Running Man Nebula

A cosmic concoction in NGC 2467

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Panorama from the Apollo 15 mission

Milky Way from Lake Cuyamaca js

Saturn in three bands of infrared light.

a night with the stars will usually help

By: Jonah Reenders

Hubble Spots a Secluded Starburst Galaxy : This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes Advanced Camera for Surveys

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Nebula NGC 3603

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Infrared Saturn Clouds via NASA http://ift.tt/2b5OdPE

The Milky Way was so very alive this weekend in the backcountry.. Hope you all had a chance to look up and watch the cosmos whiz by.. #stars #nightphotography #nightsky #darksky #adventure

Juno Arrives at Jupiter Today!

Today on the 4th of July, 2016 (barring any tragic occurrence with the engine firing) NASA’s Juno spacecraft will enter into orbit around Jupiter.

It’s been traveling since 2011 and carries thick shielding to protect its instruments from the dangerous fields of radiation surrounding the planet.

Juno’s not the first spacecraft to go to Jupiter, but it will be the closest. I like to imagine that Juno will look like a scene from Alien: Isolation where you get to look out the window and see that massive gas giant below you.

The goals of this mission are essentially thus: investigate the weather, atmosphere and magnetosphere on Jupiter.

Moving into a grander context, as answers start to come in and we learn more about Jupiter’s nature we hope to learn more about the questions we must be asking in order to investigate the formation of our very solar system on a deeper level.

Of course with any luck and a lot of hard work, we will be able to build a more harmonious theory of how a star system forms, and the things that go into the construct of a massive gas giant.

(Image credit: NASA and JPL)