The Sky is Waiting.
The harsh reality that is Mars.
(Photos by author).
How is Mars One like Amway?
Last month, the Mars One project announced that its initial candidate pool of 600 candidates had been whittled down to 100. Excitement then swirled around the ‘net and the space community immediately following the announcement, as local media plugged the candidates selected for future Martian colonization.
But is Mars One a project destined to settle a brave new world, or a modern day pipe dream? [Read more...]
Mars Odyssey as seen from Mars Global Surveyor in 2005.
Credit: NASA
An often overlooked but crucial mission celebrates its 13th full year in space today. On April 7th, 2001, a Delta II rocket lifted off into the late Florida morning from Cape Canaveral carrying the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Mars Odyssey was designed to study Mars from orbit and reached the Red Planet on October 24th of the same year. [Read more...]
On�sale now!
Early this August, a historical event will occur. A rover launched last Thanksgiving weekend will descend via sky crane to the surface of Mars. After the first �six-minutes off terror,� the Mars Science Laboratory will be ready to do some serious science on the Red Planet. [Read more...]
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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New.� A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
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Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth�s shadow is apparent in the image.
Mars Cube One: Exploring Pale Blue Dot Redux
A ‘pretty pair…’ credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
What’s in a picture? A brand new robotic scout recently looked homeward, snapping a portrait of our place in space. The view was courtesy of the Mars Cube One mission, which launched with the Mars InSight lander recently from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 5th, 2018. [Read more...]