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NASA saw the Northern Lights and seized their chance in the wee hours of Thursday morning, launching 3 scientific discipline rockets into active auroras within a couple hours of one some other.

Kristina Lynch, main investigator on the mission, said, "The visible light produced in the temper as aurora is the last step of a chain of processes connecting the solar wind to the atmosphere. We are seeking to empathize what structure in these visible signatures can tell us about the electrodynamics of processes in a higher place."

The instruments flew on Black Ix sounding rockets, launched from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The third rocket was part of the Ionospheric Structuring: In Situ and Groundbased Depression Altitude StudieS, or ISINGLASS, mission. ISINGLASS. Because we have to requite something a head-scratching acronym, or else it wouldn't really be NASA, now would information technology?

SpaceX is either bankrupt enough, or stoked enough on their fleet, that they've accepted "a meaning deposit" from 2 people — naturally, two unnamed people — toward a moon mission in 2018. The as-yet-bearding astronauts will exist in the Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon Heavy rocket, launching from Pad 39A. In SpaceX's words: "This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep infinite for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and farther into the Solar Organization than any before them."

In the official teaser, SpaceX tips a chapeau to NASA, whose Commercial Crew Program enabled SpaceX to develop the Dragon two in the kickoff place. Perhaps I'm a terrible person for routinely picking on flat earthers, simply this makes me want to crowdfund tickets for these people.

Saturn and Enceladus, with bonus cryovolcano. Inset: Enceladus, zoomed way in. Epitome and inset: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Ted Stryk

A scientist sifting through old Voyager 1 data found this long-ignored epitome of Saturn that came with a prize. Enceladus is visible in the background, in its waxing crescent stage; near its bottom, there's a visible plume coming from the surface. Turns out this was a snapshot of a cryovolcano in mid-eruption, taken past Voyager 1 a day after its closest approach to Saturn. After going through the raw data with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, amateur paradigm processor Ted Stryk is ready to present his piece of work to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. "After combining different [raw data] subsets as well equally the total set," Stryk said, "I am confident in the detection of the plumes, just where they should be."

Sometimes when I'grand annoyed, I threaten to burn the object of my badgerer into the sun. NASA is taking this idea more literally. They are sending a spacecraft to the sun, in order to effigy out some longstanding scientific questions.

Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins

Scientists are conducting the Solar Probe Plus mission to figure out what gives the solar wind its speed, why the surface of the sun is so much cooler than its atmosphere, and perhaps even what causes the emission of solar energetic particles. On its terminal few close passes to the dominicus, Solar Probe+ will get within virtually 3.7 million miles of the lord's day — about a 10th the distance between the dominicus and Mercury. They're planning to proceed the science payload absurd with a 4.5-inch-thick carbon composite estrus shield.

One last thought: This anticipated finer understanding of the Sun represents a baby step toward condign a Kardashev Type II civilization, capable of harnessing the unabridged energy output of our parent star.