$0.39 EPS Expected for National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) This Quarter – Riverton Roll

Posted on by

Analysts forecast that National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) will post earnings of $0.39 per share for the current quarter, according to Zacks. Three analysts have made estimates for National Storage Affiliates Trusts earnings, with estimates ranging from $0.38 to $0.40. National Storage Affiliates Trust posted earnings per share of $0.37 during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year over year growth rate of 5.4%. The company is expected to report its next quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that National Storage Affiliates Trust will report full year earnings of $1.53 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $1.52 to $1.54. For the next fiscal year, analysts expect that the firm will post earnings of $1.62 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $1.61 to $1.64. Zacks earnings per share averages are an average based on a survey of sell-side research analysts that cover National Storage Affiliates Trust.

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.39 by ($0.59). National Storage Affiliates Trust had a negative return on equity of 1.45% and a negative net margin of 4.87%. The firm had revenue of $101.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $100.49 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NSA. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on National Storage Affiliates Trust from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets restated a hold rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. ValuEngine downgraded shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Co reiterated a buy rating on shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $33.83.

Shares of NYSE NSA traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $32.76. 4,971 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 534,123. National Storage Affiliates Trust has a 12 month low of $25.11 and a 12 month high of $35.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $32.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.29.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This is a boost from National Storage Affiliates Trusts previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. National Storage Affiliates Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.65%.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust by 3.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,624,526 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $191,714,000 after purchasing an additional 213,375 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,143,735 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $104,906,000 after purchasing an additional 93,419 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust by 228.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,041,493 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $59,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,851 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust in the second quarter valued at about $45,783,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust by 5.4% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,527,814 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $44,215,000 after buying an additional 78,100 shares during the period. 92.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About National Storage Affiliates Trust

National Storage Affiliates Trust is a Maryland real estate investment trust focused on the ownership, operation and acquisition of self storage properties located within the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas throughout the United States. The Company currently holds ownership interests in and operates 709 self storage properties located in 35 states and Puerto Rico with approximately 44.9 million rentable square feet.

See Also: How to Invest in an Index Fund

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Receive News & Ratings for National Storage Affiliates Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for National Storage Affiliates Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

Read this article:

$0.39 EPS Expected for National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) This Quarter - Riverton Roll

Posted in NSA

MDS donates portion of revenues to Bahamas – The Triton

Posted on by

Marine Data Solutions presented a $4,000 donation to the Bahamas National Trust in November as the island nation continues to recover from Hurricane Dorian.

The Fort Lauderdale-based marine wireless internet provider had pledged to donate 5% of its Bahamas airtime sales to the trust, which protects and maintains the Bahamas national park system.

So many of our clients frequent the Bahamas while using our airtime, the company stated on its Facebook page, where it posted a video of the presentation. We wanted to give back in a way that would be beneficial to all.

Marine Data Solutions, a partner of National Marine Suppliers, provides worldwide wireless internet with full 4G LTE coverage in Europe, North America, Bahamas, Caribbean, Central America and South America. SIM cards and equipment are available for pick up in Fort Lauderdale, or can be sent overnight to any location worldwide, according to the company.

The company states on its website that its flagship product is unlimited GB of unthrottled 4G LTEA service in the U.S. at a fixed, low monthly cost with no long-term commitment. Features include downloads of up to 100Mbps on a single Sim and unlimited GB.

For more information, visit marinedatasolutions.com.

Related Posts...

Read the original here:

MDS donates portion of revenues to Bahamas - The Triton

It’s kismet: Against the odds, UB student, alum travel to Bahamas Bowl – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff – University at Buffalo…

Posted on by

By DAVID J. HILL

NASSAU, Bahamas Peter Grollitsch was thrilled he could snag his parents one of the last rooms available on a cruise thats docking in Nassau today. And that he can fly down from Charlotte to meet them so they can all watch the Bulls battle Charlotte in the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl.

Meanwhile, UB freshman Edrinique Morton is over the moon that she gets to perform with her bandmates in UBs Thunder of the East marching band for UB in her home country.

What are the odds?

Morton, who plays alto saxophone, is from Exuma, Bahamas, which is about a 35-minute plane ride from Nassau. Shell be arriving back home this morning after spending a few days this week in Miami with her sister.

Its amazing luck, the biomedical sciences major told UBNow in a phone interview on Wednesday. Im grateful Ill have the opportunity to do this because coming to UB I never thought Id be able to perform in my country with the band. Its exciting that I can have family members come watch me.

She is also looking forward to sharing Bahamian cuisine especially tropical conch salad and culture with her classmates. A lot of people showed me around Buffalo when I first got there. Now, I get the opportunity to show them my home country, Morton said.

I hope everyone enjoys the sunshine because when we get back to Buffalo there will be a few inches of snow on the ground, she added.

Grollitsch will be attending the game with his parents, Peter and Lois. The younger Peter flew to Nassau from Charlotte, where he works in regulatory capital and regulatory reporting for Wells Fargo, after work on Thursday. His parents cruise ship is scheduled to dock in the Bahamas Friday morning. Hell meet them at the pier and then theyll head over to Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, where the Bahamas Bowl is played, for the pregame tent party being sponsored by UBs Alumni Association.

An avid traveler, Grollitsch used some savvy to find out which cruise lines had cruises that were docking in Nassau on Friday. It just coincided well. They boarded the four-day cruise (on Thursday). They get in to the Bahamas around 9 or 10 Friday morning and then leave at 7, said Grollitsch, a 2009 UB graduate who studied business administration.

He was president of the Student Association in 2009, when the Bulls played in their first-ever bowl game, the International Bowl, in Toronto, and arranged for several hundred UB students to take buses up north to go to the game.

He also traveled to Mobile, Alabama, last December to see the Bulls play Troy in the Dollar General Bowl, then drove to New Orleans to spend a few days there.

Im a big supporter of UB and UB Athletics. Ive been to three out of the four bowl games, a couple of basketball NCAA Tournament games, Grollitsch said.

If I can make it, I try to travel and support the team. Its always fun to make a little trip out of it, have a good time with some fellow alums and explore a different city.

Does Grollitsch have any allegiance to the Charlotte 49ers now that he works in that city?

None whatsoever, he said immediately.

The rest is here:

It's kismet: Against the odds, UB student, alum travel to Bahamas Bowl - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo...

400 pounds of gifts flown to the Bahamas for Christmas – ABC Action News

Posted on by

STUART, Fla. Residents of the Bahamas continue to recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, but they received some much-needed Christmas cheer this weekend.

On Sunday, members and volunteers from the organization Hope For Abaco chartered a twin-engine plane and loaded it with 400 pounds of gifts bound for the children of the Bahamas.

The plane departed from Witham Field in Stuart.

"(I've) been there numerous times now. This will be my sixth trip going back over to the Abacos and this trip, we are going over there to do good. The devastation, you really have to see it to believe it," said Nick Otton with Hope for Abaco.

They will stay there and held distribute the gifts through Christmas and plan on making future stops for food and water.

To get involved with Hope for Abaco, click here.

This story was originally published by WPTV in Palm Beach, Florida.

See original here:

400 pounds of gifts flown to the Bahamas for Christmas - ABC Action News

Klay Thompson’s Charity Work in the Bahamas – Borgen Project

Posted on by

SEATTLE Golden State Warriors basketball star, Klay Thompson, may be famous for his ability to hit three-pointers, but his long-standing dedication to philanthropy deserves equal recognition by the public. Since joining the NBA, Thompson has continuously devoted his time and money to assisting various nonprofit organizations. In fact, in 2015, just four years after being drafted, Thompson was already named as a finalist for the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for his work in the California Bay Area.

Impressively, Klay Thompsons charity work has since expanded beyond the boundaries of the U.S. In 2017, Thompson, along with other members of his family, created the Thompson Family Foundation. Its mission includes enrich[ing]the lives of youth in the United States and the Bahamas through fitness and education. As Klay Thompsons father, who also played in the NBA in the 1980s, is from the Bahamas, Klay Thompson feels a deep connection towards the country and regularly visits family there.

In 2018, the family hosted its first big fundraising event. The event, a celebrity golf tournament, featured sports stars such as Stephen Curry and Marshawn Lynch. Proceeds went to building youth programs in both the Bahamas and the U.S.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, Klay Thompsons charity work has discovered a new purpose: providing both long and short term relief to a country devastated by a Category 5 storm. On Sept. 1, 2019, Dorian landed on the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas as one of the most powerful hurricanes on record. It left utter devastation in its wake. The official death toll was 69 people; however, as of Nov. 20, 2019, 282 people are still missing.

The estimated total cost of the hurricanes impact includes $3.4 billion in damages and upheaval. Unfortunately, this is over a quarter of the countrys GDP. The hurricane also caused a large oil spill, wrecking the fragile sea life that lures tourists to the Bahamas.

The event clearly affected Klay Thompson and the rest of his family. Posting on Instagram two weeks after the hurricane, he wrote, people have lost everything loved ones, family, possessions, homesThis is far from a quick fix, it will take years and years of rebuilding. In the caption, he also pledged to funnel the funds from his foundation towards helping Bahamians. We will be focused on not only the short-term but also the long-term relief while working with local personnel to provide impactful support to the area and people in need, he explained.

Since then, Klay Thompsons charity work has lived up to his promise. The Foundation donated all the proceeds from its Second Annual Golf Tournament in late September 2019 towards Dorian rebuilding efforts. However, Klay Thompson went even further. His foundation agreed to match all funds donated toward the Dorian rebuilding efforts. Using these preliminary funds, the foundation distributed basic necessities to Bahamians in early fall. Additionally, the organization promised to keep the public updated in the future about how this money is improving the lives of Bahamians after the storm.

Klay Thompsons charity work is an excellent example of celebrities using their money and fame towards reducing global injustice and poverty. Hopefully, Thompsons charity work can be a model for other sports stars to improve the lives of others.

Chace PulleyPhoto: Wikimedia Commons

See the original post:

Klay Thompson's Charity Work in the Bahamas - Borgen Project

The Island House in The Bahamas Appoints New General Manager James Wyndham – Hotel-Online.com

Posted on by

The Island House | December 23, 2019

Wyndham was most recently the General Manager of Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley, the flagship of the One&Only Nature Resorts.

Wyndams extensive career experience includes stints at multiple international luxury hospitality groups in the USA, Australia, and Dubai. While at One&Only, he played a key role in the opening of One&Only Hayman Island and was head of guest relations for Atlantis Dubai.His experience with Accor, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, and Jumeirah and includes sales, food and beverage, as well as general manager positions. He also worked with the Australian Government asTrade Commissioner and Deputy Consul Generalin the United Arab Emirates.

Wyndam has received numerous accolades during his career, including being namedGeneral Manager of the year in 2018 by the CEO of Kerzner International, the company behind One&Only Resorts. Under his management, One&Only Nature Resorts wonTravel+Leisuretop awards, including one of four best in Australia, and was named finalist forVirtuosoBest of the Best.

Wyndam studied hospitality, tourism and travel services management at Macleay College and worked in hospitality management all over the world for groups such as Accor, Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, and the Jumeirah Group.

We are thrilled to welcome James Wyndham to The Island House, said The Island House Owner and Director Lauren Holowesko. His extensive experience in luxury hospitality will help us take The Island House to a new level of service for our guests and the community.

The Island House, located on New Providence, The Bahamas, only five minutes from the Nassau airport, is an award-winning luxury boutique hotel, located in the same neighborhood as several ultra-private residential communities. With exquisite design by Champalimaud and highlighting Bahamian artists throughout, The Island House stands out among Bahamian resorts, having been designed with both visitors and the local community in mind. Located on ten landscaped acres, the resort features 30 spacious rooms and poolside suites, exclusive private beach access, six rental apartments, two renowned restaurants Shima and Mahogany House as well as the new Mahogany Pizza, The Coffee Bar, a wine and gourmet food market, an art house cinema, a lap pool, a yoga and movement studio, squash courts, and The Outpost, a flexible workspace. The Island House also features the first Bamford Spa in the Western Hemisphere, a full-service spa designed around the renowned British brand of organic spa products.

The Island House was named to theFodors Finest Hotels 2020, a collection of 100 of the best hotels in the world, as well asCaribbean Boutique Hotel of the Yearby the Caribbean Journal.

The Island House is located at Mahogany Hill, Western Road PO Box N-7776-78, Nassau, Bahamas. For reservations, call 001 242 698 6300, or visitwww.the-island-house.com.

Continue reading here:

The Island House in The Bahamas Appoints New General Manager James Wyndham - Hotel-Online.com

Photos: Ayushmann Khurrana and Tahira Kashyaps Christmas celebration in the Bahamas will make you green with envy! – Times of India

Posted on by

1/195

Ayushmann Khurrana has successfully created a niche for himself in Bollywood with his brilliant performances and choices of films. After giving two successful hits Dream Girl and Bala this year, the actor is riding high in his career.

He recently jetted off to Bahamas with his wifey Tahira Kashyap for a much-deserved break. He took to his Instagram handle to share some pictures of himself along with Tahira with his fans and it is sure to make you green with envy.

In the pictures, Ayushmann and Tahira can be seen chilling in Bahamas as they dressed down for their vacay. While Ayushmann looks dapper as ever in his multi-coloured shorts, Tahira looks stunning in her blue and white printed two piece attire.

He captioned the lovely pictures as, Xmas happens a day later in Bahamas. #merrychristmas

Meanwhile, on the work front, Ayushmann will next be seen in Aanand L Rais Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. The movie also stars Neena Gupta, Gajraj Rao and Jitendra Kumar in pivotal roles.

Visit link:

Photos: Ayushmann Khurrana and Tahira Kashyaps Christmas celebration in the Bahamas will make you green with envy! - Times of India

Bahamas re-elected to Category C of International Maritime Organization – EyeWitness News

Posted on by

NASSAU, BAHAMAS- The Bahamas has been successfully re-elected to Category C of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council for the period 2020-2021, the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) has announced.

This re-election marks the 20th consecutive year that the Bahamas has been a part of the IMO Council which is the executive organ of the IMO and is responsible for supervising the work of the IMO between sessions of the IMO Assembly.

BMA Board ChairDenise Lewis-Johnson stated: This prestigious achievement further demonstrates the confidence that the IMO Members States have in the positive contribution and proactive engagement of The Bahamas in the international regulatory process.

We will continue in our commitment to the IMOs objective of safe, secure and efficient shipping on cleaner oceans, as well as ensuring that our Bahamian shipowners continue to have an active voice in, and access to, the process for effective and practical regulations.

Category C is open to those 20 States that have special interests in maritime transport or navigation, and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world. The Bahamas exemplified the highest credentials in each of these areas.

BMAs Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Captain Dwain Hutchinson stated: It is a real privilege for us to be given the opportunity to continue supporting the excellent work carried out by the IMO.

This re-election further reinforces the competence and experience of the dedicated personnel within the BMA and other governmental Agencies and we look forward to positively participating in the important matters that face our global shipping industry.

Read the original post:

Bahamas re-elected to Category C of International Maritime Organization - EyeWitness News

Are you planning a Bahamas vacation? These phrases will help you enjoy the Caribbean island – Face2Face Africa

Posted on by

Anytime you are travelling to a new place it is advisable to arm yourself with a few words in order to be able to communicate with the locals.

Now there are apps that can help with that, but if you are not a tech savvy, go the old school way and learn a few vocabularies before your trip.

Visiting the Bahamas for the holidays is not such a daunting task when it comes to communicating with the islanders because British English is widely spoken everywhere.

This Caribbean island also has its own creole dialect heavily influenced by different African languages. This new language emerged as a fusion of history and culture, which makes it unique.

Here are a few must-know words or phrases to make you better ease into your vacation in the Bahamas.

View original post here:

Are you planning a Bahamas vacation? These phrases will help you enjoy the Caribbean island - Face2Face Africa

Police Commissioner says crime going in the right direction – EyeWitness News

Posted on by

NASSAU, BAHAMAS As the year nears its end, Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson said he is pleased with the direction of the fight against crime and noted that despite the increase in murders from last year, there are no major issues.

The murder count stands at 96, according to Eyewitness News records, surpassing last years total count of 91.

Crime reports in recent months have been inundated with armed robberies, the majority of which have involved men or businesses in New Providence.

Authorities and government officials have acknowledged spikes in armed robberies but maintained that there has not been an increase in this category of crime, though data has not been presented to validate that statement.

Despite the challenges that I spoke about last week, September and partial of October, I think things are going pretty well, he told reporters during the 2019 Boxing Day Junkanoo Parade.

Im pleased with the direction that its [going]. The officers are doing an extremely good job and we will continue to do a good job straight to the end of the year and into next year.

Asked about the murder count surpassing last years numbers, Ferguson said, Its slightly over the count last year but there are no major issues.

When we analyze the circumstances surrounding the incident, Ill let you know that in my meeting to press in another couple of days.

Earlier this month, Ferguson said there was a spike in murders following the deadly Hurricane Dorian which devastated Grand Bahama and Abaco in early September.

The COP said prior to the storm the murder count stood at 61. However, he said after the storm passed, the policing strategy had to be changed in order to accommodate the pressing issues in the storm ravaged areas.

Last year, The Bahamas saw its lowest murder count since 2010, when 94 murders were recorded. The Bahamas is on track to have the lowest murder count since 2010, when 94 murders were recorded.

There were 122 murders in 2017 and 111 in 2016. The official murder count for 2015 is 146.

One hundred and twenty-three murders were recorded in 2014; 119 in 2013; 111 in 2012; and 127 in 2011.

END

See the rest here:

Police Commissioner says crime going in the right direction - EyeWitness News

From the frat house to the Bahamas Bowl, how Charlotte made fun the through line of its banner year – The Athletic

Posted on by

CHARLOTTE They lovingly call it the frat house, even though the property is actually quite nice and actually for adults. No beer pong tables, no ratty furniture. A normal house on a normal block.

The two-story rental on Commonwealth Avenue is no longer home to first-year Charlotte football head coach Will Healy and his staff. But thats what it was in the first months after they all arrived and started this gig. The baby-faced 34-year-old was introduced by the 49ers on Dec. 5, 2018, after a rather miraculous turnaround at Austin Peay in which he took the Governors from 0-11 in Year 1 to 8-4 in Year 2 and just missed out on the FCS playoffs.

When Healy got his first FBS coaching opportunity almost exactly a year ago, he knew what he had to do: Get the gang back together. He called the assistants hed had at Austin Peay who had parlayed their success there to bigger jobs. Marcus West had left for a defensive line coaching gig at Minnesota, a Power 5 job.

Excerpt from:

From the frat house to the Bahamas Bowl, how Charlotte made fun the through line of its banner year - The Athletic

NASA’s Decade in Space: The Highs and Lows of the US Space Agency’s 2010s – Space.com

Posted on by

On Earth and in space, NASA had a busy decade in the 2010s.

In its human spaceflight program, the agency retired the space shuttle and is now close to launching humans to space again, this time on commercial crew vehicles. NASA also changed its long-term destination for humans a few times; currently the agency is targeting the moon and Mars.

Meanwhile, NASA robots flew through interstellar space, imaged thousands of planets and sent reams of scientific data back to researchers. Here are some of the agency's milestones over the last 10 years.

The decade started with turmoil for NASA's human spaceflight program when President Barack Obama's administration canceled the plans from President W. George Bush's administration to bring astronauts to the moon under the Constellation program. (In 2009, a NASA advisory commission that had gathered to evaluate Constellation noted that the then-5-year-old program was over cost and behind schedule.)

Also in this year, the space shuttle program began its last full year of operations, focusing on large payloads such as the cupola, a large window for Earth observations. NASA requested one last extra shuttle flight, which was approved in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Deep Impact spacecraft flew by Comet Hartley, becoming the first spacecraft to visit two comets. The Spirit rover on Mars fell silent about six years past its initial 90-day expiration date. The scientists behind the orbital Mars Odyssey mission released a global map of the Red Planet based on eight years of data from the spacecraft, which is still operating today.

The shuttle program made its final bow this year carrying cargo to the International Space Station. One of the last shuttle flights delivered a $2 billion astrophysics experiment called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer in May. (Astronauts have been conducting spacewalks in 2019 to repair that instrument, which studies dark matter.) Finally, in July, the space shuttle made its last flight, wrapping up 30 years of operations and 131 flights (including two fatal accidents, in 1986 and 2003).

From then on, NASA astronauts would fly to space aboard Russian Soyuz capsules; discussions about how many seats to buy, and how often, would dominate much of the 2010s. The Obama administration chose to retain the planned Orion spacecraft, originally envisioned for the now-defunct Constellation program, recruiting it for other planned deep-space missions, including to an asteroid around 2025 and Mars in the 2030s.

Meanwhile, because of the soaring cost and numerous launch delays of the James Webb Space Telescope, which was then slated to launch in 2018, NASA said that the instrument would need to pull money from other planned science missions. But the ongoing NASA/European Hubble Space Telescope mission discovered a previously unknown moon around Pluto, Kerberos. (When the same instrument found a second, Styx, in 2012, NASA personnel began to worry that these moons meant the New Horizons probe might run into unexpected debris during its flyby of the dwarf planet in 2015.)

NASA also braved the inner solar system, as the Messenger spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Mercury after a seven-year journey. In the other direction, the Juno spacecraft launched toward Jupiter on Aug. 5, 2011. In Earth orbit, NASA's Glory observatory failed to reach orbit during launch, in an issue eventually traced back to the instrument's aluminum manufacturer. NASA launched the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) to examine Earth weather and climate.

The International Space Station entered a new era of cargo support when SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft made the first private flight to the space station. NASA began construction on the massive Space Launch System rocket to bring astronauts across the solar system. (That craft's first flight, originally expected in 2017, was delayed until at least 2021.

NASA survived 7 minutes of terror when the Curiosity rover safely landed on Mars in August, stepping up the agency's search for habitability on the Red Planet; within weeks of landing, the spacecraft had found an ancient streambed and evidence that water had flowed in the craft's landing area. Meanwhile, the Dawn probe bid goodbye to the large asteroid Vesta in September 2012, after characterizing the object's iron core and finding large craters on its surface.

At the space station, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano (who will ring in the new year in space) nearly drowned during a spacewalk when a water leak in the cooling system filled his helmet with fluid. Parmitano made it safely back to the space station, and NASA soon redesigned spacewalk procedures to improve astronaut safety. NASA began to contemplate extending the space station's tenure beyond its believed expiration date of 2020.

At Mars, damaged wheels on the Curiosity rover forced NASA to seek smoother terrain. The NASA/European Solar and Heliospheric Observatory mission watched Comet ISON plunge into the sun over Thanksgiving, belying predictions that the comet could be one of the brightest in recent memory.

So many gyroscopes failed on the Kepler space telescope, by now long past its prime planet-hunting mission, that NASA pioneered a new technique that used the pressure of the sun to hold the instrument stable. This allowed Kepler to continue work under an extended mission, known as K2.

In other mission milestones, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft launched for the Red Planet on Nov. 18. Meanwhile, NASA announced an Asteroid Redirect Mission to snag a boulder off an asteroid in order to begin testing planetary defense techniques. And NASA launched a Landsat satellite, which continued an Earth-observation program that has been running since the early 1970s.

In September, NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX for multi-billion-dollar contracts to eventually bring astronauts to the International Space Station. Originally, those flights were scheduled to launch by 2017, but programmatic and technical delays have pushed back the first crewed launch to at least 2020. NASA successfully tested the deep-space Orion spacecraft; at the time, the agency thought a second uncrewed launch would follow in 2017; that flight is now scheduled for no earlier than 2020.

NASA extended the space station's scheduled mission to 2024. NASA and Russia's Roscosmos space agency quibbled over their shared human spaceflight plans when a senior Russian official sarcastically suggested that NASA send astronauts to space by trampoline. However, the partnership continued with no delays to human spaceflight.

On Mars, the Curiosity rover arrived at its ultimate destination, Mount Sharp, about two Earth years after landing; critics at NASA had said that controllers were taking too long to reach the destination as the rover sampled other scientific sites en route. Curiosity also spotted its first signs of methane on the Red Planet; in the coming years, the rover found other possible signs of life, including oxygen and organic molecules.

Meanwhile, the NASA/European Cassini mission found signs of 101 water geysers at the Saturn moon Enceladus. Scientists studying the activity wondered whether the plumes could represent the sort of activity that might power microbial life. MAVEN arrived at the Red Planet to study the loss of Martian atmosphere over time.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko began a nearly yearlong mission in space, the first such long-duration flight since the Mir space station missions of the 1990s. Two cargo ships in a row failed to reach the space station, sparking speculation about how long a crew could survive without more supplies, but a third flight arrived as expected.

Two mission arrivals made headlines. The New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto in July and revealed a surprisingly complex world of ancient lakes and large mountains, prompting more cries from the astronomical community to give Pluto its planethood status back. The Dawn spacecraft arrived at dwarf planet Ceres in March for several years of investigation, including figuring out the nature of mysterious bright spots visible en route. These turned out to be salts.

Meanwhile, the long-running NASA and European Solar and Heliospheric Observatory discovered its 3,000th comet. The Messenger spacecraft impacted Mercury on April 30, wrapping up a four-year orbital mission that imaged the entire surface of that planet for the first time. NASA received approval to launch a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, later called Europa Clipper, which is scheduled to launch early next decade.

Astronauts began installing new docking ports for commercial crew vehicles to arrive at the International Space Station. Bigelow Aerospace launched an "inflatable room" to the space station for testing in April that was inflated in May and remains operational as of this writing. President Donald Trump was elected, and his first space priorities after assuming office in January 2017 included canceling the Obama administration's plans to send humans to visit an asteroid.

Meanwhile, on Mars, Curiosity's drill encountered problems that took about two years to address. NASA delayed the launch of the InSight mission to join Curiosity on the Red Planet after a seismometer vacuum leak forced engineers to pull the instrument for a fix. The agency toyed with the idea of canceling the mission, but a subsequent review identified InSight as a high priority for life-seeking missions, and it was rescheduled, launching in 2018.

The Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on July 4, beginning its mission to study the atmosphere of the giant planet to gain more insight into the Jovian weather. NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission passed a key design milestone.

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson captured the U.S. record for most overall time in space, landing in September with a total tally of 665 days in orbit.

Meanwhile, the NASA/European Cassini spacecraft wrapped up 13 years of investigations at Saturn by conducting a "grand finale" series of sweeps through the planet's rings. Then, controllers deliberately threw the machine into the atmosphere of the planet, to protect icy, potentially habitable moons in the neighborhood from any possibility of contamination.

Two missions faced hurdles: NASA delayed the James Webb Space Telescope launch from 2018 to 2019; that schedule has now slipped even further, to 2021. President Trump's new administration filed a budget request aiming to cancel the planned Asteroid Redirect Mission, which was officially canceled in 2018.

The Trump administration released its first space policy directive in December, ordering NASA to fly astronauts to the moon in 2028. The plans rely on NASA's massive Space Launch System, which was the subject of a report on development and funding issues conducted by NASA's Office of Inspector General.

Two astronauts survived an aborted launch on a Soyuz rocket on Oct. 11. The International Space Station partners successfully adjusted the Expedition 58 launch date three weeks earlier to accommodate the missing crew rotation; a new launch went off without a hitch on Dec. 3.

Voyager 2, a spacecraft launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets, crossed out of the bubble surrounding our sun and into interstellar space, continuing to send back data about its environment.

Two venerable missions ended when they ran out of fuel: Dawn, which had been studying the dwarf planet Ceres, and the Kepler space telescope, which showed that exoplanets are common in our universe.

Three new missions joined the NASA roster. InSight finally launched to Mars in May and made a safe landing in November, accompanied by the first interplanetary cubesats. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched to seek planets orbiting nearby, bright stars. The Parker Solar Probe launched in August to get the first close-up views of the sun.

Preparations for NASA's commercial crew program entered the final stretches, with both SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's Starliner launching their first test flights. NASA's Office of Inspector General, however, warned that ongoing delays in the program are expected to lead to smaller space station crews for at least the first half of 2020.

NASA is also working to send astronauts safely back to the moon in 2024, after Vice President Mike Pence announced a four-year acceleration of the previous deadline. However, critics say the new timeline might not be realistic. NASA also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, marking the occasion with numerous events.

In space, astronauts began tricky repairs on a dark-matter detector called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. NASA classified the missions as the most difficult spacewalk work since the Hubble Space Telescope upgrade conducted in 2009. NASA astronauts also performed the first all-woman spacewalk, and the agency announced that crewmember Christina Koch would stay in space three extra months, putting her on track to make the second longest spaceflight in NASA history.

NASA and other government agencies began the year during what would become the longest-ever government shutdown, prompting agency concerns about the long-term effects on astronomy.

Also in January, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by Kuiper Belt asteroid 2014 MU69, making that space rock the most distant object ever explored. The object is now formally known as Arrokoth. The New Horizons team began considering yet another, more distant destination to visit later in its mission.

Mars was particularly prominent in the agency's year. The Opportunity mission formally ended in February after the rover stopped responding to commands in 2018, following a dust storm. The InSight lander deployed its instruments on Mars; its seismometer has sent home intriguing results even as the lander's heat probe struggles to dig into the Martian surface. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter marked 60,000 laps of the Red Planet; the orbiter's observations have helped with spacecraft landings and for observing change (such as new craters) on the Martian surface. And the agency continued launch preparations for its most advanced Mars rover yet, called Mars 2020, to search out habitable environments.

NASA prepared to say goodbye to the Spitzer Space Telescope, which finished its last year of operations of observing the universe in infrared light. Meanwhile, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter celebrated 10 years at the moon, which included numerous observations of water ice and old spacecraft landing or crash sites. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory marked its 20th anniversary of observing the universe in X-ray wavelengths.

And NASA looked ahead as well, as the ambitious Europa Clipper mission survived its latest funding challenge en route to a launch in the mid 2020s.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

View post:

NASA's Decade in Space: The Highs and Lows of the US Space Agency's 2010s - Space.com

NASA Mission to Space Station Goes Horribly Wrong – The Daily Beast

Posted on by

A high-tech space capsule malfunctioned Friday morning during its first NASA test mission, temporarily stranding the unmanned spacecraft in the wrong place and dealing a blow to Boeing, its developer.

The failed launch is a setback for NASA as it scrambles to finish work on a pair of new spacecraft that the space agency wants for carrying astronauts to the International Space Station. The new capsules could finally end the American space programs long reliance on Russian capsules.

Boeings CST-100 Starliner transport launched atop a two-stage Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6:36 a.m.

The initial phase of the mission went according to plan. A few minutes after launch, NASA announced that the Atlas had completed its burn. United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin consortium that provided the rocket, went on social media to boast of its success.

We had a successful launch and initial indications are that we demonstrated the launch-vehicle test objectives, performance enhancements and the mission-unique modifications developed for the safety of human spaceflight, ULA president Tory Bruno said.

NASA expected the Boeing capsule to rendezvous with the International Space Station at its orbit some 250 miles above Earth on Saturday. A successful meet-up could have cleared the way for NASA to use the Starliner to carry astronauts to the space station beginning in mid-2020.

But it was soon apparent that the 15-foot-diameter Starliner had screwed up. Starliner has an off-nominal insertion, but Boeing has spacecraft control, NASA announced. The guidance and control team is assessing their next maneuver.

It turned out that the 15-ton capsule, which is designed to operate mostly autonomously with very little interaction with a human crew, mistimed the firing of its maneuvering thrusters. The ill-timed burn gobbled up precious fuel.

Now short on gas, the Starliner wasnt able to maneuver its way to the space station, NASA determined. "It's safe to take off the table at this point, given the amount of fuel that we burned," NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a hastily-called news conference.

The good news for Boeing and NASA is that the Starliner, which has been in development since 2010 at a cost of more than $4 billion, is safe where it is, orbiting around 120 miles over Earth. Mission controllers expect to be able to land the capsule at a military missile range in White Sands, New Mexico as early as Sunday.

In the meantime, Boeing and NASA can still conduct some trials with the temporarily stranded capsule. The team is assessing what test objectives can be achieved, NASA stated.

Chicago-based Boeing tried to put on a happy face. We are proud of the team for their professionalism and quick action to protect the vehicle and enable a safe return, the company stated. We look forward to reviewing and learning from the data that has been generated from this mission so far.

But further root-cause analysis is needed, Boeing conceded.

SpaceX, which scored a $2-billion NASA contract to develop its own Dragon capsule, remained silent on social media while the Starliner fiasco unfolded. The Hawthorne, California-based rocket company stands the benefit the most from the Starliners stranding.

Starliner and Dragon are broadly similar and, under NASAs plan, would perform the same kinds of missions. Having access to two separate capsule designs, each backing up the other, could help NASA wean itself off of Russias Soyuz capsules. The Russian capsules have been the only way to get to and from the International Space Station since NASA retired its last Space Shuttle back in 2011.

SpaceX actually beat Boeing to the station. An unmanned, passenger-capable Dragon docked with the orbital lab back in March. SpaceX expects to carry astronauts for the first time in 2020. If Fridays mishap delays Starliners transition to routine, manned missions, Dragon could in theory take up the slack.

But Dragon has suffered its own accidents. The same capsule that completed the initial hook-up with the International Space Station back in March was destroyed a few weeks later during a botched ground test of its thrusters.

At the Friday press conference, NASA administrator Bridenstine urged calm. The Starliners stranding wouldnt have endangered the crews lives had anyone actually been on board, Bridenstine explained. In fact, he said, an on-board crew might have been able to troubleshoot the thruster problem, correcting the capsules course before it wasted its fuel.

The NASA administrator declined to say whether Boeing would be able to meet its 2020 deadline for manned flights with Starliner. I think it's too early for us to make that assessment.

The U.S. Air Force put an optimistic cap on an anxious day for the American space program, in the form of a social-media post from the 45th Space Wing, which manages the Cape Canaveral launch site. Trial and error are building blocks to great success, the wing stated.

View original post here:

NASA Mission to Space Station Goes Horribly Wrong - The Daily Beast

On the winter solstice heres what NASAs learning about the sun – OCRegister

Posted on by

We love our sunshine in California and on Dec. 21, we will have the least daylight in 2019. The winter solstice has a mere 9 hours, 55 minutes of light so we had the bright idea to give you a sun fix with a look at NASAs latest solar mission.

NASAs Parker Solar Probe has gone closer to the sun than any man-made object and is capable of withstanding temperatures up to 3,000 degrees (volcanic lava is between 1,300-2,200 degrees).

Its thermal protection is provided by a 4.5 inch thick carbon composite shield. Other instruments outside the shield are made from tungsten, a metal with the highest known melting point of 6,192 degrees.

Even the instruments wires are a modern technological feat most cables would melt at such close proximity to the Sun. The mission team solved the problem by growing sapphire crystal tubes to suspend the wiring, and made the wires from niobium, an extremely hard metal.

The science of the Sun-Earth connection is called Heliophysics and is a relatively young science.

In August 2018, NASA launched the probe on a seven-year mission that will bring the probe within 4 million miles of the sun. The probe has completed three of 24 planned passes through the Suns atmosphere, the corona. This month, four papers in the journal Nature describe what scientists have learned from this unprecedented exploration.

Sun Weather monitoring is becoming more and more important as the Suns flares and storms can cause blackouts due to surges in power grids as well as knock out satellites. The probe is measuring the solar wind which carries the Suns magnetic field and flows out from the Sun at around 1 million mph.

The probe is named for a living scientist: Dr. Eugene Parker, who theorized the existence of the solar wind. It is one of several spacecraft dedicated to monitoring the sun, most notably the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which monitors the suns energy 24 hours a day.

JOURNEY TO THE SUN

Follow the line from the Earth to the Sun.

SIZED UPIf the Earth was the size of a nickel, the suns diameter would be about the height of an average house door. The sun is 864,000 miles across, 109 times the diameter of Earth.

Sources: NASA, Spaceweather.com, Space.com, NOAA

Follow this link:

On the winter solstice heres what NASAs learning about the sun - OCRegister

Massive Asteroid That Could Cause Impact Event Approaching Earth Tomorrow, NASA Warns – International Business Times

Posted on by

KEY POINTS

NASA has warned that the biggest asteroid to approach Earth this month will enter the planets vicinity tomorrow. If the asteroid were to hit Earth, it could cause a major impact event that can destroy an entire city.

According to NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the approaching asteroid has been identified as 310442 (2000 CH59). This massive space rock is currently moving towards Earth at speeds of over 27,000 miles per hour. As indicated in CNEOS database, this asteroid has an estimated diameter of about 2,034 feet.

The 310442 (2000 CH59) asteroid is officially classified as an Aten asteroid, which means it follows a wide orbit within the Solar System. As the asteroid flies across space, it occasionally intersects the orbits of various planets including Mercury, Venus and Earth.

Due to the asteroids imposing size and natural orbit, it has been labeled by NASA as potentially hazardous. According to the agency, potentially hazardous asteroids are space rocks that are capable of dangerously approaching Earth during their flybys.

Potentially hazardous asteroids are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroids potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth, NASA explained in a statement.

Specifically, all asteroids with a minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.05 astronomical units or less and an absolute magnitude of 22.0 or less are considered [potentially hazardous asteroids], the agency continued.

If forces in space such as gravitational keyholes alter the path of 310442 (2000 CH59), it might find itself on a direct collision course with Earth. If this happens, Earth would experience a major impact.

Given 310442 (2000 CH59)s size, an impact from this asteroid would leave a crater thats about 4 to 6 miles wide. The explosion that would be created by the asteroid strike would generate blast waves that are powerful enough to destroy and incinerate everything in their path. The energy from the impact would be enough to destroy a large area such as a major city.

Currently, 310442 (2000 CH59) is not in danger of hitting Earth during its upcoming visit. According to CNEOS, the asteroid is expected to approach the planet on Dec. 26 at 2:54 am EST. During this time, the asteroid will be about 0.04874 astronomical units or roughly 4.5 million miles away.

Over 17,000 near-Earth asteroids remain undetected in our solar neighborhood. Pictured; an artistic illustration of an asteroid flying by Earth. Photo: NASA

View post:

Massive Asteroid That Could Cause Impact Event Approaching Earth Tomorrow, NASA Warns - International Business Times

NASA Asteroid Alert: 3 Earth-Intersecting NEOs Approaching This Weekend – International Business Times

Posted on by

KEY POINTS

NASA warned that three asteroids with Earth-crossing orbits will approach the planet during the weekend. The biggest asteroid from the group is about as long as the wingspan of a Boeing 747 plane.

The first Earth-intersecting asteroid arriving on the weekend has been identified by NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) as 2019 YS2. According to the agency, this asteroid is currently moving towards Earth at a speed of almost 13,000 miles per hour. It has an estimated diameter of about 69 feet.

Trailing behind 2019 YS2 is an asteroid known as 2019 YX. CNEOS estimated that this asteroid is about 180 feet wide and is currently flying across space at speeds of up to 13,100 miles per hour.

The last asteroid that will visit Earths vicinity this weekend is called 2019 YT2. According to CNEOS, this asteroid is traveling at an average speed of almost 19,000 miles per hour and has an estimated diameter of about 220 feet.

All three approaching asteroids have been classified by NASA as members of the Apollo family of space rocks. Like other Apollo asteroids, 2019 YS2, 2019 YX and 2019 YT2 have very wide orbits within the Solar System. As they travel across space, they occasionally intersect the orbits of other planets such as Earth.

If these asteroids end up hitting the planet their Earth-intersections, none of them will most likely cause a major impact event due to their size and current speed. Instead, these asteroids will most likely cause powerful explosions in the atmosphere.

According to CNEOS, all three asteroids are expected to cross Earths orbit this weekend. As noted by the agency, 2019 YS2 will approach the planet on Dec. 28 at 7:09 p.m. EST. During this time, the asteroid will be about 0.00569 astronomical units or roughly 530,000 miles away from the planets center.

2019 YX, on the other hand, will fly past the planet on Dec. 29 at 5:49 p.m. EST from a distance of 0.04725 astronomical units or about 4.4 million miles away.

As for 2019 YT2, this asteroid will debut in Earths vicinity on Dec. 29 at 11:05 p.m. EST. It will approach the planet from a distance of 0.03629 astronomical units or around 3.4 million miles away.

Image of two different asteroids captured by NASA. Photo: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL

See more here:

NASA Asteroid Alert: 3 Earth-Intersecting NEOs Approaching This Weekend - International Business Times

NASA spacecraft stumbles upon trail of shooting stars – Herald and News

Posted on by

SAN FRANCISCO (WPB) Once there was an asteroid that flew too close to the sun. It was small and dark and rocky, too fragile to withstand such scorching conditions. The asteroid cracked, releasing a burst of dust and debris. Though it continued traveling along its orbit, it dropped millions of fragments in its wake.

Humans named the asteroid Phaethon, for the child of the Greek sun god who couldnt handle his fathers chariot and nearly destroyed the world. Each December, when our planet plunges through Phaethons wake, we can see bits of the broken asteroid burn up in our atmosphere. Researchers call the light flashes the Geminid meteor shower. Children call them shooting stars.

Scientists have struggled for years to photograph Phaethons debris trail until a NASA spacecraft serendipitously stumbled upon it.

Mystery solver

Parker Solar Probe, which took flight in 2018, was designed to solve the enduring mystery of how our star gives off energy. Swooping closer to the suns surface than any earthly object has before, the spacecraft measures magnetic fields, scoops up energetic particles and snaps images of the suns atmosphere and its streaming solar wind.

While retreating from its third close approach to the sun in November, the probe captured something curious with its wide-field imager. Just to the left of the Milky Way, there was a faint line of dust.

Karl Battams, an astrophysicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, compared the position of the dust trail to Phaethons known orbit. It was a perfect match.

Were very confident that were seeing the Geminid meteor shower, Battams said last week at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The segment of the trail captured by Parker Solar Probe is 60,000 miles across and 12 million miles long, though the dust in fact suffuses the entire length of Phaethons 524-day orbit. Astronomers estimate it contains a billion kilograms of material.

Messy habits

Phaethons messy habits make it unusual among asteroids. Some researchers even refer to it as a rock comet, though it spews dust instead of gas. By studying this debris trail, scientists hope to learn more about what caused Phaethon to splinter several thousand years ago.

The asteroids history may one day be deeply relevant to Earths future; NASA has classified the Mount Kilimanjaro-size rock as a potentially hazardous Near-Earth Object (but no collisions are predicted for at least 400 years).

Astronomers have tried several times to capture Phaethons trail with the Hubble Space Telescope. But because its so close to the sun, its light is swamped by our stars glow, and theyd never been successful until Solar Probe went soaring past.

Weve seen something in the data that weve never seen before, and in fact no one has ever seen before, Battams said. Solar Probe has given us answers to questions that we werent even asking.

Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to perform at least 21 more loops around the sun, giving it 21 additional chances to capture Phaethons dust. If NASAs luck holds, Battams said, this wont be our last look at the trail of shooting stars.

Read more from the original source:

NASA spacecraft stumbles upon trail of shooting stars - Herald and News

NASAs Hubble spots flying saucer, but not the alien kind – BGR

Posted on by

If science fiction flicks have taught us one thing, its that when aliens eventually discover our planet theyll be arriving in flying discs that seem to defy gravity. These mythical flying saucers are a well-worn sci-fi trope, but NASAs trusty Hubble Space Telescope just spotted a flying saucer of its own, only this one is far larger than anything wed want to see visiting Earth.

The image you see above, which was captured by Hubble, shows a galaxy known as IC 2051. As NASA explains in a new blog post, the galaxy is located in the constellation Mensa, and is situated some 85 million light-years from Earth.

The galaxy is huge, stretching its long arms out into space, but its the very center of the galaxy in the image above that reminds us most of a flying saucer.

NASA explains:

This galaxy was observed for a Hubble study ongalactic bulges, the bright round central regions of spiral galaxies.Spiral galaxieslike IC 2051 are shaped a bit like flying saucers when seen from the side; they comprise a thin, flat disk, with a bulky bulge of stars in the center that extends above and below the disk. These bulges are thought to play a key role in how galaxies evolve, and to influence the growth of thesupermassive black holeslurking at the centers of most spirals.

Its observations like this that can teach astronomers a great deal about how other galaxies grow and die. Our understanding of the types of galaxies that are out there in the universe isnt as robust as we might like to believe, and theres still a lot we dont know. Spotting and categorizing different types of galaxies can help us learn more about them while also revealing things about our own home, the Milky Way.

Image Source: ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Erwin et al.

Link:

NASAs Hubble spots flying saucer, but not the alien kind - BGR

Christmas on the Moon: How NASA astronauts read the Bible while barreling over the Moon – Express.co.uk

Posted on by

NASAs Apollo 8 in 1968 saw the first-ever humans venture into deep space and reach the Moon. The monumental achievement on December 24, Christmas Eve, was broadcast around the world from lunar orbit.

NASA astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders took turns during the broadcast to read from the Book of Genesis.

Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament and describes Gods creation of the universe and Earth.

NASA said: As one of the most turbulent, tragic years in American history drew to a close, millions around the world were watching and listening as the Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to orbit another world.

As their command module floated above the lunar surface, the astronauts beamed back images of the Moon and Earth and took turns reading from the book of Genesis, closing with a wish for everyone on the good Earth.

The astronauts ended their broadcast saying: And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you all of you on the good Earth.

READ MORE: Can you see the 'Ring of Fire' solar eclipse from the UK?

On the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission, Mr Borman recalled the iconic moment.

He said: We were told that on Christmas Eve we would have the largest audience that had ever listened to a human voice.

And the only instructions that we got from NASA was to do something appropriate.

Mr Lovell, who later commanded the doomed Apollo 13 flight, said Genesis was fitting piece of scripture to read.

The astronaut said: The first ten verses of Genesis is the foundation of many of the world's religions, not just the Christian religion.

There are more people in other religions than the Christian religion around the world, and so this would be appropriate to that and so that's how it came to pass.

The Book of Genesis is divided into the creation of the world and the creation of man.

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

NASAs Apollo 8 is also famous for a monumental photograph snapped by Mr Anders.

The iconic image dubbed Earthrise features our blue, marbled home planet rising over the Moons pockmarked surface.

Mr Bornan later recalled the experience of seeing the Earth from deep space during a press conference.

He said: I dont think its changed anything in me but it certainly has amplified the feeling, the basic, feeling Ive had for many years about the Earth.

Read more:

Christmas on the Moon: How NASA astronauts read the Bible while barreling over the Moon - Express.co.uk

We Will Find Alien Life in the Next Decade, NASA Scientists Say – Interesting Engineering

Posted on by

The line "E.T. phone home" from the 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial may become a commonly pronounced sentence within the next decade. All because NASA scientists are of the firm belief that they will find alien life in the next 10 years.

Several plans for space and planet exploration are in motion, and one of the main searches will indeed be centered around extraterrestrial life.

RELATED: ALIEN CIVILIZATIONS MAY HAVE VISITED EARTH MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO, STUDY SAYS

NASA scientists, engineers, astronauts, and personnel have their work cut out for them over the next decade:

The aerospace company has plans to launch a rover to Mars next year in order to collect rock samples on the Red Planet. Two of its spacecraft will be visiting the faraway ocean worlds onJupiterand Saturn's moons. Moreover, new space telescopes are going to be used to observe planets outside of our solar system.

Big plans that may prove extraterrestrial life exists out there.

These are not new plans, as NASA has been forging its alien life search forward for years, but recently its scientists believe they are on the brink of finally discovering it.

For instance, in 2017 former NASA administrator, Thomas Zurbuchentold Congress "With all of this activity related to the search for life, inso many different areas, we are on the verge of one of the most profound discoveries ever."

Furthermore, NASA's former chief scientist, Ellen Stofan said in 2015 that she believed they would "get strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to 20 years."

Stofan added, "We know where to look, we know how to look, and in most cases, we have the technology."

It seems it's just a matter of time.

Astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner, Didier Queloz, summed it all up perfectly when he said "I can't believe we are the only living entity in the universe. There are just way too many planets, way too many stars, and the chemistry is universal. The chemistry that led to life has to happen elsewhere."

Mars is the first stop next year, as the rover will be launched with the hope of it landing on the Red Planet in 2021. The realistic view of finding life on Mars is more linked to past signs of life on the planet, as its current state is inhabitable. The rover's job is to look for fossils of past life.

From then on NASA's plans keep accelerating in its quest for signs of alien life. Only time will tell what will be found.

View post:

We Will Find Alien Life in the Next Decade, NASA Scientists Say - Interesting Engineering