Blogs
Blog Archive
Europe Will Select Its Next Major Science Mission in November
Posted by Van Kane on 2013/09/25 01:22 CDT | 2 comments
The European Space Agency will announce two major science missions this November, one of which is likely to be devoted to solar system exploration.
More fancy Phobos and Deimos photography by Curiosity
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/09/24 10:19 CDT
Curiosity looked up after dark and captured more cool photos of Mars' moons. They include Phobos and Deimos passing in the night, and Phobos entering Mars' shadow.
IRIS safely in orbit, ready to eye sun's atmosphere
Posted by Jason Davis on 2013/06/28 06:01 CDT | 1 comments
IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft, was launched from Orbital Science Corporation's Stargazer carrier aircraft over the Pacific Ocean at 7:27 p.m PDT.
Comet PANSTARRS from the other side of the Sun!
Posted by Karl Battams on 2013/03/14 05:21 CDT | 8 comments
Comet PANSTARRS is delighting northern hemisphere viewers right now. But it's also big, bright, and beautiful to the STEREO spacecraft.
Curiosity catches sunspots along with Phobos and Deimos transits
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/03 07:15 CDT | 2 comments
Curiosity has been shooting photos of the Sun as Phobos and Deimos cross its face, and -- as far as I can tell -- captured sunspots as well.
Not Necessarily Your Last Venus Transit!
Posted by Jim Bell on 2012/06/04 11:24 CDT | 3 comments
Unless you are lucky and healthy enough to live for another 105 years, tomorrow will be your last chance to see a Venus transit from the surface of the Earth. But this need not be the last transit of Venus that you will ever see.
Transit of Venus June 5: Why Should You Care and How to Observe
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2012/06/02 01:56 CDT | 2 comments
A rare astronomical event occurs June 5/6. Find out why you should care and how to observe it.
Full Free Intro Astronomy Class Now Online
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2012/05/22 02:57 CDT | 1 comments
Bruce Betts' complete CSUDH Intro Astronomy and Planetary Science class is now available online. Find out how to access it, and go behind the scenes.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/05/16 09:55 CDT | 2 comments
How to enjoy a solar eclipse with your kids, making shadow magic with a pinhole viewer.
Cool video: Jupiter, its moons, a comet, and...the Sun?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/05/16 11:45 CDT | 1 comments
Here's a neat video posted by SungrazerComets (the Twitter identity of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Sungrazing Comets website) this morning. It's an animation of images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on May 13 and 14, when Jupiter was passing through solar conjunction
"False-tonal recording?" The sounds of a coronal mass ejection
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/03/15 12:26 CDT
A new "sonification" of the recent solar storm by Robert Alexander (a University of Michigan graduate student), employing data from the MESSENGER and SOHO spacecraft.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/03/07 09:27 CST
Last night the Sun unleashed a large coronal mass ejection in our direction. Here is a compilation of images from SOHO's two LASCO cameras, plus a prediction from the new space weather prediction model that I learned about at the American Geophysical Union in December. The storm will arrive at Earth on March 8.
Posted by Jason Davis on 2012/01/26 05:26 CST
Before automated space observatories like SDO could send pictures and videos of solar phenomenon in real-time, humans had to do it manually, as in the case of the groundbreaking Skylab space station missions, which featured the Apollo Telescope Mount.
Video: Comet Lovejoy entered SOHO's LASCO C3 field of view this morning!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/12/14 09:37 CST
An animation of comet Lovejoy entering the field of view of one of SOHO's Sun-monitoring cameras.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/12/06 02:39 CST
Emily reports from the Fall 2011 American Geophyisical Union meeting about advancements in space weather prediction.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/12/05 04:13 CST
A report on a press briefing about Voyager 1 at the Fall 2011 American Geophyisical Union meeting. The spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space, which scientists are calling the stagnation region.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/05/02 11:26 CDT
Space.com has taken advantage of the infinitely scrollable nature of Web pages to produce a really cool infographic on the scales of orbital distances in the solar system.
Spotting Jupiter's Moons...with a Solar Telescope!?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/04/06 12:27 CDT
I was astounded to learn this morning that SOHO can not only see Jupiter, it can actually resolve Jupiter's moons (at least its two outer ones) as points of light separate from their planet!
Mars conjunction today: Cool SOHO/SDO video
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/02/04 11:41 CST
Today Mars made its closest approach to the Sun -- as seen from Earth, that is. Why is this important?
Solar eclipses from space: Hinode and SDO
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/01/06 11:33 CST
Two spacecraft that keep their ever-watchful eyes on the Sun -- NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and JAXA's Hinode -- were doing their thing, when something large wandered past: the Moon.
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