News Flash: On 4th of July weekend, NASA forecasts lights in the sky.
No, not those lights. Look beyond the fireworks. Almost halfway up the western sky, just above the twilight glow of sunset, a trio of worlds is gathering: Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon.
Above: Fireworks over Jodrell Bank, England, on the 2008 summer solstice. Photo credit: Andrew Greenwood.
The show gets going on Friday, July 4th. Red Mars and ringed Saturn converge just to the left of the bright star Regulus. The three lights make a pretty 1st-magnitude line in the heavens: sky map.
During the short night of July 5th, the Moon glides past Mars and Saturn so that nightfall on Sunday, July 6th, brings a different arrangement—a scalene triangle. The triad is easy to find in the hours after sunset. Look west and let the Moon be your guide: sky map.
In the nights that follow, the Moon exits stage left, leaving the others behind. Don't stop watching, though. Saturn and Mars are converging for their closest encounter of the next 14 years. After nightfall on Thursday, July 10th, the two planets will be just ¾ of a degree apart, snug enough to fit behind the tip of your pinky finger held at arm's length: sky map.
Now that's spectacular—no fireworks required.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/01jul_4thofjuly.htm
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EARTH AT APHELION: Today, you are far from the sun. Earth's orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle, it's an ellipse, and on July 4th, Earth is at the most distant end of the curve. Astronomers call this "aphelion." When we are at aphelion, the sun appears smaller in the sky (by 1.7%) and global solar heating is actually a little less (by 3.5%) than the yearly average. This provides scant relief from northern summer heat, however; click here for reasons why.
WEIRD SUNSET: Even at a distance, the sun can amaze. Consider this: "On June 29th, the sun got below the marine layer here in La Jolla, California, and something weird happened," reports Steve Shuey. "I took this picture using my Canon 5D."
Spaceweather.com
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Explosive Spacewalk?
Explosive bolts that help detach the Russian Soyuz capsule
from the International Space Station may be the source of the problems
the spacecraft has encountered during the last two landings. Investigative
space journalist and Jim Oberg at MSNBC, who is one of the best
experts on the inner workings of the Russian space program recently wrote a very interesting article detailing Russian engineers' plans to fix the problem: have two Russian
cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk on July 10 to remove one of the explosive bolts
and bring it inside the space station. The bolts, Oberg says, packs twice the
explosive force of an M-80 firecracker when ignited, and the cosmonauts will be
handling the bolts directly during what will be a very delicate, if not
dramatic, operation.
(...)
Read the rest of Explosive
Spacewalk?
International Group Studies Mars Sample Return Mission
Until humans can actually set foot on the Red Planet, the
next best thing would be a sample return mission, to bring Martian soil samples
back to Earth. A sample return would exponentially increase our
knowledge and understanding Mars and its environment. And in order to pull off a mission of this magnitude,
international cooperation might be required, and in fact, may be preferred. The
International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG), organized an international
committee to study an international architecture for a Mars Sample Return (MSR)
mission concept. After several months of collective work by scientists and
engineers from several countries worldwide, the “iMARS” group is ready to
publish the outcome of its deliberations and the envisioned common architecture
for a future international MSR mission, and they will discuss their findings at
an international conference on July 9 and 10 in France.
(...)
Read the rest of International
Group Studies Mars Sample Return Mission
MESSENGER Provides New Insights on Mercury
Data from the MESSENGER spacecraft's first flyby of Mercury in January of 2008 are now turning into science
results. Several scientists discussed their findings at a press conference today
highlighting the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging
mission, the first spacecraft to visit Mercury since NASA's Mariner 10 made
three flyby passes in 1974 and 1975. Among the findings, scientists discovered
volcanism has played a more extensive role in shaping the surface of Mercury than previously thought. MESSENGER data has
also identified and mapped surface rock units that
correspond to lava flows,
volcanos, and other geological features, showing an apparent planet-wide iron
deficiency in Mercury's surface rocks. Additionally, other instruments made the
first observations about the surface and atmospheric composition of the closest
world to the sun.
(...)
Read the rest of MESSENGER
Provides New Insights on Mercury
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SN 1006 Supernova RemnantCredit: X-ray - NASA/CXC/Rutgers/G.Cassam-Chenai, J.Hughes et al.; Radio - NRAO/AUI/NSF/GBT/VLA/
Dyer, Maddalena & Cornwell; Optical - Middlebury College/F.Winkler, NOAO/AURA/NSF/CTIO Schmidt & DSS
Explanation: A new star, likely the brightest supernova in recorded human history, lit up planet Earth's sky in the year 1006 AD. The expanding debris cloud from the stellar explosion, found in the southerly constellation of Lupus, still puts on a cosmic light show across the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact, this composite view (BELOW) includes X-ray data in blue from the Chandra Observatory, optical data in yellowish hues, and radio image data in red. Now known as the SN 1006 supernova remnant, the debris cloud appears to be about 60 light-years across and is understood to represent the remains of a white dwarf star. Part of a binary star system, the compact white dwarf gradually captured material from its companion star. The buildup in mass finally triggered a thermonuclear explosion that destroyed the dwarf star. Because the distance to the supernova remnant is about 7,000 light-years, that explosion actually happened 7,000 years before the light reached Earth in 1006. Shockwaves in the remnant accelerate particles to extreme energies and are thought to be a source of the mysterious cosmic rays.
SN 1006
supernova remnant,
Astronomy Picture of the Day NASA
Astronomy Picture of the Day Archives
NASA Website
NASA Live Audio Streaming
2 comments on News Flash: On 4th of July weekend, NASA forecasts lights in the sky.
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Is that really for real? That last pic and story? Gee!
Weird sunset? Is that for real? Hmmmm...
Things were too cloudy on the 4th to see anything...the threat of rain was present all day and night long, right on into the weekend when, on Saturday (today) it did rain.