The Big Corona

Most photographs don't adequately portray the magnificence of the Sun's corona. Seeing the corona first-hand during a total solar eclipse is unparalleled. The human eye can adapt to see coronal features and extent that average cameras usually cannot. Welcome, however, to the digital age. The featured central image digitally combined short and long exposures that were processed to highlight faint and extended features in the corona of the total solar eclipse that occurred in August of 2017. Clearly visible are intricate layers and glowing caustics of an ever changing mixture of hot gas and magnetic fields in the Sun's corona. Looping prominences appear bright pink just past the Sun's limb. Faint details on the night side of the New Moon can even be made out, illuminated by sunlight reflected from the dayside of the Full Earth. Images taken seconds before and after the total eclipse show glimpses of the background Sun known as Baily's Beads and Diamond Ring. Tomorrow, a new total solar eclipse will be visible from parts of South America. via NASA https://ift.tt/2NoGUW8

Virtual Flight over Asteroid Vesta

What would it be like to fly over the asteroid Vesta? Animators from the German Aerospace Center took actual images and height data from NASA's Dawn mission when it visited asteroid Vesta a few years ago and generated a virtual movie. The featured video begins with a sequence above Divalia Fossa, an unusual pair of troughs running parallel over heavily cratered terrain. Next, the virtual spaceship explores Vesta's 60-km Marcia Crater, showing numerous vivid details. Last, Dawn images were digitally recast with exaggerated height to better reveal Vesta's 5-km high mountain Aricia Tholus. The second largest object in the Solar System's asteroid belt, Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth and can be found with binoculars. Using Vesta Trek, you can explore all over Vesta yourself. via NASA https://ift.tt/2IYbQIw

Last Test Article for NASA’s SLS Rocket Departs Michoud Assembly Facility

The last of four structural test articles for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) was loaded onto NASA’s barge Pegasus Wednesday, June 26, 2019, at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. via NASA https://ift.tt/2X3viYk

A Solstice Night in Paris

The night of June 21 was the shortest night for planet Earth's northern latitudes, so at latitude 48.9 degrees north, Paris was no exception. Still, the City of Light had an exceptionally luminous evening. Its skies were flooded with silvery night shining or noctilucent clouds after the solstice sunset. Hovering at the edge of space, the icy condensations on meteoric dust or volcanic ash are still in full sunlight at the extreme altitudes of the mesophere. Seen at high latitudes in summer months, stunning, wide spread displays of northern noctilucent clouds are now being reported. via NASA https://ift.tt/2X5OaWD

Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter

This stunning image of Jupiter's stormy northern hemisphere was captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft as it performed a close pass of the gas giant planet. via NASA https://ift.tt/2LlCUTT

Searching for Freshwater In Snowy Places

Snowflakes that cover mountains or linger under tree canopies are a vital freshwater resource for over a billion people around the world. via NASA https://ift.tt/2YaNZL0

Expedition 59 Space Station Crew Lands Safely in Kazakhstan

The Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 59 crew members. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2X2EITM

Is CBD Harmful to Your Liver? The Answer Isn’t As Simple As You Might Think

Could CBD be harmful to the liver? A recent scientific study undertaken by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences points to yes. The study, published in the monthly scientific journal Molecules, exposed mice to a CBD-rich extract produced by GW Pharmaceuticals, according to Dr. Igor Koturbash of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, […]

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Preparing for the Expedition 59 Space Station Crew Landing

NASA astronaut and Astronaut Office Representative Joe Acaba is seen along with other NASA, Canadian Space Agency and Roscosmos teams as they deploy from Karaganda for the Expedition 59 landing. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2ZHnOMh

'Green' Alternative Fuel Set for First In-Space Test

Satellites love hydrazine – a type of space propellant – but it’s toxic to people and extremely difficult to handle. A non-toxic alternative will be put to the test with NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM), set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2N69GuQ

Carina Nebula Panorama from Hubble

How do violent stars affect their surroundings? To help find out, astronomers created a 48-frame high-resolution, controlled-color panorama of the center of the Carina Nebula, one of the largest star forming regions on the night sky. The featured image, taken in 2007, was the most detailed image of the Carina Nebula yet taken. Cataloged as NGC 3372, the Carina Nebula is home to streams of hot gas, pools of cool gas, knots of dark globules, and pillars of dense dusty interstellar matter. The Keyhole Nebula, visible left of center, houses several of the most massive stars known. These large and violent stars likely formed in dark globules and continually reshape the nebula with their energetic light, outflowing stellar winds, and ultimately by ending their lives in supernova explosions. Visible to the unaided eye, the entire Carina Nebula spans over 450 light years and lies about 8,500 light-years away toward the constellation of Ship's Keel (Carina). via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2N5te2s

Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited

This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in southern Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain, unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the scifi novel The Martian by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3 landing site corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE frame. For scale Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. Of course, the Ares 3 landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the (real life) Carl Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 Pathfinder landing site. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2ZEWoH2

What Is the Entourage Effect?

One of the buzzy words floating around the CBD industry is something called the entourage effect. The theory is that the combination of the therapeutic compounds found in the hemp plant have different physical or psychological effects than a single compound would have on its own. This has made full-spectrum and broad-spectrum cannabidiol (CBD) extracts […]

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Recipe: Chocolate Chia CBD Pudding

Have you heard of your endocannabinoid system? This system, better known as the ECS, is constantly working to help your body maintain homeostasis, or balance, at all times. Consuming CBD can be beneficial to help your ECS accomplish its goals, but we also can make cannabinoids on our own. They function just like CBD and […]

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FDA Provides Consumer Update Amid Ongoing CBD Evaluation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided a new window into their investigation of CBD in the marketplace June 19, with a consumer update regarding the compound. The agency has made clear that though the product “seems to be available almost everywhere,” FDA has only approved one drug, Epidiolex, containing CBD for medical use. […]

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Milestone Achieved as X-57 Mod II Takes Shape

The electric motors for X-57’s Mod II vehicle and their propellers were powered up and spun together for the first time as part of an integrated spin test. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Lcdesy

Sunset Analemma

Today, the solstice is at 15:54 Universal Time, the Sun reaching the northernmost declination in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky. A June solstice marks the astronomical beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the south. It also brings the north's longest day, the longest period between sunrise and sunset. In fact the June solstice sun is near the top, at the most northern point in the analemma or figure 8 curve traced by the position of the Sun in this composite photo. The analemma was created (video) from images taken every 10 days at the same time from June 21, 2018 and June 7, 2019. The time was chosen to be the year's earliest sunset near the December solstice, so the analemma's lowest point just kisses the unobstructed sea horizon at the left. Sunsets arranged along the horizon toward the right (north) are centered on the sunset at the September equinox and end with sunset at the June solstice. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2NaEZV0

RockOn! and RockSat-C: Launching Student Experiments to Space

At 5:30 a.m. EDT Thursday, June 20, 2019, a 40-foot tall rocket carrying 28 student experiments (measuring acceleration, humidity, pressure, temperature and radiation counts) launched from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2x555ht

A View Toward M106

Big, bright, beautiful spiral, Messier 106 dominates this cosmic vista. The nearly two degree wide telescopic field of view looks toward the well-trained constellation Canes Venatici, near the handle of the Big Dipper. Also known as NGC 4258, M106 is about 80,000 light-years across and 23.5 million light-years away, the largest member of the Canes II galaxy group. For a far away galaxy, the distance to M106 is well-known in part because it can be directly measured by tracking this galaxy's remarkable maser, or microwave laser emission. Very rare but naturally occurring, the maser emission is produced by water molecules in molecular clouds orbiting its active galactic nucleus. Another prominent spiral galaxy on the scene, viewed nearly edge-on, is NGC 4217 below and right of M106. The distance to NGC 4217 is much less well-known, estimated to be about 60 million light-years. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Y3W18C

A Look Inside the X-59 QueSST Cockpit

The pilot of NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology, or QueSST, aircraft will navigate the skies in a cockpit unlike any other. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2XpdOK8

Our Galaxys Magnetic Center

What's the magnetic field like in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy? To help find out, NASA's SOFIA -- an observatory flying in a modified 747 -- imaged the central region with an instrument known as HAWC+. HAWC+ maps magnetism by observing polarized infrared light emitted by elongated dust grains rotating in alignment with the local magnetic field. Now at our Milky Way's center is a supermassive black hole with a hobby of absorbing gas from stars it has recently destroyed. Our galaxy's black hole, though, is relatively quiet compared to the absorption rate of the central black holes in active galaxies. The featured image gives a clue as to why -- a surrounding magnetic field may either channel gas into the black hole -- which lights up its exterior, or forces gas into an accretion-disk holding pattern, causing it to be less active -- at least temporarily. Inspection of the featured image -- appearing perhaps like a surreal mashup of impasto art and gravitational astrophysics -- brings out this telling clue by detailing the magnetic field in and around a dusty ring surrounding Sagittarius A*, the black hole in our Milky Way's center. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Iq6CFx

Countdown to Apollo 11

Command Module pilot Michael Collins practices in the CM simulator on June 19, 1969, at Kennedy Space Center. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2MYdvlu

Strawberry Moon over the Temple of Poseidon

Did you see the full moon last night? If not, tonight's nearly full moon should be almost as good. Because full moons are opposite the Sun, they are visible in the sky when the Sun is not -- which should be nearly all night long tonight, clouds permitting. One nickname for June's full moon is the Strawberry Moon, named for when wild strawberries start to ripen in parts of Earth's northern hemisphere. Different cultures around the globe give this full moon different names, though, including Honey Moon and Rose Moon. In the foreground of this featured image, taken yesterday in Cape Sounion, Greece, is the 2,400 year-old Temple of Poseidon. Next month will the 50th anniversary of the time humans first landed on the Moon. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2KWBIWJ

Storm Rages in Cosmic Teacup

Samples of spacesuit material will be flown on the Mars 2020 mission to study show they might degrade in the Martian environment. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2WMkd2s

Unusual Mountain Ahuna Mons on Asteroid Ceres

What created this unusual mountain? There is a new theory. Ahuna Mons is the largest mountain on the largest known asteroid in our Solar System, Ceres, which orbits our Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ahuna Mons, though, is like nothing that humanity has ever seen before. For one thing, its slopes are garnished not with old craters but young vertical streaks. The new hypothesis, based on numerous gravity measurements, holds that a bubble of mud rose from deep within the dwarf planet and pushed through the icy surface at a weak point rich in reflective salt -- and then froze. The bright streaks are thought to be similar to other recently surfaced material such as visible in Ceres' famous bright spots. The featured double-height digital image was constructed from surface maps taken of Ceres in 2016 by the robotic Dawn mission. Successfully completing its mission in 2018, Dawn continues to orbit Ceres even though it has exhausted the fuel needed to keep its antennas pointed toward Earth. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2ZqRu06

The Stars and Stripes in Space

This flag accompanied NASA astronaut Alan B. Shepard on his 15-minute suborbital journey on May 5, 1961. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/31ybpw0

New Texas Law Legalizes Hemp Production and Hemp-Derived CBD Products

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on June 10 that legalizes hemp production and cultivation across the state. Texas’ move to legalize hemp is one of the many results of the 2018 Farm Bill, which authorized domestic hemp production. The U.S. currently relies heavily on imported hemp—the plant is now widely seen […]

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Seeing an Aurora From the Space Station

"Years ago at the South Pole, I looked up to the aurora for inspiration through the 6-month winter night." Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Christina Koch snapped this image of an aurora. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2WA3nz7

How I Use CBD in My Daily Routine

As a dietitian it’s sort of expected that I live this incredibly healthy life. I wish I could tell you that’s true, but regardless of my profession, I’m still human. My goal for my clients (and myself too) is for them to feel their best every day. We focus on a few specifics to help […]

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Unveiling Hidden Figures Way

A D.C. Department of Transportation employee removes a paper cover from the "Hidden Figures Way" street sign in front of NASA Headquarters at the corner of 3rd and E Street SW. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2X4t27j

Cannabinoids 101: A Beginners Guide

All plants contain active compounds called phytochemicals, which protects the plant, helps it to thrive and keep competitors, predators or pathogens in check. These same compounds are what often provide plants with their therapeutic effects and benefits, similarly helping ease symptoms and protect us against diseases. A special group of phytochemicals, called phytocannabinoids, have the […]

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Recipe: Tropical CBD Smoothie

We have this awesome system in our body called the endocannabinoid system, better known as the ECS. Its main job is to help the body maintain homeostasis, which is what keeps your body and all its complex systems running well. CBD helps support the ECS, which is why CBD could help with a variety of […]

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Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor at Excel Academy In Washington, D.C.

NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor is hugged by students after a presentation about her experience on Expeditions 56 and 57 onboard the International Space Station at Excel Academy Public Charter School in DC. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2IByIw2

Mature Galaxy Mesmerizes in New Hubble View

NGC 7773 is a beautiful example of a barred spiral galaxy. A luminous bar-shaped structure cuts prominently through the galaxy's bright core, extending to the inner boundary of NGC 7773's sweeping, pinwheel-like spiral arms. Astronomers think that these bar structures emerge later in the lifetime of a galaxy. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Iynj07

On the Beach with Mars

At the end of last year's northern summer, after its dazzling opposition, Mars still shone brightly in the night. The celestial beacon easily attracted the attention of these two night skygazers who stood still for just a while, but long enough to be captured in the sea and night skyscape from Big Sur, planet Earth. Its central bulge near the southwestern horizon, the Milky Way runs through the scene too, while the long exposure also reveals a faint blue bioluminescence blooming in the waves along Pfeiffer Beach. Now much fainter, Mars can be spotted near the western horizon after sunset, but this month Jupiter is near its closest and brightest, reaching its own opposition on June 10. Night skygazers can spot brilliant Jupiter over southern horizons, glaring next to the stars toward the central Milky Way. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Wt7m5m

Venus at Sunrise From the Space Station

From the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Christina Koch snapped and posted this image of the planet Venus at sunrise. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2MA8Mq1

Forecasting D-Day

Without the sound advice of meteorologists and geologists working behind the scenes, one of the most consequential battles in human history could have gone quite differently. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/319WXKl

Learn More About CBD

CBD DEMYSTIFIED – With increased popularity and attention around CBD comes both documented research and troubling misconceptions. The onslaught of information, whether fact or fiction, adds a level of complexity when attempting to learn more about CBD and its potential health benefits. At CBD Snapshot, we hope to provide clarity to those misconceptions and provide […]

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Chandra Detects a Coronal Mass Ejection From Another Star

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory detects a coronal mass ejection from a star other than the Sun for the first time. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Kur614

The Interstellar Clouds of Orion

The constellation of Orion is much more than three stars in a row. It is a direction in space that is rich with impressive nebulas. To better appreciate this well-known swath of sky, a new long exposure image was taken over several clear nights in January, February and March. After 23 hours of camera time and untold hours of image processing, the featured collage in the light of hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur was produced spanning over 40 times the angular diameter of the Moon. Of the many interesting details that have become visible, one that particularly draws the eye is Barnard's Loop, the bright red orange arc just to the right of the image center. The Rosette Nebula is not the giant orange nebula just to the left of the image center -- that is larger but lesser known nebula known as the Meissa Ring. The Rosette Nebula is visible, though: it is the bright orange, blue and white nebula near the image bottom. The bright orange star just left of the frame center is Betelgeuse, while the bright blue star on the upper right is Rigel. About those famous three stars that cross the belt of Orion the Hunter -- in this busy frame they can be hard to locate, but a discerning eye will find them just to the right of the image center. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2IgS49M

Orion’s AA-2 Flight Test Article Stacks Up!

Orion’s Ascent Abort-2 flight test vehicle was rolled out from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Abort System Facility to Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for its July 2 launch. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Xs9czE

SEIS: Listening for Marsquakes

If you put your ear to Mars, what would you hear? To find out, and to explore the unknown interior of Mars, NASA's Insight Lander deployed SEIS late last year, a sensitive seismometer that can detect marsquakes. In early April, after hearing the wind and motions initiated by the lander itself, SEIS recorded an unprecedented event that matches what was expected for a marsquake. This event can be heard on this YouTube video. Although Mars is not thought to have tectonic plates like the Earth, numerous faults are visible on the Martian surface which likely occurred as the hot interior of Mars cooled -- and continues to cool. Were strong enough marsquakes to occur, SEIS could hear their rumbles reflected from large structures internal to Mars, like a liquid core, if one exists. Pictured last week, SEIS sits quietly on the Martian surface, taking in some Sun while light clouds are visible over the horizon. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2F2DGBp

NASA Selects First Commercial Moon Landing Services for Artemis Program

NASA selected three commercial Moon landing service providers that will deliver science and technology payloads under Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) as part of the Artemis program. via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2Xnvxyl

Stephan's Quintet from Hubble

When did these big galaxies first begin to dance? Really only four of the five of Stephan's Quintet are locked in a cosmic tango of repeated close encounters taking place some 300 million light-years away. The odd galaxy out is easy to spot in this recently reprocessed image by the Hubble Space Telescope -- the interacting galaxies, NGC 7319, 7318B, 7318A, and 7317 (left to right), have a more dominant yellowish cast. They also tend to have distorted loops and tails, grown under the influence of disruptive gravitational tides. The mostly bluish galaxy, large NGC 7320 on the lower left, is in the foreground at about 40 million light-years distant, and so is not part of the interacting group. Data and modeling indicate that NGC 7318B is a relatively new intruder. A recently-discovered halo of old red stars surrounding Stephan's Quintet indicate that at least some of these galaxies started tangling over a billion years. Stephan's Quintet is visible with a moderate sized-telescope toward the constellation of Winged Horse (Pegasus). via NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2WbVVK4

FDA Held its First-Ever Public Hearing on CBD—Here’s What You Need to Know

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held its first-ever public hearing May 31 on CBD in the consumer marketplace. Vermont ice cream makers Ben and Jerry celebrated the hearing by saying the company is, “open to bringing CBD-infused ice cream to your freezer as soon as it’s legalized at the federal level.” Meanwhile, more […]

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