3 Things NASA Learned From NASA’s Mars InSight
NASA’s InSight spacecraft touched down Nov. 26, 2018, on Mars to study the planet’s deep interior. A little more than one Martian year later, the stationary lander has detected more than 480 quakes and collected the most comprehensive weather data of any surface mission sent to Mars.
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Updates Quarter-Century Jupiter Mystery
Twenty-five years ago, data from the Galileo probe showed that Jupiter’s atmosphere
was much denser and hotter than scientists expected. New data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft suggests that these “hot spots” are much wider and deeper than anticipated.
Dark Storm on Neptune Reverses Direction, Possibly Shedding a Fragment
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope watched a mysterious dark vortex on Neptune abruptly steer away from a likely death. The storm, which is wider than the Atlantic Ocean, was born in the planet’s northern hemisphere. Observations a year later showed that it began drifting southward toward the equator, where such storms are expected to vanish from sight.
The ‘Great’ Conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn
Skywatchers are in for an end-of-year treat. What has become known popularly as the “Christmas Star” is an especially vibrant planetary conjunction easily visible in the evening sky over the next two weeks as the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn come together, culminating on the night of Dec. 21.
Mission-Essential: The Huntsville Operations Support Center
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is home to one of the agency’s key capabilities – the Huntsville Operations Support Center, a multimission facility capable of distributing secure mission voice, video, and data anywhere in the world.
For more information or to learn about other happenings at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, visit NASA Marshall. For past issues of the ICYMI newsletter, click here.