The Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler spacecraft lifted off tonight at 10:49 PM EST from Cape Canaveral. Everything has so far been going as planned. At the time of this writing (10:52 PM CST) the solid fuel has been used up and the rocket will soon detach, leaving the observatory on its own…
Category: News
News Post: T Minus 23 and Counting…
In less than 23 hours from the time of this writing, the Kepler spacecraft will launch from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral, FL, ready to take its place in orbit and begin its mission searching a patch of space for evidence of Earthlike planets. Liftoff will take place at 10:49 PM EST on Friday,…
News Post: Cassini Photos New Moon
Cassini scientists have identified the presence of a previously unknown moonlet within Saturn’s thin G-ring, as seen in this series of photos spanning about ten minutes of time. The moonlet, only about a third of a mile wide, is the bright streak traveling in the center of the ring. (The other streaks are overexposed stars in…
News Post: And The Winner Is…
The flyby photo of the fractured face of Enceladus is the winner of JPL’s poll for best Cassini photo from 2008! This amazing image was featured in my 2/15 article, rotated clockwise. View the rest of the poll results here. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
News Post: The Green Comet Cometh
This evening, February 24th, Comet Lulin will pass by Earth at its closest point during its maiden voyage through the inner solar system. Viewers will be able to see the viridian-hued visitor near the constellation Leo, in the southeastern sky. Lulin’s colors come from the cyanogen gases in its atmosphere. These are ionized by the…
News Post: Fire in the Sky
Video of a fiery chunk of material falling to Earth was captured Sunday, February 15th in Austin, TX during local Channel 8 news coverage of the Austin Marathon. While some initially thought it may be debris from the recent collision of a U.S. and Russian satellite, the FAA is saying it was in fact a…
Lights in the Dark 