremony, the in-cabin status setting and post-entry procedures.

"During the whole drill, the Shenzhou-19 crew were in a very good state, and they gave very accurate commands and made skillful operations. The collaboration between the ground control personnel and the crew, as well as collaboration among the crew members was quite good. After the drill, the three astronauts will make final preparations for the launch. They will receive close medical monitoring and continue to conduct skill-based training," said Xing Lei, a staff member of the Beijing-based China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

The ground personnel recently also conducted final checks and tests of the spacesuits, food, and other equipment and materials to be used by the astronauts. In addition, they tested the in-cabin atmospheric and microbial environment, and carried out other tasks, such as cell culture for space experiments, and functional tests of the equipment that has been installed on the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft.

Currently, the Chinese space station and its equipment are all in good condition, along with the Shenzhou-18 crew, made up of astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu.

A search and retrieval drill was conducted recently at the preset landing site to prepare for the Shenzhou-18 crew's return after their six-month space travel.

The three-member Shenzhou-18 crew was sent into space on April 25, 2024.

Shenzhou-18 Crew:
Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)
Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)
Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #LongMarchRocket #LongMarch2FY19 #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #JSLC #Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LongDurationSpaceflight #LiCong #LiGuangsu #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA SpaceX Crew-8 Dragon Re-entry & Splashdown | International Space Station

NASA SpaceX Crew-8 Dragon Re-entry & Splashdown | International Space Station

Crew-8 Dragon Endeavour Re-entry

Crew-8 Dragon Endeavour Re-entry

Crew-8 Dragon Endeavour Re-entry

Dragon’s four main parachutes deployed

Crew-8 Dragon Endeavour splashdown

After 235 days in space, SpaceX Dragon Endeavour and Crew-8 NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia returned to Earth and splashed down off the coast of Florida at 3:29 a.m. ET on Friday, October 25.

After safely splashing down, a NASA astronaut experienced a medical issue. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin were flown together to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida.

After medical evaluation at the hospital, three of the crew members departed Pensacola and arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The one astronaut who remains at Ascension is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure. To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared.

During its return to Earth, the SpaceX Dragon executed a normal entry and splashdown. Recovery of the crew and the spacecraft was without incident. During routine medical assessments on the recovery ship, the additional evaluation of the crew members was requested out of an abundance of caution.

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams

Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov

NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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)

Video/Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

Release Date: Oct. 25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #SpaceX #SpaceXCrew8 #CrewDragonSpacecraft #CrewDragonEndeavour #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMission #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #Florida #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education #Animation #GIF

Comet (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) over Austria

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) over Austria

Astrophotographer Michael Karrer: "Last scene of this beautiful comet."

Astrophotographer Michael Karrer: "The tail becomes clearer as dusk fades. Photographically 12 degrees long, with the naked eye approx. 5 degrees. A magnificent sight! The anti-tail is faintly visible."

Astrophotographer Michael Karrer: "The comet in early twilight. Cirrus clouds gave a nice touch, even if we had to worry about them hiding the comet at some time."

Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) is a comet from the solar system's Oort cloud discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory east of Nanjing, China, on January 9, 2023, and independently found by the automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in South Africa on February 22, 2023. ATLAS is funded by NASA's planetary defense office, and developed and operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy. C/2023 A3 passed perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) at a distance of 0.39 AU (58 million km; 36 million miles) on September 27, 2024.

The Oort cloud is theorized to be a vast cloud of icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 AU (0.03 to 3.2 light-years). The concept of such a cloud was proposed in 1950 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, in whose honor the idea was named. Oort proposed that the bodies in this cloud replenish and keep constant the number of long-period comets entering the inner Solar System—where they are eventually consumed and destroyed during close approaches to the Sun.

Image Credit: Michael Karrer

Capture Date: October 14, 2024

Release Date: October 25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #SolarSystem #Planet #Earth #Austria #Europe #CentralEurope #Comets #CometTsuchinshanATLAS #C2023A3 #Antitail #OortCloud #SolarSystem #Astrophotography #MichaelKarrer #Astrophotographer #China #中国 #SouthAfrica #STEM #Education

Expanding Space with Inflatable Habitats | Lockheed Martin

Expanding Space with Inflatable Habitats | Lockheed Martin

"We’re developing advanced inflatable softgoods technologies to support astronauts living and working in space. These durable, spacious and safe modules are designed for a variety of mission needs."

"Built entirely by our expert team, our inflatable habitats offer adaptability, repeatability and cost-effective manufacturing—paving the way for the future of space habitation."

"To learn more about how we are expanding space with inflatable habitats, visit:" https://lmt.co/3YBOgIA

"We are testing our inflatable softgoods technology to the limit, learn more:" https://lmt.co/4fkZ6Zb

Video Credit: Lockheed Martin Space

Duration: 1 minute, 46 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 24, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Mars #ISS #Earth #Moon #ArtemisProgram #LockheedMartin #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #InflatableHabitats #InflatableModules #Softgoods #Spacecraft #SpaceStations #Astronauts #LongDurationMissions #MoonToMars #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratories #CommercialSpace #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Planet Mars: Dust Storm Detected | European Space Agency Mars Express

Planet Mars: Dust Storm Detected | European Space Agency Mars Express

With its High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter captured a Martian dust storm.

Mars Express is celebrating over 21 years at Mars! 

The Mars Express mission was launched on June 2, 2003, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on board a Russian Soyuz rocket with a Fregat upper stage. In addition to being Europe’s first mission to Mars, Mars Express is the first fully European mission to any planet.

Orbit: 21940

Date: May 12, 2021 

Time: 12:44:09.876Z

Video Credits:

Raw Data: ESA/German Aerospace Center (DLR)/Freie Universität Berlin (FUBerlin)

Image Processing: Andrea Luck, L'informatico mondo di Pipplo [active interpolation using an artificial intelligence (AI) model between frames and an upscaling to 4K]

Duration: 12 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 25, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Mars #Atmosphere #Meteorology #Weather ##DustStorm #Geology #MarsExpress #MarsExpressSpacecraft #HRSC #Europe #DLR #FUBerlin #Berlin #Germany #Deutschland #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video