APOD - Trail of the Returner

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2020 December 31

Trail of the Returner
Image Credit & Copyright: Zhuoxiao Wang

Explanation: Familiar stars of a northern winter's night shine in this night skyview, taken near Zhangye, Gansu, China and the border with Inner Mongolia. During the early hours of December 17 Orion is near center in the single exposure that captures a fireball streaking across the sky, almost as bright as yellowish Mars shining on the right. Splitting Gemini's twin bright stars Castor and Pollux near the top of the frame, the fireball's trail and timing are consistent with the second skipping atmospheric entry of the Chang'e 5 mission's returner capsule. The returner capsule was successfully recovered after landing in Inner Mongolia, planet Earth with about 2 kilograms of lunar material on board. The lunar sample is thought to contain relatively young material collected near the Mons Rumker region of the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum. Launched on November 23 UT, China's Chang'e 5 mission is the first lunar sample return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 mission in 1976.

Tomorrow's picture: southern skies

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Census To Miss Year-End Deadline For Delivering Numbers For House Seats

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APOD - Jupiter and Saturn Great Conjunction: The Movie

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2020 December 30

https://www.youtube.com/embed/aokGqxVdpz0?rel=0

Jupiter and Saturn Great Conjunction: The Movie
Video Credit: Thanakrit Santikunaporn (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand); Text: Matipon Tangmatitham

Explanation: Yes, but have you seen a movie of Jupiter and Saturn's Great Conjunction? The featured time-lapse video was composed from a series of images taken from Thailand and shows the two giant planets as they angularly passed about a tenth of a degree from each other. The first Great Conjunction sequence shows a relative close up over five days with moons and cloud bands easily visible, followed by a second video sequence, zoomed out, over 9 days. Even though Jupiter and Saturn appeared to pass unusually close together on the sky on December 21, 2020, in actuality they were still nearly a billion kilometers apart. The two gas giants are destined for similar meet ups every 19.86 years. However, they had not come this close, angularly, for the past 397 years, and will not again for another 60 years. If you're willing to wait until the year 7541, though, you can see Jupiter pass directly in front of Saturn.

Gallery: Notable images of the Great Conjunction submitted to APOD
Tomorrow's picture: open space

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< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Two more days...

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Louisville Police To Fire Two More Officers Involved In Death Of Breonna Taylor

One officer wasn't at the raid but applied for the search warrant with misleading information. The move comes months after the department fired another detective.

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First U.S. Case Of U.K. COVID-19 Variant Found In Colorado

A strain of the coronavirus that reportedly spreads faster than the original version has been found in Colorado. The variant had previously been reported in the United Kingdom.

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Biden's Incoming National Security Adviser Faults Pentagon's 'Obstruction'

Jake Sullivan tells NPR in an exclusive interview that the transition isn't getting what it needs from the outgoing Trump administration to properly take power next month.

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