Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Titan Balloon Among Far-Out Concepts NASA Selects For Funding

Artist's conception of the Titan Aerial Daughtercraft on Titan, a moon of Saturn. Credit: NASA

Sometimes a good idea takes some tinkering. You have a thought that it will work, but what it really requires is you take some money and time and test it out in a small form. This principle is sound if you’re trying to do home renovation (a paint splash on a wall can let you see if the color will work) and it is especially true if you’re planning a multi-million dollar mission to another planet.

This is the thought behind the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts office, which announced a dozen far-flung drawing-board proposals that received $100,000 in Phase 1 funding for the next 9-12 months. There are vehicles to explore the soupy moon of Titan, a design to snag a tumbling asteroid, and other ideas to explore the solar system. (But be patient: These testbed ideas would take decades to come to fruition, if they are even accepted for further study and funding.)  Check out a full list of the concepts below.

Titan Aerial Daughtercraft: A small rotorcraft that can touch down from a balloon or lander, with the idea being that it can jump between several spots to do close-up views. It would then bring its samples back to the “mothership” and possibly recharge there as well. “The autonomy needed for this concept is also applicable to exciting rotorcraft mission concepts for Mars and to in-situ exploration of Enceladus,” the description stated, referring to an icy moon of Saturn.

Titan Submarine: A small submarine would dive into Kraken Mare on Saturn’s moon, and there would be plenty to explore: 984 feet (300 meters) of depth, stretching across 621 miles (1,000 km). “Kraken Mare is comparable in size to the Great Lakes and represents an opportunity for an unprecedented planetary exploration mission,” the description stated. It would explore “chemical composition of the liquid, surface and subsurface currents, mixing and layering in the ‘water’ column, tides, wind and waves, bathymetry, and bottom features and composition.”

Comet Hitchhiker: This would be a “tethered” spacecraft that swings from comet to comet to explore icy bodies in the solar system. “First, the spacecraft harpoons a target as it makes a close flyby in order to attach a tether to the target. Then, as the target moves away, it reels out the tether while applying regenerative brake to give itself a moderate (<5g) acceleration as well as to harvest energy,” the description stated.

Artist's conception of the Weightless Rendezvous And Net Grapple to Limit Excess Rotation (WRANGLER). Credit: NASA
Artist’s conception of the Weightless Rendezvous And Net Grapple to Limit Excess Rotation (WRANGLER). Credit: NASA

Weightless Rendezvous And Net Grapple to Limit Excess Rotation (WRANGLER): This idea would capture space debris and small asteroids. It will use a small nanosatellite equipped with a “net capture device” and a winch. “The leverage offered by using a tether to extract angular momentum from a rotating space object enables a very small nanosatellite system to de-spin a very massive asteroid or large spacecraft,” the description stated.

The Aragoscope: A telescope that would look through an opaque disk at a distant object, which is different from the usual mirror arrangement.”Rather than block the view, the disk boosts the resolution of the system with no loss of collecting area,” the description states. This architecture … can be used to achieve the diffraction limit based on the size of the low cost disk, rather than the high cost telescope mirror.”

Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed: A machine that would test how well bacteria from Earth could survive on Mars, which could be a precursor to “terraforming” the planet to make it more like our own. Researchers would select “pioneer organisms” and put them into a device that would embed itself into the Martian regolith (soil) in an area that would have liquid water. It would “completely seal itself to avoid planetary contamination, release carefully selected earth organisms (extremophiles like certain cyanobacteria), sense the presence or absence of a metabolic product (like O2), and report to a Mars-orbiting relay satellite,” the description states.

Artist's conception of ChipSats. Credit: NASA
Artist’s conception of ChipSats. Credit: NASA

ChipSats: Instead of having an orbiter and a lander in separate missions, why not put them in one? While there have been combinations before (e.g. Cassini/Huygens), this is a bit different: This concept would have a set of tiny sensor chips (ChipSats) that deploy from a larger mothership to make a landing on a distant planet or moon.

Swarm Flyby Gravimetry: While whizzing by a comet or asteroid, a single spacecraft would release a swarm of tiny probes. “By tracking those probes, we can estimate the asteroid’s gravity field and infer its underlying composition and structure,” the description stated.

Probing icy worlds concept: How thick is the ice on Jupiter’s Europa or Ganymede, or Saturn’s Enceladus? Open question, and makes it hard to predict how tough of a drill one would need to probe the ice — or how well life could survive. This concept would send a probe to one of these locations and receive “a naturally occurring signal generated by interactions of deep penetrating cosmic ray neutrinos” to better get a sense of the depth. This could allow for maps of the ice.

The cracked ice surface of Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL
The cracked ice surface of Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL

Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS): This would be a mission that goes deep into the solar-system and out to the heliopause, the spot where the sun’s sphere of influence gives way to the interstellar medium. Using no propellant, the spacecraft would use solar wind protons to bring it out into the solar system. “The propulsion system consists of an array of electrically biased wires that extend outward 10 to 30 km [6.2 miles to 18.6 miles] from a rotating spacecraft,” the researchers stated.

3D Photocatalytic Air Processor: A new design to make it easier to generate oxygen on a spacecraft, using “abundant high-energy light in space,” the proposal states. ” The combination of novel photoelectrochemistry and 3-dimensional design allows tremendous mass saving, hardware complexity reduction, increases in deployment flexibility and removal efficiency.”

PERIapsis Subsurface Cave OPtical Explorer (PERISCOPE): A way to probe caves on the moon from orbit. Using a concept called “photon time-of-flight imaging”, the researchers say they would be able to bounce the signal off of the walls of the canyon to peer into the crevice and see what is there.

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Hulk Smash! Collision That Formed Our Moon Shows Up In Lunar Rocks, Study Says

Artist's conception of two celestial bodies smacking into each other. Such a collision is believed to have formed Earth's moon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Billions of years ago, so the theory goes, a Mars-sized body (sometimes called “Theia”) smashed into our young planet and caused a near-catastrophe. Earth fortunately survived the risk of blowing apart, and the fragments from the crash gradually coalesced into the Moon that we see today.

Even though this happened a heck of a long time ago, scientists believe they have found traces of Theia in lunar rocks pulled from the Apollo missions.

The isotopes or types of oxygen revealed in the new research appear to be different between the Earth and the Moon. And that’s important, because it implies that a body of different composition caused the changes. “If the Moon formed predominantly from the fragments of Theia, as predicted by most numerical models, the Earth and Moon should differ,” the study states.

An airplane at about 2,400 meters above the ground passes in front of the Moon on its way to landing at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. Taken from about 70 km from Paris. Credit and copyright: Sebastien Lebrigand.
An airplane at about 2,400 meters above the ground passes in front of the Moon on its way to landing at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. Taken from about 70 km from Paris. Credit and copyright: Sebastien Lebrigand.

Scientists scanned samples from the Apollo 11, 12 and 16 missions with scanning electron microscopes that are more powerful than what was available in the 1960s and 1970s, when scientists first looked at these samples from the manned moon missions.

Before, the “resolution” of these microscopes couldn’t find any significant differences, but the new data reveals the moon rocks have 12 parts per million more oxygen-17 than the Earth rocks.

“The differences are small and difficult to detect, but they are there,” stated lead researcher Daniel Herwartz, who was formerly with the University of Gottingen and is now with the University of Cologne. “This means two things; firstly we can now be reasonably sure that the giant collision took place. Secondly, it gives us an idea of the geochemistry of Theia.”

The work was published in Science and will also be presented at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in California on June 11.

Posted on by David Dickinson

Catch the Dramatic June 10th Occultation of Saturn by the Moon

The May 15th, 2014 occultation of Saturn by the Moon as seen from Australia. (Credit: Byuki/Silveryway).

Some terms in astronomy definitely have a PR problem, and are perhaps due for an overhaul.  One such awkward term is occultation, which simply means that one celestial body is passing in front of another from an observer’s vantage point, nothing more, and nothing less. I know, the word ‘occult’ is in there, raising many a non-astronomically minded eyebrow and evoking astronomy’s hoary astrological past. You can even use it as a verb in this sense, as in to ‘occult’ one body with another. A planet or asteroid can occult a star, your cat can occult your laptop’s screen, and the Moon can occult a star or planet, as occurs on Tuesday, June 10th when the waxing gibbous Moon occults the planet Saturn for observers across the southern Indian Ocean region.

Created using Occult 4.0
The occultation footprint for the June 10th event. The solid lines denote where the occultation occurs after sunset. Created using Occult 4.0.

Of course, most of us will see a near miss worldwide. This is parallax in motion, as differing vantage points on the surface of the planet Earth see the Moon against a different starry background.

And we’re currently in the midst of a cycle of occultations of the planet Saturn in 2014, as the Moon occults it 11 times this year, nearly once for every lunation. The Moon actually occults planets 22 times in 2014, 24 if you count the occultations of 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta on September 28th, with Saturn getting covered by the Moon once again on the same date! Saturn tops the list in the number of times it’s occulted by the Moon this year, as it’s the slowest moving of the planets and fails to hustle out of the Moon’s way until November, after which a series of occultations of the ringed planet won’t resume again until December 9th, 2018.

4x selected views of the occultation/conjunction of the Moon and Saturn on June 10th worldwide. (Credit: Stellarium).
Four selected views of the occultation/conjunction of the Moon and Saturn on June 10th worldwide. (Credit: Stellarium).

The shadow footprint of the June 10th occultation just makes landfall over southwestern Australia near Perth, a slice of Antarctica, and a scattering of southern Indian Ocean islands and the southern tip of South Africa in and around Cape Town. Note that the phase of the Moon is changing by about 30 degrees of ecliptic longitude as well during each successive occultation of Saturn. Next week’s event occurs as the Moon is at a 93% waxing gibbous illuminated phase this month and soon will occur when the Moon is a crescent. What’s especially interesting is the dark limb of the Moon is always the leading edge during waxing phases; this means that any stars or planets in its way get hidden (or ingress) under its shady nighttime edge.

Looking to the southeast from latitude 30 degrees north from the US east coast at 10PM EDT. Created using Starry Night Education software.
Looking to the southeast from latitude 30 degrees north from the US east coast at 10 PM EDT. Created using Starry Night Education software.

Central conjunction for Saturn and the Moon actually occurs at around 19:00 Universal Time on June 10th. The Moon rises at around 6:00 PM local on this date, and North American observers will see Saturn 4 degrees from the limb of the Moon and at an elevation of 28 degrees above the horizon at dusk. Unfortunately, the best occultation of Saturn by the Moon for North America in 2014 occurs in the daytime on August 31st, though you can indeed catch Saturn in the broad daylight through a telescope with good sky transparency if you know exactly where to look for it… a nearby daytime Moon certainly helps!

Unlike stellar occultations, blockages of planets by the Moon are leisurely events, and lend themselves to some pretty amazing video sequences. You can actually get a sense of the motion of the Moon as you watch it slowly cover the planet’s disk, in real time. It might also be fun to catch the occultation of Saturn’s brightest moon, +9th magnitude Titan. Hey, a moon occulting a moon, a sort of cosmic irony…

Saturn spends all of 2014 in the astronomical constellation of Libra. The Moon moves on to Full on Friday the 13th — triskaidekaphobics take note — at 4:13 UT/00:13 AM EDT. This is the closest Full Moon to the northward solstice which occurs on June 21st at 10:51 UT/6:51 AM EDT, meaning that while the Sun rides high in the sky during the day, the rising Full Moon transits low to the south at night. In the southern hemisphere, the reverse is true in June.

The June Full Moon is also known as per ye ole Farmer’s Almanac as the Strawberry or Rose Moon.

So there you have it, occultations were evoked no less than 21 times in the writing of this post. We need a modern, hip, internet ready meme to supplant the term occultation… y’know, like “ring of fire” for and annular eclipse or minimoon for an apogee moon, etc… blockage? Covering? Enveloping? Let us know what you think!

 

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Which Of These Moon Pictures Catches Your Eye? NASA Asks You To Pick The Best

Five moon pictures based on data gathered by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA

If you’re a fan of moon observation, it’s lucky for you that spacecraft such as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter exist. For about the past five years, the NASA spacecraft has been in orbit around a closest large neighbor, taking images of the surface in high-definition.

To celebrate LRO’s fifth anniversary, NASA is asking members of the public to vote on which of those images (above) is their favorite. This isn’t so much a statement about the scientific data it has collected, NASA said, but more appreciating the images as art.

Voting runs from May 23 to June 6, and the winner will be announced with the full collection’s release on June 18 — the actual official fifth anniversary of the launch. You can find more information about the vote at this page.

By the way, LRO not only takes good pictures of the moon, but also of other spacecraft. You can check out its pictures of LADEE and Chang’e-3 in these past Universe Today articles.

Meanwhile, James Garvin — NASA’s chief scientist of the sciences and exploration directorate — eloquently weighs in below on his favorite images of the moon. His description of Aristarchus is interesting: “Here is Mother Nature’s expression of a gigantic landform made by a cosmic collision.” You can check out the other four below.

Posted on by Bob King

Potential Weekend Meteor Shower Will Pelt the Moon Too!

the shaded or speckled area indicates where May Camelopardalids can stoke the lunar surface. telescopic observers will want to point their telescopes to the shaded dark area at the top right of the lunar disk.

If the hoped-for meteor blast materializes this Friday night / Saturday morning (May 23-24) Earth won’t be the only world getting peppered with debris strewn by comet 209P/LINEAR. The moon will zoom through the comet’s dusty filaments in tandem with us.

Bill Cooke, lead for NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, alerts skywatchers to the possibility of lunar meteorite impacts starting around 9:30 p.m. CDT Friday night through 6 a.m. CDT (2:30-11 UTC) Saturday morning with a peak around 1-3 a.m. CDT (6-8 UTC). 

While western hemisphere observers will be in the best location, these times indicate that European and African skywatchers might also get a taste of the action around the start of the lunar shower. And while South America is too far south for viewing the Earth-directed Camelopardalids, the moon will be in a good position to have a go at lunar meteor hunting. Find your moonrise time HERE.

Earlier lunar impact on the earthlit portion of the moon. Credit: NASA
Earlier lunar impact on the earthlit portion of the moon recorded by video camera. Credit: NASA

The thick crescent moon will be well-placed around peak viewing time for East Coast skywatchers, shining above Venus in the eastern sky near the start of morning twilight. For the Midwest, the moon will just be rising at that hour, while skywatchers living in the western half of the country will have to wait until after maximum for a look:

“Anyone in the U.S. should monitor the moon until dawn,” said Cooke, who estimates that impacts might shine briefly at magnitude +8-9.

Any meteors hitting the moon will also be burning up as meteors in Earth's skies from the direction of the dim constellation Camelopardalis the Giraffe located in the northern sky below Polaris in the Little Dipper. Stellarium
Any meteors hitting the moon will also be burning up as meteors in Earth’s skies from the direction of the dim constellation Camelopardalis the Giraffe located in the northern sky below Polaris in the Little Dipper. Stellarium

“The models indicate the Camelopardalids have some big particles but move slowly around 16 ‘clicks’ a second (16 km/sec or 10 miles per second). It all depends on kinetic energy”, he added. Kinetic energy is the energy an object possesses due to its motion. Even small objects can pack a wallop if they’re moving swiftly.


Bright lunar meteorite impact recorded on video on September 11, 2013. The estimated 900-lb. space rock flared to 4th magnitude.

Lunar crescents are ideal for meteor impact monitoring because much of the moon is in shadow, illuminated only by the dim glow of earthlight. Any meteor strikes stand out as tiny flashes against the darkened moonscape. For casual watching of lunar meteor impacts, you’ll need a 4-inch or larger telescope magnifying from 40x up to around 100x. Higher magnification is unnecessary as it restricts the field of view.

I can’t say how easy it will be to catch one, but it will require patience and a sort of casual vigilance. In other words, don’t look too hard. Try to relax your eyes while taking in the view. That’s why the favored method for capturing lunar impacts is a video camera hooked up to a telescope set to automatically track the moon. That way you can examine your results later in the light of day. Seeing a meteor hit live would truly be the experience of a lifetime. Here are some additional helpful tips.

Meteorite impact flashes seen from 2005 to the present. Fewer are seen in the white areas (lunar highlands) because flashes blend in compared to those occurring on the darker lunar 'seas' or maria. Credit: NASA
Meteorite impact flashes seen from 2005 to the present. Fewer are recorded in the white areas (lunar highlands) because the flashes blend into the landscape compared to those occurring on the darker lunar ‘seas’ or maria. Click for more information on lunar impacts. Credit: NASA

On average, about 73,000 lbs. (33 metric tons) of meteoroid material strike Earth’s atmosphere every day with only tiny fraction of it falling to the ground as meteorites. But the moon has virtually no atmosphere. With nothing in the way, even small pebbles strike its surface with great energy. It’s estimated that a 10-lb. (5 kg) meteoroid can excavate a crater 30 feet (9 meters) across and hurl 165,000 lbs. of lunar soil across the surface.

A meteoroid that size on an Earth-bound trajectory would not only be slowed down by the atmosphere but the pressure and heat it experienced during the plunge would ablate it into very small, safe pieces.

NASA astronomers are just as excited as you and I are about the potential new meteor shower. If you plan to take pictures or video of meteors streaking through Earth’s skies or get lucky enough to see one striking the moon, please send your observations / photos / videos to Brooke Boen ([email protected]) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Scientists there will use the data to better understand and characterize this newly born meteor blast.

On the night of May 23-24, Bill Cooke will host a live web chat from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. EDT with a view of the skies over Huntsville, Alabama. Check it out.

 

 

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophotos: Occultation of Saturn

Saturn heading behind the Moon on May 14, 2014. Credit and copyright: Silveryway on Flickr.

Observers in Australia and New Zealand had a special treat this week: watching Saturn disappear behind the Moon during an event called an occultation. (You can read all the details of how and why this happens here in our preview article.) Catching an event like this with a camera is tricky… the bright Moon can wash out the comparatively tiny (from our vantage point) planet Saturn. But here, several astrophotographers had success. Above is a nice view from Silveryway on Flickr.

See an animation of the event below from astroblogger Ian Musgrave:

An animated gif of the occulation of Saturn by the Moon on May 14, 2014. Credit and copyright: Ian Musgrave.

Ian Musgrave from Australia used a 4″ Newtonian telescope, with a “Point and Shoot” Canon IXUS attached with inifinty to infinity focussing, 3xZoom, and a 25mm eye piece. You can see his entire set of images on his website here.

Widefield view of the occultation of Saturn on May 14, 2014. Credit and copyright: Ian Musgrave.
Widefield view of the occultation of Saturn on May 14, 2014. Credit and copyright: Ian Musgrave.

Peter Lake, also from Australia not only took images of the event, but also did a live Hangout on G+.

“Live hangouts and driving a telescope live is a tricky business,” Peter wrote on his website. “I lost focus playing around trying to improve the image due to the thin cloud.” He added that the night sky wasn’t ideal that evening. “The full moon was shining through thin clouds, washing out a bit of the detail.”

Saturn getting ready to head behind the Moon. Credit and copyright: Peter Lake.
Saturn getting ready to head behind the Moon. Credit and copyright: Peter Lake.

You can watch a replay of Peter’s Hangout below:

Saturn and the Moon diffusion. The clouds drifted across the sky, Saturn and the Moon shone bright, the view from the UK. Credit and copyright: Sarah and Simon Fisher.
Saturn and the Moon diffusion. The clouds drifted across the sky, Saturn and the Moon shone bright, the view from the UK. Credit and copyright: Sarah and Simon Fisher.

Sarah and Simon Fisher from the UK captured this “diffused” view of Saturn close the Moon on the evening of May 13, 2014.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Phobos & Deimos — The Moons of Mars Explained

Where did Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos come from? How did they end up in orbit around Mars? This cool video from the folks at Kurzgesagt answers the most-oft asked questions about these mini moons.

You should also check out their other wonderful videos, like the one about our own Moon, below, which explains how big our Moon really is. The answer might surprise you.

Continue reading “Phobos & Deimos — The Moons of Mars Explained”
Posted on by Bob King

Saturn Disappears Behind the Full Flower Moon May 14 – Watch it Live

Simulation of the moon closing in on Saturn just prior to occultation. Credit: Gianluca Masi using SkyX software

Funny thing. Skywatchers are often  just as excited to watch a celestial object disappear as we are to see it make an appearance. Early Wednesday morning (May 14) the Full Flower Moon will slip in front of  Saturn, covering it from view for about an hour for observers in Australia and New Zealand. If you don’t live where the dingoes roam, no worries. You can watch it online.And no matter where you are on the planet, the big moon will accompany the ringed planet across the sky this Tues. night-Weds. morning.


Moon-Saturn occultation from Perth, Australia Feb. 22, 2014 captured by Colin Legg

Occultations of stars happen swiftly. The moon’s limb meets the pinpoint star and bam! it’s gone in a flash. But Saturn is an extended object and the moon needs time to cover one end of the rings to the other. Planetary occultations afford the opportunity to remove yourself from planet Earth and watch a planet ‘set’ and ‘rise’ over the alien lunar landscape. Like seeing a Chesley Bonestell painting in the flesh.

Saturn and the moon tomorrow night just before midnight as viewed from the Midwestern U.S. View faces south-southeast. Stellarium
Saturn and the moon Tuesday night (May 13) just before midnight as viewed from the U.S. Stellarium

As the moon approaches Saturn, the planet first touches the lunar limb and then appears to ‘set’ as it’s covered by degrees. About an hour later, the planet ‘rises’ from the opposite limb. Planetary occultations are infrequent and always worth the effort to see.

Seen from the northern hemisphere and equatorial regions, the nearly full moon will appear several degrees to the right or west of Saturn tomorrow night (May 13). As the night deepens and the moon rolls westward, the two grow closer and closer. They’ll be only a degree apart (two full moon diameters) during Wednesday morning twilight seen from the West Coast. Northern hemisphere viewers will notice that the moon slides to the south of the planet overnight.

Map showing the region where the occultation of Saturn will be visible. Click to get the times of Saturn's disappearance and reappearance for individual cities. Times are given in UT or Universal Time. Add 9.5 hours for Australian Central Standard Time. Credit: IOTA
Map showing the region where the occultation of Saturn will be visible. Click to get times of Saturn’s disappearance and reappearance for individual cities. Times shown are UT or Universal Time. Add 9.5 hours for Australian Central Standard Time. Credit: IOTA

Skywatchers in Australia will see the moon cover Saturn during convenient early evening viewing hours May 14:

* 8:09  p.m. local time from Adelaide

* 9:05 p.m.  Brisbane

* 8:50 p.m.  Melbourne

* 8:53 p.m. Canberra

* 8:56 p.m. from Sydney (More times and a map – click HERE)

Before the occultation, Saturn will shine close to the moon’s upper right and might be tricky to see with the naked eye because of glare.

Binoculars will easily reveal the planet, but a telescope is the instrument of choice. Even a small scope magnifying at least 30x will show Saturn and its rings hovering above the bright edge of the moon. Stick around. About an hour later, Saturn will re-emerge along the moon’s lower left limb.

Saturn and its moons Tuesday night May 13 around 10 p.m. CDT. Titan's the brightest and easiest. Iapetus ranges from magnitude +10 when it's west of Saturn and we see its bright hemisphere to magnitude +12 when it's west of the planet as it will be this week. Created with Meridian software
Saturn and its moons Tuesday night May 13 around 10 p.m. CDT. Titan’s the brightest and easiest moon to see at magnitude +8.5. Iapetus ranges from magnitude +10 when it’s west of Saturn and we see its bright hemisphere to magnitude +12 when it’s east of the planet. Created with Meridian software

Meanwhile, back in the western hemisphere, we’ll watch the nearly full Flower Moon make a close pass of the planet. If you’ve had difficulty finding the celestial ring bearer, you’ll have no problem Tuesday night. Take a look at Saturn’s wonderful system of rings in your telescope – they’re tipped nearly wide open this year. For even more fun, see how many moons you can spot. And don’t forget, you can watch it online courtesy of astrophysicist Gianluca Masi. His Virtual Telescope website will broadcast the occultation live starting at 10:15 Universal Time May 14 (6:15 a.m. EDT, 5:15 CDT, 4:15 MDT and 3:15 PDT).

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Newest ‘Earthrise’ Image, Courtesy of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Moon, tiny Earth and the vastness of space,as seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Wide Angle Camera (WAC). Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

That’s Earth. That’s us. Way off in the distance as a fairly small, blue and swirly white sphere. This is the newest so-called “Earthrise” image, and it was taken on February 1, 2014 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

“LRO experiences twelve earthrises every day, however LROC is almost always busy imaging the lunar surface so only rarely does an opportunity arise such that LROC can capture a view of the Earth,” wrote LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson on the instrument’s website. “On the first of February of this year LRO pitched forward while approaching the north pole allowing the LROC WAC to capture the Earth rising above Rozhdestvenskiy crater (180-km diameter).”

Robinson went on to explain that the Earth is a color composite from several frames and the colors are very close to what the average person would see if they were looking back at Earth themselves from lunar orbit. “Also, in this image the relative brightness between the Earth and the Moon is correct, note how much brighter the Earth is relative to the Moon,” Robinson said.

Gorgeous.

Below is a gif image that demonstrates how images are combined over several orbits to create a full image from the Wide Angle Camera.

A gif image showing the “venetian blind” banding demonstrates how a WAC image is built up frame-by-frame. The gaps between the frames are due to the real separation of the WAC filters on the CCD. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

The frames were acquired at two second intervals, so the total time to collect the sequence was 5 minutes. The video is faster than reality by a factor of about 20.

Posted on by Elizabeth Howell

Winning Z-2 Spacesuit Prototype Design Gets Ready For ‘Test Campaign’

The NASA Z-2 suit will incorporate the "technology" design the public voted on. Credit: NASA

Striking a Buzz Lightyear-like pose above is the winning design for NASA’s Z-2 spacesuit prototype. The version, called “technology”, was by far the popular vote in an online contest the agency held to choose between three prototypes, garnering 62% of 233,431 votes.

While this will never be used in space, NASA said the next-generation prototype will be useful in helping design future spacesuits. And this prototype will go through a “test campaign” that includes vacuum tests, pool tests in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and in an area at the Johnson Space Center that simulates the surface of Mars.

“With the agency laser focused on a path to Mars, work to develop the technologies astronauts one day will use to live and work on Mars has already begun. Each iteration of the Z-series will advance new technologies that one day will be used in a suit worn by the first humans to step foot on the Red Planet,” NASA stated.

To learn more about the suit and the differences from its predecessor, the Z-1, check out this recent Universe Today article.