An unusual object in the asteroid belt is, in fact, two asteroids orbiting each other that have comet-like features. These include a bright halo of material, called a coma, and a long tail of dust. This time-lapse, assembled from a set of Hubble Space Telescope photos, reveals the asteroid pair, called 2006 VW139/288P.
The pair is orbiting each other at a distance of 60 miles and was imaged in September 2016. The more recent Hubble observations revealed ongoing activity in the binary system. We detected strong indications for the sublimation of water ice due to the increased solar heating – similar to how the tail of a comet is created.
The team estimates that 2006 VW139/288P has existed as a binary system only for about 5,000 years. The most probably formation scenario is the breakup due to fast rotation.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. DePasquale and Z Levay (STScI)
#nasa #space #hubble #hubblespacetelescope #telescope #binary #asteroids #orbit #sun #timelapse #gif #astronomy #solarsystem
Look up in the sky tonight and see Saturn!
This month Saturn is the only prominent evening planet low in the southwest sky. Look for it near the constellation Sagittarius. Above and below Saturn--from a dark sky--you can't miss the summer Milky Way spanning the sky from northeast to southwest!
Grab a pair of binoculars and scan the teapot-shaped Sagittarius, where stars and some brighter clumps appear as steam from the teapot. Those bright clumps are near the center of our galaxy, which is full of gas, dust and stars.
Credit: NASA
#nasa #space #astronomy #september #whatsup #night #nightsky #stars #stargazing #saturn #planet
In this video captured at 1,500 frames per second with a high-speed camera, the International Space Station (@ISS), with a crew of six onboard, is seen in silhouette as it transits the sun at roughly five miles per second during a partial solar eclipse, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 near Banner, Wyoming. Onboard as part of the crew are: NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer (@Astro2Fish), and Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade); Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy (@SergeyISS); and ESA (@EuropeanSpaceAgency) astronaut Paolo Nespoli (@Astro_Paolo). A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the contiguous United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of South America, Africa, and Europe.
Today, a solar eclipse will be visible across North America. Throughout the continent, the Moon will cover part – or all – of the Sun’s super-bright face for part of the day. For those within the narrow path of totality, stretching from Oregon to South Carolina, that partial eclipse will become total for a few brief moments.
Make sure you’re using proper solar filters (not sunglasses) or an indirect viewing method if you plan to watch the eclipse in person.
Wherever you are, you can also watch today’s eclipse online with us at http://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive. Starting at noon ET, our show will feature views from our research aircraft, high-altitude balloons, satellites and specially modified telescopes, as well as live reports from cities across the country and the International Space Station.
LIFTOFF! Today at 8:29 a.m. EDT, we launched our next communications satellite, named the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M (TDRS-M). This satellite will join a fleet in space that helps us with global communications for more than 40 of our missions. From the beautiful images we receive from the Hubble Space Telescope, to communicating with astronauts on the International Space Station, the TDRS network helps facilitate the work we do at NASA.
With the launch of TDRS-M, the lifespan of our Space Network will be extended for another 15 years or more. Seen here as it leaves Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 41 in Florida, the Atlas V rocket safely delivered the satellite in orbit.
Credit: NASA
#nasa #space #satellite #tdrsm #communications #launch #liftoff #kennedy #kennedyspacecenter #capecanaveral #ula #spacecraft #orbit #launchpad
Solar déjà vu. The large sunspot that rotated out of view about two weeks ago has returned. Though much reduced in size, it did blast a good-sized coronal mass ejection about a week ago on the far side of the Sun.
It was showing off numerous magnetic loops and arches above it as it came into view. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one for more solar activity. Sunspots can last from days to months, so for it to return again is not an unusual event.
Credit: NASA/SDO
What’s up for August? On August 21, there will be a total solar eclipse across the United States. If you are in the path of totality, you’ll get to see the rare site of a total eclipse. Others, not in the narrow path, will see a partial eclipse. Everyone watching should make sure to protect their eyes. Discover all the ways you can safely view this month’s eclipse.
Credit: NASA
#nasa #space #eclipse #eclipse2017 #sun #moon #earth #planets #safety #watch #august #solarsystem
Our pale blue dot, planet Earth, is seen in this video captured by NASA astronaut Jack Fischer (@astro2fish) from his unique vantage point on the International Space Station (@iss). From 250 miles above our home planet, this time-lapse imagery takes us over the Pacific Ocean’s moon glint and above the night lights of San Francisco, CA. The thin hue of our atmosphere is visible surrounding our planet with a majestic white layer of clouds sporadically seen underneath.
The International Space Station is currently home to 6 people who are living and working in microgravity. As it orbits our planet at 17,500 miles per hour, the crew onboard is conducting important research that benefits life here on Earth.
What’s up for August? A total solar eclipse across the continental United States, and you can help us collect scientific data during this solar event! The eclipse, happening on August 21, will be visible throughout North America. Anyone within the path of totality can see one of nature’s most awe inspiring sights – a total solar eclipse. This path, where the moon will completely cover the Sun and the Sun’s tenuous atmosphere – the corona – can be seen, will stretch from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. Observers outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the Sun’s disk.
Looking directly at the Sun is unsafe, so plan to protect your eyes during this solar event. The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as “eclipse glasses” or hand-held solar viewers. Watch for more information about the eclipse and how you can help us collect data during this solar event!
Credit: NASA
#nasa #space #eclipse #eclipse2017 #sun #moon #earth #totality #charleston #oregon #southcarolina #salem #pathoftotality #whatsup #astronomy #partialeclipse #totaleclipse #safety #howtowatch
Numerous arches of magnetic field lines danced and swayed above a large active region on the Sun over about a 30-hour period on July 17-18, 2017. We can also see the magnetic field lines from the large active region reached out and connected with a smaller active region. Those linked lines then strengthened (become brighter), but soon began to develop a kink in them and rather swiftly faded from view. All of this activity is driven by strong magnetic forces associated with the active regions. The images were taken in extreme ultraviolet light.
Credit: NASA
Phobos photobombs Hubble’s look at Mars! When the Hubble Space Telescope observed Mars near opposition in May 2016, a sneaky companion photobombed the picture. Phobos, the Greek personification of fear, is one of two tiny moons orbiting Mars. In 13 exposures over 22 minutes, Hubble captured a timelapse of Phobos moving through its 7-hour 39-minute orbit.
This timelapse video captures a portion of the path that tiny Phobos takes around Mars. The transitions between frames have been smoothed to illustrate continuous motion. Phobos completes an orbit in just 7 hours and 39 minutes, which is faster than Mars rotates. Rising in the Martian west, it runs three laps around the Red Planet in the course of one Martian day, which is about 24 hours and 40 minutes. It is the only natural satellite in the solar system that circles its planet in a time shorter than the parent planet’s day. Hubble photographed Phobos orbiting the Red Planet on May 12, 2016, when Mars was 50 million miles from Earth. This was just a few days before the planet passed closer to Earth in its orbit than it had in the past 11 years.
Credits: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon and Z. Levay (STScI)
#Hubble #Mars #space #science #nasa #astronomy #planet #solarsystem #phobos #telescope
How do eclipses work? Solar eclipses occur when the new moon passes between Earth and the sun and the moon casts a traveling shadow on Earth.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the new moon is in the right position to exactly cover the sun's disk. This will happen next month when the new moon will completely block our view of the sun along a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina.
During August's total solar eclipse, it may be dark enough to see some of the brighter stars and a few planets!
Two weeks before or after a solar eclipse there's often, but not always, a lunar eclipse. But it's not necessarily a total lunar eclipse. This will happen because the moon will be at opposition. The full moon and Earth and the sun will be lined up with Earth in the middle.
Credit: NASA
#nasa #space #solarsystem #astronomy #eclipse #solareclipse #eclipse2017 #earth #moon #sun #shadow
No one knows the International Space Station better than the people who live and work there – and now they’re sharing that knowledge in bite-sized chunks. In the first of a series of short videos called “SpeedyTime,” NASA astronaut Jack Fischer gives us a quick-but-thorough tour of payload activities inside and outside the airlock in the station’s Japanese laboratory module, Kibo.
Join him for this quick tour on the orbiting laboratory!
Currently, three humans are living and working on the International Space Station, conducting important research and helping us advance technology.
Credit: NASA
#nasa #space #spacestation #astronaut #speedytime #speedy #tour #float #payload #science #research #work #orbit #astro2fish #kibo #module #airlock #video
Between July 5-11, our Sun-observing satellite, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, saw a sunspot rotate into view and captured it on this. Such sunspots are a common, but are less frequent as we head toward solar minimum, which is the period of low solar activity during its regular approximately 11-year cycle. This sunspot is the first to appear after the sun was spotless for two days, and it is the only sunspot group at this moment. Like freckles on the face of the sun, they appear to be small features, but size is relative: The dark core of this sunspot is actually larger than Earth.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO/Joy Ng, producer
#nasa #sun #sunspot #solarsystem #heliophysics #sdo #solardynamicsobservatory #astronomy #earth
What’s up in the night skies in July? Beginning July 1, we’ll be able to see all the moon’s phases.
Many of the Apollo landing sites are on the lit side of the first quarter moon. But to see these sites, you’ll have to rely on images for lunar orbiting spacecraft. On July 9, the full moon rises at sunset and July 16 is the last quarter. The new moon begins on July 23 and is the phase we’ll look forward to in August, when it will give us the total solar eclipse. The month of July ends with a first quarter moon.
Credit: NASA
#moon #space #nasa #apollo #moonphases #astronomy #solarsystem
Did you know that it’s #AsteroidDay?! Watch this animation to see a simulated asteroid breaking up during atmospheric entry at about 45,000 miles per hour. You’ll notice that a high-pressure shock wave forms around the asteroid causing it to fracture and flatten like a pancake.
In support of our Planetary Defense Coordination Office, researchers are creating 3-D models and using one of our most powerful supercomputers to produce simulations of hypothetical asteroid impact scenarios. Their results help first responders and other agencies to identify and make better informed decisions for how best to defend against life-threatening asteroid events.
Credit: NASA
#nasa #space #asteroid #shockwave #simulation #supercomputer #technology #science #research #predict #planetary #protection
