The night side of Pluto spans this shadowy scene, a stunning spacebased view with the Sun 4.9 billion kilometers (almost 4.5 light-hours) behind the dim and distant world. It was captured by far flung New Horizons in July of 2015. The spacecraft was at a range of some 21,000 kilometers from Pluto, about 19 minutes after its closest approach. A denizen of the Kuiper Belt in dramatic silhouette, the image also reveals Pluto’s tenuous, surprisingly complex layers of hazy atmosphere. The crescent twilight landscape near the top of the frame includes southern areas of nitrogen ice plains now formally known Read more »

The failed unit was beyond the reach of the robotic Canadarm2. Therefore, this repair of the International Space Station would require humans. The humans on duty were NASA’s Jessica Meir and Christina Koch. This was the fourth spacewalk for Meir, the first for Koch, and the first all-female spacewalk in human history. The first woman to walk in space was Svetlana Savitskaya in 1984. Koch (red stripe) and Weir are pictured hard at work on the P6 Truss, with solar panels and the darkness of space in the background. Working over seven hours, the newly installed Battery Charge / Discharge Read more »

NASA will provide live coverage on NASA Television of key events at the 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which takes place Oct. 21-25 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. from NASA https://ift.tt/33AWiSK via IFTTT

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will participate in a news conference from orbit at noon EDT, Monday, Oct. 21, following their Friday spacewalk – the first to be conducted by two women. from NASA https://ift.tt/2MR8LLq via IFTTT

In 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe was among those who noticed a new bright object in the constellation Cassiopeia. via NASA https://ift.tt/31prkLF

NASA released a report Friday with recommendations from the Planetary Protection Independent Review Board (PPIRB) the agency established in response to a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report and a recommendation from the NASA Advisory Council. from NASA https://ift.tt/2oKlwiS via IFTTT

After the 2017 detecton of 1I/’Oumuamua, comet 2I/Borisov has become the second recognized interstellar interloper. Like ‚Oumuamua, Borisov’s measured hyperbolic trajectory and speed as it falls toward the Sun confirm that its origin is from beyond our Solar System. But while detailed observations indicate ‚Oumuamua is a rocky body with differences from known Solar System objects, Borisov is definitely a far wandering comet. Taken on October 12, 2019 this Hubble Space Telescope image of Borisov reveals a familiar looking comet-like activity and concentration of dust around around its nucleus. Not resolved in the image, some estimates suggest the nucleus could Read more »

On the first ever all-female spacewalk, NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will venture outside the International Space Station about 7:50 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 18, to replace faulty equipment on the station’s exterior. Live coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website. from NASA https://ift.tt/35SmWsi via IFTTT

On July 29, 2011 the Cassini spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera took this snapshot and captured 5 of Saturn’s moons, from just above the ringplane. Left to right are small moons Janus and Pandora respectively 179 and 81 kilometers across, shiny 504 kilometer diameter Enceladus, and Mimas, 396 kilometers across, seen just next to Rhea. Cut off by the right edge of the frame, Rhea is Saturn’s second largest moon at 1,528 kilometers across. So how many moons does Saturn have? Twenty new found outer satellites bring its total to 82 known moons, and since Jupiter’s moon total stands at 79, Saturn Read more »

NASA has opened media accreditation for the Feb. 5, 2020, launch of Solar Orbiter – a joint NASA/ESA (European Space Agency) mission that will address central questions concerning our star, the Sun. from NASA https://ift.tt/2MkyQ6e via IFTTT