Mercury Looms

September 29, 2009

At 5:55 pm EDT today, the Mercury probe MESSENGER will make its closest approach to the planet, shooting over the surface at an altitude of a little under 142 miles. Above is the planet from MESSENGER's point of view on Sept. 28 when it was 337,000 miles from flyby.

From the MESSENGER mission website:

This NAC image of a sunlit crescent Mercury was taken 44 hours before the spacecraft's closest pass to the surface. Visit the interactive visualization tool to examine in detail the instrument observations planned for the flyby. Starting at 3:45 pm EDT today, the visualization tool can be run in real-time, showing the planned observations on the website at the same time that the MESSENGER spacecraft will be performing the actual observations. The images and other measurements collected by MESSENGER during the flyby will begin to be transmitted to Earth just before midnight tonight.

Keep an eye on the MESSENGER website, that will be the place to see the first new images of the Solar System's smallest planet...

Sabre-Rattling with Rockets: S. Korea Launches, But Fails to Deliver

August 26, 2009

Saddened after the first launch attempt of Space Shuttle Discovery was scrubbed due to horrible weather over Florida, I noticed a tweet appear in the "All Friends" timeline in Twitter.

"Live-tweeting" these events is a lot of fun, and there's a special thrill when trying to keep up with all the juicy breaking news as you approach the time of a shuttle launch. Unfortunately, with only a few minutes to spare, NASA decided to scrub the launch, deferring it to the following night (last night), only for the launch to be scrubbed again due to a dodgy valve. So we look forward to early Friday morning (at 12:22 am), for the third attempt, and I'll be there, tweeting from @Discovery_Space and blogging about the event.

But then there was that errant tweet, probably the only one not talking about the Discovery scrub. It was South Korean astronaut Yi So-yeon (a.k.a. @MsCoolAstro) counting down another launch. South Korea was just about to blast their first ever domestic rocket into space...

Ares Tests Continue Despite NASA Uncertainty

It seems that good news about NASA's future is very hard to come by these days. Although the development of the Constellation Program seems to be pushing ahead quite nicely, there are some huge (HUGE) question marks hanging over whether the space agency can deliver on its goal to get man back to the moon in a little over a decade...

Volcano from Space, Pee Recycler Fixed, Flowers on the Moon (Video)

March 30, 2009

In this week's Discovery Space Wrap Up: Alaska's Redoubt volcano ash plume is caught billowing from space, Space shuttle Discovery's crew fixes the space station's pee recycling system and returns home, and finally a Google Lunar X PRIZE team wants to grow flowers... on the moon!

Redoubt Volcano's Ash Cloud - From SPACE!

March 27, 2009

Never have I ever seen something like this... What you're looking at below is the Redoubt volcano's ash cloud edge-on -- from space!

 

See that blackish-gray poof in the center?

That's it.

That's the ash cloud.

The blue outline is the Alaskan border, seen from the extreme west by the MTSAT-1R (MTSAT = Multi-Functional Transport SAtellite) as it passed over Asia.

I'd love to tell you how high the plume reaches, but I'm not certain. This image of the ash cloud was taken yesterday (March 26, 2009). I know the cloud went at least 65,000 feet into the sky this week, but it may be shorter in this pic -- seeing as the volcano blew more than four days ago.

I'm going to call around for some more information, but if you know something please do leave a comment below!

Thanks to Larry O'Hanlon over at the Earth Pub for sharing. Oh, and Larry (Discovery Earth producer) has a HUGE package of goodies assembled on the volcano eruption, so don't miss it!

Photo: Alaska Volcano Observatory

Saturn Moon Parade, Gravity Mapper Launches, Space Station (Video)

March 23, 2009

In this week's Discovery Space Wrap Up: The Hubble Space Telescope captures a moon parade around Saturn, GOCE the gravity mapping satellite launches, the International Space Station gets its wings.

Planet-Hunter Launches, Moon Crash, Colbert for Space Station (Video)

March 09, 2009

What's in store for this week's Discovery Space Wrap Up: NASA's earth-like planet-hunting Kepler Telescope launches, China's Chang'e 1 spacecraft bites the moon dust, Stephen Colbert wants his own space station node.

Also of note is that I am working on a grotesque beard to ward off single women -- enjoy:

NASA Has a March Madness Bracket... Say What?!

I usually give following sports the cold-shoulder. Honestly, what's so great about tracking a bunch of people more muscular than you fighting to get a ball or puck into this hole or over that net, and getting paid millions of dollars per year for it? (No resentment on my part, clearly...)

My vice, however, is filling out those stupid "March Madness" college basketball brackets. Maybe it's the gambler in my blood, but it's gratifying.

Well luck has it that NASA Edge -- a show on NASA TV -- is hosting a "2009 Mission Madness" bracket! First heard about this in a Universe Today post by Nancy Atkinson, so thanks Nancy.

Click here for the link to fill out your own bracket.

Here's the deal:

• Pick your favorite missions.
• NASA tricks you into learning about those missions.
• By picking the winners, you're casting votes.
• The mission with the most votes, of course, ends up as the tourney champ.
• Voting starts March 19, so don't spend too much time cracking at this thing.

Since I'm still waiting for my weekly wrap up video to upload to YouTube (Zzzz...), I figured I'd fill out my bracket for you, complete with sports-announcer-like highlights. I think there is a clear forerunner for the title, written in red:

And a close-up of the final show-down:

Photos: Dave Mosher

Congrats, Saturn - It's a MOONLET!

March 03, 2009

The Cassini spacecraft continues to do a fine job zooming around Saturn, boldly spying where no man-made spacecraft has spied before.

Guess what it recently found? A new moonlet! (aka a tiny moon)

Here's the pic of this little bugger, circled in red, which hangs out in the G ring of Saturn:

 

The object, about 1/3 of a mile wide, is Saturn's 61st confirmed moo moon (thanks readers for the catch -- who knew planets could moo?). The short path it sweeps in the above image is roughly 10 minutes in orbit.

Astronomers now blame the moonlet -- still unnamed -- for creating the ring; by having a little gravitational powers, it brings in ice and dust to form it.

If you're in the mood to see more of Saturn's moons, don't miss our image-packed slide show!

Photo: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute; CICLOPS; Dave Mosher

Climate Change Satellite Crashes, Titan's Weather, Big Bang Evidence (Video)

March 02, 2009

A new week, and a new video (were you expecting otherwise?):