This mottled landscape showing the impact crater Tycho is among the most violent-looking places on our moon. Astronomers didn’t aim NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to study Tycho, however. The image was taken in preparation to observe the transit of Venus across the sun’s face on June 5-6.

This mottled landscape showing the impact crater Tycho is among the most violent-looking places on our Moon. Credit: NASA/ESA/D. Ehrenreich

Hubble cannot look at the sun directly, so astronomers are planning to point the telescope at the Earth’s moon, using it as a mirror to capture reflected sunlight and isolate the small fraction of the light that passes through Venus’s atmosphere. Imprinted on that small amount of light are the fingerprints of the planet’s atmospheric makeup.

These observations will mimic a technique that is already being used to sample the atmospheres of giant planets outside our solar system passing in front of their stars. In the case of the Venus transit observations, astronomers already know the chemical makeup of Venus’s atmosphere, and that it does not show signs of life on the planet. But the Venus transit will be used to test whether this technique will have a chance of detecting the very faint fingerprints of an Earth-like planet, even one that might be habitable for life, outside our solar system that similarly transits its own star. , Venus is an excellent proxy because it is similar in size and mass to our planet.

The astronomers will use an arsenal of Hubble instruments, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, Wide Field Camera 3, and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, to view the transit in a range of wavelengths, from ultraviolet to near-infrared light. During the transit, Hubble will snap images and perform spectroscopy, dividing the sunlight into its constituent colors, which could yield information about the makeup of Venus’s atmosphere.

Hubble will observe the moon for seven hours, before, during, and after the transit so the astronomers can compare the data. Astronomers need the long observation because they are looking for extremely faint spectral signatures. Only 1/100,000th of the sunlight will filter through Venus’s atmosphere and be reflected off the moon.

This image, taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, reveals lunar features as small as roughly 560 feet (170 meters) across. The large “bulls-eye” near the top of the picture is the impact crater, caused by an asteroid strike about 100 million years ago. The bright trails radiating from the crater were formed by material ejected from the impact area during the asteroid collision. Tycho is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) wide and is circled by a rim of material rising almost 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the crater floor. The image measures 430 miles (700 kilometers) across, which is slightly larger than New Mexico.

Because the astronomers only have one shot at observing the transit, they had to carefully plan how the study would be carried out. Part of their planning included the test observations of the moon, made on Jan. 11, 2012, as shown in the release image.

Hubble will need to be locked onto the same location on the moon for more than seven hours, the transit’s duration. For roughly 40 minutes of each 96-minute orbit of Hubble around the Earth, the Earth occults Hubble’s view of the moon. So, during the test observations, the astronomers wanted to make sure they could point Hubble to precisely the same target area.

This is the last time this century sky watchers can view Venus passing in front of the sun. The next transit won’t happen until 2117. Venus transits occur in pairs, separated by eight years. The last event was witnessed in 2004.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C.

For images and more information about Hubble’s view of the Moon and the Venus transit, visit:

 http://hubblesite.org/news/2012/22

For more information about the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

 http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

Jupiter’s icy moons are the focus of Europe’s next large science mission.

The Jupiter Icy moons Explorer – JUICE – was selected over two other candidates: NGO, the New Gravitational wave Observatory, to hunt for gravitational waves, and ATHENA, the Advanced Telescope for High-Energy Astrophysics.

JUICE is the first Large-class mission chosen as part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme.

It will be launched in 2022 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on an Ariane 5, arriving at Jupiter in 2030 to spend at least three years making detailed observations.

Jupiter’s diverse Galilean moons – volcanic Io, icy Europa and rock-ice Ganymede and Callisto – make the jovian system a miniature Solar System in its own right.

With Europa, Ganymede and Callisto all thought to host internal oceans, the mission will study the moons as potential habitats for life, addressing two key themes of Cosmic Vision: what are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life, and how does the Solar System work?

JUICE will continuously observe Jupiter’s atmosphere and magnetosphere, and the interaction of the Galilean moons with the gas giant planet.

It will visit Callisto, the most heavily cratered object in the Solar System, and will twice fly by Europa. JUICE will make the first measurements of the thickness of Europa’s icy crust and will identify candidate sites for future in situ exploration.

The spacecraft will finally enter orbit around Ganymede in 2032, where it will study the icy surface and internal structure of the moon, including its subsurface ocean.

Ganymede is the only moon in the Solar System known to generate its own magnetic field, and JUICE will observe the unique magnetic and plasma interactions with Jupiter’s magnetosphere in detail.

“Jupiter is the archetype for the giant planets of the Solar System and for many giant planets being found around other stars,” says Prof. Alvaro Giménez Cañete, ESA’s Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.

“JUICE will give us better insight into how gas giants and their orbiting worlds form, and their potential for hosting life.”

“The selection process has been challenging given the excellent quality of the three mission candidates, and I would like to thank the Space Science Advisory Committee for its hard work and for having carried out this very challenging process in a very rigorous way,” says the Chair of ESA’s Science Programme Committee, Dr Richard Bonneville.

Today’s announcement is the culmination of a process started in 2004 when ESA consulted the wider scientific community to set Europe’s goals for space exploration in the coming decade.

The resulting Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme identified four scientific aims. What are the conditions for life and planetary formation? How does the Solar System work? What are the fundamental laws of the Universe? How did the Universe begin and what is it made of?

In 2007, a ’Call for Missions’ was issued around these aims and resulted in a number of L-class missions being considered.

“It was a difficult decision to choose one mission from three excellent candidates. All three would produce world-class science and put Europe at the forefront of space research,” says Prof. Giménez Cañete.

“JUICE is a necessary step for the future exploration of our outer Solar System.”

The high scientific value of both NGO and ATHENA was also recognised by the Science Programme Committee in today’s decision, and technology activities are planned to continue, enabling the missions to be considered as candidates for future launch opportunities. A second Call for Large Missions is expected in 2013.

The full Moon will be up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than others during the year. The reason for this phenomenon is that the Moon becomes full on its closest approach to Earth on May 5, 2012, also known as the perigee full Moon. Credit: NASA

The moon will be about 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from Earth, about 12.2 percent closer to our planet than when the moon is at apogee, its farthest point. The average Earth-moon distance is about 230,000 miles (384,400 km).

The last time a supermoon occurred was in March 2011. That supermoon was actually closer to Earth than the moon will be tonight by about 248 miles (400 km).

Today’s NASA Breaking News:

• NASA Announces 2012 Summer Of Innovation Project
  NASA’s third annual Summer of Innovation (SOI) project is underway.
• Dancing Droplets Rock Out On Space Station
  Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit of NASA has taught more than half a million internet viewers how microgravity affects scientific principles by using everyday objects on the International Space Station.

Today’s NASA Breaking News:

• NASA’s Commercial Crew Partner Boeing Completes Parachute Test
  The Boeing Company successfully completed the second parachute drop test for its Crew Space Transportation (CST) spacecraft Wednesday, part of its effort to develop commercial crew transportation capabilities that could ferry U.S. astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the International Space Station.

Today’s NASA Breaking News:

• Black Hole Caught Red-Handed in a Stellar Homicide
  Astronomers have gathered the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close.

Today’s NASA Breaking News:

• NASA Explorer Schools Symposium Showcases Student Research
  Students from across the nation will gather at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston May 2-5 for the annual NASA Explorer Schools Symposium.
• NASA.gov Wins Two 2012 Webby Awards
  NASA’s website, www.nasa.gov, has won awards in two categories as the best government site in the 16th Annual Webby Awards, the leading international honor for the world’s best websites.

Today’s NASA Breaking News:

• NASA TV to Air 2012 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction May 5
  NASA Television will provide live coverage of the 2012 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 5.
• NASA’S Chandra Sees Remarkable Outburst from Old Black Hole
  An extraordinary outburst produced by a black hole in a nearby galaxy has provided direct evidence for a population of old, volatile stellar black holes.

Today’s NASA Breaking News:

• NASA Statement on John Glenn Selection for Medal of Freedom
  NASA has released the following statement by Administrator Charles Bolden about President Obama’s announcement that astronaut John Glenn has been selected as a recipient of the 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Updated Coverage for NASA/SpaceX Launch and Mission to Station
  The second SpaceX demonstration launch for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) has been rescheduled for a liftoff on Monday, May 7.
• NASA Selects 10 Small Business Technology Transfer Projects
  NASA has selected ten proposals from small business and research institution teams to continue work on innovative technologies that could advance future missions.
• Shuttle Enterprise to Fly Over New York City Metro Area Friday
  NASA managers, in consultation with Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum officials, have selected Friday, April 27, to ferry space shuttle Enterprise from Washington Dulles International Airport to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York.

Today’s NASA Breaking News:

• NASA’s WISE Catches Aging Star Erupting With Dust
  Images from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) reveal an old star in the throes of a fiery outburst and spraying the cosmos with dust.
• NASA Seeks Game Changing Solar Array Systems Proposals
  NASA’s Space Technology Program is seeking proposals to develop solar array systems to enable space electric propulsion systems of the future.
• Shuttle Enterprise to Fly Over New York City Metro Area Friday
  NASA managers, in consultation with Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum officials, have selected Friday, April 27, to ferry space shuttle Enterprise from Washington Dulles International Airport to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York.
• NASA’s Cassini Finds Saturn’s Moon Phoebe Has Planet-Like Qualities
  Data from NASA’s Cassini mission reveal Saturn’s moon Phoebe has more planet-like qualities than previously thought.