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On March 29, 2014, an X-class flare erupted from the right side of the sun... and vaulted into history as the best-observed flare of all time. The flare was witnessed by four different NASA spacecraft and one ground-based observatory – three of which had been fortuitously focused in on the correct spot as programmed into their viewing schedule a full day in advance. To have a record of such an intense flare from so many observatories is unprecedented. Such research can help scientists better understand what catalyst sets off these large explosions on the sun. Perhaps we may even some day be able to predict their onset and forewarn of the radio blackouts solar flares can cause near Earth – blackouts that can interfere with airplane, ship and military communications. Images and data from the various observations can be seen here. The telescopes involved were: NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS; NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO; NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or RHESSI; the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hinode; and the National Solar Observatory's Dunn Solar Telescope located at Sacramento Peak in New Mexico. Numerous other spacecraft provided additional data about what was happening on the sun during the event and what the effects were at Earth. Image credits: NASA or NASA/SDO/AIA or Kevin Reardon (National Solar Observatory), Lucia Kleint (BAER Institute) #nasa #sun #solarflare #solar #sdo #space #solarsystem #flare; -
New Insight Into Formation of Star Clusters - Stars are often born in clusters, in giant clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have studied two star clusters and the results show that the simplest ideas for the birth of these clusters cannot work. A study of NGC 2024 and the Orion Nebula Cluster, another region where many stars are forming, suggest that the stars on the outskirts of these clusters are older than those in the central regions. This is different from what the simplest idea of star formation predicts, where stars are born first in the center of a collapsing cloud of gas and dust when the density is large enough. For more information, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1lYyNsN This composite image shows one of the clusters, NGC 2024, which is found in the center of the so-called Flame Nebula about 1,400 light years from Earth. In this image, X-rays from Chandra are seen as purple, while infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are colored red, green, and blue. #nasa #astronomy #chandra #spitzer #space #stars #nebula #science; -
NASA’s role in studying and protecting our home planet has never been stronger. Climate change is a problem we must deal with right now, and our Earth science satellite missions have become ever more vital to documenting and understanding our home planet, predicting the ramifications of this change, and sharing information across the globe for everyone’s benefit. Today, the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment was released. The report is the most authoritative and comprehensive source of scientific information ever generated about climate-change impacts on all major regions of the United States and critical sectors of society and the national economy. It presents an influential body of practical, useable knowledge that decision-makers will use to anticipate and prepare for the impacts of climate change. The assessment reports on a broad range of topics that illuminate the interconnectedness of everything tied to climate. The focused approaches used to conduct the analyses in this report will help us build the capability to do better and more regular climate assessments in the future. NASA data and NASA scientists contributed to the research reported in many of the Assessment’s chapters. Seen here is NASA Earth Science Division Director Michael Freilich showing meteorologists a model of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory during a media event for the release of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment held on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls #nasa #usclimatereport #earthrightnow #space #earth #earthscience #climatechange #whitehouse #actonclimate; -
In support of the Mars Science Laboratory Program (MSL), a set of the same wheels currently on the Mars Curiosity Rover were sent to NASA Glenn recently for performance evaluation by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. The goal is to understand the effects of wheel damage on traction performance. NASA Glenn technician Ariana Miller checks the wheel mount and drive hardware assembly on a Curiosity wheel for tests at the Traction and Excavation Capabilities Lab. Researchers are using a newly built single-wheel tester to simulate a variety of terrain conditions similar to Mars including loose granular soil, dense high shear strength soil and a bedrock-like material. The pace of holes appearing in Curiosity's aluminum wheels increased unexpectedly in late last year, compared with the first 12 months of the rover's mission on Mars. Curiosity was crossing terrain studded with sharp, embedded rocks. By early 2014, changes in route planning and driving methods slowed the pace of wheel damage. The tests at NASA Glenn are part of the rover project's efforts to understand how the damage occurs, to develop methods for further reducing the pace of damage and to anticipate how accumulation of damage to the wheels could affect performance. Image Credit: NASA/Michelle M. Murphy (Wyle Information Systems, LLC) #nasa #mars #msl #marscuriosity #curiosity #marsrover #solarsystem #space; -
Earth's Atmospheric Layers - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of Earth's atmospheric layers on July 31, 2011, revealing the troposphere (orange-red), stratosphere and above. Satellite instruments allow scientists to better understand the chemistry and dynamics occurring within and between these layers. Image Credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth #Earth #NASA #USClimateReport, #EarthRightNow, #ActOnClimate #ISS #Space #SpaceStation #Astronauts;
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Saturn's moon Titan! Titan's south polar vortex mimics the moon itself, creating an elegant crescent within a crescent. Situated above the surrounding polar atmosphere, the raised walls along the sunward side of the vortex just catch the grazing sunlight, creating a crescent of its own. Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across) is Saturn's largest moon and possesses a dense and dynamic atmosphere. The image, obtained at a distance of approximately 108,000 miles (174,000 kilometers) from Titan, was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on December 2013 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 939 nanometers. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #titan #saturn #moon #cassini #spacecraft #space #planet #science; -
This spiral galaxy, M101, is like our Milky Way, but about 70 percent bigger. It is located about 21 million light years from Earth. X-rays from Chandra reveal the hottest and most energetic areas due to exploded stars, superheated gas and material falling toward black holes. Infrared data from Spitzer shows dusty lanes in the galaxy where stars are forming, while optical data traces the light from stars. 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: Detlef Hartmann; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech #astronomy #nasa #space #science #galaxy; -
What a view! On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had a view of Earth that no American had seen before, looking down on the home planet from the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on his history-making suborbital flight. The 15 minute flight lifted him to an altitude of over 116 miles and a maximum speed of 5,134 miles per hour. During the flight, Shepard reported seeing the outlines of the west coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, along with Florida's Lake Okeechobee. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #otd #mercury #space #freedom7; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Ocean Currents The swirling flows of tens of thousands of ocean currents were captured in this scientific visualization. The visualization covers the period June 2005 to December 2007 and is based on a synthesis of a numerical model with observational data, created by a NASA project called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, or ECCO for short. ECCO uses advanced mathematical tools to combine observations with the MIT numerical ocean model to obtain realistic descriptions of how ocean circulation evolves over time. These model-data syntheses are among the largest computations of their kind ever undertaken. ECCO model-data syntheses are being used to quantify the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle, to understand the recent evolution of the polar oceans, to monitor time-evolving heat, water, and chemical exchanges within and between different components of the Earth system, and for many other science applications. Credit: NASA #oceans #nasa #oceancurrent #svs #earth #earthrightnow #earthscience; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Most life in the ocean does not have fins or flippers. Single celled organisms called phytoplankton far outnumber the sum of all the marine organisms most of us think of first. While phytoplankton individually are largely invisible to the naked eye, their total effects can be seen from space. There are many trillions of phytoplankton in the sea, and together they convert huge quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) into living matter. In that process they release a major percentage of the world's oxygen into the atmosphere. These life processes help regulate the planet's overall climate and habitability and are a bellwether of planetary health. NASA research using satellite measurements of phytoplankton has opened the door to global observations of these tiny life forms as a group, essentially helping scientists put a finger on the living pulse of the oceans, the rhythm of life upon which we all depend. This data visualization comes from the MODIS instrument on NASA’s AQUA spacecraft. Here we see a measure of global chlorophyll concentrations, derived from data collected between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2004. This visualization has a 4-kilometer measure of resolution. Credit: NASA #nasa #earth #earthrightnow #earthscience #ocean #phytoplankton;
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That's no moon. It's a space station. Actually, it's both. The International Space Station is caught here flying by the moon! It's seen as a small object in upper left of this image of the moon in the early evening Jan. 4, 2012, in the skies over the Houston area flying at an altitude of 390.8 kilometers (242.8 miles). The space station can occasionally be seen in the night sky with the naked eye and a pair of field binoculars. Image credit: NASA/Lauren Harnett #nasa #spotthestation #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday #spacestation #iss #space; -
Tatooine? No, it's Kepler-16b. The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. Our Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet - a planet orbiting two stars - 200 light-years from Earth. Unlike Star Wars' Tatooine, the planet is cold, gaseous and not thought to harbor life, but its discovery demonstrates the diversity of planets in our galaxy. Previous research has hinted at the existence of circumbinary planets, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Kepler detected such a planet by observing transits, where the brightness of a parent star dims from the planet crossing in front of it. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #kepler #space #astronomy #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday #science; -
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... The unusual spiral galaxy, Messier 66, is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo. Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is the member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies, part of the larger Messier 66 group. Messier 66 wins in size over its fellow triplets - it is about 100 000 light-years across. Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin and Robert Gendler #nasa #hubble #space #astronomy #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday science #hst #galaxy; -
We have flying robots, too! Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) are bowling-ball sized spherical satellites. They are used inside the space station to test a set of well-defined instructions for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking maneuvers. Three free-flying spheres fly within the cabin of the station, performing flight formations. Each satellite is self-contained with power, propulsion, computers and navigation equipment. The results are important for satellite servicing, vehicle assembly and formation flying spacecraft configurations. SPHERES also test a diverse range of hardware and software from scientist all over America. May the 4th Be With You! Image Credit: NASA #nasa #spacestation #space #iss #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday science; -
Flying by the "Death Star" Moon! In this view captured by our Cassini spacecraft on its closest-ever flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas, large Herschel Crater dominates Mimas, making the moon look like the Death Star in the movie "Star Wars." May the 4th Be With You! Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #saturn ##maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday #moon;
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