LATEST ON ASTRONAUT HEALTH

Hey Space Placers!

Here's an article on the latest results from NASA on astronaut health during long term spaceflight.

No show stoppers for a 2 1/2 year Mars mission.

Sky Guy in VA

6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT OPPY

Hey Space Placers!

A follow up to yesterday's (2/14/19) blog about Opportunity.

I chose this pic because it is a fitting pictorial to the road travelled by Oppy during her almost 15 years making 28 MILES of tracks in the Martian soil.

The Road Well Travelled on Mars by Opportunity
In this navigation camera raw image, NASA's Opportunity Rover looks back over its own tracks on Aug. 4, 2010
NASA/JPL

6 things you should know about Opportunity.

Sky Guy in VA

THANKS, OPPPY

Hey Space Placers!

NASA made it official - Mars Rover Opportunity is dead. The Agency made one last attempt to make contact and there was no response. So, for a vehicle that was designed for 90 days operation in the harsh environment of Mars finishes an almost 15 YEAR run!



In the end Mars' great dust storm of 2018 robbed Oppy of solar power and the Rover joined its twin, Spirit, in becoming a permanent part of the martian landscape. But oh what a marvelous 28 miles of roving and discovery did Oppy provide us.

Thanks, Oppy......

Sky Guy in VA

ULITMA THULE SURPRISE

Hey Space Placers!

I'm back.

Big finding from New Horizons fly by of Ultima Thule - SURPRISE!!!   It's flat and not spherical.

Scientists' understanding of Ultima Thule has changed as they review additional data. The "old view" in this illustration is based on images taken within a day of New Horizons' closest approach to the Kuiper Belt object on Jan. 1, 2019, suggesting that both of "Ultima" (the larger section, or lobe) and "Thule" (the smaller) were nearly perfect spheres just barely touching each other. 

But as more data were analyzed, including several highly evocative crescent images taken nearly 10 minutes after closest approach, a "new view" of the object's shape emerged. Ultima more closely resembles a "pancake," and Thule a "dented walnut."

The bottom view is the team's current best shape model for Ultima Thule, but still carries some uncertainty as an entire region was essentially hidden from view, and not illuminated by the Sun, during the New Horizons flyby. The dashed blue lines span the uncertainty in that hemisphere, which shows that Ultima Thule could be either flatter than, or not as flat as, depicted in this figure. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

NASA's DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2019

Hey Space Placers!

NASA held its annual "Day Of Remembrance" for astronauts killed in Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia. There is risk in human spaceflight and we will lose more heroes in our quest for the stars. But we must never stop our quest to explore the realm of space.

Sky Guy Greg in the Pacific Ocean

MUST SEE FOR JUPITER LOVERS!

Hey Space Placers!

ENJOY!!!!

It is a LARGE coverage video just like Jupiter!

Sky Guy in Puerto Montt

A MUST READ ON POSSIBILITY OF AN ALIEN SPACE SHIP FLYBY

Hey Space Placers!

Take a few minutes to read this great Washington Post article about the top astronomer at Harvard University who thinks it is a distinct possibility that an alien space ship flew through our solar system in the form of 'Oumuamua' which I blogged about previously.



My position is that ANYTHING is possible in this Universe we live in. BUT you have to have peer reviewed data to back up your theories and claims. Professor Loeb has published a paper on the subject, and like Carl Sagan before him, has run afoul of his peers due to the publicity and controversial nature of his claim. 

Good for him and us......we need scientists of his caliber who are not afraid to say what they think based upon their interpretation of data. Good for him and us that the peer review process and the scientific process is at work to chew upon his work and move forward to gather more data.

Here's to more data and to another Oumuamua passing through!

Sky Guy in Puerto Chacabuco

CHANG'E 4 MAKES MAJOR DISCOVERY ON LUNAR FAR SIDE

Hey Space Placers!

The Yutu 2 rover rolls away from the Chang'e 4 lander shortly after the mission's historic Jan. 3 touchdown on the moon's far side.

Credit: CNSA/CLEP VIA Space.com

China's Chang'e 4 lander and rover Yutu 2, survived their first lunar night and made a major discovery - the far side of the Moon is colder than the near side.

The temp was recorded as -310 degrees F! For comparison the temp on the near side is about -280 degrees F. It is thought that perhaps the lunar soil differs between the two sides that would account for the temp difference.

Sky Guy Underway in Chilean Fiords

LATEST UPDATE ON EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE

Hey Space Placers!

Here is the latest on the Event Horizon Telescope Project that is trying to image the event horizon around our Milky Way Galaxy's supermassive black hole.

From EarthSky.org
Here’s what astronomers see when they look in the direction of the galaxy’s center with NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Sagittarius A* is in this image, but, so far, hot gas has obscured our view of the supermassive black hole’s event horizon. Ellipses indicate light echoes. Image via ESO.

Sky Guy in Punta Arenas, Chile