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This page will be dedicated to a few of the outstanding science highlights generated through the use of NASA's R & A (including DA) funds. Please send us information on a result that you think is especially worth noting, and include the program from which funding was received. Feel free to submit your own work or that of a colleague who may be too shy to do so themselves. The Highlights will be posted in a random order, and we will number them sequentially only to help you find them as the list grows. You can find an index of the highlights here with a short version of the title.

  1. A GLIMPSE of the Milky Way
  2. Two of the Milky Way's Spiral Arms are Missing!
  3. Terra/Aqua Satellite Image Reveals Cyclone Nargis Floods
  4. The Phoenix Has Landed
  5. Tiny meteorite whiskers with astronomical implications
  6. Titan's hidden ocean
  7. Water and Methane in the atmosphere of an extra-solar planet
  8. Ring around Rhea
  9. Wet Planetary Birthplace?
  10. The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM)
  11. Balloon Borne Experiment with Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS)
  12. Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC)

54. A GLIMPSE of the Milky Way

Multi-gigapixel infrared image of the Milky Way from GLIMPSE

The Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) Spitzer team released two multi-gigapixel infrared images of the Milky Way on June 4th at the AAS meeting From this an annotated zoomable version of the images was made available on the web. You can even identify a feature you like and send the link to a friend. The second part of the project is to provide it as a standalone (internet free) version for science centers and libraries which will come later this year. To try it out go to http://www.alienearths.org/glimpse/

53. Two of the Milky Way's Spiral Arms are Missing!

New images of the Milky Way from Spitzer Space Telescope

New images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are shedding light on the true structure of the Milky Way, revealing that it has just two major arms of stars instead of the four it was previously thought to possess.

The science team was led by Robert Benjamin of the University of Wisconsin and this project is being presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis. For more information please see the SMD chief scientist’s highlight, downloadable as a PDF file here, or read the article at Space.com, or the JPL web release.

52. Terra/Aqua Satellite Image Reveals Cyclone Nargis Floods

Image from Terra/Aqua satellite revealing Cyclone Nargis floods

In early May, Cyclone Nargis caused widespread flooding in Myanmar (Burma). Determining the extent of flooding can be difficult; clouds often obscure satellite observations, and muddy-brown floodwaters typically blend in with the surrounding landscape, especially fallow cropland. A standard satellite image can provide an approximation of the flood extent, but not an exact outline. However, multiple sources of information can be combined to provide a better picture of flooded areas. In the image at left, which combines observations taken by NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites on May 5, 2008, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors shows that flooding appears to be more intense in areas with fewer trees. For more information please see the NASA web feature, or the articles at Earth Observatory News and SpaceRef.com.

51. The Phoenix Has Landed

Phoenix Mars Lander 2007 Logo Image

On May 25th shortly after 4:30 pm PST (and curiously also Mars time) the Phoenix Mission landed gracefully on Mars. Named after Phoenix, the mythological bird that rose from the ashes of its ancestor, this Mars mission was named in honor of its predecessor Mars polar lander, which had a similar destination and mission but was lost on entry, descent or landing. This mission which is groundbreaking both literally and figuratively has landed far farther north of the Martian equator around which all prior landers and rovers have touched down. Landing as it does in the Martian equivalent of the Yukon Territories, Phoenix is likely to encounter frost at the surface, and with luck will find water ice and organic molecules below. The image above shows a (HiRISE) image, taken from orbit, of Phoenix descending on a parachute. This is the first time an image has been taken of a spacecraft descending to the surface of Mars. This images can be found at the Phoenix web page, and images of the surface can be found at the image gallery.

50. Tiny meteorite whiskers with astronomical implications

From figure 2 of the associated paper by Fries & Steele, an scanning electron microscope image of a tip of a graphite whisker exposed at a fresh fracture surface in a calcium-aluminum inclusion.

In the report “Graphite Whiskers in CV3 Meteorites” in the journal Science (320, 91 – 93) Fries and Steele propose that graphite whiskers could easily have been launched into interstellar space by bipolar outflows of forming solar systems. Graphite whiskers have been postulated to play a role in the near-infrared (near-IR) dimming of type 1a supernovae, as well as in the thermalization of both the cosmic IR and microwave background and in galactic center dimming between 3 and 9 micrometers. For more information see the Astronomy Perspectives piece “Small-Scale Observations Tell a Cosmological Story” by Philip Bland.

This work was funded by NASA Sample Return Laboratory Instrument and Data Analysis, Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets, and Astrobiology Institute programs.

49. Titan's hidden ocean

An artists conception of the satellite Titan orbiting Saturn and being distorted by its gravitational field. A cut-away allows us to see a grey rocky core at the center of the moon, and a layer of blue ocean beneath the white icy surface.

Years of Cassini observations have allowed Ralph Lorenz and colleagues to show that Titan's rotational period is changing and is different from its orbital period. In their report "Titan's Rotation Reveals an Internal Ocean and Changing Zonal Winds" in the Journal Science (2008) 319, 1649-1651 suggest that an ocean may be hiding beneath Titan's thick atmosphere and icy surface, but other explanations of the observed results cannot yet be ruled out. For more information you can follow the link to the original article, above, read the planetary science perspectives piece "Titan's Hidden Ocean" by Sotin & Tobie, NASA's press release, or one of many online articles including at Scientific American, Space.com, and Sciencedaily.

Dr. Lorenz is supported by the Cassini Data Analysis program.

48. Water and Methane in the atmosphere of an extra-solar planet

Figure 2 from Swain et al., - a comparison of the 1.45-2.50 micron spectra of atmosphere of HD 189733 compared with model spectra. The best fitting model has a water abundance of 5x10-4 and a methane abundance of 5x10-5 relative to H2 in the atmosphere of HD 189733

In an article accepted in the journal Nature Professor Mark Swain and Gautam Vasisht of Caltech, and Giovanna Tinetti of University College London, UK, report the detection of methane and confirmed an earlier tentative detection of water vapor in the atmosphere of giant planet HD 189733b based on Hubble Space Telescope observations. This marks the first detection of an organic molecules on a planet outside our solar system. However, the authors note that "The giant planet lies too close to its parent star for the methane to signal life." Interestingly they also note that the "combination of water and organic molecules would be a promising one for life if it were found in a less hostile spot than the atmosphere of a searing gas giant." For related materials see the NASA press release, 'Organic molecules found on alien world for first time' by Stephen Battersby for New Scientist online, and for some perspective a recent article in the Washington Post online which is featured on our science matters page.

47. Ring around Rhea

Occultation of southward-traveling electrons before detection by Cassini. The signatures’ spatial near symmetry may signal the presence of three near-circular rings or arcs of material ~230 km north, in Rhea’s equatorial plane.In the report "The Dust Halo of Saturn's Largest Icy Moon, Rhea" in the journal Science (319. 1380 - 1384) Jones et al., show that Rhea has an equatorial debris disk that, based on Cassini measurements, "in the form of grains and boulders up to several decimeters in size." More information can be found in the Science news of the week piece "Planetary Science: Electron Shadow Hints at Invisible Rings Around a Moon" by Richard A. Kerr in popular science publications such as Sky and Telescope, and on news websites like CNN.com.

46. Wet Planetary Birthplace?

From Carr et al., 13-16 micron spectrum of AA Tauri compared to a model demonstrating the presence of small molecules such as C2H2, and HCN, and lots of water.Spitzer space telescope observations by John Carr and his team led to the detection of "Organic Molecules and Water in the Planet Formation Region of Young Circumstellar Disks." In their article in the journal Science (319. 1504 - 1506) Carr et al., show observations that "suggest that water is abundant throughout the inner disk and that the disk supports an active organic chemistry." More information can be found in the Science Perspectives piece "Planetary Science: Observing Our Origins" by Fred Ciesla and in popular science publications such as science daily.

Three recent successful long duration balloon flights over Antarctica. For more information on all three of these flights see the NASA Wallops web release.

45.The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM)

The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass investigation is readied for takeoff; the payload held up by a crane in the foreground, the balloon rising off the ice in the backgroundThe CREAM investigation measures elemental composition and energy spectra of very high-energy energy (~1010 to > 5 x 1014 eV) cosmic rays with better precision and higher statistics than previous experiments. It is searching for characteristic changes associated with a limit to particle acceleration in supernovae. It was launched December 19, 2007, and flew for 28 days. Combined with two previous flights of 42 days and 28 days, CREAM has now accumulated almost 100 days of exposure. For more information and images see: http://cosmicray.umd.edu/cream/CREAMflight2007/

44.Balloon Borne Experiment with Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS)

The Balloon-Borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer is readied for takeoff, the payload held up by a craneThe BESS will provide definitive measurements of low-energy cosmic-ray antiprotons in solar minimum conditions, when the sensitivity of the measurements to the possible presence of an exotic source is greatest. Its precise data will constrain models for dark matter, primordial blackholes and cosmological antimatter. This second Antarctic flight of BESS, a Japanese - US cooperative project, was launched on December 23, 2007, and flew for ~ 30 days. For more information see http://www.kek.jp/intra-e/topics/2007/BESS-Polar_e.html and http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/balloon-circles.html

43.Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC)

The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter balloon payload is held off the ground by a craneThe Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) investigation is focusing on cosmic-ray electrons, the only component for which there is direct evidence of acceleration in supernova remnants. Electrons are of particular interest because they are subject to synchrotron energy loses that limit the distance they can travel through space. ATIC also measures high-energy (< 5 x 1010 to ~ 1014 eV) cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra. This third flight of ATIC was launched December 26, 2007, and recovered near the South Pole after a 19-day flight. For more information see http://atic.phys.lsu.edu/aticweb/

These science investigations were funded by the Particle Astrophysics element of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research and Analysis (APRA) research program. Their flights comprised the FY 2008 Antarctic campaign carried out by NASA and the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. Launching and operating three long-duration flights for the first time within a single Antarctic summer achieved a new milestone in scientific observations using balloons.