Comet of the Week: 81P/Wild 2
Comet 81P/Wild 2’s Perihelion: 2003 September 25.93, q = 1.590 AU Comet 81P/Wild 2 was discovered on January 6, 1978, by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild, who photographically patrolled the skies for several decades from the University of Bern. Throughout that time he discovered numerous asteroids and supernovae, as well as eight comets; he has the …
Special Topic: Main belt asteroids
Ice and Stone 2020 is a weekly series of educational material focusing on some of the small bodies of the solar system – comets and asteroids. The Earthrise Institute, a non-profit founded by Comet Hale-Bopp co-discoverer Alan Hale, is partnering with the La Cumbres Observatory and RocketSTEM to release the material for FREE online so that …
Canada working with U.S. to inspire a future generation of astronauts
The United States and Canada are joining forces to encourage a new generation of astronauts. The two countries have cooperated on space exploration since soon after NASA, the U.S. space agency, was founded in 1958. Canada sends astronauts on NASA space missions, and it supplies technology for the International Space Station, among other space efforts. …
Blue Origin goes step by step ferociously into space
The appearance of a photo of an old wooden sailing ship set the stage for a dramatic announcement by a secretive space company earlier this year. On April 26th of this year the usually quiet twitter account of Jeff Bezos’ privately funded space company, Blue Origin, tweeted a cryptic yet telling image: a black and …
Koch and Meir complete historic first all-female spacewalk
A dynamic duo of NASA women astronauts – Christina Koch and Jessica Meir – made history Friday, Oct. 18 when they carried out and successfully completed history’s first all-female spacewalk. Soaring some 400 kilometers above Earth while working and floating outside the International Space Station (ISS), they performed a critical task of swapping out a …
New spacesuits unveiled for future Artemis missions
Culminating years of design effort, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine unveiled a pair of hi-tech spacesuits to be worn by the first woman and the next man who will journey to the Moon in Orion capsules and walk on the lunar South Pole – during a rousing event held Tuesday, Oct. 15, at NASA Headquarters in …