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03
Mar
2015
Hubble Images a Dusty Galaxy, Home to an Exploding Star

Hubble Images a Dusty Galaxy, Home to an Exploding Star

Hubble Images a Dusty Galaxy, Home to an Exploding Star

Hubble Images a Dusty Galaxy, Home to an Exploding Star

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Gilles Chapdelaine

The galaxy pictured here is NGC 4424, located in the constellation of Virgo. It is not visible with the naked eye but has been captured here with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Although it may not be obvious from this image, NGC 4424 is in fact a spiral galaxy. In this image it is seen more or less edge on, but from above, you would be able to see the arms of the galaxy wrapping around its center to give the characteristic spiral form.

In 2012, astronomers observed a supernova in NGC 4424 — a violent explosion marking the end of a star’s life. During a supernova explosion, a single star can often outshine an entire galaxy. However, the supernova in NGC 4424, dubbed SN 2012cg, cannot be seen here as the image was taken ten years prior to the explosion. Along the central region of the galaxy, clouds of dust block the light from distant stars and create dark patches.

To the left of NGC 4424 there are two bright objects in the frame. The brightest is another, smaller galaxy known as LEDA 213994 and the object closer to NGC 4424 is an anonymous star in our Milky Way.

European Space Agency

Source

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
02
Mar
2015
Astronaut Salutes Nimoy From Orbit

Astronaut Salutes Nimoy From Orbit

Astronaut Salutes Nimoy From Orbit

Astronaut Salutes Nimoy From Orbit

Image credit: NASA

International Space Station astronaut Terry Virts (@AstroTerry) tweeted this image of a Vulcan hand salute from orbit as a tribute to actor Leonard Nimoy, who died on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015. Nimoy played science officer Mr. Spock in the Star Trek series that served as an inspiration to generations of scientists, engineers and sci-fi fans around the world.

Cape Cod and Boston, Massachusetts, Nimoy’s home town, are visible through the station window.

Source

Video: Leonard Nimoy Explains Origin of Vulcan Greeting

As part of the Yiddish Book Center Wexler Oral History Project, Leonard Nimoy explains the origin of the Vulcan hand signal used by Spock, his character in the “Star Trek” series.

Video: Live long and prosper

Star Trek TOS Season: 3 Episode: 22 “The Savage Curtain”

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
27
Feb
2015
Chicago in Winter

Chicago in Winter

Chicago in Winter

Chicago in Winter

Image credit: NASA/ESA/Samantha Cristoforetti

From the International Space Station (ISS), European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took this photograph of Chicago and posted it to social media on Feb. 19, 2015. She wrote, “How do you like #Chicago dressed for winter?”

Crew members on the space station photograph the Earth from their unique point of view located 200 miles above the surface as part of the Crew Earth Observations program. Photographs record how the planet is changing over time, from human-caused changes like urban growth and reservoir construction, to natural dynamic events such as hurricanes, floods and volcanic eruptions. Astronauts have used hand-held cameras to photograph the Earth for more than 40 years, beginning with the Mercury missions in the early 1960s. The ISS maintains an altitude between 220 – 286 miles (354 – 460 km) above the Earth, and an orbital inclination of 51.6˚, providing an excellent stage for observing most populated areas of the world.

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Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
26
Feb
2015
Curiosity Self-Portrait at ‘Mojave’ Site on Mount Sharp

Curiosity Self-Portrait at ‘Mojave’ Site on Mount Sharp

Curiosity Self-Portrait at ‘Mojave’ Site on Mount Sharp

Curiosity Self-Portrait at 'Mojave' Site on Mount Sharp

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

This self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the “Mojave” site, where its drill collected the mission’s second taste of Mount Sharp.

The scene combines dozens of images taken during January 2015 by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the rover’s robotic arm.  The pale “Pahrump Hills” outcrop surrounds the rover, and the upper portion of Mount Sharp is visible on the horizon.  Darker ground at upper right and lower left holds ripples of wind-blown sand and dust.

An annotated version, Fig. A, labels several of the sites Curiosity has investigated during three passes up the Pahrump Hills outcrop examining the outcrop at increasing levels of detail. The rover used its sample-collecting drill at “Confidence Hills” as well as at Mojave, and in late February was assessing “Telegraph Peak” as a third drilling site.

The view does not include the rover’s robotic arm.  Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic’s component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images, or portions of images, that were used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites “Rocknest” (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16468), “John Klein” (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16937) and “Windjana” (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18390).

Curiosity used its drill to collect a sample of rock powder from target “Mojave 2” at this site on Jan. 31, 2015.  The full-depth, sample-collection hole and the shallower preparation test hole beside it are visible in front of the rover in this self-portrait, and in more detail at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19115 .  The Mojave site is in the “Pink Cliffs” portion of the Pahrump Hills outcrop. The outcrop is an exposure of the Murray formation, which forms the basal geological layer of Mount Sharp.  Views of Pahrump Hills from other angles are at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19039 and the inset at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=6968 .

The frames showing the rover in this mosaic were taken during the 868th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s work on Mars (Jan. 14, 2015).  Additional frames around the edges to extend the amount of terrain included in the scene were taken on Sol 882 (Jan. 29, 2015).  The frames showing the drill holes were taken on Sol 884 (Jan. 31, 2015).

For scale, the rover’s wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide.  The drilled holes in the rock are 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter.

MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project’s Curiosity rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

 

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
25
Feb
2015
Astronaut Barry Wilmore on the First of Three Spacewalks

Astronaut Barry Wilmore on the First of Three Spacewalks

Astronaut Barry Wilmore on the First of Three Spacewalks

Astronaut Barry Wilmore on the First of Three Spacewalks

Image credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore works outside the International Space Station on the first of three spacewalks preparing the station for future arrivals by U.S. commercial crew spacecraft, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015. Fellow spacewalker Terry Virts, seen reflected in the visor, shared this photograph on social media.

The spacewalks are designed to lay cables along the forward end of the U.S. segment to bring power and communication to two International Docking Adapters slated to arrive later this year. The new docking ports will welcome U.S. commercial spacecraft launching from Florida beginning in 2017, permitting the standard station crew size to grow from six to seven and potentially double the amount of crew time devoted to research.

The second and third spacewalks are planned for Wednesday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, March 1, with Wilmore and Virts participating in all three.

Source

Video: NASA Spacewalk of Terry Virts and Barry Wilmore

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
23
Feb
2015
Hubble Spies a Loopy Galaxy

Hubble Spies a Loopy Galaxy

Hubble Spies a Loopy Galaxy

Hubble Spies a Loopy Galaxy

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope photo of NGC 7714 presents an especially striking view of the galaxy’s smoke-ring-like structure. The golden loop is made of sun-like stars that have been pulled deep into space, far from the galaxy’s center. The galaxy is located approximately 100 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Pisces.

The universe is full of such galaxies that are gravitationally stretched and pulled and otherwise distorted in gravitational tug-o’-wars with bypassing galaxies.

The companion galaxy doing the “taffy pulling” in this case, NGC 7715, lies just out of the field of view in this image. A very faint bridge of stars extends to the unseen companion. The close encounter has compressed interstellar gas to trigger bursts of star formation seen in bright blue arcs extending around NGC 7714’s center.

The gravitational disruption of NGC 7714 began between 100 million and 200 million years ago, at the epoch when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

The image was taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys in October 2011.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
20
Feb
2015
John Glenn During the Mercury-Atlas 6 Spaceflight

John Glenn During the Mercury-Atlas 6 Spaceflight

John Glenn During the Mercury-Atlas 6 Spaceflight

John Glenn During the Mercury-Atlas 6 Spaceflight

Image credit: NASA

On Feb. 20, 1962, astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth. Launched from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 14, Glenn’s Mercury-Atlas 6 “Friendship 7” spacecraft completed a successful three-orbit mission, reaching a maximum altitude (apogee) of approximately 162 statute miles and an orbital velocity of approximately 17,500 miles per hour. The flight lasted a total of 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds before the spacecraft splashed down in the ocean. This photograph of John Glenn during the Mercury-Atlas 6 spaceflight was taken by a camera onboard the spacecraft.

Video: NBC News Re-broadcast coverage John Glenn 1962 Space Flight

MSNBC Re-broadcast of NBC News coverage of the historic flight of Americas first orbital flight with John H. Glenn aboard (Mercury-Atlas 6)

This was the 3rd U.S manned space mission and it was launched on Tuesday February 20th 1962 at 9:47:39 A.M EST.
The flight would last a little under 5 hours after 3 orbits around the earth

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
13
Feb
2015
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

Image credit: NASA/ Jeff Doughty

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) enters the Lufthansa Technik hangar in Hamburg, Germany for its decadal inspection. Flight, aircraft maintenance, and science personnel from the Armstrong Flight Research Center worked alongside Lufthansa’s 747 specialists to perform a wide range of inspections and maintenance.

Water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs infrared radiation, preventing a large section of the infrared spectrum from reaching ground-based observatories. SOFIA is a heavily modified Boeing 747 Special Performance jetliner that flies at altitudes between 39,000 to 45,000 feet (12 to 14 km), above more than 99 percent of Earth’s atmospheric water vapor giving astronomers the ability to study celestial objects at wavelengths that cannot be seen from ground-based observatories.

More information on SOFIA.

Source

Wikipedia – SOFIA: The Telescope

SOFIA uses a 2.5-meter reflector telescope, which has an oversized, 2.7 meter diameter primary mirror, as is common with most large infrared telescopes. The optical system uses a Cassegrain reflector design with a parabolic primary mirror and a remotely configurable hyperbolic secondary. In order to fit the telescope into the fuselage, the primary is shaped to an f-number as low as 1.3, while the resulting optical layout has an f-number of 19.7. A flat, tertiary, dichroic mirror is used to deflect the infrared part of the beam to the Nasmyth focus where it can be analyzed. An optical mirror located behind the tertiary mirror is used for a camera guidance system.

Video: Touring around NASA’s flying telescope, SOFIA

SOFIA with open telescope doors

Image credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

Photo: SOFIA with open telescope doors A German-built telescope is exposed during a flight of NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy 747SP on Dec. 18, 2009. The telescope doors were fully opened, allowing engineers to understand how air flows in and around the telescope.

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
11
Feb
2015
Hubble Sees A Smiling Lens

Hubble Sees A Smiling Lens

Hubble Sees A Smiling Lens

Hubble Sees A Smiling Lens

Image credit: NASA/ESA

In the center of this image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is the galaxy cluster SDSS J1038+4849 — and it seems to be smiling.

You can make out its two orange eyes and white button nose. In the case of this “happy face”, the two eyes are very bright galaxies and the misleading smile lines are actually arcs caused by an effect known as strong gravitational lensing.

Galaxy clusters are the most massive structures in the Universe and exert such a powerful gravitational pull that they warp the spacetime around them and act as cosmic lenses which can magnify, distort and bend the light behind them. This phenomenon, crucial to many of Hubble’s discoveries, can be explained by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

In this special case of gravitational lensing, a ring — known as an Einstein Ring — is produced from this bending of light, a consequence of the exact and symmetrical alignment of the source, lens and observer and resulting in the ring-like structure we see here.

Hubble has provided astronomers with the tools to probe these massive galaxies and model their lensing effects, allowing us to peer further into the early Universe than ever before. This object was studied by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) as part of a survey of strong lenses.

Source

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
09
Feb
2015
Space Station Flyover of Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa

Space Station Flyover of Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa

Space Station Flyover of Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa

Space Station Flyover of Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa

Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa. Image credit: NASA/ESA/Samantha Cristoforetti

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took this photograph from the International Space Station and posted it to social media on Jan. 30, 2015. Cristoforetti wrote, “A spectacular flyover of the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa. #HelloEarth”

Video: ISS Timelapse – From Alps to Gulf of Aden (CAM2) (07 Gennaio 2015)

Expedition 42 crew made a couple of sequence with two different cameras of the same pass.
Other video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QALfQxiRLhI
© All images are courtesy of http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/

Wikipedia

The Gulf of Aden is a gulf located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide. It shares its name with the port city of Aden in Yemen, which forms the northern shore of the gulf. Historically the Gulf of Aden was known as “The Gulf of Berbera”, named after the ancient Somali port city of Berbera on the south side of the gulf. However as the city of Aden grew during the colonial era, the name of “Gulf of Aden” was popularised.

The waterway is part of the important Suez canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean with 21,000 ships crossing the gulf annually.

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
06
Feb
2015
Hubble’s Little Sombrero

Hubble’s Little Sombrero

Hubble’s Little Sombrero

European Space Agency Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Josh Barrington

European Space Agency Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Josh Barrington

Galaxies can take many shapes and be oriented any way relative to us in the sky. This can make it hard to figure out their actual morphology, as a galaxy can look very different from different viewpoints. A special case is when we are lucky enough to observe a spiral galaxy directly from its edge, providing us with a spectacular view like the one seen in this picture of the week.

This is NGC 7814, also known as the “Little Sombrero.” Its larger namesake, the Sombrero Galaxy, is another stunning example of an edge-on galaxy — in fact, the “Little Sombrero” is about the same size as its bright namesake at about 60,000 light-years across, but as it lies farther away, and so appears smaller in the sky.

NGC 7814 has a bright central bulge and a bright halo of glowing gas extending outwards into space. The dusty spiral arms appear as dark streaks. They consist of dusty material that absorbs and blocks light from the galactic center behind it. The field of view of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image would be very impressive even without NGC 7814 in front; nearly all the objects seen in this image are galaxies as well.

Source

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
03
Feb
2015
Cloud Streets in the Bering Sea

Cloud Streets in the Bering Sea

Cloud Streets in the Bering Sea

Cloud Streets in the Bering Sea

Image credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

Ice, wind, cold temperatures and ocean waters combined to created dramatic cloud formations over the Bering Sea in late January, 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the region and captured this true-color image on Jan. 23.

The frozen tundra of Russia lies in the northwest of the image, and snow-covered Alaska lies in the northeast. Sea ice extends from the land well into the Bering Sea. Over the dark water bright white clouds line in up close, parallel rows. These formations are known as “cloud streets”.

Air blowing over the cold, snowy land and then over ice becomes both cold and dry. When the air then moves over relatively warmer and much moister water and lead to the development of parallel cylinders of spinning air. On the upper edge of these cylinders of air, where the air is rising, small clouds form. Where air is descending, the skies are clear. This clear/cloudy pattern, formed in parallel rows, gives the impression of streets.

The clouds begin over the sea ice, but they primarily hang over open ocean. The streets are neat and in tight rows closest to land, while further over the Bering Sea the pattern widens and begins to become more random. The rows of clouds are also not perfectly straight, but tend to curve. The strength and direction of the wind helps create these features: where the wind is strongest, nearest to shore, the clouds line up most neatly. The clouds align with the wind direction, so the direction of the streets gives strong clues to prevailing wind direction.

Source

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
02
Feb
2015
Soil Moisture Active Passive Observatory Takes to the Skies

Soil Moisture Active Passive Observatory Takes to the Skies

Soil Moisture Active Passive Observatory Takes to the Skies

Soil Moisture Active Passive Observatory Takes to the Skies

Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory onboard is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches from Space Launch Complex 2, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. SMAP is NASA’s first Earth-observing satellite designed to collect global observations of surface soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. SMAP will provide high resolution global measurements of soil moisture from space. The data will be used to enhance scientists’ understanding of the processes that link Earth’s water, energy, and carbon cycles.

Source

Video: NASA Launches Satellite to Get the Dirt on Earth’s Dirt

Video: Launch of our Soil Moisture Active Passive SMAP observatory

Video: NASA launches Earth-observing satellite helps Measuring Soil Moisture Cycle and floods conditions

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
01
Feb
2015
Super View of Glendale and Phoenix

Super View of Glendale and Phoenix

Super View of Glendale and Phoenix

View of Glendale and Phoenix from ISS

Image credit: NASA

View of Glendale and Phoenix from ISS

One of the Expedition 35 crew members on the International Space Station used a still camera with a 400 millimeter lens to record this nocturnal image of the Phoenix, Arizona area on March 16, 2013. Like many large urban areas of the central and western United States, the Phoenix metropolitan area is laid out along a regular grid of city blocks and streets. While visible during the day, this grid is most evident at night, when the pattern of street lighting is clearly visible from above — in the case of this photograph, from the low Earth orbit vantage point of the International Space Station.

The urban grid form encourages growth of a city outwards along its borders, by providing optimal access to new real estate. Fueled by the adoption of widespread personal automobile use during the 20th century, the Phoenix metropolitan area today includes 25 other municipalities (many of them largely suburban and residential in character) linked by a network of surface streets and freeways.

The image area includes parts of several cities in the metropolitan area including Phoenix proper (right), Glendale (center), and Peoria (left). While the major street grid is oriented north-south, the northwest-southeast oriented Grand Avenue cuts across it at image center. Grand Avenue is a major transportation corridor through the western metropolitan area; the lighting patterns of large industrial and commercial properties are visible along its length. Other brightly lit properties include large shopping centers, strip centers, and gas stations which tend to be located at the intersections of north-south and east-west trending streets. While much of the land area highlighted in this image is urbanized, there are several noticeably dark areas. The Phoenix Mountains at upper right are largely public park and recreational land.

To the west (image lower left), agricultural fields provide a sharp contrast to the lit streets of neighboring residential developments. The Salt River channel appears as a dark ribbon within the urban grid at lower right.

Source

 

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space
28
Jan
2015
NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Ready for Jan. 29 Launch

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Ready for Jan. 29 Launch

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Ready for Jan. 29 Launch

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Ready for Jan. 29 Launch

Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The sun sets behind Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) with the Delta II rocket and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory protected by the service structure on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. SMAP is NASA’s first Earth-observing satellite designed to collect global observations of surface soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. SMAP will provide high resolution global measurements of soil moisture from space. The data will be used to enhance scientists’ understanding of the processes that link Earth’s water, energy, and carbon cycles.

Source

Video: Soil Moisture Mission Previewed

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive mission (SMAP) was previewed during a Jan. 27 pre-launch briefing at Vandenberg Air Force Base. SMAP is the first U.S. Earth-observing satellite designed to collect global observations of surface soil moisture. The mission’s high resolution space-based measurements of soil moisture will give scientists a new capability to better predict natural hazards of extreme weather and improve our understanding of Earth’s water, energy and carbon cycles. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 2 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is targeted for Jan. 29 at 6:20 a.m. PST (9:20 a.m. EST).

Posted by Red Pill Reports in Space