What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! I hope our USA readers had a wonderful Memorial  Day and took a moment to pause and reflect on the true meaning of the holiday. Endeavour is making final preps to land at Kennedy Space Center on June 1st, at 2:35 a.m. This will be her last mission. After STS-134 she prepares for a new life as a museum piece. The last mission in the history of the Space Shuttle Program is set to launch on July 8th. Space  Shuttle Atlantis is already rolling out to the launch pad, starting at 8:42 p.m tonight. Read More About It: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html  and http://www.nasa.gov/rss/atlantis_update.xml . Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Sorry to be off the 'net for the past 2 days but a combination of computer issues and power outages conspired to make it so. Pretty intense weather, including tornado warnings gave just a glimpse of what the dear people of Joplin have had to endure. NASA has just selected its' first ever asteroid sample return mission - Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx. This mission is scheduled for a 2016 launch. According to NASA, "After traveling four years, OSIRIS-REx will approach the primitive, near Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36 in 2020. Once within three miles of the asteroid, the spacecraft will begin six months of comprehensive surface mapping. The science team then will pick a location from where the spacecraft's arm will take a sample. The spacecraft gradually will move closer to the site, and the arm will extend to collect more than two ounces of material for return to Earth in 20...

Hey Space Placers!  Today NASA will end its attempt to re-establish radio contact with Mars Rover Spirit. The intrepid rover was last heard from on March 22, 2010 and it is almost certain that the "little rover that could" did not survive the Martian winter. NASA has been sending a variety of commands to Spirit for the past 10 months but has received no response or signals from her. Spirit has been on Mars since January 4, 2003 and was rated for a 90-day mission lifetime. Spirit's  7+ years on Mars has been matched and exceeded by her still operating twin rover Opportunity. I will miss Spirit as she has provided us with many pictures, discoveries and a persona of a close friend. Opportunity will be our only Martian rover until "Curiosity", NASA's newest and most capable rover arrives. Lauch is scheduled between November and December of this year. Read More About It: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-156&cid=release_2011-156 , ...

Hey Space Placers! I love movies. I am watching the "Right Stuff" as I write this.....this is a 4 Academy Award winning movie based on Tom Wolfe's book of the same title. It is about America's Mercury Astronauts. There is great blending of historical footage with the story line. A lot of great and well known actors star. You owe it to yourself to experience this movie - the music is wonderful as is the whole movie. Other space-themed movie titles worth your consideration (especially in Blue Ray which you can check out at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/ : 2001 2010 Marooned Forbidden Planet The Star Trek movies Moon Pilot First Men in the Moon The Black Hole When We Left Earth (Discovery Channel) What are your favorites? Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Another end-of-the-world scenario has come and gone......who will be the next circus we all have to endure? Science moves on regardless and new research has been published that shows Einstein was right as to his "Cosmological Constant" in his theory of relativity. Einstein's equations showed that the Universe was not static, but in motion. He did away with this constant, not believing it true and later admitted it was his biggest miscalculation. You may not be aware of this, but the Universe is made up of 4% ordinary matter - stars, people, planets, another 22% is dark matter ( we don't know what this is), and the rest about 74% is dark energy. This dark energy is causing the galaxies to accelerate in their expansion - the Universe is literally flying apart. The newly installed Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) installed recently by STS-134, will help gather data to help answer questions about dark matter- Read More ABout It: http://www.nasa.g...

Hey Space Placers! If you have a telescope or are a weather fan, or both, check out this storm that has been raging on Saturn for months. It now circles the entire planet's northern hemisphere. I hope to see it this weekend and maybe get a picture if conditions are right - ie NO CLOUDS as we have had here in NVA for almost a whole week!  Read More About It:  http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/19may_saturnstorm/ Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Some pretty incredible news coming out of NASA states that Jupiter-size planets exist in such numbers in our Milky Way Galaxy that they may outnumber stars 2-to-1. Also stunning, to me at least, is that these exoplanets are "free floaters", which means they are not associated with a star - they are alone in space. They may have been ejected from their star-planetary system after being formed. It is also possible that there are Earth-size "free floater" planets as well. A joint Japan-New Zealand survey  "scanned the center of the Milky Way galaxy during 2006 and 2007, revealing evidence for up to 10 free-floating planets roughly the mass of Jupiter. The isolated orbs, also known as orphan planets, are difficult to spot, and had gone undetected until now. The planets are located at an average approximate distance of 10,000 to 20,000 light years from Earth." Read More About It: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/...

Hey Space Placers! Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted off today right on time to start mission STS-134 to the International Space Station (ISS). It was a picture perfect lift off and all systems are go at the end of Day 1. If you missed the launch see it here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=14483&media_id=88591351&module=homepage Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Another two-blog day. STS-134 and Space Shuttle Endeavour are GO for launch tomorrow, Monday, May 16th at 08:56 a.m. EDT. Read More About It: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Sorry for the lack of blogs the past few days - the supporting website was down for awhile and I have been very busy with work and watching the birth of a new telescope. Telescopes are magical in that they are comprised of metal and glass manufactered and assembled in such a way as to open a window to the Universe for those who use it. When a new telescope gathers light from an astronomical object for the first time it is an event called "First Light". George Mason University (GMU) Department of Astronomy and Physics is in the process creating a new 32-inch telescope at its Fairfax Campus. The new observatory will be, I believe, the largest on campus telescope anywhere. I am still researching this potential landmark. A big step forward in the process occurred yesterday, Saturday May 14th, when the major mechanical components of the telescope were delivered by the manufacterer and moved by a huge crane into the observatory dome. The 10+ hour event in...

Hey Space Placers! NASA has announced Endeavour's new launch date - Monday, May 16 at 8:56 a.m. EDT. STS-134 will conduct a 16-day mission to the International Space Station and deploy a $2 billion physics detector looking for exotic matter. Read MoreAbout It: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts134/index.html Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! No matter where you are make sure you take a look at the dawn dance of 4 planets that is happening the month of May. Mercury,Venus, Mars and Jupiter are in the eastern sky just before dawn and are changing their positions relative to one another almost daily. Binoculars will help your view. Read More About It: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/about/pressreleases/121379594.html Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I am CONVINCED that people want to learn more about the Universe in which they live. Part of my proof is that you are reading my blog, and the number of people who attend astronomy related events. Last Wednesday we had almost 50 people show up at George Mason University Observatory to look through telescopes at the night sky. We had a fantastic flyby of the International Space Station which was a real crowd pleaser. Saturn, the stars and general discussion was also popular. Yesterday's Astronomy Day event hosted by Northern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) had over a hundred people of all ages attend - in spite of threatening clouds. Even with the clouds people still looked at and through telescopes and listened to a variety of speakers including yours truly. The event, despite the clouds, was a success. Courtesy of P. Derby I encourage you to get out to one of these events and have a personal experience with the sky. Who knows, it could change the way you...

Hey Space Placers! Come out for some fun in the Sun and a night under the stars! Northern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) has a full day of activities for all on Saturday, May 7th, from 3pm tp 11pm at Sky Meadows State Park. Read More About It:   http://www.novac.com/astronomy-day/ Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Perhaps many of you cannot say "50 years ago I was....", but I can and I was up early watching CDR Alan Shepard,  USN, become the first American in Space. He went 116 miles in space and was suborbital in his flight. But it was an American first and answered the Russian flight of Yuri Gagarin to an extent. Al would go on to command Apollo 14 to Fra Mauro and retire as a Rear Admiral. Those were heady days indeed and I watched EVERY launch and was totally enthralled by the soon to follow Gemini missions in the mid-60's. Read More About It: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110505.html Sky Guy in VA P.S. We had a GREAT night at GMU Observatory last night. We had a BIG crowd show up and the line to the telescope was long. We had a fantastic flyby of ISS and Saturn was a big crowd pleaser.

Hey Space Placers! This Wednesday, 4 May at 9:00 pm, weather permittng, the Observatory at George Mason University will be open to the public. We will have telescopes and astronomers and yours truly there for enjoying the sky and looking through telescopes at a variety of objects. We will look at Saturn and some galaxies. Check out this link for more information: http://physics.gmu.edu/~hgeller/observing.html Hope to see you there! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! NASA Shuttle Team managers met today, 5-2-11, and updated the launch date for Endeavour and STS-134. The earliest the mission could launch is May 10th. The replacement of Load Control Assembly (LCA) -2 and the testing of the 9 systems associated with it will determine the launch date. NASA plans to meet again on Friday, 5-6-11. Read More About It: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html . Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Dawn Dance of the Planets For those of you in the DC area here are our events for May 2011. You can join me and other astronomers at George Mason University (GMU) Observatory this Wednesday, May 4th at 9 p.m. for our public observing session. Read More About It: http://physics.gmu.edu/~hgeller/observing.html . Skywatching Highlights For the whole month of May FOUR planets will be in the eastern pre-dawn sky – Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Each clear morning about 30 minutes before sunrise, it will be worth taking a look at how the planets are changing their positions relative to one another. The only problem is that they will not be very high above the horizon. An unobstructed horizon and binoculars will be needed to see this ongoing celestial dance. Read More About It: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/observingblog/117347948.html . Saturn is well up in the southeastern sky at sunset. The rings are opening wider and are spectacular in...