@nasagoddard

It's okay, Saturn! We're all a little strange sometimes. New @NASAHubble images show strange spokes that appear across Saturn's rings around the planet's equinoxes. They're likely caused by Saturn's magnetic field electrically charging tiny ice particles. Image Description: Hubble image of Saturn against a black backdrop. The planet is horizontally striped with browns, golds, oranges, and dark reds. Near the planet’s equator, the stripes are especially bright yellow. The planet is surrounded by rings, and the angle of the image shows them from above, so the divisions between different rings are stark. Nearest the planet, the rings are darker and almost transparent. Next out, gray rings move from darker to lighter as you move away from the planet. Then, a thin, very dark ring is surrounded by medium brown rings farthest out. #Saturn #Space #Planets #GasGiant #Hubble #Telescope #NASA

February 09, 2023

A lake frequented by dinosaurs turned fertile farmland now often holds something else—air pollution and haze. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Sichuan Basin in southwestern China held a huge freshwater lake. The lake has long since dried and the modern basin has become a land of rolling hills and fertile farmland. Air pollution and haze settle in the basin, as seen in this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite. Why does this happen? During the winter, coal and wood burning for heat, industrial activity, vehicle emissions, and smoke from fires and dust storms can contribute to haze and poor air quality. Air pollutants collect in the basin when warm air moves over cooler, denser air, causing what meteorologists call a temperature inversion. Cold air from the mountaintops flows down and pushes up warmer air from the floor in the process. The warm air acts like a lid and traps pollutants near the surface. Learn more at the link in our bio! Image description: Satellite image of the Sichuan Basin in southwestern China. The basin is in the center of the image. It's shaped like an oval with flat top and bottom is light blue. Many small tributaries flow to the basin from all directions. Mountains are gray to the right of the basin and the land to the left is tan and green. White clouds speckle the top left and bottom right parts of the image.

February 08, 2023

Once you’ve mapped Mars with a laser, what’s next? The Goddard lidar team turned their skills to Mercury, the Moon, and our home planet. With laser altimetry, we could measure Earth’s changing ice in a whole new dimension. Catch the full series at the link in our bio! Video Description: 00:00 Old footage showing an approach of Mercury then a view of the surface of Mercury. Yellow text on screen reads “Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab asked Goddard to design a lidar for the MESSENGER mission, the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA).” 00:08 David E. Smith on a video call with a graphic reading “David E. Smith, MLA Principal Investigator” 00:12 Animations of MESSENGER spacecraft passing by the camera over Mercury 00:17 John Cavanaugh in a studio interview with a graphic reading “John Cavanaugh, Instrument Systems Engineer” 00:21 Animation of MESSENGER spacecraft headed away from camera around Mercury as the Sun faces camera 00:24 Xiaoli Sun on a video call with graphic reading “Xiaoli Sun, Lidar Instrument Scientist” 00:26 Animation of MESSENGER spacecraft passing by closely to camera, the bright white center of the spacecraft glowing from the sunlight 00:30 Jan McGarry on a video call with a graphic reading “Jan McGarry, MLA Algorithm Engineer” 00:33 Animation of MESSENGER spacecraft gliding away from camera with Mercury visible underneath 00:42 Fullscreen graphic of an outline of the MLA instrument with the dimensions 7.4 kg, 25 cm wide and 28 cm tall over a blue grid background. The camera pulls out to put MLA next to the larger MOLA instrument, which has the dimensions 26 kg, 70 cm wide and 70 cm tall 00:50 David E. Smith on a video call 00:56 Photograph of the inside of the MLA instrument with very thin wires and small circuitry and a label showing the length being 12 cm. This photo is over a blue-green background with images of Mercury faintly visible 01:01 David E. Smith on a video call 01:08 Fullscreen graphic of series title, reading “Leaders in Lidar” in yellow blocky glowing font. The background is a blue grid with multicolored laser beams flying toward the camera and various images of people and instruments swirling around the edges. #NASA #Space #Laser

February 07, 2023

With a dish this big, we can stay connected even a million miles away in space! The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s high-gain antenna has completed a series of tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. One of those tests was in the radio-frequency anechoic test chamber, ensuring Roman’s signal will be crystal clear back here on Earth. The foam spikes lining the chamber make sure there is minimal interference during testing. Next steps: the antenna will be attached to its articulating boom assembly in the Goddard clean room! Click the link in our bio to learn more about Roman’s high-gain antenna 📡 Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Image Description: Image 1: Wide shot of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s high-gain antenna inside a testing chamber that is covered in blue spiked-shaped foam. The antenna is a large grey dish, about the height of a refrigerator, facing slightly to the left. There is a small circle that is elevated in the middle of the antenna disk by six metal strips. The antenna is mounted to a base that is also covered in blue spikes. Image 2:Close-up of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s high-gain antenna inside a testing chamber that is covered in blue spiked-shaped foam. The antenna is a large grey dish, about the height of a refrigerator, facing slightly to the right. There is a small circle that is elevated in the middle of the antenna disk by six metal strips. There are small faint black circles that cover the disk. Image 3:Close-up of the spiked-shaped blue foam covering the walls of the chamber.

February 06, 2023

Scared of spiders? Don’t fret! The Tarantula Nebula doesn’t have legs or fangs. Instead, it’s made up of stars and hydrogen gas in a region about 161,000 light years from Earth. The Tarantula Nebula is home to some of the brightest, hottest, and largest stars in our galactic neighborhood. Hubble has observed this nebula several times, because it holds so much information about star formation and evolution. Learn more about this @NASAHubble image at the link in our bio. Image description: Wispy, nebulous clouds in pinks and reds extend from the lower-left of the image. At the top and right the dark background of space can be seen through the sparse nebula. Along the left and in the corner are many layers of brightly-colored orange and red gas and dark, obscuring dust. A cluster of small, bright blue stars in the same corner expands out across the image. Many much smaller stars cover the background. #NASA #Space #Nebula #Hubble #Telescope

February 06, 2023

This conveyor belt is a little bigger than the one in your local grocery store! Spanning 61 miles along the western edge of the Sahara, the belt helps transport phosphorous across the world. Phosphorous is an important element often used in commercial fertilizers. According to @USGS, this Saharan region contains an estimated 70 percent of all known phosphate rock on the planet and produces nearly 38 million metric tons of phosphate rock annually. That’s about 17% of all global production! Image Description: Satellite image of the western edge of Africa and the Sahara Desert, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The desert is a mostly flat expanse of tan with dark blue ocean. A white line cuts across the image diagonally upwards, starting near the middle of the image and ending where the land meets the ocean in the left hand corner. The area is whiter than the sand elsewhere in the image. #Earth #Space #NASA #Desert #SeenFromSpace

February 04, 2023

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope primary and secondary mirrors have been integrated together at @l3harristech to create the Forward Optical Assembly! In honor of #GroundhogDay, our partners have tested the optics over and over again to make sure they are just right! The Forward Optical Assembly is the core of the telescope that directs light into Roman's two science instruments: the Wide Field instrument and the Coronagraph technology demonstration. Later this year, L3Harris will install hardware designed to separate the light these two components receive. Click the link in our bio to learn more about Roman's optical hardware! 📷Chris Gunn Image Description: 1:Wide view of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Forward Optical Assembly being lowered down onto a base. The structure is suspended about 10 feet in the air by support cables. The structure looks like a giant pencil tip with a blunt end. A wide ring at the bottom containing the primary mirror is connected to a smaller ring containing the secondary mirror above by six beams. Both rings appear to be covered in circuitry. Eight people wearing white protective gear stand on the ground by the base. 2:Side shot of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Forward Optical Assembly, which includes the primary and secondary mirrors and their support tubes. The primary mirror on the bottom has an outer shell around it that is covered in various wires that are red, white, blue, and grey. Six slender beams extend upward and inward to hold up the smaller secondary mirror. The beams are black and have wire/rope tied around them. There is a person to the right of the assembly, whose left arm is extended, holding a wire that is connected to the base mirror. 3:Wide view of the structure described above. People are wearing protective gear surrounding the base of the structure. Two people are to the left of the instrument, and four people are on the right. The structure is nearly twice as tall as the people.

February 03, 2023

It isn’t easy being green, but this image from the @ISS pulls it off well. The lighter hues surrounding the Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge are caused by rainfall depositing sediment into the coastal wetlands. Sediment is also carried from the mouth of the Rio Grande into the Gulf of Mexico. This can often accumulate in the curves and bends of the river which might disrupt water flow or temporarily redirect the river. The oxbow lake - shaped like a U - seen in this image at the bottom left is the result of this redirection. Image Description: Varying shades of green cover the area in this image. The Rio Grande, located near the bottom left, divides Texas to the top and Mexico to the bottom in a winding worm-like path. In the bottom right of the image, Boca Chica Beach creates a sharp diagonal line between the coast and the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX Starbase lies at the center, slightly above the Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. These areas are surrounded by a lighter green than the rest of the image. At the very top of the image is the Brownsville Ship Channel, nearly perpendicular to Boca Chica Beach. #Earth #Space #NASA #River #Ocean

February 03, 2023

Weddell you Sea this! 🌊 This image of the Antarctic Peninsula with clear skies was taken by NASA’s Aqua satellite on December 11, 2022. The Larsen Ice Shelf, a large platform of glacial ice, floats to the east of the peninsula. Just east of that, sea ice drifts in the Weddell Sea. Usually from September to February, sea ice surrounding Antarctica will melt and break off. However, with strong winds and warm air temperatures, the amount of sea ice around the continent was the lowest in 45 years of satellite records by the end of December 2022, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. In the second image, captured by Landsat 9 on December 31, 2022, icebergs that broke off from the Larsen Ice Shelf drift in the Weddell. Image 1: Satellite image of the Antarctic Peninsula and Larsen Ice Shelf. A snowy white peninsula of ice stretching from the bottom left corner toward the mid-left portion of the image with an extension of white ice from the peninsula stretching toward the top of the image, called the Larsen Ice Shelf. To the left of the shelf, a dark pool of black ocean fills the upper-left corner. Smaller spots of black surrounded by white sea ice with jagged edges are to the right of the peninsula. Image 2: Satellite image of a large white sheet of ice extending from the bottom left to the top left of the image with pieces of snowy white icebergs breaking from the peninsula’s right side and drifting to the right central side of the image. Among the white pieces of iceberg are three medium-sized spots of black ocean peeking through in the lower right corner. An oval shaped, white iceberg is in the center of the image with spots of black oean surrounding its three sides that are farthest to the right. #NASA #Earth #Space #Antarctica #Ice #Icebergs

February 03, 2023

Failure isn’t the end of the story. After the loss of Mars Observer, the team who sent the first laser to map height on Mars built their second lidar instrument to see Mars in a whole new light. Along the way, they took a look back at our home planet. Follow the full story at the link in our bio! Video Description: 0:00 Rocket launching. 0:05 Bryan Blair talking. Yellow text reads “Bryan Blair, MOLA Flight Software Analyst.” 0:08 Two stacked animations of spacecraft, each with two solar panels, against a reddish backdrop. 0:14 Clips of archival footage of a room full of people watching computer screens and chatting nervously. 0:23 Yellow font reads “Can you tell if MOLA is turned on?” over the footage. 0:51 Everyone in the room bursts into cheers and clapping with big smiles. 1:00 A computer screen shows a curvy blue line against a white grid. Someone points to the line. A laser pointer circles around a small break in the blue line. 1:03 Archival footage of Jim Garvin smiling and talking. 1:07 More archival footage of people celebrating. 1:11 Montage of people cut out against a blueprint background. Bright beams of light bounce from the center over a stylized globe. In boxy yellow font: “Leaders in Lidar.” #NASA #Space #Laser #Science #Mars #Tech

February 03, 2023

Which Goddard Mission Are You? Take a screenshot and see what you get! GOLD: The planner! GOLD studies the near-space environment, home to satellites & radio signals that guide GPS systems. Like GOLD, you’re ready for any sudden changes. GPM: The team player! GPM combines data from dozens of satellites into one mega dataset of Earth’s precipitation. Like GPM, you work well with friends. Hubble: The workhorse! Like you, Hubble just doesn’t stop. After more than 30 years, Hubble is still doing groundbreaking science. ICESat-2: The jack of all trades! ICESat-2 was built to measure ice, land, & clouds, but it also measures trees, water storage, coral reefs, & more. Like ICESat-2, you do it all. Landsat 9: The archivist! Landsat satellites have been documenting Earth’s land & coastal regions since the 1960s, giving us a long record of change on our planet. LRO: The detail person! LRO maps the Moon in extreme detail – so precisely we can see Apollo landing sites from lunar orbit. Focusing on details lets us make major discoveries! Lucy: The traveler! Lucy is en route to the Trojan asteroids which are as far from us as Jupiter – no short journey. Luckily, Lucy has plenty to do on its way. MAVEN: You do a lot with a little! MAVEN is studying Mars’ atmosphere, which is much thinner & less dense than Earth’s. OSIRIS-REx: The gift-giver! OSIRIS-REx is on its way home with a sample from asteroid Bennu – the perfect gift for scientists studying our solar system’s origins. SDO: The colorful one! SDO sees our Sun in many different wavelengths, which we colorize to enhance features best seen in different kinds of light. Like SDO, you brighten any situation. TESS: You see the big picture! TESS scans nearly the entire sky searching for thousands of exoplanet candidates using the transit method. Webb: Ready to hit the ground running! Like Webb, you don’t let being brand new stop you from major contributions. In Webb’s first few months of science, it’s already changing astrophysics. Video description in comments.

February 03, 2023

Growing up is hard. These guys get it. The young stars seen here, V 372 Orionis (center), and its companion star (left), belong to the Orion Nebula about 1,450 light years from Earth. V 372 Orionis is a distinct type of star classified as an Orion Variable. Their moody tempers and growing pains can be observed by scientists as variations in luminosity. The colorful haze surrounding the pair of stars is from diffuse nebulae, clouds of gas and dust which are commonly associated with Orion Variables. Learn more about this @NASAHubble image at the link in our bio. Image Description: Two very bright stars with cross-shaped diffraction spikes are prominent: the larger is slightly lower-right of the center, the smaller lies towards the upper-left corner. Small red stars with short diffraction spikes are scattered around them. The background is covered nearly completely by gas: smoky, bright blue gas around the larger star in the center and lower-right, and wispier red gas elsewhere.

January 27, 2023