Tag Archive for 'NASA'

This image, taken with the Wide Field Imager camera on the 2.2-m MPG/ESO telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, shows the Sculptor dwarf galaxy. Image credit: ESO.

3D Motions of Stars in Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy Hint at Underlying Dark Matter

Nov 28, 2017 by News Staff

Based on the combination of data taken 12 years apart by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA’s Gaia mission, astronomers have pinned down for...

This Hubble image shows the galaxy cluster Abell 2537. The image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s ACS and WFC3 instruments. Five filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Observes Galaxy Cluster Abell 2537

Nov 27, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a vivid image of a galaxy cluster called Abell 2537. This Hubble image shows the galaxy cluster Abell...

Titan’s south polar vortex stands out against the orange and blue haze layers that are characteristic of the hazy moon’s atmosphere. This view looks towards the trailing hemisphere of Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 km across). North on Titan is up and rotated 17 degrees to the left. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural-color view. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 30, 2013. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 895,000 miles (1.441 million km) from Titan. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

New Study Explains Unexpected Cooling of Titan’s Polar Atmosphere

Nov 24, 2017 by News Staff

A study published in the journal Nature Communications has shown that a recently reported unexpected polar vortex behavior on Saturn’s hazy moon Titan...

This image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn and its rings. Six of Saturn’s moons make a faint appearance in this image: the ice-covered moon Enceladus can be seen at the 1 o’clock position; directly below Enceladus, just outside the F ring (the thin, farthest ring from the planet seen in this image) lies the small moon Epimetheus; following the F ring clock-wise from Epimetheus, the next moon seen is Janus; at about the 4:30 position and outward from the F ring is Mimas; inward of Mimas and still at about the 4:30 position is the F-ring-disrupting moon, Pandora; moving around to the 10 o’clock position, just inside of the F ring, is the moon Prometheus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Team Releases Stunning Natural-Color Image of Saturn

Nov 23, 2017 by News Staff

After more than 13 years at Saturn, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft bid farewell to the Saturnian system by firing the shutters of its wide-angle camera and...

According to Zhang et al, Pluto’s atmosphere is unique among Solar System planetary atmospheres, as its equilibrium temperature is controlled primarily by solid-phase haze particles instead of gas molecules. This artist’s impression shows a view of the moon Charon through Pluto’s atmospheric haze layers above the mountain landscape of bedrock water ice covered partially with deposition of dark, reddish haze particles. Image credit: X. Liu.

Haze Particles Cool Pluto’s Atmosphere, New Research Finds

Nov 21, 2017 by News Staff

It turns out solid-phase haze particles help cool the atmosphere of the dwarf planet Pluto. That’s according to new research by planetary scientists...

The ‘Cosmic Snake’ galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Cosmic Snake

Nov 20, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the ‘Cosmic Snake’ galaxy, an extremely distant galaxy peppered with clumpy regions of intense...

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth 55 Cancri e orbiting the Sun-like star 55 Cancri A. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Super-Earth 55 Cancri e Could Have Thick, Earth-Like Atmosphere

Nov 20, 2017 by News Staff

A hot, rocky exoplanet called 55 Cancri e likely has an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s, with ingredients that could be similar to those of Earth’s...

This image of the dwarf galaxy NGC 4625 is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 4625

Nov 13, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of a dwarf galaxy called NGC 4625. This image of the dwarf galaxy NGC 4625 is a composite of separate...

$This false-color image demonstrates how use of special filters available on Curiosity’s Mastcam camera can reveal the presence of certain minerals in target rocks. It is a composite of images taken through three ‘science’ filters chosen for making hematite stand out as exaggerated purple. Mastcam’s narrow-band filters used for this view help to increase spectral contrast, making blues bluer and reds redder, particularly with the processing used to boost contrast in each of the component images of this composite. Fine-grained hematite preferentially absorbs sunlight around in the green portion of the spectrum around 527 nm. That gives it the purple look from a combination of red and blue light reflected by the hematite and reaching the camera through the other two filters. Bright lines within the rocks are fractures filled with calcium sulfate minerals. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.$

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Mineral Hematite on Mars

Nov 12, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found spectral evidence of an iron-oxide mineral called hematite (Fe2O3) on a rock near Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, Mars. This...

Juno Beams Back Stunning New Photos of Jupiter

Nov 10, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Juno orbiter captured a series of beautiful images during its ninth flyby of Jupiter on October 24, 2017. This image of Jupiter’s southern hemisphere...

SN 2014J. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Y. Yang, Texas A&M University & Weizmann Institute of Science.

Hubble Captures Distant Supernova’s Light Echoes

Nov 10, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed an extremely rare cosmic phenomenon, called a ‘light echo,’ in Messier 82, a star-forming galaxy located...

When Comet 96P/Machholz appeared in SOHO’s view in 2012, astronomers discovered two tiny comet fragments some distance ahead of the main body, signaling the comet was actively changing. This time around they have detected a third fragment -- another breadcrumb in the trail that indicates 96P/Machholz is still evolving. Image credit: ESA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / SOHO / Steele Hill.

ESA and NASA Solar Observatories Snap Sungrazing Comet

Nov 9, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA’s Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) have captured amazing photos of...

This graphic illustrates how water might be heated inside Enceladus. Over time, cool ocean water seeps into the moon’s porous core. Pockets of water reaching deep into the interior are warmed by contact with rock in the tidally heated interior and subsequently rise owing to the positive buoyancy, leading to further interaction with the rocks. The heat deposited at the boundary between the seafloor and ocean powers hydrothermal vents. Heat and rocky particles are transported through the ocean, triggering localized melting in the icy shell above. This leads to the formation of fissures, from which jets of water vapor and the rocky particles from the seafloor are ejected into space. In the graphic, the interior ‘slice’ is an excerpt from a new model that simulated this process. The orange glow represents the parts of the core where temperatures reach at least 194 degrees Fahrenheit. Tidal heating owing to the friction arising between particles in the porous core provides a key source of energy, but is not illustrated in this graphic. The tidal heating results primarily from the gravitational pull from Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / LPG-CNRS / University of Nantes / University of Angers / ESA.

Enceladus’ Highly Porous Core Keeps Its Subsurface Ocean Warm, New Study Says

Nov 8, 2017 by News Staff

A new modeling study led by the University of Nantes is the first to explain several key characteristics of Saturn’s moon Enceladus observed by NASA’s...

This illustration depicts Juno soaring over the south pole of Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Completes Ninth Jupiter Flyby

Nov 6, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully made its ninth (eighth science) flyby over Jupiter’s mysterious cloud tops on October 24, 2017. This illustration...

This image, taken with ACS and WFC3 cameras on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1300. Seven filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Massive Galaxy Cluster: Abell 1300

Nov 6, 2017 by News Staff

NASA has released a stunning image snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy cluster Abell 1300. This image, taken with ACS and WFC3 cameras...

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Mars 2020 rover on the surface of the Red Planet. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. The rover introduces a drill that can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Will Have 23 Cameras

Nov 2, 2017 by News Staff

According to NASA, the agency’s next Mars rover will have more cameras than any rover before it: a grand total of 23, to create sweeping panoramas, reveal...

This image combines an image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in the optical and observations of the Jovian aurora in the ultraviolet. Image credit: NASA / ESA.

Jupiter’s Northern and Southern X-Ray Auroras Pulse Independently

Oct 31, 2017 by News Staff

High-energy X-ray emissions at Jupiter’s south pole consistently pulse every 11 minutes; meanwhile those at the gas giant’s north pole are erratic:...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Ceres Once Had Global Ocean, Studies Suggest

Oct 30, 2017 by News Staff

Ceres’ crust, with its mixture of ice, salts and hydrated materials, represents most of the dwarf planet’s ancient ocean, according to two new studies...

This Hubble image shows the gigantic galaxy cluster Abell 665. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Sees Rich Galaxy Cluster

Oct 30, 2017 by News Staff

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows Abell 665, one of the richest galaxy clusters known. This Hubble image shows the gigantic galaxy...

This illustration shows Kepler-13Ab that circles very close to its host star, Kepler-13A. In the background is the star’s binary companion, Kepler-13B, and the third member of the multiple-star system is the orange dwarf star Kepler-13C. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI.

Hubble Discovers Titanium Dioxide Snow Falling on Hot Jupiter Kepler-13Ab

Oct 28, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has found a blistering hot-Jupiter exoplanet where it ‘snows’ titanium dioxide, the active ingredient in sunscreen....

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