Thursday, October 31, 2019

A 'Ghost' in the Pleiades | Hubble

A 'Ghost' in the Pleiades | Hubble
This ghostly image shows what can happen when an interstellar cloud passes too close to a star. Barnard's Merope Nebula, also known as IC 349, is a cloud of interstellar gas and dust travelling through the Pleiades star cluster at a relative speed of 11 kilometers per second. It is passing close to the star Merope, located 0.06 light years away from the cloud, which is equivalent to about 3 500 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This passage is disrupting the nebula and creating the wispy effect seen in the image.

Merope is located just out of the frame at the top right. Light from the star is reflected from the surface of the cloud, which illuminates it to become what astronomers call a reflection nebula. The beams of light at the upper right from the star are an effect produced by the telescope but the eerie wisps of light from the lower left to upper right are real.

Astronomers believe that radiation pressure from the star is acting like a sieve to separate dust particles of different sizes. As the nebula approaches Merope, the starlight decelerates dust particles, but the small particles slow down more than the large particles. As an effect, the almost straight lines that are reaching out towards Merope in this view are made of large particles, whereas smaller-sized particles lag behind to create the wispy structure on the lower left.

The nebula will continue its approach towards Merope over the next few thousand years and will eventually move past the star, if it survives. Studying the nebula's interaction with the star is important as it provides a chance to observe interstellar material in an unusual situation and learn more about interstellar dust.

The nebula near Merope was discovered in 1890 by E.E. Barnard using the 36 inch telescope at the Lick Observatory in California. This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on September 19, 1999 and was originally published in 2000.

Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), George Herbig and Theodore Simon (University of Hawaii); CC BY 4.0
Image Date: September 19, 1999



#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebula #Merope #IC349 #Pleiades #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Lonely Hearts Club | Hubble

Lonely Hearts Club | Hubble
Galaxies may seem lonely, floating alone in the vast, inky blackness of the sparsely populated cosmos—but looks can be deceiving. The subject of this Picture of the Week, NGC 1706, is a good example of this. NGC 1706 is a spiral galaxy, about 230 million light-years away, in the constellation of Dorado (The Swordfish).

NGC 1706 is known to belong to something known as a galaxy group, which is just as the name suggests—a group of up to 50 galaxies which are gravitationally bound and hence relatively close to each other. Around half of the galaxies we know of in the Universe belong to some kind of group, making them incredibly common cosmic structures. Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, belongs to the Local Group, which also contains the Andromeda Galaxy, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and the Triangulum Galaxy.

Groups are the smallest of galactic gatherings; others are clusters, which can comprise hundreds of thousands of galaxies bound loosely together by gravity, and subsequent superclusters, which bring together numerous clusters into a single entity.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Bellini et al.
Release Date: October 28, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #NGC1706 #Galaxy #Spiral #Dorado #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Falling in Fornax | ESO

Falling in Fornax | ESO
This strikingly simple and serene view of NGC 1404—a giant elliptical galaxy located 62 million light-years away in the constellation of Fornax (The Furnace)—hides the galaxy’s cruel reality.

NGC 1404 is one of the galaxies comprising the massive Fornax Cluster—and it is slowly falling inwards towards the cluster’s core. As it moves towards the cluster’s large centermost galaxy, NGC 1399, the galaxy’s reserves of hot gas are being forcibly ripped and stripped away, leaving an elongated tell-tale trail of gas in its wake. While not visible in this image, this gas stream can be seen clearly in X-ray images of the galaxy; in time, NGC 1404 will lose most of its hot gas, and therefore its ability to form new stars.


The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) captured this image of NGC 1404 with its FORS instrument. The bright foreground star to the lower left of the frame is named HD 22862.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: October 28, 2019


#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Stars #NGC1404 #Galaxy #Elliptical #Fornax #Star #HD22862 #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 25, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 25, 2019
The NASA Business Opportunities Expo 2019 attracted about 200 business and government exhibitors. The event, which highlighted women-owned small businesses—and other socioeconomic categories—was held in Port Canaveral. Also, the rock band X Ambassadors toured unique areas around Kennedy Space Center, including Launch Complex 39B and Swamp Works.

Credit: Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 1 minute, 58 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Artemis #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Music #XAmbassadors #Band #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Friday, October 25, 2019

International Partnership for the Moon and Mars | This Week @NASA

International Partnership for the Moon and Mars
This Week @NASA
Week of October 25, 2019: International partnerships for the Moon and Mars, an update on that historic all-woman spacewalk, and a milestone for the James Webb Space Telescope . . . a few of the stories to tell you about This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 4 minutes, 2 seconds
Release Date: October 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #Astronomy #JWST #ISS #Science #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #Artemis #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Space Jam | Week of October 25, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground: Space Jam
Week of October 25, 2019

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

The six residents living aboard the International Space Station are busy today ensuring advanced microgravity research continues to provide benefits for citizens on Earth and in space. The Expedition 61 crew is also brushing up on repair techniques for a cosmic particle detector attached to the outside of the orbiting lab.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch juggled an array of life science activities throughout Thursday. Meir cared for plants for a new field of botany research exploring how to provide fresh food for long-term space crews. Meir later swapped out a failed computer hard drive that supports combustion experiments. Koch organized biology hardware for a study seeking therapies for aging-related conditions. Koch then serviced microbial DNA samples to understand how microorganisms adapt to weightlessness.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is due for an upgraded thermal control system after being installed on the outpost’s Starboard-3 truss structure in 2011. NASA is planning a series of spacewalks to restore the AMS-02 to full service. Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan are reviewing the tools and techniques necessary to complete the AMS repair job.

Over in the station’s Russian segment, composed of five modules, a pair of cosmonauts focused on hardware and systems maintenance. Alexander Skvortsov inspected lab windows and checked batteries. Fellow cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka worked on air conditioning and plumbing tasks inside the orbital lab. The duo also explored how to improve accuracy when detecting and photographing Earth landmarks.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 59 seconds
Release Date: October 25, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Italy #Italia #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch & Jessica Meir Reflect on First All-Woman Spacewalk

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch & Jessica Meir Reflect on First All-Woman Spacewalk
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir reflect on the historic spacewalk they performed on Oct. 18—the first ever to be conducted by two women. They spent a total of 7 hours and 17 minutes in the vacuum of space. It was Koch’s fourth spacewalk and Meir’s first.

It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 28 seconds
Release Date: October 23, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir | International Space Station
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir waves at the camera during her first spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame). They ventured into the vacuum of space for seven hours and 17 minutes to swap a failed battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU) with a spare during the first all-woman spacewalk. The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Monday, October 21, 2019

Reach High | International Space Station

Reach High | International Space Station
Christina: "To all those reaching to new heights: yes you can."
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronaut Jessica Meir is pictured during a spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame). They ventured into the vacuum of space for seven hours and 17 minutes to swap a failed battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU) with a spare during the first all-woman spacewalk. The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #AllWomanSpacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Sunday, October 20, 2019

A Fleeting Moment in Time: A Dying Star | ESO

A Fleeting Moment in Time: A Dying Star | ESO
The faint, ephemeral glow emanating from the planetary nebula ESO 577-24 persists for only a short time—around 10,000 years, a blink of an eye in astronomical terms. The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope captured this shell of glowing ionized gas—the last breath of the dying star whose simmering remains are visible at the heart of this image. As the gaseous shell of this planetary nebula expands and grows dimmer, it will slowly disappear from sight.


This stunning planetary nebula was imaged by one of the VLT’s most versatile instruments, FORS2. The instrument captured the bright, central star, Abell 36, as well as the surrounding planetary nebula. The red and blue portions of this image correspond to optical emission at red and blue wavelengths, respectively.

An object much closer to home is also visible in this image—an asteroid wandering across the field of view has left a faint track below and to the left of the central star. And in the far distance behind the nebula a glittering host of background galaxies can be seen.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: January 22, 2019


#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Nebula #Planetary #ESO57724 #Star #Abell36 #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #FORS2 #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Starshine in Canis Major | ESO

Starshine in Canis Major | ESO
Distance: 5000 light years
It is impossible to miss the star in this European Southern Observatory (ESO) Picture of the Week—beaming proudly from the center of the frame is the massive multiple star system Tau Canis Majoris, the brightest member of the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster (NGC 2362) in the eponymous constellation of Canis Major (The Great Dog). Tau Canis Majoris aside, the cluster is populated by many young and less attention-seeking stars that are only four or five million years old, all just beginning their cosmic lifetimes.

The Tau Canis Majoris Cluster is an open cluster—a group of stars born from the same molecular cloud. This means that all of the cluster’s inhabitants share a common chemical composition and are loosely bound together by gravity. Having been born together, they make an ideal stellar laboratory to test theories of stellar evolution, the chain of events that leads from a star’s birth in a cool, dense cloud of gas through to its eventual death.

Though the stars in this image were all created at the same time, their various different masses mean they will lead very different lives. As Tau Canis Majoris is one of the most massive and short-lived types of star, it will burn through its nuclear fuel long before its smaller companions, which will keep on shining for billions of years.

This image was created as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems program, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The program makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Release Date: March 18, 2019



#ESO #NASA #Astronomy #Space #Stars #NGC2362 #TauCanisMajoris #Cluster #CanisMajor #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #VLT #ALMA #Observatory #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Towers under the Milky Way | ESO

Towers under the Milky Way | ESO
This picture shows in the foreground some of the towers supporting the telescopes that compose BlackGEM. In the background, the magnificent southern Milky Way shines in the sky.

BlackGEM is a wide-field array of optical telescopes located at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile’s Atacama desert.

BlackGEM’s scientific goals are to detect and characterize optical counterparts to gravitational wave detections. To enable this, it will conduct an all-sky survey of the southern sky, perform a bi-weekly scan of the southern sky, and characterize intra-night transients, new stars that appear or disappear within a single night.

Events that produce detectable gravitational waves are expected to occur within approximately 650 million light-years of Earth. Many will therefore be located in or near resolved galaxies and will be faint. It is essential for BlackGEM to have high spatial resolution in order to resolve and accurately locate these sources against the background of the night-sky, making La Silla—with its excellent weather and thin atmosphere—an ideal observing site.

Credit: ESO/P. Horálek
Release Date: October 14, 2019


#ESO #Earth #Astronomy #Space #Science #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Stars #ZodiacalLight #BlackGEM #Telescopes #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #LaSilla #Observatory #Chile #Atacama #Desert #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 18, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 18, 2019

Practice makes perfect! Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, rehearsed lifting procedures of the Space Launch System core stage using a full-scale mock-up, called pathfinder, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Kennedy employees recently assembled the flight hardware for NASA's Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR, inside a laboratory at the center. OSCAR will be used to study technology that converts trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Credit: Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: October 18, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Artemis #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #SolarSystem #Exploration #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Friday, October 18, 2019

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA




The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA
History Makers Jessica and Christina Suit Up

Oct. 18, 2019: The International Space Station Expedition 61 crew pauses for a photo as NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch prepare to exit the International Space Station to begin the first all female spacewalk in history on Oct. 18, 2019.

The astronauts replaced a faulty battery charge discharge unit (BCDU) that failed to activate following the Oct. 11 installation of new lithium ion batteries on the space station's exterior structure. The BCDUs regulate the amount of charge put into the batteries that collect energy from the station's solar arrays to power station systems during periods when the station orbits during nighttime passes around Earth. Though the BCDU failure has not impacted station operations or crew safety, it does prevent the new batteries from providing increased station power.

Commander Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan assisted the spacewalkers. Parmitano operated the Canadarm2 robotics arm and Morgan provided airlock and spacesuit support.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #ESA #LucaParmitano #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA



The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA
History Makers Jessica and Christina Suit Up
Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch (right) prepare to leave the hatch of the International Space Station and begin the historic first-ever all-female spacewalk.

The astronauts replaced a faulty battery charge discharge unit (BCDU) that failed to activate following the Oct. 11 installation of new lithium ion batteries on the space station's exterior structure. The BCDUs regulate the amount of charge put into the batteries that collect energy from the station's solar arrays to power station systems during periods when the station orbits during nighttime passes around Earth. Though the BCDU failure has not impacted station operations or crew safety, it does prevent the new batteries from providing increased station power.


It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA

The First All Woman Spacewalking Team | NASA

History Makers Jessica and Christina Suit Up

Oct. 18, 2019: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch (right) prepare to leave the hatch of the International Space Station and begin the historic first-ever all-female spacewalk.

The astronauts replaced a faulty battery charge discharge unit (BCDU) that failed to activate following the Oct. 11 installation of new lithium ion batteries on the space station's exterior structure. The BCDUs regulate the amount of charge put into the batteries that collect energy from the station's solar arrays to power station systems during periods when the station orbits during nighttime passes around Earth. Though the BCDU failure has not impacted station operations or crew safety, it does prevent the new batteries from providing increased station power.


It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: October 18, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

The First All Woman Spacewalk | This Week @NASA

The First All Woman Spacewalk | This Week @NASA
Week of October 18, 2019: A first aboard the International Space Station, some gear well-suited for the Artemis generation, and ensuring astronaut safety . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 4 minutes, 43 seconds
Release Date: October 18, 2019




#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD

First All-Woman Spacewalk: History Made | NASA's Space to Ground

First All-Woman Spacewalk: History Made 
NASA's Space to Ground
Week of Oct. 18, 2019: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

At 2:55 p.m. EDT, Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA concluded their spacewalk, the first with only women. During the 7-hour, 17-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts completed the replacement a failed power charging component, also known as a battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU). The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems. Mission control activated the newly installed BCDU and reported it is operating properly.

The astronauts were also able to accomplish some get-ahead tasks including installation of a stanchion on the Columbus module for support of a new external ESA (European Space Agency) payload platform called Bartolomeo scheduled for launch to the station in 2020.

Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan assisted the spacewalkers. Parmitano operated the Canadarm2 robotics arm and Morgan provided airlock and spacesuit support.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

The faulty BCDU is due to return to Earth on the next SpaceX Dragon resupply ship for inspection. Station managers will reschedule the three battery replacement spacewalks for a future date. In the meantime, the five planned spacewalks to repair a cosmic particle detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, are still on the calendar for November and December.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds
Release Date: October 18, 2019

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thursday, October 17, 2019

First All-Woman Spacewalk on October 18 | NASA
Watch Live on NASA TV: www.nasa.gov/ntv
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch are set to conduct the first spacewalk to be performed by two women on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.

They will be replacing a faulty battery charge/discharge unit that failed to activate after a spacewalk Oct. 11. The faulty unit is preventing a set of recently installed batteries from providing increased power. It must be replaced before continuing a series of spacewalks to install new batteries.

Watch live coverage here on NASA TV and nasa.gov/live Friday beginning at 6:30 a.m. Eastern. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at about 7:50 a.m.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Duration: 1 minute, 12 seconds
Release Date: October 17, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #History #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

First Quarter Moon | International Space Station

First Quarter Moon | International Space Station
A first quarter Moon is pictured from the International Space Station just above the Earth's limb.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 5, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Moon #Artemis #Astronauts #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Spacewalkers Jessica & Christina | NASA

Spacewalkers Jessica & Christina | NASA
Upcoming spacewalking duo Jessica Meir and Christina Koch
Oct. 15, 2019: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch are inside the Quest airlock of the International Space Station preparing the U.S. spacesuits and tools they will use on their first spacewalk together. The Expedition 61 flight engineers are holding the pistol grip tools they will use to swap out a failed power controller, also known as a battery charge-discharge unit, that regulates the charge to batteries that collect and distribute power to the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: Oct. 15, 2019



#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #Batteries #Tools #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Women #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov: Animation | Hubble

Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov: Animation | Hubble
On October 12, 2019, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed Comet 2I/Borisov at a distance of approximately 420 million kilometers from Earth. The comet is believed to have arrived here from another planetary system elsewhere in our galaxy.

This is a time-lapse sequence compressing Hubble Space Telescope observations of comet 2I/Borisov, spanning a seven-hour period. As the first confirmed interstellar comet to enter our solar system, comet 2I/Borisov is moving along at a breakneck speed of 110,000 miles per hour. To photograph the comet Hubble has to track it, like a photographer tracking a racetrack horse. Therefore, background stars are streaked in the exposure frames. An artificial satellite also crosses the field of view. Hubble reveals a central concentration of dust around an unseen nucleus. Comet 2I/Borisov is only the second such interstellar object known to have passed through the solar system. In 2017, the first identified interstellar visitor, an object formally named 'Oumuamua, swung within 24 million miles of the Sun before racing out of the solar system.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. DePasquale (STScI)
Duration: 11 seconds
Release Date: October 16, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comet #Comet2IBorisov #Interstellar #Planets #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #Timelapse #Animation #HD #Video

Space is Hard | NASA

Space is Hard | NASA

Space travel is hard and unforgiving, but we have never been more ready to meet the unknown.

Team members from NASA’s Artemis program share the risks and rewards of this next era of exploration. Artemis will push the boundaries of human exploration and send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, preparing for missions to Mars and beyond.



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Orbital Path of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

Orbital Path of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
Deep Space Visitor Provides Clues to Birth of Planetary Systems
This illustration shows the path of comet 21/Borisov through our Solar System. This visitor came from interstellar space along a hyperbolic trajectory. It is only the second known intruder to zoom through our Solar System (the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua was detected in 2017).

As the graphic shows, the comet’s straight path across interstellar space is slightly deflected by the gravitational pull of our Sun. The comet is travelling so fast, at over 155 000 kilometers per hour, it will eventually leave the Solar System.


The panel on the right shows the comet’s position relative to Earth when the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed it on October 12, 2019, when it was 420 million kilometers from Earth.

Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Olmsted, F. Summers (STScI)
Release Date: October 16, 2019


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Comet 2I/Borisov: First Interstellar Comet | Hubble

Comet 2I/Borisov: First Interstellar Comet | Hubble
Deep Space Visitor Provides Clues to Birth of Planetary Systems
Oct. 16, 2019: No one knows where it came from. No one knows how long it has been drifting through the empty, cold abyss of interstellar space. But this year an object called comet 2I/Borisov came in from the cold. It was detected falling past our Sun by a Crimean amateur astronomer. This emissary from the black unknown captured the attention of worldwide astronomers who aimed all kinds of telescopes at it to watch the comet sprout a dust tail. The far visitor is only the second known object to enter our solar system coming from elsewhere in the galaxy, based on its speed and trajectory. Like a racetrack photographer trying to capture a speeding derby horse, Hubble took a series of snapshots as the comet streaked along at 110,000 miles per hour. Hubble provided the sharpest image to date of the fleeting comet, revealing a central concentration of dust around an unseen nucleus. The comet was 260 million miles from Earth when Hubble took the photo.

In 2017, the first identified interstellar visitor, an object formally named 'Oumuamua, swung within 24 million miles of the Sun before racing out of the solar system. Unlike comet 2I/Borisov, 'Oumuamua still defies any simple categorization. It did not behave like a comet, and it has a variety of unusual characteristics. Comet 2I/Borisov looks a lot like the traditional comets found inside our solar system, which sublimate ices, and cast off dust as they are warmed by the Sun. The wandering comet provides invaluable clues to the chemical composition, structure, and dust characteristics of planetary building blocks presumably forged in an alien star system.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their best look yet at an interstellar visitor—comet 2I/Borisov—whose speed and trajectory indicate it has come from beyond our solar system.

This Hubble image, taken on October 12, 2019, is the sharpest view of the comet to date. Hubble reveals a central concentration of dust around the nucleus (which is too small to be seen by Hubble).

Comet 2I/Borisov is only the second such interstellar object known to have passed through the solar system. In 2017, the first identified interstellar visitor, an object officially named 'Oumuamua, swung within 24 million miles of the Sun before racing out of the solar system. "Whereas 'Oumuamua appeared to be a rock, Borisov is really active, more like a normal comet. It's a puzzle why these two are so different," said David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), leader of the Hubble team who observed the comet.

As the second known interstellar object found to enter our solar system, the comet provides invaluable clues to the chemical composition, structure, and dust characteristics of planetary building blocks presumably forged in an alien star system a long time ago and far away.

"Though another star system could be quite different from our own, the fact that the comet's properties appear to be very similar to those of the solar system's building blocks is very remarkable," said Amaya Moro-Martin of the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland.

Hubble photographed the comet at a distance of 260 million miles from Earth. The comet is falling past the Sun and will make its closest approach to the Sun on December 7, 2019, when it will be twice as far from the Sun as Earth is.

The comet is following a hyperbolic path around the Sun, and currently is blazing along at an extraordinary speed of 110,000 miles per hour. "It's traveling so fast it almost doesn't care that the Sun is there," said Jewitt.

By the middle of 2020 the comet will streak past Jupiter's distance of 500 million miles on its way back into interstellar space where it will drift for untold millions of years before skirting close to another star system.

Crimean amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov discovered the comet on August 30, 2019. After a week of observations by amateur and professional astronomers all over the world, the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center and JPL's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies computed a trajectory for the comet, which confirms that it came from interstellar space.

Until now, all cataloged comets have come from either a ring of icy debris at the periphery of our solar system, called the Kuiper belt, or the hypothetical Oort cloud, a shell of comets about a light-year from the Sun, defining the dynamical edge of our solar system.

Borisov and 'Oumuamua are only the beginning of the discoveries of interstellar objects paying a brief visit to our solar system, say researchers. According to one study there are thousands of such interlopers here at any given time, though most are too faint to be detected with current-day telescopes.

Observations by Hubble and other telescopes have shown that rings and shells of icy debris encircle young stars where planet formation is underway. A gravitational "pinball game" between these comet-like bodies or planets orbiting other stars can hurtle them deep into space where they go adrift among the stars.

Future Hubble observations of 2I/Borisov are planned through January 2020, with more being proposed.

"New comets are always unpredictable," said Max Mutchler, another member of the observing team. "They sometimes brighten suddenly or even begin to fragment as they are exposed to the intense heat of the Sun for the first time. Hubble is poised to monitor whatever happens next with its superior sensitivity and resolution."

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)
Release Date: October 16, 2019


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comet #Comet2IBorisov #Interstellar #Planets #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

NASA’s New Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU)

NASA’s New Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU)
Oct. 15, 2019: Kristine Davis, a spacesuit engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, wearing a ground prototype of NASA’s new Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), is seen during a demonstration of the suit, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The xEMU suit improves on the suits previous worn on the Moon during the Apollo era and those currently in use for spacewalks outside the International Space Station and will be worn by first woman and next man as they explore the Moon as part of the agency’s Artemis program.

Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Image Date: October 15, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #SLS #Rocket #Orion #ISS #CommercialCrew #Mars #Artemis #Moon #Astronauts #Spacesuit #Engineering #Women #OCSS #Human #Spaceflight #JourneyToMars #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #STEM #Education

Introducing Artemis Generation Spacesuits | NASA

Introducing Artemis Generation Spacesuits | NASA
Oct. 15, 2019: NASA invited the media to get an up-close look at the next generation spacesuits the first woman and next man to explore the Moon will wear as part of the agency’s Artemis program.

NASA is preparing to send astronauts to the Moon by 2024 and is moving forward with design and development of the suits astronauts will wear on the lunar surface and other destinations, including Mars.

The public event took place on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and featured NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who hosted a demonstration with spacesuit engineers.

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 53 minutes, 22 seconds
Capture Date: October 15, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #SLS #Rocket #Orion #ISS #CommercialCrew #Mars #Artemis #Moon #Astronauts #Spacesuit #OCSS #Human #Spaceflight #JourneyToMars #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Orion Crew Survival System

NASA's Orion Crew Survival System
Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival Systems Project Manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, poses for a portrait while wearing the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) suit, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The Orion suit is designed for a custom fit and incorporates safety technology and mobility features that will help protect astronauts on launch day, in emergency situations, high-risk parts of missions near the Moon, and during the high-speed return to Earth.

Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Image Date: October 15, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #SLS #Rocket #Orion #ISS #CommercialCrew #Mars #Artemis #Moon #Astronauts #Spacesuit #OCSS #Human #Spaceflight #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Monday, October 14, 2019

A Galactic Portal: Galaxy NGC 4380 | Hubble

A Galactic Portal: Galaxy NGC 4380 | Hubble
The galaxy NGC 4380 looks like a special effect straight out of a science fiction or fantasy film in this Hubble Picture of the Week, swirling like a gaping portal to another dimension.

In the grand scheme of things, though, the galaxy is actually quite ordinary. Spiral galaxies like NGC 4380 are one of the most common types of galaxy in the Universe. These colossal collections of stars, often numbering in the hundreds of billions, are shaped like a flat disc, sometimes with a rounded bulge in the center. Graceful spiral arms outlined by dark lanes of dust wind around the bulging core, which glows brightly and has the highest concentration of stars in the galaxy.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Erwin
Release Date: October 14, 2019



#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #NGC4380 #Spiral #Virgo #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Spot The Astronauts! | International Space Station

Spot The Astronauts! | International Space Station
NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir: "My view from Japan's Kibo module (JAXA) during yesterday’s spacewalk. NASA Astronauts Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan set us off to an epic start in this 5-spacewalk series to install new batteries on the International Space Station. Honored to fly the Canadarm2 to support the operations with this amazing team!"

Hint: Look way, way up to the top of the frame (center).

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: October 7, 2019




#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #JessicaMeir #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Batteries #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Robotics #Canadarm2 #Canada #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 11, 2019

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center! | Week of Oct. 11, 2019
This week, NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket on a mission to study the weather where Earth meets space. Also, the agency's Exploration Ground Systems contucted a swing arm test of multiple arms on the mobile launcher, another step toward launch of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft on Artemis I.

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 16 seconds
Release Date: October 11, 2019



#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #ICON #NorthropGrumman #PegasusXL #SLS #Rocket #SolarSystem #Exploration #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Power Play Spacewalks Aboard Space Station | This Week @NASA

Power Play Spacewalks Aboard Space Station
This Week @NASA
Week of Oct. 11, 2019: A pair of power plays aboard the space station, checking out progress of our Commercial Crew Program, and studying the frontier of space . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 59 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 11, 2019


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #ISS #Earth #Science #SpaceX #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Batteries #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JWST #ICON #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
NASA's Space to Ground: Extravehicular Marathon
Week of October 11, 2019 | NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.
Oct. 11, 2019: Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan of NASA concluded their spacewalk at the International Space Station at 2:23 p.m. EDT. During six-hour and 45-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts continued the replacement of nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer, more powerful lithium-ion batteries on the far end of the station’s port truss.

Astronauts also were able to accomplish several get-ahead tasks setting up for the next spacewalk.

These new batteries provide an improved power capacity for operations with a lighter mass and a smaller volume than the nickel-hydrogen batteries. On Oct. 16, Morgan and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir are scheduled to venture outside for another spacewalk to continue the battery replacements on the first of the two power channels for the station’s far port truss. The following spacewalks dedicated to the battery upgrades are scheduled on Oct. 21 and 25.

After completion of the battery spacewalks, the second half of this sequence of spacewalks will focus on repairs to the space station’s Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Dates for those spacewalks still are being discussed, but they are expected to begin in November.

Space station crew members have conducted 220 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 57 days 13 hours and 12 minutes working outside the station.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/…/foreducat…/stem_on_station/index.html

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 21 seconds
Release Date: October 11, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #AndrewMorgan #Batteries #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video

Friday, October 11, 2019

Kathy Sullivan: First American Woman to Walk in Space | NASA

Kathy Sullivan: First American Woman to Walk in Space 
35th Anniversary (1984-2019) 
Meet the Former NASA Astronaut
 
Thirty-five years ago, on October 11, 1984, NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space. We video chatted with Kathy to ask her about this historic feat as well as her thoughts on the upcoming all-female spacewalk scheduled to take place October 21, 2019, with NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.

More about women at NASA: https://women.nasa.gov

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center
Duration: 1 minutes, 27 seconds
Release Date: October 11, 2019


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #EVA #Spacewalk #Astronaut #KathySullivan #Women #Leadership #History #Career #Expedition61 #Human #Spaceflight #Future #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video