Astro Blog

Source:    THELASTSHUTTLE.COM Excerpt: 360 degree virtual reality of Space Shuttle Disco 360vr.com/2011/06/22-discovery-flight-deck-opf_6236/index.html

Source:    NASA RELEASE: 11-234 Excerpt: Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The tiny, new satellite, temporarily designated P4, was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet. The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is 648 miles (1,043 km) across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra, are in the range of 20 to 70 miles in diameter (32 to 113 km). ...The dwarf planet's entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system.  …For images and more information about Hubble, visit: www.nasa.gov/hubble and http://hubblesite.org/news/2011/23    www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jul/HQ_11-234_HST_Pluto_Moon.html

Source:   NASA RELEASE: 2011-234     Excerpt: Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The tiny, new satellite, temporarily designated P4, was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet. The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is 648 miles (1,043 km) across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra, are in the range of 20 to 70 miles in diameter (32 to 113 km). ...The dwarf planet's entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system.  …For images and more information about Hubble, visit: www.nasa.gov/hubble and http://hubblesite.org/news/2011/23    www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jul/HQ_11-234_HST_Pluto_Moon.html

Source:    NASA RELEASE: 2011-213   Excerpt: PASADENA, Calif. NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned the first close-up image after beginning its orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta. …Vesta is 330 miles (530 kilometers) in diameter and the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. …After traveling nearly four years and 1.7 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers), Dawn also accomplished the largest propulsive acceleration of any spacecraft, with a change in velocity of more than 4.2 miles per second (6.7 kilometers per second), due to its ion engines. … www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20110718.html

Source:    NASA RELEASE: 11-231   Excerpt: NASA's Dawn spacecraft on Saturday became the first probe ever to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will study the asteroid, named Vesta, for a year before departing for a second destination, a dwarf planet named Ceres, in July 2012. Observations will provide unprecedented data to help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system. The data also will help pave the way for future human space missions. For information about the Dawn mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/dawn www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jul/HQ_11-231_dawn.html

Source:   NASA YouTube movie of launch preparation. www.youtube.com/watch_popup

Source:    NASA RELEASE: 11-216 Excerpt: Space shuttle Commander Chris Ferguson and his three crewmates are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 11:29 a.m. EDT Friday. STS-135 is the final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. …"The shuttle's always going to be a reflection to what a great nation can do when it dares to be bold and commits to follow through," Ferguson said shortly before liftoff. "We're not ending the journey today…we're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end." …STS-135 is the 135th shuttle flight, the 33rd flight for Atlantis and the 37th shuttle mission dedicated to station assembly and maintenance. For more information about space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission, visit:  www.nasa.gov/shuttle  For more information about the space station, visit:  www.nasa.gov/station  www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jul/HQ_11-216_STS-135_Launch.html

Source:   NASA  Excerpt: …Asteroids are bits of building material remaining from the formation of our solar system ...Asteroids can have families! Some asteroids have moons, some are pairs orbiting each other and still others appear to be rubble piles loosely held together by gravity. ... the largest asteroid, Ceres, has sufficient gravity to become nearly spherical, making it also a dwarf planet!   solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss/display.cfm