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Tethys, a moon of Saturn, has a trailing side that shows two terrains that tell a story of a rough past. To the north (up, in the image) is older, rougher terrain, while to the south is new material dubbed "smooth plains" by scientists. The smooth plains are roughly antipodal to the large impact crater Odysseus. Odysseus, which is on the far side of Tethys (660 miles, or 1,060 kilometers across) from this perspective, is out of view. It's thought that the impact that created Odysseus also created the smooth plains, although exactly how this happened is not yet clear. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 27, 2013. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa @cassini #saturn #planets #science #space; -
Smooth Splashdown! SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 3:05 p.m. EDT Sunday in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 300 miles west of Baja California, returning more than 3,500 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from the International Space Station. Investigations included among the returned cargo could aid in better understanding the decreased effectiveness of antibiotics during spaceflight while also improving antibiotic development on Earth. Others could lead to the development of plants better suited for space and improvements in sustainable agriculture. Image Credit: SpaceX #nasa #space #spacestation #iss #science ##spacex #dragon; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Death of the sun. In 5 billion years, our sun may become a red giant. Researchers who specialize in stellar evolution have long known that the inner planets are in danger. The trouble starts in the distant future when the sun's core runs out of hydrogen fuel for nuclear fusion. To keep the fires burning, the sun will begin to fuse hydrogen outside the core, in a layer closer to the stellar surface. This will turn the sun into a red giant, at least 200 times wider than it is today. Mercury, Venus, Earth and possibly even Mars could be engulfed. Image Credit: NASA #sun #nasa #solarsystem #redgiant #cosmos #science; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Climate change. The Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era - and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth's orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives. The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #earth #earthrightnow #science #climatechange; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Communicating with the Cosmos. Our Deep Space Network. The DSN supports NASA and non-NASA missions that explore the furthest points of our solar system. The DSN has three ground stations located approximately 120 degrees apart on Earth (120 + 120 + 120 = 360). This is to ensure that any satellite in deep space is able to communicate with at least one station at all times. The ground stations also communicate with satellites in order to initiate course corrections, provide software updates, and alter the way scientific observations are made. Image Credit: NASA #dsn #goldstone #nasa #dsn50;
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As seen on #Cosmos: Comets! Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust roughly the size of a small town. When a comet's orbit brings it close to the sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the sun for millions of kilometers. This image of Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) was taken at the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Ariz. on 7 May 2004. Image Credit: National Science Foundation #nasa #space #comets #cosmos #rocks #ice #science; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Stars born in giant clouds of gas and dust. Stars are often born in clusters or groups, in giant clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have studied two star clusters using our Chandra X-ray Observatory and infrared telescopes and the results show that the simplest ideas for the birth of these clusters cannot work. 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. Image Credit: NASA #chandra #space #nasa #astronomy #stars #science #cosmos; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Nakhla meteorite, Martian rocks found here on Earth! This shows two possible fossilized Martian cells and the fragments of others. The cell in the center has the remains of a fossilized biofilm partly covering its surface. The cell to the right is partly embedded in the clay mineral which fills veins or cracks in the meteorite (NAKHLA). This clay mineral is now known to have formed on Mars about 700 million years ago. If these bumps are truly fossilized Martian microbes, they are then about 700 million years old. Image Credit: NASA #space #mars #science #nakhla #cosmos #nasa; -
Moon Shine! One of the crew members aboard the International Space Station photographed a half moon above Earth's horizon on May 6, 2014. Considered one of the greatest technological, geopolitical and engineering achievements in history, the space station is a collaborative effort between 15 nations. More than 69 countries have participated in research and educational activities on the orbiting laboratory that advances our fundamental scientific knowledge, supports the exploration of space beyond low Earth orbit and provides a multitude of benefits to humans on Earth. Image Credit: NASA #iss #nasa #spacestation #space #science #moon #earth #astronauts #exp40; -
On Sunday, the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft carrying more than 3,500 pounds of NASA science samples and cargo will return back to Earth. The commercial cargo craft will execute three thruster firings to move a safe distance away from the station for its deorbit burn at 2:08 p.m. EDT. Dragon, which delivered about 2.5 tons of science and supplies to the station for the SpaceX-3 commercial resupply services mission when it arrived at the complex April 20, will splash down for recovery off the coast of California at 3:02 p.m. (12:02 p.m. PDT). This image of a wish-bone shaped display of Aurora Australis over the Indian Ocean serves as a very colorful backdrop for the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft which is berthed to the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #spacex #dragon #spacestation #space #iss #science;
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It's Supersonic! Our saucer-shaped craft preps for its flight test. This experimental flight test is designed to investigate breakthrough technologies that will benefit future Mars missions, including those involving human exploration. In this image, the vehicle is shown in the Missile Assembly Building at the US Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kaua‘i, Hawaii. The vehicle, part of the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator project, will test an inflatable decelerator and a parachute at high altitudes and speeds over the Pacific Missile Range this June. A balloon will lift the vehicle to high altitudes, where a rocket will take it even higher to the top of the stratosphere at several times the speed of sound. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech #test #nasa #hawaii #mars #experiment #ldsd #planets #science #engineering #nasajpl; -
Hubble Sees Starbursts in the Wake of a Fleeting Romance! This Hubble Space Telescope image shows galaxy NGC 4485 in the constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs). The galaxy is irregular in shape, but it hasn’t always been so. Part of it has been dragged towards a second galaxy, named NGC 4490 — which lies out of frame to the bottom right of this image. The interactions of the two have warped them both, turning them from spiral galaxies into irregular ones. NGC 4485 is the smaller galaxy in this pair, which provides a fantastic real-world example for astronomers to compare to their computer models of galactic collisions. The most intense interaction between these two galaxies is all but over; they have made their closest approach and are now separating. The trail of bright stars and knotty orange clumps that we see here extending out from NGC 4485 is all that connects them — a trail that spans some 24 000 light-years. Many of the stars in this connecting trail could never have existed without the galaxies’ fleeting romance. When galaxies interact hydrogen gas is shared between them, triggering intense bursts of star formation. The orange knots of light in this image are examples of such regions, clouded with gas and dust. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Kathy van Pelt #nasa #esa #hubble #hst #galaxy #astronomy #stars #science; -
“Getting a tan while growing lettuce,” stated astronaut Steve Swanson about this image, which was taken aboard the International space Station. Swanson was tending to the Vegetable Production System (Veggie), which is a newly installed plant growth unit capable of producing salad-type crops to provide the crew with a palatable, nutritious, and safe source of fresh food and a tool to support relaxation and recreation. The Veggie provides lighting and nutrient delivery, but utilizes the cabin environment for temperature control and as a source of carbon dioxide to promote growth. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #nasajsc #spacestation #internationalspacestation #explore #exploration #spacegram #exp39 #garden #iss #exp40 #science #swanny; -
Rosetta's Comet Comes Alive! The target of ESA’s Rosetta mission has started to reveal its true personality as a comet, its dusty veil clearly developing over the past six weeks. A new sequence of images of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko was taken between March 24 and May 4, as the gap between craft and comet closed from around 3.1 million miles (5 million km) to 1.2 million miles (2 million km). By the end of the sequence, the comet’s coma extends about 800 miles (1,300 km) into space. The nucleus is roughly 2.5 miles (4 km) across. Image Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS #nasa #esa #mps #rosetta #comet #space; -
Great Spot! Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot -- a swirling anti-cyclonic storm larger than Earth -- has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured. Recent Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm the Great Red Spot now is approximately 10,250 miles across. Historic observations as far back as the late 1800s gauged the storm to be as large as 25,500 miles on its long axis. Our Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft flybys of Jupiter in 1979 measured it to be 14,500 miles across. In 1995, a Hubble photo showed the long axis of the spot at an estimated 13,020 miles across. And in a 2009 photo, it was measured at 11,130 miles across. Images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a span of 20 years, shows how the planet's trademark spot has decreased in size over the years Image Credit: NASA/ESA #nasa #hst #hubble #jupiter #space #planets #science #voyager;
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