The Smoke From A (Not-so) Distant Fire

A Total Lunar Eclipse is Coming: 10 Things to Know

If you were captivated by August's total solar eclipse, there's another sky show to look forward to on Jan. 31: a total lunar eclipse!

Below are 10 things to know about this astronomical event, including where to see it, why it turns the Moon into a deep red color and more...

1. First things first. What's the difference between solar and lunar eclipses? We've got the quick and easy explanation in this video:

2. Location, location, location. What you see will depend on where you are. The total lunar eclipse will favor the western U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and British Columbia on Jan. 31. Australia and the Pacific Ocean are also well placed to see a major portion of the eclipse, if not all of it.

3. Color play. So, why does the Moon turn red during a lunar eclipse? Here's your answer:

4. Scientists, stand by. What science can be done during a lunar eclipse? Find out HERE. 

5. Show and tell. What would Earth look like from the Moon during a lunar eclipse? See for yourself with this artist's concept HERE. 

6. Ask me anything. Mark your calendars to learn more about the Moon during our our Reddit AMA happening Monday, Jan. 29, from 3-4 pm EST/12-1 pm PST.

7. Social cues. Make sure to follow @NASAMoon and @LRO_NASA for all of the latest Moon news leading up to the eclipse and beyond.

8. Watch year-round. Can't get enough of observing the Moon? Make a DIY Moon Phases Calendar and Calculator that will keep all of the dates and times for the year's moon phases right at your fingertips HERE.

Then, jot down notes and record your own illustrations of the Moon with a Moon observation journal, available to download and print from moon.nasa.gov.

9. Lesson learned. For educators, pique your students' curiosities about the lunar eclipse with this Teachable Moment HERE.

10. Coming attraction. There will be one more lunar eclipse this year on July 27, 2018. But you might need your passport—it will only be visible from central Africa and central Asia. The next lunar eclipse that can be seen all over the U.S. will be on Jan. 21, 2019. It won't be a blue moon, but it will be a supermoon.

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Heads-up, Earthlings! The annual Geminid meteor shower has arrived, peaking overnight Dec. 13-14. It's a good time to bundle up! Then, go outside and let the universe blow your mind!

The Geminids are active every December, when Earth passes through a massive trail of dusty debris shed by a weird, rocky object named 3200 Phaethon. The dust and grit burn up when they run into Earth's atmosphere in a flurry of "shooting stars." 

The Geminids can be seen with the naked eye under clear, dark skies over most of the world, though the best view is from the Northern Hemisphere. Observers will see fewer Geminids in the Southern Hemisphere, where the radiant doesn't climb very high over the horizon. Skywatching is easy. Just get away from bright lights and look up in any direction! Give your eyes time to adjust to the dark. Meteors appear all over the sky.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

10 Ways the 2010s Pushed Communication and Navigation into the Future!

We transmit vast amounts of data from space, letting all of our satellites “phone home.” Imagery from far off regions of our solar system, beautiful visions of other galaxies and insights into planet Earth flow through our communications networks. 

Our Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program is dedicated to making sure we precisely track, command and control our spacecraft. All the while, they develop bold new technologies and capabilities for Artemis – our sustainable lunar exploration program that will place the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024. 

As we prepare to say goodbye to the 2010s, let’s take a look at 10 of the biggest milestones in space communications and navigation of the past decade. 

1. Continuous global communications? TDRS has you covered.

From 2013 to 2017, we launched three Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, or TDRS for short. These new satellites replenished a fleet that has been around since the early 1980s, allowing us to provide continuous global communications coverage into the next decade. Missions like the International Space Station depend on TDRS for 24/7 coverage, allowing our astronauts to call home day or night.

2. Binge watching on the Moon? Laser communications will make it possible.

Imagine living at the Moon. With the Artemis program, we’re making it happen! However, we can’t live there without decent internet, right? In 2013, we conducted the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD). This was the first high-speed laser communications demonstration from the Moon, transmitting data at a whopping 622 megabits per second, which is comparable to many high-speed fiber-optic connections enjoyed at home on Earth! Our LLCD sent back high-definition video with no buffering. 

3. Record Breaking GPS navigation, at your service.

Space communications is just one piece of the SCaN puzzle. We do navigation too! We even break records for it. In 2016, our Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission broke the world record for highest altitude GPS fix at 43,500 miles above Earth. In 2017, they broke it again at 93,200 miles. Earlier this year, they broke it a third time at 116,200 miles from Earth — about halfway to the Moon!

Thanks to MMS, our navigation engineers believe that GPS and similar navigation constellations could play a significant role in the navigation architecture of our planned Gateway spaceship in lunar orbit!

4. Crashing planes as part of the game – of research!  

Then there was that one summer we crashed three planes in the name of research! In 2015, our Search and Rescue office tested crash scenarios at Langley Research Center’s Landing and Impact Research Facility to improve the reliability of emergency beacons installed in planes. After the study, we made recommendations on how pilots should install these life-saving beacons, increasing their chances of survival in the event of a crash. The Federal Aviation Administration adopted these recommendations this year!

5. The Deep Space Atomic Clock takes flight. 

Missions venturing into deep space want the autonomy to make decisions without waiting for a commands from Earth. That’s why we launched the Deep Space Atomic Clock this past year. This itty-bitty technology demonstration is a small, ultra-stable timekeeping device that could enable autonomous navigation!

6. 50 never looked so good – for our Deep Space Network. 

In 2013, our Deep Space Network celebrated its 50th birthday! This is the network that transmitted Neil Armstrong’s famous words, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." Some of its more recent accomplishments? Gathering the last bits of data before Cassini dove into Saturn’s upper atmosphere, pulling down the “heart” of Pluto and talking to the Voyager probes as they journeyed into interstellar space!

7. SCaN Testbed becomes an official Hall of Famer. 

In 2012, we installed the SCaN Testbed, which looks like a blue box in the above picture, on the space station! We built the testbed out of Software Defined Radios, which can change their functionality and employ artificial intelligence. These radios will help us adapt to the increasingly crowded communications landscape and improve the efficiency of radio technology. The Testbed was so ground-breaking that it was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 2019.

8. Moon mission communications system, secured! 

Just a few weeks ago, we held a ribbon-cutting for the Near Earth Network’s Launch Communications Segment, which will support Artemis missions as they rocket toward the Moon! During initial, dynamic phases of launch, the segment’s three stations will provide communications between astronauts and mission controllers, giving them the data necessary to ensure crew safety. 

9. Deep Space Station antenna introduces “beam waveguide” technology. 

On October 1, 2014, in Canberra, Australia, the Deep Space Network’s Deep Space Station 35 (DSS-35) antenna went operational. It was the first of a number of new antennas built to support the growing number of deep space missions! The antenna is different from other antennas that were built before it. Older antennas had a lot of their equipment stored high up on the antenna above the dish. DSS-35 uses “beam waveguide” technology that stores that equipment underground. This makes the weight sitting on the dish much lighter, cuts down on interference and makes the antenna much easier to operate and maintain.

10. Hello, Alaska! 

Last — but certainly not least — we expanded our presence in the 49th state, Alaska! While this picture might look like antennas rising from the forests of  Endor, the one in the foreground is actually an antenna we installed in 2014 in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Because of its proximity to the polar north, this 11-meter beauty is uniquely situated to pull down valuable Earth science data from our polar-orbiting spacecraft, contributing to scientists’ understanding of our changing planet!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Add to your electronic bookshelf with these free e-books from NASA!

1. The Saturn System Through the Eyes of Cassini

This work features 100 images highlighting Cassini's 13-year tour at the ringed giant.

2. Earth as Art 

Explore our beautiful home world as seen from space.

3. Meatballs and more 

Emblems of Exploration showcases the rich history of space and aeronautic logos.

4. Ready for Our Close Up

Hubble Focus: Our Amazing Solar System showcases the wonders of our galactic neighborhood.

5. NASA's First A 

This book dives into the role aeronautics plays in our mission of engineering and exploration.

6. See More 

Making the Invisible Visible outlines the rich history of infrared astronomy.

7. Ready for a Deeper Dive? 

The NASA Systems Engineering Handbook describes how we get the job done.

8. Spoiler Alert

The space race really heats up in the third volume of famed Russian spacecraft designer Boris Chertok memoirs. Chertok, who worked under the legendary Sergey Korolev, continues his fascinating narrative on the early history of the Soviet space program, from 1961 to 1967 in Rockets and People III.

9. Take a Walk on the Wild Side

The second volume of Walking to Olympus explores the 21st century evolution of spacewalks.

10. No Library Card Needed 

Find your own great read in NASA's free e-book library.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

More Space...in Space

How do you create more space…in space? The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is one solution to creating additional working space on the International Space Station.

BEAM will be deployed to its full size this Thursday, May 26, and begin its two-year technology demonstration attached to the space station. The astronauts aboard will first enter the habitat on June 2, and re-enter the module several times a year throughout the test period. While inside, they will retrieve sensor data and assess conditions inside the module.

Why Use an Expandable Habitat?

Expandable habitats are designed to take up less room on a spacecraft, but provide greater volume for living and working in space once expanded. This first test of an expandable module will allow investigators to gauge how well it performs and specifically, how well it protects against solar radiation, space debris and the temperature extremes of space.

BEAM launched April 8 aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, and is an example of our increased commitment to partnering with industry to enable the growth of commercial use of space.

Get Involved!

During expansion, we will provide live Mission Control updates on NASA Television starting at 5:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 26.

Make your own origaBEAMi!

To coincide with the expansion, here is a simple and fun activity called “origaBEAMi” that lets you build your own miniature inflatable BEAM module. Download the “crew procedures” HERE that contain step-by-step instructions on how to print and fold your BEAM module. You can also view a “how to” video HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

June 10 Solar Eclipse in the Northern Hemisphere!

On June 10, people in parts of the northern hemisphere will have the chance to witness a solar eclipse.

Watch the full visualization of the eclipse.

The June 10 eclipse is an annular solar eclipse, meaning that the Sun will never be completely covered by the Moon. The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle, so throughout each month, the Moon’s distance from Earth varies. During an annular eclipse, the Moon is far enough away from Earth that the Moon appears smaller than the Sun in the sky. Since the Moon does not block the entire view of the Sun, it will look like a dark disk on top of a larger, bright disk. This creates what looks like a ring of fire around the Moon.

People in the narrow path of annularity — which, for this eclipse, cuts through Canada, Greenland, and northern Russia — will see the ring of fire effect as the Moon passes across the Sun.

Credit: Dale Cruikshank

Outside this path of annularity, many people in the northern hemisphere have a chance to see a partial solar eclipse. The partial eclipse will fall on parts of the eastern United States, as well as northern Alaska. Some locations will only see a very small piece of the Sun covered, while locations closer to the path of annularity can see the Moon cover most of the Sun.

To learn which times the eclipse may be visible in certain areas, you can click anywhere on the map here. (Note that the maximum obscuration and maximum eclipse timing noted on this map may occur before sunrise in many locations.)

This solar eclipse is a pair with the total lunar eclipse that happened on May 26.

Both solar and lunar eclipses happen when the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up in the same plane — a lunar eclipse happens when Earth is in the middle and casts its shadow on the Moon, and a solar eclipse happens when the Moon is in the middle and casts its shadow on Earth. The Moon’s orbit is tilted, so it’s usually too high or too low for this alignment to work out.

The May 26 lunar eclipse was a supermoon lunar eclipse, meaning that the full moon happened while the Moon was near its closest point to Earth, making the Moon appear larger in the sky. The solar eclipse happens at the opposite point of the Moon’s orbit, during the new moon — and in this case, the new moon happens near the Moon’s farthest point from Earth, making the Moon appear smaller and resulting in an annular (rather than total) solar eclipse.

How to watch the eclipse

From anywhere: Watch the eclipse online with us! Weather permitting, we’ll be sharing live telescope views of the partial eclipse courtesy of Luc Boulard of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Sudbury Centre. Tune in starting at 5 a.m. EDT on June 10 at nasa.gov/live.

From the path of the annular or partial eclipse: Be sure to take safety precuations if you plan to watch in person!

It is never safe to look directly at the Sun's rays, even if the Sun is partly or mostly obscured, like during a partial or annular eclipse — doing so can severely harm your eyes. If you’re planning to watch the eclipse on June 10, you should use solar viewing glasses or an indirect viewing method at all points during the eclipse if you want to face the Sun. Solar viewing glasses, sometimes called eclipse glasses, are NOT regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses are not safe for viewing the Sun.

If you don’t have solar viewing or eclipse glasses, you can use an alternate indirect method like a pinhole projector. Pinhole projectors shouldn’t be used to look at the Sun; instead, they’re an easy way to project an image of the Sun onto a surface. Read more about how to create a pinhole projector.

This is a sunrise eclipse in the contiguous U.S. At locations in the lower 48 states that can see the partial eclipse, the show starts before sunrise, when the Sun is still below the horizon. That means the best chance to see the eclipse in these locations will be during and shortly after sunrise, when the Sun is very low in the sky. In northern Alaska, the eclipse happens in the very early hours of June 10 when the Sun is low on the horizon.

Bottom line: If you’re trying to watch the eclipse in the contiguous U.S., look for a location with a clear view of the horizon to the northeast, and plan to watch starting at sunrise with your solar filter or indirect viewer.

The next two eclipses in the continental U.S. are in 2023 and 2024. The annular solar eclipse of Oct. 14, 2023, will cut from Oregon to Texas, and the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, will pass from Texas to Maine. Keep up with the latest on eclipses and eclipse science at nasa.gov/eclipse.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

We asked real life astronauts YOUR questions! Was your submission sent to space?

Astronauts Drew Feustel & Ricky Arnold recently recorded answers to your questions in a Video Answer Time session. We collected your questions and sent them to space to be answered by the astronauts on Friday, May 18. We recorded their answers and will post them tomorrow, May 30, here on our Tumblr. 

Was your question selected to be sent to the International Space Station? Check our Tumblr tomorrow, starting at noon EDT to find out!

About the astronauts:

Andrew J. Feustel was selected by NASA in 2000.  He has been assigned to Expedition 55/56, which launched in March 2018. The Lake Orion, Michigan native has a Ph.D. in the Geological Sciences, specializing in Seismology, and is a veteran of two spaceflights. Follow Feustel on Twitter and Instagram.

Richard R. Arnold II was selected as an astronaut by NASA in May 2004. The Maryland native worked in the marine sciences and as a teacher in his home state, as well as in countries such as Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia. Follow Arnold on Twitter and Instagram.

Don’t forget check our Tumblr tomorrow at noon EDT to see if your question was answered by real-life astronauts in space. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.  

What are the most important skills an astronaut should have m?

First of all, the basic requirement is a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field, and 3 years of experience (which can also be substituted for by an advanced degree). Other than that, operational experience (things with a technical/active/hands on nature like flying airplanes, SCUBA diving, taking things apart and putting them back together, basic fix-it skills, etc. etc.) is very important, as this is an integral aspect of every day of a space mission.  What we call “expeditionary skills” are also essential, basically the types of things you try to instill in your children, like how to play nicely with others, self care, team care, etc.  I like to think about this on the lines of a camping trip and who you would like to have along with you . . .someone that is competent and can take good care of themselves and their equipment, someone that contributes to the team and helps with group tasks, someone that is good natured and pleasant to be around, etc., someone fun!  These things are increasingly important now that we are regularly doing long duration missions (typical International Space Station mission is 6 months).  Experience living in extreme/remote/isolated environments with small teams is also useful, as it is similar to what we experience as astronauts.     

Eight Small Satellites Will Give Us a New Look Inside Hurricanes

The same GPS technology that helps people get where they’re going in a car will soon be used in space in an effort to improve hurricane forecasting. The technology is a key capability in a NASA mission called the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS).

The CYGNSS mission, led by the University of Michigan, will use eight micro-satellite observatories to measure wind speeds over Earth’s oceans, increasing the ability of scientists to understand and predict hurricanes. Each microsatellite observatory will make observations based on the signals from four GPS satellites.

The CYGNSS microsatellite observatories will only receive signals broadcast directly to them from GPS satellites already orbiting the Earth and the reflection of the same satellite’s signal reflected from the Earth’s surface. The CYGNSS satellites themselves will not broadcast.

The use of eight microsatellite observatories will decrease the revisit time as compared with current individual weather satellites. The spacecraft will be deployed separately around the planet, with successive satellites passing over the same region every 12 minutes.

This will be the first time that satellites can peer through heavy tropical rainfall into the middle of hurricanes and predict how intense they are before and during landfall.

As the CYGNSS and GPS constellations orbit around the Earth, the interaction of the two systems will result in a new image of wind speed over the entire tropics every few hours, compared to every few days for a single satellite.

Another advantage of CYGNSS is that its orbit is designed to measure only in the tropics…where hurricanes develop and are most often located. The focus on tropical activity means that the instruments will be able to gather much more useful data on weather systems exclusively found in the tropics. This data will ultimately be used to help forecasters and emergency managers make lifesaving decisions.

Launch!

CYGNSS launched at 8:37 a.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 15, from our Kennedy Space Center in Florida. CYGNSS launched aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket, deployed from Orbital’s “Stargazer” L-1011 carrier aircraft. 

Pegasus is a winged, three-stage solid propellant rocket that can launch a satellite into low Earth orbit. How does it work? Great question! 

After takeoff, the aircraft (which looks like a commercial airplane..but with some special quirks) flies to about 39,000 feet over the ocean and releases the rocket. 

After a five-second free fall in a horizontal position, the Pegasus first stage ignites. The aerodynamic lift, generated by the rocket’s triangle-shaped wing, delivers the payload into orbit in about 10 minutes. 

Pegasus is used to deploy small satellites weighing up to 1,000 pounds into low Earth orbit. 

And success! The eight CYGNSS satellites were successfully deployed into orbit! 

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What was your first thought when you first saw earth from space? And what realizations did you have?