Tag: "nasa"
Snows of the Solar System
Snow is quite unusual for the Oakland Hills. Is snow so unusual for the rest of the solar system?
Post on Dec 19, 2008 by Ben Burress
Reporter's Notes: Looking for Mars Life on Planet Earth
When I hear about searching for alien life, it's hard not to think about all those science fiction movies with little green men and Earth-destroying spacecraft. But it's an idea that's far from science fiction for scientists at NASA Ames.
Post on Nov 14, 2008 by Lauren Sommer
Last Gasps from Phoenix?
It seems like only last month that we witnessed the drama of NASA's Phoenix landing on Mars. We were on the edge of our seats in Chabot's planetarium during those "seven minutes of terror" as Phoenix burned a meteoric path through Mars' atmosphere.
Post on Nov 07, 2008 by Ben Burress
Mercury MESSENGER: The View Is Great; Wish You Were Here
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has made yet another swing past our Solar System's innermost planet, Mercury. But, like the traveler who just can't seem to get enough sightseeing in, this was another whirlwind flyby set to the furious tempo of a camera snapping pics–about 1200 in all…
Post on Oct 22, 2008 by Ben Burress
Asteroid 2008 TC3 Strikes Earth!
News Flash! Asteroid 2008 TC3, on a collision trajectory with Earth, made a meteoric atmospheric entry into the skies above Sudan, Central Africa Tuesday morning, October 7th (local time-about 7:46 PM PDT). Entering the atmosphere at a speed of 12.8 kilometers per second, it exploded with the force of a low-level nuclear bomb…
Post on Oct 09, 2008 by Ben Burress
Opportunity is Still Rockin'!
Is there life on Mars? Well, that investigation is still ongoing–but from a cybernetic perspective, the surface of Mars is literally crawling with it: in the form of robots!
Post on Aug 29, 2008 by Ben Burress
Mars Phoenix: Is It Ice Yet?
Since witnessing the historic landing of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander on May 25, I've been holding my breath to learn if Phoenix has made the discovery it set out to make: whether it landed on a vast deposit of water ice near Mars' northern polar cap.
Post on Aug 15, 2008 by Ben Burress
Messages from Mercury
MESSENGER is the space probe that NASA sent to Mercury to give the Solar System's innermost planet the first up-close look since 1975, when Mariner 10 flew by. The MESSENGER's main mission will begin in earnest when it returns to Mercury and finally settles into an orbit around the planet, on March 18th 2011.
Post on Jul 30, 2008 by Ben Burress
Planetary Robotic Roundup
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury-artist concept. Photo by: NASA I've been waiting for the "whole story" on Martian ice at the Phoenix lander site to unfold more completely, but the chemical analyses have not yet run their full courses-so I've decided to widen the focus on this blog to give a status report on current [...]
Post on Jul 04, 2008 by Ben Burress
Phoenix on Ice?
A patch of what might be ice, exposed by Phoenix's landing rockets.So, did it land on ice? Huh? Did it? Two blogs ago I wrote about the then upcoming landing of the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars, near the Northern polar ice cap (Probing the Martian Pole). The entire point of landing on Mars' extreme northern [...]
Post on Jun 09, 2008 by Ben Burress
Reporter's Notes: Exoplanets
Artistic rendition of exoplanet Gilese 436 b, created in Celestia In the past fifteen years, the search for other Earths– and possibly life– outside our own solar system has taken off. As of May 2008, 293 extrasolar planets have been confirmed. Most of these planets are big, gas giants like our own Jupiter but new [...]
Post on May 30, 2008 by Andrea Kissack
Nap time for the Sun: solar cycles
Extreme close-up of the Sun's visible surface, showing 'bubbling' cells of convecting gas–each the size of Northern California. credit: Hinode JAXA/NASA/PPARCBy all accounts, a new cycle-Cycle 24-in solar activity has begun… something you probably didn't notice since the beginning of a solar cycle is quite subtle…. First things first: what is a solar cycle, and [...]
Post on Feb 15, 2008 by Ben Burress
Astronomy on the Wing
More than meets the eye: The constellation Orion in visible light (left) and infrared (right) Visible light image: Akira Fujii; Infrared image: Infrared Astronomical SatelliteSome months ago my blog, "SOFIA: Fly By Night," talked about the up-and-coming astronomy ace of the night skies, SOFIA: the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy–a 2.5 meter infrared telescope built [...]
Post on Feb 01, 2008 by Ben Burress
Near Mars Object
Victoria Crater on Mars, similar in size to the crater the near-Mars asteroid 2007 WD 5 would have produced. Credit: NASA/Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter The possibility that a sizable asteroid would strike the planet Mars on January 30th temporarily raised the excitement level in the astronomical community to a pretty high level in the last couple [...]
Post on Jan 16, 2008 by Ben Burress
Postcards from Mars
Picture of the edge of Victoria Crater superimposed with image of the rover Opportunity. Credit: NASA/JPLMars is not only on the horizon, it's become a sky-high creature of the night…and so, it's time to blog about the Red Planet once again, and to showcase a few favorite pictures from the veteran robots presently exploring that [...]
Post on Dec 07, 2007 by Ben Burress
The Five Worlds of 55 Cancri
Artist concept of a Neptune-sized planet orbiting the star 55 Cancri. Credit: NASAAnother milestone has been reached in the two-decade old search for "extrasolar planets," a.k.a exoplanets– planets that orbit stars other than our Sun. In November it was announced that the leading exoplanet research team– the California and Carnegie Planet Search Team, led on [...]
Post on Nov 23, 2007 by Ben Burress
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