New research on Antarctica, including the first map of iceberg calving, doubles the previous estimates of loss from ice shelves and details how the continent is changing. Read More
Webb ushers in a new era of exoplanet science with the first unequivocal detection of carbon dioxide in a planetary atmosphere outside our solar system. Read More
Three teams selected for the agency’s first MSI Space Accelerator visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to work with mentors in an inspiring conclusion to the 10-week program. Read More
In space, being outshone is an occupational hazard. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures a galaxy named NGC 7250. Despite being remarkable in its own right — it has bright bursts of star formation and recorded supernova explosions — it blends into the background somewhat thanks to the gloriously bright star hogging the limelight next to it. This bright object is a single and little-studied star named TYC 3203-450-1, located in the constellation of Lacerta (The Lizard), much closer than the much more distant galaxy. Only this way a normal star can outshine an entire galaxy, consisting of billions of stars. Astronomers studying distant objects call these stars “foreground stars” and they are often not very happy about them, as their bright light is contaminating the faint light from the more distant and interesting objects they actually want to study. In this case TYC 3203-450-1 million times closer than NGC 7250 which lies over 45 million light-years away from us. Would the star be the same distance as NGC 7250, it would hardly be visible in this image.
A little-studied star, TYC 3203-450-1, upstages a galaxy in this Hubble Telescope
image from December 2017. Both the star and the galaxy are within the Lizard
constellation, Lacerta. However, the star is much closer than the much more
distant galaxy.
Astronomers studying distant objects call these stars “foreground stars”
and they are often not very happy about them, as their bright light is
contaminating the faint light from the more distant and interesting
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, as the Artemis I launch teams load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as the launch countdown progresses at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Launch of the uncrewed flight test is targeted for no earlier than 8:33 a.m. ET. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft
aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B, Monday,
Aug. 29, 2022, as the Artemis I launch teams loaded more than 700,000
gallons of cryogenic propellants including liquid hydrogen and liquid
oxygen. The Artemis I flight test is the first integrated test of our deep
space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and
supporting ground systems.
NASA waved off the Aug. 29 launch attempt after a test to get
the RS-25 engines on the bottom of the core stage to the
proper temperature range for liftoff was not successful.
PHOTO DATE: August 23, 2022. LOCATION: Kennedy Space Center. SUBJECT: NASA T-38s fly in formation above the Space Launch System rocket on Launch Pad 39B. NASA 901: Chris Condon / Zena Cardman. 902: Nicole Ayers / Christina Koch. 903: Jeremy Hansen / Drew Morgan. 904: Reid Wiseman / Joe Acaba. 905 (Photo Chase): Jack Hathaway / Josh Valcarcel (NASA Photographer) PHOTOGRAPHER: Josh Valcarcel
This is a forward-looking view of the X-1E that stands on static display in front of the main office building at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Captured in the background of the image is the Waning Gibbous Moon on November 22, 2021. Visible off the nose of the X-1E is the air data probe with alpha and beta vanes which measured vertical and horizontal motion.
A paddlewheeler makes its way up the Mississippi River as the moon rises over New Orleans on Sunday evening, August 22, 2021. The August Sturgeon Moon, which was also a rare Blue Moon, was full at 7:02 A.M. local time Sunday but the moon still put on a show when it rose over New Orleans later that evening. New Orleans is home to the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility where the core stage of the Space Launch System that will return people to the moon is being built. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker
A paddlewheeler makes its way up the Mississippi River as the Moon
rises over New Orleans on Sunday evening, Aug. 22, 2021.
The August Sturgeon Moon, which was also a rare Blue Moon,
was full at 7:02 a.m. local time Sunday but the nearly full
Moon still put on a show when it rose over New Orleans
later that evening. New Orleans is home to the NASA
Michoud Assembly Facility, where the core stage of the
Voyager 1 at Jupiter – Red spot Image taken on March 5, 1979 This image was re-processed on November 6, 1998 and re-recorded to film on the MDA film recorder, MRPS ID# 93779, from which this file was scanned. Original vidicon image size is 800 lines with 800 pixels per line.
Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager probes are NASA’s longest-operating
mission and the only spacecraft ever to explore interstellar space. 45 years
on, Voyager 1 and 2 continue to provide us with observations of the farthest
reaches of space.
Our Voyager 1 spacecraft zoomed toward Jupiter in January and
February 1979, capturing hundreds of images of Jupiter during its
approach, including this close-up of swirling clouds around
In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The Perseid meteors are an annual event many skywatchers look forward to,
as they often produce lots of shooting stars to enjoy. The Perseids are
debris remnants of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which takes 133 years to orbit the
Sun once. The meteors often leave long “wakes” of light and color behind
them as they streak through Earth’s atmosphere. They’re also known for
their fireballs, which are larger explosions of light and color that can
persist longer than an average meteor streak.
This photo was taken Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia.
This celestial cloudscape from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures the colourful region surrounding the Herbig-Haro object HH 505. Herbig-Haro objects are luminous regions surrounding newborn stars, and are formed when ionised jets of gas spewing from these newborn stars collide with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. In the case of HH 505, these jets originate from the star IX Ori, which lies on the outskirts of the Orion Nebula around 1000 light-years from Earth. The jets themselves are visible as gracefully curving structures at the top and bottom of this image, and are distorted into sinuous curves by their interaction with the large-scale flow of gas and dust from the core of the Orion Nebula. This observation was captured with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) by astronomers studying the properties of outflows and protoplanetary discs. The Orion Nebula is awash in intense ultraviolet radiation from bright young stars. Stellar jets are irradiated while they collide with the surrounding gas and dust, lighting them up for Hubble to see. This allows astronomers to directly observe jets and outflows and learn more about their structures. The Orion Nebula is a dynamic region of dust and gas where thousands of stars are forming, and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. As a result, it is one of the most scrutinised areas of the night sky and has often been a target for Hubble. This observation was also part of a spellbinding Hubble mosaic of the Orion Nebula, which combined 520 ACS images in five different colours to create the sharpest view ever taken of the region.
This celestial cloudscape from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures the colorful region in the Orion Nebula surrounding the Herbig-Haro object HH 505. Herbig-Haro objects are luminous regions surrounding newborn stars that form when stellar winds or jets of gas spew from these infant stars creating shockwaves that collide with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. In the case of HH 505, these outflows originate from the star IX Ori, which lies on the outskirts of the Orion Nebula around 1,000 light-years from Earth. The outflows themselves are visible as gracefully curving structures at the top and bottom of this image. Their interaction with the large-scale flow of gas and dust from the core of the nebula distorts them into sinuous curves.
Captured with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) by astronomers studying the properties of outflows and protoplanetary disks, the image reveals bright shockwaves formed by the outflows as well as slower moving currents of stellar material. The Orion Nebula is awash in intense ultraviolet radiation from bright young stars. Hubble’s sensitivity to ultraviolet light allows astronomers to directly observe these high-energy outflows and learn more about their structures.
The Orion Nebula is a dynamic region of dust and gas where thousands of stars are forming. It is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth, making it one of the most scrutinized areas of the night sky and often a target for Hubble. This observation was also part of a spellbinding Hubble mosaic of the Orion Nebula, which combined 520 ACS images in five different colors to create the sharpest view ever taken of the region.
Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Bally; Acknowledgment: M. H. Özsaraç
EARTH SCIENCE, Studying Our Home Planet at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of technology, NASA, Richard Branson makes historic spaceflight, ABC News, CNET Highlights, and NBC News
EARTH SCIENCE: Studying Our Home Planet at JPL, California Institute of technology
EARTH: Assembly of Satellite to Track World’s Water Shifts From US to France
TECHNOLOGY: Deep Space Atomic Clock Moves Toward Increased Spacecraft Autonomy
NASA has perfected new navigation technology that would make self-driving spacecraft and GPS beyond the Moon a reality. The Deep Space Atomic Clock is the first atomic clock small and stable enough to fly on a spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit. As NASA works to put humans on Mars and the Moon, the clock’s precise timekeeping will be key to these missions’ success. For more about the Deep Space Atomic Clock: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/td…
As the coronavirus pandemic slowed global commerce to a crawl in early 2020, emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) – which create ozone, a danger to human health and to climate – decreased 15% globally with local reductions as high as 50%, according to a study led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As a result of the lower NOx emissions, by June 2020 global ozone levels had dropped to a level that policymakers thought it would take at least 15 years to reach by conventional means, such as regulations. Music credit: Universal Production Music: Waiting For Results – Adam John Salkeld [PRS], Neil Pollard [PRS] Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio Katie Jepson (KBRwyle): Lead Producer Carol Rasmussen (NASA/JPL CalTech): Lead Writer Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Lead Visualizer Kazuyuki Miyazaki (JPL): Scientist Kevin W Bowman (JPL): Scientist Kathryn Mersmann (KBRwyle): Associate Producer Katie Jepson (KBRwyle): Editor This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13871. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, some individual imagery is provided by pond5.com and is obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on stock footage may be found here https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13871. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guide… If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard · Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard · Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix · Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAGoddard · Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc
This animation shows the accumulation of five adjoining swaths of data over the Los Angeles metropolitan area that, when combined, create a map of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations that covers about 50 square miles (80 square kilometers). Researchers have used the data, collected by NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) instrument aboard the space station, to create one of the most accurate maps ever made from space of the human influence on CO2 abundances in the L.A. Basin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In 2018, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano experienced its largest eruption in over 200 years. JPL scientists used data from the rare event to better understand what causes large-scale eruptions like this. The culprit? The collapse of a volcano’s caldera – the large, crater-like depression at the volcano’s summit. Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Because of this and its relative ease of accessibility, it is also among the most heavily outfitted with monitoring equipment – instruments that measure and record everything from earthquakes and ground movement to lava volume and advancement. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission (SWOT) will help scientists monitor Earth’s ocean, as well as the amount of freshwater in its lakes and rivers when it launches in late 2022. After engineers put together the spacecraft’s payload of scientific instruments at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the satellite now moves to Cannes, France, to complete integration before it will be launched in late 2022. Project manager Parag Vaze explains. SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatial (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). To learn more about the mission, visit: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/ Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Clean Room Sneak Peek: International SWOT Satellite (Live Q&A)
Check out the new spacecraft we’re building. Targeting a late-2022 launch date, this SUV-size satellite will measure the height of Earth’s water. SWOT will help researchers understand and track the volume and location of water – a finite resource – around the world, making NASA’s first truly global survey of the planet’s surface water. SWOT is being jointly developed by NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/ Speakers: Parag Vaze, SWOT project manager, JPL Dr. Karen St. Germain, Earth science division director, NASA Marina Jurica, host Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Study Identifies Methane ‘Super-Emitters’ in Largest US Oilfield
Jun 02, 2021
Gas flaring during oil and gas production is a known source of methane emissions.
Pasadena, CA 91109
Credit: Leslie Von Pless
Fixing just the worst leaks in the Permian Basin oilfield’s infrastructure could cut methane emissions by 55 tons an hour, according to a study by NASA, University of Arizona, and ASU.
About half of the biggest sources of the potent greenhouse gas methane in the Permian Basin oilfield are likely to be malfunctioning oilfield equipment, according to a month-long airborne study by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of Arizona, and Arizona State University.
Repeatedly measuring the size and persistence of emission sources using sensor-equipped aircraft, researchers found that repairing only the 123 sources that they found leaking most persistently on their flights would reduce methane emissions by 55 tons (50 metric tons) an hour. That’s equivalent to 5.5% of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s estimates of all methane emissions from oil and gas production in the entire United States.
The research team measured methane concentrations around “super-emitter” methane sources – those emitting more than 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of methane per hour – in the oilfield, which is located in Texas and New Mexico. They calculated the emission rates by combining observed methane concentrations with reported wind speeds. Using airborne imaging spectrometers that identify methane and other gases by their effects on reflected sunlight, the campaign located a total of 1,756 super-emitters in a 22,000-square-mile (57,000-square-kilometer) section of the immense oilfield. As they resurveyed the area throughout the month, the team recorded emissions each time a plume was visible, whether once or a dozen times.
“Multiple revisits of these sites are the best way to discriminate between unplanned and planned emissions,” said Daniel Cusworth, a JPL scientist and lead author of an analysis published today in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Cusworth explained that while some regular operations in an oilfield, such as venting pressure-relief valves, release methane, plumes from these planned operations would probably be visible on only one or two consecutive flights. If an emission plume persists, by far the most likely cause is malfunctioning or broken oil and gas equipment. There’s no other industry in the region that could produce such large plumes, and there are more than 60,000 oil and gas wells as well as compressors, pipelines, and other types of equipment – all of which can potentially leak.
For their analysis, Cusworth and colleagues focused on 1,100 sources seen emitting methane plumes on at least three flights. Just 123 of these were classified as most persistent, with plumes visible on 50 to 100% of revisits. These few sources emitted about 29% of all the methane detected from the entire group. The 258 plumes in the next most persistent class produced an additional 23% of detected emissions; the researchers think these sources are leaks or a mixture of leaks and planned operations. They classified the remaining two-thirds of the sources as least persistent and most likely to be the result of planned operations. This last and largest class produced 48% of emissions.
Once methane sources have been located and verified on the ground by facility operators, there’s a good chance that leaks can be repaired, said Riley Duren of the University of Arizona, who designed and led the flight campaign. “We’ve done cooperative studies with oil and gas operators in California and the Permian where they independently report that 50% of the sources we’re finding are fixable.”
The campaign also recorded surprisingly large variations in the extent of emissions. In one part of the basin, emissions almost doubled over a five-day period and then dropped back almost to the original value over another 10 days. These large, unpredictable variations prove that a single snapshot of methane emissions from any location is inadequate for decision-makers to monitor and regulate emission sources, Duren said. “You need measurements daily or weekly,” he added. “That’s a big argument for using airborne and satellite remote sensing.”
The imaging spectrometers used in the study, NASA’s Next-Generation Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer and ASU’s Global Airborne Observatory, are able to pinpoint methane sources to within about 15 to 30 feet (5 to 10 meters) while flying at the altitude of a commercial airliner. When methane emission plumes were detected, researchers used a high-resolution camera to relate the plumes to individual pieces of equipment on the ground.
Data from this study can be viewed and downloaded at the team’s data portal.
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson celebrated with a crowd after his first ride on the VSS Unity to space. 0:00 Riding along with Branson to space 0:58 Branson’s message 1:26 Zero-G 2:58 Returning from space 3:13 Post-flight conference
Live: Richard Branson Holds News Conference After Historic Virgin Galactic Space Flight | NBC News
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STARS AND GALAXIES
