ARTEMIS II WILL COME HOME TODAY WITH SONIC BOOMS: The crew of Artemis II will return to Earth today, splashing down off the Pacific Coast southwest of San Diego (5:07 pm PDT). A sonic boom is expected as the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere and could potentially be felt and heard throughout Southern California between 5:00 and 5:15 pm local time. If you hear or feel sonic booms, please fill out this "Did You Feel It" survey. Live Webcast.
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HOW TO FIND COMET PANSTARRS: Step 1: Set your alarm for 3 o'clock in the morning. Step 2: Check out this dawn photo from astronomer Petr Horálek:
"In the eastern sky, just before morning twilight, the comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) can be easily found," says Horálek. It is located in the constellation Pegasus, just by the 'Great Square'."
"Try spotting it through a small telescope, " he advises. "I was lucky to see and capture it this morning as I had a perfect view of the comet over Proseč u Chrudimi, Czech Republic. The comet’s tail exceeded 14 degrees in the photographs, making it such a nice object along with the Andromeda Galaxy located on the left."
The comet is brightening as it approaches the sun for a 0.5 AU close approach on April 19-20. Right now, it is magnitude +5. It will emerge from its close approach to the sun as a naked-eye object of magnitude +3.
Wake up early and take a look. Sky maps: April 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
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"METEOR CRATER" CRYSTAL PENDANT: Have you heard of Moissanite? It's a very rare mineral discovered in Arizona's Meteor Crater by 19th-century chemist Henri Moissan. At first, he thought it was diamond, but later realized it was even more rare. It came from meteorites! On March 4th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a Moissanite pendant to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $199.95. Almost indistinguishable from natural diamond, the 3-carat crystal is held by a sterling silver frame with the words "I Love You" engraved on the back. It's a truly out of this world gift.
The students are selling space jewelry to pay the helium bill for their high altitude ballooning program. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
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