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Lillie Burney Elementary Sch …
Mississippi Rep. Percy Watso …
9/8/06
Description Mississippi Rep. Percy Watson (left) talks with first-graders Savannah Jones and Levi Meyers, and Astronaut Lee Morin on Sept. 8 during the NASA Explorer School kickoff event at the Lillie Burney Elementary School in Hattiesburg, Miss. NASA Explorer Schools help promote student achievement in mathematics and science through activities using the excitement of NASA research, discoveries and missions.
Date 9/8/06
FIRST LEGO League Kickoff
FIRST LEGO League participan …
9/23/06
Description FIRST LEGO League participants listen to Aerospace Education Specialist Chris Copelan explain the playing field for 'Nano Quest' during a recent FLL kickoff event at StenniSphere, the visitor center at NASA Stennis Space Center. The kickoff began the 2006 FLL competition season. Eighty-five teachers, mentors, parents and 9- to 14-year-old students from southern and central Mississippi came to SSC to hear the rules for Nano Quest. The challenge requires teams to spend eight weeks building and programming robots from LEGO Mindstorms kits. They'll battle their creations in local and regional competitions. The Dec. 2 competition at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College will involve about 200 students. FIRST LEGO League, considered the 'little league' of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, partners FIRST and the LEGO Group. Competitions aim to inspire and celebrate science and technology using real-world context and hands-on experimentation, and to promote the principles of team play and gracious professionalism. Because NASA advocates robotics and science-technology education, the agency and SSC support FIRST by providing team coaches, mentors and training, as well as competition event judges, referees, audio-visual and other volunteer staff personnel. Two of Mississippi's NASA Explorer Schools, Bay-Waveland Middle and Hattiesburg's Lillie Burney Elementary, were in attendance. The following schools were also represented: Ocean Springs Middle, Pearl Upper Elementary, Long Beach Middle, Jackson Preparatory Academy, North Woolmarket Middle, D'Iberville Middle, West Wortham Middle, Picayune's Roseland Park Baptist Academy and Nicholson Elementary, as well as two home-school groups from McComb and Brandon. Gulfport and Picayune Memorial-Pearl River high schools' FIRST Robotics teams conducted robotics demonstrations for the FLL crowd.
Date 9/23/06
The First Explorer
Title The First Explorer
Explanation Fifty years ago (on January 31, 1958) the First Explorer [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/explorer/ ], was launched into Earth orbit [ http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/explorer/ welcome.html ] by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Inaugurating the era of space exploration for the United States, Explorer I [ http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/expinfo.html ] was a thirty pound satellite that carried instruments to measure temperatures, and micrometeorite impacts, along with an experiment designed by James A. Van Allen [ http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/vanallen.html ] to measure the density of electrons and ions in space. The measurements made by Van Allen's experiment led to an unexpected and startling discovery [ http://www.phy6.org/Education/wexp13.html ] -- an earth-encircling belt of high energy electrons and ions trapped in the magnetosphere [ http://www.phy6.org/Education/Intro.html ] now known as the Van Allen Radiation Belt [ http://www.phy6.org/Education/wradbelt.html ]. Explorer I ceased transmitting on February 28, 1958, but remained in orbit until March of 1970. Pioneering space scientist James Van Allen [ http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/features/ james_van_allen.html ] died on August 9th, 2006 at the age of 91.
Lillie Burney Elementary Sch …
Title Lillie Burney Elementary School
Description Mississippi Rep. Percy Watson (left) talks with first-graders Savannah Jones and Levi Meyers, and Astronaut Lee Morin on Sept. 8 during the NASA Explorer School kickoff event at the Lillie Burney Elementary School in Hattiesburg, Miss. NASA Explorer Schools help promote student achievement in mathematics and science through activities using the excitement of NASA research, discoveries and missions.
Date 09.08.2006
ACD06-0113-014
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. On the Ames end we find the Girl Csouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR Center Director works with "SpaceCookie" sending commands to Zoe.
Date 7/5/06
ACD06-0113-015
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
6/27/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. On the Ames end we find the Girl Csouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR Center Director works with "SpaceCookie" sending commands to Zoe.
Date 6/27/06
ACD06-0113-001
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
ACD06-0113-002
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
ACD06-0113-005
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
ACD06-0113-007
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
ACD06-0113-009
SSpaceward Bound Program in …
7/5/06
Description SSpaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
ACD06-0113-010
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
ACD06-0113-011
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
Anatomy of a Shooting Star
PIA09959
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
Title Anatomy of a Shooting Star
Original Caption Released with Image Annotated Version A close-up view of a star racing through space faster than a speeding bullet can be seen in this image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The star, called Mira (pronounced My-rah), is traveling at 130 kilometers per second, or 291,000 miles per hour. As it hurls along, it sheds material that will be recycled into new stars, planets and possibly even life. In this image, Mira is moving from left to right. It is visible as the pinkish dot in the bulb shape at right. The yellow dot below is a foreground star. Mira is traveling so fast that it's creating a bow shock, or build-up of gas, in front of it, as can be seen here at right. Like a boat traveling through water, a bow shock forms ahead of the star in the direction of its motion. Gas in the bow shock is heated and then mixes with the cool hydrogen gas in the wind that is blowing off Mira. This heated hydrogen gas then flows around behind the star, forming a wake. Why is the wake of material glowing? When the hydrogen gas is heated, it transitions into a higher-energy state, which then loses energy by emitting ultraviolet light - a process called fluorescence. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer has special instruments that can detect this ultraviolet light. A similar fluorescence process is responsible for the Northern Lights -- a glowing, green aurora that can be seen from northern latitudes. However, in that case nitrogen and oxygen gas are fluorescing with visible light. Streams and a loop of material can also be seen coming off Mira. Astronomers are still investigating what these streams are, but they suspect that they are denser parts of Mira's wind perhaps flowing out of the star's poles. This image consists of data captured by both the far- and near-ultraviolet detectors on the Galaxy Evolution Explorer between November 18 and December 15, 2006. It has a total exposure time of about 3 hours.
Anatomy of a Shooting Star
PIA09959
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
Title Anatomy of a Shooting Star
Original Caption Released with Image Annotated Version A close-up view of a star racing through space faster than a speeding bullet can be seen in this image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The star, called Mira (pronounced My-rah), is traveling at 130 kilometers per second, or 291,000 miles per hour. As it hurls along, it sheds material that will be recycled into new stars, planets and possibly even life. In this image, Mira is moving from left to right. It is visible as the pinkish dot in the bulb shape at right. The yellow dot below is a foreground star. Mira is traveling so fast that it's creating a bow shock, or build-up of gas, in front of it, as can be seen here at right. Like a boat traveling through water, a bow shock forms ahead of the star in the direction of its motion. Gas in the bow shock is heated and then mixes with the cool hydrogen gas in the wind that is blowing off Mira. This heated hydrogen gas then flows around behind the star, forming a wake. Why is the wake of material glowing? When the hydrogen gas is heated, it transitions into a higher-energy state, which then loses energy by emitting ultraviolet light - a process called fluorescence. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer has special instruments that can detect this ultraviolet light. A similar fluorescence process is responsible for the Northern Lights -- a glowing, green aurora that can be seen from northern latitudes. However, in that case nitrogen and oxygen gas are fluorescing with visible light. Streams and a loop of material can also be seen coming off Mira. Astronomers are still investigating what these streams are, but they suspect that they are denser parts of Mira's wind perhaps flowing out of the star's poles. This image consists of data captured by both the far- and near-ultraviolet detectors on the Galaxy Evolution Explorer between November 18 and December 15, 2006. It has a total exposure time of about 3 hours.
STScI Astrophysicist Shares …
Title STScI Astrophysicist Shares 2006 Gruber Cosmology Prize
ACD06-0113-006
Spaceward Bound Program in A …
7/5/06
Description Spaceward Bound Program in Atacama Desert, shown here is a realtime webcast from Yungay, Chile vis satellite involving NASA Scientists and seven NASA Explorer school teachers. On the Ames end we find the Girl Scouts Space cookines robotic team. The robot nicknamed Zoe is looking for life in extreme environments in preparation for what might be encounter on Mars. (back row l-r) Yvonne Clearwater, Ames Education Division, Donald James, Ames Education Division Chief, Pete Worden, Ames Center Director, Angela Diaz, Ames Director of Strategic Communications) see full text on the NASA-Ames News - Research # 04-91AR
Date 7/5/06
JWST Project Scientist Wins …
Title JWST Project Scientist Wins Nobel Prize for Physics
General Information What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. John C. Mather, a senior astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), has won the 2006 Nobel Physics Prize. Mather shares the prize with George F. Smoot, a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, for work that helped solidify the Big Bang theory for the origin of the universe. Mather and Smoot were members of a science team that used NASA?s Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite to measure the diffuse microwave background radiation, which is considered a relic of the Big Bang.
Mira Soars Through the Sky
PIA09958
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
Title Mira Soars Through the Sky
Original Caption Released with Image New ultraviolet images from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows a speeding star that is leaving an enormous trail of "seeds" for new solar systems. The star, named Mira (pronounced my-rah) after the latin word for "wonderful," is shedding material that will be recycled into new stars, planets and possibly even life as it hurls through our galaxy. In figure 1, the upper panel shows Mira's full, comet-like tail as seen only in shorter, or "far" ultraviolet wavelengths, while the lower panel is a combined view showing both far and longer, or "near" ultraviolet wavelengths. The close-up picture at bottom gives a better look at Mira itself, which appears as a pinkish dot, and is moving from left to right in this view. Shed material appears in light blue. The dots in the picture are stars and distant galaxies. The large blue dot on the left side of the upper panel, and the large yellow dot in the lower panel, are both stars that are closer to us than Mira. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer discovered the strange tail during part of its routine survey of the entire sky at ultraviolet wavelengths. When astronomers first saw the picture, they were shocked because Mira has been studied for over 400 years yet nothing like this has ever been documented before. Mira's comet-like tail stretches a startling 13 light-years across the sky. For comparison, the nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri, is only about 4 light-years away. Mira's tail also tells a tale of its history -- the material making it up has been slowly blown off over time, with the oldest material at the end of the tail being released about 30,000 years ago (figure 2). Mira is a highly evolved, "red giant" star near the end of its life. Technically, it is called an asymptotic giant branch star. It is red in color and bloated, for example, if a red giant were to replace our sun, it would engulf everything out to the orbit of Mars. Our sun will mature into a red giant in about 5 billion years. Like other red giants, Mira will lose a large fraction of its mass in the form of gas and dust. In fact, Mira ejects the equivalent of the Earth's mass every 10 years. It has released enough material over the past 30,000 years to seed at least 3,000 Earth-sized planets or 9 Jupiter-sized ones. While most stars travel along together around the disk of our Milky Way, Mira is charging through it. Because Mira is not moving with the "pack," it is moving much faster relative to the ambient gas in our section of the Milky Way. It is zipping along at 130 kilometers per second, or 291,000 miles per hour, relative to this gas. Mira's breakneck speed together with its outflow of material are responsible for its unique glowing tail. Images from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer show a large build-up of gas, or bow shock, in front of the star, similar to water piling up in front of a speeding boat. Scientists now know that hot gas in this bow shock mixes with the cooler, hydrogen gas being shed from Mira,, causing it to heat up as it swirls back into a turbulent wake. As the hydrogen gas loses energy, it fluoresces with ultraviolet light, which the Galaxy Evolution Explorer can detect. Mira, also known as Mira A, is not alone in its travels through space. It has a distant companion star called Mira B that is thought to be the burnt-out, dead core of a star, called a white dwarf. Mira A and B circle around each other slowly, making one orbit about every 500 years. Astronomers believe that Mira B has no effect on Mira's tail. Mira is also what's called a pulsating variable star. It dims and brightens by a factor of 1,500 every 332 days, and will become bright enough to see with the naked eye in mid-November 2007. Because it was the first variable star with a regular period ever discovered, other stars of this type are often referred to as "Miras." Mira is located 350 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus, otherwise known as the whale. Coincidentally, Mira and its "whale of a tail" can be found in the tail of the whale constellation. These images were between November 18 and December 15, 2006.
Mira Soars Through the Sky
PIA09958
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
Title Mira Soars Through the Sky
Original Caption Released with Image New ultraviolet images from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows a speeding star that is leaving an enormous trail of "seeds" for new solar systems. The star, named Mira (pronounced my-rah) after the latin word for "wonderful," is shedding material that will be recycled into new stars, planets and possibly even life as it hurls through our galaxy. In figure 1, the upper panel shows Mira's full, comet-like tail as seen only in shorter, or "far" ultraviolet wavelengths, while the lower panel is a combined view showing both far and longer, or "near" ultraviolet wavelengths. The close-up picture at bottom gives a better look at Mira itself, which appears as a pinkish dot, and is moving from left to right in this view. Shed material appears in light blue. The dots in the picture are stars and distant galaxies. The large blue dot on the left side of the upper panel, and the large yellow dot in the lower panel, are both stars that are closer to us than Mira. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer discovered the strange tail during part of its routine survey of the entire sky at ultraviolet wavelengths. When astronomers first saw the picture, they were shocked because Mira has been studied for over 400 years yet nothing like this has ever been documented before. Mira's comet-like tail stretches a startling 13 light-years across the sky. For comparison, the nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri, is only about 4 light-years away. Mira's tail also tells a tale of its history -- the material making it up has been slowly blown off over time, with the oldest material at the end of the tail being released about 30,000 years ago (figure 2). Mira is a highly evolved, "red giant" star near the end of its life. Technically, it is called an asymptotic giant branch star. It is red in color and bloated, for example, if a red giant were to replace our sun, it would engulf everything out to the orbit of Mars. Our sun will mature into a red giant in about 5 billion years. Like other red giants, Mira will lose a large fraction of its mass in the form of gas and dust. In fact, Mira ejects the equivalent of the Earth's mass every 10 years. It has released enough material over the past 30,000 years to seed at least 3,000 Earth-sized planets or 9 Jupiter-sized ones. While most stars travel along together around the disk of our Milky Way, Mira is charging through it. Because Mira is not moving with the "pack," it is moving much faster relative to the ambient gas in our section of the Milky Way. It is zipping along at 130 kilometers per second, or 291,000 miles per hour, relative to this gas. Mira's breakneck speed together with its outflow of material are responsible for its unique glowing tail. Images from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer show a large build-up of gas, or bow shock, in front of the star, similar to water piling up in front of a speeding boat. Scientists now know that hot gas in this bow shock mixes with the cooler, hydrogen gas being shed from Mira,, causing it to heat up as it swirls back into a turbulent wake. As the hydrogen gas loses energy, it fluoresces with ultraviolet light, which the Galaxy Evolution Explorer can detect. Mira, also known as Mira A, is not alone in its travels through space. It has a distant companion star called Mira B that is thought to be the burnt-out, dead core of a star, called a white dwarf. Mira A and B circle around each other slowly, making one orbit about every 500 years. Astronomers believe that Mira B has no effect on Mira's tail. Mira is also what's called a pulsating variable star. It dims and brightens by a factor of 1,500 every 332 days, and will become bright enough to see with the naked eye in mid-November 2007. Because it was the first variable star with a regular period ever discovered, other stars of this type are often referred to as "Miras." Mira is located 350 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus, otherwise known as the whale. Coincidentally, Mira and its "whale of a tail" can be found in the tail of the whale constellation. These images were between November 18 and December 15, 2006.
Mira Soars Through the Sky
PIA09958
Ultraviolet/Visible Camera
Title Mira Soars Through the Sky
Original Caption Released with Image New ultraviolet images from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows a speeding star that is leaving an enormous trail of "seeds" for new solar systems. The star, named Mira (pronounced my-rah) after the latin word for "wonderful," is shedding material that will be recycled into new stars, planets and possibly even life as it hurls through our galaxy. In figure 1, the upper panel shows Mira's full, comet-like tail as seen only in shorter, or "far" ultraviolet wavelengths, while the lower panel is a combined view showing both far and longer, or "near" ultraviolet wavelengths. The close-up picture at bottom gives a better look at Mira itself, which appears as a pinkish dot, and is moving from left to right in this view. Shed material appears in light blue. The dots in the picture are stars and distant galaxies. The large blue dot on the left side of the upper panel, and the large yellow dot in the lower panel, are both stars that are closer to us than Mira. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer discovered the strange tail during part of its routine survey of the entire sky at ultraviolet wavelengths. When astronomers first saw the picture, they were shocked because Mira has been studied for over 400 years yet nothing like this has ever been documented before. Mira's comet-like tail stretches a startling 13 light-years across the sky. For comparison, the nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri, is only about 4 light-years away. Mira's tail also tells a tale of its history -- the material making it up has been slowly blown off over time, with the oldest material at the end of the tail being released about 30,000 years ago (figure 2). Mira is a highly evolved, "red giant" star near the end of its life. Technically, it is called an asymptotic giant branch star. It is red in color and bloated, for example, if a red giant were to replace our sun, it would engulf everything out to the orbit of Mars. Our sun will mature into a red giant in about 5 billion years. Like other red giants, Mira will lose a large fraction of its mass in the form of gas and dust. In fact, Mira ejects the equivalent of the Earth's mass every 10 years. It has released enough material over the past 30,000 years to seed at least 3,000 Earth-sized planets or 9 Jupiter-sized ones. While most stars travel along together around the disk of our Milky Way, Mira is charging through it. Because Mira is not moving with the "pack," it is moving much faster relative to the ambient gas in our section of the Milky Way. It is zipping along at 130 kilometers per second, or 291,000 miles per hour, relative to this gas. Mira's breakneck speed together with its outflow of material are responsible for its unique glowing tail. Images from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer show a large build-up of gas, or bow shock, in front of the star, similar to water piling up in front of a speeding boat. Scientists now know that hot gas in this bow shock mixes with the cooler, hydrogen gas being shed from Mira,, causing it to heat up as it swirls back into a turbulent wake. As the hydrogen gas loses energy, it fluoresces with ultraviolet light, which the Galaxy Evolution Explorer can detect. Mira, also known as Mira A, is not alone in its travels through space. It has a distant companion star called Mira B that is thought to be the burnt-out, dead core of a star, called a white dwarf. Mira A and B circle around each other slowly, making one orbit about every 500 years. Astronomers believe that Mira B has no effect on Mira's tail. Mira is also what's called a pulsating variable star. It dims and brightens by a factor of 1,500 every 332 days, and will become bright enough to see with the naked eye in mid-November 2007. Because it was the first variable star with a regular period ever discovered, other stars of this type are often referred to as "Miras." Mira is located 350 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cetus, otherwise known as the whale. Coincidentally, Mira and its "whale of a tail" can be found in the tail of the whale constellation. These images were between November 18 and December 15, 2006.
GALEX Distributes Local Gala …
PIA03295
GALEX Telescope
Title GALEX Distributes Local Galactic Treasures at AAS
Original Caption Released with Image GALEX Poster From sparkling blue rings to dazzling golden disks, Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galex) scientists are handing out a collection of their finest galactic treasures at the January 2006 American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. Mined from the mission's Survey of Nearby Galaxies data, these cosmic gems were collected with the telescope's sensitive ultraviolet instruments. The gallery of galaxies has been made into a poster for meeting attendees visiting the mission's booth. Organized from far-ultraviolet to near-ultraviolet bright galaxies, this poster encapsulates the heart of the mission to study how galaxies and star formation rates have changed over the past 10 billion years. Events in space take millions or billions of years to unfold, which means that astronomers can't watch individual galaxies and stars age over time. Luckily, because the physics of light travel dictates that the farther away an object is from Earth, the longer it takes for its light to travel to us, the universe can be thought of as a time machine. By building telescopes sensitive enough to capture objects that are 10 billion light-years away, astronomers can essentially see an object the way it looked 10 billion years ago. Galex astronomers are using this phenomenon to their advantage by taking snapshots of different galaxies at various distances in space. By comparing portraits of numerous objects at various times in the universe's history, the team can begin to piece together the life cycle of stars and galaxies. For the poster, Galex scientists organized 196 different nearby galaxies in bins of increasing ultraviolet color. By placing the various snapshots side by side, astronomers can see how galaxies age differently. When viewed in ultraviolet, active star-forming regions in galaxies can be seen as glittering blue structures, while a soft, golden glow indicates the presence of older stars. The 196 galaxies represented in the poster were selected from more than 1,000 galaxies in the "Ultraviolet Atlas of Nearby Galaxies." So far, the Galex mission has surveyed more than 100 million galaxies.
GALEX Distributes Local Gala …
PIA03295
GALEX Telescope
Title GALEX Distributes Local Galactic Treasures at AAS
Original Caption Released with Image GALEX Poster From sparkling blue rings to dazzling golden disks, Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galex) scientists are handing out a collection of their finest galactic treasures at the January 2006 American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. Mined from the mission's Survey of Nearby Galaxies data, these cosmic gems were collected with the telescope's sensitive ultraviolet instruments. The gallery of galaxies has been made into a poster for meeting attendees visiting the mission's booth. Organized from far-ultraviolet to near-ultraviolet bright galaxies, this poster encapsulates the heart of the mission to study how galaxies and star formation rates have changed over the past 10 billion years. Events in space take millions or billions of years to unfold, which means that astronomers can't watch individual galaxies and stars age over time. Luckily, because the physics of light travel dictates that the farther away an object is from Earth, the longer it takes for its light to travel to us, the universe can be thought of as a time machine. By building telescopes sensitive enough to capture objects that are 10 billion light-years away, astronomers can essentially see an object the way it looked 10 billion years ago. Galex astronomers are using this phenomenon to their advantage by taking snapshots of different galaxies at various distances in space. By comparing portraits of numerous objects at various times in the universe's history, the team can begin to piece together the life cycle of stars and galaxies. For the poster, Galex scientists organized 196 different nearby galaxies in bins of increasing ultraviolet color. By placing the various snapshots side by side, astronomers can see how galaxies age differently. When viewed in ultraviolet, active star-forming regions in galaxies can be seen as glittering blue structures, while a soft, golden glow indicates the presence of older stars. The 196 galaxies represented in the poster were selected from more than 1,000 galaxies in the "Ultraviolet Atlas of Nearby Galaxies." So far, the Galex mission has surveyed more than 100 million galaxies.
Opportunity Rolls Free Again …
PIA08532
Sol (our sun)
Hazard-Avoidance Camera
Title Opportunity Rolls Free Again (Four Wheels)
Original Caption Released with Image This animated piece illustrates the recent escape of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity from dangerous, loose material on the vast plains leading to the rover's next long-term target, "Victoria Crater." A series of images from the front and rear hazard-avoidance cameras make up this brief movie chronicling the challenge Opportunity faced to free itself from the ripple dubbed "Jammerbugt." Each quadrant shows one of the rover's four corner wheels: left front wheel in upper left, right front wheel in upper right, rear wheels in the lower quadrants. The wheels became partially embedded in the ripple at the end of a drive on Opportunity's 833rd Martian day, or sol (May 28, 2006). The images in this clip were taken on sols 836 through 841 (May 31 through June 5, 2006). Scientists and engineers who had been elated at the meters of progress the rover had been making in earlier drives were happy for even centimeters of advance per sol as they maneuvered their explorer through the slippery material of Jammerbugt. The wheels reached solid footing on a rock outcrop on the final sol of this sequence. The science and engineering teams appropriately chose the ripple's informal from name the name of a bay on the north coast of Denmark. Jammerbugt, or Jammerbugten, loosely translated, means Bay of Lamentation or Bay of Wailing. The shipping route from the North Sea to the Baltic passes Jammerbugt on its way around the northern tip of Jutland. This has always been an important trade route and many ships still pass by the bay. The prevailing wind directions are typically northwest to southwest with the strongest winds and storms tending to blow from the northwest. A northwesterly wind will blow straight into the Jammerbugt, towards shore. Therefore, in the age of sail, many ships sank there during storms. The shore is sandy, but can have strong waves, so running aground was very dangerous even though there are no rocks. Fortunately, Opportunity weathered its "Jammerbugt" and is again on its way toward Victoria Crater.
Opportunity Rolls Free Again …
PIA08531
Sol (our sun)
Hazard-Avoidance Camera
Title Opportunity Rolls Free Again (Left Front Wheel)
Original Caption Released with Image This animated piece illustrates the recent escape of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity from dangerous, loose material on the vast plains leading to the rover's next long-term target, "Victoria Crater." A series of images of the rover's left front wheel, taken by the front hazard-avoidance camera, make up this brief movie. It chronicles the challenge Opportunity faced to free itself from a ripple dubbed "Jammerbugt." The rover's wheels became partially embedded in the ripple at the end of a drive on Opportunity's 833rd Martian day, or sol (May 28, 2006). The images in this clip were taken on sols 836 through 841 (May 31 through June 5, 2006). Scientists and engineers who had been elated at the meters of progress the rover had been making in earlier drives were happy for even centimeters of advance per sol as they maneuvered their explorer through the slippery material of Jammerbugt. The wheels reached solid footing on a rock outcrop on the final sol of this sequence. The science and engineering teams appropriately chose the ripple's informal from name the name of a bay on the north coast of Denmark. Jammerbugt, or Jammerbugten, loosely translated, means Bay of Lamentation or Bay of Wailing. The shipping route from the North Sea to the Baltic passes Jammerbugt on its way around the northern tip of Jutland. This has always been an important trade route and many ships still pass by the bay. The prevailing wind directions are typically northwest to southwest with the strongest winds and storms tending to blow from the northwest. A northwesterly wind will blow straight into the Jammerbugt, towards shore. Therefore, in the age of sail, many ships sank there during storms. The shore is sandy, but can have strong waves, so running aground was very dangerous even though there are no rocks. Fortunately, Opportunity weathered its "Jammerbugt" and is again on its way toward Victoria Crater.
Opportunity Rolls Free Again …
PIA08530
Sol (our sun)
Hazard-Avoidance Camera
Title Opportunity Rolls Free Again (Right Front Wheel)
Original Caption Released with Image This animated piece illustrates the recent escape of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity from dangerous, loose material on the vast plains leading to the rover's next long-term target, "Victoria Crater." A series of images of the rover's right front wheel, taken by the front hazard-avoidance camera, make up this brief movie. It chronicles the challenge Opportunity faced to free itself from a ripple dubbed "Jammerbugt." The rover's wheels became partially embedded in the ripple at the end of a drive on Opportunity's 833rd Martian day, or sol (May 28, 2006). The images in this clip were taken on sols 836 through 841 (May 31 through June 5, 2006). Scientists and engineers who had been elated at the meters of progress the rover had been making in earlier drives were happy for even centimeters of advance per sol as they maneuvered their explorer through the slippery material of Jammerbugt. The wheels reached solid footing on a rock outcrop on the final sol of this sequence. The science and engineering teams appropriately chose the ripple's informal from name the name of a bay on the north coast of Denmark. Jammerbugt, or Jammerbugten, loosely translated, means Bay of Lamentation or Bay of Wailing. The shipping route from the North Sea to the Baltic passes Jammerbugt on its way around the northern tip of Jutland. This has always been an important trade route and many ships still pass by the bay. The prevailing wind directions are typically northwest to southwest with the strongest winds and storms tending to blow from the northwest. A northwesterly wind will blow straight into the Jammerbugt, towards shore. Therefore, in the age of sail, many ships sank there during storms. The shore is sandy, but can have strong waves, so running aground was very dangerous even though there are no rocks. Fortunately, Opportunity weathered its "Jammerbugt" and is again on its way toward Victoria Crater.
FIRST LEGO League Kickoff
Title FIRST LEGO League Kickoff
Description FIRST LEGO League participants listen to Aerospace Education Specialist Chris Copelan explain the playing field for 'Nano Quest' during a recent FLL kickoff event at StenniSphere, the visitor center at NASA Stennis Space Center. The kickoff began the 2006 FLL competition season. Eighty-five teachers, mentors, parents and 9- to 14-year-old students from southern and central Mississippi came to SSC to hear the rules for Nano Quest. The challenge requires teams to spend eight weeks building and programming robots from LEGO Mindstorms kits. They'll battle their creations in local and regional competitions. The Dec. 2 competition at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College will involve about 200 students. FIRST LEGO League, considered the 'little league' of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, partners FIRST and the LEGO Group. Competitions aim to inspire and celebrate science and technology using real-world context and hands-on experimentation, and to promote the principles of team play and gracious professionalism. Because NASA advocates robotics and science-technology education, the agency and SSC support FIRST by providing team coaches, mentors and training, as well as competition event judges, referees, audio-visual and other volunteer staff personnel. Two of Mississippi's NASA Explorer Schools, Bay-Waveland Middle and Hattiesburg's Lillie Burney Elementary, were in attendance. The following schools were also represented: Ocean Springs Middle, Pearl Upper Elementary, Long Beach Middle, Jackson Preparatory Academy, North Woolmarket Middle, D'Iberville Middle, West Wortham Middle, Picayune's Roseland Park Baptist Academy and Nicholson Elementary, as well as two home-school groups from McComb and Brandon. Gulfport and Picayune Memorial-Pearl River high schools' FIRST Robotics teams conducted robotics demonstrations for the FLL crowd.
Date 09.23.2006
Mutch Crater
PIA08709
Sol (our sun)
Title Mutch Crater
Original Caption Released with Image 27 August 2006 Thomas A. Mutch has been called an explorer of two worlds. Known to colleagues as Tim, he was born on August 26, 1931. An avid mountaineer as well as a scientist, he climbed in the Canadian Rockies and the Himalayas, and had a passion for exploration in all its forms. Mutch became a geologist after majoring in history at Princeton, he received a master's degree from Rutgers and a doctorate from Princeton. In 1960 he became a geology professor at Brown University, later serving as department chairman. In the late 1960s, Mutch applied the geologic discipline called stratigraphy to the study of features on the Moon, work that led to his writing the landmark book, "The Geology of the Moon". Mutch went on to become the leader of the Viking Lander Imaging Team, which had responsibility for obtaining and interpreting the first images from the surface of Mars. Following the successful touchdowns of Viking 1 on July 20, 1976 and Viking 2 a few weeks later, the twin landers transmitted a total of more than 4,000 images from the Martian surface. Mutch had an ability to inspire those around him and a dedication to involving young people in the experience of exploration. He helped create the Viking Student Intern program, a pioneering educational activity since duplicated by many planetary missions, which allowed several dozen college students to participate in the Viking mission. At Brown, where he taught a seminar in exploration, he invited students to participate in a Himalayan climbing expedition. In May 1978, Mutch led a team of 32 students, faculty, and alumni to the21,900-foot Indian peak Devistan, 24 of them, including Mutch, made it to the summit. In October 1980, Mutch died on the slopes of Mount Nun in the Himalayas, following a climbing accident while descending from the 23,410-foot summit. At the time he was on leave from Brown, serving as NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science. His legacy endures in the many minds and spirits he helped nurture. In the planetary science community his former students include R. Stephen Saunders, James W. Head, III, Raymond E. Arvidson, and James B. Garvin. In 1981, NASA administrator Robert Frosch announced that the Viking 1 lander had been renamed the Mutch Memorial Station, and unveiled a stainless steel plaque that is to be placed on the lander, someday, by a team of explorers. The inscription on the plaque reads, "Dedicated to the memory of Tim Mutch, whose imagination, verve, and resolve contributed greatly to the exploration of the Solar System." Located at 0.6°N, 55.3°W, Mutch Crater is about 211 kilometers (131 miles) in diameter. Naming of this crater for Tim Mutch was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1985. The main image is a mosaic of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) red wide angle images acquired during the MOC Geodesy Campaign [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/5_17_99_geodesy/ ], in May 1999. The white boxes show the location of figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is a mosaic of MOC and lower-resolution Mars Odyssey THEMIS VIS images that cover a smaller, unnamed crater located in west-central Mutch Crater. Figure 2 is a portion of the mosaic of the small, unnamed crater, showing landslide deposits formed when material slumped off the crater wall. The source alcoves of the landslides are well defined, as are longitudinal troughs and ridges on the surface of the landslides. These mass movements occurred long after the crater was formed, judging by the difference in the number of small impact craters on their surfaces and on the nearby floor of the crater. The view of the landslides in the northeast corner of the small, unnamed crater in Mutch was acquired by the MGS MOC just a few days ago, on 23 August 2006, to commemorate the 75th birthday of Tim Mutch on 26 August 2006. Noted space writer Andrew Chaikin (http://www.andrewchaikin.com [ http://www.andrewchaikin.com ]), a former Tim Mutch student, suggested the 23 August 2006 MGS MOC image and contributed to the text of this release.
Mutch Crater
PIA08709
Sol (our sun)
Title Mutch Crater
Original Caption Released with Image 27 August 2006 Thomas A. Mutch has been called an explorer of two worlds. Known to colleagues as Tim, he was born on August 26, 1931. An avid mountaineer as well as a scientist, he climbed in the Canadian Rockies and the Himalayas, and had a passion for exploration in all its forms. Mutch became a geologist after majoring in history at Princeton, he received a master's degree from Rutgers and a doctorate from Princeton. In 1960 he became a geology professor at Brown University, later serving as department chairman. In the late 1960s, Mutch applied the geologic discipline called stratigraphy to the study of features on the Moon, work that led to his writing the landmark book, "The Geology of the Moon". Mutch went on to become the leader of the Viking Lander Imaging Team, which had responsibility for obtaining and interpreting the first images from the surface of Mars. Following the successful touchdowns of Viking 1 on July 20, 1976 and Viking 2 a few weeks later, the twin landers transmitted a total of more than 4,000 images from the Martian surface. Mutch had an ability to inspire those around him and a dedication to involving young people in the experience of exploration. He helped create the Viking Student Intern program, a pioneering educational activity since duplicated by many planetary missions, which allowed several dozen college students to participate in the Viking mission. At Brown, where he taught a seminar in exploration, he invited students to participate in a Himalayan climbing expedition. In May 1978, Mutch led a team of 32 students, faculty, and alumni to the21,900-foot Indian peak Devistan, 24 of them, including Mutch, made it to the summit. In October 1980, Mutch died on the slopes of Mount Nun in the Himalayas, following a climbing accident while descending from the 23,410-foot summit. At the time he was on leave from Brown, serving as NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science. His legacy endures in the many minds and spirits he helped nurture. In the planetary science community his former students include R. Stephen Saunders, James W. Head, III, Raymond E. Arvidson, and James B. Garvin. In 1981, NASA administrator Robert Frosch announced that the Viking 1 lander had been renamed the Mutch Memorial Station, and unveiled a stainless steel plaque that is to be placed on the lander, someday, by a team of explorers. The inscription on the plaque reads, "Dedicated to the memory of Tim Mutch, whose imagination, verve, and resolve contributed greatly to the exploration of the Solar System." Located at 0.6°N, 55.3°W, Mutch Crater is about 211 kilometers (131 miles) in diameter. Naming of this crater for Tim Mutch was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1985. The main image is a mosaic of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) red wide angle images acquired during the MOC Geodesy Campaign [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/5_17_99_geodesy/ ], in May 1999. The white boxes show the location of figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is a mosaic of MOC and lower-resolution Mars Odyssey THEMIS VIS images that cover a smaller, unnamed crater located in west-central Mutch Crater. Figure 2 is a portion of the mosaic of the small, unnamed crater, showing landslide deposits formed when material slumped off the crater wall. The source alcoves of the landslides are well defined, as are longitudinal troughs and ridges on the surface of the landslides. These mass movements occurred long after the crater was formed, judging by the difference in the number of small impact craters on their surfaces and on the nearby floor of the crater. The view of the landslides in the northeast corner of the small, unnamed crater in Mutch was acquired by the MGS MOC just a few days ago, on 23 August 2006, to commemorate the 75th birthday of Tim Mutch on 26 August 2006. Noted space writer Andrew Chaikin (http://www.andrewchaikin.com [ http://www.andrewchaikin.com ]), a former Tim Mutch student, suggested the 23 August 2006 MGS MOC image and contributed to the text of this release.
Mutch Crater
PIA08709
Sol (our sun)
Title Mutch Crater
Original Caption Released with Image 27 August 2006 Thomas A. Mutch has been called an explorer of two worlds. Known to colleagues as Tim, he was born on August 26, 1931. An avid mountaineer as well as a scientist, he climbed in the Canadian Rockies and the Himalayas, and had a passion for exploration in all its forms. Mutch became a geologist after majoring in history at Princeton, he received a master's degree from Rutgers and a doctorate from Princeton. In 1960 he became a geology professor at Brown University, later serving as department chairman. In the late 1960s, Mutch applied the geologic discipline called stratigraphy to the study of features on the Moon, work that led to his writing the landmark book, "The Geology of the Moon". Mutch went on to become the leader of the Viking Lander Imaging Team, which had responsibility for obtaining and interpreting the first images from the surface of Mars. Following the successful touchdowns of Viking 1 on July 20, 1976 and Viking 2 a few weeks later, the twin landers transmitted a total of more than 4,000 images from the Martian surface. Mutch had an ability to inspire those around him and a dedication to involving young people in the experience of exploration. He helped create the Viking Student Intern program, a pioneering educational activity since duplicated by many planetary missions, which allowed several dozen college students to participate in the Viking mission. At Brown, where he taught a seminar in exploration, he invited students to participate in a Himalayan climbing expedition. In May 1978, Mutch led a team of 32 students, faculty, and alumni to the21,900-foot Indian peak Devistan, 24 of them, including Mutch, made it to the summit. In October 1980, Mutch died on the slopes of Mount Nun in the Himalayas, following a climbing accident while descending from the 23,410-foot summit. At the time he was on leave from Brown, serving as NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science. His legacy endures in the many minds and spirits he helped nurture. In the planetary science community his former students include R. Stephen Saunders, James W. Head, III, Raymond E. Arvidson, and James B. Garvin. In 1981, NASA administrator Robert Frosch announced that the Viking 1 lander had been renamed the Mutch Memorial Station, and unveiled a stainless steel plaque that is to be placed on the lander, someday, by a team of explorers. The inscription on the plaque reads, "Dedicated to the memory of Tim Mutch, whose imagination, verve, and resolve contributed greatly to the exploration of the Solar System." Located at 0.6°N, 55.3°W, Mutch Crater is about 211 kilometers (131 miles) in diameter. Naming of this crater for Tim Mutch was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1985. The main image is a mosaic of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) red wide angle images acquired during the MOC Geodesy Campaign [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/5_17_99_geodesy/ ], in May 1999. The white boxes show the location of figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is a mosaic of MOC and lower-resolution Mars Odyssey THEMIS VIS images that cover a smaller, unnamed crater located in west-central Mutch Crater. Figure 2 is a portion of the mosaic of the small, unnamed crater, showing landslide deposits formed when material slumped off the crater wall. The source alcoves of the landslides are well defined, as are longitudinal troughs and ridges on the surface of the landslides. These mass movements occurred long after the crater was formed, judging by the difference in the number of small impact craters on their surfaces and on the nearby floor of the crater. The view of the landslides in the northeast corner of the small, unnamed crater in Mutch was acquired by the MGS MOC just a few days ago, on 23 August 2006, to commemorate the 75th birthday of Tim Mutch on 26 August 2006. Noted space writer Andrew Chaikin (http://www.andrewchaikin.com [ http://www.andrewchaikin.com ]), a former Tim Mutch student, suggested the 23 August 2006 MGS MOC image and contributed to the text of this release.
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