Teacher Mark Buesing Takes First Flight Over Greenland

The Libertyville High School teacher described the scenery as "awesome, beautiful, stark, breathtaking and stunning."

Libertyville High School teacher Mark Buesing took his first flight over Greenland with NASA scientists April 5. In his PolarTREC blog, he described the views from NASA's P-3B Orion flying science lab as "awesome, beautiful, stark, breathtaking and stunning." Buesing is participating in NASA's Operation IceBridge, during which researchers fly over the ice in Greenland and collect detailed, 3D images of the ice. "Flying at 1,500 feet below the tops of mountains, through valleys so narrow I felt I could reach out and touch the sides was … simply astonishing," Buesing wrote in his blog. He also includes photos and videos from the trip. "At times the scenery was beautiful enough to bring me to tears, I mean, if I was the crying type." Read …

• Photos (1)
• Videos (1)

Watch Asteroid 2012 DA14 Fly By Earth

NASA is providing live coverage of the asteroid flyby starting at 1 p.m. Central time.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is expected to fly within about 17,200 miles from Earth, NASA says. The asteroid is expected to fly by Earth at about 1:24 p.m. Central time, according to the Adler Planetarium. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments!

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

Korrina's Skycast

Asteroid to Fly By Earth Feb. 15

Asteroid 2012 DA14, NASA says, will be about 17,200 miles from Earth.

An asteroid that is about 150 feet in diameter is expected to fly by Earth early Friday afternoon. While NASA says there's no chance that asteroid 2012 DA14 will hit Earth, the asteroid is expected to pass between Earth and its ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites. "The flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14 is the closest ever predicted Earth approach for an object this large," according to the NASA website. "Scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office in Pasadena, CA, estimate that an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14 flies this close every 40 years on average and that one will impact Earth, on average, about once in every 1,200 years." At its closest approach, asteroid 2012 DA14 will be about 17,200 miles from Earth…

•  8 Comments
• Photos (1)

Libertyville High School Teacher Headed to Greenland

Mark Buesing will participate in NASA's Operation IceBridge.

When Libertyville High School teacher Mark Buesing decided to take a former student's advice an apply to participate in NASA's Operation IceBridge, he never thought much would come of it. "And here we are," said Buesing, who will travel to Greenland in April to work on the project. Operation IceBridge researchers fly over the ice in Greenland and collect detailed, 3D images of the ice. "By doing that over months and years, they can develop a model and look at past data to monitor how things are changing," said Buesing, adding that the data can be seen by the general public on the National Snow and Ice Data Center website. Buesing said a former student who graduated from LHS about a decade ago now works for the United States Antarctic …

• Photos (3)