Last year, scientists took another look at the seismic data collected by Apollo era experiments and discovered that the lower mantle of the Moon, the part near the core-mantle boundary, is partially molten (e. g., Apollo Data Retooled to Provide Precise Readings on Moon's Core, Universe Today, Jan. 6, 2011). Their findings suggest that the lowest
Posted by Universe Today
View of the visit of the Crescent Moon to Venus and Jupiter as seen from the beach at Adelaide looking west at 8:30 pm ACDST, similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time. Simulated with Stellarium. Between Thursday February 24, 2012 and Monday 27 February, the crescent Moon will come close to Venus and then Jupiter in a series of beautiful encounters as it climbs in the twilight sky. Venus and Jupiter come closer too. You will need a clear level horizon to see the lineups at
Posted by Astroblog
Earlier today, the Solar Dynamics Observatory had a front seat to a pretty nifty event: a partial eclipse of the Sun. For about 100 minutes, from its orbital viewpoint SDO saw the Moon pass in front of the Sun, partially blocking it. SDO semi-fictional mascot Camilla Corona created a really cool video of the event, using footage from different wavelengths edited together:The false color images show the event at a variety of different "colors" in the ultraviolet, where different temperatures and
Posted by Bad Astronomy
Earlier today, the Solar Dynamics Observatory had a front seat to a pretty nifty event: a partial eclipse of the Sun. For about 100 minutes, from its orbital viewpoint SDO saw the Moon pass in front of the Sun, partially blocking it. SDO semi-fictional mascot Camilla Corona created a really cool video of the event, using footage from different wavelengths edited together:The false color images show the event at a variety of different "colors" in the ultraviolet, where different temperatures and
Posted by Bad Astronomy
... story here. Tagged: moon, NASA, science, SDO, sun, sunspots,
Posted by Lights in the Dark
The Sun seems to be glowing in traditional Mardi Gras colors in this image, made from three AIA channels taken today at approximately 14:11 UT (about 9:11 a. m. EST) as the Moon passed between it and the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. Looks like it's that time of year again! (...)Read the rest of A Mardi
Posted by Universe Today
The Moon, Venus and Jupiter, the three most dominant objects in the night sky, will form a number of beautiful patters to grace the evening sky in the coming days. Venus and Jupiter have become so dominant in the west after sunset each night that you cannot help but notice them shining like diamonds, and as we enter a new lunar cycle, the young Moon creates beautiful patterns as the daily change in relative position makes for an exciting night sky. Things will get even more exciting next month w
Posted by The Urban Astronomer
Recent images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera provide evidence that the lunar crust may be pulling apart in certain areas. The images reveal small trenches less than a kilometer in length, and less than a few hundred meters wide. Only a small number of these features, known as graben, have been discovered on the
Posted by Universe Today
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It's going to be an awesome week as we watch the planets – Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury – dance along the ecliptic plane. You don't even need a telescope for this show! But that's not all. We'll take a look at a wealth of bright star clusters, challenging studies and
Posted by Universe Today
Love 3-D images? Interested in maps? Want to explore the Moon? Then a new Kickstarter project may be just what you are looking for. Jeffrey Ambroziak, creator of a specialized 3-D map projection method, will be producing what he calls the first true 3-D map of the Moon, and he is offering space enthusiasts the
Posted by Universe Today
Earth's next Mars Rover – NOT Made in USA Just days after President Obama met with brilliant High School students at the 2012 White House Science Fair to celebrate their winning achievements and encourage America's Youth to study science and take up careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) technical fields, the Obama
Posted by Universe Today
Once, in complete silence, a large boulder rolled down a slope on the central peak of the Moon's Schiller crater. This rock is about 9m (30ft) across, meaning that it...
Posted by Astronotes
In July 1969, as Apollo 11 brought the Apollo Program to its culmination, Lockheed Missile and Space Company (LMSC), McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company (MDAC), and North American Rockwell (NAR) began the Nuclear Flight Systems Definition (NFSD) study on contract to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. The NFSD study occurred against a backdrop of great change in the U. S. civilian space program, and its evolution through three phases reflected this. In Phase I of
Posted by Beyond Apollo
Ian Regan's composite of the recent Enceladus flyby. Best yet image I have seen of Enceladus lit both by sunshine and light reflected off Saturn (aka Saturnshine). Also theÂGordan Ugarkovic image. Note the spewing geysers on the lower left.
Posted by wanderingspace
Sometimes astronauts just wanna have fun! The video above was taken during the Apollo 17 mission on December 11, 1972, when astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt Âwent off in search of lunar samples during an EVA (short for Extra-Vehicular Activity.) Enjoying the 1/6 gravity, Jack felt the urge to break into song.ÂCan you
Posted by Lights in the Dark
... take 8 images of the moon, each with 1/50 sec at ISO 400 using Canon EOS Digital
Posted by The Sky Above
America's hugely successful Mars Exploration program is apparently about to be gutted by Obama Administration officials wielding a hefty budget axe in Washington, D. C. Consequently, Russia has been invited to join the program to replace American science instruments and rockets being scrapped. NASA's Fiscal 2013 Budget is due to be announced on Monday, February 13
Posted by Universe Today
According to legend, centuries ago a Chinese official named Wan Hu attempted to visit the Moon. ÂHis spacecraft was a large wicker chair to which were fastened 47 large rockets...
Posted by Astronotes
Photographer Maik Thomas posted this time lapse video on Google+, and it made me chuckle. The bright object is the Moon, and as it sets it turns red, looking like a missile from space curving right into a church. I love the star trails effect. It's just a way of adding the individual frames together to show motion, but it does give the video an oddly other-world feel to it. And in this case it really makes the Moon look like some sort of re-entering rocket!Related posts:- Star Light, People B
Posted by Bad Astronomy
The Moon is covered with craters of various shapes and sizes, and in various states of preservation. Scientists have studied these spectacular features for over five decades, yet there are still many things about craters that we just don't understand. The study of craters is important because we use them to determine the ages of
Posted by Universe Today
... the number of Jovian moons to a whopping 67, Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie
Posted by Universe Today
... winning the race to the moon. Having van
Posted by Beyond Apollo
Chinese scientists have assembled the highest resolution map ever created of the entire Moon and unveiled a series of global Moon images on Monday, Feb. 6. The composite Lunar maps were created from over 700 individual images captured by China's Chang'e-2 spacecraft and released by the country's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for
Posted by Universe Today
One solitary boulder on the Moon apparently decided to take a little journey. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera captured the track of a bouncing, rolling 9-meter boulder that used to sit along the rim of a crater. From the pristine nature of the tracks, it might seem that the rock may have taken its trip
Posted by Universe Today
... of the cloud-covered moon was created by combining raw data acquired with Cassini's Imaging Science System (ISS) in red, green, blue and clear color channels. The result
Posted by Lights in the Dark
Looks like Republican Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich might have some competition if he wants to be the first to build a base on the Moon. Last week, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos announced plans to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade with a lunar base as its next step.
Posted by Universe Today
This is so cool: NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft (now named Ebb and Flow) have cameras on board to take images of the lunar surface, and an animation has been put together of Ebb's view of the Moon's far side! Pretty neat. I love the wide-angle view; the individual images were taken while Ebb was still
Posted by Bad Astronomy
... the far side of the moon. The imagery was taken on Jan. 19 by the MoonKAM aboard the mission's “Ebb” spacecraft. GRAIL consists of two identical spacecraft, recently named Ebb and Flow, each of which is
Posted by Lights in the Dark
... first look from GRAIL, showing the lunar far side! A camera aboard Ebb' — one of NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft has returned its first unique view of the far side of the Moon. The camera is the MoonKAM, which is part of a special program for students to
Posted by Universe Today
Thanks to astronaut Ron Garan on Google+, I was alerted to some amazing footage of the Moon setting as seen by astronauts on board the International Space Station. I uploaded it to YouTube and added some comments to show you something really cool… [Set it to high-def and make it full screen!] Astonishing, isn't it?
Posted by Bad Astronomy
... Center. Tagged: ISS, moon, NASA, orbit, space station, time lapse
Posted by Lights in the Dark
Ever since the Apollo era, scientist have known that the Moon had some kind of magnetic field in the past, but doesn't have one now. Understanding why is important, because it can tell us how magnetic fields are generated, how long they last, and how they shut down. New studies of Apollo lunar samples answer
Posted by Universe Today
... promises US ‘moon base' by 2020“) I was interviewed for. In case you haven't heard, one of
Posted by Astroengine.com
For hundreds of years, people have seen tiny flashes of light on the surface of the Moon. Very brief, but bright enough to be seen from Earth, these odd flashes still hadn't been adequately explained up until now. Also known … Continue reading →
Posted by The Meridiani Journal
Here's your chance for a birds-eye view of an Orion capsule, up-close and personal. A full scale test version of one of NASA's Orion spacecraft has embarked on a cross country tour from White Sands, New Mexico, across several states in the southern United States that ultimately lands at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Posted by Universe Today
“X” marks the spot for a new place for Citizen Science on the web. It's called CosmoQuest and the collaborators of this new website invite you to come visit and do more than just click your mouse. Besides contributing to real science for NASA space missions, there are also places to learn, converse, hang out
Posted by Universe Today
For hundreds of years, people have seen tiny flashes of light on the surface of the Moon. Very brief, but bright enough to be seen from Earth, these odd flashes still hadn't been adequately explained up until now. Also known as Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLPs), they've been observed on many occasions, but rarely photographed. On
Posted by Universe Today
Editor's note — Bruce Dorminey, science journalist and author of Distant Wanderers: The search for Planets beyond the Solar System, is a lifelong proponent of lunar exploration. Newt Gingrich certainly has his own political motives for suddenly deciding that now is the time to see that the decades-long dream of a lunar base finally makes
Posted by Universe Today
... guests on a tour of the moon, planets and stars of the night sky during a Public Star Watch from 6:30 to 8:30 p. m. Saturday, Jan.
Posted by My Astronomy Blog
Had a great Australia Day, lazed around a bit, played Master Labyrinth with the younger boys, swam, had friends over, then walked up to the end of the street to take pictures of Venus, the thin crescent Moon and the Australia Day Fireworks (click on images to embiggen them). Didn't see C/2003 T12 though, it's probably around magnitude 12.
Posted by Astroblog
"Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."On July 20, 1969 humanity established a base on the Moon. Achieving that goal accelerated human science, from smaller microprocessors to evidence for a changing speed of light. Thousands were inspired to study math and science. Not by coincidence, human achievement flowered in the time of the Moon landings. Tranqulity Base was soon evacuated, but could be established again. A permanent base on the Moon is simply a matter of will. Continuing the e
Posted by GM=tc^3
US Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich campaigned in Florida on Wednesday, and made some audacious claims if he would become President of the United States: By the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the Moon and it will be American, Gingrich said. He also said that near-Earth space
Posted by Universe Today
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