Saturn's Rings Shine in New Hubble Portrait | NASA

Saturn's Rings Shine in New Hubble Portrait | NASA

Sept. 12, 2019: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 observed Saturn on June 20, 2019 as the planet made its closest approach to Earth this year, at approximately 1.36 billion kilometers away.

Since the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, its goal has been to study not only distant astronomical objects, but also the planets within our Solar System. Hubble’s high-resolution images of our planetary neighbors can only be surpassed by pictures taken from spacecraft that actually visit these bodies. However, Hubble has one advantage over space probes; it can look at these objects periodically and observe them over much longer periods than any passing probe could.
Saturn hosts many recognizable features, most notably its trademark ring system, which is now tilted towards Earth. This gives us a magnificent view of its bright icy structure. Hubble resolves numerous ringlets and the fainter inner rings. Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens first identified the rings in 1655 and thought they were a continuous disk encircling the planet, but we now know them to be composed of orbiting particles of ice and dust. Though all of the gas giants boast rings, Saturn’s are the largest and most spectacular.

The age of Saturn’s ring system continues to be debated. And, even more perplexingly, it is unknown what cosmic event formed the rings. There is no consensus among planetary astronomers today.
Another intriguing feature is the long-lasting hexagon-shaped structure circling the planet’s north pole. It is a mysterious six-sided pattern caused by a high-speed jetstream. The hexagon is so large that four Earths could fit inside its boundaries (there is no similar structure at Saturn’s south pole).
Other features, however, are not as long-lasting. A large storm in the north polar region spotted by Hubble last year has disappeared. Smaller, convective storms, such as the one just above the center of the planet’s image, also come and go.

Saturn’s amber colors come from summer smog-like hazes, produced in photochemical reactions driven by solar ultraviolet radiation. Below the haze lie clouds of ammonia ice crystals, as well as deeper, unseen lower-level clouds of ammonium hydrosulphide and water. The planet’s banded structure is caused by the winds and clouds at different altitudes.

Saturn’s appearance changes with its seasons, caused by the planet’s 27-degree axial tilt. This image was taken during summer in the planet’s northern hemisphere.

This image is the second in a yearly series of snapshots taken as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project. OPAL is helping scientists to understand the atmospheric dynamics and evolution of our Solar System’s gas giant planets. In Saturn’s case, astronomers will be able to track shifting weather patterns and other changes to identify trends.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)

Release Date: September 12, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Saturn #Rings #Planet #SolarSystem #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Hubble Finds Water Vapor on Distant Exoplanet | NASA

Hubble Finds Water Vapor on Distant Exoplanet | NASA

Exoplanet distance from Earth: 110 light years

Sept. 11, 2019: With data from the Hubble Space Telescope, water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet within the habitable zone of its host star.

K2-18b, which is eight times the mass of Earth, is the only planet orbiting a star outside the solar system (or “exoplanet”) within the habitable zone.

For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble

Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Paul R. Morris (USRA): Lead Producer
Music Credits: "Only Human" by Guillaume Bernard [SACEM]; Universal Production Music
Duration: 2 minutes, 3 seconds
Release Date: September 11, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Exoplanet #K218b #Atmosphere #Water #Planet #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #Art #Illustration #STEM #Education #Video

Water Detected on Exoplanet K2-18b | Hubble

Water Detected on Exoplanet K2-18b | Hubble

First Water Detected on Planet in the Habitable Zone

Sept. 11, 2019: This Hubblecast Light video highlights the exciting discovery of the first water detected on a potentially habitable planet. With data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth with habitable temperatures by University College Longon (UCL) researchers.

Credit:

Directed by: Bethany Downer

Editing: Nico Bartmann.

Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida.

Written by: Bethany Downer & UCL

Music:

Footage and photos: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Duration: 1 minute, 19 seconds

Release Date: September 11, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Exoplanet #K218b #Atmosphere #Water #Planet #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #Art #Illustration #STEM #Education #Video

First Water Detected on Planet in Habitable Zone | Hubble

First Water Detected on Planet in Habitable Zone | Hubble

Exoplanet distance to Earth: 110 light years

With data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth within the habitable zone by University College London (UCL) researchers in a world first. K2-18b, which is eight times the mass of Earth, is now the only planet orbiting a star outside the Solar System, or exoplanet, known to have both water and temperatures that could support life.

The discovery, published today in Nature Astronomy, is the first successful atmospheric detection of an exoplanet orbiting in its star’s habitable zone, at a distance where water can exist in liquid form.

Image: This artist’s impression shows the planet K2-18b, its host star and an accompanying planet in this system. K2-18b is now the only super-Earth exoplanet known to host both water and temperatures that could support life.

First author, Dr Angelos Tsiaras (UCL Centre for Space Exochemistry Data,CSED), said: “Finding water on a potentially habitable world other than Earth is incredibly exciting. K2-18b is not ‘Earth 2.0’ as it is significantly heavier and has a different atmospheric composition. However, it brings us closer to answering the fundamental question: Is the Earth unique?”

The team used archive data from 2016 and 2017 captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and developed open-source algorithms to analyse the starlight filtered through K2-18b’s atmosphere [1]. The results revealed the molecular signature of water vapor, also indicating the presence of hydrogen and helium in the planet’s atmosphere.

The authors believe that other molecules, including nitrogen and methane, may be present but they remain undetectable with current observations. Further studies are required to estimate cloud coverage and the percentage of atmospheric water present.

The planet orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18, which is 110 light years from Earth in the constellation of Leo. Given the high level of activity of its red dwarf star, K2-18b may be more hostile than Earth and is likely to be exposed to more radiation.

K2-18b was discovered in 2015 and is one of hundreds of super-Earths—planets with masses between those of Earth and Neptune—found by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. NASA’s TESS mission is expected to detect hundreds more super-Earths in the coming years.

Co-author Dr Ingo Waldmann (UCL CSED), said: “With so many new super-Earths expected to be found over the next couple of decades, it is likely that this is the first discovery of many potentially habitable planets. This is not only because super-Earths like K2-18b are the most common planets in our Milky Way, but also because red dwarfs—stars smaller than our Sun—are the most common stars.”

The next generation of space telescopes, including the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and ESA’s ARIEL mission, will be able to characterize atmospheres in more detail as they will carry more advanced instruments. ARIEL is expected to launch in 2028 and will observe 1,000 planets in detail to get a truly representative picture of what they are like.

Professor Giovanna Tinetti (UCL CSED), co-author and Principal Investigator for ARIEL, said: “Our discovery makes K2-18b one of the most interesting targets for future study. Over 4000 exoplanets have been detected but we don’t know much about their composition and nature. By observing a large sample of planets, we hope to reveal secrets about their chemistry, formation and evolution.”

“This study contributes to our understanding of habitable worlds beyond our Solar System and marks a new era in exoplanet research, crucial to ultimately placing the Earth, our only home, into the greater picture of the Cosmos,” said Dr Tsiaras.

Notes
[1] The observations were achieved from 9 transits of K2-18b with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), as part of the HST proposals 13665 and 14682 (PI: Björn Benneke).

More information
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Angelos Tsiaras, Ingo P. Waldmann, Giovanna Tinetti, Jonathan Tennyson & Sergey N. Yurchenko, ‘Water vapour in the atmosphere of the habitable-zone eight Earth-mass planet K2-18 b’ has been published in Nature Astronomy.

The research was funded by European Research Council and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council which is part of UKRI.

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser
Release Date: September 11, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Exoplanet #K218b #Atmosphere #Water #Planet #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #Art #Illustration #STEM #Education

Earth: Gulf of Guinea to Caspian Sea | International Space Station

Gulf of Guinea to Caspian Sea | International Space Station

Original timelapse by Riccardo Rossi (ISAA)

ISAA (Italian Space and Astronautics Association)

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Raw imagery courtesy of Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov

Music: Soft Gentle Piano by BDKSonic - Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
https://www.jamendo.com/artist/486550/bdksonic

Timelapse HD 1080p video

Credit: AstronautiCAST/JSC
Capture Date: August 7, 2019
Release Date: August 11, 2019
Duration: 2 minutes, 31 seconds

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Earth #ISS #Planet #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Expedition60 #Guinea #CaspianSea #Photography #Art #Science #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect #AstronautiCAST #ISAA #STEM #Education #Timelapse #Video

Earth from Space: Italy's Castelli Romani | European Space Agency

Earth from Space: Italy's Castelli Romani | ESA

Earth from Space is back after the summer break!

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite takes us over a set of small towns, located around 20 km southeast of Rome, Italy and known collectively as Castelli Romani, in this week's edition of the Earth from Space program.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: September 6, 2019

#NASA #ESA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Italy #Italia #CastelliRomani #Europe #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #Copernicus #Sentinel2 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Human Technology | International Space Station

Human Technology | International Space Station

Image captured by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano during his Beyond mission to the International Space Station. Notice the moon at top right.

Luca: "One of the most innovative technologies flies over one of the most ancient cultures on Earth."

"Una delle tecnologie più innovative vola sopra una delle culture più antiche della terra."

Credit: ESA/NASA-L.Parmitano
Image Date: August 24, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Technology #Earth #Astronaut #ESA #LucaParmitano #MissionBeyond #Italia #Italy #Expedition60 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #STEM #Education #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective

Dark Matter in the Belly of the Whale | Hubble

Dark Matter in the Belly of the Whale

This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, focuses on an object named UGC 695, which is located 30 million light-years away within the constellation Cetus (The Sea Monster), also known as The Whale.

UGC 695 is a low-surface-brightness (LSB) galaxy. These galaxies are so faint that their brightness is less than the background brightness of Earth’s atmosphere, which makes them tricky to observe. This low brightness is the result of the relatively small number of stars within them — most of the baryonic matter in these galaxies exists in the form of huge clouds of gas and dust. The stars are also distributed over a relatively large area.

LSB galaxies, like dwarf galaxies, have a high fraction of dark matter relative to the number of stars they contain. Astronomers still debate about how LSB galaxies formed in the first place.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Calzetti
Release Date: September 9, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #UGC695 #LSB #Cetus #DarkMatter #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Jupiter’s Dynamic Atmosphere: A Close-Up Look

Jupiter’s Dynamic Atmosphere: A Close-Up Look

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals the intricate, detailed beauty of Jupiter’s clouds in this new image taken on June 27, 2019 by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, when the planet was 644 million kilometers from Earth. The image features the distinct bands of roiling clouds that are characteristic of Jupiter’s atmosphere and represents a stretched-out map of the entire planet.

Researchers combined several Hubble exposures to create this flat map, which excludes the polar regions (above 80 degrees latitude). These observations of Jupiter form part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)

Release Date: August 8, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #GreatRedSpot #Visualization #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Zooming Into Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Zooming Into Jupiter's Great Red Spot

This video is a pan across the surface of Jupiter, featuring a zoom into the planet's trademark Great Red Spot.

This new image was taken on June 27, 2019 by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3, when the planet was 644 million kilometers from Earth. The image highlights the Great Red Spot in a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in the planet’s turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years.

Credit:
NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
Music: Konstantino Polizois
Duration: 40 seconds
Release Date: August 12, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #GreatRedSpot #Visualization #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #Video

Global Model of Jupiter

Global Model of Jupiter

This three-dimensional model of Jupiter was computer-generated from a new global map of the planet that was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 on June 27, 2019, when the planet was 644 million kilometers from Earth.

Credit:
NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), M. Kornmesser
Duration: 24 seconds
Release Date: August 8, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #GreatRedSpot #Visualization #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #Video

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot | Hubblecast

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot | Hubblecast

This video highlights Jupiter’s trademark spot and observations made of the feature by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope that demonstrate that the spot has shrunk over time.

Credits:
Directed by: Bethany Downer.
Editing: Nico Bartmann.
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Bethany Downer
Music: John Stanford (www.nigelstanford.com) – Far Centaurus
Footage and photos: ESA, NASA, A. Simon, M.H. Wong, M. Kornmesser, H. Hammel, R. Beebe.
Duration: 1 minute, 30 seconds
Release Date: August 8, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #GreatRedSpot #GRS #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #Video

Jupiter: A New Portrait | Hubble

Jupiter: A New Portrait | Hubble

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals the intricate, detailed beauty of Jupiter’s clouds in this new image taken on June 27, 2019. It features the planet’s trademark Great Red Spot and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in the planet’s turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years.

Among the most striking features in the image are the rich colors of the clouds moving toward the Great Red Spot. This huge anticyclonic storm is roughly the diameter of Earth and is rolling counterclockwise between two bands of clouds that are moving in opposite directions toward it.

As with previous images of Jupiter taken by Hubble, and other observations from telescopes on the ground, the new image confirms that the huge storm which has raged on Jupiter’s surface for at least 150 years continues to shrink. The reason for this is still unknown so Hubble will continue to observe Jupiter in the hope that scientists will be able to solve this stormy riddle. Much smaller storms appear on Jupiter as white or brown ovals that can last as little as a few hours or stretch on for centuries.

The worm-shaped feature located south of the Great Red Spot is a cyclone, a vortex spinning in the opposite direction to that in which the Great Red Spot spins. Researchers have observed cyclones with a wide variety of different appearances across the planet. The two white oval features are anticyclones, similar to small versions of the Great Red Spot.

The Hubble image also highlights Jupiter’s distinct parallel cloud bands. These bands consist of air flowing in opposite directions at various latitudes. They are created by differences in the thickness and height of the ammonia ice clouds; the lighter bands rise higher and have thicker clouds than the darker bands. The different concentrations are kept separate by fast winds which can reach speeds of up to 650 kilometers per hour.

These observations of Jupiter form part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, which began in 2014. This initiative allows Hubble to dedicate time each year to observing the outer planets and provides scientists with access to a collection of maps, which helps them to understand not only the atmospheres of the giant planets in the Solar System, but also the atmosphere of our own planet and of the planets in other planetary systems.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Note:
This image was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, when the planet was 644 million kilometers from Earth.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
Release Date: August 8, 2019

#NASA #Hubble #ESA #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Keeping an eye on Hurricane Dorian from Space | This Week @NASA

Keeping an eye on Hurricane Dorian | This Week @NASA

Sept. 6, 2019: Keeping an eye on Hurricane Dorian, the next crew headed to the International Space Station, and a better understanding of Sun-driven space weather . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
Release Date: September 6, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Exploration #Dorian #Hurricane #HurricaneDorian #Artemis #Mars #Moon #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #NickHague #AndrewMorgan #Expedition60 #Human #Spaceflight #SpaceX #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Category 5 | Week of Sept. 6, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground: Category 5 | Week of Sept. 6, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

As the week near its close, the crew of Expedition 60 caught up on maintenance activities while also continuing science investigations integral for the future of space exploration to destinations further into the solar system.

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano performed servicing to the EXPRESS Rack located in the Columbus lab of the International Space Station. The EXPRESS Rack is instrumental in supporting science experiments, providing structural interfaces for power, data, cooling water and more to facilitate investigations in microgravity.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan continued examinations for Fluid Shifts, conducting remotely guided ultrasounds to track the movement of fluids within the body. Spread out over several weeks, the various measurements investigate if long-duration spaceflight can cause severe and lasting physical damage to an astronaut’s eyes. Aboard the orbiting laboratory, a Lower Body Negative Pressure device is being evaluated as a possible intervention for any harmful effects.

Flight Engineer Christina Koch, meanwhile, spent time on Rodent Research habitat cleaning and feeding protocols. Such experiments, as a byproduct of learning how microgravity affects animals, provides relevant insight to human space exploration, basic biology and knowledge that can positively impact human health on Earth.

Crew members performed scheduled maintenance on the Space Moss investigation — a plant-growth experiment attached to the Cell Biology Experiment Facility incubator. Moss, tiny plants without roots, need only a small area to thrive, and thus have potential in space far beyond low-Earth orbit, like on future Moon or Martian bases.

The countdown is on for cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Alexey Ovchinin, who will wrap up packing the Soyuz MS-14 with gear before the spaceship returns to Earth Friday, Sept. 6. Viewers can watch NASA Television as it follows the undocking of the unpiloted vehicle, which begins at 1:45 p.m. EDT for a scheduled undocking at 2:14 p.m. The vehicle is anticipated to land at 5:34 p.m. in Kazakhstan, but with no NASA TV coverage.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stem_on_station/

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 27 seconds
Release Date: September 6, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Hurricane #HurricaneDorian #Soyuz #Research #Microgravity #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #NickHague #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italia #Italy #Cosmonauts #AlexeyOvchinin #AlexanderSkvortsov #Russia #Россия #Expedition60 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Mars: Avalanche Season [Video] | NASA MRO

Avalanche captured from Mars orbit by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft

Every spring the sun shines on the side of the stack of layers at the North Pole of Mars known as the north polar layered deposits. The warmth destabilizes the ice and blocks break loose.

When they reach the bottom of the more than 500 meter tall cliff face, the blocks kick up a cloud of dust. The layers beneath are different colors and textures depending on the amount of dust mixed with ice.

Imagery captured 318.2 km (197.8 miles) above the planet's surface
Black and white images are 5 km across; enhanced color images are 1 km.

Mars Location:
Latitude (centered)
83.796°
Longitude (East)
237.006°

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Narration: Tre Gibbs (www.tregibbs.com)
Duration: 29 seconds
Capture Date: May 29, 2019
Release Date: September 3, 2019

#NASA #Mars #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Avalanche #NorthPole #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #RedPlanet #MRO #Reconnaissance #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #University #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video