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The Wildest Alien Planets of 2012
From massive bodies that fell just short of becoming stars to the tiniest solar systems known, 2012 has brought an array of intriguing exoplanets to light. And double-star systems that once seemed unlikely to host planets have produced a wealth of them this year.
The Year in Review
Video Published by NASA on Dec 17, 2012
Curiosity Has Landed, Flight of the Dragon, Antares Rolls and so much more…
In 2012, NASA continued to implement America‘s ambitious space exploration program, landing the most sophisticated rover on the surface of Mars, carrying out the first-ever commercial mission to the International Space Station and advancing the systems needed to send humans deeper into space.
Future Missions at NASA
Top Stories at Space Dot Com
NASA’s DC-8 Flying Over the Weddell Sea (Photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video)
Earth’s Debris
The graphics are computer generated images of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked. Approximately 95% of the objects in this illustration are orbital debris, i.e., not functional satellites. The dots represent the current location of each item. The orbital debris dots are scaled according to the image size of the graphic to optimize their visibility and are not scaled to Earth. These images provide a good visualization of where the greatest orbital debris populations exist.
More images: Of Earths Orbital Debris, generated from different observation points.
SEN
The Geminid Meteor Shower is considered among many astronomers to be the most reliable of the annual meteor showers and in 2102 it will be even better. The Geminids are the last of the meteor showers in 2012 and peak on the evening of December 13/14. Full story
Sen’s Astronomy Link for stunning Images and don’t miss the current picture of Saturn here..
Related articles
- The Year in Space, From NASA and ESA (universetoday.com)
- NASA Progressing Toward First Launch of Orion Spacecraft (space-travel.com)
- Earth, the 33rd World (hiddenlighthouse.wordpress.com)
- NASA Eyes Mission to Jupiter Moon Europa (space.com)
- Obama Win Keeps NASA on Course – Toward an Asteroid (space.com)
Composite image showing the global distribution of photosynthesis, including both oceanic phytoplankton and vegetation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
