NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pics or it didn’t happen. JPL scientists tracked two asteroids as they safely flew past Earth recently – one of them even had an unexpected moonlet! Scientists used the Deep Space Network’s 230-foot-wide (70m) Goldstone Solar System Radar, called Deep Space Station 14 (DSS-14) near Barstow, California to transmit radio waves to the asteroids and received the reflected signals by the same antenna. The radar observations of these close approaches will provide valuable information about their sizes, orbits, rotation, surface details, and clues as to their composition and formation. Asteroid 2011 UL21 passed Earth on June 27 at about 4 million miles, or 17 times the distance between the Moon and Earth. The well-known asteroid is nearly a mile (about 1.5 km) wide. It was discovered in 2011 by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey, but this is the first time it has come close enough to Earth to be imaged by radar. Along with seeing that the asteroid is roughly spherical object, JPL scientists discovered that it has a smaller asteroid, or moonlet, orbiting it about 1.9 miles (3 km) away. Two days later, on June 29, the same team observed the asteroid 2024 MK make a close approach, passing our planet at about 184,000 miles (295,000 km). About 500 feet (150 m) wide, the asteroid appears to be elongated and angular, with prominent flat and rounded regions. Such close approaches of near-Earth objects the size of 2024 MK are relatively rare, occurring about every couple of decades. While both asteroids are classified as a potentially hazardous object, calculations of their future orbits show that they won’t pose a threat to our planet for the foreseeable future. #NASA #JPL #Asteroids #NEO #NearthEarthObjects #PlanetaryDefense #DeepSpaceNetwork #DSN 📸 Image Description: A black and white image of asteroid 2024 MK showing 21 different phases of its rotation as it drifted safely past Earth on June 29. The image is very blurry but asteroid appears to be about 500 feet (150 meters) wide, elongated and angular, with prominent flat and rounded regions.

What’s up, July stargazers! There are several celestial moments to look forward to this month, so grab some binoculars and see if you can spot the elusive planet Uranus and the star clusters of Scorpius, M6 and M7. Plus, the Moon and planets come together twice in the morning sky. Here’s your skywatching checklist for the month: ✅ July 2 & 3 – The crescent Moon will join Jupiter and Mars in the east before sunrise. Looking for them before the sky starts to brighten, you’ll also find the Pleiades star cluster above Jupiter and bright stars Capella and Aldebaran nearby. ✅ July 5 – New Moon. ✅ July 7 & 8 – Those with an unobstructed view of the western horizon can spot Mercury shining brightly, low in the sky with a slim crescent Moon starting 30-45 minutes after the Sun sets. ✅ July 13 – For the first few hours after dark, look to the southwest to find the first-quarter Moon snuggled up to bright bluish-white star Spica. For much of the lower 48 U.S. and most of Mexico, the Moon will appear to pass in front of Spica – an event called an occultation. ✅ July 14-16 – Grab your binoculars to spot Mars in the early morning before the sky starts to brighten, and you’ll find the distant planet Uranus quite close by. ✅ July 21 – Full Moon. ✅ July 30 – Look for a close gathering of Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon with the bright stars of the constellation Taurus in the sky before dawn. ✅ All Month – Two easy-to-spot star clusters – M7, aka “Ptolemy’s Cluster,” and M6, the “Butterfly Cluster” – are located ~5 degrees east of the the bright stars that mark the end of the scorpion’s tail in the constellation Scorpius. They reach their highest point in the sky around 10 or 11pm local time. #Skywatching #Stargazing #Space #Astronomy #NASA #JPL #Planets #SkyChart #Moon #Planets #Stars #StarParty #M6 #M7 #StarClusters #Uranus #Jupiter #Mars

That’s a big volcano 🌋 The Mars Odyssey orbiter captured a stunning horizon image of the largest volcano in the solar system – Olympus Mons. With a base that sprawls 373 miles (600 km) across, it is wider than the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The image is part of a continuing effort to provide high-altitude views of the Red Planet’s horizon – and it also provides unique science data. The bluish-white band along the bottom of the atmosphere hints at how much dust was present during early fall on Mars when storms typically start to ramp up. The purplish layer along the top was likely a mixture of the planet’s red dust with some bluish water-ice clouds. Toward the top of the image, a blue-green layer can be seen where water-ice clouds reach up about 31 miles. Launched in 2001, Odyssey is @NASA ’s longest-operating Mars mission, and it’ll reach 100,000 orbits around the Red Planet on June 30. #Mars #2001MarsOdyssey #orbiter #SolarSystem #volcano #NASA #JPL

It’s a hard rock life. This beauty is an “abrasion patch” the Perseverance rover created by chipping away at the surface of a Martian rock and making a smooth, flat patch. This image was taken by the rover’s WATSON camera, located on the turret at the end of its robotic arm on Perseverance’s journey to Bright Angel. Why make abrasion patches? Sometimes, the environment on the surface of Mars can dramatically change the exterior of a rock and hide important geological clues, so Perseverance creates abraded patches to help the science team decide whether to take a core sample from that rock. To do this, the rover uses drill bits that have an unusual tooth pattern: three parallel lines of different lengths, arranged asymmetrically. When the drill spins and hammers with an abrading bit, that tooth pattern creates crisscrossing, well distributed impacts in the rock. This chips away the surface and makes a smooth, flat patch of fresh rock. Perseverance then blows away debris using another tool called the Gaseous Dust Removal Tool (GDRT), and uses its suite of instruments to study the abrasion. #NASA #JPL #Mars #Perseverance #Geology #RedPlanet #Rover #Exploration 📸 Image Descriptions: 1 - A color image of a round, smooth, flat Martian rock with an abrasion patch and noticeable criss-cross markings from the rover’s drill. NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its SHERLOC WATSON camera on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm on June 14, 2024. 2 - A color GIF of the Perseverance rover chipping away at the surface of a Martian rock. Its drill on the end of its robotic arm pounds the ground several times and then makes a few 360-degree turns, creating a smooth divot in the rock’s surface.

When the Europa Clipper spacecraft reaches Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, it will use a suite of instruments to better understand one of our solar system’s most intriguing ocean worlds. ▶️ Watch as the team breaks down the spacecraft’s science instruments and goals. #NASA #JPL #GoEuropaClipper #Europa #Jupiter #Moon #Exploration #Spacecraft

What’s that sound? It’s the sound... of data👂 The data sets in this sonification come from the NuSTAR X-ray telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Swipe to see how the team transformed the telescope data into sound. #CrabNebula #universe #sonification #NuSTAR #Chandra #SpaceTelescope #NASA #JPL

The majesty of Mars in black and white 📸 This image of Martian dunes was captured by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The dune fields are near a crater in Utopia Planitia, a volcanic region in the Red Planet’s Northern Hemisphere. Dark spots lining the area are likely the result of frost becoming a gas. This creates little geysers that throw dark sand on to the surface, creating a speckled appearance. #Mars #HiRISE #MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter #space #astrophotography #NASA #JPL Image description: A black-and-white photo shows dark patches that look like scales rounding around to the center of a dip in the Martian surface. The dark scaly patches are concentrated and darker as they stretch out farther beyond the center of the dip. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Welcome to @NASAKennedy , Europa Clipper! NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission recently arrived from @nasajpl and was unpacked at our Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility! Clipper is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex-39A during a launch window that opens on Oct. 10. The spacecraft will collect data to help scientists determine if Jupiter’s icy moon Europa could support life. Images description: Technicians inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida unbox and rotate the agency’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, to a vertical position on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, as part of prelaunch processing. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #NASAKennedy #science #space #Europa #Jupiter #EuropaClipper #GoEuropaClipper

Sometimes, taking a different route can be a good thing. See what @NASA ’s Perseverance Mars Rover discovered after changing course to avoid wheel-rattling boulders on its way to an area nicknamed Bright Angel. In crossing the dune field, the rover traversed an unexpected geological playground, Neretva Vallis, which is an ancient river channel that carried the majority of the water that flowed into Jezero Crater billions of years ago. One particular rock caught the team’s interest. The light-toned and speckled boulder, nicknamed “Atoko Point,” is about 18 inches (45 cm) wide and 14 inches (35 cm) tall and stands out in a field of darker ones. Analysis by Perseverance’s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments indicate that the rock is composed of the minerals pyroxene and feldspar, similar to boulders the rover has encountered elsewhere. But in terms of the size, shape, and arrangement of its mineral grains and crystals — and potentially its chemical composition — Atoko Point is in a league of its own. Some Perseverance scientists speculate that Atoko Point’s minerals were produced in a subsurface body of magma that is possibly exposed now on the crater rim. Others on the team wonder if the boulder had been created far beyond the walls of Jezero and transported there by the swift Martian waters eons ago. Either way, the team believes that while Atoko is the first of its kind they’ve seen, it won’t be the last. Perseverance is in the later stages of its fourth science campaign, looking for evidence of carbonate deposits in the ‘margin unit’ along the inside of the crater rim. #NASA #JPL #Mars #MarsRover #Exploration #PerseveranceRover 📸 Image Description: This color image taken by Mastcam-Z on NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover shows a very noticeable light-toned boulder with dark speckles in a field of darker ones.

Your package is out for delivery. 📦 🚀 NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft recently traveled from @NASAJPL in California, where it was built, to @NASAKennedy in Florida, where it will launch in October, headed for Jupiter and its intriguing ocean moon, Europa. But moving a 7,000-pound spacecraft from one side of the country isn’t easy. Europa Clipper’s lead engineer, Kobie Boykins, walks us through the step-by-step process. Follow along with the mission at europa.nasa.gov #NASA #science #space #Europa #Jupiter #EuropaClipper #GoEuropaClipper

Ad astra. ✨ Ed Stone, former director of JPL and longtime Voyager project scientist, has passed away. He had the distinction of being one of the few scientists involved with both the mission that has come closest to the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, and the one that has traveled farthest from it, Voyager. He will forever be an inspiration to all who #DareMightyThings . #NASA #JPL #DareMightyThingsTogether #EdStone #Voyager #Scientist #Legend #AdAstra 📸 Image Description: An image of Ed Stone, former director of JPL and project scientist for the Voyager mission, standing in front of a full-size model of the Voyager spacecraft in Von Karman Auditorium. He is dressed in a suit and looking upward with a content and happy facial expression.

That’s us. That’s home. It’s #WorldOceansDay , so tell us, which ocean is your favorite? We really can’t pick one, but if we had to, it might be the Pacific! JPL resides in Southern California, after all. 😎 #NASA #JPL #Earth #Oceans #PacificOcean #Galileo #Perspective #Space #Inspiration #BlueDot 📸 Image Description: A color image of the Earth obtained by the Galileo spacecraft early Dec. 12, 1990, when the spacecraft was about 1.6 million miles from the Earth. The color composite used images taken through the red, green and violet filters. The Pacific Ocean covers virtually all of the visible disk of the Earth in this picture. The glint of the Sun reflected from smooth water is near the center. This is a frame of the Galileo Earth spin movie, a 500-frame time-lapse motion picture showing a 25-hour period of Earths rotation and atmospheric dynamics.