Jbrackettssa - John Brackett, NASA / JPL Solar System Ambassador

Finalized Lunar images from last night. #celestron127slt #celestrontelescope #backyardastronomy #moon #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/CZxsfAEs74A/?utm_medium=tumblr

Looking forward to a Saturday launch for SpaceX’s 21st cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. #nasasocial #nasa #spacex #space #iss #internationalspacestation #dragon https://www.instagram.com/p/CIXVnpCD4d_/?igshid=m9m1riesurea

Another Side Project...

John’s Side Project #248 - Tagging NASA footage for the National Archives.

If you know anything about anything, volunteer for the National Archives and Records Administration. They need people to do the things computers can’t... Things such as transcription, identification of things and places, and tagging films that have been digitized. For example, they have a collection of photos from World War I. These photos often have handwritten captions or locations that a computer can’t make out. It takes people to examine the captions and transcribe them for searching.

For my current project, NASA has thousands of hours of footage from tests and missions that need to be tagged in order to be searchable. This is where my insomnia is put to good use.

Hubble Peers at Cosmic Blue Bauble

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch. April 12, 2019

Globular clusters are inherently beautiful objects, but the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Messier 3, is commonly acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful of them all. Containing an incredible half-million stars, this 8-billion-year-old cosmic bauble is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters ever discovered. However, what makes Messier 3 extra special is its unusually large population of variable stars — stars that fluctuate in brightness over time. New variable stars continue to be discovered in this sparkling stellar nest to this day, but so far we know of 274, the highest number found in any globular cluster by far. At least 170 of these are of a special variety called RR Lyrae variables, which pulse with a period directly related to their intrinsic brightness. If astronomers know how bright a star truly is based on its mass and classification, and they know how bright it appears to be from our viewpoint here on Earth, they can thus work out its distance from us. For this reason, RR Lyrae stars are known as standard candles — objects of known luminosity whose distance and position can be used to help us understand more about vast celestial distances and the scale of the cosmos. Messier 3 also contains a relatively high number of so-called blue stragglers, which are shown quite clearly in this Hubble image. These are blue main sequence stars that appear to be young because they are bluer and more luminous than other stars in the cluster. As all stars in globular clusters are believed to have formed together and thus to be roughly the same age, only a difference in mass can give these stars a different color. A red, old star can appear bluer when it acquires more mass, for instance by stripping it from a nearby star. The extra mass changes it into a bluer star, which makes us think it is younger than it really is. Messier 3 is featured in Hubble’s Messier catalog, which includes some of the most fascinating objects that can be observed from Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. See the NASA-processed image and other Messier objects at: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit: http://hubblesite.org/ http://www.nasa.gov/hubble http://www.spacetelescope.org/ Text Credits: ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA/Rob Garner/Image, Animation, Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, G. Piotto et al. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

Falcon Heavy extreme closeup at liftoff

via reddit

1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Galaxies...

Spent some time today processing data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Also watched a lecture on Chinese Space Suits...

As for this evening, there is a visible ISS pass at 6:31PM over the Atlanta area.

No test? Oh well, I’ll go look at rockets.

My Brother in-law and I made a day hop to Huntsville this past Saturday. I had originally planned to take a test at MSFC, but the current government shutdown nixed that idea.

Instead, we took in the U. S. Space and Rocket Center. I never get tired of seeing the huge Saturn V or the full shuttle stack on the grounds.

U.S. Space & Rocket Center

U.S. Space & Rocket Center

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) is the largest spaceflight museum in the world. Open 7 days a week, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed Thanksgi

Kate and I earned our participation certificates for International Observe the Moon Night. We had to let a bunch of cloud bands pass, but we were finally able to see the beautiful Moon. Also had an opportunity to scope on Jupiter and Saturn. #observethemoon #moon #astronomy #backyardastronomy https://www.instagram.com/p/CFnzVvbjK0F/?igshid=1qk16eqge4wwc

Fun night learning my way around the Moon. In 1965, Ranger 9 was intentionally crashed into the crater Alphonsus. Imaged with a Celestron 127slt mak and iPhone 8. #moon #space #nasa #celestron127slt #telescope #backyardastronomy #craters https://www.instagram.com/p/B2KIOK0HWhY/?igshid=jtolznfnslrd

NASA Airborne Science Program...

Super stoked! Found out earlier this week I’m now a part of the NASA Airborne Science Program. This opens up even more opportunities for me!

NASA

Patch: Airborne Science Program

Patch: Airborne Science Program