SPACEElon Musk's SpaceX keeps on completing milestones on its way to building that city on Mars ASAP, but first it must prove it can handle reliably traveling to somewhere much closer: the International Space Station, currently orbiting Earth.
For those of you in the states enjoying a welcomed break from the summer sun, today you may just get more than you bargained for. As the moon passes this afternoon across the northern hemisphere, the usually invisible transition will make its mark in daylight as it eclipses part of the sun. And so long as the clouds stay clear of the view, you may just have an interesting afternoon show to look out for.
Today marks a rare occasion, one where alignment makes a spectacle in the sky. While you can expect the autumn day to have cool weather and an added air of sunshine, you can also expect quite a surprise when part of the sun disappears in the mid-afternoon shade. It’s a rare occurrence that you won’t catch for another 3 years at the soonest, but the partial solar eclipse won’t be enjoyed by everyone. Mostly it’ll be a show for the northern United States.
As if this week's spectacular Orionid meteor shower wasn't enough, much or North America will be treated to an amazing partial solar eclipse this Thursday, Oct. 23.
Young would-be space explorers received some bad news this week. Due to the Sun entering in to a phase of relatively low solar activity, cosmic radiation is projected to increase to such levels that any prolonged manned space expedition would prove harmful and even deadly to the astronauts involved.
This week is shaping up to be an exceptional one for astronomy. Fresh off the heals of the Orionid meteor shower comes another solar eclipse on Thursday, Oct. 23 which will be visible to most residents of North America.
Predicted to occur this Thursday, Oct. 23, the off-center new moon will pass in front of the sun creating a partial solar eclipse seen across the United States. Though the predicted visibility will range anywhere from twelve to seventy percent of clarity, researchers at NASA expect that the event will be widely visible across the entire continental US.