Friday, April 19, 2013
NASA Kepler's mission found two planetary systems with Earth-like planets more than 1,200 light years away.
If space tourism becomes as popular as summer vacations to the nearest beach town, two destinations on any traveler's list may be two new planetary systems recently discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. According to NASA, three planets are super Earth-sized and in a "habitable zone"—meaning they are just far enough away from a star where the surface temperature of the orbiting planet may allow for liquid water. The planets are located in Kepler-62 and Kepler-69, more than 1,200 light years away from Earth—Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-sized planets. "The discovery of these rocky planets in the habitable zone brings us a bit closer to finding a place like home," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of the Science …
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The flight is a test run for a system that could eventually resupply the International Space Station.
Update, 5:50 p.m.: The launch has been scrubbed due to a technical glitch. Original article: The test flight for a space capsule system intended to help resupply the International Space Station is scheduled to launch from the Virginia coastline on Wednesday. If weather conditions are favorable, the craft should be visible from parts of Maryland as it ascends into orbit. The Antares rocket, developed by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation, is expected to launch at 5:00 p.m.—though the launch window extends until 8:00 p.m., should weather or other factors require a delay. The Los Angeles Times reports that it will be carrying a roughly four-ton dummy payload intended to simulate the company's Cygnus space capsule, which NASA and the…
Monday, March 4, 2013
Image of capital region at night was taken from the International Space Station.
NASA is known for supplying some of the most engaging images of planets, asteroids, galaxies, stars and other celestial bodies. Now, Canada’s space agency is enthralling us with images of our planet. Chris Hadfield, who later this month is to become the first Canadian to take command of the International Space Station, released a stunning image Feb. 25 via Twitter of the Washington area from a height of 230 miles. In the image, you can clearly make out the convergence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, as well as some details of the infamous street layout of the city. The image is among the latest in a series of Earth-focused images from space. In November, 2012, NASA released a book, “Earth as Art,” a series of 75 images that feature …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Sources described a likable engineering student with a strong academic record—and a mental illness.
On Tuesday afternoon, Prince George's County police identified the alleged shooter from an early morning murder-suicide in College Park as 23-year-old Dayvon Maurice Green. According to police, Green was an engineering graduate student at the University of Maryland. Speaking to reporters outside the scene of the shooting, UMD President Wallace Loh said he believed Green had been at the university for about a year. Green earned his undergraduate degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore, officials said. The Baltimore Sun reports that he was a member of Phi Beta Sigma's Gamma chapter and maintained a grade point average above 3.5. Green also participated in the NASA Student Ambassador program and worked at the NASA Goddard Space …
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Planetary nebula called NGC 5189 that looks a lot like a glass-blown holiday ornament.
Do they celebrate the holidays in space? Looks like they might. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a nearby planetary nebula called NGC 5189 that looks a lot like a glass-blown holiday ornament with a glowing ribbon entwined.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Planetary nebula called NGC 5189 that looks a lot like a glass-blown holiday ornament.
Do they celebrate the holidays in space? Looks like it. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a nearby planetary nebula called NGC 5189 that looks a lot like a glass-blown holiday ornament with a glowing ribbon entwined.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
For the first time in nearly 15 years, both of Baltimore's teams are in first place.
Weather: Today will be sunny with no chance of rain, a high of 81 and a low of 58, according to the Weather Channel. Did You Know? According to FamilyEducation.com, on this day in 1992, Mae Jemison became the first black woman to travel into space, aboard space shuttle Endeavor. In sports news, for the first time since Sept. 27, 1997, both the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles are simultaneously in first place of their respective divisions. Oh, and the Maryland Terrapins football team is undefeated, too. Do you get the daily Savage-Guilford Patch newsletter? Sign up here. Events: Ledo Pizza of Columbia hosts Kid's Night every Wednesday. Children can eat a free meal off of the Kid's menu with a paying adult. Morgan the Balloon Girl will be …
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Goddard scientists study outer space on land where dinosaurs once roamed, including fierce carnivores, and newly discovered dino prints prove it, dinosaur tracker says.
Just 11 days after the Curiosity rover touched down on the Red Planet, back on earth, tracker Ray Stanford stood on NASA Goddard soil announcing a more terrestrial breakthrough—dinosaur footprints. That's footprints, plural— in Prince George's County. Stanford Friday came on Goddard's Space Flight Center's campus and showed them what he believes is the track of a large armored dinosaur called a nodosaur. But he also identified several smaller footprints of a deadly beast—the three-toed flesh-eating theropod. Goddard reported on both announcements. The discovery didn't end there, though. Stanford said in an interview with Patch Wednesday that he identified a likely iguanodon as well, a beaked dinosaur with thumb spikes, and he suspects …
Thursday, August 9, 2012
This weekend's biggest show is in the sky.
Earlier this week, the big news was on Mars as the world watched the Curiosity Mars rover speed through that planet’s thin atmosphere at 13,000 mph, before being lowered down to Red Planet's surface. This weekend, the show is in our very own sky. The Perseid Meteor Shower 2012 hits its stride this weekend, late Saturday night and early Sunday morning. And what stride it will be: according to NASA, expect up to 100 meteors per hour. As an extra bonus, a waning crescent moon means that moonlight won’t completely overwhelm the meteors as they shoot across the sky. Where do you plan to go to watch the Perseids? Let us know in the comments. Like all meteor showers, the Perseid shower is named after the constellation that the meteors appear to …
Saturday, August 4, 2012
NASA is hosting several public viewings of Curiosity as it touches down on the Red Planet.
Want to touch down on Mars? Well, you can't. Not yet. But early Monday morning you can get a feel for what it might look like to land on the Red Planet when NASA broadcasts the landing of the Curiosity Mars Rover across the country. A lot of people are holding their breath. Curiosity has been on its way to Mars since Nov. 26, 2011 when it launched from Cape Canaveral. It will begin to descend into the thin Martian atmosphere Saturday, Aug. 6. About 1:30 a.m. Curiosity will use a new landing method consisting rocket guided entry, parachute descent, more rockets and a “sky crane,” which is as fantastic as it sounds. The shell of the rover will use its rockets to hover above the surface as the science lab is lowered down the surface by an “…
patricia
1:31 pm on Monday, February 18, 2013
But mandating that everyone disclose their mental illness is not the answer? Oh, but mandating new gun control laws is the answer. It's funny how when someone commits murder in this way , their privacy was more important than someone's right to carry a gun or defend themselves against a mentally unstable person, who in most cases, someone they lived with or worked with or went to school with, … more ›