NASA Hosts Media Teleconference on Solar Flare Characteristics

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 7, to discuss new observations about solar flares that can impact communication and navigation systems.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is providing new data and images for scientists to better understand the sun’s dynamic processes, which can affect Earth. The spacecraft launched in February 2010.

Full Story: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/sep/HQ_M11-183_SDO_Telecon.html

NASA Announces Media Teleconference on New Apollo Images

NASA will host a media teleconference at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 6, to reveal new images of three Apollo landing sites taken from the agency’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO.

Full Story: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/sep/HQ_M11-184_LRO_Apollo_Telecon.html

New Radio Program Highlights And Inspires Innovation

NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) are launching a national radio program and podcast series that features compelling stories of revolutionary ideas, emerging technologies and the people behind the concepts that are shaping our future.

‘Innovation Now’, the series of 90-second radio segments, debuts Sept. 1, online and on WHRV 89.5 FM in Norfolk, Va.

Full Story: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/sep/HQ_11-286_NASA-NIA_Radio_Series.html

NASA Revises Time for Space Station Crew News Conference

NASA has revised the time for a news conference on Tuesday, Sept. 6, with the two agency astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The briefing, broadcast live on NASA Television, will begin at 9:30 a.m. CDT.

Full Story: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/aug/HQ_M11-182_ISS_News.html

Jupiter-Bound Space Probe Captures Earth And Moon

This image of Earth (on the left) and the moon (on the right) was taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft on Aug. 26, 2011, when the spacecraft was about 6 million miles (9.66 million kilometers) away. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

On its way to the biggest planet in the solar system — Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft took time to capture its home planet and its natural satellite — the moon.
“This is a remarkable sight people get to see all too rarely,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “This view of our planet shows how Earth looks from the outside, illustrating a special perspective of our role and place in the universe. We see a humbling yet beautiful view of ourselves.”

The image was taken by the spacecraft’s camera, JunoCam, on Aug. 26 when the spacecraft was about 6 million miles (9.66 million kilometers) away. The image was taken as part of the mission team’s checkout of the Juno spacecraft. The team is conducting its initial detailed checks on the spacecraft’s instruments and subsystems after its launch on Aug. 5.

Full Story: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-271

NASA Announces Media Teleconference About Opportunity Rover

NASA will host a media teleconference on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 12:30 p.m. PDT to discuss progress of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Opportunity reached the Martian Endeavour crater earlier this month after years of driving.

Full Story: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/aug/HQ-M11-181_Rover_Telecon.html

Uncovering the Secrets of the Great Supernova

Credit: Peter Nugent and the Palomar Transient Factory

A once-in-a-lifetime nearby stellar explosion now unfolding in a neighboring galaxy has astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory scrambling to ask questions that can’t be answered at any other ground-based telescope in the world. The first big question: What causes this pivotally important type of stellar cataclysm?

Observing this spectacular supernova, dubbed PTF11kly, began on August 24, with the detection of the explosion in the nearby Pinwheel Galaxy, a.k.a. M101, by the automated Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey. That survey is designed to detect short-lived astronomical events as they happen.

Full Story: http://keckobservatory.org/news/secrets_of_supernova/