What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! Today (4/29/150 NASA released images from the New Horizons spacecraft  that shows SURFACE features on Pluto. (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute) The images strongly suggest the presence of a polar cap on Pluto and show the main moon of Pluto Charon in orbit around the dwarf planet - HOW COOL IS THAT!? We are fast approaching July 14, 2015 when New Horizons will flyby the Plutonian system. Each day the view of Pluto gets bigger and better. Stay tuned! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Astronomers have found three new " Super Earths " orbiting a nearby star. The star, HD 7924, is located 54 light years away which is really close by. Artist’s impression of a view from the HD 7924 planetary system looking back toward our sun, which would be easily visible to the naked eye. Since HD 7924 is in our northern sky, an observer looking back at the sun would see objects like the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds close to our sun in their sky. Art by Karen Teramura & BJ Fulton, UH IfA. These extrasolar planets -also known as exoplanets -  orbit their star closer than our own planet Mercury orbits the Sun. They orbit their star in just 5, 15 and 24 days! By comparison Mercury orbits the Sun every 88 days. Thousands of extrasolar planet candidates have been discovered and it is estimated that there may be at least a 100 billion extrasolar planets in our Milky Way Galaxy . To date there has been no exoplanet discovery made...

Hey Space Placers! NASA/JHU  Please   Read my previous blog for background on NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft. The spacecraft completed its final maneuver on April 24th . The spacecraft is predicted to impact Mercury on April 30th and make a crater 52 feet across. We will not be able to see this crater until there is another orbital mission, if ever, to Mercury. UPDATE: The European Space Agency (ESA) has a mission to Mercury planned for launch in 2017 with an arrival of 2024 MESSENGER has been a very successful mission and has given us vast amounts of information, over 10 terabytes, about the planet closest to the Sun. It is now an explored world that will keep planetary scientists busy for quite awhile trying to understand all that MESSENGER has told us. Well done MESSENGER. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Read my column on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) which was launched into orbit 25 years ago today. HST's 25th Anniversary Photo NASA Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! "Are We Alone" was a famous book written decades again about the question of whether humanity is alone in the Universe. Countless sci-fi movies and TV series have occupied our thoughts and imaginations about whether other intelligent life in the Universe exists. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is being carried out world-wide but SETI.org  and NASA are front runners in the search for life elsewhere in the Universe. NASA A recent study of 100,000 galaxies revealed no signs of ET but the search will go on in a big, new way. NASA's "Nexus for Exoplanet System Science" or NExSS may be our best bet. NExSS will be a multi-disciplinary approach to study the Universe for signs of life other than ours on Earth. Every applicable science discipline and spacecraft, instrument and telescope will be applied to this search. For me personally I have publicly commented that "life always finds a way" and that I beli...

Hey Space Placers! A double Viewing ALERT. Venus and the Moon will be a stunning sight in the sky after sunset on April 21 in the western sky. Be sure to check out this beautiful alignment: Look for Earthshine on the Moon . Binoculars will help in the view. The night of April 22/23 is the peak of the Lyrid Meteor Shower. This is worth a peek as it can produce some bright meteors. You can read about the Lyrids here   and here  ( including a live feed during the shower). Here's to clear skies! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Been getting caught up with family the last couple of days after returning to the US. NASA's highly successful  MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging  (MESSENGER) spacecraft is on a death watch that is expected to conclude sometime on  April 24th, 2015, when the spacecraft slams into the far side of Mercury at almost 9,000 mph. Artist's View of MESSENGER over Mercury Credits: NASA/JHU APL/Carnegie Institution of Washington The biggest finding to me from MESSENGER is the fact that abundant water exists at the poles of Mercury in permanently shadowed regions (PSR's). PSRs are places in the solar system - our Moon has them at the poles - where sunlight has never reached. This has allowed for the deposit of water from countless asteroid and comet impacts, both of which contain lots of water, to accumulate in these frigid areas. Mercury has enough water in its polar PSR's to cover an area the size of the st...

Hey Space Placers! Here is a historic pic of far flung dwarf planet Pluto and its biggest moon Charon. It was taken at a distance of 71 million miles on 4/9/15 by the New Horizons spacecraft which is enroute to a flyby of the Pluto system on July 14, 2015 . NASA The best news is that the view is only going to get BETTER as New Horizons gets closer! I can hardly wait. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I am back in the USA and am getting caught up on a LOT of space and astronomy news. I will try and get the highlights out in the next few days but I HAD to share the latest pics from ESA's Rosetta Mission of Comet 67P with you . Be sure to download the hi-res JPEG if you can - it is worth it. ESA The comet is 4 months from being closest to the Sun. It is starting to heat up as it gets ever closer to the Sun and we are beginning to see jets of material coming from the comet. We get excellent views as it rotates and from the Rosetta spacecraft orbiting very close to Comet 67P. The view is only going to get better and more amazing in the months to come. Sky Guy Back in the USA

Hey Space Placers! I gave my last presentation today, 4-13-15 on board Holland America’s Statendam. Titled “The Universe and You” I provide attendees a look at our planet, the solar system and the Universe as a whole. It is a far reaching topic that I hope broadens the knowledge and wonder of those who hear it. I am ALWAYS humbled by the enormity of the Universe and our ability to ponder it with our telescopes, instruments, machines and most importantly, our minds. We know much but have so much farther to go in our understanding and true comprehension of our Universe. Perhaps the most profound  thought my audience leaves with is that we may be only one of MANY universes that exist simultaneously.  The most amazing experiences (and there were many in this 1st time visit to these countries) that I am taking away from this 16 day cruise to Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico boils down to two: Mayan Cosmology and Lucas.  I have to read...

Hey Space Placers! Starting on April 10th brilliant and beautiful Venus will be passing by the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters star cluster in the western sky after it gets dark.  You do not need any observing aid to see this celestial spectacle as Venus is easily visible and will be just to the left of the Pleiades star cluster. Binoculars will really enhance the view and I highly recommend using them if you have them. The light we see in the sky from the Sun, Moon, planets and stars all travels at 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second. This is the speed limit for light in the Universe as determined by Albert Einstein. The Sun is 8 light minutes from Earth (93 million miles) , the Moon is 1.3 light seconds (about 230,000 miles) and the planets are light minutes and light hours from Earth while the stars are light years from us.  A light year is 6 TRILLION miles. On April 10-12, Venus is about 100 million miles from Earth while the Pleiade...

Hey Space Placers! Sorry for this abbreviated Viewing Alert but I am at sea. The 4/4/15 lunar eclipse will be visible over a wide part of the U.S. and the Pacific. Check out these  articles to find out what you will see where you live. I will try and observe/photograph the eclipse at sea on the Statendam starting at 4 a.m. local time. We will be just above the equator. From Spaceweather.com LUNAR ECLIPSE:  Sky watchers on the Pacific side of Earth can see a brief but beautiful lunar eclipse on Saturday morning, April 4th.  The Moon will turn red, and possibly turquoise, too, as the lunar disk passes through the shadow of our planet.  Totality lasts for less than 5 minutes, so it is important to be outside at the right moment.  Check http://spaceweather.com for viewing times and more information. Science News https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/saturday’s-lunar-eclipse-will-be-total-brief Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I am ‘down under’ - below the equator, 12 degrees South  - and it has been a LONG time since I have done that, 33 years to be exact!  I enjoyed seeing Lima, Peru, especially the birds and sea lions located on some islands just off the coast of the city.  We took a small motor launch out to the islands and it was quite the trip. There were an estimated 10 THOUSAND sea lions frolicking in the water and laying out in the rare sunny day. They make quite the noise and I have listened to my video of them several times to hear them - quite the amazing memory I must say. Here you can see them in the water and on the island.  There were also very large pelicans, Humboldt Penguins, yes Penguins (!!) to see as well as Turkey Vultures which I could not distinguish from my fave bird of prey in Virginia. They soared overhead in large numbers and in binoculars I could see the tell tale red head and white color of their feathers to ID them. ...