Topic: Cornell University

NASA may have discovered a Planet orbiting a White Dwarf

September 17, 2020 |

Pasadena, CA – An international team of astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope has reported what may be the first intact planet found closely orbiting a white dwarf, the dense leftover of a Sun-like star, only 40% larger than Earth.

The Jupiter-size object, called WD 1856 b, is about seven times larger than the white dwarf, named WD 1856+534. It circles this stellar cinder every 34 hours, more than 60 times faster than Mercury orbits our Sun.

WD 1856 b, a potential planet the size of Jupiter, orbits its dim white dwarf star every 36 hours and is about seven times larger. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

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NASA Shapeshifter transforming robot could one day explore Saturn’s moon Titan

September 27, 2019 |

Pasadena, CA – NASA mini robots that can roll, fly, float and swim, then morph into a single machine? Together they form Shapeshifter, a developing concept for a transformational vehicle to explore treacherous, distant worlds.

In a dusty robotics yard at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the Shapeshifter team is testing a 3D-printed prototype of this unusual explorer. A contraption that looks like a drone encased in an elongated hamster wheel rolls across the yard, then splits in half.

A prototype of the transforming robot Shapeshifter is tested in the robotics yard at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Shapeshifter is made of smaller robots that can morph into rolling spheres, flying drones, swimming submersibles, and more. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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NASA’s Cassini spacecraft data suggests Lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan actually Explosive Craters

September 10, 2019 |

Pasadena, CA – NASA’s Cassini spacecraft radar data recently published research presents a new scenario to explain why some methane-filled lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan are surrounded by steep rims that reach hundreds of feet high. The models suggests that explosions of warming nitrogen created basins in the moon’s crust.

Titan is the only planetary body in our solar system other than Earth known to have stable liquid on its surface. But instead of water raining down from clouds and filling lakes and seas as on Earth, on Titan it’s methane and ethane – hydrocarbons that we think of as gases but that behave as liquids in Titan’s frigid climate.

This artist’s concept of a lake at the north pole of Saturn’s moon Titan illustrates raised rims and rampartlike features such as those seen by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft around the moon’s Winnipeg Lacus. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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APSU history students connect with authors across United States using video-conferencing technology

July 24, 2019 |

Clarksville, TN – Books, unlike movies, don’t often come with “deleted scenes” or other bonus features. If you’re curious about the “making of” process or discovering what events didn’t make it into the final version, you’ll have to talk to the author.

Austin Peay Students talk with historian Keri Leigh Merritt from Atlanta using video Conferencing. (APSU)

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NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft data gives new insights into Titan’s Lakes

April 16, 2019 |

NASA Headquarters

Washington, D.C. – On its final flyby of Saturn’s largest moon in 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft gathered radar data revealing that the small liquid lakes in Titan’s northern hemisphere are surprisingly deep, perched atop hills and filled with methane.

The new findings, published April 15th in Nature Astronomy, are the first confirmation of just how deep some of Titan’s lakes are (more than 300 feet, or 100 meters) and of their composition. They provide new information about the way liquid methane rains on, evaporates from and seeps into Titan – the only planetary body in our solar system other than Earth known to have stable liquid on its surface.

This near-infrared, color view from Cassini shows the sun glinting off of Titan’s north polar seas. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Arizona/Univ. Idaho)

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NASA Insight Lander sets up Weather Station on Mars

February 20, 2019 |

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – No matter how cold your winter has been, it’s probably not as chilly as Mars. Check for yourself: Starting today, the public can get a daily weather report from NASA’s InSight lander.

This public tool includes stats on temperature, wind and air pressure recorded by InSight. Sunday’s weather was typical for the lander’s location during late northern winter: a high of 2 degrees Fahrenheit (-17 degrees Celsius) and low of -138 degrees Fahrenheit (-95 degrees Celsius), with a top wind speed of 37.8 mph (16.9 m/s) in a southwest direction.

The white east- and west-facing booms – called Temperature and Wind for InSight, or TWINS – on the deck of NASA’s InSight lander belong to its suite of weather sensors. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Austin Peay State University Biology Department receives $600,000 from Hageman Estate

September 4, 2018 |

Austin Peay State University (APSU)

Clarksville, TN – Dr. Ben Stone, Austin Peay State University emeritus professor, grew up the second youngest of seven children, so his interests in biology and education didn’t often make it into the family’s crowded, dinner table conversations.

“In 1953, there wasn’t much encouragement from my family to go to college,” he said.

The late John and Hilda Hageman believed in education and the mission of Austin Peay State University.

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NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft data reveals Saturn’s moon Titan has Sea Level elevation

January 18, 2018 |

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA –  Saturn’s moon Titan may be nearly a billion miles away from Earth, but a recently published paper based on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveals a new way this distant world and our own are eerily similar. Just as the surface of oceans on Earth lies at an average elevation that we call “sea level,” Titan’s seas also lie at an average elevation.

This is the latest finding that shows remarkable similarities between Earth and Titan, the only other world we know of in our solar system that has stable liquid on its surface.

Ligeia Mare, shown in here in data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, is the second largest known body of liquid on Saturn’s moon Titan. It is filled with liquid hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane, and is one of the many seas and lakes that bejewel Titan’s north polar region. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Cornell)

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NASA looks to fund concepts for missions to Saturn’s Moon Titan and a Comet

December 21, 2017 |

Written by Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
NASA Headquarters

Washington, D.C. – NASA has selected two finalist concepts for a robotic mission planned to launch in the mid-2020s: a comet sample return mission and a drone-like rotorcraft that would explore potential landing sites on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

The agency announced the concepts Wednesday, following an extensive and competitive peer review process. The concepts were chosen from 12 proposals submitted in April under a New Frontiers program announcement of opportunity.

NASA selects two mission concepts for further exploration of our solar system. (NASA)

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NASA’s Eclipse Balloon Project to simulate life’s ability to survive beyond Earth

July 31, 2017 |

Written by Andrew Good
NASA’ Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – Steps forward in the search for life beyond Earth can be as simple as sending a balloon into the sky. In one of the most unique and extensive eclipse observation campaigns ever attempted, NASA is collaborating with student teams across the U.S. to do just that.

A larger initiative, NASA’s Eclipse Balloon Project, led by Angela Des Jardins of Montana State University, is sending more than 50 high-altitude balloons launched by student teams across the U.S. to livestream aerial footage of the August 21st, 2017, total solar eclipse from the edge of space to NASA’s website.

This picture of Montana was taken from the stratosphere (84,000 feet or 25,000 meters) during one of Montana Space Grant Consortium’s high-altitude balloon tests on April 19, 2014. (Montana State University)

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