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Paris Air Show 2023 – Highlights of the week
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:00:23 From 7 until 13 October 2024, ESA/NASA’s SOHO spacecraft recorded Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), the second brightest comet it has ever seen. Meanwhile, large amounts of material were being spewed out by the Sun (covered in the centre), and planet Mercury is visible to the left.
The comet’s nucleus is clearly visible, surrounded by a dusty coma and trailing an impressively long tail. SOHO sees the large dust tail edge-on, curving in on itself as it is pushed outward by solar wind.
At the end of the video you can also see a rare phenomenon known as an ‘anti-tail’: a long, thin line that points towards the Sun. This tail is an optical illusion coming from SOHO getting an edge-on view of the larger cometary dust particles that accumulate in the comet’s orbital plane.
Comet C/2023 A3 was seen for the first time early last year. It most likely came from the distant Oort cloud, and the last time this comet flew through the inner Solar System (if ever) was at least 80 000 years ago.
The comet reached an estimated peak brightness just beyond –4 magnitude. (The more negative the visual magnitude value, the brighter the object.) Of the more than 5000 comets SOHO has seen flying past the Sun, only Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) was brighter, with a visual magnitude of –5.5.
SOHO’s location between the Sun and Earth gave it a front-row seat, but the same comet has been visible from Earth every evening since 12 October 2024. Throughout October, as the comet moves farther away from the Sun, it will gradually grow fainter and rise higher up in the western sky.
The week that SOHO watched Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was also a wild one in terms of space weather. The Sun unleashed no less than 4 X-class flares (the highest intensity type of flare), 28 medium-intensity M-class flares, and 31 coronal mass ejections – the latter being visible as white clouds of material in the video. All this activity led to two geomagnetic storms on Earth, resulting in beautiful auroras lighting up the night sky.
SOHO, short for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is a joint ESA-NASA mission to study the Sun. For almost 29 years now, it has been watching the Sun itself as well as the much fainter light coming from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the solar corona. The data shown in this video were taken by the LASCO C3 coronagraph instrument.
Special thanks to Simeon Schmauß, who processed the raw data to create this impressive video. For comparison, here is a video of the comet with more standard data processing – the comet is so bright that it partially saturated SOHO’s sensor.
What types of comets are there?
How are comets named?
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By European Space Agency
Week in images: 07-11 October 2024
Discover our week through the lens
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By NASA
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy visited the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Dec. 8, 2021 for tours and briefings on Michoud’s role in the Artemis program and other capabilities that enrich many facets of the nation’s space exploration endeavors. Credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy will lead the agency’s delegation at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) from Monday, Oct. 14, to Thursday, Oct. 17, in Milan.
During the congress, NASA will discuss its Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy, emphasizing the agency’s efforts to advance microgravity science, technology, and exploration. The agency also will highlight its commitment to space sustainability and several missions, including initiatives that support NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach and the Artemis Accords.
NASA will amplify the following talks happening at the congress through its YouTube Channel:
Monday, Oct. 147:45 a.m. EDT (1:45 p.m. CEST): One-to-One with Heads of Agencies featuring Nelson. 12:15 p.m. EDT (6:15 p.m. CEST): Host Plenary on Responsible and Sustainable Space Exploration for Moon to Mars featuring Melroy. Wednesday, Oct. 16 9 a.m. EDT (3 p.m. CEST): A New Era in Human Presence featuring Melroy. A full agenda for this year’s IAC is available online.
Members of the media registered for IAC will have three opportunities to meet with NASA leaders. To register, media must apply through the International Astronautical Federation website. Opportunities include:
Monday, Oct. 14 5:30 p.m. CEST (11:30 a.m. EDT): NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Lisa Campbell, president, CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and Teodoro Valente, president, Italian Space Agency, to discuss the 3rd Annual Heads of Agency meeting of the Artemis Accords Signatories. Tuesday, Oct. 15 5 p.m. CEST (11 a.m. EDT): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to discuss the agency’s international partnerships in the Artemis era. Wednesday, Oct. 16 5 p.m. CEST (11 a.m. EDT): NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station and acting director of Commercial Spaceflight to discuss NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy In addition to the events outlined above, NASA will have an exhibit featuring the first sample of the asteroid Bennu to appear publicly in a non-museum setting, as well as information on the Artemis campaign, NASA’s future in low Earth orbit, and several upcoming science and technology missions. NASA also will host subject matter expert talks throughout the week at its exhibit.
NASA will provide photos and updates about its participation in the International Astronautical Congress from its @NASAExhibit account on X.
For more information about NASA participation at IAC, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-iac
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Amber Jacobson
Headquarters, Washington
240-298-1832
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 10, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
artemis accords Bill Nelson Pamela A. Melroy View the full article
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:04:05 ESA’s Hera mission lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on 7 October at 10:52 local time (16:52 CEST, 14:52 UTC).
Hera is ESA’s first planetary defence mission. It will fly to a unique target among the 1.3 million asteroids in our Solar System – the only body to have had its orbit shifted by human action – to solve lingering unknowns associated with its deflection.
Hera will carry out the first detailed survey of a ‘binary’ – or double-body – asteroid, 65803 Didymos, which is orbited by a smaller body, Dimorphos. Hera’s main focus will be Dimorphos, whose orbit around the main body was previously altered by NASA’s kinetic-impacting DART spacecraft.
By sharpening scientific understanding of this ‘kinetic impact’ technique of asteroid deflection, Hera should turn the experiment into a well-understood and repeatable technique for protecting Earth from an asteroid on a collision course.
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By NASA
Learn Home GLOBE Eclipse and Civil Air… Earth Science Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 3 min read
GLOBE Eclipse and Civil Air Patrol: An Astronomical Collaboration
The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a volunteer organization that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force. The organization has an award-winning aerospace education program that promotes Science, Technology Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM)-related careers and activities. The total solar eclipse on 8 April 2024 was a unique opportunity to design a mission for cadets, senior members, and educators to collect atmospheric data in contribution the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program’s GLOBE Eclipse protocol, for which a temporary tool in the GLOBE Observer app made it possible for volunteer observers to document and submit air temperature and cloud data during the eclipse.
For the first time ever, the CAP had cadets and senior members participating in a mission from every wing (US state), in addition to two US territories and 2 Canadian provinces. Over 400 teams with over 3,000 cadets and over 1,000 senior members collected air temperature, clouds, wind, and precipitation for a total of 4 hours before, during, and after the eclipse. This work was led by Capt. Shannon Babb who organized the mission with the aerospace education team led from the Rocky Mountain Region.
The collaboration between GLOBE Eclipse and CAP gave cadets the opportunity to do real, hands-on Earth science and be part of a mission alongside senior members. It also brought in over 40,000 students and more than 600 educators through the Civil Air Patrol’s education sites involving K-12 formal and informal educators at schools, youth organizations, museums and libraries. This unique collaboration was so successful, the CAP wants to continue doing missions alongside citizen science programs at NASA and the GLOBE Program. A 2025 mission is being formulated, focused on contrail formation using the strengths of the CAP in aeronautics and unique cloud observations made using the GLOBE Observer app. Results and announcements of 2025 mission plans were presented at the Civil Air Patrol National Conference on 16-17 August 2024 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
GLOBE Observer is part of the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC), which is led by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AE28A. NESEC 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
https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/programs/aerospace-education/curriculum/2024-solar-eclipse
Civil Air Patrol Cadet observing the 8 April 2024 total solar eclipse. Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol Cadets making atmospheric measurements during the 8 April 2024 total solar eclipse. Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol Cadets making atmospheric measurements during the 8 April 2024 total solar eclipse. Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol Cadet observing the 8 April 2024 total solar eclipse. Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol Cadet observing the 8 April 2024 total solar eclipse. Civil Air Patrol Share
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Last Updated Oct 07, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
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