All campus activities are canceled for 48 hours, including athletics, classes, and all campus-related activities. Please DO NOT come to campus tomorrow.
The #Artemis I mission to the Moon has been postponed. Teams attempted to fix an issue related to a leak in the hardware transferring fuel into the rocket, but were unsuccessful. Join NASA leaders later today for a news conference. Check for updates: youtu.be/JWAA5P-iFJs
ALT The Space Launch System rocket sits on the launch pad. In the background, the sun rises behind clouds. Green bushes sit in the foreground.
The launch was again scrubbed due to engine leak issues. We will monitor NASA's plans for another launch attempt and keep folks posted on our plans to live stream the event. Today's event is cancelled.
Let's try this again! NASA has rescheduled the Artemis 1 launch for this Saturday. The launch window starts at 2:17pm and is open for 2 hours. We will be at the Planetarium starting at 2 for anyone who wants to check this out. We'll keep trying until the candle is lit!
The launch of #Artemis I is no longer happening today as teams work through an issue with an engine bleed. Teams will continue to gather data, and we will keep you posted on the timing of the next launch attempt. blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/
Giant news from a giant planet!
@NASAWebb captured a new view of Jupiter in infrared light, uncovering clues to the planet’s inner life. Two moons, rings, and distant galaxies are visible. Get the details: go.nasa.gov/3pErDkC
ALT A wide field view showcases Jupiter in the upper right quadrant. The planet’s swirling horizontal stripes are rendered in blues, browns, and cream. Electric blue auroras glow above Jupiter’s north and south poles. A white glow emanates out from the auroras. Along the planet’s equator, rings glow in a faint white. These rings are one million times fainter than the planet itself! At the far left edge of the rings, a moon appears as a tiny white dot. This moon is only about 12 miles (20 km) across. Slightly further to the left, another moon, about 100 miles (150 km) across, glows with tiny white diffraction spikes. The rest of the image is the blackness of space, with faintly glowing white galaxies in the distance.
NASA will be taking the first steps to take humans back to the Moon on Monday.
We will be live streaming the launch on our dome! The launch window is between 8:33 am and 10:33 am EDT. We will have staff here starting at 8am to help answer questions. This event is free.
Join us on Wednesday August 17th (7:30 PM -- 9:30 PM) at the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy for another in-person Astronomy on Tap. The event is rain or shine, but if the weather is suitable we might be able to do telescope viewing after the event🔭🔭. Be many!!
"This is just one sliver of data that @NASAWebb is providing us."
Astrophysicist Knicole Colon explains the importance of using spectroscopy, and how we can use it to find exoplanets, and even gaze into their atmospheres. nasa.gov/webbfirstimages#UnfoldTheUniverse
Better together. International collaboration gave us the most powerful space telescope ever made, and the deepest infrared views of the universe ever seen. With our partners at @ESA and @CSA_ASC, the science can begin. Together we #UnfoldTheUniverse: go.nasa.gov/3azyGqM
ALT The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which, have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.
If you missed the Tuesday and Thursday morning planet viewings, you can join Bob Victor tomorrow morning before sunrise to view the 5 naked eye planets!
At 5:06am you will also be able to spot the International Space Station passing under the line of planets in East Lansing.
We had a great planet viewing session this morning. Mercury wasn't quite above the treeline yet and Saturn was to the right of the viewer in this photo. There's still time to see all 5 planets in the morning sky, in order from then sun for the rest of this month.