Our InSight mission will place a fixed science outpost on Mars to study its deep interior. Findings and research from this project will address one of the most fundamental questions we have about planetary and solar system science – How in the world did these rocky planets form?
By investigating the interior structure and processes of Mars, the InSight mission will gain a better understanding of the evolutionary formation of planets, including Earth.
InSight will record Mars’ vital signs to learn more about the planet, including:
Seismic Activity:
A seismometer will be used to record the seismic activity on Mars. This will give us information on the crust, mantel and core; and the relationship between them.
Temperature:
A heat flow probe will be used to take Mars’ temperature and determine the change over the course of a full Martian year.
Reflexes:
By looking at how the rotation of Mars wobbles, we will better understand what the core size may be and its composition.
Launch for the InSight mission is scheduled for March 2016, and even though you can’t physically travel with the lander, you can send your name to the Red Planet onboard. Make sure to submit your name before Sept. 8!
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
A wonderful milky way over the Australia
New Video! Reflection nebulae in a nutshell! Follow Evant Horizon for more astronomy posts!
First time shooting the Perseid meteor shower. Definitely doing this again and I’ll try to get the Geminids in December as well. Finally edited and put these pictures together. This one turned out pretty good I think, I also have some more on my flickr account with better quality. There’s about 40 meteors here, captured from both nights and combined into one. Was up on Mt. Lemmon for both nights and started shooting from midnight to about 4am.
Our Space Launch System (SLS) is an advanced launch vehicle for exploration beyond Earth’s orbit into deep space. SLS, the world’s most powerful rocket, will launch astronauts in our Orion spacecraft on missions to an asteroid and eventually to Mars!
A launch system required to carry humans faster and farther than ever before will need a powerful engine, aka the RS-25 engine. This engine makes a modern race car or jet engine look like a wind-up toy. With the ability to produce 512,000 pounds of trust, the RS-25 engine will produce 10% more thrust than the Saturn V rockets that launched astronauts on journeys to the moon!
Another consideration for using these engines for future spaceflight was that 16 of them already existed from the shuttle program. Using a high-performance engine that already existed gave us a considerable boost in developing its next rocket for space exploration.
Once ready, four RS-25 engines will power the core stage of our SLS into deep space and Mars.
Hubble Peers into the Heart of a Galactic Maelstrom
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows Messier 96, a spiral galaxy just over 35 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). It is the nearest group containing both bright spirals and a bright elliptical galaxy (Messier 105).
September 04, 2015
Northern lights (by Teemu Lautamies)
Saturn, Tethys, Rings, and Shadows
Dust Band Around the Nucleus of “Black Eye Galaxy” M64
Disclaimer: These are online resources that I have found, They are not meant to be your only source of study, instead you can use them to your enhance your normal study. I don’t know what level these resources are aimed at, but I’ve tried to provide a range for a number of different topics. I don’t study Physics, so I don’t know how accurate these are, or how they relate to course syllabi.
How do we know the Big Bang actually happened?
Visible Earth - A catalogue of satellite images of our home planet detailing everything from atmospheric data to city lights or natural disasters.
NASA - NASA homepage with links to other NASA sites. FAQ
British National Space Centre - Site containing information about current satellites launches, solar system and Earth observation. There are links from the ‘Learning Zone’ to other Space sites.
Online Physics Lecture Notes - A directory of online undergraduate level astronomy and physics lecture notes from various universities.
Physics in Perspective: 2013 lectures - Video: Dr Andreas Freise talks about finding black holes with lasers.
Galileo: An educational film - An educational film dramatising the life of Galileo and his scientific discoveries.
Why our universe might exist on a knife-edge
Is our universe the only universe?
Distant time and the hint of a multiverse
The hunt for a supermassive black hole
The story behind the Mars Rovers
The design of the universe
Shedding light on dark matter
Why did Pluto get kicked out of the planet club?
Geocentrism and heliocentrism
Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
An overview of orbital mechanics
Orbital mechanics - These drawings simplify the physics of orbital mechanics, making it easy to grasp some of the basic concepts.
Gravity is More Than a Name
Circular and Satellite Motion Interactives
Vectors - Motion and Forces in Two Dimensions
Vectors, Projectiles, and 2-D Motion Interactives
One dimensional motion - velocity, speed, time, acceleration, projectiles.
Two dimensional motion - projectile velocity, inclines, centripetal force and acceleration.
Introduction to vectors and scalars - Khan Academy (YouTube)
Physics: Introduction to Vectors (YouTube)
Momentum and Its Conservation
Momentum and Collisions Interactives
1-D Kinematics Interactives
The simple pendulum - Excellent animations proving assorted points about the simple harmonic motion approximation for pendulums.
The Physics of Body Mechanics
Momentum and forces (BBC Bitesize)
Forces and Newton’s laws
Impacts and linear momentum
Moments, torque and angular momentum
Oscillatory motion
Work, Energy, and Power
Work and Energy Interactives
Introduction to work and energy - Khan Academy
SparkNotes: SAT Physics: Work, Energy, and Power
Thermal Physics
Thermodynamics
SparkNotes: SAT Physics: Thermal Physics
Thermal Physics - Heat and Temperature (YouTube)
Static Electricity
Static Electricity Interactives
The Electromagnetic Spectrum Song by Emerson & Wong
Electromagnetic Spectrum - Introduction
Electricity and magneticism (Khan academy)
Current Electricity
Magnetism Interactives
Direct Current Versus Alternating Current
Circuits
Circuit symbols review notes
Circuit components overview
Resistors in Circuits
Batteries in Circuits
Capacitors in Circuits
Online circuit lab
Electric Current
Electric Resistance
Electric Power
Waves
Waves and Sound Interactives
Sound Waves and Music
Mechanical waves and sound
Light Waves and Color
Light waves
Reflection and the Ray Model of Light
Refraction and Lenses Interactives
Refraction and the Ray Model of Light
Circles of light: the mathematics of rainbows - An in-depth study of the mathematics involved in the study of rainbows. For advanced students only.
The Discovery Of Radioactivity - 100 years ago, a group of scientists unknowingly ushered in the Atomic Age. Their work initiated paths of research which changed our understanding of the building blocks of matter.
Light: Particle or a Wave?
Refraction of Light
Diffraction of Light
Sources of Visible Light
Laser Fundamentals
Prisms and Beamsplitters
What is the speed of dark? Vsauce. YouTube (2014).
Primary Colors
Diffraction of Light
The Discovery and Research on the Atom - A description of some of the important developments in understanding the atom an its constituents. Some parts of the site are very mathematical and go beyond college level physics.
Large Hadron Collider finds elusive new particle after 50 years
Building atoms
Revise atom structure (S-cool, intro level)
Build an atom - Move the electrons, protons and neutrons yourself to create different atoms.
Torques - Definitions of various torques, statements of Euler’s equations.
Elasticity - Definitions for a selection of topics related to elasticity.
Forces - Glossary of terms and mathematical derivations for various forces.
Friction - A few good definitions relating to friction.
Mass and Weight - Brief definitions for various mass and weight related topics.
A Dictionary of Units of Measurement - The history and conversion of different numeric systems
Physics Forums - A busy forum covering every physics topic under the sun. Great for everything from homework questions to discussing the origins of the universe.
The Laws List - The Laws List is an alphabetised guide featuring several hundred laws, rules, principles and other related topics in physics, from aberration to the Zeeman effect.
Astro Physical Calculator - A fully working physical calculator with physical constants stored in memory.
Introduction to MRI physics - A detailed page on the workings of mri scanners with lots of animations (requires shockwave).
How Does a Cat Land on its Feet? - The saying is that cats always land on their feet. This animation explains how they do this.
X‑rays
What physics taught me about marketing
Physics Timeline
Careers in physics
What can I do with my degree in physics?
Careers In Physics - American Physical Society
Important Dates and Discoveries - The Physics of the Universe
The International Space Station above the spinning Earth.
Photo credit: NASA
I love space. I've been to space camp in Huntsville Alabama and I am planning on going every summer. I look forward to be an astronaut for nasa on the sls that is planned to be launched 2018. And the manned mission 2030. So yeah I won't let anything get in my way.
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