Superbowl Smackdown: Watch the Moon Occult Aldebaran on Sunday

By David Dickinson - February 02, 2017 10:46 AM UTC | Observing
Sure, this Superbowl Sunday brings with it the promise of sacks, fumbles and tackles... but have you ever seen the Moon run down a star in the end zone? Just such an event, termed as an occultation happens this weekend for folks living around the Mediterranean and — just maybe for some sharp-eyed telescope owning observers based around the Caribbean this coming weekend.
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SpaceX Shuffles Falcon 9 Launch Schedule, NASA Gets 1st Launch from Historic KSC Pad 39A

By ken-kremer - January 30, 2017 10:57 PM UTC | Space Exploration
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - SpaceX announced Sunday (Jan. 29) a significant shuffle to the Falcon 9 launch schedule, saying that a key NASA mission to resupply the space station is moving to the head of the line and will now be their first mission to launch from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center- formerly used to launch space shuttles.
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A Farewell to Plutoshine

By David Dickinson - January 26, 2017 09:49 AM UTC | Planetary Science
Sometimes, its not the eye candy aspect of the image, but what it represents. A recent image of Pluto's large moon Charon courtesy of New Horizons caught our eye. Looking like something from the grainy era of the early Space Age, we see a crescent Charon, hanging against a starry background...
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NASA Webb Telescope Resumes Rigorous Vibration Qualification Tests

By ken-kremer - January 25, 2017 11:38 PM UTC | Telescopes
Engineers have resumed a series of critical and rigorous vibration qualification tests on NASA's mammoth James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland to confirm its safety, integrity and readiness for the unforgiving environment of space flight, after pausing due to a testing 'anomaly' detected in early December 2016.
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USAF Missile Defense SBIRS Observatory Streaks to Orbit during Spectacular Evening Blastoff

By ken-kremer - January 21, 2017 01:33 AM UTC | Space Exploration
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL - A U.S. Air Force missile defense reconnaissance observatory that will track the telltale infrared signatures of incoming enemy missiles and is vital to America's national security blasted off in spectacular fashion off this evening, Jan. 20, 2017, as it streaked to orbit from the Florida Space Coast.
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