Steve Howell, Senior Research Scientist on Astrophysics: NASA in Silicon Valley Podcast
A conversation with Steve Howell, NASA Senior Research Scientist on astrophysics. original
One Billion Base Pairs Sequenced on the Space Station
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles prior to loading it in the biomolecule sequencer. When Rubins’ expedition began, zero base pairs of DNA had been sequenced in space. Within just a few weeks, she and the Biomolecule Sequencer team had sequenced their one billionth base of DNA aboard the orbiting laboratory. […]
Vandenberg: West Coast Launch Site
Falcon 9 lifts off from SpaceX’s pad at Vandenberg, carrying Canada’s CASSIOPE satellite to orbit. Launch took place on Sept. 29, 2013. Vandenberg Air Force Base is a military facility on the west coast of California. It also launches spacecraft. As of 2015, the facility had hosted more than 700 launches and 1,100 ballistic launches. […]
Star Baby Boom Seen in Distant Galaxies
A nearby massive galaxy cluster, MACS J0416, seen in X-rays (blue), visible light (red, green and blue) and radio light (pink). Some of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever discovered, which were born only 4 billion years after the universe was formed, are producing baby stars at higher rates than closer galaxy clusters, a […]
'Destination: Mars' Virtual Reality Experience Now Open at Kennedy Space Center
Buzz Aldrin explored Mars virtually Sept. 18, 2016 with “Destination: Mars,” newly opened at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Erisa Hines, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who drives Mars’ Curiosity rover, is just to Aldrin’s left. Both appear as virtual avatars in the simulation. Real-life astronaut Buzz Aldrin introduced his […]
Lyman-Alpha Blob Captured By Very Large Telescope | Zoom-In Video
By Steve Spaleta | September 21, 2016 06:00am ET Using the Eurupean Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and ALMA array, astronomers have spotted two galaxies at the heart of the cloud which are very actively forming stars. This activity is lighting up the surrounding “blob,” known as SSA22-Lyman-alpha blob 1. The zoom-in seen here, […]
Giant Green Space Blob Mystery Solved
A giant blob of gas and dust far off in the universe mysteriously glows bright green, and astronomers have finally figured out why. Two huge galaxies were observed in the blob’s core, and they’re surrounded by a swarm of smaller galaxies in what appears to be the birth of a massive cluster of galaxies. Astronomers […]
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Big Bang
This map of the cosmic microwave background, the light released just 380,000 years after the Big Bang, was created using observations by NASA’s WMAP spacecraft. Paul Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University and the chief scientist at COSI Science Center . Sutter is also host of Ask a Spaceman , RealSpace , […]
Fall Into Autumn: Slooh Webcast Celebrates Equinox Thursday
A woman walks her dog in London’s Greenwich Park on Sept. 21, 2016 in London, England. Today marks final day of summer as the autumn equinox arrives on Thursday. Summer will transition into fall tomorrow (Sept. 22), and the Slooh Community Observatory is celebrating this celestial event with a live webcast. The 45-minute Slooh equinox […]
NASA to Hold Media Call on Evidence of Surprising Activity on Europa
NASA will host a teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 26, to present new findings from images captured by the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. To source
Cosmic 'Echoes' Reveal Stars Devoured by Black Holes
As a star is devoured by a supermassive black hole, it emits a bright stream of material called a tidal disruption flare. A doomed star falling into a black hole may produce a flare of light that “echoes” through nearby dust clouds, according to two new studies. Monster black holes can be millions of times […]
First Space Shuttle Astronauts mark STS-1, STS-2 35th Anniversaries
Astronauts who flew on the first two space shuttle missions, Dick Truly, Joe Engle and Bob Crippen, celebrated their historic flights’ 35th anniversaries at a Sept. 17, 2016 gala in Houston. Also pictured, STS-1 and STS-2 capcom Dan Brandenstein (at right). HOUSTON — NASA’s first space shuttle launch, 35 years ago, demonstrated that a winged […]
NASA's CORAL Mission Turns Its Eyes to Australia's Great Barrier Reef
The Gulfstream IV carrying NASA’s PRISM instrument that is being used by NASA’s CORAL mission to study the status of coral reefs. NASA has turned one of its aerial instruments toward Australia’s Great Barrier Reef , in an effort to study the destruction of this natural wonder and other coral reefs around the world. The […]