Tag: Science Mission Directorate

Hubble Rings in a New Galactic View

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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy LEDA 857074. ESA/Hubble & NASA, I. Chilingari The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is situated in the Perseus Cluster, also known as Abell 426, 320 million light-years from Earth. It’s a barred spiral galaxy known as MCG+07-07-072, seen here among a number of photobombing stars that are much closer to Earth than it is. MCG+07-07-072 has quite an unusual shape for a spiral galaxy, with thin arms emerging from the ends of its barred core to draw a near-circle around its…

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NASA Funds Research Projects Advancing STEM Career Development

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Credit: NASA NASA has awarded $6 million to 20 teams from emerging research institutions across the United States supporting projects that offer career development opportunities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. This is the third round of seed funding awarded through the agency’s MOSAICS (Mentoring and Opportunities in STEM with Academic Institutions for Community Success) program, formerly the Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program. The program seeks to expand access to NASA research opportunities in the science and engineering disciplines, as well as to NASA’s workforce. “The STEM workforce continues…

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Hubble Spotlights a Supernova

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2 min read Hubble Spotlights a Supernova This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy LEDA 857074. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy LEDA 857074, located in the constellation Eridanus. LEDA 857074 is a barred spiral galaxy, with partially broken spiral arms. The image also captured a supernova, named SN 2022ADQZ, shining brightly on the right side of the galaxy’s bar. Several evolutionary paths can lead to a supernova explosion. One is the death of a supermassive star. When…

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NASA Mission to Study Mysteries in the Origin of Solar Radio Waves

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3 min read NASA Mission to Study Mysteries in the Origin of Solar Radio Waves NASA’s CubeSat Radio Interferometry Experiment, or CURIE, is scheduled to launch July 9, 2024, to investigate the unresolved origins of radio waves coming from the Sun. CURIE will investigate where solar radio waves originate in coronal mass ejections, like this one seen in 304- and 171-angstrom wavelengths by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientists first noticed these radio waves decades ago, and over the years they’ve determined the radio waves come from…

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NASA@ My Library and Partners Engage Millions in Eclipse Training and Preparation

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2 min read NASA@ My Library and Partners Engage Millions in Eclipse Training and Preparation The Space Science Institute, with funding from the NASA Science Mission Directorate and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, provided unprecedented training, support, and supplies to 15,000 libraries in the U.S. and territories in support of public engagement during the 2023 and 2024 eclipses. From September 2022 to September 2024, these efforts included: Co-development efforts with 3 NASA@ My Library Partner Libraries in the “Square of Awesome” (where both the total and annular eclipse crossed) led…

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NASA to Discuss Outcome of 5th Biennial Asteroid Threat Exercise

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Representatives from NASA, FEMA, and the planetary defense community participate in the fifth Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise on April 2 and 3, 2024, to discuss the nation’s ability to respond effectively to the threat of a potentially hazardous asteroid or comet. Credits: NASA/JHU-APL/Ed Whitman NASA will host a virtual media briefing at 3:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 20, to discuss a new summary of a recent tabletop exercise to simulate national and international responses to a hypothetical asteroid impact threat. The fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise was…

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NASA Awards Advance Technologies for Future Habitable Worlds Mission

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This artist’s concept features one of multiple initial possible design options for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab NASA announced Friday it selected three industry proposals to help develop technologies for future large space telescopes and plan for the agency’s Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept, which could be the first space telescope designed to search for life outside our solar system. The mission would directly image Earth-like planets around stars like our Sun and study their atmospheres for the chemical signatures of life,…

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Dr. Lori Glaze to begin six-month Detail as Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for ESDMD

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3 min read Dr. Lori Glaze to begin six-month Detail as Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for ESDMD May 17, 2024 I am pleased to share some exciting news regarding senior executive detail backfills to provide broadening opportunities for some of our leadership team. Agency leadership has chosen Dr. Lori Glaze to begin a six-month detail as the Acting Deputy AA for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) due to the transition of Kelvin Manning back to KSC at the end of May 2024. It is expected that this detail…

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Meet NASA Women Behind World’s Largest Flying Laboratory

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s DC-8 aircraft – the world’s largest flying science laboratory – began its science missions in 1987 and since then, has flown in service of the science community over places like Antarctica, Greenland, and Thailand. Aircraft like the DC-8 have enabled scientists to ask questions about life on Earth and explore them in a way that only NASA’s Airborne Science program can make happen. After 37 years, the DC-8 will retire to Idaho State University, where it will serve…

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Hubble Celebrates the 15th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 4

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8 Min Read Hubble Celebrates the 15th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 4 Michael Good (on the end of the shuttle’s Remote Manipulator System) works to refurbish and upgrade Hubble during Servicing Mission 4. Credits: NASA Fifteen years ago, human hands touched NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope for the last time. As astronauts performed finishing tasks on the telescope during its final servicing mission in May 2009, they knew they had successfully concluded one of the most challenging and ambitious series of spacewalks ever conducted. But they couldn’t have known at the…

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