Had A Wonderful Time Speaking To Groups At Grayson Elementary’s Arts And STEM Night. We Talked About

OSIRIS-REx Captures Laser 3D View of Bennu

NASA - OSIRIS-REx Mission patch. April 8, 2019

This three-dimensional view of asteroid Bennu was created by the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), contributed by the Canadian Space Agency, on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. From Feb. 12 through 17, OLA made more than 11 million measurements of the distance between OSIRIS-REx and Bennu’s surface as the spacecraft flew less than 1.2 miles (2 km) above the surface – the closest orbit ever achieved by spacecraft. OLA obtained these measurements by firing laser pulses at Bennu and measuring the amount of time it takes for the light to bounce off the asteroid’s surface and return to the instrument. That time measurement is then translated into altitude data. Using this data, the OLA team created the 3-D model of Bennu’s surface.

OSIRIS-REx orbiting Bennu

The colors represent the distance from the center of Bennu: dark blue areas lie approximately 197 feet (60 meters) lower than peaks indicated in red. Some parts of the asteroid have not yet been measured, which creates gaps in the image. OLA will take nearly a billion more measurements throughout 2019 to complete the first-ever high-resolution 3D lidar map of a near-Earth asteroid. OSIRIS-REx (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html Animation, Image, Text, Credits: NASA/Karl Hille/University of Arizona/CSA/York/MDA. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

Oct. 2, 2017

Beautiful view of Mars below Venus this morning as I walked across the parking lot... 🙂

Submitted 3 weather observations today... 🙂

Processed 6 galaxy classification images this evening... 🙂

Too tired to listen to class lecture... 😴

A little fun celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11. #nasa #usspaceandrocketcenter #apollo11 #apollo50thanniversary https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Cd1fyHVBX/?igshid=btqoa800zd26

In honor of the anniversary of the Apollo 12 Moon landing, here is one of my images I reprocessed. (Celestron 127slt mak, iPhone 8) #space #apollo #apollo12 #apollo50th #moon #astronomy #nasa https://www.instagram.com/p/B5CEVqrHS6L/?igshid=byug01nzfwhx

In a few hours, NASA is launching the DART Mission. The goal of this mission is to see if, and how much, a small impact probe can alter the course of a small asteroid. In addition to the impact probe, there is a cubesat with two cameras dubbed LUKE and LEIA. . . . . . @nasa @nasasolarsystem #solarsystemambassador #DART #DARTMission https://www.instagram.com/p/CWpGxGYMnmn/?utm_medium=tumblr

Saturn...

Took the telescope rig out to see if I could finally get a look at Saturn this Summer. It seemed every time I wanted to go out, it was cloudy, rainy, or I was already exhausted from the day. Other times, it would be a perfect evening, but I was nowhere near my home and scope.

On Tuesday, 8/6/2019, I saw the rings of Saturn for the first time through my own scope. There’s almost an emotional aspect added when it’s your own equipment you’re observing through. Anyway, here is my first ever capture of Saturn taken with an iPhone 8 and a Celestron 127slt mak.

Watch as four astronauts ride their Crew Dragon Spacecraft, Resilience, to the ISS at 7:27pm. https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive #launchamerica #spacex #internationalspacestation #iss #nasasocial https://www.instagram.com/p/CHoM_B_DOpK/?igshid=1pjfltezp9w7p

Had fun marking every single crater, boulder, and rock in images taken as part of the OSIRIS-REx Mission. Can’t wait for a sample of Bennu to be headed to Earth soon. #bennu #osirisrex #space #asteroid #nasa https://www.instagram.com/p/B4L43ncHzWk/?igshid=1y15577s74bmf

The Pleiades - Messier 45 Imaged with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics / Observing With NASA Remote Telescope. Processing by John Brackett https://www.instagram.com/p/B5REi4HnAOV/?igshid=15vf2tgm5vbzj

What’s Up October 2017

What’s Up For October? 

Planet Pairs, Stellar Superstars, Observe The Moon Night!!

This month, catch planet pairs, our moon near red stars, an asteroid, meteors and International Observe the Moon Night!

You can’t miss bright Venus in the predawn sky. Look for fainter Mars below Venus on the 1st, really close on the 5th, and above Venus after that.

Midmonth, the moon is visible near Regulus, the white starry heart of the constellation Leo.

In the October 8-11 predawn sky watch the moon glide near the Pleiades star cluster and pass near the red stars Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus and Betelgeuse in Orion.

After dusk in the early part of the month look for Saturn in the southwest sky above another red star: Antares in Scorpius. Later in the month, find the moon above Antares October 22 and 23.

Saturn will be above the moon on the 23rd and below it on the 24th.

Uranus reach opposition on October 19th. It’s visible all night long and its blue-green color is unmistakeable. It may be bright enough to see with your naked eye–and for sure in binoculars.

The Orionids peak on October 20–a dark, moonless night. Look near Orion’s club in the hours before dawn and you may see up to 10 to 15 meteors per hour.

Use binoculars to look for bright asteroid 7 Iris in the constellation Aries. Newbies to astronomy should be able to spot this magnitude 6.9 asteroid - even from the city. 

Look later in the month and sketch its positions a day or two apart–to see it move.

Finally, celebrate International Observe the Moon Night on October 28 with your local astronomy club, Solar System Ambassador, museum, or planetarium. The first quarter moon that night will display some great features!

Watch the full What’s Up for October Video: 

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