Look Up! Ring Around the Moon

12 01 2012

Have you been watching the moon recently? We’ve had a pretty great week of moon watching here in Austin. The moon was full on the 9th (to learn more about Moon Phases, check out this previous post that includes a printable moon phase game!). Last night, the moon appeared round, and red as we watched it from our driveway. This past weekend, we noticed that there was a ring around the moon – then today, we heard on the news that tonight’s weather conditions were good for another visible moon ring occurring.

You can think of the ring around the moon like the Moon’s version of a rainbow. Rainbows appear when rays of sunlight are bent by water droplets in the Earth’s lower atmosphere (that’s why we see rainbows when it’s bright and wet). Rings around the moon are caused by rays of moonlight passing through clouds and ice crystals high up in the Earth’s atmosphere. You can learn a little more about Moon Rings over at Universe Today.

Hopefully it won’t be too cloudy out tonight to see the moon! The moon is supposed to rise tonight at 9:36pm – make sure to bundle up, it’s going to be cold! Leave us a comment with any moon observations.

A particularly impressive Moon Ring.


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3 – 2 – 1 Lift Off!

16 05 2011

Did you catch the space shuttle launch this morning? If you missed watching the launch live, you can watch a video of it here. Today’s launch was the last ever launch of NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour. It first flew in 1992. For this last mission, Endeavour will be taking scientific equipment up the Space Station.

There are six astronauts aboard this flight; a commander, a pilot, three mission specialists and an astronaut from the Italian Space Agency. Endeavour’s mission is scheduled to take 17 days with a planned landing date of June 1st. There are 4 space walks scheduled for this mission.

NASA has opened up a poll to vote on the song that will wake the astronauts up on two days during their mission. To listen to the songs and vote, go here.  Vote today, the contest closes tonight!

Today’s launch was the second to last space shuttle launch. NASA is retiring the Space Shuttle Program and plans on working with private companies to design new space transport systems. In the meantime, American Astronauts will travel to space and the Space Station with the Russian Federal Space Agency.


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Exploring Mercury

2 05 2011

In our Ready, Set, Roll! exhibit, we have learned a lot about gravity. Now, we can see how gravity is used in different sciences like space exploration.

Here is the first image taken in Mercury's orbit by MESSENGER.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, so it has been difficult to learn more about this planet, but now scientists have finally found the key thanks to gravity!

Since March 29, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has been sending back images of Mercury to Earth. These are the first images ever taken from within the tiny planet’s orbit.

The first photographs include glimpses of Mercury’s surface never before seen by spacecraft. The images also show a lot of small craters, which look like pits in the ground.

In the first three days of the MESSENGER orbiting around Mercury, the MESSENGER sent about 1,500 by March 31.

On average, the spacecraft will take more than 200 photographs per day. This is over 75,000 pictures in a year!

On March 17, MESSENGER became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. This was all possible due to gravity. Gravity is a force of attraction. This force, or pull, is increased as mass increases. This is why we stay on the ground as we walk and why Earth stays in its orbit. In the case of MESSENGER, it is held close to Mercury by the planet’s gravity.

Mercury does not have a lot of mass, but fortunately, it has enough to keep MESSENGER in its orbit, and we can continue to discover new things about this planet’s atmosphere, landscape and history!


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Women’s History Month: Ellen Ochoa

12 03 2011

For Women’s History Month, we want honor women who have made a great impact in science and engineering.

Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa is commonly known as the first Hispanic woman to ever travel to space. She is also a pioneer in spacecraft technology.

Ochoa first achieved great success in school. She received a bachelor of science degree in physics from San Diego State University a master of science degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Ochoa became an astronaut in 1991 after being selected by NASA. She primarily worked on flight software, computer hardware and robotics.

Ochoa first went to space in 1993. She was on a nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery.On this mission, she helped to study the Earth’s ozone layer.

Ochoa has been into space a total of four times. She has spent over 1000 hours in space!

Ochoa still works at NASA, but she no longer participates in spacecraft operations. She is now Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center, where she helps to manage and direct the Astronaut Office and Aircraft Operations.

Ellen Ochoa has also pioneered in science technology where she spent most of her time trying to further help space exploration. Her accomplishments in space exploration and technology continue to inspire us all.

Which women in history inspire you?


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Discover a Supernova!

5 01 2011

Do you like to look at the stars? We sure do and were excited to hear about a fellow young astronomer who made an out of this world discovery. On January 2nd, 10 year old Kathryn Aurora Gray found a supernova. A supernova is an explosion of a star. The huge release of energy that occurs during the explosion creates a bright burst of light that is billions of times brighter than the star was before it went supernova.

Telescope by Ryan Wick on flickr

The supernova that Kathryn discovered was in a distant galaxy, about 240 million light-years away from Earth. She identified the supernova by comparing images taken by telescopes – in one picture, there was a bright spec that didn’t appear in the other pictures – that was the supernova!

Astronomy runs in Kathryn’s family, her father, Paul has found seven supernovas. Follow this link to  listen to an interview that Kathryn did for NPR.

There’s an opportunity to go star gazing coming up this Saturday, January 8th. The folks at Westcave Preserve host monthly Star Nights where visitors can go out and look at the dark night sky and gaze through a high quality telescope. Follow this link for more information about this month’s Star Night.

A timelapse phot of stars by Odalaigh on flickr

You can even make astronomy discoveries during the day by participating in the Zooniverse project. Zooniverse started with the Galaxy Zoo project, and invited users to classify the shapes of galaxies. Now there are other Zooniverse projects including one that studies the surface of the moon and one that explores our own galaxy, the Milky Way.


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Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Learn

Why don’t we see Craters on Earth?

12 11 2010

It is easy to find craters on the Moon, but we do not run across them on Earth very often.

Photo Credit: NASA

 

One reason there are not many craters on the Earth is that few meteors pass through the Earth’s atmosphere. The Moon does not have thick gasses forming a protective atmosphere like Earth. Another important difference in between the Moon and the Earth is that it rains on Earth.

Try this experiment to see how rain affects craters.

Put powdered sugar or baking powder into the bowl, filling it a little over an inch high. Next, cover up the sugar with a thin layer of cocoa powder or brown sugar.

Put the bowl on a piece of newspaper, or go outside,  so you do not make a mess while creating your crater. Drop pebbles, representing meteors,  into the bowl. Watch as the impact of the pebbles creates craters.

Now spray the surface with a water bottle to see how rain affects craters.

The brown sugar is filling in the crater so that the surface is more even again. How do you think rain and wind affect craters over thousands and thousands of years?


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Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Build, Experiment, Learn

Send Your Name to Mars

22 10 2010

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory is going to launch in Fall 2011, and it can take your name with it! You will even get a certificate, so you can show everyone that your name is going into space.

The purpose of the mission is to find out if Mars can support life.  The  Rover can roll through rough terrain, collect samples of dirt, test materials, and take pictures.


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New Year, New Moon Phase

15 01 2010

Just like we start the calendar over every year, the Moon starts a new orbit every month.  Today the Moon will start its new moon phase.

The new moon phase happens when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun. Because the sun is not lighting our side of the Moon, we can barely see the Moon.  But don’t worry, in only two weeks you will be able to see the entire Moon!

I think the Moon is great, but there are lots of cool things in space.  Tell us what your favorite part of the universe is.


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Name the Next Mars Rover

21 01 2009

NASA is holding an essay contest for kids to name the next Mars rover. Go to NASA’s website to get details about the contest and learn more about Mars spacecraft!

mars-rover


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Science Fact of the Week: Your Weight in Outer Space

21 10 2008

Did you know that you weigh different amounts on other planets and moons compared to what you weigh on Earth? It’s true! Astronauts that travel to the moon find that they are much lighter than their weight on earth. This is because the moon has less gravity than the earth does.

Gravity is a force that pulls our bodies down to the ground, giving our bodies a certain weight. The stronger a planet’s or moon’s gravity is, the more we weigh, but because the moon has less gravity than the earth does, it makes an astronaut lighter on the moon.

The space suits that astronauts wear while walking on the moon weigh normally more than 200 pounds! This added weight helps keep the astronauts from floating too high as they are bouncing across the moon’s surface.

To find out how much you would weigh on other planets and on the moon go here! You may be surprised at some of the answers you get! If you want to learn more about outer space and about being an astronaut, go to the Arty the Part-Time Astronaut site for fun games and activities.


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Paper Airplanes in Space

21 08 2008

You’ve probably enjoyed making paper airplanes for fun.  But did you know that scientists also use paper airplanes to study flight, aerodynamics, and even space travel?

 

Scientists in Japan are actually working on a paper airplane that could fly all the way from outer space back to earth!  Astronauts have teamed up with origami experts to design a paper airplane for this project.  They hope that this experiment will teach them more about designing light weight spacecrafts that can successfully re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.  

 

You can watch video of the paper airplanes being tested in a wind tunnel at Discovery’s website.

http://www.discoverychannel.ca/reports/Article.aspx?aid=6514

Hopefully all of this has inspired you to try out your own amazing paper airplane design!

 

You can find loads of paper airplane designs here: http://www.funpaperairplanes.com/index.html. This site also has information on the principles of flight and aerodynamics, so you can also learn about the science behind your designs!

 


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Categories : 5 years & up, Build, Cool stuff on the web


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