space

Every August for about the last 2,000 years, the meteor shower Perseids has passed through the sky. The spectacle is linked to the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. Here's how it works: as Earth passes through the comet's debris, the pieces burn in our planet's atmosphere to create a meteor shower. This year, the Perseid meteor shower will peak on the night of Aug. 11 and run through the morning of Aug. 12 — with Perseid rates that can get as high as 100 per hour.

Hoping to learn more about the Perseid meteor shower? Visit the NASA website for a live "Up All Night" chat with astronomer Bill Cooke and his team. The experts will be available to answer questions about the meteor shower from Aug. 10 at 11 p.m. to Aug. 11 at 3 a.m. EDT.

In the meantime, get more background on the Perseids from NASA's Science Cast below.

To Mars, Barbie! In honor of the Curiosity rover's one-year anniversary on Mars searching for ancient signs of water, the iconic doll is honoring her STEM education — Barbie has been to space before, in 1965, 1985, and 1994, not to mention her Space Camp stint — with Career of the Year Mars Explorer Barbie.

Even though Barbie has explored the universe before, this is Mattel's first official collaboration with NASA on creating a doll that honors women in science. Each Mars Explorer Barbie includes a list of facts about female American space explorers, and encourages people to visit the Women@NASA website to learn more about following in Barbie's career path.

While we like Barbie's modern spacesuit, ideal for a mission of unknown proportions to the Red Planet, we have to hand it to the 1985 look to blend science with aesthetics. As seen below, that helmet is no match for spacesuit shoulder pads!

Happy land-iversary, Curiosity! After a tense seven minutes of terror on Aug. 6, 2012, the Mars Curiosity rover landed on the Red Planet via space crane (operated from Earth) to the joy of a very excited group of scientists at NASA's JPL in California.

A group of women from that team (cheers to the ladies of science!) took to Reddit recently to answer just about every question the Internet has about the mission to Mars and what the rover has discovered. They covered everything from humans on Mars to a typical day for the rover to the biggest discoveries yet. Here, the most striking facts about the rover and her (yes, apparently Curiosity identifies as female) 12 months spent on the Red Planet.

What has been the most significant discovery so far?
"The results from our first rock drilling told us that the past environment, when that mudstone rock formed, was suitable for life. The mudstone formed in an ancient river system or an intermittently wet lake bed that could have provided the chemical energy and other favorable conditions for microbial life, if life existed then. This ancient wet environment was not harshly oxidizing, acidic or extremely salty. All the necessary chemical building blocks were available." — Joy Crisp, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Deputy Project Scientist

Will Curiosity ever be in the presence of a human again?
"NASA does plan to send humans to Mars in the future, but it is unlikely we would send them to check out the existing rovers on the surface. Too many other interesting places to explore. Mars has the surface area of Earth, minus the oceans." — Sarah Marcotte, Mars Public Engagement

If conditions were good for life, why has no hard evidence been found to show that life did exist there in the past? What happened to all of the water that used to be there?
"Over millions of years the water evaporated because the atmosphere got too thin to support it in liquid form. Mars does not have a global magnetic field the way Earth does, which helps shield the atmosphere from [being] stripped away by the sun's damaging radiation. So while there is plenty of CO2 and H2O ice, no liquid is possible. If life arose on Mars, it would have been millions or even billions of years ago, and preserving evidence of life for billions of years is very hard. So the evidence could be there and we haven't found it, or life didn't arise. We have to find out!" — Sarah Marcotte

Could Curiosity be drilling through Martian bacteria without anyone knowing it due to its strange shape or composition?
"We believe that all forms of life will share basic chemical components which the rover can detect, even if they have been sitting around Mars for billions of years. Curiosity [is] not designed to find extant life, but is designed to find those building blocks of life, carbon, nitrogen, O2, sulfur, etc." — Sarah Marcotte

How advanced would you say Curiosity is in terms of its current A.I. capabilities (Perhaps compared to Google's self-driving car)? Do you envision a near future possibility that we could deploy a sentient rover on Mars?
"Curiosity has autonomous driving capabilities which are constantly being improved. However, for the first year we drive very carefully by using humans to review the pictures and choose the path across Mars. Curiosity has systems to keep herself safe if she thinks it will run over a cliff. However, when we have a far distance to travel and don't plan on checking out every interesting rock, Curiosity will be able to pick a way point and get herself there." — Sarah Marcotte

What type of fuel does Curiousity use?
"Curiosity has an MMRTG (Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) that provides about 100W of power continuously along with a Lithium Ion battery that has ~80 AHr capacity. That's enough energy to keep us awake and heating/operating for about six to eight hours per day depending on what we're doing." — Jennifer Trosper, MSL Deputy Project Manager

More on the people behind Curiosity after the break.

The soundtrack rumbles, the surface of Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa quakes, and moonwalking astronauts quiver fearfully in the epic trailer of Europa Report. At first glance, the new feature film appears to be yet another dramatic, theatrical Hollywood-ization of human spaceflight, but the creators of the movie were intent on turning science fiction into science faction.

Two members of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Kevin Hand and Steven Vance, actually joined the Europa Report's cast and crew at a Comic-Con panel to verify that the science in the film was as close to the real thing as possible. Europa is, in fact, the most plausible place within our solar system that could harbor the answer to one of humanity's greatest questions: are we alone?

Why is this ice-covered moon orbiting Jupiter's giant gaseous mass suspected of supporting extraterrestrial life? The NASA JPL scientists on the panel presented just a few of the most compelling reasons:

• Beneath the moon's ice crust is an ocean. On Earth, where there is water, there is usually life.
• Plenty of Earthbound creatures, like giant tube worms, can live deep below the surface where there's no light. The same kind of life-form may exist in the deep underground ocean of Europa.
• The ocean on Europa is about twice as voluminous as all of the Earth's oceans combined. That's a large swath of biological opportunity waiting to happen.
• The moon flexes in shape because of Jupiter's gravitational pull, which generates the heat that keeps Europa's ocean water, instead of ice.

Kevin and Steven served as consultants on the film and contributed to its scientific authenticity. We can't wait to see the film — but not just for its dedication to physics, cosmology, and rocket science accuracy. Bear McCreary, who created the iconic sounds of Battlestar Galactica, Walking Dead, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and many geeky shows, crafted a beautiful score for the film that bounces between deep dubstep-like synthesizers and sweet melodies. Bear claims it's "one of the prettiest melodies I've ever made."

Director Sebastian Cordero filmed Europa Report as a documentary, which only adds to the true-to-life nature of the film. He also used imagery from NASA probes to create computer-generated images of Jupiter and Europa's surface. At the Comic-Con panel, we saw a clip from the film of the spacecraft landing on the ice moon's surface. It was a particularly striking image, commented moderator Phil Plait (aka @BadAstronomer), since the scene parallels the Apollo moon landing, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this week. The film is certainly an interesting look at what is possible for the next generation of human spaceflight.

An article in the New Republic claims that the arts give us science fiction and we are better for it. That couldn't ring truer with Europa Report, a Hollywood portrayal of a possibly very real future scenario, which could inspire young scientists to explore the questions posed by the film and give jaded taxpaying grown-ups a convincing reason to continue supporting space agencies.

The film hits theaters on Aug. 2, and is available on iTunes now.

It's a fact: there aren't enough women in STEM fields, and Jenna Bryson thinks it's because there are too many princesses and not enough science-minded heroines. To get little girls interested in science, technology, engineering, and math, Jenna wrote a rhyming picture book with a female lead, called Grace From Outer Space.

Grace is the most adorable little space cadet with purple hair you ever did see — and she has just three days left on her Kickstarter campaign. Jenna hopes to publish the book and hire developers to create an iPad app, but she's got a long way to go. Here are a few reasons why you should back Grace From Outer Space:

• Real science — The story of Grace, who lives on a spaceship with her family, is fictional, but the scientific concepts discussed in the book are factual. Jenna cross-checked the theories of black holes, speed of light, and dark energy with material from her favorite astrophysicists: Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and her cousin Lauren Brewer, an astronomy graduate student. Lauren was inspired by Dr. Ellie Arroway, the protagonist of Carl Sagan's Contact, and hopes that Grace will, like Ellie, become a science-minded female role model.
• Interaction — This is not your typical picture book. Illustrator Mike Davis has already created great vector drawings of the leading lady and, Jenna hopes, to engage young readers in a new, modern way to
  
  digital culture Jul 08, 2013

  Roswell's UFO Incident: What Really Happened There?

  Sixty-six years ago, Roswell, a small desert town in the southeastern corner of New Mexico, was thrust into the national spotlight.

  by Nicole Nguyen

  Sixty-six years ago, Roswell, a small desert town in the southeastern corner of New Mexico, was thrust into the national spotlight. An Army Air Force intelligence officer had recovered debris from what appeared to be a flying disc, but the exact kind of aircraft — or the cargo it carried — remained a mystery.

  

  Much of what happened in Roswell is now speculation. There was a 1999 TV show based on the events, and an International UFO Museum was built in the New Mexico town to provide information about unidentified flying objects to researchers, students, and media.

  

  Thinking about launching your own investigation into the possible E.T. sighting? Start with these essential facts about Roswell's unexplained extraterrestrial phenomenon.

  • On July 8, 1947, public information officer Lt. Walter Haut issued a press release stating that a "flying disc," which was "hexagonal in shape," had been found. The disc resembled a "high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector," according to the report.
  • A Roswell Daily News article stated two people, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot, reported seeing a "large glowing object" speeding out of the sky from the southeast.
  • The Air Force concluded that the UFO was the result of a high-altitude research balloon launch, and claims of "alien bodies" were a combination of a 1956 KC-97 aircraft crash in which 11 Air Force members died and a 1959 manned balloon accident that ended with two pilot injuries.
  • In the 1970s, Major Jesse A. Marcel, an Army Air Force intelligence officer, revealed that the material recovered in Roswell was indeed extraterrestrial, and the story began to unravel. He claimed that there was a "parchmentlike substance" with unrecognizable hieroglyphic-type inscriptions.
  • Extensive research has been done on the UFO sighting. Learn more about the eyewitness accounts, government intelligence reports, and Roswell residents at the time in UFO Crash at Roswell by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt and The Roswell Incident by Charles Berlitz and William Moore.

  Source: US Air Force

Along with looking into the mystifying world of science, picking up a freeze-dried astronaut ice cream sandwich is one of our favorite parts of a visit to a space or science museum.

Engineer Ben Krasnow also loved those strange pieces of sweets as a kid, so much so that he decided to re-create the food himself in his home workshop. Now Ben's methodology, as seen in the video below, is not intended as a quick afternoon DIY. He shows us how to build our own freeze-dryer with tools easily purchased on the Internet to then transform an ordinary ice cream sandwich into its NASA-approved counterpart. Geek sugar, indeed!

The video itself is a fun lesson in the scientific properties you may have forgotten since high school, as is the rest of his YouTube channel Fun With Applied Science.

Happy Summer solstice! It's the official start of the Summer season, and the northern hemisphere is walkin' on sunshine for a bit longer starting today. The solar party starts at 1:04 a.m. EDT on June 21, but for North American cities west of the Central Time zone, the solstice actually began on Thursday night.

For many, this joyous occasion means warmer weather, vacations, and lots o' golden rays — but how much do you really know about the longest day of the year?

Find out the essential facts about the inner workings of this annual astronomical event:

• The days are longer. Because of extended exposure to solar radiation, the Northern Hemisphere experiences an increase in temperature. The Summer solstice occurs on the day with the longest period of light.
• It's Winter in the South. The Summer solstice, which typically occurs on June 20-21, marks the beginning of Summer in the north and Winter in the southern hemisphere.
• Seasons are caused by the Earth's axis. The axis of the Earth, an imaginary line through the north and south poles, is tilted at 23.5 degrees relative to the sun. During the Summer, the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, which is why that area receives more direct rays.
• The equinox is the inverse. When the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, the area experiences Winter. The Winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year.
• Stonehenge is aligned with the solstice. The avenue of Stonehenge, a historic monument in Wiltshire, England, is mysteriously aligned with the sunset of the Summer solstice.