Episodes
What are some skywatching highlights in August 2020? See the Moon posing with various planets throughout the month, plus catch the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower.
Published 07/31/20
NASA’s Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars today by successfully launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a ULA Atlas V rocket. It now begins its seven-month journey to the Red Planet, landing there on Feb. 18, 2021.
Published 07/30/20
To get ready for the launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, NASA invited the public to join a global, collective #CountdownToMars project. Fans from around the world recorded videos of their creative countdowns, giving Perseverance a celebratory sendoff for its launch on July 30, 2020. Perseverance is set to land on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. For more information on the rover’s mission, visit: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published 07/30/20
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is heading to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life, collect samples for future return to Earth and help pave the way for human exploration. The rover will carry with it several technology demonstrations including a helicopter, which will attempt humanity's first powered flight on another planet. Perseverance has a new set of science instruments and the ability to “self-drive” on the Martian surface. The Perseverance rover is scheduled to...
Published 07/27/20
In February 2020, NASA’s Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars by first traveling across the United States. The rover was built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and then carefully packed and flown to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. There, engineers integrated the rover with the spacecraft that carries it to Mars, and the Atlas V rocket chosen to send it on its way.
Published 07/22/20
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will make history's first attempt at powered flight on another planet next spring. It is riding with the agency's next mission to Mars (the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover) as it launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station later this summer. Perseverance, with Ingenuity attached to its belly, will land on Mars February 18, 2021. As a technology demonstration, Ingenuity is testing a new capability for the first time: showing controlled flight is possible in...
Published 07/14/20
Published 07/01/20
Published 06/22/20
Published 05/04/20
Published 03/31/20
Published 03/02/20
Looking for astronomy highlights for February 2020? This month is the best time of the year to try to view Mercury, soon after sunset; Mars disappears behind the Moon on Feb. 18; and the bright red star on Orion’s shoulder, Betelgeuse, has been acting weird. (Or has it?) Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/whats-up-skywatching-tips-from-nasa.
Published 02/04/20
After 16 years of unveiling the infrared universe, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has left a singular legacy. As one of NASA’s four Great Observatories -- a series of powerful telescopes including Hubble, Chandra and Compton that can observe the cosmos in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum --Spitzer quickly became a pioneer in the exploration of the worlds beyond our human vision. From stars being born to planets beyond our solar system (like the seven Earth-size planets around...
Published 01/15/20
A new NASA-funded planet-hunting instrument has been installed on the WIYN telescope, on Arizona's Kitt Peak. NEID (pronounced NOO-id) is a spectrometer that is one of the first instruments of its kind with the precision to detect small, terrestrial planets around nearby stars. NEID will also confirm the presence of planets discovered by NASA's TESS space telescope, and reveal details of their anatomy. Eventually, scientists want to be able to find Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars,...
Published 01/08/20
What are the skywatching highlights of January 2020? The peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower, Mars rises with its "rival" — the red giant star Antares — and the Moon and Venus pair up.
Published 12/31/19
On Dec. 17, 2019, engineers took NASA’s next Mars rover for its first spin. The test took place in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This was the first drive test for the new rover, which will move to Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the beginning of next year to prepare for its launch to Mars in the summer.
Published 12/18/19
What can you see in the December sky? Beautiful pairings of Venus, Saturn and Mars with the crescent Moon throughout the month, at sunrise and sunset.
Published 11/26/19