Archive for 2009
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NASA And JAXA Sign Agreement
July 31, 2009
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NASA And Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Sign Agreement For Future Earth Science Cooperation
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Our Smashing Solar System
July 30, 2009
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Grains inside meteorites carry clues to the history of our solar system.
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Past and Present: Field Testing For the Moon
July 29, 2009
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When President Kennedy announced on Sept. 12, 1962, that the United States would go to the moon before the end of the decade, life and work at NASA changed in monumental ways.
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Closest-Ever Look At Betelgeuse Reveals its Fiery Secret
July 29, 2009
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The giant star Betelgeuse churns out gas bubbles that match its own size — and that's how it can shed an entire solar mass in 10,000 years.
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Spinning Now Helps Standing Later
July 29, 2009
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Long-duration travel in space has many ill-effects for humans, including muscle and bone loss. Some scientists believe that astronauts on a mission to Mars could suffer loss of muscle so severe that they would be unable to walk upon their return to Earth. However, new research may provide a solution that will keep future explorers safe and healthy.
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First Image From GOES-14
July 29, 2009
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The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite provided its first full disk image of Earth on July 27.
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Putting Plankton in Perspective, From Sea to Sky
July 28, 2009
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From the time he was 21 and working toward his Ph.D., Mike Behrenfeld has been observing phytoplankton -- floating ocean plants that have a global impact.
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Stunning Image of ISS and Endeavour Transitting Sun
July 28, 2009
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The visible detail of the shuttle and parts of the International Space Stations is absolutely amazing!
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Living in a Dying Solar System, Part 1
July 28, 2009
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Observations of distant stars tell us about our own future. Roughly 5 billion years from now, the Sun will begin to swell as a red giant, and the solar system will be transformed into a very different place.
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Warmed Up and Ready to Go
July 28, 2009
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Spitzer has its infrared eyes back on the sky to observe the cold and dusty universe.
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Planetary Motion: The History of an Idea That Launched the Scientific Revolution
July 27, 2009
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In the black dome of night, the stars seem fixed in their patterns. They rotate through the sky over the seasons so unchangingly that most cultures have used the presence of one or another constellation to tell time.
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Evidence of Earth's Earliest Life
July 27, 2009
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Researchers have shown that some of the most ancient stromatolites on Earth contain evidence that they were built with the help of microorganisms. The findings add complexity to our understanding of early life on Earth and could even help in the search for signs of life on Mars.
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From a Star's Death, Our Birth
July 27, 2009
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New research may alter current ideas about how our solar system originated, and the connections between the solar system's early composition and the origin of life. Scientists have found radioactive nuclei in some of the earliest meteorites known that may have been delivered by a nearby dying star.
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Hubble Space Telescope Captures Rare Jupiter Collision
July 27, 2009
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the sharpest visible-light picture yet of atmospheric debris from an object that collided with Jupiter on July 19.
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Apollo Landing Sites Pose a Threat to LRO Instrument
July 24, 2009
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The Lunar Orbiting Laser Altimeter (LOLA) pulses a single laser beam down to the surface to create a high-resolution global topographic map of the Moon. However, LOLA is turned off when it passes over the Apollo sites because bouncing the laser off any of the retro-reflective mirrors on experiments left by the astronauts might damage the instrument.
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Finding Refuge on the Seafloor
July 24, 2009
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Scientists studying plankton fossils from the sea floor have determined that plankton in Earth's oceans may have survived the mass-extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. The study provides insight into how Earth's biosphere has dealt with dramatic climate change in Earth's past.
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NASA Celebrates Chandra’s 10th Anniversary
July 24, 2009
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Ten years ago this week, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia and successfully deployed into orbit.
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Northern & Southern Aurorae Are Siblings, But Not Twins
July 23, 2009
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Asymmetrical aurorae, courtesy of Karl Magnus Laundal and Nature Seen the Northern Lights and you've seen them all, hm? Not so. It is commonly assumed that the aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere and the aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere are mirror images of each other — but new research has revealed differences between the events.
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Eclipse Shadows Southeastern China
July 23, 2009
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The Moon’s shadow engulfed Taiwan and a large swath of southeastern China and the Pacific Ocean on the morning of July 22, 2009, during an unusually long total eclipse of the Sun.
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Heat-Shocked Diamonds Provide New Clue of Horse-Killing Impact
July 22, 2009
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Archeologists have been divided about whether an extraterrestiral impact blasted North America about 12,900 years ago, wreaking havoc on Earth's surface and sending scores of species — including a pygmy mammoth and the horse — into oblivion.
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A Table-Top Test of General Relativity?
July 22, 2009
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New research shows it may soon be possible to study the effects of general relativity in bench-top laboratory experiments.
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Solar System Spasm
July 22, 2009
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New research shows that many of the objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter were actually formed in the far reaches of the solar system. The study sheds new light on the processes behind the evolution of the planets.
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Oceanographer Gene Feldman Heads Home The First Time
July 22, 2009
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Oceanographer Gene Feldman has studied the Galapagos Islands for 25 years. This summer, he visits them for the first time.
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Hubble Astronauts Connect at Tweetup
July 22, 2009
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Nearly 200 of NASA's Twitter followers attended the event at NASA Headquarters with astronaut Mike Massimino (@Astro_Mike, above) and his crewmates from the Hubble repair mission.
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Saturnian Moon Shows Evidence of Ammonia
July 21, 2009
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Data collected during two close flybys of Saturn's moon Enceladus by NASA's Cassini spacecraft add more fuel to the fire about the Saturnian ice world containing sub-surface liquid water.
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Is the Sun Missing Its Spots?
July 21, 2009
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ndeed, last year marked the blankest year of the Sun in the last half-century — 266 days with not a single sunspot visible from Earth. Then, in the first four months of 2009, the Sun became even more blank, the pace of sunspots slowing more.
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How Enceladus Got Its Stripes
July 21, 2009
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A new study has revealed the origin of Enceladus' tiger stripes and subsurface ocean. These features are not the result of the moon having a hot core, and are instead caused by Enceladus' unusual chemical composition.
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NASA’s Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission Takes a Step Closer to Solving the Mystery Behind Magnetic Reconnection
July 21, 2009
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NASA is designing a mission to investigate one of the most fundamental and explosive physical processes in the universe - magnetic reconnection.
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Longest Solar Eclipse of the 21st Century
July 21, 2009
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The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century takes place this Wednesday, July 22nd. The path of totality crosses many major cities, setting the stage for possibly the best-observed eclipse in human history.
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New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter
July 21, 2009
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Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
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Taking Flight To Understand Aerosols
July 20, 2009
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Tiny suspended particles are nearly everywhere in the atmosphere.
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Exploring the Moon, Discovering Earth
July 20, 2009
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Forty years ago, Apollo astronauts set out on a daring adventure to explore the Moon. They ended up discovering their own planet.
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New life-related geology beckons Opportunity rover
July 20, 2009
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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has found clay-bearing rocks lying directly in the path ahead for the Mars rover Opportunity.
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Astronauts May Get Their Wheaties
July 17, 2009
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Long-term spaceflight exposure doesn't change later generations of wheat seeds, new research found.
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2009 Total Solar Eclipse: The Longest of the 21st Century
July 17, 2009
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On Wed., July 22, 2009, a total eclipse of the sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth.
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Spy Satellite Sea Ice Images Finally Made Public
July 17, 2009
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Super high-resolution spy satellites have been imaging sea ice at the poles for the last decade on behalf of earth scientists. But the images has been kept from the public and nearly all scientists, too.
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Wide Awake in the Sea of Tranquillity
July 17, 2009
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Why couldn't Neil Armstrong fall asleep on the Moon? The answer is revealed in today's suspenseful story from Science@NASA.
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Engineers Learn How to Assemble 'Eye' of Telescope
July 17, 2009
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NASA and Northrop Grumman are training their engineers on how to handle and assemble the telescope's Optical Telescope Element, also known as the 'eye' of the telescope.
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Arctic glacier to lose Manhattan-sized 'tongue'
July 15, 2009
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The biggest glacier in the Arctic is on the verge of losing a chunk of ice the size of Manhattan.
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Gravity wells could provide 'parking lots' for spaceships
July 15, 2009
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Nature has provided five huge rest stops far out in space for the convenience of spacecraft traveling from Earth. Some NASA folks call them "parking lots" in space.
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Earth-like Venus
July 15, 2009
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The European Space Agency's Venus Express mission has charted the first infrared map of Venus' southern hemisphere. The maps indicate that Venus may once have been more Earth-like, with plate tectonics and oceans of water.
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Mars Dust Devil Has Colorful Effect in Image Series
July 15, 2009
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Scientists have combined a trio of shots taken seconds apart through different colored filters to create a special-effects portrait of a moving dust devil on Mars.
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One Hubble Glitch Fixed, One Remains
July 14, 2009
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A glitch with one of the key instruments — an imaging spectrograph — aboard the Hubble Space Telescope continues to plague the 19-year-old spacecraft after attempts last week to fix the problem, NASA said.
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Martian 'egg cups' could trace past climate
July 14, 2009
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Craters embedded on pedestals that tower above the Martian landscape like giant egg cups could be used to trace the planet's climate history, a new study suggests.
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Subtracting Sulfur
July 14, 2009
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Microbes from ocean have been shown to process methane in ways that were previously unknown. The discovery could help astrobiologists understanding how the early biosphere of Earth interacted with our planet's atmosphere.
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Free Spirit: Rover Engineers Test More Maneuvers
July 14, 2009
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ngineers checking possible rover movements to get Spirit out of the "Troy" sand trap on Mars are evaluating how a comparable rover at JPL fares in a crablike backward drive, with all four corner wheels turned 60 degrees toward the right.
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When Earth Turned Green
July 13, 2009
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One of the most pivotal moments in the history of Earth's biosphere occurred 540 million years ago when the diversity of complex, multi-cellular life exploded all over the globe. Now, researchers believe they have discovered the trigger for the Cambrian Explosion.
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Featured images for July 2009: Ventifacts on Earth and Mars
July 13, 2009
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Ventifacts are rocks abraded by windblown particles, generally or exclusively sand.
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Millennium Island, Kiribati
July 13, 2009
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Millennium Island—known as Caroline Island prior to 2000—is located at the southern end of the Line Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
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Moonship Photographed by Backyard Astronomers
July 13, 2009
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Amateur astronomers have photographed NASA's LCROSS spacecraft en route to an October crash landing on the Moon. Observers say the spacecraft is surprisingly easy to photograph, and NASA hopes more amateurs will give it a try.
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Herschel Instruments Get First Peek at Cosmos
July 13, 2009
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All three of Herschel's instruments have now opened their eyes and collected their first astronomy data.
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NASA Selects Proposals to Enhance Science Education and Outreach
July 10, 2009
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NASA has selected four organizations to share approximately $18 million over five years for education and public outreach activities to help inspire the next generation of science leaders and explorers.
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Fires in Interior Alaska
July 09, 2009
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MODIS, on NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows several lightning-triggered fires in Fairbanks, Alaska.
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Plants Limit Ice Ages
July 08, 2009
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New research shows that Earth may have been saved from a runaway 'icehouse' by plants.
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Satellite Reveals Dramatic Arctic Thinning
July 07, 2009
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New NASA Satellite Survey Reveals Dramatic Arctic Sea Ice Thinning
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LRO Sends Back First Moon Images
July 06, 2009
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Two cameras collectively known as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera were activated June 30 and have returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium.
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Let's Talk About: Exploring our Home Planet
July 02, 2009
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We are all familiar with NASA's long string of triumphs in spaceflight and the exploration of distant worlds and the cosmos. No less impressive is NASA's record of achievements in helping us understand our home planet.
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Gravity's Imprint Sought in Big Bang Glow
July 02, 2009
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A search for gravitational waves stemming from the creation of the universe commences this week with an array of new detectors sensitive enough to measure signals as faint as a billionth of a volt.
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Free Spirit: Rock Under the Belly
July 02, 2009
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JPL engineers work to simulate Spirit's predicament on Mars.
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Cooking Up Creation in a Computer
July 02, 2009
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The Evogrid is a proposed computerized version of the primordial soup. Digitally simulating virtual particles could help answer the question of how life originated on Earth, and perhaps even spread life to other worlds.
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Nobel Prize Winner and NASA's Blueshift Podcast Take You on a Data Journey
July 02, 2009
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Dr. John Mather, a Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. joined the Blueshift podcast on June 18th to share his sense of what makes scientific data beautiful.
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Life Likes Nickel
July 01, 2009
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Scientists have determined that nickel could be used to identify the presence of methane-producing microbes on the early Earth.
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Hand-held devices that can detect presence of aerosols in air above oceans
July 01, 2009
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A team of scientists is developing hand-held devices that can detect the presence of aerosols in air above oceans by measuring how light scatters as it strikes the particles.
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Yellowstone Recovers from 1988 Fires
July 01, 2009
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The summer of 1988 was apocalyptic in Yellowstone National Park. For hundreds of miles, a blood-red Sun shone through choking, brown skies as flames consumed vast tracts of forest.
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Test Rover in Place, NASA Prepares to Free Spirit
July 01, 2009
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Yesterday, the test rover that is an exact twin of NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers was set up in a plywood test rig in a dirt pit at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
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Study: More carbon in Arctic than in atmosphere
July 01, 2009
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Scientists have determined there's more than twice as much carbon stored in the Arctic regions as previously estimated and more than double the amount in the Earth's atmosphere.
