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Shot Away from its Companion, Giant Star Makes Waves

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2012Sciencebow shock, caltech, giant star, infrared light, infrared portrait, jet propulsion laboratory, NASA, pasadena, sonic boom, Space, spitzer space telescope, survey explorer, visible colors, wise, zeta ophiuchi

Like a ship plowing through still waters, the giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is speeding through space, making waves in the dust ahead. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has captured a dramatic, infrared portrait of these glowing waves, also known as a bow shock.

Astronomers theorize that this star was once sitting pretty next to a companion star even heftier than itself. But when that star exploded, Zeta Ophiuchi was kicked away and sent flying. Zeta Ophiuchi, which is 20 times more massive and 80,000 times brighter than our sun, is racing along at about 54,000 mph (24 kilometers per second). (more…)

From Cassini for the Holidays: A Splendor Seldom Seen

By Guest PostDecember 20, 2012Sciencecarolyn porco, cassini spacecraft, dark side, earth, european space agency, high solar phase, in saturns shadow, jpl, NASA, orbit, planet saturn, rings, saturn, sun

PASADENA, Calif — Just in time for the holidays, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn for more than eight years now, has delivered another glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings.

On Oct. 17, 2012, during its 174th orbit around the gas giant, Cassini was deliberately positioned within Saturn’s shadow, a perfect location from which to look in the direction of the sun and take a backlit view of the rings and the dark side of the planet. Looking back towards the sun is a geometry referred to by planetary scientists as “high solar phase;” near the center of your target’s shadow is the highest phase possible. This is a very scientifically advantageous and coveted viewing position, as it can reveal details about both the rings and atmosphere that cannot be seen in lower solar phase. (more…)

Exploding Star Missing From Formation of Solar System

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012ScienceChicago, cosmic cloud, decay, energetic atom, exploding star, formation, gas, haolan tang, iron 60, meteorite, NASA, nicolas dauphas, notion, radioactive isotope, solar system, solar system material, spitzer space telescope, stellar explosion, supernova, time, university

A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star prompted the formation of the solar system.

In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material. As cosmochemists, they look for remnants of stellar explosions in meteorites to help determine the conditions under which the solar system formed. (more…)

Monitoring Hurricanes: Georgia Tech Engineers Assist NASA with Instrument for Remotely Measuring Storm Intensity

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Environment, Scienceairborne system, analog beam former, aperture, array antenna, data, electromagnetic energy, electromagnetic radiation, fan beams, flight center, georgia, gigahertz range, glenn hopkins, global hawk, gtri, high winds, hirad, hurricane imaging radiometer, in the system, innovation research, jim maloney, knowledge, marshall, massachusetts, michigan, microwave, microwave radiation, minimizing noise, NASA, next generation system, noaa, numerical modeling, ocean waves, orbit, pacific frontal system, polarized array, project, prosensing, radiometer, rain rate, research institute, satellite, sbir, sea foam, sensitivity, small business, Space, spatial resolution, storm, surface wind speeds, synthetic, tech, timothy miller, university, wind direction

A device designed by engineers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is part of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), an experimental airborne system developed by the Earth Science Office at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

Known as an analog beam-former, the GTRI device is part of the radiometer, which is being tested by NASA on a Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. The radiometer measures microwave radiation emitted by the sea foam that is produced when high winds blow across ocean waves. By measuring the electromagnetic radiation, scientists can remotely assess surface wind speeds at multiple locations within the hurricanes. (more…)

Curiosity Rover Nearing Yellowknife Bay

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Sciencecalculation, camera, chemcam, chemistry, curiosity, curiosity traverse map, glenelg area, jet propulsion laboratory, layered martian outcrop, mars, mars rover, mast camera, mastcam, mount sharp, NASA, navcam, navigation camera, outcrop, pasadena, point lake, rick welch, rock composition, sam, sample analysis, science laboratory mission, shaler, sol 123, status report, yellowknife bay

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. –– The NASA Mars rover Curiosity drove 63 feet (19 meters) northeastward early Monday, Dec. 10, approaching a step down into a slightly lower area called “Yellowknife Bay,” where researchers intend to choose a rock to drill.

The drive was Curiosity’s fourth consecutive driving day since leaving a site near an outcrop called “Point Lake,” where it arrived last month. These drives totaled 260 feet (79 meters) and brought the mission’s total odometry to 0.37 mile (598 meters). (more…)

NASA’s GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2012Scienceapollo lunar missions, basin rings, bouguer gravity anomalies, cambridge, celestial body, crater central peaks, earth, ebb, flow, grail, gravity anomalies, gravity field, gravity field map, gravity gradients, gravity recovery, interior laboratory, jeff andrews hanna, linear gravity anomalies, maria zuber, mark wieczorek, massachusetts institute, mission, moon, moon basin, moon dike map, moon dikes, NASA, olivine materials map, probe, rocky planets, solar system, solar system history, Technology, tectonic structures, thin moon crust, volcanic landforms

PASADENA, Calif. — Twin NASA probes orbiting Earth’s moon have generated the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body.

The new map, created by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, is allowing scientists to learn about the moon’s internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. Data from the two washing machine-sized spacecraft also will provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved.

The gravity field map reveals an abundance of features never before seen in detail, such as tectonic structures, volcanic landforms, basin rings, crater central peaks and numerous simple, bowl-shaped craters. Data also show the moon’s gravity field is unlike that of any terrestrial planet in our solar system. (more…)

Space Life

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Scienceask magazine, astrobiology, biology, c elegans, chandran sabanayagam, cubesat projects, dbi, desg, DNA, does life exist, earth, Environment, evolution, microbes, microscopic worms, NASA, physicist, proteins, space life, space research, telemetry, trl3, universe, zero gravity

NASA funds astrobiology research by Delaware Biotechnology Institute scientist

Does life exist anywhere else in the universe? That’s the type of broad but poignant question NASA likes to ask, according to Chandran Sabanayagam, associate scientist in the Bioimaging Center at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI). And he would know, because he’s preparing to help answer it.

NASA will receive $100 billion from the federal government over the next five years to assure America is number one in space exploration, according to Astrobiology.com. As part of its push to seek new partnerships and broaden its vision, NASA is offering grants to people conducting transformational science. With this opportunity, Sabanayagam is merging his love of physics and biology. (more…)

NASA Mars Rover Fully Analyzes First Soil Samples

By Guest PostDecember 4, 2012Scienceanalyze, carbon organics, chemin, chemistry, chlorine, curiosity rover, gale crater, ingredient, john grotzinger, ken edgett, life, mahli camera, mars, martian organics, martian soil, mount, NASA, organic compounds, pathfinder, paul mahaffy, rock sample, rocknest, sam, sample analysis, sharp, sulfur, water, water molecules, windblown dust

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has used its full array of instruments to analyze Martian soil for the first time, and found a complex chemistry within the Martian soil. Water and sulfur and chlorine-containing substances, among other ingredients, showed up in samples Curiosity’s arm delivered to an analytical laboratory inside the rover.

Detection of the substances during this early phase of the mission demonstrates the laboratory’s capability to analyze diverse soil and rock samples over the next two years. Scientists also have been verifying the capabilities of the rover’s instruments. (more…)

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