Friday, August 31, 2018

SOLVING EARTH'S MYSTERIES

Hey Space Placers!

Here is a nifty video from NASA that discusses efforts to learn about Mother Earth's increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels using data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2)




Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Sky Guy in VA

Thursday, August 30, 2018

NEW HULU SERIES - "THE FIRST"

Hey Space Placers!

Hulu looks like they have a good one coming up titled "The First".  NASA's Orion and SLS are featured as is ISS.

It is about the first humans going to Mars and it has a great cast and is done by none other that Beau "House of Cards" Willimon!



Coming Sept 14.........

I can hardly wait!

Sky Guy in VA

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

GORGEOUS MOON VIDEO FROM LRO

Hey Space Placers!

Got 5 minutes?

If so, take your computer into a dark room or view at night this gorgeous video from NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio made with views my beloved Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

You won't be disappointed.



This is what the Moon looks like through a good telescope with no atmosphere to blur the view.

So beautiful.....

Sky Guy Back in VA

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Thursday, August 23, 2018

OUT OF THIS WORLD SELFIES!

Hey Space Placers!!

Here's a selfie lovers dream......off planet virtual selfies for your smartphone!

Get all the details here and selfie away!

Sky Guy headed to Scotland.....

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

WATER ICE CONFIRMED ON THE MOON

Hey Space Placers!

Water ice confirmed on the Moon. 

This precious resource needs to be mapped in detail so we know where to go for mining it for water, oxygen and rocket fuel. If present in a great amount it will form the basis for a long lasting and thriving human presence on the Moon.



The image shows the distribution of surface ice at the Moon’s south pole (left) and north pole (right), detected by NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument. Blue represents the ice locations, plotted over an image of the lunar surface, where the gray scale corresponds to surface temperature (darker representing colder areas and lighter shades indicating warmer zones). The ice is concentrated at the darkest and coldest locations, in the shadows of craters. This is the first time scientists have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface.
Credits: NASA

Sky Guy in Iceland

Monday, August 20, 2018

All About Size Video

Hey Space Placers!

Out in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of N. Iceland.

Pretty nifty video about sizes in astronomy.



Sky Guy at Sea

Friday, August 17, 2018

UPDATE ON ROVER OPPORTUNITY

Hey Space Placers!

At sea headed to Iceland and hopefully Aurora and Noctilucent Clouds. Really want to get pictures of them to add to my book which is at the publisher.

Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet
Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) wide-angle camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS


Latest on Opportunity.

Sky Guy at Sea

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Sunday, August 12, 2018

PARKER SOLAR PROBE LAUNCHED

Hey Space Placers!

GREAT night at Shenandoah National Park Night Sky Festival as the clouds cleared and we saw about a dozen Perseids including some bright ones and the glorious Milky Way!

Tonight is the Perseids peak so get out and see them!

NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe today so its off to the Sun and history.




I hope to see some Aurora on my next voyage which are caused by Earth's interaction with the Sun.

Sky Guy in VA

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

SKY GUY VIEWING ALERT!!!! THE PERSEIDS ARE HERE

Hey Space Placers!

The annual Perseid Meteor Shower is underway now and is expected to peak the night of August 12-13. With the Moon being at New phase for this year's shower from a dark sky site you could see about one Perseid a minute.
The Perseid meteors appear to stream away from the shower's "radiant" point near the border of Perseus and Cassiopeia.
Sky & Telescope

Bright 2016 Perseid
Greg Redfern

Sky Guy in VA

Monday, August 6, 2018

Friday, August 3, 2018

NASA'S FIRST NINE FOR COMMERCIAL CREW SPACEFLIGHTS

Hey Space Placers!

Finishing up my book has taken A LOT of time.

But I had to share with you NASA's announcement today of the 1st 9 U.S. astronauts to fly on SpaceX and Boeing crewed spacecraft in 2019.

NASA introduced to the world on Aug. 3, 2018, the first U.S. astronauts who will fly on American-made, commercial spacecraft to and from the International Space Station – an endeavor that will return astronaut launches to U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011. The agency assigned nine astronauts to crew the first test flight and mission of both Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. The astronauts are, from left to right: Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada, Eric Boe, Nicole Mann, Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Robert Behnken, Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover.
Back to work......

Sky Guy in VA