A Fleeting Double Eclipse of the Sun

Last week, for a fraction of a second, the Sun was eclipsed twice. One week ago today, many people in North America were treated to a standard, single, partial solar eclipse. Fewer people, all congregated along a narrow path, experienced the eerie daytime darkness of a total solar eclipse. A dedicated few with fast enough camera equipment, however, were able to capture a double eclipse -- a simultaneous partial eclipse of the Sun by both the Moon and the International Space Station (ISS). The Earth-orbiting ISS crossed the Sun in less than a second, but to keep the ISS from appearing blurry, exposure times must be less than 1/1000th of a second. The featured image composite captured the ISS multiple times in succession as it zipped across the face of the Sun. The picture was taken in a specific color emitted by hydrogen which highlights the Sun's chromosphere, a layer hotter and higher up than the usually photographed photosphere. via NASA http://ift.tt/2wShbvy

Conditions At JSC Continue To Worsen

Flash Flood Warning for JSC until 12:30 PM today. Total rainfall 22.23 inches so far. 2-4 inches possible through 1PM and then a break. — JSC SOS (@JSCSOS) August 27, 2017

Getting multiple reports of flooding homes all around our area. Water onsite is over the sidewalks approaching steps. Knee deep in streets — JSC SOS (@JSCSOS) August 27, 2017

- Live webcam at Space Center Houston
- Live webcam at I-45 and NASA Rd 1
- Live webcam at IH-45 Gulf at Nasa Rd 1
- Live webcam at NASA Road 1 at Nasa Pkwy
- Live webcam at NASA Road 1 at Upper Bay Dr.
- Live webcam at NASA Road 1 at Space Center Blvd.
- Live webcam at NASA Road 1 at Repsdorph

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The Heart Nebula in Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur

What powers the Heart Nebula? The large emission nebula dubbed IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a heart. The nebula's glow -- as well as the shape of the gas and dust clouds -- is powered by by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the nebula's newborn star cluster Melotte 15. This deep telescopic image maps the pervasive light of narrow emission lines from atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur in the nebula. The field of view spans just over two degrees on the sky, so that it appears larger than four times the diameter of a full moon. The cosmic heart is found in the constellation of Cassiopeia, the boastful mythical Queen of Aethiopia . via NASA http://ift.tt/2vg24fJ

Spaceport America's Ongoing Financial Problems

How much secrecy does Spaceport America need? , Las Cruces Sun News

"Spaceport America hasn't always been so secretive. In addition to releasing Virgin Galactic's lease without redactions before Hicks was in charge, the agency has also shared details about its agreement with SpaceX. Hicks' predecessor, Christine Anderson, was quoted in 2013 as saying SpaceX would be paying $6,600 a month for three years to lease a mobile mission control facility and $25,000 per launch to test a reusable rocket. In other words, today the spaceport is trying to keep secret information it released to the public four years ago that's still available online."

Funding woes could 'cripple' NM spaceport as other states invest in space race, Las Cruces Sun News

"The New Mexico Spaceport Authority, the state agency that operates the facility, has shored up its annual operating budget since 2012 with excess money from taxes collected in Doña Ana and Sierra counties. That's been controversial. Officials pledged to voters who approved the tax increase a decade ago that three-fourths of the money would be used for construction of the facility that was to be built in the desert west of Truth or Consequences. The remaining one fourth of the tax money was pledged to education programs in the two counties. Officials said the state would fund the spaceport's operations."

Transparency problems plague Spaceport America, Las Cruces Sun News

"Spaceport America is a publicly owned government entity, so the law requires its financial and other dealings to be open to the public, with few exceptions. And yet in 2017 the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, the state agency that runs the spaceport, has violated the state's transparency laws several times in response to requests for documents filed by NMPolitics.net, a citizen from Truth or Consequences, and a reporter with KTSM-TV in El Paso. Those violations, in addition to other possible infractions, blocked or delayed public access to information about the spaceport."

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Hurricane Harvey, Seen From the Cupola of the International Space Station

On August 25, 2017, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer photographed Hurricane Harvey from the cupola module aboard the International Space Station as it intensified on its way toward the Texas coast. The Expedition 52 crew on the station has been tracking this storm for the past two days and capturing Earth observation photographs and videos. via NASA http://ift.tt/2wOiueR

NASA Awards Contract for Center Protective Services for Glenn Research Center

NASA has awarded a contract to Golden Svcs, LLC in Kingston, Tennessee, to provide protective services at the agency’s Ohio facilities, NASA’s Glenn Research Center’s Lewis Field in Cleveland and Plum Brook Station in Sandusky.

August 25, 2017
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Emily Lakdawalla • August 25, 2017

Voyager 40th anniversary: The Planetary Report's chronicles

The Planetary Society came into being at the same time that the Voyagers began their grand tour of the outer solar system. Except for the Voyager missions, the 1980s were a grim period for planetary exploration. Consequently, the first decade of our member magazine, The Planetary Report, was dominated by Voyager coverage alongside reporting on the Russian missions to Mars and editorials about the future of planetary exploration.

Before the spread of the Internet, this magazine was how many space enthusiasts got any news about the Voyager missions beyond newspaper articles and television. As it still does today, The Planetary Report features the voices and perspectives of the scientists, engineers, and managers directly involved in the missions. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Voyager missions, we're making publicly available seven back issues of The Planetary Report, featuring writing from Planetary Society founder Carl Sagan alongside numerous scientists and engineers from the Voyager mission: Ellis Miner, Torrance Johnson, William McLaughlin, David Morrison, Jeff Cuzzi, Bob Brown, Norman Ness, Carolyn Porco, Garry Hunt, David Stevenson, and more.

The Planetary Society

Planetary Report Voyager covers

Six of the issues of The Planetary Report that featured Voyager articles and images, from 1980 to 1990.

Volume 1, Number 1 (December 1980/January 1981) covers the Voyager 1 Jupiter encounter and previews the Saturn encounters.

Volume 1, Number 6 (October/November 1981) features a Voyager 2 Saturn encounter diary, a blog-like report from JPL, as well as Voyager 1 Saturn science.

Volume 6, Number 6 (November/December 1986) is all about the Uranus encounter and previews Neptune.

Volume 9, Number 4 (July/August 1989) is a double issue, a retrospective of Voyager Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus science, and a preview of Neptune and of the Interstellar Mission.

Volume 9, Number 6 (November/December 1989) features early results from Neptune as well as perspectives on the historical and cultural significance of the Voyager mission.

Volume 10, Number 4 (July/August 1990) prints the "family portrait" that contains the famous pale blue dot.

Volume 22, Number 5 (September/October 2002) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Voyager launches with perspectives on the mission and an article about the golden record by writer Timothy Ferris.

We hope you enjoy this journey down the Voyager memory lane.

The Planetary Society

A Voyager Benediction

A page from Volume 9, Number 6 of The Planetary Report, published November/December 1989, after Voyager 2 had passed Neptune.

 

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