... Europa: Ridges and Rafts on a Frozen Moon . ... Crater Copernicus . ... Copernicus is a large young crater visible with binoculars slightly northwest of the center of the Moon's Earth-facing hemisphere. ... Japan launched its first mission to orbit Mars, Nozomi (Hope), on July 3rd from the Kagoshima Space Center on the island of Kyushu. ... On August 27th an intense flash of X-rays and gamma-rays swept through our Solar System. ... A solar storm overtook the Earth on August 26th. ... August . ...