Extraterrestrial Fireworks In the nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, a massive star has exploded as a supernova, and begun to dissipate its interior into a spectacular display of colorful filaments. The supernova remnant (SNR), known as “E0102” for short, is the greenish-blue shell of debris just below the center of the Hubble image. Its name is derived from its cataloged placement (or coordinates) in the celestial sphere. More formally known as 1E0102.2-7219, it is located almost 50 light-years (15 parsecs) away from of the edge of the massive star-forming region, N 76, also known as Henize 1956 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. This delicate structure glowing a multitude of lavenders and peach hues, resides in the upper right of the image. The composition and thus, the coloring, of the diffuse remnant in comparison to its star-forming neighbor is due to the presence of very large quantities of oxygen compared to hydrogen. E0102 is a member of the oxygen-rich class of SNRs showing strong oxygen and other more metal-like abundances in its optical and X-ray spectra, and an absence of hydrogen and helium. N 76 in contrast is made up primarily of glowing hydrogen emission. Full Article Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)

Extraterrestrial Fireworks

In the nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, a massive star has exploded as a supernova, and begun to dissipate its interior into a spectacular display of colorful filaments.

The supernova remnant (SNR), known as “E0102” for short, is the greenish-blue shell of debris just below the center of the Hubble image. Its name is derived from its cataloged placement (or coordinates) in the celestial sphere. More formally known as 1E0102.2-7219, it is located almost 50 light-years (15 parsecs) away from of the edge of the massive star-forming region, N 76, also known as Henize 1956 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. This delicate structure glowing a multitude of lavenders and peach hues, resides in the upper right of the image.

The composition and thus, the coloring, of the diffuse remnant in comparison to its star-forming neighbor is due to the presence of very large quantities of oxygen compared to hydrogen. E0102 is a member of the oxygen-rich class of SNRs showing strong oxygen and other more metal-like abundances in its optical and X-ray spectra, and an absence of hydrogen and helium. N 76 in contrast is made up primarily of glowing hydrogen emission.

Full Article

Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)

May/24/2013, 5pm with 82 Notes
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The Engine Burns Blue This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA’s Dawn mission to the asteroid belt. This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Engine Burns Blue

This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA’s Dawn mission to the asteroid belt.

This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

May/24/2013, 5pm with 71 Notes
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A Hidden Population of Exotic Neutron Stars

A magnetar called SGR 0418+5729 (SGR 0418 for short) has been shown to have the lowest surface magnetic field ever found for this type of neutron star.

This graphic shows an exotic object in our galaxy called SGR 0418+5729 (SGR 0418 for short). As described in our press release, SGR 0418 is a magnetar, a type of neutron star that has a relatively slow spin rate and generates occasional large blasts of X-rays.

The only plausible source for the energy emitted in these outbursts is the magnetic energy stored in the star. Most magnetars have extremely high magnetic fields on their surface that are ten to a thousand times stronger than for the average neutron star. New data shows that SGR 0418 doesn’t fit that pattern. It has a surface magnetic field similar to that of mainstream neutron stars.

In the image above, data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows SGR 0418 as a pink source in the middle. Optical data from the William Herschel telescope in La Palma and infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope are shown in red, green and blue.

Below,  an artist’s impression showing a close-up view of SGR 0418. This illustration highlights the weak surface magnetic field of the magnetar, and the relatively strong, wound-up magnetic field lurking in the hotter interior of the star. The X-ray emission seen with Chandra comes from a small hot spot, not shown in the illustration. At the end of the outburst this spot has a radius of only about 160 meters, compared with a radius for the whole star of about 12 km.

Full Article

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CSIC-IEEC/N.Rea et al; Optical: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma/WHT; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

May/23/2013, 6pm with 158 Notes
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Hubble reveals the Ring Nebula’s true shape In this composite image, visible-light observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are combined with infrared data from the ground-based Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona to assemble a dramatic view of the well-known Ring Nebula. The Ring Nebula’s distinctive shape makes it a popular illustration for astronomy books. But new observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the glowing gas shroud around an old, dying, sun-like star reveal a new twist.Full Article Credit: NASA, ESA, C.R. Robert O’Dell (Vanderbilt University), G.J. Ferland (University of Kentucky), W.J. Henney and M. Peimbert (National Autonomous University of Mexico)

Hubble reveals the Ring Nebula’s true shape

In this composite image, visible-light observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are combined with infrared data from the ground-based Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona to assemble a dramatic view of the well-known Ring Nebula.

The Ring Nebula’s distinctive shape makes it a popular illustration for astronomy books. But new observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the glowing gas shroud around an old, dying, sun-like star reveal a new twist.

Full Article

Credit: NASA, ESA, C.R. Robert O’Dell (Vanderbilt University), G.J. Ferland (University of Kentucky), W.J. Henney and M. Peimbert (National Autonomous University of Mexico)

May/23/2013, 6pm with 369 Notes
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This “lightbulb” Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) shows the three classical parts of a CME: leading edge, void, and core. In coronagraph images, direct sunlight is blocked by an occulter, revealing the surrounding faint corona. The approximate size of the Sun is represented by the white circle. Taken on February 27, 2000 by the LASCO C3 coronagraph. Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA)

This “lightbulb” Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) shows the three classical parts of a CME: leading edge, void, and core. In coronagraph images, direct sunlight is blocked by an occulter, revealing the surrounding faint corona. The approximate size of the Sun is represented by the white circle. Taken on February 27, 2000 by the LASCO C3 coronagraph.

Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA)

(Source: nascom.nasa.gov)

May/23/2013, 5pm with 77 Notes
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Spherical Ethylene Diffusion Flame in Microgravity This is an image of a spherical diffusion flame of ethylene burning in air in the NASA GRC 2.2 s drop tower. The image was recorded about 1.4 s after ignition. The ethylene flowrate is 1.5 mg/s and the scale is revealed by the 6.5 mm porous sphere visible in the image. The image was recorded using a Nikon D100 digital single-lens reflex camera with a 125 ms exposure. Credit: P.B. Sunderland (University of Maryland), D.L. Urban and D.P. Stocker (NASA Glenn Research Center), B.H. Chao (University of Hawaii) and R.L. Axelbaum (Washington University)

Spherical Ethylene Diffusion Flame in Microgravity

This is an image of a spherical diffusion flame of ethylene burning in air in the NASA GRC 2.2 s drop tower. The image was recorded about 1.4 s after ignition. The ethylene flowrate is 1.5 mg/s and the scale is revealed by the 6.5 mm porous sphere visible in the image. The image was recorded using a Nikon D100 digital single-lens reflex camera with a 125 ms exposure.

Credit: P.B. Sunderland (University of Maryland), D.L. Urban and D.P. Stocker (NASA Glenn Research Center), B.H. Chao (University of Hawaii) and R.L. Axelbaum (Washington University)

May/22/2013, 5pm with 59 Notes
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An Expanding Bubble in Space A star 40 times more massive than our sun is blowing a giant bubble of material into space. In this colorful picture, the Hubble Telescope captured a glimpse of the expanding bubble, dubbed the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635). The beefy star [lower center] is embedded in the bright blue bubble. The stellar powerhouse is so hot that it is quickly shedding material into space. The dense gas surrounding the star is shaping the castoff material into a bubble. The bubble’s surface is not smooth like a soap bubble’s. Its rippled appearance is due to encounters with gases of different thickness. The nebula is 6 light-years wide and is expanding at 4 million miles per hour (7 million kilometers per hour). The nebula is 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. Image Credit: NASA, Donald Walter (South Carolina State University), Paul Scowen and Brian Moore (Arizona State University)

An Expanding Bubble in Space

A star 40 times more massive than our sun is blowing a giant bubble of material into space. In this colorful picture, the Hubble Telescope captured a glimpse of the expanding bubble, dubbed the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635). The beefy star [lower center] is embedded in the bright blue bubble. The stellar powerhouse is so hot that it is quickly shedding material into space. The dense gas surrounding the star is shaping the castoff material into a bubble. The bubble’s surface is not smooth like a soap bubble’s. Its rippled appearance is due to encounters with gases of different thickness. The nebula is 6 light-years wide and is expanding at 4 million miles per hour (7 million kilometers per hour). The nebula is 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia.

Image Credit: NASA, Donald Walter (South Carolina State University), Paul Scowen and Brian Moore (Arizona State University)

May/22/2013, 4pm with 511 Notes
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Cassini’s Private Eclipse For this movie, Cassini pointed its cameras toward Dione to witness its distant sibling moon Rhea briefly pass behind in a series of 32 individual frames taken over 17 minutes. Four individual frames from the eclipse are shown at bottom.Rhea (1,528 kilometers, 949 miles across) is larger than Dione (1,123 kilometers, 698 miles across), but also is farther away as seen here – thus, the two moons appear to be roughly the same angular size.The view shows principally the anti-Saturn side of Dione, and the Saturn-facing side of far-off Rhea. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Cassini’s Private Eclipse

For this movie, Cassini pointed its cameras toward Dione to witness its distant sibling moon Rhea briefly pass behind in a series of 32 individual frames taken over 17 minutes. Four individual frames from the eclipse are shown at bottom.

Rhea (1,528 kilometers, 949 miles across) is larger than Dione (1,123 kilometers, 698 miles across), but also is farther away as seen here – thus, the two moons appear to be roughly the same angular size.

The view shows principally the anti-Saturn side of Dione, and the Saturn-facing side of far-off Rhea.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

May/20/2013, 11am with 64 Notes
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Intense Color on Rhea

This intense false-color view highlights and enhances color variations across the intensely cratered and cracked surface of Rhea.

To create the false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single black and white picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This “color map” was then superposed over a clear-filter image. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy soil.

Wispy markings were seen on the trailing hemispheres of both Rhea and Dione in images taken by the Voyager spacecraft, and were hypothesized by some researchers to be the result of material extruded onto the surface by ice volcanism. Cassini’s earlier revelation of the braided fractures on Dione led to speculation that Rhea’s wisps might also be created by fractures.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

May/20/2013, 11am with 123 Notes
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Deep Space Station 35 Being Installed An animation, captured from a live webcam, of the Deep Space Station (DSS) 35 antenna being installed  in Canberra, Australia. Located at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, the 125 tonne parabolic dish was lifted into position on top of the antenna base structure for our newest antenna, Deep Space Station 35. Several webcams caught the action. The Canberra DSN on Youtube NASA / Assembled by Bill Dunford

Deep Space Station 35 Being Installed

An animation, captured from a live webcam, of the Deep Space Station (DSS) 35 antenna being installed  in Canberra, Australia. Located at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, the 125 tonne parabolic dish was lifted into position on top of the antenna base structure for our newest antenna, Deep Space Station 35. Several webcams caught the action.

The Canberra DSN on Youtube

NASA / Assembled by Bill Dunford

May/20/2013, 11am with 35 Notes
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Black Hole-Powered Jets Plow Into Galaxy This composite image of a galaxy illustrates how the intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can be tapped to generate immense power. The image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), optical light obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (gold) and radio waves from the NSF’s Very Large Array (pink). This multi-wavelength view shows 4C+29.30, a galaxy located some 850 million light years from Earth. The radio emission comes from two jets of particles that are speeding at millions of miles per hour away from a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. The estimated mass of the black hole is about 100 million times the mass of our Sun. The ends of the jets show larger areas of radio emission located outside the galaxy. The X-ray data show a different aspect of this galaxy, tracing the location of hot gas. The bright X-rays in the center of the image mark a pool of million-degree gas around the black hole. Some of this material may eventually be consumed by the black hole, and the magnetized, whirlpool of gas near the black hole could in turn, trigger more output to the radio jet. Most of the low-energy X-rays from the vicinity of the black hole are absorbed by dust and gas, probably in the shape of a giant doughnut around the black hole. This doughnut, or torus blocks all the optical light produced near the black hole, so astronomers refer to this type of source as a hidden or buried black hole. The optical light seen in the image is from the stars in the galaxy. Image Credit: NASA

Black Hole-Powered Jets Plow Into Galaxy

This composite image of a galaxy illustrates how the intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can be tapped to generate immense power. The image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), optical light obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (gold) and radio waves from the NSF’s Very Large Array (pink).

This multi-wavelength view shows 4C+29.30, a galaxy located some 850 million light years from Earth. The radio emission comes from two jets of particles that are speeding at millions of miles per hour away from a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. The estimated mass of the black hole is about 100 million times the mass of our Sun. The ends of the jets show larger areas of radio emission located outside the galaxy.

The X-ray data show a different aspect of this galaxy, tracing the location of hot gas. The bright X-rays in the center of the image mark a pool of million-degree gas around the black hole. Some of this material may eventually be consumed by the black hole, and the magnetized, whirlpool of gas near the black hole could in turn, trigger more output to the radio jet.

Most of the low-energy X-rays from the vicinity of the black hole are absorbed by dust and gas, probably in the shape of a giant doughnut around the black hole. This doughnut, or torus blocks all the optical light produced near the black hole, so astronomers refer to this type of source as a hidden or buried black hole. The optical light seen in the image is from the stars in the galaxy.

Image Credit: NASA

May/15/2013, 11pm with 77 Notes
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These images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory show four X-class flares emitted on May 12-14, 2013 – the first four X-class flares of 2013. Each panel is a blend of two images one showing light in the 171 Angstrom wavelength and the other in 131 Angstroms. Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO)

These images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory show four X-class flares emitted on May 12-14, 2013 – the first four X-class flares of 2013. Each panel is a blend of two images one showing light in the 171 Angstrom wavelength and the other in 131 Angstroms.


Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO)

May/15/2013, 5pm with 54 Notes
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NASA Connects Space Station and “Star Trek Into Darkness” Crews Science fiction and science fact come together for an epic Google+ Hangout live with the Space Station and the director, a writer and some actors in the film “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Join the discussion from noon to 12:45 p.m. EDT, May 16, about how work aboard the International Space Station is turning science fiction into reality. http://go.nasa.gov/13i9DII

NASA Connects Space Station and “Star Trek Into Darkness” Crews

Science fiction and science fact come together for an epic Google+ Hangout live with the Space Station and the director, a writer and some actors in the film “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Join the discussion from noon to 12:45 p.m. EDT, May 16, about how work aboard the International Space Station is turning science fiction into reality. http://go.nasa.gov/13i9DII

May/14/2013, 8pm with 71 Notes
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The sun erupted with an X1.7-class solar flare on May 12, 2013. The flare appears as the bright point on the left of the sun in this full disk view NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. It is a blend of two images of the sun recorded at different wavelengths of light.

UPDATE: The sun has fired off a second X-class solar flare.

Full Story


Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/SPACE.com

May/14/2013, 6pm with 243 Notes
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Neil deGrasse Tyson - We Stopped Dreaming

May/14/2013, 2pm with 431 Notes
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