NIST's equipment flew aboard NASA's ER-2, a "near- space plane " that travels as high as 21 kilometers (about 13 miles) above sea level. That kind of distance, twice the cruising altitude of a typical commercial aircraft, got the equipment above 95% of Earth's atmosphere, which interferes with moonlight measurements. The mission, called the Airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance Mission (air-LUSI), launched from the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.
* * *
Hundreds of Earth-facing satellites provide information about weather and vegetation that allows researchers to predict famines and floods and can help communities plan emergency response and disaster relief. To collect this crucial data, space-based imagers rely on the brightness of different wavelengths—which it sometimes helps to think of as colors—of sunlight reflecting off our planet.
And here's another article:
Here's Why You Can Sometimes See the Moon During the Day
It's probably some of the earliest astronomy you learn. The sun is the big yellow-white ball in the sky during the day, while the moon is the shape-changing one that glows at night. And that's true...except when it's not. Sometimes, smack in the middle of the afternoon, you can clearly see the moon, usually a crescent or half, floating there in the sky, encroaching on the sun's domain. What's going on? You can't see any of the stars during the day; what's the moon doing there?
It has to do with the moon's position in the sky. As the moon revolves around the Earth, the Earth also revolves around the sun. These revolutions cause the perceived "movements" of the moon and sun that we see in the sky. And because of them, the moon is only directly in line with the sun once every lunar month—that's how we get the full moon. This means that the moon rises exactly as the sun sets, and vice versa.
SpaceX has plans to land a huge spaceship on the moon in 2022
SpaceX's huge Mars-colonizing Starship vehicle could make its first extraterrestrial touchdown in just three short years.
SpaceX is one of five companies that are newly eligible to deliver robotic payloads to the lunar surface for NASA, via the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. SpaceX proposes to do this work with Starship and Super Heavy, the reusable spaceship-rocket duo that the company is developing primarily to help humanity become a multiplanet species.
It's Been 50 Years Since Apollo 12 Landed On The Moon : NPR
On this date in 1969, Apollo 12 landed on the surface of the moon. But it seems this moon mission is overshadowed by the more famous Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 landings. But why?
* * *
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the second time humans set foot on the moon. Apollo 12 landed on the surface on this date in 1969. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has the story of why almost nobody seems to remember this.
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Everyone knows Apollo 11, of course - that was the one with the one small step - and Apollo 13, the one Tom Hanks made a movie about. But what about Apollo 12?
Check out this next:
NASA Discovers Never Before Seen 'Dance of Avoidance' of Neptune's Moons Naiad and Thalassa
Astronomers have discovered a moon with a unique orbit consisting of oscillating patterns. This allows it to avoid collision with a neighboring satellite as they whirl around Neptune—a process they have dubbed a "dance of avoidance."
Neptune has 14 moons that we know of, including 7 inner moons that are in relatively close proximity to one another. Two of those inner moons, Naiad and Thalassa, were discovered in 1989 during the Voyager 2 spacecraft flyby.
New global geologic map of Titan, Saturn's largest moon | Space | EarthSky
The 1st-ever map showing the global geology of Saturn’s moon Titan reveals a dynamic world of dunes, lakes, plains, craters and other terrains.
View larger . | Labels point to several of Titan’s named surface features. The legend colors represent the broad types of geologic units found on Titan: plains (broad, relatively flat regions), labyrinth (tectonically disrupted regions often containing fluvial channels), hummocky (hilly, with some mountains), dunes (mostly linear dunes, produced by winds in Titan’s atmosphere), craters (formed by impacts) and lakes (regions now or previously filled with liquid methane or ethane).
Detritus on the Moon - Scientific American
Scientific American Space & Physics is a roundup of the most important stories about the universe and beyond
USA / China / International Moon Collaboration, "First Women" to Open 2020s Decade on
KAMUELA, Hawaii , Nov. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) announces the world-class Galaxy Forum Hainan 2020 China on 25-28 February to help realize Humans on the Moon soon, including Artemis, and advance the new frontier of astronomy from the Moon.
Early Registration is now open for Galaxy Forum Hainan being held at Hilton Wenchang on tropical Hainan Island with direct views of Wenchang SLC – China's newest and largest spaceport – from where China and International Astronauts will launch to the Moon.
No comments:
Post a Comment