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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The Rings of Saturn Viewed Planet-Side and the Final Days of Cassini

On August 20, NASA's Cassini spacecraft completed another pass between Saturn and its rings. The below animation shows the ring system from above (sunlit side) and then below (shadow side). All of the ring system is seen. But due to the angle, the rings and the ring divisions appear foreshortened (squeezed together). Also, the inner C ring looks larger in the foreground.

Saturn's ring system as seen during the Cassini pass between the rings and Saturn on August 20, 2017. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

The Grand Finale is Nearly Complete

The spacecraft is quickly approaching its  mission-ending dive into the atmosphere of Saturn on September 15. An April 22 gravitational assist from Saturn's moon Titan put the craft on its final path. But several mission milestones remain before then.

The spacecraft is expected to lose radio contact with Earth within about one to two minutes after beginning its descent into Saturn's upper atmosphere. But on the way down, eight of Cassini's 12 science instruments will be operating. In particular, the spacecraft's ion and neutral mass spectrometer (INMS), which will be directly sampling the atmosphere's composition, potentially returning insights into the giant planet's formation and evolution. On the day before, September 14, other Cassini instruments will make detailed, high-resolution observations of Saturn's auroras, temperature, and the vortices at the planet's poles. Cassini's imaging camera will take it's last views on September 14 and then be shut down. Below are some highlights from the final days of Cassini.

September 9 -- Cassini will make the last of 22 passes between Saturn itself and its rings -- closest approach is 1,044 miles (1,680 kilometers) above the clouds tops.

September 11 -- Cassini will make a distant flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Even though the spacecraft will be at 73,974 miles (119,049 kilometers) away, the gravitational influence of the moon will slow down the spacecraft slightly as it speeds past. A few days later, instead of passing through the outermost fringes of Saturn's atmosphere, Cassini will dive in too deep to survive the friction and heating.

September 14 -- Cassini's imaging cameras take their last look around the Saturn system, sending back pictures of moons Titan and Enceladus, the hexagon-shaped jet stream around the planet's north pole, and features in the rings.

September 14 (5:45 p.m. EDT / 2:45 p.m. PDT) -- Cassini turns its antenna to point at Earth, begins a communications link that will continue until end of mission, and sends back its final images and other data collected along the way.

September 15 (4:37 a.m. EDT / 1:37 a.m. PDT) -- The "final plunge" begins. The spacecraft starts a 5-minute roll to position INMS for optimal sampling of the atmosphere, transmitting data in near real time from this point to end of mission.

September 15 (7:53 a.m. EDT / 4:53 a.m. PDT) -- Cassini enters Saturn's atmosphere. Its thrusters fire at 10 percent of their capacity to maintain directional stability, enabling the spacecraft's high-gain antenna to remain pointed at Earth and allowing continued transmission of data.

September 15 (7:54 a.m. EDT / 4:54 a.m. PDT) -- Cassini's thrusters are at 100 percent of capacity. Atmospheric forces overwhelm the thrusters' capacity to maintain control of the spacecraft's orientation, and the high-gain antenna loses its lock on Earth. At this moment, expected to occur about 940 miles (1,510 kilometers) above Saturn's cloud tops, communication from the spacecraft will cease, and Cassini's mission of exploration will have concluded. The spacecraft will break up like a meteor moments later.

A Very Long Mission at Saturn

As Cassini completes its 13-year tour of Saturn, its Grand Finale -- which began in April -- and final plunge are just the last beat. Following a four-year primary mission and a two-year extension, NASA approved an ambitious plan to extend Cassini's service by an additional seven years. Called the Cassini Solstice Mission, the extension saw Cassini perform dozens more flybys of Saturn's moons as the spacecraft observed seasonal changes in the atmospheres of Saturn and Titan. From the outset, the planned endgame for the Solstice Mission was to expend all of Cassini's maneuvering propellant exploring, then eventually arriving in the ultra-close Grand Finale orbits, ending with safe disposal of the spacecraft in Saturn's atmosphere.

Mountains of New Data on the Saturn System

Since its launch in 1997, the findings of the Cassini mission have revolutionized our understanding of Saturn, its complex rings, the amazing assortment of moons and the planet's dynamic magnetic environment. The most distant planetary orbiter ever launched, Cassini started making astonishing discoveries immediately upon arrival and continues today. Icy jets shoot from the tiny moon Enceladus, providing samples of an underground ocean with evidence of hydrothermal activity. Titan's hydrocarbon lakes and seas are dominated by liquid ethane and methane, and complex pre-biotic chemicals form in the atmosphere and rain to the surface. Three-dimensional structures tower above Saturn's rings, and a giant Saturn storm circled the entire planet for most of a year. Cassini's findings at Saturn have also buttressed scientists' understanding of processes involved in the formation of planets.

Why End the Mission?

The spacecraft is running low on the rocket fuel used for adjusting its course. If left unchecked, this situation would eventually prevent mission operators from controlling the course of the spacecraft.

Two moons of Saturn, Enceladus and Titan, have captured news headlines over the past decade as Cassini data revealed their potential to contain habitable – or at least "prebiotic” – environments.

In order to avoid the unlikely possibility of Cassini someday colliding with one of these moons, NASA chose to safely dispose of the spacecraft in the atmosphere of Saturn. This will ensure that Cassini cannot contaminate any future studies of habitability and potential life on Enceladus and Titan.

For more information about the Saturn system and the Cassini mission, click on the links below.

NASA Cassini Mission

NASA Saturn/Cassini Mission Coverage

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Sunday, August 27, 2017

Asteroid 3122 Florence Close Approach September 1

On September 1, asteroid 3122 Florence will become the largest asteroid to fly by Earth since near-Earth asteroids were discovered a century ago.

Asteroid 3122 Florence will pass by Earth on September 1, 2017, at a distance of about 4.4 million miles. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Measurements made by the Spitzer Space Telescope and NEOWISE asteroid-hunting instrument suggest that Florence is around 2.7 miles (5 km) in diameter. The asteroid will pass 4.4 million miles from Earth, about 18 times the distance from the Earth to the moon.

Many known asteroids have passed closer to Earth than Florence will, but those were estimated to be smaller. NASA has tracked near-Earth objects since 1998.

Background on Florence

The body called Florence was first detected March 2, 1981 by American astronomer Schelte “Bobby” Bus from Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory. The discovery was provisionally labeled 1981 ET3. In 1993, it was acknowledged as asteroid discovery number 3122 and was named 3122 Florence in honor of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing.

3122 Florence is a stony asteroid of the Amor group, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid (PAH). It orbits the sun at a distance of 1.0–2.5 AU once every 2 years and 4 months (859 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.42 and an inclination of 22° with respect to the ecliptic. The PHA classification is due to both the body’s absolute magnitude (H ≤ 22) and its minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID ≤ 0.05 AU).

Observing Opportunity

For visual astronomers, 3122 Florence will be clearly visible in the night sky beginning August 27. On September 1, 3122 Florence will pass 0.04723 AU (7,066,000 km; 4,390,000 mi) from Earth, brightening to apparent magnitude 8.5, when it will be visible in small telescopes for several nights as it moves through the constellations Piscis Austrinus, Capricornus, Aquarius and Delphinus.

NEO Close Approaches in 2017

Florence is just one of a few bodies passing Earth this year. In January, asteroid 2017 AG13 snuck up on astronomers. The body was between 36 and 111 feet wide and passed Earth at half the distance to the moon. Another asteroid in the same size range, 2012 TC4, is scheduled to pass roughly one-fourth the distance to the moon—between 4,200 miles and 170,000 miles—on October 12, 2017.

Earth-Based Radar Observing

The size and proximity of Florence make it a perfect target for ground-based radio telescope observations. Radar imaging is planned at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California and at the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The resulting radar images will show the real size of Florence and could reveal surface details as small as about 30 feet (10 meters).

NEO Tracking Continues

Currently, NASA is tracking 1,826 near-Earth objects classified as Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, which have some risk of striking Earth in the future. Among those are several larger than Florence, including 1999 JM8 at 4.3 miles across, 4183 Cuno at 3.5 miles across and 3200 Phaeton at 3.2 miles across. None have come as close as Florence. Florence won’t make a closer pass until around the year 2500.

More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects can be found at:



For more information about NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, visit:



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Friday, August 25, 2017

Journey to the Shadow, No. 14

New friend Scott Wargo made this video of totality during the August 21 eclipse, as seen from our Greenwood, South Carolina location. I've already shared this link on some sites, so apologies if you have already seen this. Just trying to be thorough. Enjoy. http://bit.ly/2wakOKK

 Eclipse Video

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Journey to the Shadow, No. 13

Friend Craig MacDougal made this 13-minute YouTube video to capture the sights and sounds of the August 21 eclipse. Watch the Walmart as the sky grows erily darker and folks get more excited, see the darkness and hear the shouting during totality, and then watch how the world seems to quickly return to normal afterward. Did it really happen? I'm pretty sure it did! http://bit.ly/2w3PmPZ

 Eclipse Video

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Monday, August 21, 2017

Journey to the Shadow, No. 12

August 21, 2017

I have no photos from totality. But I have memories. Wow! Amazing. It was so otherworldly. The corona had the look of a Star Fleet delta shield with a solar prominence thrown in. The experience was so worth the trip. I will be scanning the recordings for the eclipse as it appeared when I saw it with my own eyes. We broke camp about 30 minutes after the end of totality. We are making our way back home with the rest of humanity. ETA, sometime after midnight Eastern Time.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 11

August 21, 2017

More observers collected as we got closer to totality. One family had some guests, a missionary family back from Niger. We had some fun with a pinhole projector.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 10

August 21, 2017

As we waited through the partial phase, Craig played a little Frisbee to pass the time.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 9

August 21, 2017

We met up with Craig's friends in Greenwood. We are camped in a shaded area by the parking lot of a Super Walmart. Partly cloudy, but we still consider it a great spot. Also, we aren't relocating again. And so we wait.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 8

August 21, 2017

It is the morning of Eclipse Day and we have a new plan: Go West! Craig's careful study of the weather models and satellite imagery gave him a headache. But suggested that around eclipse time in South Carolina, the chances of cloud cover will be lower the farther west you go. Therefore, we've decided to drive to Greenwood, west of Columbia. There we will meet an old friend of Craig's who will be observing there with friends. Being Eclipse Day, we expect traffic to be a challenge. So, for our dash across the state, we will take a few roads we hope will be less traveled. And by doing so, we hope that will make all the difference. The optimistic travel-time estimate is about 2 hours 30 minutes. If there are significant delays on the road, we may get to Greenwood after first contact (C1, the start of the partial phase). But as long as we are in place before totality (the time from C2 to C3), then no worries! The rough eclipse contact times for Greenwood, SC (Eastern Time) are: C1: 1:10:25 pm; C2: 2:39:22 pm; C3: 2:41:51 pm; C4: 4:04 pm. Queue the John Williams music!...Trivia Item 1: Experiencing a total solar eclipse where you live happens on average about once in 375 years. Trivia Item 2: 12.2 million Americans live in the path of this total eclipse. Of course, with visitors, that number will be much higher! About 200 million people (a little less than 2⁄3 the nation's population) live within one day's drive of the path of this total eclipse. In addition, millions of Americans will be able to view a partial eclipse, weather permitting.


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Sunday, August 20, 2017

Journey to the Shadow, No. 7

August 20, 2017

We found near our motel this concrete elephant and giraffe. Since golf is big in this area, we think they are remnants of a miniature golf course for the kids. We had dinner at the local Shoney's, watched the local news and weather, and chatted about the eclipse with the staff. After dinner, we returned to the restaurant with a couple pairs of eclipse glasses and a copy of the eclipse times for local viewing. We gave the glasses and times to the staff and wished them well.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 6

August 20, 2017

We have arrived at the Best Western in Santee, South Carolina. The agenda for the evening includes: (1) Get the wi-fi going, (2) forage for dinner at a local establishment, (3) construct some pinhole projectors to have on hand for the eclipse, and (4) study the latest weather models for tomorrow. Oh, and (5) get a good night's rest. Trivia: The last time a total solar eclipse occurred exclusively in the U.S. was in 1778.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 5

August 20, 2017

We reached South Carolina and topped off the tank. We're back on the road to Santee. Trivia: The last total eclipse in the United States occurred on Feb. 26, 1979. The last total eclipse that crossed the entire continent occurred on June 8, 1918.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 4

August 20,2017

Now in Georgia. Behold the image of a sign partially eclipsed (ha!) by another car taking a pic of the same sign! Trivia: The umbra (or dark inner shadow) of the moon will be traveling from west to east from almost 3,000 miles per hour (in western Oregon) to 1,500 miles per hour in South Carolina.


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Journey to the Shadow, No. 3

August 20, 2017 


All packed and waiting for my cohort, Craig MacDougal. The black bag has pieces of foam core board for pinhole projectors. Trivia: On Aug. 21, 2017, all of North America will view – weather permitting -- a partial eclipse, when the moon obscures part of the sun.



On our way! Note the car signage. If others can advertise their fanaticisms, so can we. Trivia: The total eclipse will be viewable throughout a 70-mile-wide path that crosses 14 of the United States from Oregon to South Carolina.



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Journey to the Shadow, No. 2

August 19, 2017


The Journey to the Shadow gets serious tomorrow as we leave Tampa, Florida for Santee, South Carolina.


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Tuesday, July 04, 2017

I Can Name That Eclipse in Five Notes

Total solar eclipses have always captivated our attention. They have even made their way into our music. See how many of these songs you recognize.

March 7, 1970 total solar eclipse. Image Credit: NSO/AURA/NSF


You’re So Vain, composed and performed by Carly Simon

. . . you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see a total eclipse of the sun

This is the only known recorded song with lyrics that mention a specific eclipse. But which one? The recording was released November 1972. And Nova Scotia had recently experienced two total solar eclipses, one on March 7, 1970 and another on July 10, 1972. Simon has reported that she wrote the song in 1971. If Simon was reflecting on recent events, then she probably meant the total solar eclipse of March 7, 1970.

Eclipse, by Pink Floyd from ‘Dark side of the Moon’

… and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

Total Eclipse of the Heart, sung by  Bonnie Tyler.

…Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart…

If we go farther back in time, we come across a smattering of sheet music published in the 1800s and early-1900s.

The Total Eclipse Gallop, composed by E. Mack and published in 1919 by Lee & Walker. This song commemorates the August 7, 1869 total solar eclipse, which was visible across the continental United States.

Eclipse, composed by Herman Darewski (1883-1947) was published in 1919.

Other memorable dance tunes that are now long forgotten include:

Eclipse March, 1899 published by Troedel & Co., National Library of Australia.

Eclipse Polka,  by Giuseppe Bistolfi. Published by Kansas City, MO: J.W. Jenkins Son, 1889. University of Missouri, Kansas City Sheet Music Collection

Eclipse Polka, 1853, Published by Wm. Vanderbeek and Son,

Eclipse Waltz, 1854, W. C. Peters and Sons

Eclipse Polka, 1874, Lee & Walker

Eclipse Quickstep, 1885, Richards, J. G

Eclipse Gallop, 1885, Spear & Dehnhoff

Eclipse Schottische, 1884, Stewart, S. S.


For more information on the August 21 total eclipse, and eclipses in general, visit:



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Monday, July 03, 2017

Solar Viewing Safety

When it comes to looking at the sun, safety comes first! Here are some important questions and answers about solar viewing safety.

Anatomy of the Human Eye. Image Credit: NASA

Why is it not safe to look at the sun even when only a small part of it is visible?

The rods and cones in the human retina are very sensitive to light. Even a thin sliver of the sun’s disk covers thousands of these light-sensitive cells. Normally during daylight conditions, the iris contracts so that only a small amount of light passes through the lens and then reaches the retina. This level of indirect sunlight is perfectly OK and the eye has evolved over millions of years to safely see the daylight world under most circumstances. The problem is that the sun’s surface is so bright that if you stare at any portion of it, no matter how small, it produces enough light to damage individual retinal cells.  It takes a few seconds for this to happen, but afterwards you will see a spot as big as the solar surface you glimpsed when you look away from the sun at some other scenery. Depending on how long you gazed at the sun and how badly the retinal cells were damaged,  this spot will either fade away in time or remain permanent.  You should never assume that you can look away quickly enough to avoid eye damage because every person is different in terms of their retinal sensitivity, and you do not want to risk being the one who damages their eyes just to try to look at the sun. If you want to see what the sun looks like, use a properly-equipped telescope. Or just go online and view thousands of pictures taken of the sun by telescopes and NASA spacecraft.

Is it true that you should not look at the sun even during a total solar eclipse?

There is a misunderstanding being circulated that during a total solar eclipse when the moon has fully blocked the light from the sun, that there are still harmful ‘rays’ that can injure your eyes.  This is completely false. When the bright photosphere (the visible surface) of the sun is completely covered, only the faint light from the corona is visible, and this radiation is too weak to have any harmful effects on the human retina.

The misunderstanding comes about because of using the general term ‘solar eclipse’ to describe both the total phase when the sun disk is completely blocked, and the minutes before and after totality when there is still some of the sun’s disk visible. It is harmful to view even a sliver of the sun disk because of its intensity, and so to simply say that you should not view a solar eclipse is rather inaccurate.

Do lunar and solar eclipses have any noticeable effect on humans?

There is no evidence that eclipses have any physical effect on humans. However, eclipses have always been capable of producing profound psychological effects. For millennia, solar eclipses have been interpreted as portents of doom by virtually every known civilization. These have stimulated responses that run the gamut from human sacrifices to feelings of awe and bewilderment. Although there are no direct physical effects involving known forces, the consequences of the induced human psychological states have indeed led to physical effects.

How are eyes damaged by staring at the sun?

Solar retinopathy is a result of too much ultraviolet light flooding the retina. In extreme cases this can cause blindness, but is so painful that it is rare for someone to be able to stare at the sun for that long. Typically, eye damage from staring at the sun results in blurred vision, dark or yellow spots, pain in bright light or loss of vision in the center of the eye (the fovea). Permanent damage to the retina has been shown to occur in approximately 100 seconds, but the exact time before damage occurs will vary with the intensity of the sun on a particular day  and with how much the viewer's pupil is dilated  from decongestants and other drugs they may be taking.  Even when 99% of the Sun's surface (the photosphere) is obscured during the partial phases of a solar eclipse, the remaining crescent Sun is still intense enough to cause a retinal burn. Note, there are no pain receptors in the retina so your retina can be damaged even before you realize it, and by then it is too late to save your vision!

Where can I get the right kind of solar filter to view the eclipse?

Many people will obtain eclipse viewing glasses. To date, three manufacturers have certified that their eclipse glasses and hand-held solar viewers meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard for such products: Rainbow Symphony, American Paper Optics, and Thousand Oaks Optical. These companies may be found online and the glasses ordered, but you really need to order your glasses many months in advance because of the anticipated huge audience that could number in the hundreds of millions. If you are a photographer or amateur astronomer, you will want professional-grade solar filters to cover your binoculars, telescope or camera. Companies like Thousand Oaks Optical and others you can find by using the keyword ‘Solar filters’ have these filters for sale, but again due to the large number of likely customers along the path of totality, you need to order your filter many months in advance. You will also need some time to learn how to use the filter with your optical system, and if you are photographing the eclipse, take lots of test shots to get the right solar disk size and sharpness.

Is it only the bright light that is dangerous when viewing the sun?

Actually, although filters and glasses do safely block the intense sunlight that is known to damage retinas, the infrared ‘heat’ from the sun can also make viewing uncomfortable as it literally warms the eye.  This is why staring at the sun for minutes at a time even with proper filters can still over-heat the tissues and fluids in the eye, and the consequences of this heating can be dangerous as well. To avoid this problem before totality takes place, try not to use your filters without frequently looking-away to cool your eyes. During totality, there is no adverse heating of the eyeball since the solar disk is not visible.

Isn’t this ‘safety’ issue about eclipse viewing, a bit overblown?

Absolutely not!  You cannot look at the sun without suffering severe damage. We have many built-in reflexes to prevent this. The ONLY exception is in viewing solar eclipses. It is an inherently dangerous activity that you have to do very carefully in order not to suffer eye damage. There are specific steps you can take, based on the experience of  thousands of professionals, not only in astronomy but in medicine. So, bottom line: read the safety warnings and make sure you understand how to view the eclipse before  August 21, so that the only lasting impression you have is a wonderful memory of the event, not a damaged retina!

For more information on the eclipse, and how to safely view it, visit:



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Thursday, June 29, 2017

The Sun, a Primer

The Sun is a huge, glowing ball at the center of our solar system. The sun provides light, heat, and other energy to Earth. The sun is made up entirely of gas. Most of it is a type of gas that is sensitive to magnetism. This sensitivity makes this type of gas so special that scientists sometimes give it a special name: plasma. The planets and their moons, dwarf planets, tens of thousands of asteroids, and trillions of comets revolve around the sun. The sun and all these objects are in the solar system. Earth travels around the sun at an average distance of about 92,960,000 miles (149,600,000 kilometers) from it.

An Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) image of the Sun and a huge, handle-shaped prominence, taken on September 14,1999, in the 304 angstrom wavelength. Prominences are huge clouds of relatively cool dense plasma suspended in the Sun's hot, thin corona. At times, they can erupt, escaping the Sun's atmosphere. Image credit: NASA/European Space Agency

The sun's radius (distance from its center to its surface) is about 432,000 miles (695,500 kilometers), approximately 109 times Earth's radius. The following example may help you picture the relative sizes of the sun and Earth and the distance between them: Suppose the radius of Earth were the width of an ordinary paper clip. The radius of the sun would be roughly the height of a desk, and the sun would be about 100 paces from Earth.

The part of the sun that we see has a temperature of about 5500 degrees C (10,000 degrees F). Astronomers measure star temperatures in a metric unit called the Kelvin (abbreviated K). One Kelvin equals exactly 1 Celsius degree (1.8 Fahrenheit degree), but the Kelvin and Celsius scales begin at different points. The Kelvin scale stars at absolute zero, which is -273.15 degrees C (-459.67 degrees F). Thus, the temperature of the solar surface is about 5800 K. Temperatures in the Sun's core reach over 15,000,000 K (27,000,000 degrees F).

The energy of the sun comes from nuclear fusion reactions that occur deep inside the sun's core. In a fusion reaction, two atomic nuclei join together, creating a new nucleus. Fusion produces energy by converting nuclear matter into energy.

The sun, like Earth, is magnetic. Scientists describe the magnetism of an object in terms of a magnetic field. This is a region that includes all the space occupied by the object and much of the surrounding space. Physicists define a magnetic field as the region in which a magnetic force could be detected—as with a compass. Physicists describe how magnetic an object is in terms of field strength. This is a measure of the force that the field would exert on a magnetic object, such as a compass needle. The typical strength of the sun's field is only about twice that of Earth's field.

But the sun's magnetic field becomes highly concentrated in small regions, with strengths up to 3,000 times as great as the typical strength. These regions shape solar matter to create a variety of features on the sun's surface and in its atmosphere, the part that we can see. These features range from relatively cool, dark structures known as sunspots to spectacular eruptions called flares and coronal mass ejections.

Flares are the most violent eruptions in the solar system. Coronal mass ejections, though less violent than flares, involve a tremendous mass (amount of matter). A single ejection can spew approximately 20 billion tons (18 billion metric tons) of matter into space. A cube of lead 3/4 mile (1.2 kilometers) on a side would have about the same mass.

The sun was born about 4.6 billion years ago. It has enough nuclear fuel to remain much as it is for another 5 billion years. Then it will grow to become a type of star called a red giant. Later in the sun's life, it will cast off its outer layers. The remaining core will collapse to become an object called a white dwarf, and will slowly fade. The sun will enter its final phase as a faint, cool object sometimes called a black dwarf.

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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Are You an Umbraphile? You May Be After August 21!

um-bra-phile (ˈəm-brə-ˌfī(-ə)l) noun. 1. an avid observer of, or a person with a great interest in, eclipses. [from Latin umbra ‘shade’ and Greek philos ‘loving’]

An umbraphile is, literally, a "shadow lover." He or she is addicted to total solar eclipses. Those who have not stood in the moon’s shadow may not understand. But those who have, do. For many umbraphiles, it is way of life. These are the “solar eclipse chasers.” Once every 16 months, on average, umbraphiles drop what they are doing and travel, by whatever means necessary, to gather along a narrow strip in some remote corner of the globe defined by the laws of celestial mechanics.

The next total solar eclipse will occur August 21, crossing the continental United States from coast to coast. Are you an umbraphile? If you aren't, you may be very soon!

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Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Have You Made Your Reservations for the August 21 Total Solar Eclipse?

There are less than two months until the August 21 total solar eclipse. The path of totality will pass from coast to coast across the entire continental United States. The path of totality is about 70 miles wide. So, there are lots of great places in the U.S. you can see the event.

The Path of Totality for the August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse. Image Credit: NASA

If you are coming from outside the path of totality and hope to stay overnight within the path August 20, before the August 21 event, you should make your plans now if you have not done so already. Hotels are filing up fast, and are already filled up in some locations.

Please do not wing this! The Department of Transportation is asking that people DO NOT pull off to the side of the interstate. Visit the DoT website where you can see how traffic may be affected by the eclipse. Visit the Fact Sheet link below.

2017 Solar Eclipse Transportation Fact Sheet for State and Local Departments of Transportation

Here are the states through which the center line of the path of totality will pass.

  • Oregon
  • Idaho
  • Wyoming
  • Nebraska
  • Kansas
  • Missouri
  • Kentucky
  • Tennessee
  • Georgia
  • South Carolina


To get more of an idea of the location of the path of totality, check out this list of major cities that will be in the path.

  • Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon, Oregon
  • Idaho Falls, Idaho
  • Casper, Wyoming
  • Grand Island, Lincoln Nebraska
  • St Joseph, Missouri
  • Kansas City, Kansas
  • St Louis, Missouri
  • Bowling Green, Kentucky
  • Nashville, Tennessee
  • Greenville, South Carolina
  • Columbia, South Carolina


The website Eclipse2017.org has a great page to see what cities will be in the path and how long totality will last at those locations. Follow the link below.

Cities that lie in the Path of Totality

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Sunday, June 25, 2017

Make a Pinhole Camera to View the Solar Eclipse

Pinhole Camera

You don't need a lot of money to observe a solar eclipse in complete safety. With just a few simple supplies, you can make a pinhole camera that lets you watch a solar eclipse safely and easily from anywhere. 

A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens. Instead of a lens, it has a tiny aperture, a pinhole. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image, which is known as the camera obscura effect.

Remember: You should never look at the sun directly without equipment that's specifically designed for looking at the sun. Even using binoculars or a telescope, you could severely damage your eyes or even go blind! The totality portion of a solar eclipse is safe. But looking at anything as bright as the sun is NOT safe without proper protection. And no, sunglasses do NOT count. 

Now, let's make a pinhole camera! You will need the following materials.
  • 2 pieces of white card stock
  • 1 piece of unused, smooth, aluminum foil
  • 1 pair of scissors
  • 1 roll of tape
  • 1 pin or paper clip

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


1. Cut a square hole into the middle of one of your pieces of card stock.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


2. Tape a piece of aluminum foil over the hole.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


3. Use your pin or paper clip to poke a small hole in the aluminum foil.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


4. Place your second piece of card stock on the ground and hold the piece with aluminum foil above it (foil facing up). Stand with the sun behind you and view the projected image on the card stock below! The farther away you hold your camera, the bigger your projected image will be.

To make your projection a bit more defined, try putting the bottom piece of card stock in a shadowed area while you hold the other piece in the sunlight.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


5. For extra fun, try poking multiple holes in your foil, making shapes, patterns and other designs. Each hole you create will turn into its own projection of the eclipse, making for some neat effects. Grab a helper to take photos of your designs for a stellar art project you can enjoy even after the eclipse has ended. 
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Saturday, June 24, 2017

Ugarit Total Solar Eclipse

Trivia: The Ugarit Total Solar Eclipse

In 1948, a clay tablet was discovered in the port city of Ugarit in Northern Syria. In the text of the tablet, a Mesopotamian historian noted, "On the day of the new moon, in the month of Hiyar, the sun was put to shame, and went down in the daytime, with Mars in attendance." Scientists realized the text described a total solar eclipse in which the planet Mars was visible during totality.

Researchers originally dated the eclipse event as May 3, 1375 B.C. But further study suggested a different eclipse. Researchers considered the dating of the tablet, combined with the text's statement of the month in which the eclipse occurred and the fact that Mars was seen during totality. This evidence pointed to the total eclipse of March 5, 1223 B.C. The revised findings were first published in 1989 in the journal Nature.

The Ugarit eclipse is one of the earliest solar eclipses recorded. The path of totality began in the Atlantic Ocean, crossed north-western Afrca, Turkey, and central Asia.

The Accelerating Moon, the Decelerating Earth

The dating of ancient solar eclipses provides astronomers with reference points to determine long-term evolution of angular momentum in the Earth-Moon system--that is, it helps astronomers understand how the moon's orbit and Earth's rotation have changed over time. The revised date--March 5, 1223 B.C.--implies that the secular deceleration of Earth's rotation has changed very little during the past 3,000 years.

Secular What?

Ocean tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon (and, to a lesser extent, the Sun). The resulting tidal bulge in Earth's oceans is dragged ahead of the moon in its orbit due to the daily rotation of Earth. As a consequence, the ocean mass offset from the Earth-Moon line exerts a pull on the moon and accelerates it in its orbit. Conversely, the moon's gravitational tug on this mass exerts a torque that decelerates the rotation of Earth. The length of the day gradually increases as energy is transferred from Earth to the moon, causing the lunar orbit and period of revolution about Earth to increase.

You can learn more about secular acceleration from the following NASA article.

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Thursday, June 22, 2017

Total Solar Eclipse of January 1, 1889

Trivia: The Total Solar Eclipse of January 1, 1889, also known as the New Year’s Day Eclipse of 1889.

The path of totality began in the Bering Sea, crossed the North Pacific Ocean, passed through California to the north of San Francisco, through northern Nevada, Idaho, northwestern Wyoming, Montana, the northwestern part of North Dakota, and into central Canada, passing through southern Manitoba, and finishing on the western edge of Ontario.

The first photograph of a solar eclipse was taken during solar eclipse of July 28, 1851. But even with this technological advancement, most of the recorded observations of a total solar eclipse remained in the form of the written word and drawings. For the January 1, 1889 eclipse, a group of amateur and professional astronomers joined forces with a new photography society in San Francisco. They agreed to combine their resources to observe and record the eclipse. One example of the efforts was a photographic plate on which multiple exposures were made, showing many partial eclipse phases leading to totality.

On February 7, the group reunited in downtown San Francisco and presented their observations. The group enjoyed the experience so much that they agreed to form their own astronomical society, called the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP). Originally a society of forty members, the ASP has grown to a national society dedicated to astronomy education and outreach. The ASP helps people of all ages learn astronomy and helps those people share their knowledge with others.

You can learn more about the ASP at the society’s official website:

www.astrosociety.org

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Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Two NASA Briefings on the Total Solar Eclipse of August 21, 2017

On June 21, representatives from NASA, other federal agencies, and science organizations, provided important viewing safety, travel and science information on the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. This eclipse will be the first in 99 years that will cross the entire continental United States.
Two briefings were held at the Newseum in Washington. The briefings aired live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency’s website.

Over the course of 100 minutes, 14 states across the United States will experience more than two minutes of darkness in the middle of the day. Additionally, a partial eclipse will be viewable across all of North America. The eclipse will provide a unique opportunity to study the sun, Earth, moon and their interaction because of the eclipse’s long path over land coast to coast. Scientists will be able to take ground-based and airborne observations over a period of an hour and a half to complement the wealth of data and images provided by space assets.

The June 21 briefings were:

Logistics Briefing
  • Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington
  • Vanessa Griffin, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Satellite and Product Operations in Suitland, Maryland
  • Brian Carlstrom, deputy associate director of Natural Resource Stewardship and Science at the National Park Service in Washington
  • Martin Knopp, associate administrator of the Office of Operations in the Federal Highway Administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington


Science Briefing
  • Thomas Zurbuchen
  • Angela Des Jardins, principal investigator of the Eclipse Ballooning Project at Montana State University, Bozeman
  • Angela Speck, professor of astrophysics and director of astronomy at the University of Missouri, Columbia
  • Dave Boboltz, program director of solar physics in the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia
  • Linda Shore, executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in San Francisco
  • Matt Penn, astronomer at the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona


For more information on the eclipse, and how to safely view it, visit:



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Thursday, May 18, 2017

Saturn's Shortening Shadow

Saturn's shadow across the rings, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

The Cassini spacecraft continues sending back great images and data during the Grand Finale portion of its mission at Saturn. Here we see a sign of the changing seasons at Saturn, in that the planet’s shadow across the rings is shortening.

The above image was taken at a distance of about 760,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Saturn. The image scale is 46 miles (73 kilometers) per pixel.

To learn more, read the full article here.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Cassini's Big Finish Begins

Saturn eclipsing the sun, seen from behind by the Cassini orbiter. Earth can be seen as a small dot between the rings on the upper, left-hand side. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

(My apologies for the "big finish." But because the other phrase is so prevalent, I just had to find something to say other than "grand finale,” at least once.)

The NASA Cassini mission is winding down, quite literally. On April 26, the Cassini spacecraft became the first to dive between Saturn and its ring system. This begins the spacecraft’s “grand finale” in which it will make 22 amazing orbits and, on September 15, enter Saturn’s atmosphere and burn up. The spacecraft will be useful until the very last moment–it will be sending back data continuously, including measurements of the composition of Saturn’s atmosphere, rotation rate and interior structure.

Until that time, the instrument teams have several new observations to make. These include understanding a Saturn radiation belt, discovered inside the rings in 2004, and taking close-up pictures of the rings and other features.

Read the 2004 Article: New Radiation Belt

The spacecraft will also image Saturn’s cloud tops at close range, weigh its ring system (which will indicate just how old it is), sample the atmosphere of the planet and its rings, and measure Saturn’s internal structure.

Read the NASA PDF Resource on the Mission (published 1997)

Originally called Cassini-Huygens, the mission involves ESA, NASA and the Italian Space Agency. The idea of the mission began in 1982, when the European Science Foundation and the American National Academy of Sciences formed a working group to investigate future cooperative missions. Two European scientists suggested a paired Saturn Orbiter and Titan Probe as a possible joint mission. In 1983, NASA's Solar System Exploration Committee recommended the same Orbiter and Probe pair as a core NASA project. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) performed a joint study of the potential mission from 1984 to 1985. ESA continued with its own study in 1986, while American astronaut Sally Ride, in her 1987 report, also examined and approved of the Cassini mission.

In 1988, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications Len Fisk wrote to his counterpart at ESA, Roger Bonnet, strongly suggesting that ESA choose the Cassini mission from the three candidates at hand and promising that NASA would commit to the mission when ESA did.

Read the Article: Launch of Cassini Spacecraft

On October 15, 1997, a Titan IVB/Centaur rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, sending the Cassini orbiter and its Huygens probe on a seven-year, 2.2-billion mile journey to the Saturn system.

Read About the Spacecraft

The mission arrived at Saturn on July 1, 2004. The mission was originally planned for four years. But Cassini-Huygens was so successful that the mission multiple times, eventually to 2017. It has flown past seven of the larger satellites, including giant Titan – which is larger than the planet Mercury. The orbiter passed Titan more than 70 times. Flying within 880 km of the moon, it studied Titan’s orange clouds and nitrogen-rich atmosphere. It also mapped its surface with an imaging radar.

On Christmas Day 2004, Huygens separated from Cassini. Three weeks later, it entered Titan’s thick atmosphere, becoming the first probe to land on the surface of a planetary satellite (other than Earth’s moon). Protected by a heat shield, the probe slowed from 18,000 to 1,400 km per hour in just three minutes. Soon after, a large parachute opened. At a height of about 160 km, the probe began to take pictures and study the atmosphere. For more than two hours, data from Huygens were received and stored on Cassini as it flew overhead.

Read More

To learn more about Cassini, Huygens, Saturn, Titan, the rest of the Saturn system, and the Grande Finale, check out these links.

Read About the Mission

See the Mission Timeline

Read the FAQ for Cassini – The Grand Finale

Read the 2017 Article: Bittersweet feeling as Cassini mission embarks on its ‘grand finale’ ahead of death plunge

Read the 2014 Article: Cassini 10 Years at Saturn Top 10 Discoveries

Read the 2017 April Article: Cassini Completes Final -- and Fateful -- Titan Flyby

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Tuesday, April 04, 2017

What is an Orbit?

or-bit (ˈȯr-bət) noun. 1. a. A path described by one body in its revolution about another (as by the earth about the sun or by an electron about an atomic nucleus); also, one complete revolution of a body describing such a path. b. A circular path[Middle English, from Medieval Latin orbita, from Latin, rut, track, probably from orbis]

An orbit is a regular, repeating path that one heavenly body takes around another body. A body which orbits another body is a satellite of the other body. So, the moon is a satellite of Earth, while at the same time, Earth is a satellite of the sun, along with the other planets, comets, asteroids, and many other bodies in the solar system. And remember that the sun orbits the center of our Milky Way galaxy. So, the sun is a satellite of the Milky Way.

A satellite can be classified as natural or artificial. The moon, Earth and other heavenly bodies are natural satellites. All orbiting objects made by humans are artificial satellites. The first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, launched in 1957. A more recent example is the International Space Station, which was launched in pieces and assembled in orbit.


Most orbiting bodies move along or close to an imaginary flat surface. This imaginary surface is called the ecliptic plane.


What Shape Is an Orbit?


Orbits come in different shapes. All orbits are elliptical, which means they are the shape of an ellipse, similar to an oval. For the planets, the orbits are almost circular. The orbits of comets have a different shape. They are highly eccentric or "squashed." They look more like thin ellipses than circles.


Satellites that orbit Earth, including the moon, do not always stay the same distance from Earth. Sometimes they are closer, and at other times they are farther away. The closest point a satellite comes to Earth is called its perigee. The farthest point is the apogee. For planets and other bodies that orbit the sun, the point in their orbit closest to the sun is perihelion. The farthest point is called aphelion. Earth reaches its aphelion during summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The time it takes a satellite to make one full orbit is called its period. For example, Earth has an orbital period of one year. The inclination of an orbit is the angle the orbital plane when compared with Earth's equator.


This diagram of an Earth orbit demonstrates an elliptical orbit and shows apogee, perigee, aphelion, and perihelon. Image Credit: NOAA

How Do Objects Stay in Orbit?

An object in motion will stay in motion unless something pushes or pulls on it. This statement is called Newton's first law of motion. Without gravity, an Earth-orbiting satellite would go off into space along a straight line. With gravity, it is pulled back toward Earth. A constant tug-of-war takes place between the satellite's tendency to move in a straight line, or momentum, and the tug of gravity pulling the satellite back.

An object's momentum and the force of gravity have to be balanced for an orbit to happen. If the forward momentum of one object is too great, it will speed past and not enter into orbit. If momentum is too small, the object will be pulled down and crash. When these forces are balanced, the object is always falling toward the planet, but because it's moving sideways fast enough, it never hits the planet. Orbital velocity is the speed needed to stay in orbit. At an altitude of 150 miles (242 kilometers) above Earth, orbital velocity is about 17,000 miles per hour. Satellites that have higher orbits have slower orbital velocities.

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Sunday, April 02, 2017

What is an Eclipse?

e-clipse (i-ˈklips) noun. 1. a. The total or partial obscuring of one celestial body by another. b. The passing into the shadow of a celestial body. Compare OCCULTATION, TRANSIT. [Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin eclipsis, from Greek ekleipsis, from ekleipein to omit, fail, suffer eclipse, from ex- + leipein to leave]

An eclipse happens when one heavenly body, such as a moon or planet, moves into the shadow of another heavenly body. There are two types of eclipses as seen from Earth: an eclipse of the moon and an eclipse of the sun.

An eclipse of the moon...

The moon moves in an orbit around Earth, and at the same time, Earth orbits the sun. Sometimes Earth moves between the sun and the moon. When this happens, Earth blocks the sunlight that normally is reflected by the moon. Instead of light hitting the moon’s surface, Earth's shadow falls on it. This is an eclipse of the moon—a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse can happen only when the moon is full.

A lunar eclipse can be seen from Earth at night. There are two types of lunar eclipses: total lunar eclipses and partial lunar eclipses.

A total lunar eclipse happens when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth. Although the moon is in Earth's shadow, some sunlight reaches the moon. The sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, which causes Earth’s atmosphere to filter out most of the blue light. This makes the moon appear red to people watching from Earth.

A partial lunar eclipse happens when only a part of the moon enters Earth's shadow. In a partial eclipse, Earth's shadow appears very dark on the side of the moon facing Earth. What people see from Earth during a partial lunar eclipse depends on how the sun, Earth and moon are lined up.

A lunar eclipse usually lasts for a few hours. At least two partial lunar eclipses happen every year, but total lunar eclipses are rare. It is safe to look at a lunar eclipse.

A lunar eclipse. Image credit: NASA

An eclipse of the sun...

Sometimes when the moon orbits Earth, it moves between the sun and Earth. When this happens, the moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching Earth. This causes an eclipse of the sun, or solar eclipse. During a solar eclipse, the moon casts a shadow onto Earth.

There are three types of solar eclipses. The first is a total solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse is only visible from a small area on Earth. The people who see the total eclipse are in the center of the moon’s shadow when it hits Earth. The sky becomes very dark, as if it were night. For a total eclipse to take place, the sun, moon and Earth must be in a direct line.

The second type of solar eclipse is a partial solar eclipse. This happens when the sun, moon and Earth are not exactly lined up. The sun appears to have a dark shadow on only a small part of its surface.

The third type is an annular (pronounced “ANN-you-ler”) solar eclipse. An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farthest from Earth. Because the moon is farther away from Earth, it seems smaller. It does not block the entire view of the sun. The moon in front of the sun looks like a dark disk on top of a larger sun-colored disk. This creates what looks like a ring around the moon.

A solar eclipse. Image credit: NASA

During a solar eclipse, the moon casts two shadows on Earth. The first shadow is called the umbra (pronounced “UM-bruh”). This shadow gets smaller as it reaches Earth. It is the dark center of the moon’s shadow. The second shadow is called the penumbra (pronounced “pe-NUM-bruh”). The penumbra gets larger as it reaches Earth. People standing in the penumbra will see a partial eclipse. People standing in the umbra will see a total eclipse.

The umbra and penumbra. Image credit: NASA

Solar eclipses happen approximately once every 18 months. Unlike lunar eclipses, solar eclipses only last for a few minutes.

You should never look directly at the sun. It can permanently damage your eyes. You must use proper safety equipment to look at any type of solar eclipse. More on this later.

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