NASA Took Our Breath Away in 2017, From the Total Solar Eclipse to Jupiter’s Beautiful Great Red Spot

It’s been a busy year for NASA—and for all the rest of us, so let’s take a stroll through some of 2017’s biggest discoveries and advances from the space agency. Jupiter’s time to shine : NASA’s Juno spacecraft fell into orbit around Jupiter last year, and ever since, it’s been making giant loops of the planet, first skimming over its surface then heading far out into space. So far, it’s made nine close science passes over the planet, gathering stunning photographs every time. It’s also gotten the best ever look at the planet’s Great Red Spot, which it has calculated goes 200 miles deep into Jupiter. The great American total solar eclipse : America was struck by eclipse fever before this year’s August 21 total solar eclipse, the first such phenomenon to cross the country from coast to coast in almost a century. In addition to everyone who traveled to the path of totality, which swept from Oregon to South Carolina, NASA estimated that about 90 million people tuned in to its online coverage of the phenomenon. Of course, the event wasn’t just a nice spectacle— scientists also gathered priceless data about Earth and our sun. Cassini’s final days :… Read full this story

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