The fine detail in images of prominences in the sun's atmosphere from NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer – such as the red swirls shown here – are challenging the way scientists understand such events.
The fine detail in images of prominences in the sun's atmosphere from NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer – such as the red swirls shown here – are challenging the way scientists understand such events.
This image shows a composite view of the Crab nebula, an iconic supernova remnant in our Milky Way galaxy, as viewed by the Herschel Space Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Herschel is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission with important NASA contributions, and Hubble is a NASA mission with important ESA contributions.
A wispy and filamentary cloud of gas and dust, the Crab nebula is the remnant of a supernova explosion that was observed by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054.
The image combines Hubble's view of the nebula at visible wavelengths, obtained using three different filters sensitive to the emission from oxygen and sulphur ions and is shown here in blue. Herschel's far-infrared image reveals the emission from dust in the nebula and is shown here in red.
While studying the dust content of the Crab nebula with Herschel, a team of astronomers have detected emission lines from argon hydride, a molecular ion containing the noble gas argon. This is the first detection of a noble-gas based compound in space.
The Herschel image is based on data taken with the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) instrument at a wavelength of 70 microns; the Hubble image is based on archival data from the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).
Image credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/MESS Key Programme Supernova Remnant Team; NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University)
A dying star, called the Helix nebula, is shown surrounded by the tracks of asteroids in an image captured by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
Status Update, Dec. 12: GPM Begins Final Comprehensive Performance Test Dec. 12, 2013
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission's Core Observatory began its final Comprehensive Performance Test at Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on Dec. 9, 2013. The test will run 24/7 over the next few weeks as every system and subsystem is turned on and run through its tasks.
This is the first time all the Core Observatory systems have been powered on since its shipment to Japan. The results of the tests will be compared to pre-shipment performance test results to ensure than no problems have arisen due to transit, and that the spacecraft is prepared for on-orbit operations.
GPM's Core Observatory has more than 30 systems and subsystems that are being tested. Almost all the systems have fully redundant electronics in case of a failure on-orbit, so each test has to be run more than once. The engineering team for each system monitors the progress around the clock in the control room outside the clean room at Tanegashima Space Center.
The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) may be the best-known faint object in the sky. It floats through space in a region of the constellation Orion the Hunter that defines the figure’s belt. The Horsehead is a dark nebula, a volume of dust and super-cold gas that eventually will become a star-forming region.
