NASA Image of Saturn Featured in Time Magazine's 'Year in Pictures'

A stunning view of Saturn from NASA's Cassini spacecraft has made Time Magazine's 2009 "Year in Pictures."

The photo, released in September and dubbed "The Rite of Spring," was the first up close view from a spacecraft from Earth of Saturn's equinox, when the sun's disk is directly overhead at Saturn's equator. That sun angle illuminates the gas giant's famous rings edge-on, opening up a new perspective.

As Cassini imaging team leader Carolyn Porco tells Time, "The geometry revealed structures and phenomena in the rings we had never seen before. We saw this famous adornment spring from two dimensions into three, with some ring structures soaring as high as the Rocky Mountains. It made me feel blessed."

The spectacle occurs twice during each orbit Saturn makes around the sun, which takes approximately 10,759 Earth days, or about 29.7 Earth years. Earth experiences a similar equinox phenomenon twice a year; the autumnal equinox will occur Sept. 22, when the sun will shine directly over Earth's equator.

The Cassini image featured in Time Magazine's "Year in Pictures 2009."
› Time's Year in Pictures→
› Equinox Reveals New Ring Quirks

For about a week, scientists used the Cassini orbiter to look at puffy parts of Saturn's rings caught in white glare from the low-angle lighting. Scientists have known about vertical clumps sticking out of the rings in a handful of places, but they could not directly measure the height and breadth of the undulations and ridges until Saturn's equinox revealed their shadows.

"It's like putting on 3-D glasses and seeing the third dimension for the first time," said Bob Pappalardo, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This is among the most important events Cassini has shown us."

Time isn't the only publication recognizing NASA for outstanding imagery this year:

• The Boston Globe selected four NASA images for its three-part gallery, including the launch of Ares 1-X.
• National Geographic's "Top Ten Space Pictures" of the year showcases images of Mars, Saturn and colorful views of the cosmos from Hubble and Chandra.
• The Wall Street Journal marks the passing of aeronautics pioneer Richard T. Whitcomb in the "Remembrances" section of its photo retrospective.
• USA Today features the December liftoff of WISE.
• Britain's Telegraph Web site offers a year in space gallery with several images from Hubble and other NASA spacecraft.
• Popular Science features NASA a dozen times in its gallery "The Year's Most Amazing Scientific Images," including an Ares rocket test and a shot from NASA photographer Bill Ingalls of the April landing of the Soyuz spacecraft with the Expedition 18 crew from the International Space Station.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/saturn_time.html

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Suzaku Finds "Fossil" Fireballs from Supernovae

Studies of two supernova remnants using the Japan-U.S. Suzaku observatory have revealed never-before-seen embers of the high-temperature fireballs that immediately followed the explosions. Even after thousands of years, gas within these stellar wrecks retain the imprint of temperatures 10,000 times hotter than the sun's surface.

"This is the first evidence of a new type of supernova remnant -- one that was heated right after the explosion," said Hiroya Yamaguchi at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan.

A supernova remnant usually cools quickly due to rapid expansion following the explosion. Then, as it sweeps up tenuous interstellar gas over thousands of years, the remnant gradually heats up again.

Capitalizing on the sensitivity of the Suzaku satellite, a team led by Yamaguchi and Midori Ozawa, a graduate student at Kyoto University, detected unusual features in the X-ray spectrum of IC 443, better known to amateur astronomers as the Jellyfish Nebula.

The remnant, which lies some 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Gemini, formed about 4,000 years ago. The X-ray emission forms a roughly circular patch in the northern part of the visible nebulosity.

Suzaku's X-ray Imaging Spectrometers (XISs) separate X-rays by energy in much the same way as a prism separates light into a rainbow of colors. This allows astronomers to tease out the types of processes responsible for the radiation.

In a supernova remnant known as the Jellyfish Nebula, Suzaku detected X-rays from fully ionized silicon and sulfur -- an imprint of higher-temperature conditions immediately following the star's explosion. The nebula is about 65 light-years across. Credit: JAXA/NASA/Suzaku

Some of the X-ray emission in the Jellyfish Nebula arises as fast-moving free electrons sweep near the nuclei of atoms. Their mutual attraction deflects the electrons, which then emit X-rays as they change course. The electrons have energies corresponding to a temperature of about 12 million degrees Fahrenheit (7 million degrees Celsius).

Several bumps in the Suzaku spectrum were more puzzling. "These structures indicate the presence of a large amount of silicon and sulfur atoms from which all electrons have been stripped away," Yamaguchi said. These "naked" nuclei produce X-rays as they recapture their lost electrons.

But removing all electrons from a silicon atom requires temperatures higher than about 30 million degrees F (17 million C); hotter still for sulfur atoms. "These ions cannot form in the present-day remnant," Yamaguchi explained. "Instead, we're seeing ions created by the enormous temperatures that immediately followed the supernova."

In the supernova remnant W49B, Suzaku found another fossil fireball. It detected X-rays produced when heavily ionized iron atoms recapture an electron. This view combines infrared images from the ground (red, green) with X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory (blue). Credit: Caltech/SSC/J. Rho and T. Jarrett and NASA/CXC/SSC/J. Keohane et al.

The team suggests that the supernova occurred in a relatively dense environment, perhaps in a cocoon of the star's own making. As a massive star ages, it sheds material in the form of an outflow called a stellar wind and creates a cocoon of gas and dust. When the star explodes, the blast wave traverses the dense cocoon and heats it to temperatures as high as 100 million degrees F (55 million C), or 10,000 times hotter than the sun's surface.

Eventually, the shock wave breaks out into true interstellar space, where the gas density can be as low as a single atom per cubic centimeter -- about the volume of a sugar cube. Once in this low-density environment, the young supernova remnant rapidly expands.

The expansion cools the electrons, but it also thins the remnant's gas so much that collisions between particles become rare events. Because an atom may take thousands of years to recapture an electron, the Jellyfish Nebula's hottest ions remain even today, the astronomers reported in the Nov. 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

"Suzaku sees the Jellyfish's hot heart," Ozawa said.

The team has already identified another fossil fireball in the supernova remnant known as W49B, which lies 35,000 light-years away in the constellation Aquila. In the Nov. 20 edition of The Astrophysical Journal, Ozawa, Yamaguchi and colleagues report X-ray emission from iron atoms that are almost completely stripped of electrons. Forming these ions requires temperatures in excess of 55 million degrees F (30 million C)-- nearly twice the observed temperature of the remnant's electrons.

Launched on July 10, 2005, Suzaku was developed at the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), which is part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA and other Japanese and U.S. institutions.

Francis Reddy
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/astro-e2/news/fossil-fireballs.html

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Wrinkle Ridge Near Montes Teneriffe

Mare wrinkle ridge outlined by dramatic low Sun shadowing. Common in the lunar mare, wrinkle ridges are found in nearly all of the lunar maria, lunar scientists think that there is a genetic relationship between the basalts they deform and the ridges themselves. Basalt is much denser than the anorthositic crust on which the mare basalts are deposited. As the basalt fills in low areas in the crust, the increased weight causes sagging and the mare deposit is compressed, resulting in tectonic deformation in the form of wrinkle ridges.

Boulders perched atop a wrinkle ridge in Mare Imbrium west of the Montes Teneriffe. Image width is 2 km, NAC frame M102264014RE. Credit:NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Many LROC images show that boulders are often found on the top of ridges and other topographic highs. How did they get there? Were they tossed up and out by nearby impacts? To test this hypothesis look closely for small indents where the boulder hit and for possible source craters nearby. Alternatively they might be fragments of the ridge material broken off during deformation. Or were they on the surface before the ridge was formed? This unnamed ridge is found in the central northern Imbrium basin between Montes Recti and Montes Teneriffe Lat: 47.1°N, Long: 11.8°W.

Related Link

› More from Arizona State University's LROC site

Arizona State University

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20091230-wrinkle-ridge.html

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NASA Chooses Three Finalists for Future Space Science Mission to Venus, an Asteroid or the Moon

NASA has selected three proposals as candidates for the agency's next space venture to another celestial body in our solar system. The final project selected in mid-2011 may provide a better understanding of Earth's formation or perhaps the origin of life on our planet.

The proposed missions would probe the atmosphere and crust of Venus; return a piece of a near-Earth asteroid for analysis; or drop a robotic lander into a basin at the moon's south pole to return lunar rocks back to Earth for study.

NASA will select one proposal for full development after detailed mission concept studies are completed and reviewed. The studies begin during 2010, and the selected mission must be ready for launch no later than Dec. 30, 2018. Mission cost, excluding the launch vehicle, is limited to $650 million.

"These are projects that inspire and excite young scientists, engineers and the public," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "These three proposals provide the best science value among eight submitted to NASA this year."

From top to bottom, pictured (not to scale) are the moon, Venus, and an asteroid. These three celestial bodies from our solar system are possible candidates for NASA's next space venture.

Each proposal team initially will receive approximately $3.3 million in 2010 to conduct a 12-month mission concept study that focuses on implementation feasibility, cost, management and technical plans. Studies also will include plans for educational outreach and small business opportunities.

The selected proposals are:

• The Surface and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer, or SAGE, mission to Venus would release a probe to descend through the planet's atmosphere. During descent, instruments would conduct extensive measurements of the atmosphere's composition and obtain meteorological data. The probe then would land on the surface of Venus, where its abrading tool would expose both a weathered and a pristine surface area to measure its composition and mineralogy. Scientists hope to understand the origin of Venus and why it is so different from Earth. Larry Esposito of the University of Colorado in Boulder, is the principal investigator.
• The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer spacecraft, called Osiris-Rex, would rendezvous and orbit a primitive asteroid. After extensive measurements, instruments would collect more than two ounces of material from the asteriod's surface for return to Earth. The returned samples would help scientists better undertand and answer long-held questions about the formation of our solar system and the origin of complex molecules necessary for life. Michael Drake, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, is the principal investigator.
• MoonRise: Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return Mission would place a lander in a broad basin near the moon's south pole and return approximately two pounds of lunar materials for study. This region of the lunar surface is believed to harbor rocks excavated from the moon's mantle. The samples would provide new insight into the early history of the Earth-moon system. Bradley Jolliff, of Washington University in St. Louis, is the principal investigator.

The proposals were submitted to NASA on July 31, 2009, in response to the New Frontiers Program 2009 Announcement of Opportunity. New Frontiers seeks to explore the solar system with frequent, medium-class spacecraft missions that will conduct high-quality, focused scientific investigations designed to enhance understanding of the solar system.

The final selection will become the third mission in the program. New Horizons, NASA’s first New Frontiers mission, launched in 2006, will fly by the Pluto-Charon system in 2015 then target another Kuiper Belt object for study. The second mission, called Juno, is designed to orbit Jupiter from pole to pole for the first time, conducting an in-depth study of the giant planet's atmosphere and interior. It is slated for launch in August 2011.

For more information about the New Frontiers Program, visit the New Frontiers program site.

Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/new_frontiers_2009.html

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New Video Reveals Secrets of Webb Telescope's MIRI

It's going to take infrared eyes to see farther back in time than even the Hubble Space Telescope, and that's what the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI or Mid-Infrared Instrument detectors will do. Now there's a new short movie that shows what the MIRI detectors are all about and what they can do.

"The MIRI is one of four science instruments aboard the Webb telescope that is designed to record images and spectra at the longest wavelengths that the Webb telescope can observe," said Matt Greenhouse, Project Scientist for the science instrument payload. "The mid-infrared spectrum covers wavelengths in the range of 5 to 28 micrometers or microns (about 10 to 50 times longer than our eyes can see). Light in this portion of the spectrum is invisible to our eyes but is produced by all room-temperature objects and carries key information about the local and early universe," Greenhouse said. Light at these wavelengths is blocked by water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere and can only be efficiently observed using a telescope in space.

A new video about the MIRI detectors is part of an on-going series called "Behind the Webb" about the James Webb Space Telescope. It was produced and created by the Space Science Telescope Institute (STScI) of Baltimore, Md. and is available at www.webbtelescope.org. Part of the video was shot at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. in January 2009. "It is a broadcast quality video in high definition and will be available in almost a dozen varieties of file formats from Quicktime, to WMV to Flash, to M4V, and all in different sizes," said Mary Estacion, News Video Producer at STScI.

The video runs exactly three minutes and explains how the three detectors on the MIRI work and the tests they endure to prepare them for the Webb telescope's launch and flight in space. The video is hosted by Estacion, who interviewed Dr. Michael Ressler, the MIRI Project Scientist at NASA JPL. In the video, Ressler explains what MIRI detectors do and how the MIRI sensor works by comparing it to a chip on a camera. The video also takes the viewer behind the scenes and into a clean room to show viewers how the MIRI detectors are tested.

Computer-rendered model of the MIRI Instrument. Credit: University of Leicester, European Consortium Institutes and JPL

The Webb telescope is the largest space observatory ever constructed. As a result, MIRI will have a huge discovery potential and will enable the Webb telescope to achieve over one hundred times the sensitivity of any previous observatory at these wavelengths.

To see the very first stars and galaxies, astronomers have to look deep into space and far back in time. Starlight travels through space at a finite speed (300,000 kilometers/second). So if we observe an object that is 300,000 kilometers away with the Webb telescope, we see it as it was 1 second in the past. Astronomical distances are measured in “light years”, the distance that light travels in a year. Galaxies can be billions of light years away. As a result of this transmission delay, astronomical telescopes, like the Webb, allow astronomers to literally look back in time and see the universe as it was billions of years in the past.

The space that fills the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. As a consequence of this expansion, the wavelength of ultra-violet and visible light emitted by the first galaxies to form after the Big Bang has been stretched into the infrared portion of the spectrum, and can only be observed by telescopes that are equipped with infrared cameras such as the MIRI. "The Webb observatory design has been optimized to enable infrared observations that will, for the first time, enable astronomers to see the period in the evolution of the universe in which the first galaxies formed," Greenhouse said. "The MIRI will play a key role in enabling the very first observations of the galaxy formation epoch."

In addition to the huge discovery potential, MIRI will provide valuable information in the four areas of the Webb's science objectives:

1. Discovery of the 'first light' emitting objects after the Big Bang;
2. Assembly of galaxies: history of star formation, growth of black holes, prediction of heavy elements;
3. How stars and planetary systems form; and
4. Evolution of planetary systems and conditions for life.

MIRI is an international partnership between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) combining the talents of NASA JPL, a consortium of European partners, and an international science team. The MIRI is designed around performance requirements that were established by a succession of international science working groups that developed the science objectives for the Webb telescope mission.

The MIRI optics module labeled to show different components. Credit: University of Leicester, European Consortium Institutes and JPL

The James Webb Space Telescope is the next-generation premier space observatory, exploring deep space phenomena from distant galaxies to nearby planets and stars. The Webb Telescope will enable scientists to observe the formation and evolution of the first galaxies and the evolution of our own solar system, from the first light after the Big Bang to the formation of planetary systems capable of supporting life. The Webb mission is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

To view the new video on MIRI, visit:

http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/behind_the_webb/

For more information on MIRI, please visit:

http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
http://www.stsci.edu/jwst/instruments/miri/

To understand the mid-infrared spectrum that the MIRI sees, visit:

http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/what_is_ir.html


Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/jwst-miri.html

NASA's WISE Space Telescope Jettisons its Cover

NASA's recently launched Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer opened its eyes to the starry sky today, after ejecting its protective cover.

Engineers and scientists say the maneuver went off without a hitch, and everything is working properly. The mission's "first-light" images of the sky will be released to the public in about a month, after the telescope has been fully calibrated.

"The cover floated away as we planned," said William Irace, the mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Our detectors are soaking up starlight for the first time."

WISE will perform the most detailed infrared survey of the entire sky to date. Its millions of images will expose the dark side of the cosmos -- objects, such as asteroids, stars and galaxies, that are too cool or dusty to be seen with visible light. The telescope will survey the sky one-and-a-half times in nine months, ending its primary mission when the coolant it needs to see infrared light evaporates away.

WISE launched on Dec. 14 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Once it was thoroughly checked out in space, it was ready to "flip its lid."

The cover served as the top to a Thermos-like bottle that chilled the instrument -- a 40-centimeter (16-inch) telescope and four infrared detector arrays with one million pixels each. The instrument must be maintained at frosty temperatures, as cold as below 8 Kelvin (minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit), to prevent it from picking up its own heat, or infrared, glow. The cover kept everything cool on the ground by sealing a vacuum space into the instrument chamber. In the same way that Thermos bottles use thin vacuum layers to keep your coffee warm or iced tea cold, the vacuum space inside WISE stopped heat from getting in. Now, space itself will provide the instrument with an even better vacuum than before.

The cover also protected the instrument from stray sunlight and extra heat during launch.

Artist's concept of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Image credit: NASA/JPL

At about 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. PST), Dec. 29, engineers sent a command to fire pyrotechnic devices that released nuts holding the cover in place. Three springs were then free to push the cover away and into an orbit closer to Earth than that of the spacecraft.

Scientists and engineers are now busy adjusting the rate of the spacecraft to match the rate of a scanning mirror. To take still images on the sky as it orbits around Earth, WISE will use a scan mirror to counteract its motion. Light from the moving telescope's primary miror will be focused onto the scan mirror, which will move in the opposite direction at the same rate. This allows the mission to take "freeze-frame" snapshots of the sky every 11 seconds. That's about 7,500 images a day.

"It's wonderful to end the year with open WISE eyes," said Peter Eisenhardt, the mission's project scientist at JPL. "Now we can synch WISE up to our scan mirror and get on with the business of exploring the infrared universe."

WISE is scheduled to begin its survey of the infrared heavens in mid-January of 2010.

JPL manages the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise and http://wise.astro.ucla.edu.


Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/news/wise20091229.html

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Peary Crater

One day in the not-too-distant future, lunar explorers may spend their winter holidays at the lunar North Pole. Peary, an irregularly-shaped impact crater centered at 88.5°N, 30°E, could be the place to do just that. Adjacent to the lunar north pole, Peary has areas along its crater floor cast in permanent shadow, but it also has areas along its rim that may be permanently illuminated by the Sun. The proximity to the north pole, possible areas of permanent shadow and light, plus the potential for in-situ resources make Peary crater a challenging and enticing location for future human and robotic exploration.

A junction between the rims of three craters on the floor of Peary crater near the lunar north pole is evident in this NAC image (M101955359L). Note the mottled texture of the regolith. Peary is a key exploration site for future astronauts due its proximity to potential resources. Image width is 2.68 km. Credit:NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Peary crater is one of 50 specific sites being explored by lunar geologists using LROC images for NASA's Constellation Program.

Related Link

› More images and information from Arizona State University's LROC site


Arizona State University

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20091224-peary-crater.html

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Soyuz Brings New Expedition 22 Crew Members to Station

ISS022-E-014393 (22 Dec. 2009) --- The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Soyuz commander and Expedition 22 flight engineer; along with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both flight engineers. Docking to the Zarya nadir port occurred at 4:48 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 22, 2009. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at 3:52 p.m. on Dec. 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A docked Russian spacecraft is at top left. Photo Credit: NASA

ISS022-E-014302 (22 Dec. 2009) --- The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Soyuz commander and Expedition 22 flight engineer; along with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both flight engineers. Docking to the Zarya nadir port occurred at 4:48 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 22, 2009. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at 3:52 p.m. on Dec. 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: NASA

ISS022-E-014319 (22 Dec. 2009) --- The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Soyuz commander and Expedition 22 flight engineer; along with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both flight engineers. Docking to the Zarya nadir port occurred at 4:48 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 22, 2009. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at 3:52 p.m. on Dec. 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: NASA

ISS022-E-014350 (22 Dec. 2009) --- The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Soyuz commander and Expedition 22 flight engineer; along with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both flight engineers. Docking to the Zarya nadir port occurred at 4:48 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 22, 2009. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at 3:52 p.m. on Dec. 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: NASA

ISS022-E-014370 (22 Dec. 2009) --- The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Soyuz commander and Expedition 22 flight engineer; along with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both flight engineers. Docking to the Zarya nadir port occurred at 4:48 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 22, 2009. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at 3:52 p.m. on Dec. 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit:NASA

ISS022-E-014023 (22 Dec. 2009) --- Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov (left) and Maxim Suraev, both Expedition 22 flight engineers, pose for a photo after Kotov arrived on a Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer (out of frame) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi (out of frame), both flight engineers. The crew members launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan 3:52 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 20, 2009, and docked to the station at 4:48 p.m. on Dec. 22. Photo Credit: NASA

ISS022-E-014025 (22 Dec. 2009) --- Wearing a festive holiday hat, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, Expedition 22 flight engineer, ingresses the International Space Station after arriving onboard a Soyuz TMA-17 with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer (out of frame) and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov (out of frame), both flight engineers. The crew members launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan 3:52 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 20, 2009, and docked to the station at 4:48 p.m. on Dec. 22. Photo Credit: NASA

ISS022-E-014047 (22 Dec. 2009) --- Wearing festive holiday hats, the Expedition 22 crew members are pictured while speaking with officials from Russia, Japan and the United States from the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.

In the front row are NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams (right), commander; and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, flight engineer. Pictured on the back row (left to right) are Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, all flight engineers. Photo Credit: NASA

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/multimedia/exp22_docking_images.html

Moons in Motion

The moon Tethys is joined by two smaller moons in this movie from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

Observations of mutual moon-crossing events, in which one moon passes close to or in front of another, help scientists refine their understanding of the orbits of Saturn's moons. This movie is a concatenation of 15 still images obtained over a span of about 33 minutes. The images were re-projected to a uniform view, and computer interpolation was used to smooth the moons' motions between the frames.

In the movie, Prometheus (86 kilometers, 53 miles across) enters the frame from the right and passes behind Tethys (1,062 kilometers, 660 miles across). Prometheus appears as a tiny bright dot beyond the main rings. Pandora (81 kilometers, 50 miles across) can also be seen at the bottom of the frame. The unlit side of the planet is on the left. Prometheus and Pandora's average speeds are each about 16 kilometers per second (36,000 mph). Tethys travels at an average speed of about 11 kilometers per second (25,000 mph).

(For other movies like this one, see PIA11692 and PIA11693.)

PIA11692

PIA11693

In this view, Tethys, at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (746,000 miles), is closest to Cassini. Prometheus is farthest from the spacecraft at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (994,000 miles). The part of the rings at the bottom of the image is closer to Cassini than the rings at the top of the image. This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from about 1 degree above the ring plane.

The images were obtained in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 16, 2009. The view was acquired at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 80 degrees. Scale on Tethys is 7 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia11691.html

Cassini Spacecraft to Monitor North Pole on Titan

Though there are no plans to investigate whether Saturn's moon Titan has a Santa Claus, NASA's Cassini will zoom close to Titan's north pole this weekend.

The flyby, which brings Cassini to within about 960 kilometers (600 miles) of the Titan surface at 82 degrees north latitude, will take place the evening of Dec. 27 Pacific time, or shortly after midnight Universal Time on Dec. 28.

The encounter will enable scientists to gather more detail on how the lake-dotted north polar region of Titan changes with the seasons. Scientists will be using high-resolution radar to scan the large and numerous lakes in the north polar region for shape-shifting in size and depth. The ion and neutral mass spectrometer team will take baseline measurements of the atmosphere to compare with the moon's south polar region when Cassini flies by that area on Jan. 12. Cassini will also be collecting images for a mosaic of a bright region called Adiri, where the Huygens probe landed nearly five years ago.

Artist concept of NASA's Cassini spacecraft flying by the north polar region of Saturn's moon Titan on Dec. 27. Image credit: NASA/JPL

Cassini will have released the Huygens probe exactly five years and three days before this latest flyby. Huygens began its journey down to Titan on the evening of Dec. 24, 2004 California time, or early Dec. 25 Universal Time, and reached the surface Jan. 14, 2005.

Cassini last flew by Titan on Dec. 11, 2009 California time, or Dec. 12 Universal Time. Although this latest flyby is dubbed "T64," planning changes early in the orbital tour have made this the 65th targeted flyby of Titan.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassinib20091224.html

Passing of Stan Lebar

Stan Lebar, who led the Westinghouse Electric Corporation team that developed the lunar camera that brought the televised news images of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon to more than 500 million people on earth, died on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009.

During his long and distinguished career, other camera programs he managed for NASA included the Apollo Color TV Cameras, the Skylab series of TV cameras, and the TV cameras for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program (ASTP).

Stan Lebar next to an image of him with the lunar camera. Credit: NASA

From 1943 until the end of World War II, Lebar served in the Pacific Theater of Operations as an Air Force B-24 Ball Turret Gunner. After the war, he attended the University of Missouri and received a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1950. He joined Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1953, and worked in the Aerospace Division, Baltimore, Maryland, until his retirement in 1986.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2009/lebar.html

Cassini Holiday Movies Showcase Dance of Saturn's Moons

Like sugar plum fairies in "The Nutcracker," the moons of Saturn performed a celestial ballet before the eyes of NASA's Cassini spacecraft. New movies frame the moons' silent dance against the majestic sweep of the planet's rings and show as many as four moons gliding around one another.

The new video can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org.

To celebrate the holidays, the Cassini imaging team has created a video collection of "mutual events," which occur when one moon passes in front of another, as seen from the spacecraft. Imaging scientists use mutual event observations to refine their understanding of the dynamics of Saturn's moons. Digital image processing has enabled scientists to turn these routine observations into breathtaking displays of celestial motion. The original images were captured between Aug. 27 and Nov. 8, 2009.

In one scene that synthesizes 12 images taken over the span of 19 minutes, Rhea skates in front of Janus, as Mimas and Pandora slide across the screen in the opposite direction. While the dance appears leisurely on screen, Rhea actually orbits Saturn at a speed of about 8 kilometers per second (18,000 mph). The other moons are hurtling around the planet even faster. Mimas averages about 14 kilometers per second (31,000 mph), and Janus and Pandora travel at about 16 kilometers per second (36,000 mph).

Saturn's moons give Tchaikovsky's classic ballet, "The Nutcracker," a graceful new spin in this video compiled from some 61 images taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL

"As yet another year in Saturn orbit draws to a close, these wondrous movies of an alien place clear across the solar system remind us how fortunate we are to be engaged in this magnificent exploratory expedition," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
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Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jia-rui.c.cook@jpl.nasa.gov

Joe Mason 720-974-5859
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
media@ciclops.org

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20091223.html

Meet the Faces Behind the Hardware of NASA’s Constellation Program

NASA’s Constellation Program isn’t just about building the next generation spacecraft, but launching explorers that will help us learn more about our world. Discover the faces behind the hardware that will send humans to the moon and beyond.

Dreams of Flight Redefined

Terry Hill once dreamed of being a pilot, but his ambitions have taken him beyond the friendly skies. Hill, now grown up, is working on the future of spaceflight for NASA. He’s helping to develop the next generation of spacesuits to send humans to the International Space Station, moon, Mars and beyond as part of NASA's Constellation Program.

“Never in a million years did I think I would be designing spacesuits for NASA as my job,” said Hill, the engineering project manager for the Constellation Spacesuit System at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Prior to joining America's space program, the Texarkana, Texas native pursued his dreams of navigating the aerospace landscape. Hill got his start with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin.

At UT Austin, Hill discovered an interest in orbital mechanics and was hooked on working with projects pertaining to space. He decided to take on graduate school at UT Austin and received his master’s in aerospace guidance, navigation and control theory.

“It’s just been a series of unexpected but good events that lead me down this path, and I have found myself in a totally different place than I thought possible,” Hill said.

Hill said his graduate school experience was completely different from his undergraduate studies. His graduate studies focused more on understanding advanced concepts rather than basic engineering. While working on his master’s degree, Hill jumped on a new and exciting opportunity: working for NASA JSC as a primary investigator on his educational advisor’s contract.

Title: Constellation Spacesuit System Engineering Project Manager

Raised: Texarkana, Texas

Academics: Texarkana College, University of Texas at Austin

Degree: Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, Masters in Aerospace Guidance, Navigation and Control Theory

“It occasionally placed me in the position of being the most knowledgeable person on a particular topic or field of study--a scary place to be at times,” Hill said.

While working in Houston, Hill was encouraged by his NASA lead to pursue the agency's graduate co-op program. In 1998, he was accepted into the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics division as a NASA graduate co-op for an extended nine-month tour. Hill was one of the lucky few to be chosen for a full-time position at JSC after completing his co-op tours in 1999.

“It was a rough hiring year, and I was one of five co-ops that got hired,” Hill said.

Over the next 10 years, Hill worked on a variety of projects that provided the foundation necessary for his current position at JSC. One of those projects was the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). Hill gained valuable insight into the challenges of designing new vehicles to be compatible with the International Space Station. After OSP, Hill worked on the STS-107 Return to Flight mission, developing and testing tile repair tools needed for the launch.

Hill also worked on other navigation projects. He worked to verify the navigation software for station assembly missions and additionally on the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) internal navigation algorythms, CRV and station navistion avionics hardware development and on-orbit testing. Hill's skill set continued to expand as he worked with space industry groups to develop the future space programs during the Space Launch Initiative Program, OSP and Constellation's predecessor.

Constellation’s mission includes building the next space fleet: the Orion crew capsule, the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, the Altair lunar lander and the spacesuits that interface with these vehicles and protect the crew in different, hazardous environments to allow them to accomplish mission objectives. Hill leads the engineering team that is designing a single suit system capable of carrying out all aspects of those exploration missions. The system will use interchangeable parts to minimize storage space and launch weight while maintaining the suit performance for the astronauts.

“Without the suit there is no manned mission,” Hill said. “We’re working what we’ve learned from past programs like Apollo and Space Shuttle, and we were challenged by Constellation program management to develop a one suit system to do it all.”

Hill’s early aspirations of flying have brought him to the frontiers of space design. He will continue working on the Constellation spacesuit system in preparation of the launch of the Orion crew capsule to station, and in the coming decade, the Altair lunar lander. Hill’s interest and ingenuity continue to contribute to the success of NASA and the future of spaceflight.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/stars/profiles/hill.html

Hurricane Season 2009: Tropical Storm David (Southern Indian Ocean)

Tropical Storm David Forms and Romps in the Southern Indian Ocean

Tropical Storm David formed over the weekend and as a depression, has been romping around the open waters of the Southern Indian Ocean and will continue to do just that. David is located approximately 580 nautical miles west-southwest of Diego Garcia, near 11.3 degrees South and 63.8 degrees East.

AIRS captured a visible image of David on December 21, 4:17 a.m. ET and David didn't appear to be well organized, although the storm is now strengthening. Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen

David has been tracking in a westward direction, but it now changing course and moving east-southeast near 7 mph. David's maximum sustained winds are near 46 mph, and the storm may strengthen over the next couple of days.

Animated infrared satellite imagery, such as that using NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on the Aqua satellite, indicates slight improvement in organization over the past 12 hours despite moderate northwesterly vertical wind shear. AIRS captured an infrared and visible image of David on December 21 at 09:17 UTC (4:17 a.m. ET) and noticed that David had some high thunderstorm tops indicating strong convection and strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. The cloud tops were as cold or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit!

AIRS captured an infrared image of David on December 21, 4:17 a.m. ET and noticed that David had some high thunderstorm tops (purple) indicating strong convection and strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. The cloud tops were as cold or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit! Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen

On December 21 at 1504 UTC (10:04 ET) the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, a satellite managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, flew over David to analyze the storm's rainfall. The image showed convective banding, that is, bands of thunderstorms, wrapping from the north of the storm into the south of the storm. Microwave imagery, however, such as that from NASA's Aqua satellite showed that David's low-level circulation is partially exposed, opening the storm up to wind shear, which could weaken it.

David is forecast to keep moving east-southeast for the next 72 hours and then turn southwestward while intensifying slightly. David poses no threat to land.

Text credit: Rob Gutro, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2009/h2009_David.html

As the World Churns

Story Highlights:

• Study confirms theories that Earth's liquid outer core is slowly "stirred" in a series of regularly occurring waves of motion that last for decades.
• Measurements of Earth's magnetic field from observatory stations on land and ships at sea were combined with satellite data to determine common patterns of movement within Earth's core.
• The findings give scientists new insights into Earth's internal structure, the mechanisms that generate its magnetic field, and its geology.
• Earth's magnetic field shields us from harmful solar radiation and has many practical applications, ranging from navigation to archaeology.

"Terra firma." It's Latin for "solid Earth." Most of the time, at least from our perspective here on the ground, Earth seems to be just that: solid. Yet the Earth beneath our feet is actually in constant motion. It moves through time and space, of course, along with the other objects in the universe, but it moves internally as well. The powerful forces of wind, water and ice constantly erode its surface, redistributing Earth's mass in the process. Within Earth's solid crust, faulting literally creates and then moves mountains. Hydrological changes, such as the pumping of groundwater for use by humans, cause the ground beneath us to undulate. Volcanic processes deform our planet and create new land. Landslides morph and scar the terrain. Entire continents can even rise up, rebounding from the weight of massive glaciers that blanketed the land thousands of years ago.

Indeed, the outermost layers of the celestial blue onion that is Earth-its crust and upper mantle-aren't very solid at all. But what happens if we peel back the layers and examine what's going on deep within Earth, at its very core?

Obviously, Earth's core is too deep for humans to observe directly. But scientists can use indirect methods to deduce what's going on down there. A new study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, by Jean Dickey of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. and co-author Olivier deViron of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, University Paris Diderot, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, has confirmed previous theoretical predictions that the churning cauldron of molten metals that make up Earth's liquid outer core is slowly being stirred by a very complex but predictable series of periodic oscillations. The findings give scientists unique insights into Earth's internal structure, the strength of the mechanisms responsible for generating Earth's magnetic field and its geology.

Peeling Back the Onion

In order to better understand what's going on inside our planet, it helps to first get a lay of the land, so to speak.

Earth has several distinct layers, each with its own properties. At the outermost layer of our planet is the crust, which comprises the continents and ocean basins. Earth's crust varies in thickness from 35 to 70 kilometers (22 to 44 miles) in the continents and 5 to 10 kilometers (3 to 6 miles) in the ocean basins. The crust is mainly composed of alumino-silicates.

By combining measurements of Earth's magnetic field from stations on land and ships at sea with satellite data, scientists were able to isolate six regularly occurring waves of motion taking place deep within Earth's liquid core, with varying timescales. Image credit: NASA/JPL

Next comes the mantle. The mantle is roughly solid, though very slow motion can be observed inside of it. It is about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) thick, and is separated into an upper and lower mantle. It is here where most of Earth's internal heat is located. Large convective cells in the mantle circulate heat and drive the movements of Earth's tectonic plates, upon which our continents ride. The mantle is mainly composed of ferro-magnesium silicates.

Earth's innermost layer is the core, which is separated into a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The outer core is 2,300 kilometers (1,429 miles) thick, while the inner core is 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) thick. The outer core is mainly composed of a nickel-iron alloy (liquid iron), while the inner core is almost entirely composed of a pure solid iron body.

Earth's "Magnetic" Personality

Scientists believe Earth's magnetic field results from movements of molten iron and nickel within its liquid outer core. These flows, which are caused by interactions between Earth's core and its mantle, are neither even, nor evenly distributed. The electrical currents generated by these flows result in a magnetic field, which is similarly uneven, moves around in location and varies in strength over time. Earth's magnetic field is also slightly tilted with respect to Earth's axis. This causes Earth's geographic north and south poles to not line up with its magnetic north and south poles--they currently differ by about 11 degrees.

In just the last 200 million years alone, Earth's magnetic poles have actually reversed hundreds of times, with the most recent reversal taking place about 790,000 years ago. Scientists are able to reconstruct the chronology of these magnetic pole reversals by studying data on the spreading of the seafloor at Earth's mid-oceanic ridges. Unlike the doomsday scenario popularized by Hollywood in the movie "2012," however, such reversals don't occur over days, but rather on geologic timescales spanning hundreds to thousands of years-very short in geologic time but comparatively long in human time. The time span between pole reversals is even longer, ranging from 100,000 to several million years.

Earth's magnetic field is essential for life on Earth. Extending thousands of kilometers into space, it serves as a shield, deflecting the constant bombardment of charged particles and radiation known as the solar wind away from Earth. These solar winds would otherwise be fatal to life on Earth. At Earth's poles, the perpendicular angle of the magnetic field to Earth there allows some of these particles to make it into our atmosphere. This results in the Northern Lights in the northern hemisphere and the Southern Lights in the southern hemisphere.

Here on the ground, Earth's magnetic field has many practical applications to our everyday lives. It allows people to successfully navigate on land and at sea, making it a critical tool for commerce. Hikers use it to find their way. Archaeologists use it to deduce the age of ancient artifacts such as pottery, which, when fired, assumes the magnetic field properties that were present at the time of its creation. Similarly, the field of paleomagnetism uses magnetism to give scientists glimpses into Earth's remote past. In addition, geophysicists and geologists use geomagnetism as a tool to investigate Earth's structure and changes taking place in the Earth.

Getting to the Core of the Matter

Since Earth's liquid core is the primary source of Earth's magnetic field, scientists can use observations of the magnetic field at Earth's surface and its variability over time to mathematically calculate and isolate the approximate motions taking place within the core.

That's what Dickey and deViron did. They combined measurements of Earth's magnetic field taken by observatory stations on land and ships at sea dating back to 1840 with those of the Danish Oersted and German CHAMP geomagnetic satellite missions, both of which were supported by NASA investments. These measurements were then used as inputs for a complex model that employs statistical time series analyses to determine how fast liquid iron is flowing within Earth's core.

"Although we do not observe the core directly, it's amazing how much we can learn about Earth's interior using magnetic field observations," said Dickey.

In order to approximate the flow of liquid in the core, the scientists visualized its motion as a set of 20 rigid cylinders, each rotating about a common point that represents Earth's axis. "Imagine that each cylinder is slowly rotating at a different speed, and you'll get a sense of the complex churning that's taking place within Earth's core," Dickey said.

The scientists analyzed the data to identify common patterns of movement among the different cylinders. These patterns represent how momentum and energy are transferred from the liquid core-mantle interface inward through the liquid core toward the inner core with diminishing amplitudes.

Their analyses isolated six slow-moving oscillations, or waves of motion, occurring within the liquid core. The oscillations originated at the boundary between Earth's core and its mantle and traveled inward toward the inner core with decreasing strength. Four of these oscillations were robust, occurring at periods of 85, 50, 35 and 28 years. Since the scientist's data set goes back to 1840, the recurrence period of the longest oscillation (85 years) is less well determined than the other oscillations. The last two oscillations identified were weaker and will require further study.

The 85- and 50-year oscillations are consistent with a 1997 study by researchers Stephen Zatman and Jeremy Bloxham of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., who used a different analysis technique. A later purely theoretical study by Harvard researcher Jon Mound and Bruce Buffett of the University of Chicago in 2006 showed that there should be several oscillations of this type; their predicted periods agree with the first four modes identified in Dickey and deViron's study.

"Our satellite-based results are in excellent agreement with the previous theoretical and other studies in this field, providing a strong confirmation of the existence of these oscillations," said Dickey. "These results will give scientists confidence in using satellite measurements in the future to deduce long-term changes taking place deep within our restless planet."

Media Contact:

Alan Buis 818-354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth20091222.html

Prepping WISE to Pop Its Lens Cap

All systems are behaving as expected on NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), which rocketed into the sky just before dawn on Dec. 14 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The mission will undergo a one-month checkout before beginning the most detailed survey yet of the entire sky in infrared light. Hundreds of millions of objects will populate its vast catalog, including dark asteroids, the closest "failed" stars and tremendously energetic galaxies.

Shortly after the space telescope reached its polar orbit around Earth on Dec. 14, it acquired the sun's position and lined up with its solar panels facing the sun. Engineers and scientists continue to check out the spacecraft's pointing-control system in preparation for jettisoning the instrument's cover, an event now scheduled for Dec. 29. With the cover off, WISE will get its first look at the sky.

The cover serves as the top to a Thermos-like bottle, called a cryostat, which chills the heat-sensitive infrared instrument. The instrument consists of a 40-centimeter (16-inch) telescope and four detectors, each with one million pixels. Just as a Thermos bottle keeps your coffee warm or your iced tea cold with a thin vacuum layer, a vacuum inside WISE's cryostat kept the instrument cold while it was on the ground.

An infrared image of the launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, on Dec. 14, 2009 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The cover also prevents light from reaching the detectors, and protects the chilly interior of the instrument from heat that could have come about from unintentional pointing at Earth or the sun during launch. After WISE was pushed away from its rocket, it wobbled around slightly before stabilizing (a process that took surprisingly little time -- only 3 minutes). Without the cover, the heat from Earth or the sun would have shortened the time the cryostat keeps the instrument cold, and possibly damaged the detectors.

Now that WISE is steadily perched in the vacuum of space, it will no longer need the instrument cover; in fact, space will provide an even better vacuum. Engineers are preparing to pop the cover by making sure the pointing-control system is functioning properly. Once everything has been checked out, they will send a signal to fire pyrotechnic devices, releasing nuts that are clamping the cover shut. Three springs will then push the lid away and into an orbit closer to Earth than that of the spacecraft.

The WISE team has also verified that the instrument is as cold as planned. The cryostat's outer shell is slightly below the planned 190 Kelvin (minus 83 degrees Celsius, or minus 117 degrees Fahrenheit), and the coldest of the detectors is less than 8 Kelvin (minus 265 degrees Celsius, or minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit).

All spacecraft systems are functioning normally, and both the low- and high-rate data links are working properly. The instrument's detectors are turned on, and though they are currently staring into the backside of the instrument cover, they will soon see the light of stars. WISE's first images will be released within one month after its one-month checkout.

JPL manages the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise, http://wise.astro.ucla.edu and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/wise.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/news/wise20091222.html

Keck Telescopes Gaze into Young Star's "Life Zone"

The inner regions of young planet-forming disks offer information about how worlds like Earth form, but not a single telescope in the world can see them. Yet, for the first time, astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have measured the properties of a young solar system at distances closer to the star than Venus is from our sun.

"When it comes to building rocky planets like our own, the innermost part of the disk is where the action is," said team member William Danchi at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Planets forming in a star's inner disk may orbit within its "habitable zone," where conditions could potentially support the development of life.

To achieve the feat, the team used the Keck Interferometer to combine infrared light gathered by both of the observatory's twin 10-meter telescopes, which are separated by 85 meters. The double-barreled approach gives astronomers the effective resolution of a single 85-meter telescope -- several times larger than any now planned.

"Nothing else in the world provides us with the types of measurements the Keck Interferometer does," said Wesley Traub at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "In effect, it's a zoom lens for the Keck telescopes."

In August 2008, the team -- led by Sam Ragland of Keck Observatory and including astronomers from the California Institute of Technology and the National Optical Astronomical Observatory -- observed a Young Stellar Object (YSO) known as MWC 419. The blue, B-type star has several times the sun's mass and lies about 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. With an age less than ten million years, MWC 419 ranks as a stellar kindergartener.

Planets form around a young star in this artist's concept. Using the Keck Interferometer in Hawaii, astronomers have probed the structure of a dust disk around MWC 419 to within 50 million miles of the star. Credit: David A. Hardy/www.astroart.org

The team also employed a new near-infrared camera designed to image wavelengths in the so-called L band from 3.5 to 4.1 micrometers. "This unique infrared capability adds a new dimension to the Keck Interferometer in probing the density and temperature of planet-forming regions around YSO disks. This wavelength region is relatively unexplored," Ragland explained. "Basically, anything we see through this camera is brand new information."

The increased ability to observe fine detail, coupled with the new camera, let the team measure temperatures in the planet-forming disk to within about 50 million miles of the star. "That's about half of Earth's distance from the sun, and well within the orbit of Venus," Danchi said.

For comparison, the planets directly detected around the stars HR 8799, Fomalhaut and GJ 758 orbit between 40 and 100 times farther away.

The team reported temperature measurements of dust at various regions throughout MWC 419's inner disk in the Sept. 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. Temperature differences help shed light on the inner disk's detailed structure and may indicate that its dust has different chemical compositions and physical properties, factors that may play a role in the types of planets that form. For example, conditions in our solar system favored the formation of rocky worlds from Mars sunward, whereas gas giants and icy moons assembled farther out.

In turn, the astronomers note, the size of the young star might affect the composition and physical characteristics of its dust disk. The team is continuing to use the Keck Interferometer in a larger program to observe planet-forming disks around sun-like stars.

The Keck Interferometer was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the W.M. Keck Observatory. It is managed by the W.M. Keck Observatory, which operates two 10-meter optical/infrared telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii and is a scientific partnership of the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and NASA. NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute manages time allocation on the telescope for NASA.

Related links:

Keck Telescopes Take Deeper Look at Planetary Nurseries

Twin Keck Telescopes Probe Dual Dust Disks

Francis Reddy
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/keck-life-zone.html

Right-Front and Right-Rear Wheels Sit Out Latest Drive - 12.22.09

Spirit's drive on Sol 2120 (Dec. 19, 2009) included commands for using all six wheels. However, the right-front wheel rotated less than 2 degrees and the right-rear wheel did not rotate at all. The other four wheels completed enough rotations to drive about 10 meters (33 feet), but produced no measurable forward motion by the rover.

An artist's concept portrays a NASA Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University

The rover team plans to command further driving this week while continuing to assess the possibility of getting more motion from the right-front wheel.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/freespirit.html