NASAs 'Curiosity' Search for Life Targets Water-Altered Rock This rock's composition is unlike any other Opportunity has investigated during nine years on Mars -- higher in aluminum and silica, lower in calcium and iron. "Based on our current solar-array dust models, we intend to reach an area of 15 degrees northerly tilt before Opportunity's sixth Martian winter," said JPL's Scott Lever, mission manager. "Solander Point gives us that tilt and may allow us to move around quite a bit for winter science observations." Northerly tilt increases output from the rover's solar panels during southern-hemisphere winter. Daily sunshine for Opportunity will reach winter minimum in February 2014. The first drive away from Esperance covered 81.7 feet (24.9 meters) on May 14. "There appears to have been extensive, but weak, alteration of Whitewater Lake, but intense alteration of Esperance along fractures that provided conduits for fluid flow," Squyres said. The Daily Galaxy via NASA/JPL Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.
NASA Earth Observatory : Home Out of this whirl: The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and companion galaxy The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy M51 (NGC 5194) appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust. This sharpest-ever image, taken in January 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, illustrates a spiral galaxy's grand design, from its curving spiral arms, where young stars reside, to its yellowish central core, a home of older stars. The galaxy is nicknamed the Whirlpool because of its swirling structure. The Whirlpool's most striking feature is its two curving arms, a hallmark of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. Some astronomers believe that the Whirlpool's arms are so prominent because of the effects of a close encounter with NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy at the outermost tip of one of the Whirlpool's arms. As NGC 5195 drifts by, its gravitational muscle pumps up waves within the Whirlpool's pancake-shaped disk. Credit:
Current Night Sky The Sky At A Glance There is a total lunar eclipse on April 15. The entire total phase will be visible from most of North America and western South America. There is an annular solar eclipse on April 29. The Moon & Planets On April 6, the First Quarter Moon passes about 6° below Jupiter. Evening Planets (after sunset) Jupiter, WMars, SE Visible at Midnight Jupiter, WMars, SSaturn, SE Morning Planets (before sunrise) Mars, WSaturn, SWVenus, EMercury, E (early April)Neptune, E Comets There are no comets brighter than magnitude 8.0 visible in April. Meteors The Lyrid meteors peak on April 22.
Photos - Camilla, un poulet en caoutchouc devenu vedette de la NASA Avez-vous déjà partagé cet article? Partager sur Facebook Partager sur Twitter Pour sensibiliser le public à sa mission d’étude, l’Observatoire des dynamiques solaires (SDO) de la NASA a mis en scène un personnage quelque peu particulier : un poulet en caoutchouc qui rêve de s’envoler dans l’espace. Camilla Corona aurait pu rester une simple et anonyme cocotte de caoutchouc destinée à divertir les animaux de compagnie, toutefois le destin en a voulu autrement. Aujourd’hui, le poulet est devenu la mascotte du département en charge de l’Observatoire des dynamiques solaires (SDO), un satellite développé par la NASA et lancé en 2010 pour étudier le soleil. Sa mission quotidienne consiste à partager ses expériences à travers les différents réseaux sociaux sur lesquels la suivent plus de 20.000 internautes. Dans un entretien téléphonique, il confie à Wired : "J’espère pouvoir emmener Camilla à la Station Spatiale Internationale et lui apporter une bonne visibilité". Un succès inattendu
on reserve Vértigo: Too Close to a Black Hole Origins Origins: Back to the Beginning September 29, 2004 NEIL deGRASSE TYSON (Astrophysicist): A hellish, fiery wasteland, a molten planet hostile to life, yet somehow, amazingly, this is where we got our start. How? How did the universe, our planet, how did we ourselves come to be? How did the first sparks of life take hold here? Right now, we're all eavesdropping on the birth pangs of the cosmos. DAVID SPERGEL (Princeton University): ...how big it is, how old it is, what's it made of, and what were the processes that made galaxies, that made us. NEIL deGRASSE TYSON: So a furious race is on to solve the ultimate mystery. ANTHONY READHEAD (California Institute of Technology): The spirit of competition is one of the things, of course, that drives scientists. Keep our fingers crossed. NEIL deGRASSE TYSON: And as our new vision of the universe emerges, strange ideas reveal themselves. STAN WOOSLEY (University of California, Santa Cruz): Stars are the ultimate alchemist. Hello. ARNO PENZIAS: Oh, yeah.