COURTESY OF Terry Mann on the horizon
Sky ’ s Up
Eclipse encounters
COURTESY OF John Unkovich
On Aug . 21 , millions watched in awe as the Moon ’ s shadow raced along a narrow path through the heart of the contiguous United States and treated observers to one of the most inspiring celestial sights — a total solar eclipse . Above , John Unkovich captured this portrait of totality at 10:41 a . m . MDT in Moran , Wyo ., using an Explore Scientific ED80CF , a Canon EOS 60Da with intervalometer and a Celestron Advanced VX equatorial mount . Below , this image of the stunning diamond ring phenomenon was taken by Terry Mann in Casper , Wyo . For more of Mann ’ s amazing astrophotography , please see the feature on her work that begins on page 24 . The next total solar eclipse that will make landfall in the lower 48 will occur on April 8 , 2024 .
COURTESY OF Terry Mann on the horizon
January 31 - 60th Anniversary of Explorer 1 Launch On Jan . 31 , 1958 , the United States entered a new era of space exploration when it made its first successful satellite launch . Spurred by the Soviet Union ’ s Sputnik achievements , the U . S . fasttracked its efforts to launch a spacecraft . The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was tasked with designing and building the satellite , while the U . S . Army Ballistic Missile Agency was responsible for modifying a rocket to carry the payload . JPL had Explorer 1 ready to go in less than three months . In addition to being the first U . S . satellite , Explorer 1 also was the first spacecraft to detect what would become known as the Van Allen radiation belts . Explorer 1 made its final transmission on May 23 , 1958 , shortly before its batteries ran out . It continued to silently orbit Earth , racking up more than 58,000 orbits , before reentering the planet ’ s atmosphere in March 1970 and burning up .
February 15 - 5th Anniversary of Chelyabinsk Meteor Feb . 15 marks the fifth anniversary of the stunning meteor explosion that rocked Chelyabinsk , Russia . Captured in unprecedented detail by an unsuspecting arsenal of dashboard and security cameras , the airburst event released an amount of energy equivalent to about 500 kilotons of TNT and generated a massive shockwave that left thousands of buildings damaged and around 1,500 injured , mostly from broken glass . During its impressive streak , the meteor shone brighter than the Sun — casting shadows and even causing some eyewitnesses to reportedly suffer skin and / or retinal burns . Experts have estimated the meteor ’ s original size was around 62 feet across with a weight in the ballpark of 11,000 metric tons . The largest fragment found weighed in at around 1,300 pounds and was recovered from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul . This fragment left a hole more than 23 feet wide in the lake ’ s icy covering , which was more than 2 feet thick .
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