View allAll Photos Tagged multiband
Les araçaris multibandes vivent en petits groupes de quelques individus. Ils circulent généralement en volant en file indienne, les uns derrière les autres. Celui-ci est photographié en Equateur à partir d'une tour au dessus de la canopée.
Many-banded Aracari live in small groups of a few individuals. They usually fly in single file, one behind the other. This one is photographed in Ecuador from a tower above the canopy.
Description:
About 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus lies NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula. Its arched and filamentary form was sculpted by the powerful stellar winds of Wolf–Rayet 136, colliding with slower material expelled during a previous red supergiant phase.
In this multiband image, crimson filaments trace hydrogen, teal clouds mark oxygen, while additional emission from sulfur and hydrogen-beta enriches the structure with subtle chromatic variations. The combined data highlight the complex network of shocks and ionized gas surrounding its central star, creating the intricate shell known as the Crescent Nebula.
Spanning about 25 light-years, the Crescent Nebula is a dynamic structure, destined to be dramatically reshaped when its central star ends its life in a supernova explosion.
Technical details:
The image was processed in an HOO palette, with H-alpha mapped to red and OIII mapped to green and blue. Additional H-beta and SII data were later blended in using a screen blending mode, with H-beta encoded in blue and SII encoded in yellow. The natural star colors were restored using PixInsights' Ballesteros blackbody estimator tool.
Telescope: Meade LX200 ACF 10" OTA
Camera QHYCCD QHY268 M
Mount: 10Micron GM2000 HPS II
Filter Ha + OIII (Astrodon) + Hb (Astronomik) + SII (Baader)
Total Integration: 83 h
Software: N.I.N.A. and PixInsight
May - Jun 2025
Antonio Ferretti & Attilio Bruzzone from Lanciano (Italy)
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Povich (Penn State Univ.)
A dragon-shaped cloud of dust seems to fly out from a bright explosion in this infrared light image from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
These views have revealed that this dark cloud, called M17 SWex, is forming stars at a furious rate but has not yet spawned the most massive type of stars, known as O stars. Such stellar behemoths, however, light up the M17 nebula at the image's center and have also blown a huge "bubble" in the gas and dust that forms M17's luminous left edge.
The stars and gas in this region are now passing though the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way (moving from right to left), touching off a galactic "domino effect." The youngest episode of star formation is playing out inside the dusty dragon as it enters the spiral arm. Over time this area will flare up like the bright M17 nebula, glowing in the light of young, massive stars. The remnants of an older burst of star formation blew the bubble to the left.
This is a three-color composite that shows infrared observations from two Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows light of 8 microns, both captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Red is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer.
Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope
Image Source: www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/3189-sig10-009a-The-Evolut...
Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA
Image Use Policy: Public Domain
Nigaard Glacier (Norwegian: Nigaardsbreen) is an arm of the larger Jostedal Glacier (Jostedalsbreen), the largest glacier of Northern Europe. In common with virtually all glaciers in Europe, the front edge of the ice is retreating at an alarming rate. Since this photo was taken (/2008), the glacier edge has moved many hundreds of meters backwards. A visible demonstration of the ongoing climate cfhanges.
Multi-band spectral image composite taken with a full-spectrum modified Nikon D200 and the Coastal Optics 60mm f/4 APO lens.
UV: Baader U filter, coded blue
Visible: Green channel from image taken with a Baader UV/IR-Cut filter
NIR:B+W 093 (Wratten 87C), coded red
Taken in early spring (May) thus the foot lake Nigaardsvatn is still ice-covered.
ESA's 35-metre radio antenna in Malargüe, Argentina, has had a major refurbishment. Extenstive modifications made will now allow the ESTRACK network to support future mission like Euclid, launching in 2022, and to transfer data at much higher rates.
Upgrades to the ESA Malargüe station, and similar upgrades carried out in the Cebreros station located in Spain in 2017, make a big difference to deep space missions.
Currently missions like Gaia are able to send back data at a channel rate of 10Mb/s. Euclid will send back data at a rate of 149Mb/s – a similar increase in speed as we have experienced in our internet browsing in the last 10 years.
Euclid, which will orbit at the Lagrange point L2, will be fitted with the 26 GHz band radio giving it a higher bandwidth for transferring data to and from Earth, significantly increasing the scientific information returned over time.
The refurbishment of Cebreros and Malargue stations, will allow ESA deep space antennas to receive broadband signals at 26GHz as well as the conventional X-band frequency.
Highlights of the upgrade
The core of the Malargüe Ground Station antenna optical system is the beamwaveguide. This is a set of mirrors that redirect the signal from the spacecraft to the antenna feeding system.
The central mirror in the set plays a key role in the upgrade. By rotating the mirror in the centre, you can redirect the signal to different receivers with different frequencies.
When the central mirror is rotated to the deep space position, operators will be able to simultaneously use X-band and Ka-band waves – the kind of signal sent by deep space missions like BepiColombo.
When the central mirror is rotated to the near earth position, a newly developed multiband feed system will enable simultaneous X-band and K-band communications.
There is a placeholder position for exclusive communication at X-band using the new 80 kW high power amplifier. The 80kW amplifier is currently being developed and is expected to be deployed to ESTRACK by 2024.
In addition, a new generation of low-maintenance cryogenic amplifiers for improved performance have been installed, as has the latest portable satellite simulator – which will be compatible with Euclid’s high data rates.
Challenges to upgrade
This upgrade has provided unique challenges for the teams charged with seeing it through. The mirrors must be very precisely aligned, with a maximum of 3.5 millidegrees of angular tolerance. To achieve this precision, photogrammetry was used.
ESTRACK antennas also support a very wide range of flying missions, with a high operational load. To minimise the impact on operations, the complete refurbishment had to be completed in only five weeks.
Teamwork is key
The success of the upgrade relied on the dedication and expertise of each individual and their capability to work together effectively as a team.
Coordination between more than twenty people carrying out the upgrades has been paramount – and it has been achieved by keeping the team motivation high and ensuring communication and information flowed among the five industrial partner companies who worked together on the refurbishment.
Credit: ESA / Filippo Concaro
Astronomical images often look like works of art. This picture of one of our nearest neighbouring galaxies, the Small Magellanic Cloud, is certainly no exception!
The scene is actually a collaboration between two cosmic artists — ESA’s Herschel space observatory and NASA’s Spitzer space telescope. The image is reminiscent of an artistic stipple or pointillist painting, with lots of small, distinct dots coming together to create a striking larger-scale view.
The colours within this image provide information about the temperature of the dust mixed with the gas throughout the galaxy. The slight green tint stretching towards the left of the frame and the red hue of the main body of the galaxy are from the Herschel observations, which highlight cold material, down to a chilly –260 degrees Celsius .
The brighter patches of blue were captured by Spitzer. These regions are made up of ‘warmer’ —about –150 degrees Celsius — gas and dust, and within some of these areas new stars are being born. These newborn stars in turn warm up their surroundings, resulting in intense clumps of heated gas and dust within the galaxy.
These clumps show up brightly in this image, tracing the shape of the galaxy clearly — the SMC is made up of a central ‘bar’ of star formation, visible on the right hand side, and then a more extended ‘wing’, stretching out towards the left of the frame.
Overall, the Small Magellanic Cloud is about 1/20th of the size of the Milky Way. It can be seen shining in the night sky of the southern hemisphere, and its brightest regions are easily visible to the naked eye. It is a satellite galaxy of our own — it orbits around the Milky Way along with its bigger companion, the Large Magellanic Cloud. These two galaxies have been extensively studied because of their proximity to us; astronomers can observe them relatively easily to explore how star formation and galactic evolution works in galaxies other than our own.
The data in this image are from Herschel’s Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE), Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS), and Spitzer’s Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS).
This image was previously published by NASA/JPL.
Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI
Here is a link to a RadioMuseum.org article on Nordmende radios in the United States in the 1960s/1970s. www.radiomuseum.org/forum/nordmende_transistor_radios_in_...
Dans la constellation du Verseau (Aquarius), à 700 a.l. de la Terre, l'image infrarouge du télescope spatial Spitzer de la NASA montre la nébuleuse planétaire de l'Hélice NGC 7293 aux couleurs vives et ressemblant à un oeil géant. Elle est composée, comme toutes les nébuleuses planétaires, de restes d’étoiles qui ressemblaient autrefois beaucoup à notre soleil. Lorsque des étoiles semblables au soleil meurent, elles gonflent leurs couches gazeuses externes qui sont chauffées par le noyau chaud de l’étoile morte, appelé naine blanche. Avec la vision infrarouge de Spitzer, l’œil ressemble plus à celui d’un monstre vert. La lumière infrarouge des couches gazeuses externes y est en effet représentée dans les bleus et les verts. La naine blanche est visible comme un petit point blanc au centre de l’image. La couleur rouge au milieu de l’œil indique les couches finales de gaz soufflé quand l’étoile est morte.
Le cercle rouge plus lumineux au centre est la lueur d’un disque poussiéreux encerclant la naine blanche (le disque lui-même est trop petit pour être résolu). Cette poussière, découverte par la vision infrarouge à la recherche de chaleur de Spitzer, a probablement été stimulée par des comètes qui ont survécu à la mort de leur étoile. Avant la mort de l’étoile, ses comètes et peut-être des planètes auraient tourné autour de l’étoile de manière ordonnée. Mais quand l’étoile a repoussé ses couches externes, les corps glacés et les planètes extérieures ont été jetés et l’un dans l’autre, résultant en une tempête de poussière cosmique continue. Toutes les planètes intérieures du système auraient brûlé ou auraient été avalées alors que leur étoile mourante s’étendait. .. La nébuleuse de l'Hélice est l’un des rares systèmes d’étoiles mortes dans lesquels des preuves de survivants de comètes ont été trouvées. .. Cette image est constituée de donnéesCette image est constituée de données provenant de la caméra infrarouge et du photomètre d’imagerie multibande de Spitzer. Le bleu montre une lumière infrarouge de 3,6 à 4,5 microns, le vert une lumière infrarouge de 5,8 à 8 microns et le rouge une lumière infrarouge de 24 microns (cf. site Spitzer).
Pour situer l'astre dans sa constellation :
www.flickr.com/photos/7208148@N02/48845843028/in/datepost...
The region around the center of our Milky Way galaxy glows colorfully in this new version of an image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.....The data were previously released as part of a long, 120-degree view of the plane our galaxy (see www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2680-ssc2008-11a-Spitzer-F...). Now, data from the very center of that picture are being presented at a different contrast to better highlight this jam-packed region. In visible-light pictures, it is all but impossible to see the heart of our galaxy, but infrared light penetrates the shroud of dust giving us this unprecedented view.....In this Spitzer image, the myriad of stars crowding the center of our galaxy creates the blue haze that brightens towards the center of the image. The green features are from carbon-rich dust molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are illuminated by the surrounding starlight as they swirl around the galaxy's core. The yellow-red patches are the thermal glow from warm dust. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dust are associated with bustling hubs of young stars. These materials, mixed with gas, are required for making new stars.....The brightest white feature at the center of the image is the central star cluster in our galaxy. At a distance of 26,000 light years away from Earth, it is so distant that, to Spitzer's view, most of the light from the thousands of individual stars is blurred into a single glowing blotch. Astronomers have determined that these stars are orbiting a massive black hole that lies at the very center of the galaxy.....The region pictured here is immense, with a horizontal span of 2,400 light-years (5.3 degrees) and a vertical span of 1,360 light-years (3 degrees). Though most of the objects seen in this image are located near the galactic center, the features above and below the galactic plane tend to lie closer to Earth.....The image is a three-color composite, showing infrared observations from two of Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows 8-micron light, both captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Red is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer. The data is a combination of observations from the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) project, and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic survey (MIPSGAL).
Sh2-101 Nebulosa tulipano, questa la versione senza filtro a banda stretta, filtro che ne avrebbe migliorato i dettagli ed i colori.
Ottenuta con circa 1,5 ore di integrazione con solo filtro multibanda Optolong L-Pro.
Riprese fatte il 31 Agosto 2024 ai Monti della Luna di Cesana (TO), con telescopio Newton 18/600 e camera ASI 294 MC Pro.
The region around the center of our Milky Way galaxy glows colorfully in this new version of an image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.....The data were previously released as part of a long, 120-degree view of the plane our galaxy (see www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2680-ssc2008-11a-Spitzer-F...). Now, data from the very center of that picture are being presented at a different contrast to better highlight this jam-packed region. In visible-light pictures, it is all but impossible to see the heart of our galaxy, but infrared light penetrates the shroud of dust giving us this unprecedented view.....In this Spitzer image, the myriad of stars crowding the center of our galaxy creates the blue haze that brightens towards the center of the image. The green features are from carbon-rich dust molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are illuminated by the surrounding starlight as they swirl around the galaxy's core. The yellow-red patches are the thermal glow from warm dust. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dust are associated with bustling hubs of young stars. These materials, mixed with gas, are required for making new stars.....The brightest white feature at the center of the image is the central star cluster in our galaxy. At a distance of 26,000 light years away from Earth, it is so distant that, to Spitzer's view, most of the light from the thousands of individual stars is blurred into a single glowing blotch. Astronomers have determined that these stars are orbiting a massive black hole that lies at the very center of the galaxy.....The region pictured here is immense, with a horizontal span of 2,400 light-years (5.3 degrees) and a vertical span of 1,360 light-years (3 degrees). Though most of the objects seen in this image are located near the galactic center, the features above and below the galactic plane tend to lie closer to Earth.....The image is a three-color composite, showing infrared observations from two of Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows 8-micron light, both captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Red is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer. The data is a combination of observations from the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) project, and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic survey (MIPSGAL).
Multiband composite of a forest lake near the Norwegian-Swedish border. Winter scenery. Influx of melt water makes patches of open water in the otherwise compact ice layer.
Nikoin D200 full-spectrum, Coastal Optics 60mm f/4 APO lens (now Jenoptik)
Filtration and colour encoding:
UV: Baader U, monochrome rendition used as blue channel
Visible: Baader UV/IR Cut, green channel used as is
IR: B+W 093 (Wratten 87C equivalent), monochrome rendition used as red channel
(english below)
(ITA)
Solo un esperimento.
Consigli e suggerimenti sono ben accetti..
159 scatti (53 x3 +/-2EV) Pentax x90@626mm di focale
Autopano:
riconoscimento con algoritmo forte e correzione colore solo per esposizione
un bel ritaglio per avere solo l'isola in primo piano (quindi non tutte le foto sono state utilizzate nel rendering finale).
nelle opzioni per il rendering utilizzare multibanda come miscelatore( livello 0), fusione e hdr ghost; salvare il tutto come .HDR.
photomatrix pro:
Aprire l .HDR e utilizzare il preset painterly.
Photoshop:
duplicare lo sfondo e applicare il filtro timbro sul nuovo livello. Sempre sul livello duplicato selezionare il bianco e cancellarlo per far riapparire i colori sottostanti..
(EN)
Just a tryout.
Tips and suggestions are welcome ..
159 shots (53 x3 + /-2EV) Pentax x90 @ 626mm focal length.
Autopano:
Detection with Strong algorithm and exposure color correction.
cropping the pano to focus on the island (so not all photos where used in the final rendering).
in the render tab multiband blender at level 0, fusion and HDR ghost option enabled. saved to .HDR
Photomatrix:
Load the .HDR file and use the painterly preset
Photoshop:
Duplicate the background and apply a stamp filter; then delete color white to expose the underlyng colors..
A teaser for a project I'm working on: a multiband LW/MW/SW crystal set receiver. This is the front panel, made from a sheet of black translucent acrylic that still has its original factory protective backing. The large hole is for a panel meter that measures signal strength.
A Sony Earth-Orbiter multi-band radio, model CRF 5100. These were made from 1975-81 and were an obvious competitor to the Zenith Trans-Oceanic.
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed by amateur astronomers for its vivid colors and eerie resemblance to a giant eye.
The nebula, located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic butterflies were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.
Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun.
When sun-like stars die, they puff out their outer gaseous layers. These layers are heated by the hot core of the dead star, called a white dwarf, and shine with infrared and visible-light colors. Our own sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years.
In Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula, the eye looks more like that of a green monster's. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture. The red color in the middle of the eye denotes the final layers of gas blown out when the star died.
The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust, discovered by Spitzer's infrared heat-seeking vision, was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. Before the star died, its comets and possibly planets would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. But when the star blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, resulting in an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded.
The Helix nebula is one of only a few dead-star systems in which evidence for comet survivors has been found.
This image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 microns; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 microns; and red shows infrared light of 24 microns.
Picture by NASA
Candidate in Picture of the Year 2007.
1680x1050
Original at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:169141main_piaa09178.jpg
Here is a link to a RadioMuseum.org article on Nordmende radios in the United States in the 1960s/1970s. www.radiomuseum.org/forum/nordmende_transistor_radios_in_...
Almost two years since my last upload.
Here's a spectacular and hard to find Toshiba 2 band radio.
A hefty shirtpocket radio with AM and a SW band. Despite its hefty feel the aesthetic appears to drift away from the more utilitarian look of many multiband radios.
A nice slab or reverse paint up top balanced by a unique curved or parabolic speaker grille.
The back cabinet is salmon/beige color.
Narrowband image with OSC camera. First light for the new "little" Sharpstar 61ED MarkII triplet. Using the standard 0.8 reducer the focal length is 275mm and the 28.3 mm diagonal of IMX571 color backlit sensor contains quite well this beautiful field. About 8h total hours of getting data, 300" unguided sub exp with IDAS NBZ multiband narrowband filter. The processing software has detected about 40000 stars in this beautiful field.
This is the real first light of "Pier 2" in my own little roof observatory in south Italy.
Theres nothing about this radio receiver that has any connection to the digital age this is a fully analogue set from back in the 1980s ... and ....
this is still in perfect working condition ..
the range of bands available are ........
AM broadcast 540-1600 khz
SW1 2 - 6 mhz
SW2 15-30 mhz
FM & TV sound 55-108 mhz
TV sound (2) 175 - 218 mhz
Aircraft VHF Marine .....
Land mobile .... 108 - 175 mhz
Lightweight multi-band antenna and repeater node.
Auto-balancing unicycle platform.
Human driver-operator ideal for rugged off-chart navigation, hands-on signal acquisition and troubleshooting.
(These so-called Repeatermen are nearly folk heroes in far craters that would be utterly isolated without their lonely vigils in the trackless wastes. A visitor might often hear the haunting melody of the "Ballad of the Lost Repeaterman", whistled in the access corridors and valve-rooms of lonely outposts by moon-weary pressuremen on graveyard shifts.)
A multi-band receiver from 1970 in a special version. Size 375 x 250 x 135 mm, weight 6 kg. As standard there are long wave, medium wave, marine band, shortwave, VHF high, AIR radio, FM broadcasting, FM low. In addition, there is a subsequently built-in UHF converter for the frequencies from 398-500 MHz. Adjustable on the right side with a separate regulator. Fine tuning is done using the normal tuning on the front panel. With the BFO control an SSB single sideband signal can be demodulated. The squelch is not adjustable. There are two telescopic antennas, connections for wire antennas and a jack for coaxial cable. A port for audiotape and headphones is on the left.
I've tried it and it still works. But apart from a few radio stations, I couldn't hear anything. For the Swiss IBBK radio it is still usable. A 50 year old rarity whose value I cannot estimate. Switzerland, March 4, 2021.
Left to right, multimode VHF receiver with VHF antenna tuner on top, VHF/UHF scanner with AM broadcast band loop antenna (I enjoy AM dx'ing) on top, multimode HF transceiver with DMU display in panadapter mode on top, DMU, speaker system for transceiver. I haven't got any serious antenna systems up, I kind of permanently installed the tower at my last QTH. Need to start over. I do have a multiband dipole for SWL, was thinking about an 80...6 meter vertical for an interim setup until I work out what the rules are for towers in this part of town, find one to match, etc.
UPDATE: I rigged up a 20 meter inverted vee of wire and wood components I made in my wood shop, and made my first contact in 15 years (to California), even received a few SSTV images. But the band.... she is awfully quiet.
The window visible behind the gear is waiting for its turn at stained glass; our renovations haven't gotten to the south side of our former church yet. So it's a standard casement window stuffed with R10 foam. It'll be a real kick for me when we put the SG in; like working in front of jewels or something. At least during the day. :o)
This shot reached #145 on Explore; thanks, everyone. Not bad for gear porn!
The region around the center of our Milky Way galaxy glows colorfully in this new version of an image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
The data were previously released as part of a long, 120-degree view of the plane our galaxy (see www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2680-ssc2008-11a-Spitzer-F...). Now, data from the very center of that picture are being presented at a different contrast to better highlight this jam-packed region. In visible-light pictures, it is all but impossible to see the heart of our galaxy, but infrared light penetrates the shroud of dust giving us this unprecedented view.
In this Spitzer image, the myriad of stars crowding the center of our galaxy creates the blue haze that brightens towards the center of the image. The green features are from carbon-rich dust molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are illuminated by the surrounding starlight as they swirl around the galaxy's core. The yellow-red patches are the thermal glow from warm dust. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dust are associated with bustling hubs of young stars. These materials, mixed with gas, are required for making new stars.
The brightest white feature at the center of the image is the central star cluster in our galaxy. At a distance of 26,000 light years away from Earth, it is so distant that, to Spitzer's view, most of the light from the thousands of individual stars is blurred into a single glowing blotch. Astronomers have determined that these stars are orbiting a massive black hole that lies at the very center of the galaxy.
The region pictured here is immense, with a horizontal span of 2,400 light-years (5.3 degrees) and a vertical span of 1,360 light-years (3 degrees). Though most of the objects seen in this image are located near the galactic center, the features above and below the galactic plane tend to lie closer to Earth.
The image is a three-color composite, showing infrared observations from two of Spitzer instruments. Blue represents 3.6-micron light and green shows 8-micron light, both captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Red is 24-micron light detected by Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer. The data is a combination of observations from the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) project, and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic survey (MIPSGAL).
The ExoMars rover’s Panoramic Camera (PanCam) includes ‘small items’ to aid the calibration and operation of the camera once on Mars.
In the foreground is the PanCam calibration target, comprising six 18 mm diameter coloured glass patches. The two 30 mm diameter white and multiband calibration patch will be used for calibration of the infrared spectrometer in addition to PanCam. The calibration set is mounted on the front of the rover deck in a region as clear as possible from sources of shadowing and stray light, and will be viewed by PanCam from an angle of about 23º from vertical.
Together with the calibration target, three ‘fiducial markers’ (back left) will form two right angle triangles on the rover deck to allow in situ geometric calibration.
At the back right of the transport plate is the ‘rover inspection mirror’, a 50 mm diameter convex spherical mirror that will allow the high resolution camera to monitor the drill spoil heap while drilling is taking place, as well as inspect the underside of the rover for diagnosis in the event of problems with uneven surfaces, for example. The mirror will also allow the PanCam to take ‘selfies’ of the rover.
The engineering models are shown here, mounted on their transport plate provided by Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK.
Credits: M. de la Nougerede, UCL/MSSL
This majestic view taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells an untold story of life and death in the Eagle nebula, an industrious star-making factory located 7,000 light-years away in the Serpens constellation. The image shows the region's entire network of turbulent clouds and newborn stars in infrared light.
The color green denotes cooler towers and fields of dust, including the three famous space pillars, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation," which were photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.
But it is the color red that speaks of the drama taking place in this region. Red represents hotter dust thought to have been warmed by the explosion of a massive star about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Since light from the Eagle nebula takes 7,000 years to reach us, this "supernova" explosion would have appeared as an oddly bright star in our skies about 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.
According to astronomers' estimations, the explosion's blast wave would have spread outward and toppled the three pillars about 6,000 years ago (which means we wouldn't witness the destruction for another 1,000 years or so). The blast wave would have crumbled the mighty towers, exposing newborn stars that were buried inside, and triggering the birth of new ones.
The pillars of the Eagle nebula were originally sculpted by radiation and wind from about 20 or so massive stars hidden from view in the upper left portion of the image. The radiation and wind blew dust away, carving out a hollow cavity (center) and leaving only the densest nuggets of dust and gas (tops of pillars) flanked by columns of lighter dust that lie in shadow (base of pillars). This sculpting process led to the creation of a second generation of stars inside the pillars.
If a star did blow up in this region, it is probably located among the other massive stars in the upper left portion of the image. Its blast wave might have already caused a third generation of stars to spring from the wreckage of the busted pillars.
This image is a composite of infrared light detected by Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue is 4.5-micron light; green is 8-micron light; and red is 24-micron light.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Flagey (IAS/SSC) & A. Noriega-Crespo (SSC/Caltech)