The Biggest Supermoon in Years is Coming Saturday Night!

The moon will make its largest, most stunning appearance of the year—an event known to scientists as “the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system” and to the popular skywatching public simply as the “supermoon.”

Photo: (the supermoon of March 2011). NASA / Bill Ingalls

Ed note: Did you know that in the 50s and 60s it was thought that in the future newlyweds would honeymoon on the moon?

theatlantic:

Picture of the Day: A ‘Remarkable’ Outburst From a Black Hole in a Neighboring Galaxy

In Messier 83, a barred spiral galaxy some 15 million light years away (“nearby,” by cosmic standards), scientists have observed a “remarkable” outburst from a black hole — its X-ray output has increased by a factor of 3,000. The above image on the left comes from optical data collected by the Very Large Telescope in Chile and shows the whole galaxy. On the right is a zoomed-in section combining data from NASA’s Chandra and Hubble telescopes, with Chandra’s X-ray data shown in pink and Hubble’s optical data appearing in blue. The “ultraluminous X-ray source” (ULX) is the bright pink dot near the bottom of the right-hand image. The brightening that Chandra observed over a several-year period is one of the largest changes in X-ray output ever observed from a black hole.

[Image: NASA]

Never-Before-Seen Photos From the Early Days of Space Exploration

The Gemini astronauts also took some of the most memorable photos in NASA history. You’d think we would have seen them all by now. But with Nasa’s help and funding, a team of researchers at Arizona State University led by lunar scientist Mark Robinson has retrieved from the archives dozens of outtakes that never made it into wide circulation.

Photos: NASA

Ed note: Check out our friends at Air & Space for more stunning photos from the Gemini mission.

What Is on the Golden Record We Sent Into Space for Extraterrestrials To Find?

The “Golden Record” would be an upgrade to Pioneer’s plaques. Mounted on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, twin probes launched in 1977, the two copies of the record would serve as time capsules and transmit much more information about life on Earth should extraterrestrials find it.

Photo: J. Marshall - Tribaleye Images / Alamy

Ed note: Voyager is now on the brink of interstellar space. Our article by the man who helped compile the time capsules aboard the probes.

Inspirational Footage from Space

The footage in this video is derived from image sequences from NASA’s Cassini and Voyager missions.

Ed note: The twin Voyager probes are now on the brink of interstellar space. The man who helped compile the time capsules they carry reflects on our deepest foray into outer space.

n-a-s-a:

Mysterious Acid Haze on Venus

Credit: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany 

faketv:

OMG NASA, you’re awesome. 

theatlanticvideo:

How a NASA Space Shuttle Hitches a Piggyback Ride on a Boeing 747

Space Shuttle Discovery flying over the Smithsonian offices

Attached to a modified NASA 747, Discovery flies over the National Mall before heading to its final home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Photo: Ryan R. Reed

Ed note: How do you prep a space shuttle for a museum? We talked to Air and Space curator Valerie Neal.

The Stars as Viewed from the International Space Station

Timelapse videos depicting the stars from low earth orbit, as viewed from the International Space Station.

Ed note: Our Surprising Science blog has more stunning images of earth from space.

Getting Up on the Moon Looks Like Fun

Charlie Duke drives a penetrometer into the soil and falls forward to the ground. It takes three attempts for him to get back up by doing press-ups to a kneeling position before standing.

Source: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a16/video16.html