![]() | |||
| |||
|
|||
Recent Articles
|
Topic: Comets
Now, after more than a year and a half up close with Bennu, they’re starting to better understand these dynamic particle-ejection events. ![]() This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 images collected on Dec. 2, 2018, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s PolyCam instrument from a range of 15 miles (24 kilometers). (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA reports Comet NEOWISE passes by the Sun, Providing a Treat for Observers
The comet cruised just inside Mercury’s orbit on July 3rd. This very close passage by the Sun is cooking the comet’s outermost layers, causing gas and dust to erupt off the icy surface and creating a large tail of debris. And yet the comet has managed to survive this intense roasting. ![]() Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE appears as a string of fuzzy red dots in this composite of several heat-sensitive infrared images taken by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission on March 27, 2020. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope captures image of California Nebula Stars just before being Decommissioned
This mosaic is made from those images. It is the final mosaic image taken by Spitzer and one of hundreds the spacecraft captured throughout its lifetime. ![]() NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope took this image of the California Nebula on Jan. 25, 2020, five days before the spacecraft was decommissioned. The red and blue bands on either side of the image represent two different wavelengths of light; the gray area shows both wavelengths. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope mission ends after 16 years of Service
Mission engineers confirmed at about 2:30pm PT (4:30pm CT) Thursday the spacecraft was placed in safe mode, ceasing all science operations. After the decommissioning was confirmed, Spitzer Project Manager Joseph Hunt declared the mission had officially ended. ![]() This artist’s concept shows NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer begins its “Beyond” mission phase on Oct. 1, 2016. The spacecraft is depicted in the orientation it assumes to establish communications with ground stations. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA explains how LISA Pathfinder Detected Dozens of ‘Comet Crumbs’
A team of NASA scientists leveraged LISA Pathfinder’s record-setting sensitivity for a different purpose much closer to home — mapping microscopic dust shed by comets and asteroids. «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA says new data suggests Earth’s Water came from Comets
Comets are like snowballs of rock, dust, ice, and other frozen chemicals that vaporize as they get closer to the Sun, producing the tails seen in images. A new study reveals that the water in many comets may share a common origin with Earth’s oceans, reinforcing the idea that comets played a key role in bringing water to our planet billions of years ago. ![]() Illustration of a comet, ice grains and Earth’s oceans. SOFIA found clues in Comet Wirtanen’s ice grains that suggest water in comets and Earth’s oceans may share a common origin. (NASA/SOFIA/L. Cook/L. Proudfit) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA studies Dust in our Solar SystemWritten by Lina Tran
The dust consists of crushed-up remains from the formation of the solar system, some 4.6 billion years ago — rubble from asteroid collisions or crumbs from blazing comets. ![]() In this illustration, several dust rings circle the Sun. These rings form when planets’ gravities tug dust grains into orbit around the Sun. Recently, scientists have detected a dust ring at Mercury’s orbit. Others hypothesize the source of Venus’ dust ring is a group of never-before-detected co-orbital asteroids. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s TESS Satellite discovers its first ExoplanetsNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
The mission’s sensitive cameras also captured 100 short-lived changes — most of them likely stellar outbursts — in the same region of the sky. They include six supernova explosions whose brightening light was recorded by TESS even before the outbursts were discovered by ground-based telescopes. ![]() NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has found three confirmed exoplanets in the data from the space telescope’s four cameras. (NASA/MIT/TESS) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA explains why it’s important to study Space RocksNASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Those clues come in the form of asteroids, comets and other small objects. Like detectives sifting through forensic evidence, scientists carefully examine these small bodies for insights about our origins. ![]() The small worlds of our solar system help us trace its history and evolution, including comets. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, 20 years of mapping Asteroids and CometsNASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
On March 11th, 1998, asteroid astronomers around the world received an ominous message: new observational data on the recently discovered asteroid 1997 XF11 suggested there was a chance that the half-mile-wide (nearly one kilometer) object could hit Earth in 2028. The message came from the Minor Planet Center, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the worldwide repository for such observations and initial determination of asteroid orbits. And although it was intended to alert only the very small astronomical community that hunts and tracks asteroids to call for more observations, the news spread quickly. ![]() The chart depicts the cumulative number of known Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) versus time. The area in red depicts the number of known NEAs larger than 0.6 miles (1 kilometer). The area in orange depicts the quantity of known NEAs larger than 460 feet (140 meters). The area in blue depicts the number of known NEAs in all sizes. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
|
Now playing at the Movies
Archives |
|
© 2006-2021 Clarksville, TN Online is owned and operated by residents of Clarksville Tennessee.
|