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Big, bright, and beautiful, spiral galaxy M83 lies a mere twelve million light-years away, near the southeastern tip of the very long constellation Hydra. Prominent spiral arms traced by dark dust lanes and blue star clusters lend this galaxy its popular name, The Southern Pinwheel. But reddish star forming regions that dot the sweeping arms highlighted in this sparkling color composite also suggest another nickname, The Thousand-Ruby Galaxy. About 40,000 light-years across, M83 is a member of a group of galaxies that includes active galaxy Centaurus A. In fact, the core of M83 itself is bright at x-ray energies, showing a high concentration of neutron stars and black holes left from an intense burst of star formation. This sharp composite color image also features spiky foreground Milky Way stars and distant background galaxies. The image data was taken from the Subaru Telescope, the European Southern Observatory's Wide Field Imager camera, and the Hubble Legacy Archive. via NASA ift.tt/1WP9hHu
The famous NASA hanger where all th espace mission launch vehicle get assembled. The flag is huge like football fields huge.
NASA satellites have watched as wind shear has torn Cyclone Iggy apart over the last day. NASA infrared satellite imagery showed that Iggy's strongest thunderstorms have been pushed away from the storm's center and visible imagery shows the storm is being stretched out. Iggy is weakening and heading for a landfall between Geraldton and Perth.
When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Iggy on Feb. 1 at 1805 UTC (1:05 p.m. EST), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard captured an infrared look at the cyclone. AIRS data showed that the strongest thunderstorms (with the coldest cloud top temperatures) had been pushed to the southeast of Iggy's center. That convection was pushed by vertical wind shear from the northwest. Once convection is pushed away from a tropical cyclone's center, the storm begins to fall apart. Tropical cyclones must be stacked in the atmosphere like a haystack. If the middle (convection in this case) gets pushed out, then the storm collapses.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a true color image of Iggy when it passed overhead on Feb. 2, 2012 at 0615 UTC (1:15 a.m. EST). The MODIS image clearly shows how the wind shear is affecting the tropical depression because Iggy appears elongated from northwest to southeast, which is the direction of the wind shear.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) issued severe weather warnings for residents from Kalbarri to Morawa, and from Morawa to Wongan Hills; and Wongan to Narrogin and Harvey. The ABM website noted that the warning includes people in, near or between the following towns: Geraldton, Jurien Bay, Perth, Mandurah, York and Narrogin. Those areas can expect thunderstorms with heavy rainfall, and gusty winds as Iggy continues moving east. Flash flooding is also a possibility from the heavy rainfall.
On February 2, 2012, Tropical Depression Iggy had maximum sustained winds near 30 knots (~35 mph/~56 kph). It was located about 170 nautical miles (~196 miles/~315 km) northwest of Perth, Western Australia, and its center was near 29.9 South latitude and 114.2 East longitude. Iggy was moving to the east at 14 knots (16 mph/~26 kph) and is expected to continue in that direction making landfall before 0300 UTC on February 3, 2012 (or before 10 p.m. EST, Feb. 3). Iggy is expected to quickly weaken to a remnant low as it moves further inland in Western Australia.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team
Text Credit: Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Impact craters expose the subsurface materials on the steep slopes of Mars. However, these slopes often experience rockfalls and debris avalanches that keep the surface clean of dust, revealing a variety of hues, like in this enhanced-color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, representing different rock types. via NASA go.nasa.gov/2j4Rgqt
NASA/ISS/JSC/ESRS/University of Texas at El Paso/Chris Williams/Kevin M. Gill
Source: eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS074&...
Sometimes, a total eclipse is a good time to eye the Sun. Taking advantage of an unusual juxtaposition of Earth, Moon and Sun, the featured image depicts the total solar eclipse that occurred last month as it appeared -- nearly simultaneously -- from both Earth and space. The innermost image shows the total eclipse from the ground, with the central pupil created by the bright Sun covered by a comparatively dark Moon. Surrounding the blocked solar disk is the tenuous corona of Sun imaged in white light, easily visible from the ground only during an eclipse. Normally, this corona is hard to track far from the Sun, but the featured montage matches it to false-colored observations of the Sun from NASA and ESA's space-based, Sun-orbiting, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Observations like this allow the study of the constantly changing magnetic activity both near and far from the Sun, the same activity that ultimately drives Earth's auroras. via NASA ift.tt/1N6evht
The Cygnus spacecraft sits on top of an Atlas V rocket ready for launch to the International Space Station on March 22, 2016. via NASA ift.tt/1RhQDns
Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous constellation is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. Captured from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the four bright stars that mark the Southern Cross are visible just above the horizon in the featured image. On the left of this constellation, also known as The Crux, is the orange star Gamma Crucis. The band of stars, dust, and gas rising through the middle of the image mosaic is part our Milky Way Galaxy. Just to the right of the Southern Cross is the dark Coal Sack Nebula, and the bright nebula at the top of the image is the Carina Nebula. The Southern Cross is such a famous constellation that it is depicted on the national flags of Australia and New Zealand. via NASA ift.tt/1XeQ2Y5
The Henbury craters in the Northern Territory, Australia, planet Earth, are the scars of an impact over 4,000 years old. When an ancient meteorite fragmented into dozens of pieces, the largest made the 180 meter diameter crater whose weathered walls and floor are lit in the foreground of this southern hemisphere nightscape. The vertical panoramic view follows our magnificent Milky Way galaxy stretching above horizon, its rich central starfields cut by obscuring dust clouds. A glance along the galactic plane also reveals Alpha and Beta Centauri and the stars of the Southern Cross. Captured in the region's spectacular, dark skies, the Small Magellanic Cloud, satellite of the Milky Way, is the bright galaxy to the left. Not the lights of a nearby town, the visible glow on the horizon below it is the Large Magellanic Cloud rising. via NASA go.nasa.gov/1YFowY1
At an August 1985 meeting in Prague, atmospheric scientist Pawan Bhartia presented this satellite-based image that revealed for the first time the size and magnitude of the Antarctic ozone hole. The discovery ultimately led to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, a landmark international treaty designed to phase out ozone-depleting substances. Yesterday, Sept. 16,2012, marked 25 years since the treaty was opened for signatures.
NASA satellites continue to provide clear snapshots of a generally stabilized Antarctic ozone hole as it cycles toward and away from its annual maximum depth by late September or early October.
To read a Q&A about the discovery with NASA's Pawan Bhartia, visit:
www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/bhartia-qa.html
Credit: NASA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren is helped out of a helicopter in Jacksonville, Florida just a few hours after he and NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Robert Hines, along with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, landed in their SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Lindgren, Hines, Watkins, and Cristoforetti are returning after 170 days in space as part of Expeditions 67 and 68 aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Catnap at Sea
Ali Chase of the University of Maine, and Courtney Kearney of the Naval Research Laboratory, caught a quick nap on July 24, 2014, while between successive stops at sea to make measurements from the R/V Endeavor.
NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain.
Read more: 1.usa.gov/WWRVzj
Credit: NASA/SABOR/Wayne Slade, Sequoia Scientific..NASA image use policy.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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February 2, 2012
The doors are open on NASA's Suomi NPP satellite and the newest version of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is scanning Earth for the first time, helping to assure continued availability of measurements of the energy leaving the Earth-atmosphere system.
The CERES results help scientists to determine the Earth's energy balance, providing a long-term record of this crucial environmental parameter that will be consistent with those of its predecessors.
In the longwave image, heat energy radiated from Earth (in watts per square meter) is shown in shades of yellow, red, blue and white. The brightest-yellow areas are the hottest and are emitting the most energy out to space, while the dark blue areas and the bright white clouds are much colder, emitting the least energy. Increasing temperature, decreasing water vapor, and decreasing clouds will all tend to increase the ability of Earth to shed heat out to space.
To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/npp-ceres-firstlight....
Credit: NASA/NOAA/CERES Team
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous constellation is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. Captured from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the four bright stars that mark the Southern Cross are visible just above the horizon in the featured image. On the left of this constellation, also known as The Crux, is the orange star Gamma Crucis. The band of stars, dust, and gas rising through the middle of the image mosaic is part our Milky Way Galaxy. Just to the right of the Southern Cross is the dark Coal Sack Nebula, and the bright nebula at the top of the image is the Carina Nebula. The Southern Cross is such a famous constellation that it is depicted on the national flags of Australia and New Zealand. via NASA ift.tt/1XeQ2Y5
After building the cockpit I did some maths and realised some little 3.5 stud ‘figures’ would be pretty much the right size for the Discovery, so in went Shriver, Bolden, McCandless, Hawley and Sullivan. I think they work perfectly, although maybe Kathryn Sullivan could do with reddish-brown hair, I’ll update her when I can. I loved building this set, it was a real pleasure to see the unusual techniques and angles fit together, it’s definitely up there with the Saturn V as my absolute favourites. Sorry Star Wars, NASA has you beaten!
Massive stars lie within NGC 6357, an expansive emission nebula complex some 6,500 light-years away toward the tail of the constellation Scorpius. In fact, positioned near center in this ground-based close-up of NGC 6357, star cluster Pismis 24 includes some of the most massive stars known in the galaxy, stars with nearly 100 times the mass of the Sun. The nebula's bright central region also contains dusty pillars of molecular gas, likely hiding massive protostars from the prying eyes of optical instruments. Intricate shapes in the nebula are carved as interstellar winds and energetic radiation from the young and newly forming massive stars clear out the natal gas and dust and power the nebular glow. Enhancing the nebula's cavernous appearance, narrowband image data was included in this composite color image in a Hubble palette scheme. Emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms is shown in red green and blue hues. The alluring telescopic view spans about 50 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6357. via NASA ift.tt/1R9z4d3
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard stands at the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on Dec. 3, 2015. via NASA go.nasa.gov/1HIkCWT
These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away, in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers, though. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries, embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The pretty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years. The colorful field-of-view stretches almost five Full Moons across the sky. via NASA ift.tt/1YcJWY8
A general purpose two-person EVA unit, commonly used to construct, inspect or repair sections of the ISS-B.
Work boats sported second-generation manipulator arms, tentacles more precisely; the biomechanical design was found to be superior to the older jointed boom arms as the tentacle's algorithms would find the best route to the grasp point and also be capable of reaching through complex station beamwork. In effect, the workers could remain stationary with the arms found it's own way to it's target point.
Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous constellation is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. Captured from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the four bright stars that mark the Southern Cross are visible just above the horizon in the featured image. On the left of this constellation, also known as The Crux, is the orange star Gamma Crucis. The band of stars, dust, and gas rising through the middle of the image mosaic is part our Milky Way Galaxy. Just to the right of the Southern Cross is the dark Coal Sack Nebula, and the bright nebula at the top of the image is the Carina Nebula. The Southern Cross is such a famous constellation that it is depicted on the national flags of Australia and New Zealand. via NASA ift.tt/1XeQ2Y5
Black/white/red images are Terra thermal band image captured October 10, 2017.
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As wildfires burn across California, NASA satellites help gather data about where the fires are and how smoke travels across the state.
The smoke from the fires is even visible a million miles away from Earth, captured by NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). The Terra spacecraft can see fires in both daylight and at night, helping aid firefighters in tracking and stopping the blazes. NASA's unique vantage point in space helps better understand our home planet.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Denoise, vibrance, exposure, crop, rotate.
NASA/Artemis II/JSC/ESRS/University of Texas at El Paso/Kevin M. Gill
Image Source: eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ART002&...
NASA launched a rocket from the Wallops Island facility early in the morning on June 29, 2017 that made artificial clouds in space. I was lucky enough to have clear skies for viewing it. Very cool!
More information on the experiment: www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/nasa-sounding-rocket-wi...
Location: Corolla, North Carolina
Body: Hasselblad 500 C/M
Lens: Zeiss 50mm Distagon f/4 T*
Film: Fujichrome T64 (expired 2012)
Exposure: f/4 (unrecorded exposure length)
Developed & Scanned by NCPS
Denoise, vibrance, exposure, crop, rotate.
NASA/Artemis II/JSC/ESRS/University of Texas at El Paso/Kevin M. Gill
Image Source: eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ART002&...
It is a candidate for the brightest and most powerful explosion ever seen -- what is it? The flaring spot of light was found by the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASASSN) in June of last year and labelled ASASSN-15lh. Located about three billion light years distant, the source appears tremendously bright for anything so far away: roughly 200 times brighter than an average supernova, and temporarily 20 times brighter than all of the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy combined. Were light emitted by ASASSN-15lh at this rate in all directions at once, it would be the most powerful explosion yet recorded. No known stellar object was thought to create an explosion this powerful, although pushing the theoretical limits for the spin-down of highly-magnetized neutron star -- a magnetar -- gets close. Assuming the flare fades as expected later this year, astronomers are planning to use telescopes including Hubble to zoom in on the region to gain more clues. The above-featured artist's illustration depicts a hypothetical night sky of a planet located across the host galaxy from the outburst. via NASA ift.tt/1QyMpv7
This glittering group of stars, shining through the darkness like sparks left behind by a firework, is NGC 2660 in the constellation Vela, best viewed in the southern sky. NGC 2660 is an open cluster, a type of star cluster that can contain anywhere from tens to a few hundreds of stars loosely bound together by gravity. The stars of open clusters form out of the same region of gas and dust and thus share many characteristics, such as age and chemical composition. Unlike globular clusters ― their ancient, denser, and more tightly-packed cousins ― open clusters are easier to study since astronomers can more easily distinguish between individual stars. Their stars can be old or young, and they may disperse after a few million years into the spiral or irregular galaxies where they are born.
The spikes surrounding many of the stars in this image are “diffraction spikes,” which occur when the glow from bright points of light reflects off of the Hubble Space Telescope's secondary mirror support. The bright red object to the left with the very prominent diffraction spikes is a foreground star that is not part of the cluster. Hubble observed this open cluster as part of a program to study the ages of white dwarf stars in open clusters.
Credit: NASA, ESA and T. von Hippel (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble’s Star Clusters page, visit: www.nasa.gov/content/discoveries-hubbles-star-clusters
Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous constellation is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. Captured from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the four bright stars that mark the Southern Cross are visible just above the horizon in the featured image. On the left of this constellation, also known as The Crux, is the orange star Gamma Crucis. The band of stars, dust, and gas rising through the middle of the image mosaic is part our Milky Way Galaxy. Just to the right of the Southern Cross is the dark Coal Sack Nebula, and the bright nebula at the top of the image is the Carina Nebula. The Southern Cross is such a famous constellation that it is depicted on the national flags of Australia and New Zealand. via NASA ift.tt/1XeQ2Y5
Get out your red/blue glasses and gaze across Ceres at mysterious mountain Ahuna Mons. Shown in a 3D anaglyph perspective view, the mosaicked image data was captured in December of 2015, taken from the Dawn spacecraft's low-altitude mapping orbit about 385 kilometers above the surface of the dwarf planet. A remarkable dome-shaped feature on Ceres, with steep, smooth sides Ahuna Mons is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter at its base, rising on average 4 kilometers to a flattened summit. Similar in size to mountains found on planet Earth, no other Cerean surface feature is so tall and well-defined. It is not known what process shaped the lonely Ahuna Mons, or if the bright material streaking its steepest side is the same material responsible for Ceres' famous bright spots. via NASA ift.tt/1Mtn6oM
Processed using calibrated near infrared (CB2, MT2, MT3) filtered images of Saturn taken by Cassini on June 26 2013. Map projected for polar stereographic.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill
What are those colorful rings around the Sun? A corona visible only to Earth observers in the right place at the right time. Rings like this will sometimes appear when the Sun or Moon is seen through thin clouds. The effect is created by the quantum mechanical diffraction of light around individual, similarly-sized water droplets in an intervening but mostly-transparent cloud. Since light of different colors has different wavelengths, each color diffracts differently. Solar Coronae are one of the few quantum color effects that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. This type of solar corona is a visual effect due to water in Earth's atmosphere and is altogether different from the solar corona that exists continually around the Sun -- and stands out during a total solar eclipse. In the foreground is the famous Himalayan mountain peak Ama Dablam (Mother's Necklace), via NASA ift.tt/1IYFPwq
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut and Expedition 46 Flight Engineer Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) photographed the Alps from orbit on Dec. 27, 2015 and later shared the image with his social media followers, writing, "There may not be much snow in the Alps this winter but they still look stunning from here! #Principia" via NASA ift.tt/1miLof5