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One of the most violent events in the universe: a pair of neutron stars colliding, merging and forming a black hole. A neutron star is the compressed core left behind when a star born with between eight and 30 times the sun's mass explodes as a supernova. Neutron stars pack about 1.5 times the mass of the sun - equivalent to about half a million Earths - into a ball just 12 miles (20 km) across. As the stars spiral toward each other, intense tides begin to deform them, possibly cracking their crusts. Neutron stars possess incredible density, but their surfaces are comparatively thin, with densities about a million times greater than gold. Their interiors crush matter to a much greater degree densities rise by 100 million times in their centers. To begin to imagine such mind-boggling densities, consider that a cubic centimeter of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center #nasa #star #blackhole #neutronstar #universe #astrophysics #supernova #science; -
Wonders in the Antarctic Sky! In 43 hours across five science flights in late November 2013, NASA's P-3 research aircraft collected more than 20,000 kilometers (12,000 miles) worth of science data. Instruments gathered information about the thickness of the ice over subglacial lakes, mountains, coasts, and frozen seas. The flights over Antarctica were part of Operation IceBridge, a multi-year mission to monitor conditions in Antarctica and the Arctic until a new ice-monitoring satellite, ICESat-2, launches in 2016. This photograph is of a multi-layered lenticular cloud hovering near Mount Discovery, a volcano about 70 kilometers (44 miles) southwest of McMurdo Station on Antarctica's Ross Island. Image Credit: Michael Studinger #ice #icebridge #earthrightnow #earth #nasa #mtdiscovery #volcano #science #satellite #antarctica; -
Preparing to Descend! This photo, taken from the CT-133 aircraft of research partner National Research Council of Canada, shows the NASA HU-25C Guardian aircraft flying 250 meters behind NASA's DC-8 aircraft before it descends into the DC-8's exhaust plumes to sample ice particles and engine emissions. The flights are part of the Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions or ACCESS II experiment, which is measuring and characterizing airborne emissions from the DC-8 as it burns both conventional jet fuel and blended alternative fuels, including a biofuel. Along with research partners from Germany and Canada, we're investigating fuel effects on aircraft cruise emissions and contrail formation. Image credit: National Research Council of Canada #nasa #accessii #aeronautics #climatechange #contrails #nrc #biofuel #aircraft #dc8; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Aurora The dancing lights of the aurora provide spectacular views on the ground, but also capture the imagination of scientists who study incoming energy and particles from the sun. Aurora are one effect of such energetic particles, which can speed out from the sun both in a steady stream called the solar wind and due to giant eruptions known as coronal mass ejections or CMEs. After a trip toward Earth that can last two to three days, the solar particles and magnetic fields cause the release of particles already trapped near Earth, which in turn trigger reactions in the upper atmosphere in which oxygen and nitrogen molecules release photons of light. The result: the Northern and Southern lights. NASA's suite of heliophysics spacecraft track how events on the sun affect near-Earth space, including several missions dedicated to aurora studies. Auroras are but one symptom of a larger space weather system in which solar material and radiation can affect Earth's own magnetic environment and block radio communications, disturb onboard satellite computers, or -- at their worst -- cause electrical surges in power grids. This image shows the aurora as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA #aurora #nasa #iss #space #northernlights #southernlights; -
As seen on #Cosmos: The Van Allen Belts Named for their discoverer, James Van Allen, these two concentric, donut-shaped rings are filled with high-energy particles that gyrate, bounce, and drift through the region, sometimes shooting down to Earth's atmosphere, sometimes escaping out into space. The radiation belts swell and shrink over time as part of a much larger space weather system driven by energy and material that erupt off the sun's surface and fill the entire solar system. NASA currently has two Van Allen Probes (formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP)) studying the two extreme and dynamic regions of space known as the Van Allen Radiation Belts that surround Earth. This image shows an artist's depiction with cutaway section of the two giant donuts of radiation, called the Van Allen Belts, that surround Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio #space #vanallen #earth #radiation #science #nasa #rbsp;
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Researchers with NASA's Operation IceBridge added three more flights to the books, continuing the campaign's data collection with surveys of major outlet glaciers and elevation across the northern Greenland Ice Sheet. In two weeks the IceBridge Arctic campaign will come to a close with the P-3 carrying the research team back from Thule Air Base. 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. Seen here is a view of mountains and sea ice near Thule Air Base, Greenland, from the NASA P-3 on May 6, 2014. Credit: NASA / Michael Studinger #operationicebridge #icebridge #nasa #nasaice #greenland #thule #earth #polarcap; -
Ever had an out-of-this-world haircut? Here's Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency getting a trim from Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin of Russia's Federal Space Agency in the Unity node of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station. Image credit: NASA #nasa #haircut #iss #exp39 #space; -
How does your garden grow? The new Vegetable Production System ("Veggie") experiment is seen installed and setup on the International Space Station. Veggie is a new investigation with "edible results" on the space station. Veggie is a deployable plant growth unit capable of producing salad-type crops to provide the crew with appetizing, nutritious and safe fresh food and support crew relaxation and recreation. It serves as a new space station facility as well and will provide a venue for future plant growth research. Image credit: NASA #nasa #veggie #vegetables #plants #garden #iss #space; -
Spacewalk Training in the Pool! In November 2012, astronaut Reid Wiseman attired in training versions of their spacesuits, submerged in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory near Johnson Space Center in Houston. Divers (out of frame) are in the water to assist in spacewalk rehearsal. Wiseman, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst and Maxim Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will launch to the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on May 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They are scheduled to return to Earth in November. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #spacestation #nbl #astronauts #iss #spacewalk #esa #roscosmos; -
This bundle of bright stars and dark dust is a dwarf spiral galaxy known as NGC 4605, located around 16 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). This galaxy’s spiral structure is not obvious from this image, but NGC 4605 is classified as an SBc type galaxy — meaning that it has sprawling, loosely wound arms and a bright bar of stars cutting through its center. NGC 4605 is a member of the Messier 81 group of galaxies, a gathering of bright galaxies including its namesake Messier 81 (heic0710), and the well-known Messier 82 (heic0604a). Galaxy groups like this usually contain around 50 galaxies, all loosely bound together by gravity. This group is famous for its unusual members, many of which formed from collisions between galaxies. With its somewhat unusual form, NGC 4605 fits in well with the family of perturbed galaxies in the M81 group, although the origin of its abnormal features is not yet clear. With so many galaxies swarming around, NGC 4605 may seem unremarkable. However, astronomers are using this galaxy to test our knowledge of stellar evolution. The newly-formed stars in NGC 4605 are being used to investigate how interactions between galaxies affect the formation, evolution, and behavior of the stars within, how bright stellar nurseries come together to form stellar clusters and stellar associations, and how these stars evolve over time. And that's not all — NGC 4605 is also proving to be a good testing ground for dark matter. Theories on this hypothetical type of matter.have had good success at describing how the Universe looks and behaves on a large scale — for example at the galaxy supercluster level — but when looking at individual galaxies, they have run into problems. Observations of NGC 4605 show that the way in which dark matter is spread throughout its halo is not quite as these models predict. While intriguing, observations in this area are still inconclusive, leaving astronomers to ponder over the contents of the Universe. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA #nasa #esa #hubble #hst #space #universe #galaxy;
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It's a small world! The phrase "encircling the Earth" has a double entendre flavor to it in this picture showing all six Expedition 39 crew members in the Kibo module around a globe while actually orbiting the "real thing" aboard the International Space Station. Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is at bottom center. Clockwise from his position are Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Tyurin of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Steve Swanson and Rick Mastracchio of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #spacestation #astronauts #exp39 #jaxa #roscosmos #space #iss; -
An adult osprey guards its young in a nest built on a platform in a parking lot at our Kennedy Space Center. In the background is the 12,300-square-foot NASA logo painted on the side of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The VAB is adjacent to the Turn Basin in Launch Complex 39, making it an ideal osprey nesting place. The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge overlaps with Kennedy Space Center property and provides a habitat for many types of wildlife, including the osprey, and 330 species of birds. Photo credit: NASA/Ken Thornsley #nasa #usfws #osprey #wildlife #nature #earth #motherearth #nasakennedy #kennedyspacecenter; -
Beautiful colors in space! This image of Saturn's rings, taken on June 30, 2004, during our Cassini spacecraft's orbital insertion at Saturn, shows, from left to right, the outer portion of the C ring and inner portion of the B ring. The B ring begins a little more than halfway across the image. The general pattern is from "dirty" particles indicated by red to cleaner ice particles shown in turquoise in the outer parts of the rings. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Colorado #tbt #throwbackthursday #cassini #saturn #nasa #space #science #planets; -
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) experiences 12 "earthrises" every day, however LROC (short for LRO Camera) is almost always busy imaging the lunar surface so only rarely does an opportunity arise such that LROC can capture a view of Earth. On Feb. 1, 2014, LRO pitched forward while approaching the moon's north pole allowing the LROC Wide Angle Camera to capture Earth rising above Rozhdestvenskiy crater (112 miles, or 180 km, in diameter). This image, captured Feb. 1, 2014, shows a colorized view of Earth from the moon-based perspective of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University #nasa #lro #lunar #moon #earthrise #earth #solarsystem #space; -
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;
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