Earth Observatory: What's New Week of 10 July 2012

The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory (10 July 2012)
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Latest Images:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/

* When Wildfire Smoke and Thunderstorms Collide
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78497&src=eoa-iotd

* Elusive Sprite Captured from the International Space Station
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78487&src=eoa-iotd

* Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia at Night
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78467&src=eoa-iotd

* Sea Ice Retreat in the Beaufort Sea
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78429&src=eoa-iotd

* Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78461&src=eoa-iotd

* Waldo Canyon Fire Burn Scar
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78449&src=eoa-iotd

* Growth in Washington, District of Columbia
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78437&src=eoa-iotd

* Power Outages in Washington, DC Area
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78445&src=eoa-iotd

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Recent Blog Posts:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/

Earth Matters
* EO's Satellite Puzzler: Entry Number 2
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=2267&src=eoa-blogs

* A Unique View of Wildfire Smoke
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=2219&src=eoa-blogs

Notes from the Field
* Siberia 2012 - Embenchime River Expedition: Introduction
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=4037&src=eoa-blogs

* Siberia 2012: Embenchime River Expedition - Biographies
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=4035&src=eoa-blogs

* Notes from the Field - Week 4
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=4118&src=eoa-blogs

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NASA 3-D App Gives Public Ability to Experience Robotic Space Travel

 

News release: 2012-202                                                                     July 11, 2012 NASA 3-D App Gives Public Ability to Experience Robotic Space Travel The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-202&cid=release_2012-202 PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA-created application that brings some of the agency's robotic spacecraft to life in 3-D now is available for free on the iPhone and iPad. Called Spacecraft 3D, the app uses animation to show how spacecraft can maneuver and manipulate their outside components. Presently, the new app features two NASA missions, the Curiosity rover that will touch down on Mars on Aug. 5 at 10:31 p.m. PDT (Aug. 6 at 1:31 a.m. EDT), and the twin GRAIL spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, currently orbiting the moon. "With Spacecraft 3D and a mobile device, you can put high definition, three-dimensional models literally into the hands of kids of all ages," said Stephen Kulczycki, deputy director for communications and education at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft 3D is among the first of what are known as augmented-reality apps for Apple devices. Augmented reality provides users a view of a real-world environment where elements are improved by additional input. Spacecraft 3D uses the iPhone or iPad camera to overlay information on the device's main screen. The app instructs users to print an augmented-reality target on a standard sheet of paper. When the device's camera is pointed at the target, the spacecraft chosen by the user materializes on screen. "Let's say you want to get an idea what our Curiosity Mars rover is all about," said Kevin Hussey, manager of visualization technology at JPL. "Like Hollywood directors sizing up their next shot, you move your camera-equipped iPad or iPhone in and out, up and down, and the spacecraft perspective moves with you. It is a great way to study the 3-D nature of NASA spacecraft." Spacecraft 3D also has a feature where you can take your own augmented-reality picture of the rover or GRAIL spacecraft. You can even make a self-portrait with a spacecraft, putting yourself or someone else in the picture. "In the near future, we will incorporate the Cassini spacecraft, which is orbiting Saturn, the Dawn spacecraft, which is deep in the heart of the asteroid belt, and the Voyagers, which are right now at the very edge of our solar system," said Hussey. "Looking down the road, we've got a veritable solar system full of spacecraft to work with." Spacecraft 3D currently is available only for Apple formats, but should be available on other formats in the near future. The detailed computer models of the spacecraft used in Spacecraft 3D originally were originally generated for NASA's "Eyes on the Solar System" Web application. "Eyes on the Solar System" is a 3-D environment full of NASA mission data that allows anyone to explore the cosmos from their computer. For information on how to download the Spacecraft 3D app, visit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spacecraft-3d/id541089908?mt=8 . For more information about Eyes on the Solar System and NASA robotic missions, visit: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/ . For information on the GRAIL mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail . For information on Curiosity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl . DC Agle/Guy Webster 818-393-9011/354-6278 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. agle@jpl.nasa.gov / guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726 NASA Headquarters, Washington Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov - end -

NASA News Conference to Preview August Mars Rover Landing

 

News release: 2012-201b                                                                     July 11, 2012 NASA News Conference to Preview August Mars Rover Landing The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-201b&cid=release_2012-201b PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) Monday, July 16, to discuss the upcoming August landing of the most advanced robot ever sent to another world. A new public-engagement collaboration based on the mission also will be debuted. The event for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft will be held at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website. To view a JPL live stream with a moderated chat, visit: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl. Mars Science Laboratory will deliver the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT on Aug. 6). Curiosity, carrying laboratory instruments to analyze samples of rocks, soil and atmosphere, will investigate whether Mars has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. Participants will be: -- Doug McCuistion, director, Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters -- Michael Meyer, lead scientist, Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters -- John Grotzinger, MSL project scientist, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. -- Pete Theisinger, MSL project manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena -- Jeff Norris, manager, planning and execution systems, Jet Propulsion Laboratory For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For more information about the mission, and to view or submit events surrounding the landing, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. The public can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity . JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for NASA. Guy Webster 818-393-9011 / 354-6278 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726 NASA Headquarters, Washington Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov - end -

The Titanian Seasons Turn, Turn, Turn

News release: 2012-200                                                                   July 10, 2012 The Titanian Seasons Turn, Turn, Turn  The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-200&cid=release_2012-200 PASADENA, Calif. – Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show a concentration of high-altitude haze and a vortex materializing at the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan, signs that the seasons are turning on Saturn's largest moon. "The structure inside the vortex is reminiscent of the open cellular convection that is often seen over Earth's oceans," said Tony Del Genio, a Cassini team member at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, N.Y. "But unlike on Earth, where such layers are just above the surface, this one is at very high altitude, maybe a response of Titan's stratosphere to seasonal cooling as southern winter approaches. But so soon in the game, we're not sure." Cassini first saw a "hood" of high-altitude haze and a vortex, which is a mass of swirling gas around the pole in the moon's atmosphere, at Titan's north pole when the spacecraft first arrived in the Saturn system in 2004. At the time, it was northern winter. Multiple instruments have been keeping an eye on the Titan atmosphere above the south pole for signs of the coming southern winter. While the northern hood has remained, the circulation in the upper atmosphere has been moving from the illuminated north pole to the cooling south pole. This movement appears to be causing downwellings over the south pole and the formation of high-altitude haze and a vortex. Cassini's visible light cameras saw the first signs of hazes starting to concentrate over Titan's south pole in March, and the spacecraft's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) obtained false-color images on May 22 and June 7. "VIMS has seen a concentration of aerosols forming about 200 miles [300 kilometers] above the surface of Titan's south pole," said Christophe Sotin, a VIMS team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We've never seen aerosols here at this level before, so we know this is something new." During a June 27 distant flyby, Cassini's imaging cameras captured a crow's-eye view of the south polar vortex in visible light. These new images show this detached, high-altitude haze layer in stunning new detail. "Future observations of this feature will provide good tests of dynamical models of the Titan circulation, chemistry, cloud and aerosol processes in the upper atmosphere," said Bob West, deputy imaging team lead at JPL. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. The new images are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20120710.html For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov , and http://www.ciclops.org . Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. jccook@jpl.nasa.gov  Joe Mason 720-974-5859 Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. media@ciclops.org - end -

Se incrementa la evidencia de hielo en el cráter Shackleton

 

Noticias Científicas de la NASA

De acuerdo con datos proporcionados por el Orbitador de Reconocimiento Lunar es posible que un porcentaje de la superficie del cráter Shackleton, en la Luna, albergue hielo.

TODO EL REPORTAJE en http://ciencia.nasa.gov/ciencias-especiales/21jun_shackleton/

Este es un servicio gratuito.

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Lucimary Vargas
Presidente
Observatório Astronômico Monoceros
Planetário Além Paraíba
Estação Meteorológica 083/MG-5ºDISME-INMET
AHAP/CEPESLE
Além Paraíba-MG-Brasil
Sites e Blogs principais:
http://www.monoceros.xpg.com.br
http://astronomicando.blogspot.com
http://arqueoastronomy.blogspot.com
http://cepesle-news.blogspot.com
http://www.arquivohistorico-mg.com.br
http://www.arquivohistorico-mg.org.br

Earth-Directed X-flare and CME

Space Weather News for July 12, 2012
http://spaceweather.com

EARTH-DIRECTED X-FLARE: Big sunspot AR1520 erupted on July 12th around 16:53
UT, producing an X-class solar flare and hurling a CME directly toward
Earth. Forecasters expect the cloud to arrive on July 14th. Its impact
could spark moderate to severe geomagnetic storms, allowing auroras to be
seen at lower latitudes than usual. Check http://spaceweather.com for more
information and updates.

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