NASA dixit:
“This animation of NOAA’s GOES East satellite imagery from Sept. 21 at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 UTC) to Sept. 23 ending at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 UTC) shows Jose becoming a post-tropical storm winding down near New England while Hurricane Maria moved over Puerto Rico and toward the Bahamas.”
Video credit: NASA
NASA dixit:
“OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s mission to explore near-earth asteroid Bennu, collect a sample, and return it to Earth. To get to Bennu, however, OSIRIS-REx must first leave the plane of Earth’s orbit and match the orbital tilt of its target. On September 22, 2017, OSIRIS-REx approached Earth and flew over its southern hemisphere, passing within 11,000 miles of Antarctica. This gravitational slingshot will bend its trajectory by six degrees, sending the spacecraft on a path to intercept Bennu. Shortly after the flyby, OSIRIS-REx looked back at Earth and took images and spectra, ensuring that its instruments are ready for arrival at Bennu in 2018.”
Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Dan Gallagher
ESA dixit:
“The Sun unleashed powerful solar flares on September 6, one of which was the strongest in over a decade. An X2.2-class flare was launched at 09:10 GMT and an X9.3 flare was observed at 12:02 GMT. An M-class flare was also observed two days earlier on September 4.
The images were captured by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO. The flares were launched from a group of sunspots classified as active region 2673. The shaded disc at the centre of the image is a mask in SOHO’s LASCO instrument that blocks out direct sunlight to allow study of the faint details in the Sun’s corona. The white circle added within the disc shows the size and position of the visible Sun.”
Video credit: ESA
Wikipedia dixit:
“Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets. Part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1, on a trajectory that took longer to reach Jupiter and Saturn but enabled further encounters with Uranus and Neptune. It is the only spacecraft to have visited either of the ice giants.
Its primary mission ended with the exploration of the Neptunian system on October 2, 1989, after having visited the Uranian system in 1986, the Saturnian system in 1981, and the Jovian system in 1979. Voyager 2 is now in its extended mission to study the outer reaches of the Solar System and has been operating for 40 years and 29 days as of September 18, 2017. It remains in contact through the Deep Space Network.
At a distance of 115 AU (1.72×1010 km) from the Sun as of July 30, 2017, Voyager 2 is the fourth of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System. The probe was moving at a velocity of 15.4 km/s (55,000 km/h) relative to the Sun as of December 2014 and is traveling through the heliosheath. Upon reaching interstellar space, Voyager 2 is expected to provide the first direct measurements of the density and temperature of the interstellar plasma.”
Video credit: NASA
Wikipedia dixit:
“Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977. Part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System, Voyager 1 launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. Having operated for 40 years and 13 days as of September 18, 2017, the spacecraft still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and return data. At a distance of 139 AU (2.08×1010 km) from the Sun as of July 1, 2017, it is the farthest spacecraft from Earth as well as the farthest man-made object. It is also the most distant object in the solar system whose location is known, even farther than Eris (96 AU) and V774104 (~103 AU).
The probe’s objectives included flybys of Jupiter, Saturn and Saturn’s large moon, Titan. While the spacecraft’s course could have been altered to include a Pluto encounter by forgoing the Titan flyby, exploration of the moon, which was known to have a substantial atmosphere, took priority. It studied the weather, magnetic fields and rings of the two planets and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their moons.
After completing its primary mission with the flyby of Saturn on November 20, 1980, Voyager 1 became the third of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System. It is pursuing an extended mission to explore the regions and boundaries of the outer heliosphere. On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause to become the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space and study the interstellar medium.
Voyager 1’s extended mission is expected to continue until around 2025 when its radioisotope thermoelectric generators will no longer supply enough electric power to operate its scientific instruments.”
Video credit: NASA
Epic blooper reel from SpaceX… building and flying rockets requires a good sense of humor.
~ dj
Video credit: SpaceX
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