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    Return of the comet: 96P spotted by ESA, NASA satellites

    November 4, 2017, Categories  Uncategorized

    The comet entered the bottom of STEREO's view and crossed it diagonally before leaving on Oct. 28. Most of the corona has been suppressed in order to bring out the comet, leaving only the dynamic flow of the solar wind. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/STEREO/Bill Thompson/Joy Ng

    The comet entered the bottom of STEREO’s view and crossed it diagonally before leaving on Oct. 28. Most of the corona has been suppressed in order to bring out the comet, leaving only the dynamic flow of the solar wind. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/STEREO/Bill Thompson/Joy Ng

    ESA and NASA mission SOHO – Solar and Heliospheric Observatory – got a visit from an old friend this week when comet 96P entered its field of view on Oct. 25, 2017. The comet entered the lower right corner of SOHO’s view, and skirted up and around the right edge before leaving on Oct. 30. SOHO also spotted comet 96P in 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2012, making it the spacecraft’s most frequent cometary visitor.

    At the same time, comet 96P passed through a second NASA mission’s view: STEREO – Solar and Terrestria...

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    Next Mars Rover will have 23 ‘Eyes’

    November 4, 2017, Categories  Uncategorized

    A selection of the 23 cameras on NASA's 2020 Mars rover. Many are improved versions of the cameras on the Curiosity rover, with a few new additions as well. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech UPDATED AT 4:15 p.m. PDT to correct the number of EDL cameras shown in the image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    A selection of the 23 cameras on NASA’s 2020 Mars rover. Many are improved versions of the cameras on the Curiosity rover, with a few new additions as well. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech UPDATED AT 4:15 p.m. PDT to correct the number of EDL cameras shown in the image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    When NASA’s Mars Pathfinder touched down in 1997, it had five cameras: 2 on a mast that popped up from the lander, and three on NASA’s first rover, Sojourner. Since then, camera technology has taken a quantum leap. Photo sensors that were improved by the space program have become commercially ubiquitous. Cameras have shrunk in size, increased in quality and are now carried in every cellphone and laptop.

    That same evolution has returned to space...

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    Hubble sees Nearby Asteroids Photobombing Distant Galaxies

    November 4, 2017, Categories  Uncategorized

    Asteroid Trails Streak Across This Deep-Space View of Thousands of Galaxies. Photobombing asteroids from our solar system have snuck their way into this deep image of the universe taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. These asteroids are right around the corner in astronomical terms, residing roughly 160 million miles from Earth. Yet they've horned their way into this picture of thousands of galaxies scattered across space and time at inconceivably farther distances. Credit: NASA, ESA, and B. Sunnquist and J. Mack (STScI) Acknowledgment: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz (STScI) and the HFF Team

    Asteroid Trails Streak Across This Deep-Space View of Thousands of Galaxies. Photobombing asteroids from our solar system have snuck their way into this deep image of the universe taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. These asteroids are right around the corner in astronomical terms, residing roughly 160 million miles from Earth. Yet they’ve horned their way into this picture of thousands of galaxies scattered across space and time at inconceivably farther distances. Credit: NASA, ESA, and B. Sunnquist and J. Mack (STScI) Acknowledgment: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz (STScI) and the HFF Team

    Photobombing asteroids from our solar system have snuck their way into this deep image of the universe taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope...

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    Another Close-by Planetary System?

    November 3, 2017, Categories  Uncategorized

    This artist's impression shows how the newly discovered belts of dust around the closest star to the Solar System, Proxima Centauri, may look. ALMA observations revealed the glow coming from cold dust in a region between one to four times as far from Proxima Centauri as the Earth is from the Sun. The data also hint at the presence of an even cooler outer dust belt and indicate the presence of an elaborate planetary system. These structures are similar to the much larger belts in the Solar System and are also expected to be made from particles of rock and ice that failed to form planets. Note that this sketch is not to scale -- to make Proxima b clearly visible it has been shown further from the star and larger than it is in reality. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

    This artist’s impression shows how the newly discovered belts of dust around the closest star to the Solar System, Proxima Centauri, may look. ALMA observations revealed the glow coming from cold dust in a region between one to four times as far from Proxima Centauri as the Earth is from the Sun. The data also hint at the presence of an even cooler outer dust belt and indicate the presence of an elaborate planetary system. These structures are similar to the much larger belts in the Solar System and are also expected to be made from particles of rock and ice that failed to form planets. Note that this sketch is not to scale — to make Proxima b clearly visible it has been shown further from the star and larger than it is in reality. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

    ALMA discovers cold dust around ...

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