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What are these objects flying over Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska
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By NASA
(Oct. 25, 2024) — NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams is pictured at the galley inside the International Space Station’s Unity module at the beginning of her day.Credit: NASA Students from Colorado will have the opportunity to hear NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Suni Williams answer their prerecorded questions aboard the International Space Station on Thursday, Nov. 14.
Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 1 p.m. EST on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content on various platforms, including social media.
The JEKL Institute for Global Equity and Access, in partnership with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, will host students from the Denver School of Science and Technology for the event. Students are building CubeSat emulators to launch on high-altitude balloons, and their work will drive their questions with crew.
Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 13, to Daniela Di Napoli at: daniela.dinapoli@scienceandtech.org or 832-656-5231.
For more than 24 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Artemis Generation explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.
See videos and lesson plans highlighting space station research at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
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Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Nov 12, 2024 EditorTiernan P. DoyleLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) Astronauts Communicating and Navigating with Missions Humans in Space ISS Research Johnson Space Center Near Space Network Space Communications & Navigation Program Sunita L. Williams View the full article
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By USH
Over the years, numerous mysterious events have been witnessed in the sky, defying explanation. Recently, yet another unusual sky phenomenon was observed over Southern Australia capturing attention and sparking curiosity.
Video footage reveals what appears to be a dome-shaped structure, with an even stranger detail: lightning seems to bounce off or perhaps even originate from within the dome.
The mysterious formation has led to numerous theories. Some viewers suggest it could be a unique (red) rainbow or a rare weather event like a haboob (sandstorm). Others speculate it might be the result of weather manipulation or even an energy field projected over the region.
Opinions also vary on the lightning, some say it’s bouncing off the dome, while others believe it could be emanating from within. Although it may just be an unusual natural phenomenon, the seemly strange interaction with the lightning remains unexplained.
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By USH
A strange image has been circulating across social media in Thailand, showing a large, dark pillar-like structure mysteriously appearing in the sky over Ubon Ratchathani. According to the photographer, the picture was taken on Sunday, October 20, 2024, while they were trying to capture the "beautiful, colorful sky.
This peculiar sighting isn't entirely unprecedented. Similar strange phenomena have been reported before. On October 7, 2015, a mysterious "floating city" with skyscrapers appeared in the clouds over Foshan, Guangdong province in China. Again, on March 18, 2016, ghostly buildings were seen above the sea along the port of Dalian, in Liaoning Province, China, lingering in the sky for several minutes.
Most recently, on September 11, 2020, an eerie image resembling the Hogwarts School from Harry Potter was spotted hovering over modern buildings in Jinan, Shandong Province. On July 14, 2022, a bizarre occurrence was also witnessed by residents in Haikou, Hainan, where a mysterious floating city appeared in the sky.
Scientists suggest that these events are most likely optical illusions, with mirages being the leading theory. Mirages occur when light rays bend, causing distant objects or parts of the sky to appear displaced. One specific type, known as a Fata Morgana, can create towering, distorted images of distant objects, contributing to these surreal sights.
Although the sightings between 2015 and 2022 were witnessed by many, the photographer in Thailand later realized that the mysterious pillar hadn't been visible to the naked eye at the time. This discovery has led some to speculate that the phenomenon might have been caused by a Project Blue Beam test, holographic technology, or even a temporary vortex connected to a parallel universe.
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By NASA
Learn Home Culturally Inclusive Planetary… Biological & Physical… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 2 min read
Culturally Inclusive Planetary Engagement in Colorado
In August 2024, the NASA Science Activation program’s Planetary Resources and Content Heroes (ReaCH) project held a Culturally Inclusive Planetary Engagement workshop at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado for the planetary science community. These workshops are designed to enhance the ability of scientists to engage Black and Latinx youth and their families in planetary science. Workshops include discussions with local educators about evidence-based engagement strategies and experiences conducting hands-on planetary science activities, along with an opportunity to practice these approaches during an event with local partners.
Planetary scientists and engineers from Boulder, as well as scientists from Florida, Maryland, and Alaska participated. ReaCH partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, whose staff participated in the workshop to share their perspectives. Other educators local to the Denver area also participated, along with an educational specialist from NASA@ My Library (another Science Activation program). The workshop culminated in an event at the Shopneck Boys & Girls Club in Brighton, CO; workshop participants facilitated a variety of hands-on planetary activities for approximately 120 children. Workshop participants also shared information about college pathways into science professions with teenagers at the Club.
During feedback with evaluators, workshop participants shared, “I got to have hands-on experience working with an underserved population, which I haven’t done before in a workshop. I think this is the necessary next step for me. I am tired of just learning about things. I want to DO things. This gave me the ability to do it without setting up everything myself.”
Through careful revisions to these workshops and detailed evaluation, the Planetary ReaCH project is building a replicable model that will be used to support similar workshops for other science fields. Members of the planetary and astrobiology community are invited to apply to attend future ReaCH workshops.
Planetary ReaCH is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number 80NSSC21M0003 and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
Workshop participants experimented with activities such as this model of impact cratering. Share
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Last Updated Oct 03, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
Biological & Physical Sciences Opportunities For Educators to Get Involved Opportunities For Students to Get Involved Planetary Science Science Activation Explore More
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By NASA
9 min read
Launch Your Creativity with These Space Crafts!
In honor of the completion of our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s spacecraft — the vehicle that will maneuver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function once there — we’re bringing you some space crafts you can complete at home!
Join us for a journey across the cosmos, starting right in your own pantry.
Stardust Slime
Did you know that most of your household ingredients are made of stardust? And so are you! Nearly every naturally occurring element was forged by living or dying stars.
Take the baking soda in this slime recipe, for example. It’s made up of sodium, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. The hydrogen was made during the big bang, right at the start of the universe. But the other three elements were created by dying stars. So when you show your friends your space-y slime, you can tell them it’s literally made of stardust!
Instructions:
1 5 oz. bottle clear glue ½ tablespoon baking soda food coloring 1 tablespoon contact lens solution 1 tablespoon glitter Directions:
Pour the glue into a bowl
Mix in the baking soda
Add food coloring (we recommend blue, purple, black, or a combination).
Add contact lens solution and use your hands to work it through the slime. It will initially be very sticky! You can add a little extra contact lens solution to make it firmer and less goopy.
Add glitter a teaspoon at a time, using as much or as little as you like!
Space Suckers
Now let’s travel a little farther, past Earth’s atmosphere and into the realm of space. That’s where Roman is headed once the whole observatory is complete and passes all of its testing!
Roman will scan the skies from space to make it extra sensitive to faint infrared light. It’s harder to see from the ground because our atmosphere scatters and absorbs infrared radiation, which obscures observations.
Some astronauts have reported that space smells metallic or like gunpowder, but don’t worry — you can choose a more pleasant flavor for your space suckers!
Ingredients
2 cups sugar 2/3 cup light corn syrup 2/3 cup water gel food coloring flavor oil edible glitter dust sucker sticks sucker mold Directions
Prep the molds by adding sucker sticks.
Mix sugar, light corn syrup, and water together in a pot on the stove over medium heat.
Turn it up to medium-high heat and let it boil without stirring for about 6 minutes.
Quickly stir in the flavor oil of your choice, gel food coloring, plus as much edible glitter as you like (reserve some for dusting).
Carefully but quickly spoon the mixture into the molds. Spin the sticks so they’re evenly coated. Add a sprinkle of reserved edible glitter and allow to harden.” An image on the left side of the card shows the result: a deep purple sucker with silver glitter embedded.
Fizzy Planets
As we move toward our outer solar system, we’ll pass the orbits of the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. While they don’t actually fizz like the mini planets you can make at home, they do have some pretty exotic chemistry that stems from their extreme pressures, temperatures, and compositions. For example, the hydrogen in their cores behaves like liquid metal instead of a gas. It even conducts electricity!
Roman will use multiple planet-spotting techniques –– microlensing, transits, and direct imaging –– to help us study a variety of worlds, including both gas giants and rocky worlds similar to our own.
Ingredients
3 cups baking soda ¾ cup water food coloring ¼ cup vinegar Directions
Mix a few drops of food coloring into ¼ cup of water and pour into a bowl with 1 cup of baking soda.
Repeat step one two more times using different colors.
Scoop together bits from each mixture to form small balls. Add an extra splash of water to any mixture that’s too crumbly.
Douse the balls with vinegar using an eye dropper or teaspoon and watch them fizz!
Marshmallow Constellations
As we venture farther out into space, we’ll reach some familiar stars! Constellations are groups of stars that appear close together in the sky as seen from Earth. But if you actually journeyed out to them, you might be surprised to discover that they’re often super far apart from each other!
Though constellations aren’t made of stars that are actually bound together in any way, they can still be useful for referencing a cosmic object’s location in the sky. For example, you can use a pair of binoculars or a telescope to take a look at the nebula found beneath Orion’s Belt, marked by the glitter patch in the recipe card above! You can find the constellation printables here.
Supplies
toothpicks or mini pretzel sticks mini marshmallows constellation printables scissors Directions
Attach marshmallows to toothpicks or pretzel sticks using the constellation cards as a guide. Carefully trim toothpicks or pretzel sticks as needed using scissors.
Black Hole Bath Bombs
Black holes –– objects with such strong gravity that not even light can escape their clutches –– lurk unseen throughout our galaxy. Stray too close to one and you’re in for a wild ride! But they aren’t cosmic vacuum cleaners, despite what you may have grown to believe. Just keep your distance and they’ll affect you the same way as any other object of the same mass.
Astronomers have found dozens of black holes in our galaxy by seeing how their gravity affects nearby objects. But there may be 100 million more that lack a visible companion to signal their presence. Roman will find some of these solitary black holes by seeing how their gravity focuses the light from farther stars.
Ingredients
1 cup baking soda ½ cup citric acid ½ cup cornstarch 2 tablespoons coconut oil black food coloring optional: 2 teaspoons essential oil for scent optional: ½ cup Epsom salt Directions
Mix the baking soda, citric acid, cornstarch, and Epsom salt (optional) together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the coconut oil, food coloring, and essential oil (optional).
Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture slowly while whisking it all together. Add a couple tiny splashes of water and whisk it in quickly.
Tightly press the mixture into round molds. Leave them for a few hours and then they’ll be ready to use!
Galaxy in a Jar
Now let’s go so far we can see our Milky Way galaxy from the outside — something many astronomers probably wish they could do at times!
Sort of like how Earth’s atmosphere can affect our view of space, dust in our galaxy can get in the way, too. That makes it easier to study other galaxies than our own in some ways! Roman’s combination of a large field of view, crisp resolution, and the ability to peer through dust make it the ideal instrument to study the Milky Way. The mission will build on previous observations to generate the most detailed map of our galaxy to date.
Ingredients
hot water glitter glue glitter super glue (optional) Directions
Mostly fill a 16 oz. glass jar with very hot water, leaving a couple inches of space at the top.
Add at least ¼ cup of glitter glue in colors of your choosing.
Add loose glitter a couple of teaspoons at a time, using as much or as little as you like! You can use a combination of fine and chunky glitter for an extended swirling effect.
Optional: Super glue the lid to the jar.
Once the water has sufficiently cooled, give the jar a gentle shake to see your galaxy swirl!
NOTE: Closely monitor children to ensure the jar doesn’t break.
Pinwheel Galaxy Pinwheels
As we continue our cosmic excursion, you’ll see other galaxies sprinkled throughout space. Many are spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way and the Pinwheel Galaxy from the craft described above. (You can find more detailed instructions and the printout you’ll need here.)
But galaxies come in other varieties, too. Through Roman’s wide, deep surveys, astronomers are sure to see every type. Scientists will study the shapes and distances of billions of galaxies to help us understand dark energy — a mysterious pressure that’s speeding up the universe’s expansion.
Supplies
Pinwheel Galaxy printout pipe cleaner or chopsticks scissors popsicle stick single hole puncher Directions
Cut out the hexagonal shape for your galaxy pinwheel.
Make cuts down the white lines.
Punch holes in the white dots: six around the edges and one in the center.
Turn the paper so it’s face-down.
Thread a pipe cleaner through the center hole.
Going around the circle, fold each flap so the pipe cleaner goes through the hole.
Tie a knot in the pipe cleaner to secure the front of the pinwheel. Wrap the other side of the pipe cleaner around a popsicle stick.
Universe Dough
We’re nearing the end of our voyage, having traveled so far through space and time that we can take in the whole universe! We’ve learned a lot about it, but there are still plenty of open questions. Some of its biggest components, dark energy and dark matter (invisible matter seen only via its gravitational influence), are huge mysteries Roman will explore. And since the observatory will reveal such large, deep swaths of space, who knows what new puzzles we’ll soon uncover!
Ingredients 1 cup flour ½ cup salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil ½ cup hot water food coloring glitter Directions
Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
Add several drops of food coloring to hot water, and stir into dry mixture along with the oil.
Add as much glitter as you like and knead it into the dough for several minutes.
Add water or flour as needed to adjust the consistency.
Still feeling crafty? Try your hand at these 3D and paper spacecraft models. If you’re eager for a more advanced space craft, check out these embroidery creations for inspiration! Or if you’re ready for a break, take a virtual tour of an interactive version of the Roman Space Telescope here.
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Last Updated Sep 27, 2024 Related Terms
For Kids and Students Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope NASA STEM Projects View the full article
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