Tag Archive for 'NASA'

An artist’s impression of the warm Jupiter TOI-677b and its host star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

TESS Discovers New Warm Jupiter

Dec 23, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of astronomers has discovered a warm giant exoplanet orbiting the bright star TOI-677. An artist’s impression of the warm Jupiter...

This Hubble image shows ESO 021-G004, a spiral galaxy located approximately 130 million light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). 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 / D. Rosario et al.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Active Spiral Galaxy

Dec 23, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a beautiful image of a spiral galaxy called ESO 021-G004. This Hubble image shows ESO 021-G004, a spiral...

This image, taken by Spitzer’s Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) instrument, shows the Perseus molecular cloud. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Spitzer Observes Perseus Molecular Cloud

Dec 20, 2019 by News Staff

NASA has released a stunning image of the Perseus molecular cloud, a giant stellar nursery about 600 light-years away in the northern constellation of...

This illustration depicts Kepler-51 and its three giant planets. Image credit: NASA / ESA / L. Hustak, J. Olmsted, D. Player & F. Summers, STScI.

Kepler-51 is Home to Three Super-Puff Exoplanets

Dec 20, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Kepler-51 is a 500-million-year-old G-type star located 2,615 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. New observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble...

This composite image of the galaxy group-galaxy group merger NGC 6338 contains X-ray data from Chandra (displayed in red) that shows hot gas with temperatures upward of about 20 million degrees Celsius, as well as cooler gas detected with Chandra and XMM (shown in blue) that also emits X-rays. The image contains optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Image credit: Chandra / NASA / CXC / SAO / E. O’Sullivan / ESA / XMM / SDSS.

NGC 6338: Two Galaxy Groups are Colliding at Incredible Speed

Dec 19, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, and the Apache Point Observatory, astronomers...

This composite image, which combines infrared (blue), radio (red) and microwave (green) observations from the GISMO instrument, reveals emission from cold dust, areas of vigorous star formation, and filaments formed at the edges of a bubble blown by some powerful event at the Milky Way Galaxy’s center. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

GISMO Sees Huge Molecular Clouds and Filaments in Milky Way’s Central Region

Dec 18, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA-designed Goddard-IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter Observer (GISMO), a bolometer camera installed on the 30-m IRAM radio telescope, has produced...

Forced magnetic reconnection, caused by a prominence from the Sun, was seen for the first time in images from SDO. This image shows the Sun on May 3, 2012, with the inset showing a close-up of the reconnection event imaged by SDO’s Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument, where the signature X-shape is visible. Image credit: NASA / SDO / Abhishek Srivastava / IIT.

Solar Dynamics Observatory Observes Forced Magnetic Reconnection in Sun’s Corona

Dec 18, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has directly observed a new type of magnetic explosion — called forced reconnection — in the solar...

This image, taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on July 18, 2019, shows NGC 1175. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Team.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Stunning Peanut Galaxy

Dec 17, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing photo of a galaxy called NGC 1175. This image, taken by Hubble’s Advanced...

Astronomers Measure Size and Mass of Nearby Pulsar, Create Map of Its Surface Hot Spots

Dec 17, 2019 by News Staff

Using the X-ray data from NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), astronomers have produced a map of hot spots on the surface of a...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth Gliese 1252b and its parent star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Hot Super-Earth Found Orbiting Red Dwarf Star Gliese 1252

Dec 16, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and multiple ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered an ultra-short-period...

This Hubble image shows the central region of IC 2051, a spiral galaxy located 90 million light-years away in the constellation Mensa. The image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the optical and infrared parts of the spectrum. Three 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 / P. Erwin et al.

Hubble Snaps Close-Up of Spiral Galaxy IC 2051

Dec 16, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an outstanding image of the central part of the compact spiral galaxy IC 2051. This Hubble image shows...

A series of JunoCam images from Juno’s 23rd close science pass by Jupiter on November 3, 2019, revealed a sixth circumpolar cyclone in the cluster around Jupiter’s south pole. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Spots New Circumpolar Cyclone at Jupiter’s South Pole

Dec 14, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft spied the new Jovian cyclone on November 3, 2019, during its 23rd science pass of the gas giant. A series of JunoCam images from...

X-ray image of the gravitational lens system SDSS J1004+4112 taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory; the central red extended emission is from the hot gas in the foreground lens galaxy cluster and the four blue point sources are the lensed images of the background quasar. Image credit: University of Oklahoma.

Free-Floating Planet-Mass Objects are Common in Galaxies

Dec 13, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using a technique called quasar microlensing, a team of astronomers at the University of Oklahoma has detected populations of free-floating planet-mass...

Computer-generated visualization of the orbital paths (white dots) taken by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft as it mapped winds (blue lines) in the Martian upper atmosphere; red lines coming from the white dots represent local wind speed and direction, measured by MAVEN’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer instrument. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / MAVEN / SVS / Greg Shirah.

NASA’s MAVEN Orbiter Maps Martian Upper Atmospheric Winds

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, a team of planetary researchers have measured the speed and direction of winds...

On Earth, the Northern and Southern lights occur when the solar wind (electrically charged particles from the Sun) follow our planet’s geomagnetic field lines to the poles and collide with the upper atmosphere. Mars lacks a global magnetic field, so instead the solar wind piles up in front of Mars in a bow shock, which blocks charged particles from reaching the bulk of the atmosphere. However, in a process first observed by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, some solar wind protons can slip past the bow shock by first bonding with electrons from the Martian upper atmosphere to form hydrogen atoms. Because these hydrogen atoms are electrically neutral, they can pass through the bow shock and go on to create an ultraviolet proton aurora on the dayside of Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

‘Proton Aurora’ is Most Common Type of Aurora on Mars, Researchers Say

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Proton aurora, a type of Martian aurora first identified in 2016, forms when protons from the solar wind interact with hydrogen in the extended portions...

Hubble Team Releases New Photos of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured two new images of 2I/Borisov, the first known interstellar comet to travel through...

Milky Way’s center produces more high-energy gamma rays than can be explained by known sources. This image shows the Milky Way in visible light and a gamma-ray map from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / A. Mellinger, Central Michigan University / T. Linden, University of Chicago.

Annihilating Dark Matter May Lurk in Milky Way’s Center

Dec 12, 2019 by News Staff

Gamma rays — the most energetic waves in the electromagnetic spectrum — are typically produced by the hottest, most extreme objects in the...

This map shows near-surface water ice on Mars; cool colors represent less than one foot (30 cm) below the surface; warm colors are over two feet (60 cm) deep; sprawling brown zones on the map represent areas where a landing spacecraft would sink into fine dust; the outlined box represents the ideal region to send astronauts for them to be able to dig up water ice. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU.

New Map Shows Near-Surface Water Ice on Mars

Dec 12, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey orbiter, a team of planetary researchers have crated a map of the water ice depth...

Magnetic fields in the spiral galaxy Messier 77, also known as M77 and NGC 1086, are shown as streamlines over a visible light and X-ray composite image of the galaxy from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The magnetic fields align along the entire length of the massive spiral arms of Messier 77, implying that the gravitational forces that created the galaxy’s shape are also compressing the its magnetic field. This supports the leading theory of how the spiral arms are forced into their iconic shape known as ‘density wave theory.’ SOFIA studied the galaxy using far-infrared light (89 microns) to reveal facets of its magnetic fields that previous observations using visible and radio telescopes could not detect. Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / JPL-Caltech / Roma Tre University.

Magnetic Fields Play Important Role in Shaping Spiral Galaxies

Dec 11, 2019 by News Staff

New infrared observations from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) of Messier 77, a spiral galaxy located 47 million light-years...

Schematic diagram of orbit determination model output for the 19 January 2019 particle ejection event from Bennu observed by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft: Bennu is depicted in gray and has a diameter of 1,640 feet (500 m). OSIRIS-REx is indicated with the brown dot, 1.2 miles (2 km) from Bennu’s center of mass; the cone represents the viewing angle; blue arcs are particle trajectories, ending or with gaps where the trajectories pass into shadow; the Sun-angular momentum frame coordinates are shown at bottom right: x - solar vector, y - Bennu orbital direction, z - Bennu north. Image credit: Lauretta et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aay3544.

Bennu is Active Asteroid, OSIRIS-REx Team Says

Dec 11, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft recently observed several particle...

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