Feb 12 - Rosalind Franklin Rover

February 12 Rosalind Franklin Rover by:

This famous image is called Photo 51. Acquired in 1952 during work by Rosalind Franklin, it helped spark the discovery of DNA's iconic double-helix structure. Image via Wikimedia Commons. Mars rover named for Rosalind Franklin   The European Space Agency has named its life-seeking ExoMars rover - due to launch in 2020 - for Rosalind Franklin, a British chemist who helped reveal the mysteries of DNA. Read more. Flying squirrels go pink in ultraviolet A researcher using a UV flashlight to see whether some backyard frogs glow in the dark (they didn't) happened to turn his light on a flying squirrel landing on nearby bird feeder. He was met with a bright neon-pink reflection. Read more. What we're watching     New Horizons' farewell glance at Ultima Thule An evocative new image sequence from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft offers a departing view of the far outer solar system object nicknamed Ultima Thule. This object was the target of a New Year's 2019 flyby. It's now the most distant world ever explored via spacecraft. See the images. Here's one of the final views of Ultima Thule captured by New Horizons, as it raced away at over 31,000 miles per hour (50,000 km/hour) on January 1. Scientists created a short departure movie 14 of these images. See it.

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Comet sweeps closest to Earth this week View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Fast-moving comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto as captured in 20 50-second images, stacked, by Alan Forsyth in Cowal, Argyll, Scotland. "This fast comet can sure shift through the skies in the 20 minutes of this combined exposure!" he wrote. On Tuesday night, when the comet is closest to Earth at 28 million miles away, its movement will be even more noticeable. Charts here.

Tonight … 1st quarter moon The side of the moon we see from Earth appears 50% illuminated tonight. For all of Earth, the moon rises around midday and sets around midnight. Plus the moon's lighted side points right at Mars tonight! Click in for charts and more. Photo by Suzanne Murphy. Thank you, Suzanne! Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription!

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