Announcement on the initiation of the experiment consuming probiotics on the International Space Station

ISS - International Space Station logo.

March 1, 2017

Announcement on the initiation of the experiment consuming probiotics (Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota) on the International Space Station - Research on the impact on the immune system and intestinal microbiota of astronauts

Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. (Yakult) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have been jointly researching the effect of probiotics on the human immune system and intestinal microbiota in a microgravity environment*1 since FY2014. This joint research aims to contribute to maintaining and improving the health and performance of astronauts. It is also intended to make contributions toward promoting human health in general by utilizing the knowledge gained in this joint research for the development of probiotics*2 research on the ground.

It is ready to begin the world's first experiment of consecutive consumption of probiotics by crewmembers on ISS, based on the outcomes of ground-based research activities conducted from FY2014 to FY2015, and the storage test of the capsule containing freeze-dried live probiotic bacteria (Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota*3 ) on board of the ISS conducted in FY2016. It was confirmed that the number of live probiotics in the flight sample was equivalent to those in the ground control samples.

Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota

Yakult and JAXA will initiate the space experiment from 2017, which is a scientific study of the effect caused by the consecutive consumption of probiotics on the human immune system and intestinal microbiota of astronauts staying on the ISS for long periods of time.

*1 JAXA Press Releases March 19, 2014 (JST)
http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2014/03/20140319_yakult_e.html

*2 Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host (FAO/WHO, 2001)

*3 Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota is a probiotic strain with accumulated evidences on reaching intestine alive, maintaining and improving intestinal microbiota and immune function. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accredited the strain as being Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).

Reference:

62nd Japan Aerospace Environment Medical Society, 30th Japan Space Biological Science Society at Aichi Medical University on October 14, 2016.

Presenter: Dr. Satoshi Furukawa, Group leader of Space Medical Biological Research, JAXA

Title: Assessment of the effect of the space environment on the viability of probiotics

Summary:

Before initiating the space experiment on the consumption of probiotics by astronauts on the ISS, given the need for long periods of storage at ambient temperature for the space experiment, a long-term storage test lasting nine months was conducted on the capsules that contained freeze dried and not liquid “Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota.” The capsules were then subjected to a storage test on the ISS (KIBO) in order to analyze the effect of the space environment on the viability of probiotics.

Dr. Satoshi Furukawa

In April 2016, the capsules were launched to the ISS by SpaceX CRS-8 (Dragon), stored for about one month, and then returned to Earth for analysis. It was confirmed that the numbers of live bacteria were maintained on the ISS as compared with the numbers of live bacteria on the ground.

Image above: Capsules containing freeze dried Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota. Five capsules contain at least 40 billion live bacteria.

For more information about Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA): http://global.jaxa.jp/

Images, Text, Credits: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA Study Hints at Possible Change in Water ‘Fingerprint’ of Comet

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center logo.

Feb. 28, 2017

A trip past the sun may have selectively altered the production of one form of water in a comet – an effect not seen by astronomers before, a new NASA study suggests.

Astronomers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, observed the Oort cloud comet C/2014 Q2, also called Lovejoy, when it passed near Earth in early 2015. Through NASA’s partnership in the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the team observed the comet at infrared wavelengths a few days after Lovejoy passed its perihelion – or closest point to the sun.

Image above: Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Center for Astrobiology observed the comet C/2014 Q2 – also called Lovejoy – and made simultaneous measurements of the output of H₂O and HDO, a variant form of water. This image of Lovejoy was taken on Feb. 4, 2015 – the same day the team made their observations and just a few days after the comet passed its perihelion, or closest point to the sun. Image Credits: Courtesy of Damian Peach.

The team focused on Lovejoy’s water, simultaneously measuring the release of H₂O along with production of a heavier form of water, HDO. Water molecules consist of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. A hydrogen atom has one proton, but when it also includes a neutron, that heavier hydrogen isotope is called deuterium, or the “D” in HDO. From these measurements, the researchers calculated the D-to-H ratio – a chemical fingerprint that provides clues about exactly where comets (or asteroids) formed within the cloud of material that surrounded the young sun in the early days of the solar system. Researchers also use the D-to-H value to try to understand how much of Earth’s water may have come from comets versus asteroids.

The scientists compared their findings from the Keck observations with another team’s observations made before the comet reached perihelion, using both space- and ground-based telescopes, and found an unexpected difference: After perihelion, the output of HDO was two to three times higher, while the output of H₂O remained essentially constant. This meant that the D-to-H ratio was two to three times higher than the values reported earlier.

“The change we saw with this comet is surprising, and highlights the need for repeated measurements of D-to-H in comets at different positions in their orbits to understand all the implications,” said Lucas Paganini, a researcher with the Goddard Center for Astrobiology and lead author of the study, available online in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Changes in the water production are expected as comets approach the sun, but previous understanding suggested that the release of these different forms of water normally rise or fall more-or-less together, maintaining a consistent D-to-H value. The new findings suggest this may not be the case.

“If the D-to-H value changes with time, it would be misleading to assume that comets contributed only a small fraction of Earth’s water compared to asteroids,” Paganini said, “especially, if these are based on a single measurement of the D-to-H value in cometary water.”

 W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Image Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory

The production of HDO in comets has historically been difficult to measure, because HDO is a much less abundant form of water. Lovejoy, for example, released on the order of 1,500 times more H₂O than HDO. Lovejoy’s brightness made it possible to measure HDO when the comet passed near Earth, and the improved detectors that are being installed in some ground-based telescopes will permit similar measurements in fainter comets in the future.

The apparent change in Lovejoy’s D-to-H may be caused by the higher levels of energetic processes – such as radiation near the sun – that might have altered the characteristics of water in surface layers of the comet. In this case, a different D-to-H value might indicate that the comet has “aged” into a different stage of its lifecycle. Alternatively, prior results might have ignored possible chemical alteration occurring in the comet’s tenuous atmosphere.

“Comets can be quite active and sometimes quite dynamic, especially when they are in the inner solar system, closer to the sun,” said Michael Mumma, director of the Goddard Center for Astrobiology and a co-author of the study. “The infrared technique provides a snapshot of the comet’s output by measuring the production of H₂O and HDO simultaneously. This is especially important because it eliminates many sources of systematic uncertainty.”

Related links:
Astrophysical Journal Letters: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aa5cb3

Comets: http://www.nasa.gov/comets

Goddard Space Flight Center: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, by Elizabeth Zubritsky/Karl Hille.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

SpaceX logo.

Feb. 28, 2017

SpaceX - We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration. We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results.

SpaceX Dragon Crew

Most importantly, we would like to thank NASA, without whom this would not be possible. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provided most of the funding for Dragon 2 development, is a key enabler for this mission. In addition, this will make use of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which was developed with internal SpaceX funding. Falcon Heavy is due to launch its first test flight this summer and, once successful, will be the most powerful vehicle to reach orbit after the Saturn V moon rocket. At 5 million pounds of liftoff thrust, Falcon Heavy is two-thirds the thrust of Saturn V and more than double the thrust of the next largest launch vehicle currently flying.

Later this year, as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, we will launch our Crew Dragon (Dragon Version 2) spacecraft to the International Space Station. This first demonstration mission will be in automatic mode, without people on board. A subsequent mission with crew is expected to fly in the second quarter of 2018. SpaceX is currently contracted to perform an average of four Dragon 2 missions to the ISS per year, three carrying cargo and one carrying crew. By also flying privately crewed missions, which NASA has encouraged, long-term costs to the government decline and more flight reliability history is gained, benefiting both government and private missions.

Back to the Moon

Once operational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA, SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth. Lift-off will be from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Pad 39A near Cape Canaveral – the same launch pad used by the Apollo program for its lunar missions. This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and further into the Solar System than any before them.

Designed from the beginning to carry humans, the Dragon spacecraft already has a long flight heritage. These missions will build upon that heritage, extending it to deep space mission operations, an important milestone as we work towards our ultimate goal of transporting humans to Mars.

For more information about SpaceX, visit: http://www.spacex.com/

Images, Text, Credits: SpaceX/Public Domain.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Satellite Spots Moon’s Shadow over Patagonia

NASA - EOS Terra Mission patch.

Feb. 27, 2017

On Feb. 26, 2017, an annular eclipse of the sun was visible along a narrow path that stretched from the southern tip of South America, across the Atlantic Ocean and into southern Africa. Those lucky enough to find themselves in the eclipse’s path saw a fiery ring in the sky. Meanwhile, NASA’s Terra satellite saw the eclipse from space.

Image above: NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of the edges of the moon’s shadow over Patagonia at around 13:20 Universal Time (10:20 a.m. local time) on Feb. 26, 2017. Under the moon’s shadow, our planet’s surface and clouds appear yellowish-brown. Image Credits: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team.

During an annular eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking sunlight and casting a shadow on Earth. But the moon is too far from Earth to completely obscure the sun, so the sun peeks out around the moon. Looking down on Earth, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, aboard NASA’s Terra satellite spotted the moon’s shadow over Patagonia.

Image above: Observe the progression of the annular eclipse in this composite image taken from the shore of a small river near Chubut, Argentina. During an annular eclipse, the moon is too far from Earth to completely obscure the sun, so the sun peeks out around the moon in a visible ring. This ring is apparent at the very middle of the eclipse sequence. Image Credits: photo copyright Petr Horálek, used with permission.

Between two to four solar eclipses occur each year. Later this year, on Aug. 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse – in which the moon completely obscures the sun – will cross the United States, from Oregon to South Carolina. Visit eclipse2017.nasa.gov to learn more: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

Related:

Download additional multimedia on this story from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12526

Total Solar Eclipse of Aug. 21, 2017: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

NASA’s SDO Witnesses a Double Eclipse: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-s-sdo-witnesses-a-double-eclipse

Eclipses and Transits: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/eclipse/index.html

Terra Satellite: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/terra/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, by Lina Tran/Rob Garner.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Martian Winds Carve Mountains, Move Dust, Raise Dust

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) logo.

Feb. 27, 2017

Animation above: This sequence of images shows a dust-carrying whirlwind, called a dust devil, scooting across ground inside Gale Crater, as observed on the local summer afternoon of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover's 1,597th Martian day, or sol (Feb. 1, 2017). Timing is accelerated in this animation. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU.

On Mars, wind rules. Wind has been shaping the Red Planet's landscapes for billions of years and continues to do so today. Studies using both a NASA orbiter and a rover reveal its effects on scales grand to tiny on the strangely structured landscapes within Gale Crater.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, on the lower slope of Mount Sharp -- a layered mountain inside the crater -- has begun a second campaign of investigating active sand dunes on the mountain's northwestern flank. The rover also has been observing whirlwinds carrying dust and checking how far the wind moves grains of sand in a single day's time.

Gale Crater observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have confirmed long-term patterns and rates of wind erosion that help explain the oddity of having a layered mountain in the middle of an impact crater.

Image above: This map shows the two locations of a research campaign by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission to investigate active sand dunes on Mars. In late 2015, Curiosity reached crescent-shaped dunes, called barchans. In February 2017, the rover reached a location where the dunes are linear in shape. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona.

"The orbiter perspective gives us the bigger picture -- on all sides of Mount Sharp and the regional context for Gale Crater. We combine that with the local detail and ground-truth we get from the rover," said Mackenzie Day of the University of Texas, Austin, lead author of a research report in the journal Icarus about wind's dominant role at Gale.

The combined observations show that wind patterns in the crater today differ from when winds from the north removed the material that once filled the space between Mount Sharp and the crater rim. Now, Mount Sharp itself has become a major factor in determining local wind directions. Wind shaped the mountain; now the mountain shapes the wind.

The Martian atmosphere is about a hundred times thinner than Earth's, so winds on Mars exert much less force than winds on Earth. Time is the factor that makes Martian winds so dominant in shaping the landscape. Most forces that shape Earth's landscapes -- water that erodes and moves sediments, tectonic activity that builds mountains and recycles the planet's crust, active volcanism -- haven't influenced Mars much for billions of years. Sand transported by wind, even if infrequent, can whittle away Martian landscapes over that much time.

Animation above: This pair of images shows effects of one Martian day of wind blowing sand underneath NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on a non-driving day for the rover. Each image was taken just after sundown by the rover's Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). The area of ground shown spans about 3 feet left-to-right. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

How to Make a Layered Mountain

Gale Crater was born when the impact of an asteroid or comet more than 3.6 billion years ago excavated a basin nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) wide. Sediments including rocks, sand and silt later filled the basin, some delivered by rivers that flowed in from higher ground surrounding Gale. Curiosity has found evidence of that wet era from more than 3 billion years ago. A turning point in Gale's history -- when net accumulation of sediments flipped to net removal by wind erosion -- may have coincided with a key turning point in the planet's climate as Mars became drier, Day noted.

Image above: The left side of this 360-degree panorama from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the long rows of ripples on a linear shaped dune in the Bagnold Dune Field on the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. The rover's Navigation Camera recorded the component images of this mosaic on Feb. 5, 2017. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Scientists first proposed in 2000 that the mound at the center of Gale Crater is a remnant from wind eroding what had been a totally filled basin. The new work calculates that the vast volume of material removed -- about 15,000 cubic miles (64,000 cubic kilometers) -- is consistent with orbital observations of winds' effects in and around the crater, when multiplied by a billion or more years.

Other new research, using Curiosity, focuses on modern wind activity in Gale.

The rover this month is investigating a type of sand dune that differs in shape from dunes the mission investigated in late 2015 and early 2016. Crescent-shaped dunes were the feature of the earlier campaign -- the first ever up-close study of active sand dunes anywhere other than Earth. The mission's second dune campaign is at a group of ribbon-shaped linear dunes.

"In these linear dunes, the sand is transported along the ribbon pathway, while the ribbon can oscillate back and forth, side to side," said Nathan Bridges, a Curiosity science team member at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Animation above: Beyond a dark sand dune closer to the rover, a Martian dust devil passes in front of the horizon in this sequence of images from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The rover's Navigation Camera made this series of observations on Feb. 4, 2017, during the local afternoon in Mars' Gale Crater. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU.

The season at Gale Crater is now summer, the windiest time of year. That's the other chief difference from the first dune campaign, conducted during less-windy Martian winter.

"We're keeping Curiosity busy in an area with lots of sand at a season when there's plenty of wind blowing it around," said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "One aspect we want to learn more about is the wind's effect on sorting sand grains with different composition. That helps us interpret modern dunes as well as ancient sandstones."

Before Curiosity heads farther up Mount Sharp, the mission will assess movement of sand particles at the linear dunes, examine ripple shapes on the surface of the dunes, and determine the composition mixture of the dune material.

Shifting Sand and 'Dust Devils'

Animation above: Dust devils dance in the distance in this sequence of images taken by the Navigation Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Feb. 12, 2017, during the afternoon of the rover's 1,607th Martian day, or sol. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU.

Images taken one day apart of the same piece of ground, including some recent pairs from the downward-looking camera that recorded the rover's landing-day descent, show small ripples of sand moving about an inch (2.5 centimeters) downwind.

Meanwhile, whirlwinds called "dust devils" have been recorded moving across terrain in the crater, in sequences of afternoon images taken several seconds apart.

After completing the planned dune observations and measurements, Curiosity will proceed southward and uphill toward a ridge where the mineral hematite has been identified from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observations. The Curiosity science team has decided to call this noteworthy feature the "Vera Rubin Ridge," commemorating Vera Cooper Rubin (1928-2016), whose astronomical observations provided evidence for the existence of the universe's dark matter.

Animation above: This sequence of images shows a dust-carrying whirlwind, called a dust devil, on lower Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater, as viewed by NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover during the summer afternoon of the rover's 1,613rd Martian day, or sol (Feb. 18, 2017). Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU.

As Curiosity focuses on the sand dunes, rover engineers are analyzing results of diagnostic tests on the drill feed mechanism, which drives the drill bit in and out during the process of collecting sample material from a rock. One possible cause of an intermittent issue with the mechanism is that a plate for braking the movement may be obstructed, perhaps due to a small piece of debris, resisting release of the brake. The diagnostic tests are designed to be useful in planning the best way to resume use of the drill.

The rover team is also investigating why the lens cover on Curiosity's arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) did not fully open in response to commands on Feb. 24. The arm has been raised to minimize risk of windborne sand reaching the lens while the cover is partially open. Diagnostic tests of the lens cover are planned this week.

During the first year after Curiosity's 2012 landing in Gale Crater, the mission fulfilled its main goal by finding that the region once offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. The conditions in long-lived ancient freshwater Martian lake environments included all of the key chemical elements needed for life as we know it, plus a chemical source of energy that is used by many microbes on Earth. The extended mission is investigating how and when the habitable ancient conditions evolved into conditions drier and less favorable for life. For more information about Curiosity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/curiosity

Animations (mentioned), Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Laurie Cantillo/Dwayne Brown/Tony Greicius/JPL/Guy Webster.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

First Solar Images from NOAA's GOES-16 Satellite

NOAA & NASA - GOES R Mission patch.

Feb. 27, 2017

The first images from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager or SUVI instrument aboard NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite have been successful, capturing a large coronal hole on Jan. 29, 2017.

The sun’s 11-year activity cycle is currently approaching solar minimum, and during this time powerful solar flares become scarce and coronal holes become the primary space weather phenomena – this one in particular initiated aurora throughout the polar regions. Coronal holes are areas where the sun's corona appears darker because the plasma has high-speed streams open to interplanetary space, resulting in a cooler and lower-density area as compared to its surroundings.

First Solar Imagery from GOES-16

Video above: This animation from January 29, 2017, shows a large coronal hole in the sun’s southern hemisphere from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) on board NOAA's new GOES-16 satellite. SUVI observations of solar flares and solar eruptions will provide an early warning of possible impacts to Earth’s space environment and enable better forecasting of potentially disruptive events on the ground. This animation captures the sun in the 304 Å wavelength, which observes plasma in the sun's atmosphere up to a temperature of about 50,000 degrees. When combined with the five other wavelengths from SUVI, observations such as these give solar physicists and space weather forecasters a complete picture of the conditions on the sun that drive space weather. Video Credits: NOAA/NASA.

SUVI is a telescope that monitors the sun in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range. SUVI will capture full-disk solar images around-the-clock and will be able to see more of the environment around the sun than earlier NOAA geostationary satellites.

The sun’s upper atmosphere, or solar corona, consists of extremely hot plasma, an ionized gas. This plasma interacts with the sun’s powerful magnetic field, generating bright loops of material that can be heated to millions of degrees. Outside hot coronal loops, there are cool, dark regions called filaments, which can erupt and become a key source of space weather when the sun is active. Other dark regions are called coronal holes, which occur where the sun’s magnetic field allows plasma to stream away from the sun at high speed. The effects linked to coronal holes are generally milder than those of coronal mass ejections, but when the outflow of solar particles is intense – can pose risks to satellites in Earth orbit.

The solar corona is so hot that it is best observed with X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) cameras. Various elements emit light at specific EUV and X-ray wavelengths depending on their temperature, so by observing in several different wavelengths, a picture of the complete temperature structure of the corona can be made. The GOES-16 SUVI observes the sun in six EUV channels.

Data from SUVI will provide an estimation of coronal plasma temperatures and emission measurements which are important to space weather forecasting. SUVI is essential to understanding active areas on the sun, solar flares and eruptions that may lead to coronal mass ejections which may impact Earth. Depending on the magnitude of a particular eruption, a geomagnetic storm can result that is powerful enough to disturb Earth’s magnetic field. Such an event may impact power grids by tripping circuit breakers, disrupt communication and satellite data collection by causing short-wave radio interference and damage orbiting satellites and their electronics. SUVI will allow the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center to provide early space weather warnings to electric power companies, telecommunication providers and satellite operators.

Image above: These images of the sun were captured at the same time on January 29, 2017 by the six channels on the SUVI instrument on board GOES-16 and show a large coronal hole in the sun’s southern hemisphere. Each channel observes the sun at a different wavelength, allowing scientists to detect a wide range of solar phenomena important for space weather forecasting. Image Credit: NOAA.

SUVI replaces the GOES Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument in previous GOES satellites and represents a change in both spectral coverage and spatial resolution over SXI.

NASA successfully launched GOES-R at 6:42 p.m. EST on Nov. 19, 2016, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and it was renamed GOES-16 when it achieved orbit. GOES-16 is now observing the planet from an equatorial view approximately 22,300 miles above the surface of Earth.

NOAA’s satellites are the backbone of its life-saving weather forecasts. GOES-16 will build upon and extend the more than 40-year legacy of satellite observations from NOAA that the American public has come to rely upon.

For more information about GOES-16, visit: http://www.goes-r.gov/ or http://www.nasa.gov/goes

To learn more about the GOES-16 SUVI instrument, visit: http://www.goes-r.gov/spacesegment/suvi.html

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Rob Gutro/Karl Hille/NOAA/Michelle Smith.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

At the Center

NASA - Cassini International logo.

Feb. 27, 2017

The north pole of Saturn sits at the center of its own domain. Around it swirl the clouds, driven by the fast winds of Saturn. Beyond that orbits Saturn's retinue of moons and the countless small particles that form the ring.

Although the poles of Saturn are at the center of all of this motion, not everything travels around them in circles. Some of the jet-stream patterns, such as the hexagon-shaped pattern seen here, have wavy, uneven shapes. The moons as well have orbits that are elliptical, some quite far from circular.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 26 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 2, 2016 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 890 nanometers.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 619,000 miles (996,000 kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 37 miles (60 kilometers) per pixel.

The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org and ESA's website: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens

Image, Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch