This weekend will provide the full Moon’s closest approach of the year to Earth. On Saturday, May 5, 2012 the Moon could appear as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012, according to some calculations.Every month, as the Moon circles the
A new National Research Council report says that budget shortfalls, cost-estimate growth, launch failures, and changes in mission design and scope have left U.S. earth observation systems in a more precarious position than they were five years ago.The report cautions
The Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft carrying Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin landed in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 27 at 11:45 UTC (7:45 a.m. EDT). They undocked earlier from the International Space Station at 8:18 UTC (4:18
Recently lost ENVISAT still shows no signs of “life”. While satellite observing community wait for some news lets take a look at breathtaking imagery of land and oceans by Envisat’s optical and radar instruments. The satellite is orbiting 497 miles above the
For more than a week, solar activity has been low. Today, around 0600 UT, an active region on the farside of the sun broke the calm with a powerful eruption. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a massive cloud of plasma flying over the southwestern
The large fireball illuminated the sky over the Sierra Nevada mountains and created sonic booms that were heard over a wide area on Sunday, April 22, 2012. Peter Jenniskens, an expert in meteors and meteorites, has been successful in locating fragments from the huge
This is the third day in a row that geomagnetic storms have circled the poles. A mild (Kp=5) geomagnetic storm is underway. It looks like it subsiding now. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. The source of this activity is a high-speed solar wind
Seventy-six types of unregulated micro-organisms have been detected on the International Space Station (ISS). Though many are harmless, some are already capable of causing severe damage. These organisms corrode metals and polymers and can cause equipment to fail…
On Sunday morning, April 22, 2013 the loud explosion rattled homes from central California to Reno, Nevada, and beyond. A spectacular fireball exploded over California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. Some people reported seeing a brilliant light streak across the sk
While scientists had predicted that the next flip would begin from May 2013, the solar observation satellite Hinode found that the north pole of the sun had started flipping about a year earlier than expected. There was no noticeable change in the south pole.The
