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Science for a Hungry World,
…
University of Maryland Profe
…
10/7/09
| Title |
Science for a Hungry World, Pt. 3 |
| Date |
10/7/09 |
| Description |
University of Maryland Professor Chris Justice spends his time studying land use change through a NASA-funded satellite remote sensing project. |
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Washington, D.C.
The city of Washington, D.C.
…
1/4/96
| Date |
1/4/96 |
| Description |
The city of Washington, D.C., is shown is this space radar image. Images like these are useful tools for urban planners and managers, who use them to map and monitor land use patterns. Downtown Washington is the bright area between the Potomac (upper center to lower left) and Anacostia (middle right) rivers. The dark cross shape that is formed by the National Mall, Tidal Basin, the White House and Ellipse is seen in the center of the image. Arlington National Cemetery is the dark blue area on the Virginia (left) side of the Potomac River near the center of the image. The Pentagon is visible in bright white and red, south of the cemetery. Due to the alignment of the radar and the streets, the avenues that form the boundary between Washington and Maryland appear as bright red lines in the top, right and bottom parts of the image, parallel to the image borders. This image is centered at 38.85 degrees north latitude, 77.05 degrees west longitude. North is toward the upper right. The area shown is approximately 29 km by 26 km (18 miles by 16 miles). Colors are assigned to different frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: Red is the L-band horizontally transmitted, horizontally received, green is the L-band horizontally transmitted, vertically received, blue is the C-band horizontally transmitted, vertically received. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture (SIR-C/X- SAR) imaging radar when it flew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on April 18, 1994. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program. ##### |
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Washington, D.C. L-band, b&w
This radar image of the Wash
…
3/2/95
| Date |
3/2/95 |
| Description |
This radar image of the Washington, D.C. area demonstrates the capability of imaging radar as a useful tool for urban planners and managers to map and monitor land use patterns. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X- band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on its 150th orbit on April 18, 1994. North is toward the upper right. The Potomac River enters the scene at the top of the image, widens near the center of the image, then runs south and west off the left side of the image. Downtown Washington appears near the center, just to the right of the point where the river widens. The image shows an area 50.3 kilometers by 45.0 kilometers (31.2 miles by 27.9 miles) that is centered at 38.9 degrees north latitude and 77.1 degrees west longitude. The radar illumination is from the left side of the image. The image shows a single channel of SIR-C radar data: L-band, horizontally transmitted and received. State and city boundaries are also visible in the image. Virginia is to the left (southwest) of the Potomac River. Maryland and the District of Columbia are to the right (northeast). The avenues that form the boundary between Maryland and the District of Columbia appear as bright lines because the radar strikes the walls of buildings along the avenues at a perpendicular angle. The dark strip near the center of the image is the National Mall, and the Ellipse and White House grounds can be seen as an adjacent dark patch. The Capital Beltway highway appears as a thin black strip encircling the city. The large dark rectangle near the bottom of the image is Andrews Air Force Base, home of the presidential plane Air Force One. Dark patches to the right of the image represent some of the few remaining agricultural areas in this rapidly expanding metropolitan area. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR. ##### |
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A Bubble Bursts
| Title |
A Bubble Bursts |
| Description |
RCW 79 is seen in the southern Milky Way, 17,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Centaurus. The bubble is 70-light years in diameter, and probably took about one million years to form from the radiation and winds of hot young stars. The balloon of gas and dust is an example of stimulated star formation. Such stars are born when the hot bubble expands into the interstellar gas and dust around it. RCW 79 has spawned at least two groups of new stars along the edge of the large bubble. Some are visible inside the small bubble in the lower left corner. Another group of baby stars appears near the opening at the top. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope easily detects infrared light from the dust particles in RCW 79. The young stars within RCW79 radiate ultraviolet light that excites molecules of dust within the bubble. This causes the dust grains to emit infrared light that is detected by Spitzer and seen here as the extended red features. |
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Stellar Families
| Title |
Stellar Families |
| Description |
Human families may be bonded by blood, but stellar families are united by gravity. A family of stars, or star cluster, can contain hundreds or thousands of members. In this image, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spots the Serpens South star cluster, which consists of a relatively dense group of 50 young stars -- 35 of which are protostars, or stellar infants, that are just beginning to form. Stellar members of Serpens South star cluster can be seen as the green, yellow, and orange tinted specks sitting atop the black dust lane running down the center of the image. Like raindrops, stars form when thick patches of cosmic clouds condense. Tints of green in the image represent hot hydrogen gas excited when high-speed jets of gas ejected by infant stars collide with the cool gas in the surrounding cloud. Wisps of red in the background are organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are being excited by stellar radiation from a neighboring star-forming region located to the east of this image, called W40. On Earth PAHs are found on charred barbeque grills and in the sooty automobile exhaust. This Spitzer picture is composed of three images taken with the telescope's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), and 5.8 (red) microns. |
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Anomalous Arms
| Title |
Anomalous Arms |
| Description |
In this composite image of spiral galaxy M106 (NGC 4258), optical data from the Digitized Sky Survey is shown as yellow, radio data from the Very Large Array appears as purple, X-ray data from Chandra is coded blue, and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope appears red. Two anomalous arms, which aren't visible at optical wavelengths, appear as purple and blue emission. |
|
Galactic Fossil Revealed in
…
| Title |
Galactic Fossil Revealed in Infrared Light |
| Description |
This animation demonstrates the power of infrared light to see what visible light cannot -- a newfound bundle of stars called a globular cluster. The movie shifts from a visible-light image to a near-infrared image to a new mid-infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The visible-light image is from the California Institute of Technology's Digitized Sky Survey and the near-infrared image is from the NASA-funded Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). Globular clusters date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. There are about 150 clusters sprinkled around the core of the galaxy like seeds in a pumpkin. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. Astronomers then searched for past references to the cluster and found only one undocumented image from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. The Two Micron All-Sky Survey false-color image was obtained using near-infrared wavelengths ranging from 1.3 to 2.2 microns. The Spitzer false-color image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by its infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four mid-infrared wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The true-color image from the Digitized Sky Survey was acquired with red and blue filters. |
|
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fos
…
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fossil |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a globular cluster previously hidden in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Globular clusters are compact bundles of old stars that date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. A visible-light image (inset) shows only a dark patch of sky. The red streak behind the core of the cluster is a dust cloud, which may indicate the cluster's interaction with the Milky Way. Alternatively, this cloud may lie coincidentally along Spitzer's line of sight. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. This image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The visible-light image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, California University of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. |
|
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fos
…
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fossil |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a globular cluster previously hidden in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Globular clusters are compact bundles of old stars that date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. A visible-light image (inset) shows only a dark patch of sky. The red streak behind the core of the cluster is a dust cloud, which may indicate the cluster's interaction with the Milky Way. Alternatively, this cloud may lie coincidentally along Spitzer's line of sight. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. This image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The visible-light image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, California University of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. |
|
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fos
…
| Title |
Spitzer Digs Up Galactic Fossil |
| Description |
This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a globular cluster previously hidden in the dusty plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Globular clusters are compact bundles of old stars that date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. A visible-light image (inset) shows only a dark patch of sky. The red streak behind the core of the cluster is a dust cloud, which may indicate the cluster's interaction with the Milky Way. Alternatively, this cloud may lie coincidentally along Spitzer's line of sight. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. This image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). The visible-light image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, California University of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. |
|
Galactic Fossil Found Behind
…
| Title |
Galactic Fossil Found Behind Curtain of Dust |
| Description |
This image mosaic shows the same patch of sky in various wavelengths of light. While the visible-light image (left) shows a dark sky speckled with stars, infrared images (middle and right), reveal a never-before-seen bundle of stars, called a globular cluster. The left panel is from the California Institute of Technology's Digitized Sky Survey, the middle panel includes images from the NASA-funded Two Micron All-Sky Survey and the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory (circle inset), and the right panel is from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Globular clusters date back to the birth of our galaxy, 13 or so billion years ago. There are about 150 clusters sprinkled around the core of the galaxy like seeds in a pumpkin. Astronomers use these galactic "fossils" as tools for studying the age and formation of the Milky Way. Most clusters orbit around the center of the galaxy well above its dust-enshrouded disc, or plane, while making brief, repeated passes through the plane that each last about a million years. Spitzer, with infrared eyes that can see into the dusty galactic plane, first spotted the newfound cluster during its current pass. Astronomers then searched for past references to the cluster and found only one undocumented image from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Follow-up observations with the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory helped set the distance of the new cluster at about 9,000 light-years from Earth -- closer than most clusters -- and set the mass at the equivalent of 300,000 Suns. The cluster's apparent size, as viewed from Earth, is comparable to a grain of rice held at arm's length. It is located in the constellation Aquila. Astronomers believe that this cluster may be one of the last in our galaxy to be uncovered. The Two Micron All-Sky Survey false-color image was obtained using near-infrared wavelengths ranging from 1.3 to 2.2 microns. The University of Wyoming Observatory false-color image was captured on July 31, 2004, at wavelengths ranging from 1.2 to 2.2 microns. The Spitzer false-color image composite was taken on April 21, 2004, by its infrared array camera. It is composed of images obtained at four mid-infrared wavelengths: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange) and 8 microns (red). |
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NASA TV's This Week @NASA, M
…
** SHUTTLE UPDATE – KSC: As
…
03/12/2010
| Description |
** SHUTTLE UPDATE – KSC: As space shuttle Discovery waits at launch pad 39A for its liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center, the STS-131 crew continues to ready itself for its upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Commander Alan Poindexter and his international team of astronauts will deliver science racks for use in the station's laboratories. ... Mission specialists Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson are scheduled to perform three, six-and-one-half-hour spacewalks to replace, retrieve and switch out various elements outside the orbiting complex. For Mastracchio, this'll be his third shuttle mission and second series of spacewalks. ... Rounding out the STS-131 crew is pilot Jim Dutton, and Mission Specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Discovery's launch is targeted for the morning of April 5. ** HUBBLE 3-D – HQ: The final space shuttle mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope is the subject of a new IMAX film. ''Hubble 3-D'' was premiered during a special event held at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The movie features the NASA astronauts from STS-125 who serviced Hubble in May 2009, an IMAX 3D camera mounted in space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay filmed their progress. ** TECH TREK -- DFRC: About 25 seventh-grade girls from area middle schools got up close and personal with unique aircraft and high technology when they participated in a "Tech Trek" tour of the Dryden Flight Research Center. The Tech Trek, to develop interest and excitement about math and science and self-confidence among middle-school girls, included tours of Dryden's main aircraft hangar and several specialized research and support aircraft, including the modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and the Global Hawk and Ikhana unmanned science aircraft. **GODDARD SYMPOSIUM - GSFC: The 48th Robert H. Goddard Memorial space symposium was held in Greenbelt, Maryland, home to the NASA center bearing the name of America's pioneering rocketeer. Sponsored by the American Astronautical Society, the three-day event drew leaders from NASA, the aerospace industry and academia, and Washington policy-makers to discuss the major issues facing space exploration. Among other topics, panel discussions and presentations addressed Commercial Space Missions, Extreme Space Weather, Climate Change, and Space Science and the future of Human Space Flight. ** WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH PROFILE: Madhulika Guhathakurta, Heliophysicist: In March 2006, heliophysicist Lika Guhathakurta was part of a NASA-led science expedition to Libya to witness a total solar eclipse. This international expedition was an unprecedented collaboration with Libyan scientists and researchers from across the globe. It was a project befitting a woman compelled to earn advanced degrees in astrophysics from American universities by a life-long fascination with the sky that began as a child in her native India. |
| Date |
03/12/2010 |
|
Neutral Gas Cloud Around Tit
…
| Description |
Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn. |
| Full Description |
Images from the magnetospheric imaging instrument and the ion and neutral camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal aspects of the interactions between Saturn's dynamic population of hot energetic ions and the clouds of cold neutral atoms. Future observations may further explain the relationships between these interactions. The most recent image of Titan reveals the emission of high-speed neutral atoms from a globular region approximately 70,000 kilometers (43,496 miles) in diameter, clearly centered on Titan. It is only 1/25 as bright as the region seen toward dawn during Saturn orbit insertion, even though Cassini is now closer to Titan. There is an extended emission region around the Titan cloud, but it is much dimmer than the Titan cloud itself and even dimmer compared to the emission seen in the dawn direction at orbit insertion. In this image, the X marks the direction toward the Sun, the Y marks the direction toward Saturn's dawn, and the Z marks Saturn's rotation axis. The dot in the center marks Titan. 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 magnetospheric imaging instrument team is based at Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/CASSINI/index.html . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/JHU/APL/Max-Plank-Institut f¿r Aeronomie/University of Maryland/University of Kansas/University of Arizona/CESR/Bell Laboratories |
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NASA's First Headquarters
| title |
NASA's First Headquarters |
| date |
10.21.1961 |
| description |
The Little White House at 1520 H Street, NW, in Washington, DC served as NASA Headquarters from 1958 until October 1961. Built in 1820 by Richard Cutts, in 1837 it became the home of Mrs. Dolly Payne Madison, wife of President James Madison. Named the Dolly Madison House, she lived there till her death in 1849. In 1886 the Dolly Madison House became the private Cosmos Club. After restoration in the early 1960's, the Dolly Madison House became the offices for the Federal Judicial Center. In 1992 the Federal Judicial Center switched locations and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit moved into this historic house. In the fall of 1961, NASA moved its headquarters to Federal Building 6 located at 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, in Washington. In 1963 NASA administration expanded into Federal Building 10-B at 600 Independence Avenue, SW and the Reporters Building at 300 7th St., SW. Since 1992, NASA Headquarters has been located at 300 E Street SW. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Color View of Eros' Saddle
| title |
Color View of Eros' Saddle |
| description |
Color imaging of Eros from the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft has shown the asteroid's color variations are very subdued when compared to those of other planetary bodies, such as Mars. However, both the imager and the near-infrared spectrometer have detected discernible color differences between parts of the asteroid. One location on Eros with distinctive color is the eastern side of the 'saddle.' This color composite image of that region was taken April 2, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 201 kilometers (125 miles). In this false color representation, the red and green image planes were taken in different wavelengths of infrared light, and the blue image plane was taken in blue light. NEAR scientists interpret the bright and greenish-gray appearing regions near the rim of the saddle to represent relatively fresh exposures of subsurface soil. In contrast, the pinkish looking soil covering other areas is thought to have been modified by exposure to small impacts and the solar wind. Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR was the firstspacecraft launched in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. See the NEAR web page at http://near.jhuapl.edu [ http://near.jhuapl.edu ] for more details. |
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Hubble Finds Ozone on Jupite
…
| title |
Hubble Finds Ozone on Jupiter's Moon Ganymede |
| description |
Though ozone may be diminishing on Earth, it is being manufactured one-half billion miles away, on Jupiter's largest satellite, Ganymede. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found ozone's spectral "fingerprint" during observations of Ganymede made by Keith Noll and colleagues at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. These Hubble Faint Object Spectrograph results were presented at the American Astronomical Society's 27th Annual Meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences in Kona, Hawaii. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Eros' Saddle
| title |
Eros' Saddle |
| date |
04.02.2000 |
| description |
Color imaging of Eros from the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft shows the asteroid's color variations are very subdued when compared to those of other planetary bodies, such as Mars. However, both the imager and the near-infrared spectrometer have detected discernible color differences between parts of the asteroid. One location on Eros with distinctive color is the eastern side of the "saddle." This color composite image of that region was taken April 2, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 201 kilometers (125 miles). In this false color representation, the red and green image planes were taken in different wavelengths of infrared light, and the blue image plane was taken in blue light. NEAR scientists interpret the bright and greenish-gray appearing regions near the rim of the saddle to represent relatively fresh exposures of subsurface soil. In contrast, the pinkish looking soil covering other areas is thought to have been modified by exposure to small impacts and the solar wind. Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR was the first spacecraft launched in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. See the NEAR web page at http://near.jhuapl.edu for more details. *Image Credit*: NASA |
|
Chandra X-ray Image of NGC 4
…
| Name |
Chandra X-ray Image of NGC 4258 |
|
C/1999 S4: Hubble Optical Im
…
| Name |
C/1999 S4: Hubble Optical Images |
|
NGC 4258 (M106): Mysterious
…
| Name |
NGC 4258 (M106): Mysterious Arms Revealed |
| Category |
Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies, Quasars & Active Galaxies |
| Release Date |
April 10, 2007 |
|
Mitsubishi A6M2
| Title |
Mitsubishi A6M2 |
| Full Description |
Captured at Akutan Island, Alaska, in August 1942. This Mitsubishi A6M2 fighter was the first "Zero" to fall intact into Allied hands during WW II. After limited flying on the West Coast, the "Zero" arrived at Langley for installation of test equipment prior to in-depth flight testing by the Navy at Patuxent River, Maryland. |
| Date |
03/08/1943 |
| NASA Center |
Langley Research Center |
|
NASA's First Headquarters
| Title |
NASA's First Headquarters |
| Full Description |
The Little White House at 1520 H Street, NW, in Washington, DC served as NASA Headquarters from 1958 until October 1961. Built in 1820 by Richard Cutts, in 1837 it became the home of Mrs. Dolly Payne Madison, wife of President James Madison. Named the Dolly Madison House, she lived there till her death in 1849. In 1886 the Dolly Madison House became the private Cosmos Club. After restoration in the early 1960's, the Dolly Madison House became the offices for the Federal Judicial Center. In 1992 the Federal Judicial Center switched locations and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit moved into this historic house. In the fall of 1961, NASA moved its headquarters to Federal Building 6 located at 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, in Washington. In 1963 NASA administration expanded into Federal Building 10-B at 600 Independence Avenue, SW and the Reporters Building at 300 7th St., SW. Since 1992, NASA Headquarters has been located at 300 E Street, SW. |
| Date |
10/21/1961 |
| NASA Center |
Headquarters |
|
Applications Technology Sate
…
| Title |
Applications Technology Satellite Testing |
| Full Description |
A test model of the Applications Technology Satellite (ATS) is seen during checkout activity in Chamber A of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to see if the satellite's 30-feet diameter umbrella-shaped antenna would unfold properly in a space vacuum. The antenna is in an unfolded (deployed) position in this picture. For the test, the 65-feet diameter by 120 feet high vacuum chamber in Building 32 was pumped down to an equivalent altitude of 255,000 feet. The test model satellite is hung by cables from the chamber's dome. Engineers from the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) not only wanted to test the antenna mechanism itself, but the efforts of the unfolding action on the whole satellite. For the test, the 54-feet span solar array "paddles" for generating the satellite's electrical power were spread in the orbit flight position, while the parabolic antenna was folded into a donut-shaped package beneath the solar ray booms. The 3,000 pound ATS-F was launched in the spring of 1974 atop a Titan IIIC launch vehicle into a 22,000-mile high synchronous orbit, first above the United States and later above India. ATS spacecraft prime contractor to the GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland, was Fairchild Industries, Germantown, Maryland. This view is from outside the chamber looking through the huge doorway. |
| Date |
09/30/1973 |
| NASA Center |
Johnson Space Center |
|
First Class of Female Astron
…
| Title |
First Class of Female Astronauts |
| Full Description |
From left to right are Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride. NASA selected all six women as their first female astronaut candidates in January 1978, allowing them to enroll in a training program that they completed in August 1979. Shannon W. Lucid was born on January 14, 1943 in Shanghai, China but considers Bethany, Oklahoma to be her hometown. She spent many years at the University of Oklahoma, receiving a Bachelor in chemistry in 1963, a Master in biochemistry in 1970, and a Doctorate in biochemistry in 1973. Dr. Lucid flew on the STS-51G Discovery, STS-34 Atlantis, STS-43 Atlantis, and STS-58 Columbia shuttle missions, setting the record for female astronauts by logging 838 hours and 54 minutes in space. She also currently holds the United States single mission space flight endurance record for her 188 days on the Russian Space Station Mir. From February 2002 to September 2003, she served as chief scientist at NASA Headquarters before returning to JSC to help with the Return to Flight program after the STS-107 accident. Born November 8, 1947, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Margaret Rhea Seddon received a Doctorate of Medicine in 1973 from the University of Tennessee. She flew on space missions STS-51 Discovery, STS-40 Columbia, and STS-58 Columbia for a total of over 722 hours in space. Dr. Seddon retired from NASA in November 1997, taking on a position as the Assistant Chief Medical Officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Group in Nashville, Tennessee. Kathryn Sullivan was born October 3, 1951 in Patterson, New Jersey but considers Woodland Hills, California to be her hometown. She received a Bachelor in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1973 and a Doctorate in Geology from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1978. She flew on space missions STS-41G, STS-31, and STS-45 and logged a total of 532 hours in space. Dr. Sullivan left NASA in August 1992 to assume the position of Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She later went on to serve as President and CEO of the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Judith Resnik was born April 5, 1949 in Akron, Ohio. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1970, and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland in 1977. Dr. Resnik left a job as a senior systems engineer in product development with Xerox Corporation at El Segundo, California to work for NASA in 1978. She died on January 28, 1986 on her second mission, during the launch of Challenger STS-51-L. Anna Fisher was born August 24, 1949 in New York City, New York hometown. She received a Doctorate in Medicine in 1976 and a Master of Science in Chemistry in 1987, both from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Fisher flew on STS-51A, the Space Shuttle Discovery's November 8, 1984, mission, and logged 192 hours in space, her second schedule mission was cancelled after the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L accident. She remains with NASA, where she has filled many positions over decades of service. Dr. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. Born on May 26, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, she went on to receive a Bachelor in Physics and English in 1973 from Stanford University and, later, a Master in Physics in 1975 and a Doctorate in Physics in 1978, also from Stanford. She began her astronaut career as a mission specialist on STS-7, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 18, 1983, and later went on to fly on STS-41G. She withdrew from training for her third scheduled mission in order to serve on the investigative committee for the Space Shuttle Challenger accident and never returned to training, although she went on to work for headquarters and later to serve on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board before returning to the private sector as a physics professor. |
| Date |
02/28/1979 |
| NASA Center |
Johnson Space Center |
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First Composite Image of the
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| Title |
First Composite Image of the Global Biosphere |
| Full Description |
This first image of the global biosphere which was produced by combining data from two different satellite sensors show for the first time the productive potential of the Earth's vegetative biomass. The ocean image is a composite of all data collected during the 20-month period from November 1978 through June 1980 by the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) flown on NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite, managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. The CZCS data show concentrations of marine phytoplankton pigment. Phytoplanktons, the microscopic plants that grow in the sunlight regions of the ocean, form the base of the marine food web. Red and orange colors indicate areas of high plankton concentrations. Yellow and green represent areas of moderate concentration. One of the most notable features in this image is the clear delineation of the equator through increased plant abundance, and the differences between the equatorial Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Plankton concentrations tend to be high nutrients to the sunlit upper ocean layers. Major areas of the South Pacific are blank (black areas=no data) because the CZCS could operate only intermittently. The land-vegetation image is a composite of three years of data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA-7) satellite, which measured land-surface radiation in the visible and near-infrared bands to estimate chlorophyll and leaf potential for chlorophyll production. The lighter shades of green highlight tropical and subtropical forests, temperate forests and farmlands, and some drier regions such as savannas and pampas. The yellow shades in the United States Midwest show lower potential, while the darker yellow shades of Northern Hemisphere forests and the dry Australian Outback rank lower. Desert, high mountains, and arctic regions reflect barren conditions, intermittently. The land-vegetation image is a composite of three years of data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the NOAA-7 satellite, which measures land-surface radiation in the visible and near-infrared bands to estimate chlorophyll and leaf mass. The dark green areas (rain forests) show the highest potential for chlorophyll production. The lighter shades of green highlight tropical and subtropical forests, temperate forests and farmlands and some drier regions such as savannas and pampas. The yellow shades in the United States Midwest show lower potential, while the darker yellow shade of Northern Hemisphere forests and the dry Australian Outback rank lower. Desserts, high mountains, and arctic regions reflect barren conditions. |
| Date |
6/1980 |
| NASA Center |
Headquarters |
|
STS-41-D Crew Enjoying Space
| Title |
STS-41-D Crew Enjoying Space |
| Full Description |
Crewmembers of NASA's 41-D mission take a group shot displaying their fun moments in space aboard the orbiter Discovery. Crewmembers are (counter-clockwise from center) crew commander Henry W. Harsfield Jr., pilot Michael L. Coats, mission specialist Steven A. Hawley, mission specialist Judith A. Resnik, payload specialist Charles D. Walker, and mission specialist Richard M. Mullane. Dr. Judith Resnik is shown enjoying the weightlessness of space during her first mission. Born on April 5, 1949 in Akron, Ohio, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1970, and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland in 1977. Dr. Resnik joined NASA in 1978 as a senior systems engineer in product development with Xerox Corporation at El Segundo, California. NASA later selected her as an astronaut candidate in January 1978, she completed a 1-year training and evaluation period in August 1979. Dr. Resnik died on January 28, 1986 on her second mission, during the failed launch of Challenger STS-51 L. |
| Date |
09/06/1984 |
| NASA Center |
Headquarters |
|
The Cat's Eye Nebula
| Title |
The Cat's Eye Nebula |
| Full Description |
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever seen, NGC 6543, nicknamed the "Cat's Eye Nebula." Hubble reveals surprisingly intricate structures including concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas and unusual shock-induced knots of gas. Estimated to be 1,000 years old, the nebula is a visual "fossil record" of the dynamics and late evolution of a dying star. A preliminary interpretation suggests that the star might be a double-star system. The suspected companion star also might be responsible for a pair of high-speed jets of gas that lie at right angles to this equatorial ring. If the companion were pulling in material from a neighboring star, jets escaping along the companion's rotation axis could be produced. These jets would explain several puzzling features along the periphery of the gas lobes. Like a stream of water hitting a sand pile, the jets compress gas ahead of them, creating the "curlicue" features and bright arcs near the outer edge of the lobes. The twin jets are now pointing in different directions than these features. This suggests the jets are wobbling, or precessing, and turning on and off episodically. This color picture, taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2, is a composite of three images taken at different wavelengths. (red, hydrogen-alpha, blue, neutral oxygen, 6300 angstroms, green, ionized nitrogen, 6584 angstroms). The image was taken on September 18, 1994. NGC 6543 is 3,000 light- years away in the northern constellation Draco. The term planetary nebula is a misnomer, dying stars create these cocoons when they lose outer layers of gas. The process has nothing to do with planet formation, which is predicted to happen early in a star's life. |
| Date |
09/18/1994 |
| NASA Center |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
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Hubble Observes the Moons an
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| Title |
Hubble Observes the Moons and Rings of the Planet Uranus |
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Hubble Observes the Moons an
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| Title |
Hubble Observes the Moons and Rings of the Planet Uranus |
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Hubble Finds Ozone on Jupite
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| Title |
Hubble Finds Ozone on Jupiter's Moon Ganymede |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. Though ozone may be diminishing on Earth, it is being manufactured one-half billion miles away, on Jupiter's largest satellite, Ganymede. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found ozone's spectral "fingerprint" during observations of Ganymede made by Keith Noll and colleagues at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. These Hubble Faint Object Spectrograph results were presented at the American Astronomical Society's 27th Annual Meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences in Kona, Hawaii. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1995/36/text/ ] |
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Hubble Probes the Complex Hi
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| Title |
Hubble Probes the Complex History of a Dying Star |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. This Hubble telescope image shows one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever seen, NGC 6543, nicknamed the "Cat's Eye Nebula." Hubble reveals surprisingly intricate structures including concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas. Estimated to be 1,000 years old, the nebula is a visual "fossil record" of the dynamics and late evolution of a dying star. A preliminary interpretation suggests that the object might be a double-star system. The dynamical effects of two stars orbiting one another most easily explains the intricate structures, which are much more complicated than features seen in most planetary nebulae. The two stars are too close together to be individually resolved by Hubble and instead appear as a single point of light at the center of the nebula. |
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Hubble Probes the Complex Hi
…
| Title |
Hubble Probes the Complex History of a Dying Star |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. This Hubble telescope image shows one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever seen, NGC 6543, nicknamed the "Cat's Eye Nebula." Hubble reveals surprisingly intricate structures including concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas. Estimated to be 1,000 years old, the nebula is a visual "fossil record" of the dynamics and late evolution of a dying star. A preliminary interpretation suggests that the object might be a double-star system. The dynamical effects of two stars orbiting one another most easily explains the intricate structures, which are much more complicated than features seen in most planetary nebulae. The two stars are too close together to be individually resolved by Hubble and instead appear as a single point of light at the center of the nebula. |
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HST's Greatest Hits 1990-199
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| Title |
HST's Greatest Hits 1990-1995 |
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NASA Selects Home for Next G
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| Title |
NASA Selects Home for Next Generation Space Telescope |
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Hubble Shoots the Moon
| Title |
Hubble Shoots the Moon |
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Hubble Shoots the Moon
| Title |
Hubble Shoots the Moon |
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Maryland Science Center's "S
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| Title |
Maryland Science Center's "Space Place" Showcases Hubble Discoveries |
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Hubble Clicks Images of Io S
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| Title |
Hubble Clicks Images of Io Sweeping across Jupiter |
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Hubble Captures the Shrouds
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| Title |
Hubble Captures the Shrouds of Dying Stars |
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Hubble Captures the Shrouds
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| Title |
Hubble Captures the Shrouds of Dying Stars |
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Hubble Telescope Reveals Swa
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| 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 ] |
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NASA Selects Home for Next G
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| Title |
NASA Selects Home for Next Generation Space Telescope |
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Hubble Sees Comet Linear Blo
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| Title |
Hubble Sees Comet Linear Blow its Top |
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Hubble Sees Comet Linear Blo
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| Title |
Hubble Sees Comet Linear Blow its Top |
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Turtle in Space Describes Ne
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| Title |
Turtle in Space Describes New Hubble Image |
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Hubble Discovers Missing Pie
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| Title |
Hubble Discovers Missing Pieces of Comet Linear |
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Hubble Sees Comet Linear Blo
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| Title |
Hubble Sees Comet Linear Blow its Top |
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Hubble Discovers Missing Pie
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| Title |
Hubble Discovers Missing Pieces of Comet Linear |
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Hubble Discovers Missing Pie
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| Title |
Hubble Discovers Missing Pieces of Comet Linear |
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