space stuff

NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe Shiny NGC 253 Galaxy, is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, and also one of the dustiest. Some call it the Silver Dollar Galaxy for its appearance in small telescopes, or just the Sculptor Galaxy for its location within the boundaries of the southern constellation Sculptor. First swept up in 1783 by mathematician and astronomer Caroline Herschel, the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years away. About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253 is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest to our own Local Group of Galaxies. In addition to its spiral dust lanes, striking tendrils of dust seem to be rising from a galactic disk laced with young star clusters and star forming regions in this processed color image. The high dust content accompanies frantic star formation, giving NGC 253 the designation of a starburst galaxy. NGC 253 is also known to be a strong source of high-energy x-rays and gamma rays, likely due to massive black holes near the galaxy's center.

Rethinking The Human Future In Space

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

With NASA reporting a "significant amount" of water on the lunar surface, is it time to re-examine our priorities regarding living and working in space? Mark Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute, talks about why and how people should venture beyond Earth.

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Meteor between the Clouds

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Meteor between the Clouds This bright meteor streaked through dark night skies over Sutherland, South Africa on November 15. Potentially part of the annual Leonid meteor shower, its sudden, brilliant appearance, likened to a camera's flash, was captured by chance as it passed between two clouds. Of course, the two clouds are also visible to the eye in dark southern skies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way. This year's Leonid meteor shower peaked on November 17 as the Earth passed through the stream of dust from periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle.

Leonid over Mono Lake

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:06:00 -0800

Leonid over Mono Lake Eerie spires of rock rise from shore of Mono Lake in the foreground of this early morning skyscape. The salty, mineral-laden lake is located in California's eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range and the spindly rock formations are naturally formed limestone towers called tufa. In the scene, recorded near the peak of the annual Leonid meteor shower (now subsiding) on November 17th, a meteor trails through the frigid predawn sky. Arcturus is the brightest star to the right of the meteor streak, while the constellation Leo and the shower's radiant point lie well above the field of view. Reports for this year's Leonids suggest the peak activity briefly exceeded 120 meteors per hour, but rates were typically much lower for many locations.

Camera That Saved Hubble Now On Display

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:30:00 -0800

Two instruments from the Hubble Space Telescope, including the camera that corrected an early flaw in the telescope, are now on exhibit at the Smithsonian. The camera, about the size of a baby grand piano, is responsible for some of Hubble's most astounding photos.

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Water Discovered in Moon Shadow

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Water Discovered in Moon Shadow Why is there water on the Moon? Last month, the LCROSS mission crashed a large impactor into a permanently shadowed crater near the Moon's South Pole. A plume of dust rose that was visible to the satellite, although hard to discern from Earth. The plume is shown above in visible light. Last week, the results of a preliminary chemical analysis gave a clear indication that the dust plume contained water. Such water is of importance not only for understanding the history of the Moon, but as a possible reservoir for future astronauts trying to live on the Moon for long periods. The source of the lunar water is now a topic of debate. Possible origins include many small meteorites, a comet, or primordial moon soil.

Galaxy on Edge

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

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The magnificent galaxy NGC 4710 is tilted nearly edge-on to our view from Earth. This perspective allows astronomers to easily distinguish the central bulge of stars from its pancake-flat disk of stars, dust, and gas. What's striking in the image is a ghostly "X" pattern of stars. This natural-color photo was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys on January 15, 2006.

Dawn Before Nova

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Dawn Before Nova Will this dawn bring another nova? Such dilemmas might be pondered one day by future humans living on a planet orbiting a cataclysmic variable binary star system. Cataclysmic variables involve gas falling from a large star onto an accretion disk surrounding a massive but compact white dwarf star. Explosive cataclysmic events such as a dwarf nova can occur when a clump of gas in the interior of the accretion disk heats up past a certain temperature. At that point, the clump will fall more quickly onto the white dwarf and land with a bright flash. Such dwarf novas will not destroy either star, and may occur irregularly on time scales from a few days to tens of years. Although a nova is much less energetic than a supernova, if recurrent novas are not violent enough to expel more gas than is falling in, mass will accumulate onto the white dwarf star until it passes its Chandrasekhar limit. At that point, a foreground cave may provide little protection, as the entire white dwarf star will explode in a tremendous supernova.

Atlantis Blasts Off On Space Station Supply Mission

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:46:00 -0800

The shuttle rocketed into orbit with six astronauts and a full load of spare parts for the International Space Station that should keep it humming for years to come. The launch was NASA's first launch "tweetup," attended by about 100 Twittering space enthusiasts.

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M83's Center from Refurbished Hubble

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

M83's Center from Refurbished Hubble What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy M83? Just about everything, from the looks of it. M83 is one of the closest spiral galaxies to our own Milky Way Galaxy and from a distance of 15 million light-years, appears to be relatively normal. Zooming in on M83's nucleus with the latest telescopes, however, shows the center to be an energetic and busy place. Visible in the above image -- from the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 pointing through the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope -- are bright newly formed stars and giant lanes of dark dust. An image with similar perspective from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the region is also rich in very hot gas and small bright sources. The remnants of about 60 supernova blasts can be found in the above image.

M57: The Ring Nebula

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

M57: The Ring Nebula It looks like a ring on the sky. Hundreds of years ago astronomers noticed a nebula with a most unusual shape. Now known as M57 or NGC 6720, the gas cloud became popularly known as the Ring Nebula. It is now known to be a planetary nebula, a gas cloud emitted at the end of a Sun-like star's existence. As one of the brightest planetary nebula on the sky, the Ring Nebula can be seen with a small telescope in the constellation of Lyra. The Ring Nebula lies about 4,000 light years away, and is roughly 500 times the diameter of our Solar System. In this picture by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1998, dust filaments and globules are visible far from the central star. This helps indicate that the Ring Nebula is not spherical, but cylindrical.

DIA Sunrise

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

DIA Sunrise What's 93 million miles away and still hurts your eyes when you look at it? The answer is not the Denver International Airport, known to some travelers as DIA. But DIA does appear in dramatic silhouette in the foreground of this telephoto image. The view looks east toward the airport terminal's characteristic multi-peaked roof and the rising October Sun. The roof's appearance suggests the snow-capped peaks of the region's Rocky Mountains to the west. As winter approaches for denizens of Denver and the northern hemisphere in general, the rising Sun will continue to move south (image right) in the coming days. Of course, the Sun is 93 million miles away ...

Water Ice Hides In Moon's Dark Craters

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

A rocket set on a collision course with the moon reveals it's not just a dull, dry satellite. Water lurking in its craters could someday provide everything from drinking water to rocket fuel for astronauts exploring the moon.

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Sailing Through Space, On A Starboard Tack

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

In the vacuum of space, photons — not wind — may someday fill the sails of lightweight spacecraft, propelling them without need for engines or fuel. Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society, discusses the society's plans for a sailing spaceship prototype.

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Do Moon Craters Harbor Caches Of Water Ice?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

A NASA rocket slammed into a lunar crater in October. A second spacecraft followed minutes later, taking inventory of kicked-up debris and sending data to Earth. Scientists have now analyzed those data, which may reveal whether the moon harbors significant quantities of water ice.

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NASA: Evidence Of Water Found In Moon Crater

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:18:00 -0800

Scientists have been analyzing a mile-high plume of debris kicked up by the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite last month after it purposely was crashed into a crater near the moon's south pole.

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Young Stars in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Young Stars in the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Cosmic dust clouds and embedded newborn stars glow at infrared wavelengths in this tantalizing false-color view from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Pictured is of one of the closest star forming regions, part of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex some 400 light-years distant near the southern edge of the pronounceable constellation Ophiuchus. The view spans about 5 light-years at that estimated distance. After forming along a large cloud of cold molecular hydrogen gas, newborn stars heat the surrounding dust to produce the infrared glow. An exploration of the region in penetrating infrared light has detected some 300 emerging and newly formed stars whose average age is estimated to be a mere 300,000 years -- extremely young compared to the Sun's age of 5 billion years.

NASA Unveils Plan To Unstick A Mars Rover

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

The space agency announced plans for freeing the rover Spirit, which has been stuck in a Martian sand trap since April. Spirit has six wheels, though one, being inspected here by the rover's robotic arm, stopped working in 2006. NASA engineers will begin transmitting commands to the robot's five working wheels on Monday, but escape efforts could last into early next year.

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Art and Science in NGC 981

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Art and Science in NGC 981 This beautiful telescopic skyscape features spiral galaxy NGC 981. The island universe is about 50,000 light-years across and lies some 60 million light-years away toward the constellation Aries. An artistic presentation, the image shows spiky foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy and convoluted dust clouds that hang above our galactic plane, dimly reflecting starlight. It also captures NGC 981 in a cosmic moment important to astrophysicists on planet Earth. Light from supernova SN2009js, absent in previous images, is indicated by the two lines just below and left of the galaxy's center. The supernova itself is the death explosion of a massive star within the plane of galaxy NGC 981. It was just discovered in October by supernova search teams in Japan and the US.

Great Observatories Explore Galactic Center

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Great Observatories Explore Galactic Center Where can a telescope take you? Four hundred years ago, a telescope took Galileo to the Moon to discover craters, to Saturn to discover rings, to Jupiter to discover moons, to Venus to discover phases, and to the Sun to discover spots. Today, in celebration of Galileo's telescopic achievements and as part of the International Year of Astronomy, NASA has used its entire fleet of Great Observatories, and the Internet, to bring the center of our Galaxy to you. Pictured above, in greater detail and in more colors than ever seen before, are the combined images of the Hubble Space Telescope in optical light, the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory in X-ray light. A menagerie of vast stars fields are visible, along with dense star clusters, long filaments of gas and dust, expanding supernova remnants, and the energetic surroundings of what likely is our Galaxy's central black hole. Many of these features are labeled on a complementary annotated image. Of course, a telescope's magnification and light gathering ability creates only an image of what a human could see if visiting these places. To actually go requires rockets.

Vatican Scientists Seek Evidence Of Alien Life

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:24:00 -0800

Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial life and its implication for the Catholic Church.

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NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:00:00 -0800

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A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy is being unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10. This event will commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609. In celebration of this International Year of Astronomy, NASA is releasing images of the galactic center region as seen by its Great Observatories to more than 150 planetariums, museums, nature centers, libraries, and schools across the country.

Saturn After Equinox

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:06:02 -0800

Saturn After Equinox The other side of Saturn's ring plane is now directly illuminated by the Sun. For the previous 15 years, the southern side of Saturn and its rings were directly illuminated, but since Saturn's equinox in August, the orientation has reversed. Pictured above last month, the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn has captured the giant planet and its majestic rings soon after equinox. Imaged from nearly behind, Saturn and its moon Tethys each show a crescent phase to Cassini that is not visible from Earth. As the rings continue to point nearly toward the Sun, only a thin shadow of Saturn's rings is visible across the center of the planet. Close inspection of Saturn's rings, however, shows superposed bright features identified as spokes that are thought to be groups of very small electrically charged ice particles. Understanding the nature and dynamics of spokes is not fully understood and remains a topic of research.

NGC 2623: Galaxy Merger from Hubble

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

NGC 2623: Galaxy Merger from Hubble Where do stars form when galaxies collide? To help find out, astronomers imaged the nearby galaxy merger NGC 2623 in high resolution with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2007. Analysis of this Hubble image and images of NGC 2623 in infrared light by the Spitzer Space Telescope, in X-ray light by XMM-Newton, and in ultraviolet light by GALEX, indicate that two originally spiral galaxies appear now to be greatly convolved and that their cores have unified into one active galactic nucleus (AGN). Star formation continues around this core near the above image center, along the stretched out tidal tails visible on either side, and perhaps surprisingly, in an off-nuclear region on the upper left where clusters of bright blue stars appear. Galaxy collisions can take hundreds of millions of years and take several gravitationally destructive passes. NGC 2623, also known as Arp 243, spans about 50,000 light years and lies about 250 million light years away toward the constellation of the Crab (Cancer). Reconstructing the original galaxies and how galaxy mergers happen is often challenging, sometimes impossible, but generally important to understanding how our universe evolved.

M7: Open Star Cluster in Scorpius

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

M7: Open Star Cluster in Scorpius M7 is one of the most prominent open clusters of stars on the sky. The cluster, dominated by bright blue stars, can be seen with the naked eye in a dark sky in the tail of the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius). M7 contains about 100 stars in total, is about 200 million years old, spans 25 light-years across, and lies about 1000 light-years away. The above deep exposure was taken last month over several nights from Yalbraith, NSW, Australia. The M7 star cluster has been known since ancient times, being noted by Ptolemy in the year 130 AD. Also visible are a dark dust cloud and literally millions of unrelated stars towards the Galactic center.

Stickney Crater

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Stickney Crater Stickney Crater, the largest crater on the martian moon Phobos, is named for Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, mathematician and wife of astronomer Asaph Hall. Asaph Hall discovered both the Red Planet's moons in 1877. Over 9 kilometers across, Stickney is nearly half the diameter of Phobos itself, so large that the impact that blasted out the crater likely came close to shattering the tiny moon. This stunning, enhanced-color image of Stickney and surroundings was recorded by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it passed within some six thousand kilometers of Phobos in March of 2008. Even though the surface gravity of asteroid-like Phobos is less than 1/1000th Earth's gravity, streaks suggest loose material has slid down inside the crater walls over time. Light bluish regions near the crater's rim could indicate a relatively freshly exposed surface. The origin of the curious grooves along the surface is mysterious but may be related to the crater-forming impact.

Ring Nebula Deep Field

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Ring Nebula Deep Field A familiar sight to sky enthusiasts with even a small telescope, the Ring Nebula (M57) is some 2,000 light-years away in the musical constellation Lyra. The central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkably deep exposure - a collaborative effort combining data from three different telescopes - explores the looping filaments of glowing gas extending much farther from the nebula's central star. Of course, in this well-studied example of a planetary nebula, the glowing material does not come from planets. Instead, the gaseous shroud represents outer layers expelled from a dying, sun-like star. This remarkable composite image includes narrowband image data recording the Ring's atomic hydrogen emission (shown as violet) in visible light and molecular hydrogen emission (shown as red) at near infrared wavelengths. The much more distant spiral galaxy IC 1296 is also visible at the upper right.

Show 246: ALMA

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0800

The largest astronomical project in existence is getting under way in the high plains of northern Chile. The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, will be comprised of 66 giant 40-foot and 23-foot antennas, spread over 11.5 miles, operating as a single, giant radio telescope. ALMA will help astronomers answer questions about our cosmic origins and will observe some of coldest and most distant objects in the cosmos.

Halloween's Moon

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Halloween's Moon Illuminating the landscape all through the night of November 2nd, this week's bright Full Moon was known in the northern hemisphere as a Hunter's Moon. But this dramatic view of the shining lunar orb, from Sobreda, Portugal, was captured just a few nights earlier, on Halloween. In the spirit of the season, the image plays a little trick. The picture is actually two digital photos - one short and one long exposure. They were combined to bring out the details of the bright lunar surface and the fainter features in the dark, surrounding clouds, in a single image. Of course, you may recognize some of the spookier shapes in the clouds as having visited your neighborhood last week, along with Halloween's Moon.

Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

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The spectacular new camera installed on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4 in May has delivered the most detailed view of star birth in the graceful, curving arms of the nearby spiral galaxy M83.

Blue Sun Bristling

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Blue Sun Bristling Our Sun may look like all soft and fluffy, but it's not. Our Sun is an extremely large ball of bubbling hot gas, mostly hydrogen gas. The above picture of our Sun was taken last month in a specific red color of light emitted by hydrogen gas called Hydrogen-alpha and then color inverted to appear blue. In this light, details of the Sun's chromosphere are particularly visible, highlighting numerous thin tubes of magnetically-confined hot gas known as spicules rising from the Sun like bristles from a shag carpet. Our Sun glows because it is hot, but it is not on fire. Fire is the rapid acquisition of oxygen, and there is very little oxygen on the Sun. The energy source of our Sun is the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium deep within its core. No sunspots or large active regions were visible on the Sun this day, although some solar prominences are visible around the edges.

Seven Sisters Versus California

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Seven Sisters Versus California On the upper right, dressed in blue, is the Pleiades. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades is one of the brightest and most easily visible open clusters on the sky. The Pleiades contains over 3,000 stars, is about 400 light years away, and only 13 light years across. Surrounding the stars is a spectacular blue reflection nebula made of fine dust. A common legend is that one of the brighter stars faded since the cluster was named. On the lower left, shining in red, is the California Nebula. Named for its shape, the California Nebula is much dimmer and hence harder to see than the Pleiades. Also known as NGC 1499, this mass of red glowing hydrogen gas is about 1,500 light years away. Although about 25 full moons could fit between them, the above wide angle, deep field image composite has captured them both.

Ares 1-X Rocket Lifts Off

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0800

Ares 1-X Rocket Lifts Off Last week, NASA test fired a new rocket. The Ares 1-X was the first non-shuttle rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center since the Saturn launched humans to Earth orbit and the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s. NASA is testing Ares as a prelude to replacing the aging space shuttle fleet. The tremendous thrust of the Ares 1-X can bring the massive rocket from a standing start to a vertical speed of over 100 kilometers per hour in under eight seconds. The test rocket launched last week was longer than a football field and covered with over 700 sensors to record data that will enable engineers to refine details of future Ares rockets. Pictured above, the Ares 1-X blasts into space while the top part of the rocket becomes engulfed in a shock collar of water droplets likely created by the sudden drop of air pressure.

The Average Color of the Universe

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:06:02 -0800

The Average Color of the Universe What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky was smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted above, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige. To determine this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of the largest sample of galaxies yet analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies of the 2dF survey. The resulting cosmic spectrum has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but a single perceived composite color. This color has become much less blue over the past 10 billion years, indicating that redder stars are becoming more prevalent. In a contest to better name the color, notable entries included skyvory, univeige, and the winner: cosmic latte.

NASA Launches Mission To Track Polar Ice By Plane

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:24:00 -0700

Climate scientists are about to lose a satellite that helped show how global warming affects the Earth's polar ice caps. A replacement won't be in orbit until at least 2015, so NASA will use a DC-8 aircraft instead to track whether the process of melting and subsequent sea-level rise is accelerating.

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Show 245: Hubble Restored

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0700

In September, NASA declared the Hubble Space Telescope back in full working order. All the instruments are in excellent shape after being checked out and calibrated. The new instruments are the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which can see wavelengths ranging from the optical into the infrared, and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), which studies the ultraviolet. The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which had partially stopped working, has new circuitry and functioning as well as ever. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), which was also in need of repairs, is now back on the job.

Astronomers Detect Most Distant Object Ever Seen

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:01:00 -0700

Light from a star that died when the universe was about 600 million years old is only now reaching Earth. The gamma ray burst is 13.1 billion light-years away, and astronomers say it's the most distant object ever seen from Earth.

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NASA Experimental Rocket Launch A Success

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0700

The unmanned Ares I-X made a spectacular debut as it soared into the sky Wednesday. This next generation manned space vehicle is set to be ready in 2015, but some question the future of the program.

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NASA's New Rocket Lifts Off On Short Test Flight

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:38:00 -0700

After a one-day weather delay, the Ares I-X rocket rumbled away from a former shuttle launchpad Wednesday morning at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. It's the first step in NASA's effort to return astronauts to the moon.

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Weather Interferes With NASA Test Flight

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0700

The prototype of a new manned spacecraft was scheduled to launch Tuesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center, but weather delayed the unmanned test flight. The rocket is intended to carry astronauts into orbit after the aging space shuttles are retired.

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NASA To Launch World's Tallest Rocket

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0700

The prototype of a new manned spacecraft is scheduled to launch Tuesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center. But a White House panel of experts recently raised doubts as to whether the Ares I-X is right for the job.

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Show 244: Mercury Flyby

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0700

The three Mercury flybys of the Messenger spacecraft are complete. Despite a glitch during the third pass, most of the surface of Mercury has been imaged. The Messenger team is examining the craters, bright and dark spots, and other surface features in the hopes of understanding the geologic history of Mercury.

Show 243: Mysteries of Saturn's Rings

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Saturn's rings have fascinated us ever since Galileo first spotted them in his telescope in 1610 -- almost 400 years ago. But how these icy rings came into being remains a mystery. Saturn's rings are thought to consist of roughly 35 trillion trillion tons of ice, dust and rock. Cassini and Voyager spacecraft have revealed many new details of the rings, but many mysteries still remain.

Hubble Project Pioneer Rodger Doxsey Passes Away

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:30:00 -0700

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Dr. Rodger Doxsey, head of the Space Telescope Science Institute's (STScI) Hubble Mission Office, passed away on October 13 after a prolonged illness. The New York native was 62 years old.

Hubble Observes LCROSS Impact Event

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made a series of observations immediately preceding and following the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur rocket stage and shepherding spacecraft impacts at the lunar south pole, on October 9 at 7:31 and 7:35 a.m. EDT.

Show 242: LCROSS

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0700

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission is designed to determine whether water ice is present on the Moon. Water is always an issue for future lunar exploration. LCROSS has two components -- a rocket that will impact a shadowy Moon crater and excavate it, and a satellite that will sample the plume produced by the impact. If ancient ice lies buried on the Moon, it may be ejected and then detected by specialized instruments.

Show 241: Asteroid Tracking Falls Short

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0700

NASA says that without more funding, it will not meet the asteroid tracking goals mandated by Congress. NASA hopes to spot 90% of potentially dangerous objects by 2020. Large asteroids could cause global catastrophe if they strike Earth, and the U.S. is the only country with an asteroid-detection program.

Show 240: Space Debris

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Leftover pieces of satellites orbit the earth as debris. Some of this debris has been hazardous for the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, as well as orbiting satellites. The debris re-enters Earth's atmosphere at the rate of about one piece per day. One of the most famous pieces of orbital debris, a tool box dropped by an astronaut while performing a space walk, re-entered the atmosphere on August 3, 2009.

Show 239: Is Titan like Earth?

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Saturn's moon Titan is far from Earth, but both worlds have some things in common -- wind, rain, volcanoes and tectonics. These forces sculpt features on Titan, as on Earth, but in an environment more frigid than Antarctica. Titan looks more like Earth than any other body in the solar system, despite the huge differences in temperature and environment.

Show 238: Solar Cycle and Weather

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0700

A new link has been established between the Sun's 11-year cycle and global climate. It shows that solar activity has effects on Earth resembling La Niña and El Niño events in the Pacific Ocean. We've known for years that long-term solar variations affect certain weather patterns, including droughts and regional temperatures, but establishing a real connection between solar cycles and global climate patterns has proven elusive.

Show 237: HubbleWatch for September 2009

outreach@stsci.edu — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0700

The newly upgraded and repaired Hubble Space Telescope has released its first showcase images, spotlighting galaxies drawn together by gravity, star clusters, dying stars and more. For the first time, Hubble will circle the Earth with a full set of five instruments, opening new horizons for scientific study.

Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0700

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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is back in business, ready to uncover new worlds, peer ever deeper into space, and even map the invisible backbone of the universe. The first snapshots from the refurbished Hubble showcase the 19-year-old telescope's new vision. Topping the list of exciting new views are colorful multi-wavelength pictures of far-flung galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, an eerie "pillar of creation," and a "butterfly" nebula. With its new imaging camera, Hubble can view galaxies, star clusters, and other objects across a wide swath of the electromagnetic spectrum, from ultraviolet to near-infrared light. A new spectrograph slices across billions of light-years to map the filamentary structure of the universe and trace the distribution of elements that are fundamental to life. The telescope's new instruments also are more sensitive to light and can observe in ways that are significantly more efficient and require less observing time than previous generations of Hubble instruments. NASA astronauts installed the new instruments during the space shuttle servicing mission in May 2009. Besides adding the instruments, the astronauts also completed a dizzying list of other chores that included performing unprecedented repairs on two other science instruments.

Show 236: Solar System Shake Up

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Was the solar system always the organized clockwork system envisioned by Isaac Newton? According to a computer model of the early epoch of the solar system, the answer is "no." The large outer planets may have been closer to the Sun and migrated outwards while encountering small bodies called planetesimals. As the big planets moved outward, small objects cascaded toward the inner solar system, bombarding the four small, rocky planets. The model also predicts other oddities of the solar system that have gone unexplained.

Show 235: Edvard Munch's Painting

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Researchers at Texas State University have found more interesting conclusions about Edvard Munch's paintings in Norway. Previously they had found that the vivid colors in Munch's painting, The Scream, could be attributable to dust spewed into the atmosphere by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. In new findings, the group has concluded that a mysterious orb in the sky that Munch painted in "Girls on the Pier" depicts the Moon rather than the Sun. The group also explains why Munch didn't paint the reflection of the Moon in the water.

Show 234: Sunspot Model

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0700

A new model of sunspots shows striking, beautiful detail, and may help unlock mysteries of Sun and its impact on Earth. This first-ever comprehensive computer model of sunspots, made possible by advances in supercomputers, drew on increasingly detailed observations from a network of ground- and space-based observatories to verify that model captured sunspots realistically.

Show 233: Snow on Mars

outreach@stsci.edu — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:00:00 -0700

The red planet Mars conjures up images of rocks and arid, dusty plains, but last year NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander showed that it snows on Mars. The Phoenix robot observed ice crystals falling to the Martian surface. Now new research could shed light on the past and present water cycle on the Martian surface, and possibly characterize the potential habitability of the red planet.

Astronomers Find Hyperactive Galaxies in the Early Universe

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:00 -0700

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Even some galaxies may have been hyperactive youngsters. Looking almost 11 billion years into the past, astronomers have measured the motions of stars for the first time in a very distant galaxy. They are whirling at a speed of one million miles per hour-about twice the speed of our Sun through the Milky Way. Even stranger, the galaxies are a fraction the size of our Milky Way, and so may have evolved over billions of years into the full-grown galaxies seen around us today. Astronomers are puzzled by how galaxies like these formed. They may be what will eventually become the dense central regions of very large galaxies.

Hubble Captures Rare Jupiter Collision

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0700

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NASA scientists have interrupted the checkout and calibration of the Hubble Space Telescope to aim the recently refurbished observatory at a new expanding spot on the giant planet Jupiter. The spot, caused by the impact of a comet or an asteroid, is changing day to day in the planet's cloud tops. The Hubble picture, taken on July 23, is the sharpest visible-light picture taken of the impact feature. The observations were made with Hubble's new camera, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). WFC3 is not yet fully calibrated, and while it is possible to obtain celestial images, the camera's full power cannot yet be realized for most observations. The WFC3 can still return meaningful science images that will complement the Jupiter pictures being taken with ground-based telescopes.

STScI Joins the Search for Other Earths in Space

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0700

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The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., is partnering on a historic search for Earth-size planets around other stars. STScI is the data archive center for NASA's Kepler mission, a spacecraft that is undertaking a survey for Earth-size planets in our region of the galaxy. The spacecraft sent its first raw science data to STScI on June 19. The Institute's role is to convert the raw science data into files that can be analyzed by Kepler researchers and to store the files every three months in an archive.

Hubble Photographs a Planetary Nebula to Commemorate Decommissioning of Super Camera

Sun, 10 May 2009 11:00:00 -0700

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The Hubble community bids farewell to the soon-to-be decommissioned Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. In tribute to Hubble's longest-running optical camera, planetary nebula K 4-55 has been imaged as WFPC2's final "pretty picture."