kidsneedscience:

On the nights of January 7/8, 1610, Galileo Galilei noted in his notebooks the discovery of the first 4 Jovian moons, which he named after the powerful Medici family, naming them Medicean I, II and III.  The name Europa (above left) comes from Greek mythology-Europa was abducted by Zeus (the Greek name for Jupiter) in the form of a bull and bore him many children.  Io is also named for a child of Zeus (Jupiter) the daughter of Inachus, who was raped by Jupiter. Jupiter, in an effort to hide his crime from his wife, Juno, transformed Io into a heifer.  Calllisto (on the right) was named for another seduction of Jupiter.  Callisto was the daughter of Lycaon, who was a follower of Artemis, famous as goddess of the hunt and for her chastity.  To punish Callisto for lying with Jupiter, Artemis banished her.  Without protection, Jupiter was forced to change Callisto and her son into bears to hide them from his wife Hera’s fury.  Eventually, Jupiter placed them both in the sky as the Ursa Major and Minor, the Big and Little Bears (known today as the Big and Little Dippers).  Ganymede was the fourth moon discovered by Galileo, named for the shepherd boy known for his incredible beauty and kidnapped by Jupiter.  These names would not become common for several hundred years.  Today, Jupiter has fifty named moons:

1. Io  2. Europa 

3. Ganymede 
4. Callisto 
5. Amalthea 
6. Himalia 
7. Elara 
8. Pasiphae 
9. Sinope 
10. Lysithea 
11. Carme 
12. Ananke 
13. Leda 
14. Thebe 
15. Adrastea 
16. Metis 
17. Callirrhoe 
18. Themisto 
19. Megaclite 
20. Taygete 
21. Chaldene 
22. Harpalyke 
23. Kalyke 
24. Iocaste 
25. Erinome 
26. Isonoe 
27. Praxidike 
28. Autonoe 
29. Thyone 
30. Hermippe 
31. Aitne 
32. Eurydome 
33. Euanthe 
34. Euporie 
35. Orthosie 
36. Sponde 
37. Kale 
38. Pasithee 
39. Hegemone 
40. Mneme 
41. Aoede 
42. Thelxinoe 
43. Arche 
44. Kallichore 
45. Helike 
46. Carpo 
47. Eukelade 
48. Cyllene 
49. Kore 
50. Herse 
and an additional 16 provisional moons:
1. S/2003 J2 
2. S/2003 J3 
3. S/2003 J4 
4. S/2003 J5 
5. S/2003 J9 
6. S/2003 J10 
7. S/2003 J12 
8. S/2003 J15 
9. S/2003 J16 
10. S/2003 J18 
11. S/2003 J19 
12. S/2003 J23 
13. S/2010 J 1 
14. S/2010 J 2 
15. S/2011 J1 
16. S/2011 J2 
All images courtesy NASA.  Thanks also to NASA for additional historical background

discoverynews:

it’s an amazing feat of engineering, cooperation and video game-style controls.

Shuttle Endeavour Begins LA Road Trip

Space Shuttle Endeavour will spend the rest of its days as a museum exhibit at the California Science Center (CSC) in Los Angeles. But its final mission has just commenced — a two day haul through LA streets.

A multi-axle, a computer controlled wheeled crawler called the Over Land Transporter (OLT) will carry the shuttle for most of the journey. But a Toyota Tundra will haul it the last 400 meters.

Although not a publicized viewing area for the public, local police departments advised thousands may turn up to see Endeavour waiting for its next move. Are you going to stop and say hey?

join the trip… AND see more photos…

discoverynews: this ring shadow is gorgeous! sometimes I wish Earth had rings. Saturn’s Southern Side: Big Pic Saturn’s southern reaches are draped in the shadow of the huge planet’s iconic ring system in a spectacular new picture from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The near-infrared photo was snapped on June 15 beautifully captures the ring shadow on the planet. video after the jump…
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discoverynews:

this ring shadow is gorgeous!

sometimes I wish Earth had rings.

Saturn’s Southern Side: Big Pic

Saturn’s southern reaches are draped in the shadow of the huge planet’s iconic ring system in a spectacular new picture from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

The near-infrared photo was snapped on June 15 beautifully captures the ring shadow on the planet.

video after the jump…

quantumaniac:

Chemistry On Mars

The Mars Science Laboratory will be seeking clues to the planetary puzzle about life on Mars, the Curiosity rover is one of the best-outfitted chemistry missions ever. Scientists say Curiosity is the next best thing to launching a team of trained chemists to Mars’ surface.

“The Mars Science Laboratory mission has the goal of understanding whether its landing site on Mars was ever a habitable environment, a place that could have supported microbial life,” says MSL Deputy Project Scientist, Ashwin Vasavada, who provides a look “under the hood” in this informative video from the American Chemical Society.

“Curiosity is really a geochemical experiment, and a whole laboratory of chemical equipment is on the rover,” says Vasavada. “It will drill into rocks, and analyze material from those rocks with sophisticated instruments.”

Curiosity will drive around the landing site at Gale Crater and sample the soil, layer by layer, to piece together the history of Mars, trying to determine if and when the planet went from a wetter, warmer world to its current cold and dry conditions.

The payload includes mast-mounted instruments to survey the surroundings and assess potential sampling targets from a distance, and there are also instruments on Curiosity’s robotic arm for close-up inspections. Laboratory instruments inside the rover will analyze samples from rocks, soils and the atmosphere.

The two instruments on the mast are a high-definition imaging system, and a laser-equipped, spectrum-reading camera called ChemCam that can hit a rock with a special laser beam, and using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, can observe the light emitted from the laser’s spark and analyze it with the spectrometer to understand the chemical composition of the soil and rock on Mars.

discoverynews: These are the first tracks made on this part of the Red Planet… to our knowledge… She Roves! Curiosity Hits the Martian Road ASA’s new Mars probe lived up to its billing as a rover on Wednesday with a successful first test drive, its first motion since settling down inside an ancient impact basin on Aug. 6. oh, the places she’ll go… Favorite quote of the story from a NASA project manager: “We built a rover, so unless the rover roves, we really haven’t accomplished anything.”
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discoverynews:

These are the first tracks made on this part of the Red Planet… to our knowledge…

She Roves! Curiosity Hits the Martian Road

ASA’s new Mars probe lived up to its billing as a rover on Wednesday with a successful first test drive, its first motion since settling down inside an ancient impact basin on Aug. 6.

oh, the places she’ll go…

Favorite quote of the story from a NASA project manager: “We built a rover, so unless the rover roves, we really haven’t accomplished anything.”

itsfullofstars: NASA’s Astronaut Group 8 was the first selection in nine years of astronaut candidates since Group 7 in August 1969. Due to the long delay between the last Apollo lunar mission in 1972 and the first flight of the Space Shuttle in 1981, few astronauts from the older groups stayed with NASA. Thus in January 1978 a new group of 35 astronauts, including NASA’s first female astronauts, was selected.[1] Since then, a new group of candidates has been selected roughly every two years.[2] In Astronaut Group 8, two different astronaut groups were formed: pilots and mission specialists. (With shuttle classes, NASA stopped sending non-pilots for one year of UPT.) Of the 35 selected, six were women, three were male African Americans, and one was a male Asian American. Within this group a sizable number of American spaceflight firsts were achieved: First American woman in space: Sally Ride (June 18, 1983, STS-7)[3] First African-American in space: Guion Bluford (August 30, 1983, STS-8)[4] First American woman to perform an EVA: Kathryn Sullivan (October 11, 1984, STS-41-G)[5] First mother in space: Anna Fisher (November 8, 1984, STS-51-A) First Asian-American in space: Ellison Onizuka (January 24, 1985, STS-51-C)[6] First African-American to pilot and command a mission: Frederick Gregory (April 29, 1985, STS-51-B; November 23, 1989, STS-33) First American to launch on a Russian rocket: Norman Thagard (March 14, 1995, Soyuz TM-21)[7] First American woman to make a long-duration spaceflight: Shannon Lucid (March to September 1996, Mir NASA-1)[8] First American active duty astronauts to marry: Robert Gibson and Rhea Seddon[9][10] First mother to be hired as an astronaut: Shannon Lucid First Army astronaut: Bob Stewart [wikipedia]
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itsfullofstars:

NASA’s Astronaut Group 8 was the first selection in nine years of astronaut candidates since Group 7 in August 1969. Due to the long delay between the last Apollo lunar mission in 1972 and the first flight of the Space Shuttle in 1981, few astronauts from the older groups stayed with NASA. Thus in January 1978 a new group of 35 astronauts, including NASA’s first female astronauts, was selected.[1] Since then, a new group of candidates has been selected roughly every two years.[2]

In Astronaut Group 8, two different astronaut groups were formed: pilots and mission specialists. (With shuttle classes, NASA stopped sending non-pilots for one year of UPT.) Of the 35 selected, six were women, three were male African Americans, and one was a male Asian American. Within this group a sizable number of American spaceflight firsts were achieved:

[wikipedia]