NASA Plans to Explore Remnants of a Supernova
There's been a lot of space stories this week, including rockets going up , satellites coming down and supply craft doing both, but not in the right order . Not to be deterred, NASA is talking up its next big experiment which will send a probe to examine the contents of the Cygnus Loop, a remnant of a supernova that exploded 20,000 years ago. The mission will involve a sounding rocket , which will sniff the x-rays that are still being emitted from the stellar event, which scientists hope will help them understand what it's made up of.
It's also hoped that scientists will gain a better understanding of how the universe is built and maybe even spot some as-yet unobserved matter in the process. OGRESS, short for Off-plane Grating Rocker for Extended Source Spectroscopy, will launch from the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, at 4:30am ET on May 2nd. A following voyage is planned for 2018, although this time the target is the star Capella.
[Image Credit: NASA / Hubble Space Telescope/ J. Hester]
http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/01/nasa-supernova-sounding-rockets/
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The next leg on the journey to where no man has gone before.
I have been fascinated with space exploration since watching Tyson's Cosmos series of shows last year
Space exploration is a fascinating thing to watch. I got hooked years ago by Carl Sagan.
As did I
I had never really followed Tyson much until the series last year which my wife watched and then watched again
It was fascinating story telling, beautiful cinematography and very informative - can't beat that combination for getting a person's attention