14 December 2010
On 15 December 2010, NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft will have operated for 3,340 days, in orbit around Mars, breaking the longevity records of all previous Mars missions. 2001 Mars Odyssey was launched into space on 7 April 2001, and entered orbit around the Red Planet more than six months later, on 24 October 2001. Its primary target was to search for evidence of past or present water and volcanic activity on Mars.
10 December 2010
The Japanese space agency JAXA has announced that its Venus-bound space probe, AKATSUKI, failed to enter orbit around Venus, on 7 December 2010. AKATSUKI, also known as Venus Climate Orbiter, was launched into space, on 20 May 2010, from the Tanegashima Space Center. JAXA declared that it will set up an investigation team, to study the cause and countermeasures. JAXA plans to attempt another Venus orbit insertion, when AKATSUKI flies by Venus again, in six years from now.
06 December 2010
The European Space Agency’s website of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) recently published a mesmerizing image of a beautiful small galaxy, acquired by HST. Interestingly, the galaxy, known as NGC 6503, is located near the edge of a huge void in space, populated only by a few galaxies. This void, termed the Local Void, is estimated to be about 30 million-150 million light-years wide.
02 December 2010
On 30 November 2010, NASA’s Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft flew by Enceladus, a small geologically-active Saturnian moon. Cassini approached Enceladus (504 km across) to within only 48 km, and imaged the bright plumes of icy material that erupt from fissures in the southern polar region of the moon.
27 October 2010
NASA recently published an exquisite image of the Sun, acquired by the Sun-orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. During the period 19-21 October 2010, SOHO monitored a comet that appeared to be falling toward the Sun. Sun’s heat and pressure must have destroyed the comet, a small flimsy object, composed of ice and cosmic dust. Interestingly, the image also shows the planet Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet.
25 October 2010
NASA recently published a beautiful image of Saturn’s graceful rings and two of the planet’s bizarre icy moons. The image was acquired by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft. The moons in the image are Rhea (1,528 km across), visible at lower right, and tiny Telesto (25 km across), which shines as a bright speck, below center. The rings are visible as thin lines, in the top of image.
21 October 2010
On 7 October 2010, from its vantage point in space, NASA’s Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft imaged a solar eclipse that was not visible in Earth, when the Moon passed between the Sun and the spacecraft. This phenomenon, which resembles the normal solar eclipses that can be observed from Earth, is termed lunar transit.
14 October 2010
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has acquired the first images of a probable asteroid collision. The images show a comet-like trail of material, extending from a bizarre X-shaped object.
12 October 2010
NASA has announced that a small asteroid will approach Earth to within about 45,000 km, on 12 October 2010. The asteroid, technically designated 2010 TD54, has zero probability of colliding with Earth. It was discovered on 9 October 2010, by a telescope of the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey, during a routine sky survey
02 October 2010
NASA recently published an interesting infrared image of a dragon-shaped cosmic cloud of dust, which belongs to our Galaxy, the Milky Way. The image was acquired by the sophisticated space-based Spitzer Space Telescope (SST). The cloud, termed M17 SWex, seems to fly out from a bright explosion.