Barnard’s Star Seen Moving Against The Cosmic Background.

Moose-skiing!

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Welcome to Toronto's Rage Room, where you can pay $20 to smash everything within it to your heart's content.

Otto, the Bulldog ~ breaking records and hearts! 😍 "A bulldog named Otto just broke a world record by skating through a 30-person 'human tunnel' in Peru."

On this day 9 years ago, Pluto was demoted from planetary status. On August 24th, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially defined what constitutes a planet. For a celestial body in our solar system to be defined as a planet, it must: 1. Be in orbit of the Sun 2. Have sufficient mass to assume a nearly round shape (officially known as hydrostatic equilibrium) 3. “Clear the neighborhood” around its orbit This designation meant that Pluto – first discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh – was no different than any of the other 70,000 icy objects that comprise the Kuiper Belt, a region that extends from the orbit of Neptune out to 55 astronomical units (55 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun). After decades of observation, astronomers have continued to discover other large Kuiper Belt objects, such as Eris in 2005, which was determined to be larger than Pluto itself. The discovery of Eris – which has approximately 25% more mass than Pluto – posed an interesting question to the scientific community: would this object be the 10th planet in our solar system? “If Neptune were analogized with a Chevy Impala in mass, then how big is Pluto compared to that? Pluto would be a matchbox car sitting on the curb.” - Neil deGrasse Tyson Based upon the IAU’s definition above, any object that doesn’t meet the third criteria is classified as a dwarf planet – including Pluto, Eris, and many of the other objects located in the distant reaches of the Kuiper Belt. In spite of this new designation, Pluto still holds a special spot in the hearts of scientists and astronomers, as NASA sent their New Horizons spacecraft to observe it closely. On July 14th, 2015, New Horizons captured the first close-up images of Pluto’s surface. Image Credit: PBS Sources: 1. Pluto and the Developing Landscape of Our Solar System http://goo.gl/ncuu2x 2. Why Pluto is No Longer a Planet http://goo.gl/ekryL

Now, few of my own illustrations to show the future of the ISS!  With the success of the Commercial Cargo program, bringing SpaceX’s Dragon and Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft to the station, the Commercial Crew program is set to bring the US back to manned spaceflight to the ISS.  To this end, in 2015, the station was reconfigured to allow for 2 berthed cargo vehicles, while converting the 2 Space Shuttle PMAs (Pressurized Mating Adapter) to NASA Docking Standard ports with support for autonomous docking.

With SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft servicing the station, station crew capacity will be extended to 7.  The International Space Station has proven to be an excellent place to validate and test new spacecraft, serving as the testbed for ATV, HTV, Dragon and Cygnus while looking to do the same for CST-100 and Crew Dragon in 2017.

Meanwhile, the orbiting outpost will play a role in validating new spaceflight technology.  In 2015, the Bigelow Aerospace BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) will be flown to the station.  This technology, based on the cancelled NASA Transhab, will be validated by astronauts on-orbit.  Using expandable modules, future space stations can be built for a fraction of the cost of ISS while gaining large amounts of living space.  Other experiments on orbit include micro satellite servicing and deployment and the testing of small reentry vehicles from a proposed small airlock.

As the station’s future has now been all but completely extended to 2024 (awaiting Japanese and European approval), and the possibility of use until 2028, the question arises of what will succeed it after the station’s lifetime is complete and it is de-orbited.  Current NASA dialog suggests a similar arrangement to the commercial programs whereby NASA would purchase space on a commercial space station as an “anchor client” while purchasing commercial rides to reach them.  

The shadow of a Solar Eclipse seen from space. The next big Solar Eclipse is on 8/21/17!

Christmas 2015🌟⛄️❄️🎅🎄🎁

Blog: Probing the Mystery of Charon's Red Pole (https://blogs.nasa.gov/pluto/2015/09/09/new-horizons-probes-the-mystery-of-charons-red-pole/)