Parker Solar Probe Ready for Launch on Mission to the Sun
Inside the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket payload fairing on Wednesday, August 8, 2018, the Parker Solar is slated to launch at 3:33 a.m. EDT, Saturday, August 11. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA's Parker Solar Probe on a mission to touch the Sun, on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018 from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) scientists used their computer models to generate a view of the Sun's magnetic field on August 10, 2018. The bright active region right at the central area of the Sun clearly shows a concentration of field lines, as well as the small active region at the Sun's right edge. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
One year ago on August 21, 2017, the continental United States experienced the first total solar eclipse in 99 years. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold photographed a massive storm in the Pacific Ocean during a flyover from the International Space Station. Arnold shared images on social media on Aug. 22, 2018, and wrote, "#HurricaneLane in the early morning hours near #Hawaii. The crew of the @Space_Station sends much aloha to everyone there." (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Even if the air looks clear, it is nearly certain that you will inhale millions of solid particles and liquid droplets. These ubiquitous specks of matter are known as aerosols, and they can be found in the air over oceans, deserts, mountains, forests, ice and every ecosystem in between. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Striking atmospheric features in Jupiter’s northern hemisphere are captured in this series of color-enhanced images from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Astronauts get to observe the Earth in all her beauty from aboard the International Space Station. A member of the Expedition 56 crew currently onboard the station took this nighttime image of Java, Indonesia's largest island. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Underwater Robots Help NASA Plan Future Deep-Space Missions
An expedition that will help NASA search for life in deep space launched today – not with a rocket’s roar, but with a gentle splash into the deep Pacific Ocean. The project will use underwater robots to explore the environment around a deep-sea volcano off the coast of Hawaii that has similar conditions to what may exist on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Guy Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, launched into space on shuttle Challenger's STS-8 mission thirty-five years ago, on August 30, 1983. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Long, narrow clouds, known as ship tracks, stood out against the backdrop of marine clouds blanketing much of the North Pacific Ocean. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
A truck sprays water to reduce the dust as NASA's crawler-transporter 2 with the mobile launcher atop moves slowly along, on its trek to Launch Pad 39B. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Over a mere four days this summer, snow from the previous winter melted into a pond of slush a glaciologist called a “snow swamp.” (More at NASA Picture of The Day)
Bright surface features on the dwarf planet Ceres known as faculae were first discovered by NASA's Dawn spacecraft in 2015. (More at NASA Picture of The Day)