What’s Up for April? Conjunction junction and a hidden surprise in the Big Dipper. At the beginning of April, Venus, Mars, and Saturn form a trio in the southeast before sunrise, with Saturn appearing to move steadily toward Mars each day. On April 1st, they’re a couple of finger widths apart. And by the 4th, […]
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL)
Posted inLife
NASA’s Pi Day Challenge: Solve Math Problems With NASA
To celebrate Pi Day, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is serving up a series of science and engineering questions related to some of the agency’s Earth and space missions. It’s deliciously reliable, like cherry pie: Divide the circumference of any circle in the universe by its diameter, and you will always get the same number, pi, […]
Posted inCalifornia
Woolsey Fire Led to Spike in Bacteria, Cloudiness in Coastal Waters
Scientists analyzed coastal water quality in the months following a major Southern California wildfire. Their results were eye-opening. The November 2018 Woolsey Fire in Southern California’s Los Angeles and Ventura counties left more than a nearly 100,000-acre burn scar behind: It also left the adjacent coastal waters with unusually high levels of fecal bacteria and […]
Posted inRegional
What’s Up in the sky: March 2022
What’s Up for March? Meet the morning planets, the nearest star cluster, and some do-it-yourself exoplanets. Saturn joins Venus and Mars this month in the morning sky. Beginning around March 18 or 19th, early risers may notice Saturn steadily moving toward Mars and Venus each day, to form a trio low in the east before […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Sea Level to Rise up to a Foot by 2050, Interagency Report Finds
NASA, NOAA, USGS, and other U.S. government agencies project that the rise in ocean height in the next 30 years could equal the total rise seen over the past 100 years. Coastal flooding will increase significantly over the next 30 years because of sea level rise, according to a new report by an interagency sea […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky – February 2022
What’s Up for February? Jupiter makes its exit, Venus at peak brightness, and the star-forming cloud next door. With the departure of Saturn and Venus over the past two months, Jupiter is the only bright planet left in our twilight skies in February, and it’s on its way out! The giant planet stands alone, low […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA’s MRO Finds Water Flowed on Mars Longer Than Previously Thought
Caltech researchers used the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to determine that surface water left salt minerals behind as recently as 2 billion years ago. Mars once rippled with rivers and ponds billions of years ago, providing a potential habitat for microbial life. As the planet’s atmosphere thinned over time, that water evaporated, leaving the frozen desert […]
Posted inRegional
What’s Up: January 2021 Skywatching Tips from NASA (VIDEO)
What’s Up for January? New year, new Moon; midnight meteors; and Mars rises. January begins with a new moon on the 2nd. And that means the first week of the month is ideal for stargazing because the few days before and after the new moon are the darkest. Head outside around 8 or 9 p.m. […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft ‘Hears’ Jupiter’s Moon
An audio track collected during Jupiter mission’s Ganymede flyby offers a dramatic ride-along. It is one highlights mission scientists shared in a briefing at American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. Sounds from a Ganymede flyby, magnetic fields, and remarkable comparisons between Jupiter and Earth’s oceans and atmospheres were discussed during a briefing today on NASA’s Juno […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Have the Coolest Camera in Space
Before the MIRI instrument – one of four scientific instruments aboard the observatory – can operate, it has to be cooled down to almost the coldest temperature matter can reach. Set to launch on Dec. 22, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the largest space observatory in history, and it has an equally gargantuan task: […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky for December 2021
What’s Up for December? Your early evening highlights, a chance to catch a comet, and the annual Geminid meteors. On December 6th through the 10th, look westward following sunset for the Moon visiting Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter in turn. The Moon’s crescent fills out as it appears higher in the sky each evening over the […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Emission Reductions From Pandemic Had Unexpected Effects on Atmosphere
November 9, 2021 – Earth’s atmosphere reacted in surprising ways to the lowering of emissions during the pandemic, showing how closely climate warming and air pollution are linked. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting limitations on travel and other economic sectors by countries around the globe drastically decreased air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions within just […]
Posted inRegional
What’s Up in the Sky for November 2021? (lunar eclipse alert)
What’s Up for November? Sunset planets, a partial lunar eclipse, and the return of the winter stars. From November 6th through the 11th, watch the Moon glide past Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter after sunset in the south/southwest. In particular, if you step outside for a look on November 7th, you’ll find the four-day-old crescent Moon […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Hear Sounds From Mars Captured by NASA’s Perseverance Rover
Two microphones aboard the six-wheeled spacecraft add a new dimension to the way scientists and engineers explore the Red Planet. Thanks to two microphones aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, the mission has recorded nearly five hours of Martian wind gusts, rover wheels crunching over gravel, and motors whirring as the spacecraft moves its arm. These sounds […]
Posted inSci/Tech
My Favorite Martian Image: the Ridges of ‘South SéÃtah’
NASA’s Perseverance rover captures a geologic feature with details that offer clues to the area’s mysterious past. Ask any space explorer, and they’ll have a favorite photograph or two from their mission. For Jorge Núñez, an astrobiologist and planetary scientist working on the science team of NASA’s Perseverance rover, one of his current favorites is […]
Posted inEnviro
Icy ‘Glue’ May Control Pace of Antarctic Ice-Shelf Breakup
Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the University of California, Irvine, have discovered an ice process that may have caused a Delaware-size iceberg to break off Antarctica’s immense Larsen C ice shelf in the Southern Hemisphere winter of 2017. The finding that mélange – a mixture of windblown snow, iceberg bits, […]
Posted inRegional
What’s Up: October 2021 Skywatching Tips from NASA
What’s Up for October? What to look for this month at sunrise and sunset, and two brilliant stars vying for the “pole” position. On October 10th look for the five-day-old crescent Moon to join Venus and bright, orange-colored Antares in the southwest after sunset. Then watch as Venus closes on Antares, for a close conjunction […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Collects First Mars Rock Sample
NASA’s Perseverance rover today completed the collection of the first sample of Martian rock, a core from Jezero Crater slightly thicker than a pencil. Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California received data that confirmed the historic milestone. The core is now enclosed in an airtight titaniumsample tube, making it available […]
Posted inRegional
What’s up in the sky: September 2021
What’s Up for September? Moving fast in the cosmos with planet Mercury, and stars Arcturus and Altair… You’ll have to be quick to catch a glimpse of Mercury this month, as the innermost and fastest-moving planet – namesake of the fleet-footed, mythological messenger – appears low in the west for a short time following sunset. […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Fizzing Sodium Could Explain Asteroid Phaethon’s Cometlike Activity
As a comet zooms through the inner solar system, the Sun heats it, causing ices below the surface to vaporize into space. The venting vapor dislodges dust and rock, and the gas creates a bright tail that can extend millions of miles from the nucleus like an ethereal veil. Whereas comets contain lots of different […]