NASA's website shut down completely

Just one of NASA's breathtaking images of our Sun

NASA has completely shut down its website, no longer possible for users to obtain important information. Same thing has happened on NASA's Twitter accounts.

"Due to government shutdown, we will not be posting or responding from this account," the crew responsible for the Voyager 2 space probe wrote late Monday on Twitter. "Farewell, humans. Sort it out yourselves."

Last tweet from @NASAVoyager2 before its account suspension was “Sorry, but we won't be tweeting/responding to replies during the government shutdown. Be back as soon as possible!”

Other agencies and missions within NASA like @MarsCuriosity, @AsteroidWatch, @CassiniSaturn, @MarsRovers,  @NASAKennedy, @NASAAmes, etc.  have similar tweets.

CNN reports that NASA is just one of many federal government agencies affected when the U.S. government shut down at midnight Tuesday because of Congress' inability to pass a budget. 97% of its wok force of about 18,000 employees were furloughed on Tuesday.

 

One of NASA's images of a huge Earth-bound solar flare

So who will monitor the skies? There are observatories, academic institutions and other astronomers that are forming to watch the skies.

NASA will continue to support its two astronauts aboard the International Space Station, as well as spacecraft currently in space, Space.com reported.  "To protect the life of the crew as well as the assets themselves, we would continue to support planned operations of the ISS during any funding hiatus," the plan states, according to Space.com.  

It does sound like a nightmare that could shake science and global economy so it is therefore hoped that this situation would be a shortlived one, especially when many are now endlessly watching the night skies for certain apocalyptic signs...

In the meantime, amateur astronomers, academic groups and observatories worldwide will be watching the skies for signs of Comet ISON. This photograph taken by Canadian amateur astronomer Malcolm Park on Sept.29, 2013, does not show comet ISON itself but illustrates exactly where in the sky it can be seen by backyard astronomers with only moderate-sized telescopes. [Image credit: Malcolm Park, NYAA]