Hubble Captures a Galaxy with Many Lights
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the spiral galaxy NGC 1672 with a supernova.
Earth Below
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay As the International Space Station soared 257 miles above northern Mexico, NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 flight engineer Don Pettit captured this long-exposure photograph of city lights streaking across Earth while a green atmospheric glow crowned the horizon.
X-59’s Engine Started for Testing
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits in its run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, firing up its engine for the first time. These engine-run tests start at low power and allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/x-59-performs-first-engine-run/
Contract Specialist Miranda Meyer
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay "[Now that I work for Safety and Mission Assurance,] it's really cool to read everything about the different types of the scenarios. I always get to see the task orders and the type of work that is going on to keep people safe on the ground and in the air.” — Miranda Meyer, Contract Specialist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Atlantis Begins 13th Space Trip
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay The Space Shuttle Atlantis returned to work after a refurbishing and a two-year layoff, as liftoff for the mission occurred on Nov. 3, 1994. Five NASA astronauts and an ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut were aboard for the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-3) mission.
Witch Nebula Casts Starry Spell
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay A witch appears to be screaming out into space in this image from NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The infrared portrait shows the Witch Head nebula, named after its resemblance to the profile of a wicked witch.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/witch-head-brews-baby-stars-2/
60 Years Ago: Lunar Landing Research Vehicle Takes Flight
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay NASA test pilot Joe Walker took the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) for its first spin 60 years ago today. NASA used the LLRV, also known as the flying bedstead, to train Apollo astronauts for the descent to the Moon's surface.
A Particular Lenticular Cloud
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay New Zealand’s stunning scenery has famously provided the backdrop for fictional worlds in fantasy films. A unique cloud that forms over the Otago region of the country’s South Island also evokes the otherworldly, while very much existing in reality.
An Opportunity to Study Water
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay Space science is fun! NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit fills this sphere of water with food coloring creating a Jupiter-like effect in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station.
Hubble Sees a Celestial Cannonball
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay The spiral galaxy in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is IC 3225. It looks remarkably as if it was launched from a cannon, speeding through space like a comet with a tail of gas streaming from its disk behind it.
An Orange Blue Moon
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay A super blue moon rises above NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Aug. 18, 2024. Although not actually appearing blue, as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, this is called a “blue” moon.
Melbourne City Lights
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay The city lights of Melbourne, Australia are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 271 miles above.
A Dazzling Supernova
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay Nearly four decades ago, astronomers spotted one of the brightest exploding stars in more than 400 years. The titanic supernova, called Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), blazed with the power of 100 million suns for several months following its discovery on Feb. 23, 1987.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/gsfc-20171208-archive-e000102orig/
On the Road Again…
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay A drone camera captures NASA’s mobile launcher 1 atop the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 moving from Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. The mobile launcher has been at the launch pad since August 2023 undergoing upgrades and tests in preparation for NASA’s Artemis II mission.
NASA Michoud Gets a Rare Visitor
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay The Oort Cloud comet, called C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, passes over Southeast Louisiana near New Orleans, home of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. The comet is making its first appearance in documented human history; it was last seen in the night sky 80,000 years ago. The Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet made its first close pass by Earth in mid-October and will remain visible to viewers in the Northern Hemisphere just between the star Arcturus and planet Venus through early November.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/epb-comet-tsuchinchanatlas-c2023a3orig/
Imagining the Future
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay An unidentified illustration of NASA's space shuttle. The space shuttle fleet flew 135 missions and helped construct the International Space Station between the first launch on April 12, 1981 and the final landing on July 21, 2011. There were five orbiters: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.
Europa Clipper Begins Journey to Jupiter’s Icy Moon
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. After launch, the spacecraft plans to fly by Mars in February 2025, then back by Earth in December 2026, using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum. With help of these “gravity assists,” Europa Clipper will achieve the velocity needed to reach Jupiter in April 2030.
Ancient Comet Makes Appearance
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was about 44 million miles away from Earth in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 272 miles above the South Pacific Ocean southeast of New Zealand just before sunrise on Sept. 28, 2024.
Ring Around the Mountain
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay On New Zealand’s North Island, a conical snow-capped volcano ringed by dark green forest rises above dairy pasture. The often-snowcapped peak of Mount Taranaki is the centerpiece of Egmont National Park. A circular piece of land—with a 9.6-kilometer (6-mile) radius from the volcano’s summit—was first formally protected as a forest reserve in 1881. With some subsequent additions, it became New Zealand’s second national park in 1900.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/mttaranaki-oli-20230610-lrg/
Lead Astromaterial Curation Engineer Salvador Martinez III
#NASA #ImageOfTheDay "It took years but it felt like all of the sudden, I was here and everything, the entire time, was preparing me for my role on the OSIRIS-REx mission. Now, I share a place in history next to a Curation team full of the most talented, intelligent and hard-working individuals in the world and all that we have accomplished is, and will be, a part of NASA forever." —Salvador Martinez III, Lead Astromaterial Curation Engineer, Jacobs Technology, NASA's Johnson Space Center
