space

By Dr. Lisa Will, Resident Astronomer at the Fleet Science Center

After evaluating a record number of applications, NASA will introduce its new astronaut candidates on Wednesday, June 7, at noon (local time) from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The announcement will be broadcast on NASA TV, and you can also watch it live at https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive/.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers monthly lectures on fascinating topics. And you don't have to drive to Pasadena to enjoy them! The lectures are live-streamed so that you can watch them from home on your electronic device. Visit their web page to see what topics are coming up. You can also visit the archives to catch past lectures. February's talk is by NASA glaciologist Alex Gardner.  

This Thursday and Friday, August 11 and 12, is one of the best annual meteor showers you and your family or friends can watch: the Perseids. And some experts are even predicting that there might be a meteor “outburst” this year—where the number of shooting stars increases beyond the usual rates.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now out on DVD Blu-Ray. NASA is celebrating with fun Star Wars-related videos and stories.

There are a ton of ways you can connect with NASA—from taking spacey selfies to helping scientists search for black holes—and all you need to get started is an Internet connection!  

Not really into selfies? You’ll definitely start snapping breathtaking selfies by using the Spacecraft 3D augmented reality app! Select the target image and take your photo with the spacecraft of your choice. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/apps/

By David Harker, Associate Research Scientist, UCSD Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (CASS)

By David Harker, Associate Research Scientist, UCSD Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (CASS)

The primary mission of Rosetta's visit to comet 67P/Churymov–Gerasimenko is to further our understanding of the origin and evolution of our solar system. Comets can be thought of as time capsules since they formed within 100,000 years of the formation of the solar nebula, which is thought to be tens of millions of years older than the formation of the solar system 4.7 billion years ago.

By David Harker, Associate Research Scientist, UCSD Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (CASS)

On March 2, 2004, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Rosetta Mission. The goal for this mission was for the Rosetta spacecraft to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churymov–Gerasimenko, which was 280 million miles away from Earth. To put this into perspective, the Earth is about 93 million miles away from the Sun. So at the point of rendezvous, comet 67P was three times the distance away from the Earth as the Earth is from the Sun.