Just Another Milky Way Shot Taken From Death Valley, CA

Milky Way over Shelbyville, Indiana

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Three LEGO Minifigures Journey to Jupiter

Did you know that the Juno mission is also one giant leap for minifigure-kind? Three LEGO crew members have set their sights on being the first toy to visit another planet, enduring the five year, 1.75 billion mile journey aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. One minifigure is a likeness of Galileo Galilei – who discovered Jupiter’s four largest moons. The other two represent the Roman god Jupiter and his wife Juno. Each figure has been custom molded out of aluminum to represent their special characteristics. Jupiter carries a lightning bolt, Juno has a magnifying glass to represent her search for truth, Galileo is carrying a telescope and a model of the planet Jupiter.

To me, these minifigures add a beautifully ordinary and intensely human element to this extraordinary mission.

Explore more of the LEGO Group’s partnership with NASA at LEGO.com/Space

M63 // Sunflower Galaxy

Jupiter’s North Pole Unlike Anything Encountered in Solar System

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on. The images show storm systems and weather activity unlike anything previously seen on any of our solar system’s gas-giant planets.  “First glimpse of Jupiter’s north pole, and it looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “It’s bluer in color up there than other parts of the planet, and there are a lot of storms. There is no sign of the latitudinal bands or zone and belts that we are used to – this image is hardly recognizable as Jupiter. We’re seeing signs that the clouds have shadows, possibly indicating that the clouds are at a higher altitude than other features.”

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Rho Ophiuchi

Hubbles Variable Nebula

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Valles Marineris. “Grand Canyon” of Mars.

Image Credit: Viking Project, USGS, NASA

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Our solar system is huge, so let us break it down for you. Here are a few things to know this week:

1. We’re Going In

To be honest, Jupiter is kind of a monster. Not only is it the biggest planet in the solar system, but it also wields the most dangerous radiation and other powerful forces. Despite the risks, our Juno probe is going in close, because Jupiter also holds precious clues to how the planets formed, including our own. Arrival date: July 4. Watch the Juno mission trailer video HERE.

2. Moon Maps

The moon is beautiful in the sky, and also up close—sometimes even in the maps that scientists use to study its surface. Here are some evocative maps that lunar geologists have drawn up to chart the landscapes in the moon’s dramatic Tycho Crater. Take a look HERE.

3. That’s No Moon…Sort Of

The full moon we’ll see this week is not Earth’s only companion in space. Astronomers have discovered a small asteroid in an orbit around the sun that keeps it near the Earth, where it will remain for centuries. But it’s not exactly a second moon, either.

4. Power Blast

Venus has an “electric wind” strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere, which may have played a significant role in stripping Earth’s twin planet of its oceans, according to new results from the European Space Agency (ESA) Venus Express mission by NASA-funded researchers.

5. How Green (Well, Red) Was My Valley

“Marathon Valley” slices through the rim of a large crater on Mars. It has provided fruitful research targets for our Opportunity rover since July 2015, but now the rover’s team is preparing to move on.

Want to learn more? Read our full list of the 10 things to know this week about the solar system HERE.

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