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On the Goddard Mall
The Goddard Astronomy Club r
…
9/13/08
| Description |
The Goddard Astronomy Club readies telescopes for viewing the Sun Image credit: NASA GSFC |
| Date |
9/13/08 |
|
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Rev
…
| Title |
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Revealed |
| Description |
This image composite shows a giant galactic blob (red, left) and the three merging galaxies NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered within it (yellow, right). Blobs are intensely glowing clouds of hot hydrogen gas that envelop faraway galaxies. They are about 10 times as large as the galaxies they surround. Visible-light images like the one shown here (left), reveal the vast extent of blobs, but don't provide much information about their host galaxies. Using its heat-seeking infrared eyes, Spitzer was able to see the dusty galaxies tucked inside one well-known blob located 11 billion light-years away. The findings reveal three monstrously bright galaxies, trillions of times brighter than the Sun, in the process of merging together (right). Spitzer also observed three other blobs located in the same cosmic neighborhood, all of which were found to be glaringly bright. One of these blobs is also known to be a galactic merger, only between two galaxies instead of three. It remains to be seen whether the final two blobs studied also contain mergers. The Spitzer data were acquired by its multiband imaging photometer. The visible-light image was taken by the Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. |
|
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Rev
…
| Title |
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Revealed |
| Description |
This image composite shows a giant galactic blob (red, left) and the three merging galaxies NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered within it (yellow, right). Blobs are intensely glowing clouds of hot hydrogen gas that envelop faraway galaxies. They are about 10 times as large as the galaxies they surround. Visible-light images like the one shown here (left), reveal the vast extent of blobs, but don't provide much information about their host galaxies. Using its heat-seeking infrared eyes, Spitzer was able to see the dusty galaxies tucked inside one well-known blob located 11 billion light-years away. The findings reveal three monstrously bright galaxies, trillions of times brighter than the Sun, in the process of merging together (right). Spitzer also observed three other blobs located in the same cosmic neighborhood, all of which were found to be glaringly bright. One of these blobs is also known to be a galactic merger, only between two galaxies instead of three. It remains to be seen whether the final two blobs studied also contain mergers. The Spitzer data were acquired by its multiband imaging photometer. The visible-light image was taken by the Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. |
|
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Rev
…
| Title |
Mysterious Blob Galaxies Revealed |
| Description |
This image composite shows a giant galactic blob (red, left) and the three merging galaxies NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope discovered within it (yellow, right). Blobs are intensely glowing clouds of hot hydrogen gas that envelop faraway galaxies. They are about 10 times as large as the galaxies they surround. Visible-light images like the one shown here (left), reveal the vast extent of blobs, but don't provide much information about their host galaxies. Using its heat-seeking infrared eyes, Spitzer was able to see the dusty galaxies tucked inside one well-known blob located 11 billion light-years away. The findings reveal three monstrously bright galaxies, trillions of times brighter than the Sun, in the process of merging together (right). Spitzer also observed three other blobs located in the same cosmic neighborhood, all of which were found to be glaringly bright. One of these blobs is also known to be a galactic merger, only between two galaxies instead of three. It remains to be seen whether the final two blobs studied also contain mergers. The Spitzer data were acquired by its multiband imaging photometer. The visible-light image was taken by the Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. |
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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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Iapetus Thermal Radiation Im
…
| Description |
Iapetus Thermal Radiation Image |
| Full Description |
This image of the infrared heat radiation from Saturn's moon Iapetus was obtained by the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer instrument 16 hours before Cassini's closest approach to this mysterious moon, on December 31, 2004. The thermal radiation is shown as both a grayscale image, equivalent to what we would see if our eyes were sensitive to infrared wavelengths near 15 microns, and as a color-coded temperature map. A previously-released mosaic obtained by Cassini's imaging camera shortly before the composite infrared spectrometer observation, with similar scale and orientation, is also shown for comparison. Temperatures reach nearly 130 Kelvin (-226 Fahrenheit) at noon on the equator on the dark material that covers most of this side of Iapetus, making high noon on Iapetus's dark side probably the warmest places in the Saturn system. This is much warmer than temperatures on another Saturnian moon, Phoebe, measured by composite infrared spectrometer in June 2004. Those Phoebe temperature measurements peaked near 112 Kelvin (-258 Fahrenheit), because though Phoebe is almost as dark as Iapetus's dark material and absorbs nearly as much sunlight, Phoebe rotates much more quickly (once every 9 hours, compared to 79 days for Iapetus). That means the surface has less time to heat up during the day. Temperatures on Iapetus's bright material are much colder, peaking near 100 Kelvin (-280 Fahrenheit), both because the bright material absorbs less sunlight and because it is further from the equator on this side of Iapetus. Temperatures in the large crater near the center of the disc are slightly different from those in surrounding areas, because sloping surfaces within the crater are warmer where they are tilted towards the Sun and cooler when tilted away from the Sun. 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 composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/. *Credit*: NASA/JPL/GSFC |
| Date |
January 10, 2005 |
|
Iapetus Temperature Variatio
…
| Description |
Iapetus Temperature Variation Map |
| Full Description |
This plot shows how daytime temperatures at low latitudes on the dark material on Saturn's moon Iapetus vary with time of day, from about 130 Kelvin (-226 Fahrenheit) at noon to about 70 Kelvin (-334 Fahrenheit) at sunset. The observations are compared to a "forecast" model (green line) which predicts temperatures based on an assumed value of a parameter called the "thermal inertia. This measures how well the surface can retain heat as conditions change. Rock or solid ice has a high thermal inertia, roughly 2,000,000 as measured in the obscure units used for thermal inertia, meaning that it is good at storing heat and cools down or heats up relatively slowly. On Iapetus, in contrast, temperatures drop precipitously in the afternoon as the Sun sinks towards the horizon, and a very small value of the thermal inertia (30,000 units) is needed in the model to match the data. This means that Iapetus's surface is extremely bad at storing heat, and is thus extremely fluffy, probably due to the pulverizing effect of billions of years of meteorite impacts, though the mysterious process that has darkened this side of Iapetus may also have played a role. 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 composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/. *Credit*: NASA/JPL/GSFC |
| Date |
January 10, 2005 |
|
SOHO Watches Saturn and Cass
…
| Description |
SOHO Watches Saturn and Cassini Pass Behind the Sun |
| Full Description |
In this SOHO image taken July 21, 2005, the Sun is represented by the white circle in the center. Saturn is the bright object to the left of the Sun. Interestingly, the streak accompanying Saturn is not the rings but a distortion caused by Saturn's brightness. Saturn is approaching "superior conjunction," that is, it will be almost directly behind the Sun from Earth -- thus the Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, will not be able to send or receive transmissions normally. Regular science data collection has been temporarily suspended. As Cassini passes closest by the limb (edge) of the Sun on July 24 PDT, communications will be impossible because of the Sun's radio noise. The spacecraft will regain full communication with Earth on July 27, once again returning Saturn science data. In the meantime, controllers are sending approximately 100 commands per day to test communication status. Cassini radio scientists are taking advantage of this opportunity to study the Sun's corona from its effects on the radio signals that reach Earth. SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite) orbits the Sun parked in one of the five gravitational-neutral spots, called Lagrange Points. This specific spot, called L1, stays in the same place relative to the Sun and the Earth, offering a continuously uninterrupted view of the Sun. Saturn is not in sight again until the evening of July 24. After that date, it will be to the RIGHT of the sun. For more information on "superior conjunction," visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf1-2.html#conj . For more information on the Lagrange Points, visit: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/ob_techorbit1.html For more information on SOHO, visit: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ . Finally, the latest SOHO images are available at: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/1024/latest.gif . Credit: SOHO -- http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ |
| Date |
July 22, 2005 |
|
SOHO Watches Saturn and Cass
…
| Description |
SOHO Watches Saturn and Cassini Pass Behind the Sun |
| Full Description |
In this SOHO image taken July 21, 2005, the Sun is represented by the white circle in the center. Saturn is the bright object to the left of the Sun. Interestingly, the streak accompanying Saturn is not the rings but a distortion caused by Saturn's brightness. Saturn is approaching "superior conjunction," that is, it will be almost directly behind the Sun from Earth -- thus the Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, will not be able to send or receive transmissions normally. Regular science data collection has been temporarily suspended. As Cassini passes closest by the limb (edge) of the Sun on July 24 PDT, communications will be impossible because of the Sun's radio noise. The spacecraft will regain full communication with Earth on July 27, once again returning Saturn science data. In the meantime, controllers are sending approximately 100 commands per day to test communication status. Cassini radio scientists are taking advantage of this opportunity to study the Sun's corona from its effects on the radio signals that reach Earth. SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite) orbits the Sun parked in one of the five gravitational-neutral spots, called Lagrange Points. This specific spot, called L1, stays in the same place relative to the Sun and the Earth, offering a continuously uninterrupted view of the Sun. Saturn is not in sight again until the evening of July 24. After that date, it will be to the RIGHT of the sun. For more information on "superior conjunction," visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf1-2.html#conj . For more information on the Lagrange Points, visit: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm/ob_techorbit1.html For more information on SOHO, visit: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ . Finally, the latest SOHO images are available at: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/1024/latest.gif . Credit: SOHO -- http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ |
| Date |
July 22, 2005 |
|
Enceladus Temperature Map
| Description |
Enceladus Temperature Map |
| Full Description |
This image shows the surprise that startled Cassini scientists on the composite infrared spectrometer team when they got their first look at the infrared (heat) radiation from the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. There is a dramatic warm spot centered on the pole that is probably a sign of internal heat leaking out of the icy moon. The data were taken during the spacecraft's third flyby of this intriguing moon on July 14, 2005. Based on data from previous flybys, which did not show the south pole well, team members expected that the south pole would be very cold, as shown in the left panel. Enceladus is one of the coldest places in the Saturn system because its extremely bright surface reflects 80 percent of the sunlight that hits it, so only 20 percent is available to heat the surface. As on Earth, the poles should be even colder than the equator because the sun shines at such an oblique angle there. The right hand panel shows a global temperature image made from measurements of Enceladus' heat radiation at wavelengths between 9 and 16.5 microns. Cassini made the observation from a distance of 84,000 kilometers (52,000 miles) on the approach to Enceladus, and the image shows details as small as 25 kilometers (16 miles). Equatorial temperatures are much as expected, topping out at about 80 degrees Kelvin (-315 degrees Fahrenheit), but the south pole is occupied by a well-defined warm region reaching 85 Kelvin (-305 degrees Fahrenheit). That is 15 degrees Kelvin (27 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than expected. The composite infrared spectrometer data further suggest that small areas of the pole are at even higher temperatures, well over 110 degrees Kelvin (-261 degrees Fahrenheit). Evaporation of this relatively warm ice probably generates the cloud of water vapor detected above Enceladus' south pole by several other Cassini instruments. The south polar temperatures are very difficult to explain if sunlight is the only energy source heating the surface, though exotic sunlight-trapping mechanisms have not yet been completely ruled out. It therefore seems likely that portions of the polar region are warmed by heat escaping from the interior of the moon. This would make Enceladus only the third solid body in the solar system, after Earth and Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, where hot spots powered by internal heat have been detected. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The composite infrared spectrometer team homepage is, http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ . Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC |
| Date |
July 29, 2005 |
|
Phoebe Temperature Maps
| Description |
Phoebe Temperature Maps |
| Full Description |
A montage of maps of Saturn's moon Phoebe shows surface temperatures at various times of day as determined by the composite infrared spectrometer onboard Cassini during the June 11, 2004, Phoebe flyby. The asterisk on each map shows the location of the subsolar point, where the Sun is directly overhead. This point moves across the surface as Phoebe rotates. It is morning in regions to the left of the subsolar point, and afternoon in regions to the right. Like a newspaper weather map, different colors indicate different temperatures, though Phoebe's temperatures are distinctly cooler than even the coldest January day on Earth. Equatorial temperatures peak in the early afternoon near 112 Kelvin (-257 Fahrenheit), plunging to 78 Kelvin (-319 Fahrenheit) before dawn, and are even colder at higher latitudes. The large day/night temperature contrasts imply that Phoebe's surface is covered in loose dust or ice particles that store little heat and thus cool off rapidly at night. Regions of Phoebe's surface that were not observed are shown in black. Most of the maps show the effect on surface temperatures of the large crater-like depression seen in Cassini's visible-wavelength images of Phoebe, which is located just left of center in these maps. Crater walls that are shadowed and cold in the early morning in the first map are sunlit and warm in the late afternoon in the final map. 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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer home page at http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
Slower Spinning Rings #1
| Description |
Slower Spinning Rings #1 |
| Full Description |
The Cassini composite infrared spectrometer obtained temperature maps of Saturn's main rings (A, B and C) that showed ring temperatures decreasing with increasing solar phase angle (the change of the sun-spacecraft-ring angle) on both the lit and unlit sides of the rings. Temperature changes throughout Saturn's main rings, as measured by the instrument, indicate that Saturn ring particles spin slowly compared to their orbital periods of 6 to 14 hours. They may spin several times per orbit to less than one time per orbit. Scans are shown for the lit and unlit rings, at relatively low (less than 60-degree) and high (more than 130-degree) phase angles. Each scan was painted on the rings at the correct ring orientation, creating a false color image. Warmer temperatures about minus 262 degrees Fahrenheit (110 Kelvin) are shown in red and cooler temperatures about minus 343 degrees (65 K) are shown in blue. Other colors indicate temperatures between minus 343 degrees and minus 262 degrees (65 K and 110 K). The scans of the lit rings are shown in the two panels on the left and scans of the unlit rings are shown in the two panels on the right. The thermal characteristics of each main ring vary noticeably with phase angle. Radial scans of the A, B and C rings show a decrease in temperature with increasing phase angle for both the lit and unlit sides of the rings. The C ring and Cassini Division exhibit the largest change in temperature. The temperature of the lit C ring decreases by about 22 degrees (12 Kelvin) between low and high phase angles. A similar contrast is present for the unlit side of the C ring. The C ring and Cassini Division are darker than the A and B rings so they can absorb more heat from the Sun. The lit B ring shows a temperature contrast of approximately 18 degrees (10 K) while the unlit B ring shows very little thermal contrast. Very little sunlight may make it through the thick B ring to its unlit side. The lit A ring is particularly interesting because the magnitude of the thermal contrast decreases with increasing radial distance from Saturn. The outer A ring shows only a small temperature change with phase angle, possibly because it contains smaller, or more rapidly rotating ring particles, which would have more uniform temperatures with phase angle. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC |
| Date |
September 5, 2005 |
|
Slower Spinning Rings #2
| Description |
Slower Spinning Rings #2 |
| Full Description |
Temperature changes mapped with Cassini's composite and infrared spectrometer throughout Saturn's main rings show the ring temperatures decreasing with the increase of the Sun-spacecraft-ring angle (called phase angle) on both the lit and unlit sides of the rings. These temperature changes indicate that the ring particles spin slowly compared to their orbital periods of 6 to 14 hours. They may spin several times per orbit to less than one time per orbit. Four scans are shown for the lit and unlit rings, at relatively low (less than 60 degrees) and high (more than 130 degrees) phase angles. Warmer temperatures about minus 262 degrees Fahrenheit (110 Kelvin) are shown in red and cooler temperatures about minus 343 degrees (65 K) are shown in blue. Other colors indicate temperatures between minus 343 degrees and minus 262 degrees (65 K and 110 K). The top two scans are for the lit rings and the bottom two scans are for the unlit rings. The change in ring temperature between each scan can be seen clearly. The thermal characteristics of each main ring vary noticeably with phase angle. Radial scans of the A, B and C rings show a decrease in temperature with increasing phase angle for both the lit and unlit sides of the rings. The C ring and Cassini Division exhibit the largest change in temperature. The temperature of the lit C ring decreases by about 22 degrees (12 Kelvin) between low and high phase angles. A similar contrast is present for the unlit side of the C ring. The C ring and Cassini Division are darker than the A and B rings so they can absorb more heat from the Sun. The lit B ring shows a temperature contrast of approximately 18 degrees (10 K) while the unlit B ring shows very little thermal contrast. Very little sunlight may make it through the thick B ring to its unlit side. The lit A ring is particularly interesting because the magnitude of the thermal contrast decreases with increasing radial distance from Saturn. The outer A ring shows only a small temperature change with phase angle, possibly because it contains smaller, or more rapidly rotating ring particles, which would have more uniform temperatures with phase angle. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/. |
| Date |
September 5, 2005 |
|
Iapetus Temperature Map
| Description |
Iapetus Temperature Map |
| Full Description |
This temperature map of Saturn's moon Iapetus is constructed from observations of Iapetus's infrared heat radiation taken with the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer instrument during the Dec. 31, 2004 flyby. The orange asterisk marks the point on Iapetus where the Sun is directly overhead. Temperatures reach nearly 130 Kelvin (-226 Fahrenheit) at noon on the equator on the dark material that covers most of this side of Iapetus, making high noon on Iapetus's dark side probably the warmest places in the Saturn system. This is much warmer than temperatures on the moon Phoebe measured by the composite infrared spectrometer in June 2004, which peaked near 112 Kelvin (-258 Fahrenheit). That's because, although Phoebe is almost as dark as Iapetus's dark material and absorbs nearly as much sunlight, Phoebe rotates much more quickly (once every 9 hours, compared to 79 days for Iapetus). That means the surface has less time to heat up during the day. Temperatures on Iapetus' bright material are much colder, peaking near 100 Kelvin (-280 Fahrenheit), both because the bright material absorbs less sunlight and because it is further from the equator on this side of Iapetus. 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 composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/. *Credit*: NASA/JPL/GSFC |
| Date |
January 10, 2005 |
|
Hot Shot
| title |
Hot Shot |
| description |
The black dot in this picture of the Sun is Mercury. The planet made a rare pass in front of the Sun on May 7, 2003. The SOHO and TRACE spacecraft were watching with all instruments. The spacecraft websites are among many with Mercury transit galleries. *Image Credit*: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
OSO Launch
| Title |
OSO Launch |
| Full Description |
NASA successfully launched more than 200 Earth-orbiting satellites, including Goddard's eighth Orbiting Solar Observatory aboard this Delta rocket on June 21,1975, at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite-the final in a series of spacecraft specifically designed to look at the Sun in high-energy wavelength bands that scientists cannot see on Earth-gathered data on energy transfer in the Sun's hot, gaseous atmosphere and its 11-year sunspot cycle. Sunspots are cooler regions that appear as dark patches in the visible surface of the Sun and are more plentiful every 11 years. Flares and other powerful solar events that sometimes wreak havoc with Earth's communications systems also are associated with heightened sunspot activity. In addition to looking at the Sun, the satellite investigated celestial sources of X-rays in the Milky Way and beyond. It carried eight experiments. |
| Date |
01/01/1975 |
| NASA Center |
Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
Series of Images from SOHO
| Title |
Series of Images from SOHO |
| Full Description |
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint project of the European Space Agency and NASA, took this sequence of images with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope, one of the observatory's 12 instruments. Easily visible on the lower left side is an "eruptive prominence" or blob of 60,000 F (33,315 C) gas measuring more than 80,000 miles (128,747 km) long. When the observatory took the image on February 11, 1996, the blob was traveling at more than 15,000 mph (24,140 kph). Eruptions such as these occur when a significant amount of cool dense plasma or ionized gas escapes from the low-level magnetic fields in the Sun's atmosphere. When they occur, they sometimes disrupt power and communications. With SOHO, scientists hope to observe these events more often and perhaps get a better idea of how they occur. SOHO observed these events during the minimum phase of the Sun's 11-year activity cycle. |
| Date |
02/11/1996 |
| NASA Center |
Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
Dynamic Test Chamber
| Title |
Dynamic Test Chamber |
| Full Description |
NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer C (ISEE C) was undergoing testing and evaluation inside Goddard's dynamic test chamber when this photo was taken. Working inside a dynamic test chamber, Goddard engineers wear protective "clean room" clothing to prevent microscopic dust particles from damaging the sophisticated instrumentation. NASA launched the 16-sided polyhedron, which weighed 1,032 lbs. (469 kg.), from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 12, 1978. From its halo orbit 932,000 miles (1.5 million km.) from Earth, the satellite monitored the characteristics of solar phenomena about one hour before its companion satellites-ISEE-A and ISEE-B-observed the same phenomena from a much closer near-Earth orbit. The correlated measurements supported the work of 117 scientific investigators who were trying to get a better understanding of how the Sun controls Earth's near-space environment. The scientists represented 35 universities in 10 nations |
| Date |
11/06/1976 |
| NASA Center |
Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
Hole in the Ozone Layer Over
…
| Title |
Hole in the Ozone Layer Over Antarctica |
| Full Description |
In 1985, a British scientist working in Antarctica discovered a 40 percent loss in the ozone layer over the continent. When Goddard Space Flight Center researchers reviewed their data, they confirmed the ozone loss. Since then, scientists have relied on instrumentation developed by Goddard to keep track of the environmental phenomenon, which in the 1990s prompted a worldwide ban on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a chemical used for refrigeration and other industrial uses. In this image, the blue/purple areas show low ozone, while the red areas indicate higher ozone levels. Although ozone is considered a pollutant in the troposphere?the atmospheric layer that contains the air we breathe?in higher altitudes, notably in the stratosphere, ozone is considered vital. Stratospheric ozone blocks harmful ultraviolet radiation produced by the Sun. Scientists worry that the large ozone opening over the poles generally deplete ozone levels around the globe, which could cause a health risk to animals and plants. |
| Date |
10/01/1998 |
| NASA Center |
Goddard Space Flight Center |
|
Hubble's Improved Optics Rev
…
| Title |
Hubble's Improved Optics Reveal Incredible Detail in Giant Cloud of Gas and Dust |
| General Information |
What is an Early Release Observation? A photograph of a celestial object that demonstrates the performance of a new Hubble camera. What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. An image of a star-forming region in the 30 Doradus nebula, surrounding the dense star cluster R136. The image was obtained using the second generation Wide Filed and Planetary Camera (WFPC-2), installed in the Hubble Space Telescope during the STS-61 Servicing Mission. The WFPC-2 contains modified optics to correct for the aberration of the Hubble's primary mirror. The new optics will allow the telescope to tackle many of the most important scientific programs for which the it was built, but had to be temporarily shelved with the discovery of the spherical aberration in 1990. |
|
Hubble Follows Rapid Changes
…
| Title |
Hubble Follows Rapid Changes in Jupiter's Aurora |
|
Hubble Picture Adds to Plane
…
| Title |
Hubble Picture Adds to Planet-Making Recipe |
|
Hubble Telescope Reveals Swa
…
| Title |
Hubble Telescope Reveals Swarm of Glittering Stars in Nearby 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 ] |
|
NASA Space Observatories Gli
…
| 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 ] |
|
Dying Star Sculpts Rungs of
…
| Title |
Dying Star Sculpts Rungs of Gas and Dust |
|
Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures o
…
| Title |
Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures of Jupiter's "Red Spot Jr. |
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Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures o
…
| Title |
Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures of Jupiter's "Red Spot Jr. |
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Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures o
…
| Title |
Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures of Jupiter's "Red Spot Jr. |
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Hubble Observations Confirm
…
| Title |
Hubble Observations Confirm that Planets Form from Disks Around Stars |
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Spitzer and Hubble Capture E
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Capture Evolving Planetary Systems |
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Spitzer and Hubble Capture E
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Capture Evolving Planetary Systems |
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Spitzer and Hubble Capture E
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Capture Evolving Planetary Systems |
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Spitzer and Hubble Capture E
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Capture Evolving Planetary Systems |
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Spitzer and Hubble Capture E
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Capture Evolving Planetary Systems |
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The Carina Nebula: Star Birt
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| Title |
The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is releasing one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras. READ: Junior version of this article Amazing Space Learn about this story in the Star Witness, a science newspaper available on our sister site, Amazing Space. [ http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/news/archive/2007/02/ ] It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth —, and death —, is taking place. This image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of neutral hydrogen during March and July 2005. Color information was added with data taken in December 2001 and March 2003 at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission. |
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scient
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scientists' Expectations |
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scient
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scientists' Expectations |
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Hubble Catches Jupiter Chang
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| Title |
Hubble Catches Jupiter Changing Its Stripes |
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Hubble Catches Jupiter Chang
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| Title |
Hubble Catches Jupiter Changing Its Stripes |
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scient
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| Title |
Saturn's Auroras Defy Scientists' Expectations |
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Hubble Catches Jupiter Chang
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| Title |
Hubble Catches Jupiter Changing Its Stripes |
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scient
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| Title |
Saturn's Auroras Defy Scientists' Expectations |
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Hubble Catches Jupiter Chang
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| Title |
Hubble Catches Jupiter Changing Its Stripes |
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Hubble Catches Jupiter Chang
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| Title |
Hubble Catches Jupiter Changing Its Stripes |
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scient
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| Title |
Saturn's Auroras Defy Scientists' Expectations |
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Saturn's Auroras Defy Scient
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| Title |
Saturn's Auroras Defy Scientists' Expectations |
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Elusive Planet Reshapes a Ri
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| Title |
Elusive Planet Reshapes a Ring Around Neighboring Star |
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Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk
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| Title |
Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole |
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Dusty Planetary Disks Around
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| Title |
Dusty Planetary Disks Around Two Nearby Stars Resemble Our Kuiper Belt |
| General Information |
What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. These two bright debris disks of ice and dust appear to be the equivalent of our own solar system's Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy rocks outside the orbit of Neptune and the source of short-period comets. The disks encircle the types of stars around which there could be habitable zones and planets for life to develop. The disks seem to have a central area cleared of debris, perhaps by planets. |
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Clearest View Yet of Massive
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| Title |
Clearest View Yet of Massive Star Cluster |
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