Mars and Venus, Summer Stars, and the June Solstice! The planets of war and love draw nearer each night, as the bright stars of Northern Hemisphere summer rise. And note the June solstice on the 21st. What’s Up for June? Planets buzz the Beehive, your bright evening stars, and how the Summer Solstice revealed the […]
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL)
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA’s Lunar Flashlight to Fly by Earth
With its primary mission over, the CubeSat will zoom by Earth late Tuesday, May 16, and NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System app will track it, providing a chance to say farewell. NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission to the Moon has ended, but the briefcase-size spacecraft will soon fly past Earth before heading into deep space. On […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Caught in the Act: Astronomers Detect a Star Devouring a Planet
A new study published online Wednesday, May 3, in the journal Nature documents the first observation of an aging star swallowing a planet. After running out of fuel in its core, the star began to grow in size, shrinking the gap with its neighboring planet, eventually consuming it entirely. In about 5 billion years, our […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky for May 2023
We’ve reached “peak Venus” in the p.m. skies, and the Moon occults Jupiter for the Western U.S. Plus, what makes the Southern Hemisphere sky unique? What’s up for May? What’s Up for May? Planets strike a pose with the Moon, we reach “peak Venus,” and what’s different about the skies of the Southern Hemisphere. On […]
Posted inEnviro
NASA Teams with Forest Service to Tally America’s Oldest Trees
Century-old sugar maples in Wisconsin. Five-hundred-year-old cedars in Oklahoma. Fifty-foot-wide oaks in Georgia. These trees grace our nation’s old-growth forests, and scientists say they hold unexplored mysteries from their roots to their rings. In an effort to steward these resources, on Earth Day 2022 the Biden Administration called upon the Department of Agriculture and the […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky for April 2023?
Spot Mercury after sunset early in the month, follow the Moon’s visits with the planets, and catch a shooting star when the Lyrid meteors peak on April 23. April 2023 Skywatching Highlights TRANSCRIPT What’s Up for April? Mercury rising, this month’s Moon and planet pairings, and the Lyrid meteor shower. First up, on April 11, […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA Space Mission Takes Stock of Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Countries
A NASA Earth-observing satellite has helped researchers track carbon dioxide emissions for more than 100 countries around the world. The pilot project offers a powerful new look at the carbon dioxide being emitted in these countries and how much of it is removed from the atmosphere by forests and other carbon-absorbing “sinks” within their borders. The […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky – March 2023
What are some skywatching highlights in March 2023? Following their close approach in the sky on March 1, Venus and Jupiter go their separate ways. Venus climbs higher each evening, while Jupiter exists the morning sky at month’s end. And those with binoculars of a small telescope can seek out dwarf planet Ceres, which is […]
Posted inRegional
What’s Up: February 2023 Skywatching Tips from NASA
What to look for in February: Planets gather, the charioteer, and “Sirius” star clusters! Venus and Jupiter cozy up, the constellation Auriga makes a worthy target, and two star clusters you can find using Sirius and a pair of binoculars. What’s Up for February? The brightest planets converge, the constellation Auriga, and two star clusters you might […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA System Predicts Small Asteroid to Pass Close by Earth This Week
On Thursday, Jan. 26, a small near-Earth asteroid will have a very close encounter with our planet. Designated 2023 BU, the asteroid will zoom over the southern tip of South America at about 4:27 p.m. PST (7:27 p.m. EST) only 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) above the planet’s surface and well within the orbit of geosynchronous […]
Posted inCalifornia
NASA Measures Underground Water Flowing From Sierra to Central Valley
In a recent study, scientists found that a previously unmeasured source – water percolating through soil and fractured rock below California’s Sierra Nevada mountains – delivers an average of 4 million acre feet (5 cubic kilometers) of water to the state’s Central Valley each year. This underground source accounts for about 10% of all the water […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA’s TESS Discovers Planetary System’s Second Earth-Size World
Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, scientists have identified an Earth-size world, called TOI 700 e, orbiting within the habitable zone of its star – the range of distances where liquid water could occur on a planet’s surface. The world is 95% Earth’s size and likely rocky. Astronomers previously discovered three planets in […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky for January 2023?
What’s Up for January? The planets have some close encounters, the bright stars of winter, and a chance to catch a comet. All month after sunset, you can see four planets without the aid of binoculars or a telescope. You’ll find Mars in the east, Jupiter high overhead, and Saturn in the southwest with Venus. […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Two Exoplanets May Be Mostly Water, NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Find
A team led by of researchers at the University of Montreal has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are “water worlds,” where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet. These worlds, located in a planetary system 218 light-years away in the constellation Lyra, are unlike any planets found […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Latest International Water Satellite Packs an Engineering Punch
Set for a Thursday, Dec. 15 launch, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite promises to provide an extraordinary accounting of water over much of Earth’s surface. Its measurements of fresh water and the ocean will help researchers address some of the most pressing climate questions of our time and help communities prepare for a warming world. Making […]
Posted inEnviro
NASA Study: Rising Sea Level Could Exceed Estimates for U.S. Coasts
By 2050, sea level along contiguous U.S. coastlines could rise as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) above today’s waterline, according to researchers who analyzed nearly three decades of satellite observations. The results from the NASA Sea Level Change Team could help refine near-term projections for coastal communities that are bracing for increases in both […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky for November
What’s Up for November? A lunar eclipse, the moon and planets, and the Leonid meteors. A total lunar eclipse is on the way, to provide a little celestial magic, early on the morning of November 8th. The eclipse will be visible to viewers in North America, the Pacific region, Australia, and Eastern Asia – anywhere […]
Posted inEnviro
Methane ‘Super-Emitters’ Mapped by NASA’s New Earth Space Mission
NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission is mapping the prevalence of key minerals in the planet’s dust-producing deserts – information that will advance our understanding of airborne dust’s effects on climate. But EMIT has demonstrated another crucial capability: detecting the presence of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In the data EMIT has […]
Posted inCalifornia
NASA Study Finds Climate Extremes Affect Landslides in Surprising Ways
The results represent an early step toward developing what researchers hope will become the ability to forecast whether a slow-moving landslide will collapse. Climate change is driving more volatile precipitation patterns around the world – very dry stretches punctuated by storms that drop large amounts of rain or snow in a short amount of time. […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky: October 2022
Jupiter and Saturn all night, Mars begins its retrograde motion, and the Orionid meteors peak! Giant planets Jupiter and Saturn are visible throughout the night in October. Early in the evening, you’ll find them to the southeast, moving slowly westward with the stars over the course of the night. They form a triangle with bright […]