Black Holes: Seeing The Invisible!

Horseshoe bend, Arizona.

Crédito: Felix Barra

https://www.facebook.com/felix.barra.5

Amanecer del 2 de Enero, cerca del Lago Ontario en Canada.

Hoy nuestro planeta pasó por su Perihelio, es decir, por el punto de su órbita más cercano al Sol. En ese momento, aunque sea imperceptible para los humanos, viajamos la endiablada velocidad de 110.700 kilómetros por hora (o, lo que es lo mismo, 30,75 kilómetros por segundo).

Crédito: Steven A. Sweet

Lunar 101-Moon Book

An Addition to our Space Rock Collection

On October 20th, our OSIRIS-REx mission will make its first attempt to collect and retrieve a sample of asteroid Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid. On sample collection day, Bennu will be over 200 million miles away from Earth.  

Asteroids are the building blocks of our solar system. A sample of this ancient material can tell us about the history of our planet and the origins of life. Science results published from the mission on October 8th confirm that Bennu contains carbon in a form often found in biology or in compounds associated with biology.

To collect a sample, OSIRIS-REx will attempt a method NASA has never used before – called Touch-And-Go (TAG).  First, the spacecraft extends its robotic sampling arm, the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) – from its folded storage position. The spacecraft’s two solar panels then move into a “Y-wing” configuration over the spacecraft’s body, which positions them safely up and away from the asteroid’s surface during touch down. This configuration also places the spacecraft’s center of gravity directly over the TAGSAM collector head, which is the only part of the spacecraft that will contact Bennu’s surface.

Finding a safe sample collection site on Bennu’s rocky landscape was a challenge. During the sampling event, the spacecraft, which is the size of a large van, will attempt to touch down in an area that is only the size of a few parking spaces, and just a few steps away from enormous boulders.

The spacecraft will only make contact with Bennu for a matter of seconds - just long enough to blow nitrogen gas onto the surface to roil up dust and small pebbles, which will then be captured for a return to Earth.

We need to conduct a few tests before we can confirm we collected a large enough sample (about 2 oz). First, OSIRIS-REx will take images of the collector head to see if it contains rocks and dust. Second, the spacecraft will spin with the TAGSAM extended to determine the mass of collected material. If these measures show a successful collection, we will stow the sample for return to Earth. If sufficient sample has not been collected, the spacecraft has onboard nitrogen charges for two more attempts. The next TAG attempt would be made no earlier than January 2021.

Despite the many challenges, the OSIRIS-REx team is ready. They’ve practiced and prepared for this moment.

Join in with #ToBennuAndBack and tune in on October 20th.

Learn more about the OSIRIS-REx countdown to TAG HERE.

Learn more about the OSIRIS-REx mission HERE, or follow the mission on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Roman’s Heat-Vision Eyes Are Complete!

Our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team recently flight-certified all 24 of the detectors the mission needs. When Roman launches in the mid-2020s, the detectors will convert starlight into electrical signals, which will then be decoded into 300-megapixel images of huge patches of the sky. These images will help astronomers explore all kinds of things, from rogue planets and black holes to dark matter and dark energy.

Eighteen of the detectors will be used in Roman’s camera, while another six will be reserved as backups. Each detector has 16 million tiny pixels, so Roman’s images will be super sharp, like Hubble’s.

The image above shows one of Roman’s detectors compared to an entire cell phone camera, which looks tiny by comparison. The best modern cell phone cameras can provide around 12-megapixel images. Since Roman will have 18 detectors that have 16 million pixels each, the mission will capture 300-megapixel panoramas of space.

The combination of such crisp resolution and Roman’s huge view has never been possible on a space-based telescope before and will make the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope a powerful tool in the future.

Learn more about the Roman Space Telescope!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

Debajo del meteoro de las Perseidas, los árboles se alzan en silueta contra las luces dispersas a lo largo del horizonte y la débil Vía Láctea, a su vez cortada por oscuras nubes de polvo interestelar.

Créditos: Jared Tennant

"Night Sky"

La Vía Láctea sobre Dead Vlei en el desierto de Namib en Namibia.

Panorama de 3 fotos individuales: Sony A75 l Sigma mm F / 1 .8 || s l IS0 5000

Crédito: Stefan Liebermann

https://instagram.com/stefanliebermannphoto

https://www.stefanliebermann.de/

~Antares

Scary Space: New Halloween Poster Treats from NASA

Halloween is just around the corner. Need some chilling décor? We’ve got you – and your walls – covered with three new Galaxy of Horrors posters that showcase some of the most terrifying topics in the universe.

Gamma Ray Ghouls

In the depths of the universe, the cores of two collapsed stars violently merge to release a burst of the deadliest and most powerful form of light, known as gamma rays. These beams of doom are unleashed upon their unfortunate surroundings, shining a billion trillion times brighter than the Sun for up to 30 terrifying seconds. No spaceship will shield you from their blinding destruction!

Galactic Graveyard

The chillingly haunted galaxy called MACS 2129-1 mysteriously stopped making stars only a few billion years after the Big Bang. It became a cosmic cemetery, illuminated by the red glow of decaying stars. Dare to enter and you might encounter the frightening corpses of exoplanets or the final death throes of once-mighty stars.

Dark Matter

Something strange and mysterious creeps throughout the cosmos. Scientists call it dark matter. It is scattered in an intricate web that forms the skeleton of our universe. Dark matter is invisible, only revealing its presence by pushing and pulling on objects we can see. NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will investigate its secrets. What will it find?

Download the full set in English and Spanish here.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Región activa solar AR2786 (Izquierda) y AR2785 (Derecha) en comparativa con nuestro planeta.

Crédito: Paul's Astrophotography

Tránsito de la Estación Espacial Tiangong

Se utilizo un refractor de 8 ′′ a lo largo del Mar Mediterráneo, para este tránsito solar de 1/2 segundo de la nueva Estación Espacial Tiangong de China, que incluye los 3 módulos con sus paneles solares y sin duda el brazo robótico. Pueden acceder al video de este tránsito a través de su canal de YouTube o el siguiente link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp3jCKvX_tY

Credito: Thierry Legault

https://www.facebook.com/thierry.legault.5

~Antares

Torcal de Antequera es un paraje natural situado en los términos municipales de Antequera y Villanueva de la Concepción de la provincia de Málaga, en Andalucía (España).

Crédito: Juanma Espinosa

https://instagram.com/juanmaespinosa

~Antares