THE NEBULA

FROM:  NASA 

The brightly glowing plumes seen in this image are reminiscent of an underwater scene, with turquoise-tinted currents and nebulous strands reaching out into the surroundings. However, this is no ocean. This image actually shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small nearby galaxy that orbits our galaxy, the Milky Way, and appears as a blurred blob in our skies. The NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope has peeked many times into this galaxy, releasing stunning images of the whirling clouds of gas and sparkling stars (opo9944a, heic1301, potw1408a). This image shows part of the Tarantula Nebula's outskirts. This famously beautiful nebula, located within the LMC, is a frequent target for Hubble (heic1206, heic1402).  In most images of the LMC the color is completely different to that seen here. This is because, in this new image, a different set of filters was used. The customary R filter, which selects the red light, was replaced by a filter letting through the near-infrared light. In traditional images, the hydrogen gas appears pink because it shines most brightly in the red. Here however, other less prominent emission lines dominate in the blue and green filters. This data is part of the Archival Pure Parallel Project (APPP), a project that gathered together and processed over 1,000 images taken using Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, obtained in parallel with other Hubble instruments. Much of the data in the project could be used to study a wide range of astronomical topics, including gravitational lensing and cosmic shear, exploring distant star-forming galaxies, supplementing observations in other wavelength ranges with optical data, and examining star populations from stellar heavyweights all the way down to solar-mass stars. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA: acknowledgement: Josh Barrington Text: European Space Agency.

Space to Ground: Vantage Point: 12/19/14

Four Galileo satellites at ESA test centre

Four Galileo satellites at ESA test centre

ScienceCasts: What Lies Inside Jupiter

Space to Ground: Vantage Point: 12/19/14

PLANET HUNTER

FROM:  NASA 

Caption Credit:  NASA.  The artistic impression shows NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. In May the spacecraft began its new mission observing in the ecliptic plane, the orbital path of Earth around the sun, depicted by the grey-blue line marked by opaque cross-like shapes. Each shape represents the field-of-view of an observing campaign. The K2 mission observes a specific portion of the distant sky for approximately 80 days, until it is necessary to rotate the spacecraft to prevent sunlight from entering the telescope. The spacecraft orbits the sun every 372 days as it trails Earth, allowing for four full campaigns per orbit or year. The arching band of stars is the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Using publicly available data collected by the spacecraft in February 2014 during the performance concept test to prove K2 would work, astronomers have confirmed the first exoplanet detected by the K2 mission. The newly confirmed planet, HIP 116454b, is 2.5 times the diameter of Earth, and closely orbits a star smaller and cooler than our sun once every nine days, making the planet too hot for life as we know it. The star and planet are 180 light-years from Earth toward the constellation Pisces. In May 2013, data collection for Kepler's extended prime mission came to an end when the second of four reaction wheels used to stabilize the spacecraft failed. Without at least three functioning reaction wheels, Kepler couldn’t be pointed at the original field with sufficient stability to precisely measure the dimming of starlight caused by a planet when it passes or transits in front of a distant star. Rather than giving up on the stalwart spacecraft, a team of scientists and engineers crafted a resourceful strategy to use pressure from sunlight as a virtual reaction wheel to help control the spacecraft while observing the sky in the ecliptic plane. The resulting K2 mission promises to not only continue Kepler’s planet hunt, but to expand that search to bright nearby stars which harbor planets that allow scientists to study them in detail to better understand their composition. K2 will also introduce new opportunities to observe star clusters, active galaxies, and supernovae. Link to full NASA press release: NASA’s Kepler Reborn, Makes First Exoplanet Find of New Mission Credit: NASA Ames-JPL-Caltech-T Pyle.

Johann-Dietrich Woerner to be Director General of ESA

Johann-Dietrich Woerner to be Director General of ESA

Ames at AGU Fall Meeting 2014 | NASA

Ames at AGU Fall Meeting 2014 | NASA

CryoSat extends its reach on the Arctic

CryoSat extends its reach on the Arctic

SpaceX Dragon version 2 to Transport U.S. Astronauts to the Internationa...

Colours of Borneo

Colours of Borneo

Crude oil cargo for ESA’s first flight with China

Crude oil cargo for ESA’s first flight with China

Rosetta fuels debate on origin of Earth’s oceans

Rosetta fuels debate on origin of Earth’s oceans

Exploring Beyond

NASA Updates Briefings for Fifth SpaceX Resupply Mission to Space Station | NASA

NASA Updates Briefings for Fifth SpaceX Resupply Mission to Space Station | NASA