What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! Two ALERTS for you in case I cannot get the 'net at Shenandoah National Park during Night Sky Festival. See all 5 visible planets in the sky shortly after sunset starting tonight and continuing through the first week or so of August. Details are here . Also, tomorrow morning check out the Waning Crescent Moon and the bright star Aldebaran -  details here   Hoping for clear skies the next few nights but as usual the odds are stacked against me..... Enjoy my pic of Polaris and the stars and galaxy revolving around it. STAR TUNNEL Greg Redfern Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Join us at the Shenandoah National Park Night Sky Festival Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Ever wanted to do science stuff? You can make REAL contributions to astronomy and the other sciencesby participating in a variety of Citizen Scientist projects at  https://www.zooniverse.org . Go to their website and browse the various projects that they are carrying out over the Web. If you find one that interests you spend some time looking the site over and if so inclined, sign up and start contributing. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Enjoy this view of the Apollo 11 landing through Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) images. After Eagle has landed visit the LRO website to SEE Eagle's decent stage and the other Apollo landing sites . Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! On This Date in history, July 20, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon while Viking 1 landed on Mars. Read all about it here  . CREDIT: NASA CREDIT: NASA Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! A  VERY interesting story on how Twitter started the ball rolling on researching an 'X' in our galactic center. MWG X Credit: NASA/JPL-CalTech Fascinating..... Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Enjoy this simulated landing sequence on Pluto. We celebrated the 1st anniversary of the flyby on July 2014. Speaking of anniversaries, it is the 47th year since the launch of Apollo 11 . Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Read all about NASA's next Mars Rover due for launch in 2020 . NASA/JPL-Caltech Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! NASA's Juno spacecraft returned its first pic from Jovian orbit: Beautiful HALF PHASE Image Credit  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Read More About It Here . Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I just LOVE how the Universe throws us curve balls. This series of pics shows what went from a ho-hum nothing special elliptical galaxy to a whopper of a galaxy 7 times larger than our own Milky Way Galaxy AND formed in a 'Frankenstein' manner. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech/SDSS/NRAO Read the amazing story here . Truly amazing....makes me wonder what else is "out there" that we are missing because it is "ho hum" in optical wavelengths. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Credit:   NASA  and  ESA Acknowledgment:  J. Hester (ASU) and M. Weisskopf ( NASA /GSFC) The latest released Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image ,  the Crab Nebula, M1. For comparison here is one of my pics of M-1taken in a 10-inch telescope. You can see the reason why it is called the Crab Nebula. G. Redfern Sky Guy in Cloudy VA

Hey Space Placers! Tonight and tomorrow night the waxing Crescent Moon will be keeping Jupiter company in the western sky. Be sure to look for them after sunset and wave at Juno! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Take a few minutes to read this Q and  A about the Big Bang & JWST . Good information from a Nobel Prize winner. Sky Guy in VA

HEY SPACE PLACERS! Hugs All Around at JPL NASA JPL/Cal-Tech Image Juno is safely in orbit around Jupiter! What a relief and triumphant success for NASA and all involved. Get the details here. If your skies are clear tonight make sure you look at Jupiter, the brightest "star" in the southwest sky at sunset. Imagine Juno there in orbit.... We should see our first images by perhaps Thursday from the JunoCam. Sky Guy in VA

He Space Placers! For my fellow Americans, Happy 4th of July! NASA Northern & Southern Lights To Be Studied By Juno Hubble Space Telescope NASA/ESA For humanity, read all about NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter . Today Juno hopefully goes into orbit around Jupiter. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Check out these videos to learn about NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter. If all goes well the solar powered spacecraft will fire its main engine tomorrow night to enter robot around Jupiter. Take a look in the western sky at sunset and see bright Jupiter and wave at Juno. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I am back in VA and will be posting some pics tomorrow of Mount Wilson Observatory. In the meantime be sure to check out this video on Rosetta & Philae & Comet 67P: