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Archive: August 2017 (3 Posts)

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Cassini’s Grand Finale: September 7 Lecture with NASA’s Dr. Conor Nixon

Posted by: Angel Vu

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. Now that we’ve had the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse, it’s time to move on to the next big event on NASA’s calendar, and that is the Grand Finale of the Cassini-Huygens Mission, a cooperative project of NASA, the …

The shadow of the moon partially obscures the orange sun

Chasing Shadows: Eclipses and Eclipse Observations in the Library of Congress Collections

Posted by: Angel Vu

Every so often the Moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on the Earth and briefly blocking much of the Sun’s light from reaching the Earth. This, we call a solar eclipse. Humans have long been fascinated by solar eclipses. Reports of occurrences come from ancient civilizations. Succeeding generations of astronomers would add their own records. By the 19th century though, astronomers were beginning to observe and measure the dimmer outer corona of the sun. Astronomers, eager to observe more solar eclipses, began to travel farther from their homes, traveling on expeditions to remote locations. In recent years eclipse viewing has grown to encompass the scientific community in many more countries who contribute their reports to the collective body of scientific knowledge and observations have become ever more sophisticated.

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Venus-the Forgotten, Mysterious Planet: August 15 Lecture with NASA’s Dr. Lori Glaze

Posted by: Angel Vu

This post was authored by Stephanie Marcus, Science Reference Librarian in the Science, Technology, and Business Division. We’ve heard a great deal recently about Jupiter (Juno Mission) and Pluto (New Horizons), and soon the Science, Technology & Business Division will present a program on Saturn (Cassini), but what about Venus?  Except for programs on the …