Sahara Desert Sandstorm | International Space Station

U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold: "A massive sandstorm rolls across the Sahara."

The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Its area of 9,200,000 square kilometers (3,600,000 sq mi) is comparable to the area of China or the United States. The name 'Sahara' is derived from a dialectal Arabic word for "desert", ṣaḥra.

The desert comprises much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan. It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains. To the south, it is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna around the Niger River valley and the Sudan Region of Sub-Saharan Africa. The Sahara can be divided into several regions including: the western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, the Ténéré desert, and the Libyan Desert.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA Astronaut Ricky Arnold/JSC
Release Date: July 31, 2018

+NASA Earth Observatory
+NASA Johnson Space Center
+NASA

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Sahara #Sandstorm #صحرا #Desert #Africa #Atlantic #Ocean #RedSea #Astronaut #RickyArnold #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect #الصحراء الكبرى

NASA's Parker Solar Probe: Prepping for Launch

Launch targeted for August 11, 2018

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has cleared the final procedures in the clean room before its move to the launch pad, where it will be integrated onto its launch vehicle, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy. This is an historic mission that will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds. Parker Solar Probe will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions—and ultimately providing humanity with the closest-ever observations of a star.

Seen here inside one half of its 62.7-foot tall fairing, the Parker Solar Probe was encapsulated on July 16, 2018, in preparation for the move from Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, to Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where it will be integrated onto its launch vehicle for its launch that is targeted for August 11, 2018.

Learn about the historic Parker Solar Probe mission: https://go.nasa.gov/2ubAwFS

Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Image Date: July 16, 2018
Release Date: July 31, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #SpaceWeather #Sun #Solar #Corona #Star #Astrophysics #Spacecraft #Probe #SolarProbe #Parker #ULA #DeltaIV #EugeneParker #Astrophysicist #Chicago #University #JHUAPL #Goddard #CapeCanaveral #AirForce #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Noctilucent Clouds | International Space Station

Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev: "Image of noctilucent clouds visible in a deep twilight. Noctilucent clouds are at a height of 70-100 km and at this height they are poorly discovered."

Noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds are the highest clouds in Earth’s atmosphere. They form in the middle atmosphere, or mesosphere, above Earth’s surface. The clouds form when water vapor freezes around specks of dust from incoming meteors.

Credit: Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos
Release Date: July 30, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Noctilucent #Clouds #NLC #Meteors #MeteorSmoke #Polar #Mesospheric #Expedition56 #Cosmonaut #OlegArtemyev #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Understanding Lunar Eclipses | NASA

It's not often that we get a chance to see our planet's shadow, but a lunar eclipse gives us a fleeting glimpse. During these rare events, the full Moon rapidly darkens and then glows red as it enters the Earth's shadow. Though a lunar eclipse can be seen only at night, it's worth staying up to catch the show. ​The next lunar eclipse that can be seen all over the U.S. will be on Jan. 21, 2019. It will also be a supermoon. The January 2019 a total lunar eclipse will be visible in the Americas, Europa, Africa and the Central Pacific.
See the 2019 eclipse map (PDF) here:
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2019Jan21T.pdf

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: April 8, 2014


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Earth #Sun #Planet #Moon #Lunar #Eclipse #LunarEclipse #LunarEclipse2018 #LunarEclipse2019 #Orbit #SolarSystem #Skywatching #Astrophotography #Photography #Goddard #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Tonight's Sky: August 2018 | HubbleSite

Save the date to watch the peak of the Perseid meteor shower—an always-anticipated feature of the night sky—August 12 and 13th. This month, backyard telescopes will also reveal sunlight reflecting off the clouds of Venus’s thick atmosphere and the Ring Nebula, an expanding shell of glowing gas in the constellation Lyra.

“Tonight’s Sky” is produced by HubbleSite.org, online home of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Credit: HubbleSite
Duration: 9 minutes
Release Date: July 25, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Earth #Planets #Venus #Jupiter #Moon #Mars #Saturn #Stars #Lyra #Cygnus #Vulpecula #Aquila #Constellations #MeteorShower #Perseid #Meteors #Comet #GiacobiniZinner #Solar #Eclipse #SolarSystem #Skywatching #STEM #Education #UnitedStates #Canada #NorthernHemisphere #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Locally Grown | Week of July 27, 2018

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Serena Auñón-Chancellor continued a second week of research operations to gain fundamental data about fertility in space. The duo examined biological samples in a microscope and stowed them in a science freezer for later analysis. The Micro-11 study is exploring the possibility of human reproduction in space including ways to address aging problems on Earth.

Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, explored the sedimentary properties of quartz and clay particles. The German astronaut mixed quartz and clay samples suspended in a liquid for photographic and video downlink to scientists on Earth. Observations can help guide future geological studies of unexplored planets and improve petroleum exploration here on Earth.

Expedition 56 Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA split his time working on a variety of science gear that examines different microscopic properties. He set up Aerosol Samplers in the Harmony and Tranquility modules to collect airborne particles in the station’s air cabin for analysis. Arnold later stowed a Biomolecule Sequencer he used this month to sequence DNA extracted from microbes living on space station surfaces.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 24 seconds
Release Date: July 27, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Plants #Microgravity #Research #Agriculture #Microbes #Health #Sleep #Astronauts #DrewFeustel #RickyArnold #SerenaAuñónChancellor #UnitedStates #AlexanderGerst #Horizons #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Orbital Sunrise | International Space Station

This is one of four basket ball court-sized main solar arrays that power the International Space Station. It contrasts with the bright blue glow of Earth's limb in the background as the complex soared into an orbital sunrise over eastern China.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Release Date: July 20, 2018

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Mars: Liquid Water Found Under South Pole | ESA

Mars Express detects liquid water hidden under planet’s south pole
July 25, 2018: Radar data collected by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft point to a pond of liquid water buried under layers of ice and dust in the south polar region of Mars. Evidence for the Red Planet’s watery past is prevalent across its surface in the form of vast dried-out river valley networks and gigantic outflow channels clearly imaged by orbiting spacecraft. Orbiters, together with landers and rovers exploring the martian surface, also discovered minerals that can only form in the presence of liquid water.

But the climate has changed significantly over the course of the planet’s 4.6 billion year history and liquid water cannot exist on the surface today, so scientists are looking underground. Early results from the 15-year old Mars Express spacecraft already found that water-ice exists at the planet’s poles and is also buried in layers interspersed with dust.

The presence of liquid water at the base of the polar ice caps has long been suspected; after all, from studies on Earth, it is well known that the melting point of water decreases under the pressure of an overlying glacier. Moreover, the presence of salts on Mars could further reduce the melting point of water and keep the water liquid even at below-freezing temperatures.

But until now evidence from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument, MARSIS, the first radar sounder ever to orbit another planet, remained inconclusive.

It has taken the persistence of scientists working with this subsurface-probing instrument to develop new techniques in order to collect as much high-resolution data as possible to confirm their exciting conclusion.

Ground-penetrating radar uses the method of sending radar pulses towards the surface and timing how long it takes for them to be reflected back to the spacecraft, and with what strength. The properties of the material that lies between influences the returned signal, which can be used to map the subsurface topography.

The radar investigation shows that south polar region of Mars is made of many layers of ice and dust down to a depth of about 1.5 km in the 200 km-wide area analysed in this study. A particularly bright radar reflection underneath the layered deposits is identified within a 20 km-wide zone.

Analysing the properties of the reflected radar signals and considering the composition of the layered deposits and expected temperature profile below the surface, the scientists interpret the bright feature as an interface between the ice and a stable body of liquid water, which could be laden with salty, saturated sediments. For MARSIS to be able to detect such a patch of water, it would need to be at least several tens of centimeters thick.

“This subsurface anomaly on Mars has radar properties matching water or water-rich sediments,” says Roberto Orosei, principal investigator of the MARSIS experiment and lead author of the paper published in the journal Science today:
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/24/science.aar7268

“This is just one small study area; it is an exciting prospect to think there could be more of these underground pockets of water elsewhere, yet to be discovered.”

“We’d seen hints of interesting subsurface features for years but we couldn’t reproduce the result from orbit to orbit, because the sampling rates and resolution of our data was previously too low,” adds Andrea Cicchetti, MARSIS operations manager and a co-author on the new paper.

“We had to come up with a new operating mode to bypass some onboard processing and trigger a higher sampling rate and thus improve the resolution of the footprint of our dataset: now we see things that simply were not possible before.”

The finding is somewhat reminiscent of Lake Vostok, discovered some 4 km below the ice in Antarctica on Earth. Some forms of microbial life are known to thrive in Earth’s subglacial environments, but could underground pockets of salty, sediment-rich liquid water on Mars also provide a suitable habitat, either now or in the past? Whether life has ever existed on Mars remains an open question, and is one that Mars missions, including the current European-Russian ExoMars orbiter and future rover, will continue to explore.

“The long duration of Mars Express, and the exhausting effort made by the radar team to overcome many analytical challenges, enabled this much-awaited result, demonstrating that the mission and its payload still have a great science potential,” says Dmitri Titov, ESA’s Mars Express project scientist.

“This thrilling discovery is a highlight for planetary science and will contribute to our understanding of the evolution of Mars, the history of water on our neighbor planet and its habitability.”

Mars Express launched June 2, 2003 and celebrates 15 years in orbit on December 25 this year.

Notes for editors
“Radar evidence of subglacial liquid water on Mars” by R. Orosei et al is published in the journal Science:
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/24/science.aar7268

The MARSIS instrument was funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA and developed by the University of Rome, Italy, in partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Image Date: December 17, 2012
Release Date: July 25, 2018
#ESA #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Mars #Planet #SouthPole #Liquid #Water #Ice #Life #Habitability #Astrobiology #Radar #MARSIS #MarsExpress #Spacecraft #Europe #JPL #UnitedStates #ASI #Italy #Italia #STEM #Education

Ariane 5 Heavy Lift Rocket Overview | Arianespace

"Arianespace’s Ariane 5 is the world reference for heavy-lift launchers, able to carry payloads weighing more than 10 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and over 20 metric tons into low-Earth orbit (LEO)—with a high degree of accuracy mission after mission. This performance ensures that Ariane 5 will be able to loft the heaviest spacecraft either in production or on the drawing boards, and enables Arianespace to match up most telecommunications satellites for highly efficient dual launches—a capability that has been proven by the company in Ariane-series missions since the 1980s."

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket. The launch vehicle is part of the European contribution to the mission. The Ariane 5 is one of the world's most reliable launch vehicles capable of delivering Webb to its destination in space. The European Space Agency (ESA) has agreed to provide an Ariane 5 launcher and associated launch services to NASA for Webb. The James Webb Space Telescope is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

Dual-Passenger Capability
Industrial Prime Contractor: Airbus Safran Launchers
Payload to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO): 10 t
Payload to low-Earth orbit (LEO): 20 t

Ariane 5 ECA Technical Overview
Height: 50.5 m
Diameter: 5.4 m
Mass: 780 t

Ariane 5 PDF Brochure (English)
http://www.arianespace.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Ariane5_Brochure_Nov2016.pdf

Ariane 5 PDF User’s Manual (English)
http://www.arianespace.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Ariane5_Users-Manual_October2016.pdf

About Arianespace
"Arianespace uses space to make life better on Earth by providing launch services for all types of satellites into all orbits. It has orbited more than 570 satellites since 1980, using its family of three launchers, Ariane, Soyuz and Vega, from launch sites in French Guiana (South America) and Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Arianespace is headquartered in Evry, near Paris, and has a technical facility at the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, plus local offices in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Singapore. Arianespace is a subsidiary of ArianeGroup, which holds 74% of its share capital, with the balance held by 17 other shareholders from the European launcher industry."

Credit: Arianespace

#Arianespace #NASA #ESA #CNES #Earth #Space #Satellite #Rocket #Ariane5 #HeavyLift #Launch #LEO #GTO #Spaceport #Kourou #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #Europe #Science #Technology #Engineering #Astronomy #JWST #SolarSystem #Exploration #Infographic #STEM #Education

Galileo Satellite Mission: Ariane 5 Rocket Liftoff | ESA

Galileo: The world's first civilian Earth satellite navigation system
Europe’s next four Galileo navigation satellites lifted off on July 25, 2018 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 launcher.

Galileo is the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that is being created by the European Union (EU) through the European Space Agency (ESA), headquartered in Prague in the Czech Republic, with two ground operations centers, Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich in Germany and Fucino in Italy. The €10 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. One of the aims of Galileo is to provide an independent high-precision positioning system so European nations do not have to rely on the Russian GLONASS, Chinese BeiDou or U.S. GPS systems, which could be disabled or degraded by their operators at any time.The use of basic (lower-precision) Galileo services will be free and open to everyone. The higher-precision capabilities will be available for paying commercial users. Galileo is intended to provide horizontal and vertical position measurements within 1-meter precision, and better positioning services at higher latitudes than other positioning systems.

Galileo is to provide a new global search and rescue (SAR) function as part of the MEOSAR system. Satellites will be equipped with a transponder which will relay distress signals from emergency beacons to the Rescue coordination center, which will then initiate a rescue operation.

French Guiana, officially called Guiana, is an overseas department and region of France, on the north Atlantic coast of South America in the Guyanas. It borders Brazil to the east and south and Suriname to the west. Since 1981, when Belize became independent, French Guiana has been the only territory of the mainland Americas that is still part of a European country.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit & Copyright: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG
Release Date: July 25, 2018
#ESA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Rocket #Ariane5 #Launch #Arianespace #Civilian #Navigation #GNSS #Europe #Search #Rescue #SAR #MEOSAR #Spaceport #Kourou #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #STEM #Education

Europe's Galileo Mission | Ariane 5 Rocket Liftoff Poster

July 25, 2018: Ariane 5’s successful July 25, 2018 mission for Europe’s Galileo navigation satellite system was performed from the Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch zone. Flight VA244. Four Galileo navigation satellites delivered to Earth orbit.

Galileo: The world's first civilian Earth satellite navigation system
Galileo is the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that is being created by the European Union (EU) through the European Space Agency (ESA), headquartered in Prague in the Czech Republic, with two ground operations centers, Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich in Germany and Fucino in Italy. The €10 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. One of the aims of Galileo is to provide an independent high-precision positioning system so European nations do not have to rely on the Russian GLONASS, Chinese BeiDou or U.S. GPS systems, which could be disabled or degraded by their operators at any time.The use of basic (lower-precision) Galileo services will be free and open to everyone. The higher-precision capabilities will be available for paying commercial users. Galileo is intended to provide horizontal and vertical position measurements within 1-meter precision, and better positioning services at higher latitudes than other positioning systems.

Galileo is to provide a new global search and rescue (SAR) function as part of the MEOSAR system. Satellites will be equipped with a transponder which will relay distress signals from emergency beacons to the Rescue coordination center, which will then initiate a rescue operation.

French Guiana, officially called Guiana, is an overseas department and region of France, on the north Atlantic coast of South America in the Guyanas. It borders Brazil to the east and south and Suriname to the west. Since 1981, when Belize became independent, French Guiana has been the only territory of the mainland Americas that is still part of a European country.
(Source: Wikipedia)

About Arianespace
"Arianespace uses space to make life better on Earth by providing launch services for all types of satellites into all orbits. It has orbited more than 570 satellites since 1980, using its family of three launchers, Ariane, Soyuz and Vega, from launch sites in French Guiana (South America) and Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Arianespace is headquartered in Evry, near Paris, and has a technical facility at the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, plus local offices in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Singapore. Arianespace is a subsidiary of ArianeGroup, which holds 74% of its share capital, with the balance held by 17 other shareholders from the European launcher industry."

Credit & Copyright: Arianespace
Release Date: July 25, 2018

#Arianespace #ESA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Rocket #Ariane5 #Launch #Civilian #Navigation #GNSS #Europe #Search #Rescue #SAR #MEOSAR #Spaceport #Kourou #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #Liftoff #Poster #FlightVA244 #STEM #Education

NASA's Parker Solar Probe: ULA Delta IV Heavy Rocket Mission

Parker Solar Probe Launch Targeted for Aug. 11
Go Delta! Go Parker Solar Probe!

With three common booster cores, the Heavy is the largest in the Delta IV fleet and is a proven U.S. heavy lifter, delivering high-priority missions for the U.S. Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and NASA. The Delta IV Heavy also launched NASA’s Orion spacecraft on its historic Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) in 2014.

July 24, 2018: NASA and its mission partners are targeting Aug. 11 for the launch of the Parker Solar Probe mission to the Sun. The 45-minute launch window will open at 3:48 a.m. EDT. During final inspections following the encapsulation of the spacecraft, a small strip of foam was found inside the fairing and additional time is needed for inspection.

The spacecraft will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The spacecraft aims to unravel 60 years' worth of mysteries surrounding the Sun’s corona. NASA's Parker Solar Probe and its United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle prepare for an unprecedented mission to "kiss the Sun."

Launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Parker Solar Probe will swoop to within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. It will provide new data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth.

Learn about the historic Parker Solar Probe mission: https://go.nasa.gov/2ubAwFS

• Rocket: Delta IV Heavy
• Mission: Parker Solar Probe
• Launch Date: Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018
• Launch Broadcast: Details to come
• Launch Location: Space Launch Complex-37, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Mission Information:
Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first mission to the sun. After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere–the corona–closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone. While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth.

Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

Launch Notes: Due to the extremely high energy required for this mission, the Delta IV Heavy’s capability will be augmented by a powerful third stage provided by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.

Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)/NASA
Release Date: July 24, 2018
#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #SpaceWeather #Sun #Solar #Corona #Star #Astrophysics #Spacecraft #Probe #SolarProbe #Parker #ULA #DeltaIV #EugeneParker #Astrophysicist #Chicago #University #JHUAPL #Goddard #CapeCanaveral #AirForce #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #Mission #Poster #Illustration #Art #STEM #Education

Volcano in Chad, Africa | International Space Station

U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold: "Towering over a seemingly alien landscape & dormant for over a million years, Emi Koussi in Chad is now a silent sentinel of the Sahara."

Emi Koussi is a high pyroclastic shield volcano that lies at the southeast end of the Tibesti Mountains in the central Sahara of the northern Borkou Region of northern Chad. It is the highest mountain of the Sahara. The volcano is one of several in the Tibesti Mountains, and reaches 3,445 meters (11,302 ft) in elevation, rising 3 km (1.9 mi) above the surrounding sandstone plains. The volcano is 60–70 kilometers (37–43 mi) wide.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA Astronaut Ricky Arnold/JSC
Release Date: July 24, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #EmiKoussi #Volcano #Sahara #Chad #Africa #Astronaut #RickyArnold #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

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

#NASA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Science #Scandinavia #Phytoplankton #Algae #Cyanobacteria #Blooms #Gulf #Finland #Suomi #Suomenlahti #Фи́нский #зали́в #Baltic #Sea #Landsat8 #OLI #Landsat #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #Environment #Infographic #STEM #Education

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

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #Ocean #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #Radiation #Map #Galileo #EuropaClipper #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #Exploration #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #Art #Illustration #Infographic #STEM #Education

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

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