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In the center of this image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is the galaxy cluster SDSS J1038+4849 — and it seems to be smiling. You can make out its two orange eyes and white button nose. In the case of this “happy face”, the two eyes are very bright galaxies and the misleading smile lines are actually arcs caused by an effect known as strong gravitational lensing. Galaxy clusters are the most massive structures in the Universe and exert such a powerful gravitational pull that they warp the spacetime around them and act as cosmic lenses which can magnify, distort and bend the light behind them. This phenomenon, crucial to many of Hubble’s discoveries, can be explained by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. In this special case of gravitational lensing, a ring — known as an Einstein Ring — is produced from this bending of light, a consequence of the exact and symmetrical alignment of the source, lens and observer and resulting in the ring-like structure we see here. Image Credit: NASA/ESA; -
Space Station Flyover of Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa: European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took this photograph from the International Space Station and posted it to social media on Jan. 30, 2015. Cristoforetti wrote, "A spectacular flyover of the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa. #HelloEarth" Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Samantha Cristoforetti #nasa #space #esa #astronauts #africa #spacestation #iss; -
Hubble's Little Sombrero: Galaxies can take many shapes and be oriented any way relative to us in the sky. This can make it hard to figure out their actual morphology, as a galaxy can look very different from different viewpoints. A special case is when we are lucky enough to observe a spiral galaxy directly from its edge, providing us with a spectacular view like the one seen in this picture of the week. This is NGC 7814, also known as the "Little Sombrero." Its larger namesake, the Sombrero Galaxy, is another stunning example of an edge-on galaxy - in fact, the "Little Sombrero" is about the same size as its bright namesake at about 60,000 light-years across, but as it lies farther away, and so appears smaller in the sky. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA #nasa #hst #hubble #hubble25 #galaxy #science; -
Aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Barry (Butch) Wilmore posted this video and wrote, '#sunrise touches #aurora. All we need now are angels singing.' For more images from space station, visit @ISS on Instagram. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #iss #spacestation #astronauts #earth; -
Curly-Q Filament Blast: A solar filament erupted in the shape of a twisted arch over a three-hour period (Feb. 4, 2015) with most of it falling back into the sun. The activity in the lower corona was caught in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Filaments are elongated clouds of particles suspended above the Sun's surface by magnetic forces. They are notoriously unstable. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA #nasa #sun #sdo #space #spaceweather #science;
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Sun shining down on our planet: This image was taken by astronaut Terry Virts from the International Space Station (@ISS). He posted the photo and wrote, "I wish I could bring all of you up to see this!" Image Credit: NASA #iss #space #spacestation #nasa #exp42 #earth #astronauts; -
Firing off a string of action snapshots, our Hubble Space Telescope captured the rare occurrence of three of Jupiter's largest moons racing across the banded face of the gas-giant planet: Europa, Callisto, and Io. These so-called Galilean moons, named after the 17th century scientist Galileo Galilei, who discovered them with a telescope, complete orbits around Jupiter with durations ranging from 2 days to 17 days. Seeing three moons transiting the face of Jupiter at the same time is rare, occurring only once or twice a decade. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) #hubble #nasa #hubble25 #nasa #space #jupiter #planets #moons #galileo #telescope #science; -
Forty-Four Years Ago Today: Apollo 14 Touches Down on the Moon: On Feb. 5. 1971, the Apollo 14 crew module landed on the moon. The crew members were Captain Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (USN), commander; Major Stuart Allen Roosa (USAF), command module pilot; and Commander Edgar Dean Mitchell (USN), lunar module pilot. In this photo, Shepard stands by the Modular Equipment Transporter (MET). The MET was a cart for carrying around tools, cameras and sample cases on the lunar surface. Shepard can be identified by the vertical stripe on his helmet. After Apollo 13, the commander's spacesuit had red stripes on the helmet, arms, and one leg, to help identify them in photographs. Image Credit: NASA #throwbackthursday #tbt #otd #nasa #apollo #nasahistory #moon; -
On the Edge of Mercury In this image, Mercury's horizon cuts a striking edge against the stark blackness of space. On the right, sunlight harshly brings the landscape into relief while on the left, the surface is shrouded in the darkness of night. This image was acquired as part of MDIS's limb imaging campaign. Once per week, MDIS captures images of Mercury's limb, with an emphasis on imaging the southern hemisphere limb. These limb images provide information about Mercury's shape and complement measurements of topography made by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) of Mercury's northern hemisphere. The MESSENGER spacecraft is the first ever to orbit the planet Mercury, and the spacecraft's seven scientific instruments and radio science investigation are unraveling the history and evolution of the Solar System's innermost planet. In the mission's more than three years of orbital operations, MESSENGER has acquired over 250,000 images and extensive other data sets. MESSENGER is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington; -
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen at the "Pahrump Hills" area of Gale Crater in this view from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Pahrump Hills is an outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp. The region contains sedimentary rocks that scientists believe formed in the presence of water. The location of the rover, with its shadow extending toward the upper right, is indicated with an inscribed rectangle. North is toward the top. The view covers an area about 360 yards (330 meters) across. HiRISE made the observation on Dec. 13, 2014. At that time, Curiosity was near a feature called "Whale Rock." The bright features in the landscape are sedimentary rock and the dark areas are sand. The HiRISE team plans to periodically image Curiosity, as well as NASA's other active Mars rover, Opportunity, as the vehicles continue to explore Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona;
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Interior View From the International Space Station Cupola: This image of the interior view from the International Space Station's Cupola module was taken on Jan. 4, 2015. The large bay windows allows the Expedition 42 crew to see outside. The Cupola houses one of the space station's two robotic work stations used by astronauts to manipulate the large robotic arm seen through the right window. The robotic arm, or Canadarm2, was used throughout the construction of the station and is still used to grapple visiting cargo vehicles and assist astronauts during spacewalks. The Cupola is attached to the nadir side of the space station and also gives a full panoramic view of the Earth. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #spacestation #iss #isscargo #cupola #csa #science; -
A Beauty Shot from Saturday’s Launch: A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory onboard is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches from Space Launch Complex 2, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. SMAP is our first Earth-observing satellite designed to collect global observations of surface soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. SMAP will provide high resolution global measurements of soil moisture from space. The data will be used to enhance scientists' understanding of the processes that link Earth's water, energy, and carbon cycles. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) #nasa #ula #space #deltaii #earth#earthrightnow#science; -
Cloud Streets in the Bering Sea: Ice, wind, cold temperatures and ocean waters combined to created dramatic cloud formations over the Bering Sea in late January 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the region and captured this true-color image on Jan. 23. The frozen tundra of Russia lies in the northwest of the image, and snow-covered Alaska lies in the northeast. Sea ice extends from the land well into the Bering Sea. Over the dark water bright white clouds line in up close, parallel rows. These formations are known as "cloud streets". Air blowing over the cold, snowy land and then over ice becomes both cold and dry. When the air then moves over relatively warmer and much moister water and lead to the development of parallel cylinders of spinning air. On the upper edge of these cylinders of air, where the air is rising, small clouds form. Where air is descending, the skies are clear. This clear/cloudy pattern, formed in parallel rows, gives the impression of streets. Image Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC #nasa #earth #earthrightnow #beringsea #modis #aqua #satellite #clouds #science; -
Meanwhile, 20,000 light years this Supernova Sunday, one of only three supernova remnants in the Milky Way known to contain large amounts of oxygen. These oxygen-rich supernovas are of great interest to astronomers because they are one of the primary sources of the heavy elements (that is, everything other than hydrogen and helium) necessary to form planets and people. The X-ray image from Chandra shows a rapidly expanding, intricately structured, debris field that contains, along with oxygen (yellow and orange), other elements such as magnesium (green) and silicon and sulfur (blue) that were forged in the star before it exploded. Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO #supernovasunday #supernova #nasa #space #science #chandra #superbowl #sb49; -
Echoes of a Stellar Ending on Supernova Sunday: Over 11,000 years ago, a massive, supergiant star came to the end of its life. The star's core collapsed to form an incredibly dense ball of neutrons, and its exterior was blasted away in an immense release of energy astronomers call a supernova. The light from this supernova first reached Earth from the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia around 1667 A.D. If anyone alive at the time saw it, they left no records. It is likely that large amounts of dust between the dying star and Earth dimmed the brightness of the explosion to the point that it was barely, if at all, visible to the unaided eye. The remnant of this supernova was discovered in 1947 from its powerful radio emission. Listed as Cassiopeia A, it is one of the brightest radio sources in the whole sky. More recently, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), detected infrared echoes of the flash of light rippling outwards from the supernova. In the image, the central bright cloud of dust is the blast wave moving through interstellar space heating up dust as it goes. The colors used in this image represent specific wavelengths of infrared light. Blue and cyan (blue-green) represent light emitted predominantly from stars at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns. Green and red represent light mostly emitted by dust at 12 and 22 microns, respectively. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA #supernovasunday #supernova #nasa #space #science #chandra #superbowl #sb49;
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