Mars Rover Curiosity Landing is a Success

(Photo credit: NASA)Mars Rover Curiosity landed successfully at Gale Crater on Mars early this morning. This was a real nail biter since everyone involved was not sure how this was going to work out considering many of the processes used had never been attempted before. So what happens now? Before any real work can begin the rover will acclimatize itself, upgrade its software to drive and it has to accurately locate itself on the surface of the planet. This will take a week or more for it to get acclimated. As compared to past rovers, Curiosity has at least ten years on the planet, which is plenty of time to explore new environments. Back home on Earth the Perseid meteor showers can be seen later this week. Saturday into Sunday is when the annual meteor shower will peak. You should keep an eye out from midnight until sunrise Sunday morning, but if you can’t stay up late you might be able to catch the display earlier Saturday night. The Perseid’s used to rank as number one meteor shower of the year, but it has to bow to the Geminids now since that shower has more meteors per hour. Also, don’t miss what else can be seen in the night sky this week. All this and more on this week’s Sky Talk.