Year of the Solar System September Topic: Gravity: It’s What Keeps Us Together!

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September’s topic for NASA’s Year of the Solar System (YSS) – Gravity: It’s What Keeps Us Together!

Gravity is the powerful force that glues our universe together. Gravity helped form our solar system, the planets, and the stars. It holds the planets in orbit around the Sun, and moons in orbit around the planets. The gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon creates the tides on Earth. Join us this month to explore this force across the solar system, including watching GRAIL's launch to the Moon and checking out activities about tides, your weight on other worlds, and orbits of moons and comets. It's a weighty topic; join us to tackle it together!

Celebrate the launch of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to the Moon on 8 September!
GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem around the Moon to precisely measure and map variations in the Moon's gravitational field. This detailed information will reveal differences in density of the Moon's crust and mantle and will help answer fundamental questions about the Moon's internal structure, thermal evolution, and history of collisions with asteroids. Learn more at the GRAIL website! http://moon.mit.edu/

Visit the YSS website (http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss/display.cfm?Year=2011&Month=9&Tab=Classr...) to find activities for classroom and informal learning environments to explore Gravity in your programs! You will also find information about night-sky viewing events and mission milestones, recommended resources, and downloadable materials all connected to this month’s theme!

A “Tweetable” announcement in 140 characters or less:
NASA’s Year of the Solar System September Topic: Gravity: It’s What Keeps Us Together! http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss #nasayss

Explore the From Earth to the Solar System (FETTSS) Gallery
http://fettss.arc.nasa.gov/
From Earth to the Solar System (FETTSS) is a stunning collection of high-resolution images that showcases the excitement of planetary exploration—our journey to understand the origin and evolution of the Solar System, and our search for life elsewhere. The images are at once artistic and informative, weaving together themes in astrobiology, planetary science, and astronomy. Including contributions from backyard astronomers, large telescopes in space, and even point-and-shoot cameras of field researchers, the collection represents the current state of exploration as seen through the eyes of the scientific community.

Take some time to browse the 90+ breath-taking images in the collection - created to celebrate NASA’s Year of the Solar System. You are invited to download the images that appeal to you and host an exhibit in your venue or community. Information for how to exhibit can be found at: http://fettss.arc.nasa.gov/how-exhibit/.

Link to YSS from Your Website
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You can find other YSS graphics at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss/downloads.cfm.

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