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Finding your size this #BlackFriday? For us, it's #BlackHoleFriday and black holes can be big or small. Scientists think the smallest black holes are as small as just one atom. These black holes are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain. Mass is the amount of matter, or "stuff," in an object. Another kind of black hole is called "stellar." Its mass can be up to 20 times more than the mass of the sun. There may be many, many stellar mass black holes in Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way. The largest black holes are called "supermassive." These black holes have masses that are more than 1 million suns together. Scientists have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A. It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths. This image of Sagittarius A and the surrounding region is from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and is based on data from a series of observations lasting a total of about one million seconds, or almost two weeks. Such a deep observation has given scientists an unprecedented view of the supernova remnant near Sagittarius A and the lobes of hot gas extending for a dozen light years on either side of the black hole. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/F. Baganoff, R. Shcherbakov et al.; -
For retail, it's #BlackFriday (EST). For us, it's #BlackHoleFriday. Today, we'll post info & images all about Black Holes. A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying. Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars. This image is an artist's drawing of a black hole named Cygnus X-1. It formed when a large star caved in. This black hole pulls matter from blue star beside it. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss #nasa #space #blackholes #xray #cygnus; -
#Comet #ISON Streams Toward the Sun: In this picture, called a coronagraph, the bright light of the sun itself is blocked so the structures around it are visible. The comet is seen in the lower right; a giant cloud of solar material, called a coronal mass ejection or CME, is seen billowing out under the sun. ISON entered the field of view in the early hours of Nov. 27, 2013, of the European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Comet ISON, which began its trip from the Oort cloud region of our solar system, will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day, skimming just 730,000 miles above the sun's surface. Image Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO #nasa #space #cometison #stars #astronomy #universe #solarsystem; -
Comet ISON Approaching the Sun: This movie from NASA’s STEREO spacecraft's Heliospheric Imager shows Comet ISON, Mercury, Comet Encke and Earth over a five-day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 25, 2013. The sun sits right of the field of view of this camera. Comet ISON, which will round the sun on Nov. 28, is what's known as a sungrazing comet, due to its close approach. A comet’s journey through the solar system is perilous and violent. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether. Even if the comet does not survive, tracking its journey will help scientists understand what the comet is made of, how it reacts to its environment, and what this explains about the origins of the solar system. Closer to the sun, watching how the comet and its tail interact with the vast solar atmosphere can teach scientists more about the sun itself. Image Credit: NASA/STEREO #nasa #space #ison #cometison #comet #stars #astronomy #universe #solarsystem; -
Traveling for #Thanksgiving? It’s a time when the nation’s transportation network is clogged with travelers. According to the American Automobile Association, an estimated 43.4 million Americans will travel 50 miles (80 kilometers) or more during Thanksgiving week, with the average round trip being 600 miles (1,000 kilometers). More than 90 percent of them will use cars or trucks, while the rest will ride planes or trains. The imprint of the transportation web becomes easier to see at night. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite acquired two nighttime images early on Oct. 1, 2013, for this natural-light, mosaic view of the continental United States. The VIIRS instrument uses a “day-night band” of wavelengths that is sensitive to low light levels and manmade light sources. The images were collected just three days before the new moon, so reflected light from space and the atmosphere was relatively low. It was also a rare night when most of the nation was cloud-free. Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS and DMSP OLS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center) Caption: Mike Carlowicz #nasa #space #traffic #transportation #map #viirs #npp #satellite #night #infrared;
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Coils of Magnetic Field Lines on the Sun: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory zoomed in for a close-up of tight packs of coils around one active region on the sun on Nov. 18-19, 2013. The bundles of coils are actually charged particles swirling along magnetic field lines. Other field lines heading off to the left are more elongated and tapered. The images were taken in extreme ultraviolet light. Credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory #solar #sdo #nasa #space #sunpix #sun; -
310 million light years away is spiral galaxy NGC 4921, visible from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Seen in this image are, from the center, a bright nucleus, a bright central bar, a prominent ring of dark dust, blue clusters of recently formed stars, several smaller companion galaxies, unrelated galaxies in the far distant universe, and unrelated stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. A more precise determination of distance could be coupled with its known recession speed to help humanity better calibrate the expansion rate of the entire visible universe. Toward this goal, several images were taken by Hubble in order to help identify key stellar distance markers known as Cepheid variable stars. Since NGC 4921 is a member of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies, refining its distance would also allow a better distance determination to one of the largest nearby clusters in the local universe. The magnificent spiral NGC 4921 has been informally dubbed anemic because of its low rate of star formation and low surface brightness. Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA #nasa #hubble #space #astronomy #galaxy #stars #milkyway #hst #universe; -
Hubble Sees Sparring Antennae Galaxies: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has snapped the best ever image of the Antennae Galaxies. Hubble has released images of these stunning galaxies twice before, once using observations from its Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in 1997, and again in 2006 from the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Each of Hubble’s images of the Antennae Galaxies has been better than the last, due to upgrades made during the famous servicing missions, the last of which took place in 2009. The galaxies — also known as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 — are locked in a deadly embrace. Once normal, sedate spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, the pair have spent the past few hundred million years sparring with one another. This clash is so violent that stars have been ripped from their host galaxies to form a streaming arc between the two. In wide-field images of the pair the reason for their name becomes clear — far-flung stars and streamers of gas stretch out into space, creating long tidal tails reminiscent of antennae. This new image of the Antennae Galaxies shows obvious signs of chaos. Clouds of gas are seen in bright pink and red, surrounding the bright flashes of blue star-forming regions — some of which are partially obscured by dark patches of dust. The rate of star formation is so high that the Antennae Galaxies are said to be in a state of starburst, a period in which all of the gas within the galaxies is being used to form stars. This cannot last forever and neither can the separate galaxies; eventually the nuclei will coalesce, and the galaxies will begin their retirement together as one large elliptical galaxy. This image uses visible and near-infrared observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), along with some of the previously-released observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Credit: Hubble/European Space Agency #nasa #hubble #space #astronomy #galaxy #stars #milkyway #hst #universe; -
“The Earth is beautiful,” tweeted @AstroIllini. This Earth image was posted on Nov. 23 by astronaut Mike Hopkins from aboard the International Space Station. The six-member Expedition 38 crew spent the week participating in biomedical experiments observing how the human body adapts to long duration missions in space. The crew collected blood, urine and saliva samples; performed ear and eye exams; and studied how a crew member moves in space. CREDIT: NASA #nasa #iss #spacestation #astronauts #earth #clouds #space #exp38; -
Japanese astronauts Koichi Wakata (@Astro_Wakata) posted this image of Earth from space station to Twitter and wrote, “It looks like the Aurora curtain over Canada is extending up to about a few hundred kilometers above Earth surface.” CREDIT: JAXA #nasa #iss #spacestation #aurora #astronauts #canada #japan #jaxa #earth;
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Want to escape from work on Friday? In the event of an emergency on space station, green dots near the hatch point toward the Soyuz spacecraft so astronauts can find their way to their ship to escape station. This image from astronaut Mike Hopkins shows what it looks like inside the space station while the crew sleeps. CREDIT: NASA #nasa #iss #spacestation #soyuz #night #sleep #escape #astronauts; -
#Comet #ISON entered the field of view of the HI-1 camera on NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, on Nov. 21, 2013, and the comet shows up clearly, appearing to still be intact. Dark "clouds" coming from the right are more dense areas in the solar wind, causing ripples in Comet Encke's tail. Using comet tails as tracers can provide valuable data about solar wind conditions near the sun. Image Credit: Karl Battams/NASA/STEREO/CIOC #cometISON #nasa #space; -
NASA Sees 'Watershed' Cosmic Blast in Unique Detail: This artist rendering is of a blast of light from a dying star in a distant galaxy that on April 27 became the focus of astronomers around the world. The explosion, known as a gamma-ray burst and designated GRB 130427A, tops the charts as one of the brightest ever seen. A trio of NASA satellites - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) & the Swift Gamma-ray Burst Mission - working in concert with ground-based robotic telescopes, captured never-before-seen details that challenge current theoretical understandings of how gamma-ray bursts work. Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the cosmos. Astronomers think most occur when the core of a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, collapses under its own weight, and forms a black hole. The black hole then drives jets of particles that drill all the way through the collapsing star at nearly the speed of light. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center #nasa #space #astromony #gammaray #cosmic #discovery # astronomers #swift #fermi #nestar #radiation #telescope; -
A Portrait of Global Winds: High-resolution global atmospheric modeling provides a unique tool to study the role of weather within Earth’s climate system. NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS-5) is capable of simulating worldwide weather at resolutions as fine as 3.5 kilometers. This visualization shows global winds from a GEOS-5 simulation using 10-kilometer resolution. Surface winds (0 to 40 meters/second) are shown in white and trace features including Atlantic and Pacific cyclones. Upper-level winds (250 hectopascals) are colored by speed (0 to 175 meters/second), with red indicating faster. The complete 2-year “Nature Run” simulation—a computer model representation of Earth's atmosphere from basic inputs including observed sea-surface temperatures and surface emissions from biomass burning, volcanoes and anthropogenic sources—produces its own unique weather patterns including precipitation, aerosols and hurricanes. A follow-on Nature Run is simulating Earth’s atmosphere at 7 kilometers for 2 years and 3.5 kilometers for 3 months. Image Credit: William Putman/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center #nasa #earth #atmosphere #winds #climate #geo5 #volcanoes; -
As the #ISS reaches it's 15th anniversary (#ISS15), let's pause to reflect on the amazing accomplishments of living and working in space these last 15 years. Zarya, the first space station module, was launched aboard a Russian Proton rocket and placed into orbit on Nov. 20, 1998. Two years later the first crew would occupy the station which consisted of just three modules including Russia’s Zvezda service module and the United States’ Unity node. When Expedition 1 returned to Earth four months later the station had expanded to a fourth module, the U.S. Destiny laboratory, and its first solar array, the P6 truss structure, attached to Unity. Fast forward to today and you have the 38th crew to live and work continuously aboard the orbital laboratory. They are moving ahead with science to benefit life on Earth and in space. The six-member crew is also ensuring the station is operating in optimal shape and exercising to stay healthy during its long-term stay in space. The space station continues to provide a microgravity environment for researchers to conduct experiments in biology and biotechnology, human research, Earth and space science, physical science, and technology demonstrations, among a multitude of others, in what was only an engineering schematic just 15 years ago. In that time, space station educational activities on orbit have reached more than 42 million students across the globe. Further, the space station serves as a stepping-stone to deeper space exploration, demonstrating the essentials of long-term living in space. Thank you for celebrating 15 years of the International Space Station with us today. Image credit: NASA #nasa #space #spacestation #earth #humanoutpost #iss15 #birthday #astronauts #zarya #international #unity;
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