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Ulysses Preparations
title Ulysses Preparations
date 06.06.1990
description Technicians in Hangar AO on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station continue preflight checkout and testing of the Ulysses spacecraft. Ulysses is a NASA/European Space Agency project launched from the Space Shuttle (Mission STS-41). *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL
Ulysses Patera
title Ulysses Patera
description This feature is an example of a class of volcanos that are considerably smaller than either the broad shield volcanos or Alba Patera. The summit consists of a single, very circular caldera with a smooth floor that predates the ejecta from two large impact craters. The lower flanks of the volcano, including portions of the impact craters, have been buried by the material that makes up the surrounding plains. This superpositional relationship indicates that the plains were emplaced subsequent to both the volcano and large impact craters on the volcano. The plains are probably made up of lava supplied from the Tharsis Montes that flowed down the sides of the broad uplift associated with the Tharsis shields. Both the plains and the volcano are cut by a graben (a paired set of linear faults), indicating tectonic activity subsequent to the emplacement of the plains. This image was taken by NASA's Viking 2 orbiter in 1977. *Image Credit*: NASA
Ulysses and Comet Hyakutake
title Ulysses and Comet Hyakutake
description An artist's impression of the Ulysses spacecraft passing through the tail of comet Hyakutake. Ulysses unexpectedly encountered the tail of comet Hyakutake in May 1996. At the time, Hyakutake's nucleus was close to the Sun - more than 525,000,000 km (326,000,000 miles) away. The measurement was the longest comet tail ever recorded. The discovery revealed comet tails - streams of ions, gas and dust extending away from the Sun - were much longer than previously believed. *Image Credit*: European Space Agency/David Hardy
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
Ulysses Leaves Earth
title Ulysses Leaves Earth
description An artist's impression of the Ulysses spacecraft mated with its solid rocket booster drifting away from the Space Shuttle Discovery. The booster was used to push Ulysses out of Earth orbit towards Jupiter. Ulysses used Jupiter's gravity to hurl it into an orbit that takes it over the Sun's polar regions, an area not visible to Earth-based observers. *Image Credit*: Boeing, NASA and European Space Agency
Ulysses and the Sun
title Ulysses and the Sun
description An artist's impression of Ulysses in the complex environment of our Sun. Ulysses has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the Sun, the heliosphere, and our local interstellar neighbourhood. *Image Credit*: David Hardy, NASA and the European Space Agency
Ulysses Mission Logo
title Ulysses Mission Logo
description The European Space Agency's Ulysses mission logo. *Image Credit*: European Space Agency
Ulysses at Jupiter
title Ulysses at Jupiter
date 02.04.2004
description An artist's impression of the Ulysses spacecraft at Jupiter. Ulysses used Jupiter's powerful gravity to hurl it out of the Plane of the Ecliptic (where most planets and satellites orbit) so it could study the polar regions of the Sun. *Image Credit*: NASA/European Space Agency
Inspecting Cassini's nuclear …
Title Inspecting Cassini's nuclear power source
Full Description Environmental Health Specialist Jamie A. Keeley of EG&G Florida Inc., KSC's base operations contractor, uses an ion chamber dose rate meter to measure radiation levels in one of the three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that will provide electrical power to the Cassini spacecraft. Technicians tested and monitored four RTGs, including one spare, in the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Storage building in KSC's Industrial Area. The RTGs use heat from the natural decay of plutonium to generate electric power. This nuclear powered system enables the spacecraft to operate far from the Sun, where solar power systems are not feasible. Similar RTGs powered the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft. A close-up study of Saturn and its moons, the Cassini/Huygens mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station in October 1997 and reached the Saturnian system in July 2004 for four years of observation. Scientific instruments carried aboard the Cassini orbiter will study Saturn's atmosphere, magnetic field, rings, and several moons, while the Huygens probe will separate and land on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The Cassini-Huygens mission owes its name to the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens and Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. Both had spectacular careers as observers of the heavens, which included important discoveries about Saturn and its satellites. Huygens (1629-1695) discovered Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 1655 and in 1656 described the shape and phase changes of Saturn's rings. Cassini (1625-1712) was the first to observe four of Saturn's moons, Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, and Dione, in the 1670s and 1680s. He also, in 1675, discovered the gap in Saturn's rings, now called the Cassini Division, and proposed that the rings were formed from many tiny particles. Cassini-Huygens is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL is managing the Cassini project for NASA. The mission was proposed in November 1982 by a group of European and American scientists from the European Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences. The Solar System Exploration Committee of the NASA Advisory Council endorsed the idea in April 1983, and NASA and ESA began a joint assessment study in 1984. ESA officially adopted the project in November 1988, and Congress approved funding for NASA's portion of the mission in FY 89.
Date 06/17/1997
NASA Center Kennedy Space Center
Ulysses Preparations
Title Ulysses Preparations
Full Description Technicians in Hangar AO on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station continue preflight checkout and testing of the Ulysses spacecraft. Ulysses is a NASA/European Space Agency project scheduled for launch on Space Shuttle Mission STS-41 this fall.
Date 6/26/1990
NASA Center Kennedy Space Center
NASA Hubble Space Telescope …
Title NASA Hubble Space Telescope Photographs Jupiter Aurora
The fastest CME of Cycle 23 …
Title The fastest CME of Cycle 23 overtakes another fast CME
Abstract On November 4, 2003, the Sun produced its fastest coronal mass ejection (CME) for cycle 23 out of the active region 0486 located near the southwest limb of the Sun. The CME was expelled with a speed of approximately 2700 km/s. At the time of the launch of this CME, there was another ejection in progress from the same region. The previous ejection started about 7 hours earlier with a speed of about 1000 km/s. The fastest CME overtook the previous one within 2 hours and produced a spectacular radio radiation detected by the Wind, Ulysses and Cassini spacecraft. The movie shows the radio emission and the two interacting CMEs as observed by the SOHO spacecraft.
Completed 2004-05-13
The fastest CME of Cycle 23 …
Title The fastest CME of Cycle 23 overtakes another fast CME
Abstract On November 4, 2003, the Sun produced its fastest coronal mass ejection (CME) for cycle 23 out of the active region 0486 located near the southwest limb of the Sun. The CME was expelled with a speed of approximately 2700 km/s. At the time of the launch of this CME, there was another ejection in progress from the same region. The previous ejection started about 7 hours earlier with a speed of about 1000 km/s. The fastest CME overtook the previous one within 2 hours and produced a spectacular radio radiation detected by the Wind, Ulysses and Cassini spacecraft. The movie shows the radio emission and the two interacting CMEs as observed by the SOHO spacecraft.
Completed 2004-05-13
The fastest CME of Cycle 23 …
Title The fastest CME of Cycle 23 overtakes another fast CME
Abstract On November 4, 2003, the Sun produced its fastest coronal mass ejection (CME) for cycle 23 out of the active region 0486 located near the southwest limb of the Sun. The CME was expelled with a speed of approximately 2700 km/s. At the time of the launch of this CME, there was another ejection in progress from the same region. The previous ejection started about 7 hours earlier with a speed of about 1000 km/s. The fastest CME overtook the previous one within 2 hours and produced a spectacular radio radiation detected by the Wind, Ulysses and Cassini spacecraft. The movie shows the radio emission and the two interacting CMEs as observed by the SOHO spacecraft.
Completed 2004-05-13
The fastest CME of Cycle 23 …
Title The fastest CME of Cycle 23 overtakes another fast CME
Abstract On November 4, 2003, the Sun produced its fastest coronal mass ejection (CME) for cycle 23 out of the active region 0486 located near the southwest limb of the Sun. The CME was expelled with a speed of approximately 2700 km/s. At the time of the launch of this CME, there was another ejection in progress from the same region. The previous ejection started about 7 hours earlier with a speed of about 1000 km/s. The fastest CME overtook the previous one within 2 hours and produced a spectacular radio radiation detected by the Wind, Ulysses and Cassini spacecraft. The movie shows the radio emission and the two interacting CMEs as observed by the SOHO spacecraft.
Completed 2004-05-13
The fastest CME of Cycle 23 …
Title The fastest CME of Cycle 23 overtakes another fast CME
Abstract On November 4, 2003, the Sun produced its fastest coronal mass ejection (CME) for cycle 23 out of the active region 0486 located near the southwest limb of the Sun. The CME was expelled with a speed of approximately 2700 km/s. At the time of the launch of this CME, there was another ejection in progress from the same region. The previous ejection started about 7 hours earlier with a speed of about 1000 km/s. The fastest CME overtook the previous one within 2 hours and produced a spectacular radio radiation detected by the Wind, Ulysses and Cassini spacecraft. The movie shows the radio emission and the two interacting CMEs as observed by the SOHO spacecraft.
Completed 2004-05-13
AC91-0164-12
Dryden Fllight Reseach Facil …
10/10/91
Description Dryden Fllight Reseach Facility, Edwards, California STA (Shuttle Training Aircraft, Gulf Stream II) flys chase as STS-41returns from it's mission to Deploy Ulysses Spacecraft... Discovery's main gear is about to touch down at Edwards Air Foce Base to end a four-day mission in space for it's five-man crew. The vehicle landed at 6:57 a.m. Onboard the spacecraft were Astronauts Richard N. Richards, Robert D Cabana, William M Sheperd, Bruce E. Melnick and Thomas D. Akers.
Date 10/10/91
AC91-0165-5
STS-41 Discovery lifts off f …
10/10/91
Description STS-41 Discovery lifts off from Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a four-day mission in space for its five-man crew. Onboard the spacecraft were Astronauts Richard N. Richards, Robert D Cabana, William M Sheperd, Bruce E. Melnick and Thomas D. Akers. Lift off was at 7:47 a.m. EDT on oct 6, 1990. A feww hours after this photo was made, the crewmembers released the Ulysses spacecraft onits way to a long-awaited mission.
Date 10/10/91
STS-41 Launch
Name of Image STS-41 Launch
Date of Image 1990-10-06
Full Description Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on October 6, 1990 at 7:47:15 am (EDT), the STS-41 mission consisted of 5 crew members. Included were Richard N. Richards, commander, Robert D. Cabana, pilot, and Bruce E. Melnick, Thomas D. Akers, and William M. Shepherd, all mission specialists. The primary payload for the mission was the European Space Agency (ESA) built Ulysses Space Craft made to explore the polar regions of the Sun. Other main payloads and experiments included the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment and the INTELSAT Solar Array Coupon (ISAC).
STS-41 Mission Insignia
Name of Image STS-41 Mission Insignia
Date of Image 1990-07-08
Full Description The STS-41 crew patch, designed by the five astronaut crewmembers, depicts the Space Shuttle orbiting Earth after deployment of its primary payload -- the Ulysses satellite. The orbiter is shown passing over the southeastern United States, representative of its 28-degree inclination orbit. Ulysses, the Solar Exploration Satellite, as the fastest man-made object in the universe, traveling at 30 miles per second (over 100,000 mph) is represented by the streaking silver teardrop passing over the sun. Ulysses' path is depicted by the bright red spiral originating from the Shuttle cargo bay. The three-legged trajectory, extending out the payload bay, is symbolic of the astronaut logo and is in honor of those who have given their lives in the conquest of space. The five stars, four gold and one silver, represent STS-41 and each of its crewmembers.
STS-41 Launch
Name of Image STS-41 Launch
Date of Image 1990-10-06
Full Description Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on October 6, 1990 at 7:47:15 am (EDT), the STS-41 mission consisted of 5 crew members. Included were Richard N. Richards, commander, Robert D. Cabana, pilot, and Bruce E. Melnick, Thomas D. Akers, and William M. Shepherd, all mission specialists. The primary payload for the mission was the European Space Agency (ESA) built Ulysses Space Craft made to explore the polar regions of the Sun. Other main payloads and experiments included the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment and the INTELSAT Solar Array Coupon (ISAC).
STS-41 Crew Portrait
Name of Image STS-41 Crew Portrait
Date of Image 1990-11-16
Full Description The 5 member crew of the STS-41 mission included (left to right): Bruce E. Melnick, mission specialist 2, Robert D. Cabana, pilot, Thomas D. Akers, mission specialist 3, Richard N. Richards, commander, and William M. Shepherd, mission specialist 1. Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on October 6, 1990 at 7:47:15 am (EDT), the primary payload for the mission was the ESA built Ulysses Space Craft made to explore the polar regions of the Sun. Other main payloads and experiments included the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment and the INTELSAT Solar Array Coupon (ISAC).
Chandra X-Ray Observatory in …
Name of Image Chandra X-Ray Observatory in Shuttle's Cargo Bay
Date of Image 1999-01-01
Full Description In this photograph, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) was installed and mated to the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) inside the Shuttle Columbia's cargo bay at the Kennedy Space Center. The CXO will help astronomers world-wide better understand the structure and evolution of the universe by studying powerful sources of x-rays such as exploding stars, matter falling into black holes, and other exotic celestial objects. X-ray astronomy can only be done from space because Earth's atmosphere blocks x-rays from reaching the surface. The Observatory provides images that are 50 times more detailed than previous x-ray missions. At more than 45 feet in length and weighing more than 5 tons, the CXO was carried into low-Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-93 mission) on July 22, 1999. The Observatory was deployed from the Shuttle's cargo bay at 155 miles above the Earth. Two firings of an attached IUS rocket, and several firings of its own onboard rocket motors, after separating from the IUS, placed the Observatory into its working orbit. The IUS is a solid rocket used to place spacecraft into orbit or boost them away from the Earth on interplanetary missions. Since its first use by NASA in 1983, the IUS has supported a variety of important missions, such as the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, Galileo spacecraft, Magellan spacecraft, and Ulysses spacecraft. The IUS was built by the Boeing Aerospace Co., at Seattle, Washington and managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center.
A GRB 000301C Symphony
Title A GRB 000301C Symphony
Explanation Telescopic instruments in Earth and space are still tracking a tremendous explosion that occurred across the universe. A nearly unprecedented symphony of international observations began abruptly on March 1 when Earth-orbiting RXTE [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/xte_1st.html ], Sun-orbiting Ulysses [ http://helio.estec.esa.nl/ulysses/ ], and asteroid-orbiting NEAR [ http://near.jhuapl.edu/Education/intro/NEARintro.html ] all detected [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/gcn3/568.gcn3 ] a 10-second burst [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991104.html ] of high-frequency gamma radiation [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html ]. Within 48 hours astronomers using the 2.5-meter Nordic Optical Telescope [ http://www.astro.lu.se/not.html ] chimed in with the observation of a middle-frequency optical counterpart [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970407.html ] that was soon confirmed with the 3.5-meter Calar Alto Telescope [ http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/Public/CAHA/ ] in Spain. By the next day the explosion was picked up in low-frequency radio waves [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/emspectrum.html ] by the by the European IRAM [ http://www.iram.es/ ] 30-meter dish in Spain, and then by the VLA [ http://info.aoc.nrao.edu/doc/vla/html/VLAintro.shtml ] telescopes in the US. The Japanese 8-meter Subaru Telescope [ http://www.subaru.naoj.org/Introduction/outline.html ] interrupted a maiden engineering test [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/gcn3/577.gcn3 ] to trumpet in infrared [ http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/Outreach/Edu/discovery.html ] observations. Major telescopes across the globe soon began playing along as GRB 000301C came into view, detailing unusual behavior [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/gcn3/599.gcn3 ]. The Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.edu/hst/ ] captured the above image [ http://www-int.stsci.edu/~fruchter/GRB/000301C/ ] and was the first to obtain [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/gcn3/603.gcn3 ] an accurate distance to the explosion, placing it near redshift 2, most of the way across the visible universe. The Keck II Telescope [ http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/realpublic/gen_info/gen_info.html ] in Hawaii quickly confirmed and refined [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/gcn3/605.gcn3 ] the redshift. Still, no one is sure what type of explosion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980508.html ] this was. The symphony is not over - oddly no host galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990210.html ] appears near the position of this explosion. Will one appear as the din of the loud fireball fades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970917.html ]?
Exploring Comet Tails
Title Exploring Comet Tails
Explanation Comets [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/billa/tnp/comets.html ] are known for their tails. In the spring [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970320.html ] of 1997 and 1996 Comet Hale-Bopp [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/hale_bopp_info.html ] (above) and Comet Hyakutake [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/comets_long/96B2.html ] gave us stunning examples [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/JoeGallery.html ] as they passed near the Sun. These extremely active comets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980410.html ] were bright, naked-eye spectacles offering researchers an opportunity to telescopically [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] explore the composition of primordial chunks of our solar system by studying their long and beautiful tails. But it has only recently been discovered that surprising readings [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-055.txt ] from experiments on-board the interplanetary Ulysses probe [ http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov ] which lasted for several hours on May 1, 1996, indicate the probe passed through [ http://www.sp.ph.ic.ac.uk/Ulysses/comet/ ] comet Hyakutake's tail! Ulysses experiments were intended [ http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/science/objectives.html ] to study the Sun and solar wind and the spacecraft-comet [ http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] encounter was totally unanticipated. Relative positions of Ulysses [ http://ulysses-ops.jpl.esa.int/ulysses/ ] and Hyakutake on that date indicate that this comet's ion tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960319.html ] stretched an impressive 360 million miles or about four times the Earth-Sun distance [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981212.html ]. This makes Hyakutake's tail the longest ever recorded [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/isee3.html ] and suggests that comet tails [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960327.html ] are much longer than previously believed.
A GRB Host?
Title A GRB Host?
Explanation Where do gamma-ray bursts [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/diamond_jubilee/debate_1995.html ] (GRBs) originate? The most powerful explosions in the universe have recently been located [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970513.html ] with record accuracy. But do GRBs occur in galaxies or out alone in deep space? This picture [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/97/20/A.html ] taken with the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/HSToverview.html ] of the field surrounding GRB 970228 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970407.html ] might provide a clue. It appears to show an extended structure to the lower right of the GRB [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap961123.html ], which is identified with an arrow. Many astronomers speculate that this extended structure is a distant galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970209.html ], as its colors and subsequent steady emission indicate. Other astronomers worry that the extended emission is variable and so cannot be a galaxy. Astronomers hoping for more cases to study were rewarded just last Monday with a new, well-located event: GRB 970616. The location of this burst was determined by an unprecedented collaboration involving the tandem use of NASA satellites Compton [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970606.html ], Ulysses [ http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/ULSHOME.html ] and Rossi [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/XTE.html ].
X-ray Transit Of Mercury
Title X-ray Transit Of Mercury
Explanation This sequence of [ http://www.solar.isas.ac.jp/sxt_co/980626.html ] false color X-ray images captures a rare event - the passage [ http://www.arrakis.es/~xgarciaf/paso.htm ] or transit of [ http://www.dsellers.demon.co.uk/venus/ven_ch4.htm ] planet Mercury in front of the Sun. Mercury's small disk [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html ] is silhouetted against the bright background of X-rays from the hot Solar Corona [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970217.html ]. It appears just to the right of center in the top frame and moves farther right as the sequence progresses toward the bottom. The dark notch is a coronal hole near the Solar South Pole [ http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], while a flaring coronal bright point can be seen to the left of the notch in the top frames. The frames were recorded [ http://www.lmsal.com/SXT/html2/Mercury_Transit_of_Solar_Corona.html ] on November 6, 1993 by the Soft X-ray Telescope [ http://www.lmsal.com/SXT/homepage.html ] on board the orbiting Yohkoh satellite [ http://www.lmsal.com/cgi-bin/yopos ]. Transits of Mercury (and Venus) were historically used to discover the geometry of the solar system [ http://beast.as.arizona.edu/textbook/text/CH03.html ] and to map planet Earth [ http://pacific.vita.org/pacific/cook/ ] itself.
SGR 1900+14: Magnetar
Title SGR 1900+14: Magnetar
Explanation On August 27th an intense flash [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/07000/07002.html#Item1 ] of X-rays and gamma-rays [ http://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cossc/nasm/VU/vu.html ] swept through our Solar System. Five spacecraft of the Third InterPlanetary gamma-ray burst Network [ http://ssl.berkeley.edu/ipn3/ ], Ulysses [ http://helio.estec.esa.nl/ulysses/ ], WIND [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/ggswind.html ], RXTE [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/xte_1st.html ], NEAR [ http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/NEAR/ ], and BeppoSAX [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/sax/saxgof.html ], recorded the high energy signal -- a signal so strong that it saturated detectors on WIND and RXTE and triggered the safety mode automatic shut-off of the NEAR gamma-ray instrument! As plotted here, the count rate for the Ulysses detector abruptly spiked to a high level and then slowly tailed off showing smaller peaks roughly every 5 seconds. The signal and location provided by these spacecraft observations leads researchers to identify the source as a dramatic flare-up from one of only four previously known "Soft Gamma Repeaters" [ http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast19sep97_3.htm ]. These exotic sources of gamma-rays are believed [ http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast20may98_1.htm ] to be highly magnetized spinning neutron stars called Magnetars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980527.html ]. Imaginatively cataloged as SGR 1900+14 [ http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/9809140 ], this magnetar is estimated to have been born in a supernova explosion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980425.html ] about 1,500 years ago and to have a magnetic field 500,000,000,000,000 times stronger than Earth's [ http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/Intro.html ].
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
STS-41 Discovery, OV-103, Ul …
Title STS-41 Discovery, OV-103, Ulysses payload processing
Description STS-41 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, Ulysses solar polar explorer payload preflight checkout and testing is conducted in Hangar AO at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station prior to its move to Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
Date Taken 1990-08-30
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date Taken 1990-08-14
Ulysses spacecraft and its u …
Title Ulysses spacecraft and its upper stage system are deployed during STS-41
Description The Ulysses spacecraft and its upper stage system consisting of a two-stage inertial upper stage (IUS) (gold-colored with rocket nozzle visible) and the payload assist module-Shuttle (PAM-S) (middle section) drift against the blackness of space after deployment from Discovery's, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103's, payload bay (PLB) during STS-41. The airborne support equipment (ASE) extending from the spacecraft at the PAM-S/IUS mating interface is visible.
Date Taken 1990-10-10
Ulysses spacecraft and its u …
Title Ulysses spacecraft and its upper stage system are deployed during STS-41
Description The Ulysses spacecraft and its upper stage system consisting of a two-stage inertial upper stage (IUS) (gold-colored with rocket nozzle visible) and the payload assist module-Shuttle (PAM-S) (middle section) drift against the blackness of space after deployment from Discovery's, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103's, payload bay (PLB) during STS-41. The airborne support equipment (ASE) extending from the spacecraft at the PAM-S/IUS mating interface is visible.
Date Taken 1990-10-10
Ulysses spacecraft and its u …
Title Ulysses spacecraft and its upper stage system are deployed during STS-41
Description With the Earth's surface below, the Ulysses spacecraft and its upper stage system consisting of a two-stage inertial upper stage (IUS) (gold-colored with rocket nozzle visible) and the payload assist module-Shuttle (PAM-S) (middle section) drift against the blackness of space after deployment from Discovery's, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103's, payload bay (PLB) during STS-41. The airborne support equipment (ASE) extending from the spacecraft at the PAM-S/IUS mating interface is visible.
Date Taken 1990-10-10
STS-41 mission charts, compu …
Title STS-41 mission charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, photos
Description STS-41 related charts, computer-generated and artist concept drawings, and photos of the Ulysses spacecraft and mission flight path provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Charts show the Ulysses mission flight path and encounter with Jupiter (45980, 45981) and sun (illustrating cosmic dust, gamma ray burst, magnetic field, x-rays, solar energetic particles, visible corona, interstellar gas, plasma wave, cosmic rays, solar radio noise, and solar wind) (45988). Computer-generated view shows the Ulysses spacecraft (45983). Artist concept illustrates Ulysses spacecraft deploy from the space shuttle payload bay (PLB) with the inertial upper stage (IUS) and payload assist module (PAM-S) visible (45984). Ulysses spacecraft is also shown undergoing preflight testing in the manufacturing facility (45985, 45986, 45987).
Date 08.14.1990
Recently-Formed Impact Crate …
title Recently-Formed Impact Crater
Description Scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have discovered a crater that appears to have formed on Mars in the past 20 or so Earth years, and have used it and several other similar craters to estimate the present cratering rate on Mars. One of the basic tenets of planetary geology is that impact craters have accumulated on planetary surfaces at roughly a constant rate since the early history of the solar system. This appears to have been the case for small craters on the surface of the Moon, as shown by measurements of the length of time that lunar rocks created by small impacts have been exposed to cosmic rays, as determined by laboratory measurements of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. This principle should permit the number of craters found on a planetary surface to be used to determine the age of that surface, if the rate at which new craters form is known. Scientists have previously estimated the cratering rate of Mars by scaling the lunar cratering rate based on the proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt, and by performing calculations based on orbital mechanics. Another way to establish the cratering rate of Mars would be to use long-term observations, say, from orbiting spacecraft, to actually locate new craters. The new crater is located on the southern rim of the summit crater, or caldera, of the intermediate-sized martian volcano, Ulysses Patera. The site was imaged by the Viking 2 orbiter in 1976 (left, an enlarged portion of the image) and in narrow-angle views by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 (center) and 2005 (right). The new crater, about 25 meters (82 feet) across, is marked by a distinct dark, rayed pattern of ejected material, or ejecta, which is seen to have faded somewhat between 1999 and 2005. Ulysses Patera, a volcanic shield about 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter volcanic shield, located near 2.5 degrees north latitude, 121.3 degrees west longitude, is one of the Tharsis volcanoes and is partly buried by younger lava flows. The summit caldera is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. The amount that the crater's rays faded between 1999 and 2005 can be used to help estimate how many years ago the crater formed. The actual contrast between the ejecta and the undisturbed volcano summit materials is actually much less than it appears to be in these processed images, and the amount of fading is also much less. Images of disturbed surfaces from various parts of Mars, such as dust devil tracks, dark slope streaks and rover tracks, indicate that disturbed surfaces on Mars are dark and that they lighten with time. Using these other examples to estimate how dark the ejecta from the Ulysses crater was originally, and how much it has faded in six years, suggests the crater formed in the early to mid 1980s. The rate at which dark surfaces lighten on Mars is not uniform over the whole planet, but scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera have found a number, of other craters with dark ejecta that have faded during the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scientists estimate that these craters probably formed within the past 100 years. Although the sample is very small (the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow angle camera has imaged barely 4 percent of Mars), it appears that the recent cratering rate for craters on Mars 25 to 100 meters (82 to 328 feet) in diameter is about 0.000000003 to 0.000000006 craters per square kilometer (0.39 square mile) per Earth year, which is about five times lower than previous estimates. The site of the new crater is shown in wider context in a comparison of the 1976 Viking image with wide-angle views taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 and 2005 (insert MOC2-1214b), and in even wider context in a regional mosaic of Viking images (insert MOC2-1214c). The Mars Orbiter Camera was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. Mars Global Surveyor left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/USGS
Recently-Formed Impact Crate …
PIA04292
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Recently-Formed Impact Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have discovered a crater that appears to have formed on Mars in the past 20 or so Earth years, and have used it and several other similar craters to estimate the present cratering rate on Mars. One of the basic tenets of planetary geology is that impact craters have accumulated on planetary surfaces at roughly a constant rate since the early history of the solar system. This appears to have been the case for small craters on the surface of the Moon, as shown by measurements of the length of time that lunar rocks created by small impacts have been exposed to cosmic rays, as determined by laboratory measurements of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. This principle should permit the number of craters found on a planetary surface to be used to determine the age of that surface, if the rate at which new craters form is known. Scientists have previously estimated the cratering rate of Mars by scaling the lunar cratering rate based on the proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt, and by performing calculations based on orbital mechanics. Another way to establish the cratering rate of Mars would be to use long-term observations, say, from orbiting spacecraft, to actually locate new craters. The new crater is located on the southern rim of the summit crater, or caldera, of the intermediate-sized martian volcano, Ulysses Patera. The site was imaged by the Viking 2 orbiter in 1976 (left, an enlarged portion of the image) and in narrow-angle views by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 (center) and 2005 (right). The new crater, about 25 meters (82 feet) across, is marked by a distinct dark, rayed pattern of ejected material, or ejecta, which is seen to have faded somewhat between 1999 and 2005. Ulysses Patera, a volcanic shield about 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter volcanic shield, located near 2.5 degrees north latitude, 121.3 degrees west longitude, is one of the Tharsis volcanoes and is partly buried by younger lava flows. The summit caldera is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. The amount that the crater's rays faded between 1999 and 2005 can be used to help estimate how many years ago the crater formed. The actual contrast between the ejecta and the undisturbed volcano summit materials is actually much less than it appears to be in these processed images, and the amount of fading is also much less. Images of disturbed surfaces from various parts of Mars, such as dust devil tracks, dark slope streaks and rover tracks, indicate that disturbed surfaces on Mars are dark and that they lighten with time. Using these other examples to estimate how dark the ejecta from the Ulysses crater was originally, and how much it has faded in six years, suggests the crater formed in the early to mid 1980s. The rate at which dark surfaces lighten on Mars is not uniform over the whole planet, but scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera have found a, number of other craters with dark ejecta that have faded during the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scientists estimate that these craters probably formed within the past 100 years. Although the sample is very small (the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow angle camera has imaged barely 4 percent of Mars), it appears that the recent cratering rate for craters on Mars 25 to 100 meters (82 to 328 feet) in diameter is about 0.000000003 to 0.000000006 craters per square kilometer (0.39 square mile) per Earth year, which is about five times lower than previous estimates. The site of the new crater is shown in wider context in a comparison of the 1976 Viking image with wide-angle views taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 and 2005 (figure 2), and in even wider context in a regional mosaic of Viking images (figure 3). The Mars Orbiter Camera was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. Mars Global Surveyor left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Recently-Formed Impact Crate …
PIA04292
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Recently-Formed Impact Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have discovered a crater that appears to have formed on Mars in the past 20 or so Earth years, and have used it and several other similar craters to estimate the present cratering rate on Mars. One of the basic tenets of planetary geology is that impact craters have accumulated on planetary surfaces at roughly a constant rate since the early history of the solar system. This appears to have been the case for small craters on the surface of the Moon, as shown by measurements of the length of time that lunar rocks created by small impacts have been exposed to cosmic rays, as determined by laboratory measurements of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. This principle should permit the number of craters found on a planetary surface to be used to determine the age of that surface, if the rate at which new craters form is known. Scientists have previously estimated the cratering rate of Mars by scaling the lunar cratering rate based on the proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt, and by performing calculations based on orbital mechanics. Another way to establish the cratering rate of Mars would be to use long-term observations, say, from orbiting spacecraft, to actually locate new craters. The new crater is located on the southern rim of the summit crater, or caldera, of the intermediate-sized martian volcano, Ulysses Patera. The site was imaged by the Viking 2 orbiter in 1976 (left, an enlarged portion of the image) and in narrow-angle views by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 (center) and 2005 (right). The new crater, about 25 meters (82 feet) across, is marked by a distinct dark, rayed pattern of ejected material, or ejecta, which is seen to have faded somewhat between 1999 and 2005. Ulysses Patera, a volcanic shield about 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter volcanic shield, located near 2.5 degrees north latitude, 121.3 degrees west longitude, is one of the Tharsis volcanoes and is partly buried by younger lava flows. The summit caldera is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. The amount that the crater's rays faded between 1999 and 2005 can be used to help estimate how many years ago the crater formed. The actual contrast between the ejecta and the undisturbed volcano summit materials is actually much less than it appears to be in these processed images, and the amount of fading is also much less. Images of disturbed surfaces from various parts of Mars, such as dust devil tracks, dark slope streaks and rover tracks, indicate that disturbed surfaces on Mars are dark and that they lighten with time. Using these other examples to estimate how dark the ejecta from the Ulysses crater was originally, and how much it has faded in six years, suggests the crater formed in the early to mid 1980s. The rate at which dark surfaces lighten on Mars is not uniform over the whole planet, but scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera have found a, number of other craters with dark ejecta that have faded during the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scientists estimate that these craters probably formed within the past 100 years. Although the sample is very small (the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow angle camera has imaged barely 4 percent of Mars), it appears that the recent cratering rate for craters on Mars 25 to 100 meters (82 to 328 feet) in diameter is about 0.000000003 to 0.000000006 craters per square kilometer (0.39 square mile) per Earth year, which is about five times lower than previous estimates. The site of the new crater is shown in wider context in a comparison of the 1976 Viking image with wide-angle views taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 and 2005 (figure 2), and in even wider context in a regional mosaic of Viking images (figure 3). The Mars Orbiter Camera was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. Mars Global Surveyor left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Recently-Formed Impact Crate …
PIA04292
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Recently-Formed Impact Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have discovered a crater that appears to have formed on Mars in the past 20 or so Earth years, and have used it and several other similar craters to estimate the present cratering rate on Mars. One of the basic tenets of planetary geology is that impact craters have accumulated on planetary surfaces at roughly a constant rate since the early history of the solar system. This appears to have been the case for small craters on the surface of the Moon, as shown by measurements of the length of time that lunar rocks created by small impacts have been exposed to cosmic rays, as determined by laboratory measurements of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. This principle should permit the number of craters found on a planetary surface to be used to determine the age of that surface, if the rate at which new craters form is known. Scientists have previously estimated the cratering rate of Mars by scaling the lunar cratering rate based on the proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt, and by performing calculations based on orbital mechanics. Another way to establish the cratering rate of Mars would be to use long-term observations, say, from orbiting spacecraft, to actually locate new craters. The new crater is located on the southern rim of the summit crater, or caldera, of the intermediate-sized martian volcano, Ulysses Patera. The site was imaged by the Viking 2 orbiter in 1976 (left, an enlarged portion of the image) and in narrow-angle views by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 (center) and 2005 (right). The new crater, about 25 meters (82 feet) across, is marked by a distinct dark, rayed pattern of ejected material, or ejecta, which is seen to have faded somewhat between 1999 and 2005. Ulysses Patera, a volcanic shield about 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter volcanic shield, located near 2.5 degrees north latitude, 121.3 degrees west longitude, is one of the Tharsis volcanoes and is partly buried by younger lava flows. The summit caldera is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. The amount that the crater's rays faded between 1999 and 2005 can be used to help estimate how many years ago the crater formed. The actual contrast between the ejecta and the undisturbed volcano summit materials is actually much less than it appears to be in these processed images, and the amount of fading is also much less. Images of disturbed surfaces from various parts of Mars, such as dust devil tracks, dark slope streaks and rover tracks, indicate that disturbed surfaces on Mars are dark and that they lighten with time. Using these other examples to estimate how dark the ejecta from the Ulysses crater was originally, and how much it has faded in six years, suggests the crater formed in the early to mid 1980s. The rate at which dark surfaces lighten on Mars is not uniform over the whole planet, but scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera have found a, number of other craters with dark ejecta that have faded during the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scientists estimate that these craters probably formed within the past 100 years. Although the sample is very small (the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow angle camera has imaged barely 4 percent of Mars), it appears that the recent cratering rate for craters on Mars 25 to 100 meters (82 to 328 feet) in diameter is about 0.000000003 to 0.000000006 craters per square kilometer (0.39 square mile) per Earth year, which is about five times lower than previous estimates. The site of the new crater is shown in wider context in a comparison of the 1976 Viking image with wide-angle views taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 and 2005 (figure 2), and in even wider context in a regional mosaic of Viking images (figure 3). The Mars Orbiter Camera was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. Mars Global Surveyor left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Recently-Formed Impact Crate …
PIA04292
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Recently-Formed Impact Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have discovered a crater that appears to have formed on Mars in the past 20 or so Earth years, and have used it and several other similar craters to estimate the present cratering rate on Mars. One of the basic tenets of planetary geology is that impact craters have accumulated on planetary surfaces at roughly a constant rate since the early history of the solar system. This appears to have been the case for small craters on the surface of the Moon, as shown by measurements of the length of time that lunar rocks created by small impacts have been exposed to cosmic rays, as determined by laboratory measurements of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. This principle should permit the number of craters found on a planetary surface to be used to determine the age of that surface, if the rate at which new craters form is known. Scientists have previously estimated the cratering rate of Mars by scaling the lunar cratering rate based on the proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt, and by performing calculations based on orbital mechanics. Another way to establish the cratering rate of Mars would be to use long-term observations, say, from orbiting spacecraft, to actually locate new craters. The new crater is located on the southern rim of the summit crater, or caldera, of the intermediate-sized martian volcano, Ulysses Patera. The site was imaged by the Viking 2 orbiter in 1976 (left, an enlarged portion of the image) and in narrow-angle views by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 (center) and 2005 (right). The new crater, about 25 meters (82 feet) across, is marked by a distinct dark, rayed pattern of ejected material, or ejecta, which is seen to have faded somewhat between 1999 and 2005. Ulysses Patera, a volcanic shield about 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter volcanic shield, located near 2.5 degrees north latitude, 121.3 degrees west longitude, is one of the Tharsis volcanoes and is partly buried by younger lava flows. The summit caldera is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. The amount that the crater's rays faded between 1999 and 2005 can be used to help estimate how many years ago the crater formed. The actual contrast between the ejecta and the undisturbed volcano summit materials is actually much less than it appears to be in these processed images, and the amount of fading is also much less. Images of disturbed surfaces from various parts of Mars, such as dust devil tracks, dark slope streaks and rover tracks, indicate that disturbed surfaces on Mars are dark and that they lighten with time. Using these other examples to estimate how dark the ejecta from the Ulysses crater was originally, and how much it has faded in six years, suggests the crater formed in the early to mid 1980s. The rate at which dark surfaces lighten on Mars is not uniform over the whole planet, but scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera have found a, number of other craters with dark ejecta that have faded during the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scientists estimate that these craters probably formed within the past 100 years. Although the sample is very small (the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow angle camera has imaged barely 4 percent of Mars), it appears that the recent cratering rate for craters on Mars 25 to 100 meters (82 to 328 feet) in diameter is about 0.000000003 to 0.000000006 craters per square kilometer (0.39 square mile) per Earth year, which is about five times lower than previous estimates. The site of the new crater is shown in wider context in a comparison of the 1976 Viking image with wide-angle views taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 and 2005 (figure 2), and in even wider context in a regional mosaic of Viking images (figure 3). The Mars Orbiter Camera was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. Mars Global Surveyor left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Recently-Formed Impact Crate …
PIA04292
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Recently-Formed Impact Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have discovered a crater that appears to have formed on Mars in the past 20 or so Earth years, and have used it and several other similar craters to estimate the present cratering rate on Mars. One of the basic tenets of planetary geology is that impact craters have accumulated on planetary surfaces at roughly a constant rate since the early history of the solar system. This appears to have been the case for small craters on the surface of the Moon, as shown by measurements of the length of time that lunar rocks created by small impacts have been exposed to cosmic rays, as determined by laboratory measurements of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. This principle should permit the number of craters found on a planetary surface to be used to determine the age of that surface, if the rate at which new craters form is known. Scientists have previously estimated the cratering rate of Mars by scaling the lunar cratering rate based on the proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt, and by performing calculations based on orbital mechanics. Another way to establish the cratering rate of Mars would be to use long-term observations, say, from orbiting spacecraft, to actually locate new craters. The new crater is located on the southern rim of the summit crater, or caldera, of the intermediate-sized martian volcano, Ulysses Patera. The site was imaged by the Viking 2 orbiter in 1976 (left, an enlarged portion of the image) and in narrow-angle views by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 (center) and 2005 (right). The new crater, about 25 meters (82 feet) across, is marked by a distinct dark, rayed pattern of ejected material, or ejecta, which is seen to have faded somewhat between 1999 and 2005. Ulysses Patera, a volcanic shield about 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter volcanic shield, located near 2.5 degrees north latitude, 121.3 degrees west longitude, is one of the Tharsis volcanoes and is partly buried by younger lava flows. The summit caldera is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. The amount that the crater's rays faded between 1999 and 2005 can be used to help estimate how many years ago the crater formed. The actual contrast between the ejecta and the undisturbed volcano summit materials is actually much less than it appears to be in these processed images, and the amount of fading is also much less. Images of disturbed surfaces from various parts of Mars, such as dust devil tracks, dark slope streaks and rover tracks, indicate that disturbed surfaces on Mars are dark and that they lighten with time. Using these other examples to estimate how dark the ejecta from the Ulysses crater was originally, and how much it has faded in six years, suggests the crater formed in the early to mid 1980s. The rate at which dark surfaces lighten on Mars is not uniform over the whole planet, but scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera have found a, number of other craters with dark ejecta that have faded during the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scientists estimate that these craters probably formed within the past 100 years. Although the sample is very small (the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow angle camera has imaged barely 4 percent of Mars), it appears that the recent cratering rate for craters on Mars 25 to 100 meters (82 to 328 feet) in diameter is about 0.000000003 to 0.000000006 craters per square kilometer (0.39 square mile) per Earth year, which is about five times lower than previous estimates. The site of the new crater is shown in wider context in a comparison of the 1976 Viking image with wide-angle views taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 and 2005 (figure 2), and in even wider context in a regional mosaic of Viking images (figure 3). The Mars Orbiter Camera was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. Mars Global Surveyor left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Recently-Formed Impact Crate …
PIA04292
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Recently-Formed Impact Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have discovered a crater that appears to have formed on Mars in the past 20 or so Earth years, and have used it and several other similar craters to estimate the present cratering rate on Mars. One of the basic tenets of planetary geology is that impact craters have accumulated on planetary surfaces at roughly a constant rate since the early history of the solar system. This appears to have been the case for small craters on the surface of the Moon, as shown by measurements of the length of time that lunar rocks created by small impacts have been exposed to cosmic rays, as determined by laboratory measurements of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo astronauts. This principle should permit the number of craters found on a planetary surface to be used to determine the age of that surface, if the rate at which new craters form is known. Scientists have previously estimated the cratering rate of Mars by scaling the lunar cratering rate based on the proximity of Mars to the asteroid belt, and by performing calculations based on orbital mechanics. Another way to establish the cratering rate of Mars would be to use long-term observations, say, from orbiting spacecraft, to actually locate new craters. The new crater is located on the southern rim of the summit crater, or caldera, of the intermediate-sized martian volcano, Ulysses Patera. The site was imaged by the Viking 2 orbiter in 1976 (left, an enlarged portion of the image) and in narrow-angle views by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 (center) and 2005 (right). The new crater, about 25 meters (82 feet) across, is marked by a distinct dark, rayed pattern of ejected material, or ejecta, which is seen to have faded somewhat between 1999 and 2005. Ulysses Patera, a volcanic shield about 100 kilometers (62 miles) in diameter volcanic shield, located near 2.5 degrees north latitude, 121.3 degrees west longitude, is one of the Tharsis volcanoes and is partly buried by younger lava flows. The summit caldera is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. The amount that the crater's rays faded between 1999 and 2005 can be used to help estimate how many years ago the crater formed. The actual contrast between the ejecta and the undisturbed volcano summit materials is actually much less than it appears to be in these processed images, and the amount of fading is also much less. Images of disturbed surfaces from various parts of Mars, such as dust devil tracks, dark slope streaks and rover tracks, indicate that disturbed surfaces on Mars are dark and that they lighten with time. Using these other examples to estimate how dark the ejecta from the Ulysses crater was originally, and how much it has faded in six years, suggests the crater formed in the early to mid 1980s. The rate at which dark surfaces lighten on Mars is not uniform over the whole planet, but scientists using the Mars Orbiter Camera have found a, number of other craters with dark ejecta that have faded during the Mars Global Surveyor mission. The scientists estimate that these craters probably formed within the past 100 years. Although the sample is very small (the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow angle camera has imaged barely 4 percent of Mars), it appears that the recent cratering rate for craters on Mars 25 to 100 meters (82 to 328 feet) in diameter is about 0.000000003 to 0.000000006 craters per square kilometer (0.39 square mile) per Earth year, which is about five times lower than previous estimates. The site of the new crater is shown in wider context in a comparison of the 1976 Viking image with wide-angle views taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera in 1999 and 2005 (figure 2), and in even wider context in a regional mosaic of Viking images (figure 3). The Mars Orbiter Camera was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. Mars Global Surveyor left Earth on Nov. 7, 1996, and began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages Mars Global Surveyor for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Ulysses Patera
PIA09993
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys …
Title Ulysses Patera
Original Caption Released with Image Context image for PIA09993 Ulysses Patera This infrared image shows half of Ulysses Patera. Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -0.1N, Longitude 237.6E. 98 meter/pixel resolution. Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note [ http://themis.la.asu.edu/terms ] for details on crediting THEMIS images. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
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