Author: NeRD

Webb mail: US Priority Mail stamps to again star deep space images in 2025

NeRD

The universe of United States postage stamps featuring James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) imagery is set to expand again in 2025. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on Monday (Dec. 16) revealed that its upcoming Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express flat rate stamps will feature two deep space vistas captured by the Webb observatory. Scheduled for release on Jan. 21, the stamps will be the second set to use JWST photos after the pair issued this year. “USPS celebrates the continued exploration of deep space with an extremely high-definition image…

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‘Edge of Space’: Ambitious short film chronicles daring flight of X-15 rocket plane test pilot (video)

NeRD

EDGE OF SPACE Trailer – YouTube Watch On Getting noticed in Hollywood is a Herculean task for up-and-coming young filmmakers. If you wanted to put a holiday spin on it, you could say they’re often given a snowball’s chance in Hell. Dreams of being recognized are often disappointingly dim, unless you’ve got a hot screenplay or, in the case of writer/director Jean de Meuron, a professional pulse-pounding short film centered around a brave USAF test pilot recruited by NASA for a suborbital mission aboard the X-15 rocket-powered aircraft. Set in…

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NASA Missions Spot Cosmic ‘Wreath’ Displaying Stellar Circle of Life

NeRD

X-ray: NASA/CXC; Infrared: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeilder, E.Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand Since antiquity, wreaths have symbolized the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is fitting then that one of the best places for astronomers to learn more about the stellar lifecycle resembles a giant holiday wreath itself. The star cluster NGC 602 lies on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, about 200,000 light-years from Earth. The stars in NGC 602 have fewer heavier elements compared to…

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Jovian Vortex Hunters Spun Up Over New Paper

NeRD

2 min read Jovian Vortex Hunters Spun Up Over New Paper Jumping Jupiter! The results are in, storm chasers! Thanks to your help over the last two years the Jovian Vortex Hunter project has published a catalog of 7222 vortices, which you can download here. Each vortex is an enormous swirling windstorm in Jupiter’s atmosphere–terrifying yet beautiful to behold. The vortices are labeled by color (“white” is most common, then “dark”, then “red”). The catalog reveals distributions of vortex sizes, aspect ratios, and locations on the planet. For example, your…

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Astronomers discover 1st binary stars orbiting supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way

NeRD

Astronomers have discovered the first binary stars orbiting a supermassive black hole. The stellar pairing in question orbits the cosmic titan at the heart of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*. The binary stars, designated D9, were found in data collected by the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located atop Cerro Paranal, an 8,645-foot-tall (2,635-meter) mountain in Chile’s Atacama Desert. By measuring their velocity, the team behind the discovery was surprised to find they were two stars, not one. The fact that these binary stars so near Sgr A* have survived the…

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Transforming Space Exploration: NASA and Northrop Grumman’s Digital Engineering Collaboration

NeRD

Northrop Grumman & NASA Digital Engineering SAA Kick-off meeting at Thompson Space Innovation Center.  NASA’s Digital Engineering is paving the way for exciting new possibilities. Their latest Space Act Agreement with Northrop Grumman promises to accelerate progress in space exploration through innovative collaboration. Under NASA’s HQ Office of the Chief Engineer, Terry Hill the Digital Engineering Program Manager, recently signed a Space Act Agreement with Northrop Grumman Space Sector to explore digital engineering approaches to sharing information between industry partners and NASA. This collaboration aims to support NASA’s mission by…

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Artemis II Core Stage Moves to High Bay 2

NeRD

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems transport lower the agency’s 212-foot-tall SLS (Space Launch System) core stage into High Bay 2 at the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The one-of-a kind lifting beam is designed to lift the core stage from the transfer aisle to High Bay 2 where it will remain while teams stack the two solid rocket boosters on top of mobile launcher 1 for the SLS core stage.

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Station Science Top News: Dec. 13, 2024

NeRD

Benchmarks for solidifying metal alloys Researchers report benchmark data for modeling the growth of specific types of microstructures that form during solidification of metal alloys under different conditions. These microstructures affect the properties of materials and products such as refrigeration devices and solar cells. The ESA (European Space Agency) Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition in Solidification Processing (CETSOL) investigation studied the processes of metal alloy solidification and the crystal patterns that form as liquids transition to solids. Results could improve ground-based development of lightweight, high-performance structural materials for space and ground applications. Microgravity…

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Watch SpaceX Starship test fire engines ahead of flight 7 launch (video)

NeRD

Things are getting hot for SpaceX’s next Starship launch. SpaceX fired up its next Starship spacecraft during an engine test over the weekend, ahead of the company’s 7th orbital test flight of the gargantuan megarocket. SpaceX ignited Starship’s Raptor engines for approximately 10 seconds on Sunday, Dec. 15, as a part of a series of checkouts to ensure the vehicle is healthy before being transported to the launchpad where it will be integrated with its first stage Super Heavy booster. Its next launch, Integrated Flight Test-7 (IFT-7), is expected around…

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