Posted February 8th, 2013 at 7:20 pm (UTC+0)

NASA's Cassini spacecraft took this natural color composite photo of Saturn (Photo: NASA)

This natural color composite photo of Saturn was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. (NASA)

A baby Adélie penguin nuzzles up to its mother. This photo was taken inside one of three bird colonies on Ross Island near Antarctica. (Photo: Penguinscience.com)

A baby Adélie penguin nuzzles up to its mother inside one of three bird colonies on Ross Island near Antarctica. (Penguinscience.com)

Here's A close-up photo of Robonaut 2 - R2, the first dexterous humanoid robot in space that was taken inside the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory. By the way you can see the reflections of NASA astronaut Kevin Ford on R2's helmet visor. (Photo: NASA)

This is Robonaut 2-R2, the first dexterous humanoid robot in space, in an image taken inside the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Kevin Ford’s reflection can be seen on R2′s helmet visor. (NASA)

Lava from a tiny lava pond flows on the north side of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. (Photo: USGS)

Lava from a lava pond, below the peak, flows on the north side of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano. (USGS)

Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope this is an assembled photo illustration of the magnificent spiral galaxy M106. (Image: R. Gendler/NASA)

Photo illustration of the magnificent spiral galaxy M106, assembled using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA)

This is a photomicrograph of a brown fat cell (brown adipocyte) that was taken from a muscle stem cell (Image: Alessandra Pasut, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute)

This photograph, taken through a microscope, is of a brown fat cell (brown adipocyte) taken from a muscle stem cell. (Alessandra Pasut, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute)

Technicians pack-up and prepare NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite for its scheduled launch on Monday, Feb. 11th at 1800 UTC (Photo: NASA)

Technicians prepare NASA’s Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite for its scheduled launch on Monday, Feb. 11 at 1800 UTC. (NASA)

When sockeye salmon migrate from salt water to fresh water, they change color--going from their ocean colors of mostly silver to red when in fresh water (Photo: Dr. Tom Quinn, University of Washington)

Sockeye salmon migrate from salt water to fresh water in British Columbia’s Fraser River, changing from their silvery ocean colors to red in fresh water. (Tom Quinn, University of Washington)

The Orion nebula is featured in this sweeping image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. (Image: NASA)

The Orion nebula is showcased in this sweeping image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). (NASA)

An Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K (TDRS-K), streaks past the Vehicle Assembly Building and Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Photo: NASA)

An Atlas V rocket carrying NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K (TDRS-K) streaks past a building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA)

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Tags: "brown fat cell", "Kennedy Space Center, "Orion Nebula", "Robonaut 2", "Ross Island", "sockeye salmon", "spiral galaxy", "swim upstream", "Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer", astronaut, Cassini, Hubble, ISS, Kīlauea, Landsat, launch, lava, M106, NASA, penguin, photomicrograph, R2, satellite, Saturn, TDRS-K, volcano

Posted in Science Photo Blog, Science Photos of the Week

Science Images of the Week

Posted December 26th, 2012 at 3:59 pm (UTC+0)

NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently delivered a spectacular view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn's shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft recently snapped this spectacular view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn’s shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the Sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. (NASA)

A sabal causiarum, commonly known as the Puerto Rican hat palm was planted in 1932 at the Montgomery Botanical Center in Coral Gables Florida. (Photo: P. Barry Tomlinson, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Miami/American Journal of Botany)

This sabal causiarum, commonly known as the Puerto Rican hat palm, was planted in 1932 at the Montgomery Botanical Center in Coral Gables Florida. (P. Barry Tomlinson, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Miami/American Journal of Botany)

This is an instrument setup for an astrophysics experiment at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), a linear accelerator that produces X-ray pulses that can capture images of atoms and molecules in motion. (Photo: Jose R. Crespo Lopez-Urrutia/Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics)

This linear accelerator produces x-ray pulses that capture images of atoms and molecules in motion and is for an astrophysics experiment at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS),. (Jose R. Crespo Lopez-Urrutia/Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics)

This photo, taken recently at a slow shutter speed shows lava flowing down central Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano.(AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Lava flows down central Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano in this photo taken at a slow shutter speed. (AP)

This is a map of the moon's gravity field as measured by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL). The two spacecraft that carried out the GRAIL mission was recently crashed into the surface of the Moon by the US space agency. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MIT/GSFC)

A map of the moon’s gravity field, as measured by NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL). Areas colored in red have a high degree of local gravity, the blue blotches show lower local gravity, and other colors indicate varying degrees of local gravity in between red and blue. (NASA)

This is a diamond anvil cell (DAC). This device has been used in experiments by scientists to recreate the pressure that exists deep inside planets. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab)

Scientists use this device, a diamond anvil cell (DAC), in experiments to recreate the pressure that exists deep inside planets. (Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab)

Looking like a brightly colored holiday ribbon, here's a striking image of the planetary nebula, NGC-5198 taken recently by the Hubble Space Telescope. (Image: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))

This striking image of the planetary nebula NGC-5198, was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA)

The six huge fans shown here provide the wind for the wind tunnel at NASA's National Full-scale Aerodynamics Complex in California (Photo: NASA Ames/Tom Trower)

These six huge fans provide wind for the wind tunnel at NASA’s National Full-scale Aerodynamics Complex in California. (NASA)

This is a hawksbill sea turtle. It's an endangered animal and is one of seven species of the world's sea turtles. It's shell is made up of overlapping plates that are thicker than those of other sea turtles. This heavy duty shell protects them from being battered. (Photo: Caroline S. Rogers/NOAA)

This endangered hawksbill is one of seven species of the world’s sea turtle. Its shell is made up of overlapping plates which are thicker than those of other sea turtles. This heavy-duty shell protects them from being battered. (NOAA)

Here's another interesting volcano photo that was taken from the International Space Station. The huge plume of smoke is from the erupting volcano Ulawan located on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. (Photo: NASA)

In a photo captured from the International Space Station, a mammoth plume of smoke emanates from the erupting Ulawan volcano, located on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. (NASA)

Science Images of the Week

Posted December 5th, 2012 at 7:31 pm (UTC+0)

This NASA image shows the work site of the Curiosity rover on Mars. The first test of Martian soil by Curiosity shows no definitive evidence that the red planet has the chemical ingredients to support life. (NASA)

NASA’s artist rendering of Voyager 1 at the edge of the solar system. The long-running spacecraft has entered the fringes of the solar system which is thought to be the last layer before the beginning of interstellar space, or the space between stars. Mission chief scientist Ed Stone says Voyager 1 will be the first manmade object to leave the solar system. (AP Photo/NASA)

A 68-mile-diameter crater, large indentation at center, in the north polar region of Mercury which has been shown to harbor water ice, thanks to measurements by the Messenger spacecraft. (AP Photo/NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

Joe Wasilewski works with a captured Nile crocodile, caught near his Homestead, Fla., home. State wildlife officials have given their agents a rare order to shoot to kill in the hunt for a young and potentially dangerous Nile crocodile loose near Miami. “They get big. They’re vicious. The animals are just more aggressive and they learn that humans are easy targets,” says Wasilewski, a reptile expert and veteran wrangler. (AP)

The Plosky Tolbachnik volcano erupts in Russia’’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. The volcano, located on the peninsula’s eastern coast, is erupting for the first time in 36 years. (AP)

In an undated photo, Glenn Storrs, left, helps haul a dinosaur fossil on a contraption made from two hospital gurneys and a motorcycle wheel, dubbed the dino wheel, near Pryor Mountains in Montana. After 10 years of painstakingly unearthing scattered dinosaur fossils at a site along the base of the Pryor Mountains, Storrs believes he has finally figured out how the bones arrived at their final resting place 145 million to 150 million years ago. His theory is that a group of young dinosaurs, probably migrating with adults, died of thirst while searching for a wetter environment.
(AP Photo/Courtesy of Cincinnati Museum Center via The Billings Gazette)

A shadow self-portrait taken by NASA’’s Opportunity rover on the Martian surface. The solar-powered spacecraft has been exploring a huge crater in the Martian southern hemisphere and has detected what appear to be clay minerals. (AP Photo NASA)

Multiple dust plumes are seen blowing off the coasts of Iran and Pakistan in this NASA handout image taken Nov. 29, 2012. These images document the movement of the plumes southward over the Arabian Sea. (REUTER/NASA/Jeff Schmaltz)

The moon Tethys (in the upper left of the image) is seen next to Saturn in this NASA image taken from the Cassini spacecraft on Aug. 19, 2012 and released Dec. 3, 2012. Saturn’s rings appear to dwarf Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across) although scientists believe the moon to be many times more massive than the entire ring system combined. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers) from Saturn. (REUTERS/NASA)

: n this photo made Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, The Plosky Tolbachnik volcano erupts in Russia on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, for the first time in 36 years. (AP)

Science Images of the Week

Posted September 19th, 2012 at 5:20 pm (UTC+0)

A mosaic of images of Saturn and its moon, Titan, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Seasons have changed on Saturn, the azure blue in the planet’s northern hemisphere is now fading while the southern hemisphere is now taking on a bluish hue. Scientists say these changes are likely due to the reduced intensity of ultraviolet light and the haze it produces in the southern hemisphere as winter approaches, and the increasing intensity of ultraviolet light and haze production in the northern hemisphere as summer approaches. (Photo: NASA)

A composite of a mosaic of images of Saturn and its moon, Titan, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Seasons have changed on Saturn, the azure blue in the planet’s northern hemisphere is now fading while the southern hemisphere is now taking on a bluish hue. Scientists say these changes are likely due to the reduced intensity of ultraviolet light and the haze it produces in the southern hemisphere as winter approaches, and the increasing intensity of ultraviolet light and haze production in the northern hemisphere as summer approaches. (Photo: NASA)

The Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft with ISS Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Revin lands in a remote area near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 17, 2012 (Kazakhstan time). (Photo: NASA/Carla Cioffi)

The Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft, carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA flight engineer, lands in a remote area near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 17, 2012. (Photo: NASA)

NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba signs the side of his Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft that brought him and his crew mates back to Earth on September 17, 2012. Acaba, along with Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin of Russia returned from four months on board the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 31 and 32 crews. (Photo: NASA/Carla Cioffi)

NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba signs the side of the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft which brought him and his crew mates back to Earth on Sept. 17, 2012. Acaba, along with Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin of Russia, returned from four months on board the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 31 and 32 crews. (Photo: NASA)

A giraffe calf was recently born at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO. Here, the baby giraffe sits while mother licks its head (Photo: Dickerson Park Zoo)

A giraffe calf, which was recently born at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri, with its mother. (Photo: Dickerson Park Zoo)

With the Martian landscape in the background this is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), one of seventeen cameras on NASA’s Curiosity rover. The photo was recently taken by the rover’s Mast Camera – MastCam (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

With the Martian landscape in the background, this is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), one of 17 cameras on NASA’s Curiosity rover. The photo was taken by the rover’s Mast Camera – MastCam (Photo: NASA)

The Heat Island Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory works to cool buildings, cities, and the planet by making roofs, pavements, and cars cooler in the sun. Here, Jordan Woods takes measurements of new cooler pavement coating. Other sample pavement coatings can be seen behind him. (Photo: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

While the Mars rover Curiosity is the center of attention right now, Opportunity, a rover that has been on the Red Planet since January 2004 recently sent images of a collection of little spheres that scientists nicknamed ‘blueberries’. These puzzling little objects were found on an outcrop of rock called "Kirkwood" and each is about 3 millimeters in diameter. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ. / USGS/Modesto Junior College)

Opportunity, a rover which has been on Mars since January 2004, captured this image of little spheres that scientists nicknamed ‘blueberries.’ These puzzling little objects were found on an outcrop of rock called “Kirkwood” and each is about 3 millimeters in diameter. (Photo: NASA)

An extreme close up of a wild tomato’s trichomes, hair-like protrusions, that produce a mixture of special chemicals that shape the interactions between the plant and its environment some of which act as the first line of defense against pests. (Photo: Michigan State University)

An extreme close up of a wild tomato’s trichomes, hair-like protrusions that produce a mixture of special chemicals which shape the interactions between the plant and its environment, some of which act as the first line of defense against pests. (Photo: Michigan State University)

Astronomers recently discovered two gas giant planets orbiting stars in the Beehive cluster, a collection of about 1,000 tightly packed stars. The planets are the first ever found around sun-like stars in a cluster of stars. This is an artist’s conception of one of the gas giants to the right of its sun-like star, and all around, the stars of the Beehive cluster shine brightly in the dark. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Shown above are the spiral galaxies NGC 3788 (top) and NGC 3786 (bottom) in the constellation Ursa Major (home of the Big Dipper). These two galaxies, like many found throughout the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, are gravitationally interacting. (Photo: Sloan Digital Sky Survey)

A close look at active lava flows produced by Hawaii’s Kīlauea Volcano (Photo: USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory)

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Tags: "baby giraffe", "Heat Island Group", "Mission 32", "Sloan Digital Sky Survey", "twin galaxies", astronaut, blueberries, Curiosity, Hawaii, ISS, lava, MAHLI, Mars, Moon, Opportunity, pavement, Saturn, Soyuz, Titan, trichomes, volcano

Posted in Science Photo Blog, Science Photos of the Week

Mystery Objects Spotted Piercing Saturn’s Ring

Posted April 24th, 2012 at 10:45 pm (UTC+0)

A NASA space probe studying Saturn recently treated scientists to a bit of a surprise – rather odd little objects piercing in and out the planet’s F Ring, leaving a glittering trail of mini-jets behind.

The objects appear to travel in packs, producing multiple mini-jets which look like the barb of a harpoon.

Scientists already knew somewhat large objects can create channels, ripples and snowballs, or clumps of icy material, within the F ring. What they didn’t know was what happened to these objects after they were created. Scientists thought some of these “snowballs” were broken up into smaller pieces by collisions or tidal forces as they orbited in the F ring around Saturn.

This set of six images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows trails that were dragged out from Saturn's F ring by objects about 1 kilometer in diameter. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/QMUL ) (Click image for larger view)

These images, from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, show trails which were dragged out from Saturn's F ring by objects that are about one kilometer in diameter. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/QMUL ) (Click image for larger view)

Finding the mystery objects suggests scientists now have proof some of the smaller chunks of those collisions survived and, because they were set into varying orbits, these little objects went on to break through the F ring on their own.

To make their findings, scientists carefully went through about 20,000 images produced during the seven years the Cassini space probe has been at Saturn. So far, about 500 of these weird little objects have been found.

“I think the F ring is Saturn’s weirdest ring, and these latest Cassini results go to show how the F ring is even more dynamic than we ever thought,” said Carl Murray, a Cassini imaging team member.

The F ring, Saturn’s outermost main ring, has a circumference of 881,000 kilometers and is considered the most active ring in the Solar System, since its features tend to change over a period of hours.

Saturn’s rings are mostly made of ice with an average thickness of about 10 meters. The pieces of ice that make up the main rings spread out some 140,000 kilometers from the center of the planet.

The Cassini space probe’s next notable encounter will be a flyby past Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, on May 2.

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Tags: Cassini, F-ring, mini-jets, rings, Saturn, Space

Posted in Space

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About Science World

Science World

By admin on April 12, 2011

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