What's Up? The Space Place

Hey Space Placers! Tonight at local midnight around the world the Waning Gibbous Moon will be joined in the southeast sky by the bright planet Mars. This will be a neat sight to see as the Moon and Mars will be close together as they rise and remain close all night. Mars is getting closer to Earth by the second and will continue to get brighter until July 31, 2018 when it will be at its closest since 2003. Go outside and see the duo no matter where you live.....it will be worth it. Oh, and now that you know where Mars is watch it get brighter over the next few weeks - it is quite the sight to see. Asteroid Day 110 years ago today the equivalent of 5-10 million tons of TNT exploded above Tunguska, Siberia and took out 80 million trees across 800 square miles. We know it was caused by an incoming comet or more likely an asteroid. Fortunately, no one was killed. If the Tunguska Event were to happen over a large city, a lot of people would die and be injured. That is the fact...

Hey Space Placers! NASA announced this week that James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) won't launch until 3/30/21. This is a significant delay and will cost an additional $800 million to finish JWST which will require Congressional approval. A LOT going on here - read all about it . Make sure you read the IRB report as it is very telling. NASA & Northrop Grumman got to get it right on the ground so JWST is right in space, so TEST, TEST, TEST AND TEST AGAIN!!!!! Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! UPDATED: SKY DID CLEAR & HERE ARE PICS: Almost Full Strawberry Moon w/ Saturn lower R Almost Full Strawberry Moon w/ Saturn lower R Almost Full Strawberry Moon w/ Saturn far lower right Almost Full Strawberry Moon All around the world the  Full Strawberry Moon meets the planet Saturn  the night to June 27-28. Saturn will be right next to the Moon in the middle of the Milky Way which you won't be able to see very well because of the Moon's glare. Saturn is directly opposite the Sun today which marks its closest and brightest appearance for 2108. In almost any telescope the rings are visible and make for a memorable sight. At midnight you can see three bright planets as in this photo I took - Jupiter (R), Saturn in the Milky Way and Mars L. 3 Planets in a row - Jupiter (R), Saturn in the Milky Way just inside the sats clouds on the left, and Mars (L) Greg Redfern  It won't be clear for me but I hope it will be for ...

Hey Space Placers! Here is an excellent article about the Moon , its formation and what took place in the 500 million years afterwards. Massive bombardments create huge impact basins that filled with lava 4 billion years ago NASA Be sure to click on the NASA Viz link to see some great visualizations about the Moon from NASA. The Moon will be full on June 28th so take a look at the gray areas - the Maria - that form the 'Man in the Moon', 'Lady in the Moon' and other visuals. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Here's a video about NASA's InSight mission . We'll learn alot about Mars and planets in general from this mission. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Enjoy this video from the Smithsonian about its "Destination Moon" tour . If you are in the DC area tomorrow don't forget about Astronomy Night on the National Mall . Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Happy Summer for Northern Hemisphere Happy Winter for Southern Hemisphere https://wtop.com/the-space-place/2018/06/look-up-summer-brings-parade-of-planets-astronomy-events-around-dc/ Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Take a look at this amazing image that shows what is in all probability 3 new planets : The gaps between the rings are likely due to a depletion of dust and in the middle and outer gaps astronomers also found a lower level of gas. The depletion of both dust and gas suggests the presence of newly formed planets, each around the mass of Saturn, carving out these gaps on their brand new orbits. Credit: ESO, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); A. Isella; B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF). Discovered using the  Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) these are considered to be the first three planets discovered by ALMA - that's how strong the evidence is that there are new exoplanets in this  system. The parent star  HD 163296 is only 4 million years old so once again we are seeing how planets are a natural byproduct of stellar birth. Our solar  system at 4.6 billion years old is ancient compared to this one. Sky Guy in VA ...

Hey Space Placers! Hard to believe it has been nine years since Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Remote Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) launched. I saw both of these lunar bound spacecraft while they were being built and wrote the June 2009 Sky and Telescope magazine article about their 2-for-1 mission launch. Me and LCROSS at NASA Ames  Me and LRO at NASA Goddard Humanity is going back to the Moon and LRO will finally have some company with the upcoming Chinese Chang'e 4 and 5 missions. Here's to more good data LRO and thank you LCROSS for you daring demise in search of lunar water in Cabeus Crater. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! All around the world people can see the Waxing Crescent Moon and brilliant Venus in the West after sunset tonight. You can't miss it..... Enjoy the view and try taking a pic with any camera. Earthshine from our planet's clouds and oceans will illuminate the dark portion of the Moon - the part that is not illuminated by the Sun - so that you can see craters and the Maria (impact basins). Get out and enjoy the view..... Oh, and that bright "star" in the south is Jupiter. The Milky Way will be up too when it is dark as you saw in my pics yesterday. Enjoy...... Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Up at Shenandoah National Park Big Meadow last night and got a few pics to share. Gt a lot of sky glow due to the clouds but the sky still won the light pollution battle! Bright Mars, Saturn and Jupiter Saturn and Antares & Milky Way The REAL Skyline Drive is the Milky Way Galaxy. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! A HUGE dust storm on Mars has shut down NASA's 15 years on Mars Rover Opportunity due to lack of solar power. This series of images shows simulated views of a darkening Martian sky blotting out the Sun from NASA’s Opportunity rover’s point of view, with the right side simulating Opportunity’s current view in the global dust storm (June 2018). The left starts with a blindingly bright mid-afternoon sky, with the sun appearing bigger because of brightness. The right shows the Sun so obscured by dust it looks like a pinprick. Each frame corresponds to a tau value, or measure of opacity: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about Opportunity, visit  http://www.nasa.gov/rovers  and  http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .  Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/T...

Hey Space Placers! Here is my WTOP story  about gravitational waves as told by Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Rainer Weiss. Dr. Rainer Weiss Credit: Greg Redfern Enjoy..... Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! I have a big day tomorrow as I get to interview one-on-one Dr. Rainer Weiss, a 2017 Nobel Prize-Physics winner. CREDIT: LIGO Half of the award went to Dr. Weiss for his pioneering work on Gravitational Waves (GWs) . He designed the instrument that led to the 9/14/15 detection of gravitational waves from two merging black holes. The other half of the Nobel Prize went to  Kip Thorne and Barry Barish for their work on the detection of  GWs. I hope to share with you on Wednesday the results..... Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! The movie based on Neil Armstrong's biography is called FIRST MAN and is due in theaters October 18. Watch the trailer and I think you will get goosebumps as I did at seeing all of that NAS hardware including: X-15 rocket plane Gemini-Titan Apollo-Saturn Apollo 11 I.CAN.HARDLY.WAIT No matter the acting, which I am sure will be good, the hardware sets will be the real stars of the show for me ;-) Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! NASA's hunt for life on Mars moved forward a bit yesterday with the announcement that the Curiosity rover had found organic material in an ancient lakebed and discovered seasonal spikes in methane gas. NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered ancient organic molecules on Mars, embedded within sedimentary rocks that are billions of years old.Credit: NASA/GSFC  To me the best quote in the news release is this one: "Are there signs of life on Mars?" said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, at NASA Headquarters. "We don't know, but these results tell us we are on the right track." It is becoming clear that the search for life in the Universe beyond our own planet can focus right here in our solar system. Water abounds on planets and moons in clouds, in craters, poles that never see sunlight and under ice warm salt oceans. And one thing our planet has shown us is that life can live in the most ext...

Hey Space Placers! The New Horizons spacecraft is alive, well and AWAKE after an extended hibernation period . The plucky Pluto explorer is in the process of preparing for its 1/1/19 flyby of ULTIMA THULE , a Kuiper Belt Object called 2014 MU 69. Artist ' s impression of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountering 2014 MU69, a Kuiper Belt object that orbits one billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto, on Jan. 1, 2019.   Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Retute/Steve Gribbe This will be something to see...... Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! 74 years ago today allied troops, airmen and sailors invaded Hitler's Europe at Normandy, France. Thousands were killed. The European Theater of WW II would end early in the following year with millions saved and liberated. The world must pause and remember this day that marked the beginning of the end of the dark forces that led to the great global conflict. If it weren't for the success of D-Day paid for with the blood and death of those thousands, who knows what might have happened. To stand on Omaha Beach and then the embankment overlooking it is to understand why there are thousands in the nearby Normandy Cemetery. Sky Guy in VA Remembers

Hey Space Placers! Are you curious about black holes and gravitational waves? I have blogged about them often and now I have a real treat for you. Got about an hour? Well, a shade under 51 minutes actually. Sit back and tune in to this video about "Black Holes Last Tango in Space: LIGO and the Dawn of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy". It is an excellent talk given by a human that would know about the subject as he is Dr.  David Reitze,  Executive Director, LIGO Laboratory,  from the California Institute of Technology. There will be much more to learn about the Universe and black holes from gravitational wave astronomy. Stay tuned. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! Ever wonder how our place in the Universe, the solar system formed? Here is a great 4K video that gives us insight on how astronomers think the solar system came to be. It also gives a description of the NASA  OSIRIS-REx  mission which will reach the asteroid Bennu in December of this year. The spacecraft is in good health and will begin its    last   deep space   maneuver June 28 and instrument checkout in July. I n the video chondrules (thought to be the first solid matter to form in the solar system and basic building blocks for planets) are mentioned. Here is what a large chondrule looks like - it is the large gray spherical shape in this Chelyabinsk meteorite specimen . Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! An asteroid - a very small one - was discovered on Saturday just hours before it was due to hit Earth.  This is the third time this has happened and I am sure there will be a meteorite expedition launched to try and find pieces of the space rock. The planet gets hit everyday with space debris, occasionally man-made but most often the cosmic kind from asteroids and comets. We celebrate Asteroid Day every June 30th to remind us of the dangers of these space rocks. That date was chosen because it was when the largest impact event in modern history took place over Tunguska, Siberia and wiped 2000 km of forest - the equivalent of a large hydrogen bomb detonation of millions of tons of TNT. Sky Guy in VA

Hey Space Placers! An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander on the lunar surface. (Blue Origin Illustration) Be sure to read this  article about how Jeff Bezos wants to go to the Moon and stay in a BIG way. I for one sure hope it happens as the future of humanity to survive and thrive depends on it. Sky Guy in SOGGY VA

Hey Space Placers! Enjoy this video on the Space Launch System (SLS). Some interesting facts are provided. Sky Guy in VA