Europa’s blood-red scars

Europa’s blood-red scars

NASA DEPICTS PLUTO'S OCCULTATION

FROM:  NASA 

The Stratosphere Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that makes celestial observations with its German-built 100-inch telescope. The telescope is enhanced to collect infrared radiation, and is able to detect energy at a wider range of wavelengths than any other ground-based or space telescope.

SOFIA can fly anywhere in the world, and operates at altitudes up to 45,000 feet, putting the observatory above more than 99 percent of Earth's atmospheric water vapor that blocks infrared radiation from celestial objects.

SOFIA is flying out of Christchurch, New Zealand, where its telescope can study celestial objects more easily observed from the Southern Hemisphere. Starting June 28 through the 29th, instruments on the plane will observe Pluto as it passes in front of a background star.

Data returned from the observations will be provided to the New Horizon team who is preparing for Pluto's occultation, July 13 through the 15th.

Northwest Sardinia

Northwest Sardinia

NASA Astronaut Preps for First Space Station Mission, Available for Media Interviews

NASA Astronaut Preps for First Space Station Mission, Available for Media Interviews

Increasingly active comet

Increasingly active comet

Expert asteroid answers

Expert asteroid answers

Life on Mars?

Life on Mars?

Sentinel-2 delivers first images

Sentinel-2 delivers first images

Looking for Human Landing Sites on Mars on This Week @NASA – June 26, 2015

THE GALAXY IN THE 'LOCAL VOID'

FROM:  NASA

Most galaxies are clumped together in groups or clusters. A neighboring galaxy is never far away. But this galaxy, known as NGC 6503, has found itself in a lonely position, at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void.

The Local Void is a huge stretch of space that is at least 150 million light-years across. It seems completely empty of stars or galaxies. The galaxy’s odd location on the edge of this never-land led stargazer Stephen James O’Meara to dub it the “Lost-In-Space galaxy” in his 2007 book, Hidden Treasures.

NGC 6503 is 18 million light-years away from us in the northern circumpolar constellation of Draco. NGC 6503 spans some 30,000 light-years, about a third of the size of the Milky Way.

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows NGC 6503 in striking detail and with a rich set of colors. Bright red patches of gas can be seen scattered through its swirling spiral arms, mixed with bright blue regions that contain newly forming stars. Dark brown dust lanes snake across the galaxy’s bright arms and center, giving it a mottled appearance.

The Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys data for NGC 6503 were taken in April 2003, and the Wide Field Camera 3 data were taken in August 2013.

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, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C.

Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts), H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University), and the Hubble Heritage Team

Week In Images

Week In Images

The info on iriss

The info on iriss

Monster black hole wakes up after 26 years

Monster black hole wakes up after 26 years

Exposed water ice detected on comet’s surface

Exposed water ice detected on comet’s surface

Second Copernicus environmental satellite safely in orbit

Second Copernicus environmental satellite safely in orbit