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Vigorous mixing in the air above large cracks in Arctic sea ice that expose seawater to cold polar air pumps atmospheric mercury down to the surface, finds a NASA field campaign. This process can lead to more of the toxic pollutant entering the food chain, where it can negatively affect the health of fish and animals who eat them, including humans. Scientists measured increased concentrations of mercury near ground level after sea ice off the coast of Barrow, Alaska, cracked, creating open seawater channels called leads. The researchers were in the Arctic for the NASA-led Bromine, Ozone, and Mercury Experiment (BROMEX) in 2012. The mercury-pumping reaction takes place because open water in a lead is much warmer than the air above it, according to study lead author Chris Moore of the Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nev in a paper reporting the discovery published in Nature on Jan. 15. Because of that temperature difference, the air above the lead churns like the air above a boiling pot. Almost all of the mercury in the Arctic atmosphere is transported there in gaseous form from sources in areas farther south. Scientists have long known that mercury in the air near ground level undergoes complex chemical reactions that deposit the element on the surface. Once the mercury is completely removed from the air, these reactions stop. However, this newly discovered mixing triggered by leads in the sea ice forces down additional mercury to restart and sustain the reactions. Image Credit: University of Hamburg, Germany #ice #nasa #flights #arctic #seaice #mercury #earth #pole #alaska #bromex; -
Spitzer's Orion - Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula, an immense stellar nursery some 1,500 light-years away. This stunning false-color view spans about 40 light-years across the region, constructed using infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Compared to its visual wavelength appearance, the brightest portion of the nebula is likewise centered on Orion's young, massive, hot stars, known as the Trapezium Cluster. But the infrared image also detects the nebula's many protostars, still in the process of formation, seen here in red hues. In fact, red spots along the dark dusty filament to the left of the bright cluster include the protostar cataloged as HOPS 68, recently found to have crystals of the silicate mineral olivine within its protostellar envelope. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech #nasa #space #science #spitzer #nebula #orion #telescope #star #dust #infrared; -
Aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Rick Mastracchio tweeted this image from @AstroRM. His post read, "We captured the Orbital Cygnus 1 two days ago. Here I am with the business end of the robotic arm." The space station crew Sunday used a robotic arm to capture and attach the Cygnus supply spacecraft, which carried dozens of new science experiments from across the country and the world to the orbiting laboratory. The arrival capped the first successful contracted cargo delivery by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., for NASA. CREDIT: NASA #nasa #space #iss #orb1 #cygnus #antares #spacestation #orbitalscience #orbital; -
Space Weather - A giant cloud of solar material called a coronal mass ejection escapes the sun in this Jan. 14 image from the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Scientists use this kind of picture, called a coronagraph, in which the sun is obscured, to better see the sun's atmosphere, the corona. Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO #nasa #sun #space #science #solar #esa #atmosphere; -
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Prepared For Launch - Inside the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS-L, spacecraft has been encapsulated in its payload fairing. It is being lifted by crane for mounting on a transporter for its trip to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The TDRS-L satellite will be a part of the second of three next-generation spacecraft designed to ensure vital operational continuity for the NASA Space Network. TDRS-L is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41 atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 9:05 p.m. EST on Jan. 23, 2014, the start of a 30-minute launch window. The current Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system consists of eight in-orbit satellites distributed to provide near continuous information relay contact with orbiting spacecraft ranging from the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope to the array of scientific observatories. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett #nasa #space #tdrs #launch #ula #iss #hst #hubble #satellite;
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SLS Avionics System Sees the (First) Light - The modern avionics system that will guide the most powerful rocket ever built saw the light -- the "first light," that is. Hardware, software and operating systems for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) recently were integrated and powered up for an inaugural run -- referred to as "first light." When completed, SLS will be capable of powering humans and potential science payloads to deep space. It has the greatest capacity of any launch system ever built, minimizing cost and risk of deep space journeys. The Integrated Avionics Test Facilities team provided and installed the structure and simulation capability to model the environments the vehicle will experience during launch. With the avionics hardware units arranged in flight configuration on the structure and with the flight software, the facility will replicate what will actually fly the rocket. From left, Wayne Arrington, Gerald Clayton and Ryan MacKrell, all of The Boeing Company, work on setting up the avionics system in flight configuration in the Systems Integration and Test Facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Image Credit: Boeing #nasa #space #engineering #msfc #sls #rocket #launch #boeing #firstlight; -
Frozen Lake Sharpe, South Dakota - The Missouri River rises in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, and flows generally to the southeast for 3,767 kilometers (2,341 miles) to its confluence with the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. It is the longest river in North America. The river does not follow a straight southeasterly course along this distance, but includes many meander bends such as the one in this astronaut photograph from the International Space Station. This particular bend is occupied by Lake Sharpe, an approximately 130 kilometer (80 mile) long reservoir formed behind the Big Bend Dam on the Missouri River near Lower Brule, South Dakota. The lake surface is frozen and covered with snow, presenting a uniform white appearance. As meander bends develop, they tend to assume a distinctive U shape. Over time, the river channel can continue to cut into the ends of the “U,” eventually bringing them so close together that the river then cuts across the gap to achieve a shorter flow path and cut off the meander bend. When this happens and the meander ceases to be part of the active river channel, it may become an oxbow lake. The distance across the narrow neck of land (image lower right) associated with this meander is approximately 1 kilometer (0.62 miles). However, the river flow is controlled by the Big Bend Dam downstream, so the natural process of meander cutoff has been significantly slowed. The image was taken by the space station’s Expedition 38 crew. It has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #iss #exp38 #science #earth #space #missouririver #southdakota #lake #dam; -
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station Sunday used a robotic arm to capture and attach the Cygnus supply spacecraft, which carried dozens of new science experiments from across the country and the world to the orbiting laboratory. The arrival capped the first successful contracted cargo delivery by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., for NASA. Astronaut Mike Hopkins of NASA grappled the spacecraft at 6:08 a.m. EST and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency attached Cygnus to the space station's Harmony Node at 8:05 a.m.The Expedition 38 crew members aboard the station will begin unloading the 2,780 pounds (1,261 kilograms) of supplies aboard Cygnus following hatch opening which is currently on the crew’s timeline for Monday. The cargo is comprised of vital science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware. This includes 23 student-designed science experiments. One newly arrived investigation will study the decreased effectiveness of antibiotics during spaceflight. Another will examine how different fuel samples burn in microgravity, which could inform future design for spacecraft materials. Orbital's Cygnus was launched on the company's Antares rocket Thursday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Cygnus will remain attached to Harmony until a planned unberthing in February sends the spacecraft toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere. Image credit: NASA #cygnus #orb1 #antares #iss #spacestation #earthorbit #orbital #orbitalsciences #resupply; -
Back in November, the team behind NASA's James Webb Space Telescope engineering test unit move a primary mirror segment in a protective case, returning it to the cleanroom at NASA Goddard after undergoing some tests at our new Calibration, Integration, and Alignment Facility. The James Webb Space Telescope will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. The project is working to a 2018 launch date. The Webb will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn #jwst #webbtelescope #webb #nasa #space #telescope #universe #engineering #hardware; -
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Hubble Sees a Star Set to Explode: Floating at the center of this new Hubble image is a lidless purple eye, staring back at us through space. This ethereal object, known officially as [SBW2007] 1 but sometimes nicknamed SBW1, is a nebula with a giant star at its center. The star was originally twenty times more massive than our sun, and is now encased in a swirling ring of purple gas, the remains of the distant era when it cast off its outer layers via violent pulsations and winds. But the star is not just any star; scientists say that it is destined to go supernova. Twenty-six years ago, another star with striking similarities went supernova — SN 1987A. Early Hubble images of SN 1987A show eerie similarities to SBW1. Both stars had identical rings of the same size and age, which were travelling at similar speeds; both were located in similar HII regions; and they had the same brightness. In this way SBW1 is a snapshot of SN1987a's appearance before it exploded, and unsurprisingly, astronomers love studying them together. At a distance of more than 20 000 light-years it will be safe to watch when the supernova goes off. If we are very lucky it may happen in our own lifetimes. Credit: ESA/NASA, acknowledgement: Nick Rose. #hubble #stars #universe #star #sun #nasa #space; -
An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it launches from Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Thursday, January 9, 2014, Wallops Island, VA. Antares is carrying the Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Orbital-1 mission is Orbital Sciences' first contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Cygnus is carrying science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware to the space station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #orb1 #antares #cygnus #orbitalsciences #launch #launchpics #launchpix #rocket #rocketlaunch #iss #space #nasa; -
Can you see the shape of a hand in this new X-ray image? The hand might look like an X-ray from the doctor's office, but it is actually a cloud of material ejected from a star that exploded. The new 'Hand' image shows a nebula 17,000 light-years away, powered by a dead, spinning star called PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short. The dead star, called a pulsar, is the leftover core of a star that exploded in a supernova. The pulsar is only about 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter but packs a big punch: it is spinning around nearly seven times every second, spewing particles into material that was upheaved during the star's violent death. These particles are interacting with magnetic fields around the ejected material, causing it to glow with X-rays. The result is a cloud that, in previous images, looked like an open hand. One of the big mysteries of this object, called a pulsar wind nebula, is whether the pulsar's particles are interacting with the material in a specific way to make it appear as a hand, or if the material is in fact shaped like a hand. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill #NuSTAR #hand #space #nasa #nasajpl #xray #xrayimage; -
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and tracks left by its driving appear in this portion of a Dec. 11, 2013, observation by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The rover is near the lower-left corner of this view. For scale, the two parallel lines of the wheel tracks are about 10 feet (3 meters) apart. Curiosity has been on the move. By the time this image was taken, it had driven about 2.86 miles (4.61 kilometers) since its August 2012 landing in Gale Crater. This view shows where the rover has driven generally southwestward, with some variation to get around obstacles, on its route toward its long-term destination on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona #mars #nasa #curiosity #marscuriosity #redplanet #rover #hirise #space #solarsystem #nasajpl; -
An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it launches from Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Thursday, January 9, 2014, Wallops Island, VA. Antares is carrying the Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Orbital-1 mission is Orbital Sciences' first contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Cygnus is carrying science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware to the space station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #orb1 #antares #cygnus #orbitalsciences #launch #launchpics #launchpix #rocket #rocketlaunch #iss #space #nasa;
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