Results tagged “nasa”

No really, look up! Those are the Leonids streaking through the sky (they began on November 10). This meteor shower often gives one of the best shows of the year, on rare occasions being so spectacular that it surpasses being just a shower and becomes a "meteor storm," with over 1000 meteors per hour. We won't get quite that amazing a sight this year, but the debris from comet Tempel-Tuttle should still send about 500 pieces an hour through the atmosphere -- and with the peak arriving on Tuesday night and a barely visible waxing Moon to darken the sky, the Leonids will still be an astronomical show worth staying outside in the cold for (perhaps with your camera?).

I think NASA would agree with me when I say, had I known the LCROSS mission -- which impacted the Moon early Friday morning -- was the mission that the mainstream media would finally report on en masse, getting it so unbelievably twisted in the process, I would have tried to explain the details of the mission much more clearly in the weeks leading up to it. Which isn't to say the coverage and the subsequent opinions by empty-headed followers hasn't been hilarious.

Space Shuttle Endeavor -- which took off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, July 15 -- will be clearly visible to Washingtonians this weekend, as it hurtles through space with the International Space Station at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour and 220 miles above the Earth. Get out those cameras, folks, because the flybys will be "hard to miss" -- the Station and the Shuttle combined are bigger than a football field and reflect sunlight incredibly well. According to the Post, the view will be "like a very bright star passing with the apparent speed of an airliner crossing overhead." Sounds like a sight to behold. The best times for viewing, if clouds don't get in the way, will be between 9 and 9:30 this evening.

              

Any fan of the space program should recognize quite a few faces roaming around D.C. this week. Last night, the biggest gathering of Apollo astronauts in years arrived at the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum for the annual John H. Glenn Lecture featuring the Apollo 11 crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, along with NASA's first Flight Director, Chris Kraft, and of course, astronaut and Senator John Glenn himself. The audience was filled with other Apollo astronauts, as well as the STS-125 crew that flew the space shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Telescope in May.

Reader Mike Eisenhut sent us this photo yesterday (knowing this writer's predilection for space stuff) of Jupiter and Venus glowing brightly behind the Washington Monument. That's Venus just to the left, about halfway up the Monument, and Jupiter to its upper left.

The Smithsonian's annual Folk Life Festival begins today on the National Mall. It runs from June 25 to June 29, as well as July 2 to 6. Daytime events are open from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; special evening events begin at 6 p.m. when scheduled. Below are some of the highlights we've picked out, and we encourage you to check their full online schedule and map.