Astro Blog

Source:   MAVEN EPO, NASA MAVEN resources for elementary, middle, and high school. Elementary:   http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/education-outreach/for-educators/red-planet/ Middle and High School:   http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/education-outreach/for-educators/mea/

Source:   Ken Kremer, Universe Today Excerpt: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – MAVEN [Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution], NASA’s next spacecraft launching to the Red Planet in barely three days time on Nov. 18 seeks to unlock one of the greatest Martian mysteries; Where did all the water go? Mars lost its atmosphere starting somewhere around 3.5 to 3.7 Billion years ago. As the atmosphere thinned and the pressure decreased, the water evaporated and Mars evolved into the cold arid world we know today. ...“Where did the water go and where did the carbon dioxide go from the early atmosphere? What were the mechanisms?” asks Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s Principal Investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder. ...“The major questions about the history of Mars center on the history of its climate and atmosphere and how that’s influenced the surface, geology and the possibility for life,” says Jakosky. ...MAVEN is equipped with ...nine science instruments ...[6] built by the UC Berke

Source: Various Authors, Astronomical Society of the Pacific                Latest Guide is "Exoplanets Resource Guide for Astro 101 Instructors".  Others: "Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic’s Bibliography" "Black Holes: An Introductory Resource List" "Cosmology Resource Guide for Astro 101 Instructors" "Dark Night Skies: Dealing with Light Pollution" (pdf) "Galileo: The Man and His Science" "Multicultural Astronomy Resource Guide" "Science Fiction with Good Astronomy & Physics: A Topical Index" "SETI Messages Bibilography" "The Moon: A Resource Guide" "Women in Astronomy: An Introductory Bibliography http://www.astrosociety.org/education/astronomy-resource-guides/

Source:   NASA  Press Release 13-321 Excerpt: Hubble researchers say they were "literally dumbfounded" when they took a close-up look at an object that lives in the asteroid belt but superficially looks like a comet. It has no less than six dust tails that seem to be forming sequentially. The entire structure rotates like a bicycle wheel with spokes on one side. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2013/52/text/