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Moon or Planet? The 'Exomoon Hunt' Continues - Researchers have detected the first "exomoon" candidate -- a moon orbiting a planet that lies outside our solar system. Using a technique called "microlensing," they observed what could be either a moon and a planet -- or a planet and a star. This artist's conception depicts the planet/moon pairing. If the moon scenario is true, the moon would weigh less than Earth, and the planet would be more massive than Jupiter. The scientists can't confirm the results partly because microlensing events happen once, due to chance encounters. The events occur when a star or planet happens to pass in front of a more distant star, causing the distant star to brighten. If the passing object has a companion -- either a planet or moon -- it will alter the brightening effect. Once the event is over, it is possible to study the passing object on its own. But the results would still not be able to distinguish between a planet/moon duo and a faint star/planet. Both pairings would be too dim to be seen. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech #nasa #exomoon #planets #space #star #exploration #science; -
New Progress cargo spacecraft launched and docked to the International Space Station! A Russian space freighter filled with trash departed the International Space Station on time Monday and will orbit Earth 11 days for engineering tests before finally deorbiting over the Pacific Ocean for a fiery disposal. A new space delivery launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday and docked to the station's Pirs docking compartment at 5:14 p.m. EDT Thursday. It was traveling about 260 statute miles directly over the west coast of Peru. The craft is delivering almost 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies, including 1,764 pounds of propellant, 105 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 3,126 pounds of supplies for the Expedition 39 crew. Progress 55 is scheduled to remain docked to Pirs until July. This image is of a Progress resupply craft approaches the space station on Feb. 11, 2013. Credit: NASA #nasa #roscosmos #progress #spacecraft #space #iss; -
The last piece of the James Webb Space Telescope's heart was installed inside the world's largest clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. What looked like a massive black frame covered with wires and aluminum foil, the heart or Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) now contains all four of Webb's science instruments. Together, these instruments will help unlock the history of our universe, from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of stellar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system. Image Credit: NASA #jwst #nasa #space #telescope #bigbang #webb #science; -
Looking Back: The Mercury 7 - On this day in 1959, we introduced our first astronaut class, the Mercury 7. Front row, left to right: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. Image Credit: NASA #onthisday #history #nasa #mercury7 #astronauts; -
What's the bright spot of light seen in this image from our Curiosity Mars Rover? The sun is in the same direction, west-northwest, above the frame. Bright spots appear in images from the rover nearly every week. One possible explanation for the bright spot in this image is a glint from a rock surface reflecting the sun. Another is a cosmic ray hitting the camera's light detector, a CCD (charge-coupled device). Cosmic ray patterns in Mars rover images vary from a dot to a long line depending on the angle at which the ray strikes the detector. The right-eye camera of the stereo Navcam recorded this frame during the afternoon of the 589th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (April 3, 2014), from the site where the rover reached a waypoint called "the Kimberley" by that sol's drive. An image taken by the Navcam's left-eye camera within one second of the same does not include a bright spot of this type. A pair of Navcam images in the same direction from the previous afternoon has a bright spot similarly located in the right-eye image but not in the left-eye image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech #mars #martian #planets #nasa #curiosityrover #msl #sun #science #rover;
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Beautiful views seen during IceBridge flight! This image of the frozen fjord downstream of Violingletscher (Violin Glacier) in Østgrønland (East Greenland) was seen during an Operation IceBridge survey flight on April 5, 2014. Operation IceBridge images Earth's polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system. IceBridge utilizes a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. In addition, IceBridge collects critical data used to predict the response of Earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helps bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's ICESat satellite missions. Image Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger #nasa #icebridge #earth #earthrightnow #climatechange #climate #greenland #ice #science; -
Meltwater channels from the previous summer and terminus of Violingletscher (Violin Glacier) in Østgrønland (East Greenland) are seen in this image during an Operation IceBridge survey flight on April 5, 2014. NASA’s Operation IceBridge images Earth's polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the polar regions with the global climate system. IceBridge utilizes a highly specialized fleet of research aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of innovative science instruments ever assembled to characterize annual changes in thickness of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. In addition, IceBridge collects critical data used to predict the response of earth’s polar ice to climate change and resulting sea-level rise. IceBridge also helps bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's ICESat satellite missions. Credit: NASA / Michael Studinger #icebridge #nasa #ice #snow #greenland #earth #moon #operationicebridge #nasaice; -
Mars Odyssey holds the longevity record for a spacecraft orbiting another planet - 13 years! Seen here is an artist concept of the spacecraft orbiting Mars. 2001 Mars Odyssey is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. The opportunity to go to Mars comes around every 26 months, when the alignment of Earth and Mars in their orbits around the sun allows spacecraft to travel between the two planets with the least amount of energy. 2001 Mars Odyssey launched on April 7, 2001, and arrived at Mars on October 23, 2001 10:30pm EDT. Odyssey's primary science mission took place February 2002 through August 2004, and the orbiter began its extended missions on August 24, 2004. For the first time, the mission globally mapped the amount and distribution of many chemical elements and minerals that make up the martian surface. Maps of hydrogen distribution led scientists to discover vast amounts of water ice in the polar regions buried just beneath the surface. Odyssey also recorded the radiation environment in low Mars orbit to determine the radiation-related risk to any future human explorers who may one day go to Mars. All of these objectives support the four science goals of the Mars Exploration Program. Image credit: NASA/JPL #nasa #mars #odyssey #planets #solarsystem #spacecraft #satellite; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Studying Light Light waves across the electromagnetic spectrum behave in similar ways. When a light wave encounters an object, they are either transmitted, reflected, absorbed, refracted, polarized, diffracted, or scattered depending on the composition of the object and the wavelength of the light. Specialized instruments onboard NASA spacecraft and airplanes collect data on how electromagnetic waves behave when they interact with matter. These data can reveal the physical and chemical composition of matter. Seen here is a sample of telescopes (operating as of February 2013) operating at wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum. Several of these observatories observe more than one band of the EM spectrum, and those are placed within the band of their primary instrument(s). The represented observatories are: HESS, Fermi and Swift for gamma-ray, NuSTAR and Chandra for X-ray, GALEX for ultraviolet, Kepler, Hubble, Keck (I and II), SALT, and Gemini (South) for visible, Spitzer, Herschel, and Sofia for infrared, Planck and CARMA for microwave, Spektr-R, Greenbank, and VLA for radio. Image credit: NASA #nasa #light #emspectrum #space #univserse; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Infrared Light Infrared waves have longer wavelengths than visible light and can pass through dense regions of gas and dust in space with less scattering and absorption. Thus, infrared energy can also reveal objects in the universe that cannot be seen in visible light using optical telescopes. These two images of a huge pillar of star birth demonstrate how observations taken in visible and in infrared light by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal dramatically different and complementary views of an object. The pictures demonstrate one example of the broad wavelength range of the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) aboard the Hubble telescope, extending from ultraviolet to visible to infrared light. The top image, taken in visible light, shows the top of the 3-light-year-long pillar, bathed in the glow of light from hot, massive stars off the top of the image. Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from these stars are sculpting the pillar and causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of gas and dust can be seen flowing off the top of the structure. In the image at bottom, taken in infrared light, the dense column and the surrounding greenish-colored gas all but disappear. Only a faint outline of the pillar remains. By penetrating the wall of gas and dust, the infrared vision of WFC3 reveals the infant star that is probably blasting the jet. Part of the jet nearest the star is more prominent in this view. These features can be seen because infrared light, unlike visible light, can pass through the dust. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed the Carina Nebula July 24 through July 30, 2009. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team #hubble #nasa #space #universe #irlight #infrared;
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As seen on #Cosmos: Ultraviolet Light Ultraviolet (UV) light has shorter wavelengths than visible light. Although UV waves are invisible to the human eye, some insects, such as bumblebees, can see them. This is similar to how a dog can hear the sound of a whistle just outside the hearing range of humans. The Sun is a source of the full spectrum of ultraviolet radiation, which is commonly subdivided into UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C. These are the classifications most often used in Earth sciences. UV-C rays are the most harmful and are almost completely absorbed by our atmosphere. UV-B rays are the harmful rays that cause sunburn. Exposure to UV-B rays increases the risk of DNA and other cellular damage in living organisms. Fortunately, about 95 percent UV-B rays are absorbed by ozone in the Earth's atmosphere. Seen here is a full-disk multiwavelength extreme ultraviolet image of the sun taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on March 30, 2010. False colors trace different gas temperatures. Reds are relatively cool (about 60,000 Kelvin, or 107,540 F); blues and greens are hotter (greater than 1 million Kelvin, or 1,799,540 F). Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO AIA Team #uvlight #nasa #sdo #sun #solar #space; -
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;
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