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Explore the universe and discover our home planet with the official NASA Instagram account
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This image shows Earth, seen from the cupola of the International Space Station. Astronaut Rick Mastracchio shared it on April 4, 2014 saying this was "Just a cool shot from the cupola." The Cupola is a panoramic control tower for the International Space Station, a dome-shaped module with windows through which operations on the outside of the station can be observed and guided. It is a pressurized observation and work area that accommodates command and control workstations and other hardware. Through the robotics workstation, astronauts are able to control the space station’s robotic arm, which helps with the attachment and assembly of various station elements, very much like the operator of a building crane perched in a control cabin. Image credit: NASA #nasa #iss #exp39 #astrorm #space #earth #earthpics #earthpix #astropics #astropix; -
Expedition 39 wrapped up its first full workweek aboard the International Space Station as a six-person crew Friday with biomedical research and preparations for the departure of Russian cargo spacecraft. Seen here is Flight Engineer Steve Swanson, smiling as he checks out the International Space Station's cupola. The three newest crew members continued learning the ropes of their new orbital home for the next six months and performing research experiments aboard the orbiting outpost. Image credit: NASA #nasa #astropics #cupola #iss #exp39 #space #spacestation; -
In this Hubble image, we can see an almost face-on view of the galaxy NGC 1084. At first glance, this galaxy is pretty unoriginal. Like the majority of galaxies that we observe it is a spiral galaxy, and, as with about half of all spirals, it has no bar running through its loosely wound arms. However, although it may seem unremarkable on paper, NGC 1084 is actually a near-perfect example of this type of galaxy — and Hubble has a near-perfect view of it. NGC 1084 has hosted several violent events known as supernovae — explosions that occur when massive stars, many times more massive than the sun, approach their twilight years. As the fusion processes in their cores run out of fuel and come to an end, these stellar giants collapse, blowing off their outer layers in a violent explosion. Supernovae can often briefly outshine an entire galaxy, before then fading away over several weeks or months. Although directly observing one of these explosions is hard to do, in galaxies like NGC 1084 astronomers can find and study the remnants left behind. Astronomers have noted five supernova explosions within NGC 1084 over the past half century. These remnants are named after the year in which they took place — 1963P, 1996an, 1998dl, 2009H, and 2012ec. Credit: NASA, ESA, and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast), Acknowledgement: Brian Campbell #nasa #hubble #telescope #space #universe #galaxy; -
A new Pacific island grows 600 miles south of Tokyo! In November 2013, a seafloor volcano in the western Pacific Ocean spewed enough material to rise above the water line. The new island, or Niijima, sprouted just 500 meters from Nishino-shima, another volcanic island that had last erupted and expanded in 1973-74. Four months later, the new and the old are now one island, and the volcanic eruption shows no sign of abating. On March 30, 2014, the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of Nishino-shima. The Niijima portion of the island is now larger than the original Nishino-shima, and the merged island is slightly more than 1,000 meters across. Two cones have formed around the main vents and stand more than 60 meters above sea level, triple the highest point of the island in December. Volcanic lava flows are reported to be most active now on the south end of the island. A plume of volcanic gas, steam, and ash rises from the island. Tiny particles in the plume are seeding the formation of fluffy cumulus clouds. The intermittent, pulsing shape of the cloud stream might be a reflection of the volcanic eruption itself. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #satellite #earth #earthrightnow #landsat #niijima #volcano #pacificocean #island; -
Scoping out the next area to study! Our Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of various rock types at a waypoint called "the Kimberley" shortly after arriving at the location during the 589th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (April 2, 2014). The Kimberley, named after a region of western Australia, was selected in 2013 as a major waypoint for the mission because of the diversity of rock types distinguishable in orbital images, exposed close together at this location in a decipherable geological relationship to each other. The outcrop at the center of the image is a category that the rover team scientists call "striated," from its appearance in images taken from orbit before the rover reached this area. Farther in the distance, the striated type is overlain by other types. On the horizon, slopes of Mount Sharp -- the mission's long-term destination -- are on the left and the rim of Gale Crater is on the right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech #msl #marscuriosity #mars #space #planets #nasa #exploration #science #martianday;
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft and Deep Space Network have uncovered evidence Saturn's moon Enceladus harbors a large underground ocean of liquid water, furthering scientific interest in the moon as a potential home to extraterrestrial microbes. Researchers theorized the presence of an interior reservoir of water in 2005 when Cassini discovered water vapor and ice spewing from vents near the moon's south pole. The new data provide the first geophysical measurements of the internal structure of Enceladus, consistent with the existence of a hidden ocean inside the moon. Findings from the gravity measurements are in the Friday April 4 edition of the journal Science. The gravity measurements suggest a large, possibly regional, ocean about 6 miles (10 kilometers) deep, beneath an ice shell about 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) thick. The subsurface ocean evidence supports the inclusion of Enceladus among the most likely places in our solar system to host microbial life. Before Cassini reached Saturn in July 2004, no version of that short list included this icy moon, barely 300 miles (500 kilometers) in diameter. This illustration depicts Enceladus, which has jets of water vapor and ice gushing from its south pole and the large interior ocean beneath an ice shell. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech #nasa #cassini #cassinitsaturn #saturn #enceladus #solarsystem #space #planets #moons; -
This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the most massive cluster of galaxies ever seen to exist when the universe was just half of its current age of 13.8 billion years. The cluster contains several hundred galaxies swarming around under a collective gravitational pull. The total mass of the cluster, as refined in new Hubble measurements, is estimated to weigh as much as 1 million billion stars like our Sun (about a million times the mass of our own Milky Way galaxy) – though most of the mass is hidden away as dark matter. The location of the dark matter is mapped out in the blue overlay. Because dark matter doesn’t emit any radiation, Hubble astronomers instead precisely measure how its gravity warps the images of far background galaxies like a funhouse mirror. This allowed them to come up with a mass estimate for the cluster. The cluster was nicknamed El Gordo (Spanish for “the fat one”) in 2012 when X-ray observations and kinematic studies first suggested it was unusually massive for the time in the early universe when it existed. The cluster may be the result of two smaller galaxy clusters colliding. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Jee (University of California, Davis) #hubble #hst #nasa #space #universe #galaxycluster #galaxy #galaxies #telescope; -
Astronaut Karen Nyberg Inspires the Next Generation of Explorers! She poses for a photograph with an enthusiastic NASA Social attendee following a presentation about her time living, working and conducting research on the International Space Station. The NASA Social was held on Monday, March 24, 2014, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Nyberg served as a flight engineer aboard the space station during Expeditions 36 and 37, from May to November 2013. In addition to her time on the orbiting outpost, Nyberg also flew aboard space shuttle Discovery during its STS-124 mission in 2008. Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani #astronauts #iss #nasa #spacestation #exploration #stem; -
For the first time in more than a decade, five NASA Earth-observing missions will be launched into space in a single year. To celebrate this milestone, NASA is inviting people all around the world to step outside on Earth Day, April 22, take a "selfie," and share it with the world on social media. Designed to encourage environmental awareness and recognize the agency's ongoing work to protect our home planet, NASA's "Global Selfie" event asks people everywhere to take a picture of themselves in their local environment. On Earth Day, NASA will monitor photos posted to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ and Flickr. Photos posted to Twitter, Instagram or Google+ using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie, or to the #GlobalSelfie Facebook event page and the #GlobalSelfie Flickr group will be used to create a crowd-sourced mosaic image of Earth – a new “Blue Marble” built bit-by-bit with #GlobalSelfie photos. NASA’s 17 Earth science missions now in orbit help scientists piece together a detailed "global selfie" of our planet day after day. Insights from these space-based views help answer some of the critical challenges facing our planet today and in the future: climate change, sea level rise, freshwater resources, and extreme weather events. NASA Earth research also yields many down-to-earth benefits, such as improved environmental prediction and natural hazard and climate change preparedness. For more information on getting involved in the #GlobalSelfie Earth Day event, visit: http://1.usa.gov/PfjXln #selfie #nasa #space #earthday #earthrightnow; -
In March 2014, the James Webb Space Telescope's flight Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) was installed into the instrument module. NIRSpec joins the flight Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) Fine Guidance Sensor/ Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) which are already integrated into the ISIM, making the instrument module complete. The James Webb Space Telescope is a large space telescope, optimized for infrared wavelengths. It is scheduled for launch later in this decade. Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way galaxy. Webb will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own solar system. Webb's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range. Image Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn #nasawebb #webbspacetelescope #jwst #nasa #space #satellite #science @nasawebbtelescp;
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When it comes to making a long-distance call, it's hard to top NASA's Deep Space Network. It’s the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world. The Deep Space Network - or DSN - is NASA’s international array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, plus a few that orbit Earth. The DSN also provides radar and radio astronomy observations that improve our understanding of the solar system and the larger universe. The DSN is operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which also operates many of the agency's interplanetary robotic space missions. The DSN is currently celebrating 50 years of operations. The DSN consists of three facilities spaced equidistant from each other – approximately 120 degrees apart in longitude – around the world. These sites are at Goldstone, near Barstow, California; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia. The strategic placement of these sites permits constant communication with spacecraft as our planet rotates – before a distant spacecraft sinks below the horizon at one DSN site, another site can pick up the signal and carry on communicating. The antennas of the Deep Space Network are the indispensable link to explorers venturing beyond Earth. They provide the crucial connection for commanding our spacecraft and receiving their never before seen images and scientific information on Earth, propelling our understanding of the universe, our solar system and ultimately, our place within it. Image credit: NASA #nasa #dsn50 #nasasocial #satellitecommunications #communications; -
You know we're on our way to an asteroid. Now, you can explore one, too, with the help of the Kerbal Space Program (with a little NASA influence)! ID your target, design your ship, launch into space, and redirect an asteroid for exploration! Learn more at http://go.nasa.gov/KerbalAsteroid Image credit: Kerbal Space Program/Squad #nasa #ksp #kerbal #kerbalspaceprogram #asteroid #asteroids #asteroidmission #space; -
There are three low pressure systems around the U.S. and they resemble dragons on satellite imagery. NOAA's GOES-13 and GOES-15 satellite image from March 31, 2014 shows the low pressure systems in the eastern Pacific Ocean, over the nation's Heartland, and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. All three lows have the signature comma shape that make them appear to be curled up dragons. According to the National Weather Service, the low pressure area approaching the northwestern U.S. is expected to bring rainfall to the coast and areas of snow that stretch from western Washington state south toward the four corners region. The low in the middle of the country is located over Nebraska and dropping snow to the north and west of it. That same low is bringing rain from southern Minnesota south to eastern Texas. Meanwhile, the third low pressure system is bringing rain and snow to parts of New England. NOAA's GOES-East satellite sits in a fixed orbit in space capturing visible and infrared imagery of all weather over the eastern U.S. and Atlantic Ocean. The data to create this image was taken on March 31, 2014 at 17:45 UTC/1:45 p.m. EDT by NOAA's GOES-East or GOES-13 satellite and made into an image by NASA/NOAA's GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Image Credit: NASA/Caption: Rob Gutro #nasa #earth #earthpics #earthpix #goes #noaa @noaa; -
The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 1:48 p.m. EDT March 29, 2014, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. This flare is classified as an X.1-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. This image blends two wavelengths of light: 304 and 171 Angstroms, which help scientists observe the lower levels of the sun's atmosphere. Image Credit: NASA/SDO #nasa #flare #solarflare #heliophysics #sun #solar #sdo #nasasdo; -
NASA recently tested a full-sized tail from a 757 commercial aircraft that was modified and equipped with tiny jets called "sweeping jet actuators" to blow air across the rudder surfaces. The test vertical tail is an actual 757 tail that came out of an aircraft bone yard in Arizona and was refurbished into a wind tunnel model. The tunnel hosted the 26-foot 757 tail for a series of tests of an innovative Active Flow Control system that one day might allow airplane builders to design smaller tails, which would reduce weight and drag, and help improve fuel efficiency. The “flow control” comes from the actuators, which are devices that essentially blow air in a sweeping motion along the span of the tail and manipulate that flow of air. The image was taken inside the National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Complex, a massive wind tunnel located at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett, Ca. In the image, an engineer braces himself against the strong winds in the tunnel as he holds a wand emitting a stream of smoke that’s used to visualize “in flight” air flow across the tail. Actuator technology will be installed for flight tests on the tail of Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator program 757 flight test aircraft in early 2015 as part of an agreement with NASA. Image Credit: NASA/Dominic Hart #nasaaero #aviation #aircraft #airplane #planes #plane #nasa #aeronautics;
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