Nasa Ames 50 year celebration, employees on ramp for television show 'Good Morning America' group photo

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER DIRECTOR ROBERT LIGHTFOOT ADDRESSES TEAM MEMBERS FEB. 14, FOLLOWING THE ROLLOUT OF NASA’S PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET. LIGHTFOOT TOLD MEMBERS OF THE HUNTSVILLE-AREA AT A SUBSEQUENT PRESS CONFERENCE THAT THE PROPOSAL “HITS ON OUR CAPABILITIES, ON WHAT WE DO WELL AT MARSHALL. THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOR US.” HE HELD AN ALL-HANDS MEETING FEB. 15 TO DISCUSS WHAT THE BUDGET MEANS FOR MARSHALL AND TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM THE WORKFORCE.

Massive deposits of sediments rich in hydrated sulfates are found in central Valles Marineris. Such deposits on Earth are soft and easily eroded, and that appears to be true on Mars as well. There are large gullies and sediment fans along the steepest slopes. Elsewhere on Mars, such slopes are actively eroding in before-and-after HiRISE images, so this would be a good location to observe again in a future year. Linear gaps in data coverage on the bright sun-facing slopes are locations where the image data is saturated. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25352

STS058-77-083 (18 Oct-1 Nov 1993) --- In this scene of the south coast of Africa, Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point on the continent, appears as the leftmost cape. Viewed with the Earth's limb top left, clouds at bottom, the view direction is west and north top right. The Cape of Good Hope, with Cape Town nearby, is the thin spike beyond. The great bay in the foreground is Algoa Bay with the city of Port Elizabeth. This was the first time European voyagers are known to have rounded the Cape of Good Hope in their quest to reach India by sea. The entire fold mountain belt of southern Africa is visible: these mountains appear as green (forested) wavy structures stretching west form the foreground, to the Cape of Good Hope, and then northwards some distance. One theory about their origin is that the Falkland Plateau, now an undersea extension of South America, was jostled up against Africa more than 150 million years ago, in times before the Atlantic Ocean existed, before Africa and South America drifted apart from one another. The jostling caused the evolution of the fold mountain belt.

Millions of excited people in the U.S. traveled many miles see a total eclipse, and what a show it was. The SDO spacecraft was not so fortunate: its orbit only allowed it to observe a partial eclipse that at its peak covered only about 14 per cent of the sun (Aug. 21, 2017). Most of the people in the U.S. (weather permitting) observed at least 60 per cent coverage of the sun by the Moon. The good news for SDO is that it gets to see partial and solar eclipses several times a year. So, it all kind of balances out, in a way. An animation is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21929

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Astronaut Mike Good of NASA's Commercial Crew Program is seen before the start of an industry conference inside the Television Auditorium at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The conference was held following the program's request for proposals from commercial companies for a development and certification contract called the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability CCtCap. The contract will provide a finish line for the agency following more than four years of development work by CCP and American aerospace companies. CCtCap is the second phase of a two-phase certification plan for privately built and operated integrated crew transportation systems. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

STS089-706-068 (22-31 Jan. 1998) --- This nadir view of the southern Cape District of South Africa was photographed with a 70mm handheld camera from the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Endeavour. Prominent landmarks are the Cape of Good Hope, False Bay and Cape Town. Cape Town is the gray area at the base of the peninsula that forms the Cape of Good Hope. East and north of Cape Town the dark mountain ranges are the Cape Fold Belt. Northerly structures of the region formed approximately 580 million years ago when east Antarctica, Africa and parts of South America combined. According to NASA scientists those continents separated and then recombined about 230 million years ago; in the later event, the northerly structures were again active and the west-trending folds of the Great and Little Karroo ranges formed. The westerly structures of the Karroo formed somewhat later; the northerly structures were re-folded at that time. The great continental mass, Gondwana, remained together until around 175 million years ago, when it rifted apart leaving the coastline essentially as it is seen today. Photos such as this are useful to geologists working in these areas as they provide, quite literally, the big picture in complex regions. Other items of interest are the internal waves noted offshore, several trains can be seen east, north and south of Cape Town. In the mountains to the north (upper left corner) a large brush fire is seen from the smoke plume. The giant gold and diamond mines are located northeast and east of this photo. The gold province is primarily located around Johannesburg (450 miles northeast) and the diamond mines are approximately 300 miles northeast around Kimberley. Photo credit: NASA

STS106-713-057 (19 September 2000) --- One of the STS-106 crew members on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis used a handheld 70mm camera to photograph this image of Cape Town and the Karroo Ranges in South Africa. Cape Town occupies the north end of the Cape of Good Hope peninsula and extends to the shore of False Bay. The city is home to about 2.7 million people. Tourism and viticulture contribute importantly to the local economy, and the city is a service center for government and industry -- particularly mining. The great folded mountain ranges of South Africa were formed during the assembly of the ancient super continent of Gondwana. Broad N-trending folds of the Cedarburg range, South Africa formed first, according to geologists, about 230 million years ago, and the W-trending Karroo ranges formed a little later.

The General Dynamics TACT/F-111A Aardvark is seen In a banking-turn over the California Mojave desert. This photograph affords a good view of the supercritical wing airfoil shape. Starting in 1971 the NASA Flight Research Center and the Air Force undertook a major research and flight testing program, using F-111A (#63-9778), which would span almost 20 years before completion. Intense interest over the results coming from the NASA F-8 supercritical wing program spurred NASA and the Air Force to modify the General Dynamics F-111A to explore the application of supercritical wing technology to maneuverable military aircraft. This flight program was called Transonic Aircraft Technology (TACT).

“We did science fair projects in eighth grade. So my dad and I designed an experiment to look at what cooking oil is best for cooking popcorn. Now you go to science fairs and you see this experiment everywhere. But in 1989, it was like, ‘wow, a kid who knows the scientific method!’ “I made a lot of popcorn. My poor brothers had to eat it all. I measured volume popped and how many kernels were left unpopped. But I also measured the taste factor. For example, cooking popcorn in peanut oil actually has good yield but it doesn’t taste good. “In high school, I had this chemistry teacher named Carol Palmer. I’ll never forget her. The science fairs were really important to her. She had partnerships with laboratories in town, and through this program, I got to go to a stainless steel foundry. “Do you know what paper machines are like? Picture giant rolls, like the size of an 18-wheeler truckbed. This place made those things. This was the early 90s, so we were just starting to recycle paper. But the machines had begun falling apart because of all the corrosive chemicals added to the mix to remove ink. I was simulating that process in the laboratory through different experiments. And I won two years in a row at the state-level science fair: I won first prize in electrochemistry and I won first prize in chemistry. “It was all because of this teacher. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have known that materials science was a thing or that I should study it if I hadn’t had that opportunity. It really put me on course.” Kathleen Boggs, Systems and Technology Demonstration Manager in the International Space Station Division of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Thursday, March 5, 2020, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope doesn’t usually get much assistance from its celestial subjects — but to take this image, the telescope opted for teamwork and made good use of a fascinating cosmic phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. This effect works when the gravitational influence of a massive object, such as the galaxy cluster in this image, is so colossal that it warps the surrounding space, causing nearby light to travel along distorted paths. The massive object is effectively turned into a giant magnifying glass, bending and amplifying the light traveling from more distant galaxies lying behind it. In this particular case, astronomers used the foreground galaxy cluster (named SDSS J0915+3826) to study star formation in galaxies lying so far away that their light has taken up to 11.5 billion years to reach Earth. These galaxies formed at a very early stage in the lifetime of the universe, giving astronomers a rare glimpse into the beginning of the cosmos. Despite the distance of these galaxies, the lensing effects of SDSS J0915+3826 allowed astronomers to work out the sizes, luminosities, star formation rates and stellar populations of individual star-forming clumps within these galaxies — quite an achievement! Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

“When I was a kid, I had a Lego set of one of the twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. It was like a Lego rover that could fold up the same way that the actual rover did. It’s crazy because I had that when I was like ten — and now, some of my current coworkers actually worked on that launch. So when I walked into my launch director’s office a couple of years ago, I saw that same Lego set sitting next to the people at Jet Propulsion Laboratory who actually built the rover. “Just being able to see it and touch it [as a kid] helps you impart your own imagination onto it. It’s really exciting. I wasn’t an action figure type of kid — but when I had stuff that seemed real, I really enjoyed putting it together. The project of putting it together was the thing that made my parents think that I was going to be a good engineer. Having it in front of you makes it real. So when you see it on TV, it’s like: ‘I know what that is. I know how that instrument works.’ There’s a connection there.” — Phillip Hargrove, Aerospace Engineer, Kennedy Space Center Interviewer: NASA / Thalia Patrinos

Firefighters are like astronauts. They both face dangerous, even hostile environments such as a building full of fire and the vacuum of space. They are both get breathing air from tanks on their backs. Early in the 1970's, NASA began working to improve firefighter breathing systems, which had hardly changed since the 1940s. NASA's Johnson Space Center conducted a 4-year program that applied technology from the portable life support systems used by Apollo astronauts on the moon. The new breathing system is made up of an air bottle, a frame and harness, a face mask, and a warning device. The new system weighs less than 20 pounds, one-third less than the old gear. The new air bottle provides 30 minutes of breathing air, as much as the old system. Like a good hiker's backpack, the new system puts the weight on the firefighter's hips rather than the shoulders. The face mask provides better visibility and the warning device lets the firefighter know when air in the bottle is low. Though they have made many design modifications and refinements, manufacturers of breathing apparatus still incorporate the original NASA technology.

This VIS image shows part of Meridiani Planum. Meridiani Planum has been the home of the Opportunity MER rover since January 2004. The rover was last heard from at the start of the large dust storms during the summer of 2018. After many months trying to reestablish communications, the mission was declared over in February 2019. The rover covered over 25 miles of travel and provided new insights into the geology of Mars. Opportunity's original mission length was just 90 days, but it lasted 15 years! Good night Opportunity. For more information about Opportunity, and her sister, Spirit, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/overview/. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number: 61912 Latitude: 1.53921 Longitude: 5.18703 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-11-28 14:22 https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23092

The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is known as NGC 3597. It is the product of a collision between two good-sized galaxies, and is slowly evolving to become a giant elliptical galaxy. This type of galaxy has grown more and more common as the Universe has evolved, with initially small galaxies merging and progressively building up into larger galactic structures over time. NGC 3597 is located approximately 150 million light-years away in the constellation of Crater (The Cup). Astronomers study NGC 3597 to learn more about how elliptical galaxies form — many ellipticals began their lives far earlier in the history of the Universe. Older ellipticals are nicknamed “red and dead” by astronomers because these bloated galaxies are not anymore producing new, bluer, stars in ages, and are thus packed full of old and redder stellar populations. Before infirmity sets in, some freshly formed elliptical galaxies experience a final flush of youth, as is the case with NGC 3597. Galaxies smashing together pool their available gas and dust, triggering new rounds of star birth. Some of this material ends up in dense pockets initially called proto-globular clusters, dozens of which festoon NGC 3597. These pockets will go on to collapse and form fully-fledged globular clusters, large spheres that orbit the centres of galaxies like satellites, packed tightly full of millions of stars.

ISS011-E-07471 (28 May 2005) --- Sept-Îles, Gulf of St Lawrence, Quebec, Canada is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crewmember on the International Space Station (ISS). Seven Island Bay (left side of the image) is one of the largest (8–10 kilometers across) and best protected bays on Quebec’s north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Because this is both a deep water port and ice-free year round, Sept-Îles is one of Quebec’s busiest ports. Locally produced materials (iron ore, alumina) comprise the bulk of port traffic, but Sept-Îles also acts as a trans-shipment point for goods moving to Europe, the Far East and South America. The small city of Sept-Îles (~30,000 people) appears in the center of the view; Pointe Noir is opposite the city in the lower left corner. The industrial park lies top left and the angled runways of the airport appear east of the city. Five (of the bay’s seven) islands appear at the bottom of the view. Wind and swells produce patterns on the water. Ships can be seen in the bay and a ship wake appears between the two left islands at the bottom of the view.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the dense galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 in the northern constellation Corona Borealis. Made up primarily of giant elliptical galaxies with a few spirals and irregular galaxies thrown in for good measure, the cluster's powerful gravity warps the image of background galaxies into blue streaks and arcs. At the center of the bull's-eye of blue, gravitationally lensed filaments lies a pair of elliptical galaxies that are also exhibiting some interesting features. A 100,000-light-year-long structure that looks like a string of pearls twisted into a corkscrew shape winds around the cores of the two massive galaxies. The &quot;pearls&quot; are superclusters of blazing, blue-white, newly born stars. These super star clusters are evenly spaced along the chain at separations of 3,000 light-years from one another. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/1ztQvL9" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/1ztQvL9</a> Credit: NASA/ESA <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the dense galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 in the northern constellation Corona Borealis. Made up primarily of giant elliptical galaxies with a few spirals and irregular galaxies thrown in for good measure, the cluster's powerful gravity warps the image of background galaxies into blue streaks and arcs. At the center of the bull's-eye of blue, gravitationally lensed filaments lies a pair of elliptical galaxies that are also exhibiting some interesting features. A 100,000-light-year-long structure that looks like a string of pearls twisted into a corkscrew shape winds around the cores of the two massive galaxies. The &quot;pearls&quot; are superclusters of blazing, blue-white, newly born stars. These super star clusters are evenly spaced along the chain at separations of 3,000 light-years from one another. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/1ztQvL9" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/1ztQvL9</a> Credit: NASA/ESA <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

“I’ve always had an interest, even as a little kid, in mechanical things. How things work. I was good at math when I was younger. I liked science. I was actually going to major in chemistry when I went to college. But during my senior year of high school, I found out I was colorblind. Back then, you didn’t have machines you put could something in and it would tell you what it was. You had to do litmus tests and fire tests, and based on the colors, determine what different things were. Well, I came to find out: I couldn’t do that. So, I happened to be working on the school paper in my senior year of high school and I figured I would go into journalism. I ended up covering things like science and construction because those were the things I liked and was interested in. Once I got to NASA, it was a marriage of two things I liked. Everyday I come in to work, I get to learn about a new project. I learn different things about launch vehicles, physics… all sorts of things. So I’m constantly learning something. Which is kind of cool! In my life I’ve learned that things don’t always go your way. You can either dwell on those things and mope and cry… or you can say: “Okay. Now what?” And so that’s what I did. I moved on. And I don’t know if I would have ended up at NASA if I hadn’t.” NASA Wallops Flight Facility News Chief, Keith Koehler, Friday, Feb. 7, 2020 at NASA NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

At first glance this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image seems to show an array of different cosmic objects, but the speckling of stars shown here actually forms a single body — a nearby dwarf galaxy known as Leo A. Its few million stars are so sparsely distributed that some distant background galaxies are visible through it. Leo A itself is at a distance of about 2.5 million light-years from Earth and a member of the Local Group of galaxies; a group that includes the Milky Way and the well-known Andromeda galaxy. Astronomers study dwarf galaxies because they are very numerous and are  simpler in structure than their giant cousins. However, their small size makes them difficult to study at great distances. As a result, the dwarf galaxies of the Local Group are of particular interest, as they are close enough to study in detail. As it turns out, Leo A is a rather unusual galaxy. It is one of the most isolated galaxies in the Local Group, has no obvious structural features beyond being a roughly spherical mass of stars, and shows no evidence for recent interactions with any of its few neighbours. However, the galaxy’s contents are overwhelmingly dominated by relatively young stars, something that would normally be the result of a recent interaction with another galaxy. Around 90% of the stars in Leo A are less than eight billion years old — young in cosmic terms! This raises a number of intriguing questions about why star formation in Leo A did not take place on the “usual” timescale, but instead waited until it was good and ready.

At first glance, this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image seems to show an array of different cosmic objects, but the speckling of stars shown here actually forms a single body — a nearby dwarf galaxy known as Leo A. Its few million stars are so sparsely distributed that some distant background galaxies are visible through it. Leo A itself is at a distance of about 2.5 million light-years from Earth and a member of the Local Group of galaxies; a group that includes the Milky Way and the well-known Andromeda galaxy. Astronomers study dwarf galaxies because they are very numerous and are simpler in structure than their giant cousins. However, their small size makes them difficult to study at great distances. As a result, the dwarf galaxies of the Local Group are of particular interest, as they are close enough to study in detail. As it turns out, Leo A is a rather unusual galaxy. It is one of the most isolated galaxies in the Local Group, has no obvious structural features beyond being a roughly spherical mass of stars, and shows no evidence for recent interactions with any of its few neighbors. However, the galaxy’s contents are overwhelmingly dominated by relatively young stars, something that would normally be the result of a recent interaction with another galaxy. Around 90% of the stars in Leo A are less than eight billion years old — young in cosmic terms! This raises a number of intriguing questions about why star formation in Leo A did not take place on the “usual” timescale, but instead waited until it was good and ready. Image credit: ESA/Hubble &amp; NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt

This dramatic image shows the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s view of dwarf galaxy known as NGC 1140, which lies 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. As can be seen in this image NGC 1140 has an irregular form, much like the Large Magellanic Cloud — a small galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. This small galaxy is undergoing what is known as a starburst. Despite being almost ten times smaller than the Milky Way it is creating stars at about the same rate, with the equivalent of one star the size of the Sun being created per year. This is clearly visible in the image, which shows the galaxy illuminated by bright, blue-white, young stars. Galaxies like NGC 1140 — small, starbursting and containing large amounts of primordial gas with way fewer elements heavier than hydrogen and helium than present in our Sun — are of particular interest to astronomers. Their composition makes them similar to the intensely star-forming galaxies in the early Universe. And these early Universe galaxies were the building blocks of present-day large galaxies like our galaxy, the Milky Way. But, as they are so far away these early Universe galaxies are harder to study so these closer starbursting galaxies are a good substitute for learning more about galaxy evolution . The vigorous star formation will have a very destructive effect on this small dwarf galaxy in its future. When the larger stars in the galaxy die, and explode as supernovae, gas is blown into space and may easily escape the gravitational pull of the galaxy. The ejection of gas from the galaxy means it is throwing out its potential for future stars as this gas is one of the building blocks of star formation. NGC 1140’s starburst cannot last for long.

This dramatic image shows the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s view of dwarf galaxy known as NGC 1140, which lies 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. As can be seen in this image NGC 1140 has an irregular form, much like the Large Magellanic Cloud — a small galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. This small galaxy is undergoing what is known as a starburst. Despite being almost ten times smaller than the Milky Way it is creating stars at about the same rate, with the equivalent of one star the size of our sun being created per year. This is clearly visible in the image, which shows the galaxy illuminated by bright, blue-white, young stars. Galaxies like NGC 1140 — small, starbursting and containing large amounts of primordial gas with far fewer elements heavier than hydrogen and helium than are present in our sun — are of particular interest to astronomers. Their composition makes them similar to the intensely star-forming galaxies in the early Universe. And these early Universe galaxies were the building blocks of present-day large galaxies like our galaxy, the Milky Way. But, as they are so far away these early Universe galaxies are harder to study so these closer starbursting galaxies are a good substitute for learning more about galaxy evolution. The vigorous star formation will have a very destructive effect on this small dwarf galaxy in its future. When the larger stars in the galaxy die, and explode as supernovae, gas is blown into space and may easily escape the gravitational pull of the galaxy. The ejection of gas from the galaxy means it is throwing out its potential for future stars as this gas is one of the building blocks of star formation. NGC 1140’s starburst cannot last for long. Image credit: ESA/Hubble &amp; NASA

ISS033-E-022378 (17 Nov. 2012) --- The Appalachian Mountains in the eastern Unites States are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station. This regional view shows the striking visual effect of the valley-and-ridge topography of the Appalachian Mountains as viewed from orbit. The view shows more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) of this low mountain chain, from northeast Pennsylvania (lower left) to southern West Virginia, where a dusting of snow can be seen (top center). Sunglint reflections reveal detail of Chesapeake Bay and the great bend of the Potomac River. Cities are difficult to detect from space during daylight hours, so the sickle-shaped bend of the river is a good visual guide for station crew members trying to photograph the nation?s capital, Washington D.C. (upper left). The farm-dominated Piedmont Plateau is the light-toned area between the mountains and the bay. The Appalachian Mountains appear striped because the ridges are forested; providing a dense and dark canopy cover, while the valleys are farmed with crops that generally appear as lighter-toned areas. Geologically the valleys are the softer, more erodible rock layers, much the preferred places for human settlement. Not only do the larger rivers occupy the valley floors, but all the larger rivers flow in them, soils are thicker, slopes are gentle, and valleys are better protected from winter winds. According to scientists, rocks that form the valley-and-ridge province, as it is known, are relatively old (540-300 million years old), and were laid down in horizontal layers when North America was attached to Europe as the ancient supercontinent of Laurasia. During this time Gondwanaland ? an ancient supercontinent that included present-day Africa, India, South America, Australia and Antarctica - was approaching Laurasia under the influence of plate tectonics. The northwest coastline of modern Africa was the section of Gondwanaland that ?bumped up? against modern North America over a long period (320 ? 260 million years ago), according to scientists. The net result of the tectonic collision was the building of a major mountain chain, much higher than the present Appalachian range?in the process of which the flat-lying rock layers were crumpled up into a series of tight folds, at right angles to the advance of Gondwanaland. The collision also formed the singular supercontinent of Pangaea. The scientists say that, over the following 200 million years, Pangaea broke apart; the modern Atlantic Ocean formed; and erosion wore down the high mountains. What is left to see are the coastline of North America, and the eroded stumps of the mountain chain as the relatively low, but visually striking present-day Appalachian Mountains.

On April 1, 2017, comet 41P will pass closer than it normally does to Earth, giving observers with binoculars or a telescope a special viewing opportunity. Comet hunters in the Northern Hemisphere should look for it near the constellations Draco and Ursa Major, which the Big Dipper is part of. Whether a comet will put on a good show for observers is notoriously difficult to predict, but 41P has a history of outbursts, and put on quite a display in 1973. If the comet experiences similar outbursts this time, there’s a chance it could become bright enough to see with the naked eye. The comet is expected to reach perihelion, or its closest approach to the sun, on April 12. A member of the Jupiter family of comets, 41P makes a trip around the sun every 5.4 years, coming relatively close to Earth on some of those trips. On this approach, the comet will pass our planet at a distance of about 13 million miles (0.14 astronomical units), or about 55 times the distance from Earth to the moon. This is the comet’s closest approach to Earth in more than 50 years and perhaps more than a century. Read more: <a href="https://go.nasa.gov/2nLNzes" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/2nLNzes</a> Photo caption: In this image taken March 24, 2017, comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák is shown moving through a field of faint galaxies in the bowl of the Big Dipper. On April 1, the comet will pass by Earth at a distance of about 13 million miles (0.14 astronomical units), or 55 times the distance from Earth to the moon; that is a much closer approach than usual for this Jupiter-family comet. Photo credit: Image copyright Chris Schur©, used with permission <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

ISS019-E-005501 (9 April 2009) --- Split Region in Croatia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 19 crewmember on the International Space Station. One the world?s most rugged coastlines are located in Croatia along the Adriatic Sea. This view features the Dalmatian coastline of Croatia around the city of Split. Much of the region can be characterized by northwest-southeast oriented linear islands and embayments of the Adriatic Sea. This distinctive coastal geomorphology is the result of faulting caused by tectonic activity in the region and sea level rise. Split has a long history - the Roman Emperor Diocletian retired to Spalatum (the present-day Split) in 305, and his palace constitutes the core of the city today. The city is a popular resort destination for its historic sites, Mediterranean climate, and ready access to the Adriatic islands (such as Brac to the south). Other large cities in the region include Kastela and Trogir; together with Split, these form an almost continuous urban area bordering the coast (visible as pink regions). A thin zone marking a water boundary is visible in this image between Split and the island of Brac. It may represent a local plankton bloom, or a line of convergence between water masses creating rougher water. A unique combination of geography -- including dramatic topography that channels local winds, the complicated coastline, input of fresh water from rivers, and ample nutrients and surface oils -- makes for interesting mesoscale surface dynamics throughout the Adriatic Sea. Over the years, astronauts have taken images of the Split region using sunglint and changes in water color to highlight features like eddies, water boundaries and mixing zones between fresh waters flowing into the saltier (denser) waters of the Adriatic, and wind-driven surface currents. Split is an important transit center connecting islands in the Adriatic Sea to the Italian peninsula, and an important regional manufacturing center of goods such as solar cells, plastics, and paper products. The city was heavily industrialized during the post World War II period as a member state of Yugoslavia. By the 1980s, the marine environment bordered by Split, Kastela, and Trogir (known as Kastela Bay) had been identified as one of the most polluted areas of the Adriatic from both sewage and industrial wastes. Concerted efforts by the Croatian government and international partners to improve waste handling and treatment infrastructure over the past 10 years seem to have been successful ? both marine species and water polo players have returned to the area.

“I remember crying on the floor of my living room. In the nineties, three-day forecasts were about as good as five-day forecasts are today. [Hurricane Brett] was within three days, but it wasn’t completely clear whether it was going to hit my hometown or not. It ended up hitting south of us and we didn’t even get rain out of it. But I remember being fearful for that whole day and night. But then I turned that fear into fascination. In 2003, my hometown got hit by hurricane Claudette. I wasn’t as fearful then. I was a little bit older at that time. And then a year and a half later, we had a snowstorm in south Texas. We had 12 inches overnight. And it was so incredibly weird. I had seen a forecast on TV, and it was this outlandish forecast from ten days out that said it was going to snow. I was a kid and I believed it. I bet my dad ten dollars that it was going to happen, and he said, ‘there’s no way.’ And I ended up winning ten dollars. And to me that was like, ‘oh my gosh! I stole somebody else’s forecast and I won ten dollars.’ I think people try to take their fears and understand and dissect them. This goes not only for the physical sciences but also for the life sciences. So many people who have been impacted by cancer in their family go into cancer research. It gives them a sense of closure. It gives them a sense of understanding. They want to be part of the solution. For example, my brother is autistic, low-functioning. My backup plan would have been researching neurodivergence. It’s all about the feeling of wanting to understand.” NASA Deputy Program Scientist, Earth Science Division, Dr. Aaron Piña, poses for a portrait, Monday, June 13, 2022, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) researchers install a small-scale model of the capsule for Project Mercury in the 1- by 1-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel at the Lewis Research Center. NASA Lewis conducted a variety of tests for Project Mercury, including retrorocket calibration, escape tower engine performance, and separation of the capsule from simulated Atlas and Redstone boosters. The test of this capsule and escape tower model in the 1- by 1-foot tunnel were run in January and February 1960. The 1-by 1-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel had a 15-inch long test section, seen here, that was one foot wide and one foot high. The sides were made of glass to allow cameras to capture the supersonic air flow over the models. The tunnel could generate air flows from Mach 1.3 to 3.0. At the time, it was one of nine small supersonic wind tunnels at Lewis. These tunnels used the exhauster and compressor equipment of the larger facilities. The 1- by 1 tunnel, which began operating in the early 1950s, was built inside a test cell in the expansive Engine Research Building. During the 1950s the 1- by 1 was used to study a variety of inlets, nozzles, and cones for missiles and scramjets. The Mercury capsule tests were among the last at the facility for many years. The tunnel was mothballed in 1960. The 1- by 1 was briefly restored in 1972, then brought back online for good in 1979. The facility has maintained a brisk operating schedule ever since.

Arctic sea ice, the vast sheath of frozen seawater floating on the Arctic Ocean and its neighboring seas, has been hit with a double whammy over the past decades: as its extent shrunk, the oldest and thickest ice has either thinned or melted away, leaving the sea ice cap more vulnerable to the warming ocean and atmosphere. “What we’ve seen over the years is that the older ice is disappearing,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This older, thicker ice is like the bulwark of sea ice: a warm summer will melt all the young, thin ice away but it can’t completely get rid of the older ice. But this older ice is becoming weaker because there’s less of it and the remaining old ice is more broken up and thinner, so that bulwark is not as good as it used to be.” Read more: <a href="http://go.nasa.gov/2dPJ9zT" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/2dPJ9zT</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

“I found it amazing that this world was covered in ice and had an ocean underneath. I was mapping this area on Europa called Conamara Chaos, where we believe that the surface is locally heated. Because of this, there are ginormous icebergs that broke off and floated around in this slushy ice, so I learned to map [that part of the surface]. Having my physics and math background and thinking about a world with a subsurface ocean, I was like, 'OK, this is a good marriage of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Europa is a nice world to study that will combine my background with this new planetary science thing that I love.’ “What happened with Europa Clipper was I decided to do my dissertation topic on [the moon]. We'd seen images of these beautiful south polar plumes on Enceladus, these geyser-like plumes, but Europa is much bigger. It has much more water and receives much more tidal heating. Why didn't the Galileo spacecraft see plumes on Europa? Why don't we see geysers? “My dissertation focused on what it would take to have this geyser activity on Europa and for spacecraft cameras to image it. I remember defending my dissertation well but sitting there thinking, ‘People will think I'm a quack because we've never seen geysers on Europa.’ That was in May, and by December, Lorenz Roth's paper came out that Hubble may have detected geysers on Europa. That's when I was like, 'Oh yes, I might actually have a career!' “Shortly after that, the call came out for instrument proposals. Zibi Turtle [Principal Investigator for the Europa Imaging System] met me at a conference and said, 'We're writing a proposal for a camera for the Europa mission. Would you want to be on it?' At that point, I was a year out of my Ph.D. and was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Because that usually never happens. Usually, the people on these instrument teams are more senior. They've been around longer, so it’s very rare to be just finishing up your Ph.D. and someone asks you. I

Most galaxies possess a majestic spiral or elliptical structure. About a quarter of galaxies, though, defy such conventional, rounded aesthetics, instead sporting a messy, indefinable shape. Known as irregular galaxies, this group includes NGC 5408, the galaxy that has been snapped here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. English polymath John Herschel recorded the existence of NGC 5408 in June 1834. Astronomers had long mistaken NGC 5408 for a planetary nebula, an expelled cloud of material from an aging star. Instead, bucking labels, NGC 5408 turned out to be an entire galaxy, located about 16 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). In yet another sign of NGC 5408 breaking convention, the galaxy is associated with an object known as an ultraluminous X-ray source, dubbed NGC 5408 X-1, one of the best studied of its class. These rare objects beam out prodigious amounts of energetic X-rays. Astrophysicists believe these sources to be strong candidates for intermediate-mass black holes. This hypothetical type of black hole has significantly less mass than the supermassive black holes found in galactic centres, which can have billions of times the mass of the Sun, but have a good deal more mass than the black holes formed when giant stars collapse. A version of this image was entered into the Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.

These four panels show the Whirlpool galaxy — which is actually a pair of galaxies also known as Messier 51 and NGC 5194/5195 — and how different wavelengths of light can reveal different features of a cosmic object. Located approximately 23 million light-years away, it resides in the constellation Canes Venatici. The left image (a) shows the galaxy in visible light, from the Kitt Peak National Observatory 2.1-meter (6.8-foot) telescope and shows light at 0.4 microns (blue) and 0.7 microns (green). The next image (b) combines two visible-light wavelengths (in blue and green) and infrared light (in red). The infrared was captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and emphasizes how the dark dust veins that block our view in visible light begin to light up at these longer, infrared wavelengths. The right two panels are composed entirely of Spitzer data. In the middle-right panel (c), we see three wavelengths of infrared light: 3.6 microns (shown in blue), 4.5 microns (green) and 8 microns (red). The blended light from the billions of stars in the Whirlpool is brightest at the shorter infrared wavelengths and appear as as a blue haze. The individual blue dots across the image are mostly nearby stars and a few distant galaxies. Red features (at 8 microns) show us dust composed mostly of carbon that is illuminated by the stars in the galaxy. The far-right panel (d) expands our infrared view to include light at a wavelength of 24 microns (in red), which is particularly good for highlighting areas where the dust is especially hot. The bright reddish-white spots trace regions where new stars are forming and, in the process, heating their surroundings. All of the data shown here were released as part of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) project, captured during Spitzer's cryogenic and warm missions. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23128

Most galaxies possess a majestic spiral or elliptical structure. About a quarter of galaxies, though, defy such conventional, rounded aesthetics, instead sporting a messy, indefinable shape. Known as irregular galaxies, this group includes NGC 5408, the galaxy that has been snapped here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. John Herschel recorded the existence of NGC 5408 in June 1834. Astronomers had long mistaken NGC 5408 for a planetary nebula, an expelled cloud of material from an aging star. Instead, bucking labels, NGC 5408 turned out to be an entire galaxy, located about 16 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). In yet another sign of NGC 5408 breaking convention, the galaxy is associated with an object known as an ultraluminous X-ray source, dubbed NGC 5408 X-1, one of the best studied of its class. These rare objects beam out prodigious amounts of energetic X-rays. Astrophysicists believe these sources to be strong candidates for intermediate-mass black holes. This hypothetical type of black hole has significantly less mass than the supermassive black holes found in galactic centers, which can have billions of times the mass of the sun, but have a good deal more mass than the black holes formed when giant stars collapse. Image credit: ESA/Hubble &amp; NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) was designed specifically to provide images of Mars that have a resolution comparable to the aerial photographs commonly used by Earth scientists to study geological processes and map landforms on our home planet. When MGS reaches its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, MOC will be able to obtain pictures with spatial resolutions of 1.5 meters (5 feet) per pixel--this good enough to easily see objects the size of an automobile. Boulders are one of the keys to determining which processes have eroded, transported, and deposited material on Mars (e.g.,landslides, mud flows, flood debris). During the first year in orbit,MGS MOC obtained pictures with resolutions between 2 and 30 meters (7to 98 feet) per pixel. It was found that boulders are difficult to identify on Mars in images with resolutions worse than about 2-3 meters per pixel. Although not known when the MOC was designed,"thresholds" like this are found on Earth, too. The MOC's 1.5 m/pixel resolution was a compromise between (1) the anticipation of such resolution-dependent sensitivity based on our experience with Earth and (2)the cost in terms of mass if we had built a larger telescope to get a higher resolution. Some rather larger boulders (i.e., larger than about 10 meters--or yards--in size) have already been seen on Mars by the orbiting camera. This is a feat similar to that which can be obtained by "spy" satellites on Earth. The MOC image 53104 subframe shown above features a low, rounded hill in southeastern Utopia Planitia. Each of the small, lumpy features on the top of this hill is a boulder. In this picture, boulders are not seen on the surrounding plain. These boulders are interpreted to be the remnants of a layer of harder rock that once covered the top of the hill, but was subsequently eroded and broken up by weathering and wind processes. MOC image 53104 was taken on September 2, 1998. The subframe shows an area 2.2 km by 3.3 km (1.4 miles by 2.7 miles). The image has a resolution of about 3.25 meters (10.7 feet) per pixel. The subframe is centered at 41.0°N latitude and 207.3°W longitude. North is approximately up, illumination is from the left. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01500

The dark squares that make up the checkerboard pattern in this image are fields of a sort—fields of seaweed. Along the south coast of South Korea, seaweed is often grown on ropes, which are held near the surface with buoys. This technique ensures that the seaweed stays close enough to the surface to get enough light during high tide but doesn’t scrape against the bottom during low tide. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of seaweed cultivation in the shallow waters around Sisan Island on January 31, 2014. Home to a thriving aquaculture industry, the south coast of South Korea produces about 90 percent of the country’s seaweed crop. The waters around Sisan are not the only place where aquaculture is common. View the large image to see how ubiquitous seaweed aquaculture is along the coast in Jeollanam-do, the southernmost province on the Korean peninsula. Two main types of seaweed are cultivated in South Korea: Undaria (known as miyeok in Korean, wakame in Japanese) and Pyropia (gim in Korean, nori in Japanese). Both types are used generously in traditional Korean, Japanese, and Chinese food. Since 1970, farmed seaweed production has increased by approximately 8 percent per year. Today, about 90 percent of all the seaweed that humans consume globally is farmed. That may be good for the environment. In comparison to other types of food production, seaweed farming has a light environmental footprint because it does not require fresh water or fertilizer. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Adam Voiland. Credit: <b><a href="http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Earth Observatory</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is known as NGC 3597. It is the product of a collision between two good-sized galaxies, and is slowly evolving to become a giant elliptical galaxy. This type of galaxy has grown more and more common as the universe has evolved, with initially small galaxies merging and progressively building up into larger galactic structures over time. NGC 3597 is located approximately 150 million light-years away in the constellation of Crater (The Cup). Astronomers study NGC 3597 to learn more about how elliptical galaxies form — many ellipticals began their lives far earlier in the history of the universe. Older ellipticals are nicknamed “red and dead” by astronomers because these bloated galaxies are not anymore producing new, bluer stars, and are thus packed full of old and redder stellar populations. Before infirmity sets in, some freshly formed elliptical galaxies experience a final flush of youth, as is the case with NGC 3597. Galaxies smashing together pool their available gas and dust, triggering new rounds of star birth. Some of this material ends up in dense pockets initially called proto-globular clusters, dozens of which festoon NGC 3597. These pockets will go on to collapse and form fully-fledged globular clusters, large spheres that orbit the centers of galaxies like satellites, packed tightly full of millions of stars. Image credit: ESA/Hubble &amp; NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

The dark squares that make up the checkerboard pattern in this image are fields of a sort—fields of seaweed. Along the south coast of South Korea, seaweed is often grown on ropes, which are held near the surface with buoys. This technique ensures that the seaweed stays close enough to the surface to get enough light during high tide but doesn’t scrape against the bottom during low tide. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of seaweed cultivation in the shallow waters around Sisan Island on January 31, 2014. Home to a thriving aquaculture industry, the south coast of South Korea produces about 90 percent of the country’s seaweed crop. The waters around Sisan are not the only place where aquaculture is common. View the large image to see how ubiquitous seaweed aquaculture is along the coast in Jeollanam-do, the southernmost province on the Korean peninsula. Two main types of seaweed are cultivated in South Korea: Undaria (known as miyeok in Korean, wakame in Japanese) and Pyropia (gim in Korean, nori in Japanese). Both types are used generously in traditional Korean, Japanese, and Chinese food. Since 1970, farmed seaweed production has increased by approximately 8 percent per year. Today, about 90 percent of all the seaweed that humans consume globally is farmed. That may be good for the environment. In comparison to other types of food production, seaweed farming has a light environmental footprint because it does not require fresh water or fertilizer. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Adam Voiland. Credit: <b><a href="http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Earth Observatory</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>

NASA image release July 3, 2012 Caption: Resembling a Fourth of July skyrocket, Herbig-Haro 110 is a geyser of hot gas from a newborn star that splashes up against and ricochets off the dense core of a cloud of molecular hydrogen. Although the plumes of gas look like whiffs of smoke, they are actually billions of times less dense than the smoke from a July 4 firework. This Hubble Space Telescope photo shows the integrated light from plumes, which are light-years across. -- Herbig-Haro (HH) objects come in a wide array of shapes, but the basic configuration stays the same. Twin jets of heated gas, ejected in opposite directions away from a forming star, stream through interstellar space. Astronomers suspect that these outflows are fueled by gas accreting onto a young star surrounded by a disk of dust and gas. The disk is the &quot;fuel tank,&quot; the star is the gravitational engine, and the jets are the exhaust. When these energetic jets slam into colder gas, the collision plays out like a traffic jam on the interstate. Gas within the shock front slows to a crawl, but more gas continues to pile up as the jet keeps slamming into the shock from behind. Temperatures climb sharply, and this curving, flared region starts to glow. These &quot;bow shocks&quot; are so named because they resemble the waves that form at the front of a boat. In the case of the single HH 110 jet, astronomers observe a spectacular and unusual permutation on this basic model. Careful study has repeatedly failed to find the source star driving HH 110, and there may be good reason for this: perhaps the HH 110 outflow is itself generated by another jet. Astronomers now believe that the nearby HH 270 jet grazes an immovable obstacle - a much denser, colder cloud core - and gets diverted off at about a 60-degree angle. The jet goes dark and then reemerges, having reinvented itself as HH 110. The jet shows that these energetic flows are like the erratic outbursts from a Roman candle. As fast-moving blobs of gas catch up and collide with slower blobs, new shocks arise along the jet's interior. The light emitted from excited gas in these hot blue ridges marks the boundaries of these interior collisions. By measuring the current velocity and positions of different blobs and hot ridges along the chain within the jet, astronomers can effectively &quot;rewind&quot; the outflow, extrapolating the blobs back to the moment when they were emitted. This technique can be used to gain insight into the source star's history of mass accretion. This image is a composite of data taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2004 and 2005 and the Wide Field Camera 3 in April 2011. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>