Earth at Night. Courtesy DMSP and NASA

Images of the Earth at night, taken from space are always a stunning sight, with cities, countries and whole continents glittering like jewels. But this beauty comes at a price. It used to be that anyone looking up on a clear night could see the Milky Way. As more and more of us are drawn to live in urban areas, our view of the sky is blotted out by the glare of our lights. Astronomers have known about the growing problem of light pollution for a long time. Now ecologists are becoming concerned that our artificial lights are effecting more than our view of the stars. (...)
Read the rest of Ecological Concerns in Losing Our Starry Night (369 words)

© Jenny Winder for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Light Pollution

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The Space Shuttle replica “Explorer” towed onto a barge at the Kennedy Space Center. The full scale replica model has set sail today May 24, 2012 on an oceanic voyage for her permanent new museum display home at Space Center Houston, the visitor complex at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas. Workers prepare to weld Explorer firmly to the barge deck. Credit: Ken Kremer

A high fidelity replica of a NASA Space Shuttle orbiter has set off today, May 24, on an ocean going voyage by barge for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This trip by the Shuttle replica gives a taste of what’s to come for the upcoming barge journey by Space Shuttle Enterprise around the southern tip of Manhattan in early June.

The replica model formerly named “Explorer” departed early this morning from the turn basin at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the shadow of the iconic vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where the real Space Shuttles and Apollo Moon rockets were assembled for launch. (...)
Read the rest of Shuttle Replica Departs Kennedy for Ocean Voyage to Houston on a Barge – Enterprise is Next (798 words)

© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Johnson Space Center, kennedy space center, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, NASA, Space Shuttle, space shuttle enterprise, Space Shuttle Explorer replica model

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Don't worry Ripley, it just wants to explore.

Alien life probably isn’t interested in having us for dinner, enslaving us or laying eggs in our bellies, according to a recent statement by former SETI director Jill Tarter.

(Of course, Hollywood would rather have us think otherwise.)

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Read the rest of Aliens Don’t Want To Eat Us, Says Former SETI Director (399 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 29 comments |
Post tags: aliens, Contact, extraterrestrial, life, SETI, SETIcon, UFO

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The featureless face of Venus, as seen by MESSENGER (NASA/Gordan Ugarkovic)

With Venus about to get its day in the Sun — very much literally — the European Space Agency has assembled an excellent video about our planetary neighbor.

Watch the video below: (...)
Read the rest of ESA: Unveiling Venus (108 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: esa, planet, Solar System, transit, Venus, Venus Express, video

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Fifty years ago today, May 24, 1962 astronaut Scott Carpenter launched in his Aurora 7 capsule. This was the fourth manned mission and the second orbital flight of the Mercury program. This video celebrates the Aurora 7 flight, which successfully made three Earth orbits. But a targeting mishap during reentry took the spacecraft about 400 km (250 miles) off course, delaying recovery of Carpenter and the capsule. Carpenter was picked up after nearly 3 hours in the water, and the Mercury capsule was not retrieved until about 6 hours later.
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Read the rest of 50 Years Ago Today: The Flight of Aurora 7 (18 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: Aurora 7, Mercury program, Scott Carpenter

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Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke collects lunar samples during EVA on April 23, 1972 (NASA)

New investigations of lunar samples collected during the Apollo missions have revealed origins from beyond the Earth-Moon system, supporting a hypothesis of ancient cataclysmic bombardment for both worlds.

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Read the rest of A New Look at Apollo Samples Supports Ancient Impact Theory (695 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 7 comments |
Post tags: Apollo, breccia, chondrite, chondrules, Earth, impact, JSC, LPI, lunar, lunar cataclysm, Meteorites, rocks

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NASA recommends an artifact boundary extending 75 m from the Apollo 11 lunar module descent stage. Photo credit: NASA

Don’t say you haven’t been warned. NASA put out an official document today specifying how close any future spacecraft and astronauts visiting the Moon can come to the artifacts left on the lunar surface by all US space missions, including the Apollo landing sites, any robotic landing sites like Surveyor and impact sites like LCROSS.

While these recommendations are not mandatory (there’s obviously no way to enforce this yet) the document states, “rather, it is offered to inform lunar spacecraft mission planners interested in helping preserve and protect lunar historic artifacts and potential science opportunities for future missions.”
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Read the rest of Going to the Moon? Don’t Touch the Historical Artifacts, NASA Says (258 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 12 comments |
Post tags: China, Google Lunar X PRIZE, Moon, NASA

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Early today, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully flew near the International Space Station and completed two big tests of its in-space capabilities, all critical tests for tomorrow’s big event: the first berthing of a commercial spacecraft to the ISS. As Dragon approached, astronaut Don Pettit spied the spacecraft first. “I think I can see it now,” he said, and Mission Control in Houston radioed back, “Copy that. Tally ho Dragon!”

With the successes today, NASA has given SpaceX a “go” for berthing activities on Friday, May 25.
(...)
Read the rest of Tally Ho Dragon! (521 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 4 comments |
Post tags: Commercial Space, Dragon capsule, Space Station, SpaceX

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A montage of Venus images from January to May 2012. Credit: Efrain Morales

Wow! Take a look at how Venus has changed in the night sky the past five months!

“The Planet Venus, The Roman goddess of love and beauty and the closest planet to us — especially now just as it gets closest — will transit across the Sun soon,” said astrophotographer Efrain Morales. “This sequence is a five month transition showing its size continuing to grow and its crescent getting thinner as time progresses.” Venus’ transit of the Sun will be on June 5/6, 2012, depending on your location. This won’t happen again in your lifetime, so don’t miss this opportunity.

Click on the image for a larger version to see all the details. Check out Efrain’s website and Flickr page for more astrophotos.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: Astrophotos, Venus

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SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off, sending the Dragon capsule on the first commercial cargo flight to the International Space Station. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com).

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Commercial Space, Dragon capsule, Space Station, SpaceX

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