NGC 1032 cleaves the quiet darkness of space in two in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. via NASA https://ift.tt/2KCXCuN
Hubble Catches a Spiral Galaxy in Disguise
Dodging powerful laser beams, a drone captured this stunning aerial view. The confrontation took place above the 8.2 meter diameter Very Large Telescopes of the Paranal Observatory on planet Earth. Firing during a test of the observatory’s 4 Laser Guide Star Facility, the lasers are ultimately battling against the blurring effect of atmospheric turbulence by creating artificial guide stars. The guide stars are actually emission from laser excited sodium atoms at high altitudes within the telescopic field of view. Guide star image fluctuations are used in real-time to correct for atmospheric blurring by controlling a deformable mirror in the telescope’s optical path. Known as adaptive optics, the technique can produce images at the diffraction limit of the telescope. That’s the same sharpness you would get if the telescope were in space. via NASA https://ift.tt/2IuA1vD
NASA Awards Contract for Advanced Computing Services
NASA has selected InuTeq LLC of Beltsville, Maryland, to provide world-class, high-performance computing to all NASA missions in support of mission-driven science and engineering.
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NASA Awards Contract for Strategic Analysis, Communications Support
NASA has selected Abacus Technology Corporation of Chevy Chase, Maryland, to provide research, analysis and communications support services at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
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NASA Invites Media to Upcoming Launch of Science to Space Station
Media accreditation now is open for the launch of the next SpaceX delivery of NASA science investigations, supplies and equipment to the International Space Station, currently targeted for late June.
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An Amazing View
Astronaut Ricky Arnold took this selfie during the May 16, 2018, spacewalk. via NASA https://ift.tt/2L8kFyR
Milky Way vs Airglow Australis
Captured last week after sunset on a Chilean autumn night, an exceptional airglow floods this allsky view from Las Campanas Observatory. The airglow was so intense it diminished parts of the Milky Way as it arced horizon to horizon above the high Atacama desert. Originating at an altitude similar to aurorae, the luminous airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light through chemical excitation. Commonly recorded in color by sensitive digital cameras, the airglow emission here is fiery in appearance. It is predominately from atmospheric oxygen atoms at extremely low densities and has often been present during southern hemisphere nights over the last few years. Like the Milky Way, on that dark night the strong airglow was very visible to the eye, but seen without color. Jupiter is brightest celestial beacon though, standing opposite the Sun and near the central bulge of the Milky Way rising above the eastern (top) horizon. The Large and Small Magellanic clouds both shine through the airglow to the lower left of the galactic plane, toward the southern horizon. via NASA https://ift.tt/2rL5eU4
Blue Waters
This image of the southern Greenland town of Narsaq was taken during an Operation IceBridge flight on Apr. 26, 2018. via NASA https://ift.tt/2Itd8IW
NASA Satellites Reveal Major Shifts in Global Freshwater
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists have combined an array of NASA satellite observations of Earth with data on human activities to map locations where freshwater is changing around the globe and to determine why.
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NASA Television Updates Coverage of Earth-Observing Satellite Duo Launch
Media are invited to cover the prelaunch briefing and launch of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO), NASA’s latest Earth-observing satellite mission.
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