Tag Archive for 'NASA'

This illustration is a speculative representation of the interior of Enceladus with a global ocean between its rocky core and icy crust. The thickness of layers shown here is not to scale. Scientists determined that the slight wobble of the moon as it orbits Saturn is much too large for the moon to be frozen from surface to core. The wobble, technically referred to as a libration, reveals that the crust of Enceladus is disconnected from its rocky interior. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Enceladus Harbors Global Subsurface Ocean

Sep 16, 2015 by News Staff

Planetary researchers with NASA’s Cassini mission have found a large body of water beneath the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This color view...

This image was taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory at 3:12 a.m. EDT on September 13, 2015. The edge of Earth, visible near the top of the frame, appears fuzzy because Earth’s atmosphere blocks different amounts of light at different altitudes. On the left, the Moon’s edge is perfectly crisp, because it has no atmosphere. This image was taken in extreme UV wavelengths of 171 angstroms. Though this light is invisible to our eyes, it is typically colorized in gold. Image credit: NASA / SDO.

NASA’s SDO Spacecraft Catches Double Solar Eclipse

Sep 15, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) spacecraft captured this image of Earth and the Moon transiting the Sun together on September 13, 2015. This...

The dot in the cross-hairs is a comet streaming toward the Sun, as seen on September 14, 2015, by SOHO. This is the 3,000th comet discovered in the data from the space observatory since it launched in 1995, Image credit: NASA / ESA / SOHO.

SOHO Observatory Discovers Its 3,000th Comet

Sep 15, 2015 by News Staff

On Sunday, September 13, the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) discovered its 3,000th comet. The dot in the cross-hairs is a comet streaming...

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Planet Mercury Spins Faster Than Expected

Sep 15, 2015 by News Staff

By analyzing data collected by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, scientists have found that, on average, Mercury spins on its axis 9 seconds faster than had...

This image of Charon, taken by New Horizons ten hours before its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015 from a distance of 290,000 miles (470,000 km), is a recently downlinked, much higher quality version of a Charon image released on July 15. The smallest visible features are 2.9 miles (4.6 km) in size. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Beams Back New Images of Charon, Pluto’s Small Moons

Sep 15, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has sent back new, better images of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, and the dwarf planet’s smaller satellites Nix and...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3921, an interacting pair of galaxies in the late stages of its merger. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, geckzilla.com.

NGC 3921: Hubble Spies Colliding Galaxies

Sep 14, 2015 by News Staff

A beautiful new image of two colliding spiral galaxies, known as NGC 3921, has been released by NASA. This Hubble image shows NGC 3921, an interacting...

This image, using data from Spitzer and the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the galaxy cluster SpARCS1049+56. At the middle of the picture is the largest, central member of the family of galaxies (upper right red dot of central pair). Unlike other central galaxies in clusters, this one is bursting with the birth of new stars. Image credit: NASA / STScI / ESA / JPL-Caltech / McGill.

Astronomers Discover Unique Cluster of Galaxies Almost 10 Billion Light-Years Away

Sep 11, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of astronomers has discovered a distant cluster of galaxies with active star formation occurring in close proximity to the cluster’s...

This view of Pluto, based on the latest images to be downlinked from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, shows what you would see if you were approximately 1,100 miles (1,800 km) above Pluto’s equatorial area, looking northeast over the dark, cratered, named Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth, expanse of icy plains called Sputnik Planum. The entire expanse of terrain seen in this image is 1,100 miles (1,800 km) across. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Sends Back New Close-Up Images of Pluto

Sep 11, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons probe has beamed back new detailed images of Pluto’s surface, revealing icy and mountainous regions. This view of Pluto, based...

NASA Unveils New, Close-Up Image of Ceres’ Bright Spots

Sep 9, 2015 by News Staff

A stunning new image from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft shows a cluster of bright spots on Ceres’ surface in unprecedented detail. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft...

This image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 63, widely known as the Sunflower Galaxy. The image was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Messier 63: ‘Sunflower’ Blooms in New Hubble Image

Sep 7, 2015 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the famous galaxy Messier 63, also known as the Sunflower Galaxy. This image shows...

Comet Hitchhiker is a concept for orbiting and landing on comets and asteroids. The idea involves using a carbon nanotube tether to hitchhike on to a comet as it flies by. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornelius Dammrich.

Comet Hitchhiker: New Concept for Orbiting, Landing on Comets and Asteroids

Sep 3, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have devised a new way to get into orbit and land on Solar System’s small bodies. Comet Hitchhiker...

This image of the dwarf planet Pluto is as New Horizons saw it in July 2015. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Releases Animation of New Horizons’ Flight through Pluto System

Sep 3, 2015 by News Staff

This flyby animation was compiled by Dr Stuart Robbins, a member of the New Horizons team and a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute...

Artist’s impression of New Horizons encountering a Pluto-like object in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Alex Parker.

NASA Selects Next Target for New Horizons Spacecraft: 2014 MU69

Aug 31, 2015 by News Staff

The next destination for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is a Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69. Hubble images of 2014 MU69 taken on June 24, 2014....

This image is a close-up from the image above and shows the Occator crater with a cluster of mysterious bright spots. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dawn Beams Back New Image of Ceres’ Bright Spots

Aug 31, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft captured this image of Ceres and its mysterious bright spots on June 25, 2015, from a distance of 2,700 miles (4,400 km). This...

Dust lanes seem to swirl around the core of the spiral galaxy Messier 96 in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / LEGUS Team / R. Gendler.

Hubble Zeroes in on Messier 96

Aug 31, 2015 by News Staff

This newly-released image from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a Milky Way-like galaxy Messier 96. Dust...

$Herschel images of a small fraction of the galaxies analyzed in the new study. The images have a size of 5 x 5 arcsec2. The circle has a radius of 1.5 arcsec. Image credit: Stephen Eales et al.$