Archive for September, 2011
Transit of Venus
by Tony on Sep.29, 2011, under astronomy, outreach ideas
Amatuer astronomers are already getting excited about next June’s transit of Venus across the sun’s disc. Why not? It’s only happened 7 times since the telescope was invented (1631, 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874 and 1882 and 2004,) Miss this one and you’ll have to wait 105 years for the next one. Everyone but those in South America and western Africa will have a pretty good view. Alaska, Western Asia and Oceana will have a particularly good view.
What will it look like from your location? When will it happen, answer those questions here.
NASA has a very complete description of the transit here.
The Importance of Science by @neiltyson
by Tony on Sep.21, 2011, under commentary, outreach ideas
guided flyover tour of Vesta courtesy of Dawn
by Tony on Sep.16, 2011, under outreach ideas
4 Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. The Dawn spacecraft is giving some incredible views.
Embedded video from
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
math exercise based on photos from Space Math @ NASA
by Tony on Sep.14, 2011, under math
a fun math exercise appropriate for 5th grade or higher based on shuttle launch photos and known values of the orbiter’s size and the times each photo was taken.
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NASA Image of the Day
Launching Balloons to Study Space Weather
In Antarctica in January, 2013 – the summer at the South Pole – scientists released 20 balloons, each eight stories tall, into the air to help answer an enduring space weather question: when the giant radiation belts surrounding Earth lose material, where do the extra particles actually go? This NASA-funded mission is called BARREL, for Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses. Each balloon launched by the BARREL team floated for anywhere from three to 40 days, measuring X-rays produced by fast-moving electrons high up in the atmosphere.BARREL works hand in hand with another NASA mission called the Van Allen Probes, which travels directly through the Van Allen radiation belts. The belts wax and wane over time in response to incoming energy and material from the sun, sometimes intensifying the radiation through which satellites orbiting Earth must travel. Scientists need to understand this process better, and even provide forecasts of such space weather, in order to protect our spacecraft.› Read MoreImage Credit: NASA
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NASA News- Massachusetts Students Speak Live With Orbiting NASA Astronaut May 21, 2013NASA Expedition 35 astronaut and flight engineer Chris Cassidy will speak live from the International Space Station with students at Talbot Innovation Middle School in Fall River, Mass., at 10:05 a.m. EDT, Thursday, May 23. […]
- NASA Calls For Phase II Visionary Advanced Concepts May 21, 2013NASA is looking for far-out ideas. NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program is seeking Phase II proposals for continuation of promising studies selected during the first phase of the visionary program. […]
- Massachusetts Students Speak Live With Orbiting NASA Astronaut May 21, 2013
