Mars Images: November 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL
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Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Mars Images: November 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL
Planet Mars: Exploring Aram Chaos | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Planet Mars: Exploring Aram Chaos | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The saying Λάθε βιώσας (“live hidden”) is attributed to Epicurus. Aram Chaos would be a good place to hide. (We used Modern Greek pronunciation to render the transliteration in the title card as “láthe viósas.”)
This is a non-narrated clip with ambient sound. Enhanced color image is less than 1 km (under a mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 272 km (169 mi). For full images including scale bars, visit the source link.
Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Duration: 2 minutes, 45 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 14, 2023
Monday, November 13, 2023
Blooming of The "Spare Tire" Nebula: IC 5148 | Gemini South Telescope
Blooming of The "Spare Tire" Nebula: IC 5148 | Gemini South Telescope
With small telescopes, this nebula looks like a bright central star with an outer ring. The mesmerizing layers of gas are faint. They are almost undetectable without the use of larger telescopes, and not with the clarity captured in this image using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South. Around the time IC 5148 was discovered by astronomers in 1894, researchers coined the term planetary nebula to refer to these giant gaseous balls that looked like giant planets. Today we know that these balls are in fact stellar remnants.
At the center of IC 5148 is a white dwarf, the hot core of the dying star, surrounded by asymmetrical gaseous ‘blooms’ and a faint halo ring. The predecessor of the white dwarf was likely a star of a similar mass to our Sun. At the end of that star’s life, the internal pressure imbalance resulted in the star swelling up into a red giant. As it grew, the outer layers of the gas and stellar material were pushed into space to form the nebula we see today. The central hole—the dark patch surrounding the star—is due to the pressure of the radiation from the star that pushes the surrounding gas away from the core and leaves a vacant space. The formation of the ring and the bow-like structures of gas are marks of the evolutionary history of IC 5148—but the mechanisms that created them remain a mystery to astronomers.
The International Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on two of the best observing sites on the planet. The Gemini South telescope is located on a mountain in the Chilean Andes called Cerro Pachón, where very dry air and negligible cloud cover make this another prime telescope location. Both of the Gemini telescopes have been designed to excel in a wide variety of optical and infrared capabilities. By incorporating technologies such as laser guide star adaptive optics and multi-object spectroscopy, astronomers in the Gemini partnership explore the universe in unprecedented depth and detail.
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Rodriguez (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)
Release Date: Nov. 1, 2023
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #IC5148 #PlanetaryNebula #Star #WhiteDwarf #Grus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #GeminiSouthTelescope #GMOS #GeminiObservatory #Chile #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
NASA's Artemis Moon Rocket Powerhouse: The SLS | Marshall Space Flight Center
NASA's Artemis Moon Rocket Powerhouse: The SLS | Marshall Space Flight Center
At 212 feet tall, the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is the backbone and powerhouse of the mega rocket that will power NASA’s Artemis mission to the Moon. Its two massive propellant tanks provide more than 733,000 gallons of propellant to the four RS-25 engines at the base of the rocket stage, producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust for the first eight minutes of flight. NASA and Boeing, the lead SLS core stage contractor, manufacture the core stage which is built at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
Watch this video to learn more about the capability of the SLS rocket and its dynamic core stage.
For more information about SLS, visit https://www.nasa.gov/sls
Learn more about the Artemis II Moon Mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii
Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Nov. 13, 2023
#NASA #Space #Moon #NASAArtemis #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #NASASLS #SpaceLaunchSystem #SLS #AerojetRocketdyne #Boeing #DeepSpace #Astronauts #MoonToMars #Science #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #MSFC #NASAMichoud #MAF #NewOrleans #Louisiana #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Panning across "The Dancer in Dorado": Spiral Galaxy NGC 1566 | Hubble
Panning across "The Dancer in Dorado": Spiral Galaxy NGC 1566 | Hubble
This vibrant and dynamic-looking image features the spiral galaxy NGC 1566. This is sometimes informally referred to as the ‘Spanish Dancer Galaxy’. NGC 1566 is a weakly-barred or intermediate spiral galaxy, meaning that it does not have either a clearly present or a clearly absent bar-shaped structure at its center. The galaxy owes its nickname to the vivid and dramatic swirling lines of its spiral arms. This could evoke the shapes and colors of a dancer’s moving form. NGC 1566 lies around 60 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado, and is also a member of the Dorado galaxy group.
Galaxy groups are assemblages of gravitationally bound galaxies. Groups differ from galaxy clusters in size and mass: galaxy clusters may contain hundreds of galaxies and groups may contain several tens of galaxies. Nevertheless, there is not a precise delineation between the definition of a galaxy group and a galaxy cluster. Astronomers have proposed that the definitions be sharpened up, with one suggestion that galaxy aggregations with less mass than 80 trillion Suns should qualify as galaxy groups.
The Dorado group has had a fluctuating membership over the past few decades, with scientific papers changing its list of constituent galaxies. To understand why it is so challenging for astronomers to pin down members of groups such as the Dorado group, we can imagine a photograph of an adult human and a large oak tree. We have foreknowledge of the approximate size of the person and the tree, so if we were to see a photo where the person appeared roughly the same size as the tree, then we would be able to guess that, in reality, the person was positioned much closer to the camera than the tree was, giving the false impression that they were the same size. When working out members of a galaxy group, astronomers are not necessarily equipped with the knowledge of the size of the individual galaxies, and so have to work out whether galaxies really are relatively close together in space, or whether some of them are actually much closer or much further away. This has become easier with more sophisticated observation techniques, but still sometimes presents a challenge.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, D. Calzetti and the LEGUS team, R. Chandar
Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 13, 2023
#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC1566 #Galaxies #Dorado #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1385: Two Views, Two Filters | Hubble
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1385: Two Views, Two Filters | Hubble
It is understandable to be a bit confused as to how the same galaxy, imaged twice by the same telescope, could be represented so differently in two different images. The reason is that—like all powerful telescopes used by professional astronomers for scientific research—Hubble is equipped with a range of filters. These highly specialized components have little similarity to filters used on social media. Those software-powered filters are added after the image has been taken, and cause information to be lost from the image as certain colors are exaggerated or reduced for aesthetic effect. In contrast, telescope filters are pieces of physical hardware that only allow very specific wavelengths of light to enter the telescope as the data are being collected. This does cause light to be lost, but means that astronomers can probe extremely specific parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is very useful for a number of reasons. For example, physical processes within certain elements emit light at very specific wavelengths, and filters can be optimized to these wavelengths.
Image Description: A spiral galaxy. It has several arms that are mixed together and an overall oval shape. The center of the galaxy glows brightly. There are bright pink patches and filaments of dark red dust spread across the center.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST team
Release Dates: Nov. 13, 2023 & Aug. 16, 2021
#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC1385 #SpiralGalaxy #Barred #Fornax #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
Sunday, November 12, 2023
The Ghosts of Star Gamma Cassiopeia
The Ghosts of Star Gamma Cassiopeia
Gamma Cassiopeiae shines high in northern autumn evening skies. It is the brightest spiky star in this telescopic field of view toward the constellation Cassiopeia. Gamma Cas shares the ethereal-looking scene with ghostly interstellar clouds of gas and dust, IC 59 (top left) and IC 63. About 600 light-years distant, the clouds are not actually ghosts. They are slowly disappearing though, eroding under the influence of energetic radiation from hot and luminous gamma Cas. Gamma Cas is physically located only 3 to 4 light-years from the nebulae. Slightly closer to gamma Cas, IC 63 is dominated by red H-alpha light emitted as hydrogen atoms ionized by the star's ultraviolet radiation recombine with electrons. Farther from the star, IC 59 shows proportionally less H-alpha emission but more of the characteristic blue tint of dust reflected star light. The cosmic stage spans over 1 degree or 10 light-years at the estimated distance of gamma Cas and friends.
Image Credit & Copyright: Guillaume Gruntz, Jean-François Bax
Guillaume Gruntz's website: https://www.astrobin.com/users/GuillaumeGz/
Jean-François Bax's website: https://www.astrobin.com/users/GuillaumeGz/
Release Date: October 28, 2023
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Star #GammaCassiopeiae #GammaCas #Nebulas #Nebulae #IC59 #IC63 #Cassiopeia #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotographer #Astrophotography #STEM #Education #APoD
How NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Will Map the Cosmos | Jet Propulsion Laboratory
How NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Will Map the Cosmos | Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA’s upcoming SPHEREx space telescope mission will map the entire sky like no spacecraft before it. To do that, SPHEREx needs specialized hardware. Three concentric cones called photon shields surround the telescope and block light and heat from the Sun and Earth. Without those shields, the telescope’s detectors would be blinded.
SPHEREx also needs to be cold because it detects infrared light. Invisible to human eyes, infrared is emitted by warm objects on Earth and out in the universe. It is also emitted by the telescope. Keeping it cold reduces the infrared glow, which lets SPHEREx see faint objects that are really far away.
SPHEREx stands for the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, SPHEREx is set to launch no later than April 2025.
For more information about the SPHEREx mission, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex
Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Duration: 2 minutes, 42 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 9, 2023
#NASA #Space #SPHEREx #Astronomy #Science #SurveyMission #Galaxies #Stars #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SPHERExSpaceTelescopes #SpaceTelescopes #Infrared #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #KARI #Korea #한국 #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Spiral Galaxy NGC 3310 in Ursa Major | Schulman Telescope
Spiral Galaxy NGC 3310 in Ursa Major | Schulman Telescope
Optics: Schulman 32-inch RCOS Telescope
Camera: SBIG STX16803
The 0.81 m (32 in) Schulman Telescope is a Ritchey-Chrétien reflector built by RC Optical Systems and installed in 2010. It is operated by the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter and is Arizona's largest dedicated public observatory. The Schulman Telescope was designed from inception for remote control over the Internet by amateur and professional astrophotographers worldwide. It is currently the world's largest telescope dedicated for this purpose.
Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Caption Acknowledgements: UA/Wikipedia
Image Date: March 1, 2011
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC3310 #SpiralGalaxy #StarburstGalaxy #UrsaMajor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #UA #MountLemmonObservatory #SchulmanTelescope #Astrophotographer #AdamBlock #Arizona #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Earthrise 1968: NASA Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman (1928-2023) Tribute
Earthrise 1968: NASA Apollo 8 Commander Frank Borman (1928-2023) Tribute
NASA astronaut Frank Borman (1928-1963) led the first team of American astronauts to circle the moon—extending humanity's horizons into deep space. His Apollo 8 crew rocketed into orbit on December 21, 1968, and after circling the moon 10 times on Christmas Eve, it was time to come home. On Christmas morning, mission control waited anxiously for word that Apollo 8’s engine burn to leave lunar orbit had worked. They soon got confirmation when Lovell radioed, “Roger, please be informed there is a Santa Claus.”
The crew splashed down in the Pacific on December 27. A lunar landing was still months away, but for the first time ever, humans from Earth had visited the moon and returned home safely.
Learn more about Frank Borman:
https://www.nasa.gov/former-astronaut-frank-borman/
Read about NASA's Apollo 8 Mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-8/
Image Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Johnson Space Center
Image Dates: Sept. 9-Dec. 24, 1968
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #Moon #Earthrise #Environment #ApolloProgram #Apollo8 #Astronaut #FrankBorman #JimLovell #BillAnders #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #History #Photography #STEM #Education
Shenzhou 17 Astronauts: Behind the Scenes | China's Tiangong Space Station
Shenzhou 17 Astronauts: Behind the Scenes | China's Tiangong Space Station
Busy in space—Shenzhou 17 astronauts in their daily work at the Tiangong Space Station (CSS). The Shenzhou-17 crew is expected to stay in orbit for nearly six months, carrying out several extravehicular activities, and conducting a large number of experiments and tests in areas of basic physics in a microgravity environment, materials science, life science, space medicine and space technology.
Shenzhou-17 Crew:
Hongbo Tang (Commander)
Shengjie Tang (Mission Specialist)
Xinlin Jiang (Mission Specialist)
Video Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA) Watcher
Duration: 1 minute, 44 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 11, 2023
#NASA #Space #China #中国 #Shenzhou17 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #HongboTang #ShengjieTang #XinlinJiang #SpaceLaboratory #ChinaSpaceStation #CSS #TiangongSpaceStation #中国空间站 #CMSA #国家航天局 #Science #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Collins Aerospace NextGen Spacesuit for The Moon & Mars
Collins Aerospace NextGen Spacesuit for The Moon & Mars
Collins Aerospace is dedicated to inspiring and advancing the future of space for all with our next generation space suit, designed by astronauts for astronauts.
Collins Aerospace is building new space suits for NASA's Artemis Moon Missions.
Learn more: https://collins.aero/3QSLRoU
Credit: Collins Aerospace
Duration: 2 minutes, 27 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 10, 2023
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #ISS #Microgravity #Moon #ArtemisProgram #Astronauts #Spacesuits #xEVAS #EVA #Spacewalks #Moonwalks #Marswalks #HumanSpaceflight #CollinsAerospace #MoonToMars #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video
A Red Arc of Light & The Milky Way over France
A Red Arc of Light & The Milky Way over France
This broad, luminous red arc was a surprising visitor to partly cloudy evening skies over northern France. Captured extending toward the zenith in a west-to-east mosaic of images from November 5, 2023,the faint atmospheric ribbon of light is an example of a Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arc. The rare night sky phenomenon was also spotted at unusually low latitudes around world, along with more dynamic auroral displays during an intense geomagnetic storm.
SAR arcs and their relation to auroral emissions have been explored by citizen science and satellite investigations. From altitudes substantially above the normal auroral glow, the deep red SAR emission is thought to be caused by strong heating due to currents flowing in planet Earth's inner magnetosphere. Beyond this SAR, the Milky Way arcs above the cloud banks along the horizon, a regular visitor to night skies over northern France.
Image Credit & Copyright: Julien Looten
Julien's website:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/julienlooten/
Release Date: Nov. 11, 2023
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #AtmosphericOptics #Physics #NorthernLights #StableAuroralRed #SAR #Stars #MilkyWayGalaxy #France #Astrophotography #JulienLooten #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #STEM #Education #APoD
NASA Sounding Rocket Launches into Alaskan Aurora
NASA Sounding Rocket Launches into Alaskan Aurora
The teams continue to support a second sounding rocket launch for BEAM-PIE, a mission for Los Alamos National Laboratory that will use an electron beam to create radio waves, measuring how atmospheric conditions modulate them. The data is key to interpreting measurements from many other missions.
NASA’s Sounding Rockets Program, funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division, is managed at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, under NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Image Credit: NASA/Lee Wingfield
Image Date: Nov. 8, 2023
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Suborbital #Earth #Sun #Heliophysics #PokerFlatResearchRange #Fairbanks #Alaska #SoundingRocket #RocketLaunch #DissipationMission #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #GSFC #NASAGoddard #WFF #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
Friday, November 10, 2023
Planet Jupiter Profile | Hubble Space Telescope
Planet Jupiter Profile | Hubble Space Telescope
Learn more: https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter
Credits: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 15 seconds
Release Date: Aug. 2, 2021
#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Hubble #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #GreatRedSpot #SolarSystem #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Planet Jupiter in Ultraviolet | Hubble Space Telescope
Planet Jupiter in Ultraviolet | Hubble Space Telescope
This image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. The Great Red Spot appears red to the human eye, however in this ultraviolet image it appears darker because high altitude haze particles absorb light at these wavelengths. The reddish, wavy polar hazes are absorbing slightly less of this light due to differences in either particle size, composition, or altitude. The data used to create this ultraviolet image is part of a Hubble proposal that looked at Jupiter’s stealthy superstorm system. Hubble has a long history of observing the outer planets. From the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts to studying Jupiter's storms, Hubble's decades-long career and unique vantage point provide astronomers with valuable data to chart the evolution of this dynamic planet.
Hubble’s ultraviolet-observing capabilities allow astronomers to study the short, high-energy wavelengths of light beyond what the human eye can see. Ultraviolet light reveals fascinating cosmic phenomena, including light from the hottest and youngest stars embedded in local galaxies; the composition, densities, and temperatures of the material between stars; and the evolution of galaxies.
This is a false-color image because the human eye cannot detect ultraviolet light. Therefore, colors in the visible light spectrum were assigned to the images, each taken with a different ultraviolet filter. In this case, the assigned colors for each filter are: Blue: F225W, Green: F275W, and Red: F343N.
Credits: NASA, ESA, M. Wong (University of California - Berkeley), G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America); CC BY 4.0
Release Date: Nov. 7, 2023
#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Hubble #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #Ultraviolet #SolarSystem #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education