Summer Blooms in the Baltic Sea | NASA

Image: Wide view of phytoplankton and blue-green algae blooms off of Scandinavia. They seem to be particularly intense this summer.

Every summer, phytoplankton spread across the northern basins of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, with blooms spanning hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers. Nutrient-rich, cooler waters tend to promote more growth among marine plants and phytoplankton than is found in tropical waters. Blooms this summer off of Scandinavia seem to be particularly intense.

On July 18, 2018, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired a natural-color image (above) of a swirling green phytoplankton bloom in the Gulf of Finland, a section of the Baltic Sea. Note how the phytoplankton trace the edges of a vortex; it is possible that this ocean eddy is pumping up nutrients from the depths.

Though it is impossible to know the genus and species without sampling the water, three decades of satellite observations suggest that these green blooms are likely to be cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), an ancient type of marine bacteria that capture and store solar energy through photosynthesis (like plants). Some of the greens also could come from diatoms, which are also rich in chlorophyll. According to news outlets, the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) has observed the recent bloom from the water and found it to be mostly cyanobacteria.

In recent years, the proliferation of algae blooms in the Baltic Sea has led to the regular appearance of “dead zones” in the basin. Phytoplankton and cyanobacteria consume the abundant nutrients in the Baltic—fueled largely by runoff from sewage and agriculture—and reproduce in such vast numbers that their growth and decay deplete the oxygen content of the water. According to researchers from Finland’s University of Turku, the dead zone this year is estimated to span about 70,000 square kilometers.

A research team from Finland and Germany reported this month that oxygen levels in recent years in the Baltic Sea are at their lowest levels in the past 1500 years. More frequent and massive blooms, combined with warming seas due to climate change, are making it harder for fish and other marine life to thrive in this basin.

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens and Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey
Story Credit: Mike Carlowicz
Instrument: Landsat 8 — OLI
Image Date: July 18, 2018
Release Date: July 23, 2018

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Jupiter's Moon Europa: Key to Future Missions | NASA/JPL

Image: Artist's concept of radiation from Jupiter
Radiation from Jupiter can destroy molecules on Europa's surface. Material from Europa's ocean that ends up on the surface will be bombarded by radiation, possibly destroying any biosignatures, or chemical signs that could imply the presence of life.
July 23, 2018: New comprehensive mapping of the radiation pummeling Jupiter's icy moon Europa reveals where scientists should look—and how deep they'll have to go—when searching for signs of habitability and biosignatures.

Since NASA's Galileo mission yielded strong evidence of a global ocean underneath Europa's icy shell in the 1990s, scientists have considered that moon one of the most promising places in our solar system to look for ingredients to support life. There's even evidence that the salty water sloshing around the moon's interior makes its way to the surface.

By studying this material from the interior, scientists developing future missions hope to learn more about the possible habitability of Europa's ocean.However, Europa's surface is bombarded by a constant and intense blast of radiation from Jupiter. This radiation can destroy or alter material transported up to the surface, making it more difficult for scientists to know if it actually represents conditions in Europa's ocean.

As scientists plan for upcoming exploration of Europa, they have grappled with many unknowns: Where is the radiation most intense? How deep do the energetic particles go? How does radiation affect what's on the surface and beneath - including potential chemical signs, or biosignatures, that could imply the presence of life.

A new scientific study, published today in Nature Astronomy, represents the most complete modeling and mapping of radiation at Europa and offers key pieces to the puzzle. The lead author is Tom Nordheim, research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

"If we want to understand what's going on at the surface of Europa and how that links to the ocean underneath, we need to understand the radiation," Nordheim said. "When we examine materials that have come up from the subsurface, what are we looking at? Does this tell us what is in the ocean, or is this what happened to the materials after they have been radiated?"

Using data from Galileo's flybys of Europa two decades ago and electron measurements from NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, Nordheim and his team looked closely at the electrons blasting the moon's surface. They found that the radiation doses vary by location. The harshest radiation is concentrated in zones around the equator, and the radiation lessens closer to the poles.

Mapped out, the harsh radiation zones appear as oval-shaped regions, connected at the narrow ends, that cover more than half of the moon.

"This is the first prediction of radiation levels at each point on Europa's surface and is important information for future Europa missions," said Chris Paranicas, a co-author from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Now scientists know where to find regions least altered by radiation, which could be crucial information for the JPL-led Europa Clipper, NASA's mission to orbit Jupiter and monitor Europa with about 45 close flybys. The spacecraft may launch as early as 2022 and will carry cameras, spectrometers, plasma and radar instruments to investigate the composition of the moon's surface, its ocean, and material that has been ejected from the surface.

In his new paper, Nordheim didn't stop with a two-dimensional map. He went deeper, gauging how far below the surface the radiation penetrates, and building 3D models of the most intense radiation on Europa. The results tell us how deep scientists need to dig or drill, during a potential future Europa lander mission, to find any biosignatures that might be preserved.

The answer varies, from 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) in the highest-radiation zones—down to less than 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) deep in regions of Europa at middle—and high-latitudes, toward the moon's poles.

To reach that conclusion, Nordheim tested the effect of radiation on amino acids, basic building blocks for proteins, to figure out how Europa's radiation would affect potential biosignatures. Amino acids are among the simplest molecules that qualify as a potential biosignature, the paper notes.

"The radiation that bombards Europa's surface leaves a fingerprint," said Kevin Hand, co-author of the new research and projectscientist for the potential Europa Lander mission. "If we know what that fingerprint looks like, we can better understand the nature of any organics and possible biosignatures that might be detected with future missions, be they spacecraft that fly by or land on Europa.

Europa Clipper's mission team is examining possible orbit paths, and proposed routes pass over many regions of Europa that experience lower levels of radiation, Hand said. "That's good news for looking at potentially fresh ocean material that has not been heavily modified by the fingerprint of radiation."

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Europa Clipper mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about NASA's Europa Clipper mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/europa

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date: July 23, 2018

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The Heart of the Milky Way | ESO

This image shows a number of antennas from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a state-of-the-art telescope array positioned high in the Chilean Andes. A full Moon can be seen above the red-tinted horizon, glowing brightly above the observatory.

ALMA sits on the Chajnantor Plateau, some 5000 meters above sea level. At this altitude, crystal-clear views of the cosmos can be seen on an almost nightly basis, as shown by the striking cosmic caterpillar gliding over the top of the ALMA antennas in this image. This bright streak is the Milky Way; the galaxy’s bulge of gas and intricate dust lanes is clearly illuminated against the star-studded night sky, with pink-hued patches marking areas of hot, ionised gas produced by newly formed stars. The brightest part of the Milky Way— the very heart of our galaxy—is situated approximately 25,000 light-years away from Earth.

Credit: Yuri Beletsky (LCO)/ESO
Release Date: July 23, 2018

#ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #MilkyWay #Moon #ALMA #Telescope #Observatory #Chajnantor #Plateau #Chile #Andes #SouthAmerica #STEM #Education

The Milky Way’s Big Sister | Hubble

This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 6744. At first glance, it resembles our Milky Way albeit larger, measuring more than 200,000 light-years across compared to 100,000 light-year diameter for our home galaxy.

NGC 6744 is similar to our home galaxy in more ways than one. Like the Milky Way, NGC 6744 has a prominent central region packed with old yellow stars. Moving away from the galactic core, one can see parts of the dusty spiral arms painted in shades of pink and blue; while the blue sites are full of young star clusters, the pink ones are regions of active star formation, indicating that the galaxy is still very lively.

In 2005, a supernova, named 2005at, was discovered within NGC 6744, adding to the argument of this galaxy’s liveliness (not visible in this image). SN 2005at is a type Ic supernova, formed when a massive star collapses in itself and loses its hydrogen envelope.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: July 23, 2018

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Jupiter: High-Altitude Clouds | NASA Juno

This image captures a high-altitude cloud formation surrounded by swirling patterns in the atmosphere of Jupiter's North North Temperate Belt region.

The North North Temperate Belt is one of Jupiter’s many colorful, swirling cloud bands. Scientists have wondered for decades how deep these bands extend. Gravity measurements collected by Juno during its close flybys of the planet have now provided an answer. Juno discovered that these bands of flowing atmosphere actually penetrate deep into the planet, to a depth of about 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers).

NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this color-enhanced image at 10:11 p.m. PDT on July 15, 2018 (1:11 a.m. EDT on July 16), as the spacecraft performed its 14th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 3,900 miles (6,200 kilometers) from the planet's cloud tops, above a latitude of 36 degrees.

Citizen scientist Jason Major created this image using data from the spacecraft’s JunoCam imager.

More information about Juno is at:
https://www.nasa.gov/juno
http://missionjuno.swri.edu

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Jason Major
Image Date: July 15, 2018
Release Date: July 19, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #Clouds #HighAltitude #NorthTemperateBelt #Weather #Meteorology #Juno #Spacecraft #JunoCam #Malin #SwRI #JPL #Caltech #STEM #Education #CitizenScience

France | International Space Station

Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev: "The birthplace of aeronautics, cinematography, Cezanne, Exupéry, Dumas. . ."

"If you did not recognize this country from a photo from space, then by my clues you probably already guessed that it is France—the largest country in western Europe. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel."

"Nobody can see where the FIFA 2018 goblet glistens, which the French have recently taken away from Moscow? ⚽🏆"

Credit: Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos
Release Date: July 22, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #France #Culture #History #CNES #Football #Soccer #FIFA2018 #FM2018 #WorldCup #Europe #Expedition56 #Cosmonaut #OlegArtemyev #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Successful Orion Parachute Test | This Week @NASA

July 20, 2018: Another successful parachute test for Orion, how we’re getting back to the Moon, and an Apollo 11 virtual experience . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: NASA
Duration: 3 minutes, 16 seconds
Release Date: July 20, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Orion #Spacecraft #Parachute #Test #SLS #Rocket #Moon #Lunar #Exploration #NASA60th #Apollo11Landing #Apollo11 #Apollo11VR #VR #VirtualReality #SOFIA #Observatory #NeilArmstrong #BuzzAldrin #Astronauts #History #Human #Spaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

National Moon Day | International Space Station

U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold: "Across thousands of years and miles of empty space, the moon’s gentle tether to the human heart endures."

"It's National Moon Day! History was made 49 years ago today when the first humans set foot on the Moon during Apollo 11. Watched live on television by a worldwide audience, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went where no one had gone before."
— NASA History Office

Credit: NASA Astronaut Ricky Arnold/JSC
Release Date: July 20, 2018

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NASA's Space to Ground: Concrete Science | Week of July 20, 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, 15 seconds
Release Date: July 20, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Cygnus #Cargo #NorthropGrumman #Concrete #Research #Astronauts #DrewFeustel #RickyArnold #ESA #DLR #AlexanderGerst #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #SerenaAuñónChancellor #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Blue Origin New Shepard Mission 9 Launch Webcast

Launch is at the 34 minute mark
New Shepard flew for the ninth time on July 18, 2018. During this mission, known as Mission 9 (M9), the escape motor was fired shortly after booster separation. The Crew Capsule was pushed hard by the escape test and we stressed the rocket to test that astronauts can get away from an anomaly at any time during flight. The mission was a success for both the booster and capsule. Most importantly, astronauts would have had an exhilarating ride and safe landing.

This is not the first time we have done this type of extreme testing on New Shepard. In October of 2012, we simulated a booster failure on the launch pad and had a successful escape. Then in October 2016, we simulated a booster failure in-flight at Max Q, which is the most physically strenuous point in the flight for the rocket, and had a completely successful escape of the capsule.

This test on M9 allowed us to finally characterize escape motor performance in the near-vacuum of space and guarantee that we can safely return our astronauts in any phase of flight.

Also on M9, New Shepard carried science and research payloads from commercial companies, universities and space agencies.
Learn more about the payloads on board here:
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/news/payload-manifest-on-mission-9

Credit: Blue Origin
Duration: 50 minutes
Release Date: July 18, 2018

#NASA #Earth #Space #BlueOrigin #Rocket #NewShepard #Vehicle #Crew #Capsule #Mission9 #M9 #Launch #JeffBezos #Technology #Propulsion #Engines #Technology #Engineering #Texas #UnitedStates #Human #Spaceflight #Spaceflight #STEM #Education #SpaceTourism #NewSpace #Commercial #HD #Video

Mount Rainier | International Space Station

Stratovolcano Mount Rainier is pictured as the International Space Station orbited about 256 miles above the state of Washington in the United States.

Mount Rainier is the highest mountain of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a large active stratovolcano located 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle, in the Mount Rainier National Park. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of 14,411 ft (4,392 m).

Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten the entire Puyallup River valley, and poses a grave threat to the southern sections of the 3.7-million-resident Seattle metropolitan area.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: July 8, 2018
Release Date: July 15, 2018

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Cygnus in Sunlight | International Space Station

The Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Cygnus resupply ship and its UltraFlex solar arrays figure prominently in this photograph of several International Space Station components with Earth in the background. At top are a set of basketball court-sized solar arrays. In the foreground is the Cupola and a portion of the Tranquility module. At bottom is the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: July 10, 2018

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Sunglint on the Atlantic | International Space Station

The International Space Station orbited over New England and across Canada capturing the Sun's glint on the North Atlantic Ocean just off the North American coast. That gleam is caused by sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that one views it. The result is a mirror-like specular reflection of sunlight off the water and back at the astronaut and their camera.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: July 5, 2018

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Jupiter and Europa | Hubble

Judy: "The Great Red Spot is still kinda great, but it's getting smaller and smaller as time wears on. At some point, it may just be a regular red spot. Still, it remains a striking feature, and it is nice that it was facing the telescope when these observations were taken."

"Bright, icy Europa is just about finished transiting the impressively sized planet and can be seen near the top."

The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm 22° south of the planet's equator. It has been continuously observed for 188 years, since 1830. Earlier observations from 1665 to 1713 are believed to be of the same storm; if this is correct, it has existed for at least 350 years. Such storms are not uncommon within the turbulent atmospheres of gas giants.

Europa is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the sixth-closest to the planet. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei.

Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and has a water-ice crust and probably an iron–nickel core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is striated by cracks and streaks, whereas craters are relatively rare. In addition to Earth-bound telescope observations, Europa has been examined by a succession of space probe flybys, the first occurring in the early 1970s.

Europa has the smoothest surface of any known solid object in the Solar System. The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably harbor extraterrestrial life. The predominant model suggests that heat from tidal flexing causes the ocean to remain liquid and drives ice movement similar to plate tectonics, absorbing chemicals from the surface into the ocean below. Sea salt from a subsurface ocean may be coating some geological features on Europa, suggesting that the ocean is interacting with the seafloor. This may be important in determining if Europa could be habitable.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Technical details:
This image represents how Jupiter looked on 2017-07-11 at 09:47:16 UTC. It is composed using three images which were taken a few minutes apart. Individual frames were warped to align cloud tops and Europa with the Red (F631N) channel. This is an approximately visible light image.

Data from the following proposal comprise this image:
Wide Field Coverage for Juno (WFCJ): Jupiter's 2D Wind Field and Cloud Structure
https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=14661

Red: WFC3/UVIS F631N
Green: WFC3/UVIS F502N
Blue: WFC3/UVIS F395N

Credit: NASA/ESA
Processing & Caption: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: July 17, 2018
#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #GRS #GreatRedSpot #Europa #Moon #SolarSystem #Exploration #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Namib Desert, Africa | International Space Station

U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold: "The ethereal beauty of Earth is our constant companion. It reminds us of all that we have left behind and what awaits when we return. The Skeleton Coast of the Namib Desert."

The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The Bushmen of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell".

The Namib is a coastal desert in southern Africa. The name Namib is of Nama origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA Astronaut Ricky Arnold/JSC
Release Date: July 17, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Namibia #Desert #Namib #SkeletonCoast #Africa #Atlantic #Ocean #Astronaut #RickyArnold #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Polar Mesopheric Clouds | International Space Station

ESA Astronaut Alexander Gerst: "High, cold and icy. These polar mesospheric clouds are still a mystery to science, but the Space Storm Hunter outside Columbus is investigating. At around 80 km altitude, they often reflect the sun while Earth underneath is already dark, appearing noctilucent."

Polaren Höhenwolken
"Hoch, kalt, eisig. Diese polaren Höhenwolken über Nordeuropa sind immer noch ein Rätsel, doch unser ASIM-Experiment untersucht es bereits. In 80 km Höhe reflektieren sie oft noch Sonnenlicht, wenn die Erde darunter bereits dunkel ist, und erscheinen nachtleuchtend."

Follow Alexander and the Horizons mission:
http://bit.ly/AlexanderGerstESA and on bit.ly/HorizonsBlogESA

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA–A. Gerst
Image Date: July 13, 2018
Release Date: July 17, 2018
#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Clouds #Polar #Mesopheric #NLC #Noctilucent #Astronaut #AlexanderGerst #Horizons #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect