Category: Nasa

Nasa

The sun might’ve just had a record-breaking number of visible sunspots

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On Aug. 8, scientists may have caught hundreds of individual sunspots on images produced by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). To us, sunspots might seem really tiny — but don’t be fooled. They are actually dark areas typically the size of the entire Earth on the sun’s surface. Plus, they exhibit strong magnetic fields that can fire off solar flares, which spew pulses of electromagnetic radiation into space. These are the explosions that lead to coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that can create solar storms on Earth. “The process of the…

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São Francisco’s Colorful Palette

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NASA This Dec. 27, 2023 image of the São Francisco River in southeast Brazil showcases the range of vibrant colors in the area including blues, reds, greens, and yellows. Much of the unvegetated land, such as unplanted fields and unpaved roads, appears in bright shades of red and yellow. This coloration comes from the underlying clays and soils of Brazil’s state of Minas Gerais. The photo focuses on the Três Marias Reservoir, a human-made waterbody fed by the São Francisco River. Access to freshwater for irrigation enables agriculture around the reservoir.…

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NASA Selects 5 New Roman Technology Fellows in Astrophysics

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9 min read NASA Selects 5 New Roman Technology Fellows in Astrophysics This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image treats viewers to a wonderfully detailed snapshot of the spiral galaxy NGC 3430 that lies 100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor. Several other galaxies, located relatively nearby to this one, are just beyond the frame of this image; one is close enough that gravitational interaction is driving some star formation in NGC 3430 – visible as bright-blue patches near to but outside of the galaxy’s main spiral structure.…

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NASA Citizen Scientists Spot Object Moving 1 Million Miles Per Hour

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4 min read NASA Citizen Scientists Spot Object Moving 1 Million Miles Per Hour This artist’s concept shows a hypothetical white dwarf, left, that has exploded as a supernova. The object at right is CWISE J1249, a star or brown dwarf ejected from this system as a result of the explosion. This scenario is one explanation for where CWISE J1249 came from. W.M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko Most familiar stars peacefully orbit the center of the Milky Way. But citizen scientists working on NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project have helped discover…

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The Marshall Star for August 14, 2024

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17 Min Read The Marshall Star for August 14, 2024 Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey Addresses Space and Missile Defense Symposium NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey gives a keynote address during the 2024 Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 8 at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville. Pelfrey shared updates on programs and projects that Marshall is leading for the agency, and highlighted strategic partnerships that have used Marshall’s deep technical expertise. More than 7,000 people attended this year’s symposium, including leaders and stakeholders from across…

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Darth Jar Jar? This ‘Lego Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy’ trailer imagines an odd, twisted universe (video)

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LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy | Official Trailer – YouTube Watch On It’s truly a wonder that this miraculous mashup of “Star Wars” proportions has never been properly executed in any of the many media arms this omnipotent franchise occupies, but leave it to Lego to tackle the task. Let the mixing and matching begin! Last Friday, at the the D23 fan event in Southern California, a new trailer for “Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy” was revealed that doubles down on the crazy concept of an alternate “Star…

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Will Boeing’s Starliner astronauts ride a SpaceX Dragon home in 2025? NASA could decide next week

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Boeing’s two Starliner astronauts may learn their fate in the next two weeks — but, for now, NASA still doesn’t know when the duo is coming home.  So, while the space agency’s best and brightest works with Boeing engineers to continue assessing data from ground tests of Starliner’s systems, the spacecraft’s crew, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will remain aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for now. Wilmore and Williams launched to the ISS aboard Starliner for the spacecraft’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) on June 5. Their mission,…

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NASA Invites Media to Watch Artemis II Rocket Adapter Roll Out

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Crews are preparing to move a key adapter for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket out of Marshall Space Flight Center’s Building 4708 to the agency’s Pegasus barge. The cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter connects the rocket’s core stage to the upper stage and helps protect the upper stage’s engine that will help propel the Artemis II mission around the Moon. Credits: Sam Lott/NASA To mark progress toward the first crewed flight test around the Moon in more than 50 years for the benefit of humanity, NASA will welcome media Wednesday,…

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SpaceX’s Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president. Here’s what it could mean for US space policy (op-ed)

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This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Svetla Ben-Itzhak is an Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations at  Johns Hopkins University Elon Musk officially endorsed Donald Trump for president of the United States on July 13, 2024, shortly after Trump survived an assassination attempt. Musk, a billionaire technology entrepreneur, has made groundbreaking contributions in multiple industries, particularly space travel and exploration. Even before Musk’s endorsement, Trump was reportedly considering giving the billionaire an advisory role if elected for a second term. With Musk’s public…

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A Practiced Escape

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NASA/Kim Shiflett In preparation for NASA’s Artemis II crewed mission, teams at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida practice getting out of the emergency escape, or egress, basket on Aug. 9, 2024. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad personnel a way to quickly escape from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad and where waiting emergency transport vehicles will then drive them away. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

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