Brain Studies on Station Help Astronauts Adjust to Space and Earth

 

ISS - Expedition 68 Mission patch.

Oct. 19, 2022

A pair of brain studies were on the research schedule aboard the International Space Station today to learn how the central nervous system adapts to weightlessness. The Expedition 68 crew also worked on variety of household tasks throughout Wednesday including orbital plumbing and electronics system repairs.

Image above: The SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew ship, carrying four Crew-5 members, approaches the station with the waxing gibbous Moon in the background. Image Credits: NASA/Kjell Lindgren.

NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada worked on two different experiments investigating separate facets of the human brain and how it adjusts to microgravity. During the morning, Mann attached sensors to herself and measured her arterial blood pressure and blood flow velocity. Results may provide insights into how the brain regulates its blood supply and possibly counteract blood pressure drops astronauts may experience after returning to Earth. Cassada wore a virtual reality headset for the GRASP study exploring how the central nervous system reacts to different stimuli without the traditional up-and-down reference humans are familiar with on Earth.

Mann later joined NASA astronaut Frank Rubio during the afternoon configuring and inspecting a new toilet system in the Tranquility module. Japanese Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata worked in the U.S. Quest airlock swapping electronics components and checking cable connections inside an avionics rack. Wakata and Rubio earlier started their day together collecting their blood samples, spinning them in a centrifuge, and stowing them in a science freezer for later analysis.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

The orbiting lab’s three cosmonauts also focused on their complement of advanced space research and station maintenance during the day. First-time Flight Engineers Anna Kikina and Dmitri Petelin took turns exploring how to use ultrasound sensors to assist with targeting and photographing landmarks on Earth. Kikina also cleaned the ventilation system inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module while Petelin worked pressurization and water transfer tasks inside the ISS Progress 80 cargo craft. Commander Sergey Prokopyev inspected windows in the Zvezda service module before checking hatch and docking components on the Progress 80 resupply vehicle.

Related links:

Expedition 68: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition68/index.html

How the brain regulates its blood supply: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1938

GRASP: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2038

Tranquility module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/tranquility/

U.S. Quest airlock: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/joint-quest-airlock

Nauka multipurpose laboratory module: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/nauka/

Zvezda service module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/zvezda-service-module.html

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Reaches Long-Awaited Salty Region

 

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) patch.

Oct. 19, 2022

The rover has arrived at a special region believed to have formed as Mars’ climate was drying.

Image above: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this panorama while driving toward the center of this scene, an area that forms the narrow “Paraitepuy Pass” on Aug. 14, the 3,563rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

After journeying this summer through a narrow, sand-lined pass, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recently arrived in the “sulfate-bearing unit,” a long-sought region of Mount Sharp enriched with salty minerals.

Scientists hypothesize that billions of years ago, streams, and ponds left behind the minerals as the water dried up. Assuming the hypothesis is correct, these minerals offer tantalizing clues as to how – and why – the Red Planet’s climate changed from being more Earth-like to the frozen desert it is today.

“Paraitepuy Pass” panorama- Gale Crater- Mars

The minerals were spotted by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter years before Curiosity landed in 2012, so scientists have been waiting a long time to see this terrain up close. Soon after arriving, the rover discovered a diverse array of rock types and signs of past water, among them popcorn-textured nodules and salty minerals such as magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt is one kind), calcium sulfate (including gypsum), and sodium chloride (ordinary table salt).

They selected a rock nicknamed “Canaima” for the mission’s 36th drill sample, and choosing was no easy task. Along with scientific considerations, the team had to factor in the rover hardware. Curiosity uses a percussive, or jackhammering, rotary drill at the end of its 7-foot (2-meter) arm to pulverize rock samples for analysis. Worn brakes on the arm recently led the team to conclude that some harder rocks may require too much hammering to drill safely.

Image above: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this panorama of a hill nicknamed “Bolívar” and adjacent sand ridges on Aug. 23, the 3,572nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

“As we do before every drill, we brushed away the dust and then poked the top surface of Canaima with the drill. The lack of scratch marks or indentations was an indication that it may prove difficult to drill,” said Curiosity’s new project manager, Kathya Zamora-Garcia of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We paused to consider whether that posed any risk to our arm. With the new drilling algorithm, created to minimize the use of percussion, we felt comfortable collecting a sample of Canaima. As it turned out, no percussion was needed.”

The mission’s scientists look forward to analyzing portions of the sample with the Chemical and Minerology instrument (CheMin) and the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument (SAM).

Image above: This grid shows all 36 holes drilled by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover using the drill on the end of its robotic arm. The rover analyzes powderized rock from the drilling activities. The images in the grid were captured by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the end of Curiosity’s arm. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

Difficult Driving

The journey to the sulfate-rich region took Curiosity through treacherous terrain, including, this past August, the sandy “Paraitepuy Pass,” which snakes between high hills. It took the rover more than a month to safely navigate in order to finally reach its destination.

While sharp rocks can damage Curiosity’s wheels (which have plenty of life left in them), sand can be just as hazardous, potentially causing the rover to get stuck if the wheels lose traction. Rover drivers need to carefully navigate these areas.

The hills blocked Curiosity’s view of the sky, requiring the rover to be carefully oriented based on where it could point its antennas toward Earth and how long it could communicate with orbiters passing overhead.

After braving those risks, the team was rewarded with some of the most inspiring scenery of the mission, which the rover captured with an Aug. 14 panorama using its Mast Camera, or Mastcam.

“We would get new images every morning and just be in awe,” said Elena Amador-French of JPL, Curiosity’s science operations coordinator, who manages collaboration between the science and engineering teams. “The sand ridges were gorgeous. You see perfect little rover tracks on them. And the cliffs were beautiful – we got really close to the walls.”

But this new region comes with its own challenges: While scientifically compelling, the rockier terrain makes it harder to find a place where all six of Curiosity’s wheels are on stable ground. If the rover isn’t stable, engineers won’t risk unstowing the arm, in case it might bang into the jagged rocks.

Image above: Curiosity used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this image of its 36th successful drill hole on Mount Sharp, at a rock called “Canaima.” The rovers Mars Hand Lens Imager took the inset image. The pulverized rock sample was acquired on Oct. 3, 2022, the mission’s 3,612th Martian day, or sol. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

“The more and more interesting the science results get, the more obstacles Mars seems to throw at us,” Amador-French said.

But the rover, which recently marked its 10th year on Mars, and its team are ready for this next chapter of their adventure.

More About Curiosity

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) or Curiosity rover. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Curiosity mission is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.

For more about Curiosity, visit: http://mars.nasa.gov/msl

Related links:

Chemical and Minerology instrument (CheMin): https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/instruments/chemin/

Sample Analysis at Mars instrument (SAM): https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/instruments/sam/

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO): https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/Karen Fox/Alana Johnson/JPL/Andrew Good/SciNews.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Webb Takes a Stunning, Star-Filled Portrait of the Pillars of Creation

 

NASA / ESA / CSA-ASC - James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) patch.

Oct. 19, 2022

Webb Takes a Stunning, Star-Filled Portrait of the Pillars of Creation (Cropped)

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a lush, highly detailed landscape – the iconic Pillars of Creation – where new stars are forming within dense clouds of gas and dust. The three-dimensional pillars look like majestic rock formations, but are far more permeable. These columns are made up of cool interstellar gas and dust that appear – at times – semi-transparent in near-infrared light.

Webb Takes a Stunning, Star-Filled Portrait of the Pillars of Creation (Full View)

Newly formed protostars are the scene-stealers in this Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) image. These are the bright red orbs that typically have diffraction spikes and lie outside one of the dusty pillars. When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars of gas and dust, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars.

Webb Takes a Stunning, Star-Filled Portrait of the Pillars of Creation (Annotated)

What about those wavy lines that look like lava? These are ejections from stars that are still forming within the gas and dust. Young stars periodically shoot out jets that collide with clouds of material, like these thick pillars. This sometimes also results in bow shocks, which can form wavy patterns like a boat does as it moves through water. The crimson glow comes from the energetic hydrogen molecules that result from jets and shocks. This is evident in the second and third pillars from the top – the NIRCam image is practically pulsing with their activity. These young stars are estimated to be only a few hundred thousand years old.

Hubble and Webb Showcase the Pillars of Creation (Side by Side)

Although it may appear that near-infrared light has allowed Webb to “pierce through” the clouds to reveal great cosmic distances beyond the pillars, there are no galaxies in this view. Instead, a mix of translucent gas and dust known as the interstellar medium stands in the way. It blocks our view of the deeper universe – and is lit up by the collective light from the packed “party” of stars in the region.

Zoom into Webb’s view of the Pillars of Creation

This scene was first imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, and again in 2014, but many other world-class observatories have also stared deeply at this region, like ESA's Herschel Telescope. Each advanced instrument offers researchers tantalising new details about this region, which is practically overflowing with stars.

Hubble and Webb Showcase the Pillars of Creation

Webb’s new view of the Pillars of Creation will help researchers revamp their models of star formation by identifying far more precise star populations, along with the quantities of gas and dust in the region. Over time, they will begin to build a clearer understanding of how stars form and burst out of these dusty clouds over millions of years.

Pan of the Webb’s Portrait of the Pillars of Creation

This tightly cropped image is set within the vast Eagle Nebula, which lies 6,500 light-years away.

More information

Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope’s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the workhorse spectrograph NIRSpec and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument MIRI, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Links:

Collection of Webb’s First Images: https://esawebb.org/initiatives/webbs-first-images/

ESA Webb Seeing Farther Interactive Brochure: https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_Publications/ESA_BR-348_Webb_Seeing_farther

Release on ESA website: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_takes_a_stunning_star-filled_portrait_of_the_Pillars_of_Creation

Release on STScI website: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-052

Release on NASA website: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-takes-star-filled-portrait-of-pillars-of-creation

Images Animation Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan (STScI)/Videos Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale, A. Koekemoer, A. Pagan, N. Bartmann/Music: Mylonite - Breath of my Soul/Text Credits: ESA/Webb/Bethany Downer/Ninja Menning.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Muscle and Crop Studies Helping Crews Adapt to Space Missions

 

ISS - Expedition 68 Mission patch.

October 18, 2022

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA

Today aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 68 crew explored how to maintain healthy bodies and grow crops in the weightless environment of space. Learning to live long-term in microgravity and farther away from Earth orbit requires astronauts to sustain themselves without relying on visiting resupply missions.

Humans lose muscle and bone mass much faster in space than on Earth due to the lack of gravity bearing down on them. However, the space station crew members work out two hours every day on a treadmill, an exercise cycle, and a resistive device, to offset and counteract the effects microgravity. One experiment called Myotones, worked on today by U.S. and Japanese Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Koichi Wakata, tracks how a crew member’s muscles adapt to space. The duo took turns marking their neck, back, leg and arm muscles, while inside the Columbus laboratory module. Afterward, the pair used the specialized Myotones device to measure the biochemical properties of the same muscles, including muscle tone, stiffness, and elasticity.

Image above: The 11 crew members who lived aboard the station together for eight days pose for a portrait on Oct. 12, 2022. Image Credit: NASA.

Mann then went on and partnered with fellow NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada strapping sensors to each other and pedaling on the U.S. Destiny laboratory module’s exercise bike to measure their aerobic capacity on orbit. Frank Rubio, also a NASA flight engineer, mixed a nutrient solution to nourish vegetables growing inside the Columbus lab for the XROOTS study. The space botany study investigates using hydronic and aeroponic methods to grow crops on spacecraft and space habitats so astronauts can feed themselves in low-Earth orbit and beyond.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Anna Kikina studied advanced Earth photography techniques that use ultrasound sensors to help target landmarks on the ground. Her fellow cosmonauts, Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin, are preparing for a new cargo mission due to launch from Kazakhstan at the end of the month. The duo tested the station’s TORU, or telerobotically operated rendezvous unit, that would be used to manually control an approaching spacecraft in the unlikely event it was unable to automatically approach and dock on its own.

Related links:

Expedition 68: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition68/index.html

Treadmill: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=752

Exercise cycle: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=821

Resistive device: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=973

Myotones: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7573

Columbus laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/europe-columbus-laboratory

U.S. Destiny laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/us-destiny-laboratory

Aerobic capacity: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=644

XROOTS: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8088

Advanced Earth photography techniques: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1469

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Hubble Eyes a Brilliant Star Cluster

 

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

Oct 18, 2022

This image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows Terzan 1, a globular cluster that lies about 22,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. It is one of 11 globular clusters that were discovered by the Turkish-Armenian astronomer Agop Terzan between 1966 and 1971 when he was working in France, based mostly at Lyon Observatory.

Terzan 1 is not a new target for Hubble. An image of the cluster was released back in 2015, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). That instrument was replaced by the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) during the 2009 Hubble servicing mission. WFC3 has both superior resolving power and a wider field of view than WFPC2, and the improvement is obvious in this fantastically detailed image.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

https://esahubble.org/

Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3): https://www.nasa.gov/content/hubble-space-telescope-wide-field-camera-3

Text Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA/Andrea Gianopoulos/Image, Animation Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Cohen.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA’S IXPE Helps Unlock the Secrets of Famous Exploded Star

 

NASA - Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) patch.

Oct 18, 2022

For the first time, astronomers have measured and mapped polarized X-rays from the remains of an exploded star, using NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The findings, which come from observations of a stellar remnant called Cassiopeia A, shed new light on the nature of young supernova remnants, which accelerate particles close to the speed of light.

Launched on Dec. 9, 2021, IXPE, a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, is the first satellite that can measure the polarization of X-ray light with this level of sensitivity and clarity.

All forms of light – from radio waves to gamma rays – can be polarized. Unlike the polarized sunglasses we use to cut the glare from sunlight bouncing off a wet road or windshield, IXPE’s detectors maps the tracks of incoming X-ray light. Scientists can use these individual track records to figure out the polarization, which tells the story of what the X-rays went through.

Image above: Composite images of the Cas A supernova remnant, a structure resulting from the explosion of a star in the Cassiopeia constellation. The blues represent data from the Chandra Observatory, the turquoise is from NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (called IXPE), and the gold is courtesy of the Hubble Telescope. Image Credits: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, IXPE: NASA/MSFC/J. Vink et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI.

Cassiopeia A (Cas A for short) was the first object IXPE observed after it began collecting data.  One of the reasons Cas A was selected is that its shock waves – like a sonic boom generated by a jet – are some of the fastest in the Milky Way. The shock waves were generated by the supernova explosion that destroyed a massive star after it collapsed. Light from the blast swept past Earth more than three hundred years ago.

“Without IXPE, we have been missing crucial information about objects like Cas A,” said Pat Slane at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, who leads the IXPE investigations of supernova remnants. “This result is teaching us about a fundamental aspect of the debris from this exploded star – the behavior of its magnetic fields.”

Magnetic fields, which are invisible, push and pull on moving charged particles like protons and electrons. Closer to home, they are responsible for keeping magnets stuck to a kitchen fridge. Under extreme conditions, such as an exploded star, magnetic fields can boost these particles to near-light-speed.

Despite their super-fast speeds, particles swept up by shock waves in Cas A do not fly away from the supernova remnant because they are trapped by magnetic fields in the wake of the shocks. The particles are forced to spiral around the magnetic field lines, and the electrons give off an intense kind of light called “synchrotron radiation,” which is polarized.

By studying the polarization of this light, scientists can “reverse engineer” what’s happening inside Cas A at very small scales – details that are difficult or impossible to observe in other ways. The angle of polarization tells us about the direction of these magnetic fields. If the magnetic fields close to the shock fronts are very tangled, the chaotic mix of radiation from regions with different magnetic field directions will give off a smaller amount of polarization.

Previous studies of Cas A with radio telescopes have shown that the radio synchrotron radiation is produced in regions across almost the entire supernova remnant. Astronomers found that only a small amount of the radio waves were polarized – about 5%. They also determined that the magnetic field is oriented radially, like the spokes of a wheel, spreading out from near the center of the remnant towards the edge.

Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Image Credit: NASA

Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, on the other hand, show that the X-ray synchrotron radiation mainly comes from thin regions along the shocks, near the circular outer rim of the remnant, where the magnetic fields were predicted to align with the shocks. Chandra and IXPE use different kinds of detectors and have different levels of angular resolution, or sharpness. Launched in 1999, Chandra’s first science image was also of Cas A.

Before IXPE, scientists predicted X-ray polarization would be produced by magnetic fields that are perpendicular to magnetic fields observed by radio telescopes.

Instead, IXPE data show that the magnetic fields in X-rays tend to be aligned in radial directions even very close to the shock fronts. The X-rays also reveal a lower amount of polarization than radio observations showed, which suggests that the X-rays come from turbulent regions with a mix of many different magnetic field directions.

"These IXPE results were not what we expected, but as scientists we love being surprised,” says Dr. Jacco Vink of the University of Amsterdam and lead author of the paper describing the IXPE results on Cas A. “The fact that a smaller percentage of the X-ray light is polarized is a very interesting – and previously undetected – property of Cas A.”

The IXPE result for Cas A is whetting the appetite for more observations of supernova remnants that are currently underway. Scientists expect each new observed object will reveal new answers – and pose even more questions – about these important objects that seed the Universe with critical elements.

Image above: This graphic combines data from NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) with an X-ray image from Chandra (blue) and a view in optical light from Hubble (gold) of the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant. The lines in this graphic come from IXPE measurements that show the direction of the magnetic field across regions of the remnant. Green lines indicate regions where the measurements are most highly significant. These results indicate that the magnetic field lines near the outskirts of Cas A are largely oriented radially, i.e., in a direction from the center of the remnant outwards. The IXPE observations also reveal that the magnetic field over small regions is highly tangled, without a dominant preferred direction. Image Credits: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO; IXPE: NASA/MSFC/J. Vink et al.;

“This study enshrines all the novelties that IXPE brings to astrophysics,” said Dr. Riccardo Ferrazzoli with the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics/Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology in Rome. “Not only did we obtain information on X-ray polarization properties for the first time for these sources, but we also know how these change in different regions of the supernova. As the first target of the IXPE observation campaign, Cas A provided an astrophysical 'laboratory' to test all the techniques and analysis tools that the team has developed in recent years.”

“These results provide a unique view of the environment necessary to accelerate electrons to incredibly high energies," said co-author Dmitry Prokhorov, also of the University of Amsterdam. “We are just at the beginning of this detective story, but so far the IXPE data are providing new leads for us to track down.”

IXPE is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. Ball Aerospace, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space sciences, which operates IXPE for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ixpe/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Beth Ridgeway/Elizabeth Landau/Marshall Space Flight Center/Molly Porter.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Telescope Takes 12-Year Time-Lapse Movie of Entire Sky

 

NASA - NEOWISE Mission logo.

Oct 18, 2022

Pictures of the sky can show us cosmic wonders; movies can bring them to life. Movies from NASA’s NEOWISE space telescope are revealing motion and change across the sky.

Image above: This mosaic is composed of images covering the entire sky, taken by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) as part of WISE’s 2012 All-Sky Data Release. By observing the entire sky, WISE can search for faint objects, like distant galaxies, or survey groups of cosmic objects. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA.

Every six months, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or NEOWISE, spacecraft completes one trip halfway around the Sun, taking images in all directions. Stitched together, those images form an “all-sky” map showing the location and brightness of hundreds of millions of objects. Using 18 all-sky maps produced by the spacecraft (with the 19th and 20th to be released in March 2023), scientists have created what is essentially a time-lapse movie of the sky, revealing changes that span a decade.

Each map is a tremendous resource for astronomers, but when viewed in sequence as a time-lapse, they serve as an even stronger resource for trying to better understand the universe. Comparing the maps can reveal distant objects that have changed position or brightness over time, what’s known as time-domain astronomy.

NEOWISE: Revealing Changes in the Universe

Video above: New time-lapse movies from NASA’s NEOWISE mission give astronomers the opportunity to see objects, like stars and black holes, as they move and change over time. The videos include previously hidden brown dwarfs, a feeding black hole, a dying star, a star-forming region, and a brightening star. They combine more than 10 years of NEOWISE observations and 18 all-sky images, enabling a long-term analysis and a deeper understanding of the universe. Video Credits: NASA/JPL.

“If you go outside and look at the night sky, it might seem like nothing ever changes, but that’s not the case,” said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for NEOWISE at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “Stars are flaring and exploding. Asteroids are whizzing by. Black holes are tearing stars apart. The universe is a really busy, active place.”

NEOWISE was originally a data processing project to retrieve asteroid detections and characteristics from WISE – an observatory launched in 2009 and tasked with scanning the entire sky to find and study objects outside our solar system. The spacecraft used cryogenically cooled detectors that made them sensitive to infrared light.

Not visible to the human eye, infrared light is radiated by a plethora of cosmic objects, including cool, nearby stars and some of the most luminous galaxies in the universe. The WISE mission ended in 2011 after the onboard coolant – needed for some infrared observations – ran out, but the spacecraft and some of its infrared detectors were still functional. So in 2013, NASA repurposed it to track asteroids and other near-Earth objects, or NEOs. Both the mission and the spacecraft received a new name: NEOWISE.

Image above: This illustration shows the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft in Earth orbit. The WISE mission concluded in 2011, but in 2013 the spacecraft was repurposed to find and study asteroids and other near-Earth objects (NEOs). The mission and spacecraft were renamed NEOWISE. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Growing Wiser

Despite the shift, the infrared telescope has continued to scan the sky every six months, and astronomers have continued to use the data to study objects outside our solar system.

For example, in 2020, scientists released the second iteration of a project called CatWISE: a catalog of objects from 12 NEOWISE all-sky maps. Researchers use the catalog to study brown dwarfs, a population of objects found throughout the galaxy and lurking in the darkness close to our Sun. Although they form like stars, brown dwarfs don’t accumulate enough mass to kick-start fusion, the process that causes stars to shine.

Because of their proximity to Earth, nearby brown dwarfs appear to move faster across the sky compared to more distant stars moving at the same speed. So one way to identify brown dwarfs amid the billions of objects in the catalog is to look for objects that move. A complementary project to CatWISE called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 invites citizen scientists to sift through NEOWISE data for moving objects that computer searches might have missed.

With the original two WISE all-sky maps, scientists found about 200 brown dwarfs within just 65 light-years of our Sun. The additional maps revealed another 60 and doubled the number of known Y-dwarfs, the coldest brown dwarfs. Compared to warmer brown dwarfs, Y-dwarfs may have a stranger story to tell in terms of how they formed and when. These discoveries help illuminate the menagerie of objects in our solar neighborhood. And a more complete count of brown dwarfs close to the Sun tells scientists how efficient star formation is in our galaxy and how early it began.

Watching the sky change over more than a decade has also contributed to studies of how stars form. NEOWISE can peer into the dusty blankets swaddling protostars, or balls of hot gas that are well on their way to becoming stars. Over the course of years, protostars flicker and flare as they accumulate more mass from the dust clouds that surround them. Scientists are conducting long-term monitoring of almost 1,000 protostars with NEOWISE to gain insights into the early stages of star formation.

NEOWISE’s data has also improved understanding of black holes. The original WISE survey discovered millions of supermassive black holes at the centers of distant galaxies. In a recent study, scientists used NEOWISE data and a technique called echo mapping to measure the size of disks of hot, glowing gas surrounding distant black holes, which are too small and too distant for any telescope to resolve.

“We never anticipated that the spacecraft would be operating this long, and I don’t think we could have anticipated the science we’d be able to do with this much data,” said Peter Eisenhardt, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and WISE project scientist.

More About the Mission

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The principal investigator, Amy Mainzer, is at the University of Arizona. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science data processing takes place at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

JPL managed and operated WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Edward Wright at UCLA was the principal investigator. The mission was selected competitively under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

For more information about NEOWISE, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/neowise

For more information about WISE, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/wise

Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL/Calla Cofield.

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