Six Planets from Yosemite - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 June 14

Six Planets from Yosemite 
Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

Explanation: The five naked-eye planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, have been seen since ancient times to wander the night skies of planet Earth. So it could be remarkable that on this night, standing at the side of a clear, calm lake, six planets can be seen with the unaided eye. Have a look. Very bright and easy to spot for skygazers, yellowish Mars is left of a pale Milky Way. Saturn is immersed in the glow of the Milky Way's diffuse starlight. Jupiter is very near the horizon on the right, shining beyond the trees against the glow of distant city lights. Last weekend, while admiring this night time view across beautiful, high-altitude Lake Tenaya in Yosemite National Park, athoughtful and reflective observer could probably see three planets more.

Sir Edward Elgar - "Pomp and circumstance" (March N° 1) - Slides - Music

"Pomp and circumstance"

Flyer, le véhicule individuel volant - Video - Aeronautique

Kitty Hawk a encore sévi. L'entreprise américaine spécialisée dans les véhicules volants, financée par le cofondateur de Google Larry Page, a dévoilé Flyer, un véhicule monoplace volant. Totalement électrique, l'appareil ressemble à une nacelle de Formule 1 portée par dix rotors. L'entreprise a dévoilé la vidéo d'essai de la machine. 

Pour l'instant, elle peut voler à trois mètres au-dessus de l'eau grâce à un décollage vertical. Flyer peut rester dans les airs entre 12 et 20 minutes. Les utilisateurs intéressés peuvent le pré-commander mais le prix n'est pas encore connu. 

Il s'agit du premier appareil une place développé par l'entreprise, qui entend démocratiser le déplacement aérien. Il serait facile à manoeuvrer, assure Kitty Hawk, qui l'imagine surtout pour des déplacements au-dessus de l'eau et au-dessus de lieux peu peuplés. 

En 2017, une première version moto avait été dévoilée par Kitty Hawk au salon du Bourget. Le design actuel est complètement différent.

Usine Nouvelle

At Last GLAST - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 June 11

At Last GLAST 
Image Credit: NASA, DOE, Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Collaboration

Explanation: Rising through a billowing cloud of smoke, a long time ago from a planet very very close by, this Delta II rocket left Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's launch pad 17-B at 12:05 pm EDT on June 11, 2008. Snug in the payload section was GLAST, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope. GLAST's detector technology was developed for use in terrestrial particle accelerators. So from orbit, GLAST can detect gamma-rays from extreme environments above the Earth and across the distant Universe, including supermassive black holes at the centers of distant active galaxies, and the sources of powerful gamma-ray bursts. Those formidable cosmic accelerators achieve energies not attainable in earthbound laboratories. Now known as the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, on the 10 year anniversary of its launch, let the Fermi Science Playoffs begin.

The Clash of NGC 3256 - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 June 8

The Clash of NGC 3256 
Image Credit & License: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope

Explanation: Marked by an unusually bright central region, swirling dust lanes, and far flung tidal tails, peculiar NGC 3256 is the aftermath of a truly cosmic collision. The 500 million year old clash of two separate galaxies spans some 100 thousand light-years in this sharp Hubble view. Of course when two galaxies collide, individual stars rarely do. Giant galactic clouds of molecular gas and dust do interact though, and produce spectacular bursts of star formation. In this galaxy clash, the two original spiral galaxies had similar masses. Their disks are no longer distinct and the two galactic nuclei are hidden by obscuring dust. On the timescale of a few hundred million years the nuclei will likely also merge as NGC 3256 becomes a single large elliptical galaxy. NGC 3256 itself is nearly 100 million light-years distant toward the southern sailing constellation Vela. The frame includes many even more distant background galaxies and spiky foreground stars.

Jacques Offenbach - "Barcarolle" - Music

"Barcarolle"

A Sun Pillar over Norway - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 June 7

A Sun Pillar over Norway 
Image Credit: Thorleif Rødland

Explanation: Have you ever seen a sun pillar? When the air is cold and the Sun is rising or setting, falling ice crystals can reflect sunlight and create an unusual column of light. Ice sometimes forms flat, six-sided shaped crystals as it falls from high-level clouds. Air resistance causes these crystals to lie nearly flat much of the time as they flutter to the ground. Sunlight reflects off crystals that are properly aligned, creating the sun-sun-pillar effect. In the featured picture taken last week, a sun-pillar reflects light from a Sun setting over Fensfjorden, Norway.

Complex Jupiter - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 June 5

Complex Jupiter 
Image Credit: NASA, Juno, SwRI, MSSS; Composition: David Marriott

Explanation: How complex is Jupiter? NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter is finding the Jovian giant to be more complicated than expected. Jupiter's magnetic field has been discovered to be much different from our Earth's simple dipole field, showing several poles embedded in a complicated network more convoluted in the north than the south. Further, Juno's radio measurements show that Jupiter's atmosphere shows structure well below the upper cloud deck -- even hundreds of kilometers deep. Jupiter's newfound complexity is evident also in southern clouds, as shown in the featured image. There, planet-circling zones and belts that dominate near the equator decay into a complex miasma of continent-sized storm swirls. Juno continues in its looping elliptical orbit, swooping near the huge planet every 53 days and exploring a slightly different sector each time around.

Le Cosmographe - Une superbe vue de Mars pour les 15 ans de Mars Express - Espace

2 juin 2003, Mars Express quittait la Terre pour foncer vers la planète rouge. Son objectif ? Cartographier Mars. Quinze ans plus tard, et quelque 18.000 orbites autour de la planète, la sonde européenne continue d’épier sans relâche et sa surface et son atmosphère, du moins ce qui lui en reste. Située à quelques encablures de la Terre — à noter que le 27 juillet 2018, elle ne sera qu’à 58 millions de kilomètres de nous —, Mars n’a de cesse d’attirer l’espèce humaine. Pour l’instant, nous envoyons des robots éclaireurs, mais beaucoup brulent d’envie de fouler son sol poussiéreux (on s’en rapproche).

http://www.lecosmographe.com/blog/une-superbe-vue-de-mars-pour-les-15-ans-de-mars-express/

Jupiter Season, Hawaiian Sky - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 June 4

Jupiter Season, Hawaiian Sky 
Image Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel (TWAN)

Explanation: Volcanic activity on the Big Island of Hawaii has increased since this Hawaiian night skyscape was recorded earlier this year. Recent vents and lava flows are about 30 kilometers to the east, the direction of the blowing smoke and steam in the panoramic view of the Kilauea caldera with Halemaumau crater taken from Volcanoes National Park. Still, this year Jupiter is bright in late spring to early summer skies. High in the south it is easily the brightest celestial beacon in the scene where the central bulge of the Milky Way seems to rise above vapors and clouds. Yellowish Antares is the bright star near the end of the dark rivers of dust seen toward the center of our galaxy. Near the horizon, stars Alpha and Beta Centauri and the compact Southern Cross shine through the almost too bright volcanic smoke.