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Explore the universe and discover our home planet with the official NASA Instagram account
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Saturn's rings: less than meets the eye? It seems intuitive that an opaque material should contain more stuff than a more translucent substance. For example, muddier water has more suspended particles of dirt in it than clearer water. Likewise, you might think that, in the rings of Saturn, more opaque areas contain a greater concentration of material than places where the rings seem more transparent. But some parts of Saturn's B ring are up to 10 times more opaque than the neighboring A ring, but the B ring may weigh in at only two to three times the A ring's mass. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #saturn #cassini #space #astronomy #nasabeyond #science; -
Blast From Black Hole in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: The Star Wars franchise has featured the fictitious "Death Star," which can shoot powerful beams of radiation across space. The Universe, however, produces phenomena that often surpass what science fiction can conjure. The Pictor A galaxy is one such impressive object. This galaxy, located nearly 500 million light years from Earth, contains a supermassive black hole at its center. A huge amount of gravitational energy is released as material swirls towards the event horizon, the point of no return for infalling material. This energy produces an enormous beam, or jet, of particles traveling at nearly the speed of light into intergalactic space. Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Hertfordshire/M. Hardcastle et al.; Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA #nasa #astronomy #space #galaxy #blackhole #nasabeyond #science; -
Fly Over Dwarf Planet Ceres: A colorful new animation shows a simulated flight over the surface of dwarf planet Ceres, based on images from our Dawn spacecraft. The movie shows Ceres in enhanced color, which helps to highlight subtle differences in the appearance of surface materials. Scientists believe areas with shades of blue contain younger, fresher material, including flows, pits and cracks. This animated flight over Ceres emphasizes the prominent crater Occator and its intriguing bright spots, which are believed to be a type of salt. Credit: NASA #nasa #ceres #space #planet #nasabeyond #dawn #spacecraft #science; -
Misbehaving Spiral Galaxy: Despite its unassuming appearance, the edge-on spiral galaxy captured in the left half of this Hubble Space Telescope image is actually quite remarkable. Located about one billion light-years away, this striking galaxy - known as LO95 0313-192 - has a spiral shape similar to that of the Milky Way. It has a large central bulge, and arms speckled with brightly glowing gas mottled by thick lanes of dark dust. Its companion, sitting in the right of the frame, is known rather unpoetically as [LOY2001] J031549.8-190623. Jets, outbursts of superheated gas moving at close to the speed of light, have long been associated with the cores of giant elliptical galaxies, and galaxies in the process of merging. However, in an unexpected discovery, astronomers found LO95 0313-192, even though it is a spiral galaxy, to have intense radio jets spewing out from its center. The galaxy appears to have two more regions that are also strongly emitting in the radio part of the spectrum, making it even rarer still. Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; acknowledgement, Judy Schmidt #nasa #hubble #hst #space #nasabeyond #astronomy #galaxy #science; -
Mars Selfie: Our Curiosity Rover has perfected taking selfies on Mars. This self-portrait shows the rover at the "Namib Dune," where it has been scooping samples of sand for analysis. The rover may look petite in this shot, but don't let its camera skills fool you. Curiosity is a car-sized mobile laboratory and has wheels that are 20 inches in diameter. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS @NASAJPL #nasa #mars #journeytomars #marscuriosity #geography #selfie #science;
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We See Monstrous Cloud Boomerang Back to our Galaxy: Hubble Space Telescope astronomers are finding that the old adage "what goes up must come down" even applies to an immense cloud of hydrogen gas outside our Milky Way galaxy. The invisible cloud is plummeting toward our galaxy at nearly 700,000 miles per hour. Though hundreds of enormous, high-velocity gas clouds whiz around the outskirts of our galaxy, this so-called "Smith Cloud" is unique because its trajectory is well known. New Hubble observations suggest it was launched from the outer regions of the galactic disk, around 70 million years ago. The cloud was discovered in the early 1960s by doctoral astronomy student Gail Smith, who detected the radio waves emitted by its hydrogen. The cloud is on a return collision course and is expected to plow into the Milky Way's disk in about 30 million years. When it does, astronomers believe it will ignite a spectacular burst of star formation, perhaps providing enough gas to make 2 million suns. This composite image shows cloud in false-color, radio wavelengths as observed by the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The visible-light image of the background star field shows the cloud's location in the direction of the constellation Aquila. Credits: Saxton/Lockman/NRAO/AUI/NSF/Mellinger #nasa #hubble #hst #nasabeyond #galaxy #space #smithcloud #science; -
Today we pay tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, as well as our other colleagues. Our 'Day of Remembrance' honors members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. This year, as we remember all who we lost, we mark a very somber 30-year anniversary - the loss of STS-51L (Challenger) on January 28, 1986. Remember them not for how they died but for those ideals for which they lived. Credit: NASA #nasa #challenger #nasaremembers #columbia #apollo1 #otd; -
Rebel Galaxy: Most galaxies possess a majestic spiral or elliptical structure. About a quarter of galaxies, though, defy such conventional, rounded aesthetics, instead sporting a messy, indefinable shape. Known as irregular galaxies, this group includes NGC 5408, the galaxy that has been snapped here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. John Herschel recorded the existence of NGC 5408 in June 1834. Astronomers had long mistaken NGC 5408 for a planetary nebula, an expelled cloud of material from an aging star. Instead, bucking labels, NGC 5408 turned out to be an entire galaxy, located about 16 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt #nasa #space #esa #hubble #hst #astronomy #galaxy #nasabeyond #science; -
Ping pong in space, anyone? NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who marked day 300 of a historic year in space on Jan. 21, shows off another fascinating feature of life in microgravity. Kelly used two paddles with hydrophobic, or water repellant, features to pass a sphere of water back and forth. Scientists use the microgravity environment of the space station to advance scientific knowledge in Earth, space, physical, and biological sciences that otherwise wouldn't be possible down here on the planet. The paddles are polycarbonate laser etched so that the surfaces are actually arrays of 300 micrometer posts (0.3mm). The surfaces were then spray coated with a Teflon coat. The combined effects of surface roughness and non-wettability produce a super-hydrophobic surface capable of preventing water adhesion in dynamic processes. The larger the drop, the less force it takes to break it up. The smaller the drop, the harder you can hit it. Scott is demonstrating about a 4 mL drop (over 100 times larger than a rain drop). Credit: NASA #nasa #space #spacestation #pingpong #yearinspace #iss #science @ISS; -
Unveiling a Tapestry of Dazzling Diamond-like Stars: Resembling an opulent diamond tapestry, this image from our Hubble Space Telescope shows a glittering star cluster that contains a collection of some of the brightest stars seen in our Milky Way galaxy. Called Trumpler 14, it is located 8,000 light-years away in the Carina Nebula, a huge star-formation region. Because the cluster is only 500,000 years old, it has one of the highest concentrations of massive, luminous stars in the entire Milky Way. The small, dark knot left of center is a nodule of gas laced with dust, and seen in silhouette. Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Maíz Apellániz (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain), Acknowledgment: N. Smith (University of Arizona) #nasa #hubble #esa #hst #space #astronomy #galaxy #stars #milkyway #nebula #nasabeyond #astronomy #science;
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Unveiling a Tapestry of Dazzling Diamond-like Stars: Resembling an opulent diamond tapestry, this image from our Hubble Space Telescope shows a glittering star cluster that contains a collection of some of the brightest stars seen in our Milky Way galaxy. Called Trumpler 14, it is located 8,000 light-years away in the Carina Nebula, a huge star-formation region. Because the cluster is only 500,000 years old, it has one of the highest concentrations of massive, luminous stars in the entire Milky Way. The small, dark knot left of center is a nodule of gas laced with dust, and seen in silhouette. Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Maíz Apellániz (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain), Acknowledgment: N. Smith (University of Arizona) #nasa #hubble #esa #hst #space #astronomy #galaxy #stars #milkyway #nebula #nasabeyond #astronomy #science; -
As a massive winter storm continues to pummel the U.S. East Coast early on January 23, 2016, International Space Station (@ISS) Commander Scott Kelly (@StationCDRkelly) shared this photograph from orbit showing the region below. He stated "Massive #snowstorm blanketing #EastCoast clearly visible from Space Station! Stay safe!" The International Space Station is a unique place – a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. It is a microgravity laboratory in which an international crew of six people live and work while traveling at a speed of 17,500 mph, orbiting Earth every 90 minutes. Image credit: NASA/Scott Kelly #nasa #space #astronaut #blizzard2016 #snowzilla #blizzard #snow #snowstorm #spacestation #earth; -
Blizzard Bears Down on U.S. East Coast: NASA and NOAA satellites are tracking the large winter storm that is expected to bring heavy snowfall to the U.S. mid-Atlantic region on Jan. 22 and 23. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite snapped this image of the approaching blizzard around 2:35 a.m. EST on Jan. 22, 2016 using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument's Day-Night band. Image Credit: NOAA/NASA #blizzard2016 #nasa #noaa #space #earth #weather #snowstorm #blizzard #earthrightnow #science; -
SpaceX recently tested its ability to fire engines that will be used to land a human-rated spacecraft safely on the ground with the accuracy of a helicopter at the company’s test facility in McGregor, Texas. SpaceX envisions returning people to Earth from space on the power of thrust instead of beneath parachutes. Working with our Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX is in the early phases of analysis. The Crew Dragon spacecraft will be equipped with eight SuperDraco thrusters that would be used to slow the vehicle’s return to Earth through the atmosphere and ultimately set the spacecraft and its crew down. Propulsive landing will not be used initially for missions with NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon will splash down safely in the ocean under parachutes as its passengers return from the space station. Credit: SpaceX #nasa #spacex #dragon #spacestation #iss #launchamerica; -
Aurora and the Pacific Northwest: NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and ESA astronaut Tim Peake shared a series of aurora photographs taken from the International Space Station on Jan. 20, 2016. Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) wrote, "#goodmorning #aurora and the Pacific Northwest! #YearInSpace" and Peake (@astro_timpeake) followed up with, "Getting a photo masterclass from @StationCDRKelly - magical #aurora" The dancing lights of the aurora provide spectacular views on the ground, but also capture the imagination of scientists who study incoming energy and particles from the sun. Aurora are one effect of such energetic particles, which can speed out from the sun both in a steady stream called the solar wind and due to giant eruptions known as coronal mass ejections or CMEs. Image Credit: ESA/NASA #nasa #spacestation #iss #aurora #space #earth;
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