Tag: astronomy

flyingthroughspaceforever:

Happy 100th birthday to Katherine Johnson!

Johnson is an black American mathematician who’s work with orbital mechanics proved critical to the success of early NASA missions.  Her work included calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury, the rendezvous paths for the Apollo Command and Lunar Module on it’s trip to the Moon, and her work was pivotal during the development of the Space Shuttle program.

She was initially hired on at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) as a human computer, but her knowledge of analytic geometry helped her move up to an aerospace technologist.  Once NACA was folded into NASA in 1958, Johnson worked in the Spacecraft Controls Branch, and she was often called by management to verify electronic computations.

In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama for her instrumental work with NASA.  In 2016, a brand new building at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, was named after her.  The Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility began operations in 2017.

beautyaboveus:

Seeing Titan

Shrouded in a thick atmosphere, Saturn’s largest moon Titan really is hard to see. Small particles suspended in the upper atmosphere cause an almost impenetrable haze, strongly scattering light at visible wavelengths and hiding Titan’s surface features from prying eyes. But Titan’s surface is better imaged at infrared wavelengths where scattering is weaker and atmospheric absorption is reduced. Arrayed around this centered visible light image of Titan are some of the clearest global infrared views of the tantalizing moon so far. In false color, the six panels present a consistent processing of 13 years of infrared image data from the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on board the Cassini spacecraft. They offer a stunning comparison with Cassini’s visible light view.

[Source]

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earthstory:

A Family Portrait.

Here’s a nice photo of our home, Earth and it’s good ole friend the moon, I suppose, the other half of our system.

Although we see our moon nightly and observe it’s daily effects on our tides, I think I can be forgiven for saying that we didn’t really grow to appreciate the relationship between the Moon and Earth until we set foot on it in 1969. So, it’s nice to have a photo of them together.

Taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft in 2011, we see Earth on the left and the Moon on the right. The image was taken when the spacecraft was around 9.66 million kilometres away; a long way from home.

-Jean

Image courtesy of NASA

thefirststarr:

Captured here in this picturesque photo, mountain peaks in northern Italy poke through Earth’s water clouds and come between them and the Milky Way’s star clouds. High above the mountains, and far in the distance, dark dust lanes streak out from the central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. The stars and dust are dotted with bright red clouds of glowing hydrogen gas, such as the Lagoon Nebula just above and to the left of center.

Image Credit & Copyright: Angelo Perrone

charliebowater:

primalheart:

charliebowater:

“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”

A little doodle for one the most beautiful lines from any poem, The Old Astronomer.

This is not a little doodle. This. THIS. This is fucking MAGIC. You have captured pure wonder and whimsy and romance and bliss and that almost melancholy wholeness when you look up at the sky and just feel the smallness of your being and the grandness of the universe. All this captured with a lover’s eye. We cannot see her face but I feel the tender passionate ardour for this petite but mighty creature in the world. While at the same time I feel the bittersweet swoon of wanting to be gazed upon myself with such whole and overwhemling admiration and love. It is goddamn masterful.

I am fucking following your tumblr charliebowater you are amazing.

THAT’S THE NICEST COMMENT I’VE EVER READ.

aeaiboy:

superlova:

do tell me more about this lunar eclipse what’s up w it

Astronomically it’s a big deal because it’s going to last for a few hours, which is a lot longer than most eclipses last (plus it’s a blood moon!) but in a spiritual/astrological sense, it’s important because during a lunar eclipse, we essentially experience an entire moon cycle in the span of one day. The moon will be completely full, New, and full again within the eclipse. A lot of people may be experiencing a ton of tension in their lives right now; overly intense emotions, feeling lost or out of touch with their lives, meaningless drama and conflict with friends and family, or just a general sense of “nothing is right and everything is falling apart.” This is because right now, the universe wants to push and burn through all of the stagnant, unused, pent up energy being held within our lives. This eclipse won’t just start a new chapter, but for many of us it will begin an entirely new way of life. We’re clearing out the old to make room for an incredible array of new things to come! At the start of the leo season, we’re gearing up to leave behind what no longer helps us, and beginning to search for and find what will. If you’ve been wanting to quit an addiction, leave a relationship, change career paths or take up an intimidating new passion, this is the time to do it! If you’ve been waiting for a sign to do something big and bold, the full moon and it’s eclipse will provide a great wave of change on which to do so. That’s just what I’m feeling anyways