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What’s Up November 2017

What’s Up For November?

Dawn pairing of Jupiter and Venus, Moon shines near star clusters, meteor activity all month long!

This month binoculars will come in handy–to view the moon, star clusters, and a close pairing of Venus and Jupiter.

You can’t miss bright Venus in the predawn sky. This month Venus pairs up with Jupiter on the morning of November 13th.

The Leonids peak on a moonless November 17th. Expect no more than 10 meteors an hour around 3:00 a.m., the height of the shower.

The Northern and Southern sub-branches of the Taurid meteor shower offer sparse counts of about 5 meteors per hour, but slow, bright meteors are common.

The nearby November Orionids peak on the 28th. In contrast to the Taurids, the Orionids are swift. But don’t expect more than 3 meteors per hour.

The moon glides by three beautiful star clusters in the morning sky this month, and a pair of binoculars will allow you to see the individual stars in the clusters. Aim your binoculars at the Pleiades and the moon on the 5th.

Then aim at the Messier or M-35 cluster and the moon on the 7th and the Beehive cluster and the moon on the 10th.

Meanwhile, at dusk, catch Saturn as it dips closer to the western horizon and pairs up with Mercury on the 24th through the 28th.

Also, Comet C/2017 O1 should still be a binocular-friendly magnitude 7 or 8 greenish object in November. Use Polaris, the North Star as a guide. Look in the East to Northeast sky in the late evening.  

Watch the full What’s Up for November Video: 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.  

The Extraordinary Core of a Neutron Star

Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Quanta Magazine; Source: Feryal Özel

Comet Lovejoy is visible near Earth’s horizon in this nighttime image photographed by NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, onboard the International Space Station on Dec. 21, 2011.

Image credit: NASA

Observing the Ozone Hole from Space: A Science Success Story

Using our unique ability to view Earth from space, we are working together with NOAA to monitor an emerging success story – the shrinking ozone hole over Antarctica.

Thirty years ago, the nations of the world agreed to the landmark ‘Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.’ The Protocol limited the release of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) into the atmosphere.

Since the 1960s our scientists have worked with NOAA researchers to study the ozone layer. 

We use a combination of satellite, aircraft and balloon measurements of the atmosphere.

The ozone layer acts like a sunscreen for Earth, blocking harmful ultraviolet, or UV, rays emitted by the Sun.

In 1985, scientists first reported a hole forming in the ozone layer over Antarctica. It formed over Antarctica because the Earth’s atmospheric circulation traps air over Antarctica.  This air contains chlorine released from the CFCs and thus it rapidly depletes the ozone.

Because colder temperatures speed up the process of CFCs breaking up and releasing chlorine more quickly, the ozone hole fluctuates with temperature. The hole shrinks during the warmer summer months and grows larger during the southern winter. In September 2006, the ozone hole reached a record large extent.

But things have been improving in the 30 years since the Montreal Protocol. Thanks to the agreement, the concentration of CFCs in the atmosphere has been decreasing, and the ozone hole maximum has been smaller since 2006’s record.

That being said, the ozone hole still exists and fluctuates depending on temperature because CFCs have very long lifetimes. So, they still exist in our atmosphere and continue to deplete the ozone layer.

To get a view of what the ozone hole would have looked like if the world had not come to the agreement to limit CFCs, our scientists developed computer models. These show that by 2065, much of Earth would have had almost no ozone layer at all.

Luckily, the Montreal Protocol exists, and we’ve managed to save our protective ozone layer. Looking into the future, our scientists project that by 2065, the ozone hole will have returned to the same size it was thirty years ago.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Saturn photographed by the Cassini spacecraft in 2014

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cassini; precessed by: Ian Regan

Neptune Clouds

This Voyager 2 high resolution color image, taken 2 hours before closest approach, provides obvious evidence of vertical relief in Neptune’s bright cloud streaks. 

Credit: NASA / Voyager 2

The NASA Village

Today in the NASA Village… Making More with Less

Stacey Boland works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on missions that use remote sensing instruments for Earth observation.  From space, we can learn so much about our changing environment here on Earth.

Maximizing science research requires finding creative and cost effective ways to do it!  Her team developed the ISS-RapidScat instrument using left over equipment NASA had in storage from a program launched in the 1990’s.  ISS-RapidScat is an external payload mounted to the outside of the Columbus module, part of the International Space Station. ISS-RapidScat measures ocean wind speed and direction to help track tropical cyclones and hurricanes. Stacey’s team was able to get a functioning piece of hardware for about a tenth the cost of a traditional “small” Earth science mission.

Stacey said, “It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it!  Working in the space program doesn’t require perfection - but it does require passion and hard work!  We work as a team here at NASA and everyone’s role is important.  We rely on each other to do our best, regardless of what part of the mission is “ours.”  All the parts need to work together for it to be a success and that takes teamwork and good communication!”

Stacey’s story represents how being creative in the NASA Village can really make a difference!

Where did Stacey get her hunger for space?  “When I was growing up, my dad and I would learn about each shuttle mission and then watch launches on TV together. It was fun learning about science and exploration together. Now, as a parent, I’m continuing on that tradition with my son”

“I was able to watch the SpaceX-4 launch in person with my mom, dad, husband, and son”, Stacy said. “It was absolutely incredible to share that experience with them.  My son still talks about it and has been practicing drawing rockets ever since. He often asks when we can go back to Florida to see another one!”

Experiencing a rocket launch in person is amazing.  Feeling the sound waves from the engines push against your body is quite a rush.  And when it is hardware you helped create, on its way into space, it makes that experience even more special.

Next time on the NASA Village… A visit to the NASA Village inspires a lifelong career.

Do you want more stories?  Find our NASA Villagers here!

ISS | Credit: NASA

Time-lapse imagery captured June 25, 2017 by Expedition 52.

The Largest Black Hole Merger Of All-Time Is Coming, And Soon

“Over in Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, a number of unusual systems have been found.  One of them, J0045+41, was originally thought to be two stars orbiting one another with a period of just 80 days. When additional observations were taken in the X-ray, they revealed a surprise: J0045+41 weren’t stars at all.”

When you look at any narrow region of the sky, you don’t simply see what’s in front of you. Rather, you see everything along your line-of-sight, as far as your observing power can take you. In the case of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury, where hundreds of millions of stars were captured in impressive fashion, background objects thousands of times as distant can also be seen. One of them, J0045+41, was originally thought to be a binary star system that was quite tight: with just an 80 day orbital period. Follow-up observations in the X-ray, however, revealed that it wasn’t a binary star system after all, but an ultra-distant supermassive black hole pair, destined to merge in as little as 350 years. If we build the right observatory in space, we’ll be able to observe the entire inspiral-and-merger process for as long as we like!

Come get the full story, and some incredible pictures and visuals, on today’s Mostly Mute Monday!