MSGID: 1:153/757.0 940f013c
TZUTC: -0800
CHRS: LATIN-1 2
                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2026 January 2

                                 NanoSail-D2
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Vandebergh

   Explanation: In 2011, on January 20, NASA's NanoSail-D2 unfurled a very
   thin and very reflective 10 square meter sail becoming the first solar
   sail spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Often considered the stuff of
   science fiction, sailing through space was suggested 400 years ago by
   astronomer Johannes Kepler, who had observed comet tails blown by the
   solar wind. But modern solar sail spacecraft designs, like NanoSail-D2,
   Japan's interplanetary spacecraft IKAROS, or the Planetary Society's
   Lightsail A, rely on the small but continuous pressure from sunlight
   itself for thrust. Glinting in the sunlight as it circled planet Earth,
   NanoSail-D2's solar sail was periodically bright and visible to the
   eye. These remarkably detailed images were captured by manually
   tracking the orbiting solar sail spacecraft with a small telescope.

                      Tomorrow's picture: moon lighting
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
 * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
SEEN-BY: 19/10 105/81 106/201 128/187 129/14 305 134/100 153/135 143
SEEN-BY: 153/148 151 757 6809 7083 7715 154/110 218/700 840 220/70
SEEN-BY: 221/1 6 360 226/17 30 227/114 229/110 112 134 206 275 307
SEEN-BY: 229/317 400 426 428 470 664 700 705 266/512 267/800 291/111
SEEN-BY: 301/1 320/219 322/757 335/364 341/66 342/200 396/45 460/58
SEEN-BY: 633/267 280 414 418 420 422 2744 712/848 770/1 100 340 350
SEEN-BY: 772/210 220 230 902/26 5020/400 5075/35
PATH: 153/757 221/6 218/840 770/1 633/280 229/426