A United States flag and flown back shell (adorned with a flag) are among the Orion exhibits now on display at Space Center Houston.Credit: collectSPACE.com Artifacts from NASA’s on-going efforts to develop Orion, its new spacecraft to fly astronauts beyond low Earth orbit, have landed at Space Center Houston as a preview of a planned […]
The Ursid meteor shower will peak the night of Dec. 22-Dec 23, but a bright moon may wash out the unlucky display.Credit: Starry Night Software The Ursids, December’s “other” meteor shower besides the famous Gemenids, will peak in late December — but will face stiff competition from the dazzling winter moon. December is an interesting […]
In 2015, NASA explored the expanse of our solar system and beyond, and the complex processes of our home planet, while also advancing the technologies for our journey to Mars, and new aviation systems as the agency reached new milestones aboard the International Space Station. To source
Catch Comet Catalina in the sky over the next several weeks. Amateur astronomer Rich Tyson snapped this image from the Slooh Observatories on the Canary Islands Dec. 12.Credit: Richard Tyson If you have already received, or expect to receive, binoculars or a telescope for the holidays, you’re in luck. During the next several weeks, you’ll […]
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this shot of Saturn’s moon Enceladus on Aug. 18, 2015.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute A gorgeous new photo shows the varied terrain of Saturn’s icy, ocean-harboring moon Enceladus. The image, which was taken on Aug. 18 by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft from a distance of 85,000 miles (137,000 kilometers), dramatically shows that some […]
NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra completed a spacewalk today (Dec. 21), releasing a stuck railcar and moving it to a workstation, where it could be locked down. Here, Kopra works near the recently arrived Cygnus supply craft (top).Credit: NASA Two astronauts took a surprise spacewalk outside the International Space Station this morning (Dec. […]
These NASA Mars Global Surveyor images show fresh gully deposits inside an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region of the Red Planet.Credit: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS More than a decade ago, NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor returned stunning images of gullies shaped like water-carved streams on Earth, raising the prospect that Mars may be a friendly haven for […]
The winter solstice is a vampire’s delight. No other night is longer and no day shorter. But it also means the subsequent days get longer. This year’s winter solstice will occur at 11:48 p.m. ET Monday (04:49 GMT Tuesday). At that moment, the sun will be directly overhead at 23.5 degrees south latitude, and the […]
An extraordinary ribbon of hot gas trailing behind a galaxy like a tail has been discovered using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. To source
The AstroCritic: What ‘The Martian’ Gets Right About Astronauts September 28th, 2015 “The Martian” gets astronauts right, suggests AstroCritic and former ISS commander Leroy Chiao. Read More » Sending Olympic Torch to Space, Russia Flaunts Inspiration Superiority (Op-Ed) November 8th, 2013 If Russians can send the Olympic torch into space, why can’t Americans find ways […]
A new close-up view of Mars’ “High Dune” is the first-ever close investigation of the dunes, which can move about 1 yard (about 1 meter) per year.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS It’s a familiar view to those who watched Matt Damon’s character, Mark Watney, fight for survival in “The Martian,” yet it’s one we’ve never actually seen up […]
A look back at the highlights of 2015 for Europe in Space To source
A Russian Soyuz rocket launches the unmanned Progress 62 cargo ship toward the International Space Station on Dec. 21, 2015 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.Credit: NASA TV A robotic Russian cargo ship packed with tons of food, equipment – and just maybe some holiday treats – launched into orbit today (Dec. 21) in a special […]