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Tuesday, October 11, 2022

NASA's DART Mission Successfully Changes Asteroid Orbit

NASA's DART Mission Successfully Changes Asteroid Orbit

The first results of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) indicate that the orbit of asteroid Dimorphos around asteroid Didymos was changed, altering the orbit of the binary asteroid system around the Sun.

On Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, DART successfully impacted its asteroid target in the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration. As a part of NASA’s overall planetary defense strategy, DART’s impact with the asteroid Dimorphos will help to determine whether asteroid deflection using a kinetic impactor spacecraft is a viable mitigation technique for protecting the planet from an Earth-bound asteroid or come threat were discovered.

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) manages the DART mission for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office as a project of the agency's Planetary Missions Program Office. Neither DART’s target asteroid, Dimorphos, nor its larger asteroid parent, Didymos, poses a hazard to Earth.

DART update panel:

• Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington

• Tom Statler, DART program scientist at NASA Headquarters

• Nancy Chabot, DART coordination lead at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 Astronauts Discuss Mission | International Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 Astronauts Discuss Mission | International Space Station

Live from the International Space Station, astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and Bob Hines of NASA and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency discuss their time in space and answer questions. They'll undock from the station later this month aboard their SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft, which will splash down off the coast of Florida to conclude their mission.

The Crew-4 astronauts have been living and working aboard the station since April 27. During their mission, they contributed to hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations, including: documenting how improvements to the space diet affect immune function and the gut microbiome, determining the effect of fuel temperature on the flammability of a material, exploring possible adverse effects on astronaut hearing from equipment noise and microgravity, and studying whether additives increase or decrease the stability of emulsions. The astronauts also investigated microgravity-induced changes in the human immune system similar to aging, tested a novel water-reclamation membrane, and examined a concrete alternative made with a material found in lunar and Martian dust.

For more information about Crew-4, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/3g0nHsA

Credit: NASA Video

Duration: 27 minutes

Release Date: October 11, 2022

#NASA #ESA #ISS #Earth #Planet #Science #SpaceXCrew4 #CrewDragon #Spacecraft #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #JessicaWatkins #BobHines #SamanthaCristoforetti #Italy #Italia #MissionMinerva #Laboratory #Research #Experiments #Expedition68 #Technology #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Needle Galaxy: IC 2233 | Hubble

The Needle Galaxy: IC 2233 | Hubble

Like finding a silver needle in the haystack of space, the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the spiral galaxy IC 2233, one of the flattest galaxies known.

Typical spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are usually made up of three principal visible components: the disc where the spiral arms and most of the gas and dust is concentrated; the halo, a rough and sparse sphere around the disc that contains little gas, dust or star formation; and the central bulge at the heart of the disc, which is formed by a large concentration of ancient stars surrounding the Galactic Center.

However, IC 2233 is far from being typical. This object is a prime example of a super-thin galaxy, where the galaxy’s diameter is at least ten times larger than the thickness. These galaxies consist of a simple disc of stars when seen edge on. This orientation makes them fascinating to study, giving another perspective on spiral galaxies. An important characteristic of this type of objects is that they have a low brightness and almost all of them have no bulge at all.

The bluish color that can be seen along the disc gives evidence of the spiral nature of the galaxy, indicating the presence of hot, luminous, young stars, born out of clouds of interstellar gas. In addition, unlike typical spirals, IC 2233 shows no well-defined dust lane. Only a few small patchy regions can be identified in the inner regions both above and below the galaxy’s mid-plane.

Lying in the constellation of Lynx, IC 2233 is located about 40 million light-years away from Earth. This galaxy was discovered by British astronomer Isaac Roberts in 1894.

This image was taken with the Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, combining visible and infrared exposures. The field of view in this image is approximately 3.4 by 3.4 arcminutes.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA

Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola

Release Date: December 27, 2012

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #IC2233 #Spiral #Lynx #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Astronomer #IsaacRoberts #STEM #Education

A Bright Bar of Light: Galaxy NGC 2217 | Hubble

A Bright Bar of Light: Galaxy NGC 2217 | Hubble

The magnificent central bar of NGC 2217 (also known as AM 0619-271) shines bright in the constellation of Canis Major (The Greater Dog), in this image taken by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. Roughly 65 million light-years from Earth, this barred spiral galaxy is a similar size to our Milky Way at 100 thousand light-years across. Many stars are concentrated in its central region forming the luminous bar, surrounded by a set of tightly wound spiral arms.

The central bar in these types of galaxies plays an important role in their evolution, helping to funnel gas from the disc into the middle of the galaxy. The transported gas and dust are then either formed into new stars or fed to the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. Weighing from a few hundred to over a billion times the mass of our Sun, supermassive black holes are present in almost all large galaxies.

This image was colorized with data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS).

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton

Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)

Release Date: December 23, 2020

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #NGC2217 #AM0619271 #Spiral #Barred #CanisMajor #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

The Black Eye Galaxy: Messier 64 | Hubble

The Black Eye Galaxy: Messier 64 | Hubble

A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy.

Fine details of the dark band are revealed in this image of the central portion of M64 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. M64 is well known among amateur astronomers because of its appearance in small telescopes. It was first cataloged in the 18th century by the French astronomer Messier. Located in the northern constellation Coma Berenices, M64 resides roughly 17 million light-years from Earth.

Credit: NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)

Release Date: February 5, 2004

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxy #BlackEyeGalaxy #M64 #Messier64 #Spiral #ComaBerenices #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Monday, October 10, 2022

The Caribbean Island Country of Cuba | International Space Station

The Caribbean Island Country of Cuba | International Space Station

Cuba, as seen from the International Space Station by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy for her Minerva Mission. She shared this image on October 10, 2022, with the following caption:

"Cuba, ¿qué bolá? Despite some clouds, a sunglint makes the island of Cuba and the surrounding Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean gleam."

The Republic of Cuba is an island country consisting of the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Population: 11 million

Learn about Samantha's Minerva Mission: https://bit.ly/MissionMinerva

Samantha Cristoforetti's Biography (ESA)

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Samantha_Cristoforetti

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA-S. Cristoforetti

Release Date: October 10, 2022

#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #Planet #Cuba #Island #Sunglint #Country #Caribbean #CaribbeanSea #AtlanticOcean #ESA #Astronaut #SamanthaCristoforetti #MissionMinerva #Italy #Italia #ASI #Photography #Art #Science #HumanSpaceflight #Astronauts #Expedition68 #Europe #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

NASA's Venus Aerobot Prototype Aces Test Flights over Nevada | JPL

NASA's Venus Aerobot Prototype Aces Test Flights over Nevada | JPL

In July 2022, technologists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California and Near Space Corporation in Tillamook, Oregon, carried out two successful flights of an aerial robotic balloon, or aerobot, over Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The prototype is a scaled-down version of an aerobot that could one day take to Venus’ skies, exploring an atmospheric region too low for orbiters.

During the flights, the aerobot was able to raise and lower its altitude by pumping helium from an inner reservoir into the surrounding outer balloon. As the flexible outer balloon material expanded, the aerobot gained buoyancy and increased in altitude; as helium was pumped back into the reservoir, the balloon’s buoyancy decreased, lowering its altitude.

More about JPL’s Venus aerobot project:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpls-venus-aerial-robotic-balloon-prototype-aces-test-flights

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Near Space Corporation

Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds

Release Date: October 10, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Venus #Planet #Atmosphere #Aerobot #Robotics #Balloon #Prototype #FlightTest #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #Exploration #JPL #Caltech #Nevada #UnitedStates #Technology #Engineering #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Hubble Captures Fading of The Stingray Nebula

Hubble Captures Fading of The Stingray Nebula

This video morphs archival data from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope to reveal that the nebula Hen 3-1357, nicknamed the Stingray Nebula, has faded precipitously over just the past two decades. Witnessing such a swift rate of change in a planetary nebula is exceedingly rare, say researchers.

The video presents the Stingray Nebula as it was observed by Hubble in 2016 and then fades to Hubble's view from 1996. When compared, these Hubble images show a nebula that has drastically dimmed in brightness and changed shape. Bright blue shells of gas near the center of the nebula have all but disappeared, and the wavy edges that earned this nebula its aquatic-themed name are virtually gone. The young nebula no longer pops against the black velvet background of the distant Universe.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), B. Balick (University of Washington), M. Guerrero (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía), and G. Ramos-Larios (Universidad de Guadalajara), M. Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 20 seconds

Release Date: December 3, 2020

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Nebula #PlanetaryNebula #StingrayNebula #Hen31357 #Ara #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zooming into The Stingray Nebula | Hubble

Zooming into The Stingray Nebula | Hubble

This video zooms into the nebula Hen 3-1357, nicknamed the Stingray Nebula, which has faded precipitously over just the past two decades. Witnessing such a swift rate of change in a planetary nebula is exceedingly rare, say researchers.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey, Nick Risinger

Duration: 50 seconds

Release Date: December 3, 2020

The Stingray Nebula | Hubble

The Stingray Nebula | Hubble

Archival data from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope reveal that the nebula Hen 3-1357, nicknamed the Stingray Nebula, has faded precipitously over just the past two decades. Witnessing such a swift rate of change in a planetary nebula is exceedingly rare, say researchers.

This image captured by Hubble in 1996 demonstrates how the nebula appeared before it dimmed drastically in brightness and changed shape. At this time, it was characterized by bright blue shells of gas near the center of the nebula.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), B. Balick (University of Washington), M. Guerrero (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía), and G. Ramos-Larios (Universidad de Guadalajara)

Release Date: December 3, 2020

China Launches Solar Observatory ASO-S to Unravel the Sun's Secrets

China Launches New Solar Observatory ASO-S to Unravel the Sun's Secrets

A Long March-2D rocket launched the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), nicknamed, Kuafu-1, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province, China, on October 8, 2022, at 23:43 UTC (9 October, at 07:43 local time). It has successfully entered its planned orbit. The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) will “conduct observations on the solar magnetic field, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, to support the forecasting of catastrophic space weather.”

The probe, nicknamed Kuafu-1, will operate in an orbit 720 kilometers from Earth, permanently facing the sun. It has been described by its principal scientist, Gan Weiqun, as the world's first near-Earth satellite telescope to simultaneously monitor solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and the sun's magnetic field. It can directly "look" at the sun, observing the sun by means of telemetry and remote sensing, and thus image it, Gan explained. It complements NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018. Parker is located very close to the sun and cannot perform direct imaging.

In 2021, China also launched an experimental solar satellite called Xihe. It operates in a sun-synchronous orbit at an average altitude of 517 kilometers with a solar Hα (H-alpha) imaging spectrometer as its main scientific payload.

All of the probe data will be freely available to scientists around the world after the ASO-S is commissioned, according to principal scientist, Gan Weiqun.

Credit: GLOBALink

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: October 9, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Sun #Star #China #中国 #ASOS #先进天基太阳天文台 #Kuafu1 #Spacecraft #Probe #SolarObservatory #Satellite #Telescope #SpaceWeather #SolarFlares #CoronalMassEjections #MagneticField #Heliophysics #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Quintuplet Cluster near the Milky Way Galaxy's Center | Hubble

The Quintuplet Cluster near the Milky Way Galaxy's Center | Hubble

This 4-million-year-old cluster, The Quintuplet Cluster, is more dispersed than the Arches Cluster. It has stars on the verge of blowing up as supernovae. It is the home of the brightest star seen in the Milky Way, called the Pistol star.

Distance: 25,000 light years

Credit: Don Figer (Space Telescope Science Institute) and NASA/European Space Agency (ESA)

Release Date: September 16, 1999

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #StarCluster #QuintupletCluster #VariableStars #PistolStar #V4650Sgr #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #History #STEM #Education

Zooming in on The Quintuplet Cluster | Hubble

Zooming in on The Quintuplet Cluster | Hubble

Beginning from the full splendor of the Milky Way, this video—in infrared—zooms in slowly on the Quintuplet Cluster. Although named for its five brightest stars, the cluster is home to hundreds more, especially massive young stars.

The cluster is located close to the Arches Cluster and is just 100 light-years from the center of our galaxy. Its proximity to the dust at the center of the galaxy means that much of its visible light is blocked, which helped to keep the cluster unknown until its discovery in 1990, when it was revealed by observations in the infrared. Infrared images of the cluster, like the one shown in this video, allow us to see through the obscuring dust to the hot stars in the cluster.

Credit: NASA & European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 56 seconds

Release Date: December 15, 2016

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #StarCluster #QuintupletCluster #VariableStars #PistolStar #V4650Sgr #Infrared #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Uncovering the Secrets of The Quintuplet Cluster | Hubble

Uncovering the Secrets of The Quintuplet Cluster | Hubble

Although this cluster of stars gained its name due to its five brightest stars, it is home to hundreds more. The huge number of massive young stars in the cluster is clearly captured in this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image.

The cluster is located close to the Arches Cluster and is just 100 light-years from the center of our galaxy. The cluster’s proximity to the dust at the center of the galaxy means that much of its visible light is blocked, which helped to keep the cluster unknown until its discovery in 1990, when it was revealed by observations in the infrared. Infrared images of the cluster, like the one shown here, allow us to see through the obscuring dust to the hot stars in the cluster.

The Quintuplet Cluster hosts two extremely rare luminous blue variable stars: the Pistol Star and the lesser known V4650 Sgr. If you were to draw a line horizontally through the center of this image from left to right, you could see the Pistol Star hovering just above the line about one third of the way along it. The Pistol Star is one of the most luminous known stars in the Milky Way and takes its name from the shape of the Pistol Nebula that it illuminates, but which is not visible in this infrared image. The exact age and future of the Pistol Star are uncertain, but it is expected to end in a supernova or even a hypernova in one to three million years.

The cluster also contains a number of red supergiants. These stars are among the largest in the galaxy and are burning their fuel at an incredible speed, meaning they will have a very short lifetime. Their presence suggests an average cluster age of nearly four million years. At the moment these stars are on the verge of exploding as supernovae. During their spectacular deaths they will release vast amounts of energy which, in turn, will heat the material—dust and gas—between the other stars.

This observation shows the Quintuplet Cluster in the infrared and demonstrates the leap in Hubble’s performance since its 1999 image of same object.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA

Release Date: July 13, 2015

Terzan 1 Star Cluster, Take 2 | Hubble

Terzan 1 Star Cluster, Take 2 | Hubble

Terzan 1 is a globular cluster that lies about 22,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. It is one of 11 globular clusters that were discovered by the Turkish-Armenian astronomer Agop Terzan between 1966 and 1971 when he was working in France, based mostly at Lyon Observatory.

Somewhat confusingly, the 11 Terzan globular clusters are numbered from Terzan 1 to Terzan 12. This is due to an error made by Terzan in 1971, when he rediscovered Terzan 5—a cluster he had already discovered and reported back in 1968—and named it Terzan 11. He published its discovery alongside those of Terzan 9, 10 and 12. He quickly realized his mistake, and attempted to have Terzan 12 renamed as Terzan 11. Unfortunately, he did not make it clear that Terzan 5 and Terzan 11 were one and the same, although another astronomer, Ivan Robert King, did publish a note to try and clear up the confusion. Nowadays, most papers recognize the original Terzan 5 and Terzan 12, and accept the oddity that there is no Terzan 11. There have, however, been instances of confusion in the scientific literature over the past few decades.

Terzan 1 is not a new target for Hubble—an image of the cluster was released back in 2015, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). That instrument was replaced by the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) during the 2009 Hubble servicing mission. WFC3 has both superior resolving power and a wider field of view than WFPC2, and the improvement is obvious in this fantastically detailed image.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, R. Cohen

Release Date: October 10, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Stars #StarCluster #Terzan1 #Scorpius #Constellation #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Astronomer #AgopTerzan #History #STEM #Education

Sunday, October 09, 2022

Jupiter with Moons Europa & Io | Juno Mission | NASA/JPL

Jupiter with Moons Europa & Io | Juno Mission | NASA/JPL

Jupiter and Moons Europa (left, above), and Io (right, below)

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the Juno mission for NASA. The mission's principal investigator is Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The mission is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.

Learn more about the Juno mission at: www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.org

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill

Release Date: October 7, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #Moons #Europa #Io #Juno #Spacecraft #Perijove9 #Exploration #SolarSystem #Technology #Engineering #JPL #UnitedStates #MSFC #Marshall #SwRI #CitizenScience #STEM #Education

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Tuesday, October 11, 2022

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