Blog de Puree » astronomy

Space Shuttle Atlantis is Ready for its Final Launch on Friday

paul — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:35:07 +0000

The space shuttle Atlantis has been cleared for its final mission and lift off is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

At 25 years of age, the veteran Atlantis will blast off from Launch Pad 39A on NASA’s 132nd space shuttle mission.

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center.

Star gazers and skywatchers will also have a chance to see Atlantis as it approaches the international space station and when it undocks. Anyone interested in checking it out should read ‘How to see shuttle Atlantis from Earth‘ on Space.com. Atlantis’s crew will perform three spacewalks on the 12-day mission and deliver Rassvet (Russian for dawn), the new research module and other spare parts.

Cool Atlantis Facts

Atlantis was named after the original exploration sailing vessel of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. It has lived up to its namesake venturing out into the unknown and returning with an abundance of scientific information.
It’s the shuttle fleet’s workhorse. The unsung hero Atlantis will have flown 32 missions to orbit and space stations. No stranger to space station missions, NASA’s oldest flying shuttle flew seven times to the Mir space station and 11 times to the International Space Station.
It was the first shuttle to launch an interplanetary probe. In 1989, Atlantis launched the Magellan spacecraft, which mapped more than 98 percent of Venus’s surface.
It helped us watch a comet hit a planet. In 1989, Atlantis launched the Galileo probe, which captured close-up images of an asteroid on its way to Jupiter. Then in 1994, it made the only direct observations of a comet collision when Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the solar system’s biggest planet.
Atlantis doesn’t have an extension cord. Basically, it can’t plug into solar-powered electrical systems on the space station and is limited to 14-day missions, the maximum its hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells will allow.
It has a clone. The shuttle Endeavour was built from a complete set of spare parts that were originally made in case Atlantis was damaged. After the Challenger shuttle was lost, NASA decided to build another shuttle. (Endeavour’s last mission will be in November.)
Atlantis was the last space shuttle to visit the Hubble Space Telescope. During its May 2009 mission, the crew made five space walks to repair and enhance the Hubble with the Cosmic Origins spectrograph allowing the telescope to peer deeper into the universe’s ultraviolet light spectrum, as well as add Wide Field Camera 3 allowing astronomers better quality observations of galaxy evolution, dark matter and dark energy.
Atlantis is a movie star! That’s right, the shuttle co-stars in the movie “Hubble 3D” with narrator Leonardo DiCaprio about its 2009 mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

Looking for more cool space shuttle stuff? Check out the NASA website, of course.

Space.com Provides List of Night Sky Highlights in 2009

paul — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:46:58 +0000

Amateur astronomy buffs will want to check out the 2009 listing of night star-gazing highlights for 2009, provided by Space.com.

From the Solar System and beyond, you definitely don’t want to miss these during the year. Mark your calendar!

NASA Wants Your Vote for Hubble’s Next Target

paul — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:37:55 +0000

NASA wants your input on what Hubble’s next target is going to be.

You get to choose from one of six astronomical objects in honor of the International Year of Astronomy, the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s observations, which began this month.

Want to cast your vote? Go to HubbleSite.org to cast your vote for one of the following:

Star-Forming Region: NGC 6334
Planetary Nebula: NGC 6072
Planetary Nebula: NGC 40
Spiral Galaxy: NGC 5172
Edge-on Galaxy: NGC 4289
Interacting Galaxies: Arp 274

The voting deadline is March 1, 2009. I’ve cast my vote, so get yours in today.

NASA Plans to View the Dark Side of the Sun

paul — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:13:07 +0000

NASA is poised to give us the first views of the dark side (far side) of the sun.

The space agency has launched the STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories) mission, two spacecraft that will simultaneously orbit the sun to provide a complete picture of all sides at once. The first full image will come early in February.

Read more about it on the Wired Science blog.

Take a video tour of the International Space Station (ISS)

paul — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:05:43 +0000

NASA recently released a series of four videos providing a tour of the International Space Station (ISS).

The series is over 30 minutes total, but provides a fascinating and rarely seen look at the insides of the ISS. I highly recommend checking it out when you have the time.

Full Moon Names for 2009

paul — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:04:10 +0000

Did you know that Native Americans had a name for each full moon during the year? In fact, the names they gave each moon, such as Full Wolf Moon, Full Flower Moon or Full Corn Moon coincided with what was happening around them in nature.

For example, the Full Wolf Moon got its name because it occurred in the midst of winter when Native Americans could hear the wolves howling outside their village.

Space.com has a full listing of the moons for 2009. It’s a pretty interesting read and I recommend it for amateur astronomers and anyone interested in Native American culture.