The Massachusetts-based firm of Alvan Clark and Sons became famous for making telescope optics near the end of the last century. Near the end of this century, major astronomical observatories still boast of telescopes with lenses and mirrors made by them including Lowell Observatory's 24 inch [ http://www.lowell.edu/visitors/misc/clark.html ] diameter refractor, the United States Naval Observatory's 26 inch [ http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO26in.html ] refractor, the McCormick Observatory's 26 inch [ http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~jkw3x/donation.html ], Lick Observatory's 36 inch [ http://www.ucolick.org/~mountain/mthamilton/public/history/ ], and Yerkes Observatory's 40 inch refractor [ http://astro.uchicago.edu/yerkes/virtualmuseum/40inch.html ] - the largest refracting telescope [ http://www.msd.org/how1.htm ] in the world. Small observatories too can claim such a link to telescopic history [ http://w3.one.net/~foto/PictureGallery.htm ] and many offer the general public a chance to "look through a classic". This gorgeous, completely refurbished 8 inch refractor was originally bought from Alvan Clark and Sons in 1927. On Thursdays it stargazes from the Crosby Ramsey Memorial Observatory [ http://www.mdsci.org/obs.htm ] dome atop the Maryland Science Center near Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
Messier 81
Title
Messier 81
Description
The magnificent spiral arms of the nearby galaxy Messier 81 are highlighted in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major (which also includes the Big Dipper), this galaxy is easily visible through binoculars or a small telescope. M81 is located at a distance of 12 million light-years. The main image is a composite mosaic obtained with the multiband imaging photometer and the infrared array camera. Thermal infrared emission at 24 microns detected by the photometer (red, bottom left inset) is combined with camera data at 8.0 microns (green, bottom center inset) and 3.6 microns (blue, bottom right inset). A visible-light image of Messier 81, obtained with a ground-based telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, is shown in the upper right inset. Both the visible-light picture and the 3.6-micron near-infrared image trace the distribution of stars, although the Spitzer image is virtually unaffected by obscuring dust. Both images reveal a very smooth stellar mass distribution, with the spiral arms relatively subdued. As one moves to longer wavelengths, the spiral arms become the dominant feature of the galaxy. The 8-micron emission is dominated by infrared light radiated by hot dust that has been heated by nearby luminous stars. Dust in the galaxy is bathed by ultraviolet and visible light from nearby stars. Upon absorbing an ultraviolet or visible-light photon, a dust grain is heated and re-emits the energy at longer infrared wavelengths. The dust particles are composed of silicates (chemically similar to beach sand), carbonaceous grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and trace the gas distribution in the galaxy. The well-mixed gas (which is best detected at radio wavelengths) and dust provide a reservoir of raw materials for future star formation. The 24-micron multiband imaging photometer image shows emission from warm dust heated by the most luminous young stars. The infrared-bright clumpy knots within the spiral arms show where massive stars are being born in giant H II (ionized hydrogen) regions. Studying the locations of these star forming regions with respect to the overall mass distribution and other constituents of the galaxy (e.g., gas) will help identify the conditions and processes needed for star formation.
Messier 81
Title
Messier 81
Description
The magnificent spiral arms of the nearby galaxy Messier 81 are highlighted in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major (which also includes the Big Dipper), this galaxy is easily visible through binoculars or a small telescope. M81 is located at a distance of 12 million light-years. The main image is a composite mosaic obtained with the multiband imaging photometer and the infrared array camera. Thermal infrared emission at 24 microns detected by the photometer (red, bottom left inset) is combined with camera data at 8.0 microns (green, bottom center inset) and 3.6 microns (blue, bottom right inset). A visible-light image of Messier 81, obtained with a ground-based telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, is shown in the upper right inset. Both the visible-light picture and the 3.6-micron near-infrared image trace the distribution of stars, although the Spitzer image is virtually unaffected by obscuring dust. Both images reveal a very smooth stellar mass distribution, with the spiral arms relatively subdued. As one moves to longer wavelengths, the spiral arms become the dominant feature of the galaxy. The 8-micron emission is dominated by infrared light radiated by hot dust that has been heated by nearby luminous stars. Dust in the galaxy is bathed by ultraviolet and visible light from nearby stars. Upon absorbing an ultraviolet or visible-light photon, a dust grain is heated and re-emits the energy at longer infrared wavelengths. The dust particles are composed of silicates (chemically similar to beach sand), carbonaceous grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and trace the gas distribution in the galaxy. The well-mixed gas (which is best detected at radio wavelengths) and dust provide a reservoir of raw materials for future star formation. The 24-micron multiband imaging photometer image shows emission from warm dust heated by the most luminous young stars. The infrared-bright clumpy knots within the spiral arms show where massive stars are being born in giant H II (ionized hydrogen) regions. Studying the locations of these star forming regions with respect to the overall mass distribution and other constituents of the galaxy (e.g., gas) will help identify the conditions and processes needed for star formation.
Mars: Closest Encounter
Title
Mars: Closest Encounter
Hubble Resolves Expiration D
…
Title
Hubble Resolves Expiration Date For Green Cheese Moon
Explanation
Using the new camera [ http://www.stsci.edu/hst/localNews?display_type=all#HeadlineNews ] on the recently refitted [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020314.html ] Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html ], astronomers have been able to confirm that the Moon is made of green cheese [ http://www.cheese.com/facts1.asp ]. The telling clue was the resolution of a numeric date after which the Moon [ http://www.nineplanets.org/luna.html ] may go bad. Controversy [ http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/Kardas/Courses/GPWeiten/C1Intro/GreenCheese.html ] still exists, however, over whether the date resolved is truly an expiration date [ http://www.consumeraffairs.com/nutrition/expiration_dates.htm ] or just a "sell by" date. "To be cautious, we should completely devour the Moon by tomorrow," a spokesperson advised. Happy April Fool's Day [ http://www.usis.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/april.html ] from the folks at APOD [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html ]. The above image [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/ra9_b001.html ] (slightly altered) was actually taken in 1965 by the Ranger 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1965-023A.html ] probe minutes before impact. The popular "Moon is made of Green Cheese" myth [ http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990723a.html ] can be traced back almost 500 years. It [ http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/wcc3/humor/green_cheese.html ] has been used historically in context to indicate a claim so clearly false that no one -- not even April Fools [ http://wilstar.com/holidays/aprilfool.htm ] -- will believe it.
Light and Shadow in the Cari
…
Title
Light and Shadow in the Carina Nebula
General Information
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]
Chandra X-Ray Observatory Im
…
Name of Image
Chandra X-Ray Observatory Image of Black Hole
Date of Image
2000-04-01
Full Description
This Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) image is a spectrum of a black hole, which is similar to the colorful spectrum of sunlight produced by a prism. The x-rays of interest are shown here recorded in bright stripes that run rightward and leftward from the center of the image. These x-rays are sorted precisely according to their energy with the highest-energy x-rays near the center of the image and the lower-energy x-rays farther out. The spectrum was obtained by using the Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG), which intercepts x-rays and changes their direction by the amounts that depend sensitively on the x-ray energy. The assembly holds 540 gold transmission gratings. When in place behind the mirrors, the gratings intercept the x-rays reflected from the telescope. The bright spot at the center is due to a fraction of the x-ray radiation that is not deflected by the LETG. The spokes that intersect the central spot and the faint diagonal rays that flank the spectrum itself are artifacts due to the structure that supports the LETG grating elements. (Photo credit: NASA Cfa/J. McClintock et al)
M74: The Perfect Spiral
Title
M74: The Perfect Spiral
Explanation
If not perfect, then this spiral galaxy [ http://www.seds.org/messier/spir.html ] is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe [ http://www.netlabs.net/hp/tremor/hubble.html ] of about 100 billion stars, 30 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces [ http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/pisces/ constell.html ], NGC 628 or M74 presents [ http://sirtf.caltech.edu/Education/Messier/ m74.html ] a gorgeous face-on view [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010427.html ] to earthbound astronomers. Classified [ http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Haynes/ Haynes1.html ] as an Sc galaxy, the grand design [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010203.html ] of M74's graceful spiral arms traced by bright blue star clusters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010909.html ] and dark cosmic dust lanes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010720.html ], is similar in many respects to our own home galaxy, the Milky Way [ http://home.arcor-online.de/axel.mellinger/ ]. Recorded with a 28 million pixel [ http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ popup_definition.php?lookup=3909 ] detector array, this impressive image celebrates first light [ http://www.gemini.edu/project/announcements/press/ 2001-2.html ] for the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS [ http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/instruments/ gmos/gmosIndex.html ]), a state-of-the-art instrument now operational at the 8-meter Gemini North [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990629.html ] telescope. The Gemini North Observatory gazes into the skies above Mauna Kea [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/ ], Hawaii, USA, while its twin observatory, Gemini South [ http://www.conicyt.cl/gemini/ ], is scheduled to begin operations later this year from Cerro Pachón in central Chile.
ISS Over Mont-Megantic Obser
…
Title
ISS Over Mont-Megantic Observatory
Explanation
On August 1st, a time exposure [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed ] created this surreal view that looks up into the early morning sky over southern Quebec. Only the light [ http://www.darksky.org/ ] from a nearly Full Moon brightens the sky and highlights the dome of the 1.6 meter telescope at Mont-Megantic Observatory [ http://www.astrolab-parc-national-mont-megantic.org/ en_astrolab_level03_sublevel01.html ]. Shadowy figures on the catwalk are astronomers who have interrupted their work to glimpse [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ ] the International Space Station (ISS [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070625.html ]) streaking overhead. The brightest "star" in the moonlit sky, the ISS was easy to spot moving through a background of stars in the high-flying constellation Pegasus [ http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/peg/index.html ].
A Cerro Tololo Sky
Title
A Cerro Tololo Sky
Explanation
High atop a Chilean [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ci.html ] mountain lies one of the premier observatories of the southern sky: the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/ ] (CTIO). Pictured above [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0081.html ] is the dome surrounding one of the site's [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/new/Sky%20Conditions/Webcam/ ] best known instruments, the 4-meter Blanco Telescope [ http://www.ctio.noao.edu/telescopes/4m/base4m.html ]. Far behind the dome are thousands of individual stars and diffuse light from three galaxies: the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000430.html ] (upper left), the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000222.html ] (lower left), and our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ] (right). Visible just to Blanco's right is the famous superposition [ http://www.southernskies.com.au/crux.htm ] of four bright stars known as the Southern Cross [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000618.html ]. A single 20 second exposure, this digital image was recorded with a sensitive detector intended for astronomical imaging. The observatory structures are lit solely by starlight.
STEREO's Extreme UltraViolet
…
Title
STEREO's Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI)
Abstract
At a pixel resolution of 2048x2048, the STEREO EUVI instrument provides views of the Sun in ultraviolet light that rivals the full-disk views of SOHO/EIT. This image is through the 171 Angstrom (ultraviolet) filter which is characteristic of iron ions (missing eight and nine electrons) at 1 million degrees. There is a short data gap in the latter half of the movie that creates a freeze and then jump in the data view. * STEREO: Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory * EIT: Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope * EUVI: Extreme UltraViolet Imager
Completed
2007-02-27
Mount Megantic Magnetic Stor
…
Title
Mount Megantic Magnetic Storm
Explanation
Plasma from the Sun and debris from a comet both collided with planet Earth last Saturday morning triggering magnetic storms [ http://www.sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/ ] and a meteor shower in a dazzling atmospheric spectacle [ http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ ast14aug_1.htm ]. The debris stream from comet Swift-Tuttle is anticipated [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000812.html ] yearly, and many skygazers [ http://www.imo.net/news/news.html ] already planned to watch the peak of the annual Perseids [ http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/ perseids.html ] meteor shower in the dark hours of August 11/12. But the simultaneous, widely reported [ http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrummel/Aurora/ Aurora.html ] auroras were [ http://www.infowest.com/personal/s/schmutz/ aurora.HTML ] triggered by the chance arrival of something much less predictable -- a solar coronal mass ejection [ http://science.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/ cmes.htm ]. This massive bubble of energetic plasma was seen leaving the active Sun's surface on August 9, just in time to travel to Earth and disrupt the planet's magnetic field [ http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/ Intro.html ] triggering extensive auroras [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/ apod_ts?aurora ] during the meteor shower's peak! Inspired by the cosmic light show, Sebastien Gauthier photographed the [ http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Station/3622/ AlbumPhotoAstronomie/AlbumAstronomie3.htm ] colorful auroral displays above the dramatic dome of the Mount-Megantic [ http://astrolab.interlinx.qc.ca/ ] Popular Observatory [ http://astrolab.interlinx.qc.ca/Obs_pop/ OPMM/ob_pop_choix.htm ] in southern Quebec, Canada. Bright Jupiter and giant star Aldebaran can be seen peering through [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000504.html ] the shimmering northern lights at the upper right.
Centaurus Galaxy Cluster in
…
Title
Centaurus Galaxy Cluster in X-Rays
Explanation
The Centaurus [ http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cen/ ] Cluster is a swarm [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020306.html ] of hundreds of galaxies a mere [ http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/ superc.html ] 170 million light-years away. Like other [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/ galaxy_clusters.html ] immense galaxy clusters [ http://crux.astr.ua.edu/white/mug/cluster/ clusters.html ], the Centaurus Cluster is filled with gas at temperatures of 10 million degrees or more, making the cluster a luminous source of cosmic x-rays [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/ history1_xray.html ]. While individual galaxies [ http://www.angelfire.com/id/jsredshift/ centaur.htm ] are not seen here, this false-color x-ray image [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/0146/index.html ] from the Chandra Observatory [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/about/telescope_system.html ] does reveal striking details of the central region's hot cluster gas, including a large twisted plume about 70,000 light-years long. Colors represent temperatures indicated by the x-ray data with red, yellow, green, and blue shades ranging in order from cool to hot. The plume of gas alone is estimated to contain material equivalent to about one billion times the mass of the Sun. It may be a wake of gas condensing and cooling [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001208.html ] along the path of the massive, dominant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980831.html ] central galaxy moving through the cluster.
X-rays From The Cat's Eye
Title
X-rays From The Cat's Eye
Explanation
Haunting patterns within planetary nebula NGC 6543 [ http://nineplanets.org/twn/n6543x.html ] readily suggest its popular moniker -- the Cat's Eye nebula. In 1995, a stunning false-color optical image from the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/95/01.html ] detailed the swirls of this glowing nebula [ http://www.seds.org/billa/twn/types.html ], known to be the gaseous shroud expelled from a dying sun-like star [ http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/space/stellardeath/ stellardeath_opening.html ] about 3,000 light-years from Earth. This composite picture combines the famous Hubble image with new x-ray data [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/ history.html ] from the orbiting Chandra Observatory [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cycle1/1220/index.html ] and reveals surprisingly intense x-ray emission indicating the presence of extremely hot gas. X-ray emission is shown as blue-purple hues superimposed on red and green optical emission. The nebula's central star itself is clearly immersed in the multimillion degree, x-ray emitting gas. Other pockets of x-ray hot gas seem to be bordered by cooler gas emitting strongly at optical wavelengths, a clear indication that expanding hot gas is sculpting the visible Cat's Eye [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990916.html ] filaments and structures. Gazing into the Cat's Eye, astronomers see the fate of our sun [ http://www.astro.washington.edu/balick/WFPC2/ ], destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase [ http://ad.usno.navy.mil/pne/gallery.html ] of evolution ... in about 5 billion years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/white_dwarfs.html ].
Bubbly Little Star
Title
Bubbly Little Star
Description
In this processed Spitzer Space Telescope image, baby star HH 46/47 can be seen blowing two massive "bubbles." The star is 1,140 light-years away from Earth. The infant star can be seen as a white spot toward the center of the Spitzer image. The two bubbles are shown as hollow elliptical shells of bluish-green material extending from the star. Wisps of green in the image reveal warm molecular hydrogen gas, while the bluish tints are formed by starlight scattered by surrounding dust. These bubbles formed when powerful jets of gas, traveling at 200 to 300 kilometers per second, or about 120 to 190 miles per second, smashed into the cosmic cloud of gas and dust that surrounds HH 46/47. The red specks at the end of each bubble show the presence of hot sulfur and iron gas where the star's narrow jets are currently crashing head-on into the cosmic cloud's gas and dust material. Whenever astronomers observe a star, or snap a stellar portrait, through the lens of any telescope, they know that what they are seeing is slightly blurred. To clear up the blurring in Spitzer images, astronomers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed an image processing technique for Spitzer called Hi-Res deconvolution. This process reduces blurring and makes the image sharper and cleaner, enabling astronomers to see the emissions around forming stars in greater detail. When scientists applied this image processing technique to the Spitzer image of HH 46/47, they were able to see winds from the star and jets of gas that are carving the celestial bubbles. This infrared image is a three-color composite, with data at 3.6 microns represented in blue, 4.5 and 5.8 microns shown in green, and 24 microns represented as red.
Earthrise - Apollo 8
title
Earthrise - Apollo 8
date
12.29.1968
description
This view of the rising Earth greeted the Apollo 8 astronauts as they came from behind the Moon after the lunar orbit insertion burn. Earth is about five degrees above the horizon in the photo. The unnamed surface features in the foreground are near the eastern limb of the Moon as viewed from Earth. The lunar horizon is approximately 780 kilometers from the spacecraft. Width of the photographed area at the horizon is about 175 km (109 miles). On the Earth 386,000 km (240,000 miles) away, the sunset terminator bisects Africa. *Image Credit*: NASA
Backpacking
Title
Backpacking
Full Description
Mission Specialist Bruce McCandless II ventured further away from the confines and safety of his ship than any previous astronaut ever has. This space first was made possible by the Manned Manuevering Unit or MMU, a nitrogen jet propelled backpack. After a series of test maneuvers inside and above Challenger's payload bay, McCandless went "free-flying" to a distance of 320 feet away from the Orbiter. The MMU is controled by joy sticks positioned at the end of the arm rests. Moving the joy sticks left or right or by pulling them fires nitrogen jet thrusters propelling McCandless in any direction he chooses. A still camera is mounted on the upper right portion of the MMU. This stunning view shows McCandless with the MMU out there amongst the black and blue of Earth and space.
Date
02/11/1984
NASA Center
Johnson Space Center
Moonset, Planet Earth
Title
Moonset, Planet Earth
Explanation
During the Astro-1 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990220.html ] astronomy mission of December, 1990, Space Shuttle [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html ] astronauts photographed this stunning [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970509.html ] view of the setting full moon poised above the Earth's limb. In the foreground, towering clouds of condensing water vapor [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980530.html ] mark the extent of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the planet's life-sustaining atmosphere [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/space/ atmosphere.html ]. Strongly scattering blue sunlight, the upper atmospheric layer, the stratosphere, fades dramatically to the black background of space. Moon [ http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/moon.html ] and clouds are [ http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/~cahalan/FractalClouds/ Types/Types.htmd/TXT.html ] strong visual elements of many well known portraits of planet Earth [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ ], including Ansel Adams' famous "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico" [ http://www.geh.org/taschen/htmlsrc15/ m197400820001_ful.html#topofimage ], photographed in 1941.
Halo of the Cat's Eye
Title
Halo of the Cat's Eye
Explanation
The Cat's Eye Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020324.html ] (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011003.html ]. Its haunting symmetries [ http://www.cybercom.net/~klb/ tiger.html ] are seen in the very central region of this stunning false-color picture, processed to reveal the enormous but extremely faint halo of gaseous material, over three light-years across, which surrounds the brighter, familiar planetary nebula. Made with data from the Nordic Optical Telescope [ http://www.not.iac.es/ ] in the Canary Islands, the composite picture shows emission from nitrogen atoms as red and oxygen atoms as green and blue shades. Planetary nebulae [ http://www.noao.edu/jacoby/pn_gallery.html ] have long been appreciated as a final phase in the life [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/lifecycles/ stars.html ] of a sun-like star. Only much more recently however, have some planetaries been found to have halos [ http://www.ing.iac.es/~rcorradi/HALOES/ ] like this one, likely formed of material shrugged off during earlier active episodes in the star's evolution. While the planetary nebula phase [ http://www.astro.washington.edu/balick/WFPC2/ ] is thought to last for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the age of the outer filamentary portions of this halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years.
La Silla's Starry Night
Title
La Silla's Starry Night
Explanation
On clear, moonless nights, the stars still come out with a vengance above the high-altitude La Silla [ http://www.ls.eso.org/site/AboutLSO.htm ] astronomical observatory. Taking advantage of a recent visit to this first European Southern Observatory (ESO [ http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/eso-info.html ]) site constructed on a mountain top in Chile, ESO software engineer Nico Housen recorded this stunning sky view. Difficult to see from light polluted [ http://www.darksky.org/ ] areas, faint stars and dark dust clouds along the plane of our Milky Way [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990927.html ] Galaxy arc across the gorgeous photo [ http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/ phot-27-04.html ]. In the foreground lies the highly polished 15-meter diameter dish antenna of the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter [ http://kp12m.as.arizona.edu/docs/ what_is_submillimeter.htm ] Telescope (now decommissioned). Beyond it, silhouetted by starlight, is the dome of one of La Silla's large optical instruments, a 3.6 meter [ http://www.ls.eso.org/lasilla/sciops/3p6/ ] telescope. Dramatically reflected [ http://www.mirrorproject.com/ ] in the focusing [ http://www.microscopy.fsu.edu/primer/java/lenses/ simplethinlens/ ], mirror-like surface of the dish, the vista behind the photographer appears [ http://electron9.phys.utk.edu/optics421/modules/m1/ mirrors.htm ] inverted, with the dark horizon hanging above the Milky Way and the starry night [ http://nightskylive.net/ ].
Lunar Prospector
title
Lunar Prospector
description
This artist's concept of the Lunar Prospector shows the spacecraft in lunar orbit. Instrument masts are fully deployed. Lunar Prospector spent about a year and a half studying and mapping the Moon. After its mission was complete, was deliberately crashed into the Moon's south pole to look for evidence of water ice. None was observed.. *Image Credit* NASA Ames Research Center
The Launch of Spitzer
Title
The Launch of Spitzer
Description
Spitzer ejects its dust cover.
Steamy Solar System
Title
Steamy Solar System
Description
This diagram illustrates the earliest journeys of water in a young, forming star system. Stars are born out of icy cocoons of gas and dust. As the cocoon collapses under its own weight in an inside-out fashion, a stellar embryo forms at the center surrounded by a dense, dusty disk. The stellar embryo "feeds" from the disk for a few million years, while material in the disk begins to clump together to form planets. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to probe a crucial phase of this stellar evolution -- a time when the cocoon is vigorously falling onto the pre-planetary disk. The infrared telescope detected water vapor as it smacks down on a disk circling a forming star called NGC 1333-IRAS 4B. This vapor started out as ice in the outer envelope, but vaporized upon its arrival at the disk. By analyzing the water in the system, astronomers were also able learn about other characteristics of the disk, such as its size, density and temperature. How did Spitzer see the water vapor deep in the NGC 1333-IRAS 4B system? This is most likely because the system is oriented in just the right way, such that its thicker disk is seen face-on from our Earthly perspective. In this "face-on" orientation, Spitzer can peer through a window carved by an outflow of material from the embryonic star. This system in this drawing is shown in the opposite "edge-on" configuration.
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