Giant Asteroid Vesta Photographed Up Close
OMG We better get Bruce Willis ready for another mission. I have just been looking at some never before seen images of a giant asteroid and they are amazing pictures. Although it is not set to come crashing into earth it is still pretty amazing. Here is some information about it. Follow the links below to see and read some more.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft photographed the giant asteroid Vesta from orbit on July 24, 2011. I have been following with great interest this NASA mission since it launched back in September 2007. Dawn was captured by Vesta’s weak gravity and went into orbit on July 15th.
Dawn will stay in orbit around Vesta for about a year before moving on to the dwarf planet Ceres, arriving in February 2015. ”Vesta is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth. Vesta and its new NASA neighbor, Dawn, are currently approximately 117 million miles (188 million kilometers) away from Earth. The Dawn team will begin gathering science data in August. Observations will provide unprecedented data to help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system.
The data also will help pave the way for future human space missions. The Dawn science team is working to determine the significance of the distinct features in this image, which include large grooves or ridges extending for great distances around Vesta.”
“Vesta is 330 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter and the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. Ground- and space-based telescopes have obtained images of Vesta for about two centuries, but they have not been able to see much detail on its surface.
“We are beginning the study of arguably the oldest extant primordial surface in the solar system,” said Dawn principal investigator Christopher Russell from the University of California, Los Angeles. “This region of space has been ignored for far too long. So far, the images received to date reveal a complex surface that seems to have preserved some of the earliest events in Vesta’s history, as well as logging the onslaught that Vesta has suffered in the intervening eons.”
“Dawn’s initial orbit around Vesta carries it over the asteroid’s poles at an altitude of roughly 1,700 miles. The orbit’s orientation keeps the spacecraft and its huge solar panels in direct sunlight to provide power for its instruments and its propulsion system. Traveling from north to south, Dawn will complete one orbit every three Earth days.
Because Vesta completes one rotation or “day,” every five hours and 20 minutes, Dawn will be able to observe the asteroid’s entire illuminated surface every orbit. During south-to-north passes above Vesta’s night side, Dawn will transmit stored images and other data back to Earth.” Continue reading more and see more photographs: on NASA’s site here. and on CNN here.
End of the Space Shuttle Era
The final launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis marks the end of an era. I remember the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981. I was still in graduate school at Ohio University. Shortly afterwards I got my first newspaper job at The Tampa Tribune. It was while working there that I began to be assigned to cover Space Shuttle launches. I continued to photograph launches when I moved a couple of years later to the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida and then even after moving to New York at Newsday I was sent down for a few launches.
I covered the first launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-7, and was scheduled to photographer it again on the day it blew up. I was pulled at the last minute, but then after watching it blow up from the newsroom my AME sent me to catch the first flight down to Florida to cover the aftermath. My old negatives are filed away and I will have to try and find them.
The picture above was made by my old friend AP photographer Dave Martin, who has probably covered as many launches as any photographer. The Boston Globes blog The Big Picture has this and 40 more pictures about this historic event. Check it out to see the rest of the pictures. I only wish I could have been down there to see the last launch.
Ares I-X Launches
Smoke engulfs Launch Pad 39B as the Ares I-X test rocket takes off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:30 a.m. EDT Oct. 28. (NASA/ Sandra Joseph and Kevin O’Connell)
October 28th, NASA launched its Ares I-X prototype vehicle, the first launch from Kennedy’s pads of a vehicle other than the space shuttle since the Apollo Program’s Saturn rockets were retired. NASA’s Constellation Program’s 327-foot-tall rocket produced 2.96 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and reached a speed of 100 mph in eight seconds. The Big Picture blog has the coverage of 28 photos documenting its creation.
NASA’s Ares 1-X rocket lifts off from launch pad 39-b at the Kennedy Space Center October 28, 2009 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A cone of moisture surrounds part of the Ares I-X rocket during lift off Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, on a sub-orbital test flight from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara
Photographs of Saturn from Cassini
I just had to post some of these images I have been looking at on the nasa website. There are some fabulous images of our neighbor Saturn and its fascinating rings and moons.
Read all about the Cassini Spacecraft Mission and see more (tax payer funded NASA) space photos at Cassini Equinox Mission Website. Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializes in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations, and photojournalistic Seattle wedding photography.
Hubble – Newest Space Photographs
Astronomers have declared NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory with the release of observations from four of its six operating science instruments. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland unveiled the images Weds 9 Sept 09 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.
“This marks a new beginning for Hubble,” said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “The telescope was given an extreme makeover and now is significantly more powerful than ever, well equipped to last into the next decade.”Topping the list of new views are colorful, multi-wavelength pictures of far-flung galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, an eerie “pillar of creation,” and a “butterfly” nebula…continue reading and see more photos at NASA.gov. Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializes in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations, and photojournalistic Seattle wedding photography.
Man on the Moon Apollo 11
NASA’s LRO Spacecraft Gets its First Look at Apollo Landing Sites
This photograph shows the first imagery of the Apollo 11 lunar landing site taken in 40 years. The picture is one of many photos taken by NASA’a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter . and posted on their website. I find it so interesting I had to post it here. Can you believe Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left their lunar vehicle parked on the moon for 40 years and no one took it? Actually it was their lunar module descent stage that was left. On the NASA website they have photos of the landing sites of Apollo 11, 14, 15, 16, 17. Check it out. Below is a shot taken by Neil Armstrong of Buzz Aldrin in front of the lunar module
Man On the Moon – 40 years ago.
Apollo 11 Revisited Above, view from Apollo 11 command vehicle “Columbia” of the moon with the earth rising on the horizon.
I find it hard to believe that it is 40 years ago since we first went to the moon. Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the July 16, 1969 launch of Apollo 11, with astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. aboard. The entire trip lasted only 8 days, the time spent on the surface was less than one day, the entire time spent walking on the moon, a mere 2 1/2 hours – but they were surely historic hours. Below are a few of the 40 images that the Boston Globe blog “The Big Picture” has collected from this event and posted. They are amazing to reconsider.
The Saturn V rocket lifts off on July 16th, 1969.
On the surface of the Moon, astronaut Buzz Aldrin as photographed by Neil Armstrong (visible in reflection).
Eagle approaches the Command Module during rendezvous after lifting off from the Moon.
Photographs From Outer Space
If you are a big of a fan of photographs from outer space as I am you should follow this link to the Boston Globe’s web blog “The Big Picture”
Here is a brief excerpt……”NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is now a nearly a year into its extended mission, called Cassini Equinox (after its initial 4-year mission ended in June, 2008). The spacecraft continues to operate in good health, returning amazing images of Saturn, its ring system and moons, and providing new information and science on a regular basis. The mission’s name, “Equinox” comes from the upcoming Saturnian equinox in August, 2009, when its equator (and rings) will point directly toward the Sun.
The mission’s name, “Equinox” comes from the upcoming Saturnian equinox in August, 2009, when its equator (and rings) will point directly toward the Sun. Go to the Big picture and see the rest of the 24 photos they have posted there.
The Earth As First Seen From The Moon
This photograph is the first image ever taken of the Earth from the Moon.
When I was young and the first photographs from our space missions began to appear, I was fasinated by their mystery and grace. Science fiction was one of my passions then. When the Whole Earth Catalog began to publish, they used this image below to capture out attention and it is really our generation that had been the first to witness such sights.
Earth Rise from Apollo 8 in Orbit around the Moon
I like to check in on a blog called Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer, by Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
Here is what they say about the photo on top.
Pictured at the top of this post is the first image ever taken of the Earth from the Moon. The image was taken in 1966 by Lunar Orbiter 1 and heralded by then-journalists as the Image of the Century. It was taken about two years before the Apollo 8 crew snapped its more famous color cousin the photo above. Recently Recently, modern technology has allowed the recovery of higher resolution images from old data sources such as Lunar Orbiter tapes than ever before. Specifically, recovery of the above image was initiated 20 years ago by Nancy Evans, and completed recently by Dennis Wingo and Keith Cowing who lead the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project. Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project. Images like that above carry more than aesthetic value — comparison to recent high definition images of the Moon enables investigations into how the Moon has been changing.
Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, a photojournalist specializing in editorial photography and portrait photography for publications and corporations, and a Seattle wedding photographer with an unobtrusive, story-telling approach, creating award winning wedding photojournalism, is ranked one the best Seattle wedding photographers by the National Association of Wedding Photojournalists.