Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Chandra "Enthusiastically Endorsed" for Extension in Senior Review

Chandra "Enthusiastically Endorsed" for Extension in Senior Review:

Peter Edmonds is the Chandra Press Scientist and, in addition to his work on publicizing Chandra science, has been heavily involved with the Chandra's Senior Review proposal since 2008.

In science, "peer review" is used to describe a process that determines whether a research paper should be published in a journal. One or more experts review the paper and determine its fate: are the results and discussion reliable and do they meet the publication standards of the journal?

This process plays a crucial role in advancing scientific research and accordingly it receives a lot of attention, especially in efforts to improve it. However, peer review is just one example, in science, where experts perform reviews. In astronomy there are committees that review telescope proposals and panels that review the performance and determine the fate of entire observatories. NASA's Senior Review is an important example of the latter. Last week the Chandra X-ray Observatory, along with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and many other NASA missions, received reports responding to their 2014 Senior Review proposals. We are delighted to report that the Chandra mission received a glowing endorsement.

The goal of Senior Review, according to NASA, is "to maximize the scientific return from these programs within finite resources". In other words, NASA wants to get the most science possible out of their limited budget. Chandra has gone through this process every two years since 2008 and has performed very well each time.

Senior Review
Figure: The cover page of the Chandra proposal to NASA’s Senior Review for 2014. Credit: NASA/CXC.

As with previous years, the 2014 Senior Review proposal included a science section describing research highlights since the last Senior Review and a discussion of likely future results; a technical section describing the status of functions such as mission operations, spacecraft health, data collection and archiving and a detailed budget. This year there was also a two-day long site visit.

The full report on Chandra is available here, including the membership of the expert panel that performed the review. I've picked out a few highlights of the report concerning the quality of Chandra’s scientific accomplishments and our communication efforts in Education and Public Outreach (EPO), and the high demand for Chandra observing time:

Chandra "has a large community of users who continue to produce groundbreaking scientific results. Chandra is the most powerful facility for X-ray astrophysics, and its unique capabilities have no likely successor in the foreseeable future."


"The prospects for further compelling science return in the future are excellent. This panel enthusiastically endorses the extension of the Chandra mission."

"Chandra discoveries continue to have an extraordinarily high impact on both the scientific and public understanding of our universe."

"The vast breadth of Chandra science reaches almost every area of astrophysics, including star and galaxy formation, the creation of the elements, the origin and evolution of black holes and galaxies and placing stellar activity in a cosmic context."

"The large number of Chandra proposals (636 in Cycle 16 in March 2014) indicates a very high demand for observing time, archival research and theoretical studies. Many proposals investigate new ideas that were not even imagined before launch. Many exciting results published in refereed journals are released to the public as press releases (~30 per year) with excellent illustrations that have high visibility in the media."

"The Panel recognizes the clear importance of communicating Chandra’s scientific results beyond the scientific community. The CXC staff members are to be commended for the extraordinary innovative methods and techniques they have employed in publicizing Chandra science and engaging the broader public."
These positive comments are gratifying for everyone associated with the Chandra mission, especially the many people who worked very hard on the Senior Review proposal, including several members of our EPO group.

The panel also listed six findings “that may be useful to enhance future returns from the observatory”, as listed in the Executive Summary and section seven of the report.

I'll note that a great deal of research performed with Chandra involves combining results with other observatories, both in space and on the ground. Therefore, I’d like to congratulate our Great Observatory cousins at Space Telescope Science Institute for the very positive report from Senior Review on HST, and our colleagues at other endorsed missions.

For more information about Senior Review, the Call for Proposals and the response by NASA to the Senior Review report are both publicly available.

-Peter Edmonds, CXC
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:58 PM 0 comments

Chandra and the Camelopardalids

Chandra and the Camelopardalids:

Update (05.28.14): According to the team at the OCC, Chandra was unharmed during this new meteor shower. They report that passage through the stream was 'thankfully unremarkable.' According to all of their information, there was no evidence for any type of impact and it was 'smooth sailing.'

This week, sky watchers will be treated to a special event: a new meteor shower. Meteor showers occur when Earth, on its orbit around the Sun, passes through the debris left behind by a comet. There are some debris fields that Earth passes through every year and produce regular meteor showers that many people have heard of. These include the Leonids in November and the Perseids in July and August.

The meteor shower that will occur on May 23rd and 24th will be caused by the wake of Comet 209P/Linear and has been dubbed the Camelopardalids. (Meteor showers are named after the constellation that they appear to be coming from, which in this case is Cameloparadis, the giraffe.) Comet 209P/Linear was discovered in 2004, and it travels in an orbit that only crosses with Earth's once every five years as it loops around the Sun. This means that Earth only rarely crosses paths with the trail of material left behind it. Comet experts, however, calculate that this week Earth is due for an encounter with a clump of 209P/Linear's wake, perhaps for the first time ever.

Some researchers have predicted this will be a very active meteor shower that could produce up to 200 meteors an hour. While this could be an exciting early morning show for sky watchers who can get outside, a team at the Chandra X-ray Center's Operation Control Center (OCC) will be busy preparing for and dealing with the event inside.

Chandra

Even though much of the debris in meteor showers is very tiny, it can pose serious potential risks for spacecraft like Chandra. There are two main concerns: the first is that particles moving at very high speeds will generate electric fields that could disrupt the electronics aboard the spacecraft. The second big worry is that a particle would impact Chandra, causing damage to a key instrument or other important piece of the telescope.

While the team at the OCC has handled many meteor showers in Chandra's nearly 15 years of operations, the Camelopardalids are different because there is relatively little known about the stream of material that Earth (and Chandra) will pass through. Because of this uncertainty, the Mission Planning Team is taking extra precautions.

In fact, it's the Mission Planners to think of everything that could possibly go wrong – and then have plans in place to prevent those things from happening. This includes having contingencies in place in case something unusual happens in the two days before the meteor shower even starts, just to make sure they can safeguard Chandra.

Several hours before the meteor shower is expected to begin, the team will make sure that the spacecraft is pointed in the opposite direction of where the meteors are coming from (that is known as the "radiant" of the meteor shower.) They will also feather, or turn, Chandra's solar arrays in a direction to minimize the amount of their surface area that will be exposed to the oncoming meteors.

Chandra

In 2011, the team at the OCC shifted its approach to meteor showers during the Draconids. They realized that only the very high-speed particles posed a threat to the electronics onboard. Rather than "safing" all of the instruments, they calculated they could continue have the telescope perform science observations as long as it was pointed away from the radiant.

The Camelopardalids are expected to have even slower moving particles than the Draconids, so the plan would have been to continue observations of the sky. Like most space-based telescopes, observing time on Chandra is very valuable so the team at the OCC is always looking to maximize it. Unfortunately, the peak of the meteor shower will begin when Chandra is traveling through the Earth’s radiation belts, as it does during one of its orbits that take it a third of the way to the Moon.

To protect the spacecraft during these regular trips through the potentially damaging radiation, Chandra does not perform science observations of the sky. Instead, the team uses this "down time" to conduct calibration observations of the instruments that can be done safely within the spacecraft. (Calibration observations are used to assess the state and performance of the instruments on board.)

Even though Chandra will exit the radiation belts several hours before the meteor shower is over and could theoretically begin science observations, the team decided against it. That's because the solar arrays would have to be moved, and the risk outweighed the potential reward of that observing time. The result is that one of Chandra’s instruments – known as the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer, or ACIS -- will get a much longer calibration observation than usual. (That extra calibration time will be put to good use as scientists never complain about having too much data for anything.)

These are just some of the many details and plans that are being put into place by staff at the OCC to protect Chandra during this meteor shower. Comet forecasters think the peak of the Camelopardalids will be between 2:00 and 4:00am Eastern time. If there are clear skies in your area, try to get outside to take a look if you are awake. If you do, remember that there are many people hard at work trying to ensure the safety of our greatest telescopes in space.

-Megan Watzke, CXC
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:58 PM 0 comments

Chandra Helps Explain "Red and Dead Galaxies"

Chandra Helps Explain "Red and Dead Galaxies":

Cold Gas

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has shed new light on the mystery of why giant elliptical galaxies have few, if any, young stars. This new evidence highlights the important role that supermassive black holes play in the evolution of their host galaxies.

Because star-forming activity in many giant elliptical galaxies has shut down to very low levels, these galaxies mostly house long-lived stars with low masses and red optical colors. Astronomers have therefore called these galaxies "red and dead".

Previously it was thought that these red and dead galaxies do not contain large amounts of cold gas - the fuel for star formation - helping to explain the lack of young stars. However, astronomers have used ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to find surprisingly large amounts of cold gas in some giant elliptical galaxies. In a sample of eight galaxies, six contain large reservoirs of cold gas. This is the first time that astronomers have seen large quantities of cold gas in giant elliptical galaxies that are not located at the center of a massive galaxy cluster.

With lots of cold gas, astronomers would expect many stars to be forming in these galaxies, contrary to what is observed. To try to understand this inconsistency, astronomers studied the galaxies at other wavelengths, including X-rays and radio waves. The Chandra observations map the temperature and density of hot gas in these galaxies. For the six galaxies containing abundant cold gas, including NGC 4636 and NGC 5044 shown here, the X-ray data provide evidence that the hot gas is cooling, providing a source for the cold gas observed with Herschel. However, the cooling process stops before the cold gas condenses to form stars. What prevents the stars from forming?

A strong clue comes from the Chandra images. The hot gas in the center of the six galaxies containing cold gas appears to be much more disturbed than in the cold gas-free systems. This is a sign that material has been ejected from regions close to the central black hole. These outbursts are possibly driven, in part, by clumpy, cold gas that has been pulled onto the black hole. The outbursts dump most of their energy into the center of the galaxy, where the cold gas is located, preventing the cold gas from cooling sufficiently to form stars.

More at http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/coldgas/

-Megan Watzke, CXC
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:57 PM 0 comments

Chandra Captures Galaxy Sparkling in X-rays

Chandra Captures Galaxy Sparkling in X-rays:

M51

Nearly a million seconds of observing time with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way glittering with hundreds of X-ray points of light.

The galaxy is officially named Messier 51 (M51) or NGC 5194, but often goes by its nickname of the "Whirlpool Galaxy." Like the Milky Way, the Whirlpool is a spiral galaxy with spectacular arms of stars and dust. M51 is located about 30 million light years from Earth, and its face-on orientation to Earth gives us a perspective that we can never get of our own spiral galactic home.

By using Chandra, astronomers can peer into the Whirlpool to uncover things that can only be detected in X-rays. In this new composite image, Chandra data are shown in purple. Optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope are red, green, and blue.

Most of the X-ray sources are X-ray binaries (XRBs). These systems consist of pairs of objects where a compact star, either a neutron star or, more rarely, a black hole, is capturing material from an orbiting companion star. The infalling material is accelerated by the intense gravitational field of the compact star and heated to millions of degrees, producing a luminous X-ray source. The Chandra observations reveal that at least ten of the XRBs in M51 are bright enough to contain black holes. In eight of these systems the black holes are likely capturing material from companion stars that are much more massive than the Sun.

Because astronomers have been observing M51 for about a decade with Chandra, they have critical information about how X-ray sources containing black holes behave over time. The black holes with massive stellar companions are consistently bright over the ten years of Chandra observations. These results suggest that the high-mass stars in these X-ray sources also have strong winds that allow for a steady stream of material to flow onto the black hole.

More at http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/m51/

-Megan Watzke, CXC
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:57 PM 0 comments

Visualizing the X-ray Universe: Stories About Science

Visualizing the X-ray Universe: Stories About Science:

Telling a story about science can come in many different shapes, from an image of the area around a black hole, to a three-dimensional model of the remains of an exploded star, to something as simple as a tweet about a planet. Working for the Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of NASA's “Great Observatories” that studies extremely hot regions in space such as colliding galaxies and neutron stars, there is no shortage of data to tell stories about. Chandra orbits about 1/3 of the way to the Moon so it can take long exposures of cosmic objects. This year, Chandra marks its 15th anniversary of science operations out in the cold, dark and somewhat dangerous void of space.

Perhaps 50% of the job of “visualizing the X-ray Universe” is figuring out how we need to look at Chandra’s X-ray data and asking ourselves: what questions are this data trying to answer? what do experts see in this data? how will non-experts view and understand the data? The remaining 50% of the job is then what to do with that data, to make it both accessible and understandable.

Chandra

Data Challenges

When looking at the Universe in X-ray light, it’s all about making the invisible into something visible. Human eyes evolved to see and make sense of so-called visible light, but visible, or optical light, makes up a small percentage of all the available light in the Universe. The other task, when looking at the Universe in a different type of light such as X-rays, is to help make the concepts of high-energy astrophysics relatable for readers with all kinds of different knowledge bases.

Astronomy is fortunately blessed with a wealth of data to work with. Professional astronomers have many different kinds of observatories and telescopes to utilize. These telescopes look at many different kinds of light or different kinds of objects. There are also many astrophotographers and amateur astronomers working on the ground. So we have terabytes upon terabytes of information to sort and analyze. Of course, the Universe is unimaginably big, so we need all of that data to try and figure things out.

One of the biggest challenges in telling these stories then is how to make meaning out of so much data. And we need to figure out how to communicate that meaning in a transparent way.

The type of images we create or work with are not created with the click of a camera like a great big selfie of the sky. It’s the result of a process of translation. A CCD in the telescope records the photons (or packets of energy), and the 1s and 0s are sent down to Earth. From there, they’re processed into an events table, and then translated into a visual representation of the object (see events table and image of Cassiopeia A, below). The next step is to turn the image from black and white into color.

There are many human steps in there, and we each have bias. We are making many choices, decisions, along the way. Our aim in all of this is to increase the information quotient of the image, by adding color for example to pull out scientific details we could not otherwise make out visually. But we are still making a series of choices.

CasA

Adding Context

It takes a lot of time to collect those high-energy photons that Chandra detects – more time than it does for the Hubble Space Telescope to make an image, for example – because there are fewer of them being emitted from most of the Universe. Sometimes the visual representations of the X-ray data are more abstract or esoteric looking. The results are perhaps not as recognizable an object to us. We are more familiar with, say, a visible light view of a planet or galaxy. For many, a more exotic-looking nebulous structure doesn’t necessarily communicate that this is an image of space.

How do we anchor the necessary information in a context that makes sense for our audiences? One thing we can do is to add data from a different wavelength, such as optical or infrared, that does have a more recognizable shape. This adds an extra layer of information.

We may start off showing the remains of an exploded star that, if seen alone, might resemble something from a microbiology class. But then you include the optical star field of that same area of the sky to the X-ray data and our brains can more immediately understand, this is a celestial object. One important corollary to this is that we always make sure we are transparent as possible with whatever we do to create the image. On the Chandra web site for example we have a “build a bear” like function, a simple script that lets the visitor see and click through the individual layers of data that were collated into the resulting image.

Tycho's SNR

But again, the parameters around what to include or exclude are always based on: what is the science? what is the story? what might people see, ask or question when they see the result?

Experts vs Non-Experts

To further help us understanding our audiences, and study how best to tell a science story through images and text, we have been running a research program called "Aesthetics & Astronomy" that studies the perception of astronomical images and their captions across the novice-expert spectrum of users.

We’ve learned that, starting with visual processing, what an expert sees when looking at an astronomical image is not necessarily what the novice sees. The expert tends to move from the astronomy first to aesthetics last – e.g. first he or she is commenting on what kind of data are in the image, what is meant to be shown, then the expert moves on to statements such as “this is pretty cool” or “that’s a lovely image of a galaxy”. In our studies, we’ve seen that the non-expert often moves from aesthetics to astronomy. For example, he or she might start with, “wow, that’s beautiful” and “intense and colorful” before eventually questioning “what does it mean?” “what does a scientist see when he or she looks at this?”

So, novices might begin with a sense of awe and wonder, and focus first on the aesthetic qualities of the astronomical image being shown. Experts, however, often will first inquire how the image was produced, what information is being presented in the image, and what the creators of the image wanted to convey.

Another area where the experts and non-experts differ is in color. Not many non-experts consider blue to be hot. But scientists often do. Because of this, experts tend to visualize blue as hot and red as cool in the making of an image. In contrast, about 80% of novices see red as hot compared to 60% of experts. We’ve never heard a parent say to his or her child “Don’t touch that, it’s blue hot”. So when you have an astronomical image that shows hot material around a galaxy, do you color that hotter area blue or red? The primarily red image might actually convey the information of the object better even though its color mapping would be considered non-standard for a scientist (for example, see below for blue and red versions of galaxy NGC 4696).

NGC 4696

To sum up, astronomy images are not like a snapshot from an iPhone. Everything we see in these images is real, but the data have to be translated into the image through a series of steps. How a telescope "sees" is very different than how our human eyes work. Modern telescopes give us super-human vision that enable us to explore the Universe in ways unimaginable just a few decades ago. In most cases they literally make the invisible visible and help us tell better stories about the science.

Note: This blog originally appeared at Innovation Insights on May 29, 2014

-Kim Arcand

Visualization Lead, Chandra
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:56 PM 0 comments

Mysterious X-ray Signal Intrigues Astronomers

Mysterious X-ray Signal Intrigues Astronomers:

Perseus

A new study of the Perseus galaxy cluster, shown in this image, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and 73 other clusters with ESA's XMM-Newton has revealed a mysterious X-ray signal in the data. This signal is represented in the circled data points in the inset, which is a plot of X-ray intensity as a function of X-ray energy. The signal is also seen in over 70 other galaxy clusters using XMM-Newton. This unidentified X-ray emission line - that is, a spike of intensity at a very specific energy, in this case centered on about 3.56 kiloelectron volts (keV) - requires further investigation to confirm both the signal's existence and nature as described in the latest Chandra press release.

One intriguing possible explanation of this X-ray emission line is that it is produced by the decay of sterile neutrinos, a type of particle that has been proposed as a candidate for dark matter. While holding exciting potential, these results must be confirmed with additional data to rule out other explanations and determine whether it is plausible that dark matter has been observed.

There is uncertainty in these results, in part, because the detection of this emission line is pushing the capabilities of both Chandra and XMM-Newton in terms of sensitivity. Also, there may be explanations other than sterile neutrinos if this X-ray emission line is deemed to be real. For example, there are ways that normal matter in the cluster could have produced the line, although the team's analysis suggested that all of these would involve unlikely changes to our understanding of physical conditions in the galaxy cluster or the details of the atomic physics of extremely hot gases.

This image is Chandra's latest view of the Perseus Cluster, where red, green, and blue show low, medium, and high-energy X-rays respectively. It combines data equivalent to more than 17 days worth of observing time taken over a decade with Chandra. The Perseus Cluster is one of the most massive objects in the Universe, and contains thousands of galaxies immersed in an enormous cloud of superheated gas. In Chandra's X-ray image, enormous bright loops, ripples, and jet-like streaks throughout the cluster can be seen. The dark blue filaments in the center are likely due to a galaxy that has been torn apart and is falling into NGC 1275 (a.k.a. Perseus A), the giant galaxy that lies at the center of the cluster. A different view of Perseus, shown below, combines data from Chandra in the inner regions of the cluster and XMM data in the outer regions.

More at http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/perseus/

-Megan Watzke, CXC
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A Flash in the Dark!

A Flash in the Dark!:

Esra Bulbul
We are delighted to welcome Esra Bulbul as a guest blogger. Esra led the new study reporting evidence for a mysterious X-ray signal in galaxy clusters, leading to our latest press release. She earned her master’s degree in physics from the Middle East Technical University in the capital city, Ankara, in Turkey in 2006. Four years later she graduated with a PhD in physics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville / NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. After receiving her Ph.D. she moved to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as a Smithsonian Astrophysical Fellow working jointly at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a visiting scientist. She is now back at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and enjoys living in the greater Boston area.

When I started my first postdoc at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, I already knew that one alternative way to improve the sensitivity of current instruments like Chandra and XMM-Newton is to “stack” large numbers of observations of galaxy clusters, meaning that we layer one observation on top of another.

The great advantage of stacking observations is not only an increased signal-to-noise ratio (that is, the amount of useful signal compared to background noise), but also the diminished effects of detector and background features. The X-ray background emission and instrumental noise are the main obstacles in the analysis of faint objects, such as galaxy clusters.

I started by examining the large archive of the XMM-Newton satellite. After 15 years of operation, both XMM-Newton and Chandra have collected large amounts of data, which made this work possible. My primary goal was to refine previous upper limits on the properties of dark matter particles and maybe to find a weak emission line from a metal, which was not detected previously.

These weak emission lines from metals originate from the known atomic transitions taking place in the hot atmospheres of galaxy clusters. After spending a year reducing, carefully examining, and stacking the XMM-Newton X-ray observations of 73 galaxy clusters, I noticed an unexpected emission line at about 3.56 kiloelectron volts (keV), a specific energy in the X-ray range.

I remember being so puzzled when I first saw the line. Its wavelength did not correspond to any of the known atomic transitions. I remember running to my collaborator's office with excitement to show this new emission line. A second surprise came from my doctor at the time. I learned that I was pregnant with my first baby.

Perseus

To convince myself that this line is not an XMM-Newton artifact I have further investigated the Chandra X-ray observations of the bright core of the Perseus Cluster. The line was also detected in these observations, confirming that it is not an instrumental feature. The next goal was to find the origin of this new line.

My team and I came up with a few astrophysical processes, which could explain this line. We went through these processes one by one carefully. However none of them could produce an emission line at 3.56 keV. Since 80% of galaxy clusters consists of dark matter, one possibility we considered was the decay signature of sterile neutrinos.

According to theory, a well-motivated warm dark matter candidate – a sterile neutrino – decays into an active neutrino by emitting an X-ray photon in the keV range. This X-ray photon can be detectable through X-ray spectroscopy. We found that our results indeed were consistent with the theoretical expectations and the upper limits placed by previous X-ray searches.

It took me a year to confirm the existence of the line in different subsamples and write the paper. Within a few hours of having submitted the paper to ApJ and posted it to the archive, I ran to the hospital and I delivered my baby, Adrian Batu. It was the most rewarding time of my life; I had two babies in a few days.

What is next? Since this line is weak, it is important to confirm it with other satellites. I received a NASA grant to continue searching for this line in the accumulated observations of galaxy clusters with Suzaku, a Japanese X-ray satellite that specializes in looking at the spectra from objects in space. At this point, it is still early to tell if this line originates from dark matter. The next Japanese X-ray mission, Astro-H, will fly in 2015 carrying a high-resolution instrument. With its ability to see better detail in the spectra, we hope we will be able to unambiguously distinguish an astrophysical line from a dark matter signal and tell us what this new X-ray emission truly is.
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:55 PM 0 comments

Nanda Rea Wins Award for Solving a Magnetic Mystery

Nanda Rea Wins Award for Solving a Magnetic Mystery:

posted by chandra
on Tue, 2014-07-01 10:45


Nanda Rea

Nanda Rea. Credit: N. Rea
Last week, the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) announced the awards that will be presented at their upcoming meeting in August in Moscow. One of the winners of the Yakov B. Zeldovich Medals -- a joint award of COSPAR and the Russian Academy of Sciences conferred on young scientists for excellence and achievements – will go to Nanda Rea.

Dr. Rea is an assistant professor at the Institute of Space Sciences (CSIC-IEEC) in Barcelona and the Anton Pannekoek Institute (API) at the University of Amsterdam. She has spent much of her career studying magnetars, a special class of neutron stars that have some of the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe.

Chandra
Artist's impression of a magnetar. Credit: N. Rea

Dr. Rea has used many high-energy astrophysics to conduct her research including those from NASA like Chandra, Swift, RXTE, and Fermi as well as ESA missions such as XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL. For instance, we were able to highlight some of her work with Chandra in a press release last year. We want to extend our congratulations to Dr. Rea on this exciting award and we look forward to seeing where her research takes her next.

For ESA’s press release on this award, including a photo of Dr. Rea, visit http://sci.esa.int/xmm-newton/54215-award-for-european-scientist-who-solved-a-magnetic-mystery/

-Megan Watzke, CXC
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Galactic Pyrotechnics On Display

Galactic Pyrotechnics On Display:

M106

A galaxy about 23 million light years away is the site of impressive, ongoing, fireworks. Rather than paper, powder, and fire, this galactic light show involves a giant black hole, shock waves, and vast reservoirs of gas.

This galactic fireworks display is taking place in NGC 4258 (also known as M106), a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way. This galaxy is famous, however, for something that our Galaxy doesn’t have – two extra spiral arms that glow in X-ray, optical, and radio light. These features, or anomalous arms, are not aligned with the plane of the galaxy, but instead intersect with it.

The anomalous arms are seen in this new composite image of NGC 4258, where X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory are blue, radio data from the NSF’s Karl Jansky Very Large Array are purple, optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are yellow and blue, and infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope are red.

A new study of these anomalous arms made with Spitzer shows that shock waves, similar to sonic booms from supersonic planes, are heating large amounts of gas – equivalent to about 10 million Suns. What is generating these shock waves? Radio data shows that the supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 4258 is producing powerful jets of high-energy particles. Researchers think that these jets strike the disk of the galaxy and generate shock waves. These shock waves, in turn, heat some of the gas – composed mainly of hydrogen molecules – to thousands of degrees. As shown in our additional, composite image, part of the evidence for this heating process comes from the similarity in location between the hydrogen and X-ray emission, both thought to be caused by shocks, and the radio jets.

The Chandra X-ray image reveals huge bubbles of hot gas above and below the plane of the galaxy. These bubbles indicate that much of the gas that was originally in the disk of the galaxy has been heated to millions of degrees and ejected into the outer regions by the jets from the black hole.

The ejection of gas from the disk by the jets has important implications for the fate of this galaxy. Researchers estimate that all of the remaining gas will be ejected within the next 300 million years – very soon on cosmic time scales – unless it is somehow replenished. Because most of the gas in the disk has already been ejected, less gas is available for new stars to form. Indeed, the researchers used Spitzer data to estimate that stars are forming in the central regions of NGC 4258, at a rate which is about ten times less than in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory was used to confirm the estimate from Spitzer data of the low star formation rate in the central regions of NGC 4258. Herschel was also used to make an independent estimate of how much gas remains in the center of the galaxy. After allowing for the large boost in infrared emission caused by the shocks, the researchers found that the gas mass is ten times smaller than had been previously estimated.

Because NGC 4258 is relatively close to Earth, astronomers can study how this black hole is affecting its galaxy in great detail. The supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 4258 is about ten times larger than the one in the Milky Way, and is also consuming material at a faster rate, potentially increasing its impact on the evolution of its host galaxy.

These results were published in the June 20th, 2014 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters and are available online. The authors are Patrick Ogle, Lauranne Lanz and Philip Appleton from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., controls Chandra's science and flight operations.

More information at http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/m106/index.html
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M27 Dumbbell Nebula 30 Sep 13

M27 Dumbbell Nebula 30 Sep 13:



M27 Dumbbell Nebula 30 Sep 13

Original enclosures:
10047159043_0eb50e7383_b.jpg (image/jpeg)
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Rayos crepusculares

Rayos crepusculares:



Rayos crepusculares

La mancha gris en el horizonte es una tormenta de polvo.

Original enclosures:
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Luminous River

Luminous River:



Luminous River

Milkyway Queensland

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iLUNAnati!

iLUNAnati!:



iLUNAnati!

Taken on 7/13/14



Image Specs:



Camera: Canon EOS 60D

Scope: Stellarvue SV105T APO

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Rising Moon 15 July 2014

Rising Moon 15 July 2014:



Rising Moon 15 July 2014

23.25

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Waning Gibbous Moon 16 July 2014

Waning Gibbous Moon 16 July 2014:



Waning Gibbous Moon 16 July 2014

01.46

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Lightning Strike Across the Coral Sea plus Flash Illuminated Bird in Flight - Nov 26, 2008

Lightning Strike Across the Coral Sea plus Flash Illuminated Bird in Flight - Nov 26, 2008:



Lightning Strike Across the Coral Sea plus Flash Illuminated Bird in Flight - Nov 26, 2008

Taken from Coral Towers Observatory using a Canon 20D and 24 mm lens. Single 4 sec exposure. This image has been reporcessed using Photomatrix.

NOTE

The image includes a bird flying away from the storm just above the water line (below and to the right of centre) that has been flash illuminated by the lightning.

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Universe Astrophoto 20140715 Moon

20140715 Moon:

Roger Hutchinson has added a photo to the pool:

20140715 Moon

Moon on 15th July 2014 - 600mm telephoto

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Feel The Heat! New Mars Map Shows Differences Between Bedrock And Sand

Feel The Heat! New Mars Map Shows Differences Between Bedrock And Sand:



An impact crater on Mars called Graterri, which is only 4.3 miles (6.9 km) in diameter, shines in a global heat map of the Red Planet produced in 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University

An impact crater on Mars called Graterri, which is only 4.3 miles (6.9 km) in diameter, shines in a global heat map of the Red Planet produced in 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University
For years, NASA’s Mars Odyssey has been working on some night moves. It’s been taking pictures of the Red Planet during nighttime — more than 20,000 in all — to see how the planet’s heat signature looks while the sun is down.

The result is the highest-resolution map ever of the thermal properties of Mars, which you can see here. Why is this important? Researchers say it helps tell the story about things such as if an area is shrouded with dust, where bare bedrock is, and whether sediments in a crater are packed tight or floating freely.

“Darker areas in the map are cooler at night, have a lower thermal inertia and likely contain fine particles, such as dust, silt or fine sand,” stated Robin Fergason at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Arizona, who led the map’s creation. Brighter areas are warmer, likely yielding regions of bedrock, crust or coarse sand.

The map from Odyssey’s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) is also used for a more practical purpose: deciding where to set down NASA’s next Mars mission.

After assisting in landing site selection for the Curiosity mission, the THEMIS data will be used to figure out where the Mars 2020 rover will be placed, Arizona State University stated.

You can check out more recent THEMIS images (updated daily) on this website.

Source: Arizona State University

Tagged as:
Mars Odyssey,
THEMIS
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:37 PM 0 comments

Ancient Snow Shaped A Martian Basin That’s Half The Size Of Brazil

Ancient Snow Shaped A Martian Basin That’s Half The Size Of Brazil:



Perspective view of Hellas Basin taken with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express in January 2014, and released in July 2014. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

Perspective view of Hellas Basin taken with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express in January 2014, and released in July 2014. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Such great heights! A mountain chain peeks in the background of this new view of Hellas Basin, based on information taken by a European spacecraft circling the Red Planet.

Beyond the pretty picture is a tale of how snow behaved on the Martian surface, according to the European Space Agency. The vast basin is about half the size of Brazil.

The wrinkled view of that crater in front is a product of snowing and freezing that took place when the Martian surface was wetter, ESA said.

A map of the Hellas basin in the southern hemisphere of Mars, as well as the rocky Hellespontus Montes. Image taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express. Credit: NASA MGS MOLA Science Team/Freie Universitaet Berlin

A map of the Hellas basin in the southern hemisphere of Mars, as well as the rocky Hellespontus Montes. Image taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express. Credit: NASA MGS MOLA Science Team/Freie Universitaet Berlin
“During this period, snow fell and covered the surface and later moved downhill into the crater. Once inside the crater, the snow became trapped and soon covered by surface dust, before compacting to form ice. The number of concentric lines indicates many cycles of this process and it is possible that craters like these may still be rich in ice hidden beneath just tens of metres of surface debris.”

Additionally, the high hill chain in the back (called Hellespontus Montes) is a remnant of how Hellas basin was formed, the agency said.

“This feature is a product of the final stages of the formation of the vast Hellas impact basin itself, most likely as the basin walls – which were first pushed outwards by the extraordinary forces at work during the formation of the basin – later collapsed and sank inwards to create the observed stair-stepped shape.”

The image was taken by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, which is just one of several robotic emissaries circling the Red Planet.

Source: European Space Agency

Tagged as:
Hellas Basin,
Mars Express
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What Created This Huge Crater In Siberia?

What Created This Huge Crater In Siberia?:



An 80-meter-wide crater recently discovered in northern Siberia (Video screenshot)

An 80-meter-wide crater recently discovered in northern Siberia (video screenshot)
What is it with Russia and explosive events of cosmic origins? The 1908 Tunguska Explosion, the Chelyabinsk bolide of February 2013, and now this: an enormous 80-meter wide crater discovered in the Yamal peninsula in northern Siberia!

To be fair, this crater is not currently thought to be from a meteorite impact but rather an eruption from below, possibly the result of a rapid release of gas trapped in what was once frozen permafrost. The Yamal region is rich in oil and natural gas, and the crater is located 30 km away from its largest gas field. Still, a team of researchers are en route to investigate the mysterious hole further.

Watch a video captured by engineer Konstantin Nikolaev during a helicopter flyover below:



In the video the Yamal crater/hole has what appear to be streams of dry material falling into it. Its depth has not yet been determined.

Bill Chappell writes on NPR’s “The Two-Way”:

“The list of possible natural explanations for the giant hole includes a meteorite strike and a gas explosion, or possibly an eruption of underground ice.”
Dark material around the inner edge of the hole seems to suggest high temperatures during its formation. But rather than the remains of a violent impact by a space rock — or the crash-landing of a UFO, as some have already speculated — this crater may be a particularly explosive result of global warming.

According to The Siberian Times:

“Anna Kurchatova from Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre thinks the crater was formed by a water, salt and gas mixture igniting an underground explosion, the result of global warming. She postulates that gas accumulated in ice mixed with sand beneath the surface, and that this was mixed with salt – some 10,000 years ago this area was a sea.”
The crater is thought to have formed sometime in 2012.

Read more at The Siberian Times and NPR.

Tagged as:
crater,
explosion,
global warming,
hole,
impact,
meteorite,
Siberia,
sinkhole,
Yamal
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:36 PM 0 comments

Cygnus Commercial Resupply Ship Berths to Space Station on 45th Apollo 11 Anniversary

Cygnus Commercial Resupply Ship Berths to Space Station on 45th Apollo 11 Anniversary:



The International Space Station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, grapples the Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft on July 16, 2014. Image Credit: NASA TV

The International Space Station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2, grapples the Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft on July 16, 2014. Image Credit: NASA TV
Following a nearly three day journey, an Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus commercial cargo freighter carrying a ton and a half of science experiments and supplies for the six person crew was successfully installed onto the International Space Station at 8:53 a.m. EDT this morning, July 16, after a flawless arrival and being firmly grasped by station astronauts deftly maneuvering the Canadarm2 robotic arm some two hours earlier.

Cygnus was captured in open space at 6:36 a.m. EDT by Commander Steve Swanson as he maneuvered the 57-foot (17-meter) Canadarm2 from a robotics workstation inside the station’s seven windowed domed Cupola, after it was delicately flown on an approach vector using GPS and LIDAR lasers to within about 32 feet (10 meters) of the massive orbiting complex.

Swanson was assisted by ESA astronaut and fellow Expedition 40 crew member Alexander Gerst working at a hardware control panel.

“Grapple confirmed” radioed Houston Mission Control as the complex soared in low orbit above Earth at 17500 MPH.

“Cygnus is captured as the ISS flew 260 miles (400 km) over northern Libya.”

Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft approaches the ISS on July 16, 2014 prior to Canadarm2 grappling and berthing. Credit: NASA TV

Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft approaches the ISS on July 16, 2014 prior to Canadarm2 grappling and berthing. Credit: NASA TV
Cygnus by the book arrival at the million pound orbiting laboratory coincided with the 45th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969 on America’s first manned moon landing mission.

This mission dubbed Orbital-2, or Orb-2, marks the second of eight operational cargo resupply missions to the ISS under Orbital’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

The supplies are critical to keep the station flying and humming with research investigations.

Up-close side view of payload fairing protecting Cygnus cargo module during launch for Orb-2 mission to ISS. Vehicle undergoes prelaunch processing at NASA Wallops during visit by Universe Today/Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com

Up-close side view of payload fairing protecting Cygnus cargo module during launch for Orb-2 mission to ISS. Vehicle undergoes prelaunch processing at NASA Wallops during visit by Universe Today/Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
The supply ship thrusters all worked perfectly normal during rendezvous and docking to station with streaming gorgeous views provided by the stations new high definition HDEV cameras.

“We now have a seventh crew member. Janice Voss is now part of Expedition 40,” radioed Swanson.

“Janice devoted her life to space and accomplished many wonderful things at NASA and Orbital Sciences, including five shuttle missions. And today, Janice’s legacy in space continues. Welcome aboard the ISS, Janice.”

The Cygnus spacecraft was christened in honor of Janice Voss who flew five shuttle missions during her prolific astronaut carrier, worked for both NASA and Orbital Sciences and passed away in February 2012.

Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft approaches the ISS on July 16, 2014 prior to Canadarm2 grappling and berthing. Credit: NASA TV

Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft approaches the ISS on July 16, 2014 prior to Canadarm2 grappling and berthing. Credit: NASA TV
A robotics officer at Mission Control in Houston then remotely commanded the arm to move Cygnus into place for its berthing at the Earth-facing port on the Harmony module.

Once Cygnus was in place at the ready to latch (RTF) position, NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman monitored the Common Berthing Mechanism operations and initiated the first and second stage capture of the cargo ship to insure the craft was firmly joined.

The hard mate was completed at 8:53 a.m. EDT as the complex was flying about 260 miles over the east coast of Australia. 16 bolts were driven to firmly hold Cygnus in place to the station.

“Cygnus is now bolted to the ISS while flying 260 miles about the continent of Australia,” confirmed Houston Mission Control.

Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft blasts off on July 13 2014 from Launch Pad 0A at NASA Wallops Flight Facility , VA, on the Orb-2 mission and loaded with over 3000 pounds of science experiments and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com

Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft blasts off on July 13, 2014 from Launch Pad 0A at NASA Wallops Flight Facility , VA, on the Orb-2 mission and loaded with over 3000 pounds of science experiments and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Cygnus roared to orbit during a spectacular blastoff on July 13 atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket on the Orb-2 mission at 12:52 p.m. (EDT) from the beachside Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

The US/Italian built pressurized Cygnus cargo freighter delivered 1,657 kg (3653 lbs) of cargo to the ISS Expedition 40 crew including over 700 pounds (300 kg) of science experiments and instruments, crew supplies, food, water, computer equipment, spacewalk tools and student research experiments.

Student Space Flight teams at NASA Wallops. Science experiments from these students representing 15 middle and high schools across America were selected to fly aboard the Orbital Sciences Cygnus Orb-2 spacecraft which launched to the ISS from NASA Wallops, VA, on July 13, 2014, as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com

Student Space Flight teams at NASA Wallops

Science experiments from these students representing 15 middle and high schools across America were selected to fly aboard the Orbital Sciences Cygnus Orb-2 spacecraft which launched to the ISS from NASA Wallops, VA, on July 13, 2014, as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
The crew will begin work today to remove the Centerline Berthing Camera System that provided the teams with a view of berthing operations through the hatch window.

Swanson will then pressurize and outfit the vestibule area between Harmony and Cygnus. After conducting leak checks they will open the hatch to Cygnus either later today or tomorrow and begin the unloading process, including retrieving a stash of highly desired fresh food.

The wide ranging science cargo and experiments includes a flock of 28 Earth imaging nanosatellites and deployers, student science experiments and small cubesat prototypes that may one day fly to Mars.

“Every flight is critical,” said Frank Culbertson, Orbital’s executive vice president of the advanced programs group, at a post launch briefing at NASA Wallops. Culbertson was a NASA shuttle commander and also flew aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

“We carry a variety of types of cargo on-board, which includes food and basic supplies for the crew, and also the research.”

The cargo mission was crucial since the crew supply margin would have turned uncomfortably narrow by the Fall of 2014.

Cygnus will remain attached to the station approximately 30 days until August 15.

For the destructive and fiery return to Earth, the crew will load Cygnus with approximately 1,340 kg (2950 lbs) of trash for disposal upon atmospheric reentry over the Pacific Ocean approximately five days later after undocking.

The Orb-2 launch was postponed about a month from June 9 to conduct a thorough re-inspection of the two Russian built and US modified Aerojet AJ26 engines that power the rocket’s first stage after a test failure of a different engine on May 22 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi resulted in extensive damage.

The July 13 liftoff marked the fourth successful launch of the 132 foot tall Antares in the past 15 months, Culbertson noted.

The first Antares was launched from NASA Wallops in April 2013. And the Orb-2 mission also marks the third deployment of Cygnus in less than a year.

Orbital Sciences was awarded a $1.9 Billion supply contract by NASA to deliver 20,000 kilograms (44,000 pounds) of research experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and hardware for 8 flights to the ISS through 2016 under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) initiative.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing ISS, OCO-2, GPM, Curiosity, Opportunity, Orion, SpaceX, Boeing, Orbital Sciences, MAVEN, MOM, Mars and more Earth & Planetary science and human spaceflight news.



Tagged as:
alexander gerst,
Antares rocket,
apollo 11 mission,
Canadarm2,
commercial cargo,
commercial resupply services (CRS),
CRS,
Cygnus cargo vessel,
International Space Station (ISS),
ISS,
NASA,
Orb-2,
Orbital Sciences Corporation,
reid wiseman,
steve swanson
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 3:36 PM 0 comments
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