The Moon passes in front of the sun
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Mark A. Garcia
1 min read
After 10 months flying in space, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration – successfully impacted its asteroid target on Monday, September 26 at 7:14 p.m. EDT. as the world’s first attempt to move an asteroid in space.
Over the coming weeks, ground based observatories around the world will characterize the ejecta produced by DART’s impact and precisely measure Dimorphos’ orbital change to determine how effectively DART deflected the asteroid. Below you will find a gallery that will continue to be updated as new images are taken of the Didymos asteroid system.
DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth but is the perfect testing ground to see if this method of asteroid deflection – known as the kinetic impactor technique – would be a viable way to protect our planet if an asteroid on a collision course with Earth were discovered in the future.
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Tricia Talbert
2 min read
The public is invited to celebrate International Observe the Moon Night on Saturday, Oct. 21, from 6 to 9 p.m. EDT rain or shine at NASA Goddard’s Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
International Observe the Moon Night is a time to come together with fellow Moon enthusiasts and curious people around the world. The public is invited to learn about lunar science and exploration, take part in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connections to the Moon.
During the Goddard event, attendees will be able to participate in a variety of interactive hands-on activities, including making your own eclipse art, exploring rocks from Earth and space, recreating the Moon’s phases with cookies, designing your own lunar lander, and much more! We’ll also have a photo booth, Moon-themed presentations, and lunar and astronomical observing with telescopes.
International Observe the Moon Night occurs annually in September or October, when the Moon is around first quarter – a great phase for evening observing. A first-quarter Moon offers excellent viewing opportunities along the terminator (the line between night and day), where shadows enhance the Moon’s cratered landscape.
International Observe the Moon Night is sponsored by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission and the Solar System Exploration Division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with support from many partners. LRO is managed by Goddard for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
No registration is needed.
To participate in International Observe the Moon Night from wherever you may be, check out our official NASA TV broadcast at 7- 8 p.m. EDT here:
https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/participate/live-streams/
For directions to the Goddard Visitor Center, go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/directions/index.html
To learn more about the program, visit:
https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/
For more information about LRO, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lro
Nancy Neal Jones
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Nancy.N.Jones@nasa.gov
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Jamie Adkins
A new campus, called Berkeley Space Center, aims to offer lab, office, and educational spaces along with student and faculty housing, a conference center, and retail space on 36 acres within the NASA Research Park at the agency’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.
The University of California Berkeley and San Francisco-based developer SKS Partners proposed the new campus and innovation hub for research and advancements in astronautics, aeronautics, quantum computing, climate studies, social sciences, and more during an event Monday at NASA Ames.
Berkeley Space Center follows on a NASA-UC Berkeley partnership created to explore potential mutually beneficial learning opportunities, including accelerating local and national capabilities for transporting cargo and passengers using emerging automation and electric propulsion technologies; examining how biomanufacturing can enable deep space exploration; and leveraging NASA’s high-performance computing assets. The new campus aims to bring together researchers from the private sector, academia, and the government to tackle the complex scientific, technological, and societal issues facing our world.
“The diverse portfolios of NASA Ames and Berkeley open potential future collaborations in a variety of areas including interplanetary exploration, air transportation capabilities, the search for life beyond our planet, and environmental studies for the benefit of all,” said Eugene Tu, Ames center director.
NASA Research Park is a world-class research and development hub for government, academia, non-profits, and industry, located at Ames in Moffett Field, California. Ames has a long history of partnering with diverse entities – from space technology start-ups to the Federal Aviation Administration – to combine strengths to tackle great challenges. Through the Berkeley Space Center, UC Berkeley joins Carnegie Mellon as the second major university to choose NASA Research Park for a new campus.
“The Berkeley Space Center will bring together leading experts in academia, government, and industry to enable new collaboration in aerospace, bioengineering, advanced air mobility, and other areas of research,” said U.S. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo. “Bravo to NASA Ames and UC Berkeley on this watershed moment in the transformation of Moffett Field into an innovation hub and a model for bringing together the brightest minds in academia and government.”
The United States Geological Survey serves as another model partnership at Ames, with development of a new campus collocating at NASA Research Park to support joint research in lunar prospecting, earthquake simulations, ecology, remote sensing work, and more.
“As an advocate for advancing the science and technology ecosystem of the Bay Area, I’m very proud to see this collaboration happening here in Silicon Valley,” said U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren. “This is a perfect example of the importance of NASA’s enhanced use leasing (EUL) authority, which allows us to take full advantage of NASA’s unique infrastructure and capabilities. Everybody benefits when we put smart policies to use, like EUL. The product of this partnership could create jobs, build a collaborative atmosphere, and help train the next generation of STEM leaders. I look forward to following along the progress of the Center’s construction and, one day, touring the Berkeley Space Center.”
Learn more about Ames’ world-class research and development in aeronautics, science, and exploration technology at: https://www.nasa.gov/ames
For news media:
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the Ames newsroom.
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Rachel Hoover
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This image captures the beginning of the spacecraft’s journey to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name.
The body of the Psyche spacecraft is about the size of a small van, and it’s powered by solar electric propulsion. It has a magnetometer, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, and a multispectral imager to study asteroid Psyche’s composition. The spacecraft will start sending images to Earth as soon as it spots the asteroid.
See more photos from the launch.
Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
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Monika Luabeya