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NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured its first-ever image of the pale blue ice-giant planet Uranus in the distance beyond Saturn’s rings. The robotic spacecraft briefly turned its gaze away from the ringed beauty of Saturn on April 11, 2014, to observe the distant planet, which is the seventh planet from the sun. The planets Uranus and Neptune are sometimes referred to as “ice giants” to distinguish them from their larger siblings, Jupiter and Saturn, the classic "gas giants." The moniker derives from the fact that a comparatively large part of the planets’ composition consists of water, ammonia and methane, which are typically frozen as ices in the cold depths of the outer solar system. Jupiter and Saturn are made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with smaller percentages of these ices. When this view was obtained, Uranus was nearly on the opposite side of the sun as seen from Saturn, at a distance of approximately 28.6 astronomical units from Cassini and Saturn. An astronomical unit is the average distance from Earth to the sun, equal to 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). At their closest – once during each Saturn orbit of nearly 30 years – the two planets approach to within about 10 astronomical units of each other. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, Cassini’s view of Uranus also serves a practical purpose. Scientists working on several of Cassini’s science investigations expect that they will be able to use images and spectra from these observations to help calibrate their own instruments. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #space #planets #saturn #uranus #solarsystems; -
A Bright Galaxy! Centaurus A is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky -- making it an ideal target for amateur astronomers -- and is famous for the dust lane across its middle and a giant jet blasting away from the supermassive black hole at its center. Cen A is an active galaxy about 12 million light years from Earth. This image is part of a "quartet of galaxies" collaboration of professional and amateur astronomers that combines optical data from amateur telescopes with data from the archives of our missions. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Rolf Olsen; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech #galaxy #space #nasa #astronomy #chandra #blackhole #science; -
Drill Test! Our Curiosity Mars rover completed a shallow "mini drill" activity on April 29, 2014, as part of evaluating a rock target called "Windjana" for possible full-depth drilling to collect powdered sample material from the rock's interior. This image from Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument shows the hole and tailings resulting from the mini drill test. The hole is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and about 0.8 inch (2 centimeters) deep. When collecting sample material, the rover's hammering drill bores as deep as 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters). This preparatory activity enables the rover team to evaluate interaction between the drill and this particular rock and to view the potential sample-collection target's interior and tailings. Both the mini drill activity and acquisition of this image occurred during the 615th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (April 29, 2014). Image Credit: NASA #mars #nasa #msl #geology #curiosity; -
Groundbreaking technology may add years to Earth orbiting satellites! Kyle Norman from the Goddard Space Flight Center, foreground, adjusts a typical client satellite fill drain valve on a mockup interface for the Remote Robotic Oxidizer Transfer Test, or RROxiTT, test in February 2014. Assisting, from the left, are Greg Coll of Goddard, Erik Tormoen from the Kennedy Space Center, and Mark Behnke of Goddard. They are preparing the client satellite mockup valve panel for the planned remote robot connection via nozzle tool connected to the robot arm in foreground. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #robots #satellites #ksc #technology #gsfc; -
Here's what happens when galaxies collide - as seen by our Chandra X-Ray Observatory: M51 is a spiral galaxy, about 30 million light years away, that is in the process of merging with a smaller galaxy seen to its upper left. This image is part of a "quartet of galaxies" collaboration of professional and amateur astronomers that combines optical data from amateur telescopes with data from the archives of NASA missions. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Detlef Hartmann; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech #nasa #chandra #space #universe #galaxy #galaxies;
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Dust off before the drill down. Our Curiosity rover prepares to drill this sandstone. Follow @NASAJPL for more great Mars images! This two-step animation shows before and after views of a patch of sandstone scrubbed with the Dust Removal Tool, a wire-bristle brush, on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Both images were taken April 26, 2014, by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on Curiosity's arm. The target rock is called "Windjana." Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS #mars #space #nasa #msl #curiosityrover #planets #geology; -
Saturn's rings cast shadows on the planet, but the shadows appear to be inside out! The edge of Saturn's outermost A ring can be seen at the top left corner of the image. Moving towards the bottom of the page, one can see the faint Cassini Division, the opaque B ring and the innermost C ring, which contains several ringlets that appear dark against Saturn in this geometry. The bottom half of the image features the shadows of these rings in reverse order superposed against the disk of the planet: the C ring, the B ring, the Cassini Division and the inner half of the A ring. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 28 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 2, 2013, using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 57 degrees. Image scale is 45 miles (72 kilometers) per pixel. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #space #cassini #saturn #solarsystem #planets; -
U.S. Tornado Outbreak from Space: This Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite or GOES-East satellite image from Monday, April 28, 2014, at 13:01 UTC/9:01 a.m. EDT shows the same storm system that generated the severe weather outbreak yesterday, has moved to the east. This storm system generated reports of tornadoes from Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Coupled with local weather observations, soundings, and computer models, data from satellites like GOES-East gives forecasters information about developing weather situations. Image Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project #weather #tornadoes #goes #noaa #satellite #earth #science #storm; -
Astronaut Koichi Wakata shared this image of him peering outside one of the windows of the Cupola on the International Space Station saying "we enjoy the magnificent view of our home planet looking out of this module." 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. At any time, crew members in the Cupola can communicate with other crew members, either in another part of the station or outside during spacewalk activities. Spacewalking activities can be observed from the Cupola along with visiting spacecraft and external areas of the station with the Cupola offering a viewing spectrum of 360 degrees. Image credit: NASA #nasa #iss #exp39 #space #spacestation #cupola #jaxa #astro_wakata; -
As seen on Cosmos: Carina Nebula of 14,000+ Stars! The Carina Nebula is a star-forming region in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way that is 7,500 light years from Earth and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has detected more than 14,000 stars in the region. The detection of six possible neutron stars, the dense cores often left behind after stars explode in supernovas, provides additional evidence that supernova activity is increasing up in Carina. Previous observations had only detected one neutron star in Carina. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/L. Townsley et al. #nasa #cosmos #nebula #science #astronomy #galaxy;
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As seen on Cosmos: Eta Carinae! At the turn of the 19th century, the binary star system Eta Carinae was faint and undistinguished. In the first decades of the century, it became brighter and brighter, until, by April 1843, it was the second brightest star in the sky, outshone only by Sirius (which is almost a thousand times closer to Earth). In the years that followed, it gradually dimmed again and by the 20th century was totally invisible to the naked eye. The star has continued to vary in brightness ever since, and while it is once again visible to the naked eye on a dark night, it has never again come close to its peak of 1843. Eta Carinae is not only interesting because of its past, but also because of its future. It is one of the closest stars to Earth that is likely to explode in a supernova in the relatively near future (though in astronomical timescales the "near future" could still be a million years away). When it does, expect an impressive view from Earth, far brighter still than its last outburst. SN 2006gy, the brightest supernova ever observed, came from a star of the same type, though from a galaxy over 200 million light-years away. This image consists of ultraviolet and visible light images from the High Resolution Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Credit: ESA/NASA #cosmos #nasa #star #space #astronomy #earth #science; -
As seen on Cosmos:: The Life of Stars! Our Hubble Space Telescope captured this stunning true-color picture of the giant galactic nebula NGC 3603 on March 5, 1999, with its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. This single view nicely illustrates the entire stellar life cycle of stars, starting with the Bok globules and giant gaseous pillars, followed by circumstellar disks, and progressing to evolved massive stars in the young starburst cluster. The blue supergiant with its ring and bipolar outflow marks the end of the life cycle. Image Credit: NASA, Wolfgang Brandner (JPL/IPAC), Eva K. Grebel (Univ. Washington), You-Hua Chu (Univ. Illinois Urbana-Champaign) #cosmos #nasa #science #astronomy #hst #hubble #stars; -
As seen on Cosmos: Pleiades This image shows the famous Pleiades cluster of stars. The Pleiades are what astronomers call an open cluster of stars, meaning the stars are loosely bound to each other and will eventually, after a few hundred million years, go their separate ways. The cluster is prominent in the sky during winter months in the constellation Taurus, when viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Often called the Seven Sisters from Greek tradition, this cluster of stars has been named by cultures the world over: Parveen in Persian; Tianquiztli in the Aztec tradition, and Subaru in Japan. The Pleiades is even the logo of the automotive company that bears its Japanese name. At a distance of about 436 light-years from Earth, the Pleiades is one of the closest star clusters and plays an important role in determining distances to astronomical bodies further away. This picture from WISE covers an area of 3.05 by 2.33 degrees, which is the roughly the same area on the sky that a grid of six full moons by 4.7 full moons would occupy. Most of the stars in the cluster fall within the 20-light-year-wide region shown here. All four infrared detectors aboard WISE were used to make this mosaic. Color is representational: blue and cyan represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is dominated by light from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is mostly light from warm dust. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA #nasa #space #wise #pleiades #stars #astronomy #science; -
Astronaut Rick Mastracchio tweeted this image and wrote, "An 'EVA Selfie' of me. Notice the Earth reflected in my visor." The Progress 53 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station on Friday and will fire its thrusters Tuesday for an orbital adjustment that will put the station at the correct altitude for the May 13 undocking of the Soyuz TMA-11M that will bring back to Earth Mastracchio and his crewmates Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency after almost six months in space. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #iss #space #selfie #astronauts #roscosmos #spacestation #earth #jaxa; -
Is the Mars Curiosity rover playing in the sand again? No, all work, all the time! Our Curiosity Mars rover has driven within robotic-arm's reach of the sandstone slab at the center of this view from the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). The rover team plans to have Curiosity examine a target patch on the rock, called "Windjana," with tools on the rover's arm and mast to aid a decision on whether to use Curiosity's drill at this site. The rock is about 2 feet (about 60 centimeters) across, left-to-right in this image. The informal name for the target comes from Windjana Gorge in Western Australia. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #msl #mars #marscuriosity #drill #science #geology;
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