MSL Raw Images

5 08 2012

This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left A (FHAZ_LEFT_A) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 0 (2012-08-06 06:23:34 UTC). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Future Mars Science Laboratory raw images will be collected at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/. Check back for the early images returned by Curiosity!

ETA: Try http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/ if the raw images aren’t working in your browser. If you’re using Chrome, try clearing your cache. If you still can’t load the raw images, try IE.


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Categories : Instruments, Mars Science Laboratory, NASA, News

NuSTAR

2 08 2012

Bringing Black Holes Into Focus. Image credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech

While I was off doing other things in June, NASA successfully launched the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) from a carrier aircraft somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I mention this now because earlier this week, JPL announced that NuSTAR passed its Post-Launch Assessment Review. This means that although it has been observing X-ray sources for the past few weeks, the instrument has been cleared officially to enter the “science operations phase” of its two-year mission.

Here’s mission description from the Cal Tech website:

“NuSTAR will open a new window on the Universe by being the first satellite to focus high-energy X-rays into sharp images. NuSTAR’s high-energy X-rays eyes will see with more than 100 times the sensitivity of previous missions that have operated in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and with 10 times better resolution. NuSTAR will shed light on some of the hottest, densest, and most energetic objects in the universe.”

Sounds cool, all that sharpness and sensitivity, but what does it all mean? What will those super sharp images tell us?

The magic words: black holes and stellar explosions.

NuSTAR’s super optics permit the observations of active galaxies with black holes at their core (much like the Fermi Large Area Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory). Some of this is just a more complex form of census taking, looking closely at the center of our own galaxy and surveying the black holes and collapsed stars.  On top of that is the added objective of mapping the composition of the youngest supernova. The hope is by identifying and locating all the materials in a supernova, we will come to a better understanding of the explosive process and how it creates the elements that make up our universe.

The third layer of the science objectives has to do with “relativistic jets.”[1] I find relativistic jets both easy and incredibly difficult to understand. On one hand, a relativistic jet is just a super intense steam of plasma (partially ionized gas) jetting out of the center of active galaxies/black holes/neutron stars. On the other hand, what the heck? You might remember the Internet buzz about this time last summer, when a black hole was observed “devouring” a star. Astronomers stumbled on that example by sheer luck: the Swift satellite was in the right place at the right time—in the path of the star’s remains in the form of a relativistic jet. It’s not so much that we don’t know these jets exist, but the theory of how they exist is still being polished by physicists. NuSTAR observations should help with that.

To keep track of NuSTAR’s discoveries, visit the News and Updates section of the mission site.

——

[1] If you’re wondering why they use the word “relativistic,” it’s because the particles move at almost the speed of light (0.99995c!).


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Categories : Instruments, NASA, Observatories

Mars Science Laboratory Link Round Up

1 08 2012

“I’m not touching you!” (Curiosity taunts the Red Planet). Photo credit: JR

News briefings:

For an overview of the Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity’s Mission:

Live Computer simulation:

Where to watch the landing:

Photos:

Videos:

Twitter:


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Categories : Mars Science Laboratory, NASA, News

NASA History on iTunes U

31 07 2012

I’ve been sitting on this press release from NASA’s History Program Office for a week or so now:

RELEASE: 12-247
 
NASA HISTORY NOW AVAILABLE ON ITUNES U
 
WASHINGTON — Marking the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, NASA has added an extensive collection of historical video, audio, photographs and documents to iTunes U.
 
iTunes U is a platform for making educational resources available to a wide audience through the iTunes Store.
 
NASA’s History Program Office iTunes U site currently contains about 300 items that represent a broad sweep of NASA history related to important moments, activities and figures in NASA history. The site’s content is free to download.
 
“New materials will continue to be uploaded as we expand the coverage both in depth and breadth,” said Bill Barry, NASA’s chief historian. “We’re thrilled to educate people on NASA’s rich history and are open to user suggestions and requests.”
 
The site includes Apollo program material with a collection of items for each of the Apollo missions, as well as a special Politics of Apollo collection of key documents related to the U.S. lunar program.
 
The site also features eBooks from the NASA History Series. Available titles include reader favorites such as Asif Siddiqi’s “Challenge to Apollo,” the “Exploring the Unknown” series of documentary histories, and all four volumes of Boris Chertok’s “Rockets and People.”
 
Other agency programs using iTunes U include NASA’s Academy of Program, Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL), NASA Spinoffs from the Office of the Chief Technologist, and collections from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. To view all of NASA’s iTunes U sites and download material, visit:
 
 
To view Apollo materials not found on iTunes U, visit NASA’s history website at:
 
 
For additional interactive features and podcasts about NASA, visit:
 
 
-end-

 

On one hand, yay! More NASA history! On the other hand, damn! iTunes U!

Is there a more frustrating user interface than the one Apple deemed adequate for iTunes? Yes, I want to explore the Apollo 11 Press Kit. No, I don’t want to waste even one more second of my life with iTunes. My approach so far has been to look at the contents list in iTunes and then dig through NASA’s website/archives to find what I want there (the Apollo 11 Press Kit, for instance; I’m not sure if I should admire or shake my head at an organization that thinks it’s okay to send a man to the moon in a 12pt Courier typeface, probably pounded out on an IBM Selectric). It’s working pretty well, but I have a feeling that NASA would prefer I stay within iTunes U. Sorry, folks at the NASA History Program Office. I just can’t do it.

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Categories : NASA

Spirit of Flight

31 07 2012

Courage. Photo credit: C. Johnson-Roehr

I admit, we had one other reason for visiting the Museum of Flight this summer. Just before we left for Washington, Exhibit Developer Geoff Nunn let me know that the 2012 Spirit of Flight Juried Photography Exhibit was up in the Great Gallery. I think participants in the #MSL #NASATweetup in November will recognize this photo, since I took it during our tour of Cape Canaveral at the end of the first day. Living in India has taught me one thing: if you stand still long enough, it doesn’t matter how many people are in the vicinity. Eventually, they’ll clear out of your shot, if only for 1/2 a second. It’s become second nature to stand still and wait for that moment. You’ll just have to imagine the roving Space Tweeps outside the frame of the photo.

Photo:

Courage. 2011. Sunset at Launch Complex 34 (LC-34), site of the Apollo 1 fire that claimed the lives of astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photographer: S. Johnson-Roehr.


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Categories : NASA, Tourism

Wallpaper Wednesday

25 07 2012

Liftoff of STS-7 at 7:33 a.m. EDT on June 18, 1983. Photo credit: NASA

I would have loved to provide a glossy HD wallpaper of STS-7 in honor of Sally Ride’s first flight into space. Unfortunately, high-def images were almost non-existent in 1983 and I don’t have it in me to search for them (only a masochist runs a Google image search on the words “Space Shuttle Challenger”.) The image above links to NASA’s image gallery for Sally Ride and that’s going to have to do for now. Maybe I’ll write up something more comprehensive in a couple weeks.

ETA: I’ll come back to this later, but for now let me say this: Sally Ride gave me a lot when I was in high school. She didn’t have to do that and I’m grateful for her willingness to endure the invasions to her privacy in the 1980s. At the same time, as an academic, I can’t help but note the fundamental disconnect between the continued guarding of that privacy in the 2000s and her dedication to furthering the position of girls and women in science. I’m not a scientist, I’m in an allied field—the history of astronomy, not astronomy itself. Even so, I can say that my career in science studies has been affected by the fact that I’m a lesbian. One significant example: the financial award attached to my Fulbright-Hays DDRA fellowship was less than it would have been had I been heterosexual. The straight members of my Fulbright cohort were given money to support a spouse during their tenures as fellows. Even though my partner and I had been together for fifteen years at that point, I spent my research year by myself in another country, the support for my spouse legally withheld thanks to DOMA. Every time I opened up the Fulbright handbook to look up some regulation or other, I had to page by the DOMA statement that reminded me that I wasn’t an equal to other scholars in my field (I eventually got tired of being angry and deleted that page from the handbook). No matter how good my work is (and my fellowship record suggests it’s pretty good), I’ll never be treated as an equal as long as discrimination against lgbtq is legal in the United States.

And that’s the contradiction I see in Ride’s legacy. On one hand, she tirelessly worked to move young women into the sciences. On the other hand, she appears to have left unchallenged a very real stumbling block for some of those young women (appears to have left…I can only go by what the press is giving me right now). Does that mean I’m less grateful for, less appreciative of what she did for women and the world at large? No, not at all. But I don’t think it’s going to help any aspiring scientist if we ignore the larger implications of her choices. Coming out posthumously…well, I don’t think that erases the contradiction between the two positions.


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Categories : Challenger, NASA, News, Space Shuttle, Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

4 07 2012

NASA’s RASCAL with Camera Mount Under “Blue” Moon. Photo credit: NASA Ames/Dominic Hart

There are a few things you shouldn’t do during a full moon. You should avoid criminal activity—your neighbors will probably recognize you in the bright light and if you end up in the emergency room, you’ll get inadequate care because of overcrowding (even if statistical analyses indicate there’s no relationship between the lunar cycle and emergency room chaos, do you really want to take the chance?). You should also avoid going to bed with the blinds open—your neighbors will have a good view of your after-dark activities and even if you’re intending to sleep, the moonlight will keep you awake by shining in your eyes (I proved this one last night). You should avoid looking at a magnified view of a full moon—your neighbors may wander over to ask what you’re observing after you set up the telescope, but they’ll be less than impressed when they go home with an after-image of the moon burned into their retinas (been there, done that, only with Mars).

What you can do during a full moon: naked eye observing. Sky and Telescope has some tips on studying the maria, craters, and volcanic patches on the lunar surface. Or, you can take some of Deirdre Kelleghan‘s advice and try your hand at Sketching the Moon (visit the publisher’s website). Another option: Study the lunar calendar so you know the date of the next Blue Moon (I’ll save you some trouble—it’s August 31, 2012). Or spend the evening looking through NASA’s archive of moon photos.

One thing you should definitely do is click on the image above to download the wallpaper of a Blue Moon fronted by NASA’s RASCAL. This wallpaper perfectly captures my ambivalence about some of NASA’s research (past and present). As much as I’d love to sink more money into programs like MSL and the Hubble Telescope, I can’t forget NASA’s close connection with military research. A beautiful Blue Moon shining behind a modified UH-60 Black Hawk reminds me of that association, but more importantly, it demonstrates how easy it is to distract me with shiny objects and moon rocks. I should be paying more attention to what’s going on outside the public eye.

Happy Independence Day.

 


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Categories : Instruments, NASA, Wallpaper

Super Guppy Delivers

1 07 2012

NASA’s Super Guppy loaded with crew cabin of shuttle trainer. Image credit: NASA

If you’ve been following the dispersal of the Space Shuttles to various museums around the U.S., you may have been struck by the variety of transportation methods used by NASA to relocate the retired fleet. Discovery traveled to its new home at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, on the back of NASA 905 SCA. Explorer traveled to Houston by barge. Enterprise combined those two methods to arrive in New York. Later this year, Endeavour will piggy back on NASA’s jet to LAX, after which point it will travel by flatbed up the Santa Monica Freeway to the California Science Center. The journey, arrival, and unloading of the Shuttles have made for some riveting television for space enthusiasts.

This weekend, when the crew cabin of the Space Shuttle Trainer (aka Full Fuselage Trainer, or FFT) arrived at Boeing Field for installation in Seattle’s Museum of Flight, we saw yet another method for moving equipment. It is safe to say that Seattlites are accustomed to seeing a lot of air traffic and they can be somewhat jaded when it comes to flying objects (listen to the complaints about the Blue Angels during Seafair if you don’t believe me). But it’s not often the Super Guppy buzzes the Space Needle, much less lands and parks in a museum parking lot. I’d say it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but the Super Guppy should touch down at Boeing Field twice more to deliver two sections of the payload bay. If you’d like to witness one of those landings, keep an eye on the Museum of Flight’s webpage for scheduled arrival dates. In the meantime, enjoy some sweet photos of yesterday’s landing courtesy of the Seattle Times.


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Categories : Crew Trainer, Museums, NASA, News, Space Shuttle, Tourism

Wallpaper Wednesday

6 06 2012

SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit --- Path Sequence. Image credit: NASA/SDO/AIA

Was there any doubt that I’d be looking for a wallpaper featuring yesterday’s Transit of Venus? I’m happy to report that we didn’t have to rely on SDO images (as spectacular as they are!) to view it. We had mostly clear skies, warm evening temperatures, and lots of viewing equipment. I had my doubts as to whether we’d be able to view it with the naked eye—that is, the naked eye with protection—but it was easy to see through eclipse glasses. I used a solar projector made with a pair of binoculars. That was a last-minute project, but it made beautiful images, complete with cloud cover, sun spots, and Venus. We attended a public viewing event for part of the evening, courtesy of the DNR, Stonebelt Stargazers, and the Indiana University Astronomy Club, so we also had some excellent views through 8″ and 10″ telescopes. You can see a few photographs, including one from the solar projector showing Venus against the backdrop of the Sun, on my flickr site.

Click on the image to download today’s wallpaper.


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Categories : Instruments, NASA, News, Wallpaper

Wallpaper Wednesday

30 05 2012

Capturing the Dragon. Image credit: NASA

Think of me sometime between 2:30-4:30 a.m. EDT, when I’ll be in bed with my iPhone, watching the NASA TV coverage of the un-berthing of Dragon. Think of me again about five hours later, when I’ll be struggling to be productive on three hours of sleep.

Click on the image to download wallpaper in (NASA’s) standard sizes.


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Categories : NASA, News, SpaceX, Wallpaper

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