Crew-3 on the Way Home Aboard SpaceX Dragon Endurance

Dragon

from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/crew-3-on-the-way-home-aboard-spacex-dragon-endurance
via IFTTT

NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble

Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. This deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in fainter, gigantic, bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220505.html ( May 05, 2022)

ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/03/2022

 

Payloads: Behavioral Core Measures (BCM): The crew performed two BCM research sessions consisting of a set of 12 runs/tests each.  The Standardized Behavioral Measures for Detecting Behavioral Health Risks during Exploration Missions (Behavioral Core Measures) experiment initially examined a suite of measurements to reliably assess the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders … ...

May 03, 2022 at 12:00PM
From NASA: https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2022/05/03/iss-daily-summary-report-5-03-2022/

Black Holes Are Hard to Find

Black holes are hard to find. They have such strong gravity that light can’t escape them, so scientists must rely on clues from their surroundings to find them.

from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/black-holes-are-hard-to-find
via IFTTT

Planets Over Egyptian Pyramid

The early morning planet parade continues. Visible the world over, the planets Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn have been lining up in the pre-dawn sky since mid-April. In the featured image taken last month, these planets were captured over the Step Pyramid of Djoser, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the Saqqara necropolis of Egypt, the pyramid was constructed in the 27th century BC and is one of the oldest pyramids known. The two-image composite includes a foreground image taken during evening blue hour, and a background image captured from the same location the following morning. The morning planet line-up is slowly changing. At the end of last month, planets Jupiter and Venus switched places, while at the end of this month, Jupiter and Mars will switch after passing within one-degree of each other. Of course, this picturesque planetary angular alignment is a coincidence, as all of these worlds continue to orbit the Sun as they have for billions of years, well before even the ancient Pyramid of Djoser was built.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220504.html ( May 04, 2022)

ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/02/2022

 

Payloads: Cold Atom Lab (CAL): A crewmember performed a visual inspection of the CAL Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Jumper to check for leaks and reported the observed leakage. The MTL Jumper has been experiencing a small leak and periodic crew monitoring has been implemented while the ground assesses future remediation options. The CAL produces clouds … ...

May 02, 2022 at 12:00PM
From NASA: https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2022/05/02/iss-daily-summary-report-5-02-2022/

NASA Celebrates Teachers!

May 2-6, 2022, is Teacher Appreciation Week! At NASA, we know the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education.

from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-celebrates-teachers
via IFTTT

Mercurys Sodium Tail

That's no comet. Below the Pleiades star cluster is actually a planet: Mercury. Long exposures of our Solar System's innermost planet may reveal something unexpected: a tail. Mercury's thin atmosphere contains small amounts of sodium that glow when excited by light from the Sun. Sunlight also liberates these molecules from Mercury's surface and pushes them away. The yellow glow from sodium, in particular, is relatively bright. Pictured, Mercury and its sodium tail are visible in a deep image taken last week from La Palma, Spain through a filter that primarily transmits yellow light emitted by sodium. First predicted in the 1980s, Mercury's tail was first discovered in 2001. Many tail details were revealed in multiple observations by NASA's robotic MESSENGER spacecraft that orbited Mercury between 2011 and 2015. Tails, of course, are usually associated with comets.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220503.html ( May 03, 2022)

Misty Snopkowski: Working to Make Commercial Space a Reality

Misty Snopkowski is NASA’s program executive for the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Development program.

from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/misty-snopkowski-working-to-make-commercial-space-a-reality
via IFTTT

Partial Solar Eclipse over Argentina

What's happened to the Sun? Two days ago, parts of South America were treated to a partial solar eclipse -- where the Moon blocked out part of the Sun. The featured image shows an image of the partially eclipsed Sun through clouds as it was setting over Patagonia, Argentina. In the tilted image, Earth is toward the right. During the eclipse, the Moon moved partly between Earth and the Sun. Although a visually impressive sight, the slight dimming of surroundings during this partial eclipse was less noticeable than dimming created by a thick cloud. In about two weeks, all of South America and part of North America will experience a total lunar eclipse -- where the Earth moves completely between the Moon and the Sun. In about two years, a total solar eclipse will cross North America.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220502.html ( May 02, 2022)