Cassini to begin final five orbits around Saturn

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft will enter new territory in its final mission phase, the Grand Finale, as it prepares to embark on a set of ultra-close passes through Saturn's upper atmosphere with its final five orbits around the planet.
via Science Daily
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RAVAN CubeSat measures Earth's outgoing energy

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An experimental small satellite has successfully collected and delivered data on a key measurement for predicting changes in Earth's climate.
via Science Daily
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Starry Wingtip of Small Magellanic Cloud All-Over-Print Tank Top

Starry Wingtip of Small Magellanic Cloud All-Over-Print Tank Top

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series: The tip of the "wing" of the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy is dazzling in this new view from NASA's Great Observatories. The Small…

A Day in the Life of a (mostly) Human Sundial

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Have you ever wanted to be a gnomon? Of course, a gnomon is the tall part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The gnomon's shadow moves as the Sun moves across the sky, indicating time by the shadow's position on the dial face. So on July 19th, the Astronomy Group of the Progymnasium Rosenfeld created a human sundial, each participant patiently playing the role of the gnomon for 10 minutes. In this timelapse video of their temporal voyage of discovery, one image was taken every 20 seconds from 8 am until 4 pm Central European Summer Time. Drawn on the ground are the dial hour marks calculated to show the local time for that specific date. Behind, the tower clock offers a time check. Can you find the local time of solar noon? (Hint: At solar noon the Sun is on the meridan.) The persistent group plans a repetition of the human sundial performance next winter to compare the length of the day and the altitude of the Sun.

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New mission going to the space station to explore mysteries of 'cosmic rain'

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A new experiment set for launch to the International Space Station will provide an unprecedented look at a rain of particles from deep space, called cosmic rays, that constantly showers our planet. The mission is designed to measure the highest-energy particles of any detector yet flown in space.
via Science Daily
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New ultrathin semiconductor materials exceed some of silicon's 'secret' powers

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Chip makers appreciate what most consumers never knew: silicon's virtues include the fact that it 'rusts' in a way that insulates its tiny circuitry. Two new ultrathin materials share that trait and outdo silicon in other ways that make them promising materials for electronics of the future.
via Science Daily