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Reddish rock powder from the first hole drilled into a Martian mountain by NASA's Curiosity rover has yielded the mission's first confirmation of a mineral mapped from orbit. Curiosity collected the powder by drilling into a rock outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp in late September. The robotic arm delivered a pinch of the sample to the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument inside the rover. This sample, from a target called "Confidence Hills" within the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop, contained much more hematite than any rock or soil sample previously analyzed by CheMin during the two-year-old mission. Hematite is an iron-oxide mineral that gives clues about ancient environmental conditions from when it formed. In observations reported in 2010, before selection of Curiosity's landing site, a mineral-mapping instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provided evidence of hematite in the geological unit that includes the Pahrump Hills outcrop. The landing site is inside Gale Crater, an impact basin about 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter with the layered Mount Sharp rising about three miles (five kilometers) high in the center. This image shows the first holes drilled by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity at Mount Sharp. The loose material near the drill holes is drill tailings and an accumulation of dust that slid down the rock during drilling. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS #mars #marscuriosity #redplanet #solarsystem #nasa #space #marsrover; -
The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 5:40 p.m. EST on Nov. 3, 2014. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however, when intense enough, they can disturb the atmosphere where GPS and communications signals travel. Image Credit: NASA/SDO #SDO #SolarFlare #Sun #Solar #nasa #space; -
Glaciers and mountains in the evening sun are seen on an Operation IceBridge research flight, returning from West Antarctica on Oct. 29, 2014. NASA is carrying out its sixth consecutive year of Operation IceBridge research flights over Antarctica to study changes in the continent’s ice sheet, glaciers and sea ice. This year’s airborne campaign revisits a section of the Antarctic ice sheet that recently was found to be in irreversible decline. IceBridge uses a suite of instruments that includes a laser altimeter, radar instruments, cameras, and a gravimeter, which is an instrument that detects small changes in gravity. These small changes reveal how much mass these glaciers have lost. Researchers plan to measure previously unsurveyed regions of Antarctica, such as the upper portions of Smith Glacier in West Antarctica, which is thinning faster than any other glaciers in the region. The mission also plans to collect data in portions of the Antarctic Peninsula, such as the Larsen C, George VI and Wilkins ice shelves and the glaciers that drain into them. The Antarctic Peninsula has been warming faster than the rest of the continent. In addition to extending the data record of NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), which stopped collecting data in 2009, IceBridge will also help set the stage for ICESat-2 by measuring ice the satellite will fly over. Image Credit: NASA/Michael Studinger #IceBridge #EarthRightNow #EarthScience #Ice #IceSat #NASA #Space #AirborneScience; -
Operation IceBridge: The only way to know how thing are changing is to monitor them at regular intervals. When it comes to climate change, regular measurements are essential. As the Earth’s polar caps respond to changing global climate conditions, experts rely on satellite measurements to make accurate, regular measurements. But satellites don’t last forever, and while the world waits for a new vehicle to get into space, NASA has a team in the field to gather vital data and fill in the gaps. It’s called Operation IceBridge, and it’s going on right now in the low altitude skies over Antarctica. Credit: NASA/Goddard/IceBridge #IceBridge #EarthRightNow #EarthScience #Ice #IceSat #NASA #Space #AirborneScience; -
Hubble Sees a Galaxy on the Edge This spectacular image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The bright streak slicing across the frame is an edge-on view of galaxy NGC 4762, and a number of other distant galaxies can be seen scattered in the background. NGC 4762 lies about 58 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin). It is part of the Virgo Cluster, hence its alternative designation of VCC 2095 for Virgo Cluster Catalog entry. This catalog is a listing of just over 2000 galaxies in the area of the Virgo Cluster. The Virgo Cluster is actually prominently situated, and lies at the center of the larger Virgo supercluster, of which our galaxy group, the Local Group, is a member. Previously thought to be a barred spiral galaxy, NGC 4762 has since been found to be a lenticular galaxy, a kind of intermediate step between an elliptical and a spiral. The edge-on view that we have of this particular galaxy makes it difficult to determine its true shape, but astronomers have found the galaxy to consist of four main components — a central bulge, a bar, a thick disk and an outer ring. The galaxy's disk is asymmetric and warped, which could potentially be explained by NGC 4762 violently cannibalizing a smaller galaxy in the past. The remains of this former companion may then have settled within NGC 4762's disk, redistributing the gas and stars and so changing the disk's morphology. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA;
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Specular Spectacular This near-infrared, color mosaic from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the sun glinting off of Titan's north polar seas. While Cassini has captured, separately, views of the polar seas and the sun glinting off of them in the past, this is the first time both have been seen together in the same view. The sunglint, also called a specular reflection, is the bright area near the 11 o'clock position at upper left. This mirror-like reflection, known as the specular point, is in the south of Titan's largest sea, Kraken Mare, just north of an island archipelago separating two separate parts of the sea. This particular sunglint was so bright as to saturate the detector of Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument, which captures the view. It is also the sunglint seen with the highest observation elevation so far -- the sun was a full 40 degrees above the horizon as seen from Kraken Mare at this time -- much higher than the 22 degrees seen before. Because it was so bright, this glint was visible through the haze at much lower wavelengths than before, down to 1.3 microns. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho; -
'Ghost Light' From Dead Galaxies: Our Hubble Space Telescope has picked up the faint, ghostly glow of stars ejected from ancient galaxies that were gravitationally ripped apart several billion years ago. The mayhem happened 4 billion light-years away, inside an immense collection of nearly 500 galaxies nicknamed “Pandora’s Cluster,” also known as Abell 2744. The cluster takes on a ghostly look where total starlight has been artificially colored blue in this Hubble view. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/IAC/HFF Team, STScI #nasa #hst #hubble #space #telescope #stars #galaxy #astronomy #science; -
Fifteen Years of Our Chandra X-ray Observatory: This Chandra image of the Hydra A galaxy cluster was taken on Oct. 30, 1999. Hydra A is a galaxy cluster that is 840 million light years from Earth. The cluster gets its name from the strong radio source, Hydra A, that originates in a galaxy near the center of the cluster. Optical observations show a few hundred galaxies in the cluster. Chandra X-ray observations reveal a large cloud of hot gas that extends throughout the cluster. The gas cloud is several million light years across and has a temperature of about 40 million degrees in the outer parts decreasing to about 35 million degrees in the inner region. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO #nasa #space #chandra #xray #astronomy #telescope #science 995D607D-D148-4D85-94CD-795EC1BF329B; -
Sunrise from the International Space Station: NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman posted this image of a sunrise, captured from the International Space Station, to social media on Oct. 29, 2014. Wiseman wrote, "Not every day is easy. Today was a tough one." Wiseman was referring to the loss on Oct. 28 of the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft, moments after launch at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Cygnus spacecraft was filled with about 5,000 pounds of supplies slated for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The station crew is in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies. Image Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman #nasa #space #spacestation #iss #isscargo #orbital #cygnus #orbitalsciences #antares #bluedot #earth; -
Spooky Shadow Gives Jupiter a Giant Eye: This trick that the planet is looking back at you is actually a Hubble treat: An eerie, close-up view of Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. Hubble was monitoring changes in Jupiter's immense Great Red Spot (GRS) storm on April 21, 2014, when the shadow of the Jovian moon, Ganymede, swept across the center of the storm. This gave the giant planet the uncanny appearance of having a pupil in the center of a 10,000 mile-diameter "eye." For a moment, Jupiter "stared" back at Hubble like a one-eyed giant Cyclops. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) #nasa #halloween #space #hst #hubble #jupiter #moon #planets #solarsystem #science;
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One giant sunspot, 6 substantial flares. The bright light in the lower right of the sun shows an X-class solar flare on Sunday, as captured by NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the event. This was the third X-class flare in 48 hours, which erupted from the largest active region seen on the sun in 24 years. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. They can't physically affect humans on the ground, but -- when intense enough -- can disturb the atmosphere where GPS and communications signals travel. Image Credit: NASA/SDO #nasa #sun #solarflare #flare #earth #sdo #solarsystem #sunspot #spaceweather #science; -
'Twas the night before launch: The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A, Sunday night, Oct. 26, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 5,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-3 mission is Orbital Sciences' third contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 27 at 6:45 p.m. EDT. Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky #orbital #orbitalsciences #iss @iss #spacestation #isscargo #antares #orb3 #nasa #space #rocket #rocketlaunch; -
At a Launch Readiness Review Sunday, managers for Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia, and NASA gave a 'go' to proceed toward the Monday, Oct. 27 launch of the Orbital CRS-3 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. Orbital is targeting a 6:45 p.m. EDT launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. NASA Television coverage of the launch will begin at 5:45 p.m. on Monday. There is a 98% chance of favorable weather at the time of launch. On Sunday afternoon, NASA TV will broadcast two news briefings from the Wallops Visitors Center. A prelaunch status briefing will be held at 1 p.m. EDT followed by a preview of the mission's science cargo at 2 p.m. EDT. The briefings will be carried live on NASA TV and the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. Seen here is the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, during sunrise, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky; -
Orbital Sciences' #Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A during sunrise, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Antares will launch with the Cygnus spacecraft filled with over 5,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions. The Orbital-3 mission is Orbital Sciences' third contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 27 at 6:45 p.m. EDT. Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky #orbital #orbitalsciences #iss @iss #spacestation #isscargo #antares #orb3 #nasa #space #rocket #sunrise #sun #rocketlaunch; -
Whirling Disk: This neat little galaxy is known as NGC 4526. Its dark lanes of dust and bright diffuse glow make the galaxy appear to hang like a halo in the emptiness of space in this image from the our Hubble Space Telescope. Although this image paints a picture of serenity, the galaxy is anything but. It is one of the brightest lenticular galaxies known, a category that lies somewhere between spirals and ellipticals. It has hosted two known supernova explosions, one in 1969 and another in 1994, and is known to have a colossal supermassive black hole at its center that has the mass of 450 million suns. Photo Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt #nasa #hst #hubble #space #astronomy #blackhole #supernova #galaxy #telescope #science;
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