Showing posts with label NASA Image of the Day (Large). Show all posts
Showing posts with label NASA Image of the Day (Large). Show all posts
The LAGEOS I, Laser Geodynamics Satellite, was launched on May 4, 1976 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The two-foot diameter, 900-pound satellite orbited the Earth from pole to pole and measured the movements of the Earth's surface relative to earthquakes, continental drift, and other geophysical phenomena.The mirrored surface of the satellite precisely reflected laser beams from ground stations for accurate ranging measurements. Scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. came up with the idea for the satellite and built it at the Marshall Center. Image Credit: NASA/MSFC



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2502.html
09:19
Springtime in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of France, as in most places, is a season of abundant growth. On April 20, 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of the dynamic growth of a springtime phytoplankton bloom. The swirling colors indicate the presence of vast numbers of phytoplankton – tiny plant-like microorganisms that live in both fresh and salt water. Although these organisms live year-round in the Bay of Biscay, it is only when conditions are right that explosive blooms occur. In spring, the lengthening sunlight, the increased nutrient load swept into the Bay from ocean currents and from snowmelt carried by freshwater rivers, combined with warming waters create the perfect conditions to spur phytoplankton in to tremendous growth. The result is a swirling, multi-hued discoloration that can be easily seen from space. Each year, typically from March through April, such blooms occur in the Bay of Biscay. By May, however, conditions are not as favorable and the blooms fade, then disappear. Image Credit: NASA GSFC



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2499.html
09:17
The window in the sidewall of the 8- by 6-foot supersonic wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center shows a 1.79 percent scale model of a future concept supersonic aircraft built by The Boeing Company. In recent tests, researchers evaluated the performance of air inlets mounted on top of the model to see how changing the amount of airflow at supersonic speeds through the inlet affected performance. The inlet on the pilot's right side (top inlet in this side view) is larger because it contains a remote-controlled device through which the flow of air could be changed. The work is part of ongoing research in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate to address the challenges of making future supersonic flight over land possible. Researchers are testing overall vehicle design and performance options to reduce emissions and noise, and identifying whether the volume of sonic booms can be reduced to a level that leads to a reversal of the current ruling that prohibits commercial supersonic flight over land. Image Credit: NASA/Quentin Schwinn



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2497.html
08:47
NASA launched the Earth Observing System's flagship satellite "Terra," named for Earth, on December 18, 1999. Terra has been collecting data about Earth's changing climate. On February 24, 2000, sensors on NASA's Terra satellite began opening their shutters and making their first observations. The mission ushered in a decade of observations from NASA's Earth Observing System, a coordinated series of satellites that monitor how Earth is changing. This image is based largely on observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) - a sensor aboard the Terra Satellite - on July 11, 2005. Small gaps in MODIS’ coverage between overpasses, as well as Antarctica (which is in polar darkness in July), have been filled in using GOES weather satellites and the latest version of the NASA Blue Marble.)Image Credit: NASA



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2495.html
08:32
VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. – Technicians work on the payload fairing that will protect NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft during launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. Launch is currently scheduled no earlier than May 28, 2013.The IRIS satellite will improve our understanding of how heat and energy move through the deepest levels of the sun's atmosphere, thereby increasing our ability to forecast space weather. On launch day, deployment of the Pegasus from Orbital’s L-1011 carrier aircraft will occur at a location over the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg off the central coast of California south of Big Sur.› About IRISImage Credit: VAFB/Randy Beaudoin



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2492.html
08:32
The Pioneer 11 spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral forty years ago, on April 5, 1973. Pioneer 11's path through Saturn's outer rings took it within 21,000 km of the planet, where it discovered two new moons (almost smacking into one of them in September 1979) and a new "F" ring. The spacecraft also discovered and charted the magnetosphere, magnetic field and mapped the general structure of Saturn's interior. The spacecraft's instruments measured the heat radiation from Saturn's interior and found that its planet-sized moon, Titan, was too cold to support life. This image from Pioneer 11 shows Saturn and its moon Titan. The irregularities in ring silhouette and shadow are due to technical anomalies in the preliminary data later corrected. At the time this image was taken, Pioneer was 2,846,000 km (1,768,422 miles) from Saturn.› NASA Celebrates Four Decades of Plucky Pioneer 11Image credit: NASA Ames



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2483.html
08:46
One of the Expedition 35 crew members aboard the Earth-orbiting International Space Station exposed this 400 millimeter night image of the greater New York City metropolitan area on March 23, 2103.For orientation purposes, note that Manhattan runs horizontal through the frame from left to the midpoint. Central Park is just a little to the left of frame center.Image Credit: NASA



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2480.html
07:31
A solar prominence began to bow out and the broke apart in a graceful, floating style in a little less than four hours (Mar. 16, 2013). The sequence was captured in extreme ultraviolet light. A large cloud of the particles appeared to hover further out above the surface before it faded away. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA › View associated video



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/multimedia/potw/potw-137.html
07:17
Russia security forces and their dog walk along the train track to the Soyuz launch pad, Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for March 29 and will send Expedition 35 Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov of Russia, and Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy of NASA and Alexander Misurkin of Russia on a five-and-a-half-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2478.html
07:32
On March 21, 2013, the P-3B waits outside the hangar at Thule Air Base with the Greenland Ice sheet in the background. IceBridge, a six-year NASA mission, is the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown. It will yield an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice. These flights will provide a yearly, multi-instrument look at the behavior of the rapidly changing features of the Greenland and Antarctic ice. Data collected during IceBridge will help scientists bridge the gap in polar observations between NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) -- in orbit since 2003 -- and ICESat-2, planned for early 2016. ICESat stopped collecting science data in 2009, making IceBridge critical for ensuring a continuous series of observations. IceBridge will use airborne instruments to map Arctic and Antarctic areas once a year. IceBridge flights are conducted in March-May over Greenland and in October-November over Antarctica. Other smaller airborne surveys around the world are also part of the IceBridge campaign. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/Michael Studinger



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2475b.html
07:31
Each spring and summer, as the air warms up and the sunlight beats down on the Greenland ice sheet, sapphire-colored ponds spring up like swimming pools. As snow and ice melt atop the glaciers, the water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface that are sometimes visible from space. These melt ponds and lakes sometimes disappear quickly - a phenomenon that scientists have observed firsthand in recent years.The natural-color image above was acquired on July 4, 2010, by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. This glacial ice field lies in southwestern Greenland, not far from Disko Bay (Disko Bugt in Danish) and Davis Strait. The center of the image is 68.91° North latitude and 48.54° West longitude. › Read MoreImage Credit: NASA



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2474.html
07:47
JSC2013-E-017269 (16 March 2013) --- The Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft lies passively on its side March 16 after bringing home Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin to a landing northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan following a one-day delay due to inclement weather in the area. The Soyuz initially landed upright before being tilted on its side for servicing after touching down to wrap up 144 days in space and 142 days for Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin at the International Space Station. The three crew members were flown by helicopter to Kustanai, Kazakhstan en route to their homes in Houston and Star City, Russia. Photo credit: Sergey Vigovskiy



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/multimedia/gallery/jsc2013e017269.html
08:01
What caused this outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown, star V838 Mon's outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became the brightest star in the entire Milky Way Galaxy in January 2002. Then, just as suddenly, it faded. A stellar flash like this had never been seen before -- supernovas and novas expel matter out into space. Although the V838 Mon flash appears to expel material into space, what is seen in the above image from the Hubble Space Telescope is actually an outwardly moving light echo of the bright flash. In a light echo, light from the flash is reflected by successively more distant rings in the complex array of ambient interstellar dust that already surrounded the star. V838 Mon lies about 20,000 light years away toward the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros), while the light echo above spans about six light years in diameter. Image Credit: NASA, ESA



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2472.html
07:04
Expedition 34 Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin, left with flowers, Flight Commander Kevin Ford of NASA, center with flowers, and Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy are greeted at the Kustanay Airport a few hours after they landed near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.Ford, Novitskiy, and Tarelkin are returning from 142 days onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 33 and 34 crews.Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2471.html
08:01
This image was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) flying onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. Gully landforms like those in this image are found in many craters in the mid-latitudes of Mars. Changes in gullies were first seen in images from the Mars Orbiter Camera in 2006, and studying such activity has been a high priority for HiRISE. Many examples of new deposits in gullies are now known. This image shows a new deposit in Gasa Crater, in the Southern mid-latitudes. The deposit is distinctively blue in enhanced-color images. This image was acquired in southern spring, but the flow that formed the deposit occurred in the preceding winter. Current gully activity appears to be concentrated in winter and early spring, and may be caused by the seasonal carbon dioxide frost that is visible in gully alcoves in the winter. Written by: Colin Dundas Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2470.html
07:31
Puffy white exhaust contrails stream from the engines of NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory in this image taken from an HU-25 Falcon flying about 30 feet behind. NASA researchers have begun a series of flights using the agency's DC-8 to study the effects of alternate biofuel on engine performance, emissions and aircraft-generated contrails at altitude.The DC-8 is using conventional JP-8 jet fuel, or a 50-50 blend of JP-8 and an alternative fuel of hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids that comes from camelina plants. More than a dozen instruments mounted on the Falcon jet are characterizing the soot and gases streaming from the DC-8, monitoring the way exhaust plumes change in composition as they mix with air, and investigating the role emissions play in contrail formation.Image Credit: NASA/Eddie Winstead



via NASA Image of the Day (Large) http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2466.html
07:02
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