Mathematician Daniel G. Nichols, who worked in the Real-Time Program Development Branch, Mission Planning and Analysis Division, is photographed in NASA’s Manned Space Center. via NASA https://ift.tt/iv0AgXf
Ths January 2022 image shows the first rays of an orbital sunrise as seen from the International Space Station as it orbited above Venezuela. via NASA https://ift.tt/UwaYGtL
It’s raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a small satellite galaxy. The main galaxy, spiral galaxy NGC 4651, is about the size of our Milky Way, while its stellar parasol appears to extend some 100 thousand light-years above this […]
Welcome to planet Earth, the third planet from a star named the Sun. The Earth is shaped like a sphere and composed mostly of rock. Over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is water. The planet has a relatively thin atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. The featured picture of Earth, dubbed The Blue […]
Variable star R Aquarii is actually an interacting binary star system, two stars that seem to have a close symbiotic relationship. Centered in this space-based optical/x-ray composite image it lies about 710 light years away. The intriguing system consists of a cool red giant star and hot, dense white dwarf star in mutual orbit around […]
Divers at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in Houston are setting the stage for future moonwalk training by simulating lunar lighting conditions. via NASA https://ift.tt/UOwx8Jd
Even though Jupiter was the only planet visible in the evening sky on February 2, it shared the twilight above the western horizon with the Solar System’s brightest moons. In a single exposure made just after sunset, the Solar System’s ruling gas giant is at the upper right in this telephoto field-of-view from Cancun, Mexico. […]
This object is, in fact, a pair: a white dwarf star that steadily burns at a relatively cool temperature and a highly variable red giant. via NASA https://ift.tt/62rftGDse
Even though Venus (left) was the brightest planet in the sky it was less than 1/30th the apparent size of the Moon on January 29. But as both rose before the Sun they shared a crescent phase. For a moment their visible disks were each about 12 percent illuminated as they stood above the southeastern […]
What’s happening at the center of our galaxy? It’s hard to tell with optical telescopes since visible light is blocked by intervening interstellar dust. In other bands of light, though, such as radio, the galactic center can be imaged and shows itself to be quite an interesting and active place. The featured picture shows the […]