Alaska's Columbia Glacier | ESA's Sentinel-2B Satelite

The European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-2B satellite takes us over Alaska’s Columbia Glacier, one of the most rapidly changing glaciers in the world. The glacier, which can be seen just below the middle of the image, flows down the snow-covered slopes of the Chugach Mountains into the Prince William Sound in southeast Alaska.

Over the last three decades, this tidewater glacier has retreated more than 20 km and lost about half of its total thickness and volume. The changing climate is thought to have nudged it into retreat in the 1980s, resulting in its end—or terminus—breaking off.

The terminus had previously been supported by a moraine, which is an accumulation of sediment and rock that served as an underwater barrier, helping to keep the glacier stable and insulate it from seawater. With this barrier gone, glacial dynamics took over and it began to flow to the ocean faster, calving large icebergs into the Sound. As this satellite image shows, many icebergs can be seen in the Sound.

This one glacier accounts for nearly half of the ice loss in the Chugach Mountains. However, researchers believe that the Columbia Glacier will stabilize again—probably in a few years—once its terminus retreats into shallower water and it regains traction, which should slow the rate of iceberg calving.

This image, which was captured on August 5, 2017, is also featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Release Date: May 11, 2018
#ESA #Space #Satellite #Science #Earth #Alaska #Glacier #Columbia #UnitedStates #Europe #Copernicus #Sentinel #Sentinel2B #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Ready for a Walk

Week of May 11, 2018: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 50 seconds
Release Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #ISS #Space #Earth #Science #Students #Spacewalk #EVA #Astronauts #ScottTingle #RickyArnold #DrewFeustel #NorishigeKanai #Japan #日本 #JAXA #Expedition55 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

How Stars Explode: 4 Ways to Make a Supernova | NASA/JPL

What makes a star go boom? By understanding supernovae— stellar explosions—scientists can unlock mysteries that are key to what we are made of and the fate of our universe.

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 1 minute, 36 seconds
Release Date: May 10, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Supernova #Astrophysics #Physics #Cosmos #Universe #JPL #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Mars: Fly over Neukum crater | ESA

This video, based on images taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, showcases the 102 km wide Neukum Crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The crater is named for the German physicist and planetary scientist, Gerhard Neukum, one of the founders of ESA’s Mars Express mission who inspired and led the development of the high-resolution stereo camera on Mars Express.

This complex impact crater has a diverse geologic history, as indicated by various features on the crater rim and floor. Particularly striking are the dark dune fields, likely made up of volcanic material blown in and shaped by strong winds.

The crater’s shallow interior has been infilled by sediments over its history. It is also marked with two irregular depressions that may be a sign of a weaker material that has since eroded away, leaving behind some islands of more resistant material.

Over time the crater rim has undergone varying degrees of collapse, with landslides and slumped material visible in the crater walls. Many smaller craters have also overprinted the rim and pockmarked the interior since Neukum Crater was formed, highlighting its long history.

Neukum Crater is situated in Noachis Terra, one of the oldest known regions on Mars, dating back to at least 3.9 billion years.

Credit: Animation: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Music: Coldnoise, CC BY-SA 4.0 and Adrian Neesemann
Duration: 3 minutes, 27 seconds
Release Date: May 10, 2018

#NASA #ESA #Space #Mars #Astronomy #Science #Geology #Planet #Crater #Neukum #NoachisTerra #Spacecraft #MarsExpress #HRSC #Europe #DLR #GerhardNeukum #Germany #Deutschland #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Western Europe | ESA Sentinel-3B Satellite

Launched on April 25, 2018, the European Space Agency Sentinel-3B satellite has already delivered impressive first images from its ocean and land color instrument, and now the radiometer carried on this latest Copernicus satellite has revealed its talents. Captured on May 9, 2018, this image shows a low pressure system over the UK and Ireland, France, the Bay of Biscay, Spain and part of north Africa. Vegetation appears in red.

The Sentinel-3B satellite lifted off from Russia on April 25 and joins it identical twin, Sentinel-3A, in orbit. This pairing of satellites increases coverage and data delivery for the European Union’s Copernicus environment program. Both Sentinel-3 satellites carry the same suite of instruments.

The sea and land surface temperature radiometer is particularly sophisticated, measuring energy radiating from Earth’s surface in nine spectral bands, including visible and infrared. It also includes dedicated channels for measuring fires. This early image came from its optical channels.

Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by EUMETSAT
Image Date: May 9, 2018
Release Date: May 10, 2018

#NASA #ESA #EUMETSAT #Earth #Space #Satellite #Sentinel3B #Europe #UK #Copernicus #Weather #Meteorology #STEM #Education

Do you want to be an intern at NASA?

"If you are 16 or older, have a 3.0 GPA or higher, enrolled in an accredited college or university and a U.S. citizen—you could be a perfect fit!"
Start your internship application here: https://intern.nasa.gov
NASA Internship Map http://bit.ly/2FWr50a 

International student opportunities:
https://ossi.nasa.gov/non-us-opportunities/index.html
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Intern #Students #HighSchool #University #Career #Opportunities #Internship #STEM #STEAM #Education #Robotics #Robot #Valkyrie #UnitedStates #America #Future #Mars #Moon #SolarSystem #Exploration #Cosmos #Universe

Pacific Storm Clouds | International Space Station

A portion of the Canadarm2 robotic arm (left) and stormy clouds are seen in the north Pacific Ocean as the International Space Station orbited off the eastern coast of Russia.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: May 6, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Pacific #Ocean #Weather #Clouds #Storm #Meteorology #Canadarm2 #CSA #Canada #Expedition55 #Russia #Россия #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

U.S. had its coldest April in over 20 years | NOAA

Below-average temperatures spanned the Rockies to the East Coast
Everyone seems to be wondering, "What happened to spring?" Last month, a persistent flow of Arctic air blanketed the eastern two-thirds of the nation. Record cold, and even snow in some areas, delayed the onset of warm spring-like conditions.

The average April temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 48.9 degrees F (2.2 degrees below average), making it the 13th coldest April of the 124-year record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. This was the coldest April since 1997. The month saw record- and near-record-cold temperatures from the Northern Plains to Gulf Coast and the Northeast. The Southwest was warmer than average.

The average precipitation for the month was 2.41 inches (0.11 of an inch below average), which ranked near the middle of the record. Record dryness was observed in parts of the Southwest and mid-Mississippi Valley with areas of record-wet conditions in the Northwest.

The average U.S. temperature for the year to date (January through April) was 39.8 degrees F (0.7 degrees above average), placing it near the middle of the climate record. This was the coldest start of the year for the nation since 2014. Average precipitation for the year to date totaled 9.58 inches (0.11 of an inch above normal), ranking it near the middle of the climate record.

- Polar outbreak chilled the nation: Twenty-two states had April temperatures ranking among the 10 coldest on record. Eight states had their second coldest April on record and two states — Iowa and Wisconsin — were record-cold and saw record snowfalls. The April snow cover across the contiguous U.S. was the fifth largest on record for April and the largest since 1997.

- Rain pummeled paradise: During April 14-15, heavy rainfall inundated the Hawaiian island of Kauai and caused major flooding and landslides. A rain gauge near Hanalei on Kauai’s North Shore reported 49.69 inches of rain in 24 hours, which set a potential new national record.

- Western warmth and dryness triggered wildfires: Warm and dry conditions in the Southwest and Southern Plains sparked an early start to wildfire season. In Arizona, the Tinder Fire burned more than 12,600 acres, and in Oklahoma, a series of grass fires burned more than 340,000 acres.

- Drought worsened in parts of the U.S.: By the end of April, about 28 percent of the Lower 48 states were in drought, down slightly from 29 percent at the end of March. Drought conditions worsened across the Southwest and Great Plains, and improved in parts of the West, northern Plains and Southeast.

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Release Date: May 8, 2018

#NASA #NOAA #Earth #Planet #Weather #April2018 #Meteorology #UnitedStates #Climate #ClimateChange #Environment #STEM #Education #Infographic

Baja & Sea of Cortez | International Space Station

“All things are...bound together by the elastic string of time. It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and back to the tide pool again.”
—John Steinbeck

The Baja California Peninsula is a peninsula in Northwestern Mexico. It separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez, Sea of Cortés or Vermilion Sea; locally known in the Spanish language as Mar de Cortés or Mar Bermejo or Golfo de California) is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. (Source: Wikipedia)

Image Credit: U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold
‏Release Date: May 9, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Baja #Mexico #Cortez #Sea #California #Gulf #Astronaut #RickyArnold #Expedition55 #Author #JohnSteinbeck #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Northern Europe | EUMETSAT

Europe's new Sentinel-3B satellite captures a rare, cloud-free day over Northern Europe. Features over the land and water can be clearly seen, including differing types of land cover, such as snow cover, and a plume of phytoplankton in the North Sea.

Credit & Copyright: 2018 EUMETSAT
Image Date: May 9, 2018
Release Date: May 9, 2018

#NASA #EUMETSAT #Earth #Space #Satellite #Sentinel3B #ESA #Europe #Weather #Meteorology #STEM #Education

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Trailer

"50 Years Ago One Movie Changed All Movies Forever"
www.2001spaceodysseymovie.com

"For the first time since the original release, this 70mm print was struck from new printing elements made from the original camera negative. This is a true photochemical film recreation. There are no digital tricks, remastered effects, or revisionist edits. This is the unrestored film—that recreates the cinematic event that audiences experienced fifty years ago."
—Christopher Nolan

Stanley Kubrick’s dazzling, Academy Award®-winning achievement is a compelling drama of man vs. machine, a stunning meld of music and motion. Kubrick (who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur C. Clarke) first visits our prehistoric ape-ancestry past, then leaps millennia (via one of the most mind-blowing jump cuts ever) into colonized space, and ultimately whisks astronaut Bowman (Keir Dullea) into uncharted space, perhaps even into immortality. “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” Let an awesome journey unlike any other begin.

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Duration: 2 minutes, 23 seconds
Release Date: April 19, 2018

#NASA #Space #Science #Film #ScienceFiction #StanleyKubrick #ArthurCClarke #ASpaceOdyssey #70mm #UnitedStates #HAL #History #2001Turns50 #SciFi #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Antarctic Twilight Zone | EUMETSAT

The very first sight captured by Europe's new Sentinel-3B satellite was the sunset over the Weddell Sea, just off the coast of Antarctica. The line between night and day is distinctly visible. As the sun sets, brighter streaks are seen glinting on the clouds. The image was taken at 10:33 UTC, Monday, May 7, 2018.

A terminator or twilight zone is a moving line that divides the daylit side and the dark night side of a planetary body.

Credit: EUMETSAT
Image Date: May 7, 2018
Release Date: May 9, 2018

#NASA #EUMETSAT #Earth #Space #Satellite #Sentinel3B #Antarctica #Sunset #WeddellSea #ESA #Europe #Weather #Meteorology #STEM #Education

In Saturn's Rings — 2018 Trailer

8K Video | Narrated by LeVar Burton
In Saturn’s Rings is a groundbreaking giant-screen movie adventure that takes audiences on a space exploration journey of the mind, heart, and spirit, from the Big Bang to the awe-inspiring rings of Saturn.

Narrated by LeVar Burton, In Saturn’s Rings is created entirely of more than 7.5 million stunning images of Earth, the Milky Way, and the Saturn taken by Hubble, Cassini, and other NASA space telescopes looking deep into the past.

The film is made with 2D multiplane parallax techniques developed by Walt Disney combined with Ken Burns technique to avoid using any type of camera projection, 3D models, visual FX, texture maps etc. We also feature some high resolution time lapse photography.

Visit insaturnsrings.com to learn more about how this film was made, screening and release info and more.

Trailer music is custom version of track from Neumann Films.

Credit: SV2 Studios
Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds
Release Date: April 24, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Saturn #Planet #Rings #Atmosphere #Moons #SolarSystem #Exploration #Cassini #Spacecraft #Hubble #Telescope #JPL #California #UnitedStates #ESA #ASI #Film #History #STEM #Education #8K #4K #UHD #HD #Video

Postcard from Saturn's Ring Plane | NASA Cassini

On March 13, 2006, the Cassini spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera captured this look at Saturn and its rings, seen here nearly edge on. The frame also features Mimas and tiny Janus (above the rings), and Tethys (below the rings). “Above” and “below” the rings is mostly a matter of perspective here. All three moons and the rings orbit Saturn in roughly the same plane.

The night side of Mimas is gently illuminated by “Saturnshine,” sunlight reflected from the planet’s cloud tops.

The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on Sept. 15, 2017.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Image Date: March 13, 2006
Release Date: May 8, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Saturn #Planet #Rings #Atmosphere #Moons #Mimas #Janus #Tethys #SolarSystem #Exploration #Cassini #Spacecraft #JPL #California #UnitedStates #ESA #ASI #History #STEM #Education

Central America | International Space Station

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) focused a digital camera on the narrow strip of land that joins North and South America and divides the Caribbean Sea (left) from the Pacific Ocean (right). This view is close to what an astronaut sees from an ISS window because the short camera lens (24 millimeter) is similar in focal length of the human eye.

The narrow, winding strip of land at image center and lower left is Panama, with Venezuela under cloud cover at the top right. The narrowest point in the center of the photo (61 kilometers or 38 miles wide) is the location of the Panama Canal, though it is mostly obscured by clouds.

The widespread cloud cover illustrates the effect of the dominant easterly winds that blow from the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean year-round. Lines of fair-weather clouds on this day aligned themselves generally parallel to the wind direction. A different mass of thick clouds appears at the lower left, where mountains force the humid air to rise. As the air masses cool, they form clouds that deliver high rainfall totals to the “Caribbean slope” of Panama. In contrast, the air descends on the Pacific-facing slopes, leading to typically cloud-free skies and a hotter and drier climate. The wind also produces a visible cloud streak on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

The Panama land bridge between North and South America did not exist until 8.6 to 7.1 million years ago. Prior to that time, South America was effectively an island continent like modern Australia. The land bridge allowed the migration of animals between the continents in what is known to scientists as the GABI: the Great American Biotic Interchange. This slow but vast migration process changed the composition of animal communities on both continents.

Astronaut photograph ISS054-E-44629 was acquired on February 13, 2018, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a 24 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 54 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public.

Image Credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
Caption Credit: M. Justin Wilkinson, Texas State University, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC
Image Date: February 13, 2018
Release Date: May 6, 2018
Instrument(s): ISS - Digital Camera
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Earth #ISS #Panama #CostaRica #Venezuela #Caribbean #Sea #Pacific #Atlantic #Ocean #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Expedition54 #Photography #Art #Science #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

NASA InSight Mission to Mars Launch

Go, Atlas. Go, Centaur. Go, InSight! NASA's InSight mission launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base for Mars on May 5, 2018—the first interplanetary launch from the West Coast. InSight is expected to land on the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. More than a mission to Mars, InSight will help scientists understand the formation and early evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth. 

For more, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds
Release Date: May 5, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Astronomy #Space #Science #Insight #Robotics #AtlasV #Rocket #Technology #RedPlanet #California #UnitedStates #JPL #CNES #France #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #LockheedMartin #ULA #JourneyToMars #Vandenberg #AirForce #USAF #STEM #Education #HD #Video