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Anniversary Driving on the Moon Forty years ago today on Dec. 11, 1972
Anniversary Driving on the Moon Forty years ago today on Dec. 11, 1972
Driving on the Moon Forty years ago today on Dec. 11, 1972, astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander, makes a short checkout of the lunar rover during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This view of the “stripped down” rover is prior to loading up. Equipment later loaded onto the rover included the ground-controlled television assembly, the lunar communications relay unit, hi-gain antenna, low-gain antenna, aft tool pallet, lunar tools and scientific gear. This photograph was taken by scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. The mountain in the right background is the east end of South Massif. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module “Challenger” to explore the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules “America” in lunar orbit. Image Credit: NASA
Suomi Npp VIIRS City Lights 2012 – Flat map NASA image acquired April 18 – October 23, 2012
City Lights 2012 – Flat map
NASA image acquired April 18 – October 23, 2012
This new image of the Earth at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite over nine days in April 2012 and thirteen days in October 2012. It took 312 orbits and 2.5 terabytes of data to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth’s land surface and islands.
The nighttime view of Earth in visible light was made possible by the “day-night band” of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as gas flares, auroras, wildfires, city lights, and reflected moonlight. In this case, auroras, fires, and other stray light have been removed to emphasize the city lights.
Named for satellite meteorology pioneer Verner Suomi, NPP flies over any given point on Earth’s surface twice each day at roughly 1:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The spacecraft flies 824 kilometers (512 miles) above the surface in a polar orbit, circling the planet about 14 times a day. Suomi NPP sends its data once per orbit to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway, and continuously to local direct broadcast users distributed around the world. The mission is managed by NASA with operational support from NOAA and its Joint Polar Satellite System, which manages the satellite’s ground system.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center). Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA, and the Department of Defense. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.
Instrument: Suomi NPP – VIIRS
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Click here to view all of the Earth at Night 2012 images
Click here to read more about this image
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
Black Marble – Africa, Europe, and the Middle East NASA image acquired April 18 – October 23, 2012
Black Marble – Africa, Europe, and the Middle East
NASA image acquired April 18 – October 23, 2012
This new image of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. The new data was mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.
The nighttime view was made possible by the new satellite’s “day-night band” of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as gas flares, auroras, wildfires, city lights, and reflected moonlight. In this case, auroras, fires, and other stray light have been removed to emphasize the city lights.
“Night time imagery provides an intuitively graspable view of our planet,” says William Stefanov, senior remote sensing scientist for the International Space Station program office. “They provide a fairly straightforward means to map urban versus rural areas, and to show where the major population centers are and where they are not.”
Named for satellite meteorology pioneer Verner Suomi, NPP flies over any given point on Earth’s surface twice each day at roughly 1:30 a.m. and p.m. The polar-orbiting satellite flies 824 kilometers (512 miles) above the surface, sending its data once per orbit to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway, and continuously to local direct broadcast users distributed around the world. The mission is managed by NASA with operational support from NOAA and its Joint Polar Satellite System, which manages the satellite’s ground system.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center). Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA, and the Department of Defense. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.
Instrument: Suomi NPP – VIIRS
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Click here to view all of the Earth at Night 2012 images
Click here to read more about this image
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
United States of America at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012
United States of America at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012
NASA image acquired April 18 – October 23, 2012
This image of the United States of America at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. The image was made possible by the new satellite’s “day-night band” of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight.
“Nighttime light is the most interesting data that I’ve had a chance to work with,” says Chris Elvidge, who leads the Earth Observation Group at NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center. “I’m always amazed at what city light images show us about human activity.” His research group has been approached by scientists seeking to model the distribution of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and to monitor the activity of commercial fishing fleets. Biologists have examined how urban growth has fragmented animal habitat. Elvidge even learned once of a study of dictatorships in various parts of the world and how nighttime lights had a tendency to expand in the dictator’s hometown or province.
Named for satellite meteorology pioneer Verner Suomi, NPP flies over any given point on Earth’s surface twice each day at roughly 1:30 a.m. and p.m. The polar-orbiting satellite flies 824 kilometers (512 miles) above the surface, sending its data once per orbit to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway, and continuously to local direct broadcast users distributed around the world. Suomi NPP is managed by NASA with operational support from NOAA and its Joint Polar Satellite System, which manages the satellite’s ground system.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center). Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA, and the Department of Defense. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.
Instrument: Suomi NPP – VIIRS
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Click here to view all of the Earth at Night 2012 images
Click here to read more about this image
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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NGC 4414
NGC 4414
NGC 4414 is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 62 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is a flocculent galaxy, with short segments of spiral structure but without the dramatic well-defined spiral arms of a grand design spiral. In 1974 a supernova, SN 1974G, was observed and is the only supernova in this galaxy to be recorded so far.
It was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, as part of the HST’s main mission to determine the distance to galaxies, and again in 1999 as part of the Hubble Heritage project. It has been part of an ongoing effort to study its Cepheid variable stars. The outer arms appear blue due to the continuing formation of young stars and include a possible Luminous Blue Variable with an absolute magnitude of -10[3]
NGC 4414 is also a very isolated galaxy without signs of past interactions with other galaxies[4] and despite not being a starburst galaxy
shows a high density and richness of gas -both atomic and molecular, with the former extending far beyond its optical disk-[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h “NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database”. Results for NGC 4414. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
- ^ “Pattern Speeds BIMA-SONG Galaxies with Molecule-Dominated ISMs Using the Tremaine-Weinberg Method”. (Turner et al. 1998). arXiv:astro-ph/0406426.
- ^ Frattare, L. M.; Zurek, D. R. (1997). “The Discovery of a Possible Luminous Blue Variable in NGC 4414”. American Astronomical Society, 194th AAS Meeting, #82.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 31: 967. Bibcode 1999AAS…194.8202F.
- ^ Braine, J.; Brouillet, N.; Baudry, A. (1997). “The anatomy of an isolated spiral galaxy: NGC 4414.”. Astronomy and Astrophysics 318: 19-28. Bibcode 1997A&A…318…19B.
- ^ Braine, J.; Combes, F.; van Driel, W. (1993). “NGC 4414: A flocculent galaxy with a high gas surface density”. Astronomy and Astrophysics 280 (2): 451-467. Bibcode 1993A&A…280..451B.
External links
- “The Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale. XI. The Cepheids in NGC 4414”. Astrophysical Journal 505 (1): 207–229. Bibcode 1998ApJ…505..207T. doi:10.1086/306150.
- Hubble Heritage Project NGC 4414
- Astronomy Picture of the Day April 3 2002
- ESA/Hubble image of NGC 4414
The Future Of NASA for 2013 – Budget Documents, Strategic Plans and Performance Reports
The Future Of NASA for 2013 – Budget Documents, Strategic Plans and Performance Reports
RELEASE : 12-051
NASA Reaches Higher With Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request
WASHINGTON — NASA announced Monday a $17.7 billion budget request for fiscal year 2013 supporting an ambitious program of space exploration that will build on new technologies and proven capabilities to expand America’s reach into the solar system.
Despite a constrained fiscal environment, the NASA FY13 budget continues to implement the space science and exploration program agreed to by President Obama and a bipartisan majority in Congress, laying the foundation for ground-breaking discoveries here on Earth and in deep space, including new destinations, such as an asteroid and Mars by 2035.
“This budget in-sources jobs, creates capabilities here at home — and strengthens our workforce, all while opening the next great chapter in American exploration,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “And as we reach for new heights in space, we’re creating new jobs right here on Earth, helping to support an economy that’s built to last.”
The NASA budget includes $4 billion for space operations and $4 billion for exploration activities in the Human Exploration Operations mission directorate, including close-out of the Space Shuttle Program, and funding for the International Space Station, $4.9 billion for science, $669 million for space technology and $552 million for aeronautics research.
“This budget puts us on course to explore farther into space than ever before, revealing the unknown and fueling the nation’s economy for years to come,” Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. “We are committed to ensuring that our astronauts are once again launched from U.S. soil on American-made spacecraft, and this budget provides the funds to make this a reality.”
The budget supports NASA’s continued work to develop the Space Launch System, a new heavy-lift rocket to carry astronauts to destinations such as an asteroid and Mars, and the Orion crew capsule in which they will travel. Included are resources for final preparation and manufacturing milestones for Orion’s 2014 Exploration Flight Test 1 and preliminary design reviews of major Space Launch System elements.
NASA has prioritized funding for its partnership with the commercial space industry to facilitate crew and cargo transport to the station. The $830 million for this work in the FY13 budget advances progress towards a vibrant space industry that will create well-paying, high-tech jobs to the U.S. economy, and reduce America’s reliance on foreign systems.
The budget also enhances use of the International Space Station to improve life on Earth and help make the next great leaps in scientific discovery and exploration.
NASA’s science budget supports a balanced portfolio of innovative science missions that will reach farther into our solar system, reveal unknown aspects of our universe, and provide critical data about our home planet. The agency will continue to develop and conduct critical tests on the James Webb Space Telescope leading to its planned launch in 2018. As the successor to Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb again will revolutionize our understanding of the universe. NASA also is developing an integrated strategy to ensure the next steps for the robotic Mars Exploration Program will support science as well as long-term human exploration goals.
Space Technology work supported in the budget will drive advances in new high-payoff space technologies such as laser communications and zero-gravity propellant transfer, seeding innovation that will expand our capabilities in the skies and in space, supporting economic vitality, lowering the cost of other government and commercial space activities, and helping to create new jobs and expand opportunities for a skilled workforce.
NASA supports its commitment to enhancing aviation safety and airspace efficiency, and reducing the environmental impact of aviation by helping to accelerate the nation’s transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System through investments in revolutionary concepts for air vehicles and air traffic management.
“The 2013 budget moves us forward into tangible implementation of a sustainable and affordable exploration program,” NASA’s Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Robinson said.
The NASA budget and supporting information are available at:
– end –
text-only version of this release
Budget Information
FY 2013 Budget
› FY 2013 Complete Budget Estimates (14.6 MB PDF)
› FY 2013 Budget Presentation (6.2 MB PDF)
› OMB Summary of NASA’s Budget→
› Administrator Bolden’s Opening Remarks (175 KB PDF)
FY 2013 Budget Estimate by Section
› Summary and Tables (3.81 MB PDF)
› Agency Summary (2.7 MB PDF)
› Science Overview (69 Kb PDF)
- Earth Science (1.63 MB PDF)
- Planetary Science (1.4 MB PDF)
- Astrophysics (1.92 MB PDF)
- James Webb Space Telescope (349 Kb PDF)
- Heliophysics (1.65 MB PDF)
› Aeronautics Research (893 Kb PDF)
› Space Technology (1.29 MB PDF)
› Exploration (830 Kb PDF)
› Space Operations (1.51 MB PDF)
› Education (664 Kb PDF)
› Cross Agency Support (586 Kb PDF)
› Construction and Environmental Compliance and Restoration (514 Kb PDF)
› Office of the Inspector General (33 Kb PDF)
› Supporting Data (957 Kb PDF)
› Management and Performance (1.93 Kb PDF)
› Proposed Appropriations (28 Kb PDF)
› References (67 Kb PDF)
Previous Years’ Budgets
› FY 2012 | › FY 2011 | › FY 2010 | › FY 2009 | › FY 2008 | › FY 2007
› FY 2006 | › FY 2005 | › FY 2004 | › FY 2003 and Earlier
Universe Galaxies 