In late 2021 there was a total solar eclipse visible only at the end of the Earth. To capture the unusual phenomenon, airplanes took flight below the clouded seascape of Southern Ocean. The featured image shows one relatively spectacular capture where the bright spot is the outer corona of the Sun and the eclipsing Moon is seen as the dark spot in the center. A wing and engine of the airplane are visible across the left and bottom of the image, while another airplane observing the eclipse is visible on the far left. The dark area of the sky surrounding the eclipsed Sun is called a shadow cone. It is dark because you are looking down a long corridor of air shadowed by the Moon. A careful inspection of the eclipsed Sun will reveal the planet Mercury just to the right. You won’t have to travel to the end of the Earth to see the next total solar eclipse. The total eclipse path will cross North America on 2024 April 8, just over one week from today. via NASA https://ift.tt/eUdu1bn

Isolated Thunderstorms today!

Isolated Thunderstorms today! With a high of 17C and a low of 17C.
96 Humidity.
8 C currently.
6 Km/h Wind from
East.

PM Showers today!

PM Showers today! With a high of 17C and a low of 17C.
79 Humidity.
9 C currently.
10 Km/h Wind from
Southeast.

Medieval Astronomy from Melk Abbey

Discovered by accident, this manuscript page provides graphical insight to astronomy in medieval times, before the Renaissance and the influence of Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho de Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Galileo. The intriguing page is from lecture notes on astronomy compiled by the monk Magister Wolfgang de Styria before the year 1490. The top panels clearly illustrate the necessary geometry for a lunar (left) and solar eclipse in the Earth-centered Ptolemaic system. At lower left is a diagram of the Ptolemaic view of the Solar System with text at the upper right to explain the movement of the planets according to Ptolemy’s geocentric model. At the lower right is a chart to calculate the date of Easter Sunday in the Julian calendar. The illustrated manuscript page was found at historic Melk Abbey in Austria. via NASA https://ift.tt/ONpAn4a

International Space Station Program Deputy Chief Scientist Meghan Everett

“One of my cornerstone pinnacles [is], ‘Show up to work [and] life with integrity and intent.’ So, accomplish your goals with integrity, intent, and a mission. Stick to that and have the confidence to do that, and be OK with messing up and failing, and have fun with those things.” — Meghan Everett, International Space Station Program Deputy Chief Scientist, NASA’s Johnson Space Center via NASA https://ift.tt/usho8qN

Rain today!

Rain today! With a high of 16C and a low of 16C.
65 Humidity.
9 C currently.
10 Km/h Wind from
Southwest.

Galileo s Europa

Looping through the Jovian system in the late 1990s, the Galileo spacecraft recorded stunning views of Europa and uncovered evidence that the moon’s icy surface likely hides a deep, global ocean. Galileo’s Europa image data has been remastered here, with improved calibrations to produce a color image approximating what the human eye might see. Europa’s long curving fractures hint at the subsurface liquid water. The tidal flexing the large moon experiences in its elliptical orbit around Jupiter supplies the energy to keep the ocean liquid. But more tantalizing is the possibility that even in the absence of sunlight that process could also supply the energy to support life, making Europa one of the best places to look for life beyond Earth. The Juno spacecraft currently in Jovian orbit has also made repeated flybys of the water world, returning images along with data exploring Europa’s habitability. This October will see the launch of the NASA’s Europa Clipper on a voyage of exploration. The spacecraft will make nearly 50 flybys, approaching to within 25 kilometers of Europa’s icy surface. via NASA https://ift.tt/CosFLpA

Mariner 7 Goes to Mars

An Atlas-Centaur launched at 5:22 p.m. EST on March 27, 1969, to send Mariner 7 on its way to Mars. Mariner 7 joined its sister spacecraft, Mariner 6, on a journey that carried them within 2,000 miles of the red planet that summer. Mariner 6 was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 24 and investigated the Martian equatorial area while Mariner 7 concentrated on the south polar cap. via NASA https://ift.tt/cTO2L5u

AM Showers today!

AM Showers today! With a high of 11C and a low of 11C.
73 Humidity.
3 C currently.
10 Km/h Wind from
South.

Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri

Globular star cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5139, is 15,000 light-years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter. It’s the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way. With a yellowish hue, Omega Centauri’s red giant stars are easy to pick out in this sharp, color telescopic view. via NASA https://ift.tt/BUjTm1u

Sending “Water” to Europa

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a special message when it launches in October 2024 and heads toward Jupiter’s moon Europa. The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean under its icy crust, with more than twice the amount of water of all of Earth’s oceans combined. A triangular metal plate, seen here, will honor that connection to Earth.

The plate is made of tantalum metal and is about 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters). It is engraved on both sides and seals an opening in the electronics vault, which houses the spacecraft’s sensitive electronics. The art on this side of the plate features waveforms that are visual representations of the sound waves formed by the word “water” in 103 languages. The waveforms radiate out from a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for “water.” via NASA https://ift.tt/OwlkdH6

Showers today!

Showers today! With a high of 9C and a low of 9C.
89 Humidity.
6 C currently.
5 Km/h Wind from
Northeast.

Almost every object in the featured photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured here is one of the densest clusters known – it contains thousands of galaxies. Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars – just as our own Milky Way Galaxy does. Although nearby when compared to most other clusters, light from the Coma Cluster still takes hundreds of millions of years to reach us. In fact, the Coma Cluster is so big it takes light millions of years just to go from one side to the other. Most galaxies in Coma and other clusters are ellipticals, while most galaxies outside of clusters are spirals. The nature of Coma’s X-ray emission is still being investigated. via NASA https://ift.tt/xVuMri6

CADRE Rovers’ Test Drive in the Mars Yard

Two full-scale development model rovers that are part of NASA’s CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) technology demonstration drive in the Mars Yard at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in August 2023. The project is designed to show that a group of robotic spacecraft can work together as a team to accomplish tasks and record data autonomously – without explicit commands from mission controllers on Earth. via NASA https://ift.tt/ZkerNcO

Partly Cloudy today!

Partly Cloudy today! With a high of 18C and a low of 18C.
72 Humidity.
4 C currently.
6 Km/h Wind from
East.

Comet Pons-Brooks has quite a tail to tell. First discovered in 1385, this erupting dirty snowball loops back into our inner Solar System every 71 years and, this time, is starting to put on a show for deep camera exposures. In the featured picture, the light blue stream is the ion tail which consists of charged molecules pushed away from the comet’s nucleus by the solar wind. The ion tail, shaped by the Sun’s wind and the comet’s core’s rotation, always points away from the Sun. Comet 12P/Pons–Brooks is now visible with binoculars in the early evening sky toward the northwest, moving perceptibly from night to night. The frequently flaring comet is expected to continue to brighten, on the average, and may even become visible with the unaided eye — during the day — to those in the path of totality of the coming solar eclipse on April 8. via NASA https://ift.tt/EGOywm1

Hubble Views a Galaxy Under Pressure

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows LEDA 42160, a galaxy about 52 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. The dwarf galaxy is one of many forcing its way through the comparatively dense gas in the massive Virgo cluster of galaxies. The pressure exerted by this intergalactic gas, known as ram pressure, has dramatic effects on star formation in LEDA 42160. via NASA https://ift.tt/WFJIltd

AM Clouds/PM Sun today!

AM Clouds/PM Sun today! With a high of 12C and a low of 12C.
83 Humidity.
4 C currently.
11 Km/h Wind from
Southwest.

Showers today!

Showers today! With a high of 7C and a low of 7C.
89 Humidity.
3 C currently.
18 Km/h Wind from
Southwest.

Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth. This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center of the dark circle see a total solar eclipse – others see a partial eclipse where only part of the Sun appears blocked by the Moon. This spectacular picture of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse was one of the last ever taken from the Mir space station. The two bright spots that appear on the upper left are thought to be Jupiter and Saturn. Mir was deorbited in a controlled re-entry in 2001. A new solar eclipse will occur over North America in about two weeks. via NASA https://ift.tt/JHpcMY4