Eclipse of the Moon

Moon Slide Slim
Credit & Copyright: Stefan Seip (TWAN)

Explanation: No special filters – or even a telescope – are required to enjoy a leisurely lunar eclipse. In fact, watched from all over the night side of planet Earth, these regular celestial performances have entertained many casual skygazers. Still, this eye-catching picture of a lunar eclipse may look unfamiliar.

To make it, astroimager Stefan Seip set his camera on a tripod and locked the shutter open during the total lunar eclipse of March 3, 2007. The resulting image records the trail of the Moon (and narrower trails of stars) sliding through the night. Reddish hues common during the total phase of a lunar eclipse, are evident along the darker, slimmer portion of the Moon trail.

At least part of tonight’s lunar eclipse will be visible in clear skies over the Americas, Europe, Africa and western Asia. The eclipse lasts over three hours from start to finish, with about 50 minutes of totality.

Tonight’s eclipse is the last total lunar eclipse until December of 2010.

maryt

Hubble Telescope

December 9th, 1993 : An historic mission to repair the Hubble Telescope ended and is considered a complete success with Hubble back in action. The repair involved a number of space walks with the longest made by Story Musgrave and Jeff Hofman spending seven hours and 21 minutes on their final task to unravel the 40 ft solar panels which power Hubble.

Via Hubblesite.org:

Hubble was designed to be repaired and upgraded by astronauts, and these servicing missions have occurred several times since Hubble’s launch in 1990. NASA has selected a crew for the upcoming servicing, and the astronauts have begun training. The mission (Servicing Mission 4) is scheduled for August 7, 2008.

SM4 has an ambitious program of activities and three main objectives.

The first objective is to extend Hubble’s operational life by at least five years. The second is to enhance Hubble’s scientific power. The third is to repair Hubble’s out-of-commission instruments, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

If these objectives can be successfully carried out during the servicing mission, then Hubble will be at the apex of its scientific capability, with six working, complementary science instruments. These upgrades will keep Hubble functioning at the pinnacle of astronomy well into the next decade.

maryt

Manic Monday – Earth

Mo’s word for today is EARTH

The following photographs are from The Gateway to Astronaut Photography

Want to try to see if you can recognize places on our good ol’ EARTH by their photographs from space? Okay let’s do it!
I’ll give you several pictures to guess and give the answers in the first comment of this post.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Good luck! Here’s a clue: the places are not particularly exotic. You’ve heard of each and every one, I’m pretty sure.

They offer a “Where in the World Image Quiz” on the web site.

Remember the answers are in the first comment of this post.

maryt

Phoenix mission to Mars

Phoenix Rises Toward Mars

Credit: NASA

Can Mars sustain life? To help answer this question, last week NASA launched the Phoenix mission to Mars. In May 2008, Phoenix is expected to land in an unexplored north polar region of Mars that is rich in water-ice. Although Phoenix cannot move, it can deploy its cameras, robotic arm, and a small chemistry laboratory to inspect, dig, and chemically analyze its landing area. One hope is that Phoenix will be able to discern telling clues to the history of ice and water on Mars. Phoenix is also poised to explore the boundary between ice and soil in hopes of finding clues of a habitable zone there that could support microbial life. Phoenix has a planned lifetime of three months on the Martian surface.

maryt

Photo: White Ridges on Mars

Credit: HiRise, MRO, LPL, NASA

What created these white ridges on Mars? The images showing the white ridges, including some of the highest resolution images ever taken from Martian orbit, were recorded last year by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). A current leading hypothesis is that the white ridges formed as water flowed through underground cracks and bleached and hardened the edges of surrounding rocks. Over millions of years, surface winds eroded the darker rock leaving the raised white ridges. Such water-created light-colored markings are well known here on Earth. The hypothesis is particularly interesting as underground water could have helped to support microbial life on the red world.

There are some wonderful pictures and details at Google Mars

maryt

Green Flash

Unusual Phonomenon of the Day:

At sunset or sunrise the top edge of the sun will sometimes be bright green.

Often, the green color lasts for a second, thus it is called a green flash.

It is usually seen over a distant horizon such as an ocean or a prairie.
The sky must be clear and free of clouds all the way down to the horizon.

Andrew T. Young’s photo above is on a web site which explains this phenomenon further.

And on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day there’s a movie that shows the green flash.

Interesting, huh?

maryt