Solar Wx

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• NASA Satellite Provides First View of the Solar System's Tail
• Launching Alphasat
• NASA, Space Station Partners Announce Future Crew Members
• Egyptian Dust Plume, Red Sea
• NASA Invites Media to View Orion Heat Shield Near Boston
• Probing vegetation
• Trial by vacuum
• Luca's day out
• Two NASA Spacecraft Begin New Exploration Assignments
• SOFIA Observatory Peers Into Heart of Orion Nebula

NASA Satellite Provides First View of the Solar System's Tail Posted: 10 Jul 2013 11:30 AM PDT Like a comet, the solar system has a tail. NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has for the first time mapped out the structure of this tail, which is shaped like a four-leaf clover. Original Source

Launching Alphasat Posted: 10 Jul 2013 11:26 AM PDT Europe's largest and most powerful telecom satellite is just two weeks from launch, and the team is busy preparing for its send-off in Kourou Original Source

NASA, Space Station Partners Announce Future Crew Members Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:28 AM PDT NASA and its international partners have appointed three International Space Station crew members to round out future expeditions to the orbiting laboratory. Original Source

Egyptian Dust Plume, Red Sea Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:27 AM PDT This astronaut photograph acquired on June 22, 2013 provides a panoramic view of most of the length of the Red Sea. The northernmost end, the Gulf of Suez, is just visible at the top center of the image and is fully 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) in ground distance from the International Space Station (ISS). The Nile River snakes its way northward through the Sahara Desert on the left. Much closer to the camera—but still more than 550 kilometers (340 miles) from the ISS—is a dust plume surging out over the Red Sea and reaching most of the way to Saudi Arabia. The point source of this plume is the delta of the southern Egyptian river Khor Baraka. Astronaut images have shown that this delta is a common source for dust plumes, mainly because it is a relatively large area of exposed, loose sand and clay that can be easily lofted into the air. The river also cuts a narrow valley through a high range of hills that channels the wind, making it blow faster. This dramatic view of the Red Sea shows the generally parallel margins of the opposing coastlines. The rift, or depression, that now holds the Red Sea has been opening slowly for about 30 million years and is nearly 300 kilometers (200 miles) wide in the region of the dust plume. The depression only began filling with seawater within the past five million years. The satisfyingly good fit between the coastlines allows the viewer to easily visualize how Africa and Arabia were once a single landmass before the Red Sea rift formed. Image Credit: NASA Original Source

NASA Invites Media to View Orion Heat Shield Near Boston Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:24 AM PDT NASA officials will visit Textron Defense Systems in Wilmington, Mass., Wednesday, July 17, to view progress being made on the heat shield for the agency's Orion spacecraft. Original Source

Probing vegetation Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:22 AM PDT The first global map of vegetation from the recently launched Proba-V has been unveiled, demonstrating that the satellite is on track to continue a 15-year legacy of global vegetation monitoring from space Original Source

Trial by vacuum Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:21 AM PDT Earth-observing mission Sentinel-1 begins month-long thermal vacuum testing Original Source

Luca's day out Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:20 AM PDT Human spaceflight and operations image of the week: Luca Parmitano's first spacewalk Original Source

Two NASA Spacecraft Begin New Exploration Assignments Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:19 AM PDT Two NASA spacecraft have been assigned a new mission after successfully completing their original science objectives earlier this year. Original Source

SOFIA Observatory Peers Into Heart of Orion Nebula Posted: 10 Jul 2013 08:17 AM PDT A new image from NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) shows a complex distribution of interstellar dust and stars in the Orion nebula. Original Source

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