Will The Robot Be Able To Send Vedio Footage?

Weird and Wonderful Irregular Galaxies

Spiral and elliptical galaxies seem neatly put together, but what happened to irregular galaxies? Irregular galaxies have one-of-a-kind shapes and many look like blobs! Why do they look the way they do? Astronomers think the uniqueness of these galaxies results from their interactions with other galaxies — like when they pass close to one another or even collide!

Looking back at the early universe with the help of our Hubble Space Telescope’s “deep field” observations, astronomers can peek at galaxies millions and billions of light-years away. They noticed that these far-away galaxies appear unusually messy, showing more star formation and mergers than galaxies closer to the Milky Way.

We also see irregular galaxies closer to home, though. Some may form when two galaxies pass close together in a near-miss. When this happens, their gravity pulls stars out of place in both galaxies, messing up the neat structure they originally had as spiral or elliptical galaxies. Think of it like this: you happen to have a pile of papers sitting at the edge of a table and when someone passes close by the papers become ruffled and may scatter everywhere! Even though the two galaxies never touched, gravity's effects leave them looking smeared or distorted.

Some irregular galaxies result from the collision between two galaxies. And while some of these look like a blob of stars and dust, others form dazzling ring galaxies! Scientists think these may be a product of collisions between small and large galaxies. These collisions cause ripples that disturb both galaxies, throwing dust, gas, and stars outward. When this happens, it pushes out a ring of material, causing gas clouds to collide and spark the birth of new stars. After just a few million years, stars larger than our Sun explode as supernovae, leaving neutron stars and black holes throughout the ring!

Not all galaxy collisions create irregular galaxies — our Milky Way spiral galaxy has gone through many mergers but has stayed intact! And for some interacting galaxies, being an irregular galaxy may just be a phase in their transformation. We’re observing them at a snapshot in time where things are messy, but they may eventually become neat and structured spirals and ellipticals.

Irregular galaxies are similar to each other, but unique and beautiful because of their different interactions, whether they’re just passing another galaxy or taking part in a dramatic collision. Keep up with NASA Universe on Facebook and Twitter where we post regularly about galaxies.

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Hypotheses

Meet the Artemis Team Returning Humans to the Moon

We. Are. Going 🌙

Today, we introduced the eighteen NASA Astronauts forming the Artemis team. Together, they’ll use their diverse range of backgrounds, expertise, and experience to pave the way for humans to return to the Moon, to stay. 

Meet the heroes of the future who’ll carry us back to the Moon and beyond - the Artemis generation. 

Joe Acaba 

Fun fact: Joe is a veteran of the U.S. Peace Corps! Get to know Joe personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Kayla Barron

Fun fact: Kayla got her start in public service through serving in the U.S. Navy. Get to know Kayla personally with this video –> Watch HERE.

Raja Chari

Fun fact: Raja’s nickname is “Grinder,” and he comes from a test pilot background. Get to know Raja personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Jessica Watkins

Fun fact: Jessica is a rugby national champion winner and geologist. Get to know Jessica personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Matthew Dominick

Fun fact: Matthew sums himself up as a father, a husband and an explorer. Get to know Matthew personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Jasmin Moghbeli

Fun fact: Jasmin says she still wakes up every morning and it feels like a “pinch me moment” to think she’s actually an astronaut right now. Get to know Jasmin personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Victor Glover

Fun fact: Victor’s dream is to work on the surface of the Moon. Get to know Victor personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Jessica Meir

Fun fact: Jessica was five years old when she knew she wanted to be an astronaut. Get to know Jessica personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Woody Hoburg

Fun fact: Woody used to spend summers away from graduate school working search and rescue in Yosemite National Park. Get to know Woody personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Anne McClain

Fun fact: Anne is a West Point alumni who describes herself as an impractical dreamer. Get to know Anne personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Jonny Kim

Fun fact: Jonny is also a U.S. Navy SEAL with a medical degree from Harvard. Get to know Jonny personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Nicole Mann

Fun fact: Nicole is a U.S. Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps! Get to know Nicole personally with this video –> Watch HERE. 

Kjell Lindgren

Fun fact: Kjell was a flight surgeon, a physician who takes care of astronauts, before applying to be an astronaut himself! Get to know Kjell personally with this video –> Watch HERE.

Christina Koch

Fun fact: Christina set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space. Get to know Christina personally with this video –> Watch HERE.

Frank Rubio

Fun fact: Frank was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army and family medical physician. Get to know Frank personally with this video –> Watch HERE.

Stephanie Wilson

Fun fact: Stephanie was the voice in Mission Control leading our NASA Astronauts for the all-woman spacewalk last year. Get to know Stephanie personally with this video –> Watch HERE.

Scott Tingle

Fun fact: Scott said he wanted to be an astronaut in a high school class and the students laughed – look at him now. Get to know Scott personally with this video –> Watch HERE.

Kate Rubins

Fun fact: Kate is actually IN space right now, so she will have to get her official portrait when she comes home! She is also the first person to sequence DNA in space. Get to know Kate personally with this video –> Watch HERE.  Stay up to date with our Artemis program and return to the Moon by following NASA Artemis on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

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Hello!! Its wonderful to be able to ask questions, thank you!

About Perseverance, does it have a self-repair option? And as Curiosity is still operational, will they run missions together? Or will they split up to cover more distance?

Is this a sign that we're close to being able to set foot on Mars?

My final question is how do you receive the messages from such a long distance?

Thanks for all your hard work! 加油/Good luck!

“Is this a sign that we are close to being able to set foot on Mars?”

Why is the final phase so difficult?Sorry if I sound dumb,I'm just curious.Also,what will be the rover's first task after landing?

Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer.

Kepler is a key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution. He is best known for his laws of planetary motion, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy. These works also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation.

In astronomy, Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are three scientific laws describing the motion of planets around the Sun.

The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.

A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time.

The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

Most planetary orbits are nearly circular, and careful observation and calculation are required in order to establish that they are not perfectly circular. Calculations of the orbit of Mars, whose published values are somewhat suspect, indicated an elliptical orbit. From this, Johannes Kepler inferred that other bodies in the Solar System, including those farther away from the Sun, also have elliptical orbits.

Kepler’s work (published between 1609 and 1619) improved the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus, explaining how the planets’ speeds varied, and using elliptical orbits rather than circular orbits with epicycles.

Isaac Newton showed in 1687 that relationships like Kepler’s would apply in the Solar System to a good approximation, as a consequence of his own laws of motion and law of universal gravitation. 

Johannes Kepler  

Kepler’s laws of planetary motion

sorry what

Stars, Sea, and Smoke from the ISS: Tournament Earth 2021

We started Tournament Earth with 32 photos taken by astronauts from the Interantional Space Station and now we are down to 8. All of the #1 seeds are gone. Two #8 seeds are dominating their groups. Who will win? Let's take a closer look at the competitors still in the game. Then remember to vote for your favorites. The champion will be announced on April 13, 2021.

Stars in Motion vs. Cleveland Volcano

This matchup pits smoke against stars, but both have interesting stories.

The International Space Station (ISS) is constantly in motion. For astronaut photographers on board, that motion has consequences. For one, it makes it challenging to take photos. The same motion makes it possible to shoot spectacular photos like the one above. The image is compiled from a series of photographs taken by astronaut Don Pettit while he was onboard the ISS in April 2012. This composite was made from more than 72 individual long-exposure photographs taken over several minutes as the ISS traveled over the Caribbean Sea, across South America, and over the South Atlantic Ocean.

Astronaut Jeff Williams was the first to witness activity at the Cleveland Volcano on May 3, 2006. The Cleveland Volcano is one of the most active in the Aleutian Islands, which extend west-southwest from the Alaska mainland. It is a stratovolcano composed of alternating layers of hardened lava, compacted volcanic ash, and volcanic rocks. The event proved to be short-lived; two hours later, the plume had completely detached from the volcano. The ash cloud height could have been as high as 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) above sea level.

Stargazing from the ISS vs. Cruising Past the Aurora Borealis

This is the most stellar matchup of the tournament, literally. Two beloved star pictures face off in what will be one of the most difficult choices of the tournament.

An astronaut took this broad, short-lens photograph of Earth’s night lights while looking out over the remote reaches of the central equatorial Pacific Ocean. The ISS was passing over the island nation of Kiribati at the time, about 2600 kilometers (1,600 miles) south of Hawaii. Scientists identified the pattern of stars in the photo as our Milky Way galaxy (looking toward its center). The dark patches are dense dust clouds in an inner spiral arm of our galaxy; such clouds can block our view of stars toward the center. The curvature of the Earth crosses the center of the image and is illuminated by a variety of airglow layers in orange, green, and red.

Commonly known as the northern lights, these colorful ribbons of light appear to dance in the sky over the planet’s high latitudes, attracting sky chasers and photographers. Astronaut Randy “Komrade” Bresnik shot this photograph on September 15, 2017, as the space station passed over Ontario, Canada. Curtains of green—the most familiar color of auroras—dominate the light show, with hints of purple and red.

Rolling Through the Appalachians vs. Castellanus Cloud Tower

The Susquehanna River cuts through the folds of the Valley-and-Ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains in this photograph taken from the International Space Station by astronaut Christina Koch. The Valley-and-Ridge province is a section of the larger Appalachian Mountain Belt between the Appalachian Plateau and the Blue Ridge physiographic provinces. The northeast-southwest trending ridges are composed of Early Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The valleys between them were made of softer rocks (limestone and shales) that were more susceptible to erosion; they are now occupied by farms.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of a massive vertical cloud formation—known to meteorologists as cumulus castellanus—above Andros Island. The cloud name castellanus comes from the similarity to the crenellated towers or turrets of medieval castles. These clouds develop due to strong vertical air movement typically associated with thunderstorms.

Lake Van, Turkey vs. Typhoon Maysak from the Space Station

While orbiting on the International Space Station, astronaut Kate Rubins shot this photograph of part of Lake Van in Turkey, the largest soda or alkaline lake on Earth. Generally, soda lakes are distinguished by high concentrations of carbonate species. Lake Van is an endorheic lake—it has no outlet, so its water disappears by evaporation—with a pH of 10 and high salinity levels.

This photograph of super typhoon Maysak was taken by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti as the International Space Station passed near the storm on March 31, 2015. The category 4 typhoon was headed for a possible landfall in the Philippines by the end of the week. It was unusual for the western Pacific to see such a strong storm so early in the year.

See all of the images and vote HERE. Follow @NASAEarth on social media for updates.

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Roman’s Five-Year Forecast: A Downpour of Data!

Our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope recently passed a major review of the ground system, which will make data from the spacecraft available to scientists and the public.

Since the telescope has a gigantic field of view, it will be able to send us tons of data really quickly — about 500 times faster than our Hubble Space Telescope! That means Roman will send back a flood of new information about the cosmos.

Let’s put it into perspective — if we printed out all of Roman’s data as text, the paper would have to hurtle out of the printer at 40,000 miles per hour (64,000 kilometers per hour) to keep up! At that rate, the stack of papers would tower 330 miles (530 kilometers) high after a single day. By the end of Roman’s five-year primary mission, the stack would extend even farther than the Moon! With all this data, Roman will bring all kinds of cosmic treasures to light, from dark matter and dark energy to distant planets and more!

Learn more about the Roman Space Telescope.

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