That’s what William Boynton of the University said about the confirmation of the Phoenix Lander finding of water on Mars.

I say: This is too cool!  Imagine, for the first time we have knowledge of water on another planet besides our own Earth.  It’s downright historic is what it is. 

Here’s the press release.

Image credit: F. Esponak, NASA GSFC

I am not likely to see the solar eclipse tomorrow.  If you live in the northeastern North America, especially Canada you might get to see a partial eclipse.

Those in parts of Canada, Northern Greenland, the Artic, central Russia, Mongolia and China should be in for a treat.

Click here for NASA’s Solar Eclipse Web Site and find out if you can see it.

Scientists have confirmed there is indeed at least one liquid lake on Saturn’s moon, Titan.  Sure there was speculation, but not for certain until now.

Thanks to Cassini, we now have Lacus Ontario (image left, click it to see another).  Oh Lacus is “Lake” in Latin and I don’t know whether the name is supposed to be Lacus Ontario, or Ontario Lacus, the press release has it both ways; I am thinking Ontario Lacus, if you know your Latin please let me know.

Ontario Lacus won’t have any of the awesome King Salmon that our Lake Ontario has. According to the press release it is a “lake of a mixture of liquid methane, nitrogen and other low-molecular weight hydrocarbons”, so it has to be less then ^-295 ^oF or ^-182  ^oC.

Of course this means we know for sure there is another object in the solar system with a liquid on its surface. Read the press release from The University of Arizona, there is a lot more to it than I can put here.

Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute and NASA/JPL/University of Arizona via UA News.

Images from the COSMOS study

From Hubblesite:
In a landmark study of more than 2,000 spiral galaxies from the largest galaxy census conducted by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers found that so-called barred spiral galaxies were far less plentiful 7 billion years ago than they are today, in the local universe. The study’s results confirm the idea that bars are a sign of galaxies reaching full maturity as the “formative years” end. The observations are part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS).

Read the full story here, and get additional images here.

Source and image credit:  Hubblesite

White Knight Two launch vehicle. Credit: Virgin Galactic

The image is the White Knight Two from Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic that will serve as a launch vehicle that will carry SpaceShipTwo to an altitude it can be launched into space with its seats full of tourists.  That is tourists willing to pay $200,000 dollars for a ticket, and guess what?  There are about 250 people already waiting.

The White Knight Two, christened “EVE” in honor of Sir Richard Branson’s mother is pretty amazing.  The vehicle, sports all carbon composite carbon construction,  can fly over 50,000 feet,  The twin fuselage and central payload area design provides a lift capacity 30 percent more than SpaceShipTwo, which could be handy if one happens to want to launch a satellite or something along those lines.  It’s a multi-tasker.

Would I fly it?  Heck I’d like to.

Image and source credit: Virgin Galactic

NASA celebrates its 50th Birthday on October 1, however today is the 50th anniversary that made it all possible.

From the Eisenhower Archives:

On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics  and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency absorbed the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.  The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel formed the core of the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Read the press release issued by the White House announcing the news.

Source: Eisenhower Archives

Image: Science Progress