| FLYBY ALERT!
Space shuttle Discovery launched on May 31st. Get your flyby
alerts from Space
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MOON SHOW:
When the sun sets tonight, go outside and look west. Saturn, Mars
and the slender crescent Moon are making a pretty line across the
sky. Consider it a prelude to an even better show this weekend featuring
a Mars-Moon conjunction on Saturday and a tight celestial triangle
on Sunday. Let the Moon be your guide: June
6th, 7th,
8th.
images: from
Mahdi Rahimi of Isfahan, Iran; from
Mohammad Soltanolkottabi of Esfahan, Iran; from
Elias Chasiotis of Athens, Greece; from
P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden; from
Niloofar Khavari of Dehkade, Karaj, Iran; from
Miguel Claro of Almada, Portugal
SCOOP TWO:
Phoenix's robotic arm has taken its second scoop out of Mars. The
resulting trench reveals a splash of mysterious white material just
below the topsoil. Put on your 3D
glasses for an in-depth look:
Graphic artist Patrick Vantuyne of Belgium created the anaglyph
by combining right- and left-eye images
from Phoenix's stereo camera. Staring for a while improves the 3D
effect; indeed, the full-sized
anaglyph may make you feel as if you're about to fall in. Don't
worry, the actual trench is only 1.5-inches deep.
The white substance in the trench is an unknown. It could be ice,
salt, or something else entirely. Researchers may have found a clue
in images from Phoenix's onboard microscope. This week, the microscope
got its first
look at specks of dust and soil, and there was a translucent
particle shining relatively white against the ambient red. Researchers
say it looks like a grain of salt, but they can't be sure. The final
answer won't be known until Phoenix tips a sample into the lander's
mass spectrometer. Stay tuned for chemical analysis!
LONG DISTANCE SPACE
STATION: The International Space Station
(ISS) has grown so big and bright that on June 3rd when the sprawling
spacecraft flew over southern France, amateur astronomer Ralf
Vandebergh was able to photograph it from the Netherlands.
"Normally, I would never try to photograph the ISS so close
to the horizon (34o elevation), but there was an important
spacewalk going on and I really wanted to capture the scene."
Vandebergh tracked the ISS by hand, manually guiding his 10-inch
telescope while a digital video camera recorded the view through
the eyepiece. "In the
animation, keep an eye on the space shuttle Discovery and you
may be surprised how much detail you can see," he says.
Not visible in the animation are the ant-like figures of spacewalking
astronauts busily working to install a new bus-sized module (Japan's
Kibo science lab)
delivered the previous day in the cargo hold of the space shuttle.
The installation was a success and now the ISS is even bigger and
brighter than before.
This weekend the ISS is making a series of lovely flybys over the
Americas. Please try our Simple Flybys tool
to find out when to look.
more images: from
Dan Earl of Grass Valley, Oregon; from
Bryan of Babylon, New York; from
Steve Newcomb of Oakland, Maryland; from
Paco Bellido of Córdoba, Spain;
May
2008 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora Alerts] [Night-sky
Cameras]
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