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Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown with a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog.
This remarkably sharp image is a mixed cocktail of data from narrowband filters, capturing not only natural looking stars but details of the nebula's filamentary structures. The star in the center of Thor's Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years.
How NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Aircraft May Change the Future of High-Speed Flight
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is the product of decades of aeronautics and supersonic flight research. The X-59 is designed to be able to fly supersonic, or faster than the speed of sound, without producing a loud sonic boom, which occurs when aircraft fly at such speeds. Instead, the X-59 is designed to reduce that boom to a quieter sonic “thump.”
The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission that seeks to understand the public’s response to quieter supersonic flight and provide data to regulators to consider removing the current ban on commercial supersonic flight over land, opening the future to reduced flight times around the country and the world.
The X-59's goal is to help change existing national and international aviation rules that ban commercial supersonic flight over land.
With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. Then, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.
NASA’s Artemis II Crew:
Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.
Artemis II will be NASA’s first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon to verify today’s capabilities for humans to explore deep space and pave the way for long-term exploration and science on the lunar surface.
US-India Partnership: NISAR—Tracking Earth’s Changes from Space | NASA/ISRO
NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have teamed up to create a powerful new space mission that will track our changing Earth in fine detail. The satellite, called NISAR, will use an advanced radar system to deepen our understanding of deforestation, shrinking glaciers and sea ice loss, natural hazards, climate change, and other global vital signs.
Short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR features two radar instruments: one from ISRO, and one built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. Peering through cloud cover and vegetation, the satellite will bounce radar signals off nearly all the planet’s land and ice twice every 12 days, monitoring motions of the surface down to fractions of an inch along with changes in other characteristics.
NISAR is undergoing final integration and testing at ISRO’s satellite facility in Bengaluru, India, and will launch from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. Launch is expected in early 2024; the specific date will be announced by ISRO.
NISAR’s payload will be the most advanced radar system ever launched as part of a NASA science mission, and it will feature the largest-ever radar antenna of its kind: a drum-shaped, wire mesh reflector nearly 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter that will extend from a 30-foot (9-meter) boom.
The mission’s science instruments consist of L- and S-band radar, so named to indicate the wavelengths of their signals. ISRO built the S-band radar, which it shipped to JPL in March 2021. Engineers spent much of the last two years integrating the instrument with the JPL-built L-band system, then conducting tests to verify they work well together.
Once in operation, NISAR will be able to collect measurements day and night, in all weather conditions, and its trove of data will help researchers better understand a broad range of Earth science topics, including landslides, groundwater loss, and the carbon cycle.
More About the Mission
NISAR is the first-ever collaboration between NASA and ISRO on an Earth-observing mission. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, leads the U.S. component of the project and is providing the mission’s L-band SAR. NASA is also providing the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the S-band SAR, the launch vehicle, and associated launch services and satellite mission operations.
Layered Bedrock on Mars | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Layered sediments are the key to the puzzle of Martian history. They tell us about the conditions that existed when the sediments were deposited, and how they changed over time. This image shows an eroded mesa made up of rhythmically layered bedrock that seems to indicate cyclic deposition. The layers are accentuated by recent dark sand deposits that have accumulated on the benches of the brighter sediments. The plateau is topped by a younger set of layers that appear to be finer and less blocky than the older layers below, suggesting a different depositional environment. Similar layered sediments are found in nearby craters in southwestern Arabia Terra.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument, that was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
“For 17 years, MRO has been revealing Mars to us as no one had seen it before,” said the mission’s project scientist, Rich Zurek of JPL.
Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
United Launch Alliance Vulcan Rocket Flight Test Highlights
"United Launch Alliance (ULA) marked the beginning of a new era of space capabilities with the successful launch of its next generation Vulcan rocket on Jan. 8, 2024, at 2:18 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Vulcan provides industry-leading capabilities to deliver any payload, at any time, to any orbit."
As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis program, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket successfully launched the first U.S. commercial robotic launch for Artemis lunar science missions. Vulcan has supported a NASA science mission via Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. This was the ULA Vulcan rocket's first certification mission (Cert-1).
Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One is designed to carry NASA and commercial payloads for studies of the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment of the lunar surface.
Learn more about Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander (Adobe PDF):
Quieting the Boom: Meet NASA's X-59 Supersonic Aircraft | 60 Second Science
What if you could fly from coast to coast in half the time? NASA's Quesst Mission is working to see if that vision can become reality.
Meet the X-59, NASA's quiet supersonic aircraft that will turn sonic booms into sonic "thumps" and could one day cut flight times in half.
The X-59's goal is to expand supersonic flight and provide regulators with data to help change existing national and international aviation rules that ban commercial supersonic flight over land.
ULA Vulcan Rocket Flight Test for NASA Artemis Robotic Moon Missions
As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis program, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket successfully launched at 2:18 a.m. EST Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This is the first U.S. commercial robotic launch for Artemis lunar science missions. Vulcan has supported a NASA science mission via Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. This was the ULA Vulcan rocket's first certification mission (Cert-1).
Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One is designed to carry NASA and commercial payloads for studies of the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment of the lunar surface.
Learn more about Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander (Adobe PDF):
NASA Telescopes Chase Down "Green Monster" in Cassiopeia A Star's Debris
Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years. A curious structure there was first identified in Webb’s infrared data from April 2023. The origin of this feature, dubbed the “Green Monster” because of its resemblance to the wall in the left field of Fenway Park, was not clear. However, by combining the Webb data with x-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, researchers think they have hunted down the source of the Green Monster.
While the astronomers already suspected the Green Monster was created by a blast wave from the exploded star slamming into material surrounding it, the Chandra data helped clinch the case. They showed that the properties of the X-rays from the Green Monster are similar to the X-rays from the blast wave rather than from the supernova debris.
When a massive star exploded to create Cas A about 340 years ago, from Earth’s perspective, it created a ball of matter and light that expanded outward. In the outer parts of Cas A the blast wave is striking surrounding gas that was ejected by the star between about 10,000 and 100,000 years before the explosion.
Chandra detects debris from the star because it is heated to tens of millions of degrees by shock waves, akin to sonic booms from a supersonic plane. Webb can see some material that has not been affected by shock waves, what can be called “pristine” debris. Much of this lies behind the Green Monster. This means the combination of Webb and Chandra data gives a fuller census of debris from the exploded star.
Astronomers will continue to use every tool available—including Chandra and Webb—to study this object that has fascinated them for years.
Arp 122: A "Herculean" Galactic Merger | Hubble Space Telescope
This Hubble image features Arp 122, a peculiar galaxy that is made up of two galaxies—NGC 6040, the tilted, warped spiral galaxy and LEDA 59642, the round, face-on spiral—that are in the middle of a collision in the constellation Hercules. This dramatic cosmic encounter is located at the very safe distance of roughly 570 million light-years from Earth. Peeking in at the corner is the elliptical galaxy NGC 6041, a central member of the galaxy cluster that Arp 122 resides in, but otherwise not participating in this monster merger.
Image Description: Two spiral galaxies are merging together at the right side of the image. One is seen face-on and is circular in shape. The other seems to lie in front of the first one. This galaxy is seen as a disc tilted away from the viewer and it is partially warped. In the lower-left corner, cut off by the frame, a large elliptical galaxy appears as light radiating from a point. Many small galaxies cover the background.
Galactic collisions and mergers are monumentally energetic and dramatic events, but they take place on a very slow timescale. For example, the Milky Way is on track to collide with its nearest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), but these two galaxies have a good four billion years to go before they actually meet. The process of colliding and merging will not be a quick one either. It may take hundreds of millions of years to unfold. These collisions take so long because of the truly massive distances involved.
Galaxies are composed of stars and their solar systems, dust and gas. In galactic collisions, therefore, these constituent components may experience enormous changes in the gravitational forces acting on them. In time, this completely changes the structure of the two (or more) colliding galaxies, and sometimes ultimately results in a single, merged galaxy. This may well be what results from the collision pictured in this image. Galaxies that result from mergers are thought to have a regular or elliptical structure, as the merging process disrupts more complex structures (such as those observed in spiral galaxies). It would be fascinating to know what Arp 122 will look like once this collision is complete . . . but that will not happen for a long, long time.
Credit: European Space Agency/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Launch of First NASA Artemis Robotic Moon Mission | ULA Vulcan Rocket
As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis program, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket successfully launched at 2:18 a.m. EST Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This is the first U.S. commercial robotic launch to the Moon’s surface. Vulcan has supported a NASA science mission via Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. This was the ULA Vulcan rocket's first certification mission (Cert-1).
Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One is carrying NASA and commercial payloads to study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment of the lunar surface.
Learn more about Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander (Adobe PDF):
Successful Launch of First NASA Artemis Robotic Moon Mission | ULA
As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis program, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket successfully launched at 2:18 a.m. EST Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This is the first U.S. commercial robotic launch to the Moon’s surface. Vulcan is supporting a NASA science mission via Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. This is the ULA Vulcan rocket's first certification mission (Cert-1).
Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One is carrying NASA and commercial payloads to study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties, and hydrogen abundance of the lunar regolith, magnetic fields, and the radiation environment of the lunar surface.
Learn more about Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander (Adobe PDF):
This sequence starts with a broad view of the southern skies. We close in on an apparently empty region of sky in the faint constellation of Sculptor. As we zoom in further we can start to make out a cloud of faint galaxies that is revealed in the final NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image to be a spectacularly rich merging cluster of galaxies called Abell 2744, and nicknamed Pandora's Cluster. This remarkable object seems to be the result of the collision of at least four separate galaxy clusters.
Distance: 4 billion light years
Credit: ESO/NASA/ESA and J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)/D. Coe (STScI)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/A. Fujii
This video shows a composite image of Hubble and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) observations of galaxy cluster Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster. This remarkable object seems to be the result of the collision of at least four separate galaxy clusters.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) and D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)
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