What's Up? The Space Place

 Hey, Space Placers!      The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, in the Andes Mountains in Chile, will map the entire southern sky every few nights.       Credit: Petr Horalek/Science Photo Library VIA NATURE VRO will be going operational soon and when it does our view and understanding of the Universe will be radically changed. The reason as explained in the Nature article : The Rubin Observatory will map the entire southern sky every three to four nights, observing each spot around 800 times over its ten years of planned operations. Eight science collaborations will sift through the data it produces, each focusing on different questions, from mapping the history of the Universe and its dark matter contents to tracking potentially dangerous objects in the Solar System. The observatory will also capture an unprecedented number of transient and variable astronomical events in real time — stars whose brightness changes unpredictably, for example, and those ...

 Hey, Space Placers! "Strawberry" Colored Full Moon Greg Redfern Check out the Full Strawberry Moon tonight as it will be the lowest the Moon has been in our sky since 2006. Check out the details here. Should be a beautiful sight at sunset tonight - perfect for pics! Sky Guy in VA

 Hey Space Placers! VERA RUBIN OBSEWRVATORY CREDIT: VRO From Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO): What good is a giant data set if we don't have as many eyes on it as possible, ready to make discoveries? That’s where you come in — the more people looking for particular objects or patterns in the data, the more questions we can answer. Explore real science projects and contribute to astronomy and astrophysics today! Get involved as a citizen astronomer   by signing up: Projects you can explore in anticipation of Rubin Superluminous Supernovae Backyard Worlds Space Warps The Daily Minor Planet Galaxy Zoo Active Asteroids Here we come Universe!!! Sky Guy In VA

 Hey, Space Placers! The 2001 Odyssey spacecraft captured a first-of-its-kind look at Arsia Mons, which dwarfs Earth’s tallest volcanoes. Credit: NASA via WTOP Check out the story behind this first-ever photo of a 12-mile high volcano taken on the visible limb of Mars! Pretty amazing! Mars Odyssey and other NASA Mars missions are threatened by budget cuts as I blogged about recently. Sky Guy in VA

 Hey, Space Placers! Each of NASA's four major science divisions is facing a steep cut to its budget, with some reaching historical lows. Values are adjusted for inflation. The Planetary Society via S&T From the S&T article : "With more than 40 missions on the chopping block, the space community is holding on to hope that the budget is “dead on arrival” in Congress. With total spending set at $18.8 billion, NASA spending would reach the lowest funding level since 1961, adjusted for inflation — despite making up less than half a percent of the government’s spending. It’s important to note that the OMB is not the final sentencing—this budget will make its way to Congress, where lawmakers will use it as inspiration to craft their own outline for how NASA should receive and spend money. But data from the Planetary Society shows that since 1961, Congress has never appropriated NASA more than 9% or less than 11% of the money the White House requests. “This is the biggest cri...

 Hey, Space Placers!                              RESILIENCE LANDING ATTEMPT REPLAY ispace The landing attempt of ispace's Resilience lunar lander went off as scheduled but the final outcome was not successful. From ispace: On June 6, 2025, (JST) the RESILIENCE lunar lander began a landing sequence in an attempt to touchdown on the lunar surface. Following the landing sequence, the Mission Control Center was unable to establish communications with the RESILIENCE lunar lander. As of 8:00 a.m. on June 6, 2025, mission controllers have determined that it is unlikely that communication with the lander will be restored and therefore completing Success 9, is not achievable. It has been decided to conclude the mission. ispace statement in full I am quite sure that NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will be looking for Resilience in the near future. Sky Guy in VA