صور

The Astronomer’s Toolkit

Posted by

Brandon Lawton of the Space Telescope Science Institute

For thousands of years, astronomers have employed increasingly precise angular measures to track the positions of stars in the night sky. The invention of the telescope, just a few hundred years ago, greatly expanded our view beyond what the human eye could see. Technology, in the forms of photography, electronics, digital detectors, and computer analysis, brought revolutions to our capabilities and knowledge. Join us for an exploration of the modern tools and methods used by astronomers with highlights of the recent results they have enabled. In addition, get acquainted with several hands-on tools that you can use to explore authentic NASA data.

Host: Dr. Frank Summers of the Space Telescope Science Institute

Recorded live on Tuesday, September 3, 2019, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

More information: www.stsci.edu/public-lectures

Video of Moons Circling Saturn

Posted by

This Hubble time-lapse movie shows the orbits of some of Saturn’s icy moons as they circle the planet over an 18-hour period. The video is composed of 33 Hubble snapshots of the planet, taken June 19 to 20, 2019, by the Wide Field Camera 3. The closer the moon is to Saturn, the faster it orbits, according to the laws of gravity.

Read the news release: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2019/news-2019-43

Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), the OPAL Team, and J. DePasquale (STScI)

Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Infrared Light

Posted by

This visualization explores the Orion Nebula as seen in infrared-light observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope. This movie is designed to be compared and contrasted against the companion movie using visible-light observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.

As the camera flies into the star-forming region, it reveals a glowing gaseous landscape that has been illuminated and carved by the high-energy radiation and strong stellar winds from the massive hot stars in the central cluster. The infrared observations generally show cool temperature gas at a deep layer that shows the full bowl shape of the nebula. In addition, the infrared showcases many faint stars that shine primarily at longer wavelengths.

Visualization: F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, J. DePasquale, L. Hustak, M. Robberto and M. Gennaro (STScI), R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)

Music: “Dvorak – Serenade for Strings in E Major”, Advent Chamber Orchestra, CC BY-SA

Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible Light

Posted by

This visualization explores the Orion Nebula as seen in visible-light observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. This movie is designed to be compared and contrasted against the companion movie using infrared-light observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

As the camera flies into the star-forming region, it reveals a glowing gaseous landscape that has been illuminated and carved by the high-energy radiation and strong stellar winds from the massive hot stars in the central cluster. The high-resolution visible observations show fine details including the wispy bow shocks and tadpole-shaped proplyds.

Visualization: F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, L. Frattare, M. Robberto and L. Hustak (STScI)

Acknowledgement: R. Gendler

Music: “Dvorak – Serenade for Strings in E Major”, Advent Chamber Orchestra, CC BY-SA

Animation of Hubble’s Global View of Jupiter

Posted by

This animation of a rotating Jupiter was assembled from a Hubble Space Telescope photographic mosaic of almost the entire planet. The resulting flat map was computer-projected onto a sphere to create a rotating globe (excluding the polar regions above 80 degrees latitude). Jupiter completes one rotation every 9.8 hours.

The giant planet’s trademark Great Red Spot is the orange-colored oval that is as big as Earth. Distinct parallel bands of roiling clouds dominate our view above Jupiter’s deep hydrogen/helium atmosphere. The colorful cloud bands are confined by jet streams blowing in opposite directions at different latitudes. A characteristic string of white oval-shaped anticyclones appears along one latitude band in the planet’s southern hemisphere.

Hubble takes images of the entire planet as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy program, or OPAL. This program provides yearly Hubble global views of the outer planets to look for changes in their storms, winds, and clouds.

Read the news release: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2019/news-2019-36

Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), and L. Hustak (STScI)