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IBEX Heliosphere Map - 2.8 t
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The Interstellar Boundary Ex
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10/15/09
| Description |
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is a NASA-funded satellite that orbits Earth and maps the boundary of our Solar System from Earth's point of view looking outward. IBEX has completed the first all-sky maps of this boundary by detecting particles traveling inward from the boundary toward our region of the Solar System. The map appears to be oval in shape for the same reason that two-dimensional maps of spherical Earth look oval. The boundary of our Solar System is created by the interaction between charged particles from the Sun that are streaming outward, called the solar wind, and material between the stars, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The solar wind flows outward into space and carves out a protective bubble, called the heliosphere, in the ISM around our Solar System. At the boundary, the interactions between the solar wind particles and the ISM particles create energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). ENAs are particles with no charge that move very fast. Some of the ENAs happen to be traveling in just the right way so that they move inward through the Solar System toward Earth where IBEX can collect them. Using two sensors, called IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo, the spacecraft measures and counts these ENAs. The scientists can create maps of the boundary using this information. For each small area of the sky, IBEX has measured the number of ENAs coming from that direction. This map shows the distribution of ENAs ranging in energy from 2.8 to 5.6 keV. Red indicates the highest number of ENAs measured by the spacecraft. Yellow and green indicate lower numbers of ENAs, and blue and purple show the lowest number of ENAs. |
| Date |
10/15/09 |
|
IBEX Heliosphere Map - 0.6 t
…
The Interstellar Boundary Ex
…
10/15/09
| Description |
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is a NASA-funded satellite that orbits Earth and maps the boundary of our Solar System from Earth's point of view looking outward. IBEX has completed the first all-sky maps of this boundary by detecting particles traveling inward from the boundary toward our region of the Solar System. The map appears to be oval in shape for the same reason that two-dimensional maps of spherical Earth look oval. The boundary of our Solar System is created by the interaction between charged particles from the Sun that are streaming outward, called the solar wind, and material between the stars, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The solar wind flows outward into space and carves out a protective bubble, called the heliosphere, in the ISM around our Solar System. At the boundary, the interactions between the solar wind particles and the ISM particles create energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). ENAs are particles with no charge that move very fast. Some of the ENAs happen to be traveling in just the right way so that they move inward through the Solar System toward Earth where IBEX can collect them. Using two sensors, called IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo, the spacecraft measures and counts these ENAs. The scientists can create maps of the boundary using this information. For each small area of the sky, IBEX has measured the number of ENAs coming from that direction. This map shows the distribution of ENAs ranging in energy from 0.6 to 1.0 keV. Red indicates the highest number of ENAs measured by the spacecraft. Yellow and green indicate lower numbers of ENAs, and blue and purple show the lowest number of ENAs. |
| Date |
10/15/09 |
|
IBEX Heliosphere Map - 1.3 t
…
The Interstellar Boundary Ex
…
10/15/09
| Description |
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is a NASA-funded satellite that orbits Earth and maps the boundary of our Solar System from Earth's point of view looking outward. IBEX has completed the first all-sky maps of this boundary by detecting particles traveling inward from the boundary toward our region of the Solar System. The map appears to be oval in shape for the same reason that two-dimensional maps of spherical Earth look oval. The boundary of our Solar System is created by the interaction between charged particles from the Sun that are streaming outward, called the solar wind, and material between the stars, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The solar wind flows outward into space and carves out a protective bubble, called the heliosphere, in the ISM around our Solar System. At the boundary, the interactions between the solar wind particles and the ISM particles create energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). ENAs are particles with no charge that move very fast. Some of the ENAs happen to be traveling in just the right way so that they move inward through the Solar System toward Earth where IBEX can collect them. Using two sensors, called IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo, the spacecraft measures and counts these ENAs. The scientists can create maps of the boundary using this information. For each small area of the sky, IBEX has measured the number of ENAs coming from that direction. This map shows the distribution of ENAs ranging in energy from 1.3 to 2.4 keV. Red indicates the highest number of ENAs measured by the spacecraft. Yellow and green indicate lower numbers of ENAs, and blue and purple show the lowest number of ENAs. |
| Date |
10/15/09 |
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IBEX Heliosphere Map - 1.9 t
…
The Interstellar Boundary Ex
…
10/15/09
| Description |
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is a NASA-funded satellite that orbits Earth and maps the boundary of our Solar System from Earth's point of view looking outward. IBEX has completed the first all-sky maps of this boundary by detecting particles traveling inward from the boundary toward our region of the Solar System. The map appears to be oval in shape for the same reason that two-dimensional maps of spherical Earth look oval. The boundary of our Solar System is created by the interaction between charged particles from the Sun that are streaming outward, called the solar wind, and material between the stars, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The solar wind flows outward into space and carves out a protective bubble, called the heliosphere, in the ISM around our Solar System. At the boundary, the interactions between the solar wind particles and the ISM particles create energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). ENAs are particles with no charge that move very fast. Some of the ENAs happen to be traveling in just the right way so that they move inward through the Solar System toward Earth where IBEX can collect them. Using two sensors, called IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo, the spacecraft measures and counts these ENAs. The scientists can create maps of the boundary using this information. For each small area of the sky, IBEX has measured the number of ENAs coming from that direction. This map shows the distribution of ENAs ranging in energy from 1.9 to 3.6 keV. Red indicates the highest number of ENAs measured by the spacecraft. Yellow and green indicate lower numbers of ENAs, and blue and purple show the lowest number of ENAs. |
| Date |
10/15/09 |
|
IBEX Heliosphere Map - 0.9 t
…
The Interstellar Boundary Ex
…
10/15/09
| Description |
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is a NASA-funded satellite that orbits Earth and maps the boundary of our Solar System from Earth's point of view looking outward. IBEX has completed the first all-sky maps of this boundary by detecting particles traveling inward from the boundary toward our region of the Solar System. The map appears to be oval in shape for the same reason that two-dimensional maps of spherical Earth look oval. The boundary of our Solar System is created by the interaction between charged particles from the Sun that are streaming outward, called the solar wind, and material between the stars, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The solar wind flows outward into space and carves out a protective bubble, called the heliosphere, in the ISM around our Solar System. At the boundary, the interactions between the solar wind particles and the ISM particles create energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). ENAs are particles with no charge that move very fast. Some of the ENAs happen to be traveling in just the right way so that they move inward through the Solar System toward Earth where IBEX can collect them. Using two sensors, called IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo, the spacecraft measures and counts these ENAs. The scientists can create maps of the boundary using this information. For each small area of the sky, IBEX has measured the number of ENAs coming from that direction. This map shows the distribution of ENAs ranging in energy from 0.9 to 1.5 keV. Red indicates the highest number of ENAs measured by the spacecraft. Yellow and green indicate lower numbers of ENAs, and blue and purple show the lowest number of ENAs. |
| Date |
10/15/09 |
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NASA 360 Episode 6
This episode of NASA 360 loo
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2008
| Description |
This episode of NASA 360 looks at how NASA tests the equipment needed for our return to the moon. Highlights include: the lunar truck Chariot, NASA's All Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer, or ATHLETE, the rover Scarab and new suits for astronauts. This video is a NASA eClips (TM) program. |
| Date |
2008 |
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Advanced Equipment to Use on
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NASA is currently testing po
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2008
| Description |
NASA is currently testing potential equipment that can be used on missions back to the moon. Moses Lake, Washington, the site for the tests, has a surface similar to that of the moon. This segment introduces two advanced pieces of equipment that NASA is developing: the All Terrain Hex-Legged Extra Terrestrial Explorer, or ATHLETE, and the Chariot. ATHLETE is a rover with six wheels that will be able to transport up to 450 kg of cargo at a rate of 10 km/h. The Chariot, the new moon buggy, is powered by two motors with twelve wheels that can pivot in all directions at the speed of 24 km/h. This video is a NASA eClips (TM) program. |
| Date |
2008 |
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Celestial Treasure Hunt
NASA's Wide-field Infrared S
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11/17/09
| Title |
Celestial Treasure Hunt |
| Date |
11/17/09 |
| Description |
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer will provide a map to the universe's hidden treasures. |
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GLOBE Hydrology Workshop SEI
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Matt Krigbaum (left), a teac
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6/30/05
| Description |
Matt Krigbaum (left), a teacher at Mitchell Elementary in Ann Arbor, Mich., pours water from the Pearl River into a turbidity tube to measure the river's light penetration. Krigbaum, along with Lois Williams, principal at Elizabeth Courville Elementary in Detroit, Mich., and Carolyn Martin and Arlene Wittmer, teachers at Elizabeth Courville Elementary, conducted the experiment during a GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) hydrology workshop. GLOBE is a worldwide, hands-on science education program in which teachers can become certified to implement the program at their schools after taking hydrology, land cover/biology, atmosphere/climate and soil protocol workshops. Twelve teachers from across the country attended the recent weeklong GLOBE training at SSC, offered through its Educator Resource Center and the NASA Explorer Schools program. All workshops are free and offer continuing education units. |
| Date |
6/30/05 |
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Dora'& Kids at Day of Play
From left, Cobie Smith, 5, a
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10/5/05
| Description |
From left, Cobie Smith, 5, and Tatume Smith, also 5, have their picture taken with 'Dora the Explorer.' The children were participants in Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play celebration at Stennis Space Center (SSC) on Oct. 1. The Worldwide Day of Play is sponsored annually by Nickelodeon television network to encourage children to be physically active. Approximately 150 children participated in the event at SSC. |
| Date |
10/5/05 |
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Lillie Burney Elementary Sch
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Mississippi Rep. Percy Watso
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9/8/06
| Description |
Mississippi Rep. Percy Watson (left) talks with first-graders Savannah Jones and Levi Meyers, and Astronaut Lee Morin on Sept. 8 during the NASA Explorer School kickoff event at the Lillie Burney Elementary School in Hattiesburg, Miss. NASA Explorer Schools help promote student achievement in mathematics and science through activities using the excitement of NASA research, discoveries and missions. |
| Date |
9/8/06 |
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FIRST LEGO League Kickoff
FIRST LEGO League participan
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9/23/06
| Description |
FIRST LEGO League participants listen to Aerospace Education Specialist Chris Copelan explain the playing field for 'Nano Quest' during a recent FLL kickoff event at StenniSphere, the visitor center at NASA Stennis Space Center. The kickoff began the 2006 FLL competition season. Eighty-five teachers, mentors, parents and 9- to 14-year-old students from southern and central Mississippi came to SSC to hear the rules for Nano Quest. The challenge requires teams to spend eight weeks building and programming robots from LEGO Mindstorms kits. They'll battle their creations in local and regional competitions. The Dec. 2 competition at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College will involve about 200 students. FIRST LEGO League, considered the 'little league' of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, partners FIRST and the LEGO Group. Competitions aim to inspire and celebrate science and technology using real-world context and hands-on experimentation, and to promote the principles of team play and gracious professionalism. Because NASA advocates robotics and science-technology education, the agency and SSC support FIRST by providing team coaches, mentors and training, as well as competition event judges, referees, audio-visual and other volunteer staff personnel. Two of Mississippi's NASA Explorer Schools, Bay-Waveland Middle and Hattiesburg's Lillie Burney Elementary, were in attendance. The following schools were also represented: Ocean Springs Middle, Pearl Upper Elementary, Long Beach Middle, Jackson Preparatory Academy, North Woolmarket Middle, D'Iberville Middle, West Wortham Middle, Picayune's Roseland Park Baptist Academy and Nicholson Elementary, as well as two home-school groups from McComb and Brandon. Gulfport and Picayune Memorial-Pearl River high schools' FIRST Robotics teams conducted robotics demonstrations for the FLL crowd. |
| Date |
9/23/06 |
|
Stennis hosts Gulf Pine Coun
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Tori Williams, of Brownie Gi
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10/13/07
| Description |
Tori Williams, of Brownie Girl Scout Troop 313, builds her own `stomp rocket' with the help of adult chaperone Pamela Cottrell. The two, of Gulfport, participated in NASA Brownie Day on Oct. 13 at Stennis Space Center. They were among nearly 200 members of Brownie Girl Scout Troops within the Gulf Pines Council who took part in the day of educational activities at SSC. Brownie Day used NASA curriculum support materials to teach about the sun and its significance in our solar system. In addition to building and launching their own model rockets, the girls toured the center's portable Starlab planetarium, viewed demonstrations about living and working in space, played games of `Moon Phasers' that teach about the rotation of the moon around the earth, made bracelets with ultraviolet-sensitive beads, and other activities that celebrated Earth's very own star. They also toured StenniSphere and were able to earn their Earth and Sky and Space Explorer `Try-Its.' |
| Date |
10/13/07 |
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NASA Explorer School
The NASA Explorer School-Eas
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11/8/07
| Description |
The NASA Explorer School-East Oktibbeha County School District team recently celebrated the start of its three-year partnership with NASA during a two-part kickoff event Nov. 7 and 8. Pictured from left are, Oktibbeha County School District Superintendent Dr. Walter Conley, NES Team Administrator James Covington, Stennis Space Center Deputy Director Gene Goldman, Sharon Bonner, NES Team Lead Yolanda Magee, Andrea Temple, Carolyn Rice, and special guest astronaut Roger Crouch. |
| Date |
11/8/07 |
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High Above
On March 7, 1947, not long a
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3/6/09
| Description |
On March 7, 1947, not long after the end of World War II and years before Sputnik ushered in the space age, a group of soldiers and scientists in the New Mexico desert saw something new and wonderful in these grainy black-and-white-photos -- the first pictures of Earth as seen from altitude greater than 100 miles in space. Just the year before in 1946, scientists like John T. Mengel, a NASA pioneer who later oversaw the Vanguard Program, began experimenting with captured German V-2 rockets. Mengel conducted upper atmosphere experiments by launching the rockets into near-earth orbit. He designed and fabricated the first research nose shell to replace of the V-2 warhead and began placing cameras in the nose shell. Before the Small Steps Program began in 1946 using V-2 rockets to take images from space, the highest pictures ever taken of the Earth's surface were from the Explorer II balloon, which ascended 13.7 miles in 1935, high enough to discern the curvature of the Earth. The V-2 cameras reached more than five times that altitude and clearly showed the planet set against the blackness of space. When the movie frames were stitched together, the panoramas taken in the late 1940s covered a million square miles or more at a single glance. Image Credit: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Date |
3/6/09 |
|
The Rite of Spring
Of the countless equinoxes S
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10/15/09
| Description |
Of the countless equinoxes Saturn has seen since the birth of the solar system, this one, captured in a mosaic of light and dark, is the first witnessed up close by an emissary from Earth Îÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__€∆_ none other than our faithful robotic explorer, Cassini. Seen from our planet, the view of Saturn's rings during equinox is extremely foreshortened and limited. But in orbit around Saturn, Cassini had no such problems. From 20 degrees above the ring plane, Cassini's wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun/s disk was exactly overhead at the planet's equator. The novel illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ring plane, significantly darkens the rings, and causes out-of-plane structures to look anomalously bright and to cast shadows across the rings. These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after SaturnÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s equinox which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years. Also at equinox, the shadows of the planet's expansive rings are compressed into a single, narrow band cast onto the planet as seen in this mosaic. The images comprising the mosaic, taken over about eight hours, were extensively processed before being joined together. With no enhancement, the rings would be essentially invisible in this mosaic. To improve their visibility, the dark right half of the rings has been brightened relative to the brighter left half by a factor of three, and then the whole ring system has been brightened by a factor of 20 relative to the planet. So the dark half of the rings is 60 times brighter, and the bright half 20 times brighter, than they would have appeared if the entire system, planet included, could have been captured in a single image. The images were taken on Aug. 12, 2009, beginning about 1.25 days after exact equinox, using the red, green and blue spectral filters of the wide angle camera and were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained at a distance of approximately 526,000 miles from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 74 degrees. Image scale is 31 miles per pixel. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
10/15/09 |
|
COBE Satellite Marks 20th An
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NASA's Cosmic Background Exp
…
11/18/09
| Description |
NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite rocketed into Earth orbit on Nov. 18, 1989, and quickly revolutionized our understanding of the early cosmos. Developed and built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., COBE precisely measured and mapped the oldest light in the universe -- the cosmic microwave background. For these results, COBE scientists John Mather, at Goddard, and George Smoot, at the University of California, Berkeley, shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics. The mission ushered cosmologists into a new era of precision measurements, paving the way for deeper exploration of the microwave background by NASA's ongoing WMAP mission and the European Space Agency's new Planck satellite. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/cobe_20th.html. Image Credit: NASA |
| Date |
11/18/09 |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- At Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers begin placing the Delta rocket fairing around the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. NASA's latest explorer carries three scientific instruments to map the chemical and mineralogical makeup of Mars: a thermal-emission imaging system, a gamma ray spectrometer and a Martian radiation environment experiment. The imaging system will map the planet with high-resolution thermal images and give scientists an increased level of detail to help them understand how the mineralogy of the planet relates to the land forms. In addition, Odyssey will serve as a communications relay for U.S. and international landers arriving at Mars in 2003/2004. The Mars Odyssey is scheduled for launch April 7, 2001, at 11:02 a.m. EST. |
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Dr. William H. Pickering
Dr. William H. Pickering ser
…
| Description |
Dr. William H. Pickering served as the fourth director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, from 1954 to 1976. The period during which he led JPL spanned the eras from JPL's creation of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer I, through the formation of NASA, the Ranger, Surveyor and Mariner missions of the 1960s and the Viking mission of the 1970s. |
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Cartwheel Galaxy Makes Waves
| Title |
Cartwheel Galaxy Makes Waves |
| Description |
This false-color composite image shows the Cartwheel galaxy as seen by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's Far Ultraviolet detector (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera-2 in B-band visible light (green), the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) at 8 microns (red), and the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer-S array instrument (purple). Approximately 100 million years ago, a smaller galaxy plunged through the heart of Cartwheel galaxy, creating ripples of brief star formation. In this image, the first ripple appears as an ultraviolet-bright blue outer ring. The blue outer ring is so powerful in the GALEX observations that it indicates the Cartwheel is one of the most powerful UV-emitting galaxies in the nearby universe. The blue color reveals to astronomers that associations of stars 5 to 20 times as massive as our sun are forming in this region. The clumps of pink along the outer blue ring are regions where both X-rays and UV radiation are superimposed in the image. These X-ray point sources are very likely collections of binary star systems containing a blackhole (called Massive X-ray Binary Systems). The X-ray sources seem to cluster around optical/UV bright supermassive star clusters. The yellow-orange inner ring and nucleus at the center of the galaxy result from the combination of visible and infrared light, which is stronger towards the center. This region of the galaxy represents the second ripple, or ring wave, created in the collision, but has much less star for mation activity than the first (outer) ring wave. The wisps of red spread throughout the interior of the galaxy are organic molecules that have been illuminated by nearby low-level star formation. Meanwhile, the tints of green are less massive, older visible light stars. Although astronomers have not identified exactly which galaxy collided with the Cartwheel, two of three candidate galaxies can be seen in this image to the bottom left of the ring, one as a neon blob and the other as a green spiral. Previously, scientists believed the ring marked the outermost edge of the galaxy, but the latest GALEX observations detect a faint disk, not visible in this image, that extends to twice the diameter of the ring. |
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Older Galaxy Pair Has Surpri
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| Title |
Older Galaxy Pair Has Surprisingly Youthful Glow |
| Description |
A pair of interacting galaxies might be experiencing the galactic equivalent of a mid-life crisis. For some reason, the pair, called Arp 82, didn't make their stars early on as is typical of most galaxies. Instead, they got a second wind later in life -- about 2 billion years ago -- and started pumping out waves of new stars as if they were young again. Arp 82 is an interacting pair of galaxies with a strong bridge and a long tail. NGC 2535 is the big galaxy and NGC 2536 is its smaller companion. The disk of the main galaxy looks like an eye, with a bright "pupil" in the center and oval-shaped "eyelids." Dramatic "beads on a string" features are visible as chains of evenly spaced star-formation complexes along the eyelids. These are presumably the result of large-scale gaseous shocks from a grazing encounter. The colors of this galaxy indicate that the observed stars are young to intermediate in age, around 2 million to 2 billion years old, much less than the age of the universe (13.7 billion years). The puzzle is: why didn't Arp 82 form many stars earlier, like most galaxies of that mass range? Scientifically, it is an oddball and provides a relatively nearby lab for studying the age of intermediate-mass galaxies. This picture is a composite captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera with light at wavelength 8 microns shown in red, NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer combined 1530 and 2310 Angstroms shown in blue, and the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy Observatory light at 6940 Angstroms shown in green. |
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Amazing Andromeda Galaxy
| Title |
Amazing Andromeda Galaxy |
| Description |
The many "personalities" of our great galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, are exposed in this new composite image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The wide, ultraviolet eyes of Galaxy Evolution Explorer reveal Andromeda's "fiery" nature -- hotter regions brimming with young and old stars. In contrast, Spitzer's super-sensitive infrared eyes show Andromeda's relatively "cool" side, which includes embryonic stars hidden in their dusty cocoons. Galaxy Evolution Explorer detected young, hot, high-mass stars, which are represented in blue, while populations of relatively older stars are shown as green dots. The bright yellow spot at the galaxy's center depicts a particularly dense population of old stars. Swaths of red in the galaxy's disk indicate areas where Spitzer found cool, dusty regions where stars are forming. These stars are still shrouded by the cosmic clouds of dust and gas that collapsed to form them. Together, Galaxy Evolution Explorer and Spitzer complete the picture of Andromeda's swirling spiral arms. Hints of pinkish purple depict regions where the galaxy's populations of hot, high-mass stars and cooler, dust-enshrouded stars co-exist. Located 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda is our largest nearby galactic neighbor. The galaxy's entire disk spans about 260,000 light-years, which means that a light beam would take 260,000 years to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy's disk is about 100,000 light-years across. This image is a false color composite comprised of data from Galaxy Evolution Explorer's far-ultraviolet detector (blue), near-ultraviolet detector (green), and Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer at 24 microns (red). |
|
Multiwavelength M81
| Title |
Multiwavelength M81 |
| Description |
This beautiful galaxy is tilted at an oblique angle on to our line of sight, giving a "birds-eye view" of the spiral structure. The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, but our favorable view provides a better picture of the typical architecture of spiral galaxies. M81 may be undergoing a surge of star formation along the spiral arms due to a close encounter it may have had with its nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3077 and a nearby starburst galaxy (M82) about 300 million years ago. M81 is one of the brightest galaxies that can be seen from the Earth. It is high in the northern sky in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. At an apparent magnitude of 6.8 it is just at the limit of naked-eye visibility. The galaxy's angular size is about the same as that of the Full Moon. This image combines data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) missions. The GALEX ultraviolet data were from the far-UV portion of the spectrum (135 to 175 nanometers). The Spitzer infrared data were taken with the IRAC 4 detector (8 microns). The Hubble data were taken at the blue portion of the spectrum. |
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Brief History of the Univers
…
| Title |
Brief History of the Universe |
| Description |
This artist's timeline chronicles the history of the universe, from its explosive beginning to its mature, present-day state. Our universe began in a tremendous explosion known as the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago (left side of strip). Observations by NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer and Wilkinson Anisotropy Microwave Probe revealed microwave light from this very early epoch, about 400,000 years after the Big Bang, providing strong evidence that our universe did blast into existence. Results from the Cosmic Background Explorer were honored with the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics. A period of darkness ensued, until about a few hundred million years later, when the first objects flooded the universe with light. This first light is believed to have been captured in data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The light detected by Spitzer would have originated as visible and ultraviolet light, then stretched, or redshifted, to lower-energy infrared wavelengths during its long voyage to reach us across expanding space. The light detected by the Cosmic Background Explorer and the Wilkinson Anisotropy Microwave Probe from our very young universe traveled farther to reach us, and stretched to even lower-energy microwave wavelengths. Astronomers do not know if the very first objects were either stars or quasars. The first stars, called Population III stars (our star is a Population I star), were much bigger and brighter than any in our nearby universe, with masses about 1,000 times that of our sun. These stars first grouped together into mini-galaxies. By about a few billion years after the Big Bang, the mini-galaxies had merged to form mature galaxies, including spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way. The first quasars ultimately became the centers of powerful galaxies that are more common in the distant universe. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured stunning pictures of earlier galaxies, as far back as ten billion light-years away. |
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NASA KSNN - Are You An Explo
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Are You An Explorer? This se
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6/1/03
| Description |
Are You An Explorer? This segment describes the future plans NASA has for space exploration. |
| Date |
6/1/03 |
|
NASA Connect - Geometry and
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NASA Connect Video containin
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11/1/00
| Description |
NASA Connect Video containing six segments as described below. NASA Connect Segment explaining air flow. The video describes how drag, lift, and thrust work. NASA Connect Segment exploring drag and agebraic relationships. The video explains flow visualization and air flow and how engineers use algebra in their work. NASA Connect Segment explaining the new concept aircraft in development known as the blended wing body. The video explains how engineers and scientists uses geometry to help with development. NASA Connect Segment involving students in a classroom activity called What A Drag. The video explores how shape affects drag. NASA Connect Segment involving students in a classroom activity. The video explores how surface area affects drag. NASA Connect Segment exploring computer simulation tools for research on drag. The video features the Mars Airbourne Explorer simulation computer program. |
| Date |
11/1/00 |
|
NASA SCI Files - Animal Popu
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In the third segment of the
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2/16/05
| Description |
In the third segment of the Case of the Zany Animal Antics the tree house detectives simulate population growth with an experiment and learn how to estimate populations with random sampling from a NASA explorer school. In the last part of the Animal Populations and Habitats segment the tree house detectives learn what makes up a good habitat. |
| Date |
2/16/05 |
|
NASA Connect - GWTF - MAX Co
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NASA Connect Segment explori
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11/1/00
| Description |
NASA Connect Segment exploring computer simulation tools for research on drag. The video features the Mars Airbourne Explorer simulation computer program. |
| Date |
11/1/00 |
|
NASA TV's This Week @NASA, D
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* The three crew members of
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12/04/09
| Description |
* The three crew members of Expedition 21 made a safe landing in a Soyuz spacecraft after departing the International Space Station several hours earlier. * NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden presented Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise, Jr. with NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award during a special ceremony in Biloxi, Mississippi, Haise√¢s hometown. * Thirty-seven years ago the Apollo 17 mission began with this early morning launch from the Kennedy Space Center. * NASA'S revolutionary Kepler space telescope has been honored by two leading magazines. Popular Science Magazine dubbed the planet-hunting telescope the 2009 Best of What's New Grand Award, and Popular Mechanics lauded its achievement with a 2009 Breakthrough Award. * NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is on track to begin its mission this week. WISE is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Delta II rocket. |
| Date |
12/04/09 |
|
Grace and Beauty
| Description |
Our robotic explorer Cassini regards the shadow-draped face of Saturn. |
| Full Description |
Our robotic explorer Cassini regards the shadow-draped face of Saturn. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 14 degrees above the ringplane. In this viewing geometry all of the main rings, except for the B ring, appear transparent. The rings cast their mirror image onto the planet beyond. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on June 9, 2007, at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (972,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 90 kilometers (56 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 15, 2007 |
|
Project Red Socks
| title |
Project Red Socks |
| date |
10.01.1957 |
| description |
Project RED SOCKS was to be "the world's first useful moon rocket," proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology in October 1957. These artist's renditions show the configuration of motors and a diagram of the moon orbit. RED SOCKS was to respond to the Sputnik launch challenge with a significant technological advance over the Soviet Union instead of merely matching them with another earth-orbiting satellite. The objectives of the project were to "1) get photos, 2) refine space guidance techniques, and 3) impress the world" with a series of nine rocket flights to the moon. The second of the nine flights was to take pictures of the back of the moon. The necessary technology had already been developed for earlier projects, such as the Re-entry Test Vehicle and the Microlock radio ground tracking system. Project RED SOCKS received no support in Washington. In December 1957, JPL and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) were instead asked to orbit an Earth satellite. Explorer 1 was launched 81 days later, on January 29, 1958. A modified RED SOCKS plan was carried out in the Pioneer 4 project in March 1959. *Image Credit*: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|
Explorer 1 Architects
| title |
Explorer 1 Architects |
| date |
01.01.1958 |
| description |
The three men responsible for the success of Explorer 1, America's first Earth satellite which was launched January 31, 1958. At left is Dr. William H. Pickering, former director of JPL, which built and operated the satellite. Dr. James A. van Allen, center, of the State University of Iowa, designed and built the instrument on Explorer that discovered the radiation belts which circle the Earth. At right is Dr. Wernher von Braun, leader of the Army's Redstone Arsenal team which built the first stage Redstone rocket that launched Explorer 1. |
|
Europa Astrobiology Lander
| title |
Europa Astrobiology Lander |
| description |
This Flagship class mission would build on the findings of the Europa Explorer Mission, and would perform astrobiology related exploration on the surface of Europa. |
|
Europa Explorer
| title |
Europa Explorer |
| description |
The Europa Explorer Mission is a Solar System Exploration Roadmap Mission that examines Europa's subsurface oceans from orbit and searches for possible landing sites for future missions. |
|
Venus Mobile Explorer
| title |
Venus Mobile Explorer |
| description |
This long-lived in-situ Flagship class mission would provide aerial mobility close to the surface (approximately 10 kilometers above the surface) using metallic bellows to tolerate the extreme environment of Venus, where the temperature reaches 460 degrees Celsius, and the pressure is up to 90 bars, and the super critical carbon dioxide atmosphere is highly corrosive. |
|
Space Pioneer Nancy Roman
| title |
Space Pioneer Nancy Roman |
| date |
01.01.1962 |
| description |
Dr. Nancy Roman, one of the nations top scientists in the space program, is shown with a model of the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO). Roman received her PhD in astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1949. In 1959, Dr. Roman joined NASA and in 1960 served as Chief of the Astronomy and Relativity Programs in the Office of Space Science. She was very influential in creating satellites such as the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). She retired from NASA in 1979, but continued working as a contractor at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Throughout her career, Dr. Roman was a spokesperson and advocate of women in the sciences. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
COBE's View of the Milky Way
| title |
COBE's View of the Milky Way |
| date |
01.01.1990 |
| description |
From its orbit around Earth, the Goddard Space Flight Center's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) captured this edge-on view of our Milky Way galaxy in infrared light, a form of radiation that humans cannot see but can feel in the form of heat, as part of its mission to test the "Big Bang" theory of the creation of the universe. The theory, first proposed in 1927 by Belgian cosmologist Georges Lematre, holds that the universe began as an incredibly dense "primeval atom" that exploded with tremendous force, unleashing matter and space at the speeds of light. NASA set out to prove the theory with the help of COBE. In addition to proving the Big Bang, the satellite discovered that the cosmic background radiation had indeed been produced in the Big Bang just as scientists originally speculated. The satellite's data even discovered the primordial temperature and density fluctuations that eventually gave rise to the Milky Way and other large-scale objects found in space today. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
Explorer 1 Preparations
| title |
Explorer 1 Preparations |
| date |
01.20.1958 |
| description |
Technicians lower Explorer 1, the first American satellite, onto the launch vehicle's fourth stage motor. This photo was taken in the gantry at Launch Complex 26 at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. *Image Credit*: Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|
Explorer 1
| title |
Explorer 1 |
| description |
America joined the space race with the launch of this small, but important spacecraft. *Image Credit*: JPL |
|
Ulysses Launch
| title |
Ulysses Launch |
| date |
10.06.1990 |
| description |
The Space Shuttle Discovery hurtles into space as sister ship Columbia looks on from Launch Pad 39A. Discovery lifted off from pad 39B at 7:47 a.m. EDT, Oct. 6. Columbia will be moved to the vacated pad 39B where it will undergo testing to pinpoint the source of a liquid hydrogen leak. Discovery is carrying a crew of five and the Ulysses solar explorer as it embarks on mission STS-41, a four-day flight. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
Nanorover
| title |
Nanorover |
| description |
This prototype Nanorover is only 20 cm (8 inches) long. One possible use for this type of miniature explorer is to send back information from the surface of an asteroid to an orbiting spacecraft. The rover's camera can be focused to take panoramic shots as well as microscopic images. Solar cells will be placed on all sides of the rover so that even if it flips over on an asteroid's low-gravity surface, the rover will always have enough power to activate motors that will allow it to right itself. Wheel struts will allow the rover to position its chassis such that the camera can be pointed straight down at the surface or straight up at the sky. For more information: http://robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/tasks/nrover/homepage.html *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
Mars Science Laboratory
| title |
Mars Science Laboratory |
| description |
This artist's impression shows Mars Science Laboratory exploring the surface of Mars. The robotic explorer will be roving long-range, long-duration science laboratory that will be a major leap in surface measurements and pave the way for a future sample return mission. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
ISEE3-ICE
| title |
ISEE3-ICE |
| description |
Known as International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 and International Cometary Explorer, this spacecraft scored a number of firsts - including the first comet flyby. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
GALEX Ultraviolet Image of C
…
| Name |
GALEX Ultraviolet Image of Cartwheel Galaxy |
|
5-Panel version of Chandra,
…
| Name |
5-Panel version of Chandra, GALEX, Spitzer & Hubble Images |
|
X-ray Light Curve for KS 173
…
| Name |
X-ray Light Curve for KS 1731-260 |
|
Marjorie Townsend and SAS-1
| Title |
Marjorie Townsend and SAS-1 |
| Full Description |
Marjorie Townsend discusses the X-ray Explorer Satellite's performance with a colleague during preflight tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Townsend, a Washington DC native, was the first woman to receive an engineering degree from The George Washington University. She joined NASA in 1959 and later advanced to become the project manager of the Small Astronomy Satellite (SAS) Program. The satellite shown in the picture, SAS-1, was the 42nd in NASA's Explorer series, a family of small, simple satellites sent to perform important scientific missions for minimal cost. The first Explorer satellite launched in 1958, months prior to the formation of NASA, initiating a program of exploration that has continued into the twenty-first century. SAS-1 continued the tradition of crucial science projects by carrying the first set of sensitive instruments designed to map X-ray sources both within and beyond our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Also known as Explorer 42 and the X-ray Explorer, it became the first American spacecraft launched by another country when an Italian space team launched it on December 12, 1970 from a mobile launch platform located in international waters off the coast of East Africa. It mapped the universe in X-ray wavelengths and discovered X-ray pulsars and evidence of black holes. The satellite was named Uhuru, which means freedom in Swahili, because it was launched from San Marco off the coast of Kenya on Kenya's Independence Day. In the 1970's the Italian Government made Townsend a Knight of the Italian Republic Order for her contributions to the United States-Italian space efforts. In 1990, Townsend joined BDM International Inc., as the director of Space Systems Engineering with the Space Science and Applications Division. |
| Date |
12/02/1970 |
| NASA Center |
Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
APOLLO 14 EVA View
| Title |
APOLLO 14 EVA View |
| Full Description |
Astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, photographed this sweeping view showing fellow Moon-explorer astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., mission commander, and the Apollo 14 Lunar Module (LM). A small cluster of rocks and a few prints made by the lunar overshoes of Mitchell are in the foreground. Mitchell was standing in the boulder field, located just north by northwest of the LM, when he took this picture during the second Apollo 14 extravehicular activity (EVA-2), on February 6, 1971. While astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit, Shepard and Mitchell descended in the LM to explore the Moon. |
| Date |
02/06/1971 |
| NASA Center |
Johnson Space Center |
|
COBE's View of the Milky Way
| Title |
COBE's View of the Milky Way |
| Full Description |
From its orbit around Earth, the Goddard Space Flight Center's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) captured this edge-on view of our Milky Way galaxy in infrared light, a form of radiation that humans cannot see but can feel in the form of heat, as part of its mission to test the "Big Bang" theory of the creation of the universe. The theory, first proposed in 1927 by Belgian cosmologist Georges Lematre, holds that the universe began as an incredibly dense "primeval atom" that exploded with tremendous force, unleashing matter and space at the speeds of light. NASA set out to prove the theory with the help of COBE. In addition to proving the Big Bang, the satellite discovered that the cosmic background radiation had indeed been produced in the Big Bang just as scientists originally speculated. The satellite's data even discovered the primordial temperature and density fluctuations that eventually gave rise to the Milky Way and other large-scale objects found in space today. |
| Date |
01/01/1990 |
| NASA Center |
Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
Dr. Nancy Roman
| Title |
Dr. Nancy Roman |
| Full Description |
Dr. Nancy Roman, one of the nations top scientists in the space program, is shown with a model of the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO). Dr. Nancy Roman received her PhD in astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1949. In 1959, Dr. Roman joined NASA and in 1960 served as Chief of the Astronomy and Relativity Programs in the Office of Space Science. She was very influential in creating satellites such as the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). She retired from NASA in 1979, but continued working as a contractor at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Throughout her career, Dr. Roman was a spokesperson and advocate of women in the sciences. |
| Date |
UNKNOWN |
| NASA Center |
Headquarters |
|
|
