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This image taken by NASA Hubble shows a segment of the 65-light-year wide star-forming region called the Chamaeleon Cloud Complex.
The segment in this Hubble composite image, called Chamaeleon Cloud I, reveals dusty-dark clouds where stars are forming, dazzling reflection nebulae glowing by the light of bright-blue young stars, and radiant knots called Herbig-Haro objects.
Herbig-Haro objects are bright clumps and arcs of interstellar gas, energized by jets expelled from infant stars (also called protostars) in the process of forming.
The white-orange cloud at the bottom of the image shows one of these protostars. White jets of hot gas ejected from the protostar’s poles create a Herbig-Haro object.
This image taken by NASA Hubble shows a segment of the 65-light-year wide star-forming region called the Chamaeleon Cloud Complex.
The segment in this Hubble composite image, called Chamaeleon Cloud I, reveals dusty-dark clouds where stars are forming, dazzling reflection nebulae glowing by the light of bright-blue young stars, and radiant knots called Herbig-Haro objects.
Herbig-Haro objects are bright clumps and arcs of interstellar gas, energized by jets expelled from infant stars (also called protostars) in the process of forming.
The white-orange cloud at the bottom of the image shows one of these protostars. White jets of hot gas ejected from the protostar’s poles create a Herbig-Haro object.
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Giada Arney is a planetary scientist and helps lead NASA’s upcoming DAVINCIMission. DAVINCI stands for “Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging” and the mission will provide clues to Venus’ past, hidden in surface rocks and atmospheric gases.
During two flybys, the DAVINCI spacecraft will study the cloud tops in ultraviolet light and measure heat emanating from the surface of the planet’s night side in search of geological clues of the planet's mysterious past. Eventually, a probe will make an hour-long descent to the planet’s surface, taking thousands of atmospheric measurements and images as it goes to help scientists better understand the past and present of this enigmatic world.
Giada is very excited about uncovering Venus’ hidden past. Leave your questions about Venus and DAVINCI in the comments and Giada will answer them!
During two flybys, the DAVINCI spacecraft will study the cloud tops in ultraviolet light and measure heat emanating from the surface of the planet’s night side in search of geological clues of the planet's mysterious past. Eventually, a probe will make an hour-long descent to the planet’s surface, taking thousands of atmospheric measurements and images as it goes to help scientists better understand the past and present of this enigmatic world.
Giada is very excited about uncovering Venus’ hidden past. Leave your questions about Venus and DAVINCI in the comments and Giada will answer them!
When dinosaurs roamed Earth 214 million years ago, an asteroid 3 miles wide struck what is now Canada.
In southeastern Québec lies Manicouagan Crater, one of the world’s largest and oldest impact craters. Today, the remnants of the crater are made visible by water and, sometimes, ice. This image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on January 20, 2022.
In southeastern Québec lies Manicouagan Crater, one of the world’s largest and oldest impact craters. Today, the remnants of the crater are made visible by water and, sometimes, ice. This image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on January 20, 2022.
This image acquired by Landsat 8 shows colorful swirls of suspended sediments & phytoplankton along the shores of the Manitoba Great Lakes!
The lakebeds are covered in fine-grained silt, clay, and calcium-carbonate sediments, which give some lakes their chalky blue hues. Norman Kuring, a retired researcher from NASA’s Ocean Biology group, applied color-filtering techniques to the image to draw out these fine details in the water. The features would not be as apparent to the unaided human eye.
The lakebeds are covered in fine-grained silt, clay, and calcium-carbonate sediments, which give some lakes their chalky blue hues. Norman Kuring, a retired researcher from NASA’s Ocean Biology group, applied color-filtering techniques to the image to draw out these fine details in the water. The features would not be as apparent to the unaided human eye.
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While this might be on a scale larger than the Winter Olympics, we love to see the magic that comes from two galaxies working together.
Galaxies can merge, collide, or brush past one another — each of which has a significant impact on their shapes and structures. The subject of this image is named Arp 282, an interacting galaxy pair that is composed of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 169 (bottom) and the galaxy IC 1559 (top).
Tidal forces occur when an object’s gravity causes another object to distort or stretch. The direction of the tidal forces will be away from the lower-mass object and towards the higher-mass object. When two galaxies interact, gas, dust, and even entire solar systems will be drawn away from one galaxy towards the other by these tidal forces. This process can actually be seen in action in this image — delicate streams of matter have formed, visibly linking the two galaxies.
Galaxies can merge, collide, or brush past one another — each of which has a significant impact on their shapes and structures. The subject of this image is named Arp 282, an interacting galaxy pair that is composed of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 169 (bottom) and the galaxy IC 1559 (top).
Tidal forces occur when an object’s gravity causes another object to distort or stretch. The direction of the tidal forces will be away from the lower-mass object and towards the higher-mass object. When two galaxies interact, gas, dust, and even entire solar systems will be drawn away from one galaxy towards the other by these tidal forces. This process can actually be seen in action in this image — delicate streams of matter have formed, visibly linking the two galaxies.
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter depicts alluvial fans, fan-shaped deposits emerging from regions of steep topography. On Earth, alluvial fans usually come about through interactions with flowing water. The alluvial fans on Mars are likely ancient records of flowing water. This image shows part of one of those fans, which has been eroded.
ce conditions on Lake Erie can vary significantly from day to day.
In late January 2022, the lake froze over entirely, with ice cover growing well beyond the seasonal average to reach 94 percent. By Feb. 3, the ice cover dropped to about 62 percent before rising again to 90 percent by Feb. 5. The extent and thickness of the ice on the Great Lakes are mainly influenced by air temperature and wind.
In late January 2022, the lake froze over entirely, with ice cover growing well beyond the seasonal average to reach 94 percent. By Feb. 3, the ice cover dropped to about 62 percent before rising again to 90 percent by Feb. 5. The extent and thickness of the ice on the Great Lakes are mainly influenced by air temperature and wind.
An image taken by NASA Hubble shows the Lagoon Nebula. At its heart, a young star shines 200,000 times brighter than our Sun!
At the center of the photo, there are blasts of powerful ultraviolet radiation and hurricane-like stellar winds, carving out a fantasy landscape of ridges, cavities, and mountains of gas and dust. This mayhem is all happening at the heart of the Lagoon Nebula, a vast stellar nursery located 4,000 light-years away and visible in binoculars simply as a smudge of light with a bright core.
This photo gives us a window seat to the universe’s extraordinary tapestry of stellar birth and destruction. ✨
At the center of the photo, there are blasts of powerful ultraviolet radiation and hurricane-like stellar winds, carving out a fantasy landscape of ridges, cavities, and mountains of gas and dust. This mayhem is all happening at the heart of the Lagoon Nebula, a vast stellar nursery located 4,000 light-years away and visible in binoculars simply as a smudge of light with a bright core.
This photo gives us a window seat to the universe’s extraordinary tapestry of stellar birth and destruction. ✨
Wow, talk about magnetic. 😍
This image of a total solar eclipse depicts a bright red glow surrounding the Moon's silhouette: the solar chromosphere. NASA scientists are researching how magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface evolve through the chromosphere to cause such brilliant eruptions in its outer atmosphere.
“The Sun is both beautiful and mysterious, with constant activity triggered by its magnetic fields,” said Ryohko Ishikawa, solar physicist at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo.
This image of a total solar eclipse depicts a bright red glow surrounding the Moon's silhouette: the solar chromosphere. NASA scientists are researching how magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface evolve through the chromosphere to cause such brilliant eruptions in its outer atmosphere.
“The Sun is both beautiful and mysterious, with constant activity triggered by its magnetic fields,” said Ryohko Ishikawa, solar physicist at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo.
This image is from a series of NASA Hubble observations investigating weird and wonderful galaxies found by the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project. This was the largest galaxy census ever carried out. It relied on crowdsourcing time from more than 100,000 volunteers to classify 900,000 unexamined galaxies in only 175 days! The project achieved what would have been years of work for a professional astronomer, and has led to a steady stream of similar astronomical citizen science projects.
This image shows what appears to be three galaxies merging and all of the chaotic star formation and tidal distortions caused by the merger. The location of this mass of dust and bright swirls of stars lies 681 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cancer.
This image shows what appears to be three galaxies merging and all of the chaotic star formation and tidal distortions caused by the merger. The location of this mass of dust and bright swirls of stars lies 681 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cancer.
A Black Brant IX sounding rocket is set to launch this week from Alaska carrying the LAMP mission. LAMP, short for "Loss through Auroral Microburst Pulsations, will study an often-overlooked kind of aurora.
Auroras come in different shapes and colors, waving their ribbons of vibrant green, red, and purple across the sky. But one variety of aurora displays a peculiar behavior: it pulsates.
Like all aurora, pulsating aurora are set alight by electrons (and occasionally protons) from near-Earth space. These electrons plunge into our atmosphere and collide with atoms and molecules, causing them to glow in their distinctive colors – red and green by oxygen, blue by nitrogen – as they release their excess energy.
Auroras come in different shapes and colors, waving their ribbons of vibrant green, red, and purple across the sky. But one variety of aurora displays a peculiar behavior: it pulsates.
Like all aurora, pulsating aurora are set alight by electrons (and occasionally protons) from near-Earth space. These electrons plunge into our atmosphere and collide with atoms and molecules, causing them to glow in their distinctive colors – red and green by oxygen, blue by nitrogen – as they release their excess energy.
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A head-on collision between two galaxies fueled a triangular-shaped group of new stars forming.
In this new image from NASA Hubble, astronomers suggest that these two galaxies passed through each other, igniting the uniquely shaped star-formation firestorm in NGC 2445 (the galaxy on the right), where thousands of stars are bursting to life. The galaxy on the right hasn’t escaped the one on the left (NGC 2444).
In this new image from NASA Hubble, astronomers suggest that these two galaxies passed through each other, igniting the uniquely shaped star-formation firestorm in NGC 2445 (the galaxy on the right), where thousands of stars are bursting to life. The galaxy on the right hasn’t escaped the one on the left (NGC 2444).
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This image shows numerous small clouds, letting us see a rising column of air as tiny water droplets. These are known as towering cumulus clouds.
Some very large thunderstorms appear toward the background of the photo, and several have extensive “table-top” features known as anvil clouds. These flat cloud surfaces develop when rising air reaches a level in the atmosphere where it is prevented from rising further.
Some very large thunderstorms appear toward the background of the photo, and several have extensive “table-top” features known as anvil clouds. These flat cloud surfaces develop when rising air reaches a level in the atmosphere where it is prevented from rising further.
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Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world, covering 10,000 square kilometers.
Abundant rainfall around the Altiplano (a wide and high part of the Andes) had the Salar de Uyuni brimming nearly to its edges, above normal levels.
“This was probably related to the onset of a significant La Niña event. Strong La Niñas during the rainy season are related to positive rainfall anomalies in the southern Altiplano,” said hydrologist Jorge Molina Carpio of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés.
Abundant rainfall around the Altiplano (a wide and high part of the Andes) had the Salar de Uyuni brimming nearly to its edges, above normal levels.
“This was probably related to the onset of a significant La Niña event. Strong La Niñas during the rainy season are related to positive rainfall anomalies in the southern Altiplano,” said hydrologist Jorge Molina Carpio of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés.
These twin galaxies, NGC 4496A & B are in the center of the frame of this image from NASA Hubble. Even though these galaxies look like they are close together, they are at vastly different distances from both Earth and one another. NGC 4496A is 47 million light-years from Earth while NGC 4496B is 212 million light-years away.
These galaxies aren’t interacting due to the distance between them, but appear to overlap in this image due to a chance alignment. This gives astronomers an opportunity to observe the distribution of dust in these galaxies. Dust absorbs starlight, making stars seem dimmer and shifting their light towards longer wavelengths.
By measuring how starlight from background galaxies is affected by dust in intervening galaxies, astronomers can map out where the dust is in the foreground galaxy’s spiral arms. The resulting “dust maps” help astronomers calibrate measurements of everything from cosmological distances to the types of stars populating galaxies.
These galaxies aren’t interacting due to the distance between them, but appear to overlap in this image due to a chance alignment. This gives astronomers an opportunity to observe the distribution of dust in these galaxies. Dust absorbs starlight, making stars seem dimmer and shifting their light towards longer wavelengths.
By measuring how starlight from background galaxies is affected by dust in intervening galaxies, astronomers can map out where the dust is in the foreground galaxy’s spiral arms. The resulting “dust maps” help astronomers calibrate measurements of everything from cosmological distances to the types of stars populating galaxies.
Centaurus A is the result of two galaxies that merged nearly 100 million years ago.💫
At the core of the misshapen elliptical galaxy is an active supermassive black hole, made visible by this multiwavelength image. The image depicts spectacular jets of material erupting from its core, sending material into space well beyond the galaxy's limits!
With upcoming observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light, researchers hope to better pinpoint the mass of the galaxy's central supermassive black hole as well as gather evidence that shows where the jets originate.
At the core of the misshapen elliptical galaxy is an active supermassive black hole, made visible by this multiwavelength image. The image depicts spectacular jets of material erupting from its core, sending material into space well beyond the galaxy's limits!
With upcoming observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light, researchers hope to better pinpoint the mass of the galaxy's central supermassive black hole as well as gather evidence that shows where the jets originate.
The LAMP mission, short for Loss through Auroral Microburst Pulsations, launched from Alaska on Saturday, Mar. 5, at 6:27 a.m. EST on a suborbital sounding rocket. Our scientist from NASA Goddard said good data was received for their experiment!
The mission hopes to understand an often overlooked kind of aurora, called a pulsating aurora, and to test a theory on what causes them
The mission hopes to understand an often overlooked kind of aurora, called a pulsating aurora, and to test a theory on what causes them
“Hubble hasn't just changed the field of astronomy; it's really changed all of our perceptions of the universe and our place in it.”
To celebrate #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re highlighting Elizabeth Tammi, the social media lead for @NASAHubble. She grew up near Florida’s Space Coast and was interested in space science from an early age. She started with an internship at NASA that led her to her current position.
Elizabeth’s favorite part of her job is connecting with the public about the Hubble mission.
“Finding ways to share new discoveries and images, while also communicating the legacy of such a groundbreaking and ongoing mission, is super rewarding and always exciting.”
Elizabeth’s favorite Hubble image, pictured above, is of the Bubble Nebula!
To celebrate #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re highlighting Elizabeth Tammi, the social media lead for @NASAHubble. She grew up near Florida’s Space Coast and was interested in space science from an early age. She started with an internship at NASA that led her to her current position.
Elizabeth’s favorite part of her job is connecting with the public about the Hubble mission.
“Finding ways to share new discoveries and images, while also communicating the legacy of such a groundbreaking and ongoing mission, is super rewarding and always exciting.”
Elizabeth’s favorite Hubble image, pictured above, is of the Bubble Nebula!
Swipe to see this image embroidered!
This image of canola in bloom near Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada was captured by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 on July 23, 2019. And, it was later embroidered by Goddard social media specialist Katy Mersmann.
One of Katy’s hobbies is embroidery and for inspiration, she uses climate and Earth science data. Today, we’re celebrating #WomensHistoryMonth with this fun combination of work and play.
“I think there’s a really cool confluence between traditionally women’s crafts and also the STEM fields. I love embroidering something and sending pictures of it to one of the scientists I work with being like, ‘Hey! I put your data in fabric.’
This image of canola in bloom near Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada was captured by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 on July 23, 2019. And, it was later embroidered by Goddard social media specialist Katy Mersmann.
One of Katy’s hobbies is embroidery and for inspiration, she uses climate and Earth science data. Today, we’re celebrating #WomensHistoryMonth with this fun combination of work and play.
“I think there’s a really cool confluence between traditionally women’s crafts and also the STEM fields. I love embroidering something and sending pictures of it to one of the scientists I work with being like, ‘Hey! I put your data in fabric.’
City of stars, are you shining just for me? 💫
An image taken by NASA Hubble shows a lenticular galaxy, NGC 1947. Lenticular galaxies like NGC 1947 are between a spiral and elliptical shape.
Despite being home to millions of stars, NGC 1947 has lost most of its star-forming material, leaving this galaxy to continue to fade with time.
An image taken by NASA Hubble shows a lenticular galaxy, NGC 1947. Lenticular galaxies like NGC 1947 are between a spiral and elliptical shape.
Despite being home to millions of stars, NGC 1947 has lost most of its star-forming material, leaving this galaxy to continue to fade with time.
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