Tag Archive for 'NASA'

This schematic shows the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, from the troposphere to the thermosphere. SOFIA observes from within the stratosphere and studied the ratio of main oxygen to heavy oxygen in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, up to an altitude of about 200 km (124 miles). Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / L. Proudfit.

SOFIA Makes First Detection of Oxygen-18 in Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Earth

Mar 8, 2023 by News Staff

In the lower atmosphere of Earth, oxygen contains a higher fraction of the heavy isotope 18O than ocean water does. This enrichment is a signature of biological...

This feather-shaped iridescent cloud was captured just after sunset on January 27, 2023, the 3,724th Martian day, or Sol, of Curiosity’s mission. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Rover Images Sun Rays and Feather-Shaped Clouds on Mars

Mar 6, 2023 by News Staff

‘Sun rays’ are also known as crepuscular rays, from the Latin word for twilight. It was the first time sun rays have been so clearly viewed on Mars. This...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5486, an irregular spiral galaxy located 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on NGC 5486

Mar 6, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing photo of the irregular spiral galaxy NGC 5486. This Hubble image shows NGC...

This Hubble image captures the breakup of Dimorphos when it was deliberately hit by DART on September 26, 2022. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Jian-Yang Li, PSI / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

DART Offers Insight into How Deflection Missions Can Protect Earth from Hazardous Asteroids

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

On September 26, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally slammed into the 160-m-wide asteroid moonlet Dimorphos — which...

This image shows Tycho’s SNR, which is located between 8,000 and 10,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. IXPE data (dark purple and white) have been combined with data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (red and blue) and overlaid with the stars in the field of view as captured by the Digitized Sky Survey. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / ASI / MSFC / INAF / Ferrazzoli et al. / Chandra / CXC / RIKEN / GSFC / Sato et al. / DSS / SAO / K. Arcand, L. Frattare & N. Wolk.

IXPE Detects Polarized X-Rays from Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) — a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency — have observed...

SPT0418-47 is gravitationally lensed by a foreground galaxy, appearing in the sky as a near-perfect ring of light -- a so-called Einstein ring. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Rizzo et al.

Dusty, Chemically Mature Galaxy Spotted in Early Universe

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered galaxy, SPT0418-SE, and its much larger companion, SPT0418-47, reside in a massive dark-matter halo with yet-to-be-discovered neighbors,...

This Hubble image shows JO201 (also known as Ka 364, LEDA 2456 and LEDA 93189), a jellyfish galaxy located in the constellation of Cetus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Gullieuszik.

Hubble Finds Star-Forming Clumps in Six Jellyfish Galaxies

Feb 27, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have observed clumps of star formation in the tails and disks of six ram-pressure stripped (jellyfish)...

An artist’s concept of active volcanoes on Venus, depicting a subduction zone where the foreground crust plunges into the planet’s interior at the topographic trench. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Peter Rubin.

Venus’ Outer Shell is Shaping Planet’s Surface, Study Suggests

Feb 24, 2023 by News Staff

Earth has a hot core that heats the surrounding mantle, which carries that heat up to the planet’s lithosphere. The heat is then lost to space, cooling...

Two dwarf-dwarf galaxy mergers in galaxy clusters Abell 133 (left) and Abell 1758S (right) are shown in X-rays from Chandra and optical light from the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. The merger on the left is in a late stage and was given the single name of Mirabilis. The other merger is in the early stages and the two dwarf galaxies are named Elstir (bottom) and Vinteuil (top). Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Alabama / Micic et al. / International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA.

Chandra Spots Two Pairs of Supermassive Black Holes on Collision Courses

Feb 23, 2023 by News Staff

According to observations and cosmological simulations, dwarf galaxies are the most abundant type of galaxies in the early Universe and the galaxy merger...

This candidate massive galaxy could contain as many stars as our present-day Milky Way. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology / G. Brammer, Niels Bohr Institute’s Cosmic Dawn Center, University of Copenhagen.

Webb Discovers Impossibly Massive Galaxies in Early Universe

Feb 22, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have observed six candidate galaxies with stellar masses as high as 1011 solar masses about...

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

New Study Sheds Light on Origin and Evolution of Ceres-Like Asteroids

Feb 21, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory have captured and analyzed visible and near-infrared reflectance...

This Hubble image shows a large cluster of galaxies, SPT-CL J0019-2026, surrounded by various stars and smaller galaxies on a dark background. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through two filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / H. Ebeling.

Hubble Spots Gravitationally-Lensing Galaxy Cluster

Feb 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

SPT-CL J0019-2026, a huge cluster of galaxies located 4.6 billion light-years away in the constellation of Cetus, has so much mass that it acts as a gravitational...

This Webb image shows NGC 7496, a barred spiral galaxy some 24 million light-years away in the constellation of Grus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Judy Schmidt.

Webb Focuses on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Nearby Galaxies

Feb 16, 2023 by News Staff

Webb observations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission provide some of the deepest and highest resolution views of the cold interstellar medium...

This Webb image shows Abell 2744, a huge galaxy cluster some 4 billion light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology / R. Bezanson, University of Pittsburgh / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Reveals Never-Before-Seen Details of Abell 2744

Feb 16, 2023 by News Staff

Webb astronomers estimate 50,000 near-infrared sources are represented in the new image of the huge galaxy megacluster Abell 2744. This Webb image shows...

This Hubble image shows SDSSCGB 10189, a trio of merging galaxies located in the constellation of Boötes. Further to the left is an unconnected, dimmer spiral galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.

Hubble Spots Trio of Colliding Star-Forming Galaxies

Feb 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced an outstanding image of a trio of merging galaxies called SDSSCGB 10189. This Hubble...

This Hubble image heralds the start of Saturn’s ‘spoke season’ with the appearance of two smudgy spokes in the B ring, on the left in the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Hubble Detects Start of New Saturn Ring Spoke Season

Feb 9, 2023 by News Staff

Saturn is known for its iconic, pristine rings. However, the main B ring can have splotches and streaks of darker or lighter material, known as spokes,...

$Rhoden et al. revisited New Horizons data to explore the source of cryovolcanic flows and an obvious belt of fractures on Charon. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.$