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How I Discovered Halley’s Comet, by Edmond Halley

On Monday, June 10, in the Evening, the Sky being very serene and calm, I was desirous to take a view of the disk of Mars (then very near the Earth, and appearing very glorious) to see if I could distinguish in my 24 Foot Telescope, the Spots said to be seen on him. Directing my Tube for the purpose, I accidentally fell upon a small whitish Appearance near the Planet, resembling in all respects such a Nebula … The Reverend Mr. Miles Williams, Mr. Alban Thomas, and myself contemplated this Appearance for above an Hour … and we could not be deceiv’d as to its Reality; but the slowness of its Motion made us at that time conclude that it had none, and that it was rather a Nebula than a Comet.

Read more. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]

NASA and Veterans

November 11 each year is a day we honor those who have served in our nation’s armed forces. 

Discover how we have close ties to the military, even to this day, and see who has traded in their camouflage uniform for an astronaut flight suit.

There have been veterans working for us since the beginning, even when it was still called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). 

Additionally, there are several active duty military members working at NASA facilities through special government programs.

Today, there are more than 1500 veterans currently employed with us. Their experiences in the military make their expertise invaluable around the agency. We value the unique leadership style they bring to the work place.  Above and below are some astronaut veterans.

A Partnership for the Space Age

Since the early days of NASA, we’ve partnered with all branches of the military. We still work closely with the military today and rely on the expertise of our service members to support our missions both while in active duty and in the civilian workforce. Here are some examples of this close partnership:

The Marines helped with recovery efforts of Astronaut Alan Shepard at the end of his sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961…a task performed across several of our missions.

Today, the Navy helps us recover spacecraft, just like the Orion space capsule…which will one day carry astronauts into deep space and eventually on our journey to Mars. 

…and the Air Force has traditionally and continues to help us transport sensitive and critical space hardware around the globe. 

The Coast Guard has even helped us access remote locations to collect oceanographic data as part of our efforts to study and learn more about the Earth. 

We’ve partnered with the Army to use their unique capabilities at the Yuma Proving Ground to test the entry, descent and landing of our spacecraft systems.

To all the Veteran’s out there, we thank you for your service to America and your continued support of America’s space program.

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

tfw your inactive blog gets a whole bunch of notes out of nowhere and you wonder if you could ever bring it back to life

Juno reaches Jupiter

Braving intense radiation, a NASA spacecraft reached Jupiter on Monday after a five-year voyage to begin exploring the king of the planets.

Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin erupted in applause when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft beamed home news that it was circling Jupiter’s poles.

The arrival at Jupiter was dramatic. As Juno approached its target, it fired its rocket engine to slow itself down and gently slipped into orbit. Because of the communication time lag between Jupiter and Earth, Juno was on autopilot when it executed the tricky move.

“Juno, welcome to Jupiter,” said mission control commentator Jennifer Delavan of Lockheed Martin, which built Juno.

In the coming days, Juno will turn its instruments back on, but the real work won’t begin until late August when the spacecraft swings in closer. Plans called for Juno to swoop within 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) of Jupiter’s clouds – closer than previous missions – to map the planet’s gravity and magnetic fields in order to learn about the interior makeup. (AP)

Photos: (from top) NASA/Damian Peach,  AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, NASA/JPL-Caltech, AP Photo/Terry Renna)

See more images of Juno reaches Jupiter on Yahoo News

November 3 1957, The Soviet Union launches the first animal into space—a dog name Laika—aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. Laika, lived as a stray on the Moscow streets before being enlisted into the Soviet space program. Laika survived for several days as a passenger in the USSR’s second artificial Earth satellite, kept alive by a sophisticated life-support system. Electrodes attached to her body provided scientists on the ground with important information about the biological effects of space travel. She died after the batteries of her life-support system ran down.

The transit of Mercury, left, in front of the Sun, photographed from St.Petersburg, Russia on May 9th 2016. The photo was taken through a hydrogen-alpha (H-alpha) narrow spectrum solar telescope that permits examination of the sun’s protuberances and shows the surface activity. Credit: AP/Dmitri Lovetsky

Using a shortwave radio to listen to Jupiter and the Sun. 

Comet McNaught.