Posts Tagged ‘NASA’
24′ telescope working at LTO
First Light The Little Thompson Observatory (LTO) in Berthoud, is proud to announce that it acquired First Light through its historic 24” (610 mm) Telescope on Friday, November 16. The first objects viewed were the Pleiades Star Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy. A team of dedicated volunteers has been working diligently over the past five years to make this event possible. Preliminary results of visual observations through the eye piece indicate that the telescope is in excellent ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
The first identified compact galaxy group, Stephan's Quintet is featured in this eye-catching image constructed with data drawn from the extensive Hubble Legacy Archive. About 300 million light-years away, only four of these five galaxies are actuallylocked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters. The odd man out is easy to spot, though. The interacting galaxies, NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317 have an overall yellowish cast. They also tend to have distorted loops and ... Full Story
Voyager about to leave solar system
As Voyager 1 nears edge of solar system, CU scientists look back In 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president, Elvis died, Virginia park ranger Roy Sullivan was hit by lightning a record seventh time and two NASA space probes destined to turn planetary science on its head launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The identical spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched in the summer and programmed to pass by Jupiter and Saturn on different paths. Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and ... Full Story
The Real Scandal: The Endless Effort to Smear Climate
The Real Scandal: The Endless Effort to Smear Climate Scientists By Climate Guest Blogger on Nov 25, 2011 at 4:05 pm This year has already witnessed multiple events that break climate records: the drought in East Africa, the worst drought in Texas’ recorded history, and record breaking storms and floods in the US south. Those events, anticipated by climatologists decades ago, should remind us that those who persecute and harass scientists, or mendaciously misrepresent their ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Sharp telescopic views of magnificent edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. The tantalizing scene puts many astronomers in mind of its popular moniker, The Hamburger Galaxy.Edge-on NGC 3628 Image Credit & Copyright: Stephen Leshin Explanation: Sharp telescopic views of magnificent edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. The tantalizing scene puts many astronomers in mind of its popular ... Full Story
CU-Boulder space scientists ready for orbital
NASA’s MESSENGER mission, launched in 2004, is slated to slide into Mercury’s orbit March 17 after a harrowing 4.7 billion mile journey that involved 15 loops around the sun and will bring relief and renewed excitement to the University of Colorado Boulder team that designed and a built an $8.7 million instrument onboard. “In 2004, this milestone seemed like it was a long, long way away,” said Senior Research Associate William McClintock, a mission co-investigator from ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day Ice Fishing for Cosmic Neutrinos Credit: NSF / B. Gudbjartsson, IceCube Collaboration Explanation: Scientists are melting holes in the bottom of the world. In fact, almost 100 holes melted near the South Pole are now being used as astronomical observatories. Astronomers with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory lowered into each vertical lake a long string knotted with basketball-sized light detectors. The ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day Hanny's Voorwerp Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel (Univ. Alabama), et al., Galaxy Zoo Team Explanation: Hanny's Voorwerp, Dutch for "Hanny's Object", is enormous, about the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Glowing strongly in the greenish light produced by ionized oxygen atoms, the mysterious voorwerp is below spiral galaxy IC 2497 in this view from the Hubble Space Telescope. Both lie at a distance of ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day Six Worlds for Kepler-11 Illustration Credit: Tim Pyle, NASA Explanation: Six worlds orbit Kepler-11, a sunlike star 2,000 light-years distant in the constellation Cygnus. The new discovery, based on data from NASA's planet hunting Kepler spacecraft, makes the Kepler-11 system the fullest exoplanetary system known. Compared to our Solar System in this illustration, five of Kepler-11's planets orbit ... Full Story
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day Gibbous Europa Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA; reprocessed by Ted Stryk Explanation: Although the phase of this moon might appear familiar, the moon itself might not. In fact, this gibbous phase shows part of Jupiter's moon Europa. The robot spacecraft Galileo captured this image mosaic during its mission orbiting Jupiter from 1995 - 2003. Visible are plains of bright ice, cracks that run to the ... Full Story
