Earth, Venus & Mercury visible in the recent STEREO HI1-A images
SECCHI Images
http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/sccimages/index.php

Watch out for the stones!
Sol 1407 14:15, Jul 21, 2016, 8:48:52 PM UTC (approx.)

Mazec. NGC 3532 na snímku New Horizons!

NASA to Develop Highly Sophisticated Laboratory Tool to Assure Ultra-Stable Space Telescopes
http://www.azooptics.com/News.aspx?newsID=22768
Finding and characterizing dozens of Earth-like planets will require a super-stable space telescope whose optical components
move or distort no more than a few picometers — a measurement smaller than the size of an atom. It also will require next-
generation tools with which to assure that level of stability.

Debate accelerates on universe’s expansion speed | Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/debate-accelerates-universe%E2%80%99s-expansion-speed
Discrepancy between different ways of measuring Hubble constant refuses to fade

A new key to understanding molecular evolution in space
http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=49145
Scientists at Hokkaido University have revealed temperature-dependent energy-state conversion of molecular hydrogen
on ice surfaces, suggesting the need for a reconsideration of molecular evolution theory.

Molecular hydrogen, the most abundant element in space, is created when two hydrogen atoms bond on minute floating
ice particles. It has two energy states: ortho and para, depending on the direction of proton spins. Ortho-hydrogen
converts to para-hydrogen on extremely low temperature ice particles, though its mechanism remained unclear.

The Explorers Institute interviews our CEO, Bill Diamond, about meaning of SETI.
Bill Diamond - CEO, The SETI Institute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IenOpYMhqwA

Atmospheric chemistry on paper
http://phys.org/news/2016-07-atmospheric-chemistry-paper.html
Normally computers speed up calculations. But with his new pen-and-paper formula Kevin Heng of the University of Bern, Switzerland,
gets his results thousands of times faster than using conventional computer codes. The astrophysicist calculates the abundances of
molecules (known as atmospheric chemistry) in exoplanetary atmospheres. Ultimately, deciphering the abundances of molecules allows
us to interpret if features in a spectrum are due to physics, geology or biology.

On this day in 1999, the Torino Impact Hazard Scale was announced.
The Torino Impact Hazard Scale
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/torino_scale.html

http://newsroom.fit.edu/2016/07/21/alien-solar-system-boasts-tightly-spaced-planets-unusual-orbits/
Located about 1,100 light years away, Kepler-80, named for the NASA telescope that discovered it,
features five small planets orbiting in extreme proximity to their star. MacDonald and Ragozzine
determined the nature of the exoplanetary system through measurements taken with the telescope.

As early as 2012, Kepler scientists found that all five planets orbit in an area about 150 times smaller
than the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, with “years” of about one, three, four, seven and nine days. The
planets’ close proximity to each other and their star allowed the Kepler Space Telescope to detect tiny
variations (about 0.001 percent) in the length of their “years” due to their mutual gravitational interactions.

http://www.nasa.gov/...k-in-nasa-history-chandra-x-ray-observatory-delivered-to-low-earth-orbit-july
This day in 1999, space shuttle Columbia delivered the Chandra X-Ray Observatory -- shown here being installed and mated
to the inertial upper stage inside Columbia’s cargo bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center -- to low-Earth orbit. NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center has been involved in development of many of the agency’s optical instruments.

Space in Images - 2016 - 07 - Mars navigation
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/07/Mars_navigation
In order to precisely deliver the Schiaparelli landing demonstrator module to the martian surface and then insert
ExoMars/TGO into orbit around the Red Planet, it’s necessary to pin down the spacecraft’s location to within just
a few hundred metres at a distance of more than 150 million km.



To achieve this amazing level of accuracy, ESA experts are making use of ‘quasars’ – the most luminous objects
in the Universe – as ‘calibrators’ in a technique known as Delta-Differential One-Way Ranging, or delta-DOR.

On Wednesday this week, ESA ground stations began the first of many delta-DOR observations that will be used to
precisely locate ExoMars/TGO, using quasar P1514-24, seen inset in an image of ESA's deep-space tracking station
at Malargüe, Argentina, above.

NASA may build replacement instrument for Japanese astronomy mission - SpaceNews.com
http://spacenews.com/nasa-may-build-replacement-instrument-for-japanese-astronomy-mission/
NASA is considering building a replacement for an instrument lost on a Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite
earlier this year that could fly on another Japanese spacecraft.

In a presentation to the astrophysics subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council’s science committee July 20,
Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said the Japanese space agency JAXA has approached NASA
about contributing a copy of its Soft X-Ray Spectrometer (SXS) for a new version of Japan’s Hitomi spacecraft.

The Bedrock Beneath Antarctica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_om9h7vQXh0


Our understanding of what lies beneath the world's biggest ice sheet has taken another leap forward.
This video strips away Antarctic ice to reveal a new, and much more detailed, map of the bedrock below.
This map, called Bedmap2, was compiled by the British Antarctic Survey and incorporates millions of new
measurements, including substantial data sets from NASA's ICESat satellite and an airborne mission
called Operation IceBridge.