MARS ROVER LANDING--SUCCESS! NASA still has the right stuff. Today, Perseverance flawlessly executed the most difficult maneuver in space exploration when it landed on Mars. The rover has already beamed back its first pictures. A post-landing briefing is expected at 5:30 p.m. EST (2:30 p.m. PST) on NASA TV and You Tube.
ARCTIC SUNSET IN ALABAMA: Arctic air spilling into the USA turned yesterday's sunset into a surreal experience. David Kriegler sends this picture from Gulf Shores, Alabama:
"It was cold--really cold," says Kriegler, who was fishing from the bridge. "The air temperature was 39 F, about 20 degrees lower than normal."
Cold air sitting on top of warm Gulf waters produced this strange mirage. It's called an "Omega sunset." As the real sun sets, a miraged sun rises up out of the waves. The two suns "touch" across a lava-like bridge that resembles the Greek letter omega.
"I live in Gulf Shores now, but I'm from Omaha, Nebraska," says Kriegler. "They had temperatures of -23 F." Imagine that sunset.
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THIS IS *REAL* MONEY FROM SPACE: The US Mint has just released a reverse-proof dollar coin honoring the Hubble Space Telescope. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus took it one step further, flying a whole roll of Hubble coins to the edge of space. Here they are floating 35.3 km (115,814 ft) above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have one for $39.95. The students are selling Hubble coins to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each coin comes with a greeting card showing the money in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere. Best of all, this is real money! You can actually spend it. All sales support hands-on STEM research.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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