New Horizons spots its next flyby target, Administrator Bridenstine visits our west coast facilities, and using data from space to fight a life-threatening disease … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
This video is available for download from NASA’s Image and Video Library: https://images.nasa.gov/details-NHQ_2018_0831_New%20Horizons%20Detects%20Next%20Flyby%20Target%20on%20This%20Week%20@NASA%20%E2%80%93%20August%2031,%202018.html
The largest of Pluto’s five moons, Charon, was discovered on June 22, 1978, by James Christy and Robert Harrington at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Read the story: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/charon-at-40-four-decades-of-discovery-on-pluto-s-largest-moon
Charon was discovered only about six miles from where Pluto itself was discovered at Lowell Observatory. They weren’t even looking for satellites of Pluto – Christy, examining a series of grainy telescope images, trying to refine Pluto’s orbit around the Sun.
Christy and others tell the story of this amazing scientific find, which fueled Pluto’s transformation from a telescopic dot into an actual planetary system – and a source of many discoveries to come.
As 2015 comes to a close we look back at an exciting year of reaching new heights and revealing the unknown for the benefit of humankind.
Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 45 crew – including new Commander Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren of NASA, said goodbye to Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency (Kazcosmos) as the trio climbed aboard their Soyuz spacecraft for the return trip to Earth. The Soyuz landed safely in Kazakhstan on Sept. 11 Eastern time, Sept. 12 in Kazakhstan — closing out a 168-day mission for Padalka and an 8-day stay on the station for Mogensen and Aimbetov. Also, First Orion crew module segments welded, SLS Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, New Ceres imagery, New Horizons update, 9/11 tribute and National Preparedness Month!
During a July 24 science update at NASA headquarters, new surprising imagery and science results were revealed from the recent flyby of Pluto, by the New Horizons spacecraft. These included an image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager or (LORRI) – looking back at Pluto – hours after the historic flyby that shows haze in the planet’s sunlit atmosphere, that extends as high as 80 miles above Pluto’s surface – much higher than expected. Models suggest that the hazes form when ultraviolet sunlight breaks apart methane gas.
LORRI images also show evidence that exotic ices have flowed – and may still be flowing across Pluto’s surface, similar to glacial movement on Earth. This unpredicted sign of present-day geologic activity was detected in Sputnik Planum – an area in the western part of Pluto’s heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio.
Additionally, new compositional data from New Horizons’ Ralph instrument indicate that the center of Sputnik Planum is rich in nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane ices.
At approximately 7:49 a.m. on July 14, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to be as close as it will get to Pluto, approximately 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) above the surface. This historic moment is part of NASA’s coverage of New Horizons’ nine year, three billion mile journey to the Pluto system to gather data about Pluto and its moons.
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft arrives at Pluto on July 14th; a journey lasting nearly 10 years and traveling over 3 billion miles. Watch coverage of the historic flyby of Pluto on NASA Television as NASA counts down to the Pluto encounter of a lifetime.
On Saturday, at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD, NASA connected with social media followers in-person and online for a Web Social on the New Horizons mission exploring Pluto using #NASASocial and #PlutoFlyby and @NASANewHorizons.
NASA Social is a program to provide opportunities for NASA’s social media followers to learn and share information about NASA’s missions, people, and programs. NASA Social is the next evolution in the agency’s social media efforts. Formerly called NASA Tweetup, NASA Social program includes both special in-person events and social media credentials for individuals who share the news in a significant way. This program has brought thousands of people together for unique social media experiences of exploration and discovery.