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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 |
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IBEX Heliosphere Map - 0.6 t
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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 |
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IBEX Heliosphere Map - 1.3 t
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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 |
|
Exotic World Blisters Under
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| Title |
Exotic World Blisters Under the Sun |
| Description |
This artist's concept shows a Jupiter-like planet soaking up the scorching rays of its nearby "sun." NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope used its heat-seeking infrared eyes to figure out that a gas-giant planet like the one depicted here is two-faced, with one side perpetually in the cold dark, and the other forever blistering under the heat of its star. The illustration portrays how the planet would appear to infrared eyes, showing temperature variations across its surface. The planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, was first discovered in 1996 around the star Upsilon Andromedae, located 40 light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. This star also has two other planets orbiting farther out. Upsilon Andromedae b is what's known as a "hot-Jupiter" planet, because it is made of gas like our Jovian giant, and it is hot, due to its tight, 4.6-day-long jaunt around its star. The toasty planet orbits at one-sixth the distance of Mercury from our own sun. It travels in a plane that is seen neither edge- nor face-on from our solar system, but somewhere in between. Scientists do not know how fast Upsilon Andromedae b is spinning on its axis, but they believe that it is tidally locked to its star, just as our locked moon forever hides its "dark side" from Earth's view. Spitzer observed Upsilon Andromedae b at five points during the planet's trip around its star. The planet's light levels went up or down, as detected by Spitzer, depending on whether the planet's sunlit or dark side was pointed toward Earth. These data indicate that the temperature difference between the two hemispheres of the planet is about 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,550 degrees Fahrenheit). According to astronomers, this means that the side of the planet that faces the star is always as hot as lava, while the other side could potentially be as cold as ice. Specifically, the hot side of the planet ranges from about 1,400 to 1,650 degrees Celsius (2,550 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit), and the cold side from about minus 20 to 230 degrees Celsius (minus 4 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit). How can one side always be hot? The atmosphere of the planet must be absorbing and reradiating light fast enough that any heated gas circulating around the planet is cooled off before it reaches the dark side. |
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The Tarantula Nebula
| Title |
The Tarantula Nebula |
| Description |
NASA's new Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, has captured in stunning detail the spidery filaments and newborn stars of the Tarantula Nebula, a rich star-forming region also known as 30 Doradus. This cloud of glowing dust and gas is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the nearest galaxy to our own Milky Way, and is visible primarily from the Southern Hemisphere. This image of an interstellar cauldron provides a snapshot of the complex physical processes and chemistry that govern the birth -- and death -- of stars. At the heart of the nebula is a compact cluster of stars, known as R136, which contains very massive and young stars. The brightest of these blue supergiant stars are up to 100 times more massive than the Sun, and are at least 100,000 times more luminous. These stars will live fast and die young, at least by astronomical standards, exhausting their nuclear fuel in a few million years. The Spitzer Space Telescope image was obtained with an infrared array camera that is sensitive to invisible infrared light at wavelengths that are about ten times longer than visible light. In this four-color composite, emission at 3.6 microns is depicted in blue, 4.5 microns in green, 5.8 microns in orange, and 8.0 microns in red. The image covers a region that is three-quarters the size of the full moon. The Spitzer observations penetrate the dust clouds throughout the Tarantula to reveal previously hidden sites of star formation. Within the luminescent nebula, many holes are also apparent. These voids are produced by highly energetic winds originating from the massive stars in the central star cluster. The structures at the edges of these voids are particularly interesting. Dense pillars of gas and dust, sculpted by the stellar radiation, denote the birthplace of future generations of stars. The Spitzer image provides information about the composition of the material at the edges of the voids. The surface layers closest to the massive stars are subject to the most intense stellar radiation. Here, the atoms are stripped of their electrons, and the green color of these regions is indicative of the radiation from this highly excited, or 'ionized,' material. The ubiquitous red filaments seen throughout the image reveal the presence of molecular material thought to be rich in hydrocarbons. The Tarantula Nebula is the nearest example of a 'starburst' phenomenon, in which intense episodes of star formation occur on massive scales. Most starbursts, however, are associated with dusty and distant galaxies. Spitzer infrared observations of the Tarantula provide astronomers with an unprecedented view of the lifecycle of massive stars and their vital role in regulating the birth of future stellar and planetary systems. |
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Flattened Crescent
| Description |
Flattened Crescent |
| Full Description |
Saturn's low density and fast rotation combine to give it its characteristic oblate shape. The dramatic crescent seen here demonstrates how the ringed planet is much wider at the equator than at the poles. The rings disappear near center into the darkness of the planet's shadow. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 163 degrees. Image scale is 169 kilometers (105 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 |
August 14, 2006 |
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High Altitude Hints
| Description |
High Altitude Hints |
| Full Description |
The Cassini spacecraft catches a glimpse of features that reveal important clues about processes occurring in Titan's atmosphere. The north polar stratosphere exhibits a banded appearance, as fast-moving clouds whirl around the giant moon. The moon's halo -- its detached, high-altitude global haze layer -- is faintly visible here as well. Planet-sized Titan is 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of polarized ultraviolet light. The image was obtained on May 15, 2007 at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 25 degrees. Image scale is 15 kilometers (10 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 HYPERLINK "http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov" http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at HYPERLINK "http://ciclops.org" http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
June 1, 2007 |
|
| Description |
Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn. |
| Full Description |
This sequence of nine true-color, narrow-angle images shows the varying appearance of Jupiter as it rotated through more than a complete 360-degree turn. The smallest features seen in this sequence are no bigger than about 380 kilometers (about 236 miles). Rotating more than twice as fast as Earth, Jupiter completes one rotation in about 10 hours. These images were taken on Oct. 22 and 23, 2000. From image to image (proceeding left to right across each row and then down to the next row), cloud features on Jupiter move from left to right before disappearing over the edge onto the nightside of the planet. The most obvious Jovian feature is the Great Red Spot, which can be seen moving onto the dayside in the third frame (below and to the left of the center of the planet). In the fourth frame, taken about 1 hour and 40 minutes later, the Great Red Spot has been carried by the planet's rotation to the east and does not appear again until the final frame, which was taken one complete rotation after the third frame. Unlike weather systems on Earth, which change markedly from day to day, large cloud systems in Jupiter's colder, thicker atmosphere are long-lived, so the two frames taken one rotation apart have a very similar appearance. However, when this sequence of images is eventually animated, strong winds blowing eastward at some latitudes and westward at other latitudes will be readily apparent. The results of such differential motions can be seen even in the still frames shown here. For example, the clouds of the Great Red Spot rotate counterclockwise. The strong westward winds northeast of the Great Red Spot are deflected around the spot and form a wake of turbulent clouds downstream (visible in the fourth image), just as a rock in a rapidly flowing river deflects the fluid around it. The equatorial zone on Jupiter is currently bright white, indicating the presence of clouds much like cirrus clouds on Earth, but made of ammonia instead of water ice. This is very different from Jupiter's appearance 20 years ago, when the equatorial zone was more of a brownish cast similar to the region just to its north. At the northern edge of the equatorial zone, local regions colored a dark grayish-blue are places where the ammonia clouds have cleared allowing a view to deeper levels in Jupiter's atmosphere. Interrupting these relatively clear regions is a series of bright arrow-shaped equatorial plumes. The most obvious one is visible just above and to the right of center in the third and ninth frames. These plumes resemble the `anvil' clouds that accompany common summer thunderstorms on Earth, although the Jovian plumes are much bigger, and their somewhat regular spacing around the planet suggests an association with a planetary-scale wave motion. The southwest-northeast tilt of these plumes suggests that the winds in this region act to help maintain the eastward winds at this latitude. In the dark belt north of the equatorial zone, a turbulent, region with a white filamentary cloud is visible in the sixth frame, indicating rapidly changing wind direction. Several white ovals are visible at higher southern latitudes (toward the bottom of the fourth, fifth, and sixth frames, for example). These ovals, like the Great Red Spot, rotate counterclockwise and are similar in some respects to high-pressure systems on Earth. When these images were taken, Cassini was about 3.3 degrees above Jupiter's equatorial plane, and the Sun-Jupiter-spacecraft angle was about 20 degrees. JPL manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPl is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. (PIA02825A) For higher resolution, click here. |
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A Privileged View
| Description |
A Privileged View |
| Full Description |
From Saturn orbit, the Cassini spacecraft provides a perspective on the ringed planet that is never seen from Earth. In our skies, Saturn's disk is always nearly fully illuminated by the sun. From this vantage point -- nearly in the ringplane, with the sun over to the right -- the Cassini spacecraft can see both lit and dark hemispheres, with the shadow of the rings on the northern hemisphere. Saturn's low density and fast rotation cause its shape to deviate from spherical to a pronounced oblateness, very apparent here. The image was taken using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera and a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 79 degrees. The mage scale is 139 kilometers (86 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 |
November 11, 2005 |
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Supernova SN1987A in the Lar
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| Title |
Supernova SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| Full Description |
Glittering stars and wisps of gas create a breathtaking backdrop for the self-destruction of a massive star, called supernova 1987A, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy. Astronomers in the Southern hemisphere witnessed the brilliant explosion of this star on Feb. 23, 1987. Shown in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image, the supernova remnant, surrounded by inner and outer rings of material, is set in a forest of ethereal, diffuse clouds of gas. This three-color image is composed of several pictures of the supernova and its neighboring region taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in Sept. 1994, Feb. 1996 and July 1997. The many bright blue stars nearby the supernova are massive stars, each more than six times heftier than our Sun. They are members of the same generation of stars as the star that went supernova about 12 million years ago. The presence of bright gas clouds is another sign of the youth of this region, which still appears to be a fertile breeding ground for new stars. In a few years the supernova's fast moving material will sweep the inner ring with full force, heating and exciting its gas, and will produce a new series of cosmic fireworks that will offer a striking view for more than a decade. |
| Date |
02/04/1999 |
| NASA Center |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
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Hubble Reopens Eye on the Un
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| Title |
Hubble Reopens Eye on the Universe |
| Full Description |
In its first glimpse of the heavens following the successful December 1999 servicing mission, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a majestic view of a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a dying, Sun-like star. This stellar relic, first spied by William Herschel in 1787, is nicknamed the "Eskimo" Nebula (NGC 2392) because, when viewed through ground-based telescopes, it resembles a face surrounded by a fur parka. In this Hubble telescope image, the "parka" is really a disk of material embellished with a ring of comet-shaped objects, with their tails streaming away from the central, dying star. The Eskimo's "face" also contains some fascinating details. Although this bright central region resembles a ball of twine, it is, in reality, a bubble of material being blown into space by the central star's intense "wind" of high-speed material. In this photo, one bubble lies in front of the other, obscuring part of the second lobe. Scientists believe that a ring of dense material around the star's equator, ejected during its red giant phase, created the nebula's shape. The bubbles are not smooth like balloons but have filaments of denser matter. Each bubble is about 1 light-year long and about half a light-year wide. Scientists are still puzzled about the origin of the comet-shaped features in the "parka." One possible explanation is that these objects formed from a collision of slow-and fast-moving gases. The Eskimo Nebula is about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini. The picture was taken Jan. 10 and 11, 2000, with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The nebula's glowing gases produce the colors in this image: nitrogen (red), hydrogen (green), oxygen (blue), and helium (violet). |
| Date |
01/24/2000 |
| NASA Center |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
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Hubble Follows Rapid Changes
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| Title |
Hubble Follows Rapid Changes in Jupiter's Aurora |
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Hubble Finds an Hourglass Ne
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| Title |
Hubble Finds an Hourglass Nebula around a Dying Star |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. This Hubble telescope snapshot of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula, reveals that the object has an hourglass shape with an intricate pattern of "etchings" in its walls. A planetary nebula is the glowing relic of a dying, Sun-like star. The results are of great interest because they shed new light on the poorly understood ejection of stellar matter that accompanies the slow death of Sun-like stars. According to one theory on the formation of planetary nebulae, the hourglass shape is produced by the expansion of a fast stellar wind within a slowly expanding cloud, which is denser near its equator than near its poles. |
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Hubble Camera Resumes Scienc
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| Title |
Hubble Camera Resumes Science Operation with Picture of "Butterfly" in Space |
| General Information |
What is an Early Release Observation? A photograph of a celestial object that demonstrates the performance of a new Hubble camera. The Hubble telescope is back at work, capturing this view of the butterfly-wing-shaped nebula, NGC 2346. The nebula is about 2,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Monoceros. It represents the spectacular "last gasp" of a double-star system at the nebula's center. The image was taken March 6, 1997 as part of the re-commissioning of Hubble's previously installed scientific instruments following a successful servicing mission. |
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Hubble Peers into Heart of D
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| Title |
Hubble Peers into Heart of Dying Star |
| General Information |
What is an Early Release Observation? A photograph of a celestial object that demonstrates the performance of a new Hubble camera. The Egg Nebula, also known as CRL 2688, is shown on the left as it appears in visible light and on the right as it looks in infrared light. Both Hubble views recount the last gasps of a dying, Sun-like star. Objects like the Egg Nebula are helping astronomers understand how stars like our Sun expel carbon and nitrogen ? elements crucial for life ? into space. Studies on the Egg Nebula show that these dying stars eject matter at high speeds along a preferred axis and may even have multiple jet-like outflows. The signature of the collision between this fast-moving material and the slower, out-flowing shells is the glow of hydrogen molecules [the red material] captured in the right-hand image. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/11/text/ ] |
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Hubble Witnesses the Final B
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| Title |
Hubble Witnesses the Final Blaze of Glory of Sun-Like Stars |
| General Information |
What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. The end of a Sun-like star's life was once thought to be simple: the star gracefully casts off a shell of glowing gas and then settles into a long retirement as a burned-out white dwarf. Now, a dazzling collection of detailed views from the Hubble telescope reveals surprisingly intricate, glowing patterns spun into space by aging stars: pinwheels, lawn sprinkler-style jets, elegant goblet shapes, and even some that look like a rocket engine's exhaust. In this picture of M2-9, twin lobes of material emanate from a central, dying star. Astronomers have dubbed this object the "Twin Jet Nebula" because of the shape of the lobes. If the nebula is sliced across the star, each side appears much like a pair of exhausts from jet engines. Indeed, because of the nebula's shape and the measured velocity of the gas, in excess of 200 miles per second, astronomers believe that the description as a super-super-sonic jet exhaust is quite apt. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/38/text/ ] |
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Hubble Witnesses the Final B
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| Title |
Hubble Witnesses the Final Blaze of Glory of Sun-Like Stars |
| General Information |
What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. The end of a Sun-like star's life was once thought to be simple: the star gracefully casts off a shell of glowing gas and then settles into a long retirement as a burned-out white dwarf. Now, a dazzling collection of detailed views from the Hubble telescope reveals surprisingly intricate, glowing patterns spun into space by aging stars: pinwheels, lawn sprinkler-style jets, elegant goblet shapes, and even some that look like a rocket engine's exhaust. In this picture of M2-9, twin lobes of material emanate from a central, dying star. Astronomers have dubbed this object the "Twin Jet Nebula" because of the shape of the lobes. If the nebula is sliced across the star, each side appears much like a pair of exhausts from jet engines. Indeed, because of the nebula's shape and the measured velocity of the gas, in excess of 200 miles per second, astronomers believe that the description as a super-super-sonic jet exhaust is quite apt. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/38/text/ ] |
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Hubble Witnesses the Final B
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| Title |
Hubble Witnesses the Final Blaze of Glory of Sun-Like Stars |
| General Information |
What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. The end of a Sun-like star's life was once thought to be simple: the star gracefully casts off a shell of glowing gas and then settles into a long retirement as a burned-out white dwarf. Now, a dazzling collection of detailed views from the Hubble telescope reveals surprisingly intricate, glowing patterns spun into space by aging stars: pinwheels, lawn sprinkler-style jets, elegant goblet shapes, and even some that look like a rocket engine's exhaust. In this picture of M2-9, twin lobes of material emanate from a central, dying star. Astronomers have dubbed this object the "Twin Jet Nebula" because of the shape of the lobes. If the nebula is sliced across the star, each side appears much like a pair of exhausts from jet engines. Indeed, because of the nebula's shape and the measured velocity of the gas, in excess of 200 miles per second, astronomers believe that the description as a super-super-sonic jet exhaust is quite apt. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/38/text/ ] |
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Hubble Witnesses the Final B
…
| Title |
Hubble Witnesses the Final Blaze of Glory of Sun-Like Stars |
| General Information |
What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. The end of a Sun-like star's life was once thought to be simple: the star gracefully casts off a shell of glowing gas and then settles into a long retirement as a burned-out white dwarf. Now, a dazzling collection of detailed views from the Hubble telescope reveals surprisingly intricate, glowing patterns spun into space by aging stars: pinwheels, lawn sprinkler-style jets, elegant goblet shapes, and even some that look like a rocket engine's exhaust. In this picture of M2-9, twin lobes of material emanate from a central, dying star. Astronomers have dubbed this object the "Twin Jet Nebula" because of the shape of the lobes. If the nebula is sliced across the star, each side appears much like a pair of exhausts from jet engines. Indeed, because of the nebula's shape and the measured velocity of the gas, in excess of 200 miles per second, astronomers believe that the description as a super-super-sonic jet exhaust is quite apt. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/38/text/ ] |
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Hubble Captures the Shrouds
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| Title |
Hubble Captures the Shrouds of Dying Stars |
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The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A P
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| Title |
The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A Planetary Nebula in the Making |
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Fireworks of Star Formation
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| Title |
Fireworks of Star Formation Light up a Galaxy |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
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Hubble Reopens Its Eye on th
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| Title |
Hubble Reopens Its Eye on the Universe |
| General Information |
What is an Early Release Observation? A photograph of a celestial object that demonstrates the performance of a new Hubble camera. Back to top [ #top ] |
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SN1987A in the Large Magella
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| Title |
SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Glittering stars and wisps of gas create a breathtaking backdrop for the self-destruction of a massive star, called supernova 1987A, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy. Astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere witnessed the brilliant explosion of this star on Feb. 23, 1987. Shown in this Hubble telescope image, the supernova remnant, surrounded by inner and outer rings of material, is set in a forest of ethereal, diffuse clouds of gas. |
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A Bow Shock Near a Young Sta
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| Title |
A Bow Shock Near a Young Star |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. The Hubble Space Telescope continues to reveal various stunning and intricate treasures that reside within the nearby, intense star-forming region known as the Great Nebula in Orion. One such jewel is the bow shock around the very young star, LL Ori, featured in this Hubble Heritage image. |
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Movies from Hubble Show the
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| Title |
Movies from Hubble Show the Changing Faces of Infant Stars |
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Fast-Flying Black Hole Yield
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| Title |
Fast-Flying Black Hole Yields Clues to Supernova Origin |
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Mars: Closest Encounter
| Title |
Mars: Closest Encounter |
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Mars: Closest Encounter
| Title |
Mars: Closest Encounter |
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NASA Space Observatories Gli
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| Title |
NASA Space Observatories Glimpse Faint Afterglow of Nearby Stellar Explosion |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
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Hubble Peers Inside a Celest
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| Title |
Hubble Peers Inside a Celestial Geode |
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Uncovering the Veil Nebula
| Title |
Uncovering the Veil Nebula |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope photographed three magnificent sections of the Veil Nebula -- the shattered remains of a supernova that exploded thousands of years ago. This series of images provides beautifully detailed views of the delicate, wispy structure resulting from this cosmic explosion. The Veil Nebula is one of the most spectacular supernova remnants in the sky. The entire shell spans about 3 degrees on the sky, corresponding to about 6 full moons. |
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Star Cluster Bursts into Lif
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| Title |
Star Cluster Bursts into Life in New Hubble Image |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Thousands of sparkling young stars are nestled within the giant nebula NGC 3603. This stellar "jewel box" is one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 3603 is a prominent star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way, about 20,000 light-years away. This latest image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows a young star cluster surrounded by a vast region of dust and gas. The image reveals stages in the life cycle of stars. |
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SOLAR ROTATION RATE WITH DEP
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| Description |
SOLAR ROTATION RATE WITH DEPTH IMAGE: This image, taken using the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on board the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, shows differences in the speed of rotation of material in the Sun. This image is made from continuous observations over a period of twelve months beginning in May 1996. The false colors represent speed, red material is rotating the fastest, dark blue, the slowest. The left side of the figure is rotation speed at the surface of the Sun, red material at the equator is moving approximately three thousand miles per hour faster than the blue material at the poles. The cutaway on the right reveals rotation speed inside the Sun. The large dark red band is a massive fast flow of hot, electrically charged gas called plasma beneath the solar equator. This plasma stream is approximately 300 thousand miles wide and 130 thousand miles deep. This material moves about four percent faster than the surrounding material. Additionally, the newly discovered, but much more subtle, plasma streams can be seen in the cutaway at the poles. They are the light blue areas embedded in the slower moving dark blue regions. Although much smaller than the equatorial stream, they are still immense by terrestrial standards. Each stream is about 17,000 miles across, large enough to engulf two Earths. This material moves about ten percent faster than its surroundings. (Photo Credit: Stanford University) |
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A coronal mass ejection (CME
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| Description |
A coronal mass ejection (CME)on August 16, 2001, is captured by the LASCO C2 instrument as it first erupts (left). Just over an hour later in a wider view from LASCO C3 the CME is also accompanied by fast, high energy protons that have struck the SOHO spacecraft's detectors. This larger view encompasses 30 times the radius of the Sun. |
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Anatomy of a Coronal Hole Th
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| Description |
Anatomy of a Coronal Hole The south pole of the Sun seen in the light of several ultraviolet spectral lines formed at different temperatures Raster scan images simultaneously obtained in July 1996 by the telescope and spectrometer SUMER (Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation) onboard the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). SUMER was developed at the Max-Planck-Institut f?r Aeronomie (MPAE) as part of an international cooperation. It was financially supported by DLR, CNES, NASA, ESA, MPG and PTB. |
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TRACE Ultraviolet View of Ja
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| Title |
TRACE Ultraviolet View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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TRACE Ultraviolet View of Ja
…
| Title |
TRACE Ultraviolet View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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TRACE Ultraviolet View of Ja
…
| Title |
TRACE Ultraviolet View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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TRACE Ultraviolet View of Ja
…
| Title |
TRACE Ultraviolet View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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TRACE Ultraviolet View of Ja
…
| Title |
TRACE Ultraviolet View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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January 2005 Solar Flares fr
…
| Title |
January 2005 Solar Flares from SOHO/EIT |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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January 2005 Solar Flares fr
…
| Title |
January 2005 Solar Flares from SOHO/EIT |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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January 2005 Solar Flares fr
…
| Title |
January 2005 Solar Flares from SOHO/EIT |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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RHESSI and TRACE View of Jan
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| Title |
RHESSI and TRACE View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare |
| Abstract |
RHESSI spacecraft images of gamma-rays (blue) and X-rays (red) thrown off by the hottest part of the flare are shown with UV images from the TRACE spacecraft. The gamma rays are made by energetic protons at the Sun. Scientists were surprised that the gamma rays matched the energy spectrum of protons at Earth: the proton storm may have come directly from the Sun and not from the CME as anticipated. |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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RHESSI and TRACE View of Jan
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| Title |
RHESSI and TRACE View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare |
| Abstract |
RHESSI spacecraft images of gamma-rays (blue) and X-rays (red) thrown off by the hottest part of the flare are shown with UV images from the TRACE spacecraft. The gamma rays are made by energetic protons at the Sun. Scientists were surprised that the gamma rays matched the energy spectrum of protons at Earth: the proton storm may have come directly from the Sun and not from the CME as anticipated. |
| Completed |
2005-05-19 |
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Galileo Earth Views (WMS)
| Title |
Galileo Earth Views (WMS) |
| Abstract |
The Galileo spacecraft was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis on October 18, 1989 on a six-year trip to Jupiter. On the way, the trajectory of the spacecraft took it past Venus once and Earth twice. Galileo took the Earth images in this animation just after the first flyby of the Earth, on December 11 and 12, 1990. This six-hour sequence of images taken two minutes apart clearly shows how the Earth looks from space and how fast (or slow) the cloud features change when looked at from a distance. The path of the sun can be seen crossing Australia by its reflection in the nearby ocean, and the terminator region between night and day can be seen moving across the Indian Ocean. In the original images, the Earth's rotation is so dominant that cloud movement is hard to see, but these images have been mapped to the Earth is such a way that a viewer can watch just the clouds move in the ocean around Antarctica or across the Austrailian land mass. In this animation, New Zealand can ony be seen as a stationary disturbance under a moving cloud bank. The black area with the sharp boundary to the north and east of Australia is the side of the Earth that could not be seen from Galileo's position. |
| Completed |
2004-08-06 |
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TRACE Observes Flows over Ac
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| Title |
TRACE Observes Flows over Active Regions (Fast play) |
| Completed |
2002-04-16 |
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